DX LISTENING DIGEST 6-114, August 1, 2006 Incorporating REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING edited by Glenn Hauser, http://www.worldofradio.com Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only if full credit be maintained at all stages and we be provided exchange copies. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without permission. Materials taken from Arctic or originating from Olle Alm and not having a commercial copyright are exempt from all restrictions of noncommercial, noncopyrighted reusage except for full credits For restrixions and searchable 2006 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn FIRST SHORTWAVE AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1324: Wed 2200 on WBCQ 7415 Wed 2300 on WBCQ 18910-CLSB Fri 2030 on WWCR1 15825 [WRMI schedule changing: see U S A] 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 NETS TO YOU August edition: http://www.w4uvh.net/nets2you.html DX/SWL/MEDIA PROGRAMS August 1: http://worldofradio.com/dxpgms.html ** ALBANIA. 7450 off. Dear Drita, The last two nights (Friday and Saturday here) nothing has been audible on 7450 during the English broadcasts to North America, although 6115 comes in well. 7450 appears to be off the air. I wonder what the problem is, and hope you will have it back in operation soon. Best wishes, (Glenn Hauser, Oklahoma, to Drita Cico, R. Tirana, via DXLD) Dear Glenn, Tx. 1 at Shijak is out of order since Wednesday 26 July. My director told me that Tx. 1 will be off air for at least one week. Radio Tirana Tx. 2 Shijak is on air in the morning until TWR starts at 0700 UT. So, priority is given to the TWR via Shijak. A few days ago I received a reception report from USA as below. All the best from a sunny hot Tirana, (Drita Cico, ARTV-Head of Monitoring Center, RADIO TIRANA, July 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: Dear Mrs. Cico, Recently I have been reading quite a bit about Radio Tirana in the shortwave media here in the USA. Much has been written about your new frequency of 7450 so I thought that I would listen to see what kind of signal you were putting out on this frequency. Despite several attempts over the last two weeks I have been unable to hear anything on this frequency. In fact until last evening, July 27 at 0230 UT I had not heard anything from Radio Tirana even on 6115. However last night your signal came through with very good strength and readability. I listened to your entire program until sign off at 0248. The news and sports coverage were informative and clear. However when you started your Mailbox program there seemed to be a drop in the audio level of your signal. This made it very difficult to listen the details of this program, which I was most interested to hear. I did manage to catch a brief reference to some traditional Albanian cuisine at the end of the program but the details were unintelligible. Too bad, as cooking is one of my interests. I know that you have been seeking feedback on your programs so I just wanted to drop you this message to let you know that I have been attempting to tune you in and listening when I can. I do not know what your program schedule is like but I am interested in both tourism and ancient history of all parts of the world. If Radio Tirana has any such programs I would be interested to listen. Perhaps you can forward a program schedule. I'll include my postal address at the conclusion of this message in case you can not forward a schedule via e-mail. I hope this feedback is helpful and what you are seeking. If you need further information from me please let me know as I would be glad to help you. Before I go, Just wanted to thank you for the new years card you sent me this past winter. Best Regards, (Stephen Wood, South Yarmouth, Massachusetts 02664 USA, via Cico, DXLD) ** ARGENTINA. 6214.1, R. Baluarte, Ptº Iguazú, 2053-2133 (never so good this early), 24 Jul, Portuguese, talks, folk songs, announcements for religious rally on 11 Aug; 34343, adjacent QRM 6205 (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, August 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. PROGRAM NOTES FROM THE ANGLO WORLD Radio Australia often has news and feature items not heard elsewhere, particularly on Australian and Asia / Pacific affairs. A news item on July 30 (and more in depth on ``PM`` heard July 31 explained the controversy over recycled waste water used for drinking. A number of inland cities will face this crunch sooner than coastal cities, that have generally more rainfall and have more options available (such as desalinization). The Queensland City of Toowoomba recently had a vote on this issue, the first in Australia, and plans for recycled water were rejected about 60% to 40%. There were comments on using such water as unsafe, as recycled sewage can cause gender changes in fish. This idea was rejected as unsubstantiated by officials. However, treated water is already being released into the Murray River at some places, which then provides safe drinking water for Adelaide downstream. Also, similar systems are already in use in Singapore. Can it be much longer before this becomes a hot topic in the US, especially in some of our overly developed areas of the desert Southwest or Front Range of the Rockies? (Roger Chambers, Utica, New York, July 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also NEW ZEALAND; UK ** AUSTRALIA. 4536, 2NA, Newcastle (Harmonic). 3 x 1512, interview program // other Radio National outlets 0453, fair 1/7 (Craig Seager, Limekilns, near Bathurst NSW, Aug Australian DX News via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. 5049.95, ARDS, Humpty Doo. Reactivated, English ID 1900 27/7 as "Aboriginal Development Service", 27/7 (Chris Hambly, Box Hill, Vic., Australian DX News via DXLD) Talks in Aboriginal language 2135 28/7, music 2140 with didgeridoos etc., pops 2145. Full ID 2150 – haven’t heard this for a while, 28/7 (Craig Seager, Bathurst NSW, Icom R75, Horizontal Loop, Aug Australian DX News via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. BROADCAST AUSTRALIA & THLA: During May a joint press release was issued by Broadcast Australia, the company which owns the sites from which ABC, SBS and many commercial services are broadcast and THLA, the company which, among other activities, owns and operate the transmitting facilities at Charleville and Wiluna from which VMC & VMW the Bureau of Meteorology services are transmitted also the transmit and receive facilities for VIC (AMSA & MRCC). The release stated that the two companies have signed a multi million dollar repair and maintenance contract whereby THLA will manage and maintain Broadcast Australia’s network of broadcast infrastructure and equipment across Australia. This agreement extends the relationship between the companies to 2008 and replaces an operation and maintenance contract due to expire at the end of December 2006. THLA is to provide 24/7 callout for service restoration, carry out preventative maintenance, undertake network risk analysis and risk management, manage site access, provide data collection and undertake performance analysis and reporting. In order to meet Broadcast Australia’s requirements THLA has taken on 50 additional staff. The Broadcast Australia network covers approximately 600 strategic transmission sites across Australia and the companies core business is the transmission of radio and television for the ABC and SBS to over 99% of households. The network is an important resource for other customers including commercial broadcasters, community broadcasters, telecommunications operators and the emergency services who use the site facilities. Broadcast Australia is a 100% owned subsidiary of Macquarie Communications Infrastructure Group. See http://www.broadcastaustralia.com.au/ THL Australia is a company ‘sort of’ descended from TVNZ and is the end result of acquisitions/mergers of other groups including some associated with AAP and Reuters. See http://www.thla.com.au/ Older ARDXC members will recall the days of the former PMG Department and their involvement in broadcasting, as the body responsible for transmitting facilities for the ABC, along with spectrum management etc. A phone call to a station could result in an invitation to visit and have a look over the facility. Gone seem to be the good old days. After the PMG was split into Australia Post and Telecom, the latter body wished to divest itself of the involvement with broadcasting. The Fraser Coalition Government agreed that the ABC should take over the transmitting facilities, a decision reversed by the succeeding Hawke Labour Government during 1981. However much has happened since and we have the situation today as outlined in the above paragraphs. It is somewhat ironic that so much of the infrastructure which was public property is now privately owned, but this has happened in overseas countries as well as Australia (via Allen Fountain, Aug Australian DX News via DXLD) ** BENIN. Jonathan Marks has been making a ``radio visit`` here on behalf of RN, and has put a number of entries in his blog, with photos, probably continuing into August. Start with July 16 in that month`s archive: http://criticaldistance.blogspot.com/2006_07_01_criticaldistance_archive.html (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. 4844.9, (Tentative) R. Norteño, 0146-0200*, Aug. 1, Spanish, Re-activated?? Spanish ballads and EZL music. Brief announcer at 0155 followed by a barely audible, tentative canned ID. Lengthy martial chorus/music (NA?) until 0200*. Fair with occasional data bursts (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, 200' Beverages, MLB-1, DTS-4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. On MW, quite a number of stations pop out here & there as early as 2045, with the self-imposed observation period going as late as 2300+ only. On some days, even MW was quieter, noisewise, than the 60 or even the 49 m band. 4775, R. Congonhas, Congonhas MG, 2140-2155, 24 Jul, advertisements, songs, sl. "quando acontece um fa(c)to, a R. Congonhas informa no a(c)to", news; 34332, QRM de usb traffic. NB: the brackets indicate that in Brazilian Portuguese letter "c" in those words was dropped, and it's indeed curious: we keep the "c", but its k sound is audible in "facto" and silent in "acto", so here again another disconcerting "facto", fact, about the Portuguese language that makes it rather tough to learn / speak. 5995 [sic; must mean 5955; and rarely reported?], R. Gazeta Universtária, São Paulo SP, 2206-2218, A Voz do Brasil part 1; 54433, adj. QRM de Bolivia 5952.4. 6040, R. Club Paranaense, Curitiba PR, 2218-2229, 26 Jul, end of part 1 (news) of A Voz do Brasil, then news from the Justice Dept.; 34332, QRM de Belarus. On 28 Jul, 2212-2219, their MW outlet on 1430 kHz was better than \\ 6040, at 43342. 9630, R. Aparecida, Aparecida SP, 095-1226, 26 Jul, program "Siga bem, caminhoneiro" [Braz. Portuguese "caminhoneiro", truck ("caminhão") driver; conversely, Standard Portuguese: camionista, camião], news, etc., mass at 1210; 35343 (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, August 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Carlos` full report, including many more Brazilian logs, appeared in the dxldyg (gh) ** BRAZIL. BRASIL – A direção da Rádio Nove de Julho, de São Paulo (SP), informou a Isaac Rosa, de Crateús (CE), que a emissora não tem mais interesse em transmitir em ondas curtas. A freqüência de 9820 kHz foi concedida para a emissora que, no passado, transmitiu em ondas curtas até o momento em que teve sua concessão cassada pela ditadura militar (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX via DXLD) ** BULGARIA. See ITALY [non] ** CANADA. "Star Wars" and CHU --- "About twenty minutes into the movie there is a shot in the Hoth base control room in which we hear Han's voice over radio describing what's left of the probe droid. One of the background sound effects in this shot was taken from the Canadian shortwave time signal station CHU, which can be heard at 3330 and 7335 MHz [sic]." http://uk.dvd.ign.com/articles/722/722134p1.html (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) Which SW, the original? Nice to know CHU will still be with us so far into the future (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** CANADA. Neil Kaz: I phoned the station to find out how long CHNS (960 kHz) would simulcast, but I didn't get a straight answer. However, the receptionist suggested I talk to someone higher up (all the big shots were at a meeting, apparently, when I called). I'll try again next week. CHNS is going to be a tough catch from Chicago. I don't think they put much power out in your direction. The format is still rock music, all announcements are canned, most ID's are just "Hal FM" with the FM frequency 89.9. There are no "AM 9-60" ID's / jingles / slogans (Jean Burnell, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, July 30, mwdx yg via DXLD) ** CHINA. 14305, CNR1. Very strong with news-type program in Chinese 0420 1/7. Probable jammer for Sound of Hope, which has been operating in this region and in fact is perhaps the vague signal under CNR (Craig Seager, Limekilns, near Bathurst NSW, Aug Australian DX News via DXLD) But seems to have quit 20m band lately (gh, DXLD) ** CHINA. NAME OF CHINA’S TOP TV STATION RISKS DOUBLING AS CONDOM BRAND The name of China`s state television company, China Central Television, or CCTV, may become a condom trademark if a local businessman has his way, official media said today. Li Zhenyong, from Fujian province in southeast China, wants to register the trademark for a range of products including not just condoms but also cervical caps, the China Daily reported on its website. Li`s application is now being assessed at the trademark bureau of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, but CCTV officials have already expressed ``shock,`` the paper said. A CCTV official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he was aghast that the name of CCTV had been chosen as a condom trademark and that the station might take legal action to stop the registration. (Source: AFP) (August 1st, 2006, 08:46 UTC by Andy, Media Network blog via DXLD) CC = cervical cap, obviously (gh) ** COLOMBIA. 5940.2, R. Marfil Estéreo via LV de tu Conciencia, Lomalinda, 2241-2254, 23 Jul, Spanish, songs; 55433, and was so for several days (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, August 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I assume this was meant to be 5910.2 as usual (gh, DXLD) ** CUBA. 5025, R. Rebelde, Bauta, observed 0840-f/out 0950, 24 Jul, songs, talks, news, morning program "Haciendo Radio"; 35433 (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, August 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. Situacion en Cuba !!! "Fidel Castro cede el poder por enfermedad --- El gobernante cubano sufrió una seria crisis intestinal con sangramiento interno que lo ha obligado a someterse a una operación quirúrgica, por lo cual delegó el lunes de modo provisional el poder en su hermano, el ministro de Defensa Raúl Castro". Fuente: http://www.miami.com/mld/elnuevo/ Les comento la situación es muy delicada en este momento, toda la radio del sur de la florida está alerta ante cualquier eventualidad que pudiera suceder en la isla cubana con la gravedad de Fidel. El panorama es único; la gente se ha lanzado a las calles en Miami para celebrar la "posible" muerte de Castro en este momento. Recomiendo y no quiero especular; sería bueno estar en sintonía con la radio a ver qué pasa. La historia ha demostrado con el pasar de los años ser testigo fiel de grandes sucesos. Seguimos en contacto. 73. (Dino Bloise [who is not Cuban], FLORIDA, EEUU, UT August 1, dxldyg via DXLD) I quickly checked the RHC website and found the text of Fidel`s proclamation on the Spanish page but not on the English page; could not get a webcast connexion. At 0530, RHC English on 11760, less distorted than // 9550 had Ed Newman reading the English version of same, then into sports news, Cuba dominating the Cartagena games (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) My one and only non-radio related posting. I hope you fellas don't mind. I've seen two extremes of view: Castro is near death, and not to worry, it's minor surgery and he'll be fine in a couple of weeks. In reality no one knows the answer, and it's my personal (medical) opinion that things are far more serious than my Canadian friend implies. Anyone at age 80 who has intestinal bleeding has a life- threatening illness. It's cancer until proven otherwise. The stress of a recent Argentinian trip holds little water in my view. Sure it could just be a bleeding ulcer, but nowadays these rarely need surgical intervention. I suspect more likely that it's a malignancy. At his advanced age, prognosis is not good. The Cuban media is playing the age-old communist disinformation methods that were so common in the USSR and Eastern Europe. I for one am going to keep close tabs on RHC over the next few days. Watch for somber orchestral music --- a sure sign of Castro's passing! (Walt Salmaniw, MD, Victoria, BC, dxldyg via DX LISTENIING DIGEST) ** CUBA [non]. WRMI schedule changes due to Fidel condition: see U S A ** DENMARK [and non]. MW Country #49 Verified --- Many thanks to v/s Erik Koie, Vagtchefen, of Danmarks Radio for the QSL received in today's mail, for DR 1062 Kalundborg. He posted an invitation for DXers, that I saw on Glenn Hauser's DXLD, to get their reports to him before he leaves the station in the fall. So I resent my unanswered report from earlier in the year. I got a prompt e-mail reply from him, and then the QSL arrived in today's mail. One was my prepared card, and the other was the "National Anthem" QSL card. This card is one of a set of four that when combined show a colorful landscape. I received the same cards many years ago for shortwave reception reports. Erik also enclosed various DR stickers. I used the address shown in the WRTH, with attention to Erik Koie, enclosed with an IRC. I have now verified Denmark on MW, LW, and SW. FM and TV seem a bit unlikely from here! This is MW country #49 (out of 61 heard) verified from Byron NY. Who are the hold-outs? Guinea - never sent a report in 1977 - I was poor then! Suriname - never sent a report in 1977 (though verified from New Canaan CT in 1972 or so) Senegal 774 - never sent a report in 1977. Panama 770 - no response to 1983 report. Honduras 660 - no response to 1983 report. El Salvador 655 - no response to 1984 report. Tunisia 1566 - no response to 1985 report. St. Vincent 705 - no response to 1993 report (station has now moved to an "even" channel") Montserrat 885 - no response to 1993 report, and the island has since been destroyed by a volcano. Bermuda 1160 - no response to 1995 report. Brazil 1100 - no response to 2003 report, despite multiple follow-ups. Azores 693 - still waiting for an answer to my 2006 report (Jim Renfrew, Byron NY, Aug 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA. 9704.2, Radio Ethiopia. 7/30/06, 0354-0416 in Amharic language. Man with Horn of Africa vocal. Flute music at 0400 followed by a man announcer with ID and news. News ended at 0409 followed by two woman talking and then another local musical selection. Fair (Rich D'Angelo, PA, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ** FRANCE. 162 kHz, Jul 31, 1140 UT, Powerhouse 162 kHz France Inter, Allouis surprised me with a documentary about WWII broadcasts to France, most of them from London. A lot of sound archive material including de Gaulle speeches, coded messages to the resistance, first news from liberated beaches in Normandy, first program from liberated Paris. Also propaganda bits - don't sign up for work in Germany, etc. Unfortunately I only heard the last 20 minutes, and with a thunderstorm just having passed here, statics were really cruel. When things have calmed down, I'll try some website. I think they mentioned http://www.franceinter.com With some luck one might find the program. Thunderstorms have knocked out half a dozen modems and an entire pc here, so I'm understandably a bit careful. /73 (Johan Berglund, Trollhättan, Sweden, AOR AR7030 30 m longwire, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Voilà, ``2000 Ans d`Histoire``: http://www.radiofrance.fr/chaines/france-inter01/emissions/histoire/ (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, I axually found the program. In a series called 2000 ans d'histoire. I am listening to it. http://www.radiofrance.fr/chaines/france-inter01/emissions/histoire/ Radio Londres. Without statics. /73 (Johan Berglund, Trollhättan, Sweden, ibid.) Yes, very interesting, although when the French language is spoken so quickly I unfortunately do get left behind and so I'm still trying to catch up on much of it! I was intrigued by the fact that the male speaker continued to identify the broadcasts from the UK as Radio Londres, but the lady did use the term BBC [pronounced as in English] from time to time. Maybe this was because of the "ici Londres" ID? There was also mention of several 'clandestine' stations - I haven't jotted their names down - and Radio Brazzaville, and I think I could hear something resembling jamming on a couple of recordings, so I assume they were taken off air? Can anyone translate the words (or some of them) of the song that was sung to the IS - I've never heard that before! Thanks Johan and Glenn (Noel R. Green, England, dxldyg via DXLD) They also recited a very famous poem as example of a coded message? (gh, DXLD) ** GERMANY. Updated A-06 of Bible Voice Broadcasting Network via DTK T-Systems [sorted by: 1) Target, 2) frequency, 3) day, 4) time] 0715-0800 5945 JUL 100 kW / 290 deg Fri WeEu English 0800-0815 5945 JUL 100 kW / 290 deg Fri WeEu Urdu 0815-0830 5945 JUL 100 kW / 290 deg Fri WeEu Punjabi 0700-0815 5945 JUL 100 kW / 290 deg Sat WeEu English 0700-0845 5945 JUL 100 kW / 290 deg Sun WeEu English 1815-1830 6015 JUL 100 kW / 060 deg Mon-Fri EaEu Russian 1830-1845 6015 JUL 100 kW / 060 deg Thu EaEu Russian 1800-1915 6015 JUL 100 kW / 060 deg Sat EaEu English 1800-1830 6015 JUL 100 kW / 060 deg Sun EaEu English 1830-1900 6015 JUL 100 kW / 060 deg Sun EaEu Russian 1900-1930 6015 JUL 100 kW / 060 deg Sun EaEu English 1800-1830 9435 JUL 100 kW / 210 deg Sun SoEu Spanish 2000-2030 9605 WER 250 kW / 135 deg Thu NoAf Arabic 2000-2015 9605 WER 250 kW / 135 deg Sun NoAf Arabic, from Aug. 6 0900-1015 17595 JUL 100 kW / 150 deg Fri NoAf Arabic 1900-2000 9775 WER 125 kW / 150 deg Sat WeAf English 1900-2000 9775 WER 125 kW / 135 deg Sun CeAf English 1530-1600 15775 JUL 100 kw / 160 deg Wed EaAf Tigrinya 0430-0530 13810 NAU 125 kW / 140 deg Sat EaAf Amharic, ex 0500-0530 0430-0500 13810 NAU 125 kW / 140 deg Sun EaAf Amharic, from July 23 1600-1630 13810 JUL 100 kW / 115 deg Wed EaAf Amharic 1630-1700 13810 JUL 100 kW / 115 deg Daily EaAf Amharic 1700-1730 13810 JUL 100 kW / 115 deg Mon/Tue/Fri EaAf Tigrinya 1730-1800 13810 JUL 100 kW / 115 deg Mon/Tue/Fri EaAf Amharic 1800-1830 13810 JUL 100 kW / 115 deg Sat EaAf Somali 1800-1900 13810 JUL 100 kW / 115 deg Fri/Sun EaAf Somali, ex 1800-1830 0000-0200 6140 WER 125 kW / 120 deg Fri ME English 1615-1735 9430 JUL 100 kW / 140 deg Mon/Wed/Fri ME Arabic 1700-1735 9430 JUL 100 kW / 140 deg Tue/Thu ME Arabic 1630-1800 9430 JUL 100 kW / 145 deg Sat/Sun ME English 1800-1900 9430 WER 250 kW / 090 deg Fri/Sat ME English 1800-1915 9430 WER 250 kW / 090 deg Sun ME English 1800-1830 11710 JUL 100 kW / 090 deg Wed-Fri ME Persian 1800-1815 11710 JUL 100 kW / 090 deg Sat ME English 1815-1900 11710 JUL 100 kW / 090 deg Sat ME Persian 1800-1900 11710 JUL 100 kW / 090 deg Sun ME Persian 1630-1715 13580 WER 250 kW / 120 deg Tue/Fri ME Arabic 1630-1730 13580 WER 250 kW / 120 deg Mon/Wed/Thu ME Arabic 1540-1615 13590 JUL 100 kW / 115 deg Mon-Fri ME English 1615-1630 13590 JUL 100 kW / 115 deg Tue ME Hebrew 1630-1645 13590 JUL 100 kW / 115 deg Tue ME Tagalog 1645-1700 13590 JUL 100 kW / 115 deg Tue ME English 1700-1715 13590 JUL 100 kW / 115 deg Tue ME Russian 1715-1800 13590 JUL 100 kW / 115 deg Tue ME Hebrew 1800-1815 13590 JUL 100 kW / 115 deg Tue ME English 1615-1630 13590 JUL 100 kW / 115 deg Thu ME Hebrew 1630-1645 13590 JUL 100 kW / 115 deg Thu ME English 1730-1800 13590 JUL 100 kW / 115 deg Fri ME English 1545-1730 13590 JUL 100 kW / 115 deg Sat ME English 1730-1745 13590 JUL 100 kW / 115 deg Sat ME Tagalog 1745-1800 13590 JUL 100 kW / 115 deg Sat ME Hebrew 1800-1830 13590 JUL 100 kW / 115 deg Sat ME English 1530-1800 13590 JUL 100 kW / 115 deg Sun ME English 1415-1500 12005 WER 250 kW / 060 deg Sat FE Vietnamese 1430-1500 12005 WER 250 kW / 060 deg Sun FE Vietnamese 1530-1600 13840 WER 250 kW / 060 deg Mon-Fri SoAs Hindi 1500-1530 13840 WER 250 kW / 060 deg Fri SoAs Bengali, ex Fri/Sun 1500-1545 13840 WER 250 kW / 060 deg Sun SoAs Bengali, ex 1500-1530 1530-1600 15680 JUL 100 kW / 090 deg Mon/Thu SoAs English 1500-1600 15680 JUL 100 kW / 090 deg Tue SoAs Urdu 1530-1545 15680 JUL 100 kW / 090 deg Wed SoAs Urdu 1545-1600 15680 JUL 100 kW / 090 deg Wed SoAs English 1530-1600 15680 JUL 100 kW / 090 deg Fri SoAs Punjabi 1500-1600 15680 JUL 100 kW / 090 deg Sat SoAs English 1530-1600 15680 JUL 100 kW / 090 deg Sun SoAs Urdu 1400-1500 15690 WER 250 kW / 060 deg Sat SoAs English 1400-1500 15690 WER 250 kW / 090 deg Sun SoAs English (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, July 31 via DXLD) ** GERMANY [non]. Frequency change for Deutsche Welle in DRM: 1400-1555 NF 15725 SIN 090 kW / 030 deg SoEaEu, ex 13820 avoid Radio Martí (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, July 31 via DXLD) + dentroCuban jamming ** GHANA. STATE BROADCASTER GOES ON LINE | Excerpt from report by Ghanaian GBC radio on 1 August [Presenter] GBC [Ghana Broadcasting Corporation] goes on line http://www.gbcghana.com today. It is expected that this will make the organization reach a wider audience. Earlier, the acting director- general of the corporation Yaw Owusu Addo told Akosua Yamoah why it has taken so long for Ghana's premier radio station to go on line. [Passage omitted] Source: Radio Ghana, Accra, in English 1300 gmt 1 Aug 06 (via BBCM via DXLD) GHANA BROADCASTING CORPORATION LAUNCHES NEW WEBSITE The Ghana Broadcasting Corporation has launched a new website at the new URL http://www.gbcghana.com/ The old website had not been updated for several years. The new site contains current news items, but is still not complete. The links to the various GBC radio stations go nowhere at the moment. Some of the other links are also not working yet. Even a link from the Home Page banner saying “Broadcast and Advertising” produces a “page not found” message. The “contacts” page contains no phone, fax or E-mail details. Clearly there’s still a lot of work still to be done (August 1st, 2006, 14:44 UTC by Andy, Media Network blog via DXLD) ** GUINEA. 7125, R. Guinée / R. Conakry, Sonfonya, 1403-1425, 26 Jul, Vernacular, talks, African pops; 35332 (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, August 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HAWAII [and non]. Re 6-113: Honolulu AM's --- Glenn, I think I covered most of the items that your latest set of postings about the 1170/1180 Honolulu matter discusses in my earlier message to you. Because of the elimination of the 25 mV/m "downtown" coverage requirement and therefore only the 5 mVm or NIF principal community coverage requirement, I am sure we will see more 30 kHz spaced allotments to the same community as time passes. And 30 kHz (or 27 kHz) spacing for stations in the same community is permissible in most countries, including Canada and Mexico. Your last comment deserves an answer, however. The US used to ignore interference questions between Hawaii and the mainland, until the adoption of the rule changes in Docket 87-267. Those rules eliminated the exception. And because those changes adopted the modified skywave calculation procedure developed by John Wang for ALL cases of interference calculation to US stations domestically, they result in other anomalies as well. If you calculate interference to US stations along the east coast, it is not uncommon for Venezuelan and Colombian stations to be a part of the interference calculation. And in the west, the nighttime interference free "25% RSS" calculation to stations as far north as Seattle and Kalispell (just examples I am aware of from some previous work) include stations from mainland S. America, sometimes as far south as Chile! All of this comes about because Wang's method doesn't properly evaluate the double hop situation for distances greater than 3200 km, and is inaccurate in my opinion) for cases where one terminal of the path is below 20 degrees NL or particularly where trans-equatorial paths are concerned. For N. American itself, N. of 20 or 30 degrees, it is a very accurate and valid method, but should not have been extrapolated to the entire Region II area. And the Hawaii protection requirement is a giant problem for facilities improvement for many west coast stations, and this is, of course, not the first change in Hawaii to result from it (Ben Dawson, WA, July 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. Re 6-113: Re: AIR latest changes --- Dear friends, Here are the frequencies dropped/not heard of AIR in connection with my last email: 7270 100 kW Chennai 0700-1330 1430-1740 (AIR FM Gold) 7275 100 kW Chennai 0025-0430 (AIR FM Gold) 7360 100 kW Delhi (Kingsway) 0700-1330 (AIR FM Gold) 9820 250 kW Panaji 1300-1500 Sinhala (Sri Lanka) Yours sincerely, (Jose Jacob, Hyderabad, July 30, dx_india via DXLD) ** INDONESIA. Is RRI 9525 with het problems again? Checked around 1345 and situation was back as it happened a couple of weeks back. Seems to be self-produced (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, August 1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I checked around 1320 and it sounded fine to me (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. The Slow Scan Television equipment onboard the ISS is now operational. The astronauts have been transmitting pictures on 144.490 MHz FM. For further information see http://www.southgatearc.org/news/july2006/iss_sstv_test.htm See also http://www.marexmg.org/ 73 (Trevor M5AKA July 30, monitoringmonthly yg via DXLD) see KAZAKHSTAN; RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM [non]. Re 6-112, the obit for former astronaut, I clicked on the link given and automatically forwarded to an updated story at the Pilot: BRADY SUFFERED FROM PAINFUL AILMENT BY JOHN CHAPPELL: STAFF WRITER Charles E. Brady Jr. spent the final months of his life serving others. An astronaut who grew up in Robbins, Brady continued a lifelong dedication to helping young people even as he carried on a daily battle against the pain of arthritis. Brady, 54, died July 23 from apparently self-inflicted wounds near his home on Orcas Island off the coast of Washington state where he lived with his fiancée Susen Oseth, and their 4-year-old son, Charles E. "Charlie" Brady, III. (On Friday, The Pilot quoted an undersheriff in Washington state who erroneously identified the child as a daughter.) Brady was laid to rest at Prosperity Friends Church near his father Friday in a private service. A memorial with full military honors will be held at a future date on Whidbey Island. Wash. Brady had returned to service as a flight surgeon at Whidbey Naval Air Station after leaving NASA. He spent his final tour of duty at National Navy Medical Center, in Bethesda, Md., and retired from service in March. Friends and fellow doctors recalled a man of bright cheer who was particularly encouraging to youth. Brady, who moved to Washington early this year, struggled to walk hospital halls directing medical operations for injured soldiers returning from the Middle East. In current interservice handling of combat situations, it would not have been unusual for an injured Marine to receive self-aid and buddy care from a Navy corpsman, be stabilized in an Army field hospital, evacuated by an Air Force crew to medical centers in Germany, and end up on Brady's watch at the Navy's Bethesda Medical Facility in Maryland. At the same time as he was tending the wounded as a Navy doctor, Brady was volunteering his help to future space travelers and stargazers. Most recently, Brady lent his support to the 3 Rivers Foundation in Texas. The 3 Rivers Foundation is currently building an astronomy campus between Crowell and Paducah, Texas, in accordance with its mission to increase science awareness to students and the general public. "It was a bright day for 3RF to have Dr. Brady join us," said Larry Smith, the executive director. "We are entering into an important phase of construction, instruction and locating sources of funding." 'In Great Spirits' Brady had been in great spirits, Smith said, and was planning to visit them in a few weeks. "I personally agree with the direction the Foundation is going," Brady said a few weeks ago after agreeing to help the Foundation. "We must provide inspirational educational training for the young people of America." He particularly liked the foundation's commitment to providing the use of high quality star tools. "3RF, by using its wonderful world-class astronomical equipment, will have a dynamic impact on students and challenge them to set their career hopes and aspirations high," Brady said. "Comanche Springs Astronomy Campus is a one-of-a-kind environment that will fulfill the dreams of many students and create new dreams for many others. This is a very exciting occasion." Brady was always very proud of the way his hometown has embraced not only the space programs as its own, but astronomy as well. He was excited about the annual star party that comes to the Scout camp just down the road from Robbins, and Mayor Mickey Brown's proposal to protect the area from light pollution by creating a Dark Park. "That's a tremendous plan," Brady said on hearing about Brown's idea. "I realize children thereby will know the opportunities they can have. I trust in the people of Moore County. We love you, and we are all Americans." A Scout camp would have been familiar ground to Brady. As a boy, he became an Eagle Scout, earning required merit badges in the fields, forests, and streams around Robbins. His subsequent accomplishments and service to others led to one of the highest honors in Scouting, the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award. Distinguished Ranks This is a special award, given only to a very few Eagle Scouts, recognizing exceptional individuals who achieve distinction in their professions and who also have maintained a solid record of continued community volunteer involvement. Only about 1 in 1,000 of all Eagle Scouts have been presented this prestigious award. It requires distinguished service in profession and to the community for at least 25 years after earning Eagle Scout rank. It is similar to the Presidential Medal of Freedom with Distinction. Brady joined the ranks of Distinguished Eagle Scouts that include former President Ford, the Menninger brothers, Congressman John Murtha, former Sen. Sam Nunn, Steven Spielberg, Admiral Elmo Zumwalt Jr., former U.S. Chief of Naval Operations, as well as fellow astronauts Neil Armstrong, James Lovell, Ellison Onizuka, Steven Oswald, Ken Bowersox, Richard H. Truly, Richard O. Covey and Roger B. Chaffee. The total number of recipients is only 1,645 as of mid-2006. Though pain and paralysis from his rheumatoid arthritis affected his mobility, Brady accepted a request from Michael Gorton to join the advisory board of Teladoc, a company pioneering in economical health care with telephone consultations that make real doctors available by telephone at any hour of the day or night. "I can't begin to tell you how much Chuck Brady has done for people, for young people and to help others," Gorton said Thursday. "He was always the most cheerful, the most encouraging person." (via gh, DXLD) OBIT ** IRAN [non]. LITUANIA. Hoy 31 de julio a las 2030 en 7540, La Voz de la Rep. Isl. De Irán en español, con un SINPO 44544; se aprecia interferencia de estación del Mossad con emisión en código alfa, emitiendo en modo AM (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia), España, YAESU FRG-7700, Antena Radio Master A-108, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ITALY [sic]. New schedule of IRRS-Shortwave English from July 29: 1900-2030 Mon-Thu on 5775, 020 kW / non-dir Eu/ME/NoAf 1900-2200 Fri-Sun on 5775, 020 kW / non-dir Eu/ME/NoAf 0700-1200 Sat/Sun NF 9310, 020 kW / non-dir Eu/ME/NoAf, ex 13840 1200-1300 Sun on 9310, 050 kW / non-dir Eu/ME/NoAf 1600-1800 Fri/Sun on 9310, 050 kW / non-dir Eu/ME/NoAf 1800-1900 Sat on 9310, 020 kW / non-dir Eu/ME/NoAf 1800-1900 Sun-Fri on 9310, 050 kW / non-dir Eu/ME/NoAf, Brother Stair 1200-1300 Fri on 15750, 050 kW / 180 deg Eu/No&WeAf, R. Restauration, French 1330-1430 Fri on 15750, 050 kW / 090 deg SoAs/India (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, July 31 via DXLD) Actually, via BULGARIA ** JAPAN. JAPÃO – Pelo menos até agora, a Rádio Japão não anunciou cortes nas emissões em língua portuguesa que são dirigidas ao Brasil. É justiça até o momento, já que o Brasil é o país que possui a maior comunidade de japoneses fora daquele país asiático: cerca de um milhão e meio de pessoas, entre japoneses e seus descendentes. Por outro lado, aproximadamente 225 mil brasileiros descendentes ou cônjuges de japoneses moram e trabalham no Japão, tanto é assim que o noticiário produzido pela Equipe Brasileira da Rádio Japão também é emitido em território japonês pela Rádio Dai-ni Hoso, em ondas médias. De mais a mais, as relações entre Brasil e Japão nas áreas comercial e social sempre foram muito boas. Resumindo: o interesse japonês pelo Brasil ainda é grande, vide a escolha que o governo do presidente Lula fez do modelo japonês de televisão digital a ser implantado aqui. E uma emissora de rádio em ondas curtas sobrevive também disso! (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX July 30 via DXLD) Respecto a la situación de NHK Radio Japon, Ernesto Paulero desde Argentina y vía SintoníaDX nos hace llegar mensaje recibido por la emisora: De: "Radio Japan NHK" rj-espa @ intl.nhk.or.jp Fecha: Mon, 31 Jul 2006 14:31:33 +0900 Estimado Sr. Ernesto Paulero: Gracias por su mensaje enviado via correo electrónico. Es siempre de gran valor para nosotros llegar a conocer los comentarios y gustos de nuestros oyentes. Referente a su pregunta, en este momento no tenemos plan de reducción de la sección de espanhol [sic] de Radio Japón. No se preocupe. Esperamos que siga sintonizando con nosotros. Sin más se despide de usted muy atentamente, NHK World Radio Japón, E-mail: rj-espa,@,intl.nhk.or.jp URL: http://www.nhk.or.jp/spanish (via José Miguel Romero, Spain, dxldyg via DXLD) ** JORDAN. La frecuencia de Jordania en inglés es 11690, desde las 14. ¿Cómo se escucha en AmS? Aquí hay interferencia de teletipo, y de HCJB a comienzos. 73, (Glenn Hauser, Oclajoma, July 31, condig list via DXLD) Hoy por hoy, desde Buenos Aires, es casi imposible captarla en esta QRG. Intentado lo mismo desde Chascomús, lugar donde habitualmente hacemos nuestros DX Camps, la recepción es aceptable y se puede seguir la transmisión sin demasiados inconvenientes (Arnaldo Slaen, ibid.) ** KAZAKHSTAN. KAZAKH INQUIRY INTO ROCKET CRASH By Natalia Antelava, BBC News, Almaty Kazakh authorities have opened a criminal investigation into the crash of a Russian-built rocket last week. Foreign ministry officials said the rocket seriously polluted a vast area when it crashed shortly after lift-off last Thursday. The failed launch was yet another sign of Russia's troubles with its space programme and an embarrassment it could do without. The Dnepr rocket carrying 18 satellites failed 73 seconds after takeoff. . . http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/5234744.stm (via Ken Kopp - KKØHF, http://732u.com/ dxldyg via DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. Nothing heard on 9485, between 1310 and 1330 UT Monday July 31. Indonesia with usual good signal on 9525 then. Guess Shiokaze has changed time and frequency again, to where? (Glenn Hauser, OK, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Already outdated (unless 9485 was just missing temporarily today), but shows why we weren`t hearing English on Tuesday any more: U.K.(non) Updated schedule of Radio Sea Breeze/Shiokaze via VT Communications: 1300-1330 on 9485 TAI 100 kW / 002 deg to KRE Korean Sun/Wed 1300-1330 on 9485 TAI 100 kW / 002 deg to KRE English Mon/Thu 1300-1330 on 9485 TAI 100 kW / 002 deg to KRE Japanese Tue/Fri 1300-1330 on 9485 TAI 100 kW / 002 deg to KRE Chinese Sat 1900-1930 on 9780 TAI 100 kW / 002 deg to KRE Japanese 2030-2100 on 9785 TAI 100 kW / 002 deg to KRE Japanese (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, July 31, via DXLD) 9485 was back the next day, Aug 1 at 1320 check in Korean(?) talk, unseems name listing (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Earlier: 9485 JAPAN. Shiokaze (via Taiwan) to North Korea. 7/27/06, from 1258 in possible English. Open carrier to 1301 when a piano melody appeared, then man in possible English over soft piano in background. Heard mentions of "people" and "Korea." Brief pause at 1304 and then continued - seemingly reading off names. First appearance in several attempts (Gerry Dexter, WI, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) Day of week? With some stations such as this, that is an essential item. Thursday (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) Shiokaze (Sea Breeze), an audio clip in mostly German and some English, of a Shiokaze Two program at: http://senryaku-jouhou.jp/Shiokaze%20Radio.mp3 (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) German!? ** LEBANON [and non]. ISRAELI INTELLIGENCE INTERRUPTING AL-MANAR TV’S TERRESTRIAL SIGNALS IN LEBANON | Text of report by Jackie Hugi published by web version of Israeli newspaper Ma’ariv on 30 July The Israel Defence Forces [IDF] Intelligence Corps succeeded in breaking into the broadcasts of Al-Manar, Hezbollah’s television station, and inserting provocative messages into them. The jamming includes a picture of Hezbollah Secretary-General Hasan Nasrallah, with the Arabic inscription “Your Day is Near” superimposed over it. In another clip, the Intelligence Corps includes a message for viewers: ``The State of Israel declares that Hasan knows the truth, but as his wont he chooses to drag Lebanon into war and destruction.`` Above Nasrallah`s picture is a banner headline: ``How Many Days Longer?`` The Israeli clip pushes Al-Manar’s broadcasts off the air for some minutes, and in effect takes over the screen. The target audience is viewers in Lebanon only, since this means of psychological warfare is only being employed in the station’s terrestrial broadcasts, which are picked up in Lebanon by antenna. The channel’s satellite broadcasts, which are picked up by dish by millions of viewers in Lebanon and around the world, were not penetrated. The IDF Spokesman’s Office confirmed that this was indeed IDF activity. (Source: NRG Ma’ariv website, Tel Aviv, in Hebrew 30 Jul 06 via BBC Monitoring) (July 31st, 2006, 09:07 UTC by Andy, Media Network blog via DXLD) ** LIBYA [non]. 17850, FRANCE. Voice of Africa. 7/30/06, 1402-1440 fade out in English. Man and woman talking with news and mentions of ``Jamahiriya.`` Program of local vocals with drums followed with short features. Very poor and choppy reception with // 17725 at threshold (Rich D'Angelo, PA, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ** MALI. 4835.4, R. Mali, Kati, 2118-2133, 28 Jul, French, president's speech during "Mondiale sport" (aired Mon. + Fri. 2100-2130), then Vernacular 2131; extremely weak audio, so the SINPO rating denotes the carrier; 55333; the audio had to be properly checked against \\ 5995. Even weaker than during 24 Jul observation 2035-2055 when rated 55343. 5995, R. Mali, Kati, 2037-2052, 24 Jul, Vernacular, talks; fair audio; 55444 despite adjacent DRM QRM [Lux]; \\ 4835.4. 7285.5, R. Mali, Kati, 1406-..., 29 Jul, useless (too weak) audio; 35343. Almost surely the same transmitter used for 4835v (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, August 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MONGOLIA. 4895, Mongoliin R, Murun, 2131-2146, 24 Jul, Mongolian, few talks, traditional songs; 45332; \\ 4830 Altay at about the same level. Not different programs via Altay & Murun like on 08 Jul at 2135 (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, August 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MOROCCO. 7308, RTM-"C", Sébaa Aioun, 1419-..., 28 Jul, Berber, traditional songs; 15341, so much weaker than at 0950 on 06 Jul; Harmonic [7] of 1044 (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, August 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) One should look for all the other harmonics too: 2088, 3132, 4176, 5220, 6264, 8352, 9396, 10440 . . . (gh, DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS. Additional transmissions for RNW Dutch in DRM: 1900-1955 on 9690 FLE 040 kW / 123 deg to SoEaEu 2000-2055 on 9480 FLE 040 kW / 123 deg to SoEaEu (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, July 31 via DXLD) ** NEW ZEALAND. NOVA ZELANDIA, 3935, ZLXA, Radio Reading Service, Levín 0950 to 1020 fading in and out, one brief music bridge, news items ``an important message...`` few words picked out every few minutes. AROs off the frequency. 3944.734 [Vanuatu] strong but covered by local AROs. 26 July. Only second time logged (Robert Wilkner, FL, @tividade DX via DXLD) See also VANUATU ** NEW ZEALAND. PROGRAM NOTES FROM THE ANGLO WORLD --- Radio New Zealand [International] had been putting in a good signal to Eastern North America recently, from about 0830 UT to 1058 sign-off on 7145 kHz. Some recent program notes: News item: A leader of the National Party, Dan Brach (sp?), caused quite a stir with comments on immigration. He feels that immigrants should affirm that they understand and believe in certain ``cultural norms`` of New Zealand, such as democratic principles, freedom of religion, and gender equality. If they do not agree with such principles, then, perhaps, they would be better off not settling in New Zealand. When pressed on the issue, he would not specify which countries he was referring to. Media Watch of July 30th revealed great similarities in press media issues in New Zealand, Australia, the UK and US. One item concerned New Zealand`s Foreign Minister ``embarrassing`` Senator John McCain when on a recent visit to the US. This led to ``sensationalism`` and lead item status in the New Zealand media. This turned to a discussion on whether antagonism between the media and politicians is a good or bad thing. Another topic covered was the increased pressure on the Australian SBS to accept more commercial advertising interrupting the program vs. the five minutes per hour allowed presently as a cluster between programs. The SBS is a public network committed by charter to a multicultural emphasis in programming, and limited advertising is seen as a positive factor to many of its viewers. This discussion, including interviews with SBS executives, some of whom came from New Zealand TV, led to comments bemoaning the devolution of news and documentary programs into often celebrity driven ``info-tainment`` programs, a general trend in broadcasting in Australia, New Zealand, the UK, and the US, according to guests. ``Media Watch`` (Sundays approximately 1015 UT), along with the program ``Late Edition`` (Monday-Friday at 1015) show that Radio New Zealand is producing programs on a par with RCI and Radio Australia. Public radio broadcasting can provide informative and intelligent presentation of the news and public affairs --- at least in New Zealand. With the rapid decline of the Voice of America, and the more gradual decline in NPR over the past few years, I am not so sure that the same can be said for the US (Roger Chambers, Utica, New York, July 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also AUSTRALIA; UK After 1100, RNZI analog is on 9870 for two hours, and from 1300 back on 7145 --- assuming they remember to change on time (gh, DXLD) Read with interest your July 29 comment about Radio New Zealand International not making the change to 9615 according to its own schedule. Well, I assume they must have stayed on the 13730 frequency a lot longer after you gave up. I tried to tune in at 0700 when it was meant to be on 7145. Having been caught out in the past, I tried 9615 to see whether still there. No sign, so I gave up - thinking the transmitter must be off air. It never occurred to me that it had seemingly missed TWO frequency changes. I have often heard the announcement to change frequency but previous experience has taught me to stay put until I hear the carrier switched off. I emailed to RNZI recently about its failure to stick to its own schedule, but no reply. It really is very frustrating; I am an expatriate NZ-er living in Sydney and like to catch the relays of domestic National Radio on weekend evenings when - if they do make the switch to 7145 - reception here is very good. Is there another international shortwave service with such a lamentable record? Regards (Robin Bromby, Sydney, NSW, Aug 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEW ZEALAND. 9440 DRM, RNZI, Rangitaiki. Patchy 0606 21/7 with English news, SNR peaking at 14 dB, 21/7 (Craig Seager, Bathurst NSW, Icom R75, Horizontal Loop, Dream software, Aug Australian DX News via DXLD) A current schedule of DRM broadcasts can be found at http://www.drm.org/livebroadcast/livebroadcast.php though a good starting point is RNZI on 6095 (local evenings) or 15720/9440 (local daytime), which is a suitably strong signal in this region. There is little doubt that DRM requires a strong and stable signal for success, and unfortunately there aren`t too many of these intended for Australian listeners as yet, but I understand that is soon to change; watch for announcements from a couple of major broadcasters in this region very soon (Seager, from a long article on modifying an Icom R75 for DRM, August Australian DX News via DXLD) ** NIGER. 9705 LV du Sahel, Niamey, 1214-1255, 26 Jul, French, news, then Vernacular, talks, music; 45444. Also noted with news in French at 1900 (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, August 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9705, (Presumed), LV du Sahel, 2236-2301*, July 31, French, Hi-life music program with YL talking over music on several occasions. YL briefly at 2259 followed by presumed NA until sign-off. No discernible ID noted. Poor/fair at best, deteriorating by sign-off which was bothered by 9700-Bulgaria *0000 (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, 200' Beverages, MLB-1, DTS-4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) You must mean Bulgaria *2300 (gh, DXLD) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. July 29, 1100 UT, 7120 kHz, Wantok radio Lite: noted in passing with spirituals and some English YL talking over the hour. Remarkable levels for 1 kW. This is the first time I have heard Wantok in the clear! Dxing from Saltspring Island, B.C. Canada. Saltspring Island is the largest, most populated, and most visited of the Gulf Islands chain of British Columbia, Canada. It was named by officers of the Hudson's Bay Company for the cold and briny saltwater springs on the north end of the island. We found a cabin http://www.stonecuttersrest.com on the northwestern tip of the island, with 14 acres of waterfront and room for lots of wire. Only catch: I brought a 150' spool, and a Kenwood R2000 as opposed to the Drake R8! :-) (Colin Newell, July 31, HCDX via DXLD) ** PERU. 4755 (ex 4747, Radio Huanta 2000, Huanta, 2235-2305, July 30, Spanish, program medicina natural OM/YL, ads, ID, 43444, mixing with R. Imaculada, Campo Grande-MS [Brasil] (Rogildo F. Aragão, Sony 2001D- LW 20m, Quillacollo, Bolivia, HCDX via DXLD) ** PORTUGAL. Updated summer A-06 of RDP Internacional: MONDAY TO FRIDAY to Europe 0500-0755 on 7240 LIS 300 kW / 045 deg 0645-0800 on 11850 SIN 250 kW / 055 deg 0800-1200 on 12020 LIS 300 kW / 045 deg 1600-1900 on 11905 LIS 300 kW / 045 deg to Middle East and India 1300-1500 on 15770 LIS 100 kW / 082 deg to Africa 1000-1200 on 21830 LIS 100 kW / 144 deg 1600-1900 on 17680 LIS 300 kW / 144 deg to North America 2300-0200 on 9715 LIS 100 kW / 300 deg to South America North West 2300-0200 on 13700 LIS 100 kW / 261 deg to South America East 2300-0200 on 15295 LIS 300 kW / 226 deg to South America and West Africa 1000-1200 on 15575 LIS 100 kW / 226 deg 1600-1900 on 21655 LIS 100 kW / 226 deg SATURDAY AND SUNDAY to Europe 0700-1355 on 12020 LIS 300 kW / 045 deg 0830-1000 on 11995 SIN 250 kW / 055 deg 1400-1955 on 11905 LIS 100 kW / 045 deg to Africa 0700-0955 on 15160 LIS 100 kW / 144 deg 1000-1655 on 21830 LIS 100 kW / 144 deg 1700-2000 on 17680 LIS 300 kW / 144 deg to North America 1200-2000 on 15560 LIS 100 kW / 300 deg to South America and West Africa 0700-0955 on 12000 LIS 300 kW / 226 deg 1000-2000 on 21655 LIS 300 kW / 226 deg (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, July 31 via DXLD) ** ROMANIA [and non]. BBC ROMANIA A SECRET POLICEMAN JOURNALIST LINKS TO SECRET POLICE REVEALED Katy Duke, Monday July 31, 2006 The Guardian 4.30pm http://media.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,329542456-111190,00.html A former BBC reporter in Romania has admitted he used to be an informant for the country's Communist secret police following pressure for journalists' pasts to be exposed. Ex-BBC reporter and former editor-in-chief of two of Romania's leading newspapers, Carol Sebastian, 41, is among a number of top reporters who have come forward to admit their involvement in spying for the Communists. The confessions have come after a local non-governmental organisation asked for the files of prominent journalists to be checked as part of a new campaign called 'Clean voices' that is designed to strip those who once informed on their friends and colleagues of powerful media positions. Sebastian told daily newspaper Cotidianul that he filed reports to then-president Nicolae Ceausescu's Securitate about a university friend. The journalist says he was blackmailed into reporting on the movements of the writer Andrei Bodiu, but insists he told his friend what he was doing. Sebastian was recruited by the Communist secret police in 1985 while a student in Timiþoara, western Romania. He continued to file reports, using the cover name 'Max', until 1988. He worked for BBC Romania, a radio station that broadcasts in Romanian, from 1994 to 2002. Sorin Rosca Stanescu, columnist and shareholder of large Romanian paper Ziua, and two of his senior staff members, also admitted links to the Securitate and apologised for not having resisted pressure from the secret police (via Dan Say, DXLD) Language lesson: to find the cedilla-s for Timishoara, I had to look under font Times New Roman – Turkish but you will probably see something else (gh, DXLD) ** RUSSIA [and non]. Re 6-113, "Our Homeland" on VOR: John: Sadly, the situation at VoA's Russian Branch and at R. Liberty is even worse :( For instance, when four Russian diplomat workers were taken hostage in Baghdad, the VoA invited a spokesman for Chechen separatists who stated that they might have been captured by the Russian FSB/KGB in order to embarrass the Americans. A few days later the hostages were beheaded... When Shamil Basaev was killed recently, VoA interviewed a Russian- speaking "expert" from the Amnesty International in NYC. She praised "his great legacy of a freedom fighter" and said that the Beslan school massacre wasn't a terrorist attack but rather Basaev's miscalculation. No other opinions were given. Of course, for Russians Shamil Basaev was like Bin Laden is for Americans. The US press and Bush described his death as a well-deserved retribution. But somehow, the VoA Russian chose not to dwell on that. This reminds me of Zhanna Bichevskaya, a Russian singer, monarchist and "an independent radio producer" who is hosting a weekly talk show on VoR Sondruzhestvo Russian Service. She casually describes 9/11 as a USA's "self-inflicted wound" and calls her listeners "to fight back the US imperial monster". Of course, most hosts at VoR are normal, sane people but, as we see, there are a few nutcases. Clearly, quite a few voices on RL, VoA and VoR aren't reflective of their countries' mainstream opinions. Why are they broadcasting all this nonsense? As we know, the overseas radio services in both countries are in a bitter fight for their survival. The gloves are off in this war. The more controversy the stations can create, the better. Because any controversy helps get funded. No one seems to care about objective reporting or possible ramifications of that kind of broadcasting. I have to agree with Pat Buchanan who compares R. Liberty and VoA Russian to the Cold War agitprop (propaganda) agencies that bring more harm that good. You can read his excellent article at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/uc/20060714/cm_uc_crpbux/pat_buchanan20060714 For a more sane perspective from America I advise my Russian friends to listen to VoA English and, if they have a broadband Internet, NPR. If you are looking for a more balanced view from Moscow, watch Russia Today TV. Hopefully, one day the Russian government will ask RTTV to start producing a radio service, as well (Sergei Sosedkin, IL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. Cada año la llegada del primero de agosto tiene un significado especial, ``El Dia del Oyente`` En La Voz De Rusia !!! Motivo del aniversario de la primera emisión en español de aquel primero de agosto de 1932. El Dia del Oyente saldrá al aire este martes 1 de agosto, en dos partes. Los primeros quince minutos del programa se emitirán al final del primer bloque horario hacia América Latina, es decir a eso de las 0040 UT. El programa continuará inmediatamente en el siguiente bloque horario a partir de la 0100 UT. Recordamos las frecuencias a utilizar: Por los 9830 kcs para América Central y Por 12010, 11510, 7330, 7300 kcs para América del Sur. En internet podrá escucharse haciendo "click" en: http://www.vor.ru/Spanish/Frecuencia/frec_RM.html La Voz de Rusia, Redacción Latinoamericana, Calle Pyatnitskaya 25, 113 326 Moscú, RUSIA. Cordiales 73. (via Dino Bloise, FLORIDA, EEUU, Aug 1, dxldyg via DXLD) So is this really referring to UT August 2?? (gh, DXLD) ** SAINT HELENA. Radio St. Helena plans to transmit on 11092.5 kHz USB on Saturday, 04 November 2006 at: 1800 - 1930 UT to New Zealand (via short path) 2000 - 2130 UT to JAPAN (via short path) 2200 - 2330 UT to Europe 2330 (Sat.) - 0100 (Sunday) UT to North America There will be a new and interesting QSL card for this "Revival" broadcast. It will take several months to process the reception reports, so please be patient. Only reception reports sent by regular mail will be accepted. Email-reports will NOT be accepted. Return postage is absolutely required and is "at least" three IRC's or "Greenstamps". All reports should be addressed to the Station Manager of RSH. Ms. Laura Lawrence. St. Helena South Atlantic Ocean Good DX to one and all!! From: http://www.sthelena.se/radioproject/Broadcast_Times_2006.htm (via Aug Australian DX News via DXLD) A volta da Rádio Santa Helena é sem dúvida a melhor notícia em termos de Dexismo que eu poderia receber neste ano! Sem dúvida o dia 04 de Novembro já está reservadíssimo! 73 (Ivan Dias - Sorocaba/SP, Membro do DX Clube do Brasil, Junte-se à nossa família http://www.ondascurtas.com radioescutas via DXLD) Ivan e demais amigos, Não quero colocar areia no negócio, mas lembrem- se bem que na última 'grande' transmissão da Radio Santa Helena, esta 'esqueceu' por completo de responder aos informes de recepção, mesmo que tenhamos enviado IRC ou dólares na carta junto ao informe. Nos devem uma explicação séria e ética sobre este ponto. Imaginem o número de Dxistas de todo o mundo que escreveu para a emissora, e multiplique isso por 3 IRCs ou tantos dólares que se costuma mandar. Os pouquíssimos que receberam a resposta confirmatória, devem ter feito uma pressão sem tamanho para obtê-la. Façamos uma pequena enquete sobre Dxistas do Brasil ou da América do Sul que receberam a resposta na transmissão anterior (acho que foi em 1999 ou 2000). Vejam no e-mail (RSH) são taxativos: Não aceitam e-mails. Muito estranho, não? Desculpem-me, mas este fato precisa ser revitalizado para não entrarmos em mais uma fria destas. Precisa haver uma 'garantia' de resposta diferente da que está apresentada, que em muito se assemelhou ao que fora feito da última vez. Um abraço a todos, (Rudolf Grimm, São Bernardo, SP, ibid.) Reminds us RSH ``forgot`` to QSL most of the reports for their final transmission, despite all the return postage sent, and they owe us an explanation. And they still want rp and no e-mail (gh, DXLD) OI Rudolf, Concordo plenamente com sua colocação, embora isso só se aplique aos que colecionam QSL (que nunca foi o meu caso). Eu acho interessante este tipo de escuta em virtude de uma presença muito interesante de dexistas iniciantes que outrora comentam suas experiencias aqui na lista etc. Aliás, eu sou um dos muitos que NÃO receberam o QSL da última transmissão Rs Rs Deles eu realmente não espero nada que não sejam os sinais de rádio mesmo. 73, (Denis Zoqbi, Brasil, radioescutas yg via DXLD) Denis, e demais amigos, Embora tenha informado uma faceta já esquecida por muitos (novidade para outros), é claro que ouvi-la estará nos planos de todos e meus também. Talvez até gravar os sinais, dado que são raros. Mas naquela ocasião anterior realmente esperava-se uma maior consideração para com os ouvintes de tantos lugares do mundo que contribuíram com seus informes de recepção sob promessa de resposta. Mas, deixa pra lá, talvez desta vez a coisa mude, vai saber! Denis, valeu a dica. 73, (Rudolf Grimm, ibid.) Rudolf, Bem, se isso ocorreu por má fé de alguém, esta não terá sido a primeira vez e tampouco a última. Vide a oportunidade em que uma emissora colombiana (Rádio Líder) passou a transmitir em 49 metros e informou que enviaria "valiosos brindes" para quem a reportasse. Posso estar errado, mas não lembro de ter visto ninguém receber nada deles. Má fé explícita. Bem, de qualquer maneira vou tentar a escuta. Acho absolutamente normal o fato de não aceitarem informes por e-mail e exigirem custeio de retorno. Lembre-se que o projeto de retorno da emissora foi baseado em doações e em um projeto idealista como este certamente não deve haver muito e$paço para satisfazer os desejos de caçadores de QSL como nós. Na minha opinião o risco vale a pena, afinal de contas o mundo das confirmações não é feito por garantias absolutas. 73 (Ivan Dias - Sorocaba/SP, Membro do DX Clube do Brasil, ibid.) Es emocionante el saber de que Radio Santa Helena nuevamente estará en el aire el próximo 4 de noviembre. Estoy completamente de acuerdo con Rudolf W. Grimm en su apreciación sobre la verificación QSL. Yo envié el año 1999 el Informe de Recepción junto con 1 US Dollar y hasta ahora estoy esperando la confirmación. Hace tres años pude enterarme que estaban enviando las verificaciones, pero nunca me llegó la mía, a pesar de que me contacté con Robert Kipp; él me prometió la QSL pero hasta ahora nada. También tengo dudas con respecto a que ellos reciben los IRCs y Dlares USA y no contestan las cartas. Es extraño (CESAR PEREZ DIOSES, CHIMBOTE, PERU, ibid.) Ivan e demais amigos, O fato da Rádio Santa Helena voltar com a sua transmissão especial é por si só um fato muito bacana. Não ouvi a tão comentada última transmissão e acompanhei estes anos o não cumprimento, por parte da emissora, das respostas com os cartões QSL. Isto foi realmente estranho. Ouvi a Rádio Santa Helena em suas transmissões em 1992 e 1993, e recebéi o cartão QSL nas duas oportunidades; na época foram bastante atenciosos. Existiram várias transmissões especiais, notadamente no período 2000 e 2001 por várias emissoras, mas não tinham o charme da Rádio Santa Helena; acho que vale a pena a tentativa de escuta este ano, e espero que eles crumpram com a confirmação dos informes de escuta. 73 (Samuel Cássio, Brasil, ibid.) ** SCOTLAND. Re 6-113: Seems to me that it might be time to make BBC Scotland more autonomous; maybe an SBC is needed (Andy O`Brien, NY, ibid.) Funded by whom, how and why? Scotland is part of the United Kingdom (Mike Barraclough, England, UK, ibid.) Funded by TV and radio licences purchased by residents of Scotland, as opposed to a dependence on decisions made in London board rooms (Andy K3UK O`Brien, ibid.) That does not answer the why. So you would have Scots purchasing a separate additional flat rate compulsory tax for this service, on what basis are you assuming they want to pay extra money for a separate service? And where are all the spare frequencies for it? (Mike Barraclough, ibid.) Re: Outrage as axe looms over BBC Scotland's flagship programmes I have been to the newspaper`s website and the piece was in last week`s Scotland on Sunday, Most of the unattributed quotes are of course from people who would have an interest in maintaining their own jobs; there's a sideswipe at independent production companies too. It also concentrates solely on the budget cuts for Scottish news and current affairs output, which are only a part of the BBC's, and indeed BBC Scotland's, total output. Outrage from whom? I looked at the comments after the article and there were certainly many Scots who were not particularly supportive of these supposedly flagship news programmes; they are boring the nation rigid, one correspondent said. There's another article this week on an SNP proposal; the BBC reply is very diplomatic. A separate Scottish national broadcaster, as they are proposing, would have to start from scratch and set up its own networks, buying in any programming it wished to air from the BBC at commercial rates. Maintenance of the Scottish transmitter network is also relatively expensive, given Scotland's size and population. My impression, though, reading the figures the SNP quote, is that the BBC Scotland allocation is quite generous, taking into account the nationally produced material Scots enjoy. As an online comment says, the majority of programmes Scots watch are produced outside Scotland. Full article below, links at the end to both pieces where you can read the online comments, registration required but it`s a very quick process: BBC Scotland is losing out on £90m of licence payers' cash, the SNP has claimed. The Nationalists' Holyrood leader Nicola Sturgeon accused the corporation of short-changing its Scottish operation. And she claimed BBC bosses north of the Border could recruit 690 workers if they kept all funds raised from television licences in Scotland. Nationalists said that 2003-04 licence fees across the UK raised £2,798m for the BBC, while BBC Scotland had an income of £160.4m - including £10.1m from other sources. But they claimed that as Scotland has 9% of UK households, BBC Scotland should have received that percentage of licence fees - or £251.8m. She said: "We have known for a while that the BBC is London-centred and that Scotland doesn't feel the direct benefit of the millions paid in licence fees." Last year, BBC Scotland announced it was shedding nearly 200 jobs to free up an extra £10m annually to improve services from 2008. But Sturgeon said: "Instead of cutting back staff and functions, there is a strong case for new jobs and increased investment in the BBC in Scotland." She added: "If Scotland had a national broadcaster in the same way as Ireland, Denmark or Norway, we would see an additional £90m in licence money available and the creation of 690 highly skilled and well-paid jobs - without any change in the current licence fee. The BBC in London is short-changing Scotland." However, a BBC Scotland spokesman said: "The equation does not take into account the totality of services which our audiences consume in Scotland." He said: "It's important to factor in all of the content from the network channels on radio and television and the on-line offerings. Coverage of major sporting events, such as the World Cup and dramas such as Doctor Who and Bleak House, which are not produced in Scotland, would have to be bought in at the market price." Scotland on Sunday last week revealed that BBC Scotland's head of news and current affairs resigned after being ordered to slash his budget by 25%, 10% more than previously expected. Articles and comments online at: http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=1104672006 http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1068602006 (Mike Barraclough, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also U K ** SLOVAKIA. Eslovaquia. Intranet en español. Ya se pueden escuchar archivos de audio bajo demanda, de Radio Eslovaquia Internacional; éstas están disponibles desde el 12 de julio, tras la eliminación de las transmisiones en onda corta el pasado 30 de junio. También cesaron las transmisiones vía Intranet. Esto sólo afectó a los servicios en eslovaco y español; la producción de programas de los demás servicios, inglés, francés, alemán y ruso, mantienen su estructura de 30 minutos de producción. Sin embargo en el servicio español tan sólo hay archivos de audio correspondientes a las noticias y el tema del día; en el servicio eslovaco por el momento no hay ningún tipo de archivo de audio (José Miguel Romero, Spain, July 31, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UNITED KINGDOM. BBC ``Over to You`` is a mailbag / phone in show of the BBC, first heard here on July 30th [Sunday] at 2145 UT, one of those rare occasions when the BBC is still audible (sometimes) in Eastern North America on 15390 kHz [but not any more from August --- gh]. One of 3 items in the 15 minute program concerned a listener in Zambia who was upset that the series of ``At the Proms`` programs was now broadcast at a time inconvenient to African listeners. The response was that there are many BBC programs specifically for Africa, and that, combined with not wanting long breaks between news programming, it just was not feasible. Heck, I think many Americans would be overjoyed if this (or other fine programs) were audible here on shortwave ANY TIME. I don`t feel that the higher-ups at Bush House get it yet, that many of their long-time American listeners (and those in Australasia and South America) feel kicked in the teeth at losing out on ready access to perhaps the finest source of international news and current affairs. And yet they still have the audacity to call it ``the World Service!`` How --- ummm --- British! (Roger Chambers, Utica, New York, July 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also AUSTRALIA; NEW ZEALAND ** U K [non]. BBCWS ADDS/CHANGES FREQUENCIES TO CARIBBEAN! Hi Glenn, These new frequencies just in from Mark Deutsch of BBC-WS. Can you use them? Cheers (George Poppin, San Francisco, July 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) You bet we can! However, 11675 and 5975 are not new, and the hours are still much too limited. Apparently means 11865 at 11-13, and 15390 at 21-22 are replaced? 15390 was inbooming July 31, probably for the last time (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: Hi George, Thanks as always for the report. It's always useful to know what can be heard there, especially as so little is actually going your way. You'll notice changes in our remaining Americas coverage from tomorrow - we've been concerned in particular that parts of Caribbean were poorly served. But I fear that (for that very reason) you may not hear much of this in California. 6130 1100-1200 from Montsinéry 9750 1200-1300 from Montsinéry 9660 1100-1300 from Cypress Creek (SC) 11675 2100-2200 from Greenville 5975 2200-2300 from Montsinéry 13765 2100-2300 from Cypress Creek (SC) Best wishes from London, (Mark Deutsch, BBCWS London via George Poppin, CA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hello again Mark, All hell has broken loose this morning ....phone is ringing .....the computer is humming as we promote BBC-WS. ... Will 11865 and 15390 now be replaced with the new frequencies to the Caribbean? (George Poppin, San Francisco, to Mark Deutsch, via DXLD) Glenn, This just in from London. I ASSUME that he is referring to 11865 and 15390 in the first line of his message. I will check out 15390 at 2100 when I usually monitor that frequency for BBC-WS. How do the new frequencies for the Caribbean come through at your location? Cheers (George, San Francisco, to gh, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: Hi George, Yes, those have gone, because they don't propagate [sic] from the other site. http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/schedules/internet/800/radio_frequencies_caribbean.shtml I see that the chart is still not right - hope it will be by the time you get up today. Best m (Mark Deutsch, BBC, 0846 UT Aug 1, via Poppin, DXLD) You see, Glenn, not all was lost but we can`t ask for much from BBCWS. Looking at the bottom, keeps being ``consuelo de tontos`` (fools` relief). But supposedly we got to be thankful for what we got. It means we`re gonna have two transmitters for the Caribbean (the closest service we can afford from the Beeb) for the additional hour from 2200-2300, instead of only that one on 15390 for just one hour. Seems that the great winner is part of the North American people for that morning time service from Cypress Creek, altho not intended to you, it will cause some sprinkle. I imagine BBCWS managers saying ``don`t make much noise, let`s give them back a pinch of that SW service we took away a couple of years back``. Someway, I consider myself fortunate for those relays from Ascension, altho we`re almost getting the side lobes, we got audible signals, category 3, most of the time 17830 // 15400 are on the air in our daylight hours. 12095 give some decent signal during afternoons too. How is reception for you on these frequencies in the North American region? Bottom line on this downgrading from BBCWS is that we went through many years, trusting their transmissions were there anytime day or night. It gave us the wrong idea that it will never be taken away. We have a saying around here... ``Para razones, el tiempo`` (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, July 31, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 17830, 15400 and 12095 are sometimes good here, but not so much lately with bottomed-out solar flux. I`m afraid the Cypress Creek frequencies will be skipping over Mike Cooper in Atlanta, however they are aimed (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) BBCWS new frequencies for the Caribbean from this August 1st going very well when I checked around 1235. Cypress Creek 9660 S 5 and Montsinéry 9750 S 4. I guess that one from CC must be providing good coverage at least for North American East Coast. Practically booming [into] Tiquicia (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) The message to George did indicate that the change was made to improve reception in the Caribbean and it seems it is a success. Here in central Texas the new frequencies aren't working as well as 11865, which was pretty good most mornings. 6130 was audible but poor at 1100z. As the days shorten, the path for 49m may improve. Cypress Creek was inaudible here at 1100z but when I left for work at about 1245z it had improved to fair. 9740 from Singapore is audible here most mornings. Raul mentioned 17830 & 15400 from Ascension (beamed to Africa). Here they (and 21470) are not so good. Wishful thinking: Merlin and Deutsche Welle trade some transmitter time from Ascension and Kigali so that BBC to west Africa would also be aimed to the western hemisphere. Deutsche Welle to South America could then be from Ascension. Since DW (and BBC) left Antigua I imagine that their South American service has suffered (Jerry Lenamon, Waco, Aug 1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ?? But they *want* it to suffer (gh, DXLD) see also SCOTLAND; ROMANIA; FRANCE ** U S A. Today I received a nice full data card from VOA Washington DC for a report in May for their Thailand transmitter site. I had sent reports to Washington DC and Thailand and both have now answered. They also sent a Program Guide (56 pages!) and 2006 Calendar. Well worth it (Martin Foltz, Mission Viejo, CA, July 31, ABDX via DXLD) ** U S A. Glenn: As you might have guessed, the events in Cuba have triggered some changes in our schedule as of today. Radio República is increasing its schedule via WRMI on 9955 to 1000-1400 and 1600-2100 UT Monday-Friday, as well as 0500-0600 UT Tuesday-Saturday. The weekend schedule for Radio República will be a bit different, but probably 1700-2100 UT Saturday and Sunday, and 0200-0400 and 0500-0800 UT Sunday and Monday. Because of these changes, there will be no Brother Stair from 1800 to 1900 UT which was scheduled to start today, and several hours of WRN will be replaced by the expanded Radio República schedule. This will also have to pre-empt some of the late-night/early-morning weekend DX program airings, but I haven't worked out that schedule yet. Incidentally, Monitor DX for this weekend and next weekend (which will not have any schedule change) will be a two-part series about radio in Peru. [Sats 2345 on 9955] And finally, I think we have resolved the problem with the Internet audio. If it still sounds bad to you, please let me know (Jeff White, WRMI, August 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. RFT Article on Conspiracy People - Power Hour Hi, Glenn! Thought you'd be interested in this article from the Riverfront Times about local conspiracy theorists, which includes a lot about the people hosting "The Power Hour" radio program. I didn't realize that those people were local to me... [four pages] http://www.riverfronttimes.com/Issues/2006-07-26/news/feature.html 73, (Will Martin, MO, July 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Hi, Glenn! I was wondering if you happened to know the answer to this: I've been listening to "Off The Hook" [Wed 2300-2400 7415] and "Off The Wall" on WBCQ for some time (the latter until it stopped a while back) and also bought a bunch of back issues of their "2600" magazine (which I need to someday get around to reading!). All along I've been mildly annoyed by the way everybody in that group seem to use aliases or fake names. The main person appeared to be the exception; he gave his name as "Emmanuel Goldstein" and I just accepted that this was his real name. But just this weekend I saw a broadcast of the movie "Hackers" and in it is a character named "Emmanuel Goldstein"! So now I am at a loss. Do you know if the person in the 2600 group using the name "Emmanuel Goldstein" is really named that or if that is also an alias? In the great scheme of things, I guess it doesn't matter, but I suppose I feel sort of deceived (Will Martin, MO, July 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Will, I don`t know, but can`t say I`m surprised after having listened to a few OTH shows quite a while ago. We`ll see what the group thinks. 73, (Glenn to Will, via DXLD) ** U S A [and non]. USA (WEST) WBCQ 7115. FD post card for no RP in 28 days. VS Alan H Wareo (Alex Wellner, NSW, Shortwave Report, August Australian DX News via DXLD) That`s Allan H. Weiner. Hi Edwin, Looking thru the latest ADXN I see you have a QSL item for WBCQ in USA (West). As an inhabitant of USA, which has no political boundary between east and west, I have always found it quite odd that you Aussies decided to split our country into two parts. Makes about as much sense as splitting Australia into E&W, or Brazil, Canada, China, or any other large country --- Or for that matter, any small country, as all of them are one half east and one half west! Anyhow, if you are going to do that, you have to know your geography, and let me assure you that you can`t go much further east in the US than WBCQ, just a few miles from the Canadian (New Brunswick) border. 73, (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, very near the center E/W of the US, not sure which part I am in, to editor Edwin Lowe, via DXLD) ** U S A. ShipCom LLC is the only U.S. based station providing a 24 hour service for mariners on HF SSB and VHF for radiotelephone ship to shore voice services. ShipCom stations WLO, WCL, KLB and KNN are all controlled from Mobile, Alabama with operators on duty continuously to monitor for ship to shore calls and to initiate required traffic to ships. Apart from voice services, RTTY modes and FAX services are available. WLO located on the shore of the Gulf of Mexico is not one of the oldest of the U.S maritime stations, even though it has served the maritime industry for nearly 60 years; the service also includes west coast stations KLB and KNN located at Seattle, Washington. SCHEDULED TRAFFIC LISTS & WEATHER FORECASTS UTC AREAS 0000 Caribbean WLO 0300 East Pacific KLB 0400 Gulf of Mexico WLO 0500 SW area of North Atlantic WLO 0600 Caribbean WLO 0800 Alaskan Offshore KLB 1300 SW area of North Atlantic, Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico WLO 1400 East Pacific KLB 1500 Gulf of Mexico WLO, Alaskan Offshore KLB 1700 SW area of North Atlantic WLO 1800 Caribbean WLO 2000 East Pacific KLB 2200 Gulf of Mexico WLO 2300 SW area of North Atlantic WLO WLO. *4369, 4396, 6519, *8788, 8806, *13310, 17152, 17260, *17362, 19773, *22804, 26151. --- KLB *4405, *8731, *13101, *17311 ShipComm operators monitor 4077, 8264, 12263, 16480, 22108 (WLO); also 4113, 8207, 12254, 16429 (KLB); and respond to calls from ships on QSX frequencies, shown with * above. (Info courtesy ShipCom LLC via Aug Australian DX News via DXLD) It is hoped that ShipCom will learn to spell Caribbean (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. STATION TO HELP MOTORISTS GET DIALED IN ON HIGHWAY CONDITIONS --- Glenwood Springs Post Independent - Valley News A new radio tower was recently installed along Interstate 70 east of New Castle. The station, 530 AM, will inform people of road and weather conditions and emergency situations, and should be active very soon. Post Independent/Kara K. Pearson [caption] Dennis Webb, Post Independent Staff, July 31, 2006 http://postindependent.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060731/VALLEYNEWS/107310019/0/FRONTPAGE&template=printart NEW CASTLE - A new radio station is debuting in western Garfield County, and for Interstate 70 motorists looking for timely and local travel information it could become an instant favorite. The Colorado Department of Transportation has installed a radio tower adjacent to I-70 just southeast of the New Castle interchange to broadcast pertinent highway safety information. The low-wattage station will broadcast the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration weather forecast out of Grand Junction. However, CDOT also will be able to use the radio to put out other information as necessary about traffic impediments due to construction, rockfall, accidents or other circumstances. The station, which will be broadcast at the AM 530 frequency, also will be used to broadcast a warning whenever a nearby fog detector system is activated. Fog can be a problem on I-70 in the New Castle area, in part because of the proximity of the Colorado River. CDOT already has a fog detection system in place, along with variable message signs able to warn motorists of fog and other highway problems. "It's just all aiming toward better traveler communications. It's just part of our intelligent transportation system," said CDOT spokeswoman Nancy Shanks. CDOT makes fairly extensive use of the stations across the state. With the addition of the New Castle site, 13 will be in operation in CDOT Region 3 in western Colorado. The stations only broadcast about a half-mile in any direction. Nearby signs are used to alert motorists to the existence of each station, and the frequency on which it is broadcasting. CDOT officials hope the New Castle station will be operational by this winter. The stations normally cost from $40,000 to $75,000 to install. In some cases the signal can be broadcast from an antenna on a building; in others a tower is required. The New Castle project is costing only about $5,000 because the tower is merely being relocated from its previous location in Gypsum, where CDOT officials saw less of a need for service because other stations also are in place in Eagle County. CDOT operates stations in the region from its traffic control station center at the Hanging Lake Tunnels in Glenwood Canyon. In the Denver area, they are operated from a center in Golden. Those linked to Golden also can be heard live over the Internet at http://www.cotrip.org That capability is not currently available to the stations in western Colorado due to technological limitations. CDOT learned how much some motorists valued the stations for weather information when it operated a temporary station in Glenwood Springs during the Grand Avenue Paving Project, which ended last year. The station was intended to provide information on GAPP, but some motorists complained that it overrode too much of the weather report, on which they had come to depend. The CDOT radio network Some other local highway advisory radio stations and frequencies: Aspen, 107.9 FM Carbondale, 107.9 FM Eagle 107.9 FM Grand Junction, 106.7 FM Parachute, 106.7 FM (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** U S A. CBS RADIO DEBUTS NETWORK NEWS PODCAST Monday, July 31, 2006 In the five-minute "iCast With Chris Mavridis," Mavridis reports on the news of the day, along with health, technology and entertainment in the first network newscast developed specifically as a podcast. The podcast is available for streaming or download at http://www.cbsnews.com Monday-Thursday at 2 pm ET. [1800 UT] CBS Radio News VP Harvey Nagler says, "This podcast is aimed at a younger audience, and, because of Chris' unique writing style, I don't think it is an exaggeration to say that we'll be changing the way people will listen to the news. It will most definitely change the way you think of CBS Radio News." --- Brida Connolly, R&R Technology Editor, radioandrecords.com (via Brock Whaley, DXLD) This is progress? What`s wrong with CBS radio news on the hour, or the late lamented World News Roundup, and its morning version? CBS Radio joins TV in dumbed-down crap? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. It is, at long last, official - Nassau and Greater Media made the announcement Monday afternoon that they've completed negotiations to send Greater's 99.5 Lowell signal (now country WKLB) to Nassau, in exchange for Nassau's Philadelphia move-in, WTHK (97.5 Burlington NJ). At the same time, Greater Media has completed its deal to acquire WCRB (102.5 Waltham) from Charles River Broadcasting, setting the stage for the long-anticipated format and call swap that will move WCRB's classical format down the dial to 99.5 and WKLB's country into the heart of the Boston market at 102.5. Nassau says it intends to keep the classical format and WCRB calls on 99.5, making it the "new flagship" of the company's chain of classical signals in northern New England. In Philadelphia, 97.5 will get a new format (as yet undetermined) as it joins the Greater Media cluster of WPEN, WMMR, WBEN-FM and WMGK. There are no surprises here for anyone who's been following this long- gestating deal in NERW (or any of the trades, for that matter) for the last year or so, and there are probably some headaches on the way for classical music fans in Boston proper and out near the Route 128 tower farm, who'll experience much weaker reception of WCRB. But for WCRB's staffers, who've been operating in a climate of uncertainty for the last few months, today's announcement provides some degree of security - and we're certainly pleased to be able to replace speculation with certainty in this space. There's still no word on the future of Charles River Broadcasting's Cape Cod signals, WKPE and WFCC. The terms of the deals with Greater Media and Nassau have not yet been disclosed, either, but Greater Media says it will give Nassau cash in addition to the 99.5 license and WCRB's intellectual property, in exchange for the 97.5 signal in Philadelphia. Much more, no doubt, in next week's NERW... WOR [710 NYC] is getting very close now to signing on its new transmitter facility in the New Jersey Meadowlands. The new site has already been on the air testing in non-directional mode, and we hear the new directional pattern will be getting proofed overnight this week. In MASSACHUSETTS, they're getting ready to honor one of the very earliest broadcasting pioneers. http://www.fybush.com/images/2006/fessenden-sm.jpg This year marks the centennial of Reginald Aubrey Fessenden's first broadcasts from Brant Rock, a neighborhood in Marshfield, and next weekend will mark the first phase in a public celebration of the centennial. While the events get underway on Friday (August 4), the big radio-related activities will take place on Saturday, with a live WATD (95.9) broadcast from the Daniel Webster Estate and Heritage Center from noon until 5 PM. (WATD owner Ed Perry is one of the driving forces behind the centennial celebration.) That will be followed by a gala cocktail party and celebration dinner, during which the first Reginald Fessenden Award in Broadcasting will be presented to WBZ (1030) newsman Gary LaPierre. (The evening will also include the debut of a new drink, the "Fessenden Fizz.") There's a website devoted to the celebration at http://www.radiosfirstvoice.org - and more events coming later this year, leading up to the actual December 24 anniversary (Scott Fybush, NE Radio Watch July 31 http://www.fybush.com/support.html via DXLD) ** VANUATU. 3944.75, R. Vanuatu, Vila. Early fade-in, 0420 1/7, talks in Bislama. No sign of 7260 due to Algeria relay there (Craig Seager, Limekilns, near Bathurst NSW, Aug Australian DX News via DXLD) ** VATICAN. We`ve read the news in the press, and it has been repeated over and over again by all radio stations: ``Vatican Radio Director General Named Director of Holy See Press Office`. (11 July - RV) Pope Benedict XVI has named Father Federico Lombardi, S.J. the new Director of the Holy See Press office. He replaces Dr. Joaquín Navarro-Valls, who served in the position since November 4, 1984. I wish all success to Fr Lombardi in his new position. As Dir. Gen. Of VR, he has opposed the general trend of the last decade that has seen people inside radio becoming the advocates of different media (Internet first of all), or in other words real radio suicides. By establishing two separate European programmes, one international service and a local station on MW/FM for the Rome area, Fr Lombardi has proved he believed in what he was working for (Stefano Valianti, Italy, Southern European Rpeort,, Aug BDXC Communication via DXLD) Axually, this was never mentioned in DXLD, as I yawned every time I saw the story. The only recent mention of Lombardi was in 6-103, in connexion with the VR-will-not-run-commercials story. I have also seen that Lombardi retains his VR position in addition to the new one --- but will VR become neglected and suffer as a result? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZANZIBAR. 11735, Radio Tanzania Zanzibar. 7/29/06, 1949-2059*, in Swahili. Nice program of local vocals with a woman announcer with talks. 5+1 time pips at 2000 followed by a man with ID and news. More music from 2008. A man announcer gave ID and sign off announcements at 2056 followed by orchestra National Anthem at 2058. Fair to good signal but choppy (Rich D'Angelo, PA, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ SUMMER WRTH UPDATE FILE AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD WRTH is pleased to announce that an update file for the Summer season broadcasting schedules is now available for download from the WRTH website: http://www.wrth.com The file 48kb is in PDF format and requires Adobe Acrobat reader (free) 5.0 or above to open it. We hope you find this file useful and thank you for your continued support of WRTH. Regards (WRTH Editorial team, Aug 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ NAB ASKS FCC TO RECALL SATCASTER DEVICES --- July 31, 2006 NAB President/CEO David Rehr has penned a letter to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, asking that the Commission recall satellite radio devices that are not compliant with FCC regulations. In his letter, Rehr writes that the "NAB continues to be concerned about the interference caused to free over-the-air radio services by satellite radio devices not in compliance with the Commission`s rules. To ensure that the scope of this problem is not expanded, NAB urges the Commission to take steps to halt the further distribution and sale to consumers of additional satellite radio devices failing to comply with Part 15 of the Commission`s rules." Rehr adds, "Although press reports indicate that XM and Sirius have requested their manufacturers to suspend production of noncompliant devices, these actions do nothing to address noncompliant products already in consumers` hands or those already shipped to distributors and retailers. NAB would urge the Commission to seek recall of noncompliant devices from XM`s and Sirius` major distributors and retailers. Action is necessary to prevent even more disruption to listeners` use and enjoyment of free over-the-air radio services, including new digital services, and the Commission has clear authority to vigorously enforce its rules regarding noncompliant devices." The NAB has been persistent in recent months on the issue of overmodulating satellite and MP3 player devices that can bleed into other FM frequencies. The organization released a study last month on interference from such devices and also asked the FCC to investigate consumers' "free access" to satellite radio from devices broadcasting beyond their range (FMQB via Brock Whaley, July 31, DXLD) "Satellite radio devices?" --- aren't we just talking about these little FM transmitters that have been marketed for several years. Can these little transmitters really create significant interference or is NAB just trying to slow down alternate entertainment coming through car stereos? Here's an alternative that I think makes sense. All car stereos (or audio equipment in general) have an aux input jack as standard equipment. Why don't they [use it] in this day and age? No reception problems from the transmitters and none of this overpowering interference that the NAB cites. The IBOC cheerleaders are worried about interference to free over the air services! That's a hypocritical hoot. I like the way these devices are framed as "satellite radio devices." Some internal communications guy at NAB must have worked on that for days. What makes these any more special than the zillions of other devices out there that violate FCC rules. Well, NAB has rung the bell, let's see how long it takes the Pavlov's dogs at their wholly owned subsidiary, the FCC, to jump. If I am missing something --- let me know. Call me cynical (Russ Johnson, Lexington NC, IRCA via DXLD) YACHT BOY 400 SERVICE MANUAL NEEDED Hi, Noble West told me to send an email to this address. I'm looking for a scan or pdf copy of the service manual for the Yacht Boy 400. Can you help? (Diane ---, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Diane, Only by referring you to this yahoo group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Grundig-Yacht-Boy-Radios/ Regards, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) I'm a member of that group and they were the ones who referred me to you! (Diane, ibid.) Hmm, circular. Surprised no one can help you there (gh, DXLD) LIGHT DIMMERS STINK UP RECEPTION Inexcusable. An extra thruppence buys any toad all the RFI suppressed dimmers he wants. They should buy them. We don't share toothbrushes. We do not loan one another jars of hairpiece glue. Why ever would we share secondary wiring with another room or home? Horrid. Every day undersigned useless scribbler thanks Creator for leading us to RFI quiet QTH. Forget gated communities, golf courses & pre-wired for digital. Who cares? RFI free tops list of home-buying criteria. Doesn't it with you? =Z.= PVZ MK FL BT (Paul Vincent Zecchino, IRCA via DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING DRM: GERMANY; MALI; NETHERLANDS; NEW ZEALAND ++++++++++++++++++++ MUSEA +++++ RADIO MUSEUMS AROUND THE USA The August 2006 MONITORING TIMES, pp. 20-21, Getting Started – Beginner`s Corner column by Ken Reitz lists 15 radio museums you may want to visit, tho I`m not sure what this has to do with being a beginner (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###