DX LISTENING DIGEST 6-139, September 17, 2006 Incorporating REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING edited by Glenn Hauser, http://www.worldofradio.com Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only if full credit be maintained at all stages and we be provided exchange copies. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without permission. Materials taken from Arctic or originating from Olle Alm and not having a commercial copyright are exempt from all restrictions of noncommercial, noncopyrighted reusage except for full credits For restrixions and searchable 2006 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn NEXT SHORTWAVE AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1328: Mon 0300 WBCQ 9330-CLSB Mon 0415 WBCQ 7415 [time varies] Wed 0930 WWCR1 9985 Latest edition of this schedule version, with hotlinks to station sites and audio, is at: 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 ** ALASKA. 850, Nome, KICY, a fantastic signal of Russian Christian & Folk type tunes at 0715 9/10. This one has been in several nights in a row at S9. Amazing signal. Much stronger than KNOM. I wonder if they got the boost to 50 KW ND at night! It sure sounds like it (Pat Martin, Seaside OR, IRCA Soft DX Monitor Sept 16 via DXLD) Apparently not yet per his subsequent phonecall previously reported here; but lower power non-direxional may favor you over higher power direxional toward Sibir when it resume (gh) DXing between 0000-0100 PDT [0700-0800 UT] 9/16 and found KENI 650 Anchorage in well with Coast to Coast program + call ID 0100. Good signal, well over my hazard (the buzz). Tried for KICY-850 and maybe I had it. Someone bothering KOA throughout the hour but would fade at ID time (0100). Woman talking & some music. Still sounded more Spanish than Russian. This morning 0630-0715 PDT [1330-1415 UT] 9/16 KENI-650 in very nicely but no other Alaskans. However, I did have audio on 657 with woman singing operatic type songs with heavy downbeat by the percussionist. Was not Chinese Opera. This was new to me this year. Any ideas? [Korea North] (Don Kaskey, San Francisco, CA, Sept 16, IRCA via DXLD) 550, KTZN, Anchorage, "The Zone". Good over/under KOAC on peaks with slogans as "The Zone" ads for auto parts, promos for sports on "The Zone" at 0335 EDT 9/16. 560, KVOK, Kodiak, fair on top and mixing with KSFO with C&W music, man said "Tune in tomorrow for ??? on 560, KVOK" At 0347 EDT 9/16 620, KGTL, Homer, good to fair mixing and on top of KPOJ with Adult Standards, ID at 0259.50 EDT 9/16 "KGTL Homer" Into net news. 640, KYUK, Bethel, good and all alone on frequency for a time, no KFI with rock music and a native announcer gave PSA for native Alaskans in SW Alaska, followed by "You are tuned to KYUK in Bethel Alaska" at 0257 EDT 9/16. 700, KBYR, Anchorage, good and dominant with talk. At 0305 EDT 9/16 mentioning "KBYR". 850, KICY, Nome, good with woman in Russian at 0325 EDT 9/16 1110, KAGV, Big Lake, good and dominant over KBND with end of religious program and ID at 0230 "This is Alaska's Gospel Voice, KAGV" 9/16 (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, Drake R8, WNW EWE Antenna, NRC-AM via DXLD) EDT = UT -4 ** ANTARCTICA. ¿Prueba de R Nacional Arcángel San Gabriel? Saludos al grupo, Miercoles 13/9, entre las 18 y 1930 UT, pude escuchar en 15476 kHz una emisión sin ID alguna, con hilo musical continúo compuesto por rock de los años 50 y melódicos latinos. Gran presencia de ruido en la debil señal, que se desvaneció repentinamente 1930. Radio Nacional Arcangel San Grabriel solía entrar con gran claridad el año pasado, por lo cual si se tratara de esta emisora supongo que están en prueba o con un transmisor de emergencia (``Loco Azulado``, Sept 13, condig list via DXLD) Hace rato que se viene anunciando su posible reactivacion pero estuvo fuera del aire hasta hace poco. Tal vez esto sea el recomienzo de sus emisiones regulares. 73. Saludos (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, ibid.) Esperemos que así sea, que estén de regreso pronto las transmisiones de esta tan particular emisora, que fuera una de mis favoritas (no sé si existe otra que emita desde Antartida). Hoy jueves intenté sintonizarla 3 veces en identicas condiciones que ayer sin encontrar NINGUNA EMISION. Trataré de seguirla periódicamente. GRACIAS (Loco Azulado, Sept 14, ibid.) Tu comentario refuerza la idea que estarían en pruebas. Ojalá no me equivoque. Sois de Buenos Aires? 73 (Arnaldo Slaen, ibid.) ** ARGENTINA. Una nueva religiosa cristiana evangélica con emisiones de prueba ha sido reportada en la frecuencia de 1640 KHz, identificándose como HOSANNA AM 1640, desde la localidad de Isidro Casanova, provincia de Buenos Aires, y anunciando el Teléfono (011) 4467-2468. No confundir con otra emisora de la misma característica denominada HOSANNA AM 1660 (1660 KHz) la cual emite desde hace algún tiempo desde la ciudad de Ezeiza, y que es operada por el Centro Cristiano Internacional Nueva Jerusalem. Es probable que las dos emisoras sean operadas por la misma congregación evangélica, dado que se denominan exactamente igual, y se hallan separadas por apenas 20 KHz de distancia una de otra; como también es probable que no tengan nada que ver entre sí, y solo de trate de una cierta "coincidencia" de que ambas transmitan con el mismo nombre. Finalmente vale destacar que la nueva emisora ocupa el mismo canal que venía siendo utilizado por Radio Bolivia de la Capital Federal (AM 1640 KHz), la cual al presente es seriamente interferida por la primera. Desde el día de ayer sábado, es posible reportar en los 1650 KHz de la X-Band argentina a la emisora AM REVIVIR que opera desde la localidad de Isidro Casanova, Provincia de Buenos Aires, una emisora cristiana evangélica que comenzó sus emisiones operando por los 1260 KHz, hasta que su frecuencia fue ocupada por otra emisora religiosa de la Capital Federal (Radio Oliva, AM 1260 KHz).- (Marcelo A. Cornachioni, Lomas de Zamora, Argentina, Sept 17, condig list via DXLD) So we`ve got two new pirates in the same place 10 kHz apart (gh) ** ASCENSION [and non]. 13m was open at least from here, Sept 16 at 1344 with BBC chimes on 21630, 1345 opening Hausa with rustic music, mentioning London, Hausa, Niger and Nigeria. BBCWS English on 21470 was also coming in well during World of Music, synchronized with but at 1351 much stronger than 15485 Skelton. Did not look for Hausa parallels, but EiBi lists 17810. That must be gone, or collided; see SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. 2200 UT, 16545 kHz, VMC, Australian weather repeats every 30 minutes, 45555. 73's from (Larry Fields, n6hpx/kh2, Guam Island, Sept 15, swl at qth.net via DXLD) see also WORLD OF HOROLOGY ** BOLIVIA. Bolivia: 4 in 1 is a Spanish language news site where you can look through the news stories of the day as covered by the major Bolivian newspapers. Additionally, and on an experimental basis, the site now offers news coverage on demand from three radio stations and one TV channel: Radio Fides, Radio Panamericana, Radio Centro (Cochabamba) and ATB Noticias. http://www.noticiasbolivianas.com/ (Henrik Klemetz, Luleå, Sweden, Sept 16, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. RNA, 11780.0, not 11783, reception not at all unusual here, but Sept 17 at 0505 was not only inbooming but virtually alone on the 25mb; the only other signal of any significance, and much weaker, was Japan via Guiana French on 11895 in Spanish. No Habana 11760; only a few weak carriers elsewhere on band, so quite a pipeline from Brasília. Would you believe this super 250 kW signal is not even in HFCC? Surprised more stations don`t show up on 11780 assuming its non- existence. Perhaps it`s also overlooked at RNA HQ, since at 0514 there was a full ID only for MW 980 as ZYH707, 300 kW, no mention of 11780 which is ZYE365. BTW, Y in Portuguese is ipsilon. Strange that Brasil never adopted 4-letter broadcast callsigns. Alfanumerix like these should have little value in ``branding`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Solar-terrestrial indices for 16 September follow. Solar flux 79 and mid-latitude A-index 2. The mid-latitude K-index at 0600 UTC on 17 September was 1 (7 nT). No space weather storms were observed for the past 24 hours (SEC via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. Noticias de ondas curtas - O Transmissor de 31 metros, 9505 da Rádio Record de São Paulo está fora do ar há dez dias. Problemas técnicos. Promessa de volta, por toda a próxima semana. - Depois de cinco dias fora do ar, retornou as 17hs e 15 mn [UT = 2015], deste dia 16, os 9695 khz da Rádio Rio Mar de Manáus. Também problemas técnicos. Tanto 31 m como 49m, 6160, retransmitem a programação dos 1290 da Rio Mar de 7 às 18 hs. Dias de futebol, vão até o final da jornada. A OM vai até zero hora, horarios Brasilia. - O transmissor de 62 metros, 5015 khz, da Pioneira de Terezina, que vinha funcionando précariamente, estorou outra vâlvula e saiu de vez de novo. Sem previsão de volta. - Quem também tem horário limitado, as duas ondas curtas da Globo SP. 6120 e 9585 só retransmitem junto com os 1100 de 9 às 17 hs, hora Brasília. Nem que tenha futebol, eles saem mesmo. O horario é determinado pela Anatel. - As ondas curtas de 31m 9665 khz; e 25m 11750 khz, foram vendidas para os Gideões, igreja evangélica. Elas são da Rádio Marumby de Florianopolis SC e pertenciam ao religioso Matéus Yansen, que agora vai ficar só com as emissoras de Curitiba-PR 6080, 9515 e 11725 khz pertencentes a Rádio Novas de Paz. Ainda uma OM e uma FM (Isaac Rosa, Crateús - Ceará, Sept 16, radioescutas via DXLD) So what is the 9665 and 11750 station called now? (gh, DXLD) Earlier: ** BRAZIL. R. Marumby, 11749.8 kHz: captada em 09 SET, 2108-2120, programa "Voz Missionária"; 23441, QRM da China (?). Alguém sabe se a potência da Marumby nos 25 m é mesmo 10 kW? Quase duvido, ou então o sistema irradiante (omnidireccional?) tem falhas. Raras vezes se capta esta emissora nessa banda. 73 (Carlos Gonçalves, Lisboa / costa SW, Portugal, radioescutas via DXLD) OI, CARLOS! A potência do tranamissor de 25 metros da Marumby de Florianopólis - Santa Catarina, é de apenas 1 kW em 11750 kHz e, o Pastor Vilmar Silva (48) 3222.8291, telefone da emissora, falou que, apesar de ser apenas 1 kW, estorou uma vâlvula e está com o ganho de aproximadamente meio kilo até a normalisação. O Pastor falou tambem que a emissora que opera tambem em 9665 kHz, 10 kW, foi vendida para o grupo Gideões. O ex-próprietario, Matéus Yanser, vai ficar agora só com as emissoras de Curitiba que operam em: 6080, 9515 e 11725, esta última fora do ar há mais de um ano. Também em 1210 e uma FM. E-mail do Pastor Vilmar. pastorvilmarsilva@... [truncated]. Deve ser por isso que saíu a seguinte nota no site http://www.romais.jor.br do Célio Romais. ``BRASIL - A Anatel autorizou a mudança de cidade na outorga dada para a Rádio Marumby. A emissora deixa de funcionar em Florianópolis (SC) e passa a ter um endereço em Balneário Camboriú (SC). A mudança vale para as duas freqüências da emissora: 9665 e 11750 kHz. Essa notícia foi retirada do site da Anatel pelo Domingos Alfredo Loss, de Colatina (ES).`` (Isaac Rosa, Crateús - Ceará, radioescutas via DXLD) R. Marumby nos 11750v kHz a "meio gás" --- Caro Isaac Rosa: Obrigado pelo seu escrito directo e pelas infos nele contidas. Realmente, não admira que o sinal deles seja tão mau, se têm só 1 kW ou menos, pela avaria. Ainda não tentei, mas, aqui por Lisboa, ser-me-á impossível, ou quase, captar a R. Marumby da forma como têm o transmissor - 0.5 kW -, embora não apenas pela potência tão reduzida. É o ruído que afecta as captações em zona citadina, se não contarmos com eventual QRM. Pròximamente, tentarei de novo a estação nessa faixa, mas na costa SW, onde utilizo uma Beverage de 300 m dirijida à América do Sul e o ruído eléctrico é bem menor. 73 (Carlos Gonçalves, Lisboa / costa SW, radioescutas via DXLD) ** CANADA. 1610 stations: The Toronto station is now CHHA. They're a fair bit off frequency themselves - currently on about 1610.048, which could be helpful in ID'ing them. Spanish programming, lots of music, and "Radio Voces Latinas" slogans. They just did a callsign ID at 2330 EDT [0330 UT]. CJWI Montreal has more talk, French (Haitian) programming, and are very close to the nominal channel, just a tad below 1610 (Barry McLarnon, VE3JF, Ottawa, ON, Sept 14, IRCA via DXLD) ** CANADA [and non]. CKPR-580 Thunder Bay ON has applied to move to FM (91.5 MHz, 100 kW, 308.7 metres): http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Hearings/2006/n2006-10.htm#18 18. Thunder Bay, Ontario Application No. 2006-0882-0 Application by C.J.S.D. Inc. to convert radio station CKPR Thunder Bay from the AM band to the FM band. The new station would operate on frequency 91.5 MHz (channel 218C) with an effective radiated power of 100,000 watts (non-directional antenna/ antenna height of 308.7 metres). The applicant is requesting permission to simulcast the programming of the new FM station on CKPR for a period of 3 months from the date of implementation of the new station. The applicant is also requesting, pursuant to Section 9(1)(e) and 24(1) of the Broadcasting Act, the revocation of the licence of CKPR, effective at the end of the simulcast period (via Deane McIntyre, AB, Sept 14, DXLD) That is a shame. That 580 signal has a monster footprint up there, and is really important in a sparsely populated area like that part of Canada and Michigan's UP. Most of the UP of Michigan is not well served by radio, you can only get service when a bit of skywave carries in the Chicago clear channels (Bruce Carter, IRCA via DXLD) You are right, Bruce. CKPR is Thunder Bay's last AM station. CBQ and CJLB went to FM long ago. Speaking of which, does anyone know the URL for the website that had the list of all the Canadian stations that have left AM? I could use that. I lost it somewhere along the line. Thanks (Paul LaFreniere, Grand Marais, MN, ibid.) ** CHINA. FireDrake presumed against Sound of Hope, still sticking to 13970, much stronger here than 14600, Sept 16 at 1356 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COSTA RICA [non]. 19th anniversary and still here after all these years! Happy Birthday, RFPI! Peace! (Joe Bernard, OR, Sept 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) http://www.rfpi.org ** CUBA [and non]. How many people, not only radio buffs, strain thru bad interference to hear an engaging talk host, newsbreaking interview or cherished elusive song? Management would evince surprise then return to their poopsheets. Concur, management stuck on 90s gimmicks when people want what they always want - compelling programming. Isn't music a magnificent key to the human psyche? HD does nothing for it. One hazy afternoon this spring past, Radio Musical 590, Habana, aired Pagodes, et la Lune Descend, and other Debussy works. 590 busts in with beautiful analog signal. That particular afternoon no exception. In twinkling of an eye it became 1974. Memories of hurtling down runways and backroads alike flooded back. Had taped 3 LP set of Walter Gieseking playing Debussy, found at college library. His music framed many an adventure. Gieseking's style defies description. Notes materialize devoid of percussive hammerings, say those who know him. Analog R. Musical is miles distant, uses forty year old Czech transmitters yet nonetheless rendered not merely Debussy but Gieseking clearly discernible. Poked around net, learned aficionados - not audiophools - created demand sufficient that CD's of Gieseking's 78 and LPs were released devoid of remixing - scratches and all included. Those knowledgeable state their minds' ear ably ignores noise and better appreciates underlying genius of the artists. What would HD do for this? Give Suite Bergamesque all the warmth of Yankee Doodle Dandy played on the Kazoo? As for losing kid audience, this is old myopia. Kids aren't kids for long, contrary to bleatings of the bubbas and their mind-blind 'soccer moms'. We were kids as well. Here we are listening to compelling programs. Where do they get these BigKorpseorate execs? What did they learn in school? z (Paul Vincent Zecchino, manadigitalis key, fl, irca via dxld) ** CZECH REPUBLIC. Heard some English on 17540, Sat Sept 16 at 1322, a report on kindergartens from R. Korea International --- I thought. More than once, it sounded like they were saying Korea, but this had to be R. Prague in one of its scheduled English broadcasts, with Insight Central Europe on Saturday --- yes, this week`s edition concludes with an item from R. Slovenia International (which does not broadcast on SW itself) on that subject. See http://incentraleurope.radio.cz/ice/issue/83267 Closing program at 1327, mentioning the ICE participants including Prague and Slovakia; some jazz, 1329 Prague IS and multi-lingual IDs. This is the transmission which in B-seasons only is an hour later and on 21745 instead, and to NAm, expected back there in B-06 despite solar min (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** DIEGO GARCIA. New 12759, 1155-1340 10-09, AFRTS feeder, Diego Garcia (USB), English on new frequency ex 12579! interview, jingle, NPR News about New York and Chicago, Hurricane at Bermuda, 25333. 4319, 1700-1810 10+12-09, AFRTS feeder, Diego Garcia (USB), English news, interview, 33443 (Anker Petersen, Skovlunde, Denmark on my AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire in 9 metres altitude, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) N.B.: First report of 12759 was in DXLD 6-136, also in 6-137, 6-138 ** ETHIOPIA. New 6110, *0300-0315 Friday 15-09, R Fana, Addis Ababa Amharic announcement, talk, African songs, co-channel QRM, 43433. The // 7210 was covered by BBC in Swahili (Anker Petersen, Skovlunde, Denmark on my AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire in 9 metres altitude, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** EUROPE. Re 6-138: I recently read that Laser Hot Hits was closing down due to intervention by the local radio authority. They had - according to what I read - transferred their main signal off of 6220 to 6275, but still maintained a presence on 6220, the reason being interference from Mystery Radio. I suggest it is the latter that Kai heard as it does play music - of a kind - non stop when on air. I've just checked the former known channels of Laser but none are audible currently so it could have gone off (Noel R. Green (NW England), Sept 16, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re EUROPE, Rather Mystery Radio in 6220. Strong signal here; LHH never made signal strength like that here in Finland. 73, (Jari Savolainen, ibid.) So Mystery Radio is the Italian station, right? Is this operation in continuity with a European Christian Radio, listed under Italy in 1993, said to be broadcasting daily 1630-1815 in East European languages and Sundays 0600-0730 in English, Italian and German? (Kai Ludwig, Germany, ibid.) No, is not related (Roberto Scaglione, Sicily, ibid.) ** FRANCE [and non]. RFI ID in French at 0539 Sept 17 on 7135, and a quick echo, suitable for short/long path from a great distance, unlikely in the middle of the night here, or two unsynchronized transmitters. EiBi shows two targets, both from France, but ending at 0500, but N & CAf are roughly in the same direxion: 7135 0300-0500 F Radio France Int. F NAf 7135 0300-0500 F Radio France Int. F CAf The 05-06 hour was added Sept 3, but supposedly only from Issoudun at 185 degrees, which would be W, not CAf. Propagation from WEu was working as RN in Dutch from Flevo was there on 7125; shortly after sunrise in WEu (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GABON [and non]. Allsorts on 17630 --- Today, Sunday the 17/09, Afro-pops have been booming in non-stop on 17630 from at least 1430 until sudden off at c1529. Something could be heard underneath but not identified. However, when the Afro-pops cut carrier I heard a burst of Firedrake (or are we calling it Firedragon now?) - what's that for? Ah, the BBC has Uzbek at 1600 on 17630 so the jammer was tuning up in readiness I guess. When that went off I could hear English in progress and this must be CRI via Mali as per HFCC..... 17630 0700 1500 37,46 GAB 250 307 0 151 1234567 260306 291006 D Various GAB NEW TDF 17630 1400 1600 46-48 BKO 100 85 0 206 1234567 260306 291006 D MLI CRI RTC 17630 1600 1630 30S RMP 500 80 -15 206 1234567 260306 291006 D G BBC MER I haven't heard this one previously and it's another ridiculous and unnecessary choice and clash. Africa #1 was not operating when the Afro-pops went off but after about a minute or so (I wasn't watching the clock closely) a carrier appeared at slightly less strength than the pops, and then Africa #1 programming came up. So does this confirm our assumption that Gabon is the source of the Afro-pops? I think so (Noel R. Green (NW England), Sept 17, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. [HISTORY:] Deutscher Freiheitssender 904: The referenced university paper about this station is available at http://www.freiheitssender.radiohistory.de And Achim Becker was later the head of GDR radio, from 1981 until he had to resign for obvious reasons in autumn 1989 (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Sept 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, More on OPS Berlin, the East German programme for American troops. I've discovered that there is some information available about this service in the US archives http://arceb.archives.gov/arc/servlet/arc and that 45 CIA recordings of OPS programmes have survived. The notes for the recordings speculate about the identity of the speakers, who were believed to be US defectors. Some of the names, e.g. Bert Pierce, are familiar to me as I was a regular listener in the mid to late 1960s. The name mentioned most often is a certain Dick Larson, who I think may be identical with the Afro-American guy who broadcast under the name Professor Lobo and co-hosted most of the programmes. When broadcasting on mainstream Radio Berlin International he also used the name Martin Dies, which I think was an 'in joke' because Dies was the first head of the House Un-American Affairs Committee which investigated communists. My recollection of OPS is that it was a well-produced programme that seemed to understand its audience and that it was a clever and sophisticated half hour of propaganda, mixing short spoken items with music suitable for a late-night audience. By the way, it is wrong to call it a clandestine station. It was actually a programme rather than a station and it gave its postal address as OPS Berlin, c/o Radio Berlin International, Berlin W8. Of course some of its listeners might have been misled by the postcode because the W8 district was actually in the eastern half of Berlin (Roger Tidy, UK, Sept 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) It is said that OPS was shown in RBI program schedules as well. It can be also discussed how clandestine Vltava [Moldau] in fact was. 1430 was an official RBI frequency at this time, it just had been moved from Berlin to Wilsdruff for daytime coverage via groundwave. Seems to me they did not made attempts at all to hide the origin of these transmissions. I'm aware of only one thing they were really pretending: "Worried Czech journalists are reporting." A futile attempt, since all announcers revealed by their heavy, at times really ridiculous attempts that they were Germans. No worried Czech journalists involved here. The Polish broadcasts via the Zehlendorf longwave transmitter before and/or during the martial law in Poland belong into this category as well. They were prepared under the same secretiveness than OPS and Vltava, so were internally clandestine as well, so to speak, although on air presented simply as Stimme der DDR programmes. And here is an aerial view of the Nalepastraße radio compound: http://lindert-privat.de/Rundfunk_Nalepastra%DFe.jpg Block A is the old furniture factory building, Block B the recording / radioplay area with various big studios (Säle), the Block E extensions were inaugurated in the seventies. On-air studios are denoted as K (production studios, not marked in this picture, were labelled P instead). RBI had during the eighties K1, K2 and K13 if I recall correct. K3 and K4 belonged to Stimme der DDR, K5...8 were Berliner Rundfunk and DT64 (regular on-air studios were K6 for DT64 and K7 for Berliner Rundfunk), K9...12 were used by Radio DDR for its two programs. Last transmissions went out from Block A on Dec 31 1993 (DS Kultur, most likely from K3), from Block E in spring or early summer 1994 (ORB Radio Brandenburg from K9...12 area). About five years later Deutsche Telekom was still able to offer the audio circuits to a studio user for really interesting rates. This was of no use for him only because he could not make various stations accept his line feeds from Nalepastraße (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Sept 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Actually more than enough photos from Nauen can be found at http://www.senderfotos-bb.de/nauen.htm But since I promised pictures from last Sunday I just uploaded six ones to the yg. Some explanations: 50 kW transmitter = first broadcasting transmitter at Nauen; it appears that the site was never used for broadcasting in the pre-1945 era. Control room: The widely published view, this time with a coverage map of 9545 above the beamer chart, projected to give explanations to visitors. The audio peak level meter for transmitter 2 of course shows no stereo signal, instead it measures to the left the input into the transmitter and to the right the output of the mod monitor. The same goes for transmitter 5, but there is no input because it is running DRM, and the output is nailed to more or less full level because just the well-known white noise gets measured here. Status control: Transmitters 1 to 4 are the ALLISS units from 1997. Those in stand-by mode are still set to their last transmissions, done at this time. Soon this will be a piece of history since two of these three transmissions (15275 = Romany from RBB on Sundays 1030-1100, 15545 = German 0600-0800, 11970 = Bulgarian 0930-1000) are to be abolished by yearend. Audio source FTP refers to the audio file server where customers may leave their programs as files when not wanting to go live, and DW01 is just their satellite channel with German. DAM = dynamic amplitude modulation: Carriers are adjusted to the audio level and reduced to 60 percent when there is no audio at all, hence also no full 500 kW are measured on transmitter 2. Antenna configuration: The ALLISS antennas can be switched from 4/4 to a 2/2 configuration to reach nearer (but still not as near as possible with quadrant antennas) target areas. Transmitter 5 is the ex-Jülich rig on the former RBI antenna with adjustable azimuth and elevation (dreh- und schwenkbar, hence DuS), running CVC's DRM showcase for IBC at Amsterdam. Transmitter 6 does not exist so far. Transmitter control: Transmitter 2 picked out here. To the right the supervision of the cooling water flow, to the left what has to be switched on one after another to go on air, from bottom (various circuits, fans, water pump) to top (plate on, finetuning, modulation on). Optimod: Two of the five 9105A's. These devices were discussed in DXLD years ago, probably still to be found via Glenn's old Angelfire site. They do the dynamics compression of the audio signal in five independent frequency bands (lit compression level bars just barely visible on the unit at bottom, belonging to transmitter 2 = 9545). Above the Optimods a CD player and a codec, a unit to feed audio via dial-up connections (Kai Ludwig, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Kai, Very nice photos of the Nauen station. The photos labeled "die dreh- und schwenkbare Sendeantenne vom VEB Funkwerk Köpenick" show the rotating structure with the antenna curtains at an angle from the vertical. Is the angle from vertical on the curtains adjustable? (Do they tilt forward?) If not, is this array designed for short range broadcasting, say for Europe only? Wouldn't the pitch away from vertical cause a higher angle of radiation causing the distance for each hop to be lessened? (Jerry Lenamon, TX, ibid.) Yes, that's exactly what "dreh- *und* schwenkbar" is referring to: The elevation (i.e. the angle from vertical) is adjustable as well between 5 and 50 degrees by tilting the dipole systems, so this antenna can be used to reach target areas in both Europe and overseas. I don't know for sure, but the Radio República transmissions via Nauen are listed as 100 kW, so they are a very likely candidate for this system. Actually this antenna has been developed not by Funkwerk Köpenick but instead by a unit of the postal office, called Rundfunk- und Fernsehtechnisches Zentralamt, in short RFZ. Funkwerk Köpenick instead delivered a 100 kW transmitter for this system which went on air in 1964. This transmitter remained in service until 1998 or 1999. In the end it was used for Deutsche Welle on 6140 plus the second frequency (somewhere on 41 metres) for RNW's noon transmission in English, aiming at the UK. It was quite interesting to compare its modulation with the new Telefunken units: The Funkwerk Köpenick sounded noticeably softer, with identical audio input of course. The original plans called for the construction of more such systems, but this never happened, so this antenna remained the only one of this design ever built. Instead the next steps at Nauen were a 500 kW Brown Boveri transmitter in 1972, apparently with two ND antennas for transmissions to Europe plus a single 4/4 curtain antenna for 6...12 MHz, aiming at 240 degrees and meant for broadcasts to Chile. In 1978 and 1981 two Soviet 500 kW antennas and the S-shaped curtain row (apparently rather well known in the West already before 1989, since it could be seen from the Berlin -- Hamburg trains) followed. These transmitters were shut down in 1997 and the transmissions seamlessly transferred to the new ALLISS units (Kai Ludwig, Germany, ibid.) ** GERMANY [and non]. Re. ´´So are there more Low German speakers outside Germany than inside now? No doubt primarily for isolated immigrant groups in Latein Amerika, Mennonites, etc.´´ That's indeed the primary target audience of HCJB's Low German programs, and it is remarkable that they put them on shortwave for Europe at all. The number of speakers here in Germany is hard to tell; as far as I'm aware the situation is basically such that young people simply do not use Low German anymore. It's uncool, etc. (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Sept 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY [non]. DW mailbag show in English before and after 0530 UT Sunday Sept 17 on 9700 via Rwanda, so this should be a good place to catch the monthly DX program at 0547 UT on the last Sunday of the month. Interesting to compare 9700 with // 9630 via Portugal. Sometimes 9630 is also usable, but not tonight, always much better here on 9700, both intended for various parts of Africa, since as we all know, English is not a significant language in North America (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREECE. I missed 9420 yesterday after 1700, too, but it's back on now after 1100, // 15630 (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Sept 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn: Yes, I tried 9420 at 2030 UT on Saturday and it is back on the air. They had the usual disk-jockey type of Greek music instead of the "Greeks Everywhere" show repeat at 0200-0300 UT Sunday. I had to leave early for the GPO Alumni September Luncheon, so I could not check out the first 1400-1500 UT scheduled airing on the Internet. But, I imagine that Katerina is still out with the ear infection. This is my reception report for Saturday and Sunday UT, Sept 17, 2006: SATURDAY SUNDAY 2100 2200 2300 0000 0100 0200 kHz Az. kW Tr. Stn 55555 55555 XXXXX XXXXX XXXXX XXXXX 7450 323 100 AVL 1 ERT 3 XXXXX XXXXX 00000 00000 00000 XXXXX 15650 292 100 AVL 1 VOG XXXXX XXXXX XXXXX XXXXX XXXXX 00000 17520 292 100 AVL 1 VOG 55455 55555 55555 55555 55555 55555 7475 285 100 AVL 2 VOG 55455 55555 55555 55555 55555 55555 9420 323 170 AVL 3 VOG (John Babbis, Silver Spring MD, Sept 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREENLAND. 3815, 2050 fade in-2110* 16-09, Kalaalit Nunaata R, via Tasiilaq (USB), Greenlandic announcement, local songs, 2100 KNR interval signal and news in Danish 24232. Utility QRM (Anker Petersen, Skovlunde, Denmark on my AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire in 9 metres altitude, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** HAWAII. OF SPECIAL INTEREST: 690/1180, KORL/KHCM, Honolulu have not exchanged frequencies and formats as of 8/31. 690 still has a brokered, mostly ethnic format; 1180 still is country. (5P-HI) (Dale Park, HI, IRCA Soft DX Monitor Sept 16 via DXLD) ** HAWAII. 1110, KAOI, Kihei, good on top of KAGV [ALASKA, q.v.] with string of ads mentioning KAOI and Maui several times at 0335 EDT 9/16 (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, Drake R8, WNW EWE Antenna, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** INDONESIA. Another day of VOI missing from 9525, Sept 16 at 1315 check. Did not check before 1400 on Sept 17 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM [and non]. BT TO AXE FAMOUS SATELLITE BROADCASTING SITE --- Computer Weekly, by Antony Savvas, 15 September http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2006/09/15/218528/BT+to+axe+famous+satellite+broadcasting+site.htm#ContentContinues BT is to end satellite operations at the famous Goonhilly site in Cornwall, which received the first satellite TV broadcasts from the USA in 1962 via Telstar. It is believed that up to 90 of the 120 staff at Goonhilly could lose their jobs as BT scales down its satellite operations and moves satellite work to its Madley site in Herefordshire. The BBC reports that under the proposed BT plan, only one of Goonhilly's 61 satellite dishes would remain. This would be the dish known as "Arthur", the same one used for the first 1962 US broadcasts. The dish is protected after receiving Grade II listed building status. Although the dishes will be decommissioned, sub-sea cable operations would continue at the 160-acre site, which is located on the Lizard peninsula in south Cornwall. The cables handle millions of phone calls every week. BT plans to end satellite operations at Goonhilly in 2008 (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) Thought it was Goonhilly Downs (gh) ** IRAN [non]. Re 6-138, R. Zamaneh, 6245: ``How do you know it`s Russia?? Andy`s remark about the Russians does not necessarily mean the transmitter site be in Russia rather than somewhere else in the FSU, e.g. Moldova, whence they like to broadcast to such target areas. It seems that many of the sites for sale in other FSU countries are still brokered thru Moscow (gh, DXLD)`` Or Samara, RUSSIA itself Saludos cordiales Glenn, no tengo la certeza que emitan desde Rusia, pido disculpas, tan sólo me e guiado por el EiBi. 6245 1700-2100 CLA Radio Zamaneh FS IRN /RUS Actializado el 13 de Septiembre. 73 (José Miguel Romero, Spain, ibid.) So now the question is how EiBi knows it`s Russia. This may be circular, hi (gh, DXLD) New 6245, *1701-2100* Clandestine, 12+13+16-09. R. Zamaneh, Farsi IDs, e-mail: contact @ RadioZamaneh.com Website: http://www.radiozamaneh.com News on the half hours, comments and various Iranian music and songs, 55555 (Anker Petersen, Skovlunde, Denmark on my AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire in 9 metres altitude, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** IRELAND [non]. Radio Telefis Eireann is being broadcast on 17745 currently (1315 on Sept. 17) and is parallel to the RTE 252 frequency. It's Irish football and a game between Kerry v Roscommon. The SW transmission is only low strength here - no other frequency noted as yet. [Later:] 21720 was audible here, but only just, while 15115 was the strongest of the three (Noel R. Green, NW England, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) RTE Ireland was heard this Sunday Sep. 17 at 1400 with the announced Football All-Ireland Finals on 17745 (RPM?). Mostly poor. 25232. Nothing on // 21720 and 15115. Rechecked at 1523, only RDPI was on 17745. [Later:] Finally found out more Irish football to Africa this Sunday 17 at 1600 on 15115 for RTÉ. Poor, but practically faded out by 1630. By then no // 17745 and not heard 21720. If this latter is supposed to be Ascension, always with fair signals here, this give us an idea how bad propagation is behaving this season on 21m (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, Rx ICF 7600GR with T2FD, ibid.) U.K./ASC/UAE(CYP?) At present All-Ireland finals transmission, 1300- 1700 UT Sunday Sept 17. Only 17745 kHz has a reliable signal of S=9 level. Seems coming from Rampisham UK. Remaining signals are both poor, S=1-2 level in s-western Germany. Probably from ASC (21720) and Dhabbaya UAE or CYP (15115). 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, Stuttgart, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Will RTÉ have another such broadcast a fortnight later for hurling, as usual? Apparently not; that would be Oct 1 and I don`t see any such date at http://www.gaa.ie/page/guinness_hurling_championship_2006.html (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** LIBYA [non]. Saludos cordiales, hoy Sawt Al-amel de 1200-1300 en 17640 y 1300-1400 en 17635; desde Valencia no se ha percibido ninguna emisora jammer Libia. Por otra parte en 17630 Africa Nº1 en francés con buena señal y sin percances. 73 (José Miguel Romero, Spain, Sept 15, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Nice to hear Sawt al-Amal [they don`t say Amel, and al- is a preposition so it should not be capitalized --- as if this were any issue in Arabic] itself once again, more or less clearly rather than the jamming, Sept 16 at 1330 on 17635 with Arabic talk. A few minutes earlier I know I crossed the frequency and nothing was there, so must have been another mid-program jump. At 1332 clear IDs amid stingers. There was only a light SAH of slightly more than 2 Hz from whatever was interfering. On this occasion, northerly propagation from presumed Moldova site was favored (as Prague had just been logged on 17540; see CZECH REPUBLIC). The SAH strengthened somewhat as the semihour progressed (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. Noted call change for 690 in Tijuana; now XEWR. I caught this change on Fred Cantú's website, then tuned in. Lately they've generally been weaker than I'm used to. CBU frequently is dominant, or KNBR slops the you know what out of Tijuana. It hardly ever seems to be as potent as before the format change to W Radio. All these have been noted on my baby Grundig portable with inboard antenna (Rich Toebe, Vacaville CA, Sept 14, IRCA via DXLD) Yes, Fred Cantú`s list at http://www.mexicoradiotv.com/listbaja.htm does show XEWR, but looking at the station site linked, there are no obvious call letters, like there used to be for XETRA. What has become of 1110 Ciudad Juárez, which was XEWR? Fred changed that to XE?? I still wonder if 690 Tijuana has really legally changed calls from XETRA, or just uses the slogan ``XEWR`` just as ``XTRA`` was a slogan (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) At first, I'd be inclined to agree with the idea that another station's calls were mentioned on the air. This is a chronic issue with the Mexican networks and it has tripped up many a veteran DXer over the years. However, I think someone mentioned the Fred Cantú site had listed the call change, and I know he tries to get confirmation (usually by calling the station) before posting anything (that's what he did when I discovered the XEHS move from 740 to 540 several years back). I've been listening to 690 off and on, but haven't caught an ID yet. I was in El Paso a few months ago and as I recall XEWR-1110 was still running oldies. I'll check my notes when I have a chance. 73, (Tim Hall, Chula Vista CA, ibid.) I was in Fred Cantú's site, looking up info on XEQIN when I noticed the change on 690 to XEWR. Since I reported the ID (and they do NOT give call IDs every hour, I've come to learn), I checked SCT and CIRT websites. SCT no longer has the map where you could click on the state to see what stations were listed; but the PDF you can download is not up-to-date. It shows 820 Mexicali as XEMVS and XEQIN on 1290. CIRT's info is even older, it shows 690 Tijuana as "Extra Sports". I've come to trust Fred Cantú's site as he seems to have the right info and he updates frequently. But I reminded myself of Benny Hill's definition of Assume*... I've checked Cantu for 1110 in Juárez and he has it listed as "XE??"-- so he hasn't got all the info yet either. If 690 is relaying a signal from 1110 in Ciudad Juárez: what is their format now? The link to the station site states they -- XEWR 1110 -- are running Bilingual Oldies ("La Oldies But Goodies", "The new Classic"). If this is the current format, then Tijuana is not relaying them. The link to "W Radio Los Ángeles" http://wradio690.com has no mention of call letters. The next move is to tune in for an ID when they play the Mexican NA, that would probably be a logical time a legal ID must be used. (If logic even applies) So, I've reported logging XEWR as the call ID for 690 Tijuana. Given what I've since learned, no warranties are given, express or implied. This is what makes DXing interesting!! *Assume(n): Making an ASS out of U and ME. -- British Comedian Benny Hill - - (Rich Toebe, Vacaville CA, Sept 16, IRCA via DXLD) I'd be inclined to trust the Cantú site as confirming what you heard. The 1110 in Juárez probably got paid a few pesos to change their call letters so the 690 could have XEWR. They have been bilingual oldies for a long time, but I suppose it's possible they could have changed by now (I drove through El Paso the morning of July 4th). Offhand, the W radio format that runs on my local 690 sure seems tackier than the one you hear on XEW, XEWA, XEWB, etc. Lots of snake oil salesmen on the weekend, then an uninteresting mix of talk and music at other times. Still better than XERCN-1470 "Radio Hispana" network, which in the evening often runs back-to-back promo announcements for half an hour or more at a time! 73, (Tim Hall, CA, ibid.) ** MEXICO. LA RADIO DEL ZÓCALO --- Por: Luis Miguel Carriedo Publicado en la Revista: Etcétera Sección: Agenda Septiembre 2006 Radio Democrática transmite en la plancha del Zócalo capitalino, bajo la carpa de la delegación perredista de Oaxaca en el megaplantón de protesta que promueve el recuento de votos y reclama fraude electoral. La emisora con 150 watts de potencia, se escucha desde el 21 de agosto hasta unos 300 metros a la redonda en la 88.5 de FM y es operada por cuatro jóvenes con experiencia en radios comunitarias y miembros del Foro de Organizaciones en Comunicación Alternativa y de la Unión Campesina Oaxaqueña. [150 watts should carry a lot further than 300 meters; maybe milliwatts?] Justifican que esta radio "nació como necesidad frente a lo que en muchas ocasiones hemos anunciado como un cerco informativo o un manejo de la información tendencioso de muchos medios hacia lo que está pasando realmente en el país, en Oaxaca y también en el Zócalo respecto a esta movilización para la defensa del voto por voto, casilla por casilla". -¿La razón de la radio no sólo es para la promoción del voto por voto sino también por el cerco informativo que ustedes consideran existe? -Estamos tratando temas tanto del proceso electoral, información general, cultura, difusión de nuestras comunidades. Fundamentalmente el alcance de nuestra transmisión tiene que ver con el espacio donde nos encontramos (...) tenemos un noticiario alternativo durante la mañana, música folclórica de nuestras regiones, hay un espacio específico para las delegaciones de los plantones, una hora nacional de los pueblos indígenas y un espacio con opiniones. -¿Qué medios no cubren o no son veraces respecto a lo que ustedes esperarían? -Principalmente Televisa y TV Azteca, que demeritan nuestra presencia señalando que sólo generamos caos en la ciudad, de que por ejemplo con el conteo que hizo el tribunal no se modificó sustancialmente el número de votos cuando la realidad es otra. En su "noticiario alternativo", la radio construye su oferta a partir de lo que se difunde en los medios impresos: "Damos información veraz y recurrimos principalmente a medios objetivos, veraces. Por las mañanas fundamentalmente es la lectura de La Jornada, Proceso, y El Universal, pero también lo contrastamos con los medios de derecha y de centro. Hacemos un balance de la información, procuramos no solamente emitir el juicio de lo que creemos, es más plural". Sólo voces discordantes En su opinión, el sistema electoral tiene "inconsistencias en varios estados de la República y eso no se refleja en los medios", por lo que "consideramos que debe ser retomado de manera alternativa por otros espacios". "Por supuesto que hay diversos medios, el mismo Andrés Manuel ha reconocido y nosotros reconocemos la aportación de distintos medios radiofónicos, televisivos, que están procurando mantener informada a la sociedad. Lo que no se vale es el monopolio de la información, además tendenciosa. Por ello, frente al monopolio está la Democrática". -¿En Televisa no han encontrado ni una sola voz? ¿Ha sido un cerco? -De repente permiten algunas voces discordantes, por ahí andaba doña Elena Poniatowska, pero tan sólo la posición editorial que manejan a través de Joaquín López-Dóriga es muy clara. Es una posición de derecha, monopólica, y es el pago al apoyo que les dio el gobierno de Vicente Fox con la Ley Televisa. "Debe haber en las editoriales criterios de comunicación democráticos, plurales, equilibrados y no de satanización, de señalar, acusar e incitar a la sociedad en contra de nosotros. Es peligroso polarizar desde los medios porque tienen mucho impacto en la sociedad. Convencidos -¿Están convencidos que hubo fraude electoral? -Es muy claro, los medios se han visto obligados a exhibir los resultados, sin especificar de dónde, de qué sección, ante este nuevo conteo y ahí se ven los resultados muy claros: hubo más votantes, menos boletas en una casilla, hasta votaron muertos. -¿Votaron muertos? -Así es, en la lista nominal aparecen personas que ya fallecieron y votaron, y hubo rasuramiento de gente que iba a votar por el PRD. Hubo empresas que se comunicaron a casas preguntando la opción electoral y así se rasuraba el padrón... Fue una conspiración. -En los medios hay mucha gente que piensa que no hubo fraude. ¿Todos ellos mienten? -Yo creo que abajo, en la sociedad, en los barrios donde se tiene que sufrir día a día la situación económica y política, y se ve y se palpa que Andrés Manuel representa una esperanza, por supuesto que se percibe el fraude. Creo que muchos de ellos (los medios) tendrían que revisar su postura, algunos la han cambiado, ha habido también muchos intelectuales y gente de los medios y académicos, gente de la cultura que considera que no sólo hubo fraude, sino una gran conspiración para que la izquierda no llegara a gobernar este país. -¿Varios dicen que son una radio clandestina? -Nos señalan de clandestinos... no somos piratas, no robamos, no estamos escondidos. La radio tiene el apoyo de legisladores locales de Oaxaca (quienes aportan dinero). -¿Hasta cuándo tienen pensado transmitir? -Pues hasta que el cuerpo aguante, el equipo no nos lo quiten, y haya energía eléctrica (via Roberto Edgar Gómez Morales, dxldyg via DXLD) ** MYANMAR. 5770, Defense Forces Broadcasting Station (presumed), Sept 17, 1321-1409, variety of ballads and pop songs, BoH local music (IS type music?), language sounded same as heard on Myanma Radio, poor- fair. (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, Etón E5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NORTH AMERICA. Wonder what became of the Radio Free Euphoria archives which used to be at http://www.11l.rni.net It appears that entire site is gone now (Martin Peck, AC 718, via gh, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The 11l-rni.net site went away when Lee Midwood ended his relationship with Radio NewYork International show. I was planning to restore the RFE archives on johnlightning.com if there was interest, and it looks like there is. Look for the RFE and Captain Ganja material at http://johnlightning.com/pirate Regards, Lw (Larry Will, Sept 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 4960, 10.9 2020, Catholic Network, Vanimo. Modern Christian songs presented in Pidgin or other local language. The music was heard quite well but the speech was very low and distorted and hard to understand. Only heard in AM and peaking up to QSA 3. JE (Jan Edh, Sweden, SW Bulletin Sept 17, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PHILIPPINES. 6169.8 kHz, Radio ng Bayan. Sept.10 at 0939-1000. SINPO 34333. Phone interview in Tagalog. ID was heard at 0946 as "...Radio ng Bayan, Philippine Broadcasting Service." (Iwao Nagatani, Japan, Japan Premium via DXLD) ** POLAND. "There are hopes of hitting you with our signal from the new transmitter sites more or less by the time of the winter time change", says Slawek Szefs. In other words, Radio Polonia is about to replace their obsolete SW transmitting facilities. Negotiations are under way with "two top players" on the international relaying market. The new relay sites, apparently either in Germany, France or the UK, will be announced shortly (S. Szefs, Radio Polonia, Sept 15, via Henrik Klemetz, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. Sat Sept 16 at 1403 found a new signal on 17810, lo-fi revival singing. Must be Guiana French relay of Brother Scare`s Sabbath-only transmission. Sure `nuff, // 9385 WWRB but 17810 about 7 seconds behind 9385. Is this confirmed on the website? Not exactly: ``17810 SW Changes. Thursday, 14 September 2006 --- Starting today the Overcomer will be on 17810 Shortwave to North America from 11 am to noon Eastern Time (1500 to 1600 UT). Reports have come in from Europe and S. America indicating a strong signal, as well as across the US and Canada. Since June, The Overcomer has been on 17815 from 2 to 3 pm Eastern using powerful signals from French Radio Diffusion facilities. This broadcast is in conjunction with the transmission to Russia and China on 13720 during this hour (7-8 pm Moscow), also using 250 KW transmissions. These world class, high strength signals are coming from a transmitting facility in French Guyana and from T-Systems, Germany. Additionally you can listen to the broadcast on WWRB frequencies 24 hours a day using 100 KW transmitters from Manchester, TN. MARANATHA!`` The SW schedule page http://www.overcomerministry.org/SW-UTC.htm still shows only this for TDF, not updated since 10 August: ``17815* TDF N. America 250 kW Sun - Fri 1800 1900 UT *Powerful 250,000 Watt Station.`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UKRAINE. Listening to Whole World on the Radio Dial, UT Sept 17 at 0018 via webcast, Alex was giving all the Sept 10 frequency changes, including the incorrect 5810 instead of 5820 for the 23-04 NAm broadcast. No doubt a repeat from several weeks ago but that really should have been corrected by now. He did point out the WEWN conflict on 5810, but apparently had not decided what to do about it (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. While in France, I listened some to BBCWS on 648 kHz and noticed what I felt to be excessive compression. One newscast in particular was quite frustrating to listen to, as the noise of the newsreader breathing in was brought up in level to be as loud as his speaking voice. I'd always thought BBC eschewed compression on its domestic broadcasts. Perhaps this just the latest effort to irritate and discourage serious listeners (Mike Cooper, Sep 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. A new book about Charlotte Beers` brief ``Shared Values`` TV ad campaign to convince Muslims how nice we Americans are: ``Advertising`s War on Terrorism`` by Jami Fullerton, Ph.D., Oklahoma State University (and a co-author). She was interviewed on Oklahoma Forum on OETA Sept 17. No further details, but I suppose one could track it down (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Editorial --- WHERE CHUTZPAH`S NO HANDICAP Published: September 17, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/17/opinion/17sun3.html?ex=1159156800&en=0eaee72e848dd701&ei=5070&emc=eta1 Incredibly, Kenneth Tomlinson, the patronage hack who blithely operated a horse-racing business from high federal office, is surviving as the chairman in charge of foreign broadcasts to more than 100 million listeners. A proposal to strip him of his post failed when the Broadcasting Board of Governors split 3 to 3 along party lines. Thus does Mr. Tomlinson, a Republican ideologue with powerful friends in the White House, remain in office overseeing the Voice of America and Radio Martí. But he remains a gross embarrassment who trafficked in more than 400 phone calls and 1,200 e-mail messages from his government office in pursuit of his side business running a stable of thoroughbreds. ``I`m a hard worker,`` Mr. Tomlinson brazenly insisted in dismissing his moonlighting predicament as the fault of partisan enemies. He was stripped of a separate job on the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in an ethics scandal last year after violating fairness regulations by packing the corporation with patronage Republicans and conservative polemicists. ``This is part of American life,`` Mr. Tomlinson told National Public Radio in defending his hoofed pursuits while on the taxpayers’ clock. ``How many people have fantasy baseball leagues?`` And how many have the presence of mind to bill the boss for 50 extra paydays a year beyond the federal limit, as Mr. Tomlinson did? (He claims the war on terror required his patriot`s overtime.) Or to hire a friend without authority or documentation and sign off on $244,000 in paychecks? (Experienced experts are worth it, Mr. Tomlinson advises.) As proprietor of Sandy Bayou Stables, Mr. Tomlinson shows a staying power more worthy of Dracula than Seabiscuit. The Senate already is racing from a Tomlinson renomination, but the Bush administration continues to tout his value (via David Cole, Goodwell OK, DXLD) ** U S A [and non]. LET'S NOT CONFUSE U.S. PROPAGANDA WITH JOURNALISM BY ANA MENENDEZ, IN MY OPINION http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/columnists/15504456.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp Last week, two reporters and a freelancer were fired from El Nuevo Herald after The Miami Herald's Oscar Corral reported they were paid for appearances on Radio and TV Martí. The dismissals have invigorated the opinion industry and subjected the people of this town to higher than usual doses of hypocrisy. The most amusing response comes, as usual, from Cuba, where the official press has been gloating about proof that the ''Miami Mafia'' and its journalists are bought and paid for by the U.S. government. It would be a compelling argument, except for the fact that in Cuba, government hacks are the rule, not the exception. Of the small group of Cuban journalists who don't draw a government salary, many are, sadly, polishing their prose in jail. The El Nuevo three were fired for entering into the sort of arrangement that defines journalism in a totalitarian state. Which brings us to more hypocrites: all the exile patriots who attack Corral for reporting the truth while simultaneously defending El Nuevo Herald's journalists for taking money from propagandists. Some of the postings on Corral's blog are scary. ''You will pay dearly for what you have done,'' says one. ''We are starting a campaign to have Oscar fired at The Herald,'' says another. That's the kind of attitude that makes one hopeful about the future of a free press in Cuba. Radio and TV Martí are tools of the United States, conceived with a singular aim: to undermine the Cuban government. They cannot broadcast here because of U.S. anti-propaganda laws. This is not PBS or NPR; this is programming designed to influence opinion in ways deemed unacceptable for domestic consumption. Propaganda is propaganda, even when a large portion of the population regards its mission as noble. It is not journalism. ''I fully support what Radio Martí is doing,'' Miami Herald Publisher Jesús Díaz Jr. told me Tuesday. ``The issue is, don't do it with independent U.S. journalists. Leave them alone.'' I've never accepted money from Radio Martí. But years after I left journalism, I contributed an essay to a journal put out by the State Department. I've regretted it ever since. Not because it was unethical, but because I believe writers -- even fiction writers -- must remain independent of governments. It's a conviction born of my family's own struggles in Cuba and strengthened in recent years by the Bush administration's attempts to manipulate and distort information. El Nuevo Herald's journalists are guilty of not following common sense. Their firings may have been justified. But were they fair? There's evidence that these were long-standing practices at El Nuevo Herald, a place that sometimes seems to operate under rules of its own with a skeleton staff of committed but underpaid journalists. Earlier this summer, editors published a doctored photograph. Díaz says he accepted the editor's explanation that it had been an honest mistake. As for staffing levels, he pointed out that every newspaper would like more resources. ``At the same time, I'm also a believer that you can always make improvements with the team you currently have.'' Far from being a secret, freelancer Olga Connor's arrangement with Radio Martí already had been reported in both papers as far back as 2002. Díaz, who was not publisher then, says he hadn't been aware of the article or the arrangement. Connor's bosses, however, presumably took no issue with it. Connor (who once said nice things about my books in one of her columns) can be forgiven for being confused. The rest of us do well to remember that the ''battle of ideas'' is best left to demagogues and dictators. Journalists, in a free society, are paid to watch the government, not to be its hired servants (via Dan Say, DXLD) ``Cannot broadcast here because of US propaganda laws``??? Since when? They DO ``broadcast here`` and anyone can hear Radio Martí (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. Checked Sept 16, I found several posts on the Majority Report blog http://www.majorityreportradio.com/weblog/index.php about the new Air America weekday lineup starting Monday Sept 18, which does not include M.R. Nothing said about Janeane Garofalo, but co-host Sam Seder moves into the morning slot from which Jerry Springer has exited. Times in presumed EDT here prefaced by UT with news on the hour overlap removed: 0907-1000 5 am-6 am The Mark Riley Show 1007-1300 6 am-9 am The Young Turks 1307-1600 9 am-12 n The Sam Seder Show 1607-1900 12 n -3 pm The Al Franken Show 1907-2200 3 pm-6 pm The Randi Rhodes Show 2207-2400 6 pm-8 pm The Rachel Maddow Show 0007-0100 8 pm-9 pm ``Politically Direct`` with David Bender [below] 0107-0200 9 pm-10 pm ``Ecotalk`` with Betsy Rosenberg I think Al Franken has been repeating after 0207, or was it 0307? The AAR website itself had not been updated. There are bound to be changes on Sat & Sun too, where there is a full schedule presented, mostly repeats (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 'Politically Direct,' Hosted by David Bender, Launches as New Daily Show on Air America Radio (AAR) on Monday 9/18 With Stellar Guests Including Jimmy Carter, John Edwards, Desmond Tutu, Gore Vidal & More! A Weekend Favorite on the Progressive AAR Since '05, the Show is Now Bumped Up to Daily/Weekday Prominence, 8-9 pm ET [0007-0100 UT Tue- Sat] http://www.airamerica.com/direct/ LOS ANGELES, Calif., Sept. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- On September 18, 2006, the popular news and interview show "Politically Direct" makes its debut as a daily, weekday program on national progressive talk radio network Air America Radio (AAR). Hosted by veteran political activist David Bender, the show launches with a stellar first round of guests including former President Jimmy Carter, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, 2004 Democratic Vice Presidential candidate John Edwards, author Gore Vidal, former Senator Gary Hart, Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington and actress Alfre Woodard. Since its 2005 inauguration on AAR (and XM Satellite Radio), "Politically Direct" -- sponsored by People For The American Way -- drew a large following as a weekend feature. AAR's conversion of the highly-regarded 60-minute show to weekdays places it on their regular schedule at 8-9 PM ET, Monday through Friday. Air times may vary at some affiliates; listeners should check local listings for details. David Bender moderates the hard-hitting news/interview show. Known for his insightful commentary and engaging interviewing technique, Bender's in-depth conversations with leading progressive voices from across America and around the world offer a compelling and substantive take on current events and major issues. From his new daily perch, Bender has the opportunity to more fully dissect news as it breaks. Bender's career as a political activist began at age 12 when he took a "leave of absence" from the 7th grade to be a full-time volunteer in Senator Robert F. Kennedy's 1968 presidential campaign; he was present when RFK was assassinated. He went on to serve as an aide to liberal activist Allard K. Lowenstein, become a pioneering field organizer for the Human Rights Campaign Fund and the first west coast contributing editor for John Kennedy's George magazine, among other highlights. Throughout his career, David Bender has also been deeply involved in the music, television and film industries, and in '92, worked as a Democratic National Committee liaison to the entertainment community. He's the author or co-author of four books, including Stand and Be Counted, about artist activism in the music industry, written with music icon David Crosby. He first joined AAR as its political director during the 2004 election. Air America Radio (AAR) is the national progressive entertainment talk radio network. AAR is broadcast in top U.S. markets, and since the network's launch on March 31, 2004, listeners have had access to the network programming via live Internet streaming on http://www.airamerica.com XM Satellite Radio Networks and is currently on 92 stations nationwide (via Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** U S A. PUBLIC RADIO TRYING TO IMPROVE RECEPTION [sic; another misleading headline] --- By Michael Klein Inquirer Staff Writer If the hundreds of public-radio programmers who gathered in Philadelphia this week seemed a tad edgy, it is because they are facing a new challenge: a declining audience. This is alien territory. For at least a decade, they seemed to defy the fragmentation that kept their counterparts in newspapers, TV and commercial radio up nights. Ratings rose. Listener loyalty was high. Funding was solid. In 2004, though, public radio's core audience flattened. Last year, it dropped . . . http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/business/15531583.htm (via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) ** U S A. Changing Its Tune --- By RICHARD SIKLOS --- The radio industry keeps losing people like Danny C. Costa, a senior at Boston University who grew up listening to radio in New York and New Jersey. For the last few years, Mr. Costa has tuned out radio in favor of Web sites where he can get access to downloads or videos he heard about from friends. He prefers these to the drumbeat of the Top 40. He burns his favorite songs onto CD’s or copies them onto his iPod. ``I just sort of stopped listening to radio, because I had access to all this music online,`` Mr. Costa said. While more than 9 out of 10 Americans still listen to traditional radio each week, they are listening less. And the industry is having to confront many challenges like those that have enticed Mr. Costa, including streaming audio, podcasting, iPods and Howard Stern on satellite radio. As a result, the prospects of radio companies have dimmed significantly since the late 1990’s, when broadcast barons were tripping over themselves to buy more stations. Radio revenue growth has stagnated and the number of listeners is dropping. The amount of time people tune into radio over the course of a week has fallen by 14 percent over the last decade, according to Arbitron ratings. Over the last three years, the stocks of the five largest publicly traded radio companies are down between 30 percent and 60 percent as investors wonder when the industry will bottom out. Now, radio’s woes have spurred a new wave of deal making. . . http://tinyurl.com/zmzol (NY Times Sept 14 via Bill Harms, IRCA via DXLD) ** U S A. Clear Channel cares about broadcasting the way Richard Speck cared about nurses. "I guess it just wasn't their night``. Speck first depersonalized his quarry. During the wretched 90's, Clear Channel substituted 'platform' for 'radio station'. Clear Channel execs gushingly spoke of acquiring the right number of 'platforms'. The term depersonalizes radio stations. It means nothing yet reveals much. Drudge states listenership is down in all categories except drive. Free consult: Dump HD, hire talent. Start by hiring back those fired as 'platforms' were ''fine-tuned". Compelling programs grab & keep audiences. HD will lose what audiences remain. Oddly - perhaps what these oligarch bugs most fear - small stations featuring local talent which covers local issues are flourishing. Is that why kleptoKasters are in such frenzy to get as many HD jammers on-air before anyone catches on? Too clever by half. KorpseOration men stand for nothing, believe in nothing, and their product reflects it. HD is their last ditch cheat strategy to jam independent stations to ruin. HD cheerleaders smugly yap 'the public doesn't have a clue about HD' . By design, might one add, but the public has more than a clue. They get it in a second: "HD is what big broadcasters use to deny me what I want to hear and force me to listen only to them". How will NAB, CC & cronies engineer their way around instinctive public grasp on reality? Clear Channel 'platform' dump might be best thing in years and with counterintuitive results - processed cheese- food ex-'platforms' might fail while independents flourish (Paul Vincent Zecchino, Sept 15, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** U S A. LAWYER SAYS FCC ORDERED STUDY DESTROYED Sept. 14, 2006, 1:41PM By JOHN DUNBAR Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON --- The Federal Communications Commission ordered its staff to destroy all copies of a draft study that suggested greater concentration of media ownership would hurt local TV news coverage, a former lawyer at the agency says. The report, written in 2004, came to light during the Senate confirmation hearing for FCC Chairman Kevin Martin. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif. received a copy of the report "indirectly from someone within the FCC who believed the information should be made public," according to Boxer spokeswoman Natalie Ravitz. Adam Candeub, now a law professor at Michigan State University, said senior managers at the agency ordered that "every last piece" of the report be destroyed. "The whole project was just stopped _ end of discussion," he said. Candeub was a lawyer in the FCC's Media Bureau at the time the report was written and communicated frequently with its authors, he said. In a letter sent to Martin Wednesday, Boxer said she was "dismayed that this report, which was done at taxpayer expense more than two years ago, and which concluded that localism is beneficial to the public, was shoved in a drawer." Martin said he was not aware of the existence of the report, nor was his staff. His office indicated it had not received Boxer's letter as of midafternoon Thursday. In the letter, Boxer asked whether any other commissioners "past or present" knew of the report's existence and why it was never made public. She also asked whether it was "shelved because the outcome was not to the liking of some of the commissioners and/or any outside powerful interests?" The report, written by two economists in the FCC's Media Bureau, analyzed a database of 4,078 individual news stories broadcast in 1998. The broadcasts were obtained from Danilo Yanich, a professor and researcher at the University of Delaware, and were originally gathered by the Pew Foundation's Project for Excellence in Journalism. The analysis showed local ownership of television stations adds almost five and one-half minutes of total news to broadcasts and more than three minutes of "on-location" news. The conclusion is at odds with FCC arguments made when it voted in 2003 to increase the number of television stations a company could own in a single market. It was part of a broader decision liberalizing ownership rules. At that time, the agency pointed to evidence that "commonly owned television stations are more likely to carry local news than other stations." When considering whether to loosen rules on media ownership, the agency is required to examine the impact on localism, competition and diversity. The FCC generally defines localism as the level of responsiveness of a station to the needs of its community. The 2003 action sparked a backlash among the public and within Congress. In June 2004, a federal appeals court rejected the agency's reasoning on most of the rules and ordered it to try again. The debate has since been reopened, and the FCC has scheduled a public hearing on the matter in Los Angeles on Oct. 3. The report was begun after then-Chairman Michael Powell ordered the creation of a task force to study localism in broadcasting in August of 2003. Powell stepped down from the commission and was replaced by Martin in March 2005. Powell did not return a call seeking comment. The authors of the report, Keith Brown and Peter Alexander, both declined to comment. Brown has left public service while Alexander is still at the FCC. Yanich confirmed the two men were the authors. Both have written extensively on media and telecommunications policy. Yanich said the report was "extremely well done. It should have helped to inform policy." Boxer's office said if she does not receive adequate answers to her questions, she will push for an investigation by the FCC inspector general. This article is: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/politics/4187090.html -- (via Ken Kopp - KK0HF, http://732u.com dxldyg via DXLD) Suppressed FCC Report on Media Concentration The AP reports today allegations that the FCC ordered all copies of a study of media ownership destroyed. This report can be accessed at this URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14836500/ It seems to me that things are getting quite strange on the political fronts. If this report is correct, the FCC is certainly in the solid grip of the big boys in the industry (Nick Leggett, N3NL, Sept 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Senator Barbara Boxer has posted the text of the FCC's shredded study in FCC Docket 06-121 on the FCC Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS). http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/ecfs/ecfs_alt.html This 24-page document was posted on September 12th. I have requested an extension of time for public comment on this apparently suppressed study of media ownership rules. Senator Boxer posted the shredded FCC report on the FCC web site, not on her own web site. This is a direct link to the shredded document on media ownership: http://svartifoss2.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/retrieve.cgi?native_or_pdf=pdf&id_document=6518462392 (Nickolaus E. Leggett, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Truthful reports destroyed or ignored. Evidence fabricated. All to fit the desired outcome. Whether it`s the Executive Branch or Congress, same scenario. From broadcast media ownership to Iranian nuclear capability (today's Washington Post). When examined in a broad-brush perspective, we are beginning to look like we have a totalitarian form of government. Islamofascism is just a ruse (Lee W6EM McVey, ibid.) ** U S A. Nothin' But Net Logs --- Here are a couple of excellent Elevator Music net radio stations. I listen to them often... http://wktz.jones.edu/ WKTZ from Jacksonville, FL. http://tuner1.dc1.sonixtream.com/playlists/knct/knctKNCT.asx KNCT from Belton, TX, Central Texas College http://www.christiannetcast.com/listen/player.asp?station=khoy-fm KHOY FM from Laredo, TX, owned by the Catholic church Mellow out and enjoy (Kevin Redding, AZ, Sept 16, ABDX via DXLD) I tend to listen to KNCT when it is not elevator music: Bandstand Sunday with the Old Memory Maker Charlie St George, 17-23 UT (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. TEXAS GOVERNOR ANN RICHARDS REMEMBERED Richards died Wednesday in her Austin home at the age of 73. At noon Monday [1700 UT] September 18, Richards will be remembered in a public ceremony at the University of Texas’ Erwin Center in Austin. Richards will lie in state in the rotunda of the Texas Capitol from 9:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday. The public is invited to both services. KUT will carry Monday’s services live online when they begin. Check back for details. KUT will have ongoing coverage from our news room of Richards’ legacy http://kut.org/items/tag/ann_richards and the public remembrances both on 90.5 FM and here on KUT.org (KUT via DXLD) ** U S A. 1690 WVON ex WRLL --- Well, looks like the transition happened last night. WRLL is gone and WVON is now on 1690 with the slogan "Talk of Chicago". Many IDs and talk about the change last night on 1690 after 0400 UT; assume it's permanent (Brett Saylor, PA, Sept 16, dxhub yg via DXLD) But has the call legally changed? I thought it was just WVON programming LMA`d on WRLL. So what call is on 1450 now? (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. Here's a new one, not on my page (yet), via KK4XO "Bill" via email, who says it's S7 in Coral Springs. Sun Sep 17 14:34:38 2006 --- LAUDERHILL RADIO STATION CREATED FOR EMERGENCIES By Juan Ortega South Florida Sun-Sentinel Posted August 18 2006 Lauderhill has launched a radio station, joining a trend of cities hitting the airwaves to better inform their residents. The station, WQFF542, AM 1650, was created to deliver announcements and updates during emergencies. In the case of Hurricane Wilma last year, city information wasn't always immediately updated, Lauderhill Fire Chief Edward Curran said. "There were conflicts of information out there," said Curran, who also is the city's emergency management coordinator. "We felt this would be a good way to get to our residents immediately." Lauderhill joins other municipalities with stations, such as Plantation, Fort Lauderdale, Weston and Boca Ratón. Other media can falter during emergencies, but "one thing that seems to be a mainstay is the radio," said Leslie Tropepe, a Lauderhill spokeswoman. The station started in July, and cost the city $33,900 for licensing, an antenna, transmitter and software. WQFF542 is expected to keep running during power outages because the city has a generator, Baker said. The station's 6-foot-high antenna is mounted on a concrete pole, so it reaches 30 feet high and gives a signal of three to five miles. (via Terry L. Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, Visit my "Florida Low Power Radio Stations" at: http://home.earthlink.net/~tocobagadx/flortis.html or: http://www.geocities.com/geigertree/flortis.html Sept 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VENEZUELA [non]. Escutas feitas em Crateús- Ceará- Brasil em 14/09/2006, Rádio MOTOGLOBE, SÓ COM A ANTENA TELESCOPICA DÊLE. Em espanhol: 17705, 2030, R. Nacional de Venezuela, 55555. No programa Canção nescessaria [sic], tocou uma música do cantor Argentino Fernando Mosqueira. 11670, 2200, R. Nacional Venezuela - 55555. Iniciou a transmissão anunciando vários horários de transmissão com suas respectivas frequencias (Isaac Rosa, Crateús - Ceará, radioescuas via DXLD) Too bad he didn`t copy the schedule. I`ll have to try to catch it, if it is actually updated. So the 2000 broadcast still exists at least on 17705, tho no longer on 13680 the last I checked (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZIMBABWE [and non]. New [sic] 4880, 1805-1900* clandestine, 12-09, SW Radio Africa, via Meyerton. English political talks about Zimbabwe, Afropop, now jammed until 1900* 33343 (Anker Petersen, Skovlunde, Denmark on my AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire in 9 metres altitude, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 4750, 0010 UT, no ID en árabe¿? Pasajes del cor`án, con música hindú (Webmaster, ADXB, Barcelona, UT Sept 16, HCDX via DXLD) Es la nueva frecuencia de Bangladesh, pero no son árabes ni hindú... 73, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Tho the cor`án readings may well be in Arabic, of course. I wonder how many Bengalis really understand Arabic, an unrelated language, well enough to get anything out of the Qur`an? BTW, World Almanac 2002 says Bangladesh is 88% Muslim, 11% Hindu --- that leaves 1% for everything else. Yet there are at least four Christian SW broadcasters using Bengali, per the ADDX language schedules (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 7200, tuning around Sept 16 at 1312 I also encountered the ``yelping jammer`` Mark Taylor described in 6-136, but this was later than his log, at 1125-1227+. However, at first I took it to be a maladjusted transmitter rather than a jammer, describing it as warbling, i.e. transmitter frequency unstable with BFO on. I thought the language was English, but not sure, plus music. Hams nearby weren`t bothered and went on with SSB QSOs. Recheck at 1347, now it sounded more like whoop-whoop jamming. Also checking the various online schedules, nothing likely as a target found. R. Japan starts up at 1330 in Thai, but in the 1300-1330 semihour, there is Yakutsk in Russian during its 20-hour broadcast ending at 1500. ILG, however, notes 24/7 `noise jamming` on 7200 in East Africa; presumably that would be against Sudan National Radio which EiBi has on 7200 at 03-0830 & 11-15. It still seems unlikely either of us would be hearing anything for E Africa at this hour on 7 MHz, so still wonder if there is some new clandestine on 7200 attracting jamming (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I suspect this is Yakutsk. The transmitter used on this frequency is often - very often - faulty and sending out more noise than broadcast. I would call it a warble rather than a "yelp" but it might sound differently if heard louder than I hear it. I haven't been able to receive Yakutsk (mornings) during our summer months, but on checking this morning (17/09) at around 0630 I could clearly hear the same old noise under Bulgaria. The transmitter was fixed for a short time last winter and normal service resumed, but it didn't last for long. I suggest that you try to compare what you hear on 7200 with parallel 7140 or 7345. Of course, later in the day there could be "real jamming" of something that I'm not aware of either (Noel R. Green (NW England), Sept 17, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Noel Green`s suggestion that the ``jamming`` on 7200 is malfunxioning Yakutsk transmitter makes more sense than E Africa. 7200 whooping heard again around 1400 Sept 17, as well as at 0535 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Lakeland Radio, 9510 --- Rudy van Dalen has sent me a clip of a station which has us both baffled - after an interval signal, it identifies in North American English as "Lakeland Radio" and announces 9510 kHz, with no mention of the location. We're never heard of the station, perhaps it's from the Great Lakes region of Africa, can you or any DXLD reader shed any light on this? You can listen to a clip here: http://www.intervalsignals.net/lakeland_radio.ram Regards, (Dave Kernick, UK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Just tried 12080: No traces of any signal like a possible harmonic of Grodno-6040. However, this is within my flat where I may well miss weak signals (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Sept 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Broadcast Voice We were wondering. Since Glenn has been on the air for many years now... if he might practice his style, or On Air voice. He sounds a bit mundane when he is reading... dah duh dah duh dah... etc.... As a broadcaster he would sound quite a bit better if he would add some personality to the presentation, some Emphasis in his voice. Right now, you could play the show at bedtime and it would honestly put you to sleep --- the voice quality, not the content, that is. Tell him to be more natural , V o c a l i z e .. instead of reading... It's a radio show... Not a Board meeting... If there is any way he can practice with the voice quality and emphasis, it sure would make it more "listenable". Thanks! I know if Glenn reads this he's probably going to take it the wrong way (Steve, W4ARZ (a former broadcaster myself), Sept 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I`m afraid I am doing the best I can. I am a soft-spoken, introverted kinda guy and tho I could force myself to `punch` what I say, to ME that would seem unnatural, and it would be more exhausting both physically and mentally. Listening to some of my old recordings, I realize that my voice has declined quite a bit --- I am getting older and it no longer has a wider range of pitch or expression (which as I recall was never sufficient for some listeners, anyway). I realize that judging oneself is far from how others may do it. Yet, being aware of what I have said, how I have spoken, I know I AM putting expression and nuance into it, even if that is not perceived by some listeners. I would like to think that there are other listeners who can perceive it. It probably helps to listen to a high- level audio file rather than on the radio. What you hear on World of Radio is a mixture of ad-libbing, and direct quotation of published material. It should NOT sound like I am reading a script, because I am not. (Mundo Radial, however, is scripted, so my Spanish can be as correct as possible.) WOR is not live, and it does not pause for musical `relief` or go off on tangents. It doesn`t have the spontaneity of mistakes, vocalized pauses, and it is also a monolog so naturally there is no give-and- take with another voice. If it were live, you would hear a lot of mistakes, most of which I catch and correct as I go along recording. It is a condensed summary of everything I think is important to mention that has happened over the past week or two. There is never enough time to include everything I would like or to go into more detail on certain stories. Not without, perhaps, an hour-long show, which would even more surely put you to sleep! Perhaps after almost 11-cubed editions of WOR, I am getting a bit tired, and it is about time to quit, and make better use of what time I have left (Glenn Hauser) Thanks Glenn. I feel a bit bad about critiqing someone via email (look at me, I can't even spell). Your show is great and is very much needed. I was just thinking of how you as the announcer could make it even better than it is. I for one would really miss not having it on the air. I know you are better as an announcer than you give yourself credit for. If it means anything. Thanks for the contribution you make to our hobby. I am a friend of George, who coordinates TIAWR. We've chatted about announcer's delivery, etc., also. He makes me look like a bush leager. 73's (Steve / W4ARZ, DX LISTENING DIGEST) LANGUAGE LESSONS ++++++++++++++++ NAMES OF AIR-NAVIGATION ROUTES Here's something interesting I had not known about: http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/columnists.nsf/alongfortheride/story/3769AA73F68A7FCC862571E600111977?OpenDocument CLEVER NAMES MARK ROUTES PILOTS TAKE OVERHEAD By Elisa Crouch, ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, Monday, Sep. 11 2006 Unless you moved to St. Louis yesterday, you know Lindbergh, Manchester, Olive and Kingshighway. What about CARDS, OZARK, LINDY and GATWY? The last four are routes that thousands of St. Louisans travel daily, but not by car. By airplane. The sky above Lambert Field is filled with routes and intersections, all given five-letter codes by air traffic controllers. The intersections are called fixed positions and they represent specific locations of latitude and longitude. They serve the same purpose as exits on an interstate. The names often come with a sense of humor. In the 1980s, flight officials in Kansas City named a fixed position over St. Louis COORS. Denver controllers wanted the name a few years ago. Controllers in St. Louis gave it to them and renamed their position AUGST, for August Busch. "We felt something along the lines of Anheuser-Busch would be more appropriate to the St. Louis area," said Steve Clark, an air traffic controller in Weldon Spring. There are points above St. Louis called DIRTT, FARMR, LORLE and HARDI. Others were inspired by sports. There's a departure route called BLUES. There are fixed positions called STAAN and MUZUL. There's a series of positions named for the game of pool. One arrival path moves from SCRCH to BREAK to FATSS to QBALL. Names at other airports are just as memorable. Approach Newark International Airport from the northeast and you'll either cross HOWYA or DOOIN. And who can forget HOLDM in Las Vegas? ***END*** 73, (Will Martin, MO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) So where is a comprehensive alphabetical key to these? (gh, DXLD) WORLD OF HOROLOGY +++++++++++++++++ ´´Autumn is approaching at fast speed it seems (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Sept 15, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Axually at normal speed, I bet (gh)´´ Approaching at the fast speed that is normal for this time of the year. At our latitude it becomes really striking after mid-August how the sun sets earlier every day. Last week I could still take notes outdoors after 1800 (8 PM local), yesterday it was already dark by then. And so it will continue until the end of October when DST ends and suddenly it's dark out there already at 5 PM. (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Sept 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) DST IN AUSTRALIA Currently Victoria, NSW, Victoria, Queensland and Tassie are +10 h. Next month Daylight savings kicks in for Victoria, NSW and Tasmania (+11 h). Queensland never uses daylight savings (the cows would get confused about milking time!!). South Australia uses daylight savings so they'll be +10.5 h. And Western Australia is +8h all year round. Looking at the following link Tasmania changes earlier than the other states: http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/averages/tables/dst_times.shtml If it's confusing for you guys it's just as bad here. Travelling to Queensland means you gain an hour during DST and ringing someone in Western Australia usually ends up with complaints about how early it is. Regards, (Wayne Bastow, Wyoming NSW, Sept 15, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) NT never observes DST, stays on UT +9.5. Bookmark to keep track of DST change dates [everywhere]: http://www.timeanddate.com/time/dst2006b.html where we see that Tas starts 30/9; LHI, NSW, ACT, Vic, SA start 28/10. (Glenn Hauser, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) A really good site to keep up with Australian time zones is http://www.abc.net.au/backyard/timezone.htm which automatically relates your local time and UT to the local time in each Australian time zone. 73- (Bill Westenhaver, QC, ibid.) Except it refers to ``saving`` or even ``savings``! (gh, DXLD) MUSEA +++++ ELECTRONICS MUSEUM Review of 20th century progress in electronics devices (1900~1999) Prelude: Progress of electric-magnetic devices in the second half of 19th century(1850~1899), splendid era in electrical engineering. Check it out. http://www.xcvcorp.com (cuhulin via rec.radio.shortwave via SW Bulletin Sept 17 via DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING DRM mentioned in this issue under GERMANY ++++++++++++++++++++ RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ RUSSIAN THERMOCOUPLE RADIO CIRCA 1956 go to: http://blog.modernmechanix.com/category/useless-tech/ third from bottom is this news item: Made in Moscow for use in rural areas, this all-wave radio is reportedly powered by the kerosene lamp hanging above it. A group of thermocouples is heated internally to 570 degrees by the flame. Fins cool the outside to about 90 degrees. The temperature differential generates enough current to operate the low-drain reciever. Regular listeners may want fur lined union suits, though: *it works best in a room with open windows.* (via Eric Flodén, BC, IRCA via DXLD) TINY TENNA SOAP BOX Not sure what "article" the gentlemen are referring to. But I will mention that at one time we offered the TinyTenna inside of a nice case, complete with jacks and adapters. And for only $13 more than the circuit board version. It didn't sell at all. I guess everybody likes the parts exposed. Hi (Bill Lauterbach - WA8MEA HamRadioFun.com Sept 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) MYSTERIOUS JAMMING IRKS RADIO STATIONS Hampton Roads (Virginia] stations try to find what's been interfering with programming this week. BY DAVID NICHOLSON September 16, 2006 http://www.dailypress.com/news/local/dp-28355sy0sep16,0,1968185.story?coll=dp-news-local-final Radio stations in Hampton Roads have been experiencing mini-blackouts in programming for the past two days due to unknown interference. The interference, possibly from ship radar traffic, interrupts the signal flow from the stations to the Driver section of Suffolk, where most local radio stations have their towers. The problem began around 6 a.m. Thursday with WHRO's two public broadcasting stations, WHRV-FM (89.5) and WHRO-FM (90.3), said John Heimerl, WHRO's chief enterprise officer. "When the interference is strongest, our digital decoders at the tower site are unable to produce programming, since the interference is stronger than the signals from our studios at Hampton Boulevard," Heimerl said in a staff memo. The problem also has been affecting other Hampton Roads radio stations, said Greg Gabriele, chief engineer for Clear Channel Broadcasting, which operates WCDG-FM (92.1), WOWI-FM (102.9), WKUS-FM (105.3) and WJCD-FM (107.7). "We've had radar problems in this area for years and years," said Gabriele. "It's something you run into in an area that has ports and a military." Beginning about five years ago, radio stations in this market began switching from analog to digital microwave equipment, said Heimerl. Digital delivers a cleaner signal but is more prone to outside interference. "We're finding that in the field, this digital equipment has a different set of problems," he said. Heimerl said WHRO has tried repositioning its microwave dishes and temporarily increasing its signal levels. The station may revert to older analog equipment until long-term solutions are found, he said. More expensive options include installing a fiber optics system or pairing the radio signals with WHRO's television signal, which operates at a higher frequency. Heimerl said he has contacted the Navy and commercial shipping representatives to request that they check for unlicensed or new transmitter activity in the area. WHRO radio hosts have been making frequent announcements to make listeners aware of the problem (via Andy Sennitt, dxldyg via DXLD) Same: UNKNOWN INTERFERENCE DISRUPTS RADIO STATIONS Hampton Roads VA Digital Radio Mystery By David Nicholson Daily Press September 15, 2006, 3:37 PM EDT http://www.dailypress.com/news/local/dp-signal-s15,0,6036053.story?coll=dp-news-local-final (via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) WOR TOWERS WILL COME DOWN NEXT WEDNESDAY --- 14 September 2006 The three 689-foot towers at the old Lyndhurst, N.J., facility of WOR(AM) will come down shortly after 10 a.m. next Wednesday, Sept. 20. The triangular towers are Ideco/Dresser structures erected between 1965 and 1967 and have been a staple along the New Jersey Turnpike since. Each has five guy wires. Tom Ray, VP and corporate DOE for Buckley Broadcasting/WOR, tells RW the tower crew will cut the three center wires on one leg of each tower. "The towers should come crashing down in a somewhat compact pile, almost straight down, within 60 seconds." Northeast Towers of Farmington, Conn., is doing the demolition work. WOR expects a number of news crews on hand (and RW's Scott Fybush will be there), but the station is "keeping everyone but Northeast Towers out of the fall zone, which we have defined as 750 feet from a tower base." More on WOR's Tower History at http://www.rwonline.com/dailynews/one.php?id=9735 WOR is a news and talk radio station. It is the only New York City AM station to have retained its original three-letter call sign, which are the oldest continually-used ones in the New York City area. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WOR_%28AM%29 (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) WOR Transmitter Site --- Ladies and Gents: The time has come. The WOR Towers in Lyndhurst, NJ will be coming down with a thud on Wednesday, 9/20 at a little after 10 AM [1400 UT]. We will carry it live on WOR, stream at http://www.wor710.com and at present are planning a limited video stream. Additionally, video will be available on the WOR website later that evening. If you're in the NYC area, expect to see it on all the TV stations' newscasts. Enjoy! (Tom Ray, WOR, AMSF via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ Re 6-138: Hi Glenn, re the Portuguese wire item (actually first reported by China's agency Xinhua) there's an earlier and more detailed report by the European Space Agency. Nice photos and bibliography, too. 73s (Andy Lawendel, Italy, Sept 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: CLUSTER LINKS MAGNETIC SUBSTORMS AND EARTHWARD DIRECTED HIGH-SPEED FLOWS 24 Aug 2006 High-speed flows of plasma, known as bursty bulk flows (BBF), are propagating in the inner central plasma sheet of the Earth's magnetotail at velocities higher than 300 kms-1. They are the carriers of decisive amounts of mass, energy and magnetic flux towards the Earth but their link to magnetic substorms was never absolutely established. . . http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object/index.cfm?fobjectid=39865 (via DXLD) ARRL GRANTED EXPERIMENTAL LICENSE FOR 500 KHZ RESEARCH BY RADIO AMATEURS [illustrated:] A map showing the locations and Amateur Radio call signs of the WD2XSH participants. [Larger version] 600-meter amp: An amplifier Fritz Raab, W1FR, and Mike Gladu, N1FBZ, put together for 500 kHz use. [Fritz Raab, W1FR, Photo]. Tuner in a tub: A 600-meter tuner designed and constructed by Fritz Raab, W1FR, and Mike Gladu, N1FBZ. [Fritz Raab, W1FR, Photo]. NEWINGTON, CT, Sep 15, 2006 -- The FCC's Office of Engineering and Technology has granted a Part 5 experimental license to the ARRL on behalf of a group of radio amateurs interested in investigating spectrum in the vicinity of 500 kHz. Experimental license WD2XSH was issued September 13. The two-year authorization permits experimentation and research between 505 and 510 kHz (600 meters) using narrowband modes at power levels of up to 20 W effective radiated power (ERP). ARRL Member Fritz Raab, W1FR, of Vermont, will serve as experimental project manager for "The 500 KC Experimental Group for Amateur Radio." . . . http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2006/09/15/104/?nc=1 (via Brock Whaley, DXLD) ZCZC AP38 QST de W1AW Propagation Forecast Bulletin 38 ARLP038 From Tad Cook, K7RA Seattle, WA September 15, 2006 To all radio amateurs SB PROP ARL ARLP038 ARLP038 Propagation de K7RA The Autumnal Equinox for the Northern Hemisphere will occur on September 23 this year (at 0402z). We've been moving from summertime propagation conditions to fall, which is generally a better time for HF propagation, except for the lack of sporadic-E skip. On 20 meters, instead of intercontinental openings into the evening, we see improved conditions well before dark. For instance, comparing projected conditions for this weekend from the East Coast USA to Europe, with conditions in early July, 20 meters was marginal during the morning and mid-day, but became better late in the day. Conditions between Pennsylvania and Germany around July 5 show a projected jump in signal levels around 2200z, then excellent propagation until around 0700z. But for mid-September 20 meters over the same path has rising signals from morning until early evening, with signals dropping after 2300z. 17 meters over the same path looks very good this weekend from 1230z until 2130z, but for early July the chances of a good path were much lower, except for a brief period around 0000-0030z. . . (Via Dave Raycroft, ODXA via DXLD) ###