DX LISTENING DIGEST 6-130, August 29, 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 AIRING OF WORLD OF RADIO 1326: Wed 0930 WWCR1 9985 FIRST SHORTWAVE AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO EXTRA 71: Wed 2200 WBCQ 7415 Wed 2300 WBCQ 18910-CLSB Fri 2030 WWCR1 15825 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 DX/SWL/MEDIA PROGRAMS Aug 29: http://www.worldofradio.com/dxpgms.html ** ALBANIA [and non]. Radio Tirana IS and other unusual audio clips All but the youngest of us will be remember the old Radio Tirana interval signal "With Pickaxe and Rifle" trumpeting through the ether in the 70's and 80's, before it was replaced by the somewhat more melodic IS currently in use. The Interval Signals Online website has a recording of an interval signal which predates them both: taped in 1969, it's 7/8 notes played on what sounds like a keyboard instrument, followed by a short orchestral intro and identification in French. Not quite as attention-grabbing as "With Pickaxe and Rifle" though! This was contributed by Dutch radio enthusiast Rudy van Dalen, who also donated several other interesting clips from 1969, such as: BELGIUM: RTB/BRT "Voice of Friendship" service to their African territories - then known as Belgian Congo and Ruanda-Urundi. Hear ID's in French, Dutch and an African language, followed by their tom-tom interval signal. DENMARK: Voice of Denmark (OZF), later Radio Denmark, signing-on their service in English and Danish to North America. Interval signal, chimes from Copenhagen Town Hall, followed by an announcement in English. Rudy also contributed a couple of interesting clips from Antarctica, recorded in 1994: US SECTOR: AFAN McMurdo with local ID's, a "Keep Antarctica Beautiful" message about recycling, and a weather forecast (snow). ARGENTINE SECTOR: Radio Nacional Arcángel San Gabriel (LRA36), with identification announcements in English and Spanish. You can hear all the above, and more, on the Interval Signals Online website at http://www.intervalsignals.net Regards, (Dave Kernick, Aug 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, There's more to follow and I really like to help him build up this great project. I'm a ham since 1994 and my call is PA3GQW. I used to work for Frans Vossen's Radio World in the early 1980's, and I did what you do now, DX news and tips and media info. Maybe you can mention Dave's info on WOR I listen as soon as it's there 73's (Rudy van Dalen, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, I remember your info on that show. Good to hear from you after all these years (gh, DXLD) ** ARGENTINA. 15345.20v, R. Nacional, Aug 28 (Mon.), 0214-0250, DJ in Spanish, playing romantic ballads and jazz vocals, fair (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, RX340, with T2FD antenna, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARGENTINA. Radiodifusion Argentina Al Exterior (RAE) 11710.7, verified with a nice personal letter from verie signers Marcella G. R. Campos, RAE`s Directora, Tony Middleton, Head of RAE`s English Team and Mirian Turkula, English Assistant and a full data logo card with information handwritten on the reverse side in 81 days from verie signers J. D. Middleton, Head of RAE`s English Team, and Marcella G. R. Campos, RAE`s Directora. Schedule and report form also included in package (Rich D`Angelo, PA, Sept Australian DX News via DXLD) ** ARGENTINA. Especial de La Rosa de Tokio --- Estimados amigos radioescuchas: Ya está disponible el programa especial de La Rosa de Tokio, dedicado a conmemorar el aniversario de la primera transmisión de radio en la República Argentina. Se analiza el pasado, presente y futuro de la radio en este país. Pueden escucharlo en la página web Programas DX http://es.geocities.com/programasdx/ Como ya nos avisaba nuestro amigo Arnaldo, La Rosa de Tokio no se irradiará este domingo a través de LS11 Radio Provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina, por dedicar el domingo a transmisiones deportivas. No se lo pierdan. El equipo de redacción: Dino Bloise, José Bueno, José Elías Díaz, José Miguel Romero, Omar Somma, Arnaldo Slaen y Rubén G. Margenet (José Bueno, playdx yg via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. CVC, 13635, Aug 29 at 1329 referring to ``The Edge``. This is the name of a program M-F at 10-14, and 20-21, with variations on weekends, per the grid at http://www.cvc.tv/data/programtimes/englishProgramTimes.htm which also displays that they have an integrated 24/7 service in English carried in various segments over all the transmitter sites to all their targets. 13635 is actually Darwin, or rather Cox Peninsula (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BARBADOS. COMMENTARY: THE STERILITY OF RADIO BROADCASTING IN BARBADOS Carl Moore is a retired journalist and broadcaster. He was Chairman of the Barbados Broadcasting Authority from 1994 to 2003, and currently hosts a late-night radio show titled “A Little Night Music”, on CBC 100.7 FM. In a commentary, he says that “the daily diet of talk radio, while allowing the citizenry to talk back, has become a free-for-all” and that ``there are no less than 27 call-in programmes on just two of Barbados’ 11 radio frequencies, not to mention the normal continuity programming that invites listeners to chat with the duty announcer whenever they feel like it.`` Moore also reveals that Barbados might have had an international shortwave service, but that ``sixteen years ago, when I was Chairman of the Broadcasting Authority, we threw out the idea of international broadcasting via short wave radio as the Internet was in its incipient stage.`` Read the commentary on Caribbean Net News http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/cgi-script/csArticles/articles/000029/002998.htm (August 28th, 2006, 09:22 UTC by Andy, Media Network blog via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. I`m intrigued how did Brian Alexander manage to log Brazilian Radio Marumbi, Florianópolis on 9665 when precisely at 0200 one has to deal with powerhouse Voice of Russia in English on that same channel, and he didn`t even mention it. In the meantime, I just can explain myself that on August 20 VOR was off the air. And the other possibility, perhaps Brian was using a directional find antenna. Have anybody else got this experience? (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, dxldyg via DXLD) This should explain it sufficiently: hi-latitude paths knocked out by high K-index, TE paths enhanced; at your lower latitude you may have still been getting Russia: (gh) Solar-terrestrial indices for 19 August follow. Solar flux 89 and mid- latitude A-index 25. The mid-latitude K-index at 0300 UTC on 20 August was 5 (87 nT). Space weather for the past 24 hours has been moderate. Geomagnetic storms reaching the G2 level occurred. Space weather for the next 24 hours is expected to be minor. Geomagnetic storms reaching the G1 level are expected (SEC via Glenn Hauser, ibid.) ** BRAZIL. Rádio Guarujá de Florianópolis e seus QRM --- Se houver alguém da lista de radioescutas que more em Florianópolis, favor entrar em contato com a Rádio Guarujá para alertá-los que a frequência de 5980 kHz está mal regulada e espalha ruídos por tada a faixa de 49m, de cabo a rabo, como se diz --- Ou acerta o transmissor, ou desliga de vez. Nesse caso melhor ficar desligado. De manhã, quando a propagação se abre, é terrível. Ninguém consegue escutar outra emissora, senão a Nacional de Brasília que tem muita "vitamina" na antena. Aliás, há muitas outras emissoras nestas mesmas condições. Thanks. Forte 73 (Luiz Chaine Neto, Limeira -sp-, 29-8-2006, radioescutas via DXLD) 5980, R. Guarujá, Florianópolis-SC, PP, 20/08 1212. OM: ID progorama 'Domingão Guarujá', música pop, temp.: 16 graus (o áudio da Guarujá está muito ruim. O sinal chega bem aqui em São Bernardo, porém, a qualidade de saída do áudio está a desejar no momento). 35443 RWG (Rudolf W. Grimm, Conexión Digital via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. BRASIL – A Super Rádio Alvorada, de Rio Branco (AC), emite, na freqüência de 2460 kHz, entre 1000 e 2200, com uma potência de 1 kW. A estação está localizada na Avenida Ceará, 2150, CEP: 69900-460, Rio Branco (AC). A direção está a cargo de José Severiano, cujo endereço eletrônico é: seve @ jornalatribuna.com.br As informações são de Paulo Roberto e Souza, de Tefé (AM). BRASIL – A Rádio Guarujá Paulista, de Guarujá (SP), tem tido regular sintonia, no Sul do Brasil, sempre a partir de 2000, em 5045 kHz. A constatação é do Édison Bocorny Jr., de Novo Hamburgo (RS). BRASIL – A Rádio Globo, do Rio de Janeiro (RJ), possui regular sintonia, a partir de 1800, pela freqüência de 11805 kHz. Foi captada, pelo colunista, em 20 de agosto, às 2017, quando transmitia o futebol entre Fluminense e Santa Cruz, com narração de José Carlos Araújo. BRASIL – ``Acreditando na vida``. Este é o slogan da Rádio Mundial FM, de São Paulo (SP), cujo sinal é retransmitido também na freqüência de 4975 kHz. A emissora tem regular sintonia no Sul do país, conforme monitoria do colunista feita em 20 de agosto, às 0126. BRASIL – A Rádio Educação Rural, de Tefé (AM), foi sintonizada, pelo colunista, em Porto Alegre (RS), em 20 de agosto, às 0129, pela freqüência de 4925 kHz. Na oportunidade, a emissora apresentava a hora certa e músicas típicas da região Norte do Brasil. BRASIL – Uma dica de excelente programa para a noite de sábado! Entre 21h e 00h, no horário de Brasília, a Rádio Difusora, de Poços de Caldas (MG), leva ao ar o segmento Nos Embalos de Sábado a Noite. A emissora apresenta muita música dos anos 80. Tem regular sintonia pela freqüência de 4945 kHz. Confira! (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX Aug 27 via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. La emisora religiosa en lengua portuguesa que se escucha cada mañana, alrededor de las 1100 TU, en la frecuencia de 6850 kHz, es el 5to armónico de onda media. Hoy la escuché con mucha propaganda electoral para gobernador y diputado federal y algo de música. Se identificó como "Você está na sintonia de uma emissora católica Rádio Nova ??? em 1370 AM con transmissão comercial". La calidad de la señal es regular y tiene interferencias intermitentes de utilitarias en modo usb (Alfredo Locatelli, Durazno, Uruguay, Kenwood R600, eavesdropper T, http://elescucha.webcindario.com Conexión Digital Aug 27 via DXLD) The most likely, close to you in Curitiba, Paraná, is R. Canção Nova, ZYJ267, 50/7 kW on 1370, the only one in WRTH with Nova in its name; altho I am not sure if this network is Catholic or Protestant (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BURKINA FASO [non]. Possible explanation for the absence of 5030? R. Burkina programming heard via NIGER, q.v. ** CANADA. Re 6-129, California103: Hi Glenn, There is a neighbourhood called Inglewood in Calgary. 73, (Ricky Leong, Calgary, AB, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hmm, how about Van Nuys? (gh, DXLD) I didn't even notice that event, which would cause even more confusion if logged! Inglewood appears to be a neighborhood in Calgary: http://www.discovercalgary.com/Calgary/Shopping/ShoppingAreas/ (you have to scroll down) The calls are still CIQX but obviously the slogan has changed (Doug Smith, W9WI, Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66, WTFDA via DXLD) ** CANADA. With WBBR off I've logged a new one here - CKWX from Vancouver. Noted from 12:40 to 12:45 am + [EDT = 0440-0445+ UT] with traffic and weather, local spots, sports, time checks etc. First Vancouver logging in a long time for me (Jerry Bond, Rochester, NY, Aug 27, NRC-AM via DXLD) This log actually preceded the one by Marc DeLorenzo (gh) DX update from northern Delaware: It looks like CKWX paid a visit to northern Delaware during WBBR`s downtime early this morning (Sunday, 27-Aug-06). More specifically: At 0205 local [EDT = 0605 UT], a female was heard reporting the return to Canadian soil of a Canadian soldier killed by a suicide bomber (presumably in Afghanistan). Mention was made of Ontario. http://www.21centimeter.com/21centimeter/Recordings/1130-khz_0205_Local_8-27-06_CKWX_Vancouver_BC_tentative.mp3 At 0230 local, this same female was heard giving the weather report with mentions of Calgary and Toronto. This was followed by what sounded like "News 1130 time, 11:30". Note that this time is 3 hours behind (PST [sic]) when the recording was obtained. http://www.21centimeter.com/21centimeter/Recordings/1130-khz_0230_Local_8-27-06_CKWX_Vancouver_BC_tentative.mp3 At 0231 local, the same female was again heard to give the time, viz "...1130 time, 11:31". Followed by Rogers Wireless traffic and weather. http://www.21centimeter.com/21centimeter/Recordings/1130-khz_0231_Local_8-27-06_CKWX_Vancouver_BC_tentative.mp3 And finally, at 0328 local, yep- you guessed it - that same female again gave the time "News 1130 time..." (the time was lost in noise). http://www.21centimeter.com/21centimeter/Recordings/1130-khz_0328_Local_8-27-06_CKWX_Vancouver_BC_tentative.mp3 Putting all of the above together, it sure sounds to me like I managed to snag CKWX which would be a 2384 mile catch. The 'News 1130' slogans match that given for this station in the current NRC AM Radio Log. Unless anyone objects after listening to the above clips, I`m going to log this one as a definite!! Congratulations to all the others who managed to get this one this morning (Peter Jernakoff, K3KMS, Wilmington, Delaware, http://www.21centimeter.com IRCA via DXLD) ** CHINA [non]. 9930, TAIWAN, Sound of Hope (Tentative) via KWHR, 8/21/06, 1359 on 8/21. KWHR ID and "thank you for listening" and into Chinese at 1400. Conflicting info as to what KWHR is airing at this hour but SoH reported being carried as of late April (Gerry Dexter, WI, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) Well, the Angel 3 sked at the WHR website, which is generally up to date as to programming, checked UT Aug 29, shows Sound of Hope M-F 14- 17 UT on 9930. Looking at that listing, you`d never know it is in Chinese and clandestine (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. Firedrake against Sound of Hope was JBA, Aug 28 until 1400* on 14050. Much better, F-G on Aug 29 at 1320 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) To All: Some Jamming reported from 3 BV stations in different locations. We all found the strongest RS were 270-280 degree (my locator PL04if). The Jamming came from same BC station and nothing heard suspicious ?Target? behind the jamming. All we are very sure the source of Jamming (Jammer) from Southeast of CHINA. BV6HJ (southern Taiwan) reported everyday in last 10 days. The RS report as same as my. Both we using Yagi (+WARC Bands) and Dipole. New frequency 18180 kHz start from Aug 28 (Same BC music program ) We will continue monitoring on the bands. Thanks to All (Paul BV4FH) Aug 17 2336 14050 59+20 db 275-280 sp Aug 21 1307 14050 59+30 17330 59+30 ? Aug 22 0511 14260 59+30 17330 59+30 59+10 LP Aug 23 1206 17330 59+40 275-280 sp Aug 24 0022 17330 59+40 ? Aug 27 1424 14050 59+40 ? Aug 28 0050 14050 59+40 17330 59+40 18180 59+30 ? (via Uli, DXLD) Dear fellow Intruder Busters, thank you for your report. Well, we already know that at least one jamming station is on Hainan Island off the PR Chinese Mainland. Also the Music (Firedragon-) Jammer on 14050 kHz is not the only one. There are many on QRGs outside the hambands. However at least 3 ham bands are/were involved in the jamming (30 m - 10135 kHz) - (20 m - 14050, 14260 kHz), 17 m (18080, 18160 kHz). So we know the jammer(s) are in PR of China. But what is the reason of jamming? The reason is to WIPE out unwanted NEWS from "HOSTILE" stations outside P. R. of China. During the "listening breaks" from full hour to + 5 minutes, when the jammer carrier and modulation are off, here at my QTH in southern Germany I often can hear a weak carrier on the frequency. This was the case yesterday: The Firedrake was jamming from 1206 to 1246, then I left the shack. From 1518 - 1735 there was a slight carrier on 14050.075 kHz. It was carrying a Chinese program also with spoken voice. But, of course, this was NOT the Firedragon Jammer. At 1837 till 2056 UT (at least!) the Firedragon Jammer was back again. At 2001, during the listening break of the Firedragon Jammer, I could again hear a carrier on 14050.070 kHz. Of course it was "wiped out" when the jammer returned. The same jammer program at 1837 was on 7355, 9455, 9530 kHz. As USA and Germany are too far away from the "SCENE", I wonder if stations in Hong Kong and / or Taiwan could listen during the breaks for the "Target" of the Hainan Firedragon Jammer. In HK and TWN the jammed station should be much stronger, and - that is the most important thing - the OPs from HK and TWN speak and understand the language and can easily identify the jammed station. What do think about that? Regards, (Uli, DJ9KR, Vice Coordinator of IARU MONITORING SYSTEM Intruder Watch Region 1, Aug 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. This afternoon, 750 Radio Progreso, Cienfuegos beating softly against off-frequency Progreso, QTH Santiago, and/or Rebelde, QTH Trinidad, Sancti Spíritus. Station not only off frequency, it drifts slowly to ca. 751.6 then saunters down to ca. 750.2. It Wobbles, to boot. =Z.= (Dr. Paul Vincent Zecchino, Manasloppypaperwork Key, FL, Aug 28, IRCA via DXLD) ** CUBA. As Terry Krueger has been pointing out, heard Arnie Coro on RHC 11760 at 0530 UT Aug 29 with a 6-minute news update on Hurricane/ TS Ernesto, including self-congratulation on behalf of the Communist Party on no lives having been lost despite the flooding she caused. Telco quality on Arnie, indicating he phoned it in from home? But he did not write it, that credited to Rosana Márquez, I think he said. He closed again by saying that RHC English is webcast at 05-07; before 05 it is the Spanish service (they used to have two different streams available). BTW, unusually, there was some CCI on 11760 this time, probably BBCWS in English via Cyprus, altho per EiBi, R. Japan in Russian is also there (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CZECH REPUBLIC. REPÚBLICA CHECA – Um dos excelentes espaços que podem ser conferidos na programação em espanhol da Rádio Praga é Legados del Pasado – Testimonios del Presente. É uma boa oportunidade para aprender um pouco mais sobre a rica histórica daquele país europeu. Vai ao ar na programação emitida nos sábados às 1800, 2030 e 2300. Já nos domingos, nas emissões das 1400, 1900, 0030 e 0200. A programação em espanhol vai ao ar no seguinte esquema: entre 0000 e 0027, pela freqüência de 11665 kHz, via retransmissor localizado na ilha de Ascensão; entre 0030 e 0057, em 7345 e 9440 kHz; das 0200 às 0227, em 6200 e 7345 kHz; entre 0800 e 0827, em 11600 e 15710 kHz; das 1400 às 1427, em 11625 e 13580 kHz; das 1800 às 1827, em 5930 e 13580 kHz; das 1900 às 1927, em 5930 e 13580 kHz; das 2000 às 2027, em 5930 e 11600 kHz; entre 2300 e 2327, em 7345 e 9415 kHz (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX Aug 27 via DXLD) ** CZECH REPUBLIC [non]. Heard on a 1966 Zenith Royal 94 Interoceanic with whip: 5990, Radio Prague, Sackville, NB, 8/28 0345 talking about communists who were killed while communism was in power (Kevin Redding, AZ, ABDX via DXLD) That`s a new one; wonder when it started. Not in EiBi or ILG. You will recall that in B-05, R. Prague was relayed by Sackville at 0400 on 6100 experimentally and it did not appear in all schedules. Now checking the RP sked at http://www.radio.cz/en/frequencies#en we see 5990 does appear along with the recently resumed WRMI relays. So here are all the outside relays now on their sked: ENGLISH 0900 - 0927 ***** 9955 31 50 South America-Caribbean 1400 - 1427 ***** 7385 41 50 North America 0330 - 0357 **** 5990 49 250 South America-Caribbean GERMAN 1630 - 1657 * 11825 25 250 W. Europe SPANISH 0930 - 0957 ***** 9955 31 50 South America-Caribbean 2330 - 2357 **** 9685 31 250 South America-Caribbean 0000 - 0027 ** 11665 25 250 S. America 0430 - 0457 ***** 9955 31 50 South America-Caribbean RUSSIAN 1800 - 1827 *** 7350 41 200 E. Europe * Relayed via Krasnodar, 39E00 45N02 ** Relayed via Ascension, 14W23 07S54 *** Relayed via Novosibirsk, 82E58 55N04 **** Relayed via Sackville, 64W19 45N53 ***** Relayed via Miami, 80W21 25N54 (via Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** DJIBOUTI [and non]. Re ``UAE; In January 2007 an 800 kW MW transmitter will be on 1539 kHz (Thomson Summer 2006 jpg via Wolfgang Büschel, via DXLD 6-119)`` So you have only a few months to get Djibouti which is regularly heard on 1539 kHz, although never very strong. Judging by the ability for this site`s signals from 1170 and 1575, 1539 should be dominated by UAE (Craig Edwards, NT, Sept Australian DX News via DXLD) ** ECUADOR [and non]. Hi Glenn; Here's another example of Christian media people helping the needy. Not every ministry is a front for hucksters and it's those few who give believers a bad name: HCJB WORLD RADIO MEDICAL TEAM SPEARHEADS EFFORT THAT ELIMINATES BLINDNESS IN MENACING TROPICAL DISEASE . . . http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/s06080118.htm Yours, (Bruce Atchison - author of When a Man Loves a Rabbit. =:3 Please check out my book at: http://www.bookstream.biz/cgi-bin/bookstream/bookstore.cgi?overlord=Details&store_id=102 DX LISTENING DIGEST) That`s great, but don`t assume it`s pure altruism. Those getting such medical help are expected to adopt HCJB`s God, and they admit as much: "But we also preach, minister and model the gospel to them," she added. "This individual contact gives our staff opportunities to support pastors which results in solid church growth, especially among the black population." (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA. Re: R Fana new frequencies --- I strongly suspect that this move to proper in-band frequencies is related to the official licence they just got, cf. http://blogs.rnw.nl/medianetwork/?p=5946 Seems to me they were in fact a pirate station until now? (Kai Ludwig, Aug 29, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Or in limbo Viz.: ** ETHIOPIA. ETHIOPIA GIVES LICENCE TO RADIO FANA The Ethiopian Broadcasting Agency has issued a commercial licence to Radio Fana. Broadcast Licencing Department Head Gizachew Tsegaye said that the agency gave the licence to Radio Fana based on its request of 11 October, 2004. Although the station is licenced as a commercial one, it ought to serve the society in a fair and balanced manner, he said. Radio Fana Head Woldu Yimsel said that the station has been striving for development since its launch. The licence would encourage the station to enhance its activities to enable the nation to achieve the desired goal, he said. Woldu further indicated that the issuing of the licence has provided an opportunity for the private electronic media, which, he said, was predominantly owned by the government. http://www.radiofana.com (Source: Ethiopian News Agency)(via Media Network blog Aug 29 via DXLD) Interesting website, presented in English tho there is apparently nothing in English to be heard. Crawler at the bottom still shows old frequencies 6210 and 6940, but programming linx are up to date. Check the music linx for some one-hour shows. The opening announcement of the first one, Tiz Alegn Yetintu for Aug 29, it seemed to me, could be mistaken for French under poor reception conditions. On some of the pages if you roll over the link name in English it morphs into Amharic (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EUROPE. ``Aus Den Weiten Des Tiefen Ostens`` - RADIO SONAR Hallo Free Radio Hörer, RADIO SONAR wird am kommenden Donnerstag, 31. August 2006 zwischen 19 und 21 GMT seine August-Sendung ausstrahlen. Wir werden, sofern keine Störungen vorhanden sind, zwischen 6260 und 6280 kHz senden. Es wird ein einstündiges Sonderprogramm zum 10. Todestag von Rio Reiser geben. Freut Euch auf Musik von Rio Reiser und Ton Steine Scherben und Coverversionen aktueller Bands. Das englische Programm ist Old School: von Led Zeppelin bis New Model Army. Wir haben wieder einiges an der Sendereinstellung verändert. Um das Ergebnis überprüfen zu können, freuen wir uns über Eure mp-3-files. Für Empfangsberichte gibt es die einmalig schöne August-QSL-Karte! Tel: + 49 (0) 176 - 262 171 42 (während des Programms) email: radiosonar @ hotmail.de --- Bis bald, DJ Dycke ------------ ``Aus Den Weiten Des Tiefen Ostens`` - RADIO SONAR Dear listeners, ``RADIO SONAR`` is active next Thursday, 31th of August, 1900 and 2100 GMT between 6260 and 6280 kHz. It is ten years ago, since the Rebel and Poet, Rio Reiser, died. As a tribute to the head of the Rockband Ton Steine Scherben, we broadcast a one hour special program. In our English program you will hear rock music from Led Zeppelin to New Model Army. We certify reception reports with our August-QSL - mp3-files are very appreciated. Phone in or sending text messages: Tel: + 49 (0) 176 - 262 171 42 (during broadcast) email: radiosonar @ hotmail.de Yours (DJ Dycke, ``Aus Den Weiten Des Tiefen Ostens`` - RADIO SONAR, Aug 29, HCDX via DXLD) Dalniy vostok? ** FRANCE [non]. 15350 RFI, Tainan. Good in EE 2318, // 15445, 8/8 (Gavin Hellyer, Ararat Vic (Yaesu FRG-8800, 20m random wire, Sept ADXN via DXLD) ?? RFI not known to have any English broadcast at this hour. Listed in French on 15445 via Japan, and on 15350 via Taiwan (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GABON [and non]. Heard on a DX390 with whip: 7270, RTV Gabonaise, Moyabi, 1455 man speaking in French after music in French. Station was fighting it out with what was presumed to be Central Peoples Broadcasting Station Beijing with Chinese (Kevin Redding, AZ, Aug 27, ABDX via DXLD) Hi Kevin, thanks for the tip. I also tried to hear this here in Finland after Radio Polonia sign-off at 1555. There were two stations, but both too weak for audio. The other was on 7270.16 kHz and it signed off at 1559 (could also have been RTM Kuching?). The other is on 7270 kHz exact and it still continues at 1620. 73, (Mauno Ritola, Finland, ibid.) Certainly an unusual long-path catch. Malaysia, India and Iran are also scheduled at 1455, but not in French. Ron Howard, do you hear anything but Sarawak then? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Very strange. Africa is almost totally in sunlight at 1455. Is Kevin in Arizona? (Steve Lare, MI, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, near Phoenix. It`s a stretch with daytime on both ends for a couple hours, but it is listed at 250 kW, and 7 MHz propagation can sometimes behave more like 9 than 6 MHz as far as day vs night. 73, (Glenn, ibid.) Yes, I guess it might. I recall my receptions of the stations in Somalia at around 1900 or so last year. But still, one wonders about reception that far west at that time with only a whip antenna with Africa, and especially Gabon in total sunlight. Propagation remains a puzzlement. 73, (Steve Lare, ibid.) 7270 Gabon is not mentioned in the HFCC, WRTH 2006 or A-06 supplement, tho it is in ILG and PWBR as in French; and EiBi which shows the language as vernacular. ILG says it`s RTVG-1 in French. And, on other frequencies, WRTH shows RTVG-1 is in French, but RTVG-2 is in French and vernaculars. All of which makes us wonder whether this transmission is definitely on the air currently. I monitored 7270 Aug 29 and as early as 1251 was hearing the het, 160 Hz? But could not make out any audio from the weak signals in the noise level. At that hour surely neither could have been from Gabon; same at 1417 recheck, but could not monitor at 1455 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Listed as 250 kW? Has it been established that RTVG uses Moyabi, and if so, since when? (No such items found by googling past DXLD editions.) 7270 is the old daytime counterpart of 4777, shown in WRTH 1995 as on air 0800-1600 ("other times on 4777"). Would't be the only African station now using their daytime frequency only: N'Djamena is now always on 6165 and doesn't switch to 4904.5 any more; Niamey is back on 9705 but never switches to 5020 (Kai Ludwig, Germany, dxldyg) Glenn is right about the path, an hour or so of daylight on each end. It seems that 41m is usually good for one hop in daylight but, depending on the takeoff angle, the first and last refraction might be in an area of the ionosphere that is less ionized so the absorption may be less than first thought. It doesn't seem unusual to have openings from Africa (short path) on 41m starting 2 or 3 hours before dark. Also, the target is Central Africa. If they're using an antenna with some gain to the east, the ERP toward Kevin would be higher (perhaps much higher) than 250 kW (Jerry Lenamon, Waco, Texas, dxldyg via DXLD) I checked it on Earth Viewer, and it was a good two hours of daytime on each end, not one hour. Perhaps someone in Africa, if not Europe, can confirm 7270 Gabon is on the air (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Listening to 7270 here between 1430-1445 and hearing a pretty good signal albeit with some occasional ARO interference. Sounds like Chinese music to me, and certainly not Gabon. Best here on the 70' N-S wire, much, much weaker on the 200' W-E wire. I haven't gone looking for any //'s yet. I *suspect* a high power outlet out of China (Steve Lare, Holland, MI, ibid.) Hi Glenn, I must confess I lost interest in 7270 about a month ago, when I tuned in and found a strong het there. This was due to an Asian language station on a new schedule and a slightly higher frequency. In the past I could tune in anytime around 1200-1400 UT and most days enjoyed hearing Wai FM (RTM from Kuching, Sarawak/Malaysia) with a clear signal, playing nice music and many Wai FM IDs (both the singing jingle IDs and also spoken IDs). The few times I have recently checked, I faintly heard what I assumed might be Wai FM under the much stronger Asian station/het, but once I found I couldn’t enjoy Wai FM any longer, I didn`t stay around long enough to try to ID or find parallels. Will give this one a listen again and see what I can find out (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HUNGARY. VUELVEN CORREO DEL AIRE Y REVISTA DEL DIEXISMO Estimados amigos radioescuchas: Radio Budapest ha decidido mantener en el aire los programas "Correo del Aire" y "Revista del Diexismo". Las cartas enviadas de los oyentes han contribuido en algo a mantenerlos. "Debido al contacto directo con los oyentes, han decidido mantener estos programas" que ahora estarán a cargo de Sergio Pérez. Sergio nos comenta que la dirección de la radio húngara aún no ha tomado una decisión sobre la suerte que correrán. Además la decisión de la dirección debe ser discutida por el Consejo de Administración y el Comité de Empresa, proceso que comenzará solo en Septiembre, ya que muchos de los miembros de las colectividades mencionadas están de vacaciones. En la medida en que tenga antecedentes concretos y serios, naturalmente los oyentes seremos los primeros en saberlo. No se pierdan estos programas en los que Sergio nos informa sobre el mantenimiento del programa en español. Pueden escucharlos en la web de la emisora http://real1.radio.hu/nemzeti.htm o directamente en los enlaces siguientes: Correo del Aire: http://telefonica.net/web2/radioescuchadx/au_archivos/R_Budapest_27_08_2006.mp3 Revista del Diexismo en la página de Programas DX http://es.geocities.com/programasdx/revistadiexismo_rbudapest.htm Cordialmente (José Bueno, Córdoba - España, playdx yg via DXLD) ** INDIA. Dear friends, Following Chennai & Guwahati, Mumbai has also dropped AIR FM Gold programs on SW and replaced it by the following External Service to Pakistan from yesterday 28 Aug 2006: 0015-0430 7195 Urdu 0830-1130 7195 Urdu 1230-1500 7195 Sindhi 1500-1600 7195 Baluchi Also the following addition is there. Burmese 1215-1315 15050 via Delhi The 0315-0530 Hindi/Gujarathi on 15175 to E.Africa is now via Panaji (ex Aligarh). 73 (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, National Institute of Amateur Radio, Raj Bhavan Road Hyderabad 500082, Aug 29, dx_india via DXLD) ** ISLE OF MAN. 279 KHZ – THE END OF IOM LONG WAVE RADIO? -- 12 August I noted in early July that the 279 kHz Long Wave Radio web site for the station had closed down. I contacted the Manx Examiner newspaper to ascertain whether they were aware of this fact. They too had noted that the web site was not active and had contacted the station organisers. They were told that a new web site was due to be activated and that the station still hoped to commence broadcasts on 279 kHz Long wave "later in the month" Tony Hudson writes ``The websites have been shut down as the contract with the hosting company was not renewed. The two sites were costing around £600 a year to maintain, so if they can't afford to spare that amount of cash what does it say for the rest of the project? Also the report in the IOM newspaper about using the radio ship St. Paul is not correct. She has been scrapped! It never was a radio ship anyway, as no broadcasting equipment was installed. She was used as a floating studio and the TX was several kilometres away on dry land.`` I have seen nothing in the press – nor any statement from the station (as of the date given) – to suggest that the project is still a viable proposition. In the absence of such it can only be concluded that the station will never broadcast (John Williams, The Home Front, August Medium Wave News via DXLD) This predates the previous IOM item here ** ISRAEL. O governo de Israel impôs lei restringindo todo tipo de transmissão por parte dos radioamadores. Nenhum aficcionado está autorizado a utilizar as faixas de radioamadores regulamentadas sem prévia inspeção feita pelos órgãos controladores, conforme informações do boletim eletrônico Galena On-line, edição 155 (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX Aug 27 via DXLD) ** LIBYA [non]. Libia: Interferencias de la propia emisora. 17610 // 17725 La Voz de África, escuchada el 29 de agosto desde las 1330 a 1345, con la particularidad de que en 17725 estaban emitiendo en árabe en paralelo por 17610; al mismo tiempo en 17610 emitiendo en Swahili. Las dos emisiones de la misma emisora se estaban interfiriendo. Por otra parte parecen haber desaparecido las emisiones jammer de La Voz de África contra Sawt Al-amal; tampoco esta emisora se la ha podido escuchar en el día de hoy así cómo en días pasados. Cancelada? (José Miguel Romero, Spain, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO [non]. Re 6-129: Hi Glenn, You are correct, it is not uncommon to hear this religious program in English & Spanish, on LV de Tu Conciencia (COLOMBIA), as I have noted it a number of times during the past year, on both 5910 and at other times on 6010v (i.e., not in parallel). It is often fairly crowded on 6010 and a Radio Mil ID certainly could easily make it through the mix of things, but their programming, from what I have heard, is mostly music (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Well, R. Mil is supposedly doing more news/talk, some of it played back overnight. It`s usually news when I hear them weakly in the 1300 hour (gh) ** NEW ZEALAND. 15720 DRM, RNZI, Rangitaiki. IS 0458, news 0500, breaking up badly, SNR peaked at 13.3 dB, 26/8 (Craig Seager, Bathurst NSW (Icom R75, Loop Skywire), Sept ADXN via DXLD) ** NIGER. 9704, La Voix du Sahel, Niamey, Níger, 24 ago, 0615, French. Comentarios sobre Burkina, música, ID como programa de la Rtv. Dif. du Burkina Faso. SIO/544. Quizá esta sea la causa o la solución a que no haya escuchado en todo el verano a la emisora de Burkina en 5030 (Ignacio Sotomayor Sta.Mª la Real de Nieva, Segovia, Castilla, España (41º04'03.62''N-4º24'35.68''W) Rcvx: ICOM R-75 Anx: Hilo largo de 10 metros, Noticias DX via DXLD) 23/8, 0547, 9704, LV DU SAHEL - Niamey. Segnale insufficiente- sufficiente. Vernacolo, parlato maschile. Anche questa mattina era spostata ma solo di 1 kHz ed era presente anche R. Ethiopia su 9704.2, con la conseguenza di un battimento (fischio) fra le due stazioni. Secondo un'ipotesi di Noel Green apparsa su DXLD 6-128 la variazione sarebbe intenzionale per evitare l'interferenza di R. Ethiopia, però se stesse sulla sua frequenza nominale di 9705 kHz da quest'ultima ci sarebbero ben +0.8 kHz di distacco, anzichè i -0.2 kHz di quando è su 9704 kHz e quindi il QRM sarebbe minore. Forse è più probabile la tesi dello slittamento casuale, per problemi tecnici (Luca Botto Fiora QTH: Rapallo (Genova), playdx yg via DXLD) See BURKINA FASO ** OKLAHOMA. On a rare afternoon MW bandscan, Aug 28 at 1949 I heard KOKC-1520 OKC promoting Paul Harvey on that station. Had been on KTOK- 1000 for sesquidecades, but the switch could now have been months ago as I seldom listen to either. Per http://www.komanews.com/ --- yes, that`s still the URL despite the call change --- Paul Harvey is scheduled 7:30 am, 12:15 pm, 5:30 pm [UT = 1230, 1715, 2230], and that would be weekdays only, with his Saturday commentary shown as a full half hour at noon. Either that`s an exaggeration/approximation, or they cram 18 minutes of commercials into the 12-minute show! While we`re at it, a few other KOKC programs that might be worth hearing, skipping all the far-right hacks, days and times here converted to UT: Saturday 1506-1600 OK State Regents Higher Ed Sunday 1030-1100 Native America 1200-1230 Focus On Oklahoma 1430-1500 Mayflower Congregation [a liberal gay-friendly church, OKC] 2206-0100 Kim Komando [syndicated computer blonde] Monday 0106-0130 ABC World News 0330-0400 ABC News This Week [different from the above?] (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAKISTAN. PAKISTANI INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES HARASSING FEBA RADIO OPERATIVES Christian sources in Pakistan say that intelligence police are conducting a wide range inquiry of staff and operatives of FEBA Radio in Pakistan. FEBA broadcasts religious programmes in many languages of the Indian subcontinent, and Churches in Pakistan and India prepare recordings of hymns and sermons. The government of Pakistan has not granted permissions for Christian religious broadcasting, while many TV and radio channels are operating to promote Islam. The FEBA recording centres in Pakistan have requested worldwide prayers. (Source: Pakistan Christian Post)(August 28th, 2006, 10:47 UTC by Andy, Media Network blog via DXLD) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 7120, Wantok Radio Light, Port Moresby. Very good strength and clear signal from this reputed 1 kW transmitter operating out of a shipping container. Religious material. Perhaps some Divine boost to the signal? 0622 14/8 (Charles Jones, (Yaesu FRG100 and 70m. long wire, DX-Pedition at Mapleton, QLD, Sept ADXN via DXLD) ** PORTUGAL. ``A Guitarra Portuguesa e o Fado`` está completando 10 anos no ar. Em 19 de agosto, o segmento apresentou a comemoração, diretamente de um restaurante da cidade de Figueira da Foz. A apresentação é de Luis Sarmento. Aos sábados, A Guitarra Portuguesa e o Fado vai ao ar, nos sábados, a partir de 1708, em 21655 kHz (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX Aug 27 via DXLD) ** ROMANIA [non]. 5910, Radio Armonia via TWR, Armavir [RUSSIA]. 1600- 1630 Saturday only, religious program in Romanian (poor on // 7345) giving mailing address in Lashi, Romania, 5/8 (Rumen Pankov, Sofia, Bulgaria, Sept ADXN via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. Some good jazz music on 7320 Aug 29 at 1255 including some lyrix in English; what could that be? Just before 1300 crossfade to just a few seconds of some other kind of unrecognizable music, no announcement, timesignal and audio off; carrier off about a minute later. Per EiBi, the only likely source is R. Rossii, via Magadan, in extreme eastern Siberia, scheduled all the way from 17 to 13 on 7320 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAINT HELENA. The latest news from Robert Kipp: "The latest information on the "Revive RSD 2006" Project is that all twelve boxes of equipment have arrived on St. Helena island and are expected out of Customs by 25 August. The twelve boxes of equipment include a huge wooden overseas crate with all the transmitting equipment and much more inside, a box with two DC-power supplies, a box with the huge ProSisTel rotator and its cable, a box with the commercial grade coaxial cable, and eight boxes with all the various pre-fabricated sections of the tower. Also, the German magazine "FunkAmateur" published a very nice one-page article about the project on page 901 of the August issue. Thanks here go to Mr. Harald Kuhl (well-known SWL and amateur radio operator). The article shows a picture of the RSD QSL from 1994. Have a look at our web site http://www.sthelena.se/radioproject Click on the "Revive RSD 2006" button. Here are the program times. Click on the "Multiple Flags" button. Then move your cursor to any flag. Look at the pop-up notice. Then move the cursor to the little object behind any language name. Again, look at the pop-up notice. Check several of these. Then click on any of the flags. Try a few! (Thanks to Rich D`Angelo for passing this along.) (NASWA Flashsheet Aug 27 via DXLD) ** SAMOA [ex WESTERN]. If you nab 2AP in the future, you will have a good one as I don't think they have ever been logged off the coast. During auroral conditions they came be common here (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, IRCA via DXLD) I logged, taped and QSL'd 2AP on 1420 in 1962 when I lived in Pampa, Texas, back when it operated on 1420 kHz, before the Asia-Oceania 9 kHz plan went into effect. But of course that was back when there were few 24-hour stations on Monday mornings, and there was a two-hour window when there were no North American stations on the air. Castro had eliminated private, commercial stations, and the 250-watt Cuban that had run AN-7 in the '60s was gone. Don't ask me if I expect to log 2AP today, even on a split frequency. It's the noise floor, now, that'd hamper inland DX even if stations would revert to 6 a.m. to midnight schedules (John Callarman, Krumudgeon, ibid.) ** SEYCHELLES [non]. see PAKISTAN ** SPAIN. 5735, Radio Exterior de España, Desconocido, 19 ago, 0741, Spanish. Comentarios sobre temporal en Ciudadela. // 5965, 12035, 13720, 17770 y 21610. SIO/554 [¿nueva frecuencia?]. Paz y DX (Ignacio Sotomayor Sta. Mª la Real de Nieva, Segovia, Castilla, España (41º04'03.62''N, 4º24'35.68''W) Rcvx: ICOM R-75 Anx: Hilo largo de 10 metros, Noticias DX via DXLD) Ojo: 17770 menos 12035 = 5735 --- por eso una mezcla desde Noblejas, ¿a qué distancia? 73, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Hola Glenn: Muchas gracias por tus aclaraciones. La distancia desde el puesto de escucha hasta Noblejas es de 191 kilómetros. Un saludo (Ignacio, ibid.) ** SRI LANKA. Re 6-129: SLBC 15745 heard today also from 0800. So it looks like a permanent change (Jose Jacob, India, Aug 28, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Thanks to Jose Jacob tip, SLBC heard on 15745 kHz in presumed Tamil at 1225 UT. Good signal and a carrier noted also on 7301.5 kHz, but I don't have anything on 11905 kHz. Maybe replacing that? 73, (Mauno Ritola, Finland, Aug 28, dx_india via DXLD) ** U K [non]. I avoid tuning BBC Spanish on 6110 at 0300 because of a slight hum I assume is produced by the French Guiana relay, as this one is not observed on Ascension 7325. Nevertheless, I noticed just a couple of nights ago, a good and clear audio from 6110 and I went thinking they fixed the problem at Montsinéry site. Well, the answer as Glenn pointed out, is they have changed the relay site to Cypress Creek, which transmitters are providing that nearly crispy audio in terms of SW I have experienced, not only for WHRI, but for BBCWS new Caribbean schedule as well (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. Classical aficionados have only a week to Listen Again (or more likely for the first time) to Proms and Edinburgh Festival broadcasts, but for WOMAD it`s a full year!: Listen online to WOMAD sets for a year --- We're adding more sets every week from this year's WOMAD until you can re-live the whole festival online! All the WOMAD online audio on this page will be available for a year. . . http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/worldmusic/womad2006/listenagain.shtml (via Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K [and non]. Ref your note in DXLD on the Radio 2 programmes, The Organist Entertains and Desmond Carrington: By coincidence, the very same day I read your note I was looking through the first (1947) edition of the WRH, which I have been fortunate enough to obtain on CD, and spotted the name "Captain Desmond Carrington" as being in charge of "Programme Presentation" at Radio SEAC (South-East Asia Command), a forces' station in Ceylon. Carrington's biography on the Radio 2 website confirms that he did indeed work there as a very young man (born 1926). As listed in WRH, Radio SEAC was an extensive operation for that time, on the air for 16.5 hours a day on up to five SW frequencies simultaneously (including 2 x 100 kW). Also mentioned in your note: The version of Imperial Echoes used by Radio Newsreel was that played by the Band of the Royal Air Force conducted by Squadron-Leader R. P. O'Donnell. Regards, (Chris Greenway (UK), DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. INQUIRY CRITICIZES U.S. BROADCASTING OFFICIAL OVER HIRING By STEPHEN LABATON Published: August 29, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/29/washington/29cnd-broadcast.html?ex=1157515200&en=616c044bc704fc20&ei=5070&emc=eta1 WASHINGTON, Aug. 29 — State Department investigators have concluded that Kenneth Y. Tomlinson, the head of the federal agency that oversees most government broadcasts to foreign countries, improperly hired a friend on the public payroll for nearly $250,000 over two and a half years, according to a summary of their report made public this afternoon by Democratic Congressional staff members. They also said that Mr. Tomlinson, whose job puts him in charge of the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe, used his government office for personal business, including running a ``horse racing operation`` in which he supervised a stable of thoroughbreds he named after leaders from Afghanistan, including President Hamid Karzai and the late Ahmed Shah Massoud, that have raced at tracks across the United States. They also said that Mr. Tomlinson repeatedly used government employees to do his personal errands and that he billed the government for more days of work than the rules permit. The State Department inspector general presented those findings in a report last week to the White House and on Monday to some members of Congress. Three Democratic lawmakers, Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut and Representatives Howard Berman and Tom Lantos of California, requested the inquiry last year after they were approached by a whistleblower from the agency about the possible misuse of federal money by Mr. Tomlinson and the possible hiring of phantom or unqualified employees. In providing the report to the members of Congress, the State Department warned that making it public could be a violation of federal law, people who have seen the report said. Today, Mr. Berman`s staff released a summary of the report. Mr. Tomlinson was ousted from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting last year following a separate inquiry that found evidence that he had violated rules meant to insulate public television and radio from political influence. His renomination by President Bush to another term as chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors is pending before the Senate. The summary of the State Department inspector general`s report said the United States attorney`s office in Washington had been given the report and decided not to conduct a criminal inquiry into the matter. It said the Justice Department was pursuing a civil investigation that focused on a contract Mr. Tomlinson had awarded to his friend. The three lawmakers who had requested the inquiry sent a letter to the president this afternoon urging him to remove Mr. Tomlinson from his position immediately ``and take all necessary steps to restore the integrity of the Broadcasting Board of Governors.`` Emily Lawrimore, a White House spokeswoman, said President Bush continues to support Mr. Tomlinson`s renomination. She declined to comment about the State Department report. Asked about the report and the call for his ouster, Mr. Tomlinson and his lawyer, James Hamilton, would not immediately comment. Mr. Tomlinson is a 62-year-old Republican and former editor of Reader`s Digest who has close ties to Karl Rove, Mr. Bush`s political strategist and senior adviser. Mr. Rove and Mr. Tomlinson served together on the board of predecessor agency to the Broadcasting Board in the 1990`s. Mr. Tomlinson has been chairman of the Broadcasting Board since 2002. The board, whose members include the secretary of state, plays a central role in public diplomacy. It supervises the government`s foreign broadcasting operations, including Radio Martí, Radio Sawa and al-Hurra; transmits programs in 61 languages; and says it has more than 100 million listeners each week. Mr. Tomlinson`s ouster last November from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting was prompted by a separate investigation by that organization`s inspector general. That inquiry found evidence that Mr. Tomlinson had violated rules as he sought more conservative programs and that he improperly intervened to help the staff of The Wall Street Journal`s editorial page win a $4.1 million contract — one of the largest programming contracts issued by the corporation — to finance a weekly program on public television. The heavily edited State Department report on Mr. Tomlinson`s activities at the Broadcasting Board of Governors did not specify the identity of the friend who received the improper contract at the direction of Mr. Tomlinson. Agency officials said he was a retired worker already on a government pension who was rehired by Mr. Tomlinson, without the knowledge of the board or any competitive bidding process, to work on projects for him. The employee was known by other employees as ``the phantom`` because he was often not at work, other agency employees said. Mr. Tomlinson was rebuked in the earlier inspector general report by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for improperly hiring an acquaintance from a journalism center founded by the American Conservative Union to monitor several public radio and television shows, including Bill Moyer`s ``Now`` program, for political bias. The State Department report said that from 2003 through 2005 Mr. Tomlinson had requested compensation in excess of the 130 days permitted by law for the post he holds. It said that he had requested and received pay from both the broadcasting board and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for the same days worked on 14 occasions, but that investigators were unable to substantiate whether they were for the same hours worked on the same days. Investigators who seized Mr. Tomlinson`s e-mail, telephone and office records found that he had improperly and extensively used his office at the Broadcasting Board to do nongovernmental work, including work for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and horse racing and breeding ventures. The material seized included racing forms and evidence that he used the office to buy and sell thoroughbreds. Mr. Tomlinson`s longstanding interest in foreign affairs has carried over to his horse breeding operation. As the owner of Sandy Bayou Stables near Middleburg, Va., his most recent horses have been named after Afghanistan leaders who have opposed Russian and Taliban control of the country. The horses include Massoud, Karzai and Panjshair, the valley that was the base used by forces to overthrow the Taliban. Most of the horses have not been in the money, although Massoud appears to have been quite successful, earning purses of more than $140,000 over the last two years, according to track records. People who have seen the report said it noted that in the middle of in interview with investigators, Mr. Tomlinson terminated the interview on the advice of his lawyer. One person familiar with the inquiry said Mr. Hamilton ended the interview as the investigators started to ask about the use of Mr. Tomlinson`s office for his horse-racing venture. Mr. Hamilton declined to comment about the interview (via Larry Nebron, DXLD) ** U S A. ESTADOS UNIDOS – A Voz da América transmite em espanhol entre 0030 e 0200, em 9560, 9885 e 11815 kHz. Em 20 de agosto, a emissora intitulou a primeira meia-hora de emissão como sendo Ventana a Cuba. Entretanto, em monitoria de cerca de 20 minutos daquela emissão, em 11825 kHz, o colunista não ouviu nenhuma menção ao país do Caribe. Ao contrário, o noticiário era todo ele feito em cima de correspondência dos jornalistas da emissora em Madrid, La Paz e Caracas (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX Aug 27 via DXLD) Yes, but as long as they call it Ventana a Cuba it attracts jamming, and thus shame upon the dentrocubanos. Evening Spanish used to start at 0100, but now it`s 0030 as per posted sked; however at http://www.voanews.com/spanish/programas_radio.cfm there is no mention of what is on at 0030. About the Cuban program it does say: ``Ventana a Cuba - 0100-0130 UTC Diario (excepto martes) Una revista de media hora con variedades informativas, entrevistas además de información de interés para los oyentes en Cuba y América Latina.`` I.e. daily except Tuesday. Do they mean local Tuesday or UT Tuesday? August 20 was a Sunday, anyway (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [and non]. Some changes for IBB: Voice of America in Spanish from August 3: 0030-0200 on 9560 9885 11815, ex 0100-0200 on same freqs Voice of America in Korean from August 14: 1230-1500 on 5890 7235 11740, ex 1300-1500 on 7215 7235 11740 2000-2030 on 6060 7125 9510, ex 2000-2100 on same freqs + 15475 from 2030 Voice of America - Radio Ashna in Dari from August 17: 1630-1730 NF 11565, ex 15090 \\ 12140 17840 Radio Free Asia in Korean from August 14: 2030-2230 on 7460 9385 9770 12075, ex 2100-2300 on same freqs Radio Free Asia in Khmer from August 17: 1230-1330 NF 11870, ex 13645 \\ 15525 Updated A-06 for Voice of America (VOA): AFAN/OROMO 1730-1800 9875 11500 11675 11905 13870 Mon-Fri ALBANIAN 0500-0530 11805 1600-1630 13740 1830-1900 9840 AMHARIC 1800-1900 9875 11500 11675 11905 13870 ARABIC# 0000-2400 990 1170 1431 1548 AZERI 1730-1800 7170 7595 13725 BANGLA 0130-0200 11735 15205 1600-1700 1575 7430 11835 BURMESE 1430-1530 1575 9330 11910 12120 2330-2400 6185 9505 11980 CANTONESE 1300-1500 1170 7115 9355 CHINESE 0000-0200 9545 11830 11925 15150 15385 17765 0200-0300 9545 11830 11925 15385 17765 0700-0900 13610 13740 15250 17780 17855 21540 21705 0900-1000 11825 11965 13610 13740 15250 15665 17780 17855 1000-1100 9575 11825 11965 12040 13610 15250 15665 17855 1100-1200 1170 6110 9575 11785 11825 11965 11990 12040 1200-1230 6110 9845 11785 11825 11965 11990 12040 1230-1300 6110 9845 11785 11805 11825 11965 12040 1300-1400 6110 9845 11785 11805 11965 11990 12040 1400-1500 6110 9845 11805 11965 11990 12040 2200-2300 7190 7200 9510 9545 11925 13775 CREOLE 1130-1200 11890 11925 15360 Mon-Fri 1630-1700 15390 17565 2100-2130 11895 13725 21555 CROATIAN 0430-0500 5965 1830-1900 7175 15180 DARI& 0130-0230 1296 7590 12140 1500-1530 1296 12140 15090 17840 1630-1730 1296 11565 12140 17840 1800-1830 1296 7555 11565 17840 1930-2030 1296 7555 7590 ENGLISH 0300-0330 909 1530 4930 6080 7340 9885 12080 15580 Africa 0330-0400 909 1530 4930 6080 9885 12080 15580 0400-0430 909 1530 4930 4960 6080 9575 9885 11835 12080 15580 0430-0500 909 4930 4960 6080 9575 11835 12080 15580 0500-0600 909 4930 6080 6180 12080 15580 0600-0700 909 1530 6080 6180 12080 15580 1500-1600 6080 13795 15580 17895 1600-1700 909 1530 4930 6080 15410 15580 1700-1800 6080 15410 15580 1800-1830 6080 15410 15580 17895 1800-1830 909 4930 Sat/Sun 1830-1900 909 4930 6080 15410 15580 17895 1900-2000 909 4930 4940 6080 15410 15445 15580 17895 2000-2030 909 1530 4930 4940 6080 15410 15445 15580 2030-2100 909 1530 4930 6080 15410 15445 15580 2030-2100 4940 Sat/Sun 2100-2200 1530 6080 15580 ENGLISH 0000-0030 1593 Special 0030-0100 1575 1593 9715 9780 15185 15205 15290 15560 17740 17820 0130-0200 7405 13740 Tue-Sat 1500-1600 1575 6160 9590 9760 12040 15550 1600-1700 12080 13600 17895 1900-2000 6040 9670 2230-2330 1593 9570 13755 15145 2330-2400 1593 7260 9570 13725 13755 15145 ENGLISH 1400-1500 15490 17730 Eu/ME/NoAf 1500-1600 15195 15445 ENGLISH/AFG 2030-0030 1296 7555 ENGLISH/ZWE 1730-1800 909 4930 13755 17730 Mon-Fri ENGLISH 0100-0200 9885 11705 11725 EaAs/SoAs 1100-1130 1575 Sat/Sun 1130-1200 1575 1200-1230 1170 6160 9645 9760 11750 1230-1300 6160 9645 9760 11750 1300-1400 9645 9760 1400-1500 7125 9760 13795 15185 15580 17685 17720 1500-1600 7125 12150 13735 15105 2200-2400 7215 11725 15185 15290 2230-2400 1575 Fri/Sat FRENCH 0530-0600 1530 4960 6035 6095 9885 13710 Mon-Fri 0600-0630 4960 6035 6095 9885 13710 Mon-Fri 1830-2000 1530 9815 9830 12080 15730 17785 2000-2030 9815 9830 11720 12080 15730 2030-2100 9815 9830 11720 12080 15185 Sat/Sun 2100-2130 9815 9830 11720 12035 12080 Mon-Fri GEORGIAN 1530-1600 11805 15475 HAUSA 0430-0500 9600 11680 Mon-Fri 0500-0530 1530 4960 9600 11680 1500-1530 9710 11905 13750 1800-1830 1530 4940 9565 11720 12080 17785 Sat/Sun 2030-2100 4940 9815 9830 11720 12080 15185 Mon-Fri HINDI 0030-0100 7430 11805 1600-1700 7260 9315 INDONESIAN 0000-0030 9535 11805 13705 1100-1300 9700 9890 12010 1400-1500 13620 15105 Thu-Sat 2200-2400 7225 9535 11805 KHMER 1330-1430 1575 5955 7155 9680 2200-2230 1575 6060 7130 7260 13725 KINYARWANDA 0330-0430 6095 7340 13725 1600-1630 11925 15430 17725 Sat KOREAN 1230-1300 5890 7235 11740 1300-1400 648 5890 7235 11740 1400-1500 5890 7235 11740 2000-2030 6060 7125 9510 KURDISH 0400-0500 7115 9730 11980 1300-1400 1593 12025 15130 15390 1600-1630 1593 9825 15545 17745 1630-1700 9825 15545 17745 1800-1900 7205 11520 15545 1930-2000 1593 LAOTIAN 1230-1300 1575 6030 9510 11930 NDEBELE 1800-1830 909 4930 13755 17730 Mon-Fri PASHTO& 0030-0130 1296 7590 12140 1430-1500 1296 12140 15090 17840 1530-1630 1296 12140 15090 17840 1730-1800 1296 7555 11565 17840 1830-1930 1296 7555 7590 PERSIAN 0230-0330 9695 11870 17855 1630-1700 1593 6040 9700 11520 1700-1730 1593 6040 9770 11520 1730-1800 1593 6040 9770 11740 1800-1830 648 1593 6040 9770 11925 1830-1900 648 1593 5860 6040 11925 1900-1930 1593 5860 6040 11925 PORTUGUESE 0430-0500 1530 6095 7340 1700-1730 1530 9565 12080 1730-1800 1530 9565 9815 12080 15730 1800-1830 1530 9565 9815 17785 Mon-Fri RUSSIAN 1300-1400 11725 15205 15475 17730 1700-1900 6105 7220 9520 11805 SERBIAN 0530-0545 1458 11805 1930-2000 9530 2100-2130 756 7210 Mon-Fri SHONA 1700-1730 909 4930 13755 17730 Mon-Fri SPANISH 0030-0200 9560 9885 11815 1100-1230 7370 9535 13790 SWAHILI 1630-1700 9815 13670 15730 1700-1730 9815 13670 15730 Mon-Fri TIBETAN 0000-0100 7255 9855 11690 0400-0600 15265 15490 17685 1400-1500 6030 11520 11975 TIGRINA 1900-1930 9875 11500 11675 11905 13870 Mon-Fri TURKISH 0330-0400 7205 Mon-Fri 1030-1045 15205 17740 Mon-Fri 1830-1900 11865 15235 UKRAINIAN 0400-0430 7265 9710 Mon-Fri 2000-2015 7230 11840 Sat/Sun 2000-2030 7230 11840 Mon-Fri URDU* 0100-0200 972 7145 11805 1400-1500 972 9510 15530 1500-1700 972 1700-1800 972 9315 9785 1800-0100 972 UZBEK 1500-1530 801 7555 11780 15390 17685 VIETNAMESE 1300-1330 1575 5955 9720 1500-1600 1170 5955 6120 9780 2230-2330 6060 13725 # Radio Sawa & Radio Ashna * Radio Aap Ki Dunyaa (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Aug 29 via DXLD) ** U S A. 18 AGO, 2340 UT, 12180 KHZ, Republic Broadcasting Network, vía WWRB, EE.UU. Participación telefónica de parte de los Nazis norteamericanos, reclamando la interferencia de los judíos en sus esfuerzos de distribuir literatura. Calidad Variable (Adan Mur, Ñemby, Paraguay, Conexión Digital via DXLD) Way to go, Mr Frantz! (gh) ** U S A. WWCR-3 12160 inaudible, not even a carrier, Aug 28 at 1942 check, tho WWRB 12180 was inbooming. WWCR`s other frequencies: 9985 also inbooming, 13845 JBA, and 15825 inaudible. Altho I suspect 12160 was really off the air at this time, there could be another reason for its inferior performance here: nominal azimuth is 40 degrees, which is further away from being directly off the back from Nashville to Enid which is roughly 270, due west. WWCR-1 is 46 degrees, -2 is 85 degrees, -4 is 90 degrees. However, these are rhombic antennas which have side and back lobes (and nulls) in unexpected places (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. Para que você entenda corretamente, estou disponibilizando [availablizing] novamente aqui na Radioescutas o esquema completo do Rádio DX: A CVC - A Sua Voz leva ao ar o programa Rádio DX no seguinte esquema [UT]: - nas sextas-feiras, às 1400, em 15525 kHz; - nos sábados, às 1100, em 6110 kHz; - nos domingos universais, às 0200, em 11745 kHz; - nas segundas universais, às 0000, em 11745 kHz. 73s, (Célio Romais, Porto Alegre, Brasil, radioescutas via DXLD) Miami via Chile; subject to preëmption. Still doesn`t tell us how long it is (gh) ** U S A [and non]. NEW GOVERNMENT PUBLIC HEALTH HF NET The National Public Health Radio Network (NPHRN) is a collaborative initiative between CDC’s Coordinating Office for Terrorism Preparedness (COTPER) and the National Center for Health Marketing (NCHM). In summary, the NPHRN will provide CDC, state, territorial, and local health departments with non-infrastructure dependent redundant communications capability – a ``back up`` method of communication when all else fails. Utilizing specific frequencies within the High Frequency (HF) spectrum, the NPHRN provides CDC and the 50 states, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, the Pacific Island Jurisdictions (American Samoa, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Republic of Palau, and the Federated States of Micronesia), and the localities of Chicago, Los Angeles County, New York City, and Washington, D.C. with a wireless redundant communications capacity. When participating in the NPHRN, CDC and public health partners will have the capability to transmit and receive vital information in the event that traditional infrastructure dependent communication media (telephone, internet, cellular) are damaged, overloaded, or destroyed thus preventing effective and reliable communication (from CDC Public Health Emergency Preparedness Cooperative Agreement) Frequencies (ALE): 4442.0 (USB) 4757.0 (USB) 5820.0 (USB) 8023.0 (LSB) 8023.0 (USB) 9414.5 (USB) 10202.0 (USB) 11485.0 (LSB) 11485.0 (USB) 12164.0 (USB) 13488.0 (USB) 15658.0 (USB) 18264.0 (USB) 20659.0 (USB) Frequency information courtesy of Jack Metcalfe. posted by Larry @ 8/19/2006 12:25:00 PM (MT Milcom Monitoring Blog Saturday, August 19, 2006 via DXLD) ** U S A. Re: ``Kinda surprised nobody's mentioned this yet - the FCC today announced they're going to open a filing window for a new X-band station on 1700 in Rockland Co., New York, just north of NYC (Doug Smith, TN, NRC-AM`` Rockland County has an extensive local radio service on the X-band already, operated by the county using a series of TIS transmitters, so their argument is a bit weak on that score. But I would absolutely believe that the full FCC took this action largely because the requested frequency is 1700 in the hopes that having a station there in Rockland might force the 1710 pirate in Brooklyn off, since the local authorities won't cooperate for fear of offending influential constituents (Russ Edmunds Blue Bell, PA (360' ASL) [15 mi NNW of Philadelphia], Aug 23, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** U S A. A couple of weeks ago the program director of WABC was hosting a call in program on the station and someone called and asked about all the infomercials that are on the station on the weekends. He said that one night of those programs provides more revenue for the station than five nights of Coast to Coast AM (Tom Dimeo, NRC-AM via DXLD) I am sure he's right. I know that the brokered stuff we run on weekends on WNTP are a major revenue source, as it is for many stations (Rene` F. Tetro, Chief Engineer, Salem Communications - Philadelphia WNTP-AM / WFIL-AM, ibid.) As you know, many AM stations have gone to brokered programming whether it be on the weekends or most of the week. Although from a consistency standpoint, brokered radio is a tune-out but it does bring in the bucks which is the bottom line. Remember radio is a business and unless you have a big signal in a major market, it is hard for an AM to sell itself today. it's not the same as it used to be when it comes to AM radio in America (Larry Stoler, ibid.) ** VANUATU. 7259.5, R. Vanuatu, Emtem Lagoon. R Australia news in English at 0600 followed by community messages in Bislama on 5/8 (Alex Wellner, Bondi NSW (JRC NRD-535D, 20m dipole, EWE, Sept ADXN via DXLD) ** VENEZUELA [non]. Had a chance Aug 28 to check for the 2000 UT broadcast of RNV via Cuba. Zilch on 13680, its main frequency. This also used to be on three other frequencies, but no sign of them either nor on other Habana outlets. So perhaps 2000 be gone, more or less replaced by 2200 on 11670 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6180, R. Nacional de Venezuela. Good in Spanish, 1001 tune-in, many IDs. New service, site presumed to be Cuba, 20/8 (Craig Seager, NSW, Sept ADXN via DXLD) 6180, 1050 UT, El Canal Internacional de Radio Nacional de Venezuela, se está escuchando en español cada mañana, con música y comentarios variados. Desconozco si es un transmisor propio o una retransmisión via Cuba (Alfredo Locatelli, Durazno, Uruguay, Conexión Digital Aug 27 via DXLD) ** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. RN RASD MW --- As Carlos Gonçalves reported, 1550 kHz is silent. Very weak carrier on 699.982 kHz, which might be this, but no audio. 73, Mauno Ritola, Finlkand, Aug 27, mwoffsetts yg via Steve Whitt, MWC via DXLD) I've observed the same. At 2230 the het on 700 kHz is quite clear. I also measure 699.982 kHz using Spectrum Lab but that reveals 3 other weaker signals on/around 700 kHz possibly from South America. Similarly no sign of 1550 kHz. 7460 seems to be operational though 73 (Steve Whitt, UK, ibid.) CLANDESTINAS, MARRUECOS, 7460, Radio Nacional de la República Árabe Saharaui Democrática, 0634-0700+, 18 Agosto, programa en árabe, con música árabe, ID completa a las 0700 y luego boletín de noticias (Ralph Brandi, USA, en DXplorer, via Conexión Digital via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. Can anyone out in the south Midwest try to help find out who the off-frequency station on 1549.888 is? It's probably on the general area of the Smokies, as it seems to loop at about 90 degrees [sic – means 270?] from Greenville, North Carolina. It's not WBSC, Bennettsville; WCLY, Raleigh; WVAB, Virginia Beach, or WBFJ Winston- Salem (who e-mailed me that they are 1550.001). It's coming in on skywave with a rather short fading period so it's not much past 500 miles. I could be totally off DF-wise, so anyone else please take a look. I'm using WLLY-1530 Chapel Hill, North Carolina as a reference, and it looks to loop about 5 degrees south of them. 73 de (Charlie Taylor, NC, Aug 28, IRCA via DXLD) [Later:] NOW I was talking about an off-frequency on 1550 and guess I expected everyone to drop what they're doing and race to a radio near them and see about this station Taylor is yapping about. The offending station appeared to sign off at 2000 EDT (That's 8:00 p.m., for all you Air Force vets [or 0000 UT for real DXers]), so it's west of here. (Like maybe it's out in the Atlantic, Charles, you idiot). I don't know what sign-off & change of mode times are for Tennessee, Kentucky, or (western) Virginia. Come on, somebody help me out before I pee in my bed. 73 de Charlie (Charles A Taylor, WD9INP/4 Greenville, North Carolina, ibid.) Back in mid-August, I was hearing a faint-to-strong het on 1550 during my daily commute (0800-0900 & 1830-1930 EDT), from southwestern PA to northern WV. Without measuring, I guessed ~300 Hz, a lot more than your 112 Hz beat. The het was absent at lunchtime & occasionally audible at night. Never had a chance to direction-find it at home. I assumed it was a badly detuned TIS somewhere, altho all 1550 TISs are 200+ miles from me. The het disappeared last week. This may have no relation to what you are hearing, but thought I'd toss in another possible data point! (Fred Schroyer, Freelance Science Writer / Editorial Consultant, Waynesburg, PA 15370 (40 air miles S of Pittsburgh - 20 air miles N of Morgantown, WV), ibid.) Fred, Definitely not the same, but I find it a real trip to ID or assume an off-frequency station, and get them back on frequency (Charlie, ibid.) 1550 to your W: Why not Mexico? OK, to your WSW but why not? Tijuana has big-snot 10/1 1550. Hasn't Mexico on rare occasion been known to deviate ever so slightly from the rules? Stupidly didn't note it but for several years during winter, off freq unID in 1500 to 1550 range here nights, LOBS > WWN. Wish I could be more specific but after while off freqs, what with don Fido's stations, become ordinary. Will look around, see what's what. =Z.= (Dr. Paul Vincent Zecchino, Manasloppypaperwork Key, FL BT "Thank you for telling me of Man's lofty ideals. Now let me show you the basement." - S. Freud, M.D., ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED. Dear Glenn, This is the first time I am reporting something which I hope is useful to you. After a decade or so I picked up my SWL hobby again with main interest the tropical bands. Here my mystery station log: 2355 kHz, 1848, Aug 28, French speaking male, pieces of recorded other males, looks like a newsprogram. Can not find any reference of stations broadcasting on this frequency in French (nor any other language). Asian music. Vietnamese? Slainte, (Jeroen Kloppenburg from Deventer, the Netherlands. A Phillips D2999 PLL and Sony AN-1. http://www.PeatFreak.com/ DX LISTENING DIGEST) Very strange; most likely a mixing product such as two higher SW frequencies from one site 2355 kHz apart, one minus the other, or possibly an addition or leapfrog mix from two MW frequencies. Or could be receiver-produced image. Please monitor further and look for parallels (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ From an occasional listener who appreciates what you do for radio frequency radiation (Herschell Andrews, VA, with a PayPal donation) PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ FUTURE OF RADIO ABOUT TO CLOSE A reminder that Harry Helms is planning to take down his Future of Radio blog http://futureofradio.typepad.com/ at the end of August, so you have only a few more days to look back thru the archive (aside from Google caches, wayback, but why rely on those?). It would also be a good time to post your best wishes to him as a comment to his final entry (Glenn Hauser, Aug 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) NEW ADDITIONS TO INTERVALSIGNALS.NET see ALBANIA GRAPHIC GAFFES [non] ++++++++++++++ GEOGRAPHY LESSON --- THE SOUTH PACIFIC'S LEEWARD ISLANDS Mais oui, the Leeward Islands are ALSO in the Pacific! The Society Islands, of which Tahiti is the best known, are divided into two groups: The Leeward Islands [Isles du Vent] and the Windward Islands [Isles sous le Vent]. The Leewards are Raiatea, Tahaa, Huahine, Bora Bora and Maupiti. The Windwards include Tahiti and Moorea. On visits to Papeete, I've heard the expressions [in French] frequently, and it is the way the two groups are distinguished by locals, as well as by visiting yachties. Although the groups of the same name in the West Indies are clearly more familiar to North Americans, the Leeward and Windward Islands in French Polynesia are also reasonably familiar to those of us in the South Pacific. Salut (David Ricquish, Wellington, NZ, DX LISTENING DIGEST) O, yeah! If only this had been captioned with the French name. Here`s one page I googled about them: http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/pf-li.html And here`s a nautical chart of some of them: http://www.raiatea.com/about/map2.html (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) LANGUAGE LESSONS ++++++++++++++++ LOSS ANGELEASE Just listening to BBC Prom 55 interview frequently mentioning Los Angeles, regarding Disney Hall. How in the world did the Brits get started pronouncing this city as ending in ``eeeeze``?? And why doesn`t somebody smack them down every time they do it? I cannot imagine any contemporary Anglo-American or Latino-American pronouncing the last syllable that way, whatever other variations there may be. Or could this deliberate mispronunciation have occurred in some old western movie by an uneducated character --- why do I keep thinking of Gabby Hayes? And it was embraced by the Queen`s English? I suppose our only response is to retaliate, ignorantly pronouncing Birmingham UK as if it were the same as the one in AL. But I`m fairly sure there is no L.A. in the UK. I have not researched this point; perhaps David Ricquish will prove me wrong (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ MAKER OF 'UNAUTHORIZED TRANSMITTERS' FINED $14K BY FCC Aug. 29, 2006 By Jeffrey Yorke Gibson Tech Ed, Inc. today (Aug. 29) was slipped by the FCC with a $14,000 fine for marketing two ``unauthorized FM broadcast transmitters.`` The commission`s Enforcement Bureau charges Gibson, based in Orem, Utah, with willful and repeated violation of selling it` R-FM25B-WT and R-FM100B-WT transmitters. The FCC says Gibson marketed the transmitters through its Hobbytron.com site as fully assembled transmitters and that neither of the models have been approved by the FCC for broadcast use. The FCC first cited the company for the unapproved products on June 30, 2004, and has been involved with a series of correspondence with Gibson since. The company has claimed that it cannot afford to pay the fine but the FCC has rejected that argument and ordered that pay up within 30 days (radioandrecords.com via Brock Whaley, GA, DXLD) RE: SYNCHING-UP -- WOULD ATTEMPTING TO REVIVE THIS 70+ YEAR-OLD TECHNOLOGY MAKE ANY SENSE? If you remember from the Broadcast list, Willie at WFIF-1500 in CT went through his efforts at minimizing the interference from WTWP. He tried a number of frequency settings on the WFIF transmitter to see what was most comfortable. When things were essentially synched, he said it caused dead spots. Anything over 10Hz was unpleasant. He finally settled on a 5Hz offset which seemed the best in a bad situation. Having the carriers exactly synchronized would lead to rolling dead spots, depending on propagation. When dealing with predominantly groundwave as in the WLLH scenario, having the carriers locked is necessary. The dead spots are hopefully in a less-populated area, and don't move. The HD Radio stations I believe are locked to GPS, so are not going to be offset by any measureable amount. I can't say as I know of two IBOC stations on the same channel that are close enough to affect each other, so that will remain unknown (Craig Healy, Providence, RI, IRCA via DXLD) Something similar was tried with *TV* in the late 1940s. WRC-TV in Washington and WNBT in New York were both on channel 4, and co-channel interference in Jersey suburbs further from NYC was pretty serious. (there's also a story that President Truman once rang up the FCC to demand they fix the CCI, after he was unable to enjoy a program on WRC-TV. I suspect this is an urban legend.) They figured synchronization of the WRC and WNBT carriers would fix the problem. So they installed equipment at the base of a telephone microwave tower near Camden. One antenna was aimed at NYC, the other at Washington. The heterodyne between the WRC and WNBT signals was then fed to New York by phone line & used to control the frequency of the WNBT transmitter - the goal of course being to zero-beat the two transmitters. It reportedly worked. And would have worked well for AM as well. As it turns out, for TV it's just as effective to have an intentional heterodyne at about an even multiple of half the sweep rate - for that reason, many TV stations intentionally operate 10 kHz off-frequency (indeed, are required by the FCC to do so). Do it that way, and you don't need the roomful of gear midway between stations - you just maintain the 10 kHz offset with the normal accuracy available from a crystal. That was an especially welcome discovery in this case, as it seemed likely WBZ-TV, WRGB-TV (associated with WGY-810), and WGAL-TV (Lancaster, Pa., I think their AM was on 1490?), all then also on channel 4, would have to be added to the scheme. I can see the poor WNBT transmitter being dragged in five different directions at once. As far back as 1980 (maybe further) some TV stations did maintain precise frequency control to reduce midpoint heterodyne interference even further. A laboratory-quality frequency reference was used to control a phased-lock-loop synthesizer to keep the station on frequency; a strip-chart recorder would compare the reference against WWVB to verify proper function (it was interesting to leave the strip chart running as the sun went down, and watch the changes of the ionosphere affect the WWVB propagation delays. Official runs for the transmitter log were always run at midday when WWVB would stay put). I don't think it would accomplish much today. Even the worst- maintained U.S. stations are almost without exception within 20 Hz of the right frequency; getting any closer than that really won't be noticed by the listener. -- (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66, http://www.w9wi.com Aug 26, NRC-AM via DXLD) I disagree that listeners won`t notice. The reason for lots of fading on signals on just about any domestic MW frequency at night is not propagational, but the fact that each station is on a slightly different frequency. If a greater effort were made to maintain much tighter tolerances, this would be much less of a problem. This became obvious to me when I was overseas and was able to hear some stations on more or less unique frequencies. You can still observe how relatively little (rapid) fading there is on the few splits left such as 535, 555, 595 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Imagine an AM band without carrier beats. Pablum. I find romance in the gurgle of a station off about ten Hertz. I remember the "mystery" of heterodynes on shortwave. I understand a GPS time base is $75. But why? No use for anything. Who cares? If there is interference, it is interference. And I would miss the fun of trying to locate and get an off-frequency station back on. 73 de Charlie (Charles A Taylor, WD9INP/4 Greenville, North Carolina, IRCA via DXLD) See UNIDENTIFIED, 1550 ``... which mandated the use of approximately half of the US Class I channels by two (and occasionally three) powerful stations per channel. These stations, designated Class IB ...`` Three, but ONLY in the case of the first two being U.S. Class Is, and the third being a Canadian or a Mexican Class I. (Here, I omit as an anomaly The Bahamas Class I). The Canadians with one exception elected to use full power (50 kW) and DAs; the Mexicans elected to use reduced power (10 kW) and NDs. If one includes the territories which would later be added to the 48 U.S. states, post-NARBA, there is room for five co-channel stations of the Class I type within the 50 U.S. states and Puerto Rico, Canada and Mexico, the main signatories to NARBA. However, "Rio" shot that idea down by allocating many stations of the Class I type to many North and South American countries outside of the U.S., Canada and Mexico, including many stations of the Class I type on former Regional channels. Indeed, Cuba, alone, went from ZERO stations of the Class I type to nearly TWENTY station of the Class I type, with the signing of "Rio". About one-half of these are on former Regional channels in the 500, 600, 700 and 900 kHz portions of the band; about one-half are on former U.S., Canadian and Mexican Class I-A channels (PeterH5322, ibid.) Dan Strassberg wrote ``Here in the Boston area, I can think of two examples, WBIX 1060, whose only significant co-channel interference comes from KYW and WAMG 890, whose only significant co-channel interference comes from WLS. WBNW 1120 has in the past received more interference from WPRX Bristol CT than from KMOX.`` Here 15 miles northwest of Boston (3 miles due north of WRKO), WAMG- 890 often has an unacceptable signal at night as much due to a substantial R. Progreso (Cuba) signal co-channel and a strong het from Algeria - 890.98. WLS often doesn't become the worst interference source until late evening and after midnight. WPRX-CT is the main QRM to 12-mile distant WBNW-1120. KMOX is a minor player, almost tough DX these days. The Washington, DC area station is also part of the 1120 stew. WBIX-1060 gets some interference from KYW it's true, but KYW never had a barn-burner signal here for 50 kW at 300 miles. 1210 from Philly is much stronger. Near the shore, numerous Latin Americans impinge on 1060: Cuba, Dominican Republic, and Mexico are just some of those that have been heard around here (at sites like Rowley and Rockport) with not particularly great nulling effort needed against WBIX. Re the question of synchronizing carrier frequencies, I thinks it's mandatory when the SAME program is being presented (as on UK's 1215 Virgin Radio synchro's or the WLLH 1400 Lowell-Lawrence pair or old WBZ/WBZA - 1030). When the audios are different - whether or not the carriers are "lined up" - listeners are still going to be put off by the competing audios (Mark Connelly, WA1ION - Billerica, MA, USA, ibid.) Know practically nothing about this, but I'd also heard that the HD stations use GPS (the "pulse per second" or ?) to generate exactly "on channel" transmit frequencies, but don't know if that ends up being phase locked with another HD station on the same channel. Presumably not, which is why the suggestion of a separate satellite-based system? With the greatest density of domestic stations being in the northeast USA, that would be the place where such a scheme would be most welcome. My limited experience of listening there is that some of the serious interference is from Cubans and other Latins; getting them to buy into it might be difficult. Best wishes, (Nick Hall-Patch, Victoria, B.C. Canada, ibid.) Thanks for the response, Nick: Until I started getting replies to my question, I had no idea about the connection between HD Radio and GPS. I also had no thought of getting Cubans. Mexicans, or other Western Hemisphere nations to buy into the scheme. I thought of it simply as a way of minimizing the SAH between (primarily) US Class Bs on Class A channels (and not all of them) and the dominant co-channel US Class As (though I guess that if the scheme had any merit, it might also be usable by US Class Ds operating on Canadian Class A channels). Based on one of the responses I've received, although frequency locking would be possible, the bandwidth of the satellite signals would be inadequate for phase locking. If that's so, it would be impossible to position the dead spots (where the signals would cancel) and keep them from "walking" around the listening area. Also, since the location of the dead spots would depend on the (quite variable) height of the reflective layer of the ionosphere, it would be impractical to attempt to position the dead spots. I guess I can't call synching-up a non-starter, because it started 3/4 of a century ago, but it looks as if the satellite-based version is a non-starter. Still, I wouldn't know that if I hadn't asked. So thanks to all who responded (Dan Strassberg, AC 707, IRCA via DXLD) Carriers would only cancel when of similar amplitude - and the stations would not be listenable in those areas anyway because of the level of interference. Of course this doesn't apply to synchronized stations with the same audio. I don't understand the comment "bandwidth of satellite signals would be inadequate for phase locking". The concepts of phase and time are similar. Ten-degree phase error at one megahertz is 1/36-th of a microsecond. I'd think an atomic frequency standard steered by GPS would be that good ... and not as expensive as it sounds. Don't all UHF TV stations have them? But we are talking about something too expensive to retrofit the desperate Mon&Pop AM that can't even afford new tubes. I noted an AM in Chase City, VA, recently sold for $51K, about the price of mid- range Mercedes car. As for applicability of very accurate frequency control, I'd think the Class C channels would benefit as much as any. All of the stations suffer substantial cochannel QRM at night. bob c. (R. J. Carpenter, ibid.) DIGITAL BROADCASTING DRM: See NEW ZEALAND ++++++++++++++++++++ DTV PILOT CARRIER FREQUENCIES ARE OFFSET IN SOME CASES Several times this season I've noted Es Ch 3 DTV snow and sometimes found a fading carrier on 60.322 vs 60.310 MHz. I haven't been heavily scrutinizing the VUD (or the WTFDA Web Sites) lately so I don't know if anyone else has been noticing this or not. Any comments? (Pat Dyer, San Antonio TX, Sept WTFDA VHF-UHF Digest via DXLD) WBBM-DT in Chicago. I let this one fall through the cracks... Usually a DTV station has a ``pilot carrier`` 310 kHz above the bottom of the channel. However, if there's an analog station on the lower adjacent channel to the DTV, the DTV station's pilot carrier must instead be 5.082138 MHz above the visual carrier of the adjacent analog signal. I made the rash assumption this would put it very close to the 310 kHz figure. I assumed wrong. Depending on the offset of the analog station, the 5.082138 MHz figure puts the DTV pilot carrier at 322, 332, or 342 kHz from the bottom of the channel. Channels affected are marked in 73.622 of the FCC regulations (the initial DTV channel table) with a 'c'. For this to happen, the lower- adjacent analog must be within 88 km (55 miles) of the DTV. Virtually all of the marked assignments are on highband VHF or on UHF. I could only find two lowband VHF assignments marked. One is Chicago's WBBM-DT channel 3. Their analog is on channel 2, minus offset – so WBBM-DT's pilot carrier is on 60.322 MHz instead of 60.310. (the other affected station is KYES-DT channel 6 in Anchorage, Alaska. The lower-adjacent analog is KYES's own on channel 5, zero offset, so KYESDT's pilot is on 82.332 MHz.) In about 95% of cases, DTV stations affected by this rule are the DTV sides of the lower-adjacent analog stations. However, in a small number of cases, a DTV station is restricted by someone else's analog. The idea is to minimize the appearance of "moiré" interference from the DTV pilot on analog receivers tuned to the lower-adjacent analog station. It's pretty much the same reason the color subcarrier is on 3.579545... MHz instead of precisely 3.6 which might seem to make more sense. Precise offsets won't affect interference among DTV stations. So the need for this 'c' restriction should disappear when analog disappears. Will these 'c' stations be required to change frequency to a 310 kHz pilot when analog is gone? I don't know... A list of allotments marked 'c' appears below. Highlighted allotments are those that are adjacent to someone else's analog. . . (Doug Smith, TV News editor, ibid., followed by a sesquipage list of such stations, via DXLD) I do not want to be a "sourpuss" but I can see the day when there will be so much congestion on channels 14-51 from DTV snow that there will be no way to determine what band conditions are really like except by pure luck. 73, (Jeff Kadet, Macomb IL, Sept VHF-UHF Digest via DXLD) Re: WBBR testing IBOC? If they did then they sure ordered the equipment in a hurry! I was there (at the WBBR transmitter) two weeks ago. There was no IBOC equipment on the premises, no open space in the racks for it, and the engineer who gave us the tour said they had no plans to install it. Also, Ibiquity does not list WBBR as an authorized station. (and the Ibiquity list tends to list more IBOC stations than there actually are) The word I had about the WBBR outage was that it involved proof- of-performance testing, hence the test tones. I was going to suggest your IBOC station on 1130 was KWKH, but Ibiquity doesn't list them either. Maybe WBBR transmitted a few minutes of white or pink noise for response testing? Did the noise reach to 1110 and 1150? (if it was IBOC, it would have; if it was white noise, it wouldn't) (Doug Smith, W9WI Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66 http://www.w9wi.com amfmtvdx at qth.net via DXLD) I think it is safe to assume 90% of stations will be going IBOC in the next 5 years so WBBR would just be a very small part of the picture. Actually, if you really want a nightmare, look at the lower part of the NYC AM dial with WFAN/WOR/WABC now running IBOC. Between 650 to and including 790, you only hear these 3 stations plus IBOC crap. WABC has really boosted their IBOC signal of late; must have gotten tips from WOR. Wait "til IBOC on AM goes full time!!! One final comment. For whatever reason, the 640 from So. Jersey makes it in. Don't know why as WFAN should kill it --- maybe the IBOC is attenuated on the low side by WFAN a bit???? (Joe Fela in Central N.J., 20-30 miles away from these transmitters. And WBBR is NOT running IBOC this morning --- maybe in a few days? ibid.) During the week 99.5 WGAR fired up their IBAC and it's been mostly on since, 1100 WTAM had it on for at least a few hours one evening, then it was off after sunset and hasn't been noted since, so I guess WTAM is "HD ready", gag!, but is leaving it off for now. WGAR and WTAM both owned by Cash Channel (Michael Procop, Bedford OH, ibid.) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ In higher times of the Solar Cycle, now would be the time to start looking forward to trans-equatorial propagation, and even F2. Europe, among other exotic locales, one would expect, would be almost commonplace by mid-Autumn, especially for those along the Atlantic. But, no one is holding their breath now. We may well be at the absolute bottom of the Cycle as I type. There have been fairly long periods of sunspots numbers at 0. The Solar Flux Index (SFI) has gone as low as 70, and rebounded. Does this mean we have bottomed out? No one knows. But, there is an interesting piece of information floating around. On July 31st, a very small sunspot appeared that may have been – just maybe – the first sunspot of the new Cycle, which will be called Cycle 24. This fleeting spot which lasted such a short time that it never received an official numerical designation, was of opposite magnetic polarity to the Cycle 23 spots, implying the possibility that this spot was something new. Debate continues whether this nameless spot actually marked the solar changeover from Cycle 23 to Cycle 24. The spot lasted only hours, not the expected days or even longer. It also appeared in an area on the Sun outside of where solar experts might have expected the first spot of the Cycle to emerge. So, some claim, the spot was just an oddity, a solar burp that lacks real meaning. In any event, even if this was the first spot of Cycle 24, the change will be slow in coming with Cycle 23 and 24 spots co- existing for a time. Conditions on higher HF bands, like 10 and 15 meters, and The Magic Band of 50 MHz will not improve for F2 for a couple of years at least (6 Meter/2 Meter Amateur DX, Peter Baskind, N4LI, Germantown, TN 38138, Sept VHF-UHF Digest via DXLD) The geomagnetic field was at quiet to severe storm levels at high latitudes while quiet to minor storm levels were observed at middle latitudes. Solar wind speed ranged from a low of near 330 km/s late on 26 August to a high of 630 km/s late on 27 August. The period began with solar wind speed slowly increasing from about 420 km/s, while the IMF Bz varied between +/- 8 nT. These conditions persisted through midday on the 22nd. During this period, the geomagnetic field was at minor to severe storm levels at high latitudes with active to minor storm levels at middle latitudes. This activity was due to a recurrent coronal hole high speed wind stream. From late on 22 August until approximately midday on 27 August, wind speed decayed and the IMF Bz did not vary much beyond +/- 3 nT. As a result, the geomagnetic field was mostly quiet with some isolated unsettled periods. Around midday on 27 August, wind speed began to increase to a maximum of 630 km/s while the IMF Bz began fluctuating between +/- 20 nT. This activity was due to another coronal hole high speed stream moving into geoeffective position. Minor to major storm periods were observed at high latitudes while unsettled to active conditions were seen at middle latitudes during this time. FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 30 AUGUST - 25 SEPTEMBER Solar activity is expected to be at very low to low levels. No greater than 10 MeV proton events are expected. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to be at high levels on 04 – 13 September and again on 17 – 25 September. The geomagnetic field is expected to be mostly quiet to unsettled for the majority of the forecast period. Recurrent coronal hole high speed wind streams are expected to rotate into geoeffective positions on 03 – 04 September and again on 23 – 24 September. Unsettled to minor storm periods are possible on 03 – 04 September while unsettled to active periods are possible on 23 – 24 September. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2006 Aug 29 1953 UTC # Prepared by the US Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, Space Environment Center # Product description and SEC contact on the Web # http://www.sec.noaa.gov/wwire.html # # 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table # Issued 2006 Aug 29 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2006 Aug 30 75 15 3 2006 Aug 31 75 5 2 2006 Sep 01 75 5 2 2006 Sep 02 75 10 3 2006 Sep 03 75 20 4 2006 Sep 04 75 12 3 2006 Sep 05 80 10 3 2006 Sep 06 85 8 3 2006 Sep 07 85 8 3 2006 Sep 08 85 5 2 2006 Sep 09 85 5 2 2006 Sep 10 85 5 2 2006 Sep 11 85 5 2 2006 Sep 12 85 5 2 2006 Sep 13 85 5 2 2006 Sep 14 85 8 3 2006 Sep 15 85 5 2 2006 Sep 16 85 10 3 2006 Sep 17 80 10 3 2006 Sep 18 75 10 3 2006 Sep 19 75 8 3 2006 Sep 20 75 8 3 2006 Sep 21 75 8 3 2006 Sep 22 75 5 2 2006 Sep 23 75 10 3 2006 Sep 24 75 12 3 2006 Sep 25 75 10 3 (http://www.sec.noaa.gov/radio via DXLD) ###