DX LISTENING DIGEST 7-015, February 4, 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 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. Re 7-014: Radio Free Afghanistan, not to be confused with Radio Free Afghanistan, is five years old. This is the second Radio Free Afghanistan. The first operated from 1985 to 1993, from RFE/RL's old Munich headquarters, during and a bit after the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. The first Radio Free Afghanistan supported some of the people that the second Radio Free Afganistan opposes. A colleague observes from the most recent survey in Afghanistan: "BBC radio has a statistically equal weekly reach measured at 57.7% to RFE/RL's 58.8%, BBC leads RFE/RL by a statistically significant 44.5% to 41.8% in mentions as a top news source, and BBC is regarded as very trustworthy by 74% of its weekly listeners (91% very or somewhat trustworthy) while RFE/RL gets a 'very trustworthy' rating from 68% of its weekly listeners (90% very or somewhat). Radio Afghanistan [domestic] also gets 'very trustworthy' ratings from 67% and very or somewhat from 90% of its weekly listeners. And of course we don't ask respondents to name 'the most trustworthy and reliable' media.'" Posted: 03 Feb 2007 (Kim Andrew Elliott, kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) ** ALBANIA. 7530 from 2100 to 2200 GMT with powerhouse signals, but typical poor modulation. Great programs on tourism, history and local music. Particularly like the ID given frequently - "This is Radio Tirana in English on Short Wave" (Tom Sliva, NYC, Feb 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Should be only a semihour in English at 2100, for Europe, but 300 degrees, same azimuth as to NAm, e.g. at 0245 & 0330 on 6115, whilst a slightly different azimuth is on the other frequencies to NAm, 310 degrees on 7425 at 0000-0130, 7465 at 0245 & 0330 (gh, DXLD) ** BELARUS. A proud nation that`s caught between Russia and Europe (on several levels), an ``outpost of tyranny`` according to Condoleezza Rice, Belarus is the chilly yet scenic home to nearly ten million people. Once a thriving area of the USSR, the Belarus economy has withered in the years since the collapse of the Soviet Union, yet the country remains an essential link for oil and gas shipments from Russia to Europe. In recent weeks Belarus has been in the news due to a dispute with Russia over energy prices and controls: this is particularly noteworthy given the strong ties between the two nations. The government controls all forms of media, including Belarussian Radio (Radio Belarus), which is responsible for international broadcasts; various international parties, including the EU and US, support anti-government media. Radio Belarus: http://tvr.by/ or http://www.radiobelarus.tvr.by/ Radio Belarus is the national broadcaster of Belarus, although formally it`s ``The National State Teleradiocompany of The Republic of Belarus``. By typing the short URL listed above into your web browser, you`ll get automatically redirected to the Russian-language version of the overall (Belteleradiocompany) site, so click ENG in the top left corner for English (oddly, the other option, Belarussian (BEL), is not the default). You can click on the ``Welcome`` box (beneath the clock) to get to the external radio service (again in Russian), or simply enter the long URL above to go directly to the Radio Belarus website. The default is English this time, with German and Polish options in addition to Belarussian and Russian. The home page provides direct access to internet audio (in Windows Media format), updated daily to present the latest programming in each language broadcast, as well as an ``internetcast`` schedule. For radio listeners, there are broadcast schedules for all serviced languages, complete with frequencies. Of note, Radio Belarus supplements its two-hour weekly shortwave broadcasts in English with a further ten hours of internet broadcasting. Other main links from the homepage include Radiostation (a brief history), News, Air (schedules), Projects (information about programs and their hosts), and Contacts. While not without a few quirks, the Radio Belarus website is comprehensive and very easy to use (Paul E. Guise, St. John's, NL, Click, Feb ODXA Listening In via DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. 4865, 26.1 2237, Radio Logos (tent) påstås det här vara som övertagit sändare och namn (slagits samman) med gamla Centenario enligt uppgifter på nätet. Religiösa program på plattyska den här tiden. Finns rätt stora (menonitiska) minoriteter i djungelområdet som ”behöver” dessa program. QSA 3+ på fredagskvällen, mycket sämre 27.1. JE (SW Bulletin via DXLD) Viz.: 4865, 26.1 2237, Radio Logos (tentative) According to Internet sources [i.e. DXLD] it is said to be this one who has taken over transmitter and name (incorporated) with the old Centenario. Religious programme in Platt-Deutsch at this time. Rather big Mennonite minorities in the jungle area who need these type of programmes. QSA 3+ this Friday evening, much worse on Jan 27. JE (Jan Edh, Sweden, SW Bulletin Feb 4, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BULGARIA. QSL CARD FROM RADIO MARABU (VIA IRRS) 5775 KHz. QSL CARD, STICKER, 2006 TOP 50 LIST. 33 days. Report with cd recording send to: POSTFACH 1166 - D - 49187 BELM. Also interesting for the philatelic enthusiasts, the envelope with two stamps with German lighthouses. All pictures on http://swli05639fr.blogspot.com 73's (Francesco Cecconi, Italy, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. CBCNQ, 9625, was weak but audible, 25443, Sat Feb 3 at 1443 during The House, with a segment on pets of the MPs, cats vs dogs. I kid you not. Much, much weaker than the Sackville transmitters on 9610 and 9650 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA [and non]. RCI, 11870 via Germany, Feb 3 at 1509 during The Blink, report on a small Québec town, almost 100% French Catholic, which had passed a resolution taken to be anti-Moslem, e.g., we drink alcohol, allow boys and girls to swim together, etc. Quite a controversy, it seems, and grist for the RCI obsession with immigrant affairs. Same show was running a few minutes later on Sackville 9610 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. VOLMET station address: CFB Trenton Weather 6756 kHz: Air Force Trenton (callsign: CHR), Canadian Forces Radio Station, Department of National Defense, Trenton Military Radio, Astra, Ontario K0K 1B0, Canada (Mark Coady, Helping Hand, Feb ODXA Listening In via DXLD) ** CHINA. Firedrake against Sound of Hope, 9200, good signal around 1405 Feb 3. Nothing heard on the 10 or 14 MHz frequencies (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also INTERNATIONAL INTERNET Hi Glenn, from 1304-1335, on Feb 2, noted Firedrake covering SoH on 9200 and // 10400. At same time also noted // Firedrake on 6030 covering Minghui Radio, with CNR-1 also present (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, RX340, with T2FD antenna, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 10400, 04/02 0029, Chinese Firedrake, Chinese music, good. Rx: Drake SPR-4 & R-4C, Icom R71E ant: T2fD. 73 (Giampiero Bernardini, Milano, Italy, HCDX via DXLD) Firedrake against Sound of Hope, Feb 4 at 1452 was audible on 10400 // 9200 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [and non]. TURKEY/CHINA. Bad clash on 17690 kHz co-channel, TRT Emirler 500 kW in Persian and CRI JIN 500 kW Chinese at 1050 UT Jan 31. CRI English 1000-1100 UT Jan 31 on 15190, at 1025 UT noted splattering around 15177 to 15203 kHz. Despite Kashi's 100 kW unit beamed towards 173 degrees, zone 41W, which is not main lobe towards Europe, but back lobe anyway (Wolfgang Büschel, Stuttgart, Germany, wwdxc BC-DX Feb 5 via DXLD) ** CUBA. This is Radio Havana Cuba, and in a few days on the 24th of February we will be celebrating the 46th anniversary of our first experimental broadcasts from the Bauta transmitter site west of Havana. I was a very young radio technician at that time, attending engineering school, and enjoying the unique experience for anyone that loves this hobby of helping to install our first transmitters and antennas. I still remember very well how we went to the lumber yard of the electricity utility to ask them for the longest wooden poles available, so that we could install the first full wave dipole antenna for our one and only one kiloWatt Gates transmitter, that used a 4- 1000 A final amplifier and two 833ª’s triodes as high level modulators. For those of you that enjoy radio history, yes, we had used that transmitter earlier from a downtown Havana location, and it was later moved to a small construction workers` shelter in Bauta. The operating frequency was fixed with the only quartz crystal that we had at hand, 6000 kiloHertz, yes, the same 6000 kiloHertz frequency that we have been using for broadcasting our programs for many years now. In an upcoming edition of Dxers Unlimited, I will tell you more about our first antenna and how it went up with the help of a crew from the Empresa Eléctrica, the electrical utility that helped us to install the three masts required for the antenna (Arnie Coro, CO2KK, RHC DXers Unlimited Feb 3 via ODXA via DXLD) see also VENEZUELA [non] ** CUBA. Good evening all, a log for the chilly evening. 6300 kHz AM SIO 232, R. National Saharaui, Algeria, 0230z to 0300z, Spanish, first time I've heard this one. Possibly a clandestine station (Chuck Sayers, Harrisburg PA, swl at qth.net via DXLD) Chuck, Unless you got a very definite ID for R. Nacional de la RASD, I`m afraid this was the Radio Habana Cuba mixing product between 6060 and 6180 (120 kHz further up), which is on 6300 all evening from 0000 or so until 0700. Sahara closes at 0000 and resumes at 0700. 73, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) I just got thru reading Glenn's (Global Forum) in this month`s issue of MT. I took notice of the material on Cuba and the 6300 kHz mixing product. This is possibly what I heard last night; I took my info from [what] I saw on an IRC channel and the FRN also. So I will have to check this out tonight to see what I really heard. [Later:] Got a good ID tonight on 6300 kHz while Arnie was on with his show (6000, 6180) in English, 6060 and 6300 matched up so I have changed my log to reflect this. Wonder if Arnie knows this is happening? (Chuck Sayers, Harrisburg PA, UT Feb 4, ibid.) I don`t recall Arnie ever acknowledging that RHC can be heard on spurious mixing products or harmonics, or any transmitter or studio malfunxion, for that matter. Prove me wrong! (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** CUBA. Radio Rebelde, 1180 kHz. Full data colourful Radio Rebelde ``Club DX QSL`` card after numerous follow ups over past 2 years for IRCs, $US dollars, CD reports in Spanish and English and email reports, so not sure what has worked! QSL card does show email address webrebelde @ rrebelde.icrt.cu (Craig Edwards, Nhulunbuy (Gove), Northern Territory, Australia, Feb 4, mwdx yg via DXLD) ** CUBA [non]. Feb 4 at 0327 I heard a Beatles tune in English on 6100, above heavy Cuban jamming, making me wonder if Planet Rock was back, but a few minutes later programming in Spanish, so I assume this was really R. República. We have discussed previously the DX Mix News Bulgaria item of Jan 16 which had a VT Communications update as of Jan 15: ``Radio República 2200-2400 on 6135 RMP 500 kW / 285 deg to Cuba Spanish 0000-0400 on 6185 RMP 500 kW / 285 deg to Cuba Spanish 0200-0500 on 9630 SAC 250 kW / 176 deg to Cuba Spanish Tue-Sat 0300-0400 on 6100 SAC 250 kW / 176 deg to Cuba Spanish Tue-Sat`` But this was UT Sunday. The signal was quite good to be coming from Europe under these conditions, so this is what I think is happening: 6100 is the VT Merlin relay and they are using Sackville for the final hour, which makes sense propagationally, instead of Rampisham on 6185, which was not heard, nor was there any jamming on 6185. But this is the 7-day-a-week service, in which Radio Miami International is not involved, while the 9630 transmission via Sackville is the non-// 5- day-a-week service brokered by RMI, which was presumably also routed thru VTC in order to get access to Sackville (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see alsu USA WMNA ENGLAND, Radio República relay, 6155, 2340, Spanish, 333, Feb 3, OM interviewing an OM. Jamming bubble type via Cuba (Stewart MacKenzie, CA, GRDXC via DXLD) Supposed to be on {6135} at this hour. A typo or did they really move? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** DEUTSCHES REICH [and non]. Germany/Canada/USA Ernst Zundel for many years was heard on shortwave radio. He is/was a notorious Holocaust Denier based in the Toronto area. Ironically, at one time he was using transmitters in the USA and Russia (two of the anti-Nazi powers in World War 2) to beam his holocaust denial back to Germany where such views are illegal! (Fred Waterer, ODXA via DXLD) FIVE YEARS’ JAIL URGED FOR ZUNDEL January 26, 2007 Associated Press http://www.thestar.com/News/article/175322 MANNHEIM, Germany – Prosecutors asked a court today to sentence Ernst Zundel to five years in prison for his persistent denial of the Holocaust through his writings and a high-profile website. In his closing arguments, prosecutor Andreas Grossmann called Zundel a ``political con man`` from whom the German people must be protected, widely quoting from his writings, which argue that millions of Jews did not die at the hands of the Nazis. ``You might as well argue that the sun rises in the west,`` said Grossmann, asking that Zundel be given the maximum sentence. ``But you cannot change that the Holocaust has been proven.`` Zundel, 66, is charged with 14 counts of incitement for a series of pamphlets and for disseminating far-right and anti-Semitic propaganda through his website, which is based in Canada, according to the indictment. The German-born Zundel, who emigrated to Canada in 1958 and lived in Toronto and Montreal until 2001, has been on trial since November 2005 on charges of years of anti-Semitic activities, including denying the Holocaust, in documents and on the Internet. He was deported from Canada in 2005. Since then, he and his supporters have argued that Zundel is a peaceful campaigner denied his right to free speech. A previous incitement trial involving Zundel collapsed last year over a dispute with his lawyer. At one stage, she had to be carried from the courtroom, screaming, after defying an order banning her from the trial on grounds she tried to sabotage the proceedings by denouncing the court as a ``tool of foreign domination.`` Defence lawyer Herbert Schaller, who is one of five lawyers representing Zundel, began with closing arguments later today, telling the court that all of its evidence that the Holocaust took place was based only on witness reports instead of hard facts. Schaller is to continue his arguments, and several other of Zundel`s defence lawyers have said they will also make closing remarks when the trial continues next week. Denying the Holocaust is a crime in Germany and is punishable by three months to five years in prison (via Fred Waterer, Programming Matters, Feb ODXA Listening In via DXLD) ** ECUADOR. IRREGULARIDADES EN LA ASIGNACION DE FRECUENCIAS http://www.radiodifusiondata.com.ar/ Era una sospecha que ha sido confirmada tras una exhaustiva investigación impulsada por la Contraloría al Consejo Nacional de radio y Televisión (Conartel): las concesiones de frecuencias en Ecuador están marcadas por numerosas irregularidades. El borrador del informe, que no delimita responsabilidades civiles ni penales, constata que se ha vulnerado la ley de Radiodifusión y Televisión. Las indagaciones del ente fiscalizador abarcaron el período comprendido entre enero de 2003 y mayo de 2005, durante el cual el organismo estuvo encabezado por Freddy Moreno y Ricardo Morales. Las pesquisas se iniciaron a petición del también ex presidente de Conartel, Fernando Bucheli, al asumir el cargo, el 11 de mayo de 2005. Los recelos de la autoridad se confirmaron tras la auditoría. Según el borrador, la Contraloría detectó 168 casos de otorgamiento de frecuencias y autorizaciones en las que no se firmaron los contratos que estipula la ley y hubo 93 autorizaciones y otorgamientos de frecuencias sin firma de contrato a 30 de mayo de 2006. Otras 42 resoluciones de concesión no cumplían con el requisito de contar con el estudio de ingeniería que detallara los parámetros técnicos con los que las señales funcionarían. Además, se determinó que en las resoluciones en las que se aplicó el método de compra y venta de frecuencias de radio y televisión incumplen los artículos 23 y 247 de la Constitución. Según señala el diario El Comercio de Ecuador, algunas de las emisoras que registran anomalías en su concesión son Morena FM, Ondas Quevedeñas, Caravana, Cariamanga, Bonita FM, Ternura, Concierto, Rumba 94,5, Centro de Ambato, Kiss, Chone, Armonía Musical FM, Capital FM, Soraya FM, Playera de Santa Elena y Colón de Machala, al igual que Tropical TV, a cargo de Ecuaserviprodu, que tiene 17 canales de televisión en UHF. La Contraloría también recomendó al Conartel que revoque la autorización la concesión a Servidinámica (via Nicolas Eramo / Argentina, Conexión Digital Feb 4 via DXLD) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 15190, Radio Africa from Bata noted around 0900- 0908 UT, S=4 signal strength level on the E1 Radio set. An English speaking prayer was performing over the micro, but rather to say his sound intensity was like "SQUALLER" level behaviour. Terrible, to tell the world "their truth" in such a manner (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Jan 27, wwdxc BC-DX Feb 5 via DXLD) ** EUROPE. Only one log to report from home, and that was for a Saturday morning reception of Radio Black Arrow on 15 MHz. I woke up at 0230 local time on Sunday (0730 UT) to try to hear Europirates, and it's the first time I've ever encountered propagation where I could not receive a single Europirate carrier. Since I was already awake, I tuned in via a UK webreceiver so the early wakeup didn't go completely to waste. PIRATE (Europe). 15070.05, Radio Black Arrow, 1415-1454 Feb 3, Various 60's pop songs at the start, played "Mexican Whistler" several times, and later "Dream On". Frequent ID's and e-mail address. Surprisingly good signal for only 20 watts; my S-meter was between S3 and S6, with a peak at S7. Excellent microphone audio and modulation. SINPO 34423. (Maroti-NY) (The logs below are via a UK webreceiver on February 4, 2007): Orion Radio 5725 0751-0829 "It's a Heartache", announcement from John at 0752 mentioning "Television Polka". Songs that were played later included "Dynamite", and "Bang a Gong". Nice to hear a live show like this, with John answering SMS messages and greeting his listeners over the air. SINPO 44444 in the UK. Cupid Radio 6210 0814-0835 Rinus with greetings to Jaroslav, music by the Four Tops. SINPO 44444 in the UK. Westcoast AM 6324.6 (later 6280) 0749-0828 Heard "Magic Man" while they were on 6325. Later they moved to 6280, ELP's version of "Fanfare for the Common Man" at 0809, song dedication to curious george at 0823. SINPO also 44444 in the UK. Radio Paarderkracht (presumed), 6326, 0838 heard with "Dancing Queen". (George Maroti, Mt Kisco NY, Feb 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EUROPE. E-QSL FROM MYSTERY RADIO --- Mystery Radio 6220 KHz EQSL 2 hours for an audioclip send to: mysteryradio @ googlemail.com V/S Andy Walker. picture available on http://swli05639fr.blogspot.com 73's (Francesco Cecconi, Italy, HCDX via DXLD) Viz.: http://bp3.blogger.com/_WNMfORlEFa0/RcXsv0BF2QI/AAAAAAAAAB8/GOEFfjM7KlI/s1600-h/MysteryRadio-QSL.jpg from the Twilight Zone (gh, DXLD) ** GABON [and non]. ANU back to normal (see DXLD 7-014) on 17630 today, Saturday, Feb. 3, when I checked at 1340 UT and on to 1557 close. It was off briefly at 1530 and back on at 1533 with improved reception; I think they changed transmitters. The Afro music station was on 17620 today with a very good signal until 1500 when RFI French and RDP Portuguese clashed (Bernie O'Shea, Ottawa, Ontario, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Afropop music distraxion, Feb 3 at 1433 was on 17620, while ANU was on 17630. Also noticed 17610 with a very different fluttery weak signal, presumably Libya via France. Feb 4 at 1500 check, Afropop music distraxion was on 17660, ANU on 17630 mixing with CRI; also RFI Issoudun on 17620 with CCI from something, presumably RDPI Portugal which is scheduled to collide on weekends only (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY [and non]. 630, 6075 --- The current allocation of 630 kHz to Voice of Russia, due to expire this year, has been prolonged for another year. Now Niedersächsische Landesmedienanstalt plans to invite tenders for a DRM service on this frequency in 2008, as they originally planned to do this year but did not for obvious reasons. This is my interpretation of the poorly worded news release at http://www.nlm.de/78.html?&cHash=cf6761a2fd&tx_ttnews[backPid]=18&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=103 Site changes for Deutsche Welle on 6075: http://forum.mysnip.de/read.php?8773,467102,476205,sv=1#msg-476205 Says that 6075 is now on air 0600-2000 via Skelton 300 kW and 2000- 0600 via Rampisham 500 kW. This would mean a site change in both cases, from Woofferton to Rampisham and from Skelton-A to Skelton-C, respectively, and presumably in both cases ancient Marconi BD272 transmitters from the sixties were replaced by 1985...1991 years technology (Marconi at Skelton-C, either Marconi or Telefunken at Rampisham). Perhaps this is related to the echo problem which reportedly has been solved now. The posting also discusses the audio processing, saying that it's no longer as good as it was from Wertachtal (but that's to some degree a matter of taste), and a real exotic aspect: The programming, stating that it tends to be superficial with the "tight rotation" they run now (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Feb 3, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. 6085 DRM, [6080-6085-6090] Bayerischer Radio B5 aktuell, Jan 21 2115. Very brief snippets of audio; S/N ratio decent at 16-18 dB for this 17.54 kbps transmission, but a station on 6080 is causing the signal to be largely undecodable, maybe 5% audio; no audio heard after 2125 UT (Ralph Brandi, NJ, DXplorer Jan 28 via BCDX Feb 5 via DXLD) ** GREECE. Dear John, Can you see the frequency 5865 kHz? Today up to 1000 GMT (Babis Charalampopoulos, V. of Greece, Feb 1, via John Babbis, MD, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Dear Friend Babis: I just picked up this message this morning. At 1000 GMT (5 a.m. EST) I was deep in the arms of Morpheus (asleep, that is). I will forward your message to Glenn Hauser for his attention. Which transmitter in Avlis was this 5865 on? Will you be testing again tomorrow? (John Babbis, Silver Spring MD, Feb 2, to Babis Charalampopoulos, via DXLD) John, I would not expect to hear much as late as 1000 even if I were awake. Can you find out at what time the 5865 test starts, and on what dates? (Glenn Hauser, OK, Feb 2, to John Babbis, via DXLD) Dear Friend Babis: Glenn and I would like to know at what time the 5865 test starts and on what dates. Incidentally, 1000-1100 UT is the time when Avlis is silent for maintenance work (John Babbis, MD, ibid.) Dear John, The test is 15630 1100-1530 GMT, 5865 after 2200-0700 LTM Greece. The test is continuing one week. Please inform me if you listen. Regards (Babis Charalampopoulos, V. of Greece, Feb 2, via John Babbis, MD, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn and Babis: At 1415, 15630 is barely audible at 24332; Katerina on 17525 started at 44444 and is getting noisier. Are they using the Avlis 3 transmitter (9420) or is this a new transmitter? (John Babbis, MD, Feb 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) No relation with Avlis. The test it will be continued for one week (Babis Charalampopoulos, VOG, to John Babbis, via DXLD) Babis: If no relation with Avlis, where is the signal coming from? Have they resurrected Kavala? (John Babbis, via DXLD) I did not check 15630 as I did not know about that test yet. What does ``LTM Greece`` mean? Maybe local time of UT +2? In that case, GMT for 5865 would be 2000-0500. Sat Feb 3 at 1425 I could not hear anything on 9420, which is usually audible here, so this may mean that 15630 was on instead of 9420. 17525 was audible with Hellenes Around the World, weak but improving, with fadeouts and fadeins (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Believe LPs also have higher take-off angle, meaning closer coverage. However, if they are in an experimental mood, it might be worth trying the LP aimed right at Silver Spring and see how it works (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) Re 7-014: Hi Glenn, all experiences with different antenna type: LP - revolving or not, are used mostly for short distance up to 2000 km. Mostly gain is 7-9 dB, wide broad angle. Curtain array is much more effective for intercontinental services. Gain 17 to 21 dB. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Dear John, I am afraid that the log-periodic antennas cannot be used to cover areas such as Chicago, because their beam is centered at high elevation angles and therefore to cover such a distance a large number of hops is required. Unfortunately, Avlis is not only power limited - it is mostly antenna limited in the sense that North America can be beamed at 7 or 9 MHz. Best regards, (Demetri Vafeas, ERA, via John Babbis, MD, DXLD) Glenn: Who knows what LTM means; maybe Babis will reply. Anyhow, there is a mystery transmitter coming from somewhere in Greece. I just tuned in to Voice of Greece at 2245 UT Feb 3, and there were four (4) Greek programs on the air; ERT-3 on Avlis 1 on 7450 SINPO 55555, VOG on Avlis 2 on 7475 SINPO 55555, VOG on Avlis 3 on 9420; and VOG on mystery transmitter? on 5865 SINPO 24332. Goodnight all (John Babbis, Silver Spring, MD, Feb 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn: I looked in my crystal ball and I think I've got something figured out on that mystery transmitter. Radiophonikos Stathmos Makedonias has two 250-kW VOA Portugal-donated transmitters in Thessaloniki, and the engineers have got one up and running. Years back, their frequency manager told me that thay had put in a new 315 degree antenna for Europe and I know they had a 115 degree antenna for Cyprus, Turkey, and the Middle East. So it looks as though ERT-3 is going to leave the Avlis 1 transmitter and go to their own transmitter in Thessaloniki. That free bloock of time from 0000-1000 UT may be used to send Voice of Greece to Australia, etc. at 115 degrees. And, the vacated block on Avlis 1 will be filled by the European schedule. This will give a block of time on Avlis 2 for the ERA Interprogram Foreign language Programs. Sounds like a plan? (John Babbis, MD, Feb 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, but why do they make us guess about what is going on? Hellenes Around the World, as promoed in DXLD 7-014 for Sat Feb 3, was indeed repeated at 0300 UT Sunday, loud and clear on webcast, but inaudible on 9420, 7475, nor 5865, which is reportedly testing, if they were really on the air. For the original broadcast Sat Feb 3 at 1400, 17525 was audible, fading in and out, but improving as the hour went on; not audible on 9420 which is usually better here, and may have been testing that transmitter on 15630, as I found out later, too late to check that myself (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) This is my reception report for Saturday and Sunday UT Feb 4, 2007 SATURDAY 2/3 SUNDAY 2/4 2000 2100 2200 2300 0000 0100 0200 MHz Az. Kw. Tr Station 55455 55555 55555 XXXXX XXXXX XXXXX XXXXX 7.450 323 100 AVL 1 ERT 3 XXXXX XXXXX XXXXX 00000 00000 00000 00000 12.105 292 100 AVL 1 VoG 55455 55455 55555 55555 45444 55555 55555 7.475 285 100 AVL 2 VoG 55455 55455 43444 44444 25333 15331 15331 9.420 323 170 AVL 3 VoG 24332 24332 25332 25332 25332 5.865 ??? ??? ????? ?????? Regard2, (John Babbis, Silver Spring, MD, USA, to ERA, via DXLD) Announcers screaming in Greek, presumably inspired by spor, Sunday Feb 4 at 1445 on 9420, which had not been audible 24 hours earlier; this time, nothing heard on 15630 or 17525 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREECE. Pirate harmonic on SW !!! Date: 4.2.2007. 6290, Paranomos ('illegal') at 0810-0828 with old 'heavy' folks, song dedications and frequent on air talks (no phone ins) with his ID and tel number. I called him to advise that I am listening to 6290 and showing a bit of the reception. He was quite curious and impressed with it. He transmits from Karditsa, NC [north central?] of mainland Greece with a power of ca. 150 W. He then dedicated the next song for me! Signal max S3 24222 (nearly same level for RASD on 6300) (Zacharias Liangas, Thessaloniki, Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Harmonic of what, 1572.5? ** GUAM. Re KTWR ending Japanese at end of B-06: But 1200 UT outlets on 9465 kHz still requested for A07 season. The 2200 UT morning registration ceased on 11690-summer / 11760-winter (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, BCDX via DXLD) ** GUATEMALA [and non]. Question on research; current news on Emisoras de FM --- It has been my goal to be VERY factual with information in each edition of "Emisoras de FM". I am asking if there are any internet super-sleuths on this list. I am attempting to locate information on one particular Guatemala radio broadcast organization, based in Guatemala City. I will list the information below, with the licensee holder name and list each radio station he currently holds. I am looking for information regarding slogans for these stations: Miguel Alfredo González Gamarra, licensee Cd. Guatemala, Guatemala 88.9 Cd. Guatemala TGGU 20 kw (slogan?) 105.3 Cd. Guatemala TGGS 25 kw "Shock FM 105.3" 97.3 Huehuetenango TGHB 300 watts (slogan?) 104.9 Huehuetenango TGOH 300 watts (slogan?) 96.7 Retalhuleu TGCX 10 kw "Radio Cariñosa" 105.5 Solol? TGOL 10 kw (slogan?) 97.1 Santa Apolonia, Chimaltenango TGEL 100 watts "Stéreo Elena" If you search Google regarding the licensee's name, you will get hits on the SIT (Guatemala) pdf files, but these provide no information on each station, other than frequency, licensee, and city of license. I'm just curious if this Sr. Gamarra has a website floating around and I'm just not finding it. Please contact me OFFLIST if you find anything useful. Thank you! STATE OF CROWDED FM RADIO DIALS "South of the Border" --- Here's a brief listing of major cities in México, Central America, and Caribe (including population) and how crowded their FM dials are becoming... -México DF (8,700,000), 28 fm's (+15 more within 25 miles of center city) mostly 50-100 kw; -Guadalajara JAL (1,646,000), 25 fm's, mostly 50-100 kw. -San Salvador SV (508,000), 49 fm's, mostly 10 kw; -Cd. Guatemala GT (942,000), 50 fm's, mostly 25 kw; -Tegucigalpa HN (769,000), 34 fm's, mostly 5-10 kw; -Managua NI (903,000), 35 fm's, mostly 10 kw; -Cd. Panamá PM (416,000), 35 fm's, mostly 20 kw. -Santo Domingo DO (1,886,000), 59 fm's, mostly 5-10 kw; -Port-au-Prince HT (703,000), 35 fm's, mostly 1-5 kw; -Kingston JM (584,000), 28 fm's, mostly 4-8 kw. Nicaragua signed on 65 new stations (mostly 250 watts) in the 4th quarter of 2006. I received the new database of FM stations in mid- January for Costa Rica and Honduras; Nicaragua just posted their annual database the 30th of January and I just finished up updating that information to the "Emisoras de FM" masters. Regarding the development of FM in Honduras --- they are closing in on Guatemala with number of licensed FMs. In some cases Honduras has as many as 8 stations on a frequency. Until next time, FYI, FWIW (Jim Thomas - wdx0fbu, Milliken, CO - 40 mi N of Denver mrradiohead @ wdemail.com WTFDA via DXLD) ** GUIANA FRENCH. No sign of the new DRM tests on 17870-17875-17880, when checked Feb 3 at 1437. Nor 24 hours later (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ICELAND. RUV SW has survived into another month. Feb 3 at 1455 could hear some talk in presumed Icelandic, on 13865 reduced carrier SSB, and dared to hope I would get to hear their new sounder at hourtop, but it vanished a minute later. 1455 is a lot later than this transmission usually runs (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. ALL INDIA RADIO DRM FUTURE PLANS --- Engineers from All India Radio Research Department demonstrated the experimental transmission in DRM mode queries during recently concluded BES Expo 2007 - 13th International Conference & Exhibition on Terrestrial & Satellite Broadcasting held here in New Delhi from 1 to 3 Feb 2007. All India Radio has adopted DRM standard for digital radio broadcasting in MW & SW bands. A 250 kW short wave transmitter at Khampur, Delhi has been modified for DRM experimental transmission on 6100 kHz. Future DRM plans of AIR include : 22 Regional shortwave transmitters to be replaced by 50 kW shortwave DRM transmitters. 10 New regional DRM shortwave transmitters expected to be installed. 154 DRM + FM transmitters to be installed. (Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, Feb 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Wow, that`s quite a commitment, so eventually to DX AIR DS on SW, DRM will be required; will any analog be left? And think of all the DRM rx which will have to be sold to the Indian masses! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Above is included in: ** INDIA. Brief report on recently concluded Broadcast Engineering Society (India) Expo 2007 – 13th International Conference & Exhibition on Terrestrial & Satellite Broadcasting which was held here in New Delhi from 1st to 3rd Feb 2007. Report on BES Expo 2007 is also available online at : http://www.geocities.com/alokeshgupta/bes_expo_2007.pdf Right click on above link to download the pdf file. Comments at : alokeshgupta @ gmail.com Regds (Alokesh Gupta, India, Feb 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL. So who's doing a good job? A question I'd like to throw out --- Is there an international broadcaster that you feel does an above average job of producing programs despite the limited budgets and resources that generally go with being an international broadcasting service in the 21st Century? (Fred Waterer, Ont, Feb 1, ODXA via DXLD) Radio New Zealand International (Mick Delmage, Sherwood Park, AB, ibid.) Fred: I believe that Radio Netherlands, Radio Sweden, Radio Prague, Radio Australia and DW easily fall into that category of "limited or decreasing means, but doing an above average job with them." RN sells some of its content on the international market and always takes a big haul of prizes from the New York Radio Show. Radio Sweden and Radio Prague shine in that (formerly) ubiquitous half hour format. RA refocused after nearly being blown out of existence in the mid-90s and now produces a goodly amount of its own content, mainly current affairs and magazine style programs, RFI, CRI and RNZI would also fall into an above average broadcaster but with ample means to do so, IMHO. VOR has several very well produced programs and probably falls somewhere in-between those two extremes -- challenge d some financially especially in the early years of the transition from Radio Moscow to VOR, but almost ok budget wise now. CRI is now, IMHO, the leader both in effort and hours broadcasting among international broadcasters. RFI is hard to hear on this continent on sw, but it covers Africa and African matters very well and most professionally. RNZI is now very well funded as evidenced by its role in promoting DRM expansion. If one takes its in- house productions alone, there is a very big bang for the buck ratio there. VOR's music and history programs are interesting for the most part and nicely produced. For the record, I also enjoy REE in both English and Spanish, Radio Slovakia International when Pete Miller is in the chair, RHC when it plays Cuban music, and a few programs from Radio Taiwan International, especially "Jade Bells..." their traditional music program. RSI is certainly challenged financially as they have already had near and actual death experiences. RHC clearly does more with less, given the embargo. Not sure about REE generally, but its English program is minimally supported. RTI, I presume, is well funded given the challenge posed by CRI. Notice I've said nothing about the BBC up to now. I think its preoccupation with placement has hurt its program production effort mightily. They have loads of money, but not nearly enough of it goes to programming IMHO. Let the debate begin! FWIW, (John Figliozzi, NY, ibid.) I must admit I enjoy Radio Netherlands although I have a Swedish background. They tend to >>tell it as it is<<, great reports, great reporters who try to dig to get good answers and perspective. I do not know how limited their budgets are. Their signal into Guelph ON Canada is just great. Best (Paul, ibid.) RNW agreed. They stand out more than any other. No duds in their lineup at all. The bulk of what I find interesting on Radio Australia is what Radio National produces. No argument at all with Radio Prague. I'll throw Channel Africa out there, primarily because their focus area is so unique. Not sure if I consider them budget-constrained however. I really don't know. I am getting spoiled, though, by availability of podcasts / on-demand / live webcast options, and REE loses marks in my book for that reason. However, they are still interesting to listen to on that rare occasion when I am near a radio when they're on the air. My two cents (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA, ibid.) Dear John, there is no doubt the music and jazz from RHC is great and Prof Arnie Coro with his strong efforts with SWL and Ham and his solar activity reports. When I hear Radio Sweden sometimes it seems very good but I am a bit biased, yet I hate Swedish country music (with violins and other instruments) and would prefer a constant stream of ABBA but that is just my take. Radio Prague also seems good but I need to get my new Par EndFedz up to get them on a more regular basis. Best (Paul, Guelph, ibid.) That goes to show that tastes can vary widely...very widely... (Richard Cuff, ibid.) I like Radio Havana a lot, and find myself listening most evenings mostly for their news. RN has always been a favourite with excellent features. RCI gets better all the time and I enjoy the history I hear on VOR. I've always been fascinated by the South Pacific so I listen to R Australia in the afternoon, usually online though. BBC has definitely gone downhill and I rarely listen anymore (Dan Murray, Brampton, ibid.) Excellent choices all around... I also tip my hat to Pete Miller at RSI...nice guy. I really hope they keep going. I'm rather fond of Radio Polonia, or whatever they are calling themselves now, which I listen to via WRN or CBC Overnight. I was deliberately leaving out BBC, VoA, CRI and any other "big guns", I think there are more than a few stations struggling to stay within budget who manage to do a great job with what they have. I'm sure some others will come up in the discussion as well (Fred Waterer, ibid.) Three stations listened to often that fit the bill: REE, Spain, despite their very limited programming has some fine programs. Of note is American Chronicles, which covers items on Latin America, such as recently, Cuban doctors and medicine programs in Nicaragua, and the protests in Mexico over rising corn and tortilla prices, largely fueled by increased demand for Ethanol in the North. And while their news service is somewhat limited, items are interesting and not generally heard domestically. Their very brief (2- 3 minute) weekday Press review is quite good also. RHC, Cuba, continues to amaze with the depth and accuracy of its news, citing sources, and news not often heard elsewhere, especially on the war in Iraq (and opposition to it) and Latin America news. Many stories here are under reported in domestic media, and often several days or weeks later. And of course, the week in review, Arnie Coro's DX program, and Jazz and Cuban music are all wonderful. Radio Prague also comes to mind, as capturing the essence of the mulifaceted aspects of Czech and central European culture: the day to day life, economics, history, language, music, health, society and so on. While light on "hard core" political news, as an overview of their country's day to day life, they do an excellent job (Roger Chambers, Utica, NY, ibid.) ** INTERNATIONAL INTERNET. TRYING TO UNBLOCK THE BLOCKED INTERNET Toronto based Psiphon project "was mostly designed to be better than the Anonymizer project designed for Iranian web users and advertised via Voice of America. That project was irresponsible, since it didn’t encrypt traffic between the surfer and Anonymizer, meaning the government could monitor the content accessed." WorldChanging.com, 31 January 2007. In the Global Online Freedom Act (introduced by Rep. Chris Smith, R- NJ), "Section 205 does say that U.S. companies may not block or remove sites that are operated by the U.S. government, or by any entity that receives grants from the International Broadcasting Bureau to help defeat foreign censorship. Presumably that would include Peacefire, at least during the periods when we're under contract to the IBB to develop the Circumventor software (but before you start calling me Hallibennett, I'm not working for the IBB right now, and it was my own idea to write this). So the American government, while requiring schools to block us in the U.S., would actually be helping to get us un-blocked in China and Iran! But Section 205 only says that a U.S. business may not block or shut down such sites. As far as I can tell, that means if the Cisco engineer on site in China sets up their routers for them, the Cisco engineer can't put VOANews.com on the block list. But then the Chinese official can walk across the room and add it to the list himself, can't he? Which is almost certainly what they'll do, since the routers are in their country." Rob Malda, Slashdot, 31 January 2007. "The internet cannot be jammed as effectively as the radio and there are still ways of gaining access to blocked websites." BBC World Service information pack, May 2006. BBC World Service really ought to know better. While upstart projects like Psiphon and Anonymizer battle net censorship, a much larger industry (much of it based in the United States) produces software and hardware to help countries like China block web content. Shortwave remains the least interdictable of the media available to international broadcasting because it propagates better over long distances than within short distances. [Kim himself in this graf] "Now, with China enjoying increasing geopolitical influence, people are wondering ... whether perhaps China’s Internet model, based on censorship and surveillance, may one day be imposed on the rest of the world." Reporters sans frontières 2007 annual report for China. Posted: 03 Feb 2007 (see http://www.kimandrewelliott.com/index.php?id=990 for linx to 5 articles cited, via DXLD) ** IRAN [and non]. IRAN - 15085 kHz & LITHUANIA - 7540, Vo IRIB, full data QSL-card (they even mentioned Lithuania). The card shows the Khaju-Bridge in Isfahan. No v/s. The envelope also contained nice stamps, a flag (instead of a pennant), 2 very nice books for children (I asked for something for a child .. and my daughter does not understand why I can't read the (arabic) letters in the book and why I start 'reading' at the end of the book), a magazine and the newsletter 'Brieftaube'. In 155 days for a report in German without rp to I.R.I.B. Deutsches Programm, Bundespressehaus Zimmer 5207/5208, Schiffbauerdamm 40, 10117 Berlin, Germany (M. Schoech, Eisenach, Germany, January 2006, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ISRAEL. Kol Israel, 13630, must be the station in Hebrew, as scheduled, fair at 1450 Jan 3 on 330 degree beam toward us. BTW, Kol is just a word meaning voice, and not an abbreviation to be put in caps (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ITALY. Questa sera [31/1?], provando la nuova loop da 1 spira tipo Skywaves applicata intorno alla finestra (per l'FM ma che va meglio in LW-MW), verso le 2200 UT ho notato che RAI Radiouno su 846 kHz era accesa. Per caso è stata un'attivazione locale per la partita di calcio Roma-Milan? 1/2 --- Questa mattina, a meno che non trasmettano più con una potenza tale da essere ricevibile di giorno ad una certa distanza, RAI Radiouno su 846 kHz non si sentiva più. L'importante è che, con l'annuncio in pompa magna dell'azienda diramato proprio oggi sul Televideo in merito alla sperimentazione della radio digitale (su che banda?), non diventi un altro segnale DRM, perché talvolta sul canale ci sono dei segnali DX interessanti (Luca Botto Fiora, Italy, playdx yg via DXLD) NOTIZIARIO REGIONALE PER IL LAZIO SU 846 KHz Questa mattina sulla neo-riattivata frequenza RAI di 846 KHz è stato trasmesso il notiziario regionale per il Lazio. Questo fatto potrebbe far supporre che le trasmisisoni su questa ferquenza siano riprese regolarmente. Il mio QTH si trova a circa 60 Km a sud di Roma e qui il segnale è molto buono sia come intensita' che come modulazione. Sarebbe interessante avere altre notizie dagli ascoltatori del Lazio per capire se la copertura è cosi buona anche in altre zone. La clip audio del notiziario regionale è disponibile sul mio blog: http://swli05639fr.blogspot.com 73's (Francesco Cecconi, Feb 2, bclnews.it via DXLD) ** ITALY. 26000, 3/2, 1710, R. Maria - Erba IT MX sacra suff (Roberto Pavanello, Vercelli - Italia, bclnews.it yg via DXLD) I suppose by groundwave in which case it is always interesting to know the distance. I also suppose it was analog AM, STILL not having started DRM which was supposedly the reason for going on 26 MHz in the first place (gh, DXLD) ** JORDAN. 11960, Radio Amman in Arabic, S=9 +20db powerful, but issued two small spurs exact 40 kHz away, both sides on 11920 and 12000 kHz at 0645-0700 UT Feb 2. \\ 11810 (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC- DX Feb 5 via DXLD) ** KENYA [non]. Despite my wildest hopes, I am now convinced that, two weeks ago, I received the extended Dutch informercial "KBC", via Lithuania on 1386, during a short Sat late-PM UT stay on the Folkeston, UK "DX Tuner". This was indeed NOT Kenya, as whimsically hoped at the time. :(> ...Am I wrong to find it somewhat irritating that, of all the Alphabet characters available, these folk happen to pick the same three that match an exotic co-frequency catch potential? Or am I just being crotchety? (GREG HARDISON, CA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KUWAIT. Google Earth and Maps Live.com imagery. Two Thomcast-BBC Mannheim SW Revolving antennas at Radio Kuwait Kabd location 29 08 33 N 47 45 15 E 29 08 12 N 47 45 39 E same antenna type like seen at Emirler and Çakirlar Turkey location. And a further original ALLISS revolving antenna in the Northwestern corner of the location 29 09 11 N 47 45 42 E MW masts are Harris? Made in USA ? (Wolfgang Büschel, Jan 18, wwdxc BC-DX Feb 5 via DXLD) ** KYRGYZSTAN. 4050, R. Rossii on Jan 29 at 0210-past 0330 in Russian, with 6 pips at 0300 (i.e. Moscow time), no ID heard. Bishkek presumed. No local ID heard, many announcements like ads. Quite a "woolen" sound. Only a carrier noted on 4052.5 (Verdad). (Finn Krone, Denmark, Jan 29, wwdxc BC-DX Feb 5 via DXLD) ?? the six pips merely indicated the hourtop, not that it is 6 am Moscow time. Six strixe of a clock chime would be entirely different. ¿Verdad? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** LATVIA. Re: 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 Saludos cordiales, repasando las transmisiones para este fin de semana vía Letonia observo que la emisión de Latvia Today estaba programada para 0800-0900 UT el 3 de Febrero; sin embargo pude escuchar el fin de transmisión de ésta emisora desde las 1252 a 1302 [también del 3 de febrero]. Me siento un poco desconcertado; se trató de un cambio de última hora, o de una emisión accidental, ¿estaba programada y no se anunció? LETONIA, 9290, Radio Six Int., 0706-0735, escuchada el 3 de febrero en idioma inglés a locutor con comentarios, cuña de identificación, anuncia web, programa musical, SINPO 45444. Audio: http://valenciadx.multiply.com/music/item/353 9290, Latvia Today, 1253-1302, escuchada el 3 de febrero en inglés a locutora con comentarios y emisión musical, música pop y música clásica, ID, SINPO 35333. Audio: http://valenciadx.multiply.com/music/item/355 73 (José Miguel Romero, Spain, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LIBERIA. CHINESE TO BUILD FM AND SHORTWAVE STATIONS FOR LIBERIAN BROADCASTING SYSTEM Chinese President Hu Jintao visited Liberia this week as part of his African tour. During his visit, a major package of economic and technical assistance was announced. The package includes the building of modern FM and shortwave services for the Liberian Broadcasting System. (Source: The Analyst, Monrovia) (February 3rd, 2007 - 11:04 UTC by Andy, Media Network blog via DXLD) Shortwave? modern? Surely they jest (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LIBYA [non]. Sawt al-Amal (presumed) in Arabic on two frequencies, 17645 and 17635, today, Saturday, Feb. 3 at 1340 UT tune in and off at 1400. Very good strength on both. Could one of them be a spur? The so- called Afro music jammer was on 17620 so not doing what it was supposed to do (Bernie O'Shea, Ottawa, Ontario, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See GABON ** LITHUANIA. LITUANIA, 6255, KBC Radio, 2203-2220, escuchada el 3 de Febrero en inglés a locutor con cuñas de ID, comentarios y emisión musical, temas pop y rock, 44343. Audio: http://valenciadx.multiply.com/music/item/357 (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia), España, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also KENYA [non]. I checked for 6255 around 2245 Sat Feb 3, and could only barely detect a carrier on the portable DX-398 in the frigid yard, much weaker than Polisario 6300, e.g., which was not really readable either (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) KBC Radio is having a new e-mail address: kbc @ planet.nl info @ k-po.com The old e-mail kbc@wxs.nl is not in use anymore. Please send this news to your DX Club and your DX Friends KBC International Argonstraat 6 6718 WT Ede Holland Tel ++31 318 552491 Fax ++31 318 437801 1386 kHz AM - 6255 kHz SW Rocking over Europe - Rocking over the Ocean Saturday evening 2200-2300 hours UT (via Hugo Matten, Feb 3, BDX via DXLD) Weet niet waar die jongens zitten, maar ze zijn hier in Zwolle goed te horen op beide frequenties; middengolf is nog het beste. 73, (Jan Reint, ibid.) ** LUXEMBOURG. 5990 DRM [5985-5990-5995], Radio Luxembourg Jan 21 2049 Pop music concert by French-language YL singer, lengthy thanks by singer at 2054, end of concert at 2058, into brief news headlines, jingle ID "RTL" at 2101; S/N 17-19 dB, about 95% intelligibility, but still some significant and noticeable dropouts on this 14.56 kbps signal (Ralph Brandi, NJ, Jan 28, DXplorer via BCDX Feb 5 via DXLD) ** MADAGASCAR. 5010, Radio Madagascar Jan 25 0254 IS, NA, ID in Malagasy at 0259, frequency announcement, another ID, talk over music, another ID at 0304; very strong tonight, getting noisier by 0330 but still largely intelligible (Ralph Brandi, NJ, Jan 28, DXplorer via BCDX Feb 5 via DXLD) ** MEXICO. RE: DEVOLUCIÓN RADIO EDUCACIÓN ONDA CORTA Existe una nueva administración de Radio Educación y desconozco cual es su política en relación a la onda corta. El código postal es el 04021. Lo mejor sería dirijir la carta a la dirección postal de la emisora en la calle Ángel Urraza. Supongo también que a Radio Educación le está pasando lo que a Radio Mil le pasa desde hace más de tres años, es decir los informes de recepción han disminuído considerablemente. En el caso de Radio Mil, como bien sabes, desde que apareción "la pacífista" "Voz de Tu Conciencia" ocupando indebidamente los 6010 kHz, disminuyeron los informes en un 95%. En el caso de Radio Educación desde hace unos meses se encuentra totalmente interferida en los 6185 kHz por esa misteriosa e itinerante emisora llamada "Radio República", la cual ya interfirió a Radio Mil hace un año y hubo que solicitarles se retiraran (cosa que hicieron en tres meses y no como "La Voz de Tu Conciencia" que sigue majaderamente interfiriendo a Radio Mil). En conclusión la falta de respeto sigue vigente en la onda corta, a pesar de los esfuerzos de organizaciones como la HFCC, a la cual no pertenecen "Voz de Tu Conciencia" ni "Radio República" y que busca no sucedan casos como los referidos (Julián Santiago Díez de Bonilla, condig list via DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS. As I tune around, I often run across RNW in Dutch on SW, but never seem to hear any serious, even classical music. So I look at their program schedule. There is Nederlands Concertpodium, which is dedicated to classical music! It so happens it is not on SW, but scheduled on satellite and internet twice weekdays: M-F at 19-21 UT, and repeated Tu-Sa at 01-03 UT, both one UT hour earlier during DST. Non-specific details and listen linx at http://www.wereldomroep.nl/gids/radio/overzichtprogrammas/nederlands_concertpodium Another good one should be Canta América, Sun 18-19 and Mon 01-02: http://www.wereldomroep.nl/gids/radio/overzichtprogrammas/canta_america [Later: axually listening to this on Feb 4 starting at 1803, I find it`s oldies in English, so it must be America, not América --- silly me, I thought it would be Latin American music; so, never mind. We have enough of the Everly Brothers, etc. already; or is this an aberration? Canta, after all, is a Spanish word. BTW, RNW`s live stream in Dutch labeled mp3 is really Real!] Both are also available ondemand, podcasts. While I am at it, may as well check out other RN languages, such as Portuguese, which has been totally gone from SW for many years, and I find: Concerto Semanal --- Clique para ouvir ou baixar o programa mais recente: Real Player Windows Media MP3 low MP3 high (parceira) Durante cerca de uma hora, o programa Concerto Semanal leva até o ouvinte um repertório internacional, do barroco à música contemporânea, através de gravações realizadas ao vivo no Concertgebouw de Amsterdã com as melhores orquestras da Holanda, quartetos, orquestras de câmara, além de grandes nomes de solistas e regentes. Entre os maestros estão holandeses de renome, como Bernard Haitink, Ed Spanjaard e Reinbert de Leeuw. Também são apresentadas gravações de concertos sob a regência de outros grandes dirigentes, como Vassily Sinaisky, da Rússia, e Ingo Metzmacher, da Alemanha. Em 1º de setembro de 2004, o Concertgebouw de Amsterdã apresentou ao mundo seu sexto maestro titular, desde a sua criação em 1888. Trata-se de Mariss Jansons, nascido na Letônia em 1943. O Concerto Semanal, com produção e apresentação de Eny Sacchi, é transmitido toda terça-feira, das 14 às 15 horas UT. Na quarta-feira, no mesmo horário, o programa é reprisado. Uma hora depois da transmissão por satélite, fica disponível nesta página. So we do get to hear weekly Concertgebouw concerts, on the Portuguese service, scheduled Tue 14-15 UT, repeated Wed 14-15. Axually, I can`t find any webstream info for the Portuguese service, and suspect that the times apply only to satellite feeds for relay by partner stations in Brazil, but we can still hear it on demand, at least, starting one hour later from http://www.parceria.nl/programas/Concerto/rnw_concertosemanal Unlike the 2-hour daily Dutch concert block, this page gives full details of the musical content, even in advance for the rest of the month. In Dutch, The Concertgebouw is mentioned only in connexion with those Wed/UT Thu broadcasts. In Spanish, dedicated to classical music, there is only Podium Neerlandés, Mon & Wed 1535-1634 UT, not on SW, but like all shows, on demand via http://www.informarn.nl/audio/audio_archivo_semanal Altho the archive page shows it Mondays 1525-1624, presumably outdated as there is now a weekdaily press review at 1528-1535. This show does not seem to have its own webpage with any further info. These are in the latest update to Monitoring Reminders Calendar (Glenn Hauser, OK, Feb 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also INTERNATIONAL ** OKLAHOMA [and non]. I will add my voice to those who have heard KGYN 1210 Guymon on the East Coast. I heard them with a strong signal overpowering WPHT (120 miles from here) with IDs and country music. 0400 [EST] 2/3. On my West EWE, no nulling with the phaser necessary. This is more than good conditions; I believe their antenna pattern is out of whack for some reason. Re-log for here (Bill Harms, Elkridge, Maryland, R8B 260 degree EWE, IRCA via DXLD) WPHT-1210 Philly just signed off "for a couple of hours" at 0004 EST! (Marc DeLorenzo, South Dennis, MA, Feb 4, via Saul Chernos, amfmtvdx at qth.net via DXLD) With WPHT off, KGYN faded up nicely at 0107 EST with ID, local weather, C&W music. First time heard and long sought. One word of caution - KOKK S.D. is also playing C&W music. Not ID'ed here but was IDed by Barry in Ottawa. We were comparing notes in mwdx chat room (Marc DeLorenzo, South Dennis, MA, Feb 4, IRCA via DXLD) Wouldn't you know it - KGYN runs day power a few nights ago - I comment on how I'll never heard them here without WPHT going off ( which they almost never do ) and now they go off, people in the East hear KGYN and I miss it ! I could set up remote recordings on 1210 for 6 months straight every night and this wouldn't occur again ;-{ (Russ Edmunds Blue Bell, PA ( 360' ASL ) [15 mi NNW of Philadelphia], ibid.) Noted KGYN here, with local weather "for the 5 state area" at 0107 [EST] and non-stop C&W. KOKK also heard. Two new catches in the space of a few minutes! Haven't had that for years. 73 (Mike Brooker, Toronto, ON, 0630 UT Feb 4, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA [and non]. On 11345, Feb 4 at 1454 as I was bandscanning, heard mix of WEWN 9955, which was super-strong as usual, and local KCRC 1390 a few miles away, i.e. 9955 plus 1390. Since I was getting this on two different receivers, FRG-7 and YB-400, I think this is an external mixing product, somewhere in Enid, perhaps at the KCRC transmitter itself. Maybe they need to install traps for 9955! {Plus, 11345 was fading up and down, which 1390 would not do, and 9955 would only be observed to do if attenuated tremendously} (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) {11345 previously reported in 6-164} ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 3385, R. East New Britain (Rabaul) on Jan 29 from 0806 tune with English news by man, into Pidgin at 0810 announcements or local news then pop vocal, local a cappella choir, etc. What sounded like commercial by man at 0830- 31. Man (Pidgin) with periodic music inserts to past 0845. Other than WWCR and CHU, only audible station on 90 m but with a very nice signal, a bit earlier than PNG's typically audible here, especially at this level. SINPO 45344 with increasing static crashes. 7120, Wantok R Light on Jan 29 with "Back to the Bible", announcements by woman (English) at 0857, ID for "Wantok Radio Light" by man 0900 followed by news read by man to past 0908. SINPO 35433 (Bruce W. Churchill, Fallbrook CA, DXplorer via BCDX Feb 5 via DXLD) ** PERU. 3172.65, Radio Municipal, Panao once again heard on this frequency at 1000 to 1023 on 19 January after an absence of two weeks. 3172.8, Radio Municipal, Panao with weak audio 0000 then off at 0010 recheck. 22 January. Sony 2010XA and whip antenna. 4855.39, Radio La Hora, Cusco, 1000 to 1100, 17 to 20 January. Rapid transmitter drift noted in ECSS, very noticeable transmitter drift (Robert Wilkner, FL, SW Bulletin Feb 4 via DXLD) Au contraire: RADIO LA HORA CUSCO INFORMA: problemas técnicos con la O.C de RADIO LA HORA CUSCO PERU --- Soy. el Lc. Carlos Gamarra Moscoso - estimado Dario, actual director de frecuencias de Radio La Hora. Para ponerle en su conocimiento que con mucha pena y por el lapso aproximadamente de 2 a 3 meses, la señal de onda corta internacional de esta estación en 4855 kHz ha dejado de salir del aire a consecuencia de una fuerte descarga eléctrica que se produjo hace tres semana atrás aquí en Cusco. Dañamdo [sic – something missing] Dario seriamente al trasmisor que ha quedado para nuestra mala suerte quemado, incendiado --- pero que gracias a la persistencia del gerente general Don Edmundo Montesinos, volverá como el ave fénix en dos a tres meses hasta juntar los recursos económicos necesarios. Nuestras emisiones seguirán en AM 1400 y en FM 91.3. Dario, quería darte esta mala información para todos los diexistas que derrepente se van a extrañar del porque no estamos en el aire. Atentamente, Carlos Gamarra, director de frecuencias. R. la Hora, Cusco, Perú. Cordiales dx adalidcusco @ hotmail.com (via Dario Monferini, Feb 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 22 ENE, 1716 UT, 18060 KHZ (3 x 6020). Radio Victoria, Lima, Perú. Castellano. Predicación evangélica, al estilo pentecostés. Calidad Variable (Adan Mur, Ñemby, Paraguay, Conexión Digital Feb 4, via DXLD) Let`s look for this in NAm, whence never reported? As I said last time, 6020 is slightly off frequency, low, so the harmonic should be 3x as far off 18020, to be precise. If you hear anything, try // to 9720v, and for that matter look for its second harmonic on 19440v (gh) ** PHILIPPINES. "SOME CHANGES" IN STORE FOR RADIO VERITAS ASIA "Divine Word Father Roberto Ebisa, 42, who became the general manager of Manila-based Radio Veritas Asia (RVA) in January, says he plans 'some changes' to improve the effectiveness of its service. ... The short-wave station, which the Asian bishops set up in 1969, now runs services in 16 languages. ... Funds for the station are 'really going down.'" http://www.theindiancatholic.com/newsread.asp?nid=5884 (Indian Catholic, 1 February 2007. Posted: 02 Feb 2007, kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) ** RUSSIA [and non]. 11650 28/01 0925 RUS R. Perm, Perm, RU, talks 55444 É isso... 73 a todos (Alexis Maldonado, Sorocaba - SP, Panasonic RF-3100, Sangean ATS-803A, Long wire 20m, Dymek DA100E, radioescutas yg via DXLD) Oh, oh, another case of reading the wrong line in PWBR 2007 without the non-supplied straightedge. Per it, on 11650 at 0900-1330 in Russian is 100 kW KFBS Saipan, while on the next line 5 kW ``Perm Radio`` is on 11650 only at 1600-2000 with R. Rossii. But is there really a Perm Radio with any local Perm programming to be heard, or is this just a transmitter site for R. Rossii? WRTH 2007 adds ``regional programs may be canceled`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also USSR ** TIBET. 4905 kHz - Tibet People's Broadcasting Station - Lhasa - CHN Recebido belíssimo QSL full data (retratando Palácio Potala). 50 dias. V/S: ?? Obs: A emissora informa que tem um programa em inglês intitulado "Holy Tibet". Ele vai ao ar das 03:00 às 03:30 horas de Beijing nas freqüências de 1385 e 9490 kHz. O e-mail da emissora é: xzzba2003 @ yahoo.com.cn O site da emissora é: http://www.tibetradio.cn QTH: Tibet People's Broadcasting Station, 41 Beijing Road, Lhasa, 85000, Tibet, China (Rubens Ferraz Pedroso, Bandeirantes, PR, Brasil, Conexión Digital Feb 4 via DXLD) 0300-0330 would convert to 1900-1930 UT, previously unknown time for this; mixup? Why didn`t they mention the other times? O, I`ll bet they meant 3 pm which would be 0700 UT, a known time. Nice artistic designs on the slow-loading website, and some English words on it, but can`t find any link to Holy Tibet per se. I`m still pissed about the Chicoms destroying Potala temple, then rebuilding it for tourism, so much so that it has become the emblem for Xizang (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** TURKEY. TURKEY/CHINA. Bad clash on 17690 kHz co-channel, TRT Emirler 500 kW in Persian and CRI JIN 500 kW Chinese at 1050 UT Jan 31. Strongest station in 49mb noted on 6020 kHz. ID as La Voix de Turkie, Ankara, in French, at 0530-0600 UT, S=9 +20dB. Many items on Albanian and Serbian national problems in Kosovo. TRT not scheduled at this time. French is registered at 2030-2130 on 6050 and 7155 instead. Also TRT in Unknown Azeri?/Turkmen? like language on 7240 at same time 0500-0600 UT Feb 2, underneath DW Sines English service co-channel. Both 6020 and 7240 are TRT scheduled in English at 0400-0500 UT. So supposedly another example of "on-air maintenance" by technicians at TRT Emirler tx site (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, wwdxc BC-DX Feb 5 via DXLD) ** TURKEY. VOT IS was heard once at 1456 Feb 4 on 11735 until cut off. This frequency is supposed to close half an hour earlier after the English broadcast! In the past I have noticed it stayed on by mistake past 1430 with another language, and this time it appears to have stayed on for the entire broadcast, probably Kyrgyz supposed to be on 9655, or Bosnian on 9525. Wolfgang Büschel has also noted VOT running wrong languages on wrong frequencies at wrong times (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S S R. Soviet Jamming --- Very interesting article about cold-war jamming, including many photos of jamming sites. Interesting to see that the Polish jamming control stations were using the same Racal RA1772 receivers as BBC Monitoring! http://www.antentop.org/008/jamm008.htm (Mark Palmer, Feb 4, BDXC-UK via DXLD) You will need to download a large PDF magazine. This same article from Lithuania is rediscovered periodically (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** U K [non]. Some schedules insist that BBC WS in Spanish at 03-04 is via WHRI on 6110 and 7315. Notably BBC`s own page not updated since Dec 15, http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/spanish/tuning_in/newsid_4294000/4294086.stm But it`s only on 6110, as confirmed here before and after 0330 UT Feb 4; 6110 from Angel 2 had a good signal in BBC Spanish, while 7315 Angel 1 was JBA with LeSEA`s own English programming, Top 20 Countdown. And the WHR online schedule now agrees with this. So was BBC ever really on 7315? No WHRI frequencies are shown either for the BBCWS morning broadcast in Spanish at 1000-1230 which initially was on 7315, and then 5835 during the first hour only. The 6110 BBC transmission is at 173 degrees, appropriate for Cuba and beyond, despite the map at http://www.whr.org/index.cfm/fa/chooseSchedule showing Angel 2 is not for anything S of the USA (Glenn Hauser, OK, Feb 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Re 7-014: New RFE/RL president, who must now decide: news or propaganda (choose only one). See Gedmin's November 2001 article critical of then Secretary of State Colin Powell: "It's an odd state of affairs when the U.S. secretary of state in a Republican administration starts sounding more European than the Europeans themselves." http://www.aei.org/research/nai/publications/pubID.16966,projectID.11/pub_detail.asp Weekly Standard, 5 November 2001. "Perhaps not coincidentally, the successful public diplomacy of the 1950s and 1960s was abandoned in favor of softer, less controversial approaches like the Fulbright program. This was one of the more foolish errors of our time." Gedmin and Craig Kennedy, The National Interest, Winter 2003. Profile, Right Web, 1 December 2003. Posted: 03 Feb 2007 (see http://www.kimandrewelliott.com for linx to the last two items, via DXLD) ** U S A. KAIJ has put more info on their website http://www.kaij.us - ``What is KAIJ? --- KAIJ was first licensed in the early 1980s, shortly after the FCC reversed a long-standing policy against issuing new shortwave licenses to private companies. Operating from Dallas, Texas, KAIJ uses a 100,000 transmitter and 3 antenna arrays, pointed in different directions, to transmit around the world. Pursuant to its FCC license, KAIJ operates on frequencies of 9480 KHz daytime and 5755 KHz nighttime. The FCC license to operate KAIJ is held by Two If By Sea Broadcasting Corporation, which is owned by experienced broadcaster Mike Parker. Ten year Shortwave veterans include, Tammy Bishop as Assistant Program Director and Mildred Mendenhall as CD/tape Coordinator. Broadcast experienced, Andy Farmer as Head Announcer. Ted Randall, a 30 year radio veteran and shortwave enthusiast, as Director of Marketing. John McClintock, Program Director. George McClintock, General Manager. Studio Mailing Address: KAIJ, 1784 W. Northfield Blvd. Suite 305, Murfreesboro, Tennessee 37129-1702`` So this confirms our suspicions that KAIJ studios and offices are actually in the Nashville area, run by people formerly with WWCR. Furthermore, WORLD OF RADIO has been added to the schedule, Friday 1130 UT on 5755 (how is this in E Asia and S Pacific?), and Friday 2000 UT on 9480 (how is this everywhere?) People might want to check these times and frequencies for reception quality before next Friday arrives. Program schedule page: http://24.151.207.180/k/kaij/pages/programs.php George McClintock tells me that there is room in the building near Dallas for two more transmitters, and the first one may be installed in the forseeable future, to go with existing extra antennas, the better one of which is aimed south (Glenn Hauser, Feb 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WCFB back on the air; photos of tower collapse: http://star94fm.com/MARKET/shared/weather/tornado2007_star_tower.html (Glenn Hauser, and via Artie Bigley, DX LISTENING DIGEST) When I was working radio in O'Town, one of Cox's people told me they had installed a "frequency agile" FM transmitter at the WHOO/990 transmitter site in Pine Hills. This could broadcast any of the Cox FMs (92.3, 94.5, 95.3, 96.5, 98.9) at reduced power in an emergency. True? (MN Manaic) Any clue how strong their signal is? Does it cover most of the area? I would guess it's on the Pine Hills transmitter site with WHOO and WMMO...though that doesn't really cut it for a Daytona Beach COL. Anyhow, who cares...good to see them back up and running. And my heart goes out to those in Volusia Co. who were affected by this tornado. I have a friend who lives in Orange City and didn't get anything more than T-storms (radiodxrichmond) When I heard them this afternoon in Merritt Island, they were a bit scratchy, but considering all that has happened, they did well to get the station back on the air in such a short time. WKRO 93.1 was off some this a.m., but they are back on, probably a power issue. Any other stations lose signal due to the storm? (KE4KLS_Radio) Just noticed on their website they're holding a contest - "Tell us when STAR came back on the air and you could win $500." What an odd thing to do (Zach aka Tom Servo) I'm going to take a wild guess on this and say that WCFB/Star 94.5 is on the air from an Auxiliary Tower somewhere closer to Daytona Beach then their licensed tower was... In an situation where you have an Auxiliary Site or an STA, you must STILL Cover your COL while, at the same time... not serving any areas not normally served by the licensed facility (PAUL B. WALKER, JR., http://www.walkerbroadcasting.com/blog.html ) It will be interesting to see what Cox chooses as a long-term solution for this. As Paul mentioned, 94.5 is licensed to Daytona Beach. This was the original WNDB-FM. Memory is a bit hazy here, but I believe New City moved it into Orlando sometime around 1991 (?) as Lite A/C "Love 94.5." Unlike the other Volusia Co. FMs which target Orlando from the Orange City towers (101.9, 105.9, 106.7, 107.7), WCFB had its own transmitter facility near Paisley. That tower has now been destroyed, of course. In order to remain a full Class C, WCFB will have to rebuild to the full 450 meters. If they go short, they will almost certainly be downgraded to C0. Both of their first-adjacent neighbors would likely jump at the chance to upgrade: 94.7/Gifford would gladly extend and enhance their coverage to Brevard Co. 94.3/Lake City would love to either move into Gainesville or sell to someone who would. Both of these scenarios are now prohibited only because WCFB maintains its full Class C status. Plus, WCFB needs the full height to cover Orlando adequately from that distance. Even at 1,500 feet, there are a few coverage "holes" in the market. Especially in the fast-growing areas of Osceola Co. Anything shorter ain't gonna cut it. They cannot move to the Bithlo antenna farm because of spacing issues to Gifford. So, what will Cox do? I see two options: Rebuild Paisley or lease space in Orange City. The latter may not even be possible, due to weight and intermod issues with existing stations. Anyone know how long a station can hold onto their licensing parameters under an emergency situation such as this? In other words, how long do they have to rebuild without losing their Class C? Also, how long can they broadcast from an auxilary facility which does not city-grade their COL (which is obviously the case if they are indeed transmitting from Pine Hills.) (MN Maniac) http://www.radio-info.com/smf/index.php/topic,62409.0.html (all: radio-info.com Orlando board via Artie Bigley, DXLD) ** U S A. From http://ohiomajorityradio.com/ --- The petition supporting progressive radio in Central Ohio has been closed, having garnered 2,799 signatures in 29 days. We presented the petition to Clear Channel but we were unable to persuade them to keep WTPG. However we are already preparing to take the petition to radio stations in Central Ohio to show the support they will receive if they add progressive and moderate programs to their schedules. If you want to help in this effort, please join the Yahoo Group below, or use the feedback button at the bottom of this page. Also we ask that you visit the link to save Progressive Radio across the country to learn how you can help elsewhere. Ohio Majority Radio P. O. Box 14117 Columbus, OH 43214 ADVERTISING ON PROGRESSIVE TALK RADIO by Volunteers on the Advertising Committee, February 1, 2007 http://www.freepress.org/doit.php?strFunc=display&strID=278&strYear=2007 Know any progressive business owners? Dentists, travel agents or service organizations who might be interested in advertising during Progressive Talk radio shows? Our group, OhioMajorityRadio, is approaching Central Ohio radio broadcasters to propose that they include Progressive Talk in their programming. We would like to show local broadcasters that there is support for Progressive Talk in the Central Ohio business community (both via Artie Bigley, OH, DXLD) ** U S A. 1600, WWRL, NY, New York - Adds Jones Radio’s Stephanie Miller per program 1/24, replacing Air America Radio’s Sam Seder, even though WWRL is Air America’s “flagship” station. Seder alleged on his 1/24 show that the move was punishment for his remarks about WWRL host Armstrong Williams (Dale Park, HI, DDXD-West, NRC DX News Feb 12 via DXLD) ** U S A. WASHINGTON RADIO STATION GOES ``GREEN`` CBS Radio has launched 94.7 The Globe, its first ``green`` focused radio station. The Washington DC station will operate using renewable energy to power its 50,000 watt signal. Additionally, station vehicles will be replaced with hybrid models, and 94.7 The Globe will further its ``green`` focus by taking a number of steps on and off-air to consistently promote ways for listeners to live an eco-friendly lifestyle. In a related announcement, the station yesterday renamed itself 94.7 The Globe reflecting its new pro-environment principles and ``World Class Rock`` format. WARW will continue to be a rock-based format, however, it will increase its playlist incorporating more artists from the late 90s and today including Dave Matthews Band, Coldplay and Red Hot Chili Peppers, among others. A new website has also been created for The Globe featuring station news and environmental resources. Listeners can log on to http://www.947theglobe.com for more information and to listen to the online stream. ``Everyone at the station, from our on-air talent to the many employees who work behind the scenes, has embraced this environmentally responsible concept and we look forward to incorporating green aspects into every facet of our operation,`` said Michael Hughes, Senior Vice President, CBS Radio Washington, and General Manager of WARW. ``It’s not often you can perfectly align great music with a message so central to your audience’s beliefs. Rock and `green` is just such a winning combination, and now, more than ever, is the right time to evolve the station to ensure a successful run well into the future.`` ``We have long stood on the principle of giving back to our communities and we`ve done so in amazing ways over the years,`` said Scott Herman, Executive Vice President, CBS Radio. ``We hope this move serves to influence and motivate our listeners, vendors, and advertisers, as well as act as a building block for other stations within our Company.`` Highlights of the station’s green initiative include: Using renewable energy to supply power to the station’s 50,000 watt transmitter [sic --- see below] and using hybrid station vehicles In-studio artists will perform in The Globe’s Custom Greenhouse outfitted with low voltage lighting and recycled flooring Annual Earth Day concert event Station will create promotional campaigns around socially-conscious events such as Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza and Coachella Station appearances will be branded ``Go Green With The Globe`` and provide listeners with information on environmental leadership and energy conservation; WARW will also host events encouraging recycling, tree planting and use of green products (Media Network blog Feb 3 via DXLD) Andy Sennitt comments: It has taken a long time, but this is further evidence that more people in the US are beginning to wake up to the threat of global warming. It`s encouraging that the Executive Vice President of CBS Radio sees this as a `building block` for other stations. Hopefully, it will also inspire other broadcast companies to develop their own `green` policies. It will be interesting to see how WARW`s ratings are affected by this move. In the latest Arbitron survey, it ranked 17th in the Washington market. A significant improvement might inspire other stations to follow suit. I wish them success. loujosephs Says: February 3rd, 2007 at 20:50 e NOT Quite Andy, this was a very cool corporate idea, with George 104 and WBIG playing basically classic rock why not try something different. The radio station now is the U button on the car radio. U for Unfamiliar music. Lip service. That on air line is ``the Planet``. Glenn Hauser comments: Usual hype even applies to this. As anyone familiar with American broadcasting should know, 50 kW would be the effective radiated power, achieved by antenna gain, so the transmitter power is MUCH LESS than 50 kW. Furthermore, the latest FM Atlas shows its ERP is only 20.5 kW. Further2more, it`s licensed to Bethesda MD. Can we believe any of the rest of this promotion, if we cannot even believe such basic info? Andy Says: February 4th, 2007 at 12:27 e Well, you may call it hype. I applaud any measure, however small, that can help make the US government wake up to its responsibilities. The situation is becoming alarming. Radio Netherlands news reports today, Sunday 4 February, that “On Friday the United Nations issued a new climate report that concludes, with more certainty than ever, that global warming is the result of human activity. It forecasts that the Earth’s temperature can increase as much as six degrees Celsius this century and that sea levels will rise by dozens of centimetres.” The same report said that “In Paris, 46 countries have called for immediate measures to combat the threat of climate change, with a central role for the United Nations. The Call for Action was read out by French president Jacques Chirac at the end of a two-day conference to discuss the setting up of a new UN climate agency. Mr Chirac said it was no time for half-measures and that a green revolution was now needed. The United States, Russia and China were among those that did not sign the document.” John England Says: February 4th, 2007 at 15:57 e I agree with Lou and Glenn, this is merely a commercial station (not a government station) that is trying to out-Jack, Jack with an anti-Jack format like “things DON’T go better with Coca-Cola”. I am sure it will be very popular among the gas-guzzlng SUV community of listeners that it will need in order to survive, because it will need those SUV commercials to survive. By the way, timing is everything and talk of global warming in California will go over like a lead brick placed on the surface of a pond, since that State has just lost most of its fruit crop due to freezing temperatures. Texas is also basking in its 4th coldest winter on record. This is an anti-Jack format trying to out-Jack, Jack. Lotsaluck. What’s next, the anti-junk food format financed by lots of pizza commercials? Glenn Hauser says: Don`t get me wrong; am just as concerned about global warming, and agree the USG under acting president Bush bears a lot of blame for foot-dragging, to be charitable. But the radio station is not being straight with us either by claiming to run a 50 kW transmitter, etc. (all: Media Network blog via DXLD) {If they want to really do something `green`, reduce transmitter power and increase antenna gain to compensate} ** U S A. Arabic on 1160 at 1430 EST --- Who is Arabic on 1160 in the afternoon? Noted at 1420 and again at 1515 EST. Strongly suspect WMET, Gaithersburg, but tuned away at hour for IDs on other stations. Fascinating. At first, didn't know which language; but then recognized it as Arabic with (I think) a Jordanian accent. Used to hearing standard (Egyptian) Arabic as on VOA. Arabic accents vary considerably. Fascinating listening. Priest singing praises of Allah in Arabic and then in English! 73 de (Charlie Taylor, NC, IRCA via DXLD) Charlie, Your guess of WMET is pretty good. WMET does play a lot of non-English stuff on the weekends especially. In fact, they are running Arabic as I am typing this (1637 EST 2/4). You might also hear non-English programming on 1120 WUST and WBIS 1190 (Bill Harms, MD, ibid.) ** U S A. WACE 730 [Chicopee MA] heard one hour after LSS [local sunset] must have continued on their 5 kW power since it would be unlikely that a signal from an 8 watt transmitter would go that distance, if that's what they use at night. Is there any point in cutting down to such a low power output at night? I figure that listeners would get other signals better than their local station. 8 watts would confine the local's signal to the downtown area of that city and not even reach city limits. Are they trying to save juice or are they required to keep interference to others down? For most of the coverage area it would be like a complete shutdown (Bill Kral, IRCA via DXLD) Indeed it is. WACE is what's called (under US rules) a "Class D" station, which is effectively a daytimer. Many former daytimers, like WACE, were allowed very limited night power beginning in the eighties to allow them to provide at least a little bit of service after dark. But they're required to not interfere with other protected service on their frequency (in this case, CKAC from Montreal, which puts a huge signal over New England at night), and the service the class D stations provide at night is considered "secondary," which means it can be bumped at any time by a higher class of facility, and that it has no requirement to provide any coverage at all to its city of license. A few clever class D operators take advantage of that last clause to put up a second small transmitter site right in the middle of their target coverage area to be used for low-power night operation. A great example of this is WSIV 1540 East Syracuse NY, which runs 1000 watts by day from a site about 10 miles east of downtown Syracuse. Because 1540 is a Bahamas clear channel, and it has CHIN in Toronto and KXEL in Iowa and WDCD in Albany to protect as well, WSIV is limited to 57 watts at night. From the rural daytime site, those 57 watts would reach perhaps a few hundred potential listeners at best. So WSIV put up a Valcom fiberglass whip antenna and a low-power transmitter on top of a church building in an inner-city neighborhood in downtown Syracuse, and from there they run those 57 watts after sunset and cover much of the city. s (Scott Fybush, ibid.) ** U S A. VENEZUELANS IN SOUTH FLORIDA TURNING TO RADIO TO BLAST CHAVEZ --- EXPATRIATES IN FLORIDA AMONG SHOWS' AUDIENCES By Tal Abbady, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Posted February 4 2007 Taking a cue from the Cuban-American exile community, Venezuelans in South Florida are turning to radio to slam their homeland's controversial leader and unify their community. The move is happening on two fronts: Venezuelan radio networks are buying time on local airwaves, broadcasting fiery political talk shows directly from Caracas; and Cuban-owned stations in South Florida are hiring Venezuelan journalists to produce shows that blast President Hugo Chávez's self-styled Bolivarian revolution. Venezuelan radio network Union Radio's star commentators, pundits and journalists, including some of Chávez's fiercest critics, now reach thousands of listeners in Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties through new prime-time programming on a local airwave, WNMA 1210 AM. The network's owners say they are nervous about conditions in Venezuela and bought the air time to build an audience here. "We're witnessing something that's never happened before in Venezuela, and people are concerned," said Eduardo Cusco, one of four brothers who own Unión Radio, which has 40 percent of the radio market in Venezuela. He spoke at the Coral Gables office building where Union Radio edits its South Florida-tailored programming through a partnership with Olé Communications. "There's been a great migration of Venezuelans to South Florida and we plan to reach them," Cusco said, adding that Unión Radio seeks a balance of views on Chávez and includes Venezuelan government figures on its shows. Unión Radio producers say they hope eventually to reach a general Hispanic audience. Cusco and others have tapped Florida's radio market at a precarious time for private media in Venezuela. Chávez, who won re-election in December, has expanded government-backed media like the cable network Telesur and the news service Agencia Bolivariana de Noticias (Bolivarian News Agency). His recent decision not to renew the broadcasting license of the opposition-aligned Radio Caracas Television network also has media owners worried about the future. Unión Radio began airing evening programming on 1210 AM in September with pilot programming from 5 p.m. to midnight. The prime-time lineup, introduced Feb. 1 from noon to 7 p.m. [EST = 1700-2400 UT], features some of the biggest names in Venezuelan political commentary. They include Pedro Penzini Fleury, whose show airs at 2 p.m.; Chávez critic Marta Colomina, who comes on at 3 p.m.; and Nelson Bucaranda, whose popular political gossip show, Run Runes (scuttlebutt) de Nelson Bucaranda, airs at 4 p.m. Besides Unión Radio, Venezuelans at several Cuban-owned Miami stations such as La Poderosa 670 AM and Cadena Azul 1550 AM are producing and directing shows aimed at the Venezuelan expatriate community. "Venezuelans here have to launch their fight through the local media. It's what I call civic activism on the air," said Ricardo Guanipa, of Weston, a radio journalist and former correspondent for Venezuela's El Nacional newspaper. A Chávez critic who sought asylum in Florida in 2005 after receiving death threats in Caracas, Guanipa is planning an evening talk show on La Poderosa focused exclusively on Venezuela. Venezuelan exiles say they want to use talk radio much in the same way Cuban-Americans have for decades. Many also hope the U.S. government eventually will finance a Radio Martí-style station for their country. The idea gained traction in a bill sponsored by Rep. Connie Mack, R- Fort Myers, in 2005. So far, however, the government's only plans are to increase the Voice of America's Venezuela programming, said spokesman John O'Connell. "[Venezuelans] have this political agenda that is similar to the Cubans [and] radio has been the single most importance force to mobilize the Cuban American community," said Damián Fernández, who heads Florida International University's Cuban Research Institute. Humberto García, a Venezuelan who is news director at La Poderosa and Cadena Azul, owned by Radio Mambí founder Jorge Rodríguez, says Chávez is replacing Cuba's Fidel Castro as the hot-button topic on Spanish- language radio shows like El Mundo Al Día Con Matías Frías. La Poderosa, which reaches 80,000 listeners per hour, plans to partner with radio networks in Caracas to air shows produced there. Miami radio host Eli Bravo, whose general news show, Radio Global, airs on 1210 AM at 5 p.m., is banking on the Cuban model. "What we can learn from the Cubans is how they used the airwaves to build solidarity in their community," he said. "It allowed them to grow economically and have more political influence." (via Dino Bloise, FL, dxldyg via DXLD) ** VATICAN STATE. 4004.14-usb, Vatican Radio via low power station in Vatican garden via log-periodic: B-06: 0325-0500 10 kW 10 deg. 0500-0745, 1655-2310 10 kW 340 deg. A-07: 0225-0645 and 1555-2215 10 kW 340 degrees (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, BCDX Feb 5 via DXLD) ** VENEZUELA [non]. RNV via RHC, except it was really RHC itself filling time as usual on Sunday morning, Feb 4 at 1504 with promo about the Feb-Mar international book fair in Cuba. How can you have a book fair in a country with no freedom of the press? Chutzpah!! {or rather, jutspa!} 1505 announcer saying they are still hoping/waiting to hear from Chávez; meanwhile playing another RHC program to fill, ``Somos Jóvenes``. Best by far on 13750, with the other four weak and/or interfered: 11670, 11875, 13680, 17750. But I think 13750 is the one aimed this way (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also U S A, WNMA ** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. Verso le 2230 UT 1 Feb, poi, facendo altre prove con la Degen a batterie mi sono accorto che la RN de la RASD era su 6300 kHz con un dibattito in arabo. Magari non è una novità, dato che io guardo la posta solo una volta la settimana, però se si muovono così facilmente forse non hanno ancora trovato la frequenza giusta, oppure hanno deciso di andare su e giù per le bande come molte altre emittenti clandestine (Luca Botto Fiora, Italy, playdx yg via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. Sat Feb 3 at 1435 I found two women conversing in Portuguese, definitely Brazilian accent, on 17810, but it cut off a minute later. Must have been a mistake or a test as nothing such normally audible here. Checking HFCC B-06, I see that RDPI was scheduled 14-16 on 17810, but M-F only, and in fact this frequency does not appear on RDPI`s own schedule for any day of the week, so it must have been a backup or alternate. But Brazilian on RDPI is a rarity, so what else could it be? Theories: Guiana French testing, which has used this frequency in past for Brother Scare on Saturdays; or CVC Chile, which is normally on 15410, but I did not have time to check that for absence or parallel. I can`t think of any other international broadcaster which would have been in Brazilian at this odd hour (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ A TIP FOR DX'ERS Two of the best sources for news from the shortwave broadcasting scene are Glenn Hauser’s DX Listening Digest electronic newsletter and World of Radio programs. Here’s a tip if you would like to search for loggings or news about a particular station. Chances are good that Glenn has covered it in a past newsletter or program. Go to http://www.worldofradio.com and scroll down to DX Listening Digest 2006 Contents & Links to Each Text Issue. Click on this link and you’ll be taken to a directory of all 2006 DXLD issues, with their table of contents. From your Edit menu, Select All and then Copy. Now open your wordprocessor and use Paste to put these tables of content into a document. The next step is to do a Find, looking for the Country name or other keyword search of the tables of content in the document you’ve created. You then see which issues included coverage of your selected topic. It’s then a simple procedure to go back and select those editions one at a time and read the entries. Glenn has archived the tables of content for the past few years, so this is an immense amount of material available to you (Harold Sellers, Feb ODXA Listening in via DXLD) Another thing you can do is copy and send each issue of DXLD to a special e-mail account used only for that purpose, e.g. set one up in yahoo. Then you can use the yahoo search function for all messages in that account, on a particular frequency, keyword, etc. (gh) PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ THE AMAZING WORLD OF SHORT WAVE LISTENING The link contains the audio from the Hallicrafters 45 RPM record described below: http://www181.pair.com/otsw/Audio/Hallicrafters.ram Surely there is no company that produced more receivers for shortwave listeners and amateurs than Hallicrafters. Hallicrafters was the first to mass produce quality shortwave receivers at reasonable prices. Over the years, countless models were produced bearing wonderful names that captured the excitement of the medium -- Skyrider, Sky Courier, Sky Challenger, Sky Ranger. In 1959, the Hallicrafters Company produced a 14-minute, 45 rpm promotional record called "The Amazing World of Short Wave Listening." Narrated by noted "Man on the Go" journalist Alex Dreier, the record promotes shortwave listening, and features recordings of WWV, amateur radio operators, marine band transmissions, the capture of criminals by the police, various languages, the shootdown of an American plane over Armenia, and other events. Copies of the record are often available on eBay. Although ordinary SWLs were unlikely to catch such events on-air, the record recalls memories of how shortwave was viewed many years ago (Rob Peebles via Charles Adkins, DX LISTENING DIGEST) HAMATLAS ON THE WEB! Darek, SP6NVK, informs OPDX that he has started a new ham atlas service on the Web after 4 years of work on it. This service contains the complete information on all 337 DXCC Entities, over 3000 pictures and 1100 maps. He hopes everyone will enjoy and be satisfied in using his service. The HamAtlas Web site is available at: http://www.hamatlas.eu/ (QRZ? Ham Radio Corner by David Ross, Feb ODXA Listening In via DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING ++++++++++++++++++++ DRM: see GERMANY; GUIANA FRENCH; INDIA; INTERNATIONAL [NZ]; ITALY; LUXEMBOURG HD = Huge Distraction --- by John Silliman Dodge I recently asked a 21-year-old college senior where she and her friends discover new music. She answered, “We find out about new music from each other, or from movies.” I followed up, “So, radio isn’t a factor?” She replied, “Yeah, I guess it is, kinda. But mostly it’s our friends.” Did we just get a sneak peek into the near future? Note the lukewarm reaction: “I guess it is, kinda.” Yesterday, radio reached deeper into people’s worlds. We were more involved in their lifestyles, even provided part of their self-identification. Today it’s so easy to search, to download, to burn, to share files instantly among friends that this has become the new music distribution system. To use a term I haven’t heard since the dotcom era, we’re being disintermediated; radio is a middleman who’s being slowly cut out of the transaction. Yes I know, radio still touches more than 95% of Americans every week. But the trends are clear. Listener leakage is real. And if radio is reduced to something which merely distracts people while they’re stuck in traffic, our business is on the slippery slope. Once Wi-Fi covers all the major markets and people can buy cheap and portable Web- enabled radio units at their favorite big box store, that slide picks up speed. So with long-term customer retention issues like this, why in the world are we distracted by HD? [more] http://www.fmqb.com//article.asp?id=335154 (via Mike Bugaj, CT, Feb 3, WTFDA via DXLD) ###