DX LISTENING DIGEST 7-021, February 17, 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 1346 [repeats from last week] Sun 0330 WWCR3 5070 Sun 0730 WWCR1 3215 Sun 0900 WRMI 9955 Mon 0400 WBCQ 9330-CLSB Mon 0515 WBCQ 7415 [time varies] Mon 1330 WRMI 7385 Latest edition of this schedule version, including AM, FM, satellite and webcasts with hotlinks to station sites and audio, is at: http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html For updates see our Anomaly Alert page: http://www.worldofradio.com/anomaly.html WRN ON DEMAND: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO [also CONTINENT OF MEDIA, MUNDO RADIAL] http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html or http://wor.worldofradio.org WORLD OF RADIO PODCASTS: www.obriensweb.com/wor.xml ** ALASKA. Marine Weather Forecasts on NOJ --- I just received a letter and QSLs from NOJ in Kodiak Alaska. This was for their Marine Weather Forecasts on HF (6501) and MF (2670). The letter states : "As for the 2670 broadcast. As a courtesy we routinely broadcast the weather products twice daily. The times vary but are usually done around 0100 and 1300 GMT. The broadcast is not required but is provided as an aid to help the mariner with the latest weather information once it is all received in house." This isn't listed on any lists I've seen lately (Martin Foltz, Mission Viejo, CA, Feb 15, ABDX via DXLD) Unfortunately, we must always ask, do the times shift with DST or not? (gh, DXLD) ** ANTARCTICA. Hola a todos, Salgo para informar de la escucha, por Tenerife, Canarias, de la LRA 36, por la frecuencia 15476 kHz; el SINPO es 24322. Ahora mismo contimuo sintonizando dicha emisora. Comencé a escucharla a eso de las 1930 UT; en todo momento han estado radiando música de solistas y grupos en español. Saludos para todos!! (Tomás González, Feb 16, Noticias DX via DXLD) Following wide reports of LRA-36 on Feb 13 and 14, nothing on 15, I tried on Feb 16 at 2042, and could hear a carrier on 15476.0 occasionally fading up with music; improved by 2049 with continuous music, some vocal, accompanied by bagpipe-sounding instrument. Signal seemed to be AM rather than USB, and not 15475.9. Along with the improved strength, this leads me to wonder if they have a new transmitter, or refurbished the old one. During previous period of activity a few months ago they were reportedly running at reduced power, and they were on USB + reduced carrier. We should not forget that we are able to hear this thanks to CVC Chile evacuating 15475 last year, following pressure we put on them. And there are no other signals anywhere near 15476 during this time period. Fortunately in this case, VOG via Delano relay on 15485 is also kaput, tho keeps appearing woodenly in HFCC. Strength was about S2, but occasional peaks to S5 or even S7, or in SINPO roughly 25332 at best. Never heard any announcements, tho could have been during fades. Kept going past 2100 with music, but disappeared around 2106 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BANGLADESH. 4750, 2/15/2007, 1534, 13121. 1530 English news. At 1543 I heard 'world bank'. Person in #swl on IRC heard ID for Bangladesh. Jingle at 1547. Returning to native language and native music from 1558 onwards. Listened until 1631 with still music. Philips D2999 with pa0rdt Mini-Whip (Jeroen Kloppenburg, Deventer, the Netherlands. DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also UNIDENTIFIED for discussion of Bangladesh and what else is on 4750 ** BOLIVIA. Informe Tropical: 17FEB07 BOLIVIA 5967.805 Radio Nacional de Huanuni, Huanuni 1020 a 1045 se descolora, "... los minutos del cuatro del viente... que el espanol del en del om de Nacional... del melodia del encadada... de Santiago... y del de de radio del instutitu...." con música corta frecuente tiende un puente sobre 13 Februry [ la Wilkner-Florida ] BOLIVIA 4728.12 Aripalca De radio, Aripalca, Depto. Potosi divulgó por Rogildo Aragão, Quillacollo-Bolivia. Oído posiblemente aquí en 1040 a 1050 se descolora, o la señal perdida. El 14 De Febrero [ La Wilkner-Florida ] BOLIVIA 4600.73 Radio Perla del Acre, Cobija seeminly que funciona 1045 a 1100, om en español la identificación de Perla quizá, para no ser confundido con el armónico honduran de funcionamiento inmóvil 4600.22. 14/15 Febrero [ La Wilkner-Florida ] 73s (de la playa del sur del pompano de la Florida Bob Wilkner, la Florida los E.E.U.U. Icom R75 y 746Pro HCDX via DXLD) sic, apparently aided by online translation device (gh) ** BRAZIL. 4885, 2/16/2007, 0731, 14131. Radio Clube do Pará (?) Very weak signal. Low voice Portuguese speaking male and modern music. Three Brazilian stations listed on this frequency, but only one listed as airing before 0800: Radio Clube do Pará. According to 'Tropenband Liste' also the one most frequently heard. Anyone hearing Brazilian stations on this frequency and can confirm? Philips D2999 with pa0rdt Mini-Whip (Jeroen Kloppenburg, Deventer the Netherlands, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Brazilians on 60m are usually heard with sundown here in Tiquicia. But a nice surprise last night, when around 0430 Friday 16, Radio Clube do Pará was arriving with weak but audible signal with a talk show. With all this poor propagation period and no T-storms, is something we can enjoy this season as I was looking at a report from John Sgruletta posted by Glenn for Mundo Radial Feb 2004 (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. CBC NQ hasn't been around lately. There's something there but I can't tell who it is. Either they're gone or something's wrong. 73/Liz (Liz Cameron, Metro Detroit, MI, Feb 16, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9625 Liz Cameron, MI, fears CBCNQ is missing from 9625, but I still hear it, such as Feb 17 at 1404 in CBC news. Signal was 12 over S9 but as always, very undermodulated. This must be the lowest-priority service at Sackville and it gets the worst transmitter. Was also listening to CRI relay on 15230, now free of CubaRM, Feb 17 at 1455, but when ended at 1500 transmitter stayed on or came back with a few strange sounds; and at 1525 past 1530 a tone test was running on 15230, altho I cannot be sure it was still Sackville (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. There's yet another new station coming on the air in CANADA's largest market, as Evanov begins testing its new 50-watt signal on 103.9. The new station will be called "Proud FM," and while it's boasting of being North America's first gay radio station, that's not quite true - there was a pair of AMs in Seattle a few years back, among others. Mary Jo Eustace and Ken Kostick will be the new station's morning hosts, with former CKFM producer "Bingo Bob" on board as their producer (Scott Fybush, NY, NE Radio Watch Feb 12 via DXLD) CGAY? (gh) ** CANADA. CJRS --- Yes, that's the official set of call letters for Radio Shalom. We'll begin testing at 1650 very soon, possibly next week, with a tentative March launch. If you're interested in participating on-air or behind the scenes in our unique venture (North America's first all-Jewish radio station), please feel free to reach me at stanleyasher@.... [truncated]. We'll also consider some limited programming from various ethnic and/or religious organizations who are presently not served by other Montreal area radio stations (such as those on CFMB, CINQ, CKDG and others). Japanese, Mennonite, Bahai, Bulgarian, and Roma groups particularly are welcome. I'm writing in the dual capacities of long-time RIM member, and VP of CJRS with temporary duties as English-language pgm. coordinator (Stanley Asher, QC, Feb 4, radioinmontreal yg via DXLD) CJRS/Radio Shalom, 1650 AM --- Our tech guru, Michel Mathieu, has promised testing by mid-week -- we hope -- and we still are interested in news readers (Fr. & Eng.), journalists, producers/ops, who will be heard on a Montreal market station. Our budget is highly limited, so almost everyone is volunteering. We're 1000 watts, and would like to hear reception reports. Laurentians? South Shore? Hudson/St. Lazare? Anjou/RDP/Mtl. N.? Ontario and US border towns, maybe? (Stanley Asher, Feb 11, radioinmontreal yg via DXLD) Where is the transmitter site located? And just a neat tidbit that I'm sure most everyone knows, CJRS was the call of Radiomutuel's Sherbrooke outlet, CJRS 1510. :) (Marc Guerard, ibid.) On Ferrier 3 blocks west of Decarie (Asher, ibid.) But nothing further about it in this yg as of Feb 17 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. The new 1450 KHz station, CHOU, is now on the air testing. We saw the Valcom antenna in St. Laurent off Autoroute 13 near the corner of Pitfield and Bois Franc. I accidentally came across this station last Thursday night while DXing a station on 1460 when they came on breifly blasting my ears out through the headphones (Steve, Jan 22, radioinmontreal yg via DXLD) CHOU?!!!? What unfortunate call letters! What's their slogan "Not your "Garden Variety" Radio station!" ? While Montreal welcomes a new signal on 1450 we in Ontario await as CHUC Cobourg is to shut down its operation on 1450 once they get the bugs out of their new transmitter at 107.9 (Neal Ford, ibid.) CHOU has a very clear signal for a 1 kW coming off a Valcom antenna. I guess they made the groundwave better than CJWI 1610's. Even at night it seems to have no trouble. Just automated music for now probably being fed right from the antenna site. Today I was in a fortified building (hospital) downtown and while waiting I tuned my little radio to 1450 and it came in with minimal interference. Very impressive 1 kW signal. Wonder how they did it. 690, 730 and 940 are slightly directional class-A's, aimed east, because the island of Montreal has mediocre ground conductivity. But they're blowtorches at night (Marc Guerard, Jan 24, ibid.) Sounds like CHOU will be multilingual with an emphasis on Arabic programming. CRTC approval from March, 2006: http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2006/db2006-82.htm (Dan Sys, ibid.) CHOU website: Here is a webpage for Radio Moyen-Orient. It mentions the station coming to 1450 kHz. and boasts a new webpage coming as well. http://www.crmo.ca/ This service has been broadcasting in Montreal for, I believe, about 10 years, but has used FM sub-carrier to reach its audience, plus it has been accessible on the web (Sheldon Harvey, Jan 26, radioinmontreal yg via DXLD) ** CHINA. 1134: The Golmud (in Chinese: Geermu) site in western China has a tall two mast array believed to be for 1134 kHz. The direction indicates that it is screened towards India on the same frequency. The site also has a number of single towers for other MW frequencies (local, regional services) as well as a SW section. (Google Earth research by BT and others) 1341 A site which is believed to house the array used for CRI broadcasts to the Philippines was located by Alan Davies. The array has four towers and is located NW of Canton City. Alan writes: I think the Google Earth image is probably of Guangdong Province Transmitting Station 522, which according to Chinese sources is located at Liantang Village, near Xinhua Town in Huadu District of Guangzhou Municipality (Huadu used to be known as Huaxian). Station 522 was originally built with Hungarian assistance in the late 1950s. Various Chinese-language Internet sources suggest it's probably the site from which CRI is transmitted on 1341 kHz for the Philippines. It's also used for coverage of the Guangzhou area by Guangdong Satellite Broadcasting Station 648 kHz, CNR-1 (Voice of China) 756 kHz, and Zhujiang EBS 1062 kHz. - The coordinates shown are 23 24 23 N/113 14 20 E (ARC Informantion Desk 12 Feb via editor Olle Alm, 16 Feb, DXLD) ** CHINA. 6065, CNR-2/China Business Radio, 1300-1332, Feb 17, unusual happenings here, probably related to the Chinese New Year. Relay of CNR-1 programming, 5+1 pips, traditional Chinese music and songs, comedy program, ads, all in Chinese, // 5030, 6155, 7110, 7140, 7230, 7245, 7275, 7290, 7305, 7330 (in QRM), 7375, 9500, 9515, 9680 and 9820. The CNR-2/CBR program “English Evening” (1300-1400, seven days a week) was preempted. This must be similar to R. Tikhiy Okean relaying R. Rossii programming around the Christmas Holiday. I wish everyone a happy Chinese New Year! (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, Etón E5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COSTA RICA [and non]. Re 7-020, ANGUILLA: Hi Liz, you're right. In the same way, some things I have posted here before are not true DX but radio related. The Scotts, like many others, supposedly are born- again people but not perfect, still human, despite their way of life in the past. BTW, DGS Anguilla have been providing tremendous signal in our daytime here in Tiquicia, on 11775, putting slight splatter to adjacent 11780 Radio Nacional Da Amazonia with all its 250 kW. After shifting to 6090 at 2200 not so strong but audible. I'm about to leave for Cahuita this weekend. I'll try to see what's been cooking with DGS transmitters there, behaving so erratic lately. 73 (Raúl Saavedra, COSTA RICA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) [Later:] Aquí Puerto Viejo! Well, I arrived last night, staying some 10 Km South of DGS Cahuita transmitters, and found that at 0200z, 7375 not audible for quite some time in San José, was strong and loud here, while 5030 // 6150 // 9725 were acting like DX stations and I wonder how this could be that some 6 to 7 miles away I'm in the skeep zone. Frankly, I'm not checking at this time, 2000, Sat. for the local DGS daytimers, cause I'm at the beach. This could sound unforgivable for a DXer. Tell you later. 73s. (Raúl Saavedra, Caribbean Coast, Costa Rica, Feb 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, Damn my memory, and I'm only 36. I should have mentioned that the cuss words were bleeped and that I hoped they were serious enough to befit the profession of preaching. BTW, Reverend Melissa holds forth nightly on WADL Ch. 38. She's a dumb broad, but if you want a video anyway, I'll send it. Very 73/Liz (Liz Cameron, Metro Detroit, MI, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Tnx, but I could see both of them just about any night on ch 62 in OKC, Ex-Pax, ex-i, whatever it is now (gh, DXLD) ** CUBA [and non]. Air Martí 530 -- it's there! --- Sitting on 530 kc/s since 2249 GMT today, 16 February. Radio Cadena Habana of course loud and clear, but at exactly 2300, Air Martí up with the usual signature tune, ID, into news and actualities, all very weak under Cadena Habana. So, the unknown is: has it always been there since the new "private" aircraft took over for the EC-130's, and my earlier winter reception path didn't let the signal come through? Suspect it was not active initially, though for how long it has been back I can't say, as this is my first dedicated check in several weeks at this time. And note this reception is on a local Friday. Previous broadcasts were usually Saturdays, though occasionally Fridays. I need to check to see if that's still the case, or if it could even be daily now (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W Feb 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [and non]. The 1100 Wobbler -- presumed Radio Cadena Habana, Havana, Cuba -- is again Xtreme tonight at 12:44 am ET, Feb 17 2007 (0544Z). It is exhibiting frequency excursions of 2500 Hz and beyond. This is as extreme as has been heard, again similar to the situation several months ago when 1100 was in this same mode. Quite a performance considering stations even a few tens of Hertz off frequency are usually a cause for comment. Normally I can watch a Wobbler with Spectran or Spectrogram through its excursions. This Wobbler is so wild it's disappearing off the screen (W. Curt Deegan, Boca Ratón, (southeast) Florida, Ten-Tec RX-320D; LFE H-800, http://scooterhound.com/WWWR/wobbler IRCA via DXLD) Occasional fadeups of the wobbler here, with the extreme gyrations -- really cuts through everything else (Steve NE Oregon Ratzlaff, ibid.) I see a possible cause for the Wobblers. It's common among tube-type transmitters that, when the oscillator tube reaches the end of its useful life (when the transconductance drops below X micro-mhos), the inherent feedback inside the transmitter will cause the transmitter to "take off" and oscillate at some frequency near the assigned frequency. The station will sound about normal, but the carrier frequency will be a few kHz off and "wobbulate," or vary with a frequency-modulated characteristic caused mainly by bass components of the audio modulation. If the 1100 Wobbler kicks down at its extreme frequency deviations, betcha it'll pop up FMing a few kHz from 1100. Jest mah opinion. Take it or leave it, sez I (Charles A Taylor, WD4INP, Greenville, North Carolina, ibid.) That makes sense. Around 1975 I worked for WGNG-550 (now WDDZ). They had an RCA BTA-1R tube transmitter, 1960 vintage. I think it was that oscillator tube that got tired. The station was on the air, had voltage and current readings about where they should be, and even antenna base current about normal. Modulation monitor was normal, too. Problem was, the station had migrated down to 480 kHz or so, out of range of any radio I had at that time. I wasn't on duty, but the engineer on that shift fixed it. It is remarkable that an ostensibly narrow-band transmitter would function that far off its tuned frequency. But it did. I don't recall any wobbulations leading up to that episode, but every transmitter reacts differently to failures. Speaking of oscillators --- If a station were to intentionally shift its frequency from 10 Hz high to 10 Hz low in some recognizable pattern, could the Spectran-type programs detect that? I would think that would be relatively easy to do, and would be an interesting variant on a DX test. Slow speed morse code with very narrow band frequency shift keying. I would think a small battery-operated flip flop circuit using an ancient 555 timer chip could make the keying. In the common Harris Gates 1 transmitter, there's probably a place where it could be tied in through a switching diode and capacitor to minimally jump the frequency a small (and legal) amount. This would probably be totally transparent on any normal radio. I'll have to look into this, if I ever get any free time (Craig Healy, Providence, RI, ibid.) ** CUBA [and non]. 'RADIO BEMBA' - WORD OF MOUTH NEWS FOR CUBANS Posted: Thursday, February 15, 2007 1:10 PM Categories: Havana, Cuba By Mary Murray, NBC News Producer http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/02/15/57534.aspx Staying on top of events is no easy task for the average Cuban. Cuba’s communist government regulates the Internet as a controlled substance. At the same time, the state owns all domestic media outlets – managing 19 newspapers, 20 television stations and 87 radio outlets across the island. But one domestic information source has slipped through the state’s fingers: the traditional word on the street. Cubans even have a name for it: they call it "Radio Bemba." Even though most folks trust it as much, if not more, than what they read in the Communist Party’s "Granma" newspaper, Radio Bemba is just Cuban slang for the rumor mill, the grapevine, street-side chitchat as news. More times than not, some nugget of news rolling along Radio Bemba’s "airwaves" turns out to be right, or at least to contain a grain of truth. ‘I-know-a-guy...’ The rumor mill that makes up Radio Bemba draws some of its energy from Spanish language television originating in the United States and entering thousands of Cuban homes on illegal cable or DIRECTV dishes. The shows that are especially popular are Telemundo’s "Al Rojo Vivo" and Evening News with Pedro Sevcec. Other sources of news and information for Radio Bemba include the I- know-a-guy variety: A few months back, my neighbor, Juan Carlos, warned me to fill up the tank of my car, "I know a guy who says there’s a breakdown at the processing plant --- Gasoline is going to run out by the weekend." He was only partly wrong. The gasoline lasted through the weekend, but ran out on Monday. Another time, a different neighbor reported that the island had lost another top musician to the Florida glitter. "My cousin in Miami told me that he saw Issac Delgado at Publix," referring to a Florida supermarket chain. Also true, and that was at least two weeks before Delgado’s publicist officially announced that the musician had defected to Tampa with a signed album deal. Fueling Radio Bemba is the lack of entertainment news on Cuban TV where programming slants toward science shows, political talking heads and late-night movies. So, for celebrity gossip, Radio Bemba is the only place to go. And, just like in places that do thrive on celebrity news, Radio Bemba is prone to stretching the truth – the juicier, the better. Ask Pedrito Calvo, the former lead singer for Los Van Van, Cuba’s number one dance band. Back in the 1980s, when Calvo was a charismatic sex symbol, rumors circulated that he was infected with HIV. To set the record straight, Calvo recorded a song entitled "El Negro no Tiene Na’" (The Black Guy Doesn’t Have Anything). He even went so far as to drive around town with that phrase painted on the side of his Volkswagen beetle. Often only really source of information But, gossip is only part of the picture. Radio Bemba is also about uncovering news the government aims to repress. Last summer when a deadly outbreak of dengue fever spread across the island and made thousands ill, the government treated the epidemic as a state secret. There were no newspaper articles, no TV or radio reports and no public admissions until the disaster passed. Shortly after the crisis hit, the health ministry mobilized an army of 300,000 to fumigate door-to-door and community-based doctors to check their patients for symptoms. As you can imagine, word spread fast on Radio Bemba. It’s pretty impossible to keep a secret with that many people involved. On a lighter note, Alberto Santiago spends his afternoons in what’s known as "la esquina caliente" (the hot corner) in Havana’s Central Park. Radio Bemba, for Santiago and other baseball fanatics, is a "great source of news on Major League Baseball," which is ignored by the government press. Today, Radio Bemba travels an unofficial path, but its origins lie in Fidel Castro’s rebel army broadcasts from Cuba’s eastern mountains. His transmitters reached only so far, so word of his exploits got passed along by word of mouth. Then and now, Radio Bemba can exaggerate or change the news. But as comedian Carlos Ruiz de la Tejera points out, "It remains one of the most effective means of communication" in Cuba (via Zacharias Liangas, Greece, DXLD) ** DENMARK. Checks here today confirm that Danmarks Radio's longwave transmitter on 243 kHz went silent last night as expected. The last operating Danish MW transmitter - Kalundborg 1062 kHz - is now on its reduced schedule as per the February Communication (Medium Wave Report, page 20). 1062 was carrying navigational warnings at 1706 tune-in until 1716 UT. The transmitter stayed on for a further 10 minutes with a Danish pop music programme, until going off abruptly at 1726 (Dave Kenny, Caversham, UK, Feb 15, BDXC-UK via DXLD) ** FRANCE [and non]. Re 7-020: Hello, More info about the French Overseas Territories. French Polynesia is part of the "Overseas Collectivities" (Collectivité d'Outre Mer). Such as St Pierre & Miquelon, Wallis & Futuna, Mayotte. French Polynesia is an, "Overseas Country" (Pays d'Outre Mer) with high autonomy. Note that New Caledonia is NOT an overseas collectivity, but a "Sui Generis Collectivity" and may be independent by 2014. Note that before the end of 2007, the West Indian islands of St Martin and St Barthelemy will leave the Departement of Guadeloupe to become overseas collectivities. Note also that Martinique, Guadeloupe, Guyane, and Reunion are part of the European Union. More in English at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_overseas_departments_and_territories More in French at: http://www.techno-science.net/?onglet=glossaire&definition=2584 (Christian Ghibaudo, Nice, France, Feb 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. German solar expert Wolfram Hess, DL1RXA SK http://www.southgatearc.org/news/february2007/wolfram_hess.htm DARC --- Many of you - especially those of you who remember the former GDR-station Radio Berlin International (RBI), will connect one name with RBI: The name of Wolfram Hess, DL1RXA (ex Y31NO). He was well known within and beyond the borders of the former German Democratic Republic for the only totally unpolitical program on RBI - the DX-program! Some of you may even know his late DX-Programme in English on the External Service of the re-united Germany Deutsche Welle. It is with great personal sadness that I have today received the message of Wolfram's death. Wolfram was nationally and internationally known for his many studies and results in solar physics and being an outstanding expert in Sun and Ionosphere Weather Reports and forecasts. Often he beat the Boulder, Colorado Institute's solar weather predictions with even greater accuracy. Since the late 50s, one could hear Wolfram's voice on air - on Amateur Radio (ex Y31NO) as well as on broadcasting. Wolfram spoke the English interval signal of the former GDR External Station Radio Berlin International (RBI). On RBI Wolfram produced the only entirely unpolitical programm which continued as 'DX Aktuell' in the re-united German Radio World until Dec 31st, 1993. Thanks to this virtuous and totally fascinating radio program and his tremendous personal motivation, I managed to get my first Amateur Radio Call Sign in June 1993 - the suffix RBI was, without any doubt, an honor and a joy for me to get! Still today, I hold this suffix with pride and respect for Wolfram's deeds. This is also a personal obituary: A very last 55, 73 and 76 as well as a final »dididit dadidah« to you, Wolfram! Wolfram Heß died on February 9th, 2007 at the age of 67 as the result of a stroke. 73s, Dennis DL7RBI DARC International Affairs Committee (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) OBIT > Wolfram spoke the English interval signal of the former > GDR External Station Radio Berlin International (RBI). And much more English narration, in the GDR days even leading to jokes about an omnipresence of PR films with his voice on the Leipzig trade fair ("auf der Leipziger Messe hört man überall nur Hesse"). He had continued this work until now. > On RBI Wolfram produced the only entirely unpolitical > programm which continued as 'DX Aktuell' in the re-united > German Radio World until Dec 31st, 1993. Here I have to disagree. Such programs are not unpolitical, especially in cases were they are supposed to be unpolitical since in those cases many topics will be taboo. I still remember how in 1994 somebody had send in an item about CRI running a competition about Tibet: It made it on air only with a "but beware, this is propaganda" comment. And DX Aktuell continued, as I already mentioned, after the merger of Deutschlandsender Kultur and RIAS to the new Deutschlandradio Berlin until September 1994, with the very last programme being edition #191 on Sep 30. Not even the slot for DX Aktuell did change for these further nine months (Fridays 10-11 PM on 177 kHz, towards the end even expanded by another quarter hour, devoted to satellite broadcasting news that were updated for the repeat on Monday morning). Btw, DX Aktuell was disputed by parts of the German DX / shortwave listeners / whatever-you-may-call-it scene. This dispute is still documented at http://www.asamnet.de/~bienerhj/0177.html In my perception there were lots of unrestricted applause and various statements that the programme is entirely scrap, but almost nothing in between, as far as the shortwave scene is concerned. Towards the end also other people appeared in the followship, and I think it would have been interesting to see the outcome, especially with so much airtime available (75 minutes!). But we will never know, because "such a programme has no place on a cultural station, it is obsolete for all times", as a certain gentleman put it when acting as the station's bloodhound on this matter. If somebody wishes to send condolences: You could mail them to me (or just post them here) for being forwarded to Wolfram's relatives (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Feb 17, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) OBIT ** GREECE. V. of Greece via SVO 11645 had many breaks again, when checked around 0940 UT today. Constant breaks in audio feed, and also multiple breaks on carrier too, latter sometimes only 1/10th second, but extend also to 1/2 second, and few 1 1/2 second duration (Wolfang Büschel, Germany, Feb 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) As some of you may have noticed, the e-mail address for Olympia Radio ERA reception information (radiosva....) was not working. My mistake. It should read shipsva (at) otenet.gr If I may say, they are transmission providers, so in your reception infos, forget the tingle- tangle about nice programming, etc., and give them a technical report about the modulation quality, signal, possible cut-offs in the audio/carrier, you know (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, Feb 16, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Katerina: Your Saturday "Hellenes Around The World" is coming in here very noisily on 17525 with SINPO 35233 with azimuth 105 degrees, 15630 with SINPO 25232 with azimuth 310 degrees, but nothing on 9420 with an azimuth of 323 degrees. Maybe for the A07 broadcasting season they will put your program back on an azimuth in this direction. Are you getting any feedback from the Middle East and Australia, because that is where your program is being presently beamed at 1400-1500 UT? (John Babbis, MD, Feb 17, to ERA via DX LISTENING DIGEST) VOG via SVO Olympia, 15630, Feb 17 at 1522, very weak but could detect no breaks in carrier or modulation. However, others are still reporting this problem at other times on other frequencies (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HONDURAS. Harmonic on 4600.22: see BOLIVIA; guess it`s something from 920 or 1150 (gh, DXLD) ** INDIA. WHAT AILS ALL INDIA RADIO'S TIBETAN SERVICE? Tibetan Review [Friday, February 16, 2007 12:46] By Bhuchung K. Tsering http://www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx?article=What+Ails+All+India+Radio's+Tibetan+Service%3F&id=15603 It is a fact that the majority of Tibetans, whether inside Tibet or resettled in different parts of the world, have a close feeling towards India. Historically, India is Phakyul (the Land of the Arhats) that has provided us Tibetans with our spiritual heritage, which we moulded through the years to form the fundamental basis of our distinct identity today. If we look at the contemporary period, it is India that came to the rescue of the Tibetan people and provided us with the foundation for the preservation of our religion and culture, following the Chinese incursion into Tibet. Above all, Tibetans of today, whether living in Beijing, Lithang, Lhasa or Labrang, have a deep sense of gratitude to India for providing sanctuary to our revered leader, His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Like the rest of my country cousins, it is through the kindness of India that I am what I am today. India provided His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan leadership the space, resource and the encouragement not only to look after the socio-economic welfare of our people, but also to educate the Tibetan children to be prepared for the future. Having said that I sometimes wonder how united India's administrative machinery is in its diversity. There seems to be a lack of coordination and the engendering of a perception that the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing or intends to do, leading to conflict of priorities and difference in approach. A case in point at the microscopic level is the state of affairs at the Tibetan service of All India Radio (AIR). This station that played a crucial role in enlightening the Tibetan people and the Tibetan-speaking community in the Himalayan region, and in the promotion of India's strategic interest since the late 1950s is today on the verge of disappearance. According to people who know the situation things have reached such a stage that there is not even one permanent broadcaster/journalist at the AIR Tibetan service. All the permanent staff members have retired with no one having been appointed to replace them. The programs are now produced by some retired people working as "casual artistes." Under such circumstances the service cannot produce effective programs nor have long-term plans. The Tibetan service is part of All India Radio's External Services Division. AIR itself was established during the period of British India and is run by the Indian Government. It has been a very effective tool in the promotion of India's national interest while also becoming a strong vehicle for information for the vast majority of the Indian people. Channels of information dissemination have always been seen as an integral, if not fundamental, vehicle for command & control, whether it is a movement, an organization or a country. That is why one of the first steps of any movement or struggle is the setting up of mass communication avenues, be it radio stations, TVs, or newspapers. For example, Gandhiji started Indian Opinion newspaper to promote his movement in India. The Americans started Radio Martí in its campaign against the Castro regime in Cuba and the Chinese Government started a special program for "Tibetan brethren in Foreign Countries" on Chinese radio, specifically aimed at the Tibetans in diaspora. The Tibetan newspaper, Tibetan Freedom, that was started in Darjeeling, India, in the post 1959 period, too, may have had similar objectives. Today, if we look at governmental initiatives we can see that many countries are moulding their external publicity to fulfill short-term and long term strategic interests. Voice of America continues to alter and develop its foreign language services to meet the objectives of the United States. Today, there is an obvious emphasis, including resources, placed on broadcast to Islamic countries. Over the years, even China has sharpened its external publicity, particularly its radio stations. Even if the Indian policy makers may not listen to China Radio International, a mere look at its Hindi service website would be a pointer to China's priorities. When did we last hear of AIR's Chinese- language service? [for starters, China jams it --- gh] Observers of India should certainly be intrigued by the seemingly lackadaisical approach towards the Tibetan service of All India Radio. A cursory look showed that the problem could be specific to the Tibetan service as well as to the overall approach to the External Services Division. It cannot be that AIR is not able to find capable and qualified Tibetan-speaking individuals who could work for the Tibetan service. Could it be that the neglect of the Tibetan service reflects a shift in India's strategic interests? One cannot imagine this happening, no matter what the status of India-China relations is or how the future of Tibet will shape up. The state of disarray may be more to do with how AIR's External Services Division is administered. Although the aim of this division is to promote Indian interest abroad its action plan is controlled, not by the Ministry of External Affairs, but by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, through a corporation known as Prasar Bharati. Indian observers have noted this anomaly as well as the lack of development of the External Services Division as a whole. Coming back to the Tibetan service, unless remedial measures are undertaken the program may at best become warped into a comatose one, with no relevance. The time has come for the Indian powers-that-be to take a policy decision. If the Tibetan service fulfills India's strategic broadcasting needs, the unit needs to be activated and developed. If the feeling is that the Tibetan service has outlived its utility, just close it down. Left as it is, it is a waste of scarce resources and, more importantly, not in the overall interest of India (via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, DXLD) ** INDONESIA. Monitoring list on Mid Feb. 07 by A. Ishida http://wave.ap.teacup.com/n1hp/html/sw070214.pdf (S. Hasegawa, NDXC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Excellent reference! ** INDONESIA. 11784.88 --- As reported on German NG A-DX tonight: After a long period using v15150 and v9526, Voice of Indonesia Jakarta Cimanggis now noted on [measured with E1 radio by y.t.] 11784.88 tonight. Just heard French service here at 1900-2000 UT. Reinhold Schuttkowski noted Spanish at 1721. Felix Lechte and Jan Balzer observed German at 1800 UT. English should follow at 2000-2100 UT. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Feb 17, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, 9526v was missing Feb 17 before and after 1500 with its usual open carrier (gh, OK, DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. Right, it's in there. Sirius confirmed to me that the new contract was just concluded. However, as with C-SPAN, Sirius demanded preemption rights. C-SPAN said no and went their own way; WRN said yes it appears and is still on the system but as a secondary channel (John Figliozzi, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Important notice for listeners to WRN in North America on Sirius WRN on the Sirius platform is now playing host to sporting events from the NCAA, NBA and NHL during certain evenings and weekends. These changes only affect the Sirius platform and not those who listen via the Galaxy 25 satellite (formerly Intelsat Americas 5) or any of the FM relays across North America (WRN Newsletter Feb 16 via DXLD) And that`s all they have to say about it. Unlike frustrated listeners: Someone on the Sirius Backstage web site posted this interesting comment: "The irony is that both Sirius, and XM are marketing to a generation that is able to choose its own programming via I-pod and such, and who have a finite amount of disposable income. Concurrently, they are abandoning the very people who are accustomed to paying for radio, e.g. NPR supporters, and shortwave listeners. Thirteen dollars per month is not an excess to me if I can turn on Sirius and choose between Car Talk, Euroquest, Deutsche Welle, Radio Prague, This American Life, or Egads a replay of ALL the Sunday News magazines on C-Span. If I stay tuned, I can even listen to Prime Minister's Questions. Sirius should have learned from the Stern fiasco. His fans knew for years that he was moving to Sirius. He gave out free radios. He did everything he could to promote the service and to bring his listeners with him. Yet, only a small percentage of his purportedly devoted fans made the commitment to "pay radio". Some people just won't pay a monthly fee for radio. Conversely, many NPR listeners have long supported local member stations, just as those who enjoy international broadcasts have spent large sums of cash on specialized radios to listen to Radio China in the dead of night through a whistling heterodyne. These are the people that will pay for radio, without hesitation, if the content is anywhere close to being appealing and convenient. If picking podcasts of desired content becomes more convenient to these people, they will dump Sirius rather quickly. I like Sinatra. I Like Spa 73, 70's, and Starlite. I will even listen to Howard Stern in small doses. However, I wouldn't be spending a monthly fee for a jukebox that I cannot program. Apparently, most of those in their 20's and 30's won't either." (via John Figliozzi, Swprograms mailing list via DXLD) On WRN Sirius 140 Tonight! --- Sirius is running audio tape of television coverage of a ski race from December instead of regular World Radio Network programming tonight. This has prompted a little sarcasm mixed with the frustration and disappointment that has recently characterized the satellite radio sounding board discussions online. Here's a typical comment: "I agree with everyone here. It's bad enough that now WRN is being preempted for live sports, but for skiing from December? Smart move Sirius, that's sure to bring the subscribers rolling in! What's next, horseshoes from the Iowa State Fair in 1987? I could live with WRN being replaced occasionally for sports but it's apparent by the sports listings that channel 140 is going to be preempted every night as well as on the weekends. Not only that, but prepare to lose 10 non- music channels every time there is a NASCAR race. Can't wait until the NFL starts up again - between football and Nascar there won't be a single non-music channel left on Sundays. I just voiced my complaints to Sirius and I hope everyone who's upset does the same. If enough people complain maybe something will happen (I know it's a longshot). Now if you'll all excuse me I've got to get back to channel 140 - there's a chicken tossing contest starting!" (via John Figliozzi, Swprograms mailing list, via DXLD) I wonder if Friday night is a big shopping night for young lads, who might be a satellite radio if there was enough sports on . . . ? ef (Eric Flodén, Cynicism Corners, BC, ibid.) ** IRAN [non]. Re 7-020: UCRANIA. Hoy 16 de Febrero a las 1855 se observa que Radio Zamaneh está emitiendo otra vez por los 6245; cuando son las 1905 no se observa ninguna transmisión por los 7590 (José Miguel Romero, Spain, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Como aconteció ayer (gh) ** ISLE OF MAN. 279 kHz: comments published by Hans Knot in Holland: A lot of rumours are going round about the Music Mann project, the long planned long wave radio station on the Isle of Man. Two of the people involved I asked for comments and till now no answer from Paul Alexander Rusling. Here’s what Rodney Collins wrote me: ‘Hi Hans, I resigned from the Board on December 08 and I am told Paul resigned at the beginning of January. Paul, as the CEO, can tell you more, but I can say that I left as the Board were unable to make progress with the project because of difficulties with certain shareholders. Rodney Collins’ Thanks Rodney. And just a day later we got an e mail from Paul Rusling, who we also asked about the project: Maybe now everybody will stop writing about it, and give the people who are still working on it a chance to get the work done, unmolested by crazy internet stories!!! The internet stories did cause us a lot of problems last year and resulted in two investors walking away, scared of stories about the aerial, or that LW was too old fashioned. As you know, I believe that it is programme content which attracts listeners, not the hifi quality of transmissions. There are some other reasons why IMIB is becalmed - the professional radio people in the IMIB team (for example, myself and Rodney Collins, but several others too) did not want to launch without enough money to operate properly for at least 6 to 9 months, and pay people proper wages. I have always ensured that everyone who worked under me got paid and none were ever put in danger from low standards - those are two principles that I won't compromise on. Some folk in IMIB want to launch very cheaply (we call it "on a shoestring" in England) and I could see that this could create a huge problem. Caroline has already tried all those cheap blagging tricks, I was there with some of the biggest blaggers of all time (and I say that with the greatest respect, I admire what they managed to achieve in the face of adversity). IMIB however is a legal radio station and must be operated under the strict terms of its licences - not just broadcast permits, but various maritime regulations too. The classification society have written up formal conditions to "ensure safe operation of a radio ship transmitting while at sea". I regards that as a major achievement, but it does mean you cannot do things cheaply. When you are licensed and fully authorised, you cannot duck and dive from responsibilities - life is too short for too many capers like that. It’s maybe OK if your team are young with no responsibilities - but my team are mostly mature and have things like mortgages, car payments, children and especially wives to keep. None of us can live on fresh fish alone - well, not for very long! For the record, I did not receive any salary or my expenses from IMIB for many years, and instead, like many others, was feeding money into the IMIB company to keep it alive. To continue dialogue with investors you need to go to meetings, make presentations, submit documentation, pay the bills of lawyers and accountants while they make their due diligence investigations. And still pay annual registration fees, the cost of offices, telephones, travelling - etc, etc. For me this all became too much expense and, after a long discussion with my wife, I stepped down from the Board over a month ago in order to press on with other work. I'm now in Melbourne Florida working on developing a type of antenna. I remain a shareholder in IMIB and wish the project well - the new Board know that if I can be of help then I shall be, but I couldn't continue being the public face of IMIB when I didn't agree with the stance being taken over investment and the cost, which impact on operational style and might jeopardise the huge potential that I believe is inherent in the LW279 project. Here we have a relatively cheap to launch totally legal free radio station, from a ship at sea. All possible tomorrow, it just needs a bit more cash (£1,800,000 is needed - that will guarantee operation at 250 KW for a year.) Guys - please start buying lottery tickets (I’m in the Florida Lottery the last few weeks - a $32m rollover at the moment!) Thanks a lot Paul Rusling and I hope it’s clear now for those who were asking us frequently what is going on with the project (MWC via DXLD) ** ISRAEL. 0855 UT 12/2, 6972.3 // 15784.0 kHz, GALEI ZAHAL - Tel Aviv (Israele), Ebraico, tk OM e mx locale melodica. Segnale sufficiente - buono. Forse trasmette 24 ore su 24 su entrambe le frequenze? (Luca Botto Fiora, Italy, playdx yg via DXLD) Ultimamente accade molto spesso (Robert Scalgione, Sicily, ibid.) ** JORDAN. 11690, R. Jordan, 1707-1729* Feb 10, tune-in to English news to 1715; ID, 1715 techno-pop dance music. 1729 abruptly pulled plug mid-song; very good (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LATVIA. 9290, R. Six International via Ulbroka, 0720-0740+ Sat Feb 10, pop music, IDs, jingles. Acknowledged listeners` reports. Weak but readable. 9290, Latvia Today, via Ulbroka, 1347-1400* Sun Feb 11, tune-in to English talk about Latvia, 1358 pop music. Poor, weak in noise; reception too poor to catch any further program details (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LUXEMBOURG [and non]. This thread, German-language http://forum.mysnip.de/read.php?8773,479251 also discusses in passing that the RTL relays via T-Systems transmitters (Nauen, Wertachtal) were cancelled. So the English- language "Radio Luxembourg" is a mere webcast at present: http://www.radioluxembourg.co.uk (Kai Ludwig, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Radio Luxembourg --- Interesting thread on uk-radio@yahoogroups.com today from Eric Wiltsher: "...Since 1992, many approached CLT to re-start Luxy - I'm of the opinion I saw nearly all the paperwork submitted by various groups. The level of success varied tremendously. Some projects died very quickly as they wanted to just take over the name. In the project I fronted, the investors opted for a joint-venture with CLT. We even got to the stage of Luxembourg Government approval and the required license changes to re-launch. At that point everything came to a grinding halt. Not that I am suggesting there is a coincidence, but very shortly after the non-Disclosure Contracts ran out it was announced that CLT would re-launch the service itself. Whilst this certainly isn't new news, you can find out more on the CLT web site - in fact there was a video presentation there somewhere for a while. I guess the only pleasing thing for those that tried to re-launch Luxy when it had a chance on AM, which is certainly wouldn't have today and hence the sensible digital route by CLT, is that they have all moved on to other projects. As one who worked there ahead of closure, being mentioned in the close down speech and thanked, I always felt that a pan-European radio station was a great idea. Hence after the aborted attempts to work with CLT I looked for another opportunity to create a pan-European station. Therefore, you will understand why, if you had been at the launch, I had a rather large grin on my face a couple of years back when we launched RTI - Radio Tatras International, *Station Of The Stars* TM. BTW, that was before CLT came out with the re-launched Luxy. Hope that helps explain for you. Regards, Eric N Wiltsher, http://www.rti.fm Station News http://radiotatrasinternational.blogspot.com/ (via Mike Terry, mwdx yg via DXLD) ** MEXICO. 9599.26, XEYU, R. Universidad, Mexico City, 0930-1015+ Feb 9, continuous classical music. Short Spanish announcement with ``Radio Universidad`` ID at 0957; fair. Also on exactly same frequency, 2300-2315+ Feb 10; good at tune-in with Spanish talk. 2303 ``Radio UNAM`` ID. 2306 Spanish talk along with short breaks of classical music. Wiped out by a strong Vatican Radio at their *2311 on 9600 (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) XEYU, 9599.2, 0628 Feb 16, again audible after midnight local, with church chanting at first like a mass but then morphing into something less conventional. Modulation distorted and cutting out, but signal at 15 over S9; however at 0636 a quick fadeout or cutoff. Also good signal of 12 over S9 Feb 17 at 1536 with percussion, rap (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) XEYU, Radio Universidad, Mexico City sterk op 9599.25, with classical music, time 0915, SINPO 44444 Gr (Maurits uit Belgie Driessche, Feb 17, BDX via DXLD) [Re stepping up power]: Ojalá, Julián. Acá, hasta hace no demasiado tiempo atrás, era habitual escuchar a Radio Educación, del Distrito Federal. Hasta mediados de los 90 se podía captar incluso a Radio Mil (impensable actualmente) 73 (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, condig list via DXLD) Arnaldo: confío en que Radio UNAM pronto transmita con mayor potencia. Al margen de chauvinismos considero que escuchar la voz de la universidad que fué considerada la número uno de Iberoamérica y 71 del mundo por el diario Times de Londres este año es algo que vale la pena. Quizá con 10 kW se coloque Radio UNAM como la emisora universitaria número uno en el mundo ¿o sabes de alguna otra emisora universitaria que emita en FM, onda media, corta e internet? En cuanto a Radio Educación te diré que está siendo totalmente tapada por esa emisora itinerante llamada Radio República; espero los buenos oficios de la HFCC para corregir esto y nuevamente Radio Educación se escuche, incluso aquí en México no se escucha, ya que la potencia de Radio República es mucha. En cuanto a Radio Mil me tocas un tema doloroso para mí, desde que apareció la "pacifista" Voz de Tu Conciencia de Colombia, el proyecto de nuestro programa DX y los muy escazos informes recibidos detuvieron desde hace casi 4 años el desarrollo de Radio Mil onda corta. Por mas que se les ha pedido a un tal Rusell Martin Stendal, han seguido y poco les importa; es un cinísmo mayúsculo de estas personas de esa emisora que dice llevar el "mensaje de paz de cristo" (vaya forma). Y como esta emisora no está inscrita en la HFCC, pues no hay manera de pedirles se retiren de los 6010 kHz amparados en las leyes colombianas (siendo que la radio de onda corta es internacional). A pesar de esto Radio Mil sigue al aire como lo hace desde hace mas de 50 años. Esperemos, Arnaldo, que este sea un buen año para la onda corta mexicana. Saludos, (Julián Santiago Díez de Bonilla, DF, Feb 15, condig list via DXLD) ** MEXICO. Following is about the notorious situation across the border from San Diego, two stations with the same calls, operating on two different frequencies, which has been discussed at some length here before in English. They finally got busted by the Mex feds (gh, DXLD) MÉXICO: SACAN DEL AIRE 4 ESTACIONES DE RADIO fuente: http://www.ensenada.net/noticias/?id=9661 La tarde de este jueves salieron del aire tres estaciones de radio del grupo Musicadena, las cuales son 92.1 FM La primera, 920 la tremenda, 1030 Radio Palabra y Central Catorce cincuenta, estas tres últimas de AM amplitud modulada. Las versiones extraoficiales en torno a la suspensión de transmisiones señalan que fue una disposición de la Secretaria de Gobernación, ya que desde hace tiempo se investigaba una presunta situación irregular en la operación de estas cuatro estaciones ya que se hablaba de que se estaban duplicando las frecuencias. Al respecto la delegación Ensenada del sindicato de trabajadores de Radio y Televisión había solicitado desde octubre del 2005 una investigación al Senado de la Republica y a la Secretaria de Comunicaciones y transportes para que se revisara la manera en que operaban estas estaciones. Hasta el momento los directivos de esas estaciones en Ensenada no han podido ser localizados y la versión que se dio a los empleados es que se trataba de un problema técnico. Sin embargo técnicos especialistas en el tema aseguraron que esto es imposible a menos que hubiera un apagón ya que los transmisores se ubican en sitios diferentes de la ciudad. El hecho por el momento es que las cuatro estaciones de radio, una de FM y 3 de AM estaban fuera del aire desde la tarde de éste jueves y las versiones extraoficiales del personal y del sindicato es que obedeció a una suspensión procedente de la Secretaria de Gobernación. Los antecedentes se remiten al 2005 cuando el Secretario General de la STIRT Enrique Larios, Secretario indicó que se habia presentado una situación irregular ya que con cuatro estaciones y frecuencias, la firma propiedad de de Jaime Bonilla Operaba con ocho frecuencias para duplicar las frecuencias de la estación pero con distinto formato. Con lo que violaba ley de Comunicaciones y Transportes del país al trasmitir en Tijuana y Ensenada cuatro radiodifusoras, las tres de Ensenada de Media Sport y una mas de Tecate. De acuerdo al líder Sindical eran permisos y concesiones que da la SCT y que debían tener el visto bueno de Gobernación, ya que de estarlo haciendo de forma irregular es un delito donde además la firma perdería de manera automática la concesión. Por Elizabeth Vargas -- (via Gustavo Fernando Durán, http://www.flickr.com/photos/trekman Santa Fe, Argentina Feb 16, condig list via DXLD) Somebody must've been late with their la mordida payment! (Harry Helms W5HLH, Smithville, TX EL19, ABDX via DXLD) XESDD-620, XESDD-1030 and XESS-1450, which were shut down by SCT this past Thursday ... I'll keep them in the log, of course, given the fluidity of the situation in Mexican Radio. Note that I was unaware that XESDD-1030 had become "Radio Palabra," apparently missing references to the format change. I vaguely recall one of us mentioning religious programming here (or am I imagining things?). See http://www.elvigia.net (John Callarman, Krum TX, Feb 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: ASEGURAN QUE SE TRATA DE UN CAMBIO DE FRECUENCIAS NIEGAN “DESENCHUFE” EN ESTACIONES DE RADIO Enrique Larios García, representante sindical, declaró que dichos cambios no ponen en riesgo la posible supresión de plazas http://www.elvigia.net/noticias/?seccion=generales&id=33084 Cambian de formato y frecuencia las estaciones de Musicadena. Por Benjamín Pacheco 2007-02-16 00:00:00 Ensenada, B.C. - La “salida del aire” de cuatro estaciones de radio del puerto de Ensenada fue en realidad un cambio de frecuencia y su personal no perderá el empleo, aclararon el gerente de Musicadena y el secretario general del Sindicato de Trabajadores de la Industria de la Radio y Televisión (Stirt). Armando Ayala Robles, ejecutivo del consorcio radiofónico declaró este viernes que los cambios que percibió el auditorio fueron en realidad autorizaciones para transmitir en otras frecuencias. También que fue sólo en tres estaciones y no en cuatro, como se difundió en un principio. Los cambios de frecuencia son: 1450 AM pasa a 620 AM; 920 AM a 1030 AM; y 92.1 FM a 105.7 FM. Estableció que fue a raíz de una solicitud a la Secretaría de Comunicaciones y Transportes (SCT), para aumentar la potencia de las concesiones XESS 1450, XESDD La Tremenda 920, y XHBCE 92.1 FM. Ayala Robles aseguró que continuarán transmitiendo en un formato “implementado” y transmitiendo desde las ciudades de Tijuana, San Diego, Rosarito y Ensenada. El objetivo es hacer una emisora fronteriza en lugar de una emisión local, aseguró. Enrique Larios García, representante sindical, declaró que dichos cambios no ponen en riesgo la posible supresión de plazas en las estaciones. Actualmente tienen 16 empleados y el de mayor antigüedad es de 20 años, dijo. El dirigente del Stirt remarcó que están sin temor absoluto de que desaparezcan lugares de trabajo. El jueves 15 de febrero, a las 17:30 horas, las frecuencias no pudieron ser sintonizadas; los directivos no pudieron ser localizados en su momento para dar explicaciones. Trascendió entre comunicadores y especialistas que fueron suspendidas las señales del Grupo Musicadena Radio y Televisión, porque sus concesionarios presuntamente duplicaron sus frecuencias. Conforme a una investigación elaborada por El Vigía, los radioescuchas sintonizaron este viernes lo siguiente: -La frecuencia 620 AM, donde se supone que debía trasmitir la 1450, no tuvo señal. -La frecuencia 920 AM, que debía ser transmitida a través de la 1030 AM, tiene señal y origen de programación de la ciudad de Tijuana. -En el 105.7 FM, donde debía de estar la programación de 92.1 FM, se escuchó una transmisión en inglés. Lo que se quedó “en el aire” --- Los cambios de los cuales no fueron notificados [a] los radioescuchas son los siguientes: 1450 AM a 620 AM, 920 AM a 1030 AM, 92.1 FM a 105.7 FM (El Vigía, Ensenada BCN, via DXLD) ** NEPAL. FM Competition, not Monopoly --- Soon there will be more than 136 FM radio stations in Nepal. And there are already concerns about media monopoly. ARJUN BANJADE says competition, not monopoly, is key. Radio broadcasting in Nepal is one of the major sectors that has experienced enormous democratic upheavals and changes in recent years. Following the Jana Andolan II, Nepali radio stations, which will soon number more than a hundred, are operating in a freer and fairer environment, once again. . . http://www.nepalmonitor.com/2007/02/fm_competition_not_m.html (via Alokesh Gupta, India, DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS. SPECIAL DX BROADCAST FROM CUPIDRADIO ON 15070 Hello radio friends, Saturday 17 Feb we have planned a special DX broadcast for Canada and the USA starting with the program at 1400 till 1600 UT on 15070 kHz. I know we are at the bottom of the sunspot cycle, but we try it anyway and see what happens; let`s hope for some good propagation. Listeners, if you receive us, please drop us a line at cupidradio @ hotmail.com 0031-610544700 For this special programme we got 3 QSL cards waiting for you; also want to say my best greeting to some guys that have helped me set up the DX special Gilles in Montreal, Canada Marcel and Eric in France I hope we meet on the airwaves. 73`s, my friends (Rinus, Cupidradio, P O Box 9, 8096 ZG Oldebroek, Netherlands, HCDX via DXLD) Audible here with Cupid Radio ID's at 1418. Frequency is about 15070.08. 2/17/07 (Steve Lare, Holland, MI, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. Looked for the Cupid Radio transmission to NAm, Sat Feb 17 at 1526 on 15070 but could not hear anything; however, at 1532 there was 2-way SSB in Spanish on 15071. At least I recognized a few Spanish phrases and `cambio` but the rest of it was incomprehensible (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) European Pirate** 15070, Cupid Radio/Radio White Snake, 1540 Feb 17, Joint broadcast of Cupid Radio and Radio White Snake. Greetings to listeners in North America. Multiple IDs and contact info. Most of the music I didn't know, but I did recognize a remake of "I think we're alone now" played at 1600. Reception was mostly poor with fair peaks, but around 1640 the signal improved and peaked around s7 to s8, then after 5 or 10 minutes back down to poor again (David Hodgson, TN, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NICARAGUA. Re 7-020, UNID on 2140: Hi Harold, Sounds like Radio Chontaleña, Nicaragua; see item in DXLD 7-004. 73, (Glenn to Harold Frodge, via DXLD) Gracias, I've heard them several times since, but not nearly as well as that one time (Harold Frodge, MI, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Also reported in 7-001, with a sign-off at 0000; location, Santo Tomás, Chontales (gh) ** OKLAHOMA. The new old faces on the Oklahoma News Report from OETA are mixing it up. It was T/T for Angela Buckelew and M/W/F for George Tomek, each sharing anchoring with Gerry Bonds, but this week Angela & George were to be seen together, and another ex-commercial reporter, from KFOR, Quin Tranh (sp?) has also shown up as an OETA anchor; UT Sat it was she and Tomek. Quin is not yet on the staff list at http://www.oeta.onenet.net/news/index.php Maybe they are just switching around to cover time off or vacations (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I caught a minute of OETA on Feb 13th, and lo and behold, I believe I saw Quin Tran (former KFOR reporter) doing some anchoring?! How many others are on this show that I don't know about? I was also struck by the elegant clarity of the weather graphics. No theatrics, just good old-fashioned data. OMG, what a concept! No computer furniture taking up 30% of the screen, no weatherman hogging the shot, just data (Drumsncode, Feb 14, okctalk.com via DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA. CRAIG BEEBY ANNOUNCES DEPARTURE FROM KOSU Oklahoma Public Radio KOSU Director and General Manager Craig Beeby will retire from Oklahoma State University in June. He has accepted a national position as Executive Director of the University:Station Alliance (U:SA). Beeby has substantial broadcast experience at the state, national, and international levels. This experience will serve him well as head of the national grassroots initiative. Beeby is the current President of the U:SA and has been working with the organization, on a volunteer basis, as the president since February of 2001. . . http://www.kosu.org/index.html (via KOSU newsletter via DXLD) Item will probably be moved to: http://www.kosu.org/news.html ** OKLAHOMA. For those still needing KGYN-1210, they appear to be on day power/pattern 2245 CDT 15 FEB 07 with C&W music, very strong in Tulsa (Bruce Winkelman AA5CO Tulsa, OK, ABDX via DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA. Re: 107.1 is off the air --- I figure that the transmitter has/had to be somewhere around the Super Cao market just off of Classen. First time I picked up the signal was when I was tuning across the dial in the parking lot of the Classen Taco Mayo. I've managed a listenable signal all the way to SW 44th and Council. I wouldn't doubt that they've been taken down, although there have been short-term outages with the station before. Figure that they could move that transmitter around - pretty much all you need is a power source, a disposable laptop, a WiFi card, and a decent open wireless Internet connection to run a remote pirate anymore (torchit, Feb 8, radio-info.com OK board via DXLD) Tracked it down before; it came from 1211 NW 31 St (Givers, ibid.) FCC Did Shutdown 107.1 --- FCC is currently in town visiting stations, taking readings and looking for pirates. In their investigating they did indeed shut down the 107.1 FM Frequency on the north side of town [OKC]. A Little Birdie Told Me So. I also learned that they did confiscate their transmission equipment (sumrzz, Feb 16, radio- info.com OK board via DXLD) Nice. I wonder how long it will be before they get new equipment (Givers, ibid.) ** PARAGUAY. 840, ZP6, R. Guairá does shift frequencies, at times, in order to avoid interference with Rádio Bandeirantes, in São Paulo. The shift is 835/840 kHz. 890, ZP33 R. 3 de Febrero, Itá, can shift frequencies, in order to avoid interference with Rádio Gazeta, São Paulo. The shift is 885/890 kHz. I do not think that they presently use the shifting capability. 1300, New station in Asunción. It has yet to announce the name and ZP. (Adán Mur, ARC SOUTH AMERICAN NEWS DESK Feb 2007, edited by Tore B. Vik, Norway via Tore Larsson, ARC, DXLD) ** PERU. R. Visión, 4790 [did not measure the offset], Feb 17 at 0558 amid pentecostal service, using that word, giving a website including lacosecha.org but could not catch all of it, and ID for R. Moderna, 930 in Lima, and another station in Chiclayo, but I could not catch the name and it may have been something else, on MW. Fair reception with constant CODAR swishes (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. Estimados amigos de PLAYDX, soy el lc. Carlos Gamarra Moscoso, director de frecuencias de Radio La Hora, Cusco Perú, para hacerle de conocimiento con mucha alegría que desde hoy sábado 17 de febrero a las 18 (hora local) el departamento técnico de esta emisora con don Edmundo Montesinos a la cabeza ha repuesto la señal internacional en la onda corta 4855 kHz después de haber sufrido serios daños nuestro trasmisor, pero gracias a los reclamos de oyentes de Puno, Madre de Dios, Apurímac hasta de Junín y Ancash, se hizo los esfuerzos económicos grandes para volverlo operativo el trasmisor. Le informo que ahora R. La Hora trabajará en forma simultánea AM-FM y OC de 5 am a 11 am hrs y de 17 a 19 hrs de lunes a sábado. Quiero informar a los DX del mundo que estamos listos para enviarles nuestras QSLes y banderines de Radio La Hora. Le informo también que en una semana más, R. Universal de Cusco volverá a su onda corta en 49m; también tuvo problemas con las descargas eléctricas. Una vez más le pido por favor que nos envíen con mucha prontitud los informes de recepción. Cordiales DX, Carlos Gamarra, Director de frecuencias adalidcusco @ hotmail.com (via Dario Monferini, Italy, 1441 UT Feb 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Good news that R. La Hora is back on SW 4855; last report from Gamarra was that it would take 2 or 3 months to return. Strange thing is, he says it has returned to the air as of 18 local time (23 UT) Feb 17, which is well in the future since this was sent to us more than 8 hours earlier! The schedule is in UT: 10-16 and 22-24 Mon-Sat. He also says that R. Universal will return to SW in a week. WTFK??? WRTH 07 lists on 6090, R. Universal, Santa Mónica, Cusco. This one is rarely reported (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PUERTO RICO. 940, WIPR San Juan FEB 16 0725 - Continuous 1 kHz tone, under CINW and WNRG. This has been noted after 0430 for a couple weeks now. WIPR testing new transmitter site? (Bruce Conti, Nashua NH; R8B, MWDX-5, 15 x 23-m terminated corner-fed broadband loops east and south, NRC International DX Digest via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. Can’t get VOR on the west coast very well — can you ask them to improve? More relevant than ever to listen. tk (Tina Fenton? Feb 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Well, they are trying, with several frequencies beamed in from DVR, FE Russia, currently per EiBi, and with azimuths added from HFCC: 02-04 60 15425p, 60 13665p, 04-05 70 12030p, 35 12010ka, 04-06 50 7255v, 70 9840p. P = Petropavlovsk Kamchatskiy, ka = Komsomol`sk na Amure, v = Vladivostok. Have you tried all of these? Of course, they couldn`t do better than hire relay time on a N or SAm transmitter (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. Sabbath broadcast of Brother Scare on 17810 via Guiana French did not come off: Feb 17 at 1520 and still at 1538, nothing but a big open carrier, hum. Meanwhile the service was on WWRB 9385 as usual, tho some speaker other than BS when I checked (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TUNISIA. 963 kHz is a cultural channel identifying as "Idha'at al Thakafiya" according to Mauno Ritola (via Bengt Ericson, ARC Information Desk 15 Jan via editor Olle Alm, 16 Feb, DXLD) ** U K [non]. ENGLAND: BBC 9480 at 2115 with Caribbean Report. Strong signal and clear. Not an unusual catch but I hope they don't change this transmission like they will the morning one. It's actually a very good program with lots of info Americans don't hear otherwise (Liz Cameron, Metro Detroit, MI, Feb 16, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) via WHRI See also this German-language discussion: http://forum.mysnip.de/read.php?8773,479251 Two days ago another DRM outlet of BBC WS appeared, running until 1500 on 9480 [surely not WHRI at that hour; in fact, would QRM KAIJ], then switching to 7485. This morning it was on 7335 instead. The whole test appears to be Geheime Kommandosache (Kai Ludwig, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. SILENCE OF AMERICA --- CUTTING THE VOA'S PRESENCE IN MR. PUTIN'S NEIGHBORHOOD --- Friday, February 16, 2007; Page A22 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/15/AR2007021501583.html?referrer=emailarticle FOR DECADES, the Voice of America and its sister broadcasting organizations offered a remarkably balanced alternative to state- controlled media all over the world, buoying dissident movements and undermining anti-American dictatorships for a relatively small investment. Soviet citizens even learned how to reconfigure their radios to break through the jamming signals their government used to interrupt VOA and British Broadcasting Corp. programming. Now, with Russian President Vladimir Putin bullying his neighbors, manipulating the Russian media and throwing increasingly audacious anti-American tantrums, one would think U.S. policymakers would have the sense at least to maintain relatively modest VOA operations in and around the Russian Federation. Yet President Bush's recently released 2008 budget proposal does just the opposite, cutting VOA programming for a range of post-Soviet states to finance programming expansion in other areas of the world. The White House's proposed reprioritization of VOA broadcasting moves money out of operations aimed at the large and largely Muslim country of Uzbekistan. Broadcasting into neighboring Kazakhstan is also being cut. The citizens of both countries live under illiberal regimes, and Uzbekistan's brutal dictatorship is of the sort that incubates religious fundamentalism and anti-Americanism. Voice of America's half-hour of radio and half-hour of television programming in Uzbek, says a VOA staff member, provide about the only direct contact Uzbeks have with the United States and the only unvarnished news in the region. Meanwhile, the highly controlled Russian media beam their often misleading programming in with ease. Mr. Bush's budget also proposes reductions in Ukrainian-language VOA programming to serve a country struggling to Westernize in the shadow of Mr. Putin's increasingly lawless regime. Mr. Bush should be eager to encourage democratic forces in Ukraine, as well as in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, not further limit their sources of information about the United States. The price of such programs is so low that federal financial constraints are hardly an excuse to kill them; a relatively tiny increase in the VOA's budget would make a world of difference. (Washington Post editorial, via David Cole, OK, Mike Cooper, GA, DXLD) ** U S A. WBOH obnoxiously clear on 5919.61 at 1945. // WTJC on 9369.76. With all the money these stations must surely get, I'm surprised that they're not on frequency and as of late, more consistent. At my QTH, they're both barely audible at night, which I guess is not a big deal (Liz Cameron, Metro Detroit, MI, Feb 16, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. No signal on 7385 around 1428 Feb 17; WRMI off the air? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. The Shortwave Report, by Dan Roberts, is really in a rut; over the past month, and I think long before that, only 4 stations are ever featured, RN, CRI, RHC and VOR. The order may differ or there may only 3 of them some weeks, but aren`t there some other stations which would broaden the perspective of the show? I spot-checked the latest edition for Feb 16. The first three were obviously recorded off SW broadcasts, featuring selective fading distortion, but the fourth one, from VOR, sounded like a webcast, with those tinny artifacts you sometimes get on a WM player, altho it too was considerably distorted, but it was not the kind associated with SW fading. If he`s really trying to promote SWLing, then everything should be recorded off SW, even if you can get better quality on a webcast, and with almost every station, let`s face it, that is now the case. But if it is a webcast, he should say so. If I am mistaken, and VOR really was recorded off SW, he should also say so, with time, date, and frequency, and my critique will be limited to the rut he`s in. I do applaud the show and the concept, and it`s like something I once did before specializing in WORLD OF RADIO, news about SW and other media, rather than replaying such broadcasts. Last time I brought this up in 6-101, I never got a reply tho there was a follow-up in 6-104. See also RUSSIA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. If you want to be on WGN's DXer page, this is the place to go to let them know you are listening from far away: http://wgnradio.com/special/world/world.htm (Kevin Redding, AZ, ABDX via DXLD) {lots of spaces to fill in} ** U S A. KMTI 650 kHz Manti, UT Maintenance Test Date(s): Monday Morning (Late Sunday Night) March 19, 2007 Time: Midnight until 0200 AM Mountain Time (2 Hour Long Test) [0600-0800 UT] Modes of Operation: 10 kW DA-2 Programming: Morse Code ID's, Sweep Tones, Voice ID. Notes: Arranged by NRC Member, John Tucker, KG7RS, of Mesa, AZ. John stopped by KTMI during a recent road trip and convinced engineer Doug Barton to run some special programming during his next maintenance period! That's "grass roots" DX testing in action! Reception reports are desired via e-mail (first choice) and snail mail (only if e-mail is not available) Station would prefer to received recordings of the test (MP3, CD, or cassette). Submit reports to: les @ highnoonfilm.com Please put "KMTI DX Test" in the subject line. All standard mail reports should go to: Les Rayburn High Noon Film 100 Centerview Drive Suite 111 Birmingham, AL 35216 *SASE Required for reply. Thanks to Doug Barton and the staff of KMTI for including us in their maintenance period! And a special thanks to John Tucker for arranging this test. This is a real chance for those on the East Coast to put a 2nd Utah station into their log books! (Les Rayburn, N1LF, NRC/IRCA Broadcast Test Coordinator, Please call anytime 24/7 if your transmitter will be off the air for maintenance (205) 253-4867, DX LISTENING DIGEST) BTW, I seem to recall from my visits to UT that it`s pronounced Mann- tie, and yes, it`s very very Mormon (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. UTAHN HELPED SHAPE U.S. RADIO --- JEPKO'S 'NITECAPS' WAS FIRST NIGHTTIME NETWORK TALK SHOW By Lynn Arave, Deseret Morning News, Friday, February 16, 2007 Who was the most influential Utah radio host in the past century of the medium's history? The late Herb Jepko, shown in 1975, was one of Utah's most influential radio hosts. The answer may vary with whom you ask, but I'm firmly sticking with Herb Jepko, who used to host and produce the "Nitecaps" syndicated program, the nation's first nighttime network talk show. (He died in 1995.) . . . http://deseretnews.com/dn/staff/card/1,1228,2,00.html (via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) Wasn`t it just Nightcap, singular? (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. JUDGE APPROVES AIR AMERICA RADIO SALE --- BY VINNEE TONG A federal bankruptcy judge on Friday approved the sale of the liberal talk radio network Air America Radio for $4.25 million to Stephen L. Green, founder of a New York real estate firm. Green and his brother Mark Green -- the longtime liberal New York City politician and frequent guest on Air America -- plan to continue running the network. . . http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8NB24RO0.htm (via Artie Bigley, OH, Feb 16, DXLD) ** U S A. PIRATE RADIO APPEALS CLOSURE --- LAWYERS TELL APPEALS COURT S.F. STATION WAS DEPRIVED OF DUE PROCESS By Josh Richman, STAFF WRITER Article Last Updated: 02/15/2007 02:39:44 AM PST BERKELEY — A San Francisco pirate radio station should have had its day in court before federal officials seized its equipment and shut it down in 2003, its lawyer told a panel of skeptical appeals judges Wednesday. San Francisco music, local news and public affairs programming on an unlicensed low-power FM frequency for a decade and "interfered with no one," attorney Mark Vermeulen argued, even earning an August 2003 resolution of support from the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. But federal agents raided the station's studio in October 2003, seizing its broadcasting and transmitting equipment. . . http://www.insidebayarea.com/sanmateocountytimes/localnews/ci_5231901 (via Zacharias Liangas, Artie Bigley, DXLD) You have to read all the way to the end of the article to find out which pirate this is! San Francisco Liberation Radio, http://www.liberationradio.net (gh) ** U S A. Re: From the Panhandle: Not so lucky Shamrock FM... About 2 years ago approximately Hammond would post on a regular basis about "Monster FM" and its battles with David Rushing. He asked for "voicers" to make it appear he had a large staff/supporters. I contributed a few liners, and he thanked me. I Contacted KVII and KAMR TV in Amarillo about doing a story on this station's struggles, since it was in close approximation to their coverage areas. KAMR appeared to be interested, but shied away soon after. KVII thanked me for the tip, but said it "wasn't a major concern". Imagine if this had taken place at an Amarillo station or Houston, Dallas and San Antonio. Would a TV NEWS department be interested? Two sites for campaign contributions are: http://www.fec.gov/finance/disclosure/norcansea.shtml http://www.followthemoney.org/database/state_overview.phtml?si=200643 Now the key thing is you place the candidates name /committee in the search. You will find names. You will also find organizations and committees. Then you will need to take time to research those same committees and organizations. You will see SOME members belong to quite a few of them, in order to comply or "skirt" campaign contribution laws. Particular individuals don't want their names mentioned, associated, etc. individuals, especially other office holders. I am reminded what Bill Mack once said about his hometown of Shamrock. "There were snakes under every rock". (KPLEXCOM Feb. 8, radio-info.com TX board via DXLD) KBKH ** VIETNAM [and non]. Vietnam War Pirate DJ Dave Rabbit Has Finally Come Forward -- From Corey Deitz, Your Guide to Radio. Feb 19 2006 His Story in His Own Words My first real assignment and duty was Barksdale AFB in Shreveport, Louisiana. Barksdale was command headquarters 2nd Air Force for SAC (Strategic Air Command) and the home of the B-52's. Now one thing that you must know is that if every other command, other than SAC, demanded pressed uniforms, highly polished shoes, quarters bouncing off the beds 2 feet in the air when dropped.... then SAC was 10 times worse. Even with my con artist ability to get night shift duty where I was virtually self-employed, the barracks inspections and all the bullshit associated with it was not my choice of life... Full article at http://radio.about.com/od/pirateradio/a/aa021506a_2.htm (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. Hi Jari and others, Yesterday night I heard a very strong broadcaster on 1044 kHz, offering almost nonstop "typical" African Horn music. I also heard talk once and I believe that they mentioned the word "Amharic", although I don't recognize the language itself. Is it possible that I have heard the "future planned" new Ethiopian AM station in Mekele? Complete log: UNID station with African Horn music 1044 kHz 16th of February 2007 2115-2130 UT and again 2320-2340. From time to time good reception, but QRM from MDR Info, the Spain stations and also now and then from Macedonia (presumed) with Greek music. Best wishes and 73 from (Björn Fransson, DX-ing on the island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea of Sweden, Feb 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Re 7-020, 4750: R. Peace Sudan still supposed to sign on at 1600, and Bangla Desh recently reported to sign off then. And China until 1605... 73 (Thorsten Hallmann, Münster, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re the UNIDENTIFIED (4750) item in 7-020: Here's the current situation on 4750 in my location at the mentioned time: CHINA: Qinghai, in Chinese, sign-off 1600, strong. BANGLADESH: Bangladesh Betar, English news at 1530. Earlier signed off at 1600, nowadays continues after that, sign-off maybe as late as 1700. Strong. CHINA: CNR1, Chinese // 4800. Poor modulation. Sign-off around 1730. Fair. After 1730 the channel is empty here. Only once, about two weeks ago I heard a very weak station after 1740, too weak to id the language, presume it was R Peace. Signed off at 1820. I must add that the local noise level at my QTH is pretty high around 1730, so a weak station can well be on 4750 without me noticing it. 73 (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Re 7-020, DRM, 9720-9725-9730: Is this the station/ sender I heard at 2030 on the 14th with an extremely loud carrier with raspy hum 30 db over on 9720? It wasn't DRM and no discernible modulation (Robin VK7RH Norwood, Tasmania, using an Icom R70 to just a few feet of wire slung along a curtain rail, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Dunno, but totally different time of day. Looking again at HFCC and EiBi, we only find this: 9725 1800-2200 USA Radio Liberty BY EEu /MRC 9725 That is, in Belarusian, which seems unlikely to be jammed, but possibly (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re Glenn and Robin --- there have been recent transmissions of text only (via Moosbrunn I understand) that were not included (originally) in the DRM schedule of frequencies. These sounded very much like DRM, but a subtle difference could be detected on a strong signal. But other so far unidentified transmissions have also been noted - some on off-set frequencies - sending digital but not necessarily DRM transmissions. Why noises such as this should be 'broadcast' within a band allocated to sound broadcasting, when there are frequencies specially allocated for such services, is the mystery to me (Noel R. Green (NW England), ibid.) Maybe the above also explains the below on 9760, tho the only listing for DRM with audio there is one other hour: 1000-1100 daily 9760 295 Great Britain 50 CVC G English Moosbrunn Austria (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: Hi Glenn, referring to the R. Nikkei 9760 tip in DXLD (jazz music, Feb 14): Have you noticed a very strong DRM transmission on the frequency at about 1830 UT? It produces a +/- 12 kHz QRM signal covering the transmission of RNZI on 9765 kHz here in Northern Europe. --- 73 de (Matti Ponkamo, Naantali, Finland, (KP10AK18), DX LISTENING DIGEST) Matti, I am not usually monitoring at that time, but RNZI is supposed to be on 9870 at 1830, not 9765. Looking at the DRM schedules at http://baseportal.com/baseportal/drmdx/main there is nothing to account for that, but it is often not complete or up to date. Is there a mistake in the time or frequency you mention? (Glenn to Matti, via DXLD) Hi Glenn, Thanks for your response. Maybe I have misread the Drake R4 "old type" dial. Well, this is not a school test, this is an interesting hobby and I am always pleased to have my possible errors corrected. But I still feel like I was on 9765 kHz. There *are* DRM transmissions from Moosbrunn on 9760 kHz, so I cannot be very wrong. Today I will collect my new IC-718 transceiver from the post office. It has a digital readout and more ways to make the audio clearer from interference, than only a notch filter. Not affecting the DRM, alas. After 37 years of dx'ing with old tube radios (Drake R4, Lafayette HE30), this will (finally) be a giant step (leap) for me. 73 de (Matti Ponkamo, Naantali, Finland (KP10AK18) OH1GPU, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ NEW CD FROM IAN McFARLAND Ian McFarland’s CD factory has been working overtime in recent weeks and on Friday, March 9, 2007, he’ll be officially launching a new 2 CD set of SW nostalgia at the 20th anniversary edition of the Winter SWL Fest in Kulpsville, PA. If you can’t be at the Fest, there will be a parallel launch announcement on the http://Dxer.ca website. If you liked the first set of CDs - the Idents & Interval Signals Series, then you’ll love the new CDs. They’re filled to the brim with memory jogging material from the good old days of SWLing in the seventies and eighties. Does “World DX Friendship Year” ring a nostalgic bell for you? How about the “World’s First Radio Broadcast”? Following the launch there will be full details and a printable order form available on Dxer.ca Prices will be the same as for the Idents CDs, and the net profits will again be donated to the same charity (Ian McFarland, BC, Feb 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) i.e. a food bank in Duncan DIGITAL BROADCASTING DRM: see LUXEMBOURG; U K; UNIDENTIFIED ++++++++++++++++++++ IBOC thread continued from 7-020: OK, It's February. Time for my once a month post on IBOC. Station costs are an issue, though not for the big boys. Most larger stations have the money to implement HD Radio. Especially those who have made that decision at the top of the corporate ladder. Personally, I thought there was a recurring yearly license fee. Be that as it may --- Smaller station owners may not have the finances to do HD Radio. I do know most of my clients are loath to spend the money. Here are the issues as I see them right now. 1. HD Radio coverage is about half that or less of a good, listenable analog signal. I have a client in Providence that is Arbitron rated #1 12+. Their transmitter is 30 miles away. The HD Radio coverage would not reach their intended market. HD2 signals drop out and there's no analog upon which to fall. Gone. I have had two HD Radio rigs so far, and am quite underwhelmed by quality and content. The value isn't there. It seems Joe Average is of like mind. 2. AM stations that run directional antennas may well have trouble. Two examples. WDDZ-550 has a close spaced two tower array. The overall bandwidth - even after a consultant maximized bandwidth - looks too narrow and uneven to pass the signal. Even the daytime non-directional impedance is not really good enough. Mostly due to the short towers. The second example is WPMZ-1110. The common point bandwidth of that station is good out to 30 kHz either side. This is before optimization. It would likely work fine. The overall result is still not good. If not every station can use HD Radio, then that is a problem on many fronts. As a third thought, I would not want to think of the expense required to get the six tower 50 kW monster on 990 compliant. 3. Radios are not selling. I have maybe a dozen stations in my client list. Not one call has been received at any of them inquiring about the lack of HD Radio. However, we get call after call asking about the internet streams. This tells me that streaming, and eventual universal mobile WiFi access is where it's at. Rhode Island is well on its way to becoming a border to border WiFi state. Yeah, it's small. But it will be wireless soon. Add a WiFi enabled iPod that can get a stream, and suddenly transmitters aren't too important any more. Streaming is where I'm advising my clients to put their effort and money. Already streams can have a better data rate than any HD Radio signal, and are much easier to upgrade. AAC Plus Plus Ultra (imaginary) comes out, and you add a codec. Try that with HD Radio, and you have to replace the box. Now consider that the HD Radio receiver is a one trick pony, while an iPod does a whole bunch of things. Where's the value? And, as one station owner said to me. "Show me the radios". Can't. 4. HD Radio has two channels. Streaming can be literally unlimited formats. So, You want an All-Lithuanian Funeral Marches format stream? Plug 'er in, git 'er done. Try stuffing a third format on HD Radio. Bzzzt! 5. It's all about the content. Quality really isn't the issue. I've been in radio over 35 years. In all that time, I've had a small handful of complaints about quality of sound. And *every* one of those has been when there has been a real problem. A buzz, a flipped stereo channel, a satellite receiver that's dropping out. Some tangible and repairable issue. Never a complaint when everything was up to par. HD Radio is a solution to a non-problem. If people don't want to listen to you in analog, they aren't going to want to listen to you in digital, either. 6. AM Night HD Radio will be a nightmare. We've already seen that on the sunset/sunrise signals. If we take 710 as an example, the 700 and 720 signals at sunrise must have a nasty effect. I do know that the close-in skywave/groundwave interference on WBZ-1030 makes their HD Radio unusable around here, and I'm not all that far away. I have even found localized interference from power lines and traffic lights kills the decoding. It takes a *lot* of signal strength to beat that. Even the strongest local HD Radio signal of WPRO-630 is affected in places. 7. They say HD Radio will add diversity. I see it doing the opposite, by interfering with further signals that can provide variety. Locally on FM, the HD Radio signal on 93.3 has blocked 97.2 from Martha's Vineyard and their eclectic format. The signal wasn't great before, but I could hear it. Now all I get is hiss. The station engineer claims 93.3 fits the mask, but... I'm sorry, but I see no great stampede toward HD Radio. All I see is a great big collective yawn. And a lot of time and money that could be much better spent on something else. This was my position a year ago, and I have seen nothing that would change it. Local AMs are WPRO-630 and WHJJ-920. Add WBZ-1030 and some other Boston stations. I'll shut up until March. Should anyone wish to follow up with me, I'll reply off list (Craig Healy, Providence, RI, Feb 11, IRCA via DXLD) In a message dated 2/11/2007 11:32:54 PM Eastern Standard Time, bubba @ dukes-of-hazzard.com writes: ``Craig - As you say, if they won't listen in analog, why will they listen to HD 'seedy quality' audio?`` HD, as is analog, is a just way to package information to send it from broadcaster to listener. Why should listeners care? HD's inflated claims are refuted by actual performance. Every listener with whom I've spoken - and with no gassing off as to how HD is the devil's spawn, u.s.w. - is not only uninterested in HD, but dig this, Cheerleaders: They know HD denies them the station variety they once enjoyed. The Big Boys have three new problems: Audience ill will, apathy, and yet more delicious, flight. Englewood's recently revitalized downtown shops have WiFi/WiMax. They're expanding coverage. I've enjoyed sporadic access from this qth. HD? Who cares? At every juncture, KronyKasters chose the wrong path. They expect the FCC to reward their failure with our spectrum. Why suffer this perfidy in silence? When night ops commence and the 'inevitable digital' mess ensues, can't you see these greedy-guts stupidly suing which ever company they believe 'created' the ionosphere? Pathetic. Z (pvz disgustedman key, fl, IRCA via DXLD) The bigger question is, if it takes a beverage to hear bits of an IBOC signal at any distance, then "WHO" is going to buy an IBOC radio? It sure is not going to be the public. Some IBOC signals don't get across town well. 73, (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, ibid.) Well let's hope that we don't have to worry about that too much longer, the people I've talked to have never heard of either IBOC nor HD radio period never mind HD FM and I don't live out in the middle of the woods. People I've talked to don't even think it's right for the FCC to mandate their TV's obsolete, even though they know that they can get a "box" that will make them work. I think the only people that are going to get excited about DIGITAL HD!!!!!! are people who sit at home and watch DVD's and TV 18 hours a day. Also how do you like the misleading advertising they are doing now "channels between your channels" insinuating that you're going to get stations between the ones on your dial now and I'm talking radio here, it's aimed at FM. I think they should aim some propaganda at AM radio listeners, something like "horrendous racket around your channels that goes 500 miles even though the audio goes 20 unless you've got a 700' antenna in your backyard" No I got it: CD-like quality!! and in small print: if you live 10 miles or closer from our non-directional 50 KW transmitter as long as you're not in your car (Bob Young, Analog, MA, ibid.) Bob, IBOC radio is not going anywhere. The same is true everywhere. I have a lot on non DXer friends, relatives, etc., and I have asked them about HD Radio. I call it that, as they would not have clue about IBOC. Even HD Radio, 99% of them never heard or it, nor do they care. All of the added noise is just turning people away from radio period, especially AM. A friend in LA says he used to listen to talk radio more but across the dial, there is wall to wall noise now, so he listens to talk on the internet. I tried to find out what kind of noise he was referring to, the hash from IBOC or what, but to him, it is all noise, but I got the idea that a lot of the noise he hears it all over LA, not just at home and it has gotten worse the past couple of years, so it points at least partly to the IBOC hash. 73, (Patrick Martin, OR, ibid.) IBOC is back in SE FL. WQAM 560 Miami, has resumed IBOC operations today, 2/14/07. Their IBOC had been off since 1/28/07. WQAM returns to being the only station operating IBOC in southeast Florida. WSBR 740 Boca Ratón IBOC off since 1/20/06 WHSR 980 Pómpano Beach IBOC off since June '05 WWNN 1470 Pómpano Beach IBOC off since 1/16/07 This info the result of my daily IBOC checks of these four previous and current IBOC broadcasters (W. Curt Deegan, Boca Ratón, (southeast) Florida, Feb 14, IRCA via DXLD) don Curtino - Glad for your good news. Same cannot be said for Tampa. Racketeer-kasters add new racketmakers by the week, despite all indications AM iBLOC is moribund. 1250 Tampa, eighty miles distant now wrecks nearby formerly L&C 1240, Ft. Myers. Makes my point, forget inflated claims of HD cheerleaders - It's about Jamming. Jamming is the cheat method by which KronyKasters hope to circumvent listener antipathy. Radio World today has great leter from Jim Jenkins, Owner/GM, WAGS, Bishopville, SC. GM Jenkins didactically demolishes overblown HD claims. He succinctly nails it: "Call this marriage off now. The divorce will be ugly." Even Radio World, despite last week's seemingly iQuackwitty ghost- written 'Analog Lost - Digital Won' OpEd, this week sez a 'Wow' factor is needed to sell HD to fleeing listeners. Get this - R/W actually suggests HD promoters & engineers must see matters from listener perspective! Who'd a thought? But why would they do that? They know the view is ugly. "Wow!" Factor? Here's the factor people pick up on: "HD blocks my favorite station and confines me to a few big broadcasters." Cheerleaders claim they must do a better job telling listeners about HD's arrival. They needn't exert themselves. Listeners noted the noisy arrival of this busted-steam pipe interloper. They welcome HD's as they would a flatulent amnesiac to a four star banquet. Dr. Zecchino (PV Zecchino, T.D., Manalog Key, FL Feb 14, IRCA via DXLD) As of 1849 EST WOR has not turned off its IBOC as is very evident on 700 and 720. Why? (Ben Dangerfield, Wallingford, PA, Feb 15, NRC-AM via DXLD) I thought Tom Ray said it goes off promptly. Or was that somebody else.....lol.... (Mike Bugaj, Enfield, CT, WTFDA-AM via DXLD) I recall that statement in an email about 3 weeks ago - IBOC is off promptly at 6 pm, and don't accuse them of operating illegally (Brett Saylor, Central PA, ibid.) Ben, I hear also hear 710 IBOC drowning out both 700 and 720 here in central PA at 9:30 pm local. This evening, the governor of Pennsylvania declared a disaster emergency due to the weather and extensive road closures. Wonder what the people stranded on Interstate 78, 80 or 81 are hearing on their AM radios if they try to listen to, say, WWII Harrisburg for more information? :-( Gone by 10 pm re-check (Brett Saylor, Central PA, ibid.) ###