DX LISTENING DIGEST 6-150, October 8, 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 1331 = 11-cubed: Mon 0300 WBCQ 9330-CLSB Mon 0415 WBCQ 7415 [time varies] Wed 0930 WWCR1 9985 Latest edition of this schedule version, including AM, FM, satellite and webcasts 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 ** AFGHANISTAN. Monitoring From North India; see DX-PEDITIONS. Radio Afghanistan was noted sign on at 0100 on MW 1107 kHz with lot of IDs. They were also noted at 2330 earlier with Ramadan prayers. On 1296 Ashna Radio (Radio Free Afghanistan) of VOA group was also heard very well. On the low power frequency of 1602 kHz at 0130 Radio Khost was noted signing on above the AIR stations. This station was also noted at 1530. 0n 9345 at 0300-1400 the station an Afghanistan sounding station was heard with continuous songs without announcements were heard before 0630 followed by news (Jose Jacob, Mussoorie DX-pedition, North India, dx_india via DXLD) ** AFGHANISTAN. What Hans Johnson might have heard on 9345, per Eibi, was Peace Radio which is located inside Afghanistan itself (located in Bagram), listed for 0030-1830; interesting as to how much power the transmitter had, being it was audible on the Swedish DXTuner receiver. At 0100 he may have actually heard North Korea signing on in English on the same channel, again per Eibi, since China has nothing registered on 9345 (especially as the new CRI listing from NDXC was released today). (Joe Hanlon, NJ, 10/4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AFRICA. http://www.africalist.de.ms updated today, October 7th. Not many big changes, some interesting details included, distilled from the very interesting observations recently published here, thanks to all the radioafricanists. 73s (Thorsten Hallmann, Münster, Westphalia, Oct 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALBANIA. B06 ALR Radio Tirana tentative schedule. 5910 1900 1915 28 SHI 100 0 .234567 SER/CRO 6035 2001 2030 28 SHI 100 0 .234567 ITALIAN 6110 2130 2300 28 SHI 100 300 1234567 ALBANIAN 6115 0245 0300 8 SHI 100 300 1.34567 ENGLISH 6115 0330 0400 8 SHI 100 300 1.34567 ENGLISH 6130 1945 2000 27,28 SHI 100 0 .234567 ENGLISH 7105 0730 1000 28 SHI 100 0 1234567 ALBANIAN 7425 0000 0130 8 SHI 100 310 1234567 ALBANIAN 7465 0245 0300 8 SHI 100 310 1.34567 ENGLISH 7465 0330 0400 8 SHI 100 310 1.34567 ENGLISH 7465 1945 2000 27 SHI 100 310 .234567 ENGLISH 7465 2001 2030 27 SHI 100 310 .234567 FRENCH 7465 2031 2059 28 SHI 100 0 .234567 GERMAN 7530 2100 2130 27 SHI 100 300 .234567 ENGLISH (R Tirana via wwdxc BC-DX Oct 5, 2006 via DXLD) ** ALBANIA. THE HISTORY OF RADIO TIRANA TRANSMITTERS In Albania broadcasting was started in the year 1937 with the installation of a mediumwave transmitter with a power of 10 W as well as studio apparatus, and all of these were installed in the building of Tirana Municipality. On 28 November 1938 the shortwave transmitter with a power of 3 kW was put into operation at Tirana (Laprake) and intended mainly for communication, but it was also used to transmit 3 hours of broadcast programmes per day. In 1940 a medium wave transmitter was installed with a power of 1 kW in the old building of Radio Tirana together with studio equipments. Later on several medium wave transmitters were installed with powers of around 60-300 W at Gjirokastra, Kucova, Shkodra, Korca and Vlora, which transmitted local programmes. Only after the liberation of Albania after World War II, and thanks to the attention of the Party (PKSH - Albanian Communist Party - later on in the '50s this Party was called PPSH-The Party of Labour of Albania) there were noted important steps in the development of broadcasting in Albania. So, in March 1952, at the outset of Congress II of the Party, there was inaugurated a mediumwave transmitter with a power of 50 kW at Tirana (Kashar), which at that time brought about a noticeable improvement in the situation of the coverage of our country, Albania. In November of the year 1961, at the outset of the 20th anniversary of creation of the Party, the Radio centre in Durres (Shijak) was opened with 3 transmitters, 2 of them on short waves with a power of 50 kW each (with the possibility to join together at 100 kW) for broadcasting external service transmissions outside of Albania, and 1 on medium wave with a power of 150 kW to transmit the domestic program of Radio Tirana (Note 2: The medium wave transmitter was proposed to broadcast transmissions outside of Albania, but from the beginning it was used for the transmission of the internal programme of Radio Tirana. In fact, the place of installation of this transmitter (in Shijak) was not so appropriate to cover inside Albania (much better it should be, for example, in Kashar), but it was installed there because it was proposed in the project to work with a directional antenna towards the Middle East for transmissions outside of Albania. Instead of the directional antenna there was installed an omnidirectional antenna with 129 m tall mast and the transmitter was used to broadcast the internal programmes of Radio Tirana. The new building of Radio Tirana was inaugurated in December 1965 with 8 transmitting studios, 5 recording studios, 5 montage studios, central and a large music studio. In October 1966 there was inaugurated at Durres (Fllaka) a medium wave transmitter with a power of 500 kW, and 5 years later close to it there was installed a second transmitter of 500 kW with the possibility to join together at 1000 kW. Both transmitters broadcast the programmes of Radio Tirana external services. In October 1967 the radio centre at Elbasan (Cerrik) was opened with 16 short-wave transmitters, of which 10 had a power of 50 kW each (with the possibility to join together in pairs at 100 kW) and 6 with a power of 15/25 kW each. Via this centre on shortwave the programs of Radio Tirana were broadcast to target areas outside of Albania. In 1987 Radio Tirana broadcast 66 hours of programmes a day in 20 foreign languages. A rental agreement between the Albanian Radio television and the Chinese Film and Radio Television was signed in Tirana on 16 December 2003 that leased the Radio Centre of Short Waves in Elbasan (Cerrik) to the Chinese for at least 15 years and this may be extended, depending upon the requirements of the two parties. The old Chinese short wave transmitters of Radio Tirana in Cerrik were dismantled and the Chinese, in a record period, transformed the building and surroundings at Cerrik by installing 6 new short wave transmitters with a power of 150 kW. CRI started its transmissions on short wave via Cerrik on 28 November 2004. The operational staff at Cerrik radio station are Chinese only (about 20 people), while the Albanian staff is left behind without knowledge of the new technology and without any operational access to the transmitters, serving only as a physical presence there, and better paid by the Chinese, maybe until they retire (most of them soon) - as I was recently informed by the Albanian Technical Director of Cerrik radio station. Radio Tirana on short wave via Cerrik was closed at the end of July 2004 and at the beginning of August 2004 (officially on 6 August) Radio Tirana started its broadcasts on short wave via Shijak, by inaugurating the 2 new Chinese Continental clone short wave transmitters with a power of 100 kW. The operational staff at Shijak radio station is Albanian plus 3 Chinese specialists. The Albanian chief and the staff of Shijak confidentially complain to us that the Chinese do not explain to them about, or assist them with the new technology and the use of the two new short wave transmitters at Shijak. During the years 1980-1983, based on a study made at the time, there were installed medium wave transmitters with a power of 50 kW at Kukes (1980 on 648 KHz),Korca (1981 on 1260 KHz), Gjirokastra (1983 on 909 KHz), Shkodra (1983 on 693 KHz) and, at Saranda (1982 on 864 KHz) with a power of 30 kW. (All these mediumwave transmitters were switched off in 2001 or 2002). Through these transmitters and the ones at Shijak (150 kW on 1089 KHz) and at Kashar (50 kW on 1359 KHz) the domestic program of Radio Tirana was broadcast. Also put into operation in the year 1980 was a frequency modulation transmitter with a power of 10 kW on Dajt Mountain (1613 m) on 99.5 MHz. Its FM signal serves two purposes, as a primary signal to feed the medium wave transmitters in Kukes, Korca, Gjirokastra, Shkodra and Saranda and for listeners of Radio Tirana who had FM capable receivers and lived within range of the transmitter. In the future (after the year 1987) it was predicted that a network of FM transmitters would be installed to broadcast in stereo the second programme of Radio Tirana. The very mountainous terrain of Albania and its bad conductivity causes considerable absorption of the ground wave. This is the reason that in such terrain the powerful transmitters do not have the required coverage and therefore the installation of a network of mediumwave transmitters is to be recommended instead. The small surface of the territory of Albania does not favour the use of short wave for its coverage. The sky wave propagates much farther than the ground wave reaching maximum distances 300-450 km away from the transmitter. Because the surface of Albania is small it is not possible to use the sky wave efficiently for its coverage. Therefore the coverage of Albania was based on ground wave propagation. Because in the mountainous part of Albania the ground wave undergoes considerable absorption the Fading Belt appears relatively close to the transmitters. Because the coverage of Albania day and night is based on the ground wave a vertical antenna was selected for the transmitter. This is a mast that is supported on a ceramic isolator where the mast itself plays the role of vertical radiator. The Shijak medium wave transmitter 1089 KHz radiating a power of 150 KW achieved the listening/coverage area for the Radio Tirana domestic programme during the day in about 65% of the territory, including entirely the surroundings of Durres, Kruaj, Lezha, Mirdita, Mat, Dibra, Tirana, Elbasan, Librazhd, Gramsh, Lushnje, Berat, Fier, Skrapar, most of the area surrounding Shkodra, Puka, Vlora, Tepelena, Pogradec, and small parts of the area surrounding Kukes, Korca and Permet. Also, this transmitter can be heard with good quality in the eastern part of Italy and in south-west Montenegro. And during the night hours about 31.9% (16% with good quality and 15.9% with reduced quality) in the cities of Durres, Shijak, Rrogozhina, Vora, Tirana, Kruja are included and most of the area surrounding Durres and Also parts surrounding Kruja, Tirana and Lushnja. Since February 3, 2006 around 0800 UTC the medium wave transmitter on 1089 Khz Shijak radio station (on air since 1961) is switched off by order. According to confidential information from our Technical Director to me, this transmitter was proposed for hire by Merlin Communications to their representative on 18 Jan 2006 by ARTV. Meanwhile RAI- Italy has recently requested to hire it, too (Compiled by Drita Cico Head of Monitoring Radio Tirana via T R Rajeesh, Oct World DX Club Contact, via DXLD) ** ANTARCTICA. ANTARTIDA, 15476, LRA 36 Radio Nacional Arcángel San Gabriel, 1950-2035, 06-10 [Friday], locutora, comentario partido de fútbol a jugar el domingo día 8, entre Boca Juniors y River Plate, historia de este clásico del fútbol argentino. A las 1953: "Hacemos una pausa musical y luego volvemos". "Continuamos desde Base Esperanza", canciones argentinas, canciones andinas, música de flauta. A partir de las 2035 prácticamente inaudible. Señal débil y con desvanecimiento. Se escucha mejor en USB. 24322 variando a 14211 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, Escuchas realizadas en Friol, 27 Km. W. de Lugo, Grundig Satellit 500 y Sony ICF SW 7600 G, Antena de cable, 10 metros, orientada WSW, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARGENTINA. Sobre el Esperanto --- Desde Esperanza en Santa Fe: programa semanal por FM e internet sobre Esperanto. Todos los viernes a las 18,15 hs [= 2115 UT] FM 107.1 Radio Aarón Castellanos de la ciudad de Esperanza en Santa Fe, viene transmitiendo un programa sobre el Esperanto. Lo dirige Abel Weiner, joven esperantista, Miembro de AEL, que se dedica a las tareas agropecuarias en una cooperativa de la zona. Tomado de http://www.esperanto.org.ar/ (Arnaldo Slaen, BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA, Oct 7, condig list via DXLD) ** ARGENTINA. See UNIDENTIFIED 13363 ** ARMENIA. Hello, Can confirm that Armenia has gone. Checked 9960 and 4810 kHz at 1910 UT. I'm glad I managed to get a few good off air recordings of this station. It's a great shame; Armenia was an interesting country to learn about, and now it's lost its voice (Christopher Lewis, Oct 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Christopher, Yes, see DXLD 6-149 and 6-148. Altho the Arabic broadcast on 4810 is apparently still running. Well, your Turkish friends should be pleased. 73, (Glenn to Christopher, via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA [and non]. Australia. Radio CVC International has been received in Sofia with a very strong signal on15795 kHz and weaker on 13630 kHz between 14 and 17 hours via transmitters in South Africa and Australia. The program is in English with religious contents and pop music. CVC is one of the stations of the Global radio organization Christian Vision. The Internet address is: http://www.cvc.tv and the QSL address: Christian Vision Communications, P. O. Box 6361, Maroochydore, Queensland 4558, Australia. (Rumen Pankov, Sofia, R. Bulgaria DX Oct 6 via John Norfolk, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) You mean 13635? That one is on the schedules via Darwin, Or 13830? That is Germany. And 15795 is Jülich, Germany, as one using Internet resources could know; see DXLD 6-132 and 6-131 (gh, DXLD) ** BHUTAN. Bhutan Broadcasting service was noted from 0000 to 0600 and later up to around 1500 on 6035 at fair to poor level. One hour English broadcasts were noted at 0500, 0900 and 1400 (Jose Jacob, Mussoorie DX-pedition, North India, dx_india via DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. There has been a lot of violent unrest in Huanuni; have we heard about it on US media? Of course not! Check http://www.abi.bo for lots of stories about it, including this one about R. Nacional Huanuni being bombed off the air Oct 5, but government promises to bring it back. WTFK? Is SW ever mentioned? WRTH 2006 has it on 5966, and PWBR 2006 on 5964.7 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: ABI: GOBIERNO PROMETE REESTABLECER LAS EMISIONES DE RADIO NACIONAL DE HUANUNI ``No es razonable que un medio de comunicación de esta naturaleza cancele su voz y este sumergida en el silencio``, lamentó el ministro Juan Ramón Quintana. Durante los enfrentamientos del jueves y del viernes los cooperativistas y asalariados destruyeron su propia capacidad productiva. [caption?] La Paz, 07 oct (ABI).- El Ministro de la Presidencia, Juan Ramón Quintana, se comprometió hoy a restablecer las emisiones de Radio Nacional Huanuni, vocero de los trabajadores asalariados de Huanuni, cuya antena e instalaciones fueron dañadas por las dinamitas lanzadas por cooperativistas en su enfrentamiento con los mineros asalariados este jueves y viernes en ese centro minero. ``Se ha destruido la Radio Nacional de Huanuni, han existido destrozos en el propio hospital eso se va ha evaluar (…). Trataremos de ver desde el Gobierno la reconstrucción inmediata de la Radio``, anunció el ministro Quintana. . . http://www.abi.bo/index.php?i=noticias_texto&j=20061007165912 (ABI via DXLD) Acerca de la situacion en Bolivia Estimados: Les recomiendo incursionar en la página http://www.radiopio12.org/ perteneciente a Radio Pio XII, para conocer otra visión sobre lo que está aconteciendo en Bolivia, especialmente en la zona minera. Obviamente, si pueden, no dejen de intentar sintonizarla en la frecuencia variable de los 5952 Khz. 73 (Arnaldo Slaen, BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA, Oct 7, condig list via DXLD) ** BRAZIL [and non]. 6089.96, R. Bandeirantes. No sign of Caribbean Beacon 3 Oct at 0924 tune-in. Talk by M, TC, usual cat meowing often, mention of California, São Paulo. 0926 ID/promo. Canned ID over music at 0929. More canned announcements and Bom Dia, then another ID. Caribbean Beacon finally came on at 0936:42 with 10 seconds of OC then audio on in mid-preaching (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, Oct 7, HCDX via DXLD) Probably 24h and a candidate for the het I hear around 0500 on CB, but that`s quite a bit more than 40 Hz (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. BRASIL, 4885, Rádio Clube do Pará, Belém, 0520-0545, 07-10, programa musical habitual en la madrugada de esta emisora "Clube da Madrugada", canciones, identificación: "Rádio Clube do Pará, Belém, Clube da Madrugada", "Rádio Clube do Pará, Onda Média, 690 kHz, Ondas Tropicais, 4885 kHz, banda [sic] de 60 metros, Amazônia, Pará, Belém". 34333 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, Escuchas realizadas en Friol, 27 Km. W. de Lugo, Grundig Satellit 500 y Sony ICF SW 7600 G, Antena de cable, 10 metros, orientada WSW, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. CFCY 630 KHz still on the air --- This might be the final opportunity to log Prince Edward Island on mediumwave. CFCY 630 kHz Charlottetown is still on the air as of 0156 UT October 8, 2006. Very tough to copy though with WPRO, CHLT, and CFCO also coming in on the frequency. WPRO has talk programming, CHLT is carrying the Toronto-Montreal NHL game in French, and CFCO I presume is the station with the game in English. CFCY has played some fiddle music and what sounds more like Irish music tonight when it has faded up. CHTN 720 is not audible at this time. I'll check during the day when it may actually be easier to hear. I suspect it may have signed off though (Wade Smith, New Brunswick, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Rolle Sandberg and Ilpo Parviainen are in Lemmenjoki and they listened to the CKDO-1580 anniversary special. They even called the station and talked about i.e. the setup in Lemmenjoki. The program was also heard in Kongsfjord in Norway by the participants of the KONG14-DXpedition according to their website http://www.kongsfjord.no/ Thank you to all involved in arranging this program! 73 (Hakan Sundman, Helsinki, via Saul Chernos, WTFDA-AM via DXLD) CKDO report-back --- Well, Rolle and Ilpo (of Finland) were the farthest callers last night. I had as much fun as all of you, but without a radio! I was in the studio, and with the station owner, program director and several on- air hosts took the call. We all knew that CKDO had already been received in Scandinavia in the past few weeks, but you can imagine what effect this call had on station owner and staff at the tail end of a day-long celebration of the station's 60th anniversary. The smiles were priceless. Patrick Martin of Oregon was our second- farthest caller. We were also heard in Norway, per the e-mail reprinted below. My intent last night was to be at the station for the tail end of the party and the start of the DX program, and expected to watch from the sidelines - and perhaps, if lucky, say a few quick words about the hobby and the clubs. Well, I ended up in there for the full show. I was able to let our listeners know about many of the clubs - NRC, IRCA, WTFDA, ODXA, even MARE, and rather than announce a million web sites I directed listeners to the ANARC web site and also suggested Googling the club names, to find out more. I am glad to see the broadcast got out as well as it did. The station decided to stick to basic morse code and not air the sweep tones. They created a digital 'cart' with the code following a full legal ID, explanation of the program, and toll-free phone number, and this ran on the half hour. They did not run sweep tones - my guess is this was seen as a program about DX and DXers, and decidedly not a test, and they spared the local listeners the screeching sound of such tones. I can appreciate that. I am not sure what cw or continuous wave sound like, but to my knowledge, they only aired morse code. Please correct me if I am wrong. A couple of you mentioned hearing CW... Please send your reports directly to the station. Its web site is http://www.ckdo.ca and e-mail is ckdo @ ckdo.ca While in one sense I have lost 1580, a fairly open frequency, and never did log a couple stations I really hoped to catch, the frequency was beginning to sound like a graveyard channel thanks to all the newer low-power outlets. Besides, I now have 1350 to play with, and we all have a station that is extremely DXer friendly that a lot of us can hear. I really hope this won't be the last DX event on CKDO, and I plan to keep in touch with management and some of the staff. For all the stations that don't give a whit about local, I am really impressed with this one. I would ask that you give a month or so for QSLs, and if nothing comes by mid-November to let ME know. The station is planning to have cards printed up. So please be patient. My thanks to Wayne Plunkett (not on these lists), who sold the station on the idea, and Les Rayburn and Doug Smith for supplying taped 'DX Test' content. And to all of you for passing on word (the program got extensive pre-publicity well beyond the lists where I posted the info. Thanks to the station personnel, for airing this event and being such great hosts. And, thanks to all of you who DXed CKDO and phoned in and/or e-mailed the station (Saul Chernos, ON, Oct 6, WTFDA-AM via DXLD) ** CANADA. I notice that Richard Wood was asking a couple of questions in the September 30 DXM, the first in the Western DX Roundup about CHMJ/730. Um, Richard, CHMJ is owned by the same company that operates CKNW/980. They share the Corus Group facilities in Downtown Vancouver (20th and 21st floors of 700 West Georgia Street -- the TD Bank tower). It's been years since the 'NW studios have been in suburban New Westminster. CHMJ has struggled for years, and its latest format is as "Vancouver's Traffic Station", whatever that's supposed to mean. Evenings and overnight, they carry a lot of repeat talk and sports from 'NW. Daytime, they provide traffic reports to 'NW. Richard's second query in the DX Forum is about "Sun Coast" heard mentioned on CFPR/860. Given that Rupert originates its own programming only between 6-9 a.m. Pacific, I'd guess what he's hearing overnight is BC weather forecasts provided to the whole BC network by CBC Vancouver. The "Sunshine Coast" is the area of the mainland northwest of Vancouver. Strictly speaking, it's the area around Powell River but most locals nowadays also apply the name to the Sechelt Peninsula as well (Theo Donnelly, Burnaby BC, IRCA DX Monitor Oct 6 via DXLD) ** CANADA. RCI Anomalies Oct 7 '06 --- Noted the RCI English/French interval signal constantly repeating on 6190 kHz at 0610 UT Oct. 7 '06; left it on a few minutes and it never went over to any program audio. Was RCI supposed to be transmitting on that frequency at that time at all, perhaps relaying some other station? It was coming in pretty well here in the Central US and I wish they'd put some worthwhile RCI or CBC programming in English on that frequency at that time; I've always wanted late-night RCI reception. Then at 1300 UT, when the Saturday-morning block was supposed to begin with the news and The House, 13655 kHz didn't start but the carrier came on and dropped off repeatedly, with a few words hearable once. I switched over to 9515 kHz and listened on that frequency which was operating normally. Later on I re-checked 13655 and it was on and stronger than 9515, which is usually the case. Listened to Quirks & Quarks then as usual. 73, (Will Martin, MO, Oct 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6190 is supposed to be relay of CRI in English at 05-06. See my previous report a few days ago where this was on Vietnam`s 6175 instead. I have a similar report for the 1300+ period: (gh, DXLD) Getting ready to listen to Vinyl Café via RCI, after hearing part of The House on 9515, I went to 13655, but it was missing at 1357 UT Oct 7. Quickly scanned the rest of 13 MHz for the transmitter on wrong frequency, but did not find it, nor on any other band. However, it came back on in time for VC starting at 1405. Afterwards at 1500 it went off again, but back in time for Quirks & Quarks at 1505 --- must be having problems (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA [non]. RCI will be re-adding a morning transmission to India for B06, which will be on the air at 0100-0157 UT. The evening transmission at 1500-1557 will remain on the schedule. 73, (Swopan Chakroborty, Kolkata, India, Oct 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WTFK? Site? ** CANADA. Re 6-149, mnemonic for CBC, Box 500, Station A, Toronto postal code M5W 1E6: Please pardon my perverted mind: Molesting five women, one envisions six (Joe Buch, DE, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. CBC getting rid of analog TV transmitters: see GERMANY ** CHINA. 6060, PBS Sichuan (presumed), Oct 7, 1039-1100, non-stop Chinese ballads, ToH 5 + 1 pips and then totally covered by sign-on of R. Nacional de Venezuela (via Cuba), unable to hear their usual program ID (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, RX340, with T2FD antenna, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. CRI English heard on new unlisted 15595, Oct 7 at 1350 with ID and ``Chinese Idioms`` overriding some other station. That would be DW in Dari via Wertachtal, per EiBi. Don`t find any listing of CRI on 15595, including July update of ILG and WRTH A-06 supplement, so must be a recent addition, and just another example of how not to be a good neighbor (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. Chinese firedrake logs --- (traditional Chinese opera) jamming: Firedrake 10/5/06, 10400, random checks between 1306 - 1415, SINPO 34433. Not heard on 13970 or 17330. (Had a rare morning to go in late to work, so I could check.) Firedrake all on 10/7/06: 10400, 1218-1404 (random checks), SINPO 34433. Gone at 1404 & 1437. 13970, 1220-1330 (random checks), SINPO 14332. Gone since 1330 check. 11605, 1214. SINPO 24332. Jamming CBS 1, Taipei, TWN. (Also heard.) 11785, 1251, SINPO 42443. Jamming VoA, Tinang, PHL. (Also heard.) 11920, 1308. SINPO 24333. Not clear what it might have been jamming, but I didn't research it extensively. 11990, 1308. SINPO 24333. Jamming VoA, Novosibirsk, RUS (not heard.) (Mark Taylor, Madison, WI, dxldyg via DX LISTIENING DIGEST) 6150, Firedrake, +1045-1115+ Oct 7. Noted the Firedrake music (Drums, Flutes and Gongs) blocking 6150 during the period. A parallel signal of Firedrake music was found on 10400. On the hour, the 10400 KHz signal dropped off of the air until 1105 while the Firedrake on 6150 remained on the air during this period - 1100 to 1105. Firedrake on 6150 was fair while Firedrake on 10400 was good (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston, Florida, NRD545, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. As I was close to Tibetan border, many Chinese domestic stations were heard very well on many frequencies in the 4, 6 & 7 MHz during local day time (say 0400-1100 UT). I am not very familiar with the complexities of Chinese broadcasting but here is a rundown of what was heard. 4905 weak 4820 weak parallel to 5935, 6050 4920 weak parallel to 5240 5240 Fair parallel to 6110 6120 6200 5905 Excellent 0400-0500 Russian External Service 5935 weak parallel to 6050 6085 parallel to 6150 7185 9575 6110 parallel to 6130 (Heard when Srinagar is off) 6130 Strong parallel to 5240 6110 6200 6150 parallel to 6085 7185 9575 6200 weak parallel to 5240 6110 6130 7125 7155 parallel to 9600 11630 7170 7185 parallel to 6085 6150 9575 7210 7230 parallel to 9510 7240 very strong 7275 parallel to 9560 7340 parallel to 9470 11630 11780 (11780 was faster by 8 seconds than 7340. 11630 was 1 second slower than 11780) 7385 very strong (Jose Jacob, Mussoorie DX-pedition, North India, dx_india via DXLD) ** COSTA RICA. Faro del Caribe volvió a la onda corta???? El colega danés Anker Petersen reporta una emisora en español en los 5054.7 lo que tal vez representaría el retorno a la onda corta de la costarricence Faro del Caribe. En la web de la emisora en http://www.farodelcaribe.org/informacion.html no hay info al respecto, pero sí se señala esta interesante novedad: La emisora planea una nueva sede y señala: "Este proyecto cuenta con tres Etapas principales que son: 1. Edificio principal de cuatro plantas, con su plataforma principal para atención al público, parqueos y accesos a la emisora. 2. Auditorio con capacidad para unas mil personas y plazoleta de eventos. 3. Edificio de tres plantas para Escuelas de Música, de Consejería y Ministros de la Radio, con el único propósito de ayudar al desarrollo de nuestras iglesias en toda Latinoamérica." (Arnaldo Slaen, BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA, Oct 7, condig list via DXLD) ** COSTA RICA. 13750.18, World University Network, Cahuita, noted with fair signal in southern Germany. English at 2130 UT Oct 7, S=3-4. Endless boring speech. At same time also RHC 15230 noted on S=3 level (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) This is no exceptional catch here, but note the frequency offset. A.k.a. Defunct Gene Scott, a.k.a. TIRWR. He called his organization a ``university``, much to the detriment of any real university which deals with the entire universe of knowledge, while he dealt only with fantasy in one narrow topic (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. QSL, QSL, QSL on the air from Havana to the many DXers Unlimited listeners around the world that have written during the past several weeks reporting good reception of our 6060 kiloHertz English language program heard between 05 and 07 UT. The antenna we are using on 6060 kiloHertz is our new East Coast of North America curtain array, it is technically speaking according to ITU definitions an HR 4, 4, 0.8 system, that meaning that it has 4 sets of dipoles set in four rows and four columns a configuration that provides close to 20 decibels of effective antenna gain over a half wave dipole placed at the center of the array. The new antenna is also getting reports from Europe, where listeners that wake up very early in the morning are picking up the last hour of the English program between 06 and 07 UT. If you are picking up Radio Havana Cuba on 6060 kiloHertz in Spanish from 00 to 05 UT, you are listening to the same antenna and transmitter combination too (Arnie Coro, CO2KK, RHC DXers Unlimited Oct 7, ODXA via DXLD) [non] see U S A WRMI ** ECUADOR. 4919.0, Radio Quito, La Voz de la Capital, Quito, 0425- 0708, 07-10. Luego de mucho tiempo sin recibirla, se escuchaba hoy durante las últimas horas de la noche y al amanecer. Bonito programa de canciones latinoamericanas, merengue, canciones románticas y noticias a las horas. Frecuentes identificaciones. Locutor: "Con este ritmo estamos aquí en Radio Quito". "Que bonito ritmo en Radio Quito, ésta es la mejor emisora, claro". "Escuchen la canción Guantanamera, con la jovencita Celia Cruz". "Radio Quito, La Voz de la Capital". "Para los ecuatorianos que viven en el exterior, Radio Quito, La Voz de la Capital, 760 AM y en onda corta, 4920 kHz, banda internacional de 60 metros". A las 0500: "Desde el Ecuador, transmite Radio Quito, La Voz de la Capital, noticias del Ecuador y del mundo" Noticias. En Radio Quito, la hora, 12 de la noche 30 minutos". "Radio Quito, para estar bien informado" (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, Escuchas realizadas en Friol, 27 Km. W. de Lugo, Grundig Satellit 500 y Sony ICF SW 7600 G, Antena de cable, 10 metros, orientada WSW, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4918.97, R. Quito, Back on again!! 6 Oct, 0856 news or press program. Music bridge and ID by M. Still distorted, but strong with QRM from ZY below. Music program after ToH (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, Oct 7, HCDX via DXLD) ** FAROE ISLANDS. Re 6-149: According to Utvarp Foroya website http://www.uf.fo/sendinet.asp MW 531 kHz is in use every day and not only Sundays. Mon-Fri 0700-2310 Sat 0715-0100 and Sun 1000-1900 - all local time, which is UT (Summer UT +1h). 73 (Ydun Ritz, Denmark, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn: Although correct in essence, the message about Utvarp Foroya in DXLD 6-149 (Oct. 6) could be misleading. The Sunday transmissions mentioned refer only to the use of 200 kW. Utvarp Foroya maintains its service on 531 kHz as mentioned in WRTH etc. but with 100 kW of power except Sundays 10-19 UT when 200 kW is used. Heard here often, the DJ Tummas Gudmundsen promptly verified my report on his 15 Top Hits program Saturday night 2000-2050 UT (approx.) (Ullmar Qvick, Norrköping, Sweden, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Have you been listening at the times the power changes? I bet it is barely noticeable, perhaps more so on fringe of surface wave coverage area (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I assume the original item refers just to full power operation. UF usually runs the mediumwave transmitter at 100 kW but has a behaviour to use 200 kW during certain broadcasts (like sea weather forecasts). So presumably it was meant to say that at present they operate the transmitter only on Sundays "mit 200 kW" (Kai Ludwig, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FINLAND. Almost slipped by us this time. This was not sent until 0749 UT (gh) Welcome to listen SWR's October 2006 transmission - 24 hours on 1602 KHz MW and on SW's....! Reception reports are highly appreciated and specially important is info of best and worsiest times on each frequency as well knowledge of source and type of interference --- this info will help us much when planning our winter schedule. All correct reports with handling cost of 2 Euro/2 IRC's (correctly stamped!) will be verified with our QSL- card. Postal address for reports is SWR, P O Box 99, 34801 Virrat Finland. More info can be found: http://www.swradio.net Here's our schedule for this transmission day: MW --- 24 hours 1602 kHz 48 MB 00-01 (21-22 UT) 6170 kHz 01-06 (22-03 UT) 5980 kHz 06-19 (03-16 UT) 6170 kHz 19-21 (16-18 UT) 5980 kHz 21-24 (18-21 UT) 6170 kHz 25 MB 00-09 (21-06 UT) 11720 kHz 09-14 (06-11 UT) 11690 kHz 14-21 (11-18 UT) 11720 kHz 21-24 (18-21 UT) 11690 kHz 73' (Alpo Heinonen, Scandinavian Weekend Radio, via gh, 1443 UT Oct 7, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I've been listening to SWR on 11720 kHz for the past half hour or so; reception was good until Radio Pilipinas signed on at 1730. The two stations are now mixing about equal strength here (Dave Kenny, Caversham UK, AOR7030 + 80ft LW, 1736 UT Sat Oct 7, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) FINLANDIA, 11690, Scandinavian Weekend Radio, 0625-0657, 07-10, canciones en inglés, locutor, finlandés, identificación en finlandés y en inglés: "Scandinavian Weekend Radio, P. O. Box 99, FI-34801, Virrat, Finland". Por momentos excelente señal, pero con desvanecimiento. 44423 variando a 34422 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, Escuchas realizadas en Friol, 27 Km. W. de Lugo, Grundig Satellit 500 y Sony ICF SW 7600 G, Antena de cable, 10 metros, orientada WSW, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FINLAND. Radio Suomi --- Anche oggi come domenica scorsa (non posso confrontare con gli altri giorni) piuttosto forte la Finlandia su 11755, 55333, dalle 0815 UT con una mattinata musicale in parte italiana. E' stata una sorpresa ascoltare "Te voglio bene assaje" (in finlandese o idioma simile!!!) e "Maledetta primavera", cantata in italiano da un uomo, seguita però da una chiara citazione "Loretta Goggi". Alle 0855 notiziario, sicuramente iniziato con le notizie sportive, visto che ripetutamente si è sentito Ferrari, Alonso, Renault, Schumacher. Più volte ripetuta l'identificazione Radio Suomi. RX Degen 1103 con stilo (Gianfranco Buonomo, Pontecagnano (SA), AIR 8BG57 - SWL I856330/SA, Oct 8, bclnews.it via DXLD) ** FRANCE [non]. RFI relays via Merlin-VT brokery in B-06 season: 5995 1800-1900 RFI Tashkent 100 255 Pashto ME 6015 1800-1900 RFI Dhabbaya 250 0 Pashto ME 7270 0400-0500 RFI Ascension 250 114 French S AF 9865 0600-0630 RFI Ascension 250 27 English W AF 9865 0630-0700 RFI Ascension 250 27 French W AF 15210 0400-0600 RFI Dhabbaya 250 255 French E C AF 15275 1200-1230 RFI Ascension 250 27 English W AF 17770 0600-0657 RFI Kigali 250 280 French C AF (via ADDX, Andreas Volk-D, wwdxc BC-DX Oct 3 via DXLD) ** GABON. Hi Glenn, some little pieces of info again: Observations on Africa no. 1: It seems the harmonic on 19160 develops only/mainly in the evening, never heard it before 1700. On some days, the other transmitter leaves 15475 at 1700, back at 1800, some days 1600-1900 continuously. Modulation on this tx is significantly stronger than on 9580. 73s (Thorsten Hallmann, Münster, Westphalia, Oct 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re 6-149: Looking for the Africa Numéro Un harmonic of 9580 on 19160, indeed audible, Oct 7 as early as 1334 with music, but just barely compared to the previous afternoon; a little better at 1426 recheck. May well build up during the day. [Later:] No, not audible around 2000 unlike yesterday (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Africa Number One, 19160 (// 15475) was audible with fair signal during several checks between about 1830 and 1945z. Fundamental frequency of 9580 was inaudible during that entire time. I wonder if the harmonic emissions reduce the power transmitted on the fundamental frequency? Also, I wonder if ANO uses a single frequency antenna system, further reducing the ERP on the harmonic? (Jerry Lenamon, Waco Texas, Oct 7, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. Berlin: 567 kHz mast gone --- it is more or less old news by now, but to keep the chronicle complete: The antenna mast of the former Stallupöner Allee site in Berlin has been dismantled earlier this year. The site ceased to transmit on Dec 31 2005 at midnight sharp, when the last, low powered transmitter on 567 kHz left the air. This was the result of a decision by Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg to abandon the mediumwave facilities and sell the station grounds within a program of cost-saving measures. Of course this decision also means that DRM was considered as irrelevant. Well, Inforadio, RBB's all-news station, still has no full FM coverage in Brandenburg and will most likely never have. 567 kHz with 50 kW would have filled all the gaps during daytime. The other side of this story is that the mentioned cost-saving program did not include shutting down a complete radio station, as happened at Hessischer Rundfunk. Just not the circumstances under which insiders would dare to lament the demise of 567 too much (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Oct 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY [and non]. Re CANADA, Over-the-air TV (DXLD 6-148) --- ``Despite these high coverage levels and availability of signals, use of over-the-air signals in Canada has been in decline for years and is now the lowest in the world. Only 12% of Canadians rely on over-the- air reception to receive their television signals.`` That's by far not the lowest use of OTA signals in the world, unless perhaps the CBC's world is limited to the western hemisphere. Here in Germany this figure went down into the low one-digit figures (like four, three, two), and it was already under consideration if the so- called service order still requires the public broadcasters to maintain the expensive network of TV transmitters when almost nobody is watching anymore. In the end this led to the quick replacement of analogue signals by DVB-T that at present takes place here. To me it is quite apparent that CBC's actual objective here is to get rid of the TV transmitter network in the sparsely populated areas of Canada, and they want to sell this ordinary shut-down as an "analogue switch-off", just to create a positive spin. Reminds me in some way to RBB's original plans to shut down the TV transmitters serving Brandenburg in next year. However, meanwhile these plans were modified, the Booßen (near Frankfurt/Oder) and Calau transmitter sites are now to be used for DVB-T. This will be a service of rather limited use, expected to not be sufficient for indoor reception even in the 100,000 inhabitants town of Cottbus, 15 km east of Calau. But there is another aspect: Not using these frequencies for broadcasting may result in loosing them to the telcom/cellphone industry for good. The cellphone companies act as gatekeepers on DVB-H and DMB transmissions, so they are no real broadcasting services anymore. That's the actual background of all the blahblah about "more efficient use of the spectrum". (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Oct 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. European Music Radio was heard again in Sofia September 17 from 12 to 13 hours on 6045 kHz with a relatively weak signal. This station appeared in 1976 as a pirate radio broadcasting on frequencies between 6200 and 6400 kHz. At present it is officially licensed and uses a transmitter of T- Systems, ex-Deutsche Telekom (Rumen Pankov, Sofia, R. Bulgaria DX Oct 6 via John Norfolk, dxldyg via DXLD) ?? Do you have to get a license to produce radio programs in Germany, when you are just buying time on someone else`s transmitter? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUAM. See UNIDENTIFIED 13363 ** HAWAII. 690/1180. KORL/KHCM. HI, Honolulu --- KORL/KHCM still have not exchanged frequencies as of 9/28, even though they were scheduled to do so this past summer. The FCC database however has jumped the gun, already listing KORL on 1180 and KHCM on 690. (5P-HI) (Dale Park, IRCA DX Monitor Oct 6 via DXLD) ** HUNGARY Winter B-06 schedule of Radio Budapest English to Eu 1600-1628 Sun 6025 9565 2000-2028 Daily 3975 6025 2200-2228 Daily 6025 English to SoAf 2200-2228 Daily 9535 English to NoAm 0200-0228 Daily 6110 0330-0358 Daily 6035 German to Eu 1300-1358 Sun 6025 7215 1500-1558 Sun 6025 7275 1800-1858 Sun 3975 6025 1830-1858 Mon-Sat 3975 6025 2030-2058 Mon-Sat 3975 6025 French to Eu 1700-1728 Daily 3975 6025 2100-2128 Daily 6025 Hungarian to Eu 0500-1158 Sun 6025 relay Kossuth Radio 0500-1658 Mon-Sat 6025 relay Kossuth Radio 1200-1258 Sun 6025 1400-1458 Sun 6025 1900-1958 Daily 3975 6025 2100-2200 Daily 3975 2300-2358 Daily 6025 Hungarian to NoAm 0100-0158 Daily 6110 0230-0328 Daily 5980 2200-2258 Daily 6140 Hungarian to SoAf 2000-2058 Daily 9620 Hungarian to SoAm 2300-2358 Daily 12030 9580 0000-0058 Mon 12030 9580 Hungarian to AUS 1200-1258 Daily 17670 1900-1958 Daily 11755 Italian to Eu 1730-1758 Daily 3975 6025 2130-2158 Daily 6025 Russian to Eu 0400-0428 Daily 3975 6025 1630-1658 Sun 3975 6025 1800-1828 Mon-Sat 3975 6025 2030-2058 Sun 3975 6025 Spanish to Eu&SoAm 0430-0458 Daily 3975 6025 2230-2258 Daily 6025 7150 (via ADDX, Andreas Volk-D, wwdxc BC-DX Oct 3 via DXLD) ** INDIA. Report from North India; see DX-PEDITIONS below (Note : Timing of Indian stations are mostly in IST [UT + 5:30] unless mentioned in UT. All others in UT) It was observed that the low power 1 kW AIR MW stations in the area started their broadcasts only in the evenings. Several of them were heard starting their programs with Vanthe Matharam sign on routine as follows; 5.00 pm 1602 kHz AIR Pauri 5.15 pm 1602 kHz AIR Pithorgarh (Relay of Almora) 5.30 pm 1584 khz AIR Kalpa? 5.39 pm 1602 kHz AIR Uttarkashi 5.40 pm 1485 kHz AIR Gopeshwar? At 4.55 pm, 1602 kHz, an unidentified AIR station was heard with Vanthe Matharam sign on. Being very close to Jammu & Kashmir State, the stations from there were monitored clearly. 684 kHz, Radio Kashmir, Srinagar Yuv Vani program noted in evenings/night. No ID of the new station AIR Kargil observed. 1089 kHz, AIR Naushera noted with relay of Radio Kashmir Jammu only in the mornings. They used to start abruptly in the middle of the programs at various times and rarely started the relay on time at 5.55 am. 1350 kHz, AIR Kupwara, Kashmir noted sign off at 10 pm, co-channel interference from AIR Jalandhar B (Vividh Bharathi) Radio Kashmir Srinagar was heard on 1116 4950 & 6110. In the late evenings severe co-channel interference was noted from a Chinese station. They were also noted with the special programs for Ramadan from 4.15 to 5.15 am on 1116 & 4950. Radio Kashmir Leh was noted very well on 1053, 4760 & 6000 (full sked with changes observed given elsewhere) Radio Kashmir, Jammu was noted back on SW (4830 5965) on 29 Sept 2006 after being off air for some time. Their MW frequency of 990 kHz was also very clear in darkness hours. Radio Sadayee Kashmir transmissions from Delhi was heard well on 6100 at 0230-0330 & 1430-1530 and on 9890 at 0730-0830 UT. The strongest local station was AIR Shimla on 3223 and 6020. They were noted with several strong spurious signals also on 3161 3190 3255 and 5986 6052 6080 etc. The Uttaranchal program of AIR Delhi was noted well on 6030 at 0200- 0310 & 1215-1430 UT. The 500 kW Vividh Bharathi transmissions from Bangalore was normally noted at excellent level on 10330 during day/night. However the 9425 Khz National Channel also from Bangalore used to fade out late in the night till early morning. On FM all the 9 FM stations from Delhi about 200 km away were monitored there at fair level (see Appendix. 1). At Mussoorie which is 2000 M above MSL besides all the Delhi stations the following AIR stations from long distances were also noted on FM 100.2, Patiala sign on at 5.55 am 101.4, Kurukshetra sign on at 5.55 am 107.2, Kasuali 5.55 am sign on with relay of AIR Chandigarh till 2.00 pm followed by relay of FM Rainbow. AIR Mussoorie operates on 102.1 at 5.55 am to 11.06 pm. Local id is given at sign on followed by relay of AIR FM Rainbow, Delhi from 6.00 am. This station is heard in a wide area. While at Mussorie test tones and continuous music were noted for long time in the afternoons/ evenings on 104.0 MHz for a long time, may be some new station / transmitter testing. Vividh Bharathi programs were also noted faintly on 100.9 (Shimla?) and 103.5 (Rohtak?) Discussions are going on for setting up a community radio station Lal Bahadur Shastry National Academy of Administration. ALL INDIA RADIO HS SW SCHEDULE WITH CHANGES OBSERVED. (Full schedule of the channel is listed in UT, including the changes) 4760 Leh s0130/w0213-0400/0413, 1200-1700 4880 Lucknow 0025-0430(Sun 0415) 4960 Ranchi 0025-0445, 1100 (Sun 1130)-1741 5985 Ranchi 0630-1000 (Sun 1130) 6000 Leh 0700(Sun 0630)-0930 6020 Shimla 0700(Sun 0630)-0930 6110 Srinagar 0225-0509 (Sun 1115), 0600-1115 7105 Lucknow 0700(Sun 0415)-1000, 1005-1006 Appendix 1: Delhi FM Stations: 1. 91.0 Radio City 2. 92.7 Big FM 3. 93.5 Red FM 4. 94.3 Radio 1 5. 95.0 Hit FM 6. 98.3 Radio Mirchi 7. 102.6 AIR FM Rainbow 8. 105.6 Gyan Vani 9. 106.4 AIR FM Gold (Jose Jacob, Mussoorie DX-pedition, North India, dx_india via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. 30 SONGS TO BE BROADCAST FROM LUNAR-PROBING SATELLITE http://www.chinaview.cn 6 October 2006 Beijing Xinhua http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-10/06/content_5172200.htm China announced a list of 30 songs to be broadcast to Earth next year from its first lunar-probing satellite, the authorities said. The Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, in charge of the lunar project, announced Friday a list of 30 tunes to be played from the lunar-probing satellite, which coincides with this year's traditional Mid-Autumn Festival or the Moon Festival, a time for family reunions. The songs were chosen according to public votes and by a panel of experts, organized by the commission, China Central Television and China Musicians Association. Experts said these songs can express Chinese people's love for the motherland, for life, peace and their pursuit of truth and nature, which will showcase the beauty of Chinese culture and its influence. Most of the songs were Chinese folk songs. The song got most votes was folk song "My Wonderful Home Town", followed by "I Love China", "Singing Praises of Motherland" and 27 others. China's national anthem and "The East is Red", a tribute song to Mao Zedong, which was broadcast in 1970 from the country's first man-made terrestrial satellite, will also be played from the satellite. The satellite project was approved by the Chinese central authorities in 2004 as part of the three-stage Chang'e Program. The project has a budget of 1.4 billion yuan (170 million U.S. dollars). The program, named "Chang'e" after the legendary Chinese goddess who flew to the moon, aims to eventually place an unmanned vehicle on the moon by 2010. The lunar satellite is designed to obtain 3D images of the lunar surface, analyze the content of useful elements and materials, and probe the depth of the lunar soil and the space environment between the earth and the moon. It will orbit the moon for one year (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) WTFK??? If they really want to make an impact, it should be on SW or some frequency anyone with a modest receiver can pick up, like Sputnik I on 20009v kHz on Oct. 4, 1957 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAQ. Google Earth SW transmitter site: Salah el Deen - Balad (Iraq) 34 01' 19.41" N, 43 58' 54.06" E. From 1983 to 1987, I was working at this big short wave transmission site (Balad) (16 x 500 KW + 95 antennas & 4 dummy loads). Today, seeing the pictures, only left the bombed transmitters and power house buildings. All the towers and rotating SW antenna have been removed or stolen. All impedance transformers on both sides of long straight building that was housing the 1500 switches are gone, the feeders also. The houses on the base camp are gone too, only left the what was unable to be removed --- the swimming pool! Nothing left. Heart broken (Denis, Oct 8, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ITALY. Detective work POWER FM on 6878 kHz via PIRATE MUSIC Hi! On 6878 kHz is operating Pirate Music; they "love" to relay broadcasts from different legal radio stations (without asking for permission). In past they have relay many stations, even RAI 2 for example, naturally with no authorisation and in past on many frequencies on SW. Now, usually they relay a program called Power FM - -- it is not the FM station operating from XXmiglia cause they have the WEB audio link broken, http://www.powerfmonline.it so if you visit another Power FM based in Italy and operating only as WEB radio http://www.radiopower.it/ you will find interesting information about their story, and the information the manager Mr. Adriano Ronchi is the original founder of Power FM a local FM station operating in Milano city and which changed name to PLANET FM some 10 years ago, and still operating on FM. Past night at 0015-0030 UT I have listened on 6878 kHz and with my surprise I have heard PLANET FM http://www.radioplanet.it/ Radio Planet FM, Via Legnone 45, 20158 Milano Email: radioplanet @ radioplanet.it program in // with 95.10 MHz, a coincidence ??? Also pirate listener Silveri Gomez told me he heard on 6878 kHz at same time Planet FM on 6878 kHz. This evening again is heard with SINPO 45544 the Power FM on 6878 kHz (be quiet, the audio is not the same as the one on WEB radio Power FM) but if you read the story of POWER FM web radio http://www.radiopower.fm/storia.htm it is in Italian (sorry) it is explained the station is operated by Adriano Ronchi --- and the coincidence the V/s of Pirate Music is Adriano --- PIRATE MUSIC 6878 KHz Conferma con QSL elettronica in 2 giorni. Rapporto inviato via email all’indirizzo piratemusic@hotmail.it con e-mail in 2 giorni. V/s Adriano So my guess is the SW transmitter is located at his parent`s house in the area of Canegrate (40 Km north to Milano) and studios are in Milano, in Via Legnone, just 400 meters from my home. Well now you may send your reports also by snail mail to this "real pirate" operating on shortwave.... Power FM, attention "BIG BOSS 1" Adriano Ronchi, Via Legnone 45, 20158 Milano (MI) Italy (the street address in the WEB of Planet FM is intentionally written wrong!!!!!!) Comments, reactions, suggestions are welcome (Dario Monferini http://www.playdx.com Oct 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I suppose you want to expose your neighbor for some reason (gh, DXLD) PIRATE MUSIC --- 6878 kHz, 1505-1530 UT. Again the Pirate Music presumably located in northern Italy is on air transmitting music and ID jingle "Powerfm". The signal here (60 Km 60 south of Rome) is 2-3 with high QRN on the band. 73's (Francesco Ceccone, Oct 8, http://swli05639fr. blogspot. com/ bclnews.it via DXLD) ** JORDAN. 11690: Jordan is not on air today (Sunday Oct. 8) at 1415 check. There is a very weak signal on the frequency and the language appears to be Spanish (HCJB?) rather than Finnish. I assume that SWR is still on air today but there is no audible signal on 11720 either - the channel is splashed by Liberty in Russian via listed Lampertheim (Noel R.Green (NW England), dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Did you check 11960, where Jordan in English jumped last week??? Hurry before 1630*. SWR never runs on Sunday, except for an occasional additional holiday broadcast (Glenn, 1557 UT Oct 8, ibid.) Drat --- no I didn't check 11960, but your mail arrived at 1625 so it should have been still on air, but it wasn't there when I tuned. Just lots of slop from a very loud CRI in English on 11965. And by this time CRI French was occupying 11690 (Noel R. Green (NW England), ibid.) ** KASHMIR. Jose Jacob`s monitored from N. India: see INDIA; PAKISTAN ** KOREA NORTH. 9665.12, Korean Central Broadcasting Station, (Presumed), 1020-1040 Oct 7. Noted steady choral music until 1030 when man gives brief announcement. This followed by National Anthem (presumed), then woman talks briefly. This followed with Korean EZL music. Signal was good by 1040 (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston, Florida, NRD545, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MAURITANIA. ORTM finally heard on 4845, Sunday Oct 8 around 0555, and on past 0615 in Arabic. Previous days had been off the air at this time. Why would they have a different sked on Sunday during Ramadan? Christian influence nevertheless? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 6010, Radio Mil, 0725-0820, 07-10, locutor y locutora, programa "Buenos días México", comentario sobre senderismo y parques acuáticos en Mexico, anuncios comerciales, identificación: "Radio Mil", "visite nuestra página web: http://www.radiomil.com.mx --- también puede escucharnos por la onda corta". Señal débil. 24322 variando a 14321 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, Escuchas realizadas en Friol, 27 Km. W. de Lugo, Grundig Satellit 500 y Sony ICF SW 7600 G, Antena de cable, 10 metros, orientada WSW, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. Desde ayer 4 de octubre y hoy por la mañana recibo aquí en el centro sur de la Ciudad de México con buena señal a XEXQ Radio Universidad de San Luis Potosí, México. Incluso llegando a un SINPO de 4. Al parecer habrán hecho algún ajuste ya que, tenía algunos meses de escucharse muy baja o simplemente no escucharse. Hoy viernes 6 de octubre a las 1345 UT muy buena presencia de XEXQ en los 6045 kHz con SINPO casi de 5; Grundig Satellit 500, antena externa dipolo de 10 m. Lugar centro sur de la Ciudad de Mèxico, Buen fin de semana (Julián Santiago Díez de Bonilla, condig list via DXLD) ** NEPAL. Radio Nepal was heard sign on at 2315 UT on 576, 648, 684, 792 and 810 kHz but not on the listed 1143 kHz. 5005 was also heard later. At 2315 UT they have chimes for 5 O' clock (am). From 1615 UT on 576 BBC relays were heard (Jose Jacob, Mussoorie DX-pedition, North India, dx_india via DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA. Glenn, since you are an OK guy :) can you help me? This morning about 0700 UT I heard ESPN sport on 1640. There was a mention of Oklahoma in a trailer but I'm not sure if it was a local insert or not (I'm away from home at the moment so I can't check my recording). If the trailer were local then the station would be KXFY, Enid OK. Do you know if this station is now running ESPN; I believe it used to run Fox Sports (Paul Crankshaw, Troon, Scotland, Oct 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Paul, I will try to check this further for you, tho I hate listening to such programming. I can tell you that its sister station KCRC 1390 is on the other sports network, so maybe it was cross-promotion? KFXY- 1640 would be a good and rather rare catch, it seems, from your worldpart (Glenn to Paul, via DXLD) Like Steve, I logged ESPN on 1640. "Oklahoma" was mentioned in a trailer, but I'm not sure if it was a local insert - in which case it would be KFXY, Enid OK. I'll listen again to the recording. 1640, UNID, ESPN Radio, 0642 07/10 PC (Paul Crankshaw, MWC via DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA. This will not be of any practical use outside my neighborhood, but I include it as an example of odd things that can happen, and because this is in effect my log where I report everything I hear. Oct 7 at 1321 in bandscanning I found a wideband scratchy FM signal peaking about 10780 and spreading some 50 kHz either way. Country, gospel music and announcements in English, but very distorted. I realized this had to be an FM radio radiating on its IF, nominally 10.7 MHz, but this one quite a bit off. Certainly no radio in my house was turned on to such a station, so it must be from a neighbor. I tuned around on the YB-400 to find a match, and did not have to go further than 93.1, which would be the Pratt/Hutchinson KS station, enhanced by tropo into a strong signal. So someone nearby was listening to it and also retransmitting it without realizing it. (Or it could have been some other more local station carrying exactly the same programming --- these days one can never expect any radio station to be originating its own unique programming!) Fortunately there was no NASA launch activity, as 10780 is their prime communications frequency from Cañaveral downrange and would have been blocked at WOR HQ (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAKISTAN. The following stations of Radio Pakistan (may be new ones) were heard which is unlisted in their official website or in WRTH 2006. --- 1134, 1170, 1332. Most MW stations of Pakistan were monitored. Most of them signed on at 0045 UT but being the Ramadan season many of them were heard with special prayers etc. earlier e.g.: 540, 1152 kHz 2250-2345 936, Azad Kashmir Radio was noted from 0040 UT with separate AKR Mirpur ID. 1080, Lahore was heard only one day in the morning English news was observed at 0300 1100 and 1600 UT on all their MW stations. (E.g. at 1600 UT, English news was observed on 540 585 630 756 828 927 936 1035 1134 1152 1170 1332 1341 1557 etc.). The other channels monitored were 567 729 1008 1080 1404 1476 1512. The News & Current Affairs channel was heard well on 1152 1170 1332. At 0311 UT in English they announce that this service is being heard in Ladak (India), Afghanistan and Tajikistan. 792 AKR Muzzafarrabad was not heard. This frequency was dominated by Radio Nepal. The other MW stations not heard: 612 639 855 1098 1260. The Home Service SW schedules were irregular with normally very rough audio, hum etc. Quetta was noted on 5034 drifting (scheduled on 5025) at sign on at 0045 and also at night till around 1805. Islamabad was noted irregularly on 5080 drifting with very rough audio at 0200 1300 etc. Sometimes only the open carrier was noted. Islamabad was noted very strong on 6065 at 0430-0515 & 0530-0615 but the audio and carrier was very rough. Quetta was noted on 7150.3 from 0600 UT instead of the listed 7155 which was occupied by a strong Chinese station. The following SW HS channels listed in current schedules were not heard, viz. 5055 5860 5925 7220. At 1615 UT they are announcing 6140 which was also not heard. The External service was noted on 7495 at 0045-0200 & 0215-0300 in Assamese/English/Bengali/Hindi rather than on the listed 7445. Azad Kashmir Radio was noted on 4790 in morning & nights (0045 1815) 7265 at 0900-1215 Voice of Jammu & Kashmir Freedom was noted on 5990.5 at 0245-0415 which is 15 minutes later than before. They were also noted at 7230 at 0745-0848 and on 5102.23, 5101.94 etc. at 1300-1430 with very rough audio. Special thanks to Mr. Noel Green of UK for passing on the latest SW schedules info of PBC before my departure (Jose Jacob, Mussoorie DX- pedition, North India, dx_india via DXLD) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 4890, NBC, Port Moresby (probable), 2107-2200, 06-10, locutor y locutora, música y comentarios. Cierre a las 2200. 24222 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, Escuchas realizadas en Friol, 27 Km. W. de Lugo, Grundig Satellit 500 y Sony ICF SW 7600 G, Antena de cable, 10 metros, orientada WSW, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 7120, Wantok Radio Light, Port Moresby, 0933- 1000, October 06, English, talk by male & female, station´s announcements, 24332. Very nice conditions to Oceania in that local morning!!! (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, Oct 8, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 6173.82, Radio Tawantinsuyo, Cusco, 2355-2359, October 05, Spanish, local ads: "el especialista... atiende las 24 horas del dia....", talk about a new road: "...para que esta nueva carretera de Acobamba...", Identificatión: "...las noticias por Radio Tawantinsuyo. ...", 34333. Very nice propagation for Peru on that night. 6193.37, Radio Cusco, Cusco, 0007-0015, October 06, Spanish, bulletin news in Spanish, regional news, 23432. Best reception on LSB mode (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, Oct 8, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 3329.59, Ondas del Huallaga (presumed). CHU has been off leaving this in the clear today. 2 Oct, 1005 Huayno music with harps easily cutting through the static. Canned short promo by M and W after every song (1006, 1009, 1013, etc.). Finally live M at 1027 mentioning Amazonas, then back to music. Too much static and fading, otherwise would have been good opportunity to get a nice recording of this with CHU off. 4835.47, R. Marañón, Big OC, then start up 2 Oct at 1001:40 with canned full ID with frequencies by alternating M and W, the probably every canned ID/promo they had in their studio!!! One included mention of "50 años" repeated like echo. Finally into beautiful OA Harp Huayno music. Roosters during song at 1008. Always at least fairly strong but modulation is rather low. The ID/promos are really animated. Great stuff!! This has to be my favorite OA for programming. If this is indeed their 50th anniversary, it would be a good time to write them. 4965.83, R. Santa Mónica or Santa Ana?? 5 Oct, 1004 M over music in presumed Aymara mentioning Amazonas, Enrique Rodríguez, Perú, and ending with ID again sounding like R. Santa Ana. Into campesino music. 1007 clearer ID as R. Santa Ana. 1009 buenos días and another R. Santa Ana ID, then more campesino music for a minute. Seemingly comunicados, followed by Huayno music. Roosters and canned ID (weak audio) during song at 1016. More of the same. Decent signal still at 1030 but dropped out like a rock quickly after 1030 and nearly gone 7 minutes later!! Been checking for this nearly every morning since first hearing it 3 weeks ago. Finally reappeared. Troubled by het from the ZY below so used USB. IDs are definitely Santa Ana. Did they change their name or could it be a program as Bob Wilkner suggests?? Heard again this morning 6 Oct at 1002 but much weaker. Same M announcer. Strong enough to hear the "Santa Ana"s though (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, Oct 7, HCDX via DXLD) ** PERU. 4751.79, Radio Huanta Dos Mil, 1122-1135 Oct 7 (Presumed). Noted a woman in comments until 1123 when a man talks. The audio was muffled and the signal was weak, so I didn't hear any details. I have Radio Huanta Dos Mil using this frequency back in 2001; however since then, they have returned to their regular frequency of 4747 KHz. I am sure in between that date and now, they were jumping around between the two frequencies. At 1133 Huaynos music presented. Signal was fair during musical periods, but worst during comments (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston, Florida, NRD545, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. Re WRMI, USA below, 1110/1100 --- Antarqui or Antarki. ``Interestingly, not too far from the Nazca plain, there is, according to Gray, "[a]n ancient Incan legend [which] tells of a boy named Antarqui who [somehow] flew behind the enemy lines and reported their positions -- thus helping the Incas in battle" /In Piercing the fog of 911: An Alternative View of the Distant Past, by Charles Giuliani, who is quoting Jonathan Gray, in Dead Men´s Secrets, Thorsby, Australia, 1998./ Elsewhere referred to as ``the god of the air`` in Incan mythology (Henrik Klemetz, Luleå, Sweden, DX LISTENING DIGEST) And perhaps related to the lines on the Nazca plain forming patterns only visible from high above (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** SAUDI ARABIA. v21505.28, BSKSA Riyadh, first program in Arabic. Scheduled 1200-1500 UT. One of their 500 kW beasts produces always a terrible audio sound and is odd frequency, some 200-300 hertz above nominal x.00 kHz, since 2-3 years now. It's even difficult to determine the exact carrier frequency to the nearest 10...50 Hertz point, when using AOR 7030 or E1 radio set display (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Oct 8, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) as on 15435 later? ** SEYCHELLES. I was remembering these last few days how well FEBA Seychelles used to arrive in Tiquicia during the 80s and 90s, sometimes despite the time of day. BBCWS Seychelles 15420 was practically booming this Sunday 10/8 at 1650 when the major issue was the possible David Beckham retirement as a regular football player. They went off at 1700. After this hour the only remaining audible frequency for the Beeb is 17830 [Ascension], fair to poor (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15420 at that hour is aimed 280 degrees across Africa, and I suppose right toward you on an equatorial path. Rarely or poorly audible here (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SINGAPORE. 6120, RSI, Oct 7, 1018-1037, in Malay, pop music, BoH news, // 7235 in the clear, with 6120 mixing with a strong Radio Japan/NHK via Canada (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, RX340, with T2FD antenna, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SWEDEN. Teracom B-06 schedule. Hoerby also relays Radio Canada International transmissions to the Middle East & North Africa; and No/EaAS & NZL: 5840-070 0000-0100 5840-100 0100-0200 5840-135 0300-0400 and to EUR 5850-245 2000-2200 En. Hoerby also relays Radio Netherlands transmissions to 5955-140 0554-0700 NE / ME & EaAF 6015-230 0700-0800 Canaries, WeAF and WeEUR 6035-190 0900-1100 EUR Radio Sweden Schedule: 30 Oct 2006 - 26 March 2007 Arabic 1730-1800 ME/EaAF Sa/Su 5850-110/125 Aramaic/Assyrian 1745-1800 ME/EaAF Mo-Fr 5850-110/125 Belarusian 1700-1730 EU Sat 6065-100 1830-1900 EU Su/Mo/Tu!! 5830-100 English 0130-0200 AU/AS daily 11550ma-050 0230-0300 NAM daily 6010sa-268 0330-0400 NAM daily 6010sa-277 1330-1400 EU/AS/NAM daily 7420-040 11550-085 15240-305-Hoerby! 1430-1500 EU/ME/AF/AS/NAM daily 11550-070 15240sa-272 1830-1900 EU daily 1179 6065-190 2000-2030 EU Mo-Sa 1179 2030-2100 EU/AS daily 6065-190 7420ma-125 [del 2100-2200 ma] 2230-2300 EU daily 1179 6065-190 2300-2330 NAM daily 9800sa-268 70 kW D R M mode !!! Farsi 1730-1745 ME/EaAF Mo-Fr 5850-110/125 German 1730-1800 EU daily 1179 1800-1830 EU Mo-Sa 6065-190 1930-2000 EU daily 1179 6065-190 2000-2030 EU Su 1179 6065-190 Kurdish 1700-1730 ME/EaAF Sa/Su 5850-110/125 Romani - Gypsy programs 2200-2300 EU Sa/Su 5850-145 2330-0030 EU Su 1179 Russian 1300-1330 EU/FE/AS daily 12075-055 1400-1430 EU daily 9530-085 1500-1530 EU/FE/AS daily 5850-055 1800-1830 EU Mo-Sa 1179 1800-1830 EU daily 5830-070 1930-2000 EU daily 5830-070 2000-2030 EU Mo-Sa 6065-085 2030-2100 EU daily 1179 Swedish 0000-0030 SAM daily 9490sa-163 0100-0130 AU/AS/SAM daily 9490sa-189 11550ma-050 0200-0230 NAM daily 6010sa-268 0300-0330 NAM daily 6010sa-277 0500-0530 ME/AF daily 13580-000 1100-1130 EU/AF/AS/NZL Sa-Su 7420-040 9490-190 1200-1230 NAM Sa/Su 9490sa-212 1300-1315 AS/EaNoAM Mo-Fr 7420-040 15240-290-Hoerby! 1300-1330 AS/EaNoAM Sa-Su 7420-040 15240-290-Hoerby! 1315-1330 ME/AU/AS/NAM Mo-Fr 11550-085 15240-305-Hoerby! 1400-1415 ME/AF/AS/NAM Mo-Fr 11550-085 15240sa-272 1400-1430 ME/AF/AS/NAM Sa-Su 11550-085 15240sa-272 1415-1430 AS/NZL Mo-Fr 7420-040 1500-1530 ME/AF/AS/NAM daily 11550-070 15240-305-Hoerby! 1545-1600 NAM daily 15240sa-272 1600-1630 EU/NE/ME daily 5850-100 1730-1800 EU daily 6065-190 1900-1930 EU/ME/AF daily 1179 6065-190 5820-125 Sa/Su 7465-220 2000-2030 EU/AS daily 7420ma-125 2200-2230 EU daily 1179 6065-190 2300-2330 EU daily 1179 Swedish P1 domestic sce relay 0430-0455 EU Mo-Fr 1179 0430-0500 ME/AF daily 13580-000 0455-0700 EU daily 1179 0530-0600 EU/ME/AF Mo-Fr 9490-135 0500-0554 EU Mo-Fr 6065-190 0554-0700 EU Mo-Fr 6065-190 9490-220 0700-0800 EU Mo-Fr 9490-190 0800-1000 EU Su 6065-140 9490-190 1545-1700 EU daily 1179 6065-190 1645-1700 EU/ME/AF/SoAM daily 7420-140; Sa/Su 11605-220 1700-1715 EU/ME/AF/SoAM Mo-Fr 11605-220 1700-1730 EU/ME/AF/SoAM Mo-Fr 6065-190 7420-140 1700-1730 EU daily 1179 1700-1730 EU Mo-Fr 5850-220 1715-1730 EU Sa/Su 7465-220 2100-2200 EU/ME/AF/SAM daily 1179 6065-190 Sa/Su 5840-220 Swedish P4 domestic service relay 0700-0903 EU Sa 1179 6065-190 9490-140 1100-1110 EU/AF/AS/NZL Mo-Fr 7420-040 9490-190 1130-1140 AF/AU/AS/NAM/SoAM/AUS daily 9490bo-230 11610-070 21810-165 1140-1200 AF/AU/AS/NAM/SoAM/AUS Sa/Su 9490bo-230 11610-070 21810-165 1200-1210 NAM Mo-Fr 9490sa-212 1400-1500 EU daily 1179 1800-1830 EU Su 1179 6065-190 bo Relay via Bonaire ma Relay via Madagascar sa Relay via Sackville (via ADDX, Andreas Volk-D, wwdxc BC-DX Oct 3; extracted from spreadsheet by Wolfgang Bueschel, Oct 4, 2006) puuuhhh ... one of the most complex schedules ever seen. wb. (BCDX via DXLD) ** SYRIA [and non]. QSL CARD FROM RADIO DAMASCUS 12085. SPANISH. QSL Card, pennant, sticker, postcard, schedule, 105 dd. Report send to: Radioemissora de la República Árabe Siria, P. O. Box 4702, Damasco, Siria, with CD, my QSL card and 1 US$. The pictures available on http://swli05639fr.blogspot.com/ Also special contribution from César Pérez Dioses, Chimbote, Perù with the pictures of the QSL received from AFRTS Pearl Harbour and Diego Garcia. 73's (Francesco Cecconi, Italy, Oct 7, HCDX via DXLD) ** TAJIKISTAN. Radio Tajikistan was heard continuously in daytime on 7245 with strong signals in Middle East languages. English was noted at 0345-0400 but the announcement given was that they broadcast at 2145 Dushanbe Time i.e. 1545 UT (a difference of 12 hours) (Jose Jacob, Mussoorie DX-pedition, North India, dx_india via DXLD) ** UKRAINE. Hi Glenn! Today (Oct. 7th) I heard a station on 11980.21 kHz at 0510 UT which I assume was Dniprovska Hvylya. "Ukraine" was mentioned very often in the programme, the advertisements mentioning a lot of phone numbers were read out by the same voices which presented the rest of the programme. No ID heard until the fade out at 0530. RCI via UR-3 on 837 kHz --- Hi Glenn! On Oct 7th I heard the Ukrainian Programme of Radio Canada International via UR-3 on medium wave 837 kHz at 1602 UT with IDs and a report about Saskatchewan (at 1620). According to the RCI schedule, this is only a Sat/Sun broadcast. 73, (Patrick Robic, Austria, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U A E. On 648 kHz Radio Asia was heard at night in Malayalam, my mother tongue. News Hour was heard at 1930 UT with detailed information about the happenings in my native state Kerala. It`s one of the many stations for the Indian migrants in the Gulf. They used to operate on 1557 kHz till very recently (Jose Jacob, Mussoorie DX- pedition, North India, dx_india via DXLD) ** U S A. Glenn, about the spurs, this may relate to a TCI antenna at B Plant that diplexes two transmitters on a single feedline. That's obviously an excellent opportunity for intermodulation. As for IBB interfering with itself, the spurs are going to be totally over-ridden in the target area. As Greenville and Delano near extinction, there is not much likely- hood of anyone doing anything about anything. The FCC has no jurisdiction, and they probably wouldn't care either since it's "going to go away" ere too long. I intend to take a listen tonight. The antennas in question are AS-34 and AS-35, I think (Charles A Taylor, WD4INP, Grifton, North Carolina [former VOA transmitter troll], Oct 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. 15645, Deewa Radio Evening News Hour, 1300-1310, October 06, Pashto, s/on, "Yankee Doodle", announcements or identifications and bulletin news by male & female, 24432. Impossible to hear on 11510 (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, Oct 8, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Checking WRMI, 9955, Saturday Oct 7, did not tune in until 1245 and found the new exile show ``La Nueva Nación`` was just ending, so it`s only a quarter-hour, not a half-hour as assumed. But there was NO jamming, as previously this time period had been occupied by English, World of Radio, in fact. 1246 full WRMI bilingual ID running almost a minute, and as usual pushing schedule further behind; 1247 filling the gap with unscheduled airing of Monitor DX, so I went ahead and listened. Mentioned a number of stations and what they were doing in the 1940s; not sure if this was based on anniversary dates, or just random info, including South Africa, Yugoslavia, Turkey, Malaysia, Peru. Then a clip of R. Antarki, Lima, 1110. (I looked it up in WRTH 2006 to check spelling; what does that name mean? On page 326 it is amid other 1110 stations, but frequency shown as 1100! On page 592, the South American frequency listing, it is under 1100, apparently by mistake.) [see PERU, above!] Main feature was about Radio Guairá, ZP6, Paraguay, 840 and inactive 5975, with clip of its sign-off. Closing at 1300 credited José Elías Díaz along with speaker and producer Daniel Camporini in Argentina. As Jeff promised, WORLD OF RADIO 1331 ran afterwards, axually starting at 1302:20 and ending at --- 1331! Undermodulated by comparison as it seems to be on mp3 file if you can`t adjust the playback volume. This bumped AWR Wavescan which had been at 1300, but then it followed at 1332, so that in turn bumped something else, not sure what. Fortunately Wavescan runs well short of a semihour, because at 1358 recheck, huge open carrier from WEWN was already on 9955 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn: La Nueva Nación is actually supposed to be 30 minutes, but they ran short on the first program. Next week's is about 22 minutes, and after that they should be up to about a half-hour. We filled the other 15 minutes today with Monitor DX, but that was a one-time (Jeff White, WRMI, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Just noticed that WRMI`s streaming URL has changed a couple numbers. The old one we had linked no longer works. Now it is: http://68.142.10.147:8000/listen.pls (Glenn Hauser, OK, Oct 8 DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. NYC Russian Pirate - 87.7 MHz --- The NYC area (Brooklyn?) Russian pirate that I have reported hearing for a couple of years has a website. The station is called Radio VSE. Their URL: http://www.inforeklama.com/Partners/Radio/VSE/info.htm They put in a powerful signal on 87.7 MHz (pre-FM broacast band) throughout the region. They come in well on the audio channel of VHF TV channel six, too (Dan Srebnick, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) If they are a pirate, how can they ``partner`` with the likes of BBC, Israel Radio and the NY Times? Were these entities unaware of what VSE really is? They should really transliterate it FSYO, as the Russian word means ``everything``. I wonder if they have a slogan in English to match VSE?? What about the NYC LPTV on channel 6 which is funxioning as an FM station on the same frequency? Is that this, so not exactly a pirate, or completely separate? 73, (Glenn, ibid.) ** U S A. WISE GUYS GET A PASS --- Editorial from Saturday's NY Post about Air America: Six officials of the Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Club stole $1.2 million from the group, money meant for needy kids and seniors, a city probe has found. Investigations Commissioner Rose Gill Hearn calls it "disgusting" - the worst case of wrongdoing by a non-profit contractor she's seen since taking office Thank goodness the thieves will be going to jail for a very long time - and paying back every cent, and then some. Well, actually, that's not quite true. In fact, nobody is going to jail. Not even for a single day. . . http://www.nypost.com/seven/10072006/postopinion/editorials/wise_guys_get_a_pass_editorials_.htm?page=1 (via Craig Seufert, DXLD) ** U S A. A few years ago, the small mountain town of Ruidoso NM got its own low power FM station, KEDU. There were locally produced shows, a true community station, plus some alternative programming not available elsewhere. A webcast was added, and we were glad to include several shows such as Lincoln County Today to our Monitoring Reminders Calendar. But a recheck of the website finds that the station has been transformed into just another satellite-fed gospel huxter. So out it goes. Too bad, Ruidoso. What did you do to deserve this? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VENEZUELA [non]. Checked RNV via Cuba, 17705, once again, Saturday Oct 7. Carrier on by 2000, but at 2001, music programming joined in progress, rather than the usual elaborate opening they do lasting several minutes. Sure enough, at 2008 they were ``finalizando`` this hour, 2009 into IS, and it hiccuped once, probably as they reset to the beginning of the hour, and yes, at 2010 the opening sequence started, 2011 ``bienvenidos`` to the users and userettes, including lengthy list of staff credits for producing the program, must be at least a dozen, program summary and finally at 2015 beginning the day`s news, which ALWAYS begins with what Chávez has said or done, the surest tipoff that despite its otherwise professional production, this is nothing but a propaganda show. You`d think that in a diverse nation of some 25 megapeople, something important might be going on that did not involve its egomaniacal leader (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Several times I've heard RNV (ID: "Canal Internacional, Radio Nacional de Venezuela, Republica Bolivariana de Venezuela") on 11670 kHz (NOT 11760 kHz as shown in the RNV frequency schedule for Central America). This transmission is on air only between 2200 and 2300 UT with a fair signal SINPO 35544 and ends with la locutora saying: "Agradecemos a nuestros oyentes reportar esta emisión al Apartado 3979 - Caracas - Venezuela." Obviously, this RNV broadcast comes from Cuba, but 11670 kHz is mentioned nowhere, neither in the latest DXLD nor in the RNV frequency schedule. N.B. RNV last time heard on Saturday October 7 between 2200 and 2300 UT. My equipment for SW listening is an ICOM IC-R75 with a 10m wire antenna on the roof of a 6 store building in Reims (Karl Michel, Reims / France, Oct 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Maybe not the latest DXLD, but we have had several mentions of RNV being on 11670 at 22-23 (gh) ** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. CLANDESTINE, 7425, Radio Nacional Republic Arab Saharaui, 2135-2145, October 05, Arabic, short bulletin news and local songs, very clear signal with announcements and many identifications by female, 24432 (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, Oct 8, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZIMBABWE [non]. COLLEAGUES FROM SW RADIO AFRICA VISIT RADIO NETHERLANDS Today we welcomed two visitors from UK-based SW Radio Africa to Radio Netherlands - Station Manager Gerry Jackson and producer Violet Gonda. Although it was an informal visit, it was highly informative as we were able to learn a great deal about the day-to-day operations of the station, which manages to produce two hours of daily programming for Zimbabwe with a full-time staff of just nine people. The picture below http://blogs.rnw.nl/medianetwork/wp-content/uploads/2006/10/swradioafrica.jpg shows me standing in our Network Operations Center with Violet (left), Gerry, Astrid Schipper of the Netherlands Institute for Southern Africa, and Leo van der Woude of our Programme Distribution Department. Photo (c) by Fred Vloo, Radio Netherlands. (October 6th, 2006, 13:58 UTC by Andy, Media Network blog via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 5895/5896, Oct. 4. Just a weak carrier on 5895, as observed before, caught shortly after 1700, off 1804, possibly the same returning for one or two minutes just 1 kHz higher, nothing heard on this frequency after about 1807. Maybe, very maybe R. Peace from Sudan? 73s (Thorsten Hallmann, Münster, Westphalia, Oct 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 13363.4 in Spanish at 2300, Re 6-149: I searched on 13363 in the 3930 messages currently archived in the UDXF yg and got one hit at message 1802: IRC Logs for the date of 2006-06-11 --- 13363.5 kHz lsb, Radio Rivadavia, broadcast 0100:29 UT (2006-06-11) (Vambo in Colorado, USA on ZIRC:#wunclub) As I suggested, this is one of those Argentine Army feeders, presumably for Antarctica. I should also point out that altho that log was of Radio Rivadavia, there are several Buenos Aires stations which get relayed this way, so it could have been any of them this time, e.g. Radio Diez, instead of Rivadavia. 73, (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) It is S6-9 with QSB here in New Zealand and stronger by the minute. Country and Western. Female announcer, probably in Spanish. And as I type this male announcer - sexual harassment Armed Forces and several other military and medical related items. "AFS" announced (I think that's what he said - receiver in next room). Kenwood R-1000, 120 foot dipole, 300 ohm to two core Guanella balun. 73's (Adrian Verry, NZ, HCDX via DXLD) Could this be Armed Forces Network via Guam, now including some Spanish language programming? 73 (J. D. Stephens, Hampton Cove, AL, USA, HCDX via DXLD) This seems to be AFN Guam. Listed on their website as 13362 USB. Been listening to it for a couple of hours here in New Zealand 0300 UT onwards. Mainly C and W. No Spanish heard today, all North American English. Plenty of military related ads - superannuation, welfare etc. And ID is definitely AFN, sometimes Armed Forces Network. S3 - 6 with QSB. Perhaps Spanish heard yesterday was a syndicated program? (Adrian Verry, Turakina, North Island, New Zealand, HCDX via DXLD) AFN has been doing some strange things lately on SW; as I have reported, the Oldies music stream has shown up at times instead of the main voice channel. Looking at myafn, http://myafn.dodmedia.osd.mil/index.asp I don`t see anything in Spanish, however. You are correct about the frequency matching with Guam, but we also found that ID as Radio Rivadavia from one report. Quite a coincidence if we have military program USB feeds from two different countries on (almost) the same frequency! 73, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED. Hi, All India on 15040, but Radio Farda also on this frequency. Time 1530 UT. RX AOR7030 +NRD535, Antennes LW 30m. and 100M LW with MFJ 1026. Gr and 73 (Maurits Van Driessche, From Belgium, Oct 7, HCDX via DXLD) Maurits, Please reconfirm frequency as neither is scheduled there (nor on 7520 as possible harmonic). What language for AIR? Could be some kind of mixing product from higher 15 MHz frequencies? But AIR and Farda do not share any transmitter site. India uses 15050, but not at this hour. 73, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED. Re 6-149, 25870: This time yesterday I was receiving R. Farda in AM on 25870, but today there`s just a weak DRM signal on 25870 which I presume is the same transmitter site as yesterday; no Sporadic E on 11 m to help the signal today. I guess yesterday was a test prior to switching on the DRM? All the best (Tim Bucknall, Congleton, N/W England, Icom IC-736 + Wellbrooke loop, Oct 7, BDXC-UK via DXLD) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Hi Glenn, Once again I would like to make a small contribution to your (very useful and interesting) DXLD [see VENEZUELA]: Glenn, I really enjoy World of Radio which I can perfectly hear on Saturdays at 0800 UTC on WRN with my JVC receiver via the AfriStar Satellite System. After listening, I have a look at the latest DXLD via the internet, containing still more detailed SW information. Thank you, Glenn, and keep up the good work! (Karl Michel, Reims / France, Oct 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) DX-PEDITIONS ++++++++++++ TREKKING WITH RADIO IN THE HIMALAYAS --- Jose Jacob, VU2JOS The National Institute of Amateur Radio (NIAR) in Hyderabad, India where I work often deputes me for various assignments all over the country like Demonstrations, Radio Meetings, Training Programs, Emergency Communications, Dxpeditions, etc. As we always carry general coverage transceivers with us, it is always interesting to check the different bands from far away locations. My latest assignment was to provide Amateur Radio communications for the trekking teams of the Officer Trainees of Lal Bahadur Shastry National Academy of Administration, Govt. of India, Mussoorie, Uttanchal State, North India which trains the future administrators of the country. As they don't have much communication during the trekking in the remote areas, this time they sought our assistance. Besides me, my colleague Mr. Sushil, VU2LFA and half a dozen other Radio Amateurs from the Academy were deputed for this. Special mobile permission was issued to us by the Ministry of Communications to use our radios in the trekking routes. We arrived in Mussorie on 21st September 2006 with lots of radio equipment. On the way in Delhi I accepted the hospitality of the active Dxer from the Indian capital, Mr. Alokesh Gupta and stayed with him. The Academy is located at Mussoorie, a popular hill station about 200 kilometers north of Delhi the capital of India. It overlooks the sprawling Doon valley and the city of Dehradun, the gateway to the entire Garhwal region of the Himalayas. Spread over a ridge, 2000 meters above sea level, Mussoorie offers distant views of the holy and mighty river Ganga from one end of the ridge, and of the famous river Yamuna from the other; a stretch of around 19 kilometers. The trekking was scheduled in such a way that 17 teams each consisting of about 20 members crossed the Garwal region of the mighty Himalayas for 10 days using different routes. On the 22nd morning the Academy campus looked like a bus station with 17 buses carrying the various teams were flagged off to their respective destinations. I traveled in the bus accompanying the team which started their trekking from Naitwar in Uttarkashi District about 150 km away from Mussoorie. We had to travel mostly through small ghat roads, thick forest and deep valleys which was an interesting experience for me. But it was also frightening when I observed the deep gorges next to our road. In the late evening we reached the Naitwar Forest Rest House (termed as our Base Camp) located at 1380 Meters above MSL inside the Govind Wildlife Sanctuary & National Park which spreads over an area of 958 sq km with an altitude up to 6323 Meters. Immediately after reaching there, I installed an Inverted Vee HF antenna & a VHF Ground Plane antenna and set up our Amateur station and contacted our office in Hyderabad and other stations. The rig was a brand new Icom IC 7000. As there was no electricity in the Base Camp we used the car batteries that we had carried and used to recharge it in a nearby house. The noise level was very low when there was no electric power in the area. The trek members left early next morning and I had the company of an Assistant sent from the academy for the next 10 days. There were two "suites" in that Forest Rest House and we were the only occupants during the period. Naitwar is a remote village in the forest in Uttarkashi District and is a starting/ending point for trekking in the area. Here there are two tributaries of the River Yamuna. Good water was available in plenty. We could see small streams in a lot of places. Last year there were severe land slides in the area causing lot of damages. People rear livestock and also have agriculture. The houses were made mostly of wood. Local people spoke Hindi, Gadwali, Bengani, Nepali, Himachali and Tibetan. Some English is understood by guides and others. The conveyance was limited and often we could see people traveling on top of jeeps. Mules were used for transportation of material. Electricity is unreliable and lot of solar panels were seen along with DTH satellite dish antennas for TV reception. The nearest working telephone was about 12 km away. Cell phone was also not working there. There were some VHF communication systems of the forest department in the area. During our stay the nights were very cool and days warm. It used to snow there in winter. We felt comfortable in our sleeping bags at night. For food we had to 'trek' about one km through the forest to reach the Bazar. Although there were some leopards, bears etc. in the area, luckily there were no untoward incidents. Meanwhile Mr. Sushil set up the Amateur station in the remote Dharwadar Range which included trekking for about 13 km. The radio equipment, batteries and other items were carried on mules. During daytime he had to operate from a suitcase in open air and stayed in a stone hut at night in a cold climate at an altitude of 4091 Meters above MSL. The snow clad mountains were visible clearly from his location. Not many people were living in that area. So they had taken cooks and provisions were transported by mules to make food arrangements for our trekking teams passing by. The Amateur Radio contacts with trek teams were scheduled 4 times per day and progress of the trekking etc. were conveyed to the station in the Academy at Mussoorie, sometimes relayed by our NIAR Hyderabad station. At other times I used to check the broadcast bands keenly, especially the lower HF bands, MW & FM. In my rucksack, I had also brought the 2006 editions of World Radio TV Handbook, Passport to World Band Radio, latest schedules of AIR etc. to support my BC Dxing. Last year also around this time I was in the nearby Holy Town of Haridwar on the banks of the River Ganges where we had come for Amateur Radio communication for the National Jamboree of Scouts & Guides and did some similar BC Dxing. I returned to Mussoorie on 1st October 2006 along with a team which ended their trekking at our place. I have been stationed at the Academy for some more time to give Amateur Radio training for the new Officer Trainees. Here are some observations of interest observed this time. [filed separately above under AFGHANISTAN, BHUTAN, CHINA, INDIA, NEPAL, PAKISTAN, TAJIKISTAN, UAE, some portions already in previous issue] The following links may be of interest: NIAR : http://www.niar.org ACADEMY: http://www.civilservices.gov.in/lbsnaa/index.jsp http://www.wildlifeindiatours.com/travel/govind-wildlife-sanctuary.html http://www.indiawildliferesorts.com/national-parks/govind-national-park.html http://www.gmvnl.com/newgmvn/districts/uttarkashi/govindwildlife.aspx (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, National Institute of Amateur Radio, Raj Bhavan Road, Hyderabad 500082, India, Tel. 040-65167388, 23310287, Cell: 94416 96043, via Rachel Baughn, MONITORING TIMES, DXLD) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ 20 YEARS WITH THE ICF-2010 How many SWLers are out there with a Sony ICF-2010 receiver that they've owned for more than 10-15 years? For me, today marks 20 years of use with this legendary portable -- the receiver that introduced us to the adjacent-channel reducing feature called "synchronous detection" or ECSS-s. The 2010 has been of good use to me and it's still chugging along, having been used through my many listening tasks such as my work with Monitoring Times in the late 80's and the many years I sent reports to Radio Norway as a technical monitor for them. Other portable and tabletop receivers followed Sony's success, many with great results. I purchased the '2010 through a guy who introduced me to the hobby, Saul Berger (of Solar Light Co. fame -- remember the cassette controller for the '2010 that he used to sell?) -- and without his efforts you would not be reading my reports here in DXLD and other publications (Joe Hanlon in NJ, Oct 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) CODAR Made a point of checking out its frequency range Oct 7 around 1355: swish-swish audible from 13425 past WINB 13570 up to 13605; at the fringes it was quite weak (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, Nice logs. I consider CODAR to be a pest and never go "looking" for it. But then, being on the left coast and only a hundred miles or less from the coast I may hear more of these than some folks further inland do. 73 de (Phil KO6BB Atchley, CA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I was responding to someone on another list who questioned whether it could be heard above the 4 MHz band. And I have also heard it now on 4815 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING DRM: see GERMANY; UNIDENTIFIED 25870 ++++++++++++++++++++ PROPAGATION +++++++++++ ARNIE CORO’S DXERS UNLIMITED, HF PLUS LOW BAND VHF PROPAGATION UPDATE AND FORECAST Solar scientists continue to scratch their heads about cycle 23’s final months. Some researchers believe now that we may see a rather extended tail end of cycle 23, while others insist it is almost over by now. Another school of thought continues to underscore the very high probability that upcoming solar cycle 24 is going to be another record breaker, even capable of matching the super cycle 19 that sent the average monthly sunspot count up to two hundred and seven. For us radio hobby people, a super solar cycle, with a very high average sunspot count will also mean many solar flares and geomagnetic storms too!!! Now, we must just wait and see what’s going to happen during the next year and a half or so, when it would be possible to have a fairly good knowledge of the early phase of cycle 24. Let`s begin with the actual sunspot count that on Friday was 23, spanning from 35 last Sunday, indicating that the 27 day cycle is moving around its low end. The effective sunspot number Saturday morning local time in Havana, around 14 hours UT was 17, with the maximum useable frequency curve going as high as 40 megaHertz over parts of Africa, a good indication of the excellent equinoctial propagation we are enjoying despite the very low solar activity. The BAD news is that we may soon see yet another geomagnetic disturbance as the solar wind is bringing in a much higher than usual proton count. Keep time available for DXing from about an hour before your local sunset to three or four hours after sunset, and enjoy a second propagation peak starting at around two hours before sunrise, and extending no more than an hour after sunrise (Arnie Coro, CO2KK, RHC DXers Unlimited Oct 7, ODXA via DXLD) ###