DX LISTENING DIGEST 7-014, February 2, 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 1345 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 ** AFGHANISTAN. Here are my latest loggings on the AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres longwire at 9 metres altitude which survived the recent winter storms: New, 6700 LSB, 1455-1508*, UNID, 01-02, Afghan utility station, Pashto (presumed), 1455-1500 Afghan folkmusic, 5 minutes pause, 1505-1508 one end utility conversation by a man, pause 1508-1518, 34333 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** AFGHANISTAN [non]. RADIO FREE AFGHANISTAN CELEBRATES FIVE YEARS OF BROADCASTING (Prague, Czech Republic -- January 30, 2007) Radio Free Afghanistan, the Dari and Pashto language service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, today celebrates five years on the air, broadcasting 12 hours daily to millions of regular listeners nationwide. Radio Free Afghanistan is the leading broadcaster in Afghanistan with an audience of nearly 60 percent of the adult population. An independent survey, conducted by the Washington-based Intermedia research organization in 2006, shows that Radio Free Afghanistan is regarded as the most trustworthy and reliable media in the country. During the recent three-day Festival of Lights or Eid religious holiday, Radio Free Afghanistan received more than 1,600 telephone calls to its Kabul Bureau and thousands of letters from listeners. People also tune in regularly to Radio Free Afghanistan from across the border in Iran and neighboring Central Asian countries. In Washington, Broadcasting Board of Governors Chairman Kenneth Y. Tomlinson noted, "Our broadcasts on Radio Free Afghanistan not only have had a significant impact on the Afghan people, but have played an important role in helping people in this country to gain a better understanding of the importance of the work we do in international broadcasting." Acting RFE/RL President Jeffrey N. Trimble said, "Afghans tune in to Radio Free Afghanistan because they know that is where they will hear accurate, useful and comprehensive information. With more than 35 reporters in its Kabul bureau and a network of correspondents located throughout Afghanistan, Radio Free Afghanistan is usually first with important local news." The widespread influence of the station was demonstrated by a recent call from a listener in western Afghanistan, who said he had been offered $10,000 to be a suicide bomber and had planned to blow himself up -- but changed his mind after listening to a special program about suicide bombers broadcast on Radio Free Afghanistan. More than half of Radio Free Afghanistan's programs are produced locally in its Kabul Bureau. Additional programming is produced at RFE/RL's broadcast headquarters in Prague, Czech Republic. The service also maintains a team of seven correspondents who report from Pakistan, Iran, Russia, Egypt and the United States. In mark its 5th anniversary, Radio Free Afghanistan is airing special programs all week, including audio highlights of exclusive interviews with U.S. First Lady Laura Bush, Afghan President Hamid Karzai, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, Afghan cabinet ministers and other dignitaries. Today, the Afghan Communications Minister visited Radio Free Afghanistan's Kabul Bureau, to present an Award of Appreciation to the station for excellence in broadcasting. An important aspect of Radio Free Afghanistan programming is giving voice to ordinary Afghans and providing information in special programs on health, the education of women, and thefundamentals of democracy. Two of Radio Free Afghanistan's most popular programs are a call-in talk show that reunites family members dispersed by war and occupation, and a weekly program called "Let Us Know Your Village," in which listeners contribute stories about rural life. Radio Free Afghanistan programs are transmitted to listeners via shortwave, satellite and AM and FM signals provided by the International Broadcasting Bureau. Radio Free Afghanistan programming is also available via the Internet, at the service's trilingual website http://www.azadiradio.org and at http://www.rferl.org --- English-language news about events in Afghanistan can be found on the RFE/RL website (RFE/RL press release via DXLD) New pres of RFE/RL: see U S A ** AUSTRALIA. VL8A, 2310 kHz and VL8K, 2485, letter without info, only ``Thank for your reception report``. Stickers from different stations of ABC North Territory, ABC info. V/S Kathryn Ainsworth, Administration Officer Business Service, ABC, Northern Territory SW Service P. O. Box 9994 Darwin NT 0801 AUSTRALIA (Juan Antonio Arranz, Spain, playdx yg via DXLD) ** AUSTRIA. The schedule for English broadcasts is unnecessarily complicated and difficult to follow even on their website. David Crystal found that on Sunday 7th January, 13730, usually parallel to 6155, was carrying German 1330-1400, whilst the Radio Austria International English transmission was heard on 17855 (Mike Barraclough, Feb World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** BELARUS. 12020 harmonic of 5 kW 6010, Belaruskiye radio featuring commercials just around 0850-0900 UT Feb 1, Belarus program in \\ to 6010, 6040, 6115 kHz (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BELGIUM [non]. 13685 relay out of whack: see RUSSIA ** BOLIVIA. See UNIDENTIFIED, 6165, 4865 ** BRAZIL. 9674.98, R. Canção Nova, Cachoeira Paulista, 0135-0200+ Jan 27, Portuguese religious music, talk. Ads, promos. Good. // 4824.97 fair and // 6105 very weak. 5940.22, R. Guarujá Paulista, Guarujá SP, 0205-0220+ Jan 27, local pop music. Brazilian ballads, Portuguese announcements. Weak, poor with splatter. // 5045, 3384.94 – both very weak. 9664.98, R. Marumby, Florianópolis, 0410-0425+ Jan 28, Portuguese religious music, talk. Weak but in the clear. // 11749.86 very weak (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. CBC's The Current (8:37-10 am local) tomorrow morning, originates (live? taped?) from Shanghai, China and will focus on China and its booming economy (plus make use of that new CBC China bureau) Sounds like it will be quite an interesting program. http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/ (Fred Waterer, Ont., Feb 1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) For Sirius satellite radio subscribers, the program airs starting at 7:37 am ET and portions are repeated beginning at 11:00 am ET on channel 137 (John Figliozzi, NY, ibid.) Webcasts on timezone delays start at UT: 1237, 1337, 1437, 1537, 1637. For segment topics and listen-linx go to http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/2007/200702/20070202.html (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. The application by CKPR-580 Thunder Bay ON to move to FM (91.5 MHz, 100 kW) has been approved by the CRTC. CKPR was the first radio station in northwestern Ontario, having moved there from is original location (Midland ON) in the early 1930's. http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2007/db2007-55.htm CKPR Thunder Bay – Conversion to FM band 1. The Commission approves the application by C.J.S.D. Inc. (C.J.S.D) for a broadcasting licence to operate a new English-language FM radio programming undertaking at Thunder Bay to replace its AM station CKPR. 2. The applicant is also the licensee of CJSD-FM Thunder Bay. C.J.S.D. is ultimately controlled by H.F. Dougall, which through its personal holdings also owns and operates the two commercial television stations in Thunder Bay, CHFD-TV and CKPR-TV. 3. C.J.S.D. stated that it will maintain its Adult Contemporary music format and will continue to provide local reflection on its new FM station. The news, information and other spoken word programming will directly serve to address concerns and issues in the local community. 4. The station will operate at 91.5 MHz (channel 218C) with an effective radiated power of 100,000 watts. 10. The licensee is further authorized, by condition of licence, to simulcast the programming of the new FM station on CKPR for a transition period of three months following the commencement of operations of the FM station. Pursuant to sections 9(1)(e) and 24(1) of the Broadcasting Act (the Act), and consistent with the licensee’s request, the Commission revokes the licence for CKPR effective at the end of the simulcast period. 73, (via Deane McIntyre VE6BPO, Feb 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Move of CFXE-970 Edson AB to FM (94.3 MHz, 11 kW) has been approved by the CRTC: http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2007/db2007-48.htm CFXE Edson – Conversion to FM band 1. The Commission approves the application by 3937844 Canada Inc. (3937844 Canada) for a broadcasting licence to operate a new English- language commercial FM radio programming undertaking in Edson to replace its AM station CFXE. 2. 3937844 Canada is a subsidiary of Newcap Inc. It is owned 76.34% by Newcap Inc. and 23.66% by Standard Radio Inc. 3. 3937844 Canada stated that the proposed station will offer a Classic Hits music format. The applicant stated that the news staff will be representative of the Edson mosaic and will focus their stories to reflect the reality of Canada’s cultural, ethnic, racial and aboriginal diversity. The reported news will be sensitive to the cultural nuances of the local population and reflect the interests of all residents. 4. The station will operate at 94.3 MHz (channel 232B) with an average effective radiated power of 11,000 watts. It will operate in a single- station market as defined in Local programming policy for FM radio – Definition of a single-station market, Public Notice CRTC 1993-121, 17 August 1993. 11. The licensee is authorized, by condition of licence, to simulcast the programming of the new FM station on CFXE for a transition period of six months following the commencement of operations of the FM station. The licensee must surrender the AM licence for revocation by the Commission at the end of this period. 73, (via Deane McIntyre VE6BPO, DXLD) Can anyone figure out where the corporate name, er, number 3937844 derives from? Note the 6- instead of 3-month overlap period; how come? (gh, DXLD) Glenn: This is a so called numbered company, incorporated in the usual way under Canadian law except that the company choose no name for themselves, perhaps in an attempt to obscure what they are really up to. I am not sure why they do this but it is quite common. Personally I tend to be wary of these organizations. When a station switches to FM they can ask for a longer than normal simulcast period; I have seen some as long as one year which seems to be the limit. 73, (Deane McIntyre, VE6BPO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA [and non]. RADIO WEST --- This page is dedicated to the AM & FM radio scene in western Canada and the north-western United States. http://www.radiowest.ca/ (via Mickey Delmage, Sherwood Park, Alberta, Feb Radio HF Internet Newsletter via DXLD) ** CANADA [and non]. ONLY IN CANADA --- Information February 1, 2007: Why substitute Canadian for American advertising during the Super Bowl? I'm watching the Super Bowl so why don't I get to see the American ads? http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/NEWS/RELEASES/2007/i070201.htm (via Ricky Leong, AB, DXLD) see also WORLD OF HOROLOGY ** CHINA. Well, it looks like Craig Edwards has gone where no man has gone before and QSLed V. of the Strait. I couldn't get them to QSL even with a reception reports in Chinese. Good one Craig. Are you able to scan me a pic? Ed – (Edwin Lowe VK2VEL Sydney, Australia, Feb 1, ARDXC via DXLD) Axually, not the first; see detailed report in DXLD 7-009 by Mark Schiefelbein (gh, ibid.) Ah-ha! Thanks Glenn. I'll have to try again, with my bribe.... er I mean greenstamp (Edwin Lowe, VK2VEL, Sydney, Australia, ibid.) ** CUBA. Next is an article by Arnie Coro, of Radio Havana Cuba written during the 45th anniversary. Hope it will be informative for the World DX Club members. [AFAIK, this did not appear in DXLD then, altho the story seems familiar --- gh] 45 YEARS RADIO HAVANA CUBA On the event of Radio Havana Cuba's 45 anniversary celebrated on May 1st, 2006, here is a report by Arnie Coro, radio amateur CO2KK, host of the twice weekly programme "DXers Unlimited" of Radio Havana Cuba, on the early days of RHC: According to my research, the history of Radio Havana Cuba goes back as early as 1959. A Cuban delegation designated by the Revolutionary Government was attending an International Telecommunications Union World Administrative Conference that was sessioning in Geneva, Switzerland, at the Palais des Nations, the United Nations' main building in that Swiss city. Senior Engineer Carlos Julián Estrada Castro, one of my mentors, was there and he told me that one day the members of the Cuban delegation received a call from the Cuban Embassy at the United Nations organizations in Geneva. A diplomatic cable from Havana instructed the members of the delegation to find out about the possibilities of starting a Cuban international short wave radio service. Engineer Estrada, who was very experienced in matters related to the use of the short wave radio spectrum, realized that right there in Switzerland; there was a world famous radio transmitter factory, the Swiss firm Brown Boveri Corporation. Estrada and other members of the Cuban delegation to the ITU Conference contacted Brown Boveri, and soon found out a very interesting information. Brown Boveri had several short wave transmitters ready to be shipped to a country in Africa, I believe it was Ethiopia, that had suddenly refused to receive the two 100 kilowatt and two ten kilowatt transmitters. [Lutheran World Federation`s Radio Voice of the Gospel? --- gh] Estrada wired Havana, and in a few days, by the end of 1959, the deal was completed, and that's how Radio Havana Cuba received its first four transmitters, brand new from Switzerland, and they came together with several antenna systems that were included in the sale. About one year later, by the end of 1960, the Bauta transmitting station, about some 30 kilometers to the West of Havana was under construction. By early January of 1961, one of the Brown Boveri 10 kilowatt transmitters was installed at a small provisional shed, used by the construction workers that were building the transmitting station. There were no steel towers to put up an antenna for the transmitters, so Engineer Jose Antonio Valladares talked to the local power utility and obtained six wooden poles, and he asked for the tallest ones that they had available. Valladares, who is Cuba's most experienced antenna specialist, knew very well that he needed no less than 20 meters to install a dipole antenna for the 25 meter band that will put out a good signal to the Americas, but the wooden poles were only about 13 meters high. Then someone at [sic] brought up the idea of making a taller mast by putting two poles into the ground and inserting a third one about half way in between the two lower ones. Using typical power company equipment and hardware, the two first masts that the station used went up, and in less than a week they were ready to support a full wave dipole antenna. Power had to be brought to the provisional building so that the 10-kilowatt transmitter could start operations, and because there was no link with the Radio Progreso downtown Havana studios, someone suggested installing a tape recorder and player right next to the transmitter. Tests began by the first and second weeks of February of 1961 and on the 24th of February of that year, Onda Corta Experimental Cubana, the Cuban Experimental Short Wave went on the air with a one hour long program in Spanish that was repeated several times during the evening. All of us involved in the setting up of the station were delighted when we began to receive reports from friends in Latin America, Canada and the United States. The provisional installation was working quite well indeed, as we proceeded to install the second 10 kilowatt transmitter and the first 100 kilowatt transmitter as the main building of the Bauta station was almost completed. Why Cuba wanted to have the station on the air as soon as possible and with the best equipment available was something quite logical, we all knew that an armed invasion against our nation was in the works, and that having a short wave station on the air meant that the world could be informed directly about what was really happening. The period between the 24th of February and the 15th of April of 1961 saw engineers, technicians, electricians and the antenna crews working at a hectic pace to try to have all the equipment on the air and with the new antennas that had to be installed. Engineer José Valladares was in charge of the design of several antennas, and of supervising the installation of the ones that were bought to Brown Boveri, he had among his crew a very young at that time radio enthusiast, that had just completed his senior high school and a radio and television training course. Yes, I was one of Valladares` pupils, at age 18, and you cannot imagine how much he taught to all of us that were fortunate to work with him and the other senior engineers in charge of the project. On the 15th of April of 1961 everyone in Cuba learned about the air raids to three Cuban Air Force Bases, a prelude of the Bay of Pigs Invasion. It was one day later, at the burial of the martyrs of the Revolution that were killed during the air raids that Fidel told the world about the existence of what was going to be Radio Havana Cuba. A day later, April 17th the infamous 25O6 Brigade organized, trained and supplied by the US Central Intelligence Agency, began landing at the Bay of Pigs, and immediately was challenged by the Cuban Rebel Army and militia troops that brought them to a total defeat in less than 72 hours. During the whole time that the invasion lasted, our experimental short wave station was on the air 24 hours, telling the world what was happening and providing to the many friends of the Cuban Revolution up to the minute information of what was happening in the Zapata swamp, the isolated area of Cuba carefully selected by the CIA for the landing of the mercenary forces. The battle reports went on the air from the very Stara [start?] of the military operations against the invaders, and the last one, telling the world about the outstanding victory of the Cuban people was repeated many times, so that everyone could pick up our broadcasts. Sí amigos, a few days later, on May Day, the first day of May of 1961, Cuba celebrated its victory over the CIA forces sent to invade our nation, and it was precisely on that day that our station went on the air, for the first time, using the name of Radio Havana Cuba. A very small group of people were involved in the start up of Radio Havana Cuba, we worked up to 18 hours a day to try to finish installing the complex equipment. Never before Cuban engineers had worked with such powerful transmitters, as the only two high power AM band broadcast transmitters that existed here were a pair of 50 kilowatt Westinghouse model 5OHG2 transmitters owned by Radio Progreso and Circuito CMQ National Networks. The first 100 kilowatt Brown Boveri was ready to operate just a few days before the Bay of Pigs invasion, and it did play a very important role in making known to the world what was actually taking place at the Zapata swamp battlefield. A few months later, the Bauta transmitting station phase one was completed, and we started to broadcast regularly in both Spanish and English, adding shortly after Portuguese and French. Several years later two new Russian built SNIEG transmitters were added to Bauta, as well as more antennas to make it possible to broadcast not only to Latin America, the Caribbean and North America, but also to Europe. Sí amigos, the history of Radio Havana Cuba is full of very interesting anecdotes. This program today is my humble tribute to all of those who are no longer with us, having passed away since the station first went on the air, and who make possible that Cuba's voice may be heard all around the world. [With Courtesy to Arnie Coro CO2KK, Dxers Unlimited, Radio Havana Cuba] (Feb World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** CUBA [and non]. Unfortunately, here closer to both the 530 kHz beauty and the beast, RVCI South Caicos, Turks & Caicos, is in the usual battle with Radio Cadena Habana, Havana, Cuba; no winner can be declared. Both strong and intertwingled, to use a technical term. This has been the story here ever since the Castro bros launched a high powered campaign on 530 against Radio Martí's aerial offering -- the rare weekend flights not logged here in S. FL for many weeks -- but the assault continues, 24/7 (W. Curt Deegan, Boca Ratón, (southeast) Florida, Feb 1, IRCA via DXLD) Why can't we just fly the plane on different frequencies every week, forcing the Cubans to start jamming each of those frequencies. Seems as if a little cat-and-mouse with them would quickly lead to a vivid real-time demonstration of the term "resource exhaustion" as Thuggo and Thuggee discover that they just don't have the hardware to cover all their frequency options. What, we have to clear this through Kevin Martin first ??? Esto es Guerra! (Bob Foxworth, Tampa FL, IRCA via DXLD) ** CZECHIA. Two new voices on Radio Prague are Ilya Marritz and Coilin O'Connor who were both interviewed on January 14th, Coilin said "I have actually been contributing to Radio Prague with the odd report for about three years now but I am delighted and honoured to say that I am going to be working full-time for Radio Prague from hereon in, so you will probably be hearing a lot more of me in the future. So I hope the listeners won't mind my Irish accent too much. I've actually been in Prague now for more years than I care to remember but I came initially after college for a holiday and kind of got stuck. I was supposed to be Interrailing around Europe. Prague was my first stop and I haven't really moved on since. I now live here with my girlfriend and three cats." The other new voice, with an American accent, belongs to Ilya Marritz who said "I'm from New York City and I'm really happy to be at Radio Prague. It's been really a delight to work here and to discover the city this way. Unlike Coilin I haven't lived here very long, I've been here only since about September though I've been coming here since 1990. My mother was born here in 1944, her family went into exile in the United States which is how she met my father and how I was born an American in New York City. But in 1990 we started coming back periodically and I always knew I wanted to spend longer here and so this was the year that I decided to do it." (Jonathan Murphy, Feb World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** DENMARK. You might have trouble finding the video clip mentioned in 7-012 about the doomed Kalundsborg transmitter site; the date in the archive to search for is Jan 25 which you can enter in the box at the top of http://www.dr.dk/DR1/TVAVISEN/tvaindslag.htm which leads to item 19: http://www.dr.dk/odp/player.aspx?uniqueid=249605&mt=newstab&st=news_TVAvisen&furl=http%3A//www.dr.dk/odp/default.aspx%3Ftemplate%3Dnyhed%26guid%3DDR1200701251830%26autoplay%3D0%26back%3Ddefault.aspx%253ftemplate%253dnyheder%2526day%253d0 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** DJIBOUTI. Re 7-013: Glenn, Details of the IBB Djibouti pattern were given in the procurement, which was on line (Fedbizops) when issued in 2002. It is "super-cardioid," boresight at 325 degrees true, 3 element, in-line. It can also operate omni-directionally. It cannot, in its present feed system configuration, be reversed. There were several distinguished engineers who had input to the design and implementation: Dr. Lam Nhat An, Gerhard Straub, Ron Rackley, Dave Pinion, Graham Powell, Brian Collins, Tom King. Not just me. It is important to note that any antenna array which has elements (masts, towers) arranged in a symmetrical geometric layout can have the radiation pattern reversed along the line of symmetry. (There are some arrays for which such a reversal would actually not change the pattern, however!) A whole universe of patterns is achievable from any layout. But for a given pattern to be implemented, the feed system must be constructed to allow it. A system arranged with grounded parasitic radiators is quite inflexible. Patterns achieved with impedance loaded parasitic elements can be modestly modified by changing the termination impedences, but independent control of both phase and amplitude is not possible unless power is dissipated in a resistive load. Substantial changes to the radiation pattern of an antenna with a particular tower/mast geometry can be made only by modification of the feed system. Ron Rackley and I are the instructors for a 2 day class on medium wave antenna systems at the NAB in Washington on the 5th and 6th of March, if anyone out there is actually interested in the real engineering details of these systems! (Ben Dawson, WA, Feb 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) So it seems to serve Somalia to the S and SE they will just have to run in non-direxionally unless major modifications are made (gh, DXLD) ** ECUADOR. LV de los Andes, Quito, Feb 2 at 1459:30 on 11960: as always, automation cut off last words of the previous program and canned ID played. I was expecting the Albert Einstein quotation, but this time it was something else. Without embargo, the frequency info was STILL WRONG, outdated since last March. Said they were continuing on 11760, and closing transmission to Mexico on 9745, and then 11960 went off. In fact, they are not and have never been on 11760, but instead Cuba also closing at 1500 (except Sundays 1530 after Esperanto). 11960 is now the unknown (to the station itself) frequency toward Mexico, and the other one is actually 11690, which was also confirmed a few minutes earlier. Why do I keep reporting this? I try to keep it to no more than once a month or sesquimonth. The question is: why doesn`t HCJB ever get its act together and announce its own frequencies correctly? Could they axually have recorded a new ID break to replace Einstein, and perpetuated the outdated details? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 15190, R. Africa, Bata, 1020-1035+ Jan 26, English religious programming. Weak; mixing with a stronger China Radio International in English (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA. 9560.15, R. Ethiopia, Jan 22 *1600-1610, 34433, English, 1600 IS, ID, Talk and music, // 7165 (Kouji Hashimoto, Japan, Japan Premium via DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA. New 9650, 1555-1758, 01-02, Voice of Tigray Revolution, Mekèlè (tentative), ex 6350, Vernacular talk, Horn of Africa music, 24222, QRM *1758 from VOA, Briech, Morocco in Russian (Anker Petersen, Denmark, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA [non]. New 9485 1750-1759*, Clandestine, Thursday 01-02, Voice of Oromo Liberation, Oromo talk, 1758 folksong and closing announcement, 35343 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** FINLAND. Dear SWR-listeners, Scandinavian Weekend Radio will start its monthly 24 h transmission this Friday evening 2nd February 2007 at 22 hours UT. Reports and post welcome with handling costs of 2 IRC/ 2 US$/2 EUR: SWR/reports P. O. Box 99, FI-34801 Virrat, Finland. E-mails to info(at)swradio(dot)net. Calls and SMS's during transmission: +358 400 995559. Additional SWR-info! Please visit our web-pages at http://www.swradio.net There are quite much new info of station and its dj's, new photos in several galleries, NEW SWR-TV!!! etc. Please join to our FORUM-area as well. Registrations will be handled manually so please act soon if you like to be on when we are on air this evening. Best Greetings, (Alpo Heinonen, Scandinavian Weekend Radio, Feb 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) For frequency usage and shows, see http://www.swradio.net/schedule.htm but be sure to subtract two hours for UT (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) ** FRANCE. TDF, which has also tested DRM on 26 MHz, is currently testing DRM at 20 kHz bandwidth from Rennes on 59.5 [MHz, near channel 2 audio in the A system --- gh]. They are also going to test DRM+ on the same frequency; their test licence is until September 12th (Ofcom, Wohnort DAB website, DRM-L Yahoo group via Mike Barraclough, Feb World DX Club Contact via DXLD) See also GUIANA FRENCH ** GABON. GABON?? 17630 // 17650 Emisora con música afro-pop, 1320- 1330 Feb 2, probablemente para interferir a Sawt al-Amal. Sin embargo a las 1408 se observa que ya no transmiten la misma música, África Nº 1 en 17630 y la emisora afro-pop ahora en 17640, ¿coincidencia? 73 (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia), España, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I hope I understand what José is telling us correctly - at 1430 there are two Afro-pop transmissions in parallel and in sync as he says on 17630 and 17640. At my location 17640 is the strongest of the two - 17630 has co-channel in English that I assume is CRI. Is this deliberate or a mistake to radiate the same on 17630? I think this should clear up any lingering doubts about where these two signals emanate from (Noel R. Green (NW England), ibid.) He said that at 1320-1330 Afropop was // on 17630 and 17650, but at 1408, 17630 was back to ANU, and Afropop was on 17640 not //. Before reading any of this, I checked at 1521 and found that 17630 and 17640 were // with Afropop (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) At 1500 UT check on Friday, Feb. 2, Africa Numéro Un on 17630 and the Afro-music station on 17640 were in parallel to each other with the same music. Again I double checked with radios side by side. Both with good signals. 17640 off at 1530. 17630 continued with music and off at 1556. No talk. I had checked earlier just before 1400 but the music was different though similar (Bernie O'Shea, Ottawa, Ontario, DX LISTENING DIGEST via dxldyg) Yes - definitely in parallel at 1430, but I didn't check before then. And as reported by Bernie O'Shea, when 17640 went off at 1530, 17630 continued with the pops and no announcements (Noel R. Green, UK, ibid.) ** GERMANY. MV Baltic Radio this Sunday 4th of February 2007 at 1300 UT on 5965 kHz. Good Listening (Tom Taylor, UKOGBANI, Feb 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GIBRALTAR. Now caught directly from home in Lisboa: 1458, R. Gibraltar, Wellington Front, 0840-fade-out 0930, 01 Feb, English, music, advertisements, IDs (typically, "R. Gibraltar - Gibraltar's Radio"), news 0900; 35332. As reported, this simply doesn't fade out if observed down on the SW coast (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREECE. This Saturday, February 3rd, 2007, the English speaking program "Hellenes Around the World" continues its voyage to the Hellenic and the Philhellenic corners of the World. Andrew Acherman - "Gods, Myths and Mortals-Discovering Ancient Greece" Imagine if you could turn back time and find yourself flying over the Mountain Olympus overlooking the ancient Greek Gods arguing about the fate of humanity, or having a conversation with Aristotle the great Greek Philosopher. Children between ages of 6 and 10, with the help of technology and their imagination will have the chance to discover Greece, interpret its glorious past and appreciate its contributions to our world, through a rather unique initiative taken by the Children's Museum of Manhattan, an exhibition entitled: "Gods, Myths and Mortals- Discovering Ancient Greece". From heart of New York City, "Hellenes Around the World", host the Executive Director of the Children's Museum of Manhattan (CMOM), Mr. Andrew Ackerman, who talks about the exhibition. The Greek-american academic community joins forces to catalogue the history of the Greek Diaspora The Modern Greek Studies Association, the non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of modern Greek studies in the United States and Canada, introduces the "MGSA Greek-American Initiative". What exactly is this project? George Anagnostou, Assistant Professor in the Department of Greek and Latin in Ohio State University, tells us all about it. "The Journey : The Greek American Dream" The story of the first Greek emigrants to America, their hopes and dreams, the hardship but also the successful stories of those who made it, are presented in the film entitled : "The Journey: The Greek American Dream", directed by Maria Iliou. Mrs Iliou with the help of historian Alexander Kitroeff, professor of History at Hartford College in Pennsylvania, managed to put together this fascinating documentary, which is also supported by a photo exhibition that was inaugurated recently in the Benaki Museum in Athens. The director of the film shares her thoughts in our radio show. The program airs live this Saturday 4-5 pm, Greek time. The hostess is Katerina Thanasoula. Katerina Thanasoula Journalist - ERT S.A. 25, Rodon str., Agia Paraskevi - 15341 Tel# +30 210 6531755 Mobile: + 30 694 2400726 FAX# +30 210 606 6309 E-mail: katerina @ thanasoula.gr (via John Babbis, MD, DX LISTENING DIGEST) That`s Saturday 14-15 UT on 9420, 17525; possibly repeated UT Sunday 03-04 on 7475, 9420; also webcast via http://tvradio.ert.gr/radio/liveradio/voiceofGreece.asp (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREECE. Glenn: This is in Re to 7-011: From the transmitting schedule that Babis Charalampopoulos sent me for the Voice of Greece's A06 short-lived period from March 26 to April 21, 2006, 5865 shows Avlis 1 at an azimuth of 292 degrees from 2300-0500 and 12120 at the same azimuth until 1000 UT. Voice of Greece has two rotatable log- periodic antennas 0 to 360 degrees, one of which was probably used at 292 degrees. The same schedule also shows Kavala 7430/172, 9375/105, 9375/240, 9375/355, 11645/355, 12105/355, 15650/95, 17520/95, and 21530/95. Has anyone heard what is happening at the Kavala site; is it being moth-balled? (John Babbis, Silver Spring MD, DX LISTENING DIGEST) If Avlis has rotatable LPs, why don`t they aim one of them at, say, Chicago? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREENLAND. NEED GREENLAND? Per Harold Frodge, try for the following marine beacons: 328 HB 331 FH 367 JV 372 OZN and/or 399 UP Source: http://www.ajpotts.fsnet.co.uk/beacon.html (MARE Tipsheet Feb 2 via DXLD) ** GUIANA FRENCH. TDF COMMENCES NEW DRM SCHEDULE TO NORTH AMERICA Starting today, TDF will broadcast between 1300 and 2000 UT from Montsinery, French Guiana in 64 QAM, r=0.5, 17 kbs, AAC + SBR on 17875 kHz to the USA with 150 kW RMS into a 4/4 at 320 . (Source: Jacques Gruson, TDF Radio Business Unit, via DRM Software Radio Forums, February 1st, 2007 - 16:53 UTC by Andy, Media Network, blog via DXLD) Yes, DRM buzz Feb 2 at 1523 check on 17870-17875-17880. Would anyone care to discuss the programming now and why one would want to go to the trouble to listen to this? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ICELAND. NATIONAL TELEVISION BROADCAST VIA SATELLITE 02/02/2007 | 11:31 http://www.icelandreview.com/icelandreview/daily_news/?cat_id=16539&ew_0_a_id=261156 Iceland’s Ministry of Transport, national broadcaster RÚV and Norwegian telecommunications company Telenor signed an agreement yesterday about broadcasting RÚV via satellite to reach rural areas and vessels at sea. The agreement is part of a the Transport Ministry’s 2005-2010 telecommunications plan with the goal for people living in sparsely populated areas in Iceland and ships out at sea to be able to watch RÚV television and listen two its two radio stations. Inhabitants in some areas in Iceland and those working at sea do currently not receive full service from the national broadcaster, as reported in a press release issued by the Ministry of Transport yesterday. The ministry estimates the project will cost about ISK 150 million (EUR 1.7 million, 2.2 million) over the next three years. RÚV is scheduled to be broadcast for the first time via satellite in April this year. Its transmissions will potentially be able to be received in northwestern Europe. (Iceland Review Online Feb 2 via DXLD) Natch, no mention of SW continuing, but his may bear on it (gh) ** ICELAND. RUV outside our shores --- RUV rent{s,ed} transmitter time from TFA/Gufunes, thus the slightly odd frequencies and only one sideband. TFA is a communications station. The transmissions to Europe are live from the national network. Those to North America are recordings. The transmitter at Gufuskálar (189 kHz) is sited near the sea where a LORAN-C transmitter stood before. The staff buildings now house a SAR school, IIRC. Eiðar (207 kHz) is a lot further inland -- several miles from the nearest shore and ca. 12km north of Egilsstaðir airport (BIEG). "Flying power armor, spears, Amazons. Some things just meant to be." (Shampoo, in "A Very Scary Bet" by Gregg Sharp) [tagline] (Reynir H. Stefánsson reynirhs @ mi.is Feb 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yesterday (2007-02-01), Ríkisútvarpið RUV dropped its old five-note 'short news' and the nine-note 'evening news' jingles in favour of one that sounds like a muted marimba or somesuch. I haven't listened to it yet on longwave, but fear it'll be hard to read. "Trust me on this one," Ranma said as they neared Ucchan's door. "Love potions leave you a lot less confused than the real thing does." That statement stopped Ryoko's sarcasm cold ("Ryoko Saotome" by Thrythlind) [tagline] (Reynir H. Stefánsson, Feb 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ICELAND. Rikisutvarpid, 13865 kHz, F/D folder card featuring examples of radio receivers from RUV’s collection from the 1930’s to 50’s in 38 days from v/s G.E. for 1 IRC and a CD report (Mick Delmage, AB, Feb CIDX Messenger via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL. No matter where you live in North America you now know for certain that we are having a winter. As I write it is –22 C outside the cabin window. Enough said. Let us start off with a look at one of my favorites, 11300 kHz and how it is supposed to be managed. 11300 kHz (USB) NORTHEAST AFRICA 11300 is an interesting frequency. ICAO has chosen it as one of the prime frequencies used for air traffic control and coordination over much of northeast Africa. It is heavily used in the evening and dawn local hours mostly for north/south traffic originating in Europe. The exception to this is during the Hajj where most traffic is east/west but mostly in the local daytime hours. Communication air/ground and ground/air is heavy at the best of times. When coordination information is transferred between the ground stations this mix can become zoo-like and dangerous. This is where it gets interesting for the radio monitor. Ground stations include Addis Ababa, Cairo, Dakar, Khartoum, Mogadishu, Nairobi and Tripoli. In the space of an hour's listening you are bound to hear at least one location calling in whose unknown identity will send you scrambling for Google Maps or an Atlas. Reception along the east coast of North America has produced weak signals since mid-January starting at 1500 EST [2000 UT] until early evening. This should improve as we move into February and March. Patience does pay during this solar minimum. Reception using a Dxtuners receiver in Sweden gave similar results but with higher signal levels. ICAO held a conference in June 2006 in an attempt to fix some of the above problems. Proposed solutions include greater use of VHF frequencies and satellite communications. It was admitted though that HF radio is still the only way to reach large areas of this portion of Africa. The clickable URL below will take you to a slideshow (.pps) presentation shown at the conference. The graphs, charts and maps will give you an overview of this part of the World and its aviation problems. http://www.icao.int/anb/panels/acp/WG/F/WGF15/Seminar/ACP-SMR02-WP14-HF%20planning%20in%20AFI.v2.ppt (Robert Ellis, Beaconsfield, Quebec H9W 6C9, Ute-The Worldwide Utility Column [illustrated], Feb CIDX Messenger via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. Said goodbye to our satellite radio. Got it for the van and it was a classic case of ``52 channels and nothing on,`` as the Springsteen tune goes. Mostly all silly pop stations (this is Sirius, BTW) from various ``eras`` and all very predictable. The classical music was limited and the world music station only played all Rolling Stones (which I can`t stand) because Sirius ``was supporting their world tour.`` Yeah. As if Mick Jagger and company needed any more support! (Sue Hickey, NL, Feb CIDX Messenger via DXLD) ** ITALY. Ciao! Controllate 846 kHz; hanno riacceso la RAI da qualche parte. ...o c'è la partita del Milan a 846 kHz!!!!!! Qui a Palermo il segnale è buono, mi piacerebbe sapere com'è nel resto d'Italia. Sarebbe interessante capire se hanno cambiato a Roma (qui 1107 kHz non arriva...) o in qualche altra postazione, si aspettavano un paio di spostamenti (Roberto Scaglione http://www.bclnews.it Jan 31, via playdx via DXLD) Ciao ! Roberto, confermo si ascolta anche qui a Milano, segnale un po debole, riattivata da ROMA ??? arriva anche nel DEGEN 1103 --- in occasione dell'incontro di coppa Italia Roma-Milan 3-1 per il momento. Sono graditi controlli anche da altre parti d'Italia (Dario Monferini, ibid.) RAI: RIATTIVATA LA FREQUENZA DI 846 KHz --- Dopo un lungo periodo di assenza la RAI ha riattivato la storica frequenza degli 846 KHz da Roma. Nella serata di ieri sono stati ripetuti su questa frequenza tutti e tre i programmi radiofonici della RAI. Si tratta probabilmente di prove tecniche di trasmissione in attesa di una ripresa regolare delle trasmissioni. Il segnale qui ad Anagni è molto buono: S: 4-5 ottimo suono! (F. CECCONI, Italy, http://swli05639fr.blogspot.com/ playdx yg via DXLD) Right now, RAI transmitter on 846 kHz is on with a soccer game (Roma- Milan) and usual huge signal. It's unclear if it should be considered a temporary or definitive reactivation (Renato Bruni, Italy, http://www.radioascolto.org/html/index.php 2217 UT Jan 31, MWC via DXLD) Ciao, yes RAI Rome, Italy, is back again on 846 kHz! It happened yesterday 31 January. It was first reported at 1915 when it was heard by Enrico that reported it on FMDX_Italy Yahoo Group --- see http://www.fmdx.altervista.org --- broadcasting Radiotre (3rd channel), later at 2030 with Radiouno (1st channel). It seems to be with a low power, less than older RAI Radiodue The original message, sent at 2051 UT: Rilevo questa sera la ritornata presenza di una emissione RAI sulla frequenza 846 Khz, ex ROMA 2, spenta nel maggio 2004. Alle ore 20:15 portava la modulazione di radio 3, ora (21:30) modula radio 1. L'intensità del segnale è scarsa, ben al di sotto di quella dell'originario ROMA 2, ma la ricezione è buona vista la completa pulizia del canale, esclusivo per l'Italia nella nostra area geografica. Potrebbe trattarsi di un nuovo impianto oppure anche della risintonizzazione del piccolo impianto 1107 khz rimasto a Roma, che qui in lombardia non ricevo per le forti interferenze straniere: invito chi volesse a mettersi in ascolto e comunicare qui le impressioni, in particolare chi vive nella zona di Roma! Then it was reported by other DXers. Now at 0030 1 Feb it is in // with 900 kHz Milan. 73 (Giampiero Bernardini, Milano, Italy, MWC via DXLD) RAI 846 test 50 kW --- About RAI again on 846 Andrea Borgnino, first on Radiorama group list, confirmed, that RAI is testing this frequency with 50 kW. They want to measure pollution. If test will be OK the site will remain on air. 73 (Giampiero Bernardini, Milano, Italy, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Ciao a tutti, per quanto riguarda le trasmissioni su 846 kHz per adesso si tratta solo di test (quello di ieri sera era a 50 kW), se le verifiche dei campi irradiati (elettrosmog..) attorno all'impianto daranno buoni risultati probabilmente l'impianto verra' riacceso. Saluti, (Andrea Borgnino IW0HK (via Roberto Scaglione, Feb 1, dxldyg via DXLD) Right. It may be worth to add that in a private conversation I've had with Andrea Borgnino this morning, he has not ruled out the possibility of a second RAI DRM test frequency. Guess what it could be... Nothing is confirmed, yet. However, it's impossible to say 846 will stay analogue forever, if reactivated. 73s (Andy Lawendel, Italy, MWC via DXLD) ** KURDISTAN [non?]. 3931, V. of Kurdistan Democr. Party, site? 1644- 1652, 28 Jan, Kurdish (presumed), talks; 32431, jammed, but then they moved to: 3935 ditto, 1709-..., 28 Jan, talks; 34433, adjacent QRM from the Iranian jammer which remained on 3931! (Carlos Gonçalves, Lisboa, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LATVIA. 9290 KHZ RELAYS THIS WEEKEND : Sat February 3 Radio Six International 0700-0800 UT Latvia Today (e-mail info @ swh.lv ) 0800-0900 UT Radio Joystick 0900-1000 UT Radio Casablanca ws 1000-1100 UT Sun February 4 Latvia Today 1300-1400 UT Good listening (Tom Taylor, UK, Feb 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MAURITANIA. 7245, R. Mauritanie, Nouakchott, 1211-1311, 27 Jan, Arabic, talks, music, prayer 1307; 35443, adjacent QRM de CVA 7250 /1300 (Carlos Gonçalves, Lisboa, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 9599.28, XEYU, R. Universidad, Mexico City, 0845-0905+ Jan 27, classical music. 0900 Spanish announcements and 0901 ``Radio Universidad`` ID. Fair to good signal. Also heard at 2215-2300+ with classical music on 9599.29 but had to use ECSS-LSB at this time to avoid unID on 9600 (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. After Giampiero Bernardini and Glenn Hauser alerts, I have recorded a few minutes of classic music (an excerpt from an Henry Purcell opera, which was also heard in // with the station webstream. See http://www.radiounam.unam.mx/htm/index.htm and few words in Spanish on 30/1 at 2205-2245 UT on 9599.25 kHz. Very weak signal, but on a clear channel. The station was seemingly silent today 31/1, or propagative conditions were not as favourable as in the previous days. As usual, you can download both clips and read further details at http://www.radioascolto.org/html/index.php or via our HCDX channel at http://www.hard-core-dx.com/index.php?topic=faiallo Furthermore, despite the weakness of the signal and the poor audio, I have forwarded the mp3 files to Ing. Eusebio Mejia Yerves, who was contacted at emejiay(at)servidor.unam.mx. He kindly answered as follows: ``Estimado Renato Bruni, Muchas Gracias por tu reporte, ya revisamos el fragmento de audio y en efecto es Radio UNAM. Espero que sigas recibiendo señal de Radio UNAM y nos la puedas mandar. Muchas gracias, Ing. Eusebio Mejia Yerves, Radio UNAM, 860 KHz, 96.1 MHz y 9600 KHz, México DF`` Good dx, (Renato Bruni, Italy, Feb 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Eusebio Mejia Yerves, station engineer at R. UNAM Mexico, has sent Renato Bruni an almost instant e-mail QSL for a report based on the evidence recorded on 9599.25 the other night --- see previous news on Radioascolto.org HCDX channel - http://www.hard-core-dx.com/index.php?topic=faiallo - and other details and audio samples on: http://www.radioascolto.org/html/index.php Giampaolo Galassi reported much stronger signals from UNAM yesterday evening, Feb. 1st, around 2230 UT. Andy Lawendel checked the band at the same moment, against a noise background which was hopelessly unfavourable and with a short piece of wire connected to his Palstar. Only a carrier was detected on 9599.3, but Brasil R. Cultura could pierce through the noise floor nicely on 9615 (which is normally impossible). Fluttery, almost Sporadic E-like signals from Brasil came also in the 25 mb, namely on 11815. Andy reports it was funny to experience that, given concurrent low K values (Andrea Lawendel, Italy, Feb 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) A complete, crystal clear identification was at last recorded from Radio UNAM yesterday evening on 9599.25 kHz, both in Parma and Savignano sul Rubicone, near Rimini. Clips and details on http://www.radioascolto.org/html/index.php Good DX, (Renato Bruni, Feb 2, HCDX via DXLD) Also Feb 2 at 0654, and on this date XEYU 9599.2v was also audible with classical. Later at 2017 and 2133 chex it was audible but poor with het. XEXQ 6045 was also audible at 0655 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. Devolución Radio Educación Onda Corta --- Hola amigos, Para reportar que luego de 5 meses recibo devuelta del correo mexicano una carta-informe que había enviado a la Radio Educación Onda Corta, la cual tenía destino al QTH: Apdo. Postal 21-465, CP 04021 Mexico, DF (direccion que anuncia la emisora y que figura en el WRTH y el PWBR) Aunque no figura motivo de devolución aparece tachado el código postal (Rafael Rodríguez, Bogotá - COLOMBIA, Feb 1 playdx yg via DXLD) Hola Amigo y Colega Rafael, es muy probable que la Casilla Postal no es jamás activa; de todas formas, mi personal sugerencia es de utilizar la dirección postal: Radio Educación, Ángel Urraza N 622, Colonia del Valle, México D.F., C.P. 03100, México --- Que es reportada en sus pagina WEB : http://www.radioeducacion.edu.mx Email : informes @ radioeducacion.edu.mx El Jefe T’Ecnico es: Ing. Jesús Álvarez Tapia, Email : ingenieria @ radioeducacion.edu.mx Suerte por tu nuevo tentativo! (Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** MEXICO. Hi Glenn, It seems that for a few days now, someone in Mexico City, retransmits "Radio AMLO" from Puebla, Puebla, on 153.0125 FM. This frequency belongs to the free band segment, here in Mexico. The original signal is taken from the internet. Here in the south part of the city, I receive the signal S3 with a low level of audio but listening to one of my favourite local ham repeaters, someone said that the signal is full when you are in the north part of the city. "Radio AMLO" means "Radio Andrés Manuel López Obrador". The content is mainly political with two-hours segments. I send you a short recording in which you can hear the ID. The 29th, the retransmission started around 0900 XE (1500 UT) and the 30th, at 0932 XE, even if in the recording, the announcer says that the rendezvous is at 0800 XE. Right now, I don't know when they finish even if I suspect something around 0000 XE but I checked around 2200 XE and they were still here. Listening to this broadcasting during a few hours, I was able to hear several times, the "default" sound using under Windows and that the announcer thanked someone (didn't understand the name) for the retransmission in Mexico City. At least, after listening more than 5 hours (!), they gave an email address which is: radioamlo @ gmail.com That's all the info I have for now. I've just sent them an email to see if I can get more infos. Sincerely (XE1/F-14314 op. Thierry Vignaud, Mexico City, SAT, SW & BC Listener, Jan 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS. 11910 harmonic, RNW program from Flevoland 5955 around 0845 UT Feb 1 (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. I remember a few months ago, in DXLD n 6-151 you gave the info about a new DRM transmission from RNW via Montsinéry to the USA. The info said that "Reports much appreciated." I send a report via email with audio file from the "DRM buzz" but never received any answer... I'm not really interested in DRM because I haven't any receiver which can handle this mode! All the best, (Thierry Vignaud, Mexico City --- XE1/F-14314 op. Thierry QTH: Mexico City SAT, SW & BC Listener, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS. SPECIAL TRANSMISSION FROM CUPID RADIO – HOLLAND Hi all CIDX members, I have worked out a special transmission from Cupid Radio in Holland for North America DXers and CIDX members in February. Cupid Radio has been active for the past few months and has made it here into Montreal on several occasions when propagation conditions have been good. We hope that conditions will be good for this broadcast. The broadcast is scheduled for Saturday, February 17th, 2007, from 1400 to 1600 UT on the frequency of 15070 kHz. The antenna will be turned for the eastern part of North America. There will be some announcements on air from me that I have sent to Cupid Radio, extending greetings to all Dxers and CIDX members. All Dxers who hear Cupid Radio can send in their reports. There will be 3 beautiful QSLs available and a 3-page information sheet about Cupid Radio itself. There are 2 ways to send your reports: via email: cupidradio @ hotmail.com By regular mail: Cupid Radio, P. O. Box 9, 8096ZG, Oldebroek, Netherlands All reports are welcome and will be verified. To receive a QSL card, all that is needed is to send a postcard representing the city where you live. Thank you Rinus of Cupid Radio for making this possible. Let`s hope that propagation will be good for this special broadcast. If you have any questions please feel free to write to me: gletourneau @ yahoo.com (Feb CIDX Messenger via DXLD) ** NICARAGUA. 600, YNLD, R. Ya, Managua, JAN 14, 0440 - R. Rebelde, Cuba lost its feed of a soccer game and this one appeared. ID'ed as "La Nueva Ya" with many mentions of Managua by a man in Spanish. Rebelde returned at 0446 (Gerry Thomas, Pensacola FL; various receivers, Quantum QX v2.0 loops, Quantum Phaser/longwires, NRC IDXD Feb 3 via DXLD) I guess this means Rebelde was in open carrier rather than totally off the air (gh, DXLD) ** NIGERIA. VON, 7255, good modulation and signal shouldering aside the hams, Feb 2 at 2145 in French with a program about some church (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NORTH AMERICA. USA Pirates: 3275.0, Undercover R., 0710-0720* Jan 28, rock music, IDs, E-mail address. Announcer Dr. Benway. Very good. 3275.94, KIPM, 0745-0829* Jan 28, strange radio-drama about the galaxy. Announcer Allen Maxwell. Excellent (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS. 11650, Russian program via KFBS Saipan starts definitely earlier now. In past 10 days noted by Noel R. Green- UK and y.t., program starting time is obviously at 0730 UT, instead of scheduled 0900-1100 UT. Often live listeners phone-in programs heard (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Feb 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. FEB 2, 0004 EST [0504 UT], 1210, KGYN, OK, Guymon, country music, news, finally an ID following weather. Very strong at times over WPHT [Philadelphia] (Jim Renfrew, Byron NY, IRCA via DXLD) They must have been cheating - heard here at good-excellent levels all evening (Jim Pogue, KH2AR/WPE9HLJ/KG6DX1A, Memphis, Tennessee, ibid.) KGYN is supposed to have a deep null toward Philadelphia. Frequently heard eastward anyway (gh) Hi Jim, I had them here at around 0300. I figure they are on due to the really bad weather there in panhandle of Oklahoma and Texas. 73's (Willis, K4APE, Monk, Old Fort, TN, ibid.) KGYN Guymon, OK in a/basketball, game may be over now. Heard spots for Liberal KS and Guymon, OK. Poor to fair with WPHT phased using NE Bog and 100' wire. 73, BC (Bruce Collier, York, PA, 722ft ASL FM19px amfmtvdx at qth.net via DXLD) It was booming through WPHT as I was driving home from DC last night (Rick Shaftan, NJ, IRCA via DXLD) I am SO envious of you guys, Collier, Renfrew, Shaftan, and whoever else heard KGYN here in the Northeast. I have wanted this station for many years! Obviously, they were on day rig. Maybe it will last for a few days (Marc DeLorenzo, South Dennis, MA http://hometown.aol.com/midcapemarc/myhomepage/profile.html IRCA via DXLD) When I heard them last night they were running OPSU [Oklahoma Panhandle State University, Goodwell] basketball. Perhaps that, along with bad weather, prompted their use of day rig. Anyway, glad to hear them again after many years. They used to be a notorious non-verifer, but I see they have QSLed in the last couple of years. My report went out this morning (Jim Pogue, Memphis TN, ibid.) Got my QSL this fall (Jim Renfrew, ibid.) ** OKLAHOMA. RADIO DAYS: OKLAHOMA'S FIRST STATION: BROADCAST PIONEER WKY BEGAN IN GARAGE, LIVING ROOM By MATT GLEASON Tulsa World Scene Writer 1/28/2007 Not far from the Oklahoma City stockyards, Earl C. Hull and H.S. Richards created WKY, the first radio station west of the Mississippi River and the third broadcasting station in the country. And they did it all from a garage and converted living room. Initially, the co-owners of the Oklahoma Radio Shop hoped to cash in on the radio craze by manufacturing radio receivers. But when Hull and Richards couldn't keep pace with huge factories, the duo focused their attention on their amateur low-watt station then known as 5XT, according to Gene Allen's book "Voices on the Wind: Early Radio in Oklahoma." "I don't think they were really good businessmen," Allen said in a telephone interview from his home in Oklahoma City, "but they liked having their voice thrown out into the ether, as the expression went." In the beginning, the living room/studio featured a homemade control panel, microphones, an upright piano and a wind-up Victrola. Amazingly, the St. Paul's Episcopal Cathedral choir once gave an Easter program within the living room's small confines, Allen said. As for the garage/transmitter room, Allen said, "It was just a mess. These guys weren't exactly real well-organized." It was archaic, yes, but its mix of news reports with popular and classical music could be heard as far as Kansas and Mississippi, according to Donald K. Tolman's "Through the Ether: The Birth of Radio in Central Oklahoma," published in the summer 1983 issue of the Chronicles of Oklahoma. In 1922, about a year after 5XT hit the virginal Oklahoma airwaves, the Department of Commerce issued its license and its new call letters, WKY. In 1923, the station moved to a room atop the Shrine Temple for a year before it settled in the basement of the Huckins Hotel. In 1928, The Daily Oklahoman purchased the station, thus beginning a new era of WKY. Soon, the station boasted a 1,000-watt transmitter and a modern studio in the Plaza Court Building. "That's really when it really began to grow," Allen said, "because the influx of capital is what it needed. These two guys didn't have any money. They were on and off the air on a fairly regular basis and always trying to get enough money to operate." For decades, the station was a full-service NBC affiliate until it switched to Top-40 music beginning in the late 1950s continuing through the early '80s. Since then, the station's format has included country, secular and Christian adult contemporary and talk radio. It now is a Spanish-language station and very much removed from the garage and converted living room where two radio lovers cast their voices out into the ether (via Kevin Redding, AZ, ABDX via DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA. VOICES OF OKLAHOMA --- As Oklahoma enters its centennial year, OPR is celebrating by broadcasting the Voices of Oklahoma series. Voices of Oklahoma is a radio series that profiles the people, places and events that have made Oklahoma such a great state. The program will be aired on Fridays at 6:20 p.m. [0020 UT Saturdays, until 0028+, this week about an OK outlaw --- gh] Reporters Notebook As the legislative session begins, OPR is proud to begin a blog named The Reporters' Notebook written by OPR reporters and staff members. A blog is written commentary reporters or staff members write once a week. It features interesting things going on at the State Capitol, around Oklahoma or at Oklahoma Public Radio. These things may not be broadcast, but they are still relevant and interesting. To read the blogs, written by News Director Rachel Hubbard, go to Reporters Notebook. http://www.kosu.org/blog.html In their newsletter, Oklahoma Public Radio also announces that some of its programs will be available on podcasts. We see that this is referred to as a ``jukebox``, which seems somewhat inappropriate: http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/kosu/.jukebox?action=programs&sortBy=program&browseProgramId=201522 So far only two categories, Oklahoma Stories and State Capitol Reports (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. KOCO won't let Cox use their HD signal unless they pay. Cox doesn't charge for HD, so they won't pay. KOCO attenuates their signal to protect an ABC affiliate in Lawton, [DT-7] I believe, and can not be picked up in some parts of the city with an antennae. I live less than 7 miles from their tower and I can not get their signal, while I can get everyone else’s. End result is that I don't watch anything on channel 5 except when OU is playing. Other than that I can watch something else on another channel that doesn't look like crap. But I don't watch any local news, so maybe they don't care. KOKH is doing the same thing, but at least I can get their over-the-air signal (BDP, ibid.) I recall that it was Channel Five - and perhaps even Terri Watkins in particular, but I'm not sure on that - that broke the scandal on the Oklahoma Industries Authority handing out tax breaks it wasn't authorized to issue, and I think it may also have been KOCO that broke the Corporation Commissioners scandal from several years ago. Can you imagine any of our local outlets daring to touch a story like that these days? Heck, even Linda Cavanaugh at KFOR used to do some good newsy features, but not so much anymore. As far as KOCO's sale/not-pending sale, I hope it`s true. I support Cox's position in the matter entirely, and I think they've learned what I suspected at the outset - Hearst Argyle assumed there would be a hue-and-cry against Cox in the media, forcing Cox to capitulate to their payment terms. When the story died, and forced Hearst-Argyle stations to artificially prop it up with "updates" on their stations' websites, they realized they were losing the propaganda battle. HA all-but admitted they were trying to subsidize their FCC-mandated HD rollout via the cable companies, and if that was truly their plan - and it failed - it wouldn't surprise me at all to see them sell out of the TV business (-SoonerDave, ibid.) I've been wondering about KFOR and its ratings, and the sale of their station. I've noticed how difficult it is to obtain Nielsen Ratings in the past couple of years. Over the weekend, I did some reading on the web and discovered that Nielsen Media guards their data like Fort Knox. Some people were posting local ratings information on a website and Nielsen got WAY bent out of shape. This explains to me why it is virtually impossible to read how the ratings turned out in the OKC market. We only get vague information as to who took first place at a given time. We seldom get to hear who took second and third, and by how much. It's too bad they can't just publish the information in a delayed manner, such as a month later. I'd love to know how close some of the races are. It's obviously one of the most competitive markets in the nation. Maybe someone should put up a website cleverly designed to replace the Nielsen Ratings book and put a dent in the Nielsen arrogance. Anyway, I eagerly wait to see if any changes will occur at KFOR as a result of its new owner (drumsncode, Jan 29, ibid.) ** OMAN. 15140, R. Sultanate of Oman, *1400-1500+ Jan 27, sign-on with US pop music, Euro-pop music, English announcements, promos for local concert. 1429 chimes-gongs, ID, TC, 1430-1438 English news. 1439 into Arabic programming with Euro-pop music, Arabic pop music and Arabic announcements. Fair but with slight hum (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAKISTAN. R. Pakistan: many transmissions are either off the air or irregular (WRTH Update Feb 2 via DXLD) ** ROMANIA. RRI, *0100 UT, 6150 kHz, February 1, 2007, with "Radio Newsreel" commentary and "Society Today". Poor to unusable reception due to Dr. Gene Scott via Costa Rica on 6150 and what sounds like Portuguese on 6150. Checking WRTH I see R. Record São Paulo Brazil on 6150 kHz (Kraig Krist, KG4LAC, VA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. 13685, St. P [??] too much bandwidth this morning Feb 2, 0657-0756 UT, VRT RVI Brussels relay. Supposed to be St. Petersburg on nominal 13685; produces audio splatter all over the place, between 13658 and 13712 kHz. This means a very broad bandwidth, 27 kHz each sideband !!! Noted on various receivers, like AOR 7030, E1 Etón radio, two SONY 2001, and Kenwood R-1000 sets. Exceptional strong signal today, S=9 +50dB on E1 Etón-Lextronix Radio measured (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Feb 2, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAUDI ARABIA. 15215 kHz, Broadcasting Service of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Jan. 21 at 0632-0700 in a Southern Asian language. SINPO 34333. Talk & interview. ID was heard at 0659 as "Je Saudi Radio...he." News followed. Also herd on Jan.28 at 0540-0600. SINPO35333. Talk with short music segments. ID was heard at 0552 & 0600. News at 0600. New service ? (Iwao Nagatani, Japan, Japan Premium via DXLD) Per WRTH 2007, BSKSA has an Urdu service on 15215 at 12-14; expanded or retimed? (gh, DXLD) Urdu retimed at 05-07 on 15215, ex 12-14. Also, Turkish 04-06 on 15215 deleted; and Bengali at 12-15 ex 16-17 on 15345, all Riyadh site (WRTH Feb 2 update via DXLD) ** SCOTLAND. Our new February schedule begins on Saturday, with some programmes moving their timeslots. Letter From Scotland and Letter From America will now be found on Saturdays at 0830 GMT (Web only) and Thursdays at 0115 GMT (Sky 0195, 94.2 and 94.8 FM and Web). The Best of Alchemical Radio moves to 1745 GMT on Saturday (Web only) and 0000 GMT on Thursdays (Sky 0195, 94.2 and 94.8 FM and Web). College of Piping will once again be repeated throughout the month each week on Sunday at 1800 GMT (Web only) with a single transmission each month on Thursday at 0600 GMT (88.5 FM and Web) and Friday at 0000 GMT (Sky 0195, 94.2 and 94.8 FM and Web [not Feb 2! --- gh]). The remaining programmes in the Girl Power series will be heard on Fridays at 0000 GMT (Sky 0195, 94.2 and 94.8 FM and Web). (from http://www.radiosix.com/ Feb 1 via DXLD) 88.5 = Tawa, NZ; 94+ = Slovakia; it may help to be very near these transmitters (gh, DXLD) ** SUDAN [non]. Darfur Salaam: daily 0500-0530 on 5965 Skelton UK, 7150 Moosbrunn, Austria replacing 7140 Cyprus; and on 11820 A`Seela, Oman. Sudan Radio Service: add: 0400-0600 M-F on 13720 Dhabbaya UAE; deleted Fri 0600-0630 15215 Dhabbaya (WRTH Feb 2 update via DXLD) ** U K. BBC WS in Spanish to CAm additions: 03-04 on WHRI 7315; 10-11 on WHRI 5835, Guiana French 9790; 11-1230 on GUF 13760 (WRTH Feb 2 Update via DXLD) No longer mentioned: 6140 Greenville for the 10-1230 broadcast. This was dropped after Jan 4; and see subsequent reports of R. República being heard on 6140 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K [and non]. RADIO PANDORA --- I am sure I can claim to be one of the first pirate radio stations in the UK. It was almost at the end of the Second World War when things were lapse. I built a 2 valve transmitter which required an accumulator, ht battery and a grid bias battery. I strung an aerial along the garden (measured to a half wave) and transmitted at a frequency of 8 Megacycles (now MHz) or 37.5 metres. I sent out programmes twice a week for an hour during the evening. I played popular music (mostly big band stuff) using a throat mike to introduce them. I liked to think it encouraged people who were war- weary and I asked people to phone in requests. Being at the top of a hill I could cover a 4 to 5 mile radius. If my home-made transmitter gave trouble I switched a an army-type 'Walkie-Talkie'. The idea took off and people were phoning in with more requests - I played what I could but my 78 record library was limited. Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw, Jimmy Dorsey, and so on. All went well until I noticed this van with a rotating aerial on it going slowly up and down my street. When it hovered I disconnected and shoved the transmitter in a drawer. Next day when it hovered nearer I covered myself by hanging washing along the aerial. 'Radio Pandora', as I called myself, lasted long enough to give, I thought, a bit of fun to a lot of people. I closed down later but when out locally I overhead two men in a shop who worked at the BBC monitoring station at Tatsfield, Surrey. They had clearly picked me up but in the euphoric days post WW2 they hadn't bothered to really chase it up. Tatsfield did a tremendous job during the latter part of the war. It monitored German broadcasts seeking out very useful information. It also, I had understood, sent out a fake programme across Europe, called Soldaten Sender Calais, with false news and German music to confuse the German military. All this is a far cry from today's VHF radio and now digital radio and television. How easy to press a key on a remote and the world is before you. So easy to take it all for granted. My own station Radio Pandora of nearly 60 years ago may not be recalled by anyone today but may I claim to be the fore-runner of Radio Caroline and other off- shore pirate stations? --- Leslie Oppitz, WW2 Peoples War 'WW2 People's War is an online archive of wartime memories contributed by members of the public and gathered by the BBC. The archive can be found at http://bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar (via Patrick Travers, Feb World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** U S A [and non]. JEFFREY GEDMIN NAMED PRESIDENT OF RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY (Washington, DC--February 2, 2007) The Board of Directors of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) has named Dr. Jeffrey Gedmin as the new president of RFE/RL. The Board consists of the members of the Broadcasting Board of Governors. In making the announcement on behalf of the Board, Chairman Kenneth Y. Tomlinson said Dr. Gedmin will bring to the job "a blend of experience as a distinguished scholar, writer, administrator and a career devoted to international work." Dr. Gedmin will take up his duties as RFE/RL President in March 2007. The RFE/RL board also praised Jeffrey Trimble for his distinguished service as Acting President of RFE/RL since November 2005, following the resignation of former President Thomas A. Dine. Since 2001, Dr. Gedmin has served as Director of the Aspen Institute in Berlin. The non-profit, non-partisan organization's mission is "to foster enlightened leadership and open-minded dialogue." For five years before that, Dr. Gedmin was Executive Director of The New Atlantic Initiative, a coalition of international institutes, politicians, leading journalists and business executives. Leading supporters and participants included Vaclav Havel, Margaret Thatcher, Henry Kissinger, and U.S. Senators Jesse Helms and Joseph Biden. Dr. Gedmin has been a frequent contributor to leading U.S. and European newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times, Washington Post and the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung as well as a regular columnist for Die Welt. Dr. Gedmin has authored and edited several books and served as co- executive producer for two major PBS documentaries. He received his Ph.D. from Georgetown University in German Area Studies. In accepting the appointment, Dr. Gedmin said, "I'm delighted by the opportunity to join this great institution. Its mission has always been dear to my heart and for a number of reasons Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is more important than ever." Dr. Gedmin was born in Washington, DC and raised in Northern Virginia. The candidate search for this position was completed by the firm of Christian and Timbers. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is a private, international communications service to Eastern and Southeastern Europe, Russia, the Caucasus, Central Asia, the Middle East, and Southwest Asia, funded by the U.S. Congress through the Broadcasting Board of Governors (RFE/RL press release Feb 2 via DXLD) ** U S A. TOWER DOWN IN CENTRAL FLORIDA --- The storms that moved thru our area early this morning took out the 1500-foot tower for WCFB 94.5 licensed to Daytona Beach. Word from Cox Radio is that the building was also destroyed. Efforts are being made to get back on the air from another tower site (Lee Freshwater, Ocala FL, Feb 2, WTFDA via DXLD) A big one; I think not many FM stations have such high towers unless they are sharing with a TV station; but not in this case? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** U S A. LOCAL MEDIA CONTENT SHOULDN'T BE A LUXURY By Eric Klinenberg, Guest columnist, Special to The Seattle Times Can you still hear the sounds of Seattle when you turn on your radio? When you watch your local newscast, can you find local news? Do your daily and weekly newspapers offer a good supply of original, primary reporting? During the past five years, I've traveled across the country asking these questions of citizens, political officials and journalists. I've studied what happened to our media since the controversial Telecommunications Act of 1996, when Republicans and Democrats joined hands to relax longstanding ownership limits and allow a small number of large corporations to dominate local markets. The responses are alarming — even for Seattle, where, thanks to the city's relative affluence and robust civic life, the media market is more competitive, and the content more diverse, than in most other towns. Not long ago, Americans considered local news and entertainment as necessary for our democracy and culture. In today's consolidated media system, however, truly local content is becoming a luxury good. In the television industry, I discovered stations that scheduled local news programs throughout the day but refused to increase the staff levels. Instead, they recycled the same stories and used scripted packages, including promotional video news releases from businesses and government agencies, to fake local reports. . . [more] http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/PrintStory.pl?document_id=2003549966&zsection_id=&slug=klinenberg01&date=20070201 (via Dan Say, BC, DXLD) ** U S A. KTRB TO BEGIN REGULAR BROADCASTS FROM SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA A press release was noted on the Mercury-News Interactive Blog and relates to Radio Station KTRB's beginning of regular broadcasts from the San Francisco Bay Area. In part, the release states: "San Francisco, California (January 31, 2007) - - Something old is new again, as one of Northern California's pioneer radio stations, KTRB-AM 860, makes its historic Bay Area debut by bringing "The San Francisco Sound" back to the nation's fourth-largest radio market beginning this Thursday, February 1, 2007... KTRB-AM 860 will sign-on at midnight on February 1, and beginning at 6:00 a.m. that day, the station will play continuous music reprising the late 60s and early 70s heyday of "The San Francisco Sound"... KTRB-AM 860's permanent format will commence March 1, 2007." Source: http://blogs.mercurynews.com/aei/2007/02/great_news_a_ne.html (via Mike Hardester, Jacksonville, NC, DXLD) NEW AM RADIO SIGNAL HITS AIRWAVES IN BAY AREA The Bay Area got its first new major AM radio signal in half a century Thursday as KTRB-AM began sending an experimental 50,000-watt broadcast at 860 on the dial. The full article will be available on the Web for a limited time: http://www.realcities.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/16605394.htm (c) 2007 MercuryNews.com and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved (via Tom McNiff, DXLD) KTRB was playing a 5-minute loop that contained classical music, a vocal clip of a Harding-Roosevelt [sic] election result and an ID. The classical DID NOT CONTAIN ANY PIANO. That was likely Prince Rupert. (Michael Hawkins, Feb 1, IRCA via DXLD) I think that the classical piano music was from Prince Rupert, although no ID from the Canadian station was heard. The music was much stronger than the "KTRB" id that I heard. Bill's reception on 860 kHz sounds exactly like what I heard. KPAM antennas are only about 7 miles from here and was surprised that the signal could be knocked down to about S-7. Checked KTRB night-time pattern on the FCC site and hardly any signal goes North. The signal is aimed West (Dennis Vroomski, Vancouver, WA, ibid.) Yes, the piano music was Prince Rupert. I heard it here. CFPR is a powerhouse here at night. They run 10 KW ND 24/7. They do not drop to 1 KW. I talked to the CE at CFPR some years ago and he said that except for rare occasions when their 10 KW has been out, they are always 10 KW 24/7. They have a 1 kW aux. CFPR is 700 miles to my North. 73, (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, ibid.) Prince Rupert BC, CBC KTRB came on at 12:01 am with about 15 seconds of Grateful Dead, then 10 seconds of silence. Since then, they have been running a 5-minute (or so) loop of some really interesting classical music (NOT piano), with a 30-second embedded recording of a Roosevelt election return that includes the phrase "But first we'd like to know if this broadcast is reaching you" then a bit more music and a detailed station ID that says they are signing on the air. I'd like to know what the music is. I'm not real big on classical music, but I like this (Mike Hawkins, CA?, Feb 1, IRCA via DXLD) Here is a link to the nighttime pattern for KTRB from the FCC web site. The daytime pattern does not come up. http://www.fcc.gov/ftp/Bureaus/MB/Databases/AM_DA_patterns/1157132-96661.pdf (Dennis Vroomski, Vancouver, WA, ibid.) KTRB applied for a dual-site operation. The day site was to be where Mike says it is - up in the Delta near Vallejo, not far from KCBS. The night site is in the hills near Livermore, northeast of San José. The day site has not yet been built, and they modified their CP a few months ago to operate 24/7 from the Livermore site, with plans to reapply for the Vallejo day site eventually. Coverage over the core of the Bay Area is pretty similar from both sites, but there's no significant Sacramento signal from Livermore, whereas the Vallejo site would have put a good signal up that way. The day and night patterns from Livermore are essentially identical, and can be seen as the "CP" listings for KTRB at FCCinfo.com. It's basically one big lobe to the west, with a few little augmentations off the backside to the east. http://www.recnet.com is not a bad tool - as long as you can match it up to the sometimes-confusing reality. Like most of the interfaces out there (including 100000watts.com), it has a hard time with dual-site AM operations. In this case, the first entry at RECNet is the license at Modesto. The second is the active CP for the single-site operation at Livermore. Click on "Show Map" for that one, and it'll give you the map to the site that KTRB is now using for day and night. The third listing is for the revised application for two-site operation, and the map there shows only the planned day site at Vallejo, which has not yet been built. s (Scott Fybush, NY, Feb 2, IRCA via DXLD) ** VATICAN. Until recently, Vatican Radio could be received and rebroadcast in Africa only through one of the following channels: Via Intelsat Satellite with a Comstream receiver, an expensive system featuring a rather large dish (more than 2 meters), useful only for picking up Vatican Radio; Through the COFRAC (Communauté Francophone de Radios Chrétiennes) Association. which transmits Catholic French- language programmes via satellite, but in fact due to financial problems offers only a limited selection of Vatican Radio programmes; And finally via the Internet, but in Africa the most frequently-used Internet links are often unreliable. In view of the difficulties posed by the above-mentioned systems and the growing number of African Catholic radio stations wishing to receive and rebroadcast Vatican Radio programmes, an important initiative is underway in collaboration with SIGNIS, the world Catholic Association for Communication, for the creation of a special channel featuring Vatican Radio programming for Africa through VSAT technology. Receivers equipped with a small dish (Very Small Aperture Terminal) that via Satellite can link-up with Internet permit the reception (in streaming) of a good-quality signal even in isolated areas or in places not supported by efficient communication infrastructures. Thus the African radio stations will be able to receive Vatican Radio programmes thanks to this system at a cost lower than that of Intelsat Satellite transmissions and at the same time gain a good access to Internet for all purposes. We also foresee that with VSAT technology we will be able to offer live broadcasts of the principal papal celebrations with commentaries in the languages most common to Africa (French, English, and Portuguese). The SIGNIS International Service is offering the possibility to purchase equipment (for approximately 2,000 Euros) that links up to Internet via satellite (with a 1,20 metre dish) and provides a channel where all the Vatican Radio programmes in various languages of interest to Africa can be heard. This same equipment also permits surfing on the Internet, but this calls for an additional subscription charge (approximately 1,500 Euro per year). The equipment is supplied by SIGNIS Services Rome (Palazzo San Calisto). E-mail address: ssr @ signis.net Website http://www.signis.net (Vatican Radio's newsletter via Jonathan Murphy, Feb World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ???? VR has numerous SHORTWAVE broadcasts to Africa, which could be used for relay purposes lacking anything else; there was a time when relays off shortwave were SOP, but this option does not even occur to them! Nor that anyone may listen to SW direct! (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VATICAN. Confirmed here on 4004.2 USB in Italian 2025 January 31st (Mike Barraclough, England, Feb World DX Club Contact via DXLD) Instead of nominal 4005 (gh) ** VENEZUELA [non]. RNV via Cuba on scheduled 17705, Feb 2 at 2015, was nothing but open carrier. Refund to Chávez? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VIETNAM [and non]. Recent schedule from Voice of Vietnam gave their address as 45 Ba Trieu, Hanoi. English for Europe given as 1600-1630, 1900-1930 and 2030-2100 all on 7280 9730 and 1800-1830 on 5955 via Moosbrunn (Allen Dean, England, Feb World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. 6300, another new frequency, R. Nacional de la RASD, Jan 27 2305-0003* Jan 28, tune-in to Spanish talk, local pop music, ID. Sign-off with NA. Strong, very good (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZIMBABWE [non]. VOA Studio 7, M-F 1700-1830, via Morocco on 15770 ex-17730 (WRTH Feb 1 update via DXLD) So will the strange Zimbabwean jamming now be heard on 15770? BTW, WRTH classifies this as a BBG service, not a VOA service. I.e., on the same par as R. Martí is a BBG service and VOA is another BBG service (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. Vanavond lange tijd naar een zender zitten te luisteren (2000-2040 UT) op 4836 kHz die aan het testen was. Eerst lange tijd werd er non-stop muziek gedraaid, moderne popmuziek, met af en toe een break waarin de muziek werd weggedraaid en er alleen een draaggolf stond. In de laatste 10 minuten een mannelijke stem gehoord die in het Engels aan het tellen was "012344567890" de 4 werd steeds 2x herhaald. Kan in het WRTH geen zender ontdekken wie dit mag zijn. Iemand enig idee? (Johan JMn, PE9DX, Feb 1, BDX via DXLD) Hallo Johan, Geen omroep in ieder geval. Wel kan het zijn: Piraat Spionage (Ary weet hier misschien meer van ??) Ik denk een piraat. Vanmorgen was er op 4807 USB RAF Volmet met weerberichten te horen om 0730 UT. Een rare uitzending met weerberichten zonder plaatsnamen, het leek wel of die steeds waren weggeknipt (Max van Arnhem, ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED. To whom it may concern: I think I have Radio Logos coming in on 6165 at 0900-0915 now! in religious type program. Maybe?? [Later:] Unident, 6165, 0858-0940. Noted at tune in, a canned ID in Spanish. This followed with comments and Religious Music. At 0929, another canned ID using echo effect followed with more music. This signal was impossible to copy details since it was very weak and just below the noise. Since there weren't other stations on the frequency, it was possible to identify the format as Religious and typically Bolivian or Peruvian. So thinking this is may be (tentative) Radio Logos. By 0940 everything on the frequency was mixing together like a soup sandwich and was impossible to separate (Chuck Bolland, February 1, 2007, Clewiston, Florida, NRD545, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re: Possibly Radio Logos --- Chuck, You should try paralleling it to 4865, since they claim to be using both frequencies now. 73, (Glenn to Chuck, via DXLD) Glenn, Yea - you`re right, but there's a Brazilian on 4865 that covers that frequency pretty well here and I can't hear anything else there. I was on it yesterday, but didn't think about it this morning. I suppose that looking for Radio Logos between 0830 and 0930 UT is about the best time for me these days, before China fades in (Chuck Bolland, ibid.) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ WRTH 2007 FIRST UPDATE POSTED El WRTH 2007 acaba de poner en su página web la primera actualización del año (2 de Febrero de 2007). Consta de 13 páginas que se puden bajar en formato PDF en la siguiente dirección: http://www.wrth.com/updates_new.asp (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, España, Feb 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) LANGUAGE LESSONS ++++++++++++++++ ENGRISH.COM Engrish can be simply defined as the humorous English mistakes that appear in Japanese advertising and product design. Engrish can be found all over the world, but the vast majority of the really funny and creative Engrish is from Japan. http://www.engrish.com/ (via Sheldon Harvey, Greenfield Park, Quebec, Feb Radio HF Internet Newsletter via DXLD) WORLD OF HOROLOGY +++++++++++++++++ CLOCKS' EARLY SPRING FORWARD MAY BRING ABOUT A FEW FALLS By Charles Babington, Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, February 1, 2007; A01 It seemed so simple and familiar: Spring forward, fall back. For 20 years, that's what Americans -- and their technology -- have done with their clocks on the first Sunday in April and the last Sunday in October. No longer. When few people were paying attention in August 2005, Congress lengthened daylight saving time by four weeks in the name of energy efficiency. The change takes effect this year -- on March 11 -- and it has angered airlines, delighted candy makers and sent thousands of technicians scrambling to make sure countless automated systems switch their clocks at the right moment. Unless changed by one method or another, many systems will remain programmed to read the calendar and start daylight saving time on its old date in April, not its new one in March. It's one thing to arrive an hour late for church on the first day of daylight saving. It's another for a security system to log the wrong time of crucial events, for pilots to misunderstand their takeoff times or international communications components to stop synchronizing. But such scenarios are possible without the fix to vast numbers of the nation's technical systems . . . [more] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/31/AR2007013102318_pf.html (via Tom McNiff, Mike Cooper, DXLD) CANADA, TOO At least in the province of Alberta. My fiancé [sic] who lives in Red Deer, Alberta informed me that The province of Alberta will go on Daylight time the same date as the US. She also told me that every province in Canada (except Saskatchewan) will do the same (Eric Parker, Portland, OR via Daniel Sampson, Prime Time Shortwave, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) DIGITAL BROADCASTING ++++++++++++++++++++ DRM: see FRANCE, GUIANA FRENCH, INTERNTIONAL, ITALY, NETHERLANDS and second story below TECHNICAL REVIEW OF THE NEW SANGEAN HDT-1 HD TUNER I just wrote a technical review of the new Sangean HDT-1 HD Radio component tuner. iBiquity is offering this tuner at discount to radio stations and broadcast engineers.... The HDT-1 is a fascinating device, works amazingly well, and if you can get the iBiquity discount, it is a steal. See the review at the URL below. Brian Beezley http://users.tns.net/~bb/hdt-1.htm (CGC Communicator Jan 31 via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) DSP DEVOURS THE CELLS IBOC receivers --- as well as DRM receivers --- make heavy use of digital signal processing (DSP) technology, and DSP ICs (or chips incorporating DSP)are notorious power hogs. There's just no getting around it; if a device is DSP based, it will consume lots of power and make battery operation difficult. WiFi is not a DSP technology (although devices incorporating WiFi may also include DSP), so there's no inherent reason why a WiFi device will be heavy on power consumption. From my perspective, the main market for WiFi receivers at the moment would be for consumers with wireless routers in their home. Telco companies (especially "the new AT&T!") are pushing wireless IP technology in homes to deliver telephone, internet, and television service (via IPTV), and WiFi radios would be a perfect fit for such an environment. Large scale internet streaming to cars, portable receivers, and non- networked homes will have to wait until mobile WiMax (802.16e) is widely deployed. 802.16e will have a range of approximately 30 miles from each transmitter site (depending on terrain, elevation, etc.) and it supports "hand-offs" between sites for mobile receivers. That's something current versions of WiFi (802.11) can't do; move out of a given hotspot and the connection is lost (although the 802.11r standard currently in development will support roaming). And when wide area wireless broadband is a reality, the terrestrial broadcasting industry will long for the good old days when their competition was only satellite radio, iPods, and wired internet (Harry Helms W5HLH, Smithville, TX EL19 http://topsecrettourism.com ABDX via DXLD) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ THE KNACK Ham Radio is mentioned in a Dilbert cartoon that is featured on YouTube, see http://www.southgatearc.org/news/february2007/dilbert.htm (via Trevor, M5AKA, monitoringmonthly yg via DXLD) COPPER THEFT CONTINUES, THIS TIME IN CATHEDRAL CITY I'm writing to notify those of you in SoCal that another copper theft has occurred. Our KNWQ (1140 kHz) site, located in North Cathedral City, CA, near Palm Springs, had a portion of its ground system stripped sometime over the weekend (Jan 27-28). The circumference of the entire site is fenced and there are also fences around each of the 5 towers. After slicing the fences with bolt cutters, the copper mesh was lifted and cut, a trench around the fences was dug and the majority of the radials for 2 towers are gone. We fully expect the culprits to come back for more, since many of the radials were found coiled and ready to take away. We're checking our other two nearby AM sites this afternoon. What's most disheartening is that while the ground system can be rebuilt, we are unsure of what precautions to take to make sure this doesn't happen again. We are considering armed patrol between our 4 local sites, more fencing and razor wire, and maybe even changing to an above ground radial system. Last week, KNWQ's simulcast sister station, KNWZ (970 kHz) in Coachella, CA was taken off the air when a vandal attempted to cut the main feeder to the building after shutting off what they thought was the main power. (There are two disconnects to the building.) The bolt cutters were found still in the cable and arcing. We do not believe that the recent events are related. Jay White, CSRE, jay.white (at) morris.com Corporate Director of Engineering Morris Communications Company, LLC January 29, 2007 ****************************************************************** HOLD THE PRESS - KPSI(AM) GOT HIT FIRST Barry O'Connor of KPSI(AM), 920 kHz, Palm Springs, advises CGC Communicator readers that every bit of copper at his 4-tower transmitter plant disappeared just before the KNWQ incident. At KPSI, it looked as if a vacuum cleaner with copper affinity had gone through the array: All buried radial wires were pulled out of the ground along with the 4" wide tower interconnecting straps, and even on the towers themselves the copper wires were stripped off. (Verbal report of January 30, 2007) ****************************************************************** ONE POSSIBLE SOLUTION (EDITORIAL) Years ago, a Los Angeles AM station had its copper stolen. They elected to replace the missing material, then added a clever circuit. Imagine a circle with a 50 or 75 foot radius around each tower. Now image that the circle represents a small diameter copper wire that is laid practically on top of the radials, and is also buried underground. The idea is that when someone pulls up a large diameter radial, the small diameter wire will break and set off an alarm (in the studio in this case). Sure enough, late one night the alarm went off, but the jock either chose to ignore it for some time or simply did not understand what to do. By the time the matter was sorted out, a second ground system had disappeared. This was back in the days before alarm monitoring services were common. But, the idea could be resurrected (all: CGC Communicator Jan 31 via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) TIPS FOR RATIONAL LIVING ++++++++++++++++++++++++ RATIONAL RESPONSE SQUAD, on NIGHTLINE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_n_UBK_Ex8 They have a web radio show UT Saturdays at 0200-0330, via http://www.freethoughtmedia.com/RationalResponseSquad.ftm (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) MOLLY IVINS TRIBUTES Special: Molly Ivins Lecture Molly Ivins died of breast cancer on Wednesday. She was 62. The columnist and author was famous for taking on the policies of President George W. Bush. In this speech from 2003, Ivins looks at the role of special interests and crony capitalism in the Bush White House. On KUOW, webcast UT Friday February 2 at 0400-0500, http://www.kuow.org This was actually from Alternative Radio; they probably have a number of other speeches by her in their archive. Also some clips from NPR: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7115663 (via Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ###