DX LISTENING DIGEST 7-011, January 26, 2007 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 2007 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html For restrixions and searchable 2006 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid6.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 1344 Sat 1330 WRMI 7385 Sat 1730 WWCR3 12160 Sat 2230 WRMI 9955 Sun 0330 WWCR3 5070 Sun 0730 WWCR1 3215 Sun 0900 WRMI 9955 Mon 0400 WBCQ 9330-CLSB Mon 0515 WBCQ 7415 [time varies] Mon 1330 WRMI 7385 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 ** ANDORRA. MORATINOS PREVEU SIGNAR L'ACORD DE RÀDIO http://www.diariandorra.ad/noticies/view.php?ID=482#contenidor 25 ANYS DE CONFLICTE --- Madrid cedirà el terreny i l'edifici d'Encamp al Principat, que haurà de pagar els 1,2 milions d'euros del deute Madrid vol aprofitar la visita a Andorra del ministre d'Exteriors, Miguel Ángel Moratinos, per signar l'acord sobre l'antiga Ràdio Andorra. El tracte entre els dos estats ja està tancat i Madrid cedirà l'edifici d'Encamp mentre que Andorra pagarà el deute. Ricard Poy Andorra la Vella El govern espanyol s'ha fixat com a objectiu que Miguel Ángel Moratinos signi l'acord sobre l'antiga Ràdio Andorra en la visita al Principat que el ministre d'Exteriors té previst fer aquesta tardor. Les condicions del tracte ja estan pactades i tan sols falta enllestir la pesada tramitació burocràtica necessària en una operació complicada, en la qual Espanya cedeix una propietat a un altre Estat. En les visites que fan els titulars d'Exteriors a d'altres països sempre es tracta de disposar d'algun acord a signar per omplir amb més contingut el viatge, segons han explicat fons de l'administració espanyola. El conflicte de Ràdio Andorra s'arrossega des de fa 25 anys, quan va expirar la concessió del Consell General a l'emissora. En el moment del tancament, els propietaris (els hereus del fundador, Jacques Tremoulet) vivien a França i es van declarar en fallida. Com no tenien propietats a Andorra, no van poder ser utilitzades per al pagament d'un deute, que actualment, amb els interessos acumulats, es troba al voltant d'1,2 milions d'euros. Una trentena de treballadors van quedar sense indemnitzar, amb un total actualitzat d'uns 800.000 euros i els proveïdors tenen pendents uns 400.000. Els hereus de Tremoulet i l'Estat espanyol han estat molts anys en disputa legal sobre qui era el propietari real de l'edifici i els terrenys de Ràdio Andorra a Encamp. Aquest conflicte i el deute han impedit arribar a un acord durant un quart de segle. Finalment s'ha arribat a un acord a tres bandes, a més de l'administrador. Els Tremoulet cedeixen en les reclamacions de propietat en l'edifici i els terrenys, Espanya assumeix la possessió, però per cedir-la a Andorra i el Principat es queda el complex d'Encamp, però paga el deute a treballadors i proveïdors. En la negociació qui menys en surt guanyant és Madrid, perquè no rep contraprestació . Per aquest motiu ha elaborat un document molt detallat que restringeix de manera severa l'ús de la propietat. Serà obligatori que se'n faci una utilització pública i no lucrativa. En cas d'incompliment, podria provocar que Espanya recuperés el terreny. Es prohibirà l'especulació immobiliària o la venda a particulars. La signatura, amb la visita de Moratinos, posarà fi a una llarguíssima llista de trobades bilaterals en les quals s'ha negociat l'acord. En pràcticament totes les reunions d'Exteriors o de caps de Govern s'ha tractat sobre les vies per resoldre el conflicte. Història brillant Ràdio Andorra va ser una emissora de referència a Europa, especialment durant la dècada dels 50 i 60. Els dos emissors, amb 100.000 volts de potència i situat a 2.000 metres d'alçada al llac d'Engolasters van permetre que els programes arribessin nítidament a Espanya, França i altres països d'Europa. Potser el programa més famós va ser El concierto de los radiooyentes, que rebia milers de cartes de persones que volien dedicar una cançó. La fama era tan gran que fins i tot venien autocars de turistes per veure el programa en directe. Tremoulet sempre va ser una figura peculiar, que fins i tot va estar condemnat a mort després de la Segona Guerra Mundial per col laborar amb els nazis, però en va ser indultat. Una ubicació futura per a RTVASA? L'ús de l'edifici de Ràdio Andorra i els terrenys adjacents té dues pretendents fermes, encara que serà el Govern qui decidirà finalment amb quina es casa. Sempre i quan no aparegui una tercera promesa. Històricament s'ha especulat amb la utilització de l'espai com a museu de la radiodifusió, amb especial cura amb les dècades glorioses de Ràdio Andorra, en què era una de les cadenes amb més prestigi del continent europeu amb una allau de seguidors. En aquest línia es mantindrien els equips que es troben a dins i s'arranjaria l'espai com a equipament cultural. La segona possibilitat, i que ha guanyat molta força en els últims temps, és l'ús de l'edifici com a seu de Ràdio i Televisió d'Andorra, S. A. Segons van explicar persones vinculades a la cadena, els locals de l'antic BB Club que actualment acullen la ràdio i televisió públiques són de lloguer. El contracte amb els propietaris finalitza en poc més d'un any i directius de l'ens veurien amb bons ulls el pas a Encamp. El principal avantatge seria l'establiment en un edifici de propietat que podria ser l'emplaçament definitiu. Les opcions de museu i de seu de RTVASA compleixen l'exigència espanyola d'utilitzar tant l'edifici encampadà com el terreny per a un ús públic i no lucratiu. Un tros del terreny, però, podria ser finalment usat per a la futura carretera de Vila. info de : ENRIC ROCA (Barcelona) (via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** ARGENTINA. Re yet another Buenos Aires station relayed on 15820- LSB, Concepto AM, at 1132-1150: that`s listed in WRTH 07 on 1050 with no power given, may be minor or new station (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1344, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. The 14-15 UT Wednesday hour is one of many good times for stimulating discussion on Radio Australia, 9590. Jan 24 until 1435, All in the Mind featured Daniel Bennett discussing his latest book on religion; and Philosophers Zone from 1435 presented a talk by John Searle about consciousness. Fortunately, RA is back to relaying R. National instead of Local Radio (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. Re 7-008, ARDS 5050: Station manager Dale Chesson sent me a QSL email from in 8 days. Attached Google Earth Placemark shows the transmitter antenna site for those who might have Google Earth installed. Dale sent a picture of the antenna site in his e-mail. This site (Humpty Doo) is just a few miles SE of Darwin (Bruce Churchill, CA in DXplorer via DSWCI DX Window Jan 25 via DXLD) ** AUSTRIA. INTERNATIONAL FAVORITE NON-ENGLISH MUSIC ON SHORTWAVE The following qualifies only if you can hear R. Austria International in German at 1000-1300 UT on 13730 or 6155 kHz. RAI broadcasts live the New Year Concert by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra with a prominent guest conductor, once a year on the first of January from 1015 to 1240 UT. This concert is made up of waltzes, polkas and such. The concert is also carried on Eurovision, but has never been carried on Israeli over-the-air TV or radio. Listeners to RAI in English are not informed of this concert. Many years ago, when Austria broadcasted properly in English and I was a regular monitor, the QSL people informed me of this concert, and I try to hear it every year. The concert is performed in the Golden Hall in Vienna. This hall is not very big, and all tickets are sold a year ahead. In the hall, the concert begins at 1000 UT with speeches by the Austrian President and the Austrian Prime Minister. Over the air, during 1000-1015 UT we are told about the music to be played. Over the air, all announcements, like naming the piece to be played, are in German. I find this concert to be a very good way to celebrate the Christian new year. R. Austria International in German broadcasts a lot of classical music every day, but I have no program schedule. Even if you cannot hear this concert in North America, it would be a good idea to inform the English speaking listeners worldwide about this concert. Best wishes, yours, (David Crystal, Ramat Zvi, Israel, manual typewriter on aerogramme, postmarked Jan 14, retyped by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, I knew this was an annual tradition, but it is hard to hear and inconveniently timed for live listening in NAm. Station is no longer called R. Austria International. Fortunately, it is also a staple on public radio stations in the US, where it is delayed a few hours and repackaged with English-language voice-overs. Then on the evening of January 1 it also appears on public TV, this time with some visual elements added, such as ballet dancers, and hosted by Walter Cronkite, one yearly reminder that he is still with us. Perhaps someone will remind me to repost this in late December, 2007 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AZERBAIJAN. VOA, RFE/RL AZERBAIJANI BROADCASTS DEBUT ON FM IN BAKU PRESS RELEASE - Washington, D.C., Jan. 25, 2007 – On Jan. 1, 2007, the Azerbaijani-language services of both the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (which is known locally as Radio Azadliq) launched a new 24/7 FM broadcast stream to the Azerbaijani capital of Baku. The new station, known as Baku 101.7 FM, is heard in Baku and its suburbs, which comprise 40% of Azerbaijan’s total population. VOA and RFE/RL programming will alternate throughout the 24-hour broadcast clock, with VOA’s Azerbaijani-language service providing a daily 60-minute program including a 30-minute repeat, two 5-minute newscasts; along with VOA’s popular Music Mix, Special English, and English teaching programs. In addition to 101.7 FM in Baku and environs, VOA Azerbaijani programming can also be heard via medium wave around the country on 1296 Khz. VOA Azerbaijani TV programs, including a 7-minute news roundup aired at 7:45 a.m. local time Monday through Friday and a weekly 15-minute magazine aired on Saturdays at 7:00 p.m. local time, are also carried by Azerbaijan TV (AzTV). Five and half hours of broadcasting on the new frequency are original programming produced by RFE/RL’s Azerbaijani service. In addition, RFE/RL produces 14 live, top-of-the-hour, 5-minute newscasts per day from Baku and Prague. More than half of the programming produced by RFE/RL for the new 24-hour stream is prepared locally in the broadcaster’s Baku bureau, including the complete morning hour that is produced live. RFE/RL http://www.azadliqiosu.az and http://www.rferl.org and VOA Azerbaijani-language programming (in the Latin and Persian alphabets at http://www.VOANews.com/Azerbaijani and http://www.VOANews.com/Azeri is also available on the Internet (VOA press release via DXLD) ** BAHRAIN. 6010.12, 1857, Radio Bahrain poor but reasonably clear reception on this reactivated frequency weekdays until Iran opens at 1927. English pops, station jingle and headline news at 1900. Regularly heard since 30/12. On Sat/Sun suffers heavy interference from Bible Voice Germany on 6015. A new country for me! BCM (Brian Clark, NZ, Jan NZ DX Times via DXLD) ** BANGLADESH. Noted signing on at 1315 (IS from 1313) on 7185. Strong signal and rather good but somewhat bassy modulation. Despite this, not listenable due to the usual co-channel Chinese jamming against Taiwan. 73 (Olle Alm, Sweden, Jan 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. RADIO LOGOS --- Glenn, They are on both frequencies. 4865 kHz is a 1 kW HCJB solid state transmitter on a lazy H fed with open wire; an antenna that I installed in about 1988. Their first transmitter was an old 500 Watt tube Phillips made in Brazil with a crystal and a thumb screw on it that you could move the carrier around to minimize interference from the competition! The original frequency was approx. 4855 until about 1991 when I installed two 5 KW transmitters, one on MW and one on the 4855 frequency. In about yr. 2000 the government moved them to 4865. The 5 kW transmitter was used on 4865 until they got the 1 kW solid state transmitter, retiring the 5 kW tube because electric cost was a big factor. Then in Dec. 2005 we resurrected the 5 kW tube transmitter, moved it to 6165 for their new frequency and fed the new phased dipole antenna installed at that time. The original station was RCN [meaning Centenario?] and they call the new station R. Logos but the transmitter location is still the same, dating back to 1988. The station is now broadcasting in 7 languages spoken in Bolivia including Plaudietsch, the German dialect used by the Mennonites in the area (Wayne Borthwick, VA7GF, Jan 25, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, we have may have a solution for the unID station heard in "German" or "Afrikaans" since the end of December on 4865 kHz. If I'm not wrong I have read a report from Carlos Gonçalves from Portugal on DXLD and as you have suggested the answer may be "Bolivia". Max van Arnhem told me that the language sounded like "Platduits", a German/Dutch dialect spoken by Mennonites also in South America. After Max considerations and after a check of the frequency from his location in Rio de Janeiro, Rocco Cotroneo have found this link that may explain the strange transmission heard lately. http://www.latcom.org/swradio.htm Good dx and thanks for your help! (Renato Bruni http://www.radioascolto.org/html/index.php Jan 25, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: Outreach News, December 3, 2006 >>>>> Short Wave Radio Radio Logos joined Radio Centenario this year to broadcast the Gospel in Short Wave to the rural and unreached portions of the country of Bolivia. Hidden in the many valleys of the country and along isolated rivers, there are many people who have no access to the Gospel except through Short Wave Christian radio. Last year in April we received the permit to put Radio Logos on the air. We are not only broadcasting in Spanish, but also in some of the minority indigenous languages of the country such as Ayoré, Chiquitano, and Simba Guaraní. We will be adding other languages. With the two transmitters, we will be able to divide signals as well as combine the signals for special programming. At the request of missionaries to the Mennonites (see article below), we also have begun a one-hour daily program in low German for the large Mennonite settlements. One family wrote from the area of Comarapa saying they had accepted Christ as a family while listening to the program, ``Reflections for Today.`` Another family contacted us from the San Julian River area. They said, ``We`re so happy to be able to hear a Christian radio since moving into this region. We were lonely and isolated, but the radio is making a difference. The program, ‘Strengthening Your Faith’ was great encouragement to us as we seek to witness for Christ.`` Above: Radio Logos will reach into isolated valleys and villages with the Gospel. Peter Friesen, a missionary to the Mennonites, has told us what a help the fixed frequency, solar-powered Galcom radios are in this ministry to the colonies outside of Santa Cruz. Many listeners are becoming believers and depend daily on the radio for spiritual help. Isolated villages of the Ayoré in Bolivia and Paraguay listen to the radio with their Galcom receivers. Listener reports are coming in from the mountainous areas of Bolivia and the lowland plains and jungles. Potosí, Sucre, San Borjas, Tarija, Trinidad, and the Bolivian border with Argentina are a few of the places where the people are listening. In many cities and towns of Bolivia, there are FM stations, but they do not reach those who are most isolated. Pray for Radio Logos and Radio Centenario as they proclaim the Gospel daily to the lonely and unreached areas of Bolivia which still can only be reached by Short Wave.• Go to: LATCOM Home: http://www.latcom.org/index.htm (via DXLD) Here`s another page on the same site which says they are only using one frequency, contradicting above info, since 4865 was the `old` one and 6165 the `new` one, but anyhow, no more R. Centenario. Since this is one of those listen-only-to-us ministries handing out fixed-tuned Galcom radios, they need to pick a frequency and stick to it (gh) RADIO IN MINORITY LANGUAGES --- SHARING THE GOSPEL ON SHORT WAVE RADIO, IN SPANISH AND INDIGENOUS LANGUAGES http://www.latcom.org/radio.htm Christian Radio in Bolivia A Guarani Indian in the eastern jungle of Bolivia wakes up with the sun and turns on his short wave receiver and hears for the first time the Bible taught in his own language... LATCOM and EPLABOL is now using only one radio frequency. We reported in July that we would have a two frequency strategy. Both in rural eastern Bolivia, the older Short Wave frequency would air the Gospel to the Spanish-speakers, and the new SW frequency would broadcast in several indigenous languages. In re-examining its vision and goals, EPLABOL has decided to give up the older Short Wave radio frequency as well as the AM broadcast, both known as Radio Centenario. At the same time, we have re-affirmed our commitment to broadcasting the Gospel to hard to reach villages in eastern Bolivia. EPLABOL will use the new Short Wave frequency to air Christian programing in Spanish and in several native languages. Two thousand solar-powered, Short Wave receivers are now being distributed. Local Christian broadcasting in Bolivia began with LATCOM in 1984. In two decades, dozens of missions, ministries, and denominations have followed LATCOM’s radio trailblazing. At the core of LATCOM’s mission philosophy is to train and equip local Christians who are finding new ways to reach their own people with the Gospel. In keeping with this core value, LATCOM and EPLABOL are redirecting our resources away from broadcasting to leadership development as well as to new indigenous radio ministries, such as Pablo Chuve’s work with the Chiquitano people of Lomerio. Lomerio Radio In 2001 missionary Ray Rising approached LATCOM about the need to broadcast the Bible in the Chiquitano language to the Lomerio region. LATCOM missionary Tim Ramsey contacted Pablo Chuvé about installing a solar powered recording studio in his home to record the New Testament and also chronological Bible studies. In 2002 a team from a U.S. church helped to install the studio. While at Chuvé’s home, Tim saw the great spiritual need of the region. He talked with Pablo and Miguel Ípamo, a local pastor and the voice of the new Chiquitano Bible recordings, about their vision of reaching their people with the Gospel (via DXLD) Hi Renato and Glenn, Some details more on this topic: Friesen, Martin W., Menno Ediger, Isbrand Hiebert and Mumaw Gerald. (1987). "Bolivia." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 26 January 2007 http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/B665.html Looks like the Mennonite migration to Bolivia goes back half a century ago, around Santa Cruz area (Andy Lawendel, Italy, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. 6079.95, R. San Gabriel, La Paz, 1020-1040+ Jan 19 and 20, CP music, Spanish announcements, 1028 ID. Surprisingly strong signal but QRM from unID station on 6080 at their *1030 (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. 4545.4, R Virgen de Remedios signed, stamped my prepared card in 59 days for US$1.00 return postage for a report to Radio Virgen de Remédios, Casilla 198, Tupiza, Departamento de Potosí, Bolivia. Also included in the envelope was a picture postcard of ``Virgen de Remedios de Tupiza``, a picture postcard of La Torre in Tupiza, and an information sheet (Rich D’Angelo, PA, Jan 21, DSWCI DX Window Jan 25 via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. R. Brasil Central, 11815 is often audible here around 0700, much weaker than 11780, of course. Jan 25 at 0656 talking about Goiás and Goiânia, ``Brasil Central, programa de qualidade 24 horas``, SINPO 35533. Presumably the same station with music amidst CODAR on 4985.0 at 0647 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. Re 7-004: 4754.9, R. Imaculada Conceição, Campo Grande, 0440-0525+ Dec 6. Religious programs and music, lots of mentions of ``Imaculada Conceição``, ``Milíca da Imaculada,`` ``Programa Igreja do Rádio``, and ``misionário da Imaculada Padre Kolbe.`` TCs in UT -2, as this is relay of programs from eastern Brazil, SP or RJ. Mentioned website http://www.milicia.org.br This is ex-R. Educação Rural, which apparently changed in 2005. Seems irregular, but when heard, always // 4865, which seems to be on all night each night. Fair to poor and bothered by CODAR; // 4865 better (Alex Vranes, WV, Tropical Band Loggings, Jan NASWA Journal via DXLD) And it is Imaculada with one M ** BURKINA FASO. R Burkina, Ouagadougou, sent me an e-mail QSL from nadowo2002 @ yahoo.fr I sent them a postal report with 1 IRC, nevertheless I received this! It is signed by the Chief of Programmes Pascal 5 Goba who writes that they regularly receive reception reports from DX-ers (auditeurs ``lointains``) in America, Asia, Europe and the Pacific. SW schedule is 0530-0800 and 1700-2400 on 5030, and 0800-1700 on 7230 (T. Ramachandran Rajeesh, Kerala, India, Jan 22, DSWCI DX Window Jan 25 via DXLD) ** CAMEROONS [non]. 11840, R Free Southern Cameroons was still off the air Sunday Jan 21 when checked at 1800. Instead was heard R Ashna (IBB) via Biblis in Pashto and Dari (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Jan 25 via DXLD) ** CANADA. RCI. Noticed recently and today, Wednesday, Jan. 24, that 9610 is producing spurs (if that is the correct term) on 9595 (very strong) and 9625 which interferes with CBC North-Quebec (Bernie O'Shea, Ottawa, Ontario, Jan 24, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Time? Sometime between 14 and 21. Have not heard those yet myself (gh, DXLD) ** CANADA. Afghanada, the CBC Radio 1 drama on Canadian forces in Afghanistan, was supposed to be 12 episodes thru January 19, but current CBC schedule shows another episode Jan 26 and the program`s page displays this self-contradictory info --- so is this a rerun, or has it been extended with new episodes, and until when? It`s UT Fridays at 0030 and 1530, +1/2/3/4 hours in timezone repeats. Nice for the Canux they are doing something like this, but after listening to ep 1, decided there were better ways for an Okie to spend 6+ hours (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Hi Glen[n], I was missing "Dead dog in the city" and web search lead me to your web site. Pretty informative. Thanks. It sort of confirmed my suspicions that the season is over. I hope they renew it. All the past shows seem available on CDs at CBC shop. Keep up the good work and I'll keep my fingers crossed for Dead Dog (Paula, Jan 25, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. URGENT NEED FOR NEW CRTC LEADER --- CHALLENGING ISSUES ARE LOOMING NOW THAT WILL NEED TO BE ADDRESSED January 24, 2007 Bill Roberts Anyone looking for a job? The Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has been without a leader since New Year's Day and there is no permanent successor in sight. . . http://www.thestar.com/article/174071 (Via A. Markewicz, Canadian Forces, DXLD) ** CHINA [and non]. Heard CRI via Chile relay on January 5, 2007 *1300 UTC 15540 kHz. Emailed CRI with reception report. Got reply from generic YingLian acknowledging report. On January 22, 2007 received QSL in mail. QSL doesn't contain relay site although I politely asked for CRI to note transmission site. Is this a usual CRI practice to not acknowledge location of transmission site? On January 24, 2007 I emailed YingLian asking same. Awaiting a reply from CRI. 73, (Kraig Krist, KG4LAC, VA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Same here, no transmitter site indicated for Albania, Mali, and the near-Hongkong MW site, inspite of my request. I wonder whether the editorial staff actually has the transmitter information at all, and/or whether they are aware of our "problem". I guess, among regular work this matter will appear to be of low priority to them. We should not forget that their actual job is to produce radio programmes. Maybe somebody of us has contacts to the technicians who are the guys that should know. Yet it's not sure that they speak English or if they are allowed to issue QSLs. It's up to each one of us how to "count" such QSLs. Every well-informed DXer knows their foreign relay sites anyway. (Domestic sites are more tricky... contradictory information like Urumqi vs Kashi is rather common.) Have fun, (Eike Bierwirth, Germany, ibid.) Eike, Thanks for the reply. In my email to CRI I was careful to explain that I was not "bitching" about QSL cards. I was curious to learn why CRI wants to keep relay sites secret. The frequency skeds received from CRI don't indicate transmission sites. Maybe an example of a communist, closed society regardless of what their propaganda mill claims. 73, (Kraig Krist, ibid.) ** CHINA [and non]. A big buzz mixed with talk in Mandarin, on 11785, VOA scheduled, Jan 26 at 1456; not your usual type of jamming from China, but can hardly be coincidental (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [and non]. Sound of Hope jamming today was on the odd frequency of 9203.0 kHz until 1300. No jamming on 10400, but a continuous carrier may have been SOH with audio missing. Nothing on 14500 while the 13970 jammer was active around 1100 (Olle Alm, Sweden, Jan 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COLOMBIA. Looking for R. Líder, 6140v, reported to have reactivated, but no sign of it Jan 24 around 0610, but DW wasn`t making it either. Nor on Jan 25 at 0645 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CONGO DR. 5066.4, R Télé Candip, La Voix du People, Bunia, 1607- 1626*, Jan 12, ID at 1625: "...la Radio Télévision ...? (maybe the following word was Bunia)...CANDIP dans la bande de 60 metres et dans la band de 90". So did they also reactivate their 90 metre band frequency, or only used an old ID ??? (Patrick Robic, Austria, DSWCI DX Window Jan 25 via DXLD) So far I have not seen any reports on former 3390 (DSWCI Ed., ibid.) ** CUBA [and non]. More follow up on Rebelde. All five frequencies went off the air at 1830 UT today instead of at 1900. The carriers remained on for 10 minutes or so (Bernie O'Shea, Ottawa, Ontario, Jan 24, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 17735, Radio Rebelde; 1815-1827+, 23-Jan; M&W in Spanish with news- sports. Noticiero Nacional de Radio; ID at 1826+. SIO=534-, QRM from music jammer on 17730; // 5025, SIO=322 (Harold Frodge, MI, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) You mean Firedrake? (gh) JAMMER: 17730, 1815-1827+, 23-Jan; Not the Chinese crash & bang jammer; this one was an orchestra continuously tuning up. Replaced by low-pitched tone at 1826 (Frodge-MI, ibid.) Aha, VOA Studio 7 service to Zimbabwe is on 17730 at 1730-1830 M-F via Morocco, so that could be a Zimbabwean jammer, or on behalf of Zimbabwe from a suitable skip distance, like, like, Gabon (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. R. Rebelde, 5025 was nothing but a big open carrier, Jan 25 at 0650; RHC on 6000 was missing a few minutes earlier, but back on by 0650 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. Hello Glenn, Radio Rebelde on 5025 kHz is a good // check for Cuban AM network of stations on this side of The Pond. Radio Reloj is fine based on format. Is there a reliable shortwave // outlet for the Radio Progreso network? (Barry Davies, UK, ABDX via DXLD) Barry, Afraid not; no Progreso on SW, tho you never know when the transmitter engineers might put it on some RHC frequency late at night as a test. I believe RHC is in the same building as Progreso, but for some reason Progreso does not get any regular SW relays. 73, (Glenn, ibid.) ** CUBA. I may have some interesting info. for you. I heard Radio Havana Cuba in Spanish on January 18, 2007 on 6300 kHz at 0231 UT. SINPO=4,5,5,4,4. I heard two good IDs at 0241. I was using a NRD-545 and a HVU-8 antenna. I don't know if you have heard this broadcast, or have had anyone else tell you about it. You may see me and my radio equipment at: http://www.geocities.com/shortwavemonitor/ If you click on my picture in the lower left corner, you will go to my blog where you can read my comments/loggings, or add your own comments. 73's (John Davis, OH, Jan 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) It`s the leapfrog mix of 6060 over 6180 (gh) ** CUBA [non]. Re WDHP with Radio República: I have reported this with positive ID's several times (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, but it is a lot easier to ask, what`s this? Than to do your own research in an open resource such as DXLD (gh, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CZECHIA [and non]. Skimming the rest of your site (there isn't enough time to read everything:-( ) Czechia caught my eye. Being from Czechoslovakia (many years ago) I like to refer to the Czech Republic as Czechland, but only to my friends. It sounds better than Czechia. As I understand the spelling comes from Poland where they use Z like we use H. By the way, them splitting up the country was purely selfish idea of the government. Before people mixed us up with Yugoslavia; now it is really easy to mix up Slovakia and Slovenia. And who came up with those names in the first place? (Paula, Jan 25, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. 5009.76, R. Pueblo, Santo Domingo, 1100-1115+ Jan 19, tune-in to Spanish talk, 1101 ID. Very good; strong at 1100 but quickly being overcome by local noise by 1115. Not heard next day, Jan 20 (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR. R. Quito, 4819.9, at 0644 Jan 25 with ID, timecheck and Andean music; not too distorted (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EGYPT. Greetings Glenn, Found a news item that you were wondering if anyone in the East could hear Egypt in English on 11950 and 12050. Tried various times January 25 during the period between 2300 to 0000 but no signal was heard except for what sounded like a dead carrier at the start of 2300 UT. Radio Equipment: FRG-100 and DX-200 Antennas - 2 - 60 foot random wires. Regards (Allen Willie, VO1001SWL, St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada, Jan 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Allen, Thanks for checking. 12050 should definitely be on, but in Arabic. 11950 is supposedly scheduled now in English. If WYFR is not too strong at your location, you might also be able to confirm whether Cairo English is really still on 11885 at 2300-2430. 73, (Glenn to Allen, via DXLD) Hello Glenn, Cairo is indeed active on 11950 and 12050 from 2300. Heard today (26 Jan) in Arabic on 12050 and English on 11950. The latter had Qur'an recitation with English translation before 2315 and news after 2315. Reception was quite variable and it seems that most days they do not get through due to propagation (Olle Alm, Sweden, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EGYPT. EGIPTO. Hoy 25 de enero se aprecia el mismo problema en la transmisión de Radio Cairo a las 1158 en su servicio indonesio en 15810, no así en su servicio en inglés por 17835; el mismo problema se aprecia en el servicio en árabe de las 1300 por 15365. Por otra parte el servicio en árabe por los 12050 con buena señal y modulación a las 1205. 73 (José Miguel Romero, Spain, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ERITREA. 5100, new transmitter carrying programme R Bana (= Dawn), fade in W 1500-1530*, Sunday –1630*, regular since Jan 03 with educational programmes in English and local language(s) produced by Adult Education and Media, Ministry of Education, P,O, Box 609, Asmara, Eritrea. Tel 125 546. And e-mail, that sounds like eriaduledradio @ yahoo.com which however doesnot work. On some occasions they referred also to Bana R. The two other SW channels of Dimtsi Hafash (VOBME) 7100 and 7175 seem to be carrying their regular programming at that time. So this is an additional transmitter, maybe the one which was used earlier to broadcast clandestine Voice of Sudan on around 8000, 14221 (Jari Savolainen and Bernd Trutenau via DXLD, Björn Fransson, Zacharias Liangas and Anker Petersen, DSWCI DX Window Jan 25 via DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA. 9650, For more than a week I hear an UNID in an Afro-Horn Vernacular with a lot of music from that region, talks, news, rare ads. Definitely looks like an local station (or pretending to be local for that audience). Signing on at around 0400. Closing between 1730* and 2000*. At least one daytime break noted late morning. Daytime reception is affected by Moosbrunn DRM-ing Deutsche Welle on 9655. Evening: Usually heavy co-channel from IBB. Who it could be? IDing is difficult due to low signal and QRMs, so language used and "non- international" nature of broadcasting. Bearing in mind recent activities in that region (Somalia/Ethiopia). (Vlad Titarev, Ukraine in DXplorer, Jan 21 via DSWCI DX Window Jan 25 via DXLD) Heard in Finland after 1500, Jan 21, once something like "Dimtse Oromiya", but the signal was not good enough for any ID. I didn't find it // to any of these: 7100, 7175, 7210, 9560, 9704 (Mauno Ritola in DX-plorer, ibid.) I heard it pretty loud here, Jan 22. I think it is a Somali Clandestine Service from Ethiopia (Victoir Goonetilleke in DXplorer, ibid.) This was already identified in DXLD 7-010 as V. of Tigray Revolution on new frequency (gh, DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA [non]. Re 7280, Andanet Le Democracy, via Samara (250 kW / 188 degrees) to East Africa in Amharic: Tu/Th/Su 1700-1800: Only Voice of Vietnam could be heard in Denmark on Tue Jan 23 at 1715 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Jan 25 via DXLD) ** GABON [and non]. Afropop music distraxion, Jan 25 at 1507 check was on 17635, but Africa Numéro Un was missing from 17630 --- just weak signal in English there, CRI via Mali; at 1550 recheck, 17635 was off and 17630 ANU was also still off. Jan 24 at 1445, Afropop was on 17660 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also ZIMBABWE [and non] ** GABON. Jan 26 at 1458 check, Afropop music distraxion was on 17660, and Africa N. Un was missing again from 17630. Suppose this means one transmitter at Moyabi is down or otherwise occupied (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREECE. Re 7-010: Re 7-009, VOG antenna for 6 MHz band? B-05: 5865 0000 0600 18,27,28 AVL 250 292 301005 250306 GRC ERA. 292 degrees out of Avlis, is Lisbon, Azores, Cuba, Panamá path of main lobe. and in A-06 via Kavalla site, but only 4 weeks til the closure for ever happened on Apr 21, 2006 ... 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HUNGARY. On January 11, 2007 I emailed R. Budapest informing them about the problems with 5980 kHz at 0200 UTC to North America. I volunteered to check frequencies for R. Budapest to assist in picking a better frequency. As of today, January 24, 2007 still no reply from R. Budapest. Is anyone reading the email at R. Budapest? Does R. Budapest even care their SW signal is having difficulty? 73, (Kraig Krist, KG4LAC, VA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ICELAND. 13865, INBS; 1433-1441* 13 Jan, SIO-243, M talking in IC with mentions of Iceland & Reykjavik, ID at 1440, off with choral anthem (Karl Racenis, MI, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) ** INDIA. AIR Special programs on Republic Day (26 Jan 07) All India Radio will broadcast special programmes in connection with the Republic Day Celebrations-2007 25th Jan 2007 - Broadcast of President's Address to the nation - 1400 UT onwards. Freq's: 9835, 9575, 5015, 6030, 6085. 25th Jan 2007 - Sarva Bhasha Kavi Sammelan - 1630-1830 UT Freq's: 7140, 9835, 9575, 6085. 26th Jan 2007 - Running commentary of Republic Day Parade - 0350-0645 UT --- Freq's: See below. 29th Jan 2007 - Radio report on Beating Retreat ceremony - 1630-1700 UT. Freq's: 7140, 9835, 9575, 6085. [means 26 Jan here too????] On 26th Jan 2007 at 0350-0645 UT the running commentary on the Republic Day Parade and Cultural Pageant will be broadcast as follows: Hindi - 6155, 9595, 11620, 15050 English - 6030, 9950, 11585, 15020 Note: 9950 is via Aligarh, others are via Delhi Look out also for 10330 (Bangalore) All regional stations of AIR will relay at least one of these programs on shortwave. The following changes will be there to the External Services of AIR on that day: 9910 at 0215-0415 UT in Pushtu & Dari will be cancelled. 15135, 11830 at 0335-0350 UT in Hindi/English will be cancelled. The Urdu Service will carry the Hindi commentary from 0350 UT onwards. Reception reports to: spectrum-manager @ air.org.in Or can be submitted online at: http://www.allindiaradio.gov.in/recepfdk.html (Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, India, Jan 25, dx_india, via dxldyg mostly in advance, via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL. I have been an avid SWL for the past 13 years and at times done a bit of DXing as well. Unfortunately, like many of the international broadcasters, I have reached the time to turn off my SW radio. The news continues to be how different stations are finding a way or need to continually close down or eliminate SW from their broadcast media. The latest is RCI. The response from all of them is you can get our program from the internet. Well, I live in the technology-rich US and where I live, I only can get dial-up. That makes live web streaming or downloading quite a chore. Besides, as a SWL, I don`t want to be locked down to my computer. Additionally, with the larger SWBCers leaving the air, there is not much left on SW worth listening to (WBCQ the only slight exception). The rest seems to be hard to catch or just plain boring or preachy. Of course, you can still get all the propaganda you want. I was being entertained. Shows from the BBC, DW, RCI, even VOR. Now the only clear catches in the US are CRI, RHC and RTI. No, thanks. Goodbye shortwave; guess I`ll just have to turn on the TV (Bret Pollack, Marriottsville MD, Jan NASWA Journal via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL INTERNET. Broadband access certainly makes internet audio streams a more viable alternative to SW. But I learned that Verizon and Cingular wireless broadband services list ``listening to a Web radio station`` among the activities their subscribers are prohibited from doing. The providers are worried about bandwidth hogs. If these two broadband services can ban internet radio, theoretically so could others (Kim Andrew Elliott, Kim`s Column, Jan NASWA Journal via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. EUROPEAN SATELLITE RADIO PROTOTYPE UNVEILED The European Space Agency (ESA) today will demonstrate a prototype of what they call "the multimedia car radio of the future" at the Noordwijk Space Expo in the Netherlands. Unlike XM and Sirius' satellite radio services, this system won't require the launching of new satellites - instead it will use existing communications satellites transmitting in the Ku-band. Full report and pictures: http://www.orbitcast.com/archives/european-satellite-radio-to-be-unveiled-today.html (Mike Barraclough, UK, Jan 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KURDISTAN. 4850, Voice of Iranian Kurdistan, via Al-Sulaymaniyah, Northern Iraq, 0255-0410, Jan 23 and 24, Kurdish talk and Middle East songs, audible through jamming which first was on 4860, 22322. Iranian jammer also heard on 3970 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Jan 25 via DXLD) ** LATVIA. 9290, Latvia Today Relay via Ulbroka; 1338-1400* 14 Jan [Sunday only], SIO-232, W [SWH] in English with Latvia Today program about Latvian folk music, playing songs & discussing key elements, gave address & e-mail (Karl Racenis, MI, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) ** LIBYA [non]. MOLDAVIA, 17670, Sawt al-Amal, 1312-1315, escuchada el 22 de enero en idioma árabe a locutora anunciando E-mail, segmento de música árabe; por otra parte la emisora afro-pop emitiendo en 17660, cambia a 17665, SINPO 35443. 17665, Sawt al-Amal, 1315-1330, escuchada el 22 de enero en árabe a locutora con ID, sintonía y locutor con saludo, comentarios; a las 1322 se escucha durante cinco segundos la extraña música, SINPO 45444. 17630, Sawt al-Amal, 1140-1155, escuchada el 25 de enero en idioma árabe a locutor con invitado con comentarios, sintonía y cuña de identificación, E-mail, segmento musical y locutora con saludo, comentarios, SINPO 55444. 17645, Sawt al-Amal, 1235-1245, escuchada el 25 de enero en idioma árabe a locutor con comentarios, referencias a Libia, segmento de música, cuña de identificación con E-mail, SINPO 55444. Blog: http://valenciadx.multiply.com/journal Web: http://es.geocities.com/jmromero782004/ Audio: http://valenciadx.multiply.com/music Programas DX: http://es.geocities.com/programasdx/ (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia) España, Sangean ATS 909, YAESU FRG-7700, Grundig YB-80, Antena Radio Master A-108, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LITHUANIA. The Netherlands / KBC Radio / 6255 kHz --- KBC Radio (the former pirate from the eighties) is returning on shortwave. Starting January 27th and then every Saturday evening in 2007. 2200- 2259 UTC on 6255 kHz via Sitkunai LTU, 100 kW, beam 259 . Also on 1386 kHz via Kaunas LTU, 500 kW omni, at the same time and on same days. For more information contact KBC info @ k-po.com - http://www.kbcradio.eu This info received from KBC International (Ydun Ritz, Denmark, Jan 24, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MAURITANIA. 4845, R Mauritania, Nouakchott, 1745-0100*, Jan 20/21, mostly programmes in Arabic dialect, but at times French and vernacular talks and announcements were also heard, native music, no fixed language schedule! 25232 - 45444 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Jan 25 via DXLD) ** MEXICO. 9599.24, XEYU, R. Universidad, Mexico City, 0940-1005+ Jan 20, classical music, Spanish talk; 0945 classical piano music. Presumed; no ID heard. Weak but in the clear. Started to get noisy conditions by 1000 (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) XEYU, 9599.2 in a dialog about something, monitored Jan 25 at 1459 to hear the het go off as presumed China quit 9600. Previously also heard around 0610, but not on Jan 24. Another post-midnight check Jan 26 at 0625 did not find any signal on 9599.2 from XEYU, no longer 24 hours, or just not propagating some nights? Was audible around 1445, and also around 2100 when it again has a het from something on 9600.0 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. XEXQ, 6045, presumed, again audible with classical music Jan 25 at 0631; and Jan 24 at 0610 check it was mixing at about equal level with attenuated Korea-via-Canada, with fluxuating SAH rate. Presumed XEXQ is still running late, with classical music after 0630 Jan 26 on 6045. Has anyone heard this in Europe or Australia/NZ yet? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. XEQIN's website still says they are on 1160: http://www.cdi.gob.mx/index.php?id_seccion=1022 (John Callarman, Krum TX, IRCA via DXLD) For indigenous of Baja (gh) ** NIGER. 9705, La Voix du Sahel, 2150-2301* Jan 20, tune-in to local tribal drums, ID, French talk, variety of hi-life music, Afro-pops, French pops, phone talk. Sing-off with choral NA. Good signal until hit by co-channel QRM from India at their *2243 making reception very difficult. Niger very weak under India after 2243 (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OMAN. 15140, Radio Oman; 1410 13 Jan, SIO-222, Michael Jackson pop song, woman talking in English, chimes at 1430, ID & local time check of 6:30, news about US forces in Iraq could be withdrawn by end of year (Karl Racenis, MI, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) ** PERU. 4790.13, Radio Visión, 0037-0110 Jan 25. It seems that Radio Visión hasn't changed its format from religious to secular. However, all activity before 0100 was secular type programming. On the hour at 0100, they stopped broadcasting popular music, Huaynos etc, and are presenting a religious program. It sounds like some kind of discussion. Also, the signal seemed to increase power slightly when this program began (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston, Florida, NRD545, DX LISTENIG DIGEST) ** PERU. 6193.4, R. Cusco, Cusco, 1040-1100+ Jan 19, Spanish announcements, huaynos, ID. Fair but some adjacent channel splatter (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ROMANIA. RRI IS Jan 26 at 0629 on 7180, 0630 opening English. Poor signal but good modulation except mixed with roaring noise which in this case one must suspect is in its own transmitter (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. This morning (26 Jan) Yakutsk was stronger than normal on 7200 (S-9 or better) and I was able to confirm R Rossii transmissions with the same delay as 7200 on 7140 and 6150 at 0700. 6075 with a different delay was heard briefly below DW just before 0700 and Arman was heard on 7320 and 5935 (no huckster interference on 5935) around 0700, all with R Rossii only. 7320 and 5935 had the same delay, which in its turn was much different from the other frequencies. No local transmissions at 0710, just a R Rossii musical program (Olle Alm, Sweden, Jan 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAINT HELENA. My reception report to Radio St. Helena came back from the US Post Office. ``Insufficient Address`` ?? At first, I laughed to myself that all they needed to do was get it to the damn Island and the folks there would easily figure out where to deliver it. I went up to the local post office to find out what exactly was wrong with my address. The clerk looked it over. He looked at a list, and found the Island on it right away. His guess: not a geography problem; the Island is listed as Saint Helena, not St. Helena, on their international list, and the person routing it didn`t know that St. is an abbr. for Saint. Ha! (Kevin Mikell, Park Ridge IL, Jan NASWA Journal via DXLD) ** SAUDI ARABIA. Saudi radio ends Turkish-language broadcast. Turkish broadcasts by "Jeddah radio," two hours per day, were transmitted for the past 35 years. Anatolia, 24 January 2007. The pan-Islamic nature of Saudi external radio is reflected in its languages: Arabic, Bambara, French, Indonesian, Pashto, Persian, Somali, Swahili, Turkish, Urdu, and Uzbek. Posted: 26 Jan 2007 (Kim Andrew Elliott, kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) Viz.: SAUDI ARABIAN GOVERNMENT ENDS RADIO BROADCAST IN TURKISH http://haber.tnn.net/haber_detay.asp?ID=1648341&cat=ENG BEIRUT (A.A) - 24.01.2007 - The Saudi Arabian government ended Turkish broadcast by Jeddah radio, according to Saudi Arabian executives. The executives indicated that the radio made broadcast in Turkish for 2 hours from the shortwave for 35 years. Turkish citizens, living particularly in Saudi Arabian cities of Medina and al-Damam and Turkish-speaking republics in Central Asia were listening to this program. Reason for the decision on ending Turkish broadcast has not been announced. Turkish citizens said tens of thousands of Turkish citizens have been working in Saudi Arabia for years and they were listening to the broadcast in Turkish. Meanwhile, sources said that Turkish Embassy executives launched initiatives at Saudi Arabian government for resumption of the broadcast. (AY-MS) (via kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) Media Network adds: According to the 2007 World Radio TV Handbook, the broadcast was on the air at 0400-0600 UT on 15275 kHz (Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) ** SPAIN. REE, 9630, starting maritime show Españoles en la Mar, Fri Jan 26 at 2106; heard no mention of Santa Cruz de Tenerife; does it still originate at that studio? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SWEDEN. 5850 kHz, Radio Chachimo Start to Be Broadcast 25. 1. 2007 The Swedish Radio SR International Radio Romano is going to start a new radio programme called "Radio Chachimo". The one-hour-programme will be broadcast once a month, last Sunday every month and the first programme will be broadcast already on Sunday 28th January, 2007. You can listen to this program Middle East & Southern Europe on shot wane [sic] 5850 KHz. Saturday 2300-2400, Sunday 2300-2400 and even in the night 2400-01.00, and finally also in Radio Romano’s web side [sic] in Sweden. [CET or UT??? --- gh] The idea of this programme is born in the latest working-meeting organized by Swedish Radio SR International Radio Romano that took place in Stockholm in November 21-22, 2006. In this occasion they decided to start a co-production with six European countries (Germany, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, United Kingdom and Sweden) to contribute with different reports to the programme. Actually the topics are discussed in a monthly conference via Internet – Skype and a aim of Radio Romano in the future is to have a meeting twice a year to plan and decide different topics for the coming programmes. For more information write to Radio Romano in Stockholm: radioromano @ sr.se (Dzeno Association) http://www.dzeno.cz/?c_id=12785 (via Kevin Redding, AZ, ABDX via DXLD) ** TAIWAN. Message on RTI English language web site --- RTI is temporarily unable to update this web page due to intrusion on the part of hackers. Our technical staff is currently working to rectify the situation. We appreciate your patience and apologize for the inconvenience (via Henrik Klemetz, 0510 UT Jan 25, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Perturbations du site de RTI à la suite des attaques de hackers Chers internautes, Notre site Internet ayant aujourd’hui (24 janvier 07) été victime d’attaques de hackers, des perturbations ont pu être occasionnées. En effet certains internautes auront pu être redirigés automatiquement vers des sites Internet chinois à caractère pornographique ou voir apparaître sur leur écran des signes incompréhensibles. Notre équipe technique fait son possible pour que la situation soit rétablie le plus rapidement possible. Nous vous présentons toutes nos excuses pour ces perturbations. Service français RTI (via Henrik Klemetz, 0506 UT Jan 25, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Sacre bleu! You mean there is not a true French word for ``hacker``?? What is the world coming to? It so happens I just got a new Larousse at the Walden Books going-out-of-business sale in Enid, and such a word is included! Hacker (computer) translates to ``pirate informatique``. Does anyone in France really use this expression? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) Estimado internauta, El día 24 de enero la página web de Radio Taiwán Internacional ha sido víctima de un ataque informático. Esto ha incurrido en que los enlaces de nuestra página enviaban al internauta a páginas eróticas de China Continental o bien páginas con un texto corrupto. Este incidente ya ha sido corregido por el departamento de informática de la radio. Rogamos disculpen las molestas ocasionadas. Centro de Internet http://spanish.rti.org.tw/Content/WhatsNewSingle.aspx?ContentID=30060&BlockID=30 (via José Miguel Romero, Spain, Noticias DX via DXLD) ** THAILAND. THAILANDIA. Hoy 24 de Enero se aprecia que Radio Thailand está emitiendo por 9725 sin problemas su servicio en inglés a las 1400, desde Valencia con SINPO 34333. Por otra parte en la frecuencia de 9535 desde las 2000 hasta las 2115, se observa que en el servicio alemán al final de su transmisión estaban emitiendo música clásica, los servicios de treinta minutos en francés, inglés y thai estaban emitiendo boletines informativos con ausencia de música. Quizás lo ocurrido ayer se trató de alguna emisión accidental o algún tipo de problema técnico que evitó la normal transmisión de los noticieros de Radio Thailand (José Miguel Romero, Spain, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKMENISTAN. 4930. Turkmen Radio --- On my recent visit to Ashgabat Oct 23-27, I attempted to visit the Radio/TV complex of Turkmen Radio with a Russian-speaking member of our team (of 16 American professional workers). Could not get past the entrance to the building due to high security, etc. My Russian speaker talked to a Russian-speaking worker at the station who then found an English- speaking worker. Gave the latter a CD with 2005 recordings of 4930 from both here in Southern California and from DX Tuner Sweden and a QSL sheet with hopes of a studio tour and a QSL. Got neither, but did get in trouble with the KNB (the current version of the old KGB) for making an "unauthorized" visit to the station. Seems we did not inform the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (whose head is also the KNB Chief) of our visit in advance, which was a no-no. Our team guide (also a KNB agent) got in trouble and had to retrieve the CD and QSL sheet from the English speaker I had given it to for "examination". Needless to say, it never got back to the Turkmen Radio staff. Our team had been invited to observe the 15th anniversary of independence of Turkmenistan from the Soviet Union (Oct 27) by personal invitation of the President, Saparmyrat Niyazov. Unfortunately, the President died suddenly of a heart attack on Dec 21, so I do not know if we will get back there or not. Bottom line - still working on the Turkmen Radio QSL!! Hopefully persistence will pay off! (Bruce Churchill in DXplorer, Jan 15 via DSWCI DX Window Jan 25 via DXLD) ** U S A. INTERNATIONAL FOCUS LACKING AND WHY From the journalist reference site Poynteronline, comes this comment by Michael Goldfarb who has reported internationally for both NPR and the BBC, among others. IMHO, it could be said that his comments can be extended to include what is happening in international broadcasting generally, as well as other formerly robust media outlets being challenged by progressively shrinking budgets -- shrinking for no other reason than for what has become an accepted but poorly and under defined imperative that crowds out all others. Resources exist and, in general, they exist at a level higher than ever before. After all, the world in general is richer than ever before. We just badly need a redefinition of priorities, is all. And Goldfarb gives us several cogent reasons why (John Figliozzi, Jan 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: From MICHAEL GOLDFARB: When the Iraq Study Group presented its report last December, one of the most headshaking moments came when James Baker noted that there were only six Arabic speakers out of a thousand Americans employed in our embassy in Baghdad. I imagine more than a few journalists felt a little twinge of superiority at that: our business may be in bad shape but it isn't as ineptly managed as that. Think again. The Boston Globe's elimination of a desk that just five years ago included the late Betsy Neuffer, Charlie Sennott, Anthony Shadid, and David Filipov is just the worst example of how alike the news business and the Bush Administration are when it comes to management skill. Cutting back foreign coverage because it is expensive is the same kind of short-sighted, penny-wise pound-foolish management decision that has left so little money around the State department's budget for training schemes for Arab language specialists. The Bush Administation is ignorant of what is happening in Iraq because it is too cheap to pay for training its own translators and is reliant on others. American society is ignorant of what is happening in the world because the managers of its news industry are relying on only a handful of outlets to provide original coverage. Having spent most of the last two decades reporting from abroad for American outlets let me try and explain a basic fact that seems to have escaped these managers: Since the collapse of the Soviet Union the world has become more, not less, complex. Therefore it needs more not fewer reporters covering it. I know this will sound extraordinary to the managers inside the newsrooms and on the publisher's floor but you can't get a full picture of the war in Iraq, Hugo Chavez, the tension between China's interior and Shanghai, or Darfur just by re-running copy from wire services or syndicated copy from the two Times's and the Washington Post. Can't be done. And as these cutbacks have gone on it has made American society even more ignorant than it was on September 11th of the world over which it is pre-eminent. September 11th provoked the plaintive question: "why do they hate us?" Cutting back foreign coverage isn't going to help answer that question the next time there is a terrorist outrage any more than having only 6 Arab speakers on your Baghdad embassy staff will help you understand Iraq. But let's leave out appeals to newspaper ownership on the grounds of civic responsibility. Cutting foreign coverage is bad business. Far be it from me to tell Brian Tierney, the owner of the Inquirer, and Jack Welch, who would like to own the Boston Globe, much about business. Both believe that there is no need for Philadelphia and Boston papers to provide original foreign coverage. But I know their readership better than they do - as I broadcasted to these readers for years when I worked in public radio, an interactive platform before the concept existed - so let me tell them for free what their expensive focus- groups and yes-men hacks won't tell them: Both cities are home to high concentrations of elite universities and professional training schools. The people who read the Inquirer and the Globe travel abroad, are resolutely internationalist in their outlook and expect to read original content in their papers ... otherwise they'll simply read the New York Times (most read it anyway but they won't have a reason to read the homegrown paper if you don't provide them different information.) I could make the same claim for the Baltimore Sun, Newsday and virtually every newspaper serving a major metropolitan area which used to have original foreign coverage and now has little or none. As for my colleagues: how much longer will you sit by and watch your industry gutted like a fish by Wall Street, egomaniacal billionaires and inept management placemen? Do not expect the web to create the institutions that can replace the ones you work for now. Sooner or later group action is going to be required to save journalism: Print or broadcast. Start thinking of ways to do it (via John Figliozzi, DXLD) ** U S A. ``SW radio is going the way of the horse and buggy in most countries``, says Kenneth Y. Tomlinson, disgraced resigning chairman of the BBG, in a piece on the VOA on the PBS NewsHour, also featuring Neil Currie of VOA making the case for keeping English, as well as the usual other luminaries. The PBS NewsHour story about VOA, and the threats it faces, starts about halfway thru. I tuned in late after 2330 UT. Look out for it if your station runs the show later. Here`s the Public Radio Fan listing of audio broadcasts of it headed of course by the New WETA an hour later: Scheduled Broadcasts, UT days and times MTuWThF 2300-0000 KQED, KCET Newshour MTuWThF 2300-2355 WLIU, WCWP TuWThFSa 0000-0100 WETA, WNED-AM TuWThF 0300-0400 Spectrum AM [no luck here for Friday/UT Sat show] TuWThFSa 0300-0400 WILL, WGVU TuWThFSa 0400-0500 WNYC-AM Podcasts are also available. And I see on the show website http://www.pbs.org/newshour/ that many of the segments have streaming video so perhaps this one will too, after a suitable delay. Anyway, as of 0200 UT Jan 27, I see there is audio ondemand along the right margin for Friday`s program. Tnx also to Tom Roche and Carlos Coimbra for a heads-up about this. The report`s introduction: The U.S. Government-funded Voice of America has been around for nearly 65 years, broadcasts in 44 languages, and claims a weekly audience of 115 million worldwide for its news, education, and cultural programming. The organization is adjusting to new technology and new global politics after 9/11. For instance, there are now four hours of TV broadcasts in Farsi into Iran each day, up from an hour a week before 9/11. And Afghanistan is another growing focus of Voice of America, with broadcasts in Dari and Pashto, the country's two official languages. A current budget proposal in front of Congress would cut TV and radio broadcasts in Croatian, Turkish, Thai, and Greek, as well as radio broadcasts in Albanian, Russian, and Hindi. It also includes a move toward more native languages and a sharp reduction in international English broadcasting. Other ongoing changes at Voice of America include a shift of resources from radio to television and the Internet. Tonight, Senior Correspondent Jeffrey Brown has the Voice of America story... (Glenn Hauser, Jan 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see AZERBAIJAN ** U S A [non]. VOA Talk to America, via Lampertheim 11655, Jan 25 at 1450, discussing alternatives to petroleum, had periodic very brief audio drop-outs, both on host studio audio and on phone line (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. VOA, 15185, extremely strong in Hausa, Fri Jan 26 at 2058 talking about Singapore, Nigeria, Iraq to abrupt 2059* amid VOA theme music. Current VOA language sked shows this 2030-2100 M-F on 4940 9780 9815 11775 12080 15185. So 15185 must be Greenville, directly off the back here. However, HFCC B-06 does not list 15185 for this, but instead 9815 as Greenville. BTW, the 9, 11 and 12 MHz frequencies are also on the air Sat/Sun during this semihour in French but from different sites than weekdays. EiBi shows both 9815 and 15185 as Greenville for Hausa. Did not check 9815 for super-strength too (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WTJC, still absent from 9370, Jan 25 at 0652 check, as well as Jan 24 at 0610 and 1444. WTJC, 9370, back on the air after missing several days, first noted Jan 26 at 0627 with piano music; VG signal and modulation; perhaps they were working on improving that. Now how about WBOH 5920v which has been off frequency and with spurs?? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WBCQ, 18910-LSB, at 2055 Jan 26 with preacher, very little carrier and hard to copy without BFO; must be suppressed a lot more than 6 dB (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WWCR-4 was again on 5765 instead of scheduled 7465, Jan 24 at 1445 check (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Explaining my hearing WWCR-4 on 5765 instead of 7465: ``01.22.2007. We are extending the use of 5765 until 1600 UT due to interference issues with 7465. This change will most likely remain in effect for the month of January. This is for transmitter #4 1400-1600 UT`` (WWCR transmitter schedule page via Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** U S A. Two very strong WYFR signals on 9715 and 9680 overload the receiver, so am not sure if the English and Spanish mixing product I hear on 9645, with a het from the off-frequency Brasilian, is receiver- or transmitter-produced, but now I have heard a matching one on the other side, 9750, Jan 25 at 0650. WYFR mixing product on 9750, 9680 over 9715, was not audible when checked about 24 hours later, Jan 26 at 0625 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. Dear DXers, Family Radio start their test broadcast in three new shortwave frequencies to India in the Tamil, Telugu and Marathi languages to South Asia. They request the reception Reports from their listeners for some assistance. The signals are; * Tamil 7475 kHz at 1400-1500 UT * Telugu 5880 kHz at 1400-1500 UT * Marathi 6135 kHz at 1400-1500 UT Send all the reception reports to.. Family radio intl @ familyradio.com OR Family radio familyradio @ familyradio.org OR Family radio international @ familyradio.com (Jaisakthivel, Chennai, India, Jan 25, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Sites? Probably CAs, Uzbekistan? We kept hearing them advertising on WYFR USA for Tamil-speakers to contact them. There are far too few Protestants in India for their liking (gh, DXLD) ** U S A [non]. Jan 26 at 2100 I was on 11845, hearing Adventist World Radio ``Voice of Hope`` ID in English, then into hymn set to tune of Beethoven`s Ode to Joy, where Schiller`s should have been respected as the ultimate lyrix for that; then late at *2101 on came RCI with news in Quebecois, mixing, and a few seconds later, no more AWR. Checking EiBi, I see that AWR would have been Yoruba at 2030-2100 via South Africa to West Africa, running over (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Lots Of Radio Fallout In GMS, WETA, George Deal - 1/23 - Rant. The "good and bad" of yesterday's radio shuffle - moving WGMS's classical music to WETA-FM, and the birth of poppish George 104 on WGMS's frequencies. It'll be good for Bonneville-operated Washington Post Radio by removing a competing long-form news talker, WETA, from the radio dial. It'll be good for WAMU, which will again have the public radio news talk format to itself in the DC market. Now, the big question is, will WETA's news talk listeners migrate more to WAMU, which is also non-commercial, or try the commercial alternative? It'll be good for classical music fans because WETA's 90.9 signal is far superior to WGMS's old 104.1 and 103.9. It'll be bad for once-classical WETA, which is back to where it was several years ago - providing classical music to an aging audience, who'll be spending more of their disposable income on assisted living expenses. It'll be bad for music-based Mix 107.3, Big 100.3, and possibly Arrow 94.7 by having a three-month non commercial station spewing oldies as George 104. It could be good for DC area radio listeners because some of the above three music stations may flip to something new and bold (don't hold your breath), instead of tired old oldies of one form or another. It'll be bad for George 104 owner Bonneville by not having an ad revenue stream from the 104.1 and 103.9 frequencies until spring, and any ratings generated by the new format could quickly vanish once ads arrive. It'll be good for Bonneville if the 104.1 and 103.9 frequencies are still on the market (they probably are), allowing more time to negotiate to sell them to Redskins owner Dan Snyder for his Triple X sports talker. This wouldn't be a problem if that Bonneville suit didn't kill the way overpriced deal back in December by yakking to the Post. The only way Triple X can dream of success is with better signals and this deal may be all that's available. It'll be bad for Bonneville because it missed the opportunity to start a sports talker on 104 and the chance to have "triple threat" talk dominance on the DC FM band. And, of course, it'll be very bad for all the good people who lost their jobs at WGMS and WETA. Our best to them (Dcrtv.com via DXLD) Update: WAMU will air BBC World News Update at 5 a.m. and BBC Newshour at 4 p.m. weekdays (Kim Andrew Elliott, Jan 26, kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) EST = UT -5 ** U S A. I see that KHFM in Santa Fe-Albuquerque, my alma mater, is streaming again, via warpradio. For linx, programming, etc., see http://www.classicalkhfm.com (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I was led to this via http://streamingradioguide.com/radio-station-list-by-state.php?srt=freq&state=NM (via Han Hardonk, BDX via DXLD) ** U S A. DX-midAMerica reports that 1660 has changed calls from KXTR to WDAF. Can any one confirm that 1660 is simulcasting country music from 106.5 FM? If so, would this be permitted long term? (Barry Davies, Editor, North American News, MWC UK, IRCA via DXLD) This was already reported in DXLD as a call change for 1660, not a format change, at least not yet (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The FCC no longer enforces any restrictions on AM/FM simulcasting, so yes, it would be permitted - but it's not what's happening here. The 106.5 facility is changing call letters, as it tries to ditch what's perceived as the "old" WDAF calls and the heritage they carry, and Entercom wants to keep the calls in the family, so they're moving them to the classical AM on 1660, which will remain classical. Rather a dumb move, if you ask me, since the KXTR calls that were on 1660 have a long classical heritage of their own in Kansas City, having spent many decades in use on 96.5 FM there. s (Scott Fybush, IRCA via DXLD) ** U S A. Nothin' but net logs --- Been checking out oldies (or pseudo-oldies) stations on the web lately just to see the state of oldies stations these days. http://www.komaradio.com Decided to check in on KOMA even though their oldies are long gone from the 1520 AM slot - I knew they still had their FM and were still doing oldies. At least last I knew. Sadly, it doesn't sound anything like what it did when we could still listen to the oldies at 1520. It has gone the typical way of the oldies (or former oldies) stations and it 60s and 70s music. Seems they don't even USE the word "oldies" anymore. Lots of early-mid 70s and some mid-late 60s. http://www.oldies957.com KLKL in Minden (Shreveport), LA. Oldies 95.7 they call it. Better. At least they don't mind saying the word "Oldies". Enjoy listening to this one. Sounds more like an oldies station than the other two. http://www.krth101.com K-Earth 101 in Los Angeles. Actually sounds pretty good although it was the weekend and I couldn't tell what normal programming sounds like. They had an "All 60s Saturday / All 70s Sunday" going on and it was Sunday. Not sure if they've steered away from 50s tunes and just mainly 60s and 70s tunes or not. This is one of those oldies stations that has stood the test of time. Really surprised CBS didn't pull the plug like they did in New York to put Jack. I guess JACK was already on over there (Michael n Wyo Richard, ABDX via DXLD) For years (decades?), K-Earth had a play list of about 100 songs from the '50s and '60s. Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating slightly, but the play list was tiny considering the number of songs they had to choose from in their designated decades. It was very common to hear the same song several times in a week, and that was only listening an hour or two every day. A while back they added another decade or two to their repertoire. They also greatly expanded the number of songs on their play list, even for the decades they'd been covering for years. It used to be I could only handle listening to K-Earth for an hour or so at a time, at least if I was listening on a regular basis. The last time I was in LA I had K-Earth on the radio for five or six hours each day and didn't get sick of it at all. To my ears the station has improved tremendously since implementing this change (Jay Heyl, ibid.) My personal favorite is: http://www.957theride.com It's a Hickory, NC station, WXRC, which plays Album oriented oldies, real low key jocks, but mostly music; serves the Charlotte area. 73, (Chris Taylors, S.C., ibid.) Re: Nothin' but net logs --- http://www.wpon.com -- this is for semi- local WPON-1460 from Walled Lake, MI. They have a bunch of talk shows mixed in throughout the day, but when they play Oldies, they play RARE OLDIES -- specializing in the first decade of rock and roll, complete with lively, upbeat DJs, the whole shot. With that station, you're just as likely to hear the Four Preps as you are to hear a lesser- known record by the Temptations. There's also Industrial Info (I think they're at industrialinfo.com or something like that) which carries Crazy Al's Radio Party and Lunch With Larry -- a couple of more Rare Oldies shows. Crazy Al always did a fun show -- his records usually revolve around a story he's telling. Check 'em out :-) (Eric Berger, MI, Jan 25, ibid.) ** U S A. WNEW'S ILLUSTRIOUS RUN IS OVER By DAVID HINCKLEY, DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER Carol Miller, now at WAXQ [caption] http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/ent_radio/story/488933p-411774c.html Fresh-FM (102.7 FM) officially became WWFS last Tuesday, meaning that for the first time since Feb. 13, 1934, New York doesn't have a WNEW. But while this closes the book on a major chapter in city radio history, it's been years since WNEW really meant much. At one time, though, it stood for marvelous and timeless music - the Great American Songbook on 1130 AM and rock, broad and ragged, on FM. So important was WNEW that it helped shape some of the music it played, simply by giving it such a welcoming and open platform. Just as Frank Sinatra felt at home with William B. Williams on WNEW- AM, John Lennon and Jerry Garcia would drop in on Scott Muni and his merry band at WNEW-FM. "Those call letters represented specific times in the history of New York City," says Jonathan Schwartz of WNYC and XM Satellite Radio, who was a host on both stations. "WNEW-AM was as much a part of the city as Jimmy Cannon or Brooks Atkinson. The FM represents the '60s and early '70s for a lot of people. " Those days, however, are as gone as subway tokens and Ebbets Field. WNEW-AM gradually lost its prominence after it got belted by rock music and by FM. It was a shadow, though still often charming, when it was sold to Bloomberg and became WBBR on Dec. 15, 1992. In the 1980s, meanwhile, WNEW-FM became more tightly formatted, and by the 1990s it had launched a dizzying series of format changes that moved through alternate rock, classic rock, album rock, hot talk, pop, adult contemporary and dance. Finally, with the arrival of adult contemporary "Fresh," CBS Radio sent the call letters to West Palm Beach - a fittingly symbolic retirement for a New Yorker. Pete Fornatale, a former WNEW-FM jock now on WFUV (90.7 FM), said recently the letters should have been retired years ago, and many of his colleagues agree their real legacy is what WNEW used to mean. "They were synonymous with fun, spontaneous radio that had real integrity," says Meg Griffin of Sirius Satellite Radio, a WNEW-FM alumna. "It was an independent-thinking station built by a brave programmer, Scott Muni, who was acutely tuned to the fact something was happening." "This is another part of New York's history slipping away," says Carol Miller of WAXQ, another WNEW-FM vet. She notes that Fresh and other recent 102.7 FM formats "weren't even using the call letters. ... Listeners of Mix may not have even been aware of what was on the frequency before. So what was the point?" In one sense, the departure of WNEW simply completes a pop music circle. When WNEW-AM launched in February 1934, as a merger of WAAM and WODA, the "WNEW" call letters were chosen to tell listeners this was a "new" sound. Within a year WNEW began revolutionizing radio by building shows on 78 rpm records rather than relying on live bands with only the occasional recorded disk. For decades, WNEW and its music flourished. But by the time it signed off in 1992, pop standards and its audience were widely regarded in radio as too old. Today, on New York radio, you can't find them. More striking is how the same thing has happened with the music of WNEW-FM, which started playing rock in 1967. New York today has no full-time current rock station. So in some ways, the end of WNEW is a thanks-for-the-memories moment. "Those of us who were in the tribe as listeners or lucky DJs will always have what it was," says Griffin. "WNEW was part of this city," says Schwartz. "It was in the skin of this city." (NY Daily News Jan 16 via Bob Thomas, CT, DXLD) ** U S A. 1620 kHz Collinsville, CT Part 15 --- RADIO COLLINSVILLE --- VILLAGE RESIDENT SERVES UP MUSIC AND PATTER FROM HIS PICKUP BY THE RIVER --- By JESSE LEAVENWORTH, The Hartford Courant, January 25 2007 Within a half-mile of Collinsville on Route 179, bluegrass music pulses faintly through the scratchy blur at 1620 AM. In sight of the old ax factory that serves as the gateway to the Farmington River village, Tom Jacobson's mellow voice emerges clearly on the car radio. . . http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-radioguy.artjan25,0,5963963.story?coll=hc-headlines-local (Hartford Courant via Kevin Redding, AZ, ABDX via DXLD) ** VENEZUELA. Hola Glenn, Saludos desde Catia La Mar. Reactivada la estación horaria YVTO en los 5000 kHz, a las 2315 UT, del día 25/01. SINPO 33332. Tenía algún tiempo sin escuchar esta emisora. Radio Amazonas ausente en su habitual 4939.67 kHz. 73s y buen DX (Adán González, Catia La Mar, Estado Vargas, VENEZUELA, Jan 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. ALGERIA, RASD today rather stable on 6480.27 kHz. And signal propagation seems not bad, a strong S=8 signal noted here tonight Jan 24 at 2125. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ARGELIA, 6458, Radio Nacional Saharaui, 1835-1840, escuchada el 25 de enero en árabe a locutor con comentarios, música árabe, mala señal y ruido, SINPO 24232 variando 13231 (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia), España, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) R. Nacional de la RASD. Back on 6458 when I checked at 1955 UT today, Thursday, Jan. 25. Good except for a blast of noise (from utility or DRM from somewhere?). So, 6458 on Monday, 6480 (variable) on Tuesday, nothing heard on Wednesday, 6458 on Thursday, (ex 6485, ex 6215, ex 7425, ex 7460 - have I got them all?). (Bernie O'Shea, Ottawa, Ontario, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZAMBIA. 5915, ZNBC, Lusaka, *0242-0255+ Jan 20, sign-on with Fish Eagle IS. 0250 choral NA, followed by local tribal music and vernacular talk; fair (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZIMBABWE [and non]. JAMMER: 17730, 1815-1827+, 23-Jan; Not the Chinese crash & bang jammer; this one was an orchestra continuously tuning up. Replaced by low-pitched tone at 1826 (Harold Frodge, MI, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) Aha, VOA Studio 7 service to Zimbabwe is on 17730 at 1730-1830 M-F via Morocco, so that could be a Zimbabwean jammer, or on behalf of Zimbabwe from a suitable skip distance, like, like, Gabon (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 4728.2. 1055-1130, January 20, Bolivian Andean songs and Bolivian folks non stop. New station????????? I believe this is a Bolivian station. 24332. 4728.2, I believe this is a new Bolivian station, 1035+, January 23, Spanish, Andean songs, short announcement by male in Spanish and TC (UTC-4), QRK 2 (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, condig list via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED [non]. Re 7-010, 7490: Saludos Glenn: No hay cambio de esquema en WHR, se debe todo a un error de trascripción. Hace unas semanas hice la siguiente escucha: ESTADOS UNIDOS, 7490 kHz, WHRI World Harvest Radio, 06-01-07, 0248- 0258 UTC. Música con comentarios de locutor, id. emisora y fin de emisión, en inglés, SINPO 43322. Y la de esta semana es: ESTADOS UNIDOS, 15665 kHz, WHRA World Harvest R.5, 21-01-07, 1222-1224 UTC. Locutor con comentarios religiosos, en inglés, SINPO 34333. Al copiar de una a otra se me olvidó modificar la frecuencia. Pido disculpas si he mareado a alguien con mi error. Un saludo. (Javier Robledillo, Elche (Alicante) España, bclnews.it via DXLD) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Thank you again for your always kind and prompt replies and for your good work with DXLD. What would my DX life look like without your bulletins? I don't want to think about it... 73 from (Björn Fransson, Sweden) PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ BANDSCAN ANALYSIS OF RADIO HANDBOOKS FOR 2007 by Anker Petersen, Denmark, January 18, 2007. © DSWCI. This article may be fully quoted, if the source is mentioned. Again this year the publishers of the 2007 editions of the World Radio TV Handbook (WRTH), Nicholas Hardyman, UK, and of the Shortwave Frequency Guide (SWFG), Joerg Klingenfuss, Germany, sent me review copies of their latest Handbooks for a comparative analysis. Furthermore Michael Schmitz sent me a review copy of the German language ``Sender & Frequenzen 2007``” (S&F) which I will add to this analysis, although it is entirely intended for German speaking listeners in Central Europe without the same global coverage as WRTH and SWFG. On 29 October 2006 the B06 winter schedules became effective. I received the Handbooks in December and have now analysed and compared their value to the SW Broadcast DXer. The WRTH 2007 (61st edition) has 688 pages this year, including 80 in full colour. The first article is about contributing editor for almost 50 years, Bengt Ericson, Sweden who is now also a member of the DSWCI. The WRTH Receiver Reviews 2007 describes the notable Etón E1, PCR1500 from Icom and the software-defined receivers SDR-1000 and WinRadio G305. The antenna tests cover a.o. Welbrook ALA-100. Then follows an article about The future of Radio and Broadcasting in the Pacific since 1894. Finally, before the maps is a Digital Update and George Jacob’s forecast on SW reception conditions in 2007. On pages 81-688 are the fully updated sections with all details about National and International Radio, MW and SW Frequency Lists, International broadcasts in English, French, German, Portuguese and Spanish, on page 630 a useful list of current DRM International Broadcasts followed by Television and References. The SWFG 2007 (11th edition) contains 472 pages in English (280 about Broadcasting and 192 about Utility stations). The Broadcasting part begins with an article about DRM including an up-to-date list of DRM schedules on LW, MW and SW. It is followed by the SW comprehensive frequencylist which for each frequency contains a line for each broadcast. That includes exact times, transmitter site, language and target area. The Country section contains the same data listed by Station, but without details like addresses, QSL info, geographical coordinates, etc. At the same time Klingenfuss has published the 2007 Super Frequency List (SFL) on a CD-Rom with the same 9,100 Broadcast frequencies and 9,500 utility frequencies plus 20,700 formerly active frequencies. This modern tool is very easy to use on a PC using Microsoft Windows and has excellent search functions for specific frequencies, countries, stations, languages, call signs and times - or any combination thereof! S&F 2007 (24th edition) has a total of 576 pages, all in German. Its comprehensive Country section takes 303 pages which include many details about the stations, many photos and usable listening tips. For an English speaking reader it takes a little time to find the countries, e.g. if you would look in the index under C for the Czech Republic, you have to search under T for Tschechische Republik! On the yellow pages 321-352 are listed broadcasts in German, English, French, Spanish, Russian, Esperanto and Latin, plus Satellite broadcasts in German and English. On pages 355-412 are programme guides on German and English broadcasts in timeorder. A frequency list 150 kHz – 30 MHz covers 48 pages and is followed by 29 pages about Satellite Radio, including a long frequencylist. Internetradio and Podcasting is then dealt with on 21 pages. Clandestines, Pirates and Propagation is also covered before a review of Worldband receivers and antennas at the end. Spotcheck by bandscanning As in my analysis a year ago, I did not choose the traditional way of reviewing each section in the Handbooks. Instead I scanned through the shortwave bands at the end of December, selected 50 broadcast stations at random and identified them 100%, no matter what language. I then checked in the three Handbooks, if each particular broadcast heard, was mentioned in the Country Section and in the SW frequency list with the essential details of station name, frequency, scheduled at that time, exact language and site of transmitter. Half of the SW stations carried domestic broadcasts, and half of them international broadcasts. For further details on any of my results, please contact me. Analysis I consider the five details mentioned above to be essential for the DX-er during his listening and identification of the transmitter and broadcast. Thus it was checked for each logging, if the Handbooks have all these essential details and they are correct. This is then marked ”+” in my detailed analysis. If one is missing, the column got a "-". I still consider it useful, if the Handbooks also can provide the DX- er with additional information about Geographical Coordinates for his propagation calculations and Google Earth search, and ID in the language heard. Furthermore it is necessary to know current addresses (postal, e-mail and web) and QSL-policy for his reception report writing. Most of these useful details can be found in the WRTH and S&F, but they are still missing completely in the SWFG! Comparison I then counted how many essential details were correct for the 25 international and 25 domestic stations heard. The results were (each figure out of 5x25 = 125 possible): I = international D = domestic WRTH SWFG S&F I D I D I D Analysis result 125 122 122 119 80 99 Sum (Max. 250) WRTH SWFG S&F Analysis result 247 (99%) 241 (96%) 179 (72%). The WRTH and the SWFG contain nearly all essential details. The reason for the rather poor results of S&F in my comparative analysis is that in most cases either broadcasts in the language heard or the transmitter site, or both, are missing. But it has probably not been intended by the editors to include them. Those schedules mentioned with frequencies and times are OK. To illustrate this, I can mention two of my loggings: Voice of Russia was heard on 7170 kHz at 0045 with Portuguese to Brazil via the Samara transmitter and Radio Cairo, Abis, on 15810 kHz at 1235 in Indonesian. Both broadcasts are fully described in WRTH and SWFG whereas they only are mentioned in S&F in the frequency list (without transmitter sites). In the S&F Country Section these stations have schedules for German and English broadcasts to Europe (Radio Cairo also in French), but no other languages. Please be aware that changes in broadcast schedules occur nearly each day and also during the period from the editorial deadline till the printed Handbook reaches the listener. It has always been so. Because of this, it is impossible to achieve a 100% score! Conclusions It is evident that the editors of all three Handbooks once more have done a tremendous work to gather up-to-date broadcasting schedules and other information for the B06 period and all have succeeded in this! Each of the Handbooks is useful for the DX-er and ordinary shortwave listener. The details published are at a very high accuracy level and can hardly be much better! An important feature when searching for and identifying broadcast stations, is their complete frequency schedules, so that all parallel frequencies can be checked. The schedules are easily available and very complete in the WRTH and SWFG and on the SFL. The SWFG is a Frequency List with SW schedules, but without any other details about the stations. I prefer the SWFG when I scan the SW broadcast bands, because the current schedule and language is available at each frequency. But I am afraid that the ordinary Broadcast DX-er does not have any use of the many Utility pages, so I suggest again this year that the book is split up into two cheaper publications in the future. In contrary to the SWFG, the WRTH and S&F also contains LW, MW, FM and some TV information. Therefore I use these Handbooks when I DX on the bands mentioned or need more information about SW stations. All three handbooks have complete agreement between the information in the Country Sections and in the Frequency Lists. I must state that all three Handbooks are very comprehensive, up-to- date and accurate and absolutely worth purchasing by the active shortwavelistener and DX-er! It requires hard work by many experienced people to edit and publish such high quality products year after year! Where to get them The new WRTH costs 23.00 GBP, including worldwide postage, from the Publisher in England http://www.wrth.com or 34 Euro (+ postage) from Hein Radio Bookshop, Germany http://www.radiobookshop.de The SWFG costs 40 Euro including worldwide surface mailing from the Publisher, Klingenfuss. The SFL costs 30 Euro, but the package price for SWFG + 17 SFL is only 60 Euro. More details at http://www.klingenfuss.org Hein Radio Bookshop also sells the S&F 2007 for 25,90 Euro (+ postage). (Anker Petersen, DSWCI DX Window Jan 25 via DXLD) ***** Comments from the Publisher of S&F: Dear Anker, Thanks for your review. Reading it I sometimes found that you compare apples with bananas. As you correctly wrote, it was not our intention to add all and every language or exact transmitter site used by the broadcasters (location of the country, where the outlet is located, must be enough for our purpose). Our goal is to supply the reader with as much information as possible about the media in different countries, different ways of program distribution, program content for those languages mainly spoken and understood in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, interesting web radios and also satellite channels which can be received in Europe etc. I share your opinion that just looking for those "five essentials" analysed by you others offer more or different content. As far as a more wider view is concerned our blend of information is unique and cannot be found anywhere else. Thanks again for your review (Michael Schmitz, Wegberg, Germany, Jan 22, DSWCI DX Window Jan 25 via DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING DRM: see ETHIOPIA; WESTERN SAHARA as QRM; PUBLS ++++++++++++++++++++ DX-PEDITIONS ++++++++++++ 2006 DR. HAROLD BEVERAGE BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION PARTY AND GRAYLAND DXPEDITION, OCTOBER 6-8, 2006 I seem to believe you guys never tire of pictures of us out at Grayland. For more pictures and a report (you've already seen the wonderful logs in DXM) from our October trip with Nick Hall-Patch, Bruce Portzer, Steve Ratzlaff, Bill Harms and moi, head to http://www.dxing.info/dxpeditions/grayland_2006_10.dx (Chuck Hutton, IRCA via DXLD) Viz.: We were a week early this year, but we celebrated anyhow with a bunch of nice logs. This time around, the Graylanders were: Bill Harms R8B, Quantum Phaser Nick Hall-Patch R8, Dymek DR333 Chuck Hutton R8B, AR7030 Bruce Portzer R8A, R-75 Steve Ratzlaff R75, AR7030 Plus special Saturday afternoon attendees Patrick Martin and Dave Williams who made the drive up from Oregon. . . . [illustrated, and long by-frequency log list] (via DXLD) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ POLICE WON’T USE $140 MILLION RADIO SYSTEM By WILLIAM NEUMAN January 25, 2007 For more than 10 years, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has been working to correct a major hindrance to police work in the subway system: a radio network that keeps transit officers underground from talking with officers patrolling the streets above. The goal was simple but potentially revolutionary: replace an antiquated radio system with a network that would make it possible, for instance, for an officer chasing a suspect down a subway stairway to radio ahead to other officers. Last October, after spending $140 million, the authority completed the installation of the system citywide. But it has not been turned on. That is because the Police Department refuses to use it, saying the new system is hobbled by widespread interference that garbles communication and creates areas where radios cannot receive properly. “What you get is distorted audio,” said Joseph Yurman, a communications engineer for New York City Transit. “You can hear it, but it sounds as if you’re talking through a glass of water.” . . . [much more] http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/25/nyregion/25radio.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&ref=todayspaper&pagewanted=print (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES +++++++++++++++++++++++++ ABU LAUNCHES MONITORING NETWORK FOR SW FREQUENCY COLLISION http://www.abu.org.my/public/dsp_page.cfm?articleid=2638&urlsectionid=1061&specialsection=ART_FULL&pageid=247&PSID=3372 The ABU is pushing for more of its members to join the Asian Monitoring Network (AMN), to monitor collisions in frequency usage among shortwave broadcasters in a move which could save millions of dollars in wastage. Through its ABU-High Frequency Coordination (HFC) Committee, the ABU is hoping to establish the network to cut costs arising from wastage, said the ABU-HFC Steering Committee Chairman, IRIB Iran's Yousef Ghadaksaz. Currently, DW-Germany, IRIB-Iran and TRT-Turkey have already installed the software. PBC-Pakistan, AIR-India and RTPRC-China have expressed interest in becoming a part of the network. Mr Ghadaksaz said monitoring reports were important to alert frequency managers in various organisations of collisions and help them work out an interference-free solution. He said all broadcasters needed to set up a simple monitoring system are a radio receiver, a schedule recording software and Internet access. The SIOFT software can be downloaded free at http://www.Nschall.de "We need to promote shortwave monitoring among our members. It is desirable to involve as many ABU-HFC organisations in the monitoring process as possible so that they put in place their own bilateral monitoring arrangements," he said during the ABU-HFC (High Frequency Coordination) Conference in Kuala Lumpur, which ended today. The five-day coordination conference organised by the ABU was held to enable shortwave broadcasters in the Asia-Pacific region and other parts of the world to coordinate frequency channels on a seasonal basis. This is done with a view to reducing interference in their services caused by clashing frequency usage. The ABU-HFC group includes some 40 shortwave broadcasters who broadcast some 5,000 shortwave services every day, totaling over 10,000 hours of transmissions. Friday 26 Jan 2007 (via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, DXLD) What a novel idea; about time. Of course it`s a waste of effort to have regional attempts at coordination like this concerning a worldwide medium. Besides, a lot of the collisions in Asia are no accident (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ TROPICAL BANDS BEST AT SUNSPOT TROUGH From Norway, listener Olaf is picking up our 6000 kiloHertz and 6180 kiloHertz transmissions just after midnight his local time. Olaf wants to know why is it possible to pick up Tropical Band stations from Latin America at his QTH near Oslo with such good signals, and he mentions picking up Radio Rebelde on 5025 kiloHertz very clearly after the station installed its new transmitter and antenna. Well amigo Olaf, Tropical Band signals will continue to propagate better and better as solar activity continues to move down towards the end of solar cycle 23. When solar flux figures between 70 and 80 units prevail for many days, ionospheric absorption is at a minimum and that will certainly help signals below 5 or 6 megaHertz propagate much better. Another important factor regarding low frequency propagation is the connection between geomagnetic latitude and signal attenuation, something that has puzzled scientists for many years. So, the good news for you up North, is that lower solar activity will improve your reception of Tropical Band stations for at least the next three or four years amigo !!! When old man Sol comes back into high activity, ionospheric absorption will increase and Tropical Band signals will not propagate so well during solar maximum years. Closely following the pattern seen on the 60 meters Tropical Band, international shortwave broadcast stations operating on the 6 megaHertz or 49 meters band will be achieving much better coverage during the local evening hours, and all along the night path from their location (Arnie Coro, CO2KK, RHC DXers Unlimited Jan 23, HCDX via DXLD) GEOMAGNETIC INDICES - GEOI Phil Bytheway - Seattle WA - phil_tekno@yahoo.com Geomagnetic Summary December 13 2006 through January 23 2007 Tabulated from daily email status Date Flux A K Space WX 12/14 94 10 1 strong 15 93 28 4 strong 16 87 70 3 severe 17 82 12 3 no storms 18 81 5 2 no storms 19 75 7 2 no storms 20 73 13 1 no storms 21 72 19 3 no storms 22 72 18 2 no storms 23 73 18 2 no storms 24 73 19 4 no storms 25 74 13 3 no storms 26 76 7 1 no storms 27 75 4 1 no storms 28 73 3 2 no storms 29 76 2 0 no storms 30 78 1 1 no storms 12/31 80 1 0 no storms 1/ 1 83 1 1 no storms 2 87 10 2 no storms 3 90 20 2 minor 4 81 18 2 no storms 5 89 16 1 no storms 6 89 10 1 no storms 7 87 3 1 no storms 8 87 2 0 no storms 9 87 1 1 no storms 10 87 1 1 no storms 11 87 1 1 no storms 12 84 11 2 no storms 13 84 9 1 no storms 14 81 2 1 no storms 15 82 2 1 no storms 16 82 2 4 moderate 17 79 12 2 minor 18 78 22 4 no storms 19 77 24 3 minor 20 76 14 2 no storms 21 79 13 2 no storms 22 79 10 2 no storms 1/23 79 9 1 no storms ---------------------------------------------------------------------- (IRCA DX Monitor Jan 28 via DXLD) ###