DX LISTENING DIGEST 7-036, March 18, 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 AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1350: Mon 0300 WBCQ 9330-CLSB Mon 0415 WBCQ 7415 [time varies] Mon 1330 WRMI 7385 WORLD OF RADIO, CONTINENT OF MEDIA, MUNDO RADIAL SCHEDULE: 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 DXLD YAHOOGROUP: Why wait for DXLD? A lot more info, not all of it appearing in DXLD later, is posted at our yg. When applying, please identify yourself with your real name and location. Here`s where to sign up http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dxld/ ** AFRICA. AFRICA LIST --- Hi Glenn, after reading this huge package of very interesting information in DXLD 7-035, I just made another update of http://www.africalist.de.ms Nice to have some new tough DX targets (active or planned) after years of decline or stagnation. 73 (Thorsten Hallmann, Münster, Germany, March 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALASKA [non]. Gayle Crow [sic] Joins World Christian Broadcasting (Franklin, Tennessee) - NASB member World Christian Broadcasting has announced the appointment of Gayle Crowe as Vice President of Programming. He succeeds Dale Ward, WCB's longtime Executive Producer, who passed away in October of last year. "Gayle is uniquely qualified to lead our programming. His work with World Christian Broadcasting and experience in ministry make him the right person for the job," said Charles H. Caudill, President and CEO of WCB, which is based in Cool Springs, TN. Crowe has served on WCB's board of directors for 27 years and chaired the programming committee for most of that time. In addition, he has hosted and produced segments of the station's Author's Journal series. He is a graduate of Abilene Christian, Wheaton and Harvard universities and also has a doctorate from Harding University Graduate School of Religion. World Christian Broadcasting is a non-profit, shortwave radio ministry that exists to tell the good news of Jesus Christ to the world by reaching the greatest number of people in the shortest time. Its operations center is located in Cool Springs, Tennessee. To learn more about the work of World Christian Broadcasting, visit http://www.worldchristian.org or http://www.knls.org ----- (March NASB Newsletter via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. 4835, ABC, Alice Springs, 0805-0830* March 17, Tune-in to cricket or rugby match. Announcement at 0828 with mention of Alice Springs. Abrupt sign-off. Weak. // 4910-Tennant Springs with threshold signal. 4910 signed off 5 minutes after 4835 at 0835 (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BELARUS. 7420, R. Belarus, Minsk 2200-2230+ March 17, English news, commentary. 2216 local pop music, lite piano music. Very poor, difficult reception with strong splatter from WBCQ on 7415 along with muffled audio from Belarus. // 7360-very weak (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. 4716.69, Radio Yura, San Antonio de Quijarro, Potosi, 2342 - 2348, Mar 11, Spanish, Musical Program comments by female announcer, ID "..por Radio Yura, La Voz de los Ayllus" and then Comunicados, 23232. 6134.83, Radio Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, 2225-2253, Mar 12, Spanish, News Program, "Bolivia en Contacto", tc "en todo el país son las seis de la tarde con veinticinco minutos" Ads, ID " ...y puede adquirirla en Radio Santa Cruz", 33433, better in LSB. 6155.07, Radio Fides, La Paz, 0006-0010, Mar 13, Spanish and comments by man announcer, Music, ID "Musical Jingle of Radio Fides", Ads, 24332 (Nicolás Eramo, Argentina, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. HI! 73's from Rio de Janeiro-RJ. Now, 1607 UT March 18, Radio Globo Rio de Janeiro, 11805 is ON AIR. My QTH is near the transmitter (25 km), but the signal is very poor. Program about futebol, flamengo. [Re gh`s log:] I can't tune, now, Rádio Cultura de São Paulo, 17815. My QTH is 300 km from transmitter of this station. But is so difficult to tune Radio Cultura on this QRG (José Ricardo Motta de Oliveira (Rio de Janeiro), DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, helps to be beyond first skip distance (gh) ** BURKINA FASO. 5030, R. Burkina *0600-0630+ March 17, S/on with NA. French talk. Afro-pop, Afro-rap music. Weak under Costa Rica’s University Network (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. 6250, RCI, Sackville spur 0125-0145+ March 17, Poor to fair leapfrogging spur of 6100 jumping over 6175-V of Vietnam via Sackville & landing on 6250. 6250 with Spanish programming (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. REVITALIZED CBC RADIO 2 BRINGS THE HEART, SOUL AND PASSION OF CANADA’S MUSIC SCENE ALIVE EVERY NIGHT, STARTING MONDAY, MARCH 19 http://www3.cbc.ca/sections/newsitem_redux.asp?ID=4537 CBC Radio 2 is expanding the stage for great Canadian music with today’s unveiling of a new evening schedule. Beginning Monday, March 19, listeners will enjoy a broader range of music in the evenings with jazz, live performance and contemporary music stripped across the schedule seven days a week. “CBC Radio 2 is broadening to better reflect the diversity of music making in Canada. Listeners will hear a range of entertaining Canadian music every night of the week,” said Jennifer McGuire, executive director of programming, CBC Radio. “We’ll be serving evening listeners an eclectic mix of jazz over the dinner hours, live performance from the cities and communities across this country in the early evening, and contemporary music into a broad and eclectic overnight service. Evenings will showcase the best music and the most interesting creators across the nation.” Renowned CBC Radio jazz host Katie Malloch serves up an intoxicating musical cocktail with TONIC, Monday to Friday, 6 to 8 p.m., from Montreal. Listeners can unwind with a mix of warm and soulful jazz, stirred with a blend of soul, Latin and world-influenced music. Celebrated Canadian jazz singer Tim Tamashiro takes over as host of TONIC on the weekends from Calgary. CBC Radio’s new flagship performance show, CANADA LIVE, gives listeners a free ticket to concert halls, music clubs and festivals across the country. Toronto-based weekday host Matt Galloway and Montreal-based weekend host Patti Schmidt accompany audiences to live performances, ranging from jazz, blues, pop and world, to roots and classical. Each night, from 8 to 10 p.m., CANADA LIVE showcases Canada’s top musical talent, and features the vibrancy and colour of Canada’s regional music scenes. Laurie Brown, one of Canada’s most passionate music journalist pioneers, makes her radio hosting debut, showcasing contemporary music on THE SIGNAL, from Monday to Thursday in the 10 p.m. to 1a.m. time slot. Brown’s intimate late-night listening sessions take Canadians to a world where genres have no boundaries and unpredictability is the norm. From “new” classical to electronica, world to improvised, Laurie returns to her roots as a contemporary music trendsetter, introducing her audience to adventurous sounds from Canada and around the globe. Winnipeg-based composer Pat Carrabré takes over THE SIGNAL from Friday to Sunday, expanding the contemporary music boundaries even farther. Finally, Danielle Charboneau helms CBC Radio 2’s overnight show from Montreal, between 1 and 6 a.m. Beginning where THE SIGNAL leaves off, NIGHTSTREAM takes listeners through the night with a mix of music genres, into the classical music programming of the early morning. A dedicated CBC Radio 2 website will also launch on Monday, March 19. Visit it at http://www.radio2.cbc.ca These changes to CBC Radio 2 represent the first phase of arts and culture re-development at CBC Radio (via Ricky Leong, DXLD) CBC Radio 1 schedule is also being modified. Some weeks ago we already had linx to the new schedules via: http://www.insidethecbc.com/platforms/radio1/cbc-radio-announcement-new-shows-new-music/ (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Long rant on new CBC Radio 2 schedule in Montreal Gazette, mostly stating the obvious. Montreal listeners would be hyper-sensitive to cuts as the SRC (French CBC) did it first and destroyed good radio in the bargain. Now it is the English network's turn in the mill of the managers (Dan Say, alt.radio.networks.cbc via Mike Cooper, DXLD) Viz.: CLASSICAL FANS GETTING SHORTED BY CBC RADIO ARTHUR KAPTAINIS, Freelance Published: Saturday, March 17, 2007 Montreal Gazette http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/popculture/story.html?id=0a8627f5-e2b4-461e-8f99-df39ebdd5e46&p=2 Critics usually render judgment on programming after hearing or seeing it, rather than before. Comment on the new CBC Radio Two schedule should probably follow a few weeks of careful listening. At which point we will be free to state the obvious: Classical music is being decimated. The press release (which seems to authorize the use of "Radio 2" rather than Radio Two) tells us most of what we need to know. "Beginning Monday, March 19, listeners will enjoy a broader range of music in the evenings with jazz, live performance and contemporary music delivered seven days a week." Starting at 6 p.m. we will hear Tonic, a jazz show with Katie Malloch as weekday host. The model here clearly is André Vigeant's program on Espace musique, the French CBC equivalent of Radio Two. Well, fine. Jazz works well over dinner. The 30-minute World at Six broadcast is gone. And good riddance, one might say. People who want news can listen to Radio One. But gone also is Danielle Charbonneau's easygoing early-evening classical show, Music for a While. And gone is In Performance, a classical concert program that has been in the prime-time slot, under one alias or another, for decades. Our new flagship show at 8 is called Canada Live. Its host, Matt Galloway, has worked for the underground rock show Brave New Waves and used to be a CBC going-home variety-show guy in southern Ontario. Repertoire on Canada Live ranges "from jazz, blues, pop and world, to roots and classical." The final position of "classical" on that list is not a coincidence. Most of the programs of the first week include it at best apologetically. Opening night on Monday features Symphony Nova Scotia, but only as a backup to two rock musicians, Joel Plaskett and Amelia Curran. Just in case we haven't had enough jazz, we also get the Brazilian guitarist Celso Machado. On Tuesday the programming is only ostensibly classical, as the Montreal organization SMCQ presents a concert of music by the minimalist Steve Reich. This kind of thing appeals mainly to a non- classical crowd. We also get Vivaldi and the Gypsies, featuring Ensemble Caprice and Solamente Naturali, plus "a feast of Bulgarian and Jewish music." Wednesday we get black history songs, plus a Viola Concerto by the accessible contemporary composer Steven Gellman. Thursday, Italian folk and jazz and Berlioz's Harold In Italy, this last in a Toronto Symphony Orchestra performance. No information is posted about Friday, but since Friday is already traditionally a non-classical night, we can assume safely that no Bartok String Quartets are planned. That makes Harold in Italy the one and only established, full-bodied classical work to be heard all week, after 6, on Radio Two. Radio Two, the former artistic outlet of Glenn Gould, which only months ago was carrying Wagner's Ring live from Toronto. Radio Two, the former pillar of concert music across the country. There is no respite at 10 p.m. with The Signal. Laurie Brown is your host for this "world where genres have no boundaries and unpredictability is the norm." We are promised "new" classical to electronica. If you can hang in there until 1 a.m., Charbonneau is the host of Nightstream, a five-hour graveyard-shift show that will surely be heard by dozens of people across the country. It offers "a mix of music genres." Maybe she can give classical a little boost while her bosses are sleeping Daytime programming remains mostly classical, although all of the current shows - Music and Company, Here's to You, Studio Sparks and DiscDrive - are essentially light in content and style. Pop is already established as part of Studio Sparks and DiscDrive. Music and Company gets you moving in the morning with zippy selections, often baroque. Be thankful for small mercies? Perhaps it would be better to say, enjoy them while you can. The final sentence of our press release is ominous: "These changes to CBC Radio 2 represent the first phase of arts and culture re-development at CBC Radio." (via Dan Say, alt.radio.networks.cbc via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** CANADA. CBC CENSURED FOR MATURE CONTENT --- Complaints relating to the broadcast on CBC Radio One of A Literary Atlas of Canada, episodes entitled Whiskeyjack Blues and Room Available In this decision, the Commission addresses two separate complaints regarding the broadcast by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation of two episodes of the series A Literary Atlas of Canada on Radio One. These episodes, which were entitled Whiskeyjack Blues and Room Available, contained excerpts intended for mature audiences. The Commission finds that the episodes contained coarse language and mature subject matter and were broadcast at times when children could be listening. Moreover, in the instance where an advisory was broadcast, the advisory was inadequate. The Commission further finds that by airing the episodes in question at 11:00 a.m. on a Sunday, the licensee did not meet the Canadian broadcasting policy objective set out in the Broadcasting Act that programming should be of high standard. ... http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2007/db2007-87.htm (via Ricky Leong, AB, DXLD) ** COLOMBIA. 6139.8, R. Líder, Bogotá, 0145-0155+ March 17, Spanish talk, pops/ballads. Many IDs. Poor, mixing with Cuba on 6140, but good reception when using ECSS-LSB (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Radio Líder gone, 6140 kHz, Bogotá --- Radio Líder was well heard on the 14th and 15th [March] 0830-0900 UT (also 0000-0130 time frame, though very poor then) and 16th at 0900-1115 and 17th from 0900 past 1200 UT (with generally very good signal, though distorted audio in our local mornings). News, popular music, lengthy ID of perhaps a dozen affiliated AM outlets in Bucaramanga, Quibdó, Manizales, and other cities. On the 18th (Sunday morning) when checked from 0930 UT on to past 1100, nothing audible. No carrier, just static. I would suspect they are off the air yet again (Roger Chambers, NY, ODXA yg via DXLD) ** CUBA. QSL, QSL, QSL on the air from Havana to the many Dxers Unlimited listeners around the world that have written during the past several weeks reporting good reception of our 6180 kiloHertz English language program heard between 05 and 07 UT. The antenna we are using on 6180 kiloHertz is our Central North America curtain array; it is technically speaking according to ITU definitions an HR 4, 4, 0.8 system, that meaning that it has 4 sets of dipoles set in four rows and four columns a configuration that provides close to 20 decibels of effective antenna gain over a half wave dipole placed at the center of the array. If you are picking up Radio Havana Cuba on 6180 kiloHertz in English [means Spanish] from 00 to 05 UT, you are listening to the same antenna and transmitter combination too (Arnie Coro, CO2KK, RHC DXers Unlimited March 13 via ODXA via DXLD) Here is now ASK ARNIE part two: several listeners from the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Finland want to know what's their best option to pick up Radio Havana Cuba in Europe. Well amigos ,at present we are not broadcasting to Europe from Havana. We are relying on the streaming audio fed to the Internet. BUT, radio is radio, and in radio things never happen exactly the same way, not even twice, so, YES, sometimes you can pick up Radio Havana Cuba's English language broadcasts in Europe from around 00 UT to around 06 or even 07 UT on the following frequencies, 6000 kilohertz, 6060 kilohertz, and sometimes the 11760 kilohertz frequency can be picked up between 2100 and 2200 hours UT (Arnie Coro, RHC DXUL March 17, HCDX via DXLD) ** CZECHIA. OCCUPATION, ESPERANTO AND MUSHROOMS: 70 YEARS OF RADIO PRAGUE THROUGH THE ARCHIVES [31-08-2006] Autor: David Vaughan --- Poslech 16kb/s ~ 32kb/s If we delve into the Czech Radio archives, we find recordings in English going right back to Radio Prague's beginnings 70 years ago. Some of the extracts we are going to feature in this programme have not been aired for well over half a century. They capture some of the most interesting and dramatic moments in our history. Early days --- "Hello, hello, Prague, Czechoslovakia calling. Good evening ladies and gentlemen." That's Radio Prague back in 1937, just a few months after our broadcasts started, although strictly speaking in those days the name Radio Prague had not yet been adopted. We were just known as "Short Wave". With Nazi Germany breathing down Czechoslovakia's neck, the broadcasts played an important propaganda role, but it was not just about politics. The Post and Telegraph Minister, Alois Tucny, said that the new broadcasts would "open our culture to the world and show how much our country could offer for the blossoming and general education of humanity." Grand words indeed! . . . [illustrated] http://www.radio.cz/cz/clanek/82700 (via Mike Barraclough, March WDXC Contact via DXLD) ** ECUADOR. HCJB WORLD RADIO - Ecuador A07 BROADCAST SCHEDULE (25 March - 27 October 2007; rev. 7 March 2007) all 7 days V = vertical radiation NVIS UTC UTC Freq. Pwr Ant.Azi Target Begin End Khz (KW) Degrees Region ---------------------------------------------------- COFAN 1100 1130 6050 50 18/172 S. America GERMAN (High) 0300 0330 9780 100 325 Mexico 0700 0730 9740 100 42 Europe 0700 0730 21455 1 35/225 Eur./S. Pac 2300 2400 12040 100 131 S. America GERMAN (Low) 0230 0300 9780 100 325 Mexico 0630 0700 9740 100 42 Europe 0630 0700 21455 1 35/225 Eur./S. Pac 2230 2300 12040 100 131 S. America WAORANI 1030 1100 6050 50 18/172 S. America KULINA 2250 2300 11920 250 126 Brazil PORTUGUESE 0900 1030 9745 100 100 N. Brazil 0800 0930 21455 1 35/225 Eur./S. Pac 1530 1800 15295 100 139 Brazil 2300 0230 11920 250 126 Brazil 2300 0230 12020 100 100 Brazil QUECHUA 0830 1000 6125 100 155 S. America 2100 2300 9745 100 155 S. America QUICHUA 0800 1100 690 50 00/180 Ecuador 0830 1300 3220 10 90(V) S. America 0830 1300 6080 10 90(V) S. America 0930 1100 21455 1 35/225 Eur./S. Pac 2100 0300 6080 10 90(V) S. America 0000 0300 3220 10 90(V) S. America SPANISH 0100 0500 9745 100 323 Mexico 1100 0500 690 100 00/180 Ecuador 1130 1500 6050 50 18/172 S. America 1100 1300 11960 100 355 Cuba 1100 1500 11690 100 150 S. America 1300 1500 11960 100 330 Mexico 1100 1600 21455 1 35/225 Eur./S. Pac 1900 0500 6050 50 18/172 Ecuador 2000 0500 21455 1 35/225 Eur./S. Pac 2100 2300 12000 100 150 S. America 2300 0100 11720 100 157/330 N/S America Mailing Address: HCJB World Radio Casilla 17-17-691 Quito, Ecuador S.A. FAX: +593 2 226 4765 Frequency Manager: Allen Graham (HCJ) e-Mail: agraham @ hcjb.org.ec Note: Relays not included (via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, DXLD) ** ECUADOR [and non]. Re 7-035: I thought I had HCJB's DRM signal on 9595 on air after 0800 March 18 (after CRI in Arabic left the air), but it was the fast dits transmission back again with I would guess Nikkei a weak signal in the background. And slightly lower at about 9588 and seemingly USB only was some kind of buzzing digital signal (not DRM) and peaking to about S6. I could hear Farda 9585 via Lampertheim okay, but the digital noise was covering up to about 9592 so no reception of Australia 9590 - RA was audible on 9580. I seem to recall that one of the German sites was used last year(?) to carry a text transmission using an offset frequency. Perhaps them - or something else altogether (Noel R. Green (N England), dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FALKLAND ISLANDS [and non]. Re 7-035: Highly recommended - Radio 4's "Archive Hour" on Saturday was devoted to very extensive genuine recordings from the Falkland Islands Broadcasting Station on the night of 1-2 April 1982 (the night of the invasion). That night, Patrick Watts kept the station on the air single-handed for more than 12 hours, taking phone calls from listeners reporting what was happening, relaying BBC WS and putting Governor Rex Hunt on the air regularly, right up to the moment when Argentine soldiers forced their way into the studio, announced that it was now "LRA Islas Malvinas Broadcasting Station" and Patrick in tears was forced to play the Argentine national anthem. I was quite unaware that such good recordings existed and so this is highly-recommended listening. Available on Listen Again for the next 7 days (Chris Greenway, BDXC-UK via DXLD) "Strangers in the Night" - FIBS An interesting post-script on this programme from David, as well as a direct link to the Listen Again entry: Last night's programme is now on Listen Again. Was it really a quarter of a century ago!! The off air recordings of FIBS are dramatic and fascinating. Saturday 17 March 2007 20:00-21:00 (Radio 4 FM) Michael Nicholson recalls the night of the Argentinean invasion of the Falkland Islands in 1982 with the help of some astonishing radio archive from the Falkland Island Broadcasting Service. When radio station manager Patrick Watts turned up to present his weekly 60- minute music request show, the programme turned into a marathon 16- hour broadcast as islanders phoned in with their sightings of the invading army. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/progs/listenagain.shtml is the link to "Listen Again", then select "Archive Hour, The" before next Saturday to directly play the programme in Real Player. PS. On a local note to me I was fascinated to hear in a subsequent interview the Governor Sir Rex Hunt talking about the possibility of death, many years before he had another close shave aged 18 as his Spitfire argued with a tree near Wimborne, Dorset, on both occasions he thankfully survived (Mike Terry, ibid.) A very interesting article, and have recorded the audio for posterity. FIBS was also heard in New Zealand on 2390 the morning of the invasion, and I think there may be a tape recording around somewhere. Regards (Tony Magon, Sydney, NSW, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) RADIO DJ - AN UNLIKELY HERO OF THE FALKLANDS INVASION By Ian Gallagher, Mail on Sunday, 18 March 2007 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=442909&in_page_id=1770&in_a_source= On the eve of the 25th anniversary of the Falklands invasion, how the first moments were caught on a remarkable tape recording. James Last was on the turntable as the Argentinian soldiers burst in (hear audio clip on site). "Stop that racket and put those guns down,' I barked. They did just as they were told. Sitting in his tiny radio studio, Patrick Watts heard the thud of soldiers' boots in the passage outside and took a deep breath. James Last and his Orchestra were on the turntable and Mr Watts - headphones around his neck, a flask of tea at his side - had just finished eating a cheese-and-pickle sandwich. The door opened and he was surrounded by six Argentinian soldiers who pointed their rifles at his back. It was around 9am on April 2, 1982, and outside, in the hills around Port Stanley, the battle for the Falklands was just a few hours old. Mr Watts had manned the station all night long, relaying events to the outside world. "I knew they would come, and I had been feeling nervous. But when the moment came, I was feeling rather bullish,' he recalled. "The captain spoke good English and was quite friendly, but the others were shouting at each other and waving their guns about." Such was Mr Watts's indignance, he summoned up a bulldog spirit he didn't know he possessed - and made a lion-hearted stand while live on air. "I told them it was my studio and I couldn't broadcast with guns pointing at my back,' he said. "I also told them I couldn't broadcast while they were making such a racket. And for good measure I said I didn't allow people to smoke in the studio." To Mr Watts's surprise, the soldiers stopped shouting, laid down their guns and put out their cigarettes. Only then did he reluctantly agree to play their tapes of military music and instructions for the islanders. His courage must have buoyed the spirits of his listeners: they had been glued to the radio all night and heard every word of the extraordinary exchange. A Port Stanley woman who had been following every word from her kitchen even captured it on her tape recorder. And last night on the eve of the 25th anniversary of the war, her recording - the only one made - was aired on BBC Radio 4 for the first time. Now 62 and retired, Mr Watts, who ran the Falkland Islands Broadcasting Station for more than 30 years, scotches talk of heroism, saying it was 'soldiers who fought in freezing conditions up in the mountains who were the real heroes, not me'. But he agreed that the episode recalls a bygone era of indomitable Dad's Army defiance. It all began the day before when he went to Government House to see the Governor, Sir Rex Hunt, who showed him a Foreign Office telegram warning them to expect an invasion early in the morning and ending with the words: "You will wish to make your dispositions accordingly." Mr Watts said: "Rex was quite calm and said he would have to put a message together for the islanders - to warn them but not frighten them too much. When he finished writing it, I recorded it. I rushed back to the studio and it went out at 8.13 pm." The Governor had asked Mr Watts to keep broadcasting for as long as possible and he did just that. While the islanders remained in their homes, and the 60 or so Royal Marines on the island prepared to try to repel the invaders, Mr Watts stayed in the studio. Every so often the Governor called with an update and Mr Watts would simply hold up the phone receiver to his microphone and turn up the volume. At around 4 am the Governor said the invasion was expected around 6.30 am. In the first wave just 90 Argentinian soldiers came ashore and they were beaten back by the Marines, who killed one soldier and wounded several others. "I don't think they expected to be met with such force, but that's the Marines for you. Later on, I asked the Governor if he had surrendered and he replied, "I will never surrender to the bloody Argies". "Lots of people were ringing in, the milkman said he could see an Argentinian flag flying at the airport - a decisive moment. There was a call from a chap who was saying he could see the stars. His roof had been blown off by a shell." Around 9 am the soldiers arrived and he was forced to play the Argentinian national anthem before going home, exhausted, at 11 am. But he returned later that day and continued broadcasting through the war. "We used to broadcast Dad's Army but the Argentinians were convinced it contained war messages." On one occasion he got a vital message to the British. "I let slip that the Argentinians were still using Port Stanley airport. "This was important because the British thought they had bombed it." He got into frequent trouble with the occupying force and after the war was awarded the MBE. "I will never forget that night,' he said. "But it wasn't heroic - I was just doing the job Rex Hunt asked me to do." (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) ** FINLAND. The Pori site, abandoned by YLE on Dec 31, will run a daily Polskie Radio transmission during the A07 season: 2100-2200 on 7170, 250 kW with an azimuth of 220 deg., familiar from the YLE days. This will be Polish, // Wertachtal on 6135. Should be the first regular transmission from Pori in almost three months, away from possible on-air tests of course. This is of course brokered by T-Systems Media&Broadcast, as only Polskie Radio transmission they do not run via own transmitters during A07, i.e. the current Issoudun, Fontbonne and Montsinéry usage will cease, if I did not overlook something. Digita, the Finnish transmission provider, is owned by TDF, so this should be an arrangement through TDF, like the current Fontbonne usage (Kai Ludwig, Germany, March 16, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. CVC will cease all transmissions via facilities in Germany after May 31. Back in last year they already cancelled all outlets via Jülich, keeping only a single Wertachtal transmitter for Africa, and this will now end, too. Quite remarkable, since as well-known they have bought the Jülich station and will take it over after T-Systems Media&Broadcasting terminates its operations at Jülich on New Year's Eve. Makes me wonder what will happen with this station then? (Kai Ludwig, Germany, March 16, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. The full Media&Broadcast shortwave schedule for A07 is in the files section of the Yahoo group. ("C-Start" means crash start, i.e. switching on the carrier only a few seconds before the program starts, because the frequency is until then in use by somebody else.) (Kai Ludwig, Germany, March 16, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also FINLAND, NETHERLANDS, POLAND, RUSSIA; also tnx to Ron Howard for the M&B sked ** GREECE. THE VOICE OF GREECE (ERA-5) A-07 Short-wave Transmission Schedule (Effective from March 25 to October 27, 2007) UTC Avlis 1 Avlis 2 Avlis 3 0000-0100 15650/105 7475/285º 9420/323º 0100-0200 15650/105 7475/285º 9420/323º 0200-0300 15650/105 7475/285º 9420/323º 0300-0400 *15650/105º 7475/285º 9420/323º 0400-0500 15630/285 *7475/285º 9420/323º 0500-0600 15630/285º 11645/2º 9420/323º 0600-0700 15630/285º 11645/2º 9420/323º 0700-0800 15630/285 11645/2º 9420/323º 0800-0900 15630/285 11645/2º 9420/323º 0900-1000 15630/285 11645/2º 9420/323º 1000-1100 SILENT SILENT SILENT 1100-1200 #9935/285 15630/285º 9420/323º 1200-1300 #9935/285 15630/285º 9420/323º 1300-1400 #9935/285 15630/285º 9420/323º 1400-1500 #9935/285 15630/285º 9420/323º 1500-1600 #9935/285 15630/285º 9420/323º 1600-1700 *#9935/285 15630/285º 9420/323º 1700-1800 #7450/323º 15630/285º 9420/323º 1800-1900 #7450/323 15630/285º 9420/323º 1900-2000 #7450/323 15630/285º 9420/323º 2000-2100 #7450/323 15630/285º 9420/323º 2100-2200 #7450/323 15630/285º 9420/323º 2200-2300 *#7450/323 *15630/285º 9420/323º 2300-2400 15650/105 7475/285º 9420/323º *Transmission ends 10 minutes earlier Daily maintenance at 1000-1100 UTC Weekly maintenance every Tuesday at 0800-1200 UTC #ERT-3 Radiophonikos Stathmos Makedonias (Thessaloniki) (John Babbis, Silver Spring, MD, March 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ERT S.A.: THE VOICE OF GREECE A-07 SHORT WAVE TRANSMISSION SCHEDULE Effective from 25/03/07 to 27/10/07 (0000 UTC) GMT/UTC Avlis1 Avlis2 Avlis3 Service Area Frequencies Language EUROPE 0000-0300 7475 9420 Greek 0300-0400 7475 9420 Greek 0400-0500 15630 *7475 9420 Greek 0500-0800 15630 9420 Greek 0800-1000 15630 9420 Greek, English 1100-1200 15630 9420 Greek 1200-1300 15630 9420 Greek 1300-1400 15630 9420 Greek, English 1400-1500 15630 9420 Greek 1500-1600 15630 9420 Greek 1600-1800 15630 9420 Greek 1800-1900 15630 9420 Greek 1900-2000 15630 9420 Greek 2000-2100 15630 9420 Greek 2100-2200 15630 9420 Greek 2200-2300 *15630 9420 Greek 2300-2400 7475 9420 Greek Foreign Language Transmissions 0500-0600 11645 Albanian 0600-0700 11645 English 0700-0800 11645 French 0800-0900 11645 Spanish 0900-0930 11645 German 0930-1000 11645 Russian TASHKENT 1200-1300 9420 Greek MIDDLE EAST/INDIAN OCEAN/AUSTRALIA 0000-0100 15650 Greek 0100-0200 15650 Greek 0200-0300 15650 Greek 0300-0400 *15650 Greek 2300-2400 15650 Greek AMERICA/ATLANTIC OCEAN 0000-0100 7475 9420 Greek 0100-0300 7475 9420 Greek 0300-0500 9420 Greek 1900-2000 15630 9420 Greek 2000-2300 *15630 9420 Greek 2300-2400 7475 9420 Greek SOUTH AMERICA/PANAMA ZONE/SW AFRICA 1900-2000 15630 Greek 2000-2100 15630 Greek 2100-2200 15630 Greek 2200-2250 15630 Greek *Transmission ends 10 minutes earlier LIVE AUDIO URL: http://www.ert.gr Reports via e-mail: era5@ert.gr Technical information: bcharalabopoulos@ert.gr ERA 5 'THE VOICE OF GREECE': Messogeion 432, 15342, Ag. Paraskevi, Attikis, Tel +301 606 6308, 606 6297, Fax +301 606 6309 General Direction of ERA (Engineering Div.): Messogeion 432, 15342, Ag. Paraskevi, Attikis, Tel +301 606 6257, Fax +301 606 6243 ERT S.A. MACEDONIA STATION EUROPE 1100-1650 9935 Greek 1700-2250 7450 Greek Macedonia Radio Station: Angelaki Str 2, 54621, Tel +303 124 4979, Fax +303 123 6370 (via John Babbis, Silver Spring, MD, March 15, DX LISTENING DIGEST) What about SVO relays; will those continue? (gh) I will ask him about SVO, but I think that it is Olympia Radio's private short-wave version of the Voice of Greece's programs. [Later:] Glenn: This is the answer to my query about SVO. From what Babis says, It seems to be a transmission test only to get the transmitter up and running; later they may decide a use for it. I guess we will have to wait to see what develops (John Babbis, MD, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: Dear John I remind you that, the SVO it was for a transmission test. Probably In the future it can follow also and other test. Best Regards Babis C. (via John Babbis, ibid.) ** GUAM. KTWR A-07 SKED 25 MARCH TO 28 OCT 2007 Assamese 1330-1400 9700 Balinese 0900-0915 fr-tu 15200 Bengali 1400-1415 mo-tu 9635 Boro 1400-1415 we-su 9635 Burmese 1200-1300 12120 Cantonese 1100-1200 9975 (mo-fr:-1145) 2200-2245 mo-fr 12130 2200-2300 sa-su 12130 (sa: -2215) English 0800-0900 mo-sa 11840 (sa: -0845) 0805-0900 mo-fr 15170 1345-1400 9975 1400-1500 mo-fr 9975 (th-fr:-1430) Hakka 1145-1200 mo-we 9975 Indonesian 0945-1045 15200 Javanese 1100-1130 15200 Khmer 1300-1330 9975 Kokborok 1230-1300 mo-sa 11570 (sa: 1245-) Korean 1400-1530 11570(su-we:-1515) Madurese 0915-0945 15200 Mandarin 0930-1100 12105 1000-1100 11590 13765 1015-1100 13730 1100-1200 12120 (sa: -1130) 1100-1230 9910 (sa-su:-1215) 1200-1400 9370 (mo-sa:-1330) 1230-1400 7430 1400-1545 7520 (sa-su:-1500) 2200-2230 11765 2215-2300 13690 Manipuri 1415-1430 sa-su 9635 Santhali 1345-1400 9455 Sgaw Karen 1300-1330 9585 Sundanese 1130-1200 15200 Swatow 1145-1200 th-fr 9975 Torajanese 0900-0915 we-th 15200 Vietnamese 1100-1145 sa-su 9635(mo-fr:-1130) 1200-1300 9975(mo-fr:-1230) (George Ross, KTWR via Alokesh Gupta dxldyg, reformatted by Alan Roe, WDXC via DXLD) ** HUNGARY. Re: ``1200-1300 Su 6025 7275 German (GuK) [Not sure what the GuK means]`` Gruß und Kuß. This programme is produced at Pécs (in German Fünfkirchen) and broadcast both on shortwave and in the local Radio Fünfkirchen programming (now nationwide on the MR4 mediumwave network). Gruß und Kuß exists already since 1960 and was founded as a bridge between Germans who left Hungary and those who stayed there; Radio Budapest says that the broadcast kept families in touch through the iron curtain. The program consists of greetings, reports from the German minority in Hungary and a great amount of music. I'm not aware of anything in international broadcasting that would only remotely equal Gruß und Kuß. For an impression of how Gruß und Kuß sounds (note the music flavour at the end): http://www.radioeins.de/meta/sendungen/apparat/051022_A2.ram This is a recording of the 1300 (1200 in summer) transmission. No preceding IS here, 6025 carries Kossuth Rádió until 1300/1200 sharp and the second transmitter comes on with the same feed about two minutes before the hour. Probably Radio Fünfkirchen contributes also some other material to the foreign service, at least it was described as quite helpful in the current situation that the Radio Budapest editors are not alone in producing German-language content at MR (Kai Ludwig, Germany, March 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. Monitoring List of Indonesian SW Stations, Mid March version: http://wave.ap.teacup.com/n1hp/html/sw070313.pdf de A. Ishida (S. Hasegawa, NDXC, March 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL INTERNET. "288 Channels In a Market is Unfair" The business model for these tens of thousands of channels suffered a setback a few days ago with the decision regarding internet performance fees that will be paid to artists. (I expect that the revenue will actually go to the record labels rather than to the musicians themselves). This is separate from the royalties paid to the composers via BMI & ASCAP. The basis for the additional fees is the Digital Protection Copyright Act which does not apply to traditional analog delivery (Jerry Lenamon, Waco TX, ABDX via DXLD) Yo, true dat, as those zany young people say. But. . . . 1) Talk, sports, etc., will not be affected. And those have been very successful formats indeed. 2) You're right these new fees will also apply to satellite radio, internet streaming of terrestrial radio, etc. That's why the NAB finds itself aligned with XM and Sirius on this issue. Expect lots of pressure to reverse/amend the decision. 3) The RIAA, like the NAB, is fighting to preserve its existing business model. But they need radio exposure to sell music. And demand for their product --- recorded music --- is dropping at an alarming rate. So what do they do? They raise fees for outlets promoting their product to the public. (I think this is called "felony stupid"). I expect economic realities to eventually break through even the RIAA's wall of stupidity. (For example, they'll eventually listen to Steve Jobs and move their business model from selling albums to selling individual songs in non-copy protected format.) 4) The internet is international, boundaryless, and beyond the control of national laws. Suppose I wanted to set up an internet station hosted on a server in Shanghai, and decided to play lots of music and not pay RIAA/BMI/ASCAP a dime. What recourse would they have? That's right --- none. In fact, the biggest music file sharing sites today are hosted in China, and are tolerated by the government there as a not-so-subtle hint to the U.S. government as to what China could do to U.S. intellectual property industries should it so wish. If the RIAA keeps internet music fees high, the main result might be "pirate" internet music stations hosted outside U.S. jurisdiction. We're living in some very interesting times for the broadcast, music, and publishing industries. Right now I'm working with a large publisher to help them develop a strategy for electronic publishing, and many of the same issues --- resistance to altering the existing business model, fear of piracy and revenue loss, etc. --- are present there as well (Harry Helms W5HLH, Smithville, TX EL19 http://topsecrettourism.com ABDX via DXLD) ** ITALY. RAI INTERNATIONAL A07 North America 1400-1425 Italian 15280 17780 1830-1905 Italian 15380 17780 2240-0055 Italian 11800 0055-0115 English 11800 0115-0130 French 11800 0130-0315 Italian 11800 0315-0335 Spanish 11800 Central and South America 2240-0055 Italian 9840 0055-0115 Spanish 9840 0115-0130 Portuguese 9840 0130-0230 Italian 6110 9840 11765 0230-0315 Italian 9840 0315-0335 Spanish 9840 North West Africa 0435-0445 Italian 6145 7235 0445-0500 English 6145 7235 1330-1355 Arabic 9670 11795 1500-1525 Italian 9670 11770 1630-1655 French 7180 9845 11855 1700-1800 Italian 7130 9845 2025-2045 Arabic 6110 7130 2050-2110 Portuguese 6110 7130 2110-2130 Spanish 6110 7130 North East Africa 0435-0445 Italian 6110 0445-0500 English 6110 1330-1355 Arabic 11915 1500-1525 Italian 11720 1700-1800 Italian 6140 2135-2155 Arabic 6000 7180 Central Africa 1600-1700 Italian 17790 1700-1800 Italian 15320 15390 2050-2110 Portuguese 15240 East Africa and Middle East 0435-0455 Amharic 11900 0455-0530 Italian 11900 0530-0550 Somali 11900 0600-0620 Arabic 11900 1630-1655 Arabic 11810 1700-1800 Italian 6140 11970 1910-1930 Somali 11890 2025-2045 English 5970 11875 2050-2110 Portuguese 11875 Far East, Japan and Australia 1000-1100 Italian 11920 2205-2230 English 11895 Mediterranean area - "Notturno dall'Italia" 2200-0400 Italian 567 657 846 900 6060 "Tutto il calcio minuto per minuto" 1250-1630 Italian 9670 11885 17570 17780 21515 Sun Mediterranean Area 1500-1525 Italian 9670 11720 West Europe 1530-1555 French 9670 11855 1555-1625 Italian 9670 11855 1805-1825 German 6040 9845 1935-1955 English 5960 9845 2000-2020 Danish 6110 9780 Tue/Thu/Sun 2000-2020 Esperanto 6110 9780 Sat 2000-2020 Swedish 6110 9780 Mon/Wed/Fri Russia 0345-0405 Russian 6135 9710 11830 0600-0620 Russian 9670 11795 1605-1625 Russian 9705 11885 2000-2020 Russian 6185 9565 11775 East Europe 0405-0425 Ukrainian 6135 9710 11830 0505-0525 Lithuanian 9670 11795 0530-0550 Romanian 9670 11795 0700-1300 Italian 6140 1335-1355 Albanian 9610 1400-1415 Slovene 9570 1415-1435 German 9570 1435-1455 Croatian 9570 1500-1520 Turkish 9870 11775 1520-1540 Greek 9870 11775 1540-1600 Bulgarian 9870 11775 1810-1825 Czech 6130 1825-1840 Slovak 6130 1840-1900 Polish 6130 1910-1930 Serbian 6130 1935-1955 Hungarian 6130 2115-2135 Romanian 5970 2135-2155 Czech 5970 2155-2210 Slovak 5970 2210-2225 Polish 5970 (Roberto Scaglione & Andrea Borgnino IW0HK, http://www.bclnews.it via DXLD) Tutto più o meno regolare per RAI International: come accade già da un po' non è espressamente citato il relay di Ascensione, seppur utilizzato, c'è invece una nuova trasmissione in italiano a destinazione Africa centrale dalle 1600 alle 1700 su 17790 kHz. (Roberto Scaglione http://www.bclnews.it ibid.) ** ITALY [non]. (via Bulgaria), 9310, IRRS, 1115-1150+ March 18, US produced English religious programming. 1145 IRRS ID. Poor in noisy conditions. Listed Sun only (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** JORDAN. 11690, Radio Jordan in English at 1705 UT March 18, tune in with News and weather. Headlines at 1709, ID at 1710 then in usual pop music programming. Fair with lots of het action from several sources (Mick Delmage, AB, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MADAGASCAR. 5010, R. Madagascar, Antananarivo 0315-0335+ March 17, Tune-in to talk in unID language. Local pop music. 0333 Nice clear ID. Surprisingly good, strong signal in suppressed [reduced?] carrier USB (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALI. 4835.39, RTM, Bamako 2350-0002* March 17-18, French talk, tribal vocals. Sign-off with NA. Weak. Stronger on // 5995 but with adjacent channel splatter (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MONGOLIA. The Mongoliin Radio 2nd program, Hoh tenger on 7260 kHz: Russian News at 0840v-0900 Mon, Wed and Fri. English News at 0840 -0900 Tue, Thu and Sat. English ID as "Blue Sky Radio". de (S. Aoki Hasegawa, NDXC, March 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MOROCCO. Re DIGEST 7-033: ``I am still in the dark about how to pronounce Briech (not Breich) --- as in French, or is it some kind of Arabic, or what? Two syllables or one? ch = sh? It looks sorta Germanic, but surely not. No doubt the IBB guys have a way of pronouncing it, but that could be Americanized (gh, DXLD)`` This is a good question. On most recent maps, released by international publishers like Michelin (France) or Berndtson & Berndtson (Germany), this place is spelled "Briex" (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, DX LISTENING DIGEST) MOROCCO [and non]. See SPAIN Glenn Re Briech/Nador in 7-034 From the enclosed map you will see where Briech is located (if you did not know it before). The highlighted place agrees very well with the official coordinates (35N34 005W58) of the current Morocco site. The old Tangier site was located some distance to the north of the current one. So geographically Briech has no connection with Nador (Olle Alm, Sweden, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Olle, Tnx for the map. I think Briech was being connected with Tangiers, not Nador. No, I was not aware that Briech is right on the west coast, which does not seem to be an ideal location for all those broadcasts aimed eastward, through the Atlas mountains! I guess they must be far enough away not to block the low-angle horizon. 73, (Glenn, ibid.) RTM shortwave --- I'm curious as to the "Tangiers" reference. I understand the transmitter site is south of the boundary of the old Tangiers zone (Dan Ferguson, ex-IBB, HCDX via DXLD) Hi Dan, force of practice - mentioned Briech as follower of Tangiers site, not physical administration-wise. I dare say it's only a matter of habit. The transmitter site is approx. 13.28 km south of old RTM/VoA site, I guess. See Google Earth lineal measuring snap. 73 wolfy df5sx (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) ** NETHERLANDS [and non]. T-Systems Media&Broadcast has placed two transmissions temporarily on Nozema's Flevo plant, both to be run with 250 kW: Bible Voice Broadcasting 1700-1800 on 11945 (azimuth 113 deg.) until April 29 and Adventist World Radio 1730-1800 on 17575 (133 deg.) until April 30, both to move to Wertachtal as of April 30 or May 1, respectively. These will be the first non-RNW AM transmissions via Flevo in years, if I do not miss something (years back there used to be a single RCI outlet, for the Middle East if I recall correctly). In fact the Flevo usage is scheduled for the weeks when Nauen still transmits Deutsche Welle programming, thus could be the result of capacity constraints during this period. Perhaps Andy can tell if this is an airtime exchange with RNW, now with Media&Broadcast because airtime at Jülich for the summer season will no longer be available through Deutsche Welle for obvious reasons? Actually Media&Broadcast is involved in the Flevo site already for some time: Nozema has contracted the maintenance of these facilities to them, or at least did so years ago. The Flevo plant has the same Telefunken transmitters than the Media&Broadcast sites in Germany (4 x S4005, 1 x S4001), so they already had the necessary know-how, and this contract helped to save a couple of job positions (Kai Ludwig, Germany, March 16, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS. JUBILEUMWEBSITE WERELDOMROEP, 08-03-2007 Radio Nederland Wereldomroep (RNW) bestaat op 15 april aanstaande 60 jaar. De Stichting Radio Nederland Wereldomroep (RNW) wordt opgericht op 15 april 1947. De omroep begint met radio-uitzendingen in het Nederlands, Engels, Indonesisch en Spaans, later komen daar andere talen bij. In 1968 wordt Radio Nederland Training Centre (RNTC) opgericht voor de opleiding van omroepmedewerkers uit ontwikkelingslanden. Hoewel de televisieafdeling al van start gaat in 1960 duurt het tot 1998 voordat BVN ontstaat, de publieke tv-zender voor Nederlanders en Vlamingen in het buitenland. BVN is een samenwerkingsverband van Radio Nederland Wereldomroep, Publieke Omroep en de VRT. Sinds medio jaren negentig verzorgt de Wereldomroep internetsites in verschillende talen. Daarmee heeft de Wereldomroep zich ontwikkeld tot een multimediale internationale omroep, die nieuws, informatie en cultuur biedt aan miljoenen mensen over de hele wereld. Op internet wordt dit hele jaar door uitgebreid aandacht besteed aan alle activiteiten rondom dit jubileum. Ook heeft RNW het jubileum aangegrepen om het enorme audio-archief te digitaliseren en toegankelijk te maken voor het publiek. Zodoende kunt u nu hier een selectie beluisteren van de mooiste, meest hilarische en indrukwekkendste radiofragmenten uit de geschiedenis van de Wereldomroep. Kijk verder op http://www.wereldomroep.nl/jubileum (via BDX via DXLD) ** POLAND [non]. See FINLAND! ** RUSSIA. The Russian Private Commercial station Studiya O'key on 1476 kHz-Vladivostok has changed to Humor(Yumor) Radio-Humor FM on Mar 1. And 1134 kHz-Khabarovsk, 1233 kHz-Petropavlovsk-Kamchatka now carry Humor FM (S. Hasegawa, NDXC, March 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA [non]. Voice of Russia will use the Wertachtal site for transmissions to North America during the A07 season: 0200-0300 Russian and English 0300-0500 on 9515, 250 kW through a 4/4 curtain, aiming at 300 degrees (Kai Ludwig, Germany, March 16, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SERBIA. 18 March 2007 at 1459 noted a strong distorted audio with familiar interval signal on approximately 6686. Checking against weak 6100 and it was Radio Serbia International, starting their Spanish (?) program at 1500. Similar strong spurious signal also on approx. 5514. So the transmitter puts out strong spurs plus/minus 586 kHz from nominal 6100 (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) And not a mix with a MW transmitter as that would be 585, and none such in Serbia (gh, DXLD) LA VERITÀ DI RADIO SERBIA --- Grazie a DX Listening e al dxer serbo Dragan Lekic di Subotica possiamo fare un po' più di chiarezza sulle trasmissioni della Radio Internazionale di Serbia, nuovamente attiva con una schedule allargata rispetto al passato, ma ascoltata poco e male. Dragan, con una telefonata al sito di Stubline, è venuto a conoscenza dell'inattività causa lavori del trasmettitore bosniaco di Bijeljina. Di conseguenza, le trasmissioni vengono al momento diffuse dal sito serbo di Obrenovac-Stubline (unica notizia positiva...) pesantemente danneggiato dalla guerra con un trasmettitore mobile da soli 10 kW. Le trasmissioni da Bijeljina dovrebbero essere ripristinate nel giro di qualche mese, forse tre (Roberto Scaglione, bclnews.it yg via DXLD) ** SPAIN [and non]. March 17 at 2034 I noticed that altho there were only a few signals on 16m, two of them were colliding on 17595. This is nothing new; has been going on entire B-06 season at least, but worthy of note, from two stations whose frequency management leaves something to be desired; per HFCC, both daily for all B-06 dates: 17595 1200 2200 10-14 NOB 350 248 12 218 SPANISH E REE REE 4130 17595 2000 2200 46 EWN 500 85 0 218 USA EWN FCC 4927 There is something wrong with this picture. Almost as bad are NZ on 17675 and CVC Chile 17680, too close for comfort (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TIBET. “WANDERING CLOUD OVER TIBET” WASHINGTON — Radio Free Asia and the Asia Society Washington Center presented a stunning photo exhibit by award-winning journalist Palden Gyal on February 22 at RFA headquarters in Washington. A broadcaster in RFA's Tibetan service, Gyal returned home in 2006 for the first time in 18 years. He documented his visit in hundreds of photos depicting both the natural beauty of the region and the daily lives of those who make it their home. This exhibit also included historical photos from the private collections of RFA Tibetan broadcaster Tenor Taring, many of them dating from the earliest years of the 20th century and never published or exhibited previously. Go to http://www.rfa.org/english/background/tibet/2006/01/05/tibet_template/ or http://www.asiasociety.org/events/calendar.pl?rm=detail&eventid=16389&date=2%2F11%2F07&filter_region=10&filter_category=0&keywords=to to view some of Gyal's many photos and to learn more. (March NASB Newsletter via DXLD) ** U K. THE BIASED BROADCASTING CORPORATION By FRANK H. STEWART, Jerusalem, March 15, 2007, Op-Ed Contributor http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/15/opinion/15stewart.html?pagewanted=print LAST summer, the Archbishop of Algeria remarked to this newspaper that when satellite dishes first appeared in Algeria, they were typically positioned to receive French broadcasts. Now the majority receive programming from the Persian Gulf. If you watch Western television, you live in one universe, said the archbishop, and if you watch Middle Eastern television, you live in another altogether. The Middle Eastern broadcasts, he added, tended to depict the West in a negative light. Washington is well aware of this problem and has tried to address it. In 2004, the United States established its own Arabic-language satellite television station, Al Hurra. But Al Hurra has not been a success, and stations like Al Jazeera and Al Arabiyya, based in the Gulf states, continue to dominate the region. Those stations will soon face a formidable rival. The BBC World Service plans to start an Arabic television service this fall, and the BBC knows what it is doing. It has been broadcasting in Arabic on the radio for more than 60 years and has a huge audience. This new television station might sound like good news for America. Many of us pick up BBC broadcasts in English, and we respect their quality. But the World Service in English is one thing, and the World Service in Arabic is another entirely. If the BBCs Arabic TV programs resemble its radio programs, then they will be just as anti-Western as anything that comes out of the Gulf, if not more so. They will serve to increase, rather than to diminish, tensions, hostilities and misunderstandings among nations. For example, a 50-minute BBC Arabic Service discussion program about torture discussed only one specific allegation, which came from the head of an organization representing some 90 Saudis imprisoned at Guantánamo. This speaker stated that the prisoners were subject to disgusting and horrible forms of torture and suggested that three inmates reported by the United States to have committed suicide were actually killed. Another participant insisted that the two countries guilty of torturing political prisoners on the largest scale were Israel and the United States. At the same time, the authoritarian regimes and armed militants of the Arab world get sympathetic treatment on BBC Arabic. When Saddam Hussein was in power, he was a great favorite of the service, which reported as straight news his re-election to a seven-year term in 2002, when he got 100 percent of the vote. President Bashar al-Assad of Syria enjoys similar favor. When a State Department representative referred to Syria as a dictatorship, his BBC interviewer immediately interrupted and reprimanded him. The Arabic Service not only shields Arab leaders from criticism but also tends to avoid topics they might find embarrassing: human rights, the role of military and security forces, corruption, discrimination against minorities, censorship, poverty and unemployment. When, from time to time, such topics do arise, they are usually dealt with in the most general terms: there may, for instance, be guarded references to certain Arab countries. By contrast, the words and deeds of Western leaders, particularly the American president and the British prime minister, are subject to minute analysis, generally on the assumption that behind them lies a hidden and disreputable agenda. Last summer, when the British arrested two dozen people alleged to have been plotting to blow up airplanes crossing the Atlantic, a BBC presenter centered a discussion on the theory that these arrests had taken place because Tony Blair, embarrassed by opposition to Britains role in the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel, wanted to distract the public while at the same time associating Muslims with terrorism. The British are among our closest and most reliable allies, and it is strange that their government pays for these broadcasts, many of which are produced in Cairo rather than in London. If the BBC models its Arabic television service on its Arabic radio service, yet another anti-Western, antidemocratic channel will find its place on the Arab screen. Frank H. Stewart is a professor in the department of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a visiting scholar at New York University (via Mike Cooper, Dan Say, DXLD) ** U K. RAMPISHAM, A DAY IN THE COUNTRY November 16th, 2006 was a day of an excursion to Rampisham, a large communications station owned by VT Communications and used to service a wide range of international broadcasters such as BBC World Service. Despite the rainy weather, the bus left Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, on time with nine individuals eager to gain new experience and knowledge. The journey to Dorset took almost 3.5 hours and as the bus was getting closer, the surrounding environment was becoming more rural. Fields full of cows, hills and little cottages; one would have felt like going back in time. However, all of a sudden, big antennas on the horizon in the distance seemingly brought the travellers back to civilization. The Rampisham transmission site is located on the hill just next to Rampisham, a small village, and broadcasts shortwave transmissions mainly to Eastern Europe, Africa and the USA. There are about 30 highly skilled engineers and technicians working in Rampisham, maintaining the site and making sure everything works the way it should. From the transmission building one can see a vast field full of standing antennas with arrays that look like huge cobwebs with the same repetitive patterns. The Rampisham 189-acre site was acquired by BBC in 1939 and entered service on 16th February 1941. During the first years the site was subject to attempts at destruction by the German Luftwaffe. The original transmitters remained in service until 1963 when they were replaced by 250 kW ones built by Marconi along with two twin-channel 100 kW units. In 1982 Rampisham went through the biggest re- engineering since it began. The site was completely stripped of the old antennas and the building gutted to a shell in preparation for a complete new installation. What was installed is what can be seen today, ten 500 kW transmitters and 34 wideband curtain arrays. The majority of antennas point in an easterly direction with others capable of beaming to the west. A fully automatic control system was also installed that continually monitors the broadcast and the site. In 1996 with the privatisation of the BBC World Service transmission network, Rampisham was purchased by Merlin Communications and now forms a key part of VT Communications' shortwave network. The site itself is designed as a Site of Nature Conservation interest as the land has hardly been disturbed since the site was installed. Many rare species of plants and insects native to Dorset thrive amongst the undisturbed pasture. It was a nice trip and Rampisham staff taking the visitors around the site were extremely friendly and professional. Just when the coach was trying to make its way back in London, through hundreds of cars and people in an evening rush hour, one just had to admit that the Dorset countryside resembled an unspoiled and peaceful paradise (The Oracle, January-June, 2007, published by NASB associate member VT Communications via March NASB Newsletter via DXLD) ** U K. 6315.0 kHz, Deutsche Welle um 0735 bis 0759 UTC s/off mit dem deutschen Programm // 6075 kHz. O=2/3 Nebenausstrahlung? (18mar2007) Gruß, Harald Kuhl, Germany, March 18, ADX via Wolfgang Büschel, DXLD) Mixture in Skelton 6075 / 6195 / 6315 -- und 5955???[but FLE]. 6075 0600-0759 18,27,28,37N SKN 300 110 DWL 6195 0500-0800 28,38E,39 SKN 300 140 BBCWS (Wolfgang Büschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. KDFC OWNERSHIP CHANGE CAUSES CONCERN FOR CLASSICAL MUSIC FORMAT Classical music KDFC-FM (102.1) is consistently one of the top-rated stations in the Bay Area. But with its transfer last month to a new company, plenty of people are worried that the format will be changed. Naturally, when the new owners from Entercom Communications visited the station last week, they appeared happy with the format, which is tied in eighth place in the market for listeners over 12. But around the halls, people are nervous about the deal, which is pending final approval. They know that there are only 30 classical stations left in the United States and that the format isn't as lucrative as those selling lots of beer ads. To help the new owners know what you think, the station has posted a survey for listeners to fill out at http://www.kdfc.com If you support classical programming, now is the time to let them know (San José Mercury News Feb 7 via Dale Park, IRCA via DXLD) ** U S A. NEWS FROM THE DESK OF PRESIDENT MARK GREEN, AIR AMERICA Dear Friend, It’s been a great first week: *Congratulations. Coverage of the new ownership and management here has been generous and serious. (See Daily News and Village Voice.) And we’ve been overwhelmed by well-wishers contacting me, C.O.O. Scott Elberg and Board Chair Steve Green – via phone, on-line & on-air. Listeners calling in to me on David Bender’s Politically Direct Tuesday night kept thanking Steve and me for “saving Air America,” but even I had to demur when one caller in the grip of irrational exuberance thanked us for “saving the country”! *Nevada and Fox. During the contretemps last week when 265,000 MoveOn members signed a protest after Nevada Democrats asked Fox Cable News to host the first Democratic presidential debate in that key early state – complainants for some reason thought Fox was pretty conservative – the cable channel came up with a possible solution to the impasse: they’d invite one local Air America host to be among the four panelists. I refused, saying it appeared to be a “token move,” countering with the idea that AAR would co-host it with Fox by having the same number of panelists since our audience sizes – TV vs. radio – were about equal. Fox refused. But Nevada pulled the plug right after Fox chairman Roger Ailes told an ill-timed joke at Barack Obama’s expense. The Las Vegas Review-Journal Article *”Air America Makes Fox-y Invitation”. This was the HuffingtonPost.com headline on my blog Tuesday describing my letter to Republican state chairs in the four earliest '08 primary and caucus states. In the spirit of Fox’s request to host the Democratic presidential debate and the cable channel's complaint that Nevada’s withdrawal was “anti- speech” and “Stalinist,” I suggested that Air America host those states’ Republican presidential debates. "If you should accept my proposal, Republicans would both embrace free speech and stick it to Stalin at the same time,” I wrote. No response yet --- although the blogosphere lit up. (See The Huffington Post, TheDrudgeReport, Alternet, DailyKos and Politico.com.) *New VP of Programming. We are proud to announce the first hire of the new Air America -- David Bernstein will join the network as Vice President of Programming. Mr. Bernstein is a 32-year radio veteran, having held programming and news management positions at leading stations such as WOR, WBZ, WRKO, and WDBO. David is just the Rx that the doctor ordered. He has a successful track record of over two decades of building ratings and branding talk radio. Because his ability to work with high profile talent is unparalleled, David will be a vital part of Air America 2.0. Air America 2.0 Begins Today A MESSAGE FROM AL FRANKEN Ever since my last show on Air America, I’ve been running hard here in Minnesota to take back Paul Wellstone’s seat in the Senate. I miss being able to talk to all of you on my show, but I’ve been encouraged by your letters, e-mails (which have been generally much more coherent than our “Hate E-mails of the Day”), and even the occasional check. VISIT MY ONLINE CAMPAIGN HEADQUARTERS! Which brings me to my point. It would be great if candidates could be judged based on their vision for the country, their policy platform, or their ability to sing parody theme songs. But that’s just not how it is these days. If I’m going to be taken seriously as a candidate, I need to prove that I can raise the money necessary to take on an incumbent Republican Senator who’ll have the backing of Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, and the rest of their insidious ilk (I’m learning to talk in sound bites). CLICK HERE TO HELP ME GET TO THE SENATE! March 31 marks the end of the first fundraising quarter, and I need to show that I’ve got strong support from progressive Americans like you. Also, I need to buy a whole lot of lawn signs. Can you help? CLICK HERE TO BUY ME SOME LAWN SIGNS! (Air America mailing list, March 15, via Clara Listensprechen, DXLD) ** VENEZUELA. Estimado Glenn, saludos fraternos. A continuación te envío un artículo que escribí acerca del "affair" RCTV; tema que ha querido utilizar el oposicionismo vernacular como arma política. Se quedarán con las ganas. 73s y buen DX, Adán RCTV: 53 AÑOS TIRADOS POR LA VENTANA La decisión del Estado venezolano de no renovar la concesión a RCTV, es un verdadero acto revolucionario a favor de la libertad de expresión. Con 53 años de trayectoria en la industria de la televisión local, RCTV tiene el vergonzoso prontuario comunicacional de haber participado en el primer golpe de Estado mediático de la historia de la Humanidad. Junto con otros tres canales de televisión privados, RCTV violentó toda la legislación vigente en Venezuela, durante los días 11, 12 y 13 de abril de 2002. Desde los estudios de RCTV se llamó a la insurrección militar y se condujo a un grupo numeroso de venezolanos a la muerte segura, al convocarlos a un lugar donde la oposición reaccionaria había dispuesto francotiradores y de esa manera – con dichas “bajas” de inocentes - justificar la acción castrense en contra del gobierno de Hugo Chávez. Además, RCTV con su política comunicacional avaló la eliminación de la Constitución de 1999 y del resto de los poderes públicos nacionales. En menos de 48 horas, en 2002, RCTV había tirado por la ventana 5 décadas de historia. Un hecho realmente lamentable. Meses más tarde, en diciembre del mismo año, el canal de marras apoyó un paro golpista de los trabajadores “meritócratas” de la principal industria del país, PDVSA, lo cual propició – entre otras aberraciones - la transmisión de propaganda de guerra durante 63 días continuos y la pérdida para la Nación - a consecuencia del paro - de más de 10 mil millones de dólares. La misma cúpula gerencial que empujó a RCTV al despeñadero durante ese fatídico 2002, fue la misma que le "lavó" su identidad corporativa en 1996, al borrar de un plumazo el característico “león” que identificaba a la empresa en el logotipo original de 1953, año en el que RCTV inició sus transmisiones regulares. Cabe destacar que ese animal es el símbolo de la ciudad donde se asienta RCTV: Santiago de León de Caracas. Igualmente, en 1996, la denominación Radio Caracas Televisión dejó de usarse y la sustituyó el acrónimo de RCTV, por lo cual Empresas 1BC – casa matriz del canal - perdió el derecho a usar esa marca comercial – Radio Caracas Televisión -, ya que tiene más de 10 años sin identificarse con ella. Ya antes, a mediados de la década de 1980, se había impuesto el mismo acrónimo de RCTV, aunque al cabo de unas cuantas temporadas volvió la denominación tradicional: Radio Caracas. Como bien dice el periodista y humorista venezolano, Carlos Sicilia, RCTV - a principios del decenio de 1980 - estaba destinada a ser la “BBC de América Latina”. La producción de contenidos de dicha estación abarcaba todo el continente, Europa, Asia y otros recónditos lugares del orbe. Sin embargo, la miopía de una gerencia “emborrachada” de éxitos y dólares, hizo que RCTV se hundiera en el fango del “apostar por lo seguro”, del terror a la innovación, a las ideas de ruptura. Fue ese mismo grupo de “sabiondos” de la televisión el que vio, en 2002, la oportunidad de derrocar a un presidente legítimo y de presentar a un medio de comunicación televisivo como el protagonista de la “hazaña”. RCTV había secuestrado el derecho constitucional de todos los venezolanos a la información. El 12 y 13 de abril de 2002, la gente salía a las calles a reclamar la restitución del Estado de Derecho y RCTV sólo transmitía dibujos animados o programas de entretenimiento. Así como la FCC en Estados Unidos se reserva el derecho de renovar - o no - las concesiones radioeléctricas, igual acontece en el caso venezolano. El Estado revolucionario tiene toda la potestad de no RENOVARLE la concesión a RCTV y los directivos de dicha planta están en el deber de respetar y acatar esa decisión. ¿Y será verdad que los más de 2 mil trabajadores de RCTV se quedarán en la calle? ¡Mentira! Ellos mismos podrán organizarse en torno a cooperativas audiovisuales y podrán seguir desempeñando sus labores en mejores condiciones ambientales y salariales. Cinco años después del Golpe de Estado de 2002, el Estado venezolano empieza a hacer justicia y cierra las puertas a una camarilla irresponsable, como la de RCTV, que viste de “disidencia democrática” la más vil de las conductas. El espectro radioeléctrico dejado por esta empresa ayudará a una mayor difusión del trabajo de las numerosas cooperativas audiovisuales y televisoras comunitarias existentes en Venezuela. Una acción inédita que pone en manos del pueblo las herramientas para su propia liberación comunicacional (ADÁN GONZÁLEZ, Certificado de Locución #26950, Catia La Mar, Estado Vargas, VENEZUELA, March 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VENEZUELA [and non]. A report in Italian from the ANSA agency, via Roberto Scaglione, bclnews.it, says that Pres. Chávez has decided to resume doing Aló Presidente on TV Sunday mornings starting at 11 am local (1500 UT), and will be on radio only on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. So are the RHC SW relays back? Check the 9, 11, 13, 15 and 17 MHz bands, please (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. 6300, RN RASD *0702-0715+ March 17, Abrupt sign-on with Koran at 0702-0714 followed by Arabic talk & music. Good (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZIMBABWE. 3396, R. Zimbabwe, Gweru, 0302-0315+ March 18, Tune-in just in time to hear a "Radio Zimbabwe" English ID and mention of "FM & Shortwave". 0303 religious talk in vernacular and local church music. Fair to good (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZIMBABWE [non]. (via Madagascar), 11695, R. V of the People 1710- 1757* March 17, Vernacular and English talk about Zimbabwe. Local music. Many full IDs & "Radio VOP" IDs. Gave address & e-mail address. Fair signal strength but difficult to understand due to thick accents (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED [non]. Re 7-035, Today a slightly different pattern for some stations around 6100: 6099.72 V. of Malaysia signed off at 1534. 6099.97 Int. R. of Serbia did not have carrier on before 1400. 6100.55 R. Rossii, Kyzyl still on at 1610. 73, (Mauno Ritola, Finland, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Thanks to Gerald T. Pollard for a vernal equinox check in the mail to Glenn Hauser, P O Box 1684, Enid, OK 73702 CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES +++++++++++++++++++++++++ WHERE ARE ALL THE DX BLOGGERS? As a journalist and SWL, I am surprised about the bizarre silence coming from the usual bombarding DX bloggers who attended the recent SWL festival that is held annually at a roadside motel on the outskirts of Philly. For those of us who couldn’t attend, it would have been pleasing, or at least informative to the community, to get a wrap-up, or at least a summary, of what was going on during this 3-day meeting in the Keystone state. I clicked onto Kim Elliot’s blog only to find that he excused himself for a few days because he was going to attend the annual “DX summit” but later came back to post some boring info about a station or two with no mention about the fest at all. What disservice; shame on Kim!!! And then we have Andy Sennitt’s know- it-all blog with no posts about the happenings at Kulpsville; not even a mention. (I assume he didn’t attend). Then, there was the SWL official Fest (TSL) page with no info at all --- except a short block message to inform those who missed the meet, that they “missed it” indeed. Glenn, I hope to attend a very important DXing conference in the coming months here in Europe and, if all goes well, after the back- slapping and the beer-drinking that usually takes place at these meets, I will be blogging regularly to inform you about the seminars taking place because I know not everyone who is really interested can attend. After all, isn’t that what journalists are obliged to do -- inform their readers? (Marty Delfin, Madrid, Spain, March 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Good for you; however, some of our DX journalists do broadcasts about it instead, such as Kim Elliott live for half an hour on VOA Friday morning, and Alen Grájam, already on DX Partyline and no doubt running interviews recorded there for weeks to come. Andy has been ill with the flu so Media Network has not been so active and I certainly would not expect him to go to Kulpsville (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Gosh, I must eat crow then. Thanks for the clarification. How could I have forgotten all about that favourite medium of ours... shortwave radio. I look forward to hearing Alen Graham's broadcasts (Marty Delfín, ibid.) I wouldn`t go that far. If there were 200 people there, one would expect at least some of the non `professionals` to blog about it. Altho I can`t say I have gone searching for them. The Fest website ought to provide linx to such if not publish its own comprehensive report. 73, (Glenn to Marty, ibid.) Editor's [Report] on the Winterfest A good time was had by all attending. There was much activity by unlicensed broadcasters not conforming to the federal regulations. The active frequencies used were 6925 Kilohertz, 6937 kilohertz, 89.5, 90.3 (WBZO, keeping track of the gnome called Boozo) and 91.5 Megahertz. There was a forum on Free Radio Activity. George Maroti provided the two pictures of the speakers at the forum, which are attached. Thank you, George! The speakers were, Andy Yoder, Chris Lobdell, George Zeller, Tim Smith (a.k.a. Timtron of WBCQ), a gentleman from UK, and myself. It was noted by the gentleman from the UK that Mystery Radio, 6220, is very active. Mystery Radio has been reported several times now on that frequency. I am listening to it as I work on this issue. Of course, Mr. Jay Smilkstein did make an appearance with a minimum of problems. Rumors are that Jay may do a broadcast on the WBCQ. If Jay does get his hour, then I suspect the Free Radio Operators should get a good year of material from that one broadcast. From George Zeller on the Winterfest, The winner of one of the E1 prizes was Ian McFarland, formerly of RCI. In defiance of all of the laws of probability, the winner of the Barto Bag prize (?) was once again George Zeller. One of the items in the Barto Bag this year was a CSIC Rubber Chicken breeding stock. When you squeeze the rubber chicken, an egg comes out. Enjoy Life, (Greg Majewski, Free Radio Weekly March 15 via dXLD) ABU DHABI HFCC REPORT --- By George Ross The High Frequency Coordination Conference (HFCC) was held at the Millennium Hotel in Abu Dhabi 5-9th February 2007 and hosted by Emirates Media Inc. (EMI). This is the second time in only 3 years that the HFCC conference was hosted by Emirates Media. The previous time was in Dubai in February 2004. This meeting was attended by 116 delegates representing 56 Frequency Management Organizations from 44 countries. Representing the NASB were George Ross and Mike Sabin from KTWR Trans World Radio Guam. Dr. Jerry Plummer was there for the first time to observe and consider participation as the frequency coordinator for WWCR. We appreciated getting to know him, and helped to show him through the process of coordination work. After our long flight to Abu Dhabi we found that our luggage did not arrive with us. So our first point of business was to find a clothing store to do necessary shopping to at least take us through the first part of the conference. So our first day in Abu Dhabi we experienced shopping in the midst of a sandstorm. (We were successful, and we were also quite relieved when our luggage arrived two days later.) To sum up the week, hospitality was great and the food was great. We are again grateful for such a gracious accommodation and welcome for such a conference venue. It was a very busy week of coordination. The total amount of requirements has not diminished at all, even with some broadcasters cutting back, and with the sunspot cycle at its low. It seems that other broadcasters are increasing their usage of HF spectrum as well. Mr. Mahmood Alredha, Head of Engineering EMI, opened the beginning plenary meeting by welcoming everyone to Abu Dhabi on behalf of EMI. He was proud that EMI were able to host the HFCC/ASBU Conference in the UAE for the second time in three years. Mr. Abdelrahim Suleiman, Technical Director of the Arab States Broadcasting Union (ASBU) thanked EMI for hosting the joint meeting of HFCC/ASBU in Abu Dhabi. He said it was a pleasure to be in Abu Dhabi. He described the achievements and developments of ASBU. There are 21 active members in the ASBU. HFCC Chairman Oldrich Cip addressed the delegates next. He made mention of the need to examine and take regulatory decisions on the radio regulations. He mentioned that 10 years ago WRC-97 introduced Article 12 (The Planning Procedure for HF Broadcasting) into the ITU Radio Regulations. "This resulted from a small coordination group which started in 1990 and later became the HFCC. It is now possible to coordinate on a worldwide basis using a single database managed by HFCC/ASBU. In fact, colleagues in the ABU-HFC for the Asia Pacific region met in Kuala Lumpur recently and updated their A07 requirements using the same database which will be used during the meeting." Another WRC is scheduled in the fall of 2007 which could have an impact on shortwave broadcasting with possible additions for the radio spectrum below 10 MHz. Oldrich mentioned it is essential to inform administrations on the need for additional spectrum as has been documented by the HFCC. Monday evening the HFCC delegates were treated to a banquet dinner. The highlight for conference delegates was the formal invitation to a banquet dinner at the Emirates Palace on Wednesday night. The Emirates Palace Hotel is only the second seven-star hotel in the world (next to Burj Al Arab in Dubai.) The hotel is the most expensive ever built at a cost of US $3bn. Emirates Palace opened in February 2005. The Emirates Palace is owned by the Government of Abu Dhabi. It's not billed as a hotel: "The 7 or 6 star ratings do not officially exist - the highest rating that can be given to a hotel is 5 stars. We classify Emirates Palace as just that, a Palace. Its sumptuous furnishings and regal service offered to each of its guests, ensures the palatial experience is one that will be remembered forever." It was quite a spectacular banquet and tour. These statistics will give you an idea, and you can see an impressive view of the palace with Google Earth. The design incorporates traditional Arabian elements such as the grand dome and 114 smaller domes spread over the building. The colours of the building reflect the different shades of sand found in the Arabian Desert. The largest dome, the Grand Atrium dome, is 42m wide with a surface finish of silver and gold coloured glass mosaic tiles. On the apex sits a gold finial. The gazebo and main auditorium both have domes measuring 17m in diameter; the smaller domes range from 7m to 12m in diameter, with the smallest dome measuring 2.9m. The Emirates Palace employs around 2000 staff members representing approximately 50 nationalities. It has 92 suites representing the ultimate in luxury along with 302 deluxe guest rooms. It has 1002 chandeliers made with Swarovski's premier Strauss crystals. The Palace sits on a land plot of 1 million square meters of exotic park, most of which comprises of landscaped gardens and beach. At the closing plenary meeting of the conference on Friday, it was announced that Christian Vision (CVI) had generously offered to host the B07 conference near Birmingham, UK, during the period 27-31 August 2007. Andrew Flynn, Head of Engineering CVI, confirmed the invitation and provided more information on the venue. He said more information would be available probably sometime in June. Jan Willem Drexhage presented the following information from the meeting of the Group of Experts (GOE): * The new collision detection system prepared by Navid Homayouni of Iran's IRB is still producing collision lists that are too long. This system looks at S/I values for detecting a collision. Attempts to shorten the lists are being taken to produce a list around the same length as the present 55dB collision list. The results will be reported at the next HFCC/ASBU meeting. * The HTM collision list currently marks deleted collisions. However both frequency requirements are marked. A proposal to just mark the requirement deleted was accepted. * Norbert Schall had noted that the design frequency of an antenna is very important when calculating the coverage achieved. A multiband antenna operating at the top of its frequency range produces a different coverage area than when operating at the bottom of its frequency range. The elevation angle will be significantly incorrect if the design frequency and operational frequency are quite different. Therefore, the design frequency should always be provided as part of a requirement. Many requirements don’t include it. Geoff Spells agreed to prepare a guide of how to calculate the design frequency if not known and provide some examples. * There are complaints that a few members use many multiple frequency reservations in the database during the coordination meeting which makes the coordination process less efficient. These unused requirements block attempts to improve the coordination process and should be removed as soon as possible. * There have been requests to make the collision lists available as a database. The decision is the data will be provided as a comma delimited file (not in XML format) which can be imported into most database software packages. * Jan Willem noted that the language field is not often used. Soon ISO 693-3 will be available. If suitable it will be proposed that the ITU use this new version in the future. * As agreed at the last meeting, distress and safety frequencies are now removed from the database. Adjacent frequencies (±5 kHz) will also be blocked in the future. HFCC Chairman Oldrich Cip closed the plenary with the following: * He made mention of the EBU Specialised Seminar to be held in Geneva on 26 April 2007. This will feature HFCC activities with Horst Scholz and Geoff Spells giving presentations. This seminar is intended to give information on developments in delivery options as well as preparations for WRC-07. Details of this seminar are on the "What’s New" column on the HFCC website. * Abdelrahim noted that there are different opinions on the amount of additional spectrum needed by the broadcasting service. It would help if all broadcasting organisations could agree the amount and use this in discussions with administrations prior to WRC-07. * Geoff Spells said that the only definitive proposal he had seen was from the CEPT. CPG PT4 had prepared a draft European Common Proposal (ECP) for consideration at CPG. This draft ECP proposed a total additional allocation of 350 kHz to the broadcasting service in the bands between 4-10 MHz under Article 12 from 25 October 2015. There was no additional spectrum proposed for the 7 MHz band. The fixed and mobile services affected by this would be given access to other spectrum on a shared basis from the date of implementation of the Final Acts of WRC-07. * Oldrich reported that comments on the interaction between AM and DRM transmissions had been received. He urged those FMO’s with DRM requirements to try to place these in a block with other DRM transmissions when selecting a frequency rather than scattering them throughout the band. The HFCC/ASBU position on this issue is contained in a document on the HFCC website. The entire plenary is available on the HFCC website, http://www.hfcc.org.russ [sic == does not work –gh] ABU DHABI CONFERENCE PRESS RELEASE from the HFCC The High Frequency Coordination Conference (HFCC) and the Arab States Broadcasting Union (ASBU) held a joint HF coordination meeting at the Millennium Hotel in Abu Dhabi 5-9th February 2007 at the kind invitation of Emirates Media Inc. (EMI). The meeting was attended by 116 delegates representing 56 Frequency Management Organisations (FMO) from 44 countries. During the week, the delegates managed to resolve many of the potential interference problems likely to affect HF broadcasting services in the A07 broadcasting season effective from 25th March to 27th October 2007. This means that listeners will be able to tune into their favourite stations operating in the shortwave broadcasting bands with less likelihood of experiencing severe interference. HFCC and ASBU expressed their warm thanks to Emirates Media Inc. for providing such excellent facilities and hospitality which led to such a successful outcome (March NASB Newsletter via DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING ++++++++++++++++++++ DRM News [see also ECUADOR] Mike Cronk of the BBC writes: "John Sykes of the BBC World Service has decided to take early retirement at the end of March, 2007. John has been with the BBC in various guises since 1972, and in recent years has been our Project Director, Digital Radio and DRM expert. He will be surely missed." We were pleased to have John at last year's USA DRM and NASB annual meetings in Silver Spring, Maryland, and we wish him a happy retirement. He can be reached via his long-time assistant Margaret Cole at margaret.cole @ bbc.co.uk Siriol Evans has recently left her position as Press & Communications Director of the DRM Consortium. "It has been a real pleasure to work with you," she wrote to members, "and I look forward to watching DRM's continued success in the future." Here are some recent newsclips mentioning DRM, this time with news from Germany, Africa and Canada in particular: Sender & Frequenzen (Germany) -- 2007 Edition A detailed report on DRM appeared in the 2007 edition of the listeners' guide "Sender & Frequenzen". The full handbook contains 576 pages. Note: If you would like a copy of the pdf, please contact Siriol Evans at siriolevans @ cwgsy.net Electropages.com -- December 5, 06 RadioScape -- Multi-standard DAB/DRM Modules to meet early market demand: http://www.electropages.com/viewArticle.aspx?intArticle=7999 Radio Magazine (USA) -- December 27, 06 Canada Rules to Allow HD Radio: http://beradio.com/eyeoniboc/canada-allow-hd-radio/index.html Red Herring (USA) -- December 5, 06 Digital Radio, African Style: http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=20033&hed=Digital+Radio%2C+African+Style§or=Industries&subsector=Communications Inter Press Service News Agency -- December 4, 06 Digital Radio Takes an Ambitious Step into Africa: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=35698 HoerZu (Germany) -- November 2006 Edition 46/2006 -- For a copy of the pdf, please contact Siriol Evans at siriolevans @ cwgsy.net www.stuff.co.nz (New Zealand) -- November 27, 06 Trial of digital radio presages spectrum race: http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3880157a28 (March NASB Newsletter via DXLD) DRM sites: Re: MSK, MNS, MOS Yes, thanks. Not sure what happened there - The HFCC list I generally work off is arranged in MS Excel with a lookup to the separate file that expands the site abbreviations, so I'm not even sure why I had to convert "MSK", wrongly or otherwise. There is also a live schedule accessible within the Dream software, which has the site names in full. DRM isn't an easy proposition from here, but I'm happy to have heard most of the higher-powered stuff available on HF, albeit with frequent drop-outs on many. I certainly wouldn't be investing in a specialised receiver for DRM, at least until a bit of content is beamed into the Asia/Oceania region (not that there are too many DRM receivers around one would seriously consider). Rgds (Craig Seager, Australia, DX LISTENING DIGEST) DRM SPLATTER I would take issue on the 'hundreds of radio enthusiasts around the world listen to DRM broadcasts', especially on the cost of proper receivers (that is those independent of PCs) However, of course it's in the interest of VT Communications to have a discussion and technical (subject to not overstepping registered design margins) ideas exchange group. It seems though because DRM 'splatter' can be a serious problem and realistically the station transmission overall bandwidth needs for practical use purposes to be actually wider than present analogue, the argument of spectrum economy successfully presented for DAB and Digital TV is totally lost with DRM - therefor what, if any, are the real advantages even of low power transmissions, presumably necessitating more transmitters to cover the same area as present Analogue, with the increased use for both transmission and reception of the electrical power we, to 'fight' the effects of so called 'global warming' need to drastically reduce. Whilst 'new toys for big boys' will always have certain appeal, surely we need to consider the real cost of such doubtful innovations (Rog Parsons (BDXC 782) Hinckley, Leics., BDXC-UK via DXLD) HERE IT COMES... FCC TO RELEASE FINAL IBOC RADIO RULES NEXT WEEK From Radio Ink this morning..... The FCC announced late Thursday (Mar. 15) that is will issue final regulations for HD Radio at its next open meeting, which is scheduled for March 22. Along with two final orders, including one order on reconsideration, the commission is also going to issue a second notice of proposed rulemaking, suggesting questions may still remain about certain aspects of the in-band, on-channel digital service. Broadcasters have been anxiously awaiting final HD Radio rules, as all HD Radio stations are currently operating under temporary experimental authorizations (via René Tetro, dxhub yg via DXLD) With any luck, the commission will come to its senses on AM IBOC, but I doubt it. -RT (Rene F. Tetro, Chief Engineer, Salem Communications - Philadelphia, WNTP-AM / WFIL-AM, 117 Ridge Pike, Lafayette Hill, PA 19444, March 16, dxhub yg via DXLD) + Long end-of-the-DX-world threads on several lists; will I ever get them edited into DXLD? (gh) POWERLINE COMMUNICATIONS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ BPL NOISE FLOOR REPORT RELEASED + TV OVER MAINS Our HF/MF/LF spectrum is threatened by use of the main to provide internet access (BPL) and recent developments in Home Networking which use the mains to distribute TV pictures around the house (essentially a replacement for 2.4 GHz Video Senders) These devices spew out pollution right across the HF bands. I believe that if Mains Home Networking becomes widespread it will destroy Short Wave Listening. VK7 BPL Noise Floor report released http://www.southgatearc.org/news/march2007/bpl_noise_floor.htm TV could come through mains supply http://www.southgatearc.org/news/march2007/tv_through_mains.htm --------------- Daily Amateur Radio RSS News: http://www.southgatearc.org/ News On Your Website: http://www.southgatearc.org/rss/index.htm News On Your PC: http://www.southgatearc.org/rss/newsreader.htm Upload Your News: http://www.southgatearc.org/news/your_news.htm --------------- (via Trevor M5AKA, monitoringmonthly yg via DXLD) DIGITAL TV NETWORKING THROUGH THE MAINS - ANOTHER SOURCE OF RADIO Seems to me the same principle as broadband over power lines? http://news. bbc.co.uk/ 1/hi/technology/ 6457741.stm (Mike Barraclough, March 17, BDXC-UK via DXLD) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ Benn Kobb thought you'd be interested in the following story from FCW.com, the online resource for federal technology news and information: Benn Kobb said: Article highlights HF spectrum. FCW.com NEWS - THE BATTLE FOR SPECTRUM http://www.fcw.com/article97846-03-12-07-Print (via Benn Kobb, DXLD) RIZ in 2006 At the beginning of 2007 we inform you about our last year's achievements and activities. RIZ' shortwave transmitter production program covers SW units up to 500 kW. Contracts signed with Germany and UK companies in the last few years are the result of our participating in international tenders, and we believe they are the best recommendation of our transmitters’ quality and company policy. Please note we have delivered and put into operation a 500 kW SW transmitter in Germany (Wertachtal station) in 2003, and 250/500 kW SW transmitters to VT Communications in the UK in 2006, which transmit BBC and Deutsche Welle programs. Four 250 kW SW transmitters, contracted with VT Communications-UK in 2006, are just in the process of installation and they are intended for transmitting the Deutsche Welle program. In that sense, we would draw your attention to an article in the January 2007 Radio World International edition. More details about the DRM exciter/modulator itself, and the mentioned 250/500 kW SW DRM transmitters are available from us. If you are interested in any of our products or making plans about new transmitters, please do not hesitate to contact us. Stefica Mahalup, Marketing Manager RIZ Transmitters Company Zagreb, Croatia Tel +385-1-2355261 Fax +385-1-2331410 E-mail: stefica.mahalup @ riz.hr (March NASB Newsletter via DXLD) YET ANOTHER ANALOG CRANK-UP SW RADIO Here's another one -- tiny analog dial you can barely see on the photo; probably next to impossible to tune SW. With a big clock LCD readout, why not use it for showing the tuned frequency? http://www.sportsmansguide.com/cb/cb.asp?a=332849&pn=2 73, (Will Martin, DX LISTENING DIGEST) To the Common Man, time is much more important than frequency?? Using the zoom feature I inspected the dial calibrations. SW in two bands, 2.80 to 7.80 and 7.80 to 22.3 MHz. Whee, it`s general coverage! AM ends at 1600 and FM starts at 76 MHz so it`s obviously originally for the Japanese market; who knows how far above 1600 it really tunes (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###