DX LISTENING DIGEST 6-085, June 11, 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 1318: Mon 0415 WBCQ 7415 Mon 0500 WRMI 9955 Wed 0930 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 CONTINENT OF MEDIA 06-05 is available: (stream) http://www.dxing.com/com/com0605.ram (download) http://www.dxing.com/com/com0605.rm NOTE: Your editor has been taking a few days off, so this issue does not contain all the latest info piling up in my inbox. It will take a while to get caught up, if ever (gh) ** ABKHAZIA. 9495, R. Republic Abkhazia, 1433 June 4 with songs, 1435 YL with shlushaete R Respublika Abkhazia in Russian, 1436 with song 44444 1500* (Zacharias Liangas, Litohoron, Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALAND ISLANDS. Re 6-084, translation. Have done my very best to translate from Swedish into English, what Roy Sandgren wrote: "We are still negotiating with landowners about putting up an antenna mast plus an even stronger transmitter. Our aim is to start as soon as possible with an effect of 5-50 kW. Until this problem is solved (latest October 1st, 2006) occasional transmissions with 1.5 kW [can be heard]. We conduct negotiations with some groups, who have interest in transmitting via 603 kHz. With 50 kW we will be able to reach more than 50% of the population in Sweden, Finland and Estonia during daytime. There are more than one AM-receiver per person in every country" (by Ydun Ritz, Denmark, June 7, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn: Translation: We are still negotiating with various landowners in order to install a stronger transmitter and antenna/ mast. Our goal is to begin operating as soon as possible with a power of 5 to 50 kW. Meanwhile, until this problem is solved, no sooner than October 1, 2006, we will organize sporadic transmissions with 1.5 kW. We are in negotiations with various shareholders who have an interest in broadcasts on 603 kHz. With 50 kW we will reach more than 50 percent of the population in Sweden, Finland and Estonia during the daytime. There is more than one AM receiver per capita in each country (by Ullmar Qvick, Sweden, DX LISTENING DIGEST) If these statements hold good remains to be seen (UQ's comment) Kind regards, (Ullmar Qvick, ibid.) ** ALBANIA. VOA Cancelling via Fllaka -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht----- Von: Drita Cico Gesendet: 07.06.06 11:46:33 Betreff: VOA Cancelling via Fllaka According to an email dated 01 June from Russell Ericson - IBB, to Arben Mehilli - ARTV: "to cancel the following services effective 01 July 2006: Durres/Dur 0430-0500 UTC 1458 KHz 500 kW Croatian " 0500-0530 1215 500 Albanian " 1830-1900 1458 500 Albanian This is an advance notification. A contract modification is currently being prepared." Mr Mehilli asked me for the current VOA Schedule via Fllaka, which he immediately offered today to the Chinese in an appointment about an hour ago in his office (Drita Cico, ARTV-Head of Monitoring Center, RADIO TIRANA via Wolfgang Büschel, DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. ABC NT Service relay (does this originate in Darwin, or Alice, or both?), presumed, on 6080 via Shepparton, June 7 at 1232 with news, not // RA on 6020, and overriding Singapore English service on 6080. RA A-06 was originally scheduled on 6080 from 14 to 21, which did not clash with Singapore which quits at 14. Now RA ruins Singapore`s external service at 11-14, and I should think there would be a considerable clash in the NT as well. So 6080 is NOT a good choice for the NT relay. Still a problem at 1310 recheck (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also SINGAPORE Hi Glen[n], RA was a long standing user of 6080 to PNG/Indonesia from 0900-1400 UT and gave up the channel a few years back when Singapore started using it over RA. Our present usage is temporary for the duration of transmitter repairs and the performance is adequate into the Northern Territory. If we need to extend the support transmission I will consider an alternate frequency (I'm looking around now). Kind regards (Nigel Holmes, RA, June 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Serves `em right, then ** AUSTRALIA. Hi Glenn, Over the last week or so I have been hearing ABC Darwin 105.7 FM being relayed via Shepparton on 11880 kHz with a strong signal, in the period 0100 to about 0830 UT when it switches to 6080 kHz. I'm not sure when 11880 kHz signs on; I thought I would try to catch that over the last two days, but the transmissions were not on air. Today it is back. To find out more about this, I looked at the ABC Reception Website: http://www.abc.net.au/reception/news/051006_shortwave_radio_services.h tm and found this notice. Changes to Northern Territory Shortwave Radio Services The ABC advises that it is in the process of upgrading its Alice Springs, Katherine and Tennant Creek shortwave Local Radio services. This work is being undertaken to provide greater reliability of these services. Each service will be required to be switched off for an extended period while replacement transmitters are installed. The work on the Tennant Creek transmitter has now been completed and the service has recommenced broadcasting. The Alice Springs (Roe Creek) service is now being upgraded and is currently off and the Katherine service will also be turned off for an extended period from Tuesday 30 May. From this date those listeners who usually tune to the Alice Springs and Katherine shortwave services will need to retune to the Tennant Creek service to continue to receive ABC Local Radio. The ABC has also provided an additional service, which will broadcast into the Northern Territory from Shepparton, Victoria on 11880 kHz during the day and 6080 kHz in the evening. Those listeners who have problems tuning to the Tennant Creek service, particularly if you live in the Katherine region, should attempt to tune to these additional frequencies. The ABC apologises for any inconvenience caused by these changes. Please contact the ABC’s Reception Advice Line on 1300 13 9994 if you require further information regarding the transmitter upgrades or frequency changes. The ABC will make further announcements once the Katherine and Alice Springs services recommence broadcasts. Current Northern Territory ABC Shortwave Local Radio frequencies ... Day frequency Night frequency Alice Springs 4910 kHz/11880 kHz 2325 kHz/6080 kHz Katherine 4910 kHz/11880 kHz 2325 kHz/6080 kHz Tennant Creek 4910 kHz 2325 kHz Unfortunately no exact transmission times are given. It is is great to hear an ABC domestic service back on shortwave; it's a bit of a flashback to 10 or more years ago and the services from Melbourne and Brisbane in particular that were well heard here in New Zealand! As a footnote, I will be in North Queensland for a week from next weekend, so it will be interesting to see how well they are heard there (Barry Hartley, Auckland, N.Z., June 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The above is rather misleading, applying the TC frequencies to AS and K as if they originated there. And why can`t they listen to 11880 or 6080 in TC too? (gh, DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. 6020, ABC Far North-Cairns Studio, Queensland via Shepparton transmitter. Nice confirmation letter with information about this special broadcast due to Cyclone Monica. The V/S was a 'keen SW Listener since childhood' ' listening on his father's short wave set'; also stated he welcomes letters from listeners. Also sent a ABC Far North cyclone information map and decals. Reply in 28 days. Web site: http://www.abc.net.au/farnorth V/S: Richard Dinnen, Manager, ABC Far North. E-mail: dinnen.richard @ abc.net.au (Edward Kusalik, Alberta, CANADA, June 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. Re 6-084: June 10, R Australia, 12080 at 2300z. This path from the east coast of Queensland to central Texas would be totally in daylight at this time. Quite a long path for daylight on 25 meters with only 10 kW. (Depending on the beam width of the transmit antenna the radiated power in my direction may be more than 10 kW but I doubt that Brandon uses very high gain antennas. Perhaps George Poppin or Nigel Holmes has an answer). (Jerry Lenamon, Waco, Texas Drake R8B with sloper, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Well pals, not a joke but it looks like. After reading that message from Nigel Holmes, I`m asking where that azimuth of Brandon is pointing at. 10 kW? It sounds ridiculous if I tell you that here in Costa Rica it is the best signal I`m getting this A-06 from RA after 0300, beating by far 15415 that is listed at 100 kW. 12080 keeps improving as darkness covers the Pacific and I got an overall signal 4 by 0800, only compared with 9580 with ten times that power. Guess I’ll have a 5 if it runs at full power (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I assume the other Brandon frequency is 9660 when 12080 is off (gh) ** AUSTRALIA. More High Altitude FM DX --- Hi Glen[n], June 8 2006 at around 11 am AEST. [0100 UT] Due to heavy fog at Bombala, the plane had to land at Merimbula airport some 60 km away. So we drove down there to catch the plane and fly over to Tumbarumba. That was OK by me as that meant extra flight time (thus more DX time) and flying at an altitude of 22,000 FT. Merimbula has a proper tarmac runaway & NDB beacons (Bombala has only a grass runway and no radio NDB, so one cannot land at night or in fog). The FM band at over 20,000 FT was jammed pack with signals and stations fighting stations on the same frequency. Like getting super tropo! Again the signals under 400 km were stable as and those located 500 km away showed slow rate fading. The tuner had trouble separating stations on adjacent frequencies. Here is what I recorded onto cassette. Wollongong at LOCAL levels. 95.7 ABC Classic FM & 96.5 Wave-FM. 89.5 ABC Classic FM Golburn (low powered translator) 96.1 The Edge heard clearly until Shepparton took over that Freq. Shepparton heard in stereo 94.3 3SEA "Star-FM" Warragul 92.9 ABC Classic FM (stereo) fighting with Snow-FM/t located at Thredbo 102.7 ABC Classic FM Orange heard nicely in stereo 99.7 fight between Griffith (Star-FM) & unid ABC Regional located somewhere near Tumbarumba. 97.9 ABC Regional Tumut NSW 99.9 TAB Parkes NSW 91.3 3SR/t (relay of 95.3 3SR Shepparton) 95.3 3SR nice in stereo 91.5 Vega 915 Melbourne 105.9 2GZF Orange. Nice w/ "Star-FM" ID. Overall, it was nice to get some more high altitude DX and I did better on this occasion by hearing Sydney & Melbourne. Makes winter- time on FM more interesting! Whilst at the Tumbarumba airport, a Boeing 747 flew over at high altitude and I was getting 2JJJ 102.3 Dubbo via aircraft scatter on just a portable radio with a whip antenna!!! A distance of about 500 km! (Geoff Wolfe, DXing at 22,000 FT using the TEAC T-515 AM/FM tuner, T shaped ribbon antenna & Sanyo boombox tape recorder, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Don`t try this in the US (or on any commercial flight?) without clearance from the captain due to alleged interference with navigation or communications by operating a radio receiver aboard, which is also a transmitter putting carriers +10.7 MHz in the aero band above 108 MHz, and possibly harmonics above that (gh, DXLD) ** AZORES. AÇORES, Portugal --- Rádio Lajes - A Voz da Força Aérea Portuguesa, will hopefully be back on MW soon, though neither on its previous, inactive, outlet on 648 kHz (was 650 kHz at least in the mid~late 70s) nor on the one shown in their website, i.e. 1530 kHz, which was the fq. they originally planned to move to. It's going to be on 1584 kHz, a frq. where the stn seemed to have operated in the past too. Power will again be 1 kW via the old, idle transmitter. Part of their future plans include DRM operation on MW via a new transmitter and VHF-FM power increase from the current 0.150 kW PEP to 0.5 kW PEP. Besides that, split operation will be an option, i.e. VHF- FM, internet and MW all carrying different channels albeit including some relays of R. Renascença, and with sport being carried via MW. R. Lajes' audience is not confined to the Lajes airbase personnel, nor to Lajes or even Praia da Vitória, the nearest town, but to the whole island of Terceira at least. If you want to visit their page http://www.radiolajes.com and still need more detail, simply add the following: /lajes (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, June 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BELARUS [non]. EUROPEAN RADIO FOR BELARUS I just listened to Gabriel Stille's upbeat report on European Radio for Belarus (Media Network Weblog, 06/07/2006). It's too bad that he forgot to point out that currently this "semi-virtual station" is nothing more than a waste of EU taxpayers' money. Technically, only few people can pick it up in Belarus. - ERB relies mostly on Internet to deliver its signal. But even if they could, would they care to? I doubt it. ERB, similarly to Belarusian State Radio, broadcasts mostly in the Belarusian language. That's despite the fact that Russian is the language of choice for the vast majority of people in Belarus, especially the young ones. ERB's rather bland music diet isn't so helpful, either. It's no competition for the highly professional commercial stations in Belarus. Obviously, ERB is a feel-good project for some Polish politicians and a few EU bureaucrats. But for now, with no reliable technical platform to deliver its signal to its target audience and no appealing content to speak of, ERB's propaganda impact can only be compared to that of US-sponsored TV Martí in Cuba. In other words, it's non-existent (Sergei Sosedkin, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hmmm, spoken like a true Red Russian ;-\ (gh, DXLD) ** CANADA. CBC specials on cities --- Full text here: http://www3.cbc.ca/sections/newsitem_redux.asp?ID=4326 In 2006, for the first time in history, the majority of the world’s inhabitants are officially living in urban centres. Also for the first time, the World Urban Forum will be held in Canada, with thousands of planners, politicians, scientists, artists, thinkers and other delegates gathering in Vancouver to look for ways to make the world’s cities better places to live. CBC Newsworld, CBC Radio and CBC.ca will be right in the middle of the action, providing a special focus on how we live and offering audiences extensive coverage leading up to and during the forum, which runs from Monday, June 19 to Friday, June 23. ... CBC Radio One will broadcast a number of special programs throughout the forum to bring listeners to the heart of Canadian cities. THE CURRENT broadcasts from Vancouver beginning Monday, June 19, with Anna Maria Tremonti hosting a round table of mayors discussing topics from ‘Sustainable Cities and Spirituality’ to ‘Cities Under Siege: Urbanism and the War on Terror.’ SOUNDS LIKE CANADA guest host Jian Ghomeshi gets in-depth with international delegates, and IDEAS will broadcast the annual University of British Columbia (UBC) lecture on the theme of multiculturism. Presented by UBC scholar Leonie Sandercock, her lecture, The Mongrel City, can be heard Monday, June 26 at 9:05 p.m. (via Ricky Leong, DXLD) ** CAYMAN ISLANDS. RADIO CAYMAN STAFF WOES Tuesday, June 6, 2006 Open day at Radio Cayman: Staff take time-off to entertain their listeners. http://www.caymannetnews.com/cgi-script/csArticles/articles/000026/002601.htm As it celebrates its 30th anniversary, Radio Cayman is counting on the community that it serves to invest its talent and skills in the further development of the national broadcaster. Radio Cayman has been experiencing challenging times when it comes to recruiting skilled Caymanians as broadcasters, despite the availability of funding for media studies. Acting Director of Broadcasting Norma McField said the government-run station has not been able to attract the right number of nationals for the vacant posts. ``We have received very little responses and most from people who are particularly trained in broadcasting,`` she said. ``We`re always on the look out for Caymanians who have media training. We`re too small to be able to train those who don’t have the skills,`` she said. Ms McField said she did not know why qualified locals have been shying away from working for Radio Cayman. In demand at the station are news reporters, sales executives and managerial personnel who have moved on for various reasons. Hardest hit is the newsroom, which is served by experienced broadcasters and editors Sheena Carten and Jay Ehrhart. The search is on for an editor to replace Joel Francis who progressed to Assistant Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education about seven months ago and for a Director of Broadcasting. Loxley Banks, who headed the station as Director of Broadcasting, retired a couple months ago, leaving his deputy Ms McField to juggle two positions. Among the major achievements of the station are the high esteem by which it is held in the community, its programming and expansion in coverage, according to Ms McField. Radio Cayman, which operates Radio Cayman One and Radio Cayman Two, broadcasts to Grand Cayman on 89.9 FM and 105.3 FM and to Cayman Brac and Little Cayman on 91.9 FM and 93.9 FM. It has provided extensive coverage of national events, such as the Queen`s Birthday Parade in June, Pirates` Week Festival in October, and Remembrance Day Service in November. Coverage of community activities and the rebroadcast of the proceedings of the Legislative Assembly add to its credits of community focused broadcasting. In spite of Government funding, the national broadcaster generates revenue from advertisements and sponsored programmes. Ms McField said despite the Island having over 15 radio stations, Radio Cayman is regarded as the most credible source of information and in the process praised the close to 20 staff for their professionalism. ``Even if someone hears the news on another radio station or reads the newspapers, they still call Radio Cayman to verify it,`` she said. The 24-hour broadcast entity has plans to make programme changes on Radio Cayman Two 105.3 FM as a result of feedback from its listeners. She listed other achievements of the station as full computerisation of its on-air studios, traffic (sales) system and other departments. Radio Cayman first went on-air during the Easter of 1976 and the official broadcast began on 12 December of that same year. The station’s around the clock offering includes BBC World Service between midnight and 6:00 am on Radio Cayman One and a magical mix of music on Radio Cayman Two. The station also delivers the most extensive and credible local, regional and international newscasts in the Cayman Islands, according to its management. Several public and private organisations have lauded the station for its invaluable service to the Island as could be seen by the numerous plaques that adorn one of its many walls. ``The Cayman Islands Government gratefully acknowledges Radio Cayman for its dedication above and beyond the call of duty in the aftermath of Hurricane Ivan,`` said one plaque. Last Friday, the station held an open house at its Elgin Avenue location and a thanksgiving church service on Sunday at the Chapel Church of God on Academy Way off Walkers Road in George Town. Scores of residents patronised both events, which brought the curtains down on the celebratory weekend of the station. More about Radio Caymans: http://www.radiodx.com/spdxr/caymans.htm This article was originally material for a broadcast of "Wavescan" via Adventist World Radio in August 2001, and now forms part of the Radio Heritage Collection (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) Tsk2; seems they need to open up to gastarbeiter, illegal immigrants (gh, DXLD) ** CHINA [non]. CRI, English to NAm at 0100 with two separate programs: 6020 & 9570 [Albania] parallel; 9580 [Cuba] & 9790 [Canada] parallel. But pairings are inconsistent, and/or all have same (Bob Thomas, Bridgeport CT, June 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) That was my Saturday, 6020 // 9570, 9580 // 9790. But Sunday at 0100 [UT Monday], all four had same identical programming. I do recall in past I`ve heard mix & match. F1 and F3 same, or F1 & F4 same; other two same. Sometimes F3 was a no-show. 9570 & 9580 clash at times, splatter (Bob Thomas, Bridgeport CT, June 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) F3 being, I supposed 9580, the most unreliable, naturally, via Cuba. While 9580 and 9790 may carry the same program most of the time, I bet there is a considerable delay due to different satellite/feed routing. BTW, at 0300 CRI English on 9790 is via Cuba instead of Canada, and you should note the inferior audio (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COLOMBIA. Dia del Padre is Sunday June 18, so expect R. Líder, 6140v to be back on the air for a few days like it was for Mothers` Day in May, and Memorial Day. Right. Not to mention various other sporadic LAm SW operations (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CONGO DR [non]. 11890, Okapi, 1644 31 May, talks in French, mentions of Congo, domana (?), fair 32323, QRM RL[iberty?] 11895, (Zacharias Liangas, Retziki THS, Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COSTA RICA. TIRWR, 11870 with DGS, June 7 at 1251 very distorted with some additional noise, unlike // 9725 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CROATIA [non]. Re: 6-080, Croatia via Germany --- I've listened to 9925 on several different nights and have not heard an echo (or reverb) after 0300z. So, it must be that Wertachtal and Nauen just aren't synchronized. My first thought, that it was a long path / short path echo apparently isn't the case (Jerry Lenamon, Waco TX, June 11, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** DJIBOUTI. PAOLO ALBINI segnala la conferma di Radio Djibouti --- conferma da un ascolto dimenticato: RADIO DJIBOUTI, 4780, conferma in 8 mesi inviati due $ + TAPE lettera stile qsl con foto + adesivo firma del "chef des services techique" illegibile. Assenza di indirizzo. solo questi dati: e-mail : rtdftech @ intnet.dj http://www.rtd.dj ciao (Paolo, playdx yg via DXLD) ** ECUADOR. Since Allen Graham got word from us about incorrect frequency announcements in the morning in Spanish on La Voz de los Andes, I was trying to monitor if they had been corrected. June 7 at 1259, 11690 was fading out but did not seem to mention any frequencies. Tried better 9745 at 1329, and tho there was an ID break and contact info, no frequencies mentioned. Rechecked at 1359, 9745 was already off (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR. Translation of the enclosed summary of statements made yesterday by HCJB's Iris Rauscher at Vienna: The construction of the new airport near Pifo has been stopped. Hence no further antennas will be dismantled, i.e. the status quo will be kept for the time being. In any case they plan to keep the German service on shortwave, using another transmitter site if one day Pifo will no longer be available (Kai Ludwig, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: -----Original Message----- Date: Sun, 11 Jun 2006 09:34:48 +0200 Subject: [A-DX] HCJB Deutsch From: Wolf Harranth To: A-DX Vom Hörertreffen mit Iris Rauscher in Wien, am 10. Juni 2006: 1/ Der Ausbau des Flughafens ist gestoppt. Daher werden auch keine weiteren Antennen von HCJB in Pifo abgebaut - d.h.: der status quo bleibt erstmal erhalten. 2/ Unabhängig von der Entwicklung beabsichtigt HCJB, die deutschen Programme weiterhin auch via KW auszustrahlen, gegebenenfalls von einem anderen Senderstandort. Mehr zum Treffen dieser Tage bei www.audiopool.at. Sobald der Beutrag fertig gestellt und ins Netz gesetzt ist, werden wir uns melden. 73 de Wolf Harranth, Dokumentationsarchiv Funk (Internationales Kuratorium QSL COLLECTION) http://www.qsl.at - http://www.audiopool.at (via Kai Ludwig, dxldyg via DXLD) ** EUROPE. Re Mystery Radio, 6-084: Ed -- Try radio radio6220 @ hotmail.com to reach Mystery Radio. I emailed this address during the special program aired for the DSWCI a while back. They did respond to a request, although I have not received a QSL (Dan Srebnick, Aberdeen, NJ, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, Chris Lobdell reports that they don't have an address either, but I might try radio6220 @ hotmail.com (Ed Insinger, ibid.) ** FINLAND. RADIO FINLAND WILL SHUT DOWN Hi, among domestic radio and TV changes, YLE will close all of shortwave and second frequency of medium wave, 963 kHz. Those are broadcast from Pori. 558 kHz on MW will live on. (in Finnish:) http://194.252.88.3/rswebpri.nsf/sivut/kuunteluopas?opendocument&pageid=Content1024298B1A3 YLE's news website doesn't even mention those changes (in Finnish): http://www.yle.fi/uutiset/vasen/id35943.html But commercial MTV3 does (in Finnish): http://www.mtv3.fi/uutiset/mediait.shtml/arkistot/mediait/2006/06/450070 Sorry, but I didn't find English links. Well, at least Voice of Russia and Radio Vatican still broadcast in Finnish. BBC, Poland, Estonia and HCJB ended Finnish broadcasts in the 90s (AnlaShok, Finland? June 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn. Sad info from YLE R Finland (6th June 2006) says that R Finland will cease SW and MW transmissions from transmitting centre of Pori in 2007. Only service remaining is MW 558 in Santahamina serving listeners in the Baltic Sea area. More in Finnish on YLE web: http://www.yle.fi/yleista/tiedotteet2006_0606.shtml (Alpo Heinonen, Rovaniemi, Finland http://personal.inet.fi/koti/alpo.heinonen/ NRD 525 "A weak voice from the Finnish Arctic Circle", June 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) This is apparently a verbatim translation of YLE's press release: http://medianetwork.blogspot.com/2006_06_04_medianetwork_archive.html#114986724637394549 Glenn asked when YLE will abandon the Pori transmitters: Apparently by the end of this year, since the transmission contract expires then, cf. http://www.dxing.info/news/2004_06.dx Next question: What will Digita do with the Pori plant? Will they seek new customers or dispose of the station, i.e. destroy it? Digita is what apparently used to be the transmission department of YLE and is today owned by TDF, cf. http://www.digita.fi/digita_dokumentti.asp?path=1841;2087;2098 (Kai Ludwig, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FRANCE. RFI at 1400, no propagation here for me on 21620 or possible 7220 (Bob Thomas, Bridgeport CT, June 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Broadcasts in English, from BDXC, says 21620 is supposed to resume September 3, so now only on Chita 7220? (gh, DXLD) ** GREECE. Otro servicio que no consigo escuchar es el de La Voz de Grecia; he intentado sin éxito la frecuencia de 7430, tampoco he podido escuchar señal alguna en la frecuencia de 15650, ambas frecuencias anunciadas en su web, quizás otra cancelación, cambio de frecuencia o que la propagación es muy mala y desde Valencia no se consigue escuchar (José Miguel Romero, Spain, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) As recently reported, all 7430 multi-lingual transmissions have been cancelled. I think they are using 15630 rather than 15650 (gh, DXLD) ** INDIA. 4910, AIR Jaipur, June 6, 1951-2033, live coverage of a cricket match, mostly in Hindi, with a little English, many brief, excited singing-jingles (mentioning "India"), constant background sound of the crowd, mentions "first match" "wickets" and occasionally gives scores, // 5040 (Jeypore), both weak signals (Ron Howard, Shanghai, China, Etón E5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. INDIA RESTRICTS INTERNATIONAL TELEVISION Satellite television has lately been the medium of choice for people in India to receive international broadcast content. But on 16 May, India’s Information and Broadcasting Ministry ordered 30 foreign channels – including Aljazeera and Bloomberg -- to be purged from set- top boxes used by multi-system and direct-to-home operators. These stations had not secured the necessary permission to downlink their signals into India. http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=45742 This development may not be sufficient to bring back shortwave as India`s medium of choice to receive international broadcasts. But for Indians who want news from a non-Indian source, shortwave radios do not need set-top boxes that authorize some stations and block others (Kim`s column, June NASWA Journal via DXLD) ** INDONESIA. 9525, VOI, June 6, 1342-1401*, program of light Indonesian songs, news from Jakarta, in Indonesian, off with Anthem. Fair. Reception in Calif. is usually better than this (Ron Howard, Shanghai, China, Etón E5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. 4870.95, RRI Sorong, 0945-1055 June 8. Noted a steady string of musical selections until 0959 when a woman talks for about five minutes in Indonesian. No theme music noted on the hour. At about 1013 the Kor`an is recited. This is followed with music again until about 1040 when the same woman speaks until 1054. At that time music presented again. Signal was fair during the period (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston, Florida, NRD545, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL INTERNET [and non]. I have been editor of the Broadcast Band Column in CIDX from 1979 to 1994. With the cluttering of the bands, my interest in the hobby dwindled, but recently I have found a different opportunity to hear the local flavoured radio stations I love so much: On-line radio. From 1976 to 1998, I was recording radio station identifications on cassette. Starting in November 2004, I started recording them through the computer. Since then I found my interest re-emerging. Among the mind boggling number of available stations are old friends thought to be lost forever. WOAI 1200, WBAP 820 and KSL 1160, once attainable goals in mediumwave DXing 30 years ago in eastern Canada are now available for listening. So are a number of even more remote catches such as XEW 900, ZIZ 555 etc. And of course there are a host of previously completely impossible catches too numerous to mention. My target list currently has 2947 entries for North America alone, and I already recorded most of these stations. What is fun is comparing the IDs with those of 25 years ago. So far, only one of them: WIBC 1070 Indianapolis, has the exact same ID and presentation style as in 1981. American and Mexican IDs are fairly easy to record. Not so with Canadians. Most use a slogan or a network ID and don`t pronounce their call signs at any time, though it is said that they have to do it once a day. Question is... when? I wouldn`t mind seeing some kind of information exchange regarding ID times and procedures. I’m willing to share my information, but where? I also recently purchased a new vehicle with a station ``ID`` feature on its radio [RDS?]. I already drove it down to the States and Ontario, and I hope to scan the bands somewhere high on a mountain top away from the city this summer. Should be fun. Would it work during E- skip? Would boost my totals not having to pray for the song to end before the signal fades out to ID the station (Alain Pepin http://www.geocities.com/underwater_stuntman June CIDX Messenger via DXLD) If anyone can answer any of Alain`s questions, don`t hesitate to check out his Web site or email him at Alain Pepin alain.pepin @ netc.net That`s enough for now --- hope you all have a good summer! 73, (Sue Hickey, ed., CIDX Forum, June Messenger via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL INTERNET [and non]. `If only I could ...' BY LAUREN R. STANLEY, Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service Posted on Wed, Jun. 07, 2006 WICOMICO CHURCH, Va. - "We want to know what you think. Text message us at ..." "For more information on this story, go to our Web site at ..." Every day, as I sit in my house in Renk, Sudan, and listen to the shortwave radio, I hear those lines: "Text message us ..." "Read more about it on our Web site ..." "Get more information online ..." And I think, literally every single day, "If only I could." If only ... The world that is wired constantly tries to lure people into that wired zone. But those of us who live outside the wired world - in developing, poor nations where e-mail is practically non-existent, where mobile phone networks work only sporadically, where having electricity is a privilege and landline phones are too expensive to maintain - those of us in that world can only listen and wonder what it would be like to be wired all day, every day. . . http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/living/14761456.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** IRAN. Hello to All, This message was crawling across the top of IRIB's web site, so I thought I'd pass it along. You can usually hear IRIB's broadcast to Europe at 1930 (1530 local here) in Boston and, I presume, in Toronto (Dan Malloy, KA1RDZ, June 8, ODXA via DXLD) Viz.: New Frequency: Dear Listeners a new short wave frequency will be launched for Europe at 1930 to 2030 UT from June 10 on 7540 KHZ frequency. We would be very pleased to have your reception reports (via Malloy, ibid.) Ex-what? If higher, should have been better (gh) ** IRAN. IRANIANS MAY BE REDISCOVERING SHORTWAVE The new media of international broadcasting – internet, satellite, local relays – are wondrous. But they also keep getting shut down by governments that do not want their people to receive international broadcasts. This is why it’s a good idea to maintain a shortwave capability, as shortwave is the least interdictable of the media available to international broadcasters. A recent illustration of this is a BBC report http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4762827.stm on 18 May about developments in Iran. ``The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), a hardline body guarding the gains of the 1979 Islamic revolution, intends to increase the number of jamming stations in Tehran and other cities from 50 to 300 within two years.`` These jamming stations would attempt to block satellite broadcasts aimed at Iran. At the Ku-band frequencies used by these satellites, the range of the terrestrial direct-wave jammers would be limited. And previous reports have suggested health dangers of high-powered jamming up around 12 GHz. Iran is also seeking to block internet content from outside the country. Via BBC Monitoring, the Iranian newspaper Sharq (via BBC Monitoring) reported on May 1 that ``Iran's Central Filtering Site, with the capability to identify internet users and record the sites they visit, will soon enter its test phase. The centre is intended to block unauthorized sites uniformly across the country.`` So for Iranians seeking to get news from abroad, they may soon have to rely again on long-distance radio. Radio Farda is available via medium wave from across the Persian Gulf. But on medium wave, the closer transmitter, i.e. the jamming transmitter, usually prevails. It’s on shortwave, and only on shortwave, that physics often grants the more distant transmitter the advantage in a battle with a co-channel jammer. So shortwave may again become the best way to get uncensored news into Iran. The best strategy to overcome jamming is to transmit on as many frequencies as possible, from as many sites as possible. One of the best U.S. shortwave sites to reach Iran is – well, was – Kavala, Greece. That relay has just been shut down by the Broadcasting Board of Governors. Too bad. (By the way, Radio World printed my commentary about the loss of Kavala in their 10 May issue.) http://www.rwonline.com/reference-room/special-report/2006.05.10-05_rw_guest_voa.shtml (Kim`s column, June NASWA Journal via DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH. In DXLD 6-044 of March 13 I read: "Voice of Korea: Has anyone of you HCDX'ers living in the USA EVER received any verifications from this station. I have tried over the years (35+ of 'em) and have yet to see a reply. Just curious (Bob Combs, New Mexico, March 11, HCDX via DXLD)" I decided to give it a try, and wrote them a report sent on March 19. Yesterday, June 6, I then got their reply, including a full data QSL card, schedule, letter and 'The Pyongyang Times'. So, I can confirm that their reply does reach Denmark... 73, (Erik Køie, Copenhagen, June 7, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KURDISTAN [non]. June 7 at 1730 tune-in heard Voice of Free Kurdistan in Kurdish on a clear channel 4675. Audio was slightly distorted. Their ID starts "Dengi Azadi Kurdistan, dengi....". After couple of minutes Iranian jammer came to the frequency. Sign-off at 1830. Haven't heard them here during evenings for some time, but it seems the station is still active (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski Finland, __._,_.___ dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LAOS [non]. 15260, Hmong Lao Radio (presumed) via Taiwan, June 7 (Wed.), 0143-0159*, checked at 0100-0105 for sign-on but was not able to heard anything. At 0143 man talking in SE Asian language, 0156 folk song till 0159*, when transmitter suddenly off. Stayed off for about one minute till the start of Hmoob Moj Them. Poor reception (Ron Howard, Shanghai, China, Etón E5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LAOS [non]. 15260, Hmoob Moj Them (presumed), via Taiwan, June 7 (Wed.), *0200-0227, on with singing, into non-stop talking, same language as heard last Fri., some music, 0230*, not as good a reception as last Fri. Sorry I did not have a chance to check if this is only on for their scheduled Wed. & Fri. broadcast (Ron Howard, Shanghai, China, Etón E5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LIBERIA. 5470, R. Veritas was just with carrier on June 1 at 2020, no content! (Zacharias Liangas, Retziki, THS, Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LIBYA [and non]. AMAL & THE AFTERNOON VISITORS 6 Junio --- Poca actividad en las emisiones de Libia; a las 1200 en 17665 La Voz de África en su emisión musical hasta las 1400, emisiones en árabe de La Voz de África en 17670 y en paralelo por 17625, de 1200 a 1400, no se escucha a Sawt Al-amal ni tampoco la emisión jammer musical estilo afro-pop. 7 Junio --- Hoy se inicia a las 1200 por 17665 emisión musical árabe y La Voz de África en paralelo por 17660 y 17670; a las 1213 cesa emisión en 17660 y aparece en 17635 junto con Sawt Al-amal. A las 1300 Sawt Al-amal cambia a 17630 y a las 1306 cesa emisión en 17670 y pasa a 17630 y en paralelo por 17635; hoy tampoco aparece emisión jammer musical estilo afro-pop. 8 Junio --- Situación parecida al del día de ayer: a las 1200 comienzan emisiones en 17665 con la emisión musical y en árabe por 17660 y 17670; a las 1210 cesa emisión en 17660 y pasa a 17635 donde está emitiendo Sawt Al-amal, a las 1307 se observa a Sawt Al-amal en 17625 y a las 1308 cesa emisión en 17670 y pasa a 17625 y en paralelo por 17635. Parece que ésta es la estrategia de Libia, parece pues que han cesado las emisiones musicales estilo afro-pop; hoy tampoco emitió y ya son varios días sin ser escuchada. En Este proceso de interferir a Sawt Al-amal se observa que las emisiones de La Voz de África en 17610 y 17725 de 1200 a 1400 en hausa no entran en juego; por el momento no se observa ningún cambio, sus emisiones son regulares (José Miguel Romero, Spain, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) There is a very interesting situation today re the Afro-pop station. At tune in c1430 I found it operating on 17630 co-channel with and on top of Africa #1. So, if it is coming from Gabon (as we think) it seems that the engineers have to do what they are told - or haven`t they realised what is happening? I don't know where Al-Amal was operating earlier but maybe José Miguel will tell us eventually. 73 (Noel R. Green [NW England], ibid.) 9 Junio --- La situación hoy ha sido de la siguiente manera: a las 1159 se inicia sesión de La Voz de África en árabe por 17670 y a las 1200 inicia transmisión en paralelo por 17660; por otra parte la emisión musical en 17665. A las 1205 cesa la emisión en 17660 y a las 1211 aparece en 17625 tapando a Sawt Al-amal que llegaba con muy mala señal. A las 1315 cesa emisión en 17670 y aparece en 17630 tapando a África Nº1; a las 1319 inicia emisión jammer musical estilo afro en 17630 junto a la Voz de África y África Nº1. Ayer comenté que llevaba varios días sin escuchar a esta emisora; sin embargo ayer apareció a las 1336, poco después de haber enviado el informe (José Miguel Romero, ibid.) ** MALDIVE ISLANDS [non]. 13620, Minivan, 1638 31 May, talks about Islam in Dhivehi 33333. QRM a station in German (Zacharias Liangas, Retziki THS, Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. XEXQ audible June 7 on 6045 at 1231 with classical piano music, good modulation, if not too much modulation, but weak and fading into noise, gone by 1300 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Solar-terrestrial indices for 06 June follow. Solar flux 78 and mid- latitude A-index 18. The mid-latitude K-index at 1200 UTC on 07 June was 4 (41 nT). Space weather for the past 24 hours has been minor. Geomagnetic storms reaching the G1 level occurred (SEC via DXLD) ** MEXICO. 6185, Radio Educación, 0100-0120, 11-06. Radio Educación tiene un buen programa de noticias a la 0100: "Nuestro Mundo", con noticias de México y el mundo, entrevistas y corresponsales. "Usted está escuchando Radio Educación onda corta; les presentamos las noticias más relevantes de México y el mundo". Identificación también en inglés: "Radio Educación Short Wave". "Radio Educación presenta: "Ocho de la tarde, Nuestro Mundo, Noticias". Noticias, locutor y locutora, corresponsales. Noticias del Mundial de Fútbol. 24322 (Manuel Méndez, Spain, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MOLDOVA [and non]. Glenn Re: 6-084: Later item from Edwin and observations from me in June World DX Club Contact DX News: Radio DMR, Pridnestrovye, noted off air since 23rd May on 5910 at 1600, possible transmitter problems as terrible noise heard during their transmissions on May 22nd (Edwin Southwell, Hampshire) Still off on June 1st; However I did hear Trans World Radio at 1555, interval signal 1559 and continuing past 1605, languages seem East European. Possibly a move from 6245 via Armavir in Hungarian and Czech which I could not hear. TWR is scheduled to use 5910 from Jülich 1810- 1840 from 29th May in Serbian and Bosnian (Mike Barraclough, UK, June 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEW ZEALAND. RNZI, June 7 at 1240 with DRM noise on 6090-6100, good & clear AM on 9870; after 1300, 9870 was gone and could not hear on 7145 as scheduled; this time of year fadeouts are at their earliest and atmospheric noise is worst (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEW ZEALAND. RADIO NEW ZEALAND EXTENDS PODCASTING SERVICE Radio New Zealand is to significantly extend the range of National Radio programmes available via podcasting following a very successful three month trial of the new service. From Monday 12th June listeners will be able to download their favourite interviews and programme segments from Nine to Noon and Afternoons with Jim Mora directly from the Radio New Zealand website http://www.radionz.co.nz Sunday Morning with Chris Laidlaw featuring Insight and Mediawatch and The Arts of Sunday will also be added to the list of daily and weekly podcasts which already includes Saturday Morning with Kim Hill, This Way Up, Our Changing World and Concert FM’s Upbeat programme. Announcing the extension of the service Radio New Zealand Chief Executive, Peter Cavanagh, said the response to the podcasting trial had been nothing short of phenomenal. “Radio New Zealand is leading the way in using new web-based technology to allow its listeners to hear their favourite programmes whenever and wherever they want. ``Over the past three months we estimate that there have been 400,000 programme downloads from the Radio New Zealand website – and the popularity of the new podcasting service is growing at more than 10% per week. ``The rapid growth in sales of iPods and MP3 players means that more and more people are choosing to download their favourite radio programmes and listen to them when they want to hear them – rather than being restricted to listening live when we choose to broadcast them. ``Radio New Zealand`s audio-on-demand and podcasting services have proved particularly popular with New Zealanders living abroad who can now stay in touch with news and issues from home by listening to their favourite shows on the web. `` Radio New Zealand`s website records more than half-a-million page impressions each month, with about 60% of the traffic coming from overseas audiences. http://www.radionz.co.nz Ends --- National Radio and Concert FM are networks of Radio New Zealand and are funded through New Zealand On Air (Press release via Barry Hartley, DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA. Those of you who remember our first fund drive in 1981 know the money was raised to buy a large SimulSat satellite dish which sits immediately west of our building. That dish, no longer useful to us, was sold for $99.99 on E-Bay last week and will be removed by the buyer. Sometime later this summer, the Content Depot from NPR will replace much of which came via satellite. The computer age strikes again! Sincerely, (Brad Ferguson, General Manager, KCSC FM, Edmond, June via DXLD) So is NPR abolishing all networking by satellite? Of course, KCSC long ago left NPR per se (gh, DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA. Visiting Oklahoma City on Sat June 10, I checked out the pirate reported on 107.1. It was certainly on continuously, heard off and on for at least 12 hours, with a solid signal E and S of the I-44 / NW Expressway intersexion, which includes the center of the city. Never heard any local ID, but instead relaying R. Free Austin, which was promoting establishing outlets in other TX cities, but they already have this one abroad. RFA in turn carries nothing but Republic Broadcasting Network, whose peculiar politics are easily heard on WWRB, WWCR, so this is hardly left-wing. Note previous report where they mentioned having a new LPFM outlet in OKC. Well, it`s certainly a pirate as FCC has nothing listed on this frequency anywhere near OKC. So RBN countenances illegal broadcasting in keeping with its anti- government rants. The RFA feed was probably off a webcast from the sound of it, but the quality was pretty good (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** POLAND [and non]. HD Radio from Poland --- Hi Glenn, I have a question for you! Do you happen to know where I can find information about your IBOC (digital) system on MW? Frequency response, bandwidth and the like. In the R. Polonia Multimedia broadcast last Tuesday, they mention that Poland soon will introduce "HD Radio tests", an American system, offering High Definition Radio, CD quality broadcasting. Must be your IBOC system. They also mention that Geneva, Paris and Warsaw are conduction these "HD" tests. You can hear what they say via: http://www.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=16 - click on English 1700, T(uesday) and go to 41.25 into the program. (Erik Koie, DK-2840 Holte, Denmark, June 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Erik, This is the official site http://www.ibiquity.com/ And they do have a Technology page, but have not looked into how much detail they provide since it is proprietary, and subject to overhype. Rather different results in the real world are likely, with reports from unbiased monitors which appear in various MW DX lists. 73, (Glenn to Erik, via DXLD) ** PORTUGAL. Mainland -- Rádio Renascença uses HARRIS transmitters at least at the sites of Seixal 963 kHz (near Lisbon) 10 kW (reserve 1 kW) and at Muge 594 kHz 100 kW (reserve 2 x 10 kW) + HF 100 kW. The normal output at Muge is said to be in the 60-80 kW range only while, and sometimes just one stand by unit is used. The MW tower is 265 m high, mounted on predominantly sandy soil, pretty much like the one at the former RFE/RL site at Glória do Ribatejo some km to the south. For some days' time, the 100 kW unit at Muge was radiating two images on 738 & 450 kHz, then it was taken off service for some reason, but one of activated 10 kW stand by units, currently at just 8 kW, is also radiating images, viz. some 24 kHz on either side of the fundamental QRG. The (smaller) Seixal tower is mounted on a place so close to River Tagus, that the path from the transmitter hut gets flooded during the high tide, which greatly explains why the thus enhanced signal on 963 kHz is so good far beyond its intended coverage area, like for instance the Algarve province west coast. Seixal is nearly 14 km away from my place here in the capital, but I still manage to DX on 963, even if only E, FIN and TUN were the only countries logged so far. 73 (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, June 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also AZORES ** ROMANIA [and non]. Heard latest WOR; RRI Bucharest English to NAm at 0400 on 11795, ex-11825. Maybe out your way it`s heard; over here, Rai Roma, Italy, to N&S America in Castil[ian?] at 0415. It`s active our eves, English to NAm 0055-0110, news and pop music (Bob Thomas, Bridgeport CT, June 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) You are an hour off; Spanish from Italy is at 0315-0335* on 11800, so no problem there after 0400 (gh) ** SAIPAN. June 7 at 1245 on 11650, fair signal with extremely dramatic and declamatory evangelical Russian plus reverb. If it were less clear it might be mistaken for a Brazilian Portuguese sports broadcast. This is during the Russian sesquihour from KFBS (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAUDI ARABIA. 21680: noted a spurious signal here, S=2-3. At around 1200-1357 UT of fundamentals 21600 and 21640 kHz, both from Riyadh ARS. Program in \\ to 21600 kHz (Wolfgang Büschel, df5sx, on Whitsuntide holiday on Mallorca Island, Spain, June 8, harmonics yg via DXLD) Spurious 21680 of both Riyadh 21600 / 21640 outlets at 1200-1357 UT, noted program of 21600 110 degrees on the upper 21680 kHz channel (Wolfgang Büschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SCOTLAND [non]. RADIO SIX: NOT THIS THURSDAY ON 5775 There is some confusion about whether R. Six International, Scotland, should be on the air today June 8, at 19-20 on 5775 via IRRS Bulgaria, including Letter from America and DX-tra. This IS the second Thursday, the specified monthly day for this broadcast. Nevertheless, their schedule says it will be next Thursday 15th, which is axually the third Thursday. Go figure http://www.radiosix.com/5775_schedule.html 73, (Glenn, June 8, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) True - but the origination is always the second Saturday, so the way this month falls, it is indeed the third Thursday!! (TONY CURRIE, rsi, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Tony, So to be accurate, you should really specify it as ``Thursday following the second Saturday``, as cumbersome as that may be. This could also be a problem when the 2nd Sunday does not follow the 2nd Saturday. 73, (Glenn to Tony, via DXLD) Nicely put! (Currie, ibid.) Hi Glen[n] and all, That is obviously logical, since the first broadcast would be on the second Saturday, with the repeat the following Thursday, which may or may not be the second Thursday. Likewise when a month begins on a Sunday, as October will, the Sunday airing should be on 15 October, i.e. the Sunday following the Second Saturday, 14 October (PAUL DAVID, Wembley Park, United Kingdom, ibid.) My original source for the DX Programs list was a posting from Mike Barraclough in swprograms, and the date he gave for the Thursday airing in May was May 18, which was the 3rd Thursday, so that`s how I put it down. Perhaps the ``second Thursday`` they say on their web site is a misprint? (John Norfolk, ibid.) Just being imprecise. Have heard from Tony Currie about this. What counts is the second Saturday of each month. Then repeats on Sunday and Thursday, so it should be worded Sunday after second Saturday; Thursday after second Saturday. I think. Another source says DX program airs on the ``second full weekend of the month`` presumably meaning both Sat and Sun must be seconds. There should be a less ambiguous way to schedule stuff. So my guess about the dates in July, in my July MT column are a week too late, I think (Glenn, ibid.) If it's any help, he's recording the next edition tomorrow (Friday). I know that, because I'm going to be interviewed on it. If you still want to listen, I presume it airs first on 10th June :-) (Andy Sennitt, ibid.) ** SENEGAL [non]. 17875, WADR, 0745 a song, YL with talks about Liberia, pacific jobs, employment, construction and speaking with an entrepreneur. Program in English passes 0800 with unemployment. She asked for contributions. French started on 0802 with YL news. WADR ID at 0823. Nice songs at 0855 and then Signal S3, 33533. QRM 17865 station in Cantonese at 0745. Signal problem at 0800. 2 and 8 June [?] (Zacharias Liangas, Retziki, THS, Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SERBIA [non]. SERBIA Y MONTENEGRO, desde hace varios días no consigo captar ningún servicio de Onda Corta de Radio Serbia y Montenegro en 6100, incluso buscando en 6102, en varias ocasiones e intentado acceder desde su web a las noticias sonoras vía internet sin éxito, después de las elecciones de Montenegro durante al menos tres días consecutivos pude bajarme dichos archivos de audio, cabe destacar que ya entonces se apreció una disminución en el tiempo de emisión, uno de ellos tan sólo fue de tres minutos y los otros dos no superaban los doce minutos. Cabe la posibilidad que dicho servicio haya sido cancelado, tanto en Onda Corta cómo por internet, por el momento en su web tan sólo se actualiza las noticias escritas (José Miguel Romero, June 8, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Rechecked the website of MRSCG June 11 and found the displayed name still includes Montenegro, there is new news dated today, and a 3:36 audio file of news in English wherein the ID is now given as ``Radio Serbia`` http://www.radioyu.org/index.php3?language=English But are they active on 6100 or 7200 now? 73, (Glenn Hauser, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Saludos Glenn, el servicio en español también está activo en la red; se identifica cómo "Radio Serbia, informativo en español", el audio es de 4´16´´. Por otra parte sigo sin captar señal en OC; acabo de chequear en 6100, 7200 y 7220, sin resultado. 73 (José Miguel Romero, Spain, ibid.) Nothing heard from Belgrade on 6100 kHz SW in 1945-2015 UT portion, today Sunday June 11. Only CRI in Arabic on air, SINPO 44554, DRM interference from LUX 6095 kHz: 6100 1800-2200 37-40,47E,48NW KAS 500 269 CHN CRI RTC I'll check it on weekdays again. On former \\ 9620 kHz channel heard DW in Arabic from Sines-POR: 9620 2000-2157 37S,38,39,47N,48N SIN 250 95 ARABIC POR DWL 73 (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SINGAPORE. RSI external service in English at 11-14 on 6080 now is ruined by ABC NT service temporary relay via Shepparton; see AUSTRALIA (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn: I got aware on this since last Sat. June 3, while checking 6080 for Radio Singapore, heard this co-channel sports transmission in the background, that went beyond 1200 with that Aussie accent, but always with RS in the foreground. I went to WRTH and RA is listed here from 1400 ahead, but I remembered that Alice Springs has been upgrading transmitter site, so 6080 must be in a temporary sked on this. After several days have gone by and nobody seemed to notice this, I was about to post my listening on this Wed. June 7 at 1147, RSI was playing a string of classic oldies: "Beeechwood" by The Marvelettes, "It's Only Make Believe" by Conway Twitty, Neil Sedaka's "Calender Girl" and the more recent "Call Me" by Blondie. Was on playing this one that I decided to check for // 6150, thinking I won't hear anything but DGS Cahuita which signs off by 1200. But no problem, a weaker RS signal was there with the same tune. As the Australian transmitter had no sports this time, they seemed to be in a kind of competition with RSI playing a more recent pop oldies style (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SLOVAKIA. Here we go again, Glenn: But first I had a proposal which has been commented by RSI in Bratislava both on the air and in an E- mail to me from their Pete Miller. I suggested the Bratislava 50 kW MW transmitter on 1098 kHz which is very solid here during the night could be used for RSI transmissions in addition to webcasts in the future. The RSI people thought it was a constructive idea but doubted it would gain support 'high up'. Here now the translation from French: The female director of the National Radio is looking for possibilities for maintaining Radio Slovakia International. Monday June 5th the female director of the National Radio Miloslava Zernkova who was received by the President of the Slovak Republic Ivan Gasparovic', put forward the idea of maintaining RSI which for 13 years now has been transmitting daily to the whole world in five foreign languages and in Slovak for the Slovak community living abroad. Due to the lack of financial means, a decision has been taken by the Directorate, and later approved by the Radio Council, on one hand to cease transmitting on shortwaves and on the other hand to reduce the personnel of this department considerably. According to Ivan Gasparovic', President of the Slovak Republic, it's not meaningful to speed up things and it would be wise to get to know the coming government's point of view. Furthermore, the Head of state underlines that it's very difficult to regain the shortwave frequencies once they have been abandoned. According to Mrs Zernkova, there are several possibilities "to keep RSI alive" which are plausible: to prolong the contract regarding the frequencies with the telecommunications (ITU? my remark, UQ), a new model of financing or passing over to another mode of transmitting. As from July 1st and according to the strategy of the Slovak Radio, the RSI programs are going to be broadcast only by satellite and on the internet, which will diminish the number of listeners considerably. Not only the RSI personnel but also several deputies, the Bureau for Slovaks living abroad and also the World Association for Slovaks abroad have protested against this decision. Oh, that was a long text! Greetings again (Ullmar Qvick, Sweden, June 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOMALIA [non]. Cland, 15515, Mustaqbal, OM ca 0805 June 1 in Arabic speaking fat but with big gaps, numbering, spelling letters and a drum play. Possibly drum lessons? At 0811 with Horn of Africa song, 0813 with a possible ID under a fade out. Near marginal signal at max S1-2. Also on 8 June with marginal signal hearing a drum play (Zacharias Liangas, Retziki, THS, Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15515 0600-0815 12346 CLA Radio Mustaqbal SO EAf /UAE (EiBi A-06 via DXLD) ** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. Checked the Overcomer website June 8 to see if there is any sign of regular broadcasts via Guiana French following the tests on 13770, 17720. Not a word; guess God advised BS not to go with them, despite apparent good results. A week of free tests is worth quite something, anyway. If only God would now tell him to shut up, he`s got it all wrong (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN [non]. 17585, Darfur salaam? 1710 June 1, talks in Arab, mostly young boys and girls told. Ibrahim Ismail name heard at 1716, 1720 short talks in English heard about children, and a mention of Sudan. Song at 1725 and close at 1730 with mention of BBC !! signal S9 45534 // 15515 S20 45554 (Zacharias Liangas, Retziki, THS, Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SWEDEN. INTERNATIONAL RELAYS TO DISAPPEAR IN STOCKHOLM This is the title of an item in medianetwork.blogspot.com To get to a Swedish news item via non-Swedish news sources is not too rare. Here is why. During my spells abroad I have noticed that the Swedish language news of Radio Sweden is totally unbiased, which, unfortunately, is not the case with that of the home service P1 news, where I often discover hidden agendas in the service of the governing coalition. As far as I know, the BBC World Service, NPR and RCI have never been heard on any Swedish FM channel outside of Stockholm. Their disappearance from the Stockholm dial is consistent with the previous closing down of a few other language services which were heard nationwide and targeted at immigrants. English language programmes would appeal to a much greater audience, not necessarily immigrants, and that appears to be a hitch to a state- controlled media conglomerate such as Sveriges Radio. On the cable TV scene, the panorama is much the same. No in-depth news coverage is available from foreign channels unless you mount a parabolic antenna. One would think that Norwegian and Danish TV would be offered, but this is not the case. And Euronews was cut from the cable menu several years ago. "Sweden is a small country, so small in fact that there is room for only one opinion at a time" is a usual saying in this country. To keep it that way, news has to be served in spoonfuls (Henrik Klemetz, Sweden, June 8, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. IBB cancelling relays via ALBANIA: q.v. ** U S A. ALWYN JAMES, 1927-2006 --- Another VOA broadcaster, who probably had as many fans as Willis Conover, recently passed away. Many of you who heard VOA’s English-to-Africa signing for the morning at 0300 UT probably remember Al James, host of VOA`s Daybreak Africa. Al died on 2 May. He had retired a few years ago. I remember listening to Al on my shortwave radio, and I always admired the energy and friendliness of his delivery. I think Al’s talents were never sufficiently appreciated at VOA. But I`m sure they were in Africa, location of VOA`s largest English audience, in the morning, when most Africans listen to the radio. I highlighted Al and his colleagues on Daybreak Africa in the first issue of VOA Guide, a schedule publication I created for VOA listeners (Kim`s column, June NASWA Journal via DXLD) OBIT; there have been 2 or 3 previous items ** U S A. WHY YOU ARE NOT HEARING ``VOA NEWS, BAGHDAD.`` It`s because the VOA bureau in Baghdad has been closed for the past six months, according to the Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/22/AR2006052201386.html The VOA reporter there, Alisha Ryu, had been fired upon, and her bodyguard killed. Interestingly, Alhurra and Radio Sawa have fifty Iraqi employees. But their reports are not used by VOA because, according to the structure of U.S. international broadcasting, VOA and Alhurra/Sawa are separate and competing entities. And then there are the U.S. private broadcasting networks still reporting from Iraq. But VOA doesn’t use their reports, either. By contrast, BBC World Service makes full use of the journalistic resources of the domestic BBC. The lesson here is that U.S. international broadcasting should be consolidated, and it should enter into a partnership with U.S. domestic broadcasting. The remaining advantage of shortwave in our multimedia age is its ability to get a signal into areas where reception is blocked, jammed, distant, or otherwise difficult. We know that analog shortwave can do this. It remains to be seen if DRM will be equally robust (Kim`s column, June NASWA Journal via DXLD) ** U S A. Re 6-084: The 5810 unID is not WYFR, but WEWN, now scheduled there in English to Ams & Eu at 00-05, ex-5035. Did anyone notice when they left 5035? (Glenn, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I guess the feds found a reason to reserve 5035 for themselves (gh, DXLD) Prezado Glenn! Agradeço a identificação da frequência 5810. 73! (Antônio Louzada, PORTO ALGRE - RS, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WBCQ Schedule Update, Saturday, June 10, 2006. "Odin Lives" has concluded its run on 7415. It was Friday at 0000 UT (Thursday 8 PM eastern time). This time slot is now available. "The Word Of The Cross" returns to WBCQ Sundays at 1900 UT (3 PM eastern time), replacing Dezert Owl's "Inside View On Health." "Shortwave Overnight - Free Speech Rock and Roll" is now confirmed to be two hours starting at 0500 UT Sunday morning. It was originally a three hour show. This show will be webcast live from Lee Midwood's Texas studio on http://11l-rni.net:8018 (Larry Will, WBCQ, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. KRPS GETS WEBCAST COURTESY OF COMPETITOR KRPS, public radio in Pittsburgh KS, 89.9, does not webcast. However, before and after 2300 UT June 8 we hear it on the KXMS 88.7 Joplin MO stream via http://www.kxms.org/ie3.asp KRPS is running All Things Considered at the moment, hardly something which needs yet another webstream --- but check out Ted Koppel`s debut today, as previously mentioned, on the ATC archive at http://www.npr.org Nor does KRPS have much in the way of original, unique programming, but check their grid at http://www.krps.org/whatson.htm From previous experience, this is because KXMS uses a very unreliable, poor quality and outmoded method to webcast: an FM tuner with automatic search function at a server some distance from its own studio and transmitter. When the KXMS signal goes off, the tuner looks around for the next signal up the band and locks onto it. KXMS was off the air for several days earlier in June due to transmitter problems. Naturally, this also put them off the webcast too, since there has to be an air signal to get into the webcast, which at best is lo-fi and with background interference! When we first noticed on Sunday morning June 4, the webcast was streaming nothing but noise. Our attempts to reach KXMS by e-mail to the contact address on their website bounced repeatedly. This is a real shame as Jeff Skibbe of KXMS proudly does most of his own original classical music programming, taking account of birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, etc. and it is previewed in detail on advance daily playlists. The KXMS air signal is now back on the air, their website says, but it seems no one has reset the tuner for webcast purposes. How long will this go on benefiting KRPS? Axually, Koppel first appeared on NPR June 7, maybe not on the 8th: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5457422 (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, June 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WJCC 1700 (illegal?) reactivation --- They decided to leave the transmitter on post sunset tonight, 0206+ 9 June as I type. Blowing in, the usual canned Classic Rock alternating with great Latin pop, bachata, etc. Great to hear a Latin track backed to Olivia Newton-John's "Hopelessly Devoted To You." Real radio, for the moment it lasts. Whoever programmed this deserves a job at, umm, XM or a good pirate (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. June 3 marked the first anniversary of WCBS-FM dropping oldies format after 33 years, for Jack FM. Still going with half the audience ratings. HD2 has oldies. It`s also the semi-anniversary of WABC 770 airing Saturday night oldies with host Mark Simone. Old DJs interviewed. Also music artists of that era, 6-10 pm [ET = Sat 2200- 0200 UT Sun] (Bob Thomas, Bridgeport CT, June 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Hello, Even though it's not shortwave --- an interesting catch. KRVI 95.1 FM "The River" Barnesville, Fargo, Moorhead, Minnesota being heard in the West Georgia area since 06/06/2006. Reception at times is like Atlanta local stations. Can be monitored afternoons with clear reception. Don't know how long this one will last. more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KRVI http://www.river95.com/ (Jon Maples, Tallapoosa, Georgia, June 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Well, that must be only coincidental if you were getting it 5 afternoons in a row. Sporadic-E openings must be bringing in lots more stations from the same area (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** U S A. OOPS --- WALB TOWER FALLS ALONG WITH DAMAGED TOWER NEXT TO IT --- http://www.walb.com/Global/story.asp?S=5006920 Includes several videos and follow-up. Now, please tell me again, why the two towers were not far enough apart so one could not possibly hit the other? O well, off-the-air reception hardly matters any more (Glenn Hauser, June 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. ADULT SWIM REOPENS 'PEE-WEE'S PLAYHOUSE' Show will join AS lineup in July --- June 5 2006 http://www.zap2it.com/tv/news/zap-adultswim-peeweesplayhouse,0,4973235.story Adult Swim is bringing another show populated by flesh-and-blood actors to its late-night world, but this one fits a little better into the cartoon landscape. Starting Monday, July 10, "Pee-wee's Playhouse" will join the Adult Swim weeknight lineup. Cartoon Network's late-night alter ego plans to air all 45 episodes of the half-hour series, plus a 1988 Christmas special that has rarely seen the light of day since its initial airing. "We're all huge fans of 'Pee-wee's Playhouse,' and we're really happy that it will be a part of Adult Swim," says Mike Lazzo, who oversees Adult Swim for Cartoon Network. Paul Reubens, who created Pee-wee as a member of the L.A. comedy troupe the Groundlings in the late 1970s, pronounces himself delighted to be part of Adult Swim: I'd say this was a dream come true, but I never dared to dream the 'Playhouse' would join Adult Swim's amazing lineup of cool shows!" he says. "Well, maybe I did dream of it a couple of times. OK, it's a dream come true!" "Pee-wee's Playhouse" as part of CBS' Saturday-morning lineup in 1986 and ran off and on for five years. The candy-colored show featured animation and sketch comedy aimed at kids; Phil Hartman, Laurence Fishburne and "Law & Order" star S. Epatha Merkerson all played recurring characters. The show ended after Reubens' 1991 arrest for indecent exposure at an adult theater in Sarasota, Fla. Since then, Reubens has appeared in such movies as "Blow" and "Mystery Men," made a number of TV guest appearances (notably "Murphy Brown") and has done extensive voiceover work. Later this year he'll appear in "Reno 911!: Miami," a movie based on the Comedy Central show. "Pee-wee's Playhouse" is the second live-action show Adult Swim has added to its lineup recently. A two-week run of "Saved by the Bell" earlier this year met with widespread derision among the channel's devotees (via gh, DXLD) Another version gives the exact scheduling, 11 pm Mon-Thu from July 10, presumably meaning ET = 0300 UT Tue-Fri, same as Comedy Central`s the Daily [sic] Show, now back from a fortnight of reruns, and BTW its next-morning replay accompanied by The Colbert Report have been shifted a bihour earlier to 12-13 rather than 14-15 UT --- http://tv.yahoo.com/news/va/20060606/114958702900.html (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. Hola desde Mallorca, heard every evening RASD on MW 1550.00 kHz, at least 50 kW (Wolfgang Büschel, June 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZIMBABWE. 6612, ZBC, 1950 1 June with phone ins in a local language. At 2000 YL with talks on Islam, 2010 classic music, talks on Burundi, Africa 52 followed by classical music and Afropop song with leading man singer; 2021 with talks by several men and woman; 2030 phone ins. Signal was great at S5 24332 (S9 over S3 using preamplifier) with sporadic QRM from 6617 Russian Volmet. Signal was S1 at 2120 (Zacharias Liangas, Retziki, THS, Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 2 x 3306 UNIDENTIFIED. Glenn, I picked up a test transmission on 9710 last evening from VT Merlin Communications, message repeated every minute as follows from 2245 to 2300: "You are listening to a test transmission by BC Merlin Communications, a leading provider of International Broadcast Services. If you would like to find out more about us, please visit us at www.vtplc.com/merlin". SINPO 35333. I am going to try and send a reception report. At 2300, the signal was lost under the sign-on of an unID station on 9715. The web site is http://www.vtplc.com/communications/ (Ed Insinger, NJ, June 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Another test, for what client? (gh, DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. More Merlin tests: 13640 at 2100-2115 / 2200-2215 also, weekdays ? 5875 at 0300 UT 73 de wb (Wolfgang Büschel, June 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. June 7 at 1248 on 11815 found some Mexican folk music overriding REE via Costa Rica in Galician, substantial SAH. Nothing else listed here as a clue. NHK Warido from Japan to SE Asia in Japanese also in the mix, and in the clear from 1302 after the others went off (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ LAUGHS ON NAVASSA Glenn, I almost forgot to comment that I keep a recording of that one- of-a-kind WOR Extra 17 from 1997, when you abandoned yourself laughing on the air at the Navassa Island feature. That was one of the best moves you have made while recording your show, not cutting off that spontaneous expression, that showed us a different approach to GH personality, if we compare it with that serious voice we hear every week on WOR (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, June 7, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) MUSEA +++++ THE NEEDLES ISLE OF WIGHT MARCONI LINK In March of 2006 I was fortunate enough to be able to visit a virtually crowd free Alum Bay on the Isle of Wight and also to get down on to the beach to see the coloured rocks. I have been there before and taken some pictures of the Marconi memorial site but do not recollect having filed a web report about this spectacular site. Indeed I did in fact see some other interesting Radios there as well and will tell you all about them in this article. Firstly a rough guide to the location in case you would like to incorporate a visit when you are at the Isle of Wight next. iT It is located at Alum Bay, the nearest town being Totland. It is probably easier to access by car or on a coach trip if you use public transport. . . http://www.wirelesswaffle.co.uk/page7.htm (Keith Knight, June BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) INTERNATIONAL MUSEUMS WEEKEND The International Museums Weekend will take place on the 17th and 18th of June 2006. More information can be had from http://www.ukradioamateur.co.uk/imw http://www.southgatearc.org/news/june2006/howth_imw.htm During the first 'International Museums Event 2002' over 80 museums from all over the world took part. The museums varied from tiny local village museums manned by a single lone operator, to some of the world`s most prestigious ones. These were accompanied by a great number of military museum sites, such as HMS Belfast in London, the Battleship New Jersey in the US, RAF museums as well as very many non- military types. The event has proven itself to be extremely popular and well supported special event particularly amongst the UK radio amateur population. It also went down very well at the museums which were used as the venues for the event, and invitations have again been extended for the coming June. It has shown itself to be a tremendous public relations exercise, as well as all of us having lots of fun over the IMW weekend. At least part of the intention for this event, is to present modern amateur radio to members of the public and to help us lose some of the stuffy anorak image. What better place to do this than in the very public and well visited areas of the many museums which can be found in most parts of the world? (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES +++++++++++++++++++++++++ MADISON-MILWAUKEE RADIO GET-TOGETHER, AUGUST 19 This is the first announcement of the 13th Annual Madison-Milwaukee Get-Together for DXers and Radio Enthusiasts. Please make a note of the date and location, mark your calendar, and ask for the day off! (One more message about this event will appear on these same lists about ten days prior to the event.) Date: Saturday, August 19, 2006 Time: 1 p.m. until ?? Location: the home of Neil Kazaross, 1380 Lake Shore Rd in Grafton WI, which is located in Ozaukee Co., just north of Milwaukee. Note: We sincerely thank Neil Kazaross and his wife for graciously offering to host the event at their home. Tim Noonan is organizing the event, and you are encouraged to direct correspondence regarding it to Tim DXing2 @ aol.com Background: This is an all-band event, and everyone interested in the radio hobby is welcome. The first ten of these annual events took place in Madison, hosted either by Bill Dvorak or myself. Though I moved with my wife and sons to Oak Creek in south suburban Milwaukee in July 2003, my commitment to the event remains. Thus, the August get-togethers now alternate between venues in the Milwaukee and Madison areas. Further information: I will be mailing or e-mailing detailed invitations beginning about June 15. These will supply directions, dinner plans, etc. Please feel free to be in touch with me (Tim) at DXing2 @ aol.com or 414 762-2702 with any questions. Tell your radio friends about it, and make your plans early to join us for another fun and memorable day of visiting with your fellow radio hobbyists. 73, (Tim Noonan, DXing2 @ aol.com Oak Creek WI, June 6, HCDX via DXLD) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ FCC CITES FLORIDA UTILITY FOR INTERFERENCE TO RADIO AMATEUR ARRL EMC Engineer Mike Gruber, W1MG, demonstrates one technique for pinpointing power line noise. [caption] NEWINGTON, CT, June 8, 2006--The FCC has issued a Citation to Lakeland Electric, a municipally owned utility in Lakeland, Florida, for violating Part 15 rules by interfering with a local radio amateur. §15.5(c) of the FCC rules requires that the operator of an "incidental radiator" must cease operating the device after an FCC representative notifies the operator that the device is causing harmful interference. The "incidental radiator" in this case is overhead power lines. Under an agreement, the ARRL and the FCC cooperate in resolving cases of line noise interference to Amateur Radio licensees. "Power line noise continues to generate the bulk of interference complaints that ARRL receives," says ARRL Electromagnetic Compatibility Engineer Mike Gruber, W1MG, who says the League reviews hundreds of such complaints each year. About half of them are resolved promptly by the utilities, in some instances with assistance from the ARRL Laboratory. Gruber says he believes this is the first time the FCC has issued a Citation to a utility in a case involving power line interference to ham radio. J. C. Flynn, W4FGC, says he's been plagued by power line noise for more than 10 years. FCC Part 15 rules classify most power lines and related equipment as "incidental radiators" and prohibit harmful interference to licensed services. The radio amateur involved, J. C. Flynn, W4FGC, told ARRL that Lakeland Electric has been good about fixing routine problems, but he doesn't think the utility personnel know how to resolve cases of power line noise. "I have been 10 years trying to get something done," he said, adding that the noise affects all HF bands. "It is terrible!" Flynn first noticed the power line noise around 1995. Subsequent complaints, assurances from the utility that it was addressing the problem--or that it couldn't find one--and even some FCC warnings followed before the FCC issued its Citation to Lakeland Electric on May 16. Flynn, who's now 84, told the League that as of June 7, nothing had been done to fix the severe line noise at his location, which he demonstrated over the telephone on several bands. He said he especially enjoys getting on 40 meter SSB with a large roundtable of friends. Commented Gruber: "There has been no activity by the utility in resolving this problem in over a year, and Mr Flynn's noise case now appears to be at a standstill." The League's involvement in the case goes back to January 2001, when Flynn requested the League's assistance. Gruber says the League's role is to provide technical information and guidance to utilities "to keep a complaint from reaching the point of a Citation." In late 2005, Gruber had a chance to check the line noise at Flynn's QTH firsthand. He had taken RFI gear to a Florida ham radio convention for a talk and demonstration. Afterward, on his own time, Gruber--with help from ARRL West Central Florida Section Manager Dee Turner, N4GD-- took some noise measurements of his own. "Since I was on vacation, this afforded me an opportunity for a closer look at this longstanding interference situation," Gruber said. Gruber submitted the results of his on-site inspection to the FCC. Personnel from the Commission's Tampa field office followed up with their own inspection before issuing the Citation, which lays the groundwork for a possible Notice of Apparent Liability proposing to fine the utility if the interference problem is not resolved. "I hope this case serves as a precedent for FCC enforcement, where appropriate, in power line noise cases," said Gruber, who's compiled various reports and correspondence relating to the Lakeland Electric power line interference case into a booklet of approximately 60 pages. "While the League will work with amateurs in such cases for as long as it takes," he added, "we hope the FCC Citation will serve as a warning to electric utilities that it's not acceptable to take months or years to fix the problem causing the interference." (ARRL via Bill Smith, IA, DXLD) Not about BPL, it seems, just ordinary powerline noise (gh) CLOSING RADIO SHACKS Go to the RS website, do a store lookup for a local zip code and you'll see as you scroll down which ones (if any) are scheduled to close in this round. I don't think it matters if it's independently owned, but if it wasn't performing, it'd probably have already gone away (Russ Edmunds, Blue Bell, PA, NRC-AM via DXLD) RADIO SHACK SALE ON ETON PORTABLES I haven't heard you mention that Radio Shack -- in addition to wiping out some stores down to the fixtures (#1318) -- has a closeout on the Eton (alias Grundig) portables E-10 and and E-100 going on now. The -100 (200 memories) is half the size of the paperback-sized -10 (550 memories). The sale is limited to quantities on hand. One store had the -100 for $80 and the -100 for $50; another had just the -100, for $50. I thought about for a few minutes, and bought the E-100. No a.c. supply. Another RS store had a Grundig YB-400 for $100, but I passed on that. Comments: The E-100 is sized so that I can slip it into my jeans pocket. The frequency coverage is 0.52-29.995 MHz and FM 88-108; you can change parameters to the MW 9 kHz step and 76-108 FM. The SWBC bands from 120 to 11 meters can be stepped through, tuning is 5 or 1 kHz increments, AM mode only. FM stereo in headphones; button headphones included. Two AA batteries (3 vdc), included, seem to power the radio forever. I doubt that I'll bother dragging an adaptor around. A neat trick is the radio power button defaults to the sleep mode (120 min default; I changed it to 90 min) so there is no accidentally leaving the radio on all night. I can tell at night the -100 doesn't like the 23 ft (7m) reel antenna I dragged out of the parts box. Stronger 49m signals are heard 910 kHz lower. The "chuff" is muted on band-scanning, 5 kHz steps, begun with a key-press, but not when manually fine-tuning at the 1 kHz step. On the 21 in (50 cm) whip alone, I was surprised to hear the Voice of Turkey on 5975 at 03 UT (Where oh where has the BBC gone? I thought they had deed and title to 5975 .), and I was pleased to find that the usual 49m powerhouse signals didn't obviate the use of the 49m band. Just for the heck of it, the next day I had the -100 while out in the Pine Barrens (taking some photos) and I heard the VoT 1830 UT English sign-on to Europe on 9785; quite listenable on the -100's whip. Considering the normal street price of the E-100, in my opinion the radio performs significantly better than I probably should expect and I think I picked up a bargain. (For comparison, my other receivers are the JRC NRD-525, the SONY ICF-7600GR, the Yeasu VR-500 and Yeasu VX-6.) Regards, (Tom Sundstrom, NJ, June 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) CAR RADIO ANTENNA QUESTION Hey all you antenna experts, I just bought a Honda Fit that has one of those little 6" stub AM/FM antennas on the roof, the kind that you can unscrew if you go through an aggressive carwash. My question is: how does this antenna work? What is under the black plastic coating? When you unscrew it, all you see is a threaded stud on the antenna that turns into a threaded mount on the car. For FM, the normal car antenna is a 31" quarter-wave vertical; for AM, it is the same 31" rod, an irrelevant smidgin of BCB wavelength, tuned with a network in the radio front end. But in the case of this little stubby, what's the technological description of what's inside & how it works on both FM and AM? Feel free to be as techy as you wish; I know enough about antenna design (wavelengths, impedance, polarization) to grasp it, & I prefer a good heavy-hitter, "ham"-fisted explanation! Thanks in advance! (Fred Schroyer, Freelance Science Writer / Editorial Consultant, Waynesburg, PA 15370, NRC-AM via DXLD) I can answer the 'what it is' part but I haven't tried one. We have similar antennas in the world of amateur VHF - the inside consists of a coil of wire, wrapped so as to be resonant for the frequencies in question. It's similar - just different frequencies - to what hams use on their portables You'd see the same on some number of VHF commercial walkie-talkies also. You might want to read your owners' manual carefully as you might find that the FM antenna might be imbedded in the windshield (front or back) somewhere. If not, then both AM & FM are in that one little package. Performancewise I'd expect it to be no worse than the single whip antenna used on cars as recently as the late 1990's (Russ Edmunds, PA, ibid.) We own a 2003 Toyota Camry. The AM/FM antenna consists of the car's body. I "discovered" this one Saturday while doing some "Dashboard DXing" in the grocery store parking lot, waiting for my wife. I had great copy on a very weak FM station when my wife came up to the car and opened the trunk. Swoosh -- no copy on the FM station! Close the trunk, the station came back. I've noticed the same thing on the AM band, too. "Unibody" antenna?? (Stephen Ponder N5WBI, Southeast TX DXer http://setxdxer.blogspot.com/ Houston TX USA, ibid.) I'm not sure that's totally conclusive - the same effect might result from an antenna imbedded in the rear window (Russ Edmunds, ibid.) Hi Stephen, You just tapped deep into my memory banks. About a year ago I was dashboard DXing picking up weak FM station approximately 60 miles away, when I discovered that opening the driver's side door of my 2003 Volkswagen Eurovan, the signal improved considerably. Since I was already pointed that way, it appeared the open door increased the plane visible to the signal (Joe Miller, Troy, MI, ibid.) THE VALVE RADIO A 3300-word monologue by Suhayl Saadi, first broadcast in April 2002 on BBC Radio Scotland`s Still Lives programme: http://sarmed.netfirms.com/suhayl/NEW/articles_essays/valve/index.htm (via Chris Brand, Webwatch, June BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) THE MAGAZINE ART http://www.magazineart.org A free visual database of miscellaneous North American magazine cover art from the 19th and 20th centuries. Go to contents, then scroll down for a selexion of electronic and radio magazine covers such as Radio Craft and Radio Age. There are some lovely images to be found therein (Sheldon Harvey, HF Internet Newsletter via Don Thornton, NJ, ibid.) URVILLE http://urville.com Drawings, plans and history of a vibrant and beautiful imaginary city created by a Frenchman with Aspergers Syndrome, a fascinating virtual tour. Including the RTV Métropolitaine Building, home to Radio Urville and the first French TV channel in 1945, Télévision Métropolitane. A hugely enjoyable fantasy (via Chris Brand, Webwatch, June BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING ++++++++++++++++++++ DRM SUI 26 MHZ Ciao a tutti, vi segnalo la ricezione di questi due segnali DRM in banda 26, effettuata stasera a Roma intorno alle 21:00 locali con il solito Ic 756 e antenna verticale. Entrambe le stazioni arrivavano con SNR basso e solo qualche spezzone di audio. khz ID 26000 WRN Europe da Londra 25765 TDF Nr 1. da Parigi con 400 watt In questi giorni i 26/28 MHz sono aperti, si possono ascoltare tutto il giorno segnali da tutta l'europa e quindi non e' male provare ad ascoltare queste stazioni Drm a bassa potenza. 73 And IW0HK -- 9Andrea Borgnino IW0HK http://www.mediasuk.org/iw0hk http://www.mediasuk.org/archive http://www.biciurbana.org June 6, BCLNews.it via CONTINENT OF MEDIA 06-05, DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ LONGWAVE STILL WORKS Just because it's summer, don't discount longwave when the lightning static is low. Both France-Inter 162 KHz and Europe One in Germany 182 KHz at good solid levels on June 8 0230-0300 UT. Both in French. Very little atmospheric static, and as we know, the sunspots are low. A crazy summer: E-skip on TV in the day, longwave BC at night (Brock Whaley, GA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) TIPS FOR RATIONAL LIVING ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Re 6-076: If it is not sung, it is not a ``song`` (Glenn Hauser) I beg to differ. Instrumental versions of songs with lyrics are still songs (Clara Listensprechen, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Well, OK. I was really objecting to the very loose use of the word ``song`` these days even by music professionals, teachers, broadcasters such as for a piece of instrumental-only classical music which was never sung nor meant to be (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) ###