DX LISTENING DIGEST 6-124, August 17, 2006 Incorporating REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING edited by Glenn Hauser, http://www.worldofradio.com Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only if full credit be maintained at all stages and we be provided exchange copies. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without permission. Materials taken from Arctic or originating from Olle Alm and not having a commercial copyright are exempt from all restrictions of noncommercial, noncopyrighted reusage except for full credits For restrixions and searchable 2006 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn NEXT SHORTWAVE AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO EXTRA 70: Fri 2030 WWCR1 15825 Sat 0800 WRN 13865 DRM via Bulgaria Sat 1230 WRMI 9955 Sat 1430 WRMI 7385 Sat 1600 WWCR3 12160 Sun 0230 WWCR3 5070 Sun 0630 WWCR1 3215 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 ** ALBANIA. The faulty transmitter at Shijak returned to the air on August 12th and so normal R. Tirana services have been resumed (Noel Green, UK, Aug 16, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, Thanks for your remark on needed updated RT A06 frequency announcements. The Director of Radio Tirana Foreign Service is on holiday. So, instead I asked today somebody who is instead in charge, Mrs. Liljana Polena, journalist, ex-Portuguese translator, to make the correct frequency announcements of Radio Tirana. I will pay attention to this matter until the new announcements will be recorded. Thanks and all the best from Radio Tirana Monitoring Center, sunny, +27.2 C inside, (Drita Cico, ARTV-Head of Monitoring Center RADIO TIRANA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. Looks like I wasn't too far off the wall with tentative logging of the A.R.D.S. station in Humpty Doo on 5050. However, looks like reception now not possible at my QTH: there's a ute covering about 5049-5054, and haven't been able to hear anything over it on 5050 mornings. By the by, per their website this station is known as Yolngu Radio, for the Yolngu indigenous people of New Arnhem Land in the northeast. I've heard reports that they have upgraded equipment for SW, so I wonder if they are using higher power than 400-watts now? (Alex Vranes, Jr., Harpers Ferry, WV, Aug 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. Re 6-123: Hi Glenn, You are correct, a typo. Sorry. 105.7 ABC Darwin http://abc.net.au/darwin/ 783 ABC Alice Springs http://abc.net.au/alicesprings/ [not 78.3] 720 ABC Perth http://abc.net.au/perth/ (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. 4835, 2155 16 August. VL8A ABC Alice Springs. Don't normally hear the 60 m Northern Service Aussies in Victoria [BC], and quite a DX catch here in Ukraine. Have to use LSB to avoid the Peruvian on 4835.4. Good morning heard, and ABC ID just before ToH. Improved over the next half-hour. Fair signal. Parallel to 4910 VL8T Tennant Creek, but poor under cochannel. Katherine not heard, though (Volodya Salmaniw, Kremenchuk, Ukraine, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BELARUS. Dear Glenn, Here's an interesting logging: Radio Mahilioú noted on August 17 at 0340-0400 UT on 7145 kHz with a local news magazine which started with a Radio Mahilioú jingle. Then news and correspondents' reports and commercials. They probably also have a local news programme at 1500-1540 but at that time reception is extremely poor or (mostly) non-existent (Christer Brunström, Halmstad, Sweden, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BULGARIA. MediaLine Radio: Current edition (12-25 August 2006) The current edition of MediaLine Radio is now available at http://medialineradio.com This edition of the programme features half an hour of news and reports from the world of electronic media, science and technology. Plus, an episode of the classic mystery series, The Whistler. It airs at the following times: Saturday, 1300 UT, http://mp3.nexus.org Saturday, 1900 UT, http://mp3.nexus.org and 5775 kHz Sunday, 0030 UT, http://mp3.nexus.org Sunday, 0830 UT, http://mp3.nexus.org and 9310 kHz (or 13840?) Also via WorldFM, http://www.worldfm.co.nz (Henry Brice, MediaLine, DX LISTENING DIGEST) This week's edition is excellent (Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) ** CANADA. I didn't quite catch CKDO's sign on at 0600 [EDT = 1000 UT] this morning, but when I checked around 0635, "Heaven 1580" WPGC was easily heard in their null. Around midday, CKDO's signal strength in mid-town Toronto seemed weaker than they used to be on 1350. So much for my earlier thought that CKDO's signal in the 416 area might be good enough to attract oldies listeners from CHUM-1050 and CKOC-1150. 73 (Mike Brooker, Toronto, ON, Aug 14, IRCA via DXLD) [and non]. Maybe it's an error in the FCC AM database, but if one is to believe the database, CKDO added or replaced a tower as part of its move from 1350 to 1580. According to Bob Carpenter's AMSTNS program, which uses the FCC database, the two towers that CKDO uses on 1580 are both 110 degrees high (not high enough to meet Class A minimum efficiency -- but when did the CRTC or Industrie Canada ever care about that?). On 1350, CKDO used four towers by night and three by day. One of the four nighttime towers was 94 degrees high, the correct height to be 110 degrees at 1580, but the other three were all 60 degrees, as were the three used for the 10-kW daytime operation on 1350. So, one can infer that, before the move to 1580, CKDO had a total of five towers--three used by day, all 60 degrees high at 1350, and four used at night, three of them 60-degrees high at 1350 and one 94 degrees high. Two of the short towers were common between the day and night arrays. The new setup (really DA-1, though documented as DA- 2) appears to use the one tall tower from the old night array plus one new tower of equal height. Interestingly, WLIM has just been granted a CP to drop its two-tower 5-kW CH operation and run 10 kW ND during the entire daylight period, thus no longer protecting Canada during CH. If CKDO is a Class A, this would seem to violate the US-Canadian agreement. In fact, given that Oshawa is several hundred miles south of Chicoutimi, even the WLIM's 5 kW DA-CH pattern might not have protected CKDO's 0.1 mV/m groundwave contour from CH skywave interference (Dan Strassberg, AC 707, Aug 14, IRCAQ via DXLD) I'm inclined to think that the data reported to the FCC may be inaccurate. My recollection, and it's been years since I was at the CKDO site, is that all four towers were physically the same height. Perhaps they're using top-loading? s (Scott Fybush, ibid.) 1580 at Night --- Been listening the past few nights on both 1350 / 1580: CKDO 1350 was dominant on the channel when on day power/pattern, was barely discernible on night pattern/power, now just the usual 'regional rumble'. CKDO 1580 is now the dominant station on the channel here at night - but that's no surprise as 1580 was one of the quieter channels here after dark. Listened for about 45 minutes each of the past two nights; good listenable signal that occasionally chops up, little in the way of deep fades. Audio level seems a tad low, but it sounds more like conservative processing than anything else (Yamaha T-80 in wide mode with Terk loop). Come to think of it, the majority of music stations I hear on AM at night now (with the exception of WLGZ and a few Radio Disney outlets) are all from North of the border. 610 Que, 720 CHTN (now dark I believe), 730 Montreal, 740 Toronto, 780 N.B., 790 Ont., 810 N.B., 860 Toronto, 920 Halifax, 960 Kingston, 1050 Toronto, 1150 Hamilton, 1310 Ottawa, 1540 Toronto, 1570 Montreal, and now 1580 Oshawa --- too bad there aren't any CJSB's, CFTR's or CKGM's around anymore (Andrew MacKenzie, Greenville (Greene Co.) NY, Aug 15, WTFDA-AM via DXLD) ** CANADA. Last week Mark Connelly wondered whether or not CHTN-720 had permanently shut down in favor of their new FM facility at 100.3. Well, 720 is still on the air - noted the past 3 mornings around 0445 EDT relaying the FM with slogans "Ocean 100" and "Ocean 100 - We play everything." Decent signal battling WGN. I'll miss CHTN when they're gone - but at least the channel will be more "open" for other DX opportunities (Marc DeLorenzo, South Dennis, MA, Aug 16, NRC-AM via DXLD) see also HAITI [and non] ** CHINA [and non]. TAIWAN: Today both 17330 and 14260 had clearly audible signals during the 1300 to 1305 monitoring break of the jammers. The programmes were different, female talk on 17330 and male talk on 14260. 17330 as usual was a little low in frequency, while 14260 was precise (as far as I can measure). The jammers seemed to be manually switched as they returned with several seconds difference. The audio was switched on simultaneously on both frequencies, but not until some seconds after 1305 (Olle Alm, Sweden, Aug. 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Firedrake against Sound of Hope observations Aug 16: at 1246, banging away on 14260 with some flutter; stronger at 1341, and at that time also heard on // 17330 after having been on 17350 previously. Was monitoring 17330 at following hourtop, and found it did not stop at 1400:00 sharp but instead at 1400:15* --- they must approximate without benefit of timesignal on the previous jamming source CNR1. At 1421 recheck, not audible on either (Glenn Hauser, OK DX LISTENING DIGEST) Monitoring System --- Intruder Watch and Spectrum Control The Vice Co-ordinator of IARU MONITORING Region 1 and Co-ordinator of DARC MONITORING SYSTEM Ulrich Bihlmayer, DJ9KR, Eichhaldenstrasse 35, 72074 Tübingen, Germany Phone: .+49- 7071 – 81847 Fax: +49-7071– 82419 eMail: bandwacht @ darc.de ______________________________________________________________________ Here is an extract of the activity of Hainan-Music-Jammer on exclusive Amateur Radio frequencies for the months of July and August 2006: Date Time (UTC) Frequency (kHz) 1 July 2006 0455 – 0500, 0754 – 1030 14305 Radio China 1 July 2006 0615 – 0700 14230 2 July 2006 0300 – 0800 14305 2 July 2006 0615 – 0700 14230 2 July 2006 1130 – 1730 14310 2 July 2006 0300 – 1200 14350 2 July 2006 1205 – 1500 18160 4 July 2006 0500 – 1000 18160 9 July 2006 0957 – 1330 18160 11 July 2006 0529 – 0844 18160 16 July 2006 1459, 1537 18160 18 July 2006 0915 18160 23 July 2006 1345 18160 25 July 2006 0452 – 1015 18160 05 Aug 2006 1000 – 2030 14260 Music Jammer since Aug 05! 06 Aug 2006 0530 – 1500 14260 06 Aug 2006 0530 – 1500 18160 07 Aug 2006 0530 - 1200 14260 08 Aug 2006 0300 – 1600 14260 08 Aug 2006 0300 – 1600 18160 09 Aug 2006 0700 – 2100 14260 10 Aug 2006 0200 – 1300 14260 11 Aug 2006 0230 – 1400/ 14260 -1645 - 2130 14260 11 Aug 2006 -1355 - 1400/ 18160 12 Aug 2006 0530 – 2100 14260 // 18180 at 1045 13 Aug 2006 0130 – 1750 14260 // 18200 at 1350 14260 // 7130 at 1605 – 1800 s/off 14 Aug 2006 0200 – 2115 14260 // 7130 at 1605 – 1800 s/off 15 Aug 2006 0100 – 1740 14260 // 7130 at 1605 16 Aug 2006 0530 – 2200 14260 // 17220 at 0805 – 1045 - 14260 // 7130 at 1605 – 1800 s/off 14260 // 17330 at 0838 – 1105 17 Aug 2006 1139 14050 // 17330 // means parallel transmission heard (Ulrich Bihlmayer DJ9KR / DL0IW, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Could you pse monitor 14050 kHz now Dear fellow radio hams, Today (17 August) the Hainan Firedrake Music-Jammer has left the frequency 14260 kHz which it has been using since August 5. It is now (1250 UT) rattling and shaking his tail on 14050 kHz and // also on 17330 kHz. Could you and/or your colleagues from HK or BV-land pse monitor the "new" QRG during the breaks between full hour and full-hour-plus-five minutes, pse. Is there a program in Chinese language? This break is probably to allow the jammer to listen for the station to jam. Pse report to me. Tnx! Regards, (Uli DJ9KR Co-ordinator of DARC-MS and Vice Co-ordinator of IARU-MS Region 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I was listening on 14050 // 17330 from 1155z to 1230z after I received mail from Uli. The RS on 14050 was 59+40db // 17330 RS 59+30db on my IC-765 + 6 elements +WARC bands. (1155-1230z, Aug 17). The RS better than 16 Aug, may because the propagation. It`s same BC transmitting station, same BC program both 14050 // 17330. Looks like the jammer moved the frequency from 14260 down to 14050. BTW. Only one jammer on both frequencies. Short report from BV land if any help (Paul, BV4FH, DX LISTENING DIGEST) So there I was happily having a chat via Morse code with Jasper PB2JJ in Holland on 14048 at 1135 UT when some rather pleasant Chinese music faded in and caused some QRM. I assume this is CRI although this is the first time I have heard them at this time on 14049.8. Glenn, you know all the big broadcasters, can you get them to move up the band a tad, just away from my usual morning frequency? :>) (Andy K3UK O`Brien, Fredonia, New York. Skype Me : callto://andyobrien73 Also available via Echolink, Aug 17, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Grayline propagation 49m: see RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM strangely enough ** CHINA. NEW OLYMPIC RADIO CHANNEL 900AM Since 8.8.2006 there is a new Olympic- Radio-Channel (900AM) in Beijing on air. The first multi language service in China as RCI said. Beijinger Localtime: [UT +8] English Programm 00.00 - 07.00 Chinese Programm 07.00 - 09.00 Spanish Programm 09.00 - 11.00 French Programm 11.00 - 13.00 Arabic Programm 13.00 - 15.00 Chinese Programm 15.00 - 16.00 German Programm 16.00 - 18.00 Japanese Programm 18.00 - 20.00 Korean programm 20.00 - 22.00 Russian Programm 22.00 - 24.00 http://de.chinabroadcast.cn/401/2006/08/02/1@54232.htm 73, (Paul Gager, Austria, Aug 14, BDXC via DXLD) That goes to their page about this in German, and webcast starts automatically; it was in Spanish when I tried at 0144 UT (Glenn Hauser, Aug 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CROATIA. Hallo Wolfgang, Hi Glenn! It seems that the Croatian DRM transmitter on 594 kHz is off the air. In the last few days I couldn´t hear any DRM noise on this frequency. 73, (Patrick Robic, Austria, Aug 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) And just one day after reporting this, VoCroatia is back on 594 kHz DRM (Patrick Robic, Austria, Aug 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CROATIA. 6165, (Presumed), Croatian Radio, 2209-2300*, Aug. 15, English, Continuous oldies pop music by the likes of The Beatles; Simon and Garfunkel; Glenn Campbell and many others from the 50's, 60's and 70's --- many familiar but unknown to me. (A bit before my time!) Elvis cut off at 2300 for pips (2+1) then off. No IDs or announcers. Fair/good (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, 200' Beverages, MLB-1, DTS-4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. ``Patria o Suerte, ¡Pensaremos!`` --- my parody slogan, comes to mind just about every night as I drift off into dreamland, much like an involuntary prayer, often following a final bandscan which inevitably includes RHC as a reminder. I am still awaiting proof that this slogan has ever been scrawled on a wall anywhere in Cuba. Perhaps I should settle for Little Habana? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [non]. Stations received IN Cuba? I heard a news item about the alleged importance of Radio Martí now that Fidel is supposedly close to his last cigar. Frankly, I have never really understood the USA preference for booming their propaganda stations in to a specific country; seems counter productive to me. Anyway, do the Cubans really need a Radio Martí? Given their proximity to other Caribbean countries, and the USA, can they not reliably receive other countries` domestic stations that broadcast in Spanish? Anyone done a bandscan of the AM and FM band from Cuban to see what can be heard from outside of Cuba? (Andy K3UK O`Brien, Fredonia, New York, Aug 16, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Some of the FL FM stations no doubt make it at least to the N coast, but it`s still a pretty long haul except with some tropo enhancement or for the few stations in the Keys, and we know what a commitment to news and public affairs US FM stations have. Some of the `worst` exile broadcasters in Miami are deliberately blocked by powerful Cuban transmitters, e.g. 670, 710 and (still?) 1140. I seem to recall someone reporting that surprisingly little from Mexico is heard on MW in Cuba. No doubt various Venezuelan AM stations would make it into Cuba at night, and not all of them may be under Chávez` control (yet), but remember that there are Cubans on just about every channel. In fact, glancing thru the WRTH 2006 Cuban list, there is at least one Cuban, sometimes several, on every single channel from 530 thru 1590, except 970 --- wonder how they missed that? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [and non]. The supposed Cuban Jammer on 1620 was heard here near Atlanta last night (8/17 UTC). It was the first evening I looked for it. It does sound like power line hum. In both sidebands on the 2010, and heard on the portable TRF as well. About equal to Pánama City. It did not sound like any other signal I could hear on MW or LW, so I presume this is the noisemaker from Cuba. First heard in the car at local sunset. It was there every time I checked throughout the evening. I have never heard the Virgin Islands station that carries Radio Martí on 1620 up here (Brock Whaley, GA, Aug 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. 6000, 0347 16 August 2006. Tuned into RHC to hear Arnie Coro's DXers Unlimited at surprisingly good level with an S9 + 10 signal. Thought I might here their 05 to 07 transmission to ECNA but nothing heard on 11760 except BBCWS nor 6060 (Volodya Salmaniw, Kremenchuk, Ukraine, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CZECH REPUBLIC [non]. In case you`ve lost track, R. Prague relays via WRMI are daily at: 0430 & 0930 in Spanish on 9955; in English daily 0900 on 9955, 1400 on 7385, as reconfirmed by Jeff White (Glenn Hauser, Aug 15, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** DENMARK [non]. Re: DANISH LIVES, IN ITALY, AND WHERE ELSE? ITALY. 9780, Rai, 7/30/06, *1957-2021* in Danish. IS until 2000 --- Yes, the Danish schedule is Tues/Thurs/Sun at 2000-2020 UT (winter and summer) on 6110 and 9780 kHz. On their web site you can see the 'main' lady in green + two other ladies. They are DANISH. The sched. at the bottom is wrong: http://www.international.rai.it/radio/multilingue/presentazioni/danese.shtml Here you also can listen either 'live' or the latest program 'on demand'. ``Are there any other Danish language broadcasts outside Denmark (or Greenland) on air or on line?`` CJVB, Vancouver, 1470 kHz USED TO had a Danish hour at 02 UT Tues/Wed/Thurs, but it has now stopped. 5 EBI-FM in Adelaide, Australia: Tuesday 19-20 Adelaide time on 103.1 SBS Radio, Melbourne: Saturday 17-18 local time, on FM & MW in various locations. And you can choose audio of the recent Danish program at: http://www20.sbs.com.au/sbs_front/index.html (SBS Radio streaming on demand - choose Danish). Radio Solymar, Marbella, Spain: Mon-Fri 15-16 local time (13-14 UT/Summer) on 101.6 MHz covering Costa del Sol. Audio: http://www.drsydeuropa.com/control/index.php?newlang=danish - at left, click 2nd from top: 'Hør radio' (Listen radio), then choose the day (Mandag = Monday etc.) Radio Schleswig-Holstein, Northern Germany: Mon-Fri 17.55 and 20.55 local time (= 1555 & 1855 UT) on 101.4 and 102.8 MHz. This newscast is most likely not available online. http://www.rsh.de 73, (Erik Køie, Copenhagen, Aug 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR. RADIO NACIONAL ESPEJO. A STORY FROM BEHIND THE SCENES At the end of 1974 and beginning of 1975 I was travelling in Colombia, Ecuador and Perú. In Quito, and after several unsuccessful attempts, I finally managed to make an appointment with the station manager of Radio Nacional Espejo, a non-verifier at the time. I had an enjoyable chat with Sr. Gerardo Brborich for some 15 minutes. He then opened a desk drawer bulging with letters. -Here are the latest reports I have received, he said. -There are probably IRCs in there, I said. You won´t get the sufficient postage for a reply in Ecuador right now, I added, but in my home country it is different. -OK, if you like, you pick out the best reports and send them these desk calendars and pocket agendas, he said, leaving a bundle just in from the printers on the desk. -The secretary will take down the text of the verification letter, and I´ll sign it for you ``in blanco``. One of the letters came back to me, which was misspelt as ``Radio Nacional de Quito``, in red, blue, yellow and black. I sorted out the 20+ best reports of a poor lot and sent the stuff out when coming back to Sweden. A good deal of the recipients came back to me, saying they were delighted at this unexpected and belated Christmas present (Henrik Klemetz, Sweden, MWC via DXLD) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 5005.0, 2251 [16 Aug]. Radio Nacional, Bata. Good to very good reception with African high-life music with a hint of Latin influence it seems. Non-stop until 2258 and directly into the NA through to 2300. I recall hearing this one regularly at excellent levels in France a few years back (Volodya Salmaniw, Kremenchuk, Ukraine, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA. 5500, 1749 16 August. Voice of Tigray Revolution. Very good reception with Horn of Africa music. // of 6350 mostly covered by ute traffic (the latter is very much more present in Ukraine then on the WCNA). (Volodya Salmaniw, Kremenchuk, Ukraine, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FRANCE. Hi, the closure of NRK on 1314 has paved the way for Loisirs AM, Paris. Heard on Aug 14 and 15 after my local sunset around 19 UT. Nonstop songs, ballads, rapping, etc., in French or English. No commercials heard but rather frequent IDs "Loisirs 13-14 A.M." or "Loisirs 13-14 ondes moyennes``. Weak to fair. At first with Roumanian transmitters echoing, then a little bit later sometimes Spanish voices in the background, but Loisirs AM clearly dominant. SINPO 34444 at best (Johan Berglund, Trollhättan, Sweden AOR AR7030, 30 m lw. Aug 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST ** GERMANY [and non]. Re 6-123: VT Communications awarded German Broadcasting Contract --- Hopefully the VT contract will be profitable for DW in future. Normally expensive VT hiring rates are much much higher than the German Telekom T-systems rates (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Aug 15, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREECE. I tuned in The Voice of Greece at UT 0000 Monday (9420 and 7475 were very strong, nothing on 15650) expecting to hear the "It's All Greek To Me" program in English. But, I imagine that the MC of that program is on an extended vacation, so they gave us the second repeat of the "Greeks Everywhere" program in English, as happened the week before, with Katerina Thanasoula (John Babbis MD, USA, Aug 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HAITI [and non]. 4VAM [1280] is running. David Towers spotted this. Their website features live streaming audio. Henrik Klemetz also emailed the station on my behalf, something I didn't report here. This was the reply from one of their staff ... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- "La Direction du site de Radio Metropole vous remercie de votre courriel et vous fait savoir que le son du lien que vous lui avez fait parvenir est très mauvais et ne peut être identifié très bien; toutefois j'ai entendu 4VAM mais je ne peux vous l'assurer ou le certifier. Recevez mes distinguées salutations, Tamara Lima" ---------------------------------------------------------------------- "The management of the Radio Metropole site wishes to thank you for your email and wishes to tell you that the audio link you have provided is very poor and cannot be identified very clearly; nevertheless I did hear "4VAM" but I cannot be sure of it or verify it. Best regards, Tamara Lima" ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Make of that what you will. If you don't have ears that are "finely tuned" for our hobby I suspect many people would refer to such a recording as "noise". The fact is neither CFMB or 4VAM seem to be able to give a definite YES or NO. C'est la vie! (John Faulkner, UK, Aug 14, MWC via DXLD) ** INDIA. 3365, 1821 16 August. AIR Delhi with very good strength with Indian music. Best in LSB. Why doesn't the WRTH nor PWBR list these? Vlad immediately ID'd this for me. Thanks! (Volodya Salmaniw, visiting Vlad Titarev at Kremenchuk, Ukraine, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Because they both actually believed AIR`s plan to move to 60 meters by the time they were published (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** INDIA. 15050, AIR-New Delhi, *0133-0145, Aug. 15, English, IS, ID, OM and YL with commentary re India's 59th Independence Day. Audible but not a lot to work with. Best of the 5 frequencies carrying English heard here. Poor with "growl" on LSB side (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, 200' Beverages, MLB-1, DTS-4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL INTERNET. Nothin' But Net Logs http://www.alohajoe.com/ All the Hawaiian Music you ever wanted to hear. Pretty mellow. http://www.kxci.org/ KXCI 91.3 Tucson a great place for lefties to listen to Democracy Now! http://www.wtkm.com/ Polka until you see dots! 104.9 FM and 1540 AM from Hartford, WI (Kevin Redding, Aug 13, ABDX via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM [non]. Pictures of July 26th Dnepr Launcher Crash --- debris from the July 26th Dnepr Launcher crash in which 14 Amateur CubeSats were lost can be seen at http://kosmodrombaikonur.ru/index.php/news/comments/naideno_mesto_padeniya_raketi_nositelya_dnepr/ The MSNBC report on the crash can be seen at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14346394/ 73 (Trevor M5AKA, monitoring monthly yg via DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH. 11680.15, KCBS-P`yongyang, 1542-1604, Aug. 15, Korean, Usual format of ballads and anthems. Pips/OM with presumed ID at 1600. Poor/fair. Rather surprised to hear this at my local noontime hour (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, 200' Beverages, MLB-1, DTS-4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA SOUTH. Re 6-123, 1566 kHz: In tuning in this morning between 1100-1200 I found HLAZ in Chinese. Then after 1200, still in CC. 73, (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, Aug 14 IRCA via DXLD) Fady here, but definitely Chinese up to 1230, then the HLAZ ID, a hymn (Church's One Foundation??), followed by "konbonwa" and Japanese talk, same as ever (Nick Hall-Patch, Victoria, B.C. Canada, ibid.) ** LIBERIA [non]. ASCENSION IS., 9525, 0704 16 August. Star Radio at very good level with English news. ID at 0710. The evening broadcast is apparently cancelled (Volodya Salmaniw, Kremenchuk, Ukraine, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALAYSIA. 7295, Traxx FM, 1015-1030+, Aug. 15, English, DJ banter and pop music poking thru the static; couple of words audible here and there. Poor but first signs of audio here at my location since early spring. 9750, (Tentative) V. of Malaysia, 1036-1105, Aug 15, Vernacular, Instrumental music including version of "Imagine". YL at 1055 with tentative "Suara Malaysia" Pips/OM at 1100 them music and talk. Fair with 9755-WYFR slop at 1100 (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, 200' Beverages, MLB-1, DTS-4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALDIVE ISLANDS [non]. 13620, Minivan Radio via Juelich, 1608- 1659*, Aug. 15, Vernacular, Various interviews/speeches and a few musical bits. YL with ID at 1656, OM at 1658 over horn/drums and "jungle" sounds until 1659*. Fair (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, 200' Beverages, MLB-1, DTS-4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I just saw a Globe Trekker episode on Travel Channel first about Sri Lanka, then Maldives, making out the latter to be a real, if expensive, paradise. Not a word about politics. But then it was © 1999. I.a. times, G.T. is currently running on Travel M-F at 20-21 UT (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MAURITANIA. 4845, 2236 16 August. Radio Mauritania at "nuisance levels" with Arabic programming. The most powerful (and one of few) 60 m Africans remaining (Volodya Salmaniw, Kremenchuk, Ukraine, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4845, Radio Mauritanie, 0043-0100* 8/12. Local pop music. 0048 Talk by woman. 0050 Kor`an recitation by man. 0100 Very quick announcement by woman and abrupt end of transmission. Poor signal (SINPO 22222). Had heard no Africans and very little else on the Tropical Bands for the previous 10 days or so. Storms the previous night brought the first rain in a month and temperatures not near 100 F (Jim Evans, TN, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ** MEXICO [and non]. 6009.97, Radio Mil, 0951 8/10 in Spanish Jingle ID, brief snippet of "Pretty Woman", talk by OM and YL with song continuing underneath; Sync detector on the E1 would occasionally lose lock on Radio Mil and lock instead on La Voz de Tu Conciencia on 6009.32, then after a few seconds, switch back. Very disconcerting. First instance of the sync on the E1 being less than bulletproof (Ralph Brandi, NJ, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ** MONGOLIA. 4830, 2232 16 August. Mongolian Radio HS2. My most interesting 60 m logging. Very martial sounding music à la P`yongyang, but the language is totally different. Not at all oriental sounding. Hints of Slavic words but unlike anything else. Vlad says it sounds Kazakh to him. To me it's very similar to Tatar, which makes sense, I suppose. Fair to good at times with a solid S7 signal. // to 4895 which at times is more powerful and 7260 which also is well heard except for adjacent splatter. All in parallel initially, but when rechecked at 2302, 4830 and 7260 were in Russian, but not 4895. I could not find anything showing a Russian transmission at this time. By 2310, then reverted to HS2 programming, again all in //. I'll keep an eye on this during the days to come (although very late at night here!). (Volodya Salmaniw, Kremenchuk, Ukraine, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WRTH 2006 (pg. 306) says 0000-0010 UT Russian on Prgr 2, that is 2300- 2310 UT during summer when DST is in force. WRTH gives Mon/Wed/Fri for SW (daily relay on FM), but the days may have changed. 73s, (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGER. 9705.0, 2148 16 August, La Voix du Sahel. Another welcome African. Very well heard here the entire evening. African music until 2150, then drums for more than a minute, and ID in French, mentioning a special program. S9 + 30 signal and great modulation. Hope they stay (Volodya Salmaniw, Kremenchuk, Ukraine, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA. Referring to DXLD 6-123 I this morning (Aug. 17) heard V. Of Nigeria signing off after French at 0758 UT on 15120 kHz (Erik Køie, Copenhagen, Denmark, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15120, 1740 16 August. Voice of Nigeria finally has it right! Very powerful signal with excellent modulation and in the clear with English business news, and then the news about Nigeria program from 1742. Interesting local perspectives too. A rarity from Africa these days, so I hope they keep it up. Heard also at 0604 on 17 August with S9 + 20 signal over a relatively strong Chinese station cochannel. Where's the frequency coordination? 4770, 2226 16 August. Radio Nigeria Kaduna. An S9 signal but distorted with overmodulation, so virtually impossible to follow. A sick transmitter it seems. Reminds me of Radio Son La in Vietnam! (Volodya Salmaniw, Kremenchuk, Ukraine, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. The inaugural year of the Quartz Mountain Music Festival at Lone Wolf, Oklahoma was an overwhelming success! This new, exciting festival was able to capture through the melody of music the truly inspirational location of Quartz Mountain and the wonderful people that surround it. For those who could not attend or who want to hear the music again can tune-in to KCCU this Monday night at 8 (August 21 from 8 to 10 pm [0100-0300 UT Tue Aug 22]). KCCU will broadcast the concert featuring The Quartz Mountain Music Festival Chamber Players. The founder of this music festival, David Palmer, set about to create a festival comprised of music for every person in this region to enjoy and with which to enrich their lives. The musicians come from Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas as well as from across the country from Boston to Los Angeles. Lead by Michael Palmer, one of the foremost conductors in this country, these musicians dazzled the audience with their amazing talent, sharing the music of Bach, Mozart and Tchaikovsky. The guest artist, Mary Jane Johnson, is counted amongst the great dramatic sopranos, and is considered one of opera’s premier interpreters. KCCU’s Peter Burke will host the two hour radio concert. The Robert M. Kerr Performing Arts Center at Twin Peaks – Lone Wolf, Oklahoma Mary Jane Johnson, soprano; Ty Myers, violin; Michael Palmer, conductor, Quartz Mountain Music Festival Chamber Players Brandenburg No. 3 in g major, BWV. 1048 Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) I. Allegro II. Adagio III. Allegro Concerto for violin No. 5 in a major, K. 219 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) I. Allegro aperto-adagio-Allegro aperto Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Dove Sono from The Marriage of Figaro, K. 492 Non Midir from Don Giovanni, K. 234 Porgi Amor from The Marriage of Figaro, K. 492 Ah, Ich. Liepte from The Abduction from the Seraglio, K. 384 Intermission Selected Spirituals James Gardner (b. 1945) Serenade for Strings, op. 48 Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky I. Pezzo in forma di Sonatina (1840-1893) II. Valse III. Elegia IV. Finale Michael Leal, KCCU Program Director, Cameron University 2800 West Gore Blvd., Lawton OK 73505 Tel: (580) 581-5511 Fax: (580) 581-5571 Email: mikel @ cameron.edu Homepage: http://www.kccu.org KCCU ``Your Public Radio Station for Oklahoma and Texas`` 89.3 Lawton- Fort Sill * 88.7 Wichita Falls * 90.3 Ardmore * 90.1 Altus * 89.1 Clinton * 102.9 Lawton * 100.1 Chickasha (KCCU via DXLD) + webcast ** PAKISTAN. 14 Aug there was some hassle at Rawat/Islamabad transmitter station as the normal R. Pakistan frequency 4790 was empty at 1750 and RP program was instead running on 5102.1 (clandestine Voice of Jammu and Kashmir Freedom frequency which should sign-off at 1430 and the transmitter should return to 4790 with R Pakistan program). R Pakistan news at 1800 in parallel with RP Quetta, which was today on 5033.8. 5102 went off at 1804 while Quetta continued and signed off at 1829 (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, Aug 14, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. NBC BACK ON AIR IN MENDI http://www.thenational.com.pg/081606/nation29.htm THE National Broadcasting Corporation’s Radio Southern Highlands is on air again after being off air for nearly seven months. A relieved provincial station manager Andrew Meles speaking from Mendi last week said the station started broadcasting last week after acting provincial administrator William Powi intervened and assured landowners that he would address their grievances. The station was forced to close on March 3 by disgruntled Longo and Kave land owners outside Mendi town. The landowners demanded a K1 million compensation payment from the provincial government for the land at Kongo at which the transmitters are located. They also held the station in ransom to demand payment for a road maintenance contract carried out in their area which was not honoured by the provincial government. Mr Meles revealed that while Governor Hami Yawari has given funds to promote Christian radio station Wantok Light, commercial radio station FM 93’s reception in Mendi and the installation of EMTV signals, the NBC station has hardly been assisted in any way (The National, PNG, Aug 16 via DXLD) WTFK? 3275! ** RUSSIA. 9690, 0623 16 August. Tatarstan Wave. Always interesting to me to monitor this station from Samara. Signs on always at 10 minutes past the hour with a single IS, then ID in Tatar, then the IS again once, and ID in Russian. Most programming is in Tatar, although today, Thursday August 17th at same time, virtually the entire broadcast was in Russian when I checked at 0620. Superb signal (Volodya Salmaniw, Kremenchuk, Ukraine, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SCOTLAND [non]. Ulbroka, Latvia, 9290 will be testing in September, and we anticipate relaunching our European service with 100 kW in Oct, and next month hope to have news of more SW transmissions, which we are going to give priority over MW. Monthly broadcasts via IRRS [Bulgaria] have moved from 13840 to 9310. More news at http://www.radiosix.com (Tony Currie, DX-tra on radio six international webcast 1955 UT Aug 17, notes by Glenn Hauser for DX LISTENING DIGEST) Unfortunately, tuned in late and missed most of it ** SLOVAKIA. Re 6-123, De visita a Radio Eslovaquia Internacional, por José Miguel Romero2 Ya me estaba resultando sospechoso este silencio tuyo, Pepe, dado que te has convertido en uno, si no el más asiduo colaborador desde tierra ibérica para DXLD. Caí en la cuenta que me habías anunciado un viaje a Eslovaquia, de modo que tras más de una semana de no ver reportes tuyos, me dije ya está --- éste anda veraneando o se nos quedó por allá y tal vez hasta se enamoró de Laya. Lástima que como comentas el panorama ahí no es el más halagador. En fin, estamos a la espera de tus comentarios y experiencias, pero valga ésta para reiterarte la bienvenida, pues extrañábamos ya tu presencia. Un abrazo (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Saludos cordiales Raúl, así es, por aquí andamos desde el dia 6 de agosto y tenemos previsto la vuelta a casa el próximo 20 de Agosto; el viaje lo estamos haciendo en coche, 2400 Km. Toda una aventura, por el momento con escalas en Génova y Venecia; al regreso ya veremos por donde lo hacemos, supongo que estaremos unos tres días en la carretera. Me lo tomo con calma. Como no, pues claro que uno se enamoró de Lada; ya le envíen recuerdos y saludos de su parte. Es una chica muy agradecida, muy atenta, se preocupa mucho por todo lo que le rodea. Para el próximo viernes está previsto otro encuentro junto a María, que tiene mucho interés y ganas de conocernos; espero impaciente el viernes. Respecto a la situación de la emisora, es algo increíble; el gobierno apuesta por internet. Sin embargo el servicio y equipamientos de internet en este país son tercermundistas; tuve ocasión de conversar con el Subdirector de la emisora. Le hice saber el gran desacierto de la eliminación de las transmisiones en onda corta. Fue muy receptivo; es uno de los pocos profesionales que quedan en la emisora, desde los cambios políticos en este país y los cambios de altos cargos en la emisora. Esto está quedando en manos de personas que no tienen ni idea del mundo de la radio; por ejemplo la redactora jefa, reconoció que no había escuchado en su vida una emisión internacional, ni siquiera la radio nacional. Tiene como asesora a su hija, una adolescente seguidora de Funradio, una emisora calificada como Gamberra. Hay que ver en qué manos está quedando esta emisora. Un fuerte abrazo, Raul. Atentamente (José Miguel Romero, ibid.) ** SLOVAKIA [and non]. Eric Wiltsher of R. Tatras International told me last week that he has burned all of RTI`s unused QSL cards, since they have no time to deal with DX hobbyists (Tony Currie, DX-tra on radio six international webcast 1956 UT Aug 17, notes by Glenn Hauser for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAIWAN. 6150, Radio Taiwan International, (Presumed) 1105-1130 Aug 14. Noted a couple (man and woman) presenting the news in Chinese Language (presumably). The Firedrake noted in a previous logging has either ceased transmitting or faded away. I suspect the latter is the case. News finishes at 1114 with woman continuing in comments. The WRTH 06, says that RTI is on 6150 from 0900 to 1400 in Mandarin, so maybe I have a true logging? Signal never improved beyond poor during the period (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston, Florida NRD545, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also CHINA ** TAJIKISTAN. 4635, 2220 16 August. Tajik Radio 1 is the most powerful 60 meter signal here from CIS countries. Presumed Tajik with mentions of George Bush, terrorism, the BBC, and Jimmy Carter. They once broadcast frequently in Russian, but no more (Volodya Salmaniw, Kremenchuk, Ukraine, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TIBET [and non]. 4820, 2230 16 August, Xizang PBS in Lhasa is very well heard, as are most of the 60 m Chinese stations. Chinese here with Very good signals. Also Tibetan on 4905 and 4920 at 2247. CNR on 4800 in Chinese is exceptionally powerful too at this time (Volodya Salmaniw, Kremenchuk, Ukraine, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKEY. I've just heard the Voice of Turkey in French from 0315 to 0352 sign-off on 5975 et 7270 kHz. Excellent reception on 5975 kHz here in France; 7270 suffered from interferences (Cairo until 0327). The final announcement mentioned European frequencies only. So, technical problem, I suppose (JM Aubier, France, UT Aug 17, dxldyg DX LISTENING DIGEST) Played wrong tape, I guess (gh, DXLD) ** UKRAINE. 9945, 0500 16 August. I'm pretty sure that I heard Bob Padula report RUI on 9970 at this time signing on. This is not the case. On that frequency is RFI in French, I believe, while Ukraine's sole transmitter at this time is on the usual 9945 with a good signal here in Ukrainian. As for 15675 at 0800, I'm obviously in their skip zone and so it's barely audible here at that time (Volodya Salmaniw, Kremenchuk, Ukraine, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UKRAINE [and non]. Greetings from beautiful Ukraine, from Vlad Titarev's DX palace! Spent a very late evening DXing the tropical bands, etc., and have a few interesting observations. 11980, at 0600 [17 Aug]: Despite reports of the flea-powered hobby station, Dniprovska Khvylia (Dnipro wave), not a peep has been heard from them. I did hear a brief open carrier this morning at 0558, but this lasted all of 30 seconds or so. Vlad tells me this may be a weekend only station as is located in or near Zaporyzhia. I'll report if I hear them --- one of my goals of this visit! That's it for now from sunny and warm Kremenchuk, Ukraine. Tomorrow evening I'm off to Dontetsk and a village in Luhansk oblast in the very south-east of the country. Towards the end of the month I'll be in the west. Will try to report as I can. By the way, receiver used was Vlad's AOR 7030. Recorded on an external mp3 recorder. Antenna either an inverted L or his K9AY. City location. RF is much worse than 4 years ago, especially on MW during the day making this band virtually unusable. Sign of the times, I suppose (Volodya Salmaniw, Kremenchuk, Ukraine, Aug 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. Besides the Prom Concerts, BBC Radio 3 has now also started broadcasting concerts from the Edinburgh Festival. A series from the Queen`s Hall is airing M-F thru Sept 1 at 1200 UT, but you won`t find them under E or Q on the BBC Radio 3 Listen Again player --- you only find them under Lunchtime Concert [tho announced as in the `morning`], apparently available for one week like the Prom concerts, starting with Tue Aug 15. Looking at the upcoming listings, length varies from 60 to 100 minutes, causing most of the Proms playbacks, which had been at 1300, to be delayed as late as 1340. There are also Edinburgh Sunday Galas at 1300 UT, and in September after Proms are over, delayed Edinburgh evening concerts start. See http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/edinburgh2006/queenshall.shtml Also, this year the Prom repeats show up separately on the Prom Player meaning that many concerts will have more than a week of availability from the original broadcast, since the local afternoon repeats appear a few days later. And re my previous complaint about the files stopping in the middle of the music, I soon learnt that in the case of the BBC Radio 3 Prom Player, what you have to do in the case of 2-part Proms, which most of them are, is to stop part I immediately the intermission feature finish, or skip it if it has nothing to do with music, and switch to Part II. Both of them have large overruns, which I guess is better than risking running short (Glenn Hauser, OK, Aug 16-17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. Over and out? By Finlo Rohrer, BBC News Magazine --- It is 25 years since Citizens' Band radio arrived on British shores in a big way. But where has it gone? http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/4789887.stm (via Ken Kopp, dxldyg via DXLD) Same story? Different URL: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4789887.stm (via Trevor, monitoringmonthly yg via DXLD) see DIGITAL BROADCASTING ** U S A [non]. 9280 with Méditation from Thaïs, by Massenet, a beautiful classical favorite, Aug 15 at 1352, and good signal, too. This had to be Family Radio via Taiwan, scheduled in Mandarin during that hour. My rating of FR goes up a notch, altho I expect this was just an interlude to the usual fare (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Dear Glenn, More great programs on The Planet. Planetary Radio follows your show, Wed 6:30-7 pm [2230-23 UT] on 7415, features astronomy and related sciences. Fred Flintstone returns, Thursdays 6-7 pm [22-23 UT] on 7415 beginning the 24th. More great rock and roll on shortwave!! Plus broadcasts from the ship and Undercover Radio Wed 5-6 pm [21-22 UT] on 7415. We change the face of shortwave radio!! Cheers, (Allan Weiner, WBCQ, Aug 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WBCQ Schedule Updates, Tuesday, August 15, 2006. The Last Roundup is moving to Mondays 7-8 pm Eastern time (22-23 UT) on 7415; was Tuesday 5-6 pm Eastern time (21-22 UT) which is now an open slot. The Last Roundup replaces "The Spirit of Elijah." A new show, Planetary Radio, a program on astronomy and related science, will be on Wednesdays at 6:30-7 pm Eastern time (2230-2300 UT), replacing "Creation Nation." Allan tells us that Planetary Radio is a program on astronomy and related science. Radio Free Truth, which was Saturdays from 11 pm to 12 mn on 9330, is moving to 7415 Fridays at 7-8 pm Eastern time (22-23 UT). The remaining open time slots on 7415, which are Tuesday 5-6 pm [21-22 UT] and Thursday 6-7 pm [22-23 UT], have recently featured Undercover Radio's twentieth anniversary show. Additional live remote broadcasts from WBCQ's Boston-based radio ship, the M/S Katie, may also appear in these time slots (Larry Will, Aug 16, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) WBCQ Schedule Updates, Wednesday, August 16, 2006. "The Word of the Cross," was Sundays from 3-4 pm Eastern time [19-20 UT], has ended its run on WBCQ. This time slot is now available. Noted a repeat of Jen's "867-5309" here on Sunday, August 13; others reported hearing "Lost Discs Radio Show" here on August 6. Fred Flintstone's Music Show returns with all-new shows on Thursday, August 24, at 6 pm eastern time [2200 UT]. "Shortwave Overnight: Free Speech Rock and Roll," is on hiatus, but may reappear occasionally if a host is available. Was Sundays at 1-3 am [05-07 UT] (Larry Will, Aug 16, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Don't think that this has been already discussed: WBCQ remained on the air all night again the night of Saturday to Sunday, 8/13/06 UT, on 7415 kHz. Beginning with the Tom & Darryl show scheduled at 0400-0500 UT, instead of switching to the new "Shortwave Overnight" music & free-speech program, it stayed with Tom & Darryl basically indefinitely. I was listening and falling asleep and awakening periodically during this period, and heard the Tom & Darryl people mention about 4 AM my time (Central -- 0900 UT) that they realized that the SW relay was still on and that they'd stay up as long as it did. I'm not sure when T&D itself actually ended; I had some brief periods of wakefulness during the subsequent hours and heard some other programming (was this whatever was on the W0KIE satellite feed?) and finally heard some old "Lone Ranger" radio programming that was terminated in progress when the 7415 transmitter was finally shut off at 1258 UT. What I found quite interesting was that the reception *improved* overnight. I'm currently listening without external antennas (need to wait until the weather gets cooler before I can work outside to replace the ones brought down by the storm here in mid-July), and the signal on the Grundig 800 got stronger and clearer the later it lasted. The early-morning signal at the time of cut-off was excellent. Allan Weiner should use this info to convince James Lloyd to buy a couple more hours daily for "Christian Media Network" to access the nationwide morning audience he currently seems to ignore. Or the BBC should buy some time -- it'd certainly be cheaper than any other relay site they currently use! 73, (Will Martin, Aug 14, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) That`ll be the day. Could be the op just fell asleep before turning off transmitter. Fortunately, WBCQ is registered with FCC to use 7415 24 hours if it wants to but what`s the electricity bill per hour? (gh) ** U S A. WWCR-12160. Glenn, there's still a problem on this frequency with crosstalk from 15825 for the Sat. 1600 WOR broadcast. It's really annoying, and here it makes listening really difficult, and this is the best signal here for any of the WOR broadcasts on SW. I sent them an e-mail regarding this a few months ago (Alex Vranes, Jr.- Harpers Ferry, WV, Aug 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Greetings to all of our loyal Veronica programmers. Firstly, I want to thank each of you for all that you do for independent media. Your programs keep the truth alive that is virtually non-existent in the mainstream media. We are proud of each of your programs and thank you for what I know for many of you is a labor of love, just as Veronica is for me. Secondly, I wanted to announce that there are a lot of changes that are transpiring here at Veronica that you should be made aware of. To top things off, it looks like we are just weeks away from going beyond the Part 15 micro-power radio status we have endured for the past year. We have found two viable non-com frequencies and hope to be applying to the FCC soon for a construction permit to boost our power into the 250-500 [watt] range. This will allow us to cover, not just our local community, but a large portion of our county -- none of which has access to community and independent media. So keep your fingers crossed that we will succeed in our quest to bring community radio to a larger local audience. Thirdly, we are launching a new low power AM station in the next two weeks that will expand our potential audience. The station will operate utilizing three synced transmitters on 1700 kHz to maximize our potential coverage. As a result much of our talk programming will be transferred to the new Veronica-AM outlet. On our current FM outlet we are reducing the number of plays of each program to once per week, in order to concentrate on expanded music programming and make space for additional programs that we hope to be adding. The new FM schedule may be found at http://www.radioveronica.us/programs.htm What we are planning to do is run your programs on both AM and FM outlets at different times. We will cross promote the broadcast times of you programs on each station. The good news is that as part of these changes, we will be offering you a total of three time slots on Veronica-AM, in addition to your once per week slot on Veronica-FM. This will allow your programs to be heard over greater time frames to an expanded audience. The times in which we will be broadcasting talk programming on Veronica-AM will be Mon-Fri 9AM-1PM, and 8PM-12AM; Saturdays and Sundays 6AM-12PM; and Sundays 6PM-12AM. [EDT = UT -4] Finally, although Veronica-FM and Veronica-AM will both continue to be available to internet listeners, we are also planning to launch an internet only service within the next couple of months that will be entirely talk based. Programming on what we will be calling "Veronica-PC" will be aired on a basis similar to RFPI. By that I mean we are planning a three hour programming clock each day which will be rotated eight times per day - - also allowing you to maximize the chances of your programs being heard. Thanks again for your continued support of Radio Veronica. And let me know what times you would prefer to be heard on Veronica-AM. One thing I am planning is a nightly DX test, similar to what My buddy Dave McCrork is doing with WNAR [1620]. More to come on that. I have picked a time yet, but it will probably be 2AM or 3AM [EDT = 0600 OR 0700 UT] for two minutes. 73, (Rene` F. Tetro, General Manager, Radio Veronica, West Point, PA Website: http://www.radioveronica.us Email: comments @ radioveronica.us "Blessed are the peacemakers..." DX LISTENING DIGEST) Radio Veronica US, 106.5, West Point PA has revamped its schedule, so the only airtime for WORLD OF RADIO has changed to Sunday 1230 UT, webcast via http://www.radioveronica.us/veronica.m3u RVUS is adding separate programming low power on AM 1700, with WOR at three new times on Wed, Thu, Fri evenings, TBA. Looking over the Radio Veronica schedule I spot a program I had not known about but which sounds interesting: UNWELCOME GUESTS. Their website http://www.unwelcomeguests.org says it`s ``A program about wealth, power, and peoples' resistance to the corporate world order`` and is on several other webcasting stations. Here are three of them: RVUS Sun 2300-0100 UT KRFP Wed 1700-1900 UT WRFN Fri 1500-1700 UT (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. SMALL RADIO STATION BIG ON PERSONALITY By NICOLA M. WHITE, The Tampa Tribune, Published: Aug 12, 2006 ZEPHYRHILLS - Dr. Dr. Thayer - high school teacher, bodybuilder, radio station owner, body paint aficionado - sometimes worries he's becoming overexposed. Some weekends, you find him recording live from The Clock diner on U.S. 301. The next minute, he slathers on green body paint to become his alter ego, The Impressive - not to be confused with the Incredible - Hulk, and emcees a downtown Zephyrhills street festival. All the while, though, it's a good bet Thayer is thinking and brainstorming about "The Zephyr," a low-power, oldies radio station he operates out of a small trailer off Chancey Road. It's the city's only FM radio station. It's also Thayer's childhood dream. . . http://pasco.tbo.com/pasco/MGBZZICBRQE.html (via Terry Krueger, DXLD) WZPH-LP 96.7 Dade City FL, not Zephyrhills ** U S A. Any ideas about the Ftrench talk on 1190? (Paul Crankshaw, UK, inquiring about his unID at 0400, MWC via DXLD) WLIB. 73s, (Martin A. Hall, Scotland, ibid.) I may have not yet come to another answer to this, but would WLIB 1190 be in French at local midnight? They have been the key station (but not much longer) of the Air America liberal talk network (in English) for almost a sesquiyear. 73, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) The sched shows "Moment Creole" running from local midnight to 5 am on Saturdays (Paul Crankshaw, ibid.) Of course. I keep forgetting that overnight Caribbean programming. The Air America stuff is due or has shifted to 1600 WWRL. I don't have my notes here in Cyprus (Barry Davies, UK, ibid.) Not yet ** U S A. WVON goes 24/7 --- Chicago Defender August 16, 2006 WVON-AM/1450, the city's only Black-owned radio station that bills itself "the talk of Chicago," has entered a historic agreement with the nation's largest owner of radio stations, Clear Channel. Under the deal announced Tuesday by WVON's owner, Melody Spann-Cooper, and Earl Jones, regional vice president of Clear Channel Radio, the Black talk station has signed a five-year, multi-million dollar deal to lease the 10,000-watt daytime signal - 1,000-watt nighttime - that currently broadcasts oldies station, WRLL-AM/1690. Spann-Cooper said the 43-year-old WVON has an option to buy the signal at the conclusion of the five-year agreement. "It's really rare (to have Clear Channel give an option to buy)," Spann-Cooper told the Defender in an interview Tuesday in Clear Channel's downtown offices. "I mean, that's what they do, buy radio stations, and now to agree to possibly sell one of them off. And it's a rarity at this particular time because you don't find independents able to buy radio stations. I thought (Clear Channel) was very fair on how they negotiated on the buyout." Beginning today, WRLL will become automated and will play oldies until the switch is made Sept. 18, when WVON will begin broadcasting on 1690. Jones said Clear Channel will honor the contracts of six employees affected by the sale. The deal - officially called a local marketing agreement - is a huge coup for Spann-Cooper, which will allow her to expand the reach of WVON to the south suburbs, where many African Americans have moved over the years. It is also a tremendous upgrade considering the station currently airs 15 hours of programming a day because it shares the signal with another station, the only deal of its kind in the nation. She stated that the arrangement has hindered her company from growing its revenue base. Full Story: http://www.chicagodefender.com/page/local.cfm?ArticleID=6609 (via Ken Kopp - KKØHF http://732u.com/ dxldyg and Artie Bigley, DXLD) Re: 1690 WVON « Reply #10 on: Today at 09:25:10 am Well, I had been waiting to comment on this for the entire time this deal was in play, (I have been in the loop on this deal since day one) I kept reading this board and laughing, because everyone was positive that it was going to be some form of Spanish, like one of the CC Spanish formats. Dave to my knowledge there was never anything in Inside radio about WRLL and a change to Spanish. Not sure what version of Inside Radio you get?? Another confirmation that the internet info boards are a great place to spread gossip and info about this business with very little fact (Dan Mettler, Regional VP, Engineering, Clear Channel Radio (source? via Artie Bigley, Aug 17, DXLD) At least CC gave the oldies a longer spin in Chicago than in Cincinnati. Sorry to see WRLL go. Listen while you can! (Mark Erdman, Herington/Salina KS, NRC-AM via DXLD) Viz.: IT'S A WHOLE NEW DAY FOR WVON AT 1690 AM August 16, 2006 BY ROBERT FEDER SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST WVON, Chicago's legendary African-American talk station, is expanding to 24-hour broadcasting, boosting its signal power and moving up the dial to a new frequency. Effective Sept. 18, Chicago-based Midway Broadcasting will transfer WVON's format, talk show hosts and call letters from their longtime spot on the dial at 1450 AM to 1690 AM. Under a local marketing agreement with Clear Channel Radio, which owns 1690, Midway will lease 100 percent of the airtime, with an option to buy the station after five years. Clear Channel Radio Sales also will assist Midway in national advertising representation. To accommodate the move, Clear Channel will pull the plug on the "Real Oldies" music format that has aired on 1690 since its inception as WRLL in October 2003. Tuesday was the last day on the air for Tommy Edwards, who served as morning personality, program director and operations manager of WRLL, and the rest of its staff, including Larry Lujack, Scotty Brink, Tom Murphy, Len O'Kelly, Ron Smith and Kathy Worthington. Oldies will air without announcers until WVON debuts. The "Real Oldies" format has been only "marginally profitable" with no projections for ratings or revenue growth, according to Earl Jones, Clear Channel's regional vice president. But Jones praised the outgoing staff, saying: "Tommy Edwards and the entire programming team have made a major contribution to Clear Channel Radio Chicago, and we greatly appreciate all of their hard work." For Melody Spann-Cooper, president and general manager of WVON, the move is an enormous coup. Although it has achieved singular success as Chicago's only black-owned talk outlet, WVON has been hampered by a 1,000-watt signal and a split license that allows the station to broadcast only 15 hours a day -- turning over its frequency from 1 to 10 p.m. daily to brokered ethnic and foreign-language WCEV. On 1690, WVON will air around the clock at 10,000 watts during the day and 1,000 watts at night.Clear Channel has agreed to air promos for WVON on three of its stations -- urban contemporary WGCI-FM (107.5), adult urban-contemporary WVAZ-FM (102.7) and gospel WGRB-AM (1390). Elroy Smith, operations manager and program director for WGCI, WVAZ and WGRB, also will serve as operations manager of WVON. Spann-Cooper plans to hire a full-time program director for the station. While retaining Cliff Kelley in mornings and Roland Martin in middays, Spann-Cooper will add new local and syndicated hosts to fill the 24- hour lineup. No decision has been made on a new format for 1450. New studios for WVON are being built at 1000 E. 87th St. In the latest Arbitron quarterly survey, WVON tied for 30th place overall with a 0.9 percent share. Arbitron's fall survey period starts Sept. 21 (via Erdman, ibid.) It is sad to see Larry Lujack and Tommy Edwards out of work. Also the demise of WRLL is unfortunate. Unfortunately Clear Channel never promoted the station. Also the station suffered from a poor signal being in the expanded band which made it difficult for some people to find it. One of the many things radio station owners have to learn is that you have to properly market radio. Relying on people just finding what you are offering on the dial is not enough especially with all the competition to regular over the air radio that exists today. There are more ways than ever to obtain music and information at a faster rate and those options increase every day (Larry Stoler, ibid.) And if WCEV then goes fulltime on 1450, Decorah, Iowa on 1240 will be the last sharetimer left in the United States (Steve Francis, Alcoa, Tennessee, ibid.) One of the press stories thought 1450 Chicago was the last! (gh, DXLD) Unless you count FM, where a *new* sharetimer was licensed a year or two ago in the Minneapolis area (Doug Smith, W9WI Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66, NRC-AM via DXLD) Weren`t a lot of MX LPFM apps to be resolved by sharing time? Has this not happened? (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. 720, IL, Chicago, WGN alone on channel using 1500' Eastern beverage. Timechecks and WGN IDs, talking about travelling by plane from O'Hare to other areas at 0630 EDT 8/14. No sign of KDWN (Patrick Martin, Drake R8, 1500' Eastern beverage term, IRCA via DXLD) Still no sign of them as I drove into work this morning, so they were off past 6 am local time [1300 UT] 73, (Tim Hall, ibid.) KDWN is still off at 7:30 local time Aug 14 (Bill Block, Prescott Valley, AZ, ibid.) KDWN [50 kW, 720, Las Vegas NV] is in the process of being sold to Beasley, and may well be spending some time off the air as a result. When I visited KDWN in April, the staff there told me that they all expected to lose their jobs when the new ownership came in. Beasley has been advertising heavily in the trades for news-talk staffers, and they're building new studios as well, vacating the old digs in the Plaza Hotel ("Number One Main Street") that had been home to KDWN since it signed on in 1975. (They looked it, too!) s (Scott Fybush, IRCA via DXLD) All good info. I always like KDWN even if their daytime programming was kinda suckee. Too bad about the staff (on air) as they talk like they're your old friend. So, I wonder where the new studios will be? 73- (Doug Pifer, Albany, OR, ibid.) They'll be in with the rest of Beasley's Las Vegas cluster (FMs KKLZ, KSTJ and KCYE) at 1455 E. Tropicana, Suite 800 (Scott Fybush, ibid.) Scott, That is too bad. But I wonder how KDWN's ratings are? (Patrick Martin, ibid.) Somewhere between nonexistent and zero, with a stop along the way at minuscule. The station was a neat throwback to older days of radio, full of cart machines and reel-to-reel decks, all still in use. But the programming was pretty sketchy towards the end - lots and lots of leased-time doctor shows and whatnot. They lost Art Bell to KXNT years ago, and many of the staffers were grumbling about how much the remaining local shows had been cut back by leased time. If Beasley can turn it into a "real" news-talk station, it still won't have the same romance it had as a standalone, but it will probably provide a more valuable service for many more listeners. It was underperforming pretty badly in its last few years (in part, I think, because its elderly founder died last year and it had been under caretaker ownership ever since.) s (Scott Fybush, ibid.) Pat, KDWN is 33rd out of 39 stations with a 1.2 share last quarter, continuing a downhill slide over the last year. You can go to Arbitron.com, click on topline ratings and then choose which market you are interested in. Regards, (Chris K4CME, So. Carolina, ibid.) It's actually even uglier than those numbers make it look. Those are "12+" numbers. Most of KDWN's audience is too old to make the 25-54 ratings that advertisers buy. I suspect Beasley will change the calls when it takes over; on the other hand, the station's such a non-entity in the market right now that with enough PR, they could relaunch it as a "new" station under the KDWN calls, too, and nobody would know the difference. s (Scott Fybush, ibid.) Scott, thanks for the info on their future location. It just seems odd, because KDWN should be a western powerhouse with a big regional presence. A booming city and nothing good to talk about or put on the air?? 73 (Doug Pifer, OR, ibid.) It's evidence, I think, that a local standalone owner is not always the right answer, and that a good signal still doesn't do much with substandard programming. Vegas is a booming city, yes - and especially on the FM dial, where there have been something like a half-dozen new full-market signals since the late eighties, plus at least that many new rimshots. And since so much of the population is new to the city every year, a big promotions budget is absolutely essential to let potential new listeners know the station's there, especially when there's so little else on AM to draw an audience away from FM. My experience, on repeated trips to Vegas, is that there's absolutely no promotion for KDWN. The only thing that might have drawn new listeners was the station's Dodgers broadcasts, and even those weren't terribly well publicized. I'm not even sure they had the rights this year. Beasley at least has the money and the promotional platform (from its other three FMs) to build 720 back into something closer to the regional presence it ought to be. Las Vegas is, generally, a difficult town to do radio (and especially news-talk radio) in. It's very transient, so there's less of an overall common interest to talk about. You're as likely to find a transplanted New Yorker who's a Yankees fan as to find a fan of the Dodgers or the Angels. Voting levels tend to be very low, reflecting a lack of interest in politics. So you end up talking a lot about casinos and development and traffic and housing prices. It gets stale after a while. There's also the little problem of drive time - in a 24-hour city, listenership is spread out much more through the dayparts than in most other markets. Spend a lot on a big morning show, and half the market will never hear it (or perhaps they'll hear it on their drive home after the night shift!) And even with the best AM signal in the market (by far), even 720 doesn't have a prayer of getting heard clearly in the RF mess around the Strip. It's not, in short, a sure thing - and having corporate deep pockets to draw on while the station finds its feet should be a good thing, indeed. S (Scott Fybush, ibid.) I have had some huge email discussions with station programmers about what advertisers buy. Is there a way to find out what agencies are certain station sells a lot of it time to? KIOA for instance. If anyone knows I would appreciate any advice or info you might have access to. Thanks, (Steve Hawkins, NG0G, ibid.) Without having access to the station's own sales records, there's really no good way to figure out which agencies are doing the buying. About the best you can do by listening is to get a sense of the breakdown between local ("retail") sales and national agency buys. In general, the only way you get national agency buys is if you have strong 25-54 numbers. They buy in enough markets, and in enough bulk, that they generally base those buys pretty much entirely on the numbers. If you don't show up well in the book, you don't get the buy. Many smaller stations have much better success selling locally, without recourse to the ratings. My local WYSL 1040, for instance, barely registers in the Arbitrons - but they have a local sales force that's good at telling the station's story to local advertisers, who see that they get results from their buys, so they keep buying and WYSL keeps doing well. That said - many, if not all, of the national ads you hear on smaller stations like WYSL don't come from national agency buys. They're network spots that are played as part of the contract with the network. (At WBZ, for instance, we were an ABC Information Network affiliate, and while we didn't take the ABC top-hour newscasts outside of the overnight hours, we still had to play the spot load from those newscasts during the day.) Bottom line - if the salespeople (or a friendly mole at a local ad agency) won't tell you, odds are you're not going to find out for sure. S (Scott Fybush, Rochester NY, ibid.) Scott, With the noise level around the strip, I wonder how well any of the AMs do in the ratings book in Las Vegas? Are any in the top 10? (Patrick Martin, OR, ibid.) Scott, Nope, KDWN didn't even have the Dodgers working for them. They haven't had the Dodgers for several years. It's at least three or four years, but may be much longer. And their audio was ghastly! It's never been very good since they began broadcasting in 1975. I heard some STL feeds in the late 80s which sounded excellent, but listeners never got to hear a decent-fidelity AM signal on 720 (Rick Lewis, AZ, ibid.) The good news, at least, is that there are very few ratings books around the Strip. The residential areas of Las Vegas now sprawl for miles and miles in every direction from the old center of the city. There's still electrical noise, but not from all the flashing lights and such. The people staying in the Strip hotel rooms, where AM is nonexistent, aren't filling out Arbitron diaries. (Or listening to the radio at all, for the most part.) AMs? KXNT [840] cracks the top 10 (and even the top 5, 12+) pretty regularly. KBAD (ESPN sports) shows just above KDWN. Nothing else registers at all, and I'd be shocked if it ever did. Most of the AM dial in Vegas is pretty dreadful to listen to - endless leased-time hours of betting lines, third-tier syndicated stuff, and there are three or four new AMs still coming on in the next year or so. I can't imagine what THOSE will end up being filled with! (Not Spanish - that audience has all moved over to FM, where at least two Spanish FMs are in the top 10 regularly. The two remaining Spanish AMs are ratings non-starters.) s (Scott Fybush, ibid.) Scott, I had no idea KDWN has been doing so poorly. That is something else for the most powerful station in Las Vegas. 73, (Patrick Martin, OR, ibid.) KDWN is now back on the air heard at 1925 EDT with talk and ads (Bill Block, Prescott Valley, AZ, Aug 14, IRCA via DXLD) Thanks Bill. Well, that silent period did not last long. Oh well. Even in the good old days when KDWN was off every Monday morning, I never heard a peep out of PEI anyway. I try every time I catch KDWN off. Interesting, I have Ambon, Indonesia, 6WF Perth Australia, DYOK Philippines, China, Japan, Australia, NZ, Russia, Alaska, and Hawaii on 720, but nothing from PEI (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, ibid.) KDWN is back on the air. They stated that there was a Nevada Power electrical disruption that knocked them off the air. No chance to hear Hawaii last night. Kevin Redding, Aug 15, ABDX via DXLD) ** U S A. REGULATORY NEVER NEVER LAND --- Glenn, speaking of data, the FCC "CDBS" site has been down for much of the past week. That means NO filings can be made for broadcast matters, and that the Commission staff can't process anything. See: http://www.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/EFBoards/systemstatus.cgi?index_t=../../pub/e-file/messages/CDBS.html and http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-266933A1.pdf http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-266934A1.pdf The following site is often amusing to look at. It's nearly as ironic as the fact that when they were still at 1919 M St. the Commission, the most important single telecommunications regulatory agency in the world, had a really amazingly antique and sometimes opaque telephone system. It's the only public agency I know of that has to maintain a public web site to tell you what part of their system is nonfunctioning. (And it's really helpful that they do, but it's still plenty ironic.) http://www.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/EFBoards/systemstatus.cgi?index_t=%2e%2e/%2e%2e/pub/e-file/EFBoards.html Another example of bureaucratic efficiency in action. Or as we call them, the Fearful Confusion Conturbation! http://www.radioink.com/HeadlineEntry.asp?hid=134684&pt=todaysnews (Ben Dawson, WA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) More: WBAA License renewal --- WBAA back in FCC's good graces By TANYA BROWN, Journal & Courier http://www.jconline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060815/NEWS0501/608150317 Dan Skinner, director of Purdue University's public radio station, says the entity is once again in compliance with the Federal Communications Commission. WBAA lost its license to operate in June after the FCC said it had neglected to file necessary documentation for license renewals due in 2004. Skinner alleged from the beginning that the FCC had mistakenly canceled the licenses for WBAA's FM and AM frequencies and that the station did complete its applications on time. On July 25, after reviewing the case, the FCC posted a notice that said the "license application was inadvertently canceled ..." Skinner said the FCC's posted notice is an admission that Purdue followed all the rules from the beginning. "We just filed it online, but there was a glitch in the computer system, and apparently it didn't get transferred somehow to the right database so they knew it was actually there," Skinner said. "We're just really pleased that they checked it out and were able to rectify the problem." Michael Wagner, assistant chief of the audio division in the media bureau of the FCC, said in a telephone interview that he could not confirm any of Skinner's statements. Wagner said the computer system that would allow him to look up the specifics of the case was out of order for several hours on Monday. "I believe that we have granted the station's license renewals," he said. But at press time, Wagner had not confirmed WBAA's status. Skinner, however, said he printed out all of the data he submitted to the FCC in 2004, which allowed WBAA's lawyers to trace the documentation online. "This (2004) was the first year they had used online processing and there were about a dozen stations that had similar problems," he said. WBAA is operating on special temporary authorization to broadcast. Skinner said he expects the station's renewed licenses to be completed no later than October (via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) FCC SAYS CANCELLATION OF WBAA LICENSE 'INADVERTENT' By PURDUE NEWS SERVICE http://www.jconline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060814/NEWS09/60814003 The Federal Communications Commission has fully reinstated WBAA Radio's broadcasting licenses, which were inadvertently canceled two months ago, and the agency is now processing the station's license renewal request. Purdue University's public radio station in June received a letter from the FCC stating the agency had never received WBAA's renewal paperwork and, as a result, the station was not authorized to broadcast. The station's attorneys promptly resubmitted the 2004 renewal applications and filed a petition for reconsideration that provided documentation showing the station had properly applied for its renewal in a timely fashion in 2004. On July 25 the FCC posted a notice on its Web site stating that the commission had "inadvertently" canceled the licenses. WBAA has been operating with a special temporary authorization to broadcast since June 15 (via Ken Kopp Amateur Radio: KKØHF, dxldyg via DXLD) ** U S A. CINNAMON AND ALLEN FORM AM DAYTIMERS ASSOCIATION Longtime FCC attorney SCOTT CINNAMON and veteran broadcast consultant and AM radio station owner BURKE ALLEN have teamed up to form the non- profit AM DAYTIMERS ASSOCIATION, an advocacy group in WASHINGTON D.C. for AM stations who must sign off, or operate at greatly reduced power, after local sundown. Among their objectives is to assist AM station owners with lobbying the FCC to change its rules to allow AM station licensees to own FM translators to operate within the AM stations’s contour 24 hours a day, as proposed by the NAB in a recent petition for rule making filed with the FCC. The pair also plan to assist AM daytimers with other matters of concern, from operations to programming to engineering. For more info, visit http://www.amdaytimers.org or contact CINNAMON at (202) 216-5798 or ALLEN at (703) 589-8960 (From allaccess.com via Brock Whaley, DXLD) ** U S A. YOU TUBE NOW HAS VARIOUS SIGN-OFF AND SIGN-ON VIDEOS I was just browsing over on You Tube and found that various sign-on and sign-off videos have been posted there. The following link is to WTTW ch. 11 Chicago signing off back in 1991. Of course, video takes up a fair amount of bandwidth, so I wouldn't recommend trying it if you're on a dial up connection. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8t0Bgf_ukY Video Description Here is the ending of Doctor Who and the signoff with the National Anthem. I believe this is from 1991 or so. Includes: Doctor Who Ending & Credits with Marty Robinson voiceover. Vintage Wild Chicago Commercial with Ben Hollis United Airlines underwriting. WTTW Channel 11 Sign-off, with Marty Robinson announcing. National Anthem. [slower majestic version than usual] Static. Fuzz. (All Copyrights Acknowledged) P.S. BTW, they've got a recording there also of the infamous WTTW pirate takeover from back in 1987. That was when someone overpowered the STL for several minutes and seized control of the transmitter (Curtis Sadowski, IL, Aug 16, WTFDA via DXLD) BIZZARE Pirate message. What's that at the end, a fly swatter? - pun intended. I'll need to play that back a few times to get the audio down (Guy in Lockport, NY Falsetti, ibid.) Hi Guy, Yes, that was a fly swatter, they must have mislaid the riding crop. Anyway, more information on this incident can be found at: http://www.textfiles.com/magazines/TOLMES/tns14 http://www.textfiles.com/magazines/TOLMES/tns15 Anyone interested in seeing the video of WTTW being co-opted by a TV pirate can see it at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPybv_pzKs As far as I can tell, no one has ever openly taken credit for the incident. I figure they needed at least five people to pull off the stunt, two on-air people, a cameraman, a stagehand to turn the moving lined background, and also a tech person for the transmission itself. (Curtis Sadowski, ibid.) Man --- has it been 19 years since then? I'm surprised it doesn't happen more often on radio, actually --- video is a bit tougher to pull off! Also, thanks to whoever it was that posted the http://www.retrojunk.com site --- I finally now have the music from the old HBO Feature Presentation bumper from the early '80's I lost some years ago. Click here to read more details about this: http://www.textfiles.com/magazines/TOLMES/tns14 73, BC (Bruce Collier, ibid.) ** VENEZUELA [non]. 6180, Aug 16, 1000-1057, Radio Nacional de Venezuela. Sign on with ID and postal address in Caracas; Poor modulation until 1021; possible Cuban relay as suggested by Glenn Hauser in HCDX. Talk by man in Spanish to 1030 then ID and music program to sign off at 1057. Frequent IDs as Canal Internacional (Joe VA3EOJ Karthaus, Toronto, Canada, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Joe kay, This is Hector (Luigi) Pérez from San Juan. I also heard that station but being curious I placed a message on other forum. They claim that such airing is coming out from Radio Havana. Regards (via Joe Karthaus, DXLD) Yes Luigi, that this transmission might be relayed by Cuba was suggested by Glenn Hauser of Enid Oklahoma in my August 13 post to HCDX Suerte, (Joe VA3EOJ, ibid.) I don`t have absolute proof this 6180 transmission is via Habana, but it`s obvious all the others are and have always been. I would be very surprised if it is not. I would also be very surprised if Habana or Caracas would confirm the fact. I do recall that Habana once used this frequency, FWIW, which is not much. OTOH it would be interesting if RNV has finally managed to get going a SW transmitter of its own. Does this clash with Amazônia or are they gone by 1000? Note Joe`s first report of this, Aug 13 was an hour later until 1200* -- do they run two hours in a row, one or the other, or no telling? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Portuguese was heard on 6180 from tune in at 0915 until 0950, then carrier of RNV. RNV signed on at 0959 today August 17. After ID and Post Office Box 3979 the announcer said: "transmitiendo directamente desde la República [de] Venezuela". At 1002 dead air until 1004 and again after few seconds dead air until 1009. Then program continued and still on now at 1045. No Brazilian was heard during dead air time of RNV (Joe Karthaus, ON, DX LISTENING DIGEST) They always say ``directamente`` even tho on the Cuban relays (gh, DXLD) ** ZIMBABWE [non]. Re "Quick, what's on 11705" --- I've checked the frequency between 1700 and 1800 on Aug. 14 & 15 and it carried the RFE/RL North Caucasus Service // 15255 both days. So I assume what was heard was not intended. And at 1830 there's something in French - I assume La France as registered/scheduled 1800-2200 via 162 degrees (Noel Green, UK, Aug 16, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZIMBABWE [and non]. Jamming continues --- BY KJW http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/viewinfo.cfm?id=2034 LONDON - The Zimbabwean government might be winning the "odd battle" in their attempts to jam independent radio broadcasts into Zimbabwe but according to SW Radio's Gerry Jackson "they certainly are not winning the war". The Zimbabwean government has been using Chinese equipment to step up their campaign to jam the broadcasts of the three independent radio stations: SW Radio Africa, Voice of America's Studio 7 and the Voice of the People. SW Radio's shortwave frequency was first jammed in the run up to the 2005 elections. "Although our shortwave signal was jammed we were also broadcasting on medium wave and were under the impression that this would be more difficult to jam. Unfortunately this year the government either brought in new equipment, or revamped the old, and jammed not just us, but also Voice of America," said Jackson. Eric Matingo from the Media Monitoring Project in Zimbabwe reported that it had been especially difficult recently to monitor broadcasts from Studio 7. "We can no longer receive any signals on the Medium Wave and on the alternative Short Wave frequency, reception is sporadic. Either we don't get any clear signal at all or we get it for a few minutes before it's drowned in a droning sound (like that of a motor). As a result, during the last two weeks we have not been able to meaningfully monitor any of the station's news broadcasts," he said. The Voice of America's (VOA) Studio 7 has assured its multitude of listeners in Zimbabwe that it is working on preventing the jamming of its broadcasts into the country. Brendan Murphy, the Co-ordinator of the Zimbabwe Project, confirmed to MISA recently that their broadcasts into Zimbabwe were being jammed. "We know we are being jammed, and we believe we know by whom. We are collecting empirical evidence and when that is in hand, the Voice of America will make its position clear. "However, I do not think that it will be much longer before VOA comes out with something more definitive," said Murphy. VOA's Studio 7 broadcasts on Short Wave from Washington DC. Despite repeated problems with Jamming, Jackson remains optimistic. "The jamming does clearly indicate the action of an increasingly desperate regime. With technology as it stands today the Zimbabwe government can't win in clamping down on freedom of speech. In fact, the media repression is completely failing as we all manage to get around every blocking mechanism thrown at us," she said. Are you a regular listener to any of the above stations? If broadcasts to your area are being jammed please write to The Zimbabwean and let us know the station that you listen to and the frequency on which they are being jammed. Letters should be addressed to: The Zimbabwean, c/o P O Box 6560, Harare, and emails to: mbanga @ thezimbabwean.co.uk Meanwhile British newspaper reports say internet companies including Google, Microsoft and Yahoo have been branded 'morally unacceptable' by a powerful committee of MPs for collaborating with Chinese state censorship of the web. In a wide-ranging report on east Asia, published at the weekend, the MPs said human rights groups had evidence that China was already exporting the relevant repressive technology to governments including that of Zimbabwe (via Artie Bigley, Mike Cooper, DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. Re het on 1550: Yes, in the FCC's Wireless Telecomm database you will often see calls assigned to a state DOT transmitter, but in reality it can be multiple units per my experience monitoring on Interstate highways, especially where several are clustered for a few miles. Likewise, the listed location is not always fixed (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Clash of the pirates - 1710 kHz --- The NYC pirate [Lubavitcher/Moshiach?] is strong tonight, but also is the French (?) pirate in Boston. Brooklyn has English religious teaching while the other has man and woman speaking in what seems like French [Kriyol?]. Both are strong at 2100 ET (Mike Bugaj, Enfield, CT [near Hartford], Aug 13, WTFDA-AM via DXLD) = 0100 UT Monday Aug 14 Got em both here in NW NJ (Rich Shaftan, ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED. Re the utes on 7455, 9960 and 11690: no, I didn't take it that all were coming from the same place. I mentioned WHRI 7465 and WYFR 9985 only as an indicator that something from Stateside was propagating on a nearby frequency. I would add that when I heard 9960 I couldn't hear WWVH 10000. 9960 is more or less daily at 0700 - WWVH isn't - at varying strengths as is 7455. 73 (Noel R. Green (NW England), Aug 16, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Such observations are helpful but what I have been trying to get is actual monitoring of the content of the RTTY transmissions leading to identification, which I assume many ute DXers are capable of doing. Actually someone may have come up with something by now on the UDXF list; there is so much traffic there I have trouble keeping up with it (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ LANGUAGE LESSONS ++++++++++++++++ Re: 6-123, TRRRRILLING RRRRRs IN SPANISH English speaking people tend in some way to ``drag`` the letter ``r`` despite its place in any word. In Spanish when is written at the beginning or the end of a word is pronounced more softly, as when a gringo is trying to say ``Rica`` the closest way latinos pronounce it. When it is positioned in the middle of a word it has to be pronounced like if you were dragging it, as in ``perro`` (dog), other way will sound more softly like ``pero`` (but). Sometimes is hard to give a better explanation on issues like this, unless you are with a language teacher. I have known all the time in the case of the word okapi that has its stress on the a, but remember that French speakers to accent most of the words on the last syllable. [not exactly; it`s rising inflexion, which sounds to non-native speakers like stress --- gh] BTW, one thing isn’t clear for me in English grammar, why sometimes a double O as in blood or door, doesn`t sound like in most of the words, with a sound like ``uh`` as is good, book, food, etc. I`m waiting for someone kind enough to explain to me. Thanks in advance (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Without trying to explain this etymologically, let`s just say that in English you have to learn the pronunciation of each word, not by any hard-and-fast rules, of which Spanish is the prime example --- at least as a starting point and then vary by dialect as discussed (Glenn Hauser, Oclajoma, DXLD) A single r is usually flapped less energetically than a double rr. However, both in Central and South America, there are regions where the double rr sounds like a fricative, viz. in "leisure" in BBC English." This is what Raúl says, although put in a different way, when he is talking about "dragging" the r. [This phenomenon is noted in various part of Latin America, for instance in San José and in the interior of Argentina and also in Paraguay], In some areas, notably in the Andes, a compound of t+r, will form fricative sound similar to "try" in BBC English, viz. in words like "transmitir" and "tres". [This is sometimes heard in Bogotá, at least among old people, and also in San José]. {these brackets are HK`s} In areas of the Caribbean, an r, when preceded by a b, will sound like an l, "septiemble", "noviemble" instead of "septiembre", "noviembre". [Noted in Puerto Rico]. Broadcasters try to stick to a generally accepted standard, so the local speech habits will go unnoticed unless a man-in-the-street is being interviewed. Apart from these details [and many more], the speech melody is something you will have to take into account if you wish to put the speaker on the map (Henrik Klemetz, Sweden, ibid.) Nice point, Henrik! You really hit the nail adding to my comment the way in some Latin American nations, and in fact Costa Rica is the most frequent user of that fricative sound for letter r, besides when is the final in a word as "transmitir", which most pooly speaking ticos pronounce like "tra(sh)mitir(sh). Some Caribbean Spanish speakers, namely Puerto Ricans and Dominicans tend to sound as if they were speaking like a Chinese in that conjunction b+r (Raúl Saavedra, ibid.) PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ WESTLIST This morning I added the WestList as a plain text file in ZIP format to the AM-DX.COM site. This is for people who do not have a PDF reader, or wish the file in plain text so they can use their own search utilities. And, the list was updated overnight (Craig Healy, Providence, RI, Aug 14, IRCA via DXLD) WestList for the blind While waiting for a truck shipment at my office, I was playing around with the Adobe Reader "Read Out Loud" feature on the Westlist PDF. The thought occurred that this might be very useful for the blind. I am willing to make a special edition of this optimized for the Adobe Reader out-loud function, if there is interest. It would require separating call letters, adding extra punctuation, and spelling out most abbreviations. First, does anyone know if there is any call for this? If even just a few can make use of it, I'd be happy to do it. 99% of the work would be automated, so it's no real burden. Second, the PDF is over 1100 pages. This, and the multiple sort methods may well be too much to navigate. How should it be split up? I know that the DXAS serves the visually-impaired, but I have no idea if Fred is handling that these days. I'd be happy to work with whoever happens to be running that, if that's something of use to them. One of my clients is IN-SIGHT, a reader service for the blind. I'll run this past them to see if they have any thoughts (Craig Healy, Providence, RI, Aug 14, IRCA via DXLD) MY TV DX PHOTOS NOW ONLINE A work in progress. I've been working on making captures from videotape and have posted these DX photos online so far. http://www.dxinfocentre.com/tvdx-I.html divided into 4 pages. Caution: might be a long slog if you use dialup. DX Web Site: http://home.cogeco.ca/~dxinfo/ TR Fcst Maps: http://home.cogeco.ca/~dxinfo/tropo.html (Bill Hepburn, Grimsby, ON, WTFDA via DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING DRM: see CROATIA ++++++++++++++++++++ 1470 WWNN IBOC OFF, OR SOMETHING I found today during my routine daily check of southeast Florida IBOC suspects, that 1470 WWNN Pompano Beach, appears to have turned off their IBOC. They have done this on occasion in the past -- by design or thanks to hurricanes -- so there is no way to know if this is permanent or just temporary. The latest run of IBOC operation was from 4/29 until 8/14, the longest period since I started monitoring in Nov., '05. What is rather strange is that their audio is clear though lower in strength on 1480 -- actually 1479.5-1482.5 the audio is listenable. Only splatter can be heard below 1466.5 on the low side, as one would expect, and the same is true between 1473.5 and 1479.5 on the high side. All these ranges are approximate because the audio is not symmetrical around 1470. From this I wonder if IBOC is turned off, or if it is malfunctioning. For the record, at no time did my radio leave the analog domain, so whatever is happening is all on analog. At the moment, that leaves only 560 WQAM Miami, continuing to operate with IBOC to enhance their sports talk audio experience. :-\ (W. Curt Deegan, Boca Ratón, (southeast) Florida, [Ten-Tec RX-320D; LFE H-800; JPS ANC-4; GAP DSP] http://ScooterHound.com/WWWR/radio/sefliboc.html Aug 14 IRCA via DXLD) POWERLINE COMMUNICATIONS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ FINAL SCORE; BPL 1, RADIO LISTENERS 0 Washington - Aug 3, 2006 - The FCC adopted a Memorandum Opinion and Order (MO&O) to reinforce its belief in the benefits of access to broadband over power lines (BPL), reaffirm its commitment to address interference issues, and re-emphasize that the Part 15 rule changes were made to ensure that access BPL operations do not become a source of interference to licensed radio services. If harmful interference does occur, the Commission will take appropriate action to remedy the situation. The decision was adopted in response to several petitions for reconsideration of the BPL rules established in October 2004. (Per Radio Currents Online; details available at:) http://beradio.com/currents/radio_currents_080706/index.html#bpl --- Not good news for the SWL and amateur community. SWLs will have to contact their local utility -- and the FCC -- when interference is suspected (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA, Swprograms mailing list via DXLD) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ INVISIBLE DOG FENCES Hi All, My neighbor installed an "invisible Fence" for her dog several years ago. I seldom listen to SW during the daytime, so it never bothered me. I noticed that she takes the dog inside in the early evening and does not let him back out until the Sun is coming up. However, the fence was left on. I asked her if she would mind saving some money by turning that "Invisible Fence" off when she takes the dog inside? She never thought about it. The result is now I have less manmade QRM to battle in the evening and late night when I listen to those waves of short. Check around your neighborhood. You too may have some very close noise makers that can be silenced if you use the right approach with the neighbor. If all else fails, shoot the dog! (LOL!) (Duane W8DBF Fischer, MI, Aug 14, swl at qth.net via dXLD) GEOCLOCK [non] Hi Glenn, Whilst reading DXLD 6-123 I noted that you said you didn't have GEOCLOCK and couldn't check the terminator at a certain time. Well, you don't need GEOCLOCK to do that. What I use from time to time if I need to check something like that is this site here: http://www.fourmilab.ch/cgi-bin/uncgi/Earth/action?opt=-p To check the terminator for any time and date just scroll down below the map and to the right of where it says Time, Now, UTC just plug in whatever date and time you want, then go back up to where it says Update in the grey box and click on that. Voila, the map will then show you where the grey line is for any time and date you specify. Not the greatest map in the world, but still gives a pretty good idea of where the terminator lies. Beats having to drag my DX Edge out with the plastic slides for each month (Steve Lare, Holland, MI, USA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) You mentioned something about not having that clunky GeoCrock install program Chuck Bolland uses for sunrise/sunset mapping. Are you aware all you need to do is use http://www.fourmilab.ch/earthview/vplanet.html and click on "Map Of the Earth" then you can enter the time/date, or view real time with no changes. I bookmarked it on my page years ago and, save for when remote with no PC access, always use this. (Somewhere I do still have my old DX Edge mechanical kit.) (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, ibid.) Chuck, I just tried it on this and it looks like you were right on the grayline to eastern China Aug 14 at 1100 UT. So there is no reason to assume it was long path (southern route as you say) rather than short path (to the NNW). (Glenn to Chuck Bolland, re 6150 log, via DXLD) In case it is not clear to everyone, the boundary between night and day is the terminator and the grayline, even tho on this projection it is anything but a straight line. It is in fact a Great Circle (gh) Glenn, That GeoClock is a great tool for DXing, especially in the mornings. Thanks (Chuck Bolland, DX LISTENING DIGEST) PROPAGATION ###