DX LISTENING DIGEST 7-044, April 8, 2007 Incorporating REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING edited by Glenn Hauser, http://www.worldofradio.com Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only if full credit be maintained at all stages and we be provided exchange copies. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without permission. Materials taken from Arctic or originating from Olle Alm and not having a commercial copyright are exempt from all restrictions of noncommercial, noncopyrighted reusage except for full credits For restrixions and searchable 2007 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html For restrixions and searchable 2006 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid6.html NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn NEXT SHORTWAVE AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1353: Mon 0415 WBCQ 7415 [time varies] Mon 1330 WRMI 9955 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 ** ALASKA. 9920, KNLS at 1200 March 31, man with ID and announcements, news. Poor with QRM (Harold Sellers, Shadow Lake Radio Camp, Ont., Etón E-1 and 200 ft wire, ODXA yg via DXLD) This is strange, as KNLS is supposed to be on 7355 and 9780 at 1200, both in English. See http://www.knls.org/English/ksched.htm Was this in English? (This page also shows already the [tentative!] B- 07 schedule from October 28, 2007!) Yet the KNLS sked in English linked from its Chinese page http://www.smzg.org/Schedule_in_English.htm DOES show 9920 in English for A-07 at 1200, instead of 9780. FCC A-07 http://www.fcc.gov/ib/sand/neg/hf_web/A07FCC01.TXT Shows KNLS on 9780 at 1200 and 1300, not opening on 9920 until 1400. FEBC Manila had been on 9920 in obscure Asian languages, but maybe that has moved to accommodate KNLS -- or not, if that was the QRM. It seems every season KNLS publishes contradictory schedules for itself. So here is the KNLS schedule linked from their Chinese page, in case it is more accurate; and on the right I have added the frequencies supposedly for A-07 displayed on the English page, ### = discrepancy: KNLS Broadcast Schedule Starting March 25, 2007 Time khz Meters Language [Version via English page:] 0800-0900 7355 41 English 7355 0800-0900 11765 25 Mandarin 11765 0900-1000 7355 41 Russian 7355 0900-1000 11765 25 Mandarin 11765 1000-1100 7355 41 English 6890 ### 1000-1100 11765 25 Mandarin 11765 1100-1200 7355 41 Russian 7370 ### 1100-1200 11765 25 Mandarin 11870 ### 1200-1300 7355 41 English 7355 1200-1300 9920 31 English 9780 ### 1300-1400 9655 31 Mandarin 9780 ### 1300-1400 9920 31 Mandarin 9795 ### 1400-1500 7355 41 English 7355 1400-1500 9920 31 Mandarin 9920 1500-1600 7355 41 Russian 7355 1500-1600 9920 31 Mandarin 9920 1600-1700 7355 41 Russian 7355 1600-1700 9920 31 Mandarin 9920 1700-1800 7355 41 Russian 7355 1700-1800 9920 31 Mandarin 9920 I think KNLS has a small staff, but nevertheless, there may be a lack of internal communication, one department not knowing what the other is doing. Since the ``next season`s schedule`` is posted so far in advance on the website, not even labeled as tentative, it could be that someone just keeps that schedule and calls it the current schedule when the time comes without realizing that it probably has changed by then (Glenn Hauser, OK, April 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. ABC-Tennant Creek heard with great signal at 1055 4/7 on 4910 which was running well beyond 0830 when it shifts to 120mb; was airing live sports commentary (Joe Hanlon, NJ, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Chris Hambly also noted something like this (gh, DXLD) 4910, Australia blasting in at 1145 with sports (Robert “Bob” Wilkner, Pómpano Beach, FL, Estados Unidos, no date, Conexión Digital April 8 via DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. 3214.90v, tent, Radio Virgen de Remedios, Tupiza, reported frequency continues to be heard with weak signal 1000 to 1100 each day of this week. 73s from South Florida Joan Chandos Baez y Mimi Fariña con una canción Viva mi Patria Bolivia http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tGZ_UUELlk (Bob Wilkner, Pómpano Beach, Icom 746 Pro, Icom R75, NRD 535, DrakeR7, Drake R8, Sony 2010XA, HCDX via DXLD) ** CABINDA. 1278, ANGOLA/CABINDA, EP de Cabinda, Tenda, NOV 18 2007, 0026 UT – Astutely spotted by Chuck Hutton, Portuguese host with some phone calls, some pop music, heard “programa nacional” at 0055 and 0121, which prompted a check for parallels and found 4950 and later 1484.52 as well; followed station until 0206 but it never improved; SINPO 23322-1 with QRM from France (Jean Burnell). NOV 18 2007, 0124 UT – Poor (but alone at times) with pop music (REM) parallel 4950; later at 0150 paralleled to 1484.5 (Chuck Hutton). NOV 18 2007, 0148 UT – Very poor under France; finally found the signal from this enclave of Angola parallel to the music program on 1484.52 during occasional peaks; no trace of signal had been heard here on previous DXpeditions, not even during the major opening to Angola we experienced in 2004; this may be the highlight of this year’s DXpedition (Jim Renfrew, Cappahayden, Newfoundland DXpedition 17, NRC DX News April 16 via DXLD) Full report is at http://www.dxing.info/dxpeditions/newfoundland_17.dx (gh, DXLD) ** CANADA. 1610, CHHA, ON, Toronto. 3/27 0605 EDT. Tropical music, mostly Cuban. At 0609 a man in Spanish with news of Hispanic, mostly Cuban, community in Toronto; advice on government offices/services; time check “6:11”; advice on other topics, then back to tropical music. Booming, near-local signal, remarkable for 1000 watts over 4579 miles. ON #2 (CFRB is a semi-regular here) and only my second Eastern Canadian since reactivating (Richard E. Wood, Keaau HI, Icom R75, 850-foot Beverage to the east-northeast (Eastern and Southern U.S Mainland), Domestic DX Digest-West, NRC DX News April 16 via DXLD) 1610, CHHA, ON, Toronto. 3/28 0500 EDT. Fair with Oh Canada sign-on by a man and a woman; CHHA call given in Spanish. New for me and taped, ON #8. Not sure of sign-off time but this sign on was loud here. The new transmitter location works well! (Wayne Heinen, Aurora CO, Drake R8B, N/S Flag, E/W Flag, Modified 4 foot NRC Altazimuth loop, 15 foot vertical whip, Dual TG-1 Termination Gizmo w/2 BUF-F amplifiers, Mini- DXP5, DX Engineering RPA-1, ibid.) ** CANADA. RCI`s technical schedule for summer supposed to be at http://www.rcinet.ca/rci/PDF/A07-RCI-tech-EN.pdf is still 404, missing, as of April 8. However, I have received one in the P-mail, along with the non-technical program and language schedule which is at http://www.rcinet.ca/rci/PDF/A07_SW.pdf Without comparing them line by line, here is a major discrepancy: Technical says 1705-1905 on Sackville 9515 is in English, while the other one says this is in French. Monitoring chex at 1742 and 1812 April 8 show that French is correct, quite poor reception at mid-day. I also received the nicely printed red program schedule folder for A- 07. What does it say? NOTHING. The 16 hours of broadcasts to the USA from 1105 to 0305 on 7325, 9515, 6100 and 6075 (one after another) are nowhere to be seen. Could this be a hint of an internal division at RCI? Are these USA broadcasts not really considered an RCI service, but sort of a hybrid ``CBC Southern Service`` and thus off-topic for an RCI folder? Or had they been cancelled provisionally at the time it went to print earlier? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. 6310, 5905, More Sackville leapfrogging spurs. 0250-0300, April 7, Weak 6310 spur of 6040-Vatican Radio in English. Barely audible 5905 spur of 6175-Voice of Vietnam in English. 135 kHz separation between each frequency (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Re: ``The application of CFDR-780 Dartmouth NS to move to FM (88.9 MHz, 21 kW) has been approved by the CRTC --- note that the official city of license of CFDR is Dartmouth, not Halifax as stated: http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2007/db2007-106.htm (via Deane McIntyre VE6BPO, DXLD)`` Not to delve too deeply into technicalities but the city of Dartmouth no longer exists, hence the likely reason city of licence being designated as Halifax. Years ago, cities and towns in the Halifax region were merged into the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM), truly a sprawling megacity of almost 400,000 residents. http://halifaxinfo.com/HfxRegionalMunicipality.pdf http://www.halifax.ca/municipalclerk/districtboundaries.html That said, I wonder how the CRTC treats the more distant parts of HRM in terms of cities of licence. 73, (Ricky Leong, Calgary, Alta., DX LISTENING DIGEST) -- I could lie down in the grass of the wide open prairie Stare up at the stars, fall asleep to a coyote cry [Ricky`s tagline] ** CANADA. JIAN GHOMESHI DEBUTS A NEW NATIONAL ARTS, CULTURE AND ENTERTAINMENT SHOW, MONDAY, APRIL 16 ON CBC RADIO ONE http://www3.cbc.ca/sections/newsitem_redux.asp?ID=4551 Today, CBC Radio One unveiled the next wave of its arts and culture programming with the launch of Q. Hosted by Jian Ghomeshi, Q promises to be a smart and lively arts, culture and entertainment show that, beginning Monday, April 16, will bring Canadian and international stories to the airwaves each weekday from 2 to 3:30 p.m. in most markets (from 2 to 3 p.m. in Toronto, Ottawa, Vancouver and Alberta, and from 1 to 2:30 p.m. in Manitoba). An hour-long encore presentation will air each weeknight at 10 p.m. [first airings in UT: M-F 1700- 1830; why would it be an hour earlier/local in MB? Repeat 0100-0200 Tue-Sat] “Q pulls Canada’s culture out from under the museum glass case and brings it to listeners to touch and feel,” said Mark O’Neill, executive producer. “Whether debating the latest controversial photo exhibit, presenting a performance by the hottest live act, or speaking one-on-one with a budding young talent, the program will provide insight and ignite discussion.” Q will pack a broad range of topics into each show. From architecture to opera, from film to video games, Q will serve up interviews with artists, cultural icons, designers, directors, musicians and curators. No arts, cultural or entertainment topic will be off limits. Current events will shape much of the daily content, and focus will be placed on Canada-not only what’s happening at home, but also the impact of Canadians’ efforts around the world. Listeners will be an integral part of Q, participating and giving their feedback on a daily basis via phone, e-mail and the web. “I am excited to share my perspective as a performer, journalist and arts devotee in this intimate and accessible cultural platform,” said Jian Ghomeshi, host. “Q will satisfy Canadians’ appetite to get up close and personal with arts and entertainment in Canada. It will create a venue where they can spend time with smart, passionate, outspoken arts-minded people.” With his diverse interests and experiences, Jian Ghomeshi is perfectly suited to host a program as broad in scope as Q. He has hosted various programs on CBC Television and Radio, including The National Playlist, Sounds Like Canada, Zed and the Gemini Award-winning Play. Ghomeshi has written for numerous publications, including the Washington Post and The Globe and Mail, and served on the Board of Governors of the Stratford Festival of Canada. He began his career as a singer and songwriter in the multi-platinum selling folk rock group Moxy Früvous, touring the world and sharing a stage with some of today’s most influential artists (via Ricky Leong, AB, April 6, DXLD) ** CHINA [and non]. I see in the latest (April 8) Aoki list that Sound of Hope is now on 10300 most of the day; so consequently the Chicom Firedrake jamming; ex-10400 and 10200 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COLOMBIA. 5910, Marfil Estereo: desde el 1 de abril no he vuelto a escuchar a esta emisora; escucho una emisora muy débil que aun no he podido identificar...o serán ellos con poca potencia? (1-9 abril 2007) (Yimber Gaviria, Cali, Colombia) ¿A qué horas? (gh) 6010, LV de Tu Conciencia, señal pobre a regular, 2230 UT, solo charlas. 7 abril 2007 (Yimber Gaviria, Cali, Colombia) 6035, LV del Guaviare, San José del Guaviare, señal pobre a regular, 2232 UT, emitiendo música salsa, vallenatos, 7 abril 2007 (Yimber Gaviria, Cali, Colombia, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5910, Marfil Estereo, la colombiana que mejor se escucha por aquí, parece fuera del aire últimamente. 6010, La Voz de tu Conciencia, Lomalinda, 0706-0745, 08-04, comentarios religiosos, locutor, comentario: "Como mandó Moisés". Se escucha también a partir de las 0730 a Radio Mil. Señal débil. 23222 variando a 12221. 6139.8, Radio Líder fuera del aire desde hace aproximadamente una semana (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, España, Escuchas realizadas en Friol, April 8, Grundig Satellit 500 y Sony ICF SW 7600G, Antena de cable, 10 metros, orientada WSW, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COLOMBIA. French service from the Voice of Russia just left at 2100 and 2nd harmonic from La Voz del Guaviare was barely audible with fútbol on 12070, like any other Sunday. Seems they support Deportivo Santa Fe games. The fundamental 6035 was even weaker but is to expect reception will improve near sunset. 73s (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, April 8, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CROATIA [non]. CROACIA: La HRT, Hrvratska Radio Televizija, posee este completo esquema de emisiones vía la Deutsche Telekom (Alemania): 2200-0500 9925 0400-0700 9470 0600-1000 11610 Los programas se difunden en idioma croata, excepto un segmento en inglés y otro en español denominado La Voz de Croacia, el cual se irradia con destino a Sudamérica de 2230-2255 y de 0230-0255 UT por los 9925 kHz. QTH: HRT, La Voz de Croacia, Prisavlje 3, HR-10000 Zagreb, Croacia. E-mail. Lavozdecroacia @ hrt.hr Web: http://www.hrt.hr (Marcelo A. Cornachioni, Argentina, Conexión Digital April 8 via DXLD) ** DJIBOUTI. 4780, Radio Djibouti, *0300-0333+ April 8, Sign on with National Anthem. Vernacular talk. Koran at 0303. Local music at 0330. Poor. Weak under utility station (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. INDOTEL CANCELARÁ LICENCIAS A DUEÑOS DE EMISORAS FUERA DEL AIRE --- Darío Frías Sab, 07 Abr 2007 15:38:00 Indotel cancelaría licencias emisoras están fuera del aire; da plazo de 60 días a las operadoras de frecuencias AM El consejo directivo del Instituto Dominicano de las Telecomunicaciones (Indotel), otorgó un plazo de 60 días calendario a los operadores de emisoras que están fuera del aire sin causas justificadas, para que procedan a reiniciar sus transmisiones con apego a lo que establece la ley 153-98 que rige las telecomunicaciones en el país. . . Fuente: http://www.proceso.com.do/?c=135&a=1419 Cordiales 73 (via Jose Bueno, Córdoba - España, DXLD) ** ERITREA. 7100, Voice of the Broad Masses of Eritrea-Program 1, Asmara, 0358-0415+, April 7, Tune-in to IS. Talk in local language at 0400. Horn of Africa music at 0410. Fair. 7175, Voice of the Broad Masses of Eritrea-Program 2, Asmara, 0400- 0415+, April 7, Talk in local language. Horn of Africa music. Fair to good reception (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA. 6109.92, Radio Fana, Addis Ababa, 0332-0345+, April 7, Weak & only audible after TWR on 6110 leaves the air at 0332. Better on // 7210-but only audible after BBC leaves the air at 0329. Talk in local language. Horn of Africa music at 0340 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA. Re DXLD 7-039 & 7-040. Voice of Tigray Revolution appears to have moved down to 5970 where heard opening in vernacular on April 08 at 0400 after 5-minute IS. Frequency was clear but difficult copy due to RN Bonaire 5975 and RHC 5965. Haven't yet been able to trace their 31 mb frequency [9650] which may have shifted too? (Martien Groot, Schoorl, Netherlands, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EUROPE. PIRATES. (Scotland) 6400.12, Weekend music Radio, 0405- 0415+ April 8, Presumed with pop music. Possible ID. Very weak. Barely audible (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) (Holland), 6265.15, Cupid Radio, 0115-0145+ April 8, rock music, IDs. Weak to fair reception (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EUROPE. European Free Radio Report from Mount Kisco, New York for week ending April 8, 2007 --- Continued good long skip conditions this weekend to the USA, although noise levels were also a bit high. WMR made it over again in the evening, as did WNKR with only 10 watts. A nice Easter present was hearing two new Dutch stations, Extreme Radio and MRF Radio. Thanks to all these stations for having late evening transmissions, which makes it possible for us to hear them. PIRATE (Europe-England). 5825, WNKR, 2209-2358 Apr 6, Surprised to hear this 10 watt transmission so early, but heard some talk and ID from Andy Walker. Re-check at 2332 with some solid details: "Venus in Furs", then the start of a new program from Dave Martin. I heard Dave play "White Room", "Kashmir" and "Sweet Home Alabama". It was fairly easy to recognize what he was playing. SINPO 24342. (Maroti-NY) PIRATE (Europe-England). 5825, WNKR, 2336-2338 Apr 7, Not as strong as the previous evening, perhaps the battery was running down? "Stairway to Heaven" when I tuned them in. Faded out a few minutes later. (Maroti-NY) PIRATE (Europe-NL). 6265.1, Cupid Radio, 2257-2342 Apr 7, Song from Blink 182, greetings to US listeners. Black Sabbath and "Paranoid". SINPO 34433. (Maroti-NY) PIRATE (Europe-NL). 6306.5, MRF Radio, 0003-0019 Apr 8, While a group of us were on a Messenger chat, MRF decided to come on the air. Transmission started with several ID's and the station e-mail address of mrfradio @ hotmail.com Ballad with male vocals that I didn't recognize. At 0011 "All Right Now" by the Free. ID and e-mail address given again at 0019 close-down. 15 watt homemade MOSFET transmitter. SINPO 14332. (Maroti-NY) PIRATE (Europe-NL). 6329.44, Extreme Radio, 2233-2255 Apr 7, A new station for me. Played "Money" by Pink Floyd at 2235, followed by pre- recorded ID, then an AC/DC song. Rap/hip-hop song at 2246, and another ID before closing down. SINPO 23332. Operator said he was using a 30 watt R&S-010 transmitter. (Maroti-NY) PIRATE (Europe-Scotland). 6400.1, WMR, 2135-2235 Apr 7, Heard Mike's show first, played "20th Century Boy" and some radio station audio clips. Signal peaked to S6-S7 around 2215 UTC. Later Jack Russel read my e-mails to him (George Maroti, NY, April 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FINLAND. SWR is currently audible on 11720 kHz playing Scandinavian type heavy metal music. Signal is around 5 S points in Hull on an Icom R71E with 60ft long wire (Russ Cummings, BDXC-UK via DXLD) When is ``currently``? Time stamp on this post as received here was April 7 2:49 am PST --- but there is no PST! Does yahoo really mean PDT, and what relevance has that to the UK? If +7, that would be 0949 UT; if +8 that would be 1049 UT (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREECE. Kali Anastasi to all. We awoke this morning to see snow on the ground and near freezing weather. "Hellenes Around The World" was not on this Saturday at 1305-1400 UT because of Holy Week. According to the 2007 World Almanac, 98% of the people in Greece are Greek Orthodox and 1% are Muslims (John Babbis, Silver Spring MD, April 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Wow; surprised there aren`t a few more Catholix & Protestants (gh, DXLD) ** GUATEMALA. 4799.8, R. Buenas Nuevas, San Sebastián Huehuetenango, 0340-0430*, 08-04, locutor hablando con los oyentes: "12 minutos para las 10 de la noche en nuestros estudios", "Iglesia Evangélica Nueva Vida". Cierre a las 0430: "Amables oyentes, desde San Sebastián Huehuetenango, son las 10 de la noche con 32 minutos, Radio Buenas Nuevas ha llegado al final de la transmisión de este día; les agradecemos su atención a nuestra programación variada, escríbanos a la siguiente dirección: Radio Buenas Nuevas, San Sebastián Huhuetenango, apartado 13020, Huehuetenango, Guatemala, Centroamérica. Estaremos de nuevo con ustedes a partir de las cuatro de la madrugada, buenas noches y hasta mañana". 34333. Siguen buenas condiciones para escuchar a esta emisora hasta su horario de cierre a las 0430. Hace quince días, informaban de la hora de cierre de Guatemala, a las 11 h. 30 m. de la noche, pero hoy escuchada claramente las 10 de la noche con 32 minutos, 0430 UT, lo que se corresponde con UT -6, o sea, no hubo cambio al horario de verano en este país (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, España, Escuchas realizadas en Friol, April 8, Grundig Satellit 500 y Sony ICF SW 7600G, Antena de cable, 10 metros, orientada WSW, DX LISTENING DIGEST) So Guatemala is not on DST of UT -5 after all (gh, DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. WRN, the UK-based radio and TV transmission company, and WorldSpace Satellite Radio, one of he world leaders in satellite-based digital radio services, have signed a facilities hosting agreement in which WorldSpace`s London broadcast operation will move to the HQ of WRN. WRN is expanding its Master Control Room to house WS`s satellite radio broadcasts operations equipment and will provide access to studio facilities and office space for its technical staff. The move is scheduled for March 2007. ``We look forward to building on our long-standing relationship,`` said WS VP Randall Scott, and Gary Edgerton, WRN`s Managing Director, commented that the agreement builds on the synergies between the two organisations (The Channel, AIB, Feb 2007 via DXLD) ** IRAQ. Re 7-043: International: Name That Station, name That Tune Glenn, the bird described in the WRTH as "a mechanical nightingale" was actually heard on Radio Baghdad rather than RAI. The full description of the IS was "soft chirps of a mechanical nightingale". Despite being listed in the Handbook for many years, this bird was silent when I first heard Radio Baghdad back in the 1960s, at least as far as the European Service was concerned. It came back, I think, some time in the early seventies after I suggested to the station's English service that it would be a good idea to have an IS and why not bring back the famous nightingale for that purpose. From then onwards for many years it was played for around a minute before the beginning of the English programme, which some listeners may remember identified as "This is Radio Baghdad, the Broadcasting Service of the Iraq Republic". By the way a British woman who used to be the English voice of Radio Baghdad was interviewed recently on Radio 4's Woman's Hour about a book she has written about life (and death) in Iraq. She recalled that, on one occasion in the pre-Saddam era when she returned to her studio the day after one of Iraq's many coups, the walls were covered with blood and pitted with bullet holes. More cheerfully, my best memory of this station is when they sent me a box of Iraqi cigarettes marked "Product of the Sulamaniya Cig. Factory", and I still have some nice hand-written postcards that the English staff sent me in response to my suggestions about their programmes. This, sadly, is one station that we will never hear again (Roger Tidy, UK, April 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** JAPAN [non]. BONAIRE, Radio Japan-NHK Relay, 15265, 2328, Japanese, 333, March 30. Violin music plus a YL and OM with comments plus some piano music too. ID by an OM at 2330 (Stewart MacKenzie, CA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Western classical music? Such used to be the case on the 2300 UT Saturday transmission when in B-06 it was on 17605, but March 30 was UT Friday (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) and then: ** JAPAN [non]. R. Japan, UT Saturday April 7 from before 2330 until 2355, via Bonaire 15265 heard here with sacred music, in honor of Easter? Sure would be nice if someone could provide us an English translation of the NHK Japanese program schedule, especially concerning music (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LATVIA. 9290, RWI/WCS, 2300-2358*, April 7, English country music show. IDs. Weak to fair. Just a threshold signal the previous night (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LATVIA [and non]. EMR - 31st Birthday 2007 2 Transmissions from EMR on the 15th of April [Sunday] 1130 to 1200 utc on 9310 kHz Paul Graham programme - part 1 1500 to 1700 utc on 9290 kHz Tom Taylor programme - 1500 to 1530 utc Paul Graham - part 2 - 1530 to 1600 utc Mike Taylor mail box - 1600 to 1700 utc These are all new programmes. There will be repeats via the internet service on Sunday night the 15th of April. 73s (Tom Taylor, April 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Where will the 9310 broadcast be transmitted from? (Glenn to Tom, via DXLD) Hi Glenn, Many thanks for the email. The IRRS told me on 31/12/2006: ``For the EMR QSL cards, what would your transmitter site be for the 150 kw on 9310 khz. 73s Tom`` ------------------------------------- Reply - IRRS Milano :-) undisclosed, sorry. ------------------------------------- I hope this helps you. Have a good Easter holiday. 73s (Tom Taylor, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. Mexico's 3tv --- I don't suppose this matters much to most WTFDAers except for a few in the South, the Midwest, and the western US; but there is both good news and bad news about the "3tv" from Mexico that I saw on channel 4 yesterday. The bad news is that some of the Televisa local stations have changed logos/graphics, etc. in recent months, and I'm having a hard time keeping up with the changes. I'm not having much luck at receiving good enough signals to photograph the new logos, either. Unfortunately, Fred Cantú's site and most of the Televisa local station sites are more behind than my pages on some of the changes. The Televisa pages are, in fact, so outdated that some stations have changed logos three times since their last local page update in 2001. So, it looks like we will be starting the Es season this year with a bunch of outdated logos on Web sites. The good news is that I managed to *tentatively* ID the channel 4 "3tv" station as XHP-4 Tehuacan Puebla, which I've never seen before. I recognized the station's "teleaviso" logo from XHP-3 in the past (floating on my local KTBS-3), but the "3tv" logo didn't match the XHP-3 logo that Jeff Kruszka sent me last year. Jeff's logo is on my site, and it is similar to the last XHP logo that I saw floating on my local a couple of years ago. One thing that led me to the conclusion that the "3tv" relayer is likely XHP-4 (after reviewing the tape) is this from the "teleaviso" segment that aired last night: "...del estado de Puebla." I'll post a list of all the low-band Mexico changes that I'm aware of before the Es begins in May (Danny Oglethorpe, Shreveport, LA, April 7, WTFDA via DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS. Three letters just published on the Radio Netherlands website: We get a lot of letters and emails from listeners who tune in to Radio Netherlands Worldwide via shortwave. For many it is still the preferred method of listening. . . http://www.radionetherlands.nl/feedback/feedbackarchive/feedback070408 (via Mike Barraclough, swprograms via DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS. Radio Netherlands – New Program: Flatlanders The A-07 season brings a new program to the Radio Netherlands schedule. Flatliners features conversations with people who have a connection with the Netherlands. They can be Dutch people living here or working abroad, or people who've come to the Netherlands for professional or personal reasons. Eric Beauchemin, well-known from the weekly documentary series, hosts the first two editions of the program, but the advance information from Radio Netherlands doesn’t show a permanent program host. Flatlanders airs to North America via shortwave at 1130 on Thursdays; 0027, 0127 and 0427 on Fridays; 1900 Saturdays, and 0000 Sundays. The program is also available in the WRN North America service 1230 and 2230 UT on Thursdays. Once each month Euro Hit 40, a popular music countdown show, will pre-empt Flatlanders (Richard Cuff, Easy Listening, April NASWA Journal via DXLD) ** NORTH AMERICA. Re WBNY, 7-043: This brought back memories! So much so, I brought out the old QSL albums and found my verification letter from "Radio Bunny" (WBNY) dated March 24, 1990. "Voice of the Rodent Revolution" featuring different cartoon characters declaring: "All species... even enlightened humans... support the rabbit-led fight for rodent dominion! Unite and fight for rodent freedom! Commander Bunny is my hero! There are more of us than there are of you!" The address featured a "P. O. HUTCH!" Best character is the FCC fella with the hat and glasses, scratching his head in total confusion. (42 years worth of confusion!) 73, (Bill Lauterbach - WA8MEA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 4746.89, Radio Huanta 2000, Huanta, 0117-0123, Apr 3, Spanish, Religious program, man announcer, ads, 24222, back to this frequency. I presumed that 4755 is on the air at the same time Radio Imaculada Conceição (Nicolás Eramo, Argentina, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Attn, Micronesia watchers ** PHILIPPINES. VOA, Tinang, 1418, 5 March, SIO 333 in English on 9758.9 (Richard Thurlow, Ipswich, Suffolk, WR G313, AOR 7030+, DSP- 599ZX/LW, Alpha Delta sloper, April BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) I have never noticed this one off frequency from 9760 (gh, DXLD) ** RUSSIA. 9765, R. Tikhiy Okean (R. Pacific Ocean), *0835-0900*, April 8, on with "Govorit Vladivostok", chimes IS, ID with sound of ship's bell, usual Russian programming, nice Russian folk songs/ ballads, fair, // 12065 (poor). Ex: 5960 // 7330, Ex: 0935-1000 UT. I have better reception of this back in Calif. (Ron Howard, Shanghai, China, Etón E5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SINGAPORE. Radio Singapore International: The American Dream Radio Singapore International (RSI) can hardly be considered an “Easy Listening” station on shortwave in eastern North America, as its transmission pattern isn’t designed to serve North America. However, the availability of web-delivered content – particularly on-demand content – means that RSI programming can easily be incorporated in your listening diet. Singapore is an intriguing country – extremely small, yet very much the “crossroads of the Pacific”, with Chinese, Malay and Indian strands in its culture, overlaid with a very strong component business and international trade. As a crossroads country, English is widely spoken and serves as the “linking language” between the various cultures. RSI’s programming provides a uniquely Singaporean view of events and issues as they apply to the country and the region. One current example is a 10-part documentary series titled The American Dream. It’s broadcast weekly on shortwave at Saturday at 1215 UT, with repeats Mondays at 1220 and Wednesdays at 1110; all 10 episodes should be made available for on-demand listening; seven are already available. Each segment runs 10 minutes. The American Dream deals with the sizeable Asian American immigrant community in cities such as New York, Washington DC, Seattle, and San Francisco. Asian immigrants in these countries address the following questions: * Why did these individuals decide to make America their home? * What are the challenges they faced in their adopted homeland? * What are their hopes for the future? For access to this series and other on-demand programming from Radio Singapore International, visit http://www.rsi.sg click on English; under what’s new you’ll see the listing for The American Dream. In addition to the programs listed there, you can also click on the Programmes link for the current features airing on RSI. If you’re on the west coast of North America, you can try for RSI on shortwave daily from 1100 to 1400 on 6080 and 6150 kHz. They’re a tough catch here in the East unless you are in an electrically quiet environment, such as you mind find at a DXpedition (Richard Cuff, Easy Listening, April NASWA Journal via DXLD) ** SPAIN. REE service to Lebanon, Sunday April 8 was opening transmission at 1359 on 15345 (not 15350 as I thought previously), but not announced as such, only 17755 for Africa. No co-channel QRM audible at this hour, but there probably was later. Opens this early only on Sundays. At 1742 recheck, silly ballgame in Spanish (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SRI LANKA. 9770, SLBC at 0059 children`s chorus, but at 0100 sign- on overwhelmed by KBS Korea in Spanish. Under KBS could catch occasional words by man speaking in English. Jose Jacob reported that //15745 had been dropped. Very poor Mar. 31 (Harold Sellers, Shadow Lake Radio Camp, Ont., Eton E-1 and 200 ft wire, ODXA yg via DXLD) SLBC Sri Lanka was noted back on 11905 today (8 Apr 07) at 1230 in Tamil and from 1330 in Hindi. (For some days Hindi was noted on 9770 from 1330 but that is replaced by 11905 now) (Jose Jacob, India, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SURINAME. 4990 kHz, R. Apintie, Paramaribo, 2241-2254, 04 Apr, Dutch, phone-ins; 34322, CODAR QRM, but this is the first time I get so "good" a signal in quite a number of years (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SYRIA. 9330, Radio Damascus, 2110-2130+ April 6, Arabic music. English news at 2115, commentary. Weak. Poor reception riding on top of WBCQ broadcasting in LSB. Must use ECSS-USB to avoid WBCQ. // 12085-strong carrier but very low modulation (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKEY. VOT IS on 15285, April 8 at 1356, mixing with Chinese; this is prior to VOT`s Arabic service at 1400 on the correct frequency (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. BBC MAY CUT 4,500 JOBS --- 8 April 2007 Radio Today http://www.radiotoday.co.uk/news.php?extend.1847 A new round of cuts is expected to hit around 500 jobs from BBC News, with budgets slashed by an average of 20% over the next six years. Already 3,800 staff are being laid off as part of a three year programme of efficiency savings, called Value for Money. A BBC spokesman told the Times that the level of spending cuts had not yet been decided: "We know what the licence fee settlement is and the challenge now for the BBC is how to prioritise where that money should go." (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. Selections from the BBC’s Radio 4 Analysis – The BBC Radio 4 version Most everyone knows of the World Service version of Analysis, the daily 10-minute treatment of a single current affairs topic. The BBC’s domestic spoken word service, Radio 4, airs a weekly program called Analysis that is different in scope and content. This Analysis has been around for 30 years; its focus is the ideas and forces that shape public policy in Britain and elsewhere. The subjects the program covers range from the principles guiding foreign policy to the influence of Darwinism on present-day ideas about human nature; from arguments about whether the better-off will be more willing to pay higher tax to the reasons behind the rise of the populist Right in Europe. A recent edition of the program looked at the relationship between faith and state – or, as we’d more likely call it, church and state. The program highlights the issues that develop when governments seek to protect the rights of people whose views differ from those in organized religion as well as the rights of people in organized religion. It was a thoughtful half-hour. Easiest way to find the program is to visit the Radio 4 website, http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4 then click on Programme A-Z, then on Analysis. Crossing Continents This Radio 4 series, which is somewhat similar to the World Service program Assignment, has returned for a series of fresh programs. The BBC has enhanced the Crossing Continents website by providing the opportunity to listen to archived audio sorted by program date, with this archive going back to November 2006. Previously, you could only search the Crossing Continents archives by topic or country. That’s still a good way to navigate the program archives, as audio is available dating back to 2002. Letter From America You remember this program from its World Service run, right? A website is now set up in the BBC pages specifically for program audio and transcripts of Letter From America; audio and transcripts are available from the time of Alistair Cooke’s retirement in February 2004 as far back as 1999. Easiest way to find this audio is to visit the main BBC website, http://www.bbc.co.uk and type Letter From America into the search box at the top of the page. The special Letter From America page will be displayed as the top link in the search results. More Frequency Cutbacks from the BBC, but few schedule changes The A-07 spring season has brought about more frequency cutbacks from the BBC; this time, English language shortwave frequencies targeting Central and Eastern Europe were eliminated; English language frequencies targeting Southern Europe have been scaled back to 12 hours per day, with European SW frequencies “dark” from 0900 to 1500 every day except for Saturday, when Sportsworld is (still!) aired on shortwave from 1400 to 1700. Only 4 hours of BBC World Service programming remain on shortwave to the Americas, targeting the Caribbean; frequencies in use for the A-07 season include 1100-1300 on 9660 and 9480 kHz; 2100-2200 on 11675 and 13640 kHz; and, 2200-2300 on 13640 and 5975 kHz. Programming at those hours is (surprise!) mostly news-oriented; Caribbean-themed news and magazine programs air on weekdays, and Newshour airs seven days per week at 1200. The only decidedly non-news program slot on weekdays airs at 2232 and includes Health Check (Mondays), Digital Planet (Tuesdays), Discovery (Wednesdays), One Planet (Thursdays), Science in Action (Fridays), World Business Review (Saturdays), and Heart and Soul (Sundays). There aren’t any significant programming changes in the BBC schedule; the BBC seems to be more interested in launching special thematic “seasons” of programming that incorporate a single topic or focus area across multiple programs. Upcoming BBC World Service programs The documentary special slated for April is France Versus the World, a four-part series beginning April 2nd and airing in the Monday Documentary time slot. Best shortwave opportunities in North America are probably the 1406 and 2106 airings targeting West Africa. Subscribers to XM Radio can catch the documentary live Mondays at 1306 and 1906, Tuesdays at 0006 and 0506, plus Sundays at 1906. Sirius subscribers are out of luck. The series will no doubt be available for podcast and also in the audio documentary archive at the World Service website. Also, Global Perspective will feature a new eight-part series of programs from various broadcasters on the subject of belief from the BBC and various partner stations as of March 30th. April topics will include The Charismatic Church and a Promise of Prosperity on Earth beginning Friday, April 13th from Ghana’s Joy FM; Little Fish in a Multicultural Pond, presented by David Swatling of Radio Netherlands and beginning April 20th; After the Shot; Heroes and Conspiracies, independently produced by Jean Snedegar and beginning April 27th. Global Perspectives airs in the Friday Documentary time slot; Fridays, 1406 and 2106, in the West Africa service, are probably the best times to catch the series on shortwave. The online documentary archive also has this series available. Speaking of online archives, the BBCWS actually implemented a suggestion of mine: saving past editions of Assignment, the weekly documentary, for repeat listening. You’ll find the archive linked from the main Assignment listing (under Programs A-Z) as well as from the Documentary Archive link on the main World Service web page. Close Up: What’s in a Picture? is a three-part special series in which writer, broadcaster and art historian Tim Marlow assesses the significance and lasting impact of three of the twentieth century’s most iconic paintings. Picasso’s Guernica, Mark Rothko’s Black on Maroon/Red on Maroon series, and Frida Kahlo’s Self Portrait With Monkey are the works featured in the series. Most likely audible shortwave airings include Fridays 1832 targeting Southern Europe and 2132 targeting West Africa. The program is also available for on- demand listening (Richard Cuff, Easy Listening, April NASWA Journal via DXLD) ** U S A. WEWN: see VATICAN ** U S A. WHRI, 11785, with Hmong Lao Radio talk, was splattering as far as 11765, April 8 around 1340, especially bothersome to Defunct Gene Scott via Anguilla 11775 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Daytona Beach Drive-In Christian Church Interesting to read, in the April 6, 2007 edition of this magazine (that is included in the Friday St. Petersburg Times -- and is also ceasing publication at the end of the month -- Life, that is), a feature story on "America's Coolest Churches" which included this oldie from DX past. This is the station that, slightly off-frequency on AM, was discovered by David Crawford and subsequently resulted in a long car drive DFing session that took us along the coast to near St. Augustine (back what, 25+ years ago?) until we nailed it down much closer to our actual starting point. We initially thought it was a blatant pirate. The huge signal was eventually corrected on-frequency and powered way down. They happily QSLed (the church was under the direction of Reverend Wallace Pomplin, who per my per 680 kHz entry archives on Florida Low Power Radio Stations http://home.earthlink.net/~tocobagadx/flortis.html retired in 1995). I recall visiting the drive-in church many, many years ago (maybe that's when we QSLed?) with David and John Santosuosso on a very wet and cool Sunday morning. MOST CHROME Daytona Beach Drive-In Christian Church, Daytona Beach Shores, Florida Locally, it's known simply as "the drive-in." But even if the Neptune theater -- and its giant mermaid sign -- are long gone, the parking lot continues to fill up on Sundays, just as it has since 1953. An enormous altar has replaced the screen, the former snack bar is an event hall, and the ticket-booth attendants hand out that week's bulletin. Churchgoers can still use the old-time speakers, though most prefer tuning in to the service on the radio (at 88.5 FM or AM 680). With water at either side and cool ocean breezes, the drive-in lures an eclectic flock of locals, beach-patrol members, car enthusiasts, and, thanks to international TV coverage, vacationers from as far as Japan. TO VISIT: 3140 South Atlantic Avenue; http://www.driveinchurch.net Services are on Sundays at 8:30 a.m. and 10 a.m. (Photo caption: Reverend Larry G. Dietch greets some of his 800 weekly congregants.) (via Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, April 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Travel KMFA's Memory Lane --- Visit our 40th Birthday section to read The Story of KMFA, an article written by KMFA's own Katherine Tanney. While you're there, check out key events on our timeline and listen to audio clips. Continue on to the history of KMFA. . . http://www.kmfa.org/40_birthday.htm (via Glenn Hauser, DXLD) Austin TX, Classical 89.5 ** U S A. KMTI Maintenance Test Results and Possibly another Utah Test! UTAH #2 AND THE PROSPECT FOR UTAH #3 SOON =============================================== Maintenance Test Results-KMTI 650 kHz Manti, Utah March 19, 2007 12:00-2:00 AM Mountain Time Our thanks to Mr. Doug Barton for one of the most successful and widely heard maintenance tests of the past several seasons. We received report after report that indicated that KMTI represented "Utah #2" in the log. Doug also promised to consider test material when KSVC 980 khz completes its antenna upgrade! Details at the end of this report. This test was heard literally coast to coast, and in nearly every state of the union including Hawaii at a distance of almost 3,000 miles! Now let's look at the reports: One of the highlights of the reports was that received from Richard Wood in Keaau, HI. He used his Icom R75 and an 1800 foot unterminated beverage antenna to log the entire test, including the voice announcements. He reported that KTMI was dominant on the frequency! This logging is from almost 3,000 miles away! Also receiving the test was Rob Roberts of San Bernardino, CA, William Wilkins of Springfield, MO, and Jim Paige of Sterling Heights, MI. Other lucky DX'ers included Ernie Wesolowski of Omaha, NE, and Dennis Vroomski in Vancouver, WA. Dennis used his trusty JRC 545 along with a high performance active whip and H-800 active whip with the Quantum Phaser to pull in the signal. Dennis was one of many who enjoyed the test in "real time" using the #mwdx chat room on http://www.starchat.net If you haven't tried a DXing sessions (especially a test) while logged on to this chat room, you're really missing out. Patrick Martin pulled the signal in easily from his home in Seaside, OR using the beverage antenna. An EWE antenna "came through again" for James Niven, who logged a new one thanks to the test. Bill Block of Prescott Valley, Arizona added the Southwest to those regions of the country hearing the test, while your editor, Les Rayburn managed to null WSM in Nashville to put Utah #2 into the log from Central Alabama. Pete Taylor used a Sony 2010 and the mighty Kiwa Loop to hear this test from Tacoma, WA. Jim Renfrew struggled for a while to pull in a complete ID, but finally put "Utah #2" into the logs from his shack in Western, NY. Nice catch, Jim! Neil Kazaross used two BOG's (beverages on the ground) phased against each other to null QRM from WSM and CKOM to pull in KMTI. The Golden State was well represented by Martin Foltz who logged "semi-regular" KMTI easily during the test from his home in Mission Viejo. Despite the nearly urban location, Martin hears a lot out there on the coast. IRCA President Nick Hall-Patch used his flag antenna with remote termination to null nearby CISL and log the test from Victoria, BC, Canada. Curtis Sadowski managed to overcome a booming signal from WSM to pull out the sweep tones and code in Paxton, IL. Saul Chernos in Ontario, Canada, Patrick Griffith in Westminster, CO, and Kevin Redding in Arizona all managed to log the test as well. Another "happy camper" was Jim Chenard of Blairstown, NJ who used his Drake R8 Receiver and the famous Kiwa loop to null WSM well enough to make out several Morse Code ID's and sweeps from KMTI. Marc DeLorenzo suffered long and hard in the #mwdx chat room as others reported hearing the test from around the country, while Marc continued to struggle. Finally narrowing the bandwidth of his receiver did the trick and he managed to log this one all the way in South Dennis, MA which is over 2100 miles away! Great job, Marc! Brandon Jordan of Memphis, TN also used CW mode and narrow filtering to make out the test signals and overcome the nearby country legend to hear a new one. Brandon runs the incredible web site, http://www.dxtests.info which makes tracking upcoming DX tests easy! Thanks for all you do Brandon! Bob Rodríguez may help sell a few Quantum Loops, because he managed to log the test from his home in Poughkeepsie, NY using only that antenna and a Sangean 818! That's almost 2000 miles folks! Another great catch was Steve Howe, in Saint Albans, Vermont. He used a Radio West Loop and the Sony 2010 to catch KMTI at a distance of over 2000 miles. He commented later, "No fancy phased beverages for me". On the other hand, Bill Harms knows that good DX'ers take no chances when it comes to a rare test from Utah. He used a Western BOG, an EWE, and a K9AY antenna all routed into the Quantum Phaser to null WSM and pull in this one from his home in Elkridge, Maryland. For the record, Manti is on a bearing of 281.4 for Bill, and WSM is on nearly the same bearing at 252.3! Very nice work there, Bill! Brett Saylor used his Drake R8 and a 100 foot E/W sloper to hear this one from the shack in Central PA. Nigel Pimblett reports that "KMTI is heard fairly often here" and the sweeps and Morse Code made it an easy catch from his home in Dunmore, Alberta. Tim Noonan of Oak Creek, WI sent in a detailed report of the test, which he was thrilled to log. Another Wisconsin DX'er who heard the test was Bill Dvorak of Madison. Jordan Lopshire of Coldwater, MI heard the test very well at his shack and reported it as his first ever Utah reception! Glad to help put a new one in the log book, Jordan! It was also a new one for Charles Dobbins of Alpine, Texas who needed only the internal loopstick antenna on a Sony ICF-7600 to pull this one in. I guess even the loopsticks are bigger in Texas! KMTI was a new one in the log from Mike Stonebridge in St. Isidore, Alberta, Canada and he was thrilled to hear it. And of course, Canada's only "Bat-Man" whose radar ears hear it all, Barry McLarnon logged this one from his home in Ottawa. Nice catch Barry! Adam Myrow used only his trusty Q-Stick antenna to null WSM enough to log KMTI from his home in Memphis. His receiver is the YB-400 portable. Don't scoff at this simple equipment, he's also managed to log Croatia on 1134 and Norway on 1314 with only these tools! Great job, Adam! Utah #2 was the battle cry of many a DX'er and that was true for Bruce Winkelman of Tulsa, OK. His Drake R8, Quantum Phaser and two 50 foot wires were up to the task. Joe Miller, KD8DLU designed the QSL card for this test (and many others the past two seasons) and it's only fitting that he manage to hear the test. From Troy, MI it's a respectable 1500 miles to Utah! Joe noted that this catch was MW#390, Utah #1, 650#3 and Utah is his 36th state heard. For many, it was the use of sweep tones that enabled them to put a new one into the log book. That was certainly the case for Russ Johnson, of Lexington, NC who managed to log the test after nearly an hour of trying to overcome WSM. The "Doctor of DX", Dr. Walter Salmaniw pulled into a new one from his shack in Victoria, BC, Canada. Nice catch, Doc! Mike Sanburn reported KMTI "heard well" in Bellflower, California as did John Tucker in Mesa, AZ. It was John Tucker's original visit to KMTI and discussions with CE Doug Barton that led to DX'er being included in these maintenance tests. We all owe John Tucker a huge thanks for his efforts! (John, can you visit Rhode Island next?) Seattle, Washington DX'er Bruce Portzer heard the test quite well, reporting voice ID's and "off hook" phone sound effects along with the usual code and sweeps. While in Shorewood, IL, Tom Jasinksi used a Drake R8A and a Quantum loop antenna to pull the test in. Phillip Chiello in Elm Grove, WI sent in a nice recording of the test, made using only a stock Sony 2010! After 37 years of DXing from his shack in Charleston, West Virginia, Jim Wallace used the KTMI test to put Utah #2 into his log book. Great catch from over 1600 miles away! Larry Russell in Flushing, Michigan was another listener who went to bed happy after logging a new one. And our last successful report came in from Dan Riordan in Sherwood, Oregon who logged the test for a successful ID of KMTI, which he had only marked as "tentative" on a past effort. Glad to put that in the logs for sure, Dan! Despite the widespread success of the test, a few folks did go to bed unhappy. Among them were Mike Hardester of Jacksonville, NC who could not null WSM successfully. KMTI lies on nearly the same bearing as WSM, making it difficult for the Radio West Loop to pull out KMTI. WSM also proved too much for Eric Berger of Detroit, MI who managed a null on the Nashville station, only to be plagued by WNMT in Nashwauk, MN...alas that station was unneeded for Eric. Russ Edmunds of Blue Bell, PA also couldn't get past the monster signal from down South and when he did, only UNID Spanish waited in the null. Better luck next time Russ. Bryan Clark had "reasonably good signals from North America", but was unable to log the test from his home in Mangawhai, New Zeeland. Bryan has a first class station with an AOR 7030+ receiver and a 100 meter long BOG antenna beamed toward the Americas, but all his efforts were for naught on this one. FINAL TALLIES ================================================ By my quick count, the test was heard in at least 23 states and three provinces of Canada! Receptions ranged literally from Coast to Coast, and for more folks than I can count, this test presented a chance to put Utah #2 into the log books. Doug Barton may make the next battle cry, "Utah #3!" later this year, when he completes work on KSVC on 980 in Richfield, UT. The station will have new, taller towers and higher power levels. When construction is completed, KSVC will have a 400 foot tall Non- Directional tower and 12,000 watts. Doug has promised to consider including Morse Code IDs, Sweep Tones, etc. during some testing when the new array is complete. Stay tuned for details --- we may all get a chance to put a third Utah station into the logs! Our thanks again to Joe Tucker for personally setting up this test, and of course, to Mr. Doug Barton for including us in his station maintenance! SOAPBOX ====================================== As I thought, a piece of cake to hear with the 10 KW. Voice ID, Morse code, sweep tones, etc. Creaming everything else off the Eastern beverage. -Patrick Martin, Seaside, OR This will be UT #2. Guess which one is #1? -Jim Renfrew, Holley, NY Tonight WOULD be one of the nights WSM comes in like it was next door. Anyway, the DX test is weak underneath it, just the tones so far. -Curtis Sadowski, Paxton, IL After 46 minutes of frustration, KMTI-650 test finally heard with sweep tones thru WSM at 0246 EDT. Big thanks to Joe, Les, Barry, Jim, & Brandon in the mwdx chat room. And of course John Tucker for visiting the station and Doug Barton at KMTI!! -Marc DeLorenzo, South Dennis, MA WSM was being a pain to fully null here in Memphis, and slop from local WCVR-640 on LSB. I wasn't have much luck in ECSS USB, AM or AM Synch and finally settled on tuning to 651 kHz in CW mode and narrow filtering. That did the trick, decent morse code and sweep tones from 0630 UTC onward. -Brandon Jordan, Memphis, TN Before the test, I noted that the bearings of KMTI and WSM (respectively) from my QTH are approximately 290 and 282 degrees. Need I say more? -Mike Hardester, Jackonsville, NC KMTI-650 heard very weakly under WSM several separate times between 0309 and 0330 EDT with sweep tones, but no code or voice IDs, using my ICF-2010 and Radio West loop. No fancy phasable beverages for me. -Steve Howe, St. Albans, VT I was anticipating the KMTI DX test for over a month now, so needless to say I dragged myself out of bed at 2:00 to hear it! -Jordan Lopshire, Coldwater, MI Heard it at Burnt River ON last night, morse code and sweep tones. Not a bad signal at times, fading up and down in WSM null, mixing with a Coast to Coast station (Minnesota presumed) and a Latin music station (Venezuela presumed) and possibly others too weak to do much with. Utah #2 here and made the last-minute rip here absolutely worthwhile. -Saul Chernos, Burnt River, Ontario, Canada A welcome addition to the log indeed, UT #4 and 650 #11. Thanks to all involved! -Barry McLarnon, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Hooray, the sweep tones punched through. Extra hooray, I don't have to listen to the last hour of this country music! -Russ Johnson, Lexington, NC (Les Rayburn, N1LF, NRC/IRCA Broadcast Test Coordinator, Please call anytime 24/7 if your transmitter will be off the air for maintenance. (205) 253-4867, April 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Confirmed DX'er (Semi-Monthly QSL Rant) All QSL requests for the KMTI 650 kHz test have been answered. If you submitted yours via e-mail, you should have received a response by now. If not, please re-send your recordings and/or reports to: les @ highnoonfilm.com Subject Line: KMTI 650Khz QSL Request RANT: This was another popular tests, with over 100 reports received via both e-mail and Postal. In general, everyone followed the instructions. But some problems remain. The instructions clearly said: "E-mail was the first choice". Some who have e-mail access (you're on these lists) insist on sending reports via Postal service? Why? It's more time consuming, expensive, etc. for me to verify. Please use e-mail if you can. If you're sending out a Postal request, please enclose an SASE! No engineer, station owner, or test coordinator has time to address envelopes, purchase stamps, etc. Enclosing a dollar bill is not an acceptable alternative to an SASE. I always send money back to the DX'er, along with a polite note requesting an SASE. Also, try to get QSL requests in quickly. Many who did this time were rewarded with QSL's being sent back within an hour or less. Many DX'ers received their QSL's on the first day. But Postal reports will trickle in for days, weeks, even months to come. Yesterday's mail brought a QSL request for the Montana tests that we had months ago! Handwriting? Please --- either type or print your letters. I get detailed QSL reports in cursive handwriting that are almost unreadable. Why should anyone be expected to decode your chicken- scratch? Lastly, my favorite rant of all. Technology. Time marches forward--- and the bulk of my Postal requests still come in on cassette tapes, often not cued to the spot of the best reception. Don't have time to wade through an hour of your DX...barely have time to listen to my own. If you must send cassettes, send them cued to the spot of the best reception. If you're not considerate of the people you're sending QSL requests to, then I'm not surprised that return rates have dropped so low. 73, (Les Rayburn, ibid.) Les, everyone appreciates the effort and energy you put into these tests, but you also complain about the same problems with reception reports each time. Why not simply announce in advance that anyone who doesn't follow your guidelines will not receive a QSL, and then deep- six any report that doesn't follow your guidelines? Maybe you could even release a list of people who get "non-QSLs," much like QST and CQ magazines list hams who get disqualified in contests for failure to follow the rules. If you announce your guidelines in advance and then stick to your guns when people fail to follow them, I suspect your problems will quickly diminish (Harry Helms, W5HLH, Smithville, TX EL19 http://topsecrettourism.com ABDX via DXLD) ** VATICAN. U S A. 7125 NF, WEWN-Birmingham, Alabama, 2150-2215+ April 7, English religious programming. New frequency? I can't find this frequency on any schedule. // 9975-with a 4 or 5 second delay. Both frequencies strong (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) This is very strange. WEWN could not possibly be on 7125 deliberately, in the ham band. 9975 is supposed to be WWCR until 2200, then WEWN, as WWCR shifts to 9985. So before 2200 you should not have found a match on 9975 if it was WEWN. But since 7125 was not synchronized with 9975 it could not be a mixing product involving 9975 anyway. Otherwise I would suggest a possible mix with a local MW station, such as I have had in Enid in other cases. WEWN`s other English frequency is supposed to change from 15220 to 15745 at 2200. Next time, check it too for //. Did you hear a WEWN ID on 7125? May have been coincidental special Easter programming on some other station. (No, Vatican is not supposed to be on 7125 either.) Was this a service, talk show or what? Possibly a pirate/ham doing a relay on 7125. Any sign of Guinea on 7125? I took another look at the WEWN frequency schedule http://www.ewtn.org/radio/freq.htm which now has removed the confusing and inaccurate azimuths, but still claims to be on 5010 at 0000-0500, still unheard. Could that simply be a typo for 5810? If so they did it five times. You know how a crossed zero looks a lot like an eight in some fonts (Glenn Hauser, OK, April 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Nothing heard on 7125 at 2130-2215 today, April 8. WEWN heard today on 9975 at 2200 Sign on. When I heard them yesterday 7125 was running 4 or 5 seconds ahead of 9975 with typical WEWN Catholic programming with Easter service. Both frequencies were strong. Maybe a special Easter broadcast just for this one day on 7125 via WEWN (or Vatican Radio). 73, (Brian Alexander, PA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) [Later:] I did not hear anything either today April 8 around 2200 on 7125 (altho WEWN carrier overlapped on 9975 with WWCR for 3 minutes from 2156+). But here`s the answer: it was a special from Vatican Radio. This was not as hard to find as I feared on the VR website, under Trasmissioni Speciali, http://www.radiovaticana.org/CoorPro/trasmisspec.htm and there have been others, including at 0830 Sunday, for Urbi & Orbi. Are times here UT, or was it still going on two hours later if given in local UT +2? Apparently they do a midnight mass like at Xmas --- ``Sabato 7 Aprile 2007 Veglia Pasquale presieduta dal Santo Padre, Ore 22.00 Dalla Basilica di San Pietro, Veglia Pasquale presieduta dal Santo Padre Benedtto XVI. La radiocronaca avrà inizio alle ore 21.50 - in Italiano per la Zona di Roma su kHz 585 OM, MHz 105,0 FM, per l'Europa centro-occid. su kHz 5.885 OC e via Internet sul Canale 1 - in Inglese per l'Europa occidentale su kHz 7.125 OC, per la zona di Roma su kHz 1.530 OM, MHz 93,3 FM e via Internet sul Canale 2 - in Cinese per l'Asia su kHz 7.155 e 9.885 OC, per la zona di Roma su MHz 103,8 FM e via Internet sul Canale 4 -in Spagnolo per l'America Latina su kHz 17.765 OC, e via Internet sul Canale 5 - in Tedesco per l'Europa su kHz 6.120 OC`` (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZIMBABWE. [SW Station TXer Site Archive] Zimbabwe - Guinea Fowl --- Hi group. I located this site just a moment ago (in high resolution) using Google Earth. TX Site: Gweru - Guinea Fowl [Zimbabwe] Broadcaster: Zimbabwe Broadcast Holdings Coordinates: TXer Building: 19 31 17S, 29 56 08E SW Antenna 1: 19 31 17S, 29 56 16.66E SW Antenna 2: 19 31 09S, 29 56 09E Comms Mast: 19 31 08S, 29 55 45E Mast: 19 31 21S, 29 55 59.74E Mast: 19 31 18S, 29 56 04E Distances between masts of SW antennas 1 & 2 - both around 42 meters. I would have expected to see more SW antenna masts, but who knows how many antennas (dipoles) are strung between the located masts. Have I missed anything? Any further comments? Regards (Ian Baxter, Australia, shortwavesites Yahoo Group http://shortwavesites.googlepages.com/home via DXLD) ** ZIMBABWE. HARARE SETS UP NEW RADIO STATION Angola Press Luanda April 7, 2007 http://www.angolapress-angop.ao/noticia-e.asp?ID=522606 Zimbabwe is setting up a new radio station to counter what it calls Western propaganda against President Robert Mugabe. "We are under siege and being bombarded by the Western media broadcasting to our people," Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu said. The short wave station will become the fifth state-run radio station in the state and will cost Z$8.9bn ($39.6m). The station is being partly funded by the Iranian government. "There will be a revolutionary development in the media. We should be able to tell our own story," Mr Ndlovu was quoted by news agency AFP after a meeting with Iranian diplomats in the capital Harare. It will go on air before 18 April, before the country celebrates the 27th anniversary of Robert Mugabe`s regime coming to power. According to AFP, the Iranian ambassador to Harare, Rasoul Momeni, agreed to help refurbish the state broadcaster`s studios in the second-largest city of Bulawayo. The Iranians have already reported to have donated money for upgrading studios in Harare. "We are going to strengthen our relationship, especially in technically upgrading radio and television stations," Mr Momeni was quoted as saying by Zimbabwe`s The Herald newspaper. The ambassador said there should be an exchange programme of media experts between the two countries. "I hope and I am sure I will do my best for these nice people under the friendship that exists now. I see a bright future for Zimbabwe," he said (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) IRAN IS PARTLY FUNDING NEW ZIMBABWE RADIO STATION If you wondered how Zimbabwe, whose economy is in a desperate state, can afford to set up a new international radio station, the answer is simple - it can’t. But President Robert Mugabe has found a donor who can - Iran. Reports vary on the exact cost of the project - the BBC reports US$39.6 million and ABC Australia $48 million, rather than the $35 million reported by the Herald yesterday. But inflation is so high in Zimbabwe that it’s very difficult to perform an accurate conversion - the figure in local currency is quoted by the BBC as Z$8.9bn. Iran is understood to have assisted in refurbishing the studio facilities in Harare that will be used by the station, and is now said to have agreed to do the same in Zimbabwe’s second city, Bulawayo. The Herald quotes the Iranian ambassador, Rasoul Momeni, as saying “We are going to strengthen our relationship, especially in technically upgrading radio and television stations.” The transmitters near Gweru are widely reported to have been donated by the Chinese government, so apparently Zimbabwe is able to count on both countries for technical assistance. No frequency details have yet been published, and the website of the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation has been unavailable for some time. We would expect test transmissions to commence at least a few days prior to 18 April, the date by which Zimbabwe’s Information Minister says the station will be operational (April 7th, 2007 - 10:02 UTC by Andy, Media Network blog via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. Unusual to hear a pair: spy numbers in voice and cut numbers = letters in code. April 7 at 0515, on 5898 A3, spy letters were much stronger than 5883 A3 with YL 5-digit Spanish numbers, but cadence frequently skipping ahead or somehow messed up (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Solar-terrestrial indices for 06 April follow. Solar flux 71 and mid- latitude A-index 4. The mid-latitude K-index at 0600 UTC on 07 April was 1 (8 nT). No space weather storms were observed for the past 24 hours. No space weather storms are expected for the next 24 hours (SEC via DXLD) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ A07 AOKI FREQUENCY SCHEDULES Dear OM, Apr. 8, A07 Bi-list (Aoki list) was released. http://www.m2.mediacat.ne.jp/~binews/bia07.zip http://www.geocities.jp/binewsjp/bia07.txt This list is updated every day (S. Hasegawa, NDXC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) PRIME TIME SHORTWAVE The first edition of A-07 English shortwave schedules are finally available at Prime Time Shortwave, http://www.primetimeshortwave.com Schedules are available in ASCII text, Excel, DBase, and tab delimited formats. Sorts are available by time, country and frequency. Enjoy Thanks to the following sources: Bernd Trutenau; Ivan Penev; Alan Holder, UK; Dr. Adrian Peterson, via Cumbre DX; Ashik Eqba Tokon; George Ross, KTWR; Jeff White, WRMI; Alexander Yegorov; Joe Hanlon; John Babbis; DX Mix News; Kraig Krist; Andy Sennitt; Wolfgang Buschel; John Norfolk; Roberto Scaglione & Andrea Borgnino, bclnews.it; Bill Westenhaver; Mike Barraclough; Jose Jacob, dx-india; Dmitry Kutuzov- Russia; Jose Miguel Romero; Gayle Van Horn, Monitoring Times; Alokesh Gupta; Glenn Hauser; DXLD/dxldyg; WEWN website; WWCR website; WBCQ website; FCC schedule; TWR South Africa website. I had a Vatican Radio and a partial Christian Voice schedule I forgot to include so I will get those updated with the next update (Daniel Sampson, PTSW, April 7, and dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES +++++++++++++++++++++++++ ENCUENTRO DX MEXICANO 2007, DF, 27-29 JULIO Nos informa el diexista mexicano Miguel Ángel Rocha Gámez que el XIII Encuentro Nacional de Diexistas de México de 2007 tendrá lugar por primera vez en la Ciudad de México. Las fechas son del 27 al 29 de julio. El evento será organizado por la Asociación Diexista Hombre Nuevo, y el local será una agencia de viajes en la Bolívar 8, cerca de la estación de Metro Allende en el Centro Histórico de la capital mexicana. Los organizadores esperan tener pronto una página web para el Encuentro. Mientras tanto, se puede obtener mas información de Norberto Lambertinez a travéz del correo electrónico charronegromx @ starmedia.com (Jeff White, DX LISTENING DIGEST) MONITORING COLLISIONS The ABU is pushing for more of its members to join the Asian Monitoring Network (AMN), to monitor collisions in frequency usage among shortwave broadcasters in a move which could save millions of dollars in wastage. Through its ABU-High Frequency Coordination (HFC) Committee, the ABU is hoping to establish the network to cut costs arising from wastage. Currently, DW-Germany, IRIB-Iran and TRT-Turkey have already installed the software. PBC-Paksitan, AIR-India and RTPRC-China have expressed interest in becoming a part of the network. All broadcasters need to set up a simple monitoring system are a radio receiver, a schedule recording software and Internet access. The SIOFT software can be downloaded free at http://www.Nschall.de The ABU-HFC group includes some 40 SW broadcasters who broadcast 5,000 SW services every day, totalling over 10,000 hours of transmissions (The Channel, AIB, Feb 2007 via DXLD) What a good idea POWERLINE COMMUNICATIONS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ AUSTRALIA - THE BPL WAR: BPL INTERFERENCE VIDEO RELEASED The fight against interference caused by access B-P-L continues down-under. This with the release of a new 8 minute documentary video dealing with the interference potential of Broadband Over Powerline technology in Australia. The show is a virtual tour video of the Mt Nelson B-P-L trial area and contains a visual and audible representation of the interference potential of the B-P-L technology deployed in the area. It also contains commentary and background information on B-P-L technology . You can view it on-line at http://www.reast.asn.au/vk7bplwatch.php (WIA News via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING ++++++++++++++++++++ Life Could Be a DReaM [no other mention of DRM above] Interesting article just published online on amateur use of DRM, is it's use by radio amateurs widespread and have there been any particularly long distance contacts using it? Digital Radio Mondiale is a relatively new digital shortwave broadcast format which can be decoded using open source software developed in Germany. With the free WinDRM software, the format is made available to amateur broadcasters. All you need to explore amateur DRM is a radio, a computer and a sound card interface. http://www.technewsworld.com/story/56710.html (Mike Barraclough, UK, April 7, monitoringmonthly yg via DXLD) 8:30 PM and KMOX IBOC is a big nuisance Huge pest KMOX 1120 has the IBOC on tonite and for those of you in the midwest this is a sample of what night IBOC will do. If I don't phase them there's no trace of 1116 1107 and 1134 TA hets and 1130 and 1110 are severely messed up. Our clueless FCC at work (expletives deleted). 73 KAZ near Chicago using his TA directed Phased BOG System (only trace AA audio from 891 as best TA tonite) (Neil Kazaross, April 7, ABDX via DXLD) At this point - I think our best bet is to ADVOCATE nighttime IBOC for as many stations as possible. My rationale is simple: --- I firmly believe the system is unworkable. --- I believe it will result in unacceptable interference levels. --- The IBOC advocates deny interference. --- The IBOC advocates say nighttime skywave listening is outdated. --- The IBOC advocates say there is no revenue from skywave listening. --- The IBOC advocates say they have to have IBOC to survive. We know the IBOC advocates are full of it. So let`s let the babies have their way. Let`s let them destroy the band completely - then this whole IBOC debacle will self-implode. I believe it will happen quickly, the band will be unlistenable in analog and digital. I believe the interference from the US will cause international complaints. In order for the self implosion to happen, we need as many digital stations as fast as they can sign on. In this - Ibiquity will play right into our hands. Let`s sit back and enjoy - I have no doubts whatsoever about this; I know it means a year or two of lean DX - but the quicker we make the band unlistenable, the quicker the jamming will stop. Remember - the band has to be awful before the FCC will be forced to act. Once they know we were right all along - remember that they will be forced to turn it all off immediately - or at the very least nighttime. But if the interference truly is worldwide, we may be able to make a strong case that even daytime IBOC results in weak skywave pathways internationally. But it will take masses of stations again. We could be the architects of a workable AM IBOC system. I have long advocated a mass frequency swap that puts all IBOC in a subsection of the AM band - no power limits - no protections at all - 30 kHz channel spacing, etc. Quarantine it to frequencies between 1200 and 1500, let`s say. Sacrifice part of the band to make the rest listenable (Bruce Carter, ibid.) WHEN REGULAR TV BROADCASTS GO DARK By Michael Hulfactor, Story last modified Fri Apr 06 10:05:01 PDT 2007 If you were caught off guard when the federal government rescheduled the changeover to the daylight saving time, be prepared for another shock just over the horizon. On February 17, 2009, the analog over- the-air TV broadcasting we've known for more than 50 years is scheduled to end and be replaced by digital broadcasting. Once television stations drop their analog broadcasting and go digital, old-style analog TV sets will effectively go dark. . . http://news.com.com/When+regular+TV+broadcasts+go+dark/2010-1041_3-6173919.html (via Kevin Redding, April 6, ABDX via DXLD) MILLIONS MAY MISS DIGITAL TV DEADLINE --- THE SHIFT FROM ANALOG TO THE NEW FORMAT IN 2009 MIGHT LEAVE MANY VIEWERS IN THE DARK By Jim Puzzanghera, Times Staff Writer March 28, 2007 WASHINGTON — For millions of Americans, the digital revolution might not be televised. One in 5 U.S. households — more than a million in the Los Angeles area — depends on rabbit ears or a rooftop antenna to watch TV. Without converter boxes, most of their sets will go blank the day in 2009 that federal law requires broadcast stations to turn off analog signals and transmit only in digital. . . http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-digital28mar28,0,1829405,full.story (via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) DTV 'IN TROUBLE' IN DENVER Just a quick DTV note from the Denver, Colorado front.... I was a little out of the loop on this until recently. This is now becoming a local news story that is actually getting people's attention regarding digital television. As many may know, Denver is going to be the last major US market to have full power digital television. Most of the television stations in Denver are preparing to file a petition with a Denver attorney, which would request a possible extension on the time line for television stations to be at full power. This petition will be filed with the FCC. Both KRMA 6 and KBDI 12, public television stations, say they don't have the money in their budget to join the comm's in attorney fees, so they are just going to ride this out and see what happens. Almost all of the television stations are currently running very low power dtv signals, from temporary facilities. According to Denver viewer comments from the AVS Forum, the best any signals are getting out is about 20 miles. The well-known television-radio antenna farm that serves a majority of the fm & television stations in Denver is located on Lookout Mountain, west of Golden. Up to this time, there have been opponents of the new digital tower attempting to block construction of the new tower, which would be 'close' to the old television towers on Lookout Mountain. So far, the opponents have succeeded in court. It is actually becoming quite a zoo in the court proceedings. In the latest 'last ditch' effort to kill the entire tower project, an 'environmental friendly' group from Golden have ponied up the money and are now attempting to buy the land that is leased from the radio and television stations. Golden, (Coors Brewing famous) a small city of 20,000, has a clear view of Lookout Mountain. The mountain is one of the city's prominent landmarks. For the meantime, with this latest move, the judge that has been in the middle of all the legal hassles has said he will have to sit back now momentarily and see if the sale goes through. Hmmmmm......... I'll try to keep the list posted on latest developments. Only in Colorado! (Jim Thomas - wdx0fbu, Milliken, Colorado USA, WTFDA via DXLD) This is actually somewhat old news at this point - the locals have now been overruled by an act of Congress that authorizes the TV stations to move forward with the new tower on Lookout. Construction's underway, and the new tower should be on the air sometime in 2008, ahead of the deadline. http://www.hdtvcolorado.com/ s (Scott Fybush, NY, ibid.) Scott, thanks for the update. I was all over the Denver news pages on the internet but didn't come across the hdtv link you provided. It just makes me curious how they dealt with the 'group' that attempted to purchase that land (Jim Thomas, ibid.) Didn't congress get involved and write a bill and President Bush actually sign it so the towers project could finally get going (Craig, Denver, ibid.) Yep, he sure did. Here's copy from the HDTV Colorado website... "Colorado Wins with Congressional Vote! President Bush signed Senate Bill 4092 on December 22, 2006 authorizing the construction of the consolidated Digital TV Tower on Lookout Mountain. The legislation brings the Denver area one step closer to free over-the-air Digital TV. The bill was introduced by Senator Wayne Allard with the support of the Colorado Congressional delegation. The Lake Cedar Group will move forward quickly to build the consolidated tower that will bring Digital TV to the largest number of people living along the Front Range." I'm sorry I 'occupied' space on this email forum without having the latest facts from the link Scott provided. And actually, the Denver stations still aren't talking much about the transition and what it means to viewers, other than the typical DTV promos included with the station IDs (Jim Thomas, ibid.) As Scott notes, Congress has broken this deadlock. The stations involved have already filed a number of extensions on their FCC permits; under FCC rules the DTV facilities should have been on full power years ago. The Commission understands the situation - I don't think they're very happy about it, but they also understand it isn't the stations' fault! I would guess another extension deadline is approaching, and since a tower can't be built overnight the stations will need another extension despite the end of the zoning problem. Editorial comment: This is a case of Jefferson County residents trying to use the legal system to increase the value of their properties at the expense of Denver's TV stations -- and at the expense of a million-plus viewers in other parts of the Front Range. According to the 1966 Yearbook, channels 4, 7, and 9 were already on Lookout Mountain by 1965. (Denver's first station, KWGN-2, was built on the mountain so I strongly suspect channels 4, 7, and 9 also signed on from there. In which case the towers were present by *1953*.) Jefferson County, and Golden, are a suburban area. Take a look at the suburbs around you. How many of the people in Brookfield, Wis. or Clarence, N.Y. or Eagle, Ida. or Cleveland, Tex. were there in 1965? How about Golden, Colo.? The population of my hometown in suburban Milwaukee in 1953 was roughly 3,000. Well over 90% of the people who live there today weren't there in 1953. Nor did they inherit it from people who were there in 1953. Metropolitan Denver has grown faster than Metropolitan Milwaukee. My point being, most of the people doing the complaining live in houses that **didn't exist when the towers were built**. Either they knew the towers were there when they (or their parents) bought their homes, or they were unbelievably careless. I think what really tells the tale is this often-unreported fact: that completion of the stations' plans would REDUCE the number of towers on Lookout Mountain. Currently, channels 4, 7, 9, and 20 each have their own analog tower on the mountain. The new plan would consolidate all four stations' DTV operations on a single tower. Furthermore, the stations also have permits to move their *analog* operations to the new tower. If the locals had stopped obstructing this project, three towers would have been removed years ago (now, it likely the move of the analog stations won't happen - by the time the new tower can be constructed it will be well under a year before analog is shut down altogether.) The way I read this, it looks like the locals gambled on a chance they could get rid of ALL the towers. Stall long enough, and maybe the TV stations will give up & go somewhere where there's less resistance. (it probably would have worked in some other cities, but Denver's topology left the stations few other alternatives -- and local opposition was likely to be just as fierce elsewhere. Justifiably, since at the alternative sites the locals - not the TV towers - were there first) Even if that didn't work, I think they figured if they could stall it until 2009 they could *force* the issue. The FCC will cancel the analog licenses -- the locals won't let the digital stations operate from Lookout -- there ceases to be a point to paying taxes on useless- for-towers real estate -- the land gets sold and the towers go away. To he** with the non-cable public of greater Denver -- and for that matter, cable viewers in outlying areas like Sterling, Greeley, and Fort Collins where cable systems rely on off-air pickup for the HDTV signals they deliver to their subscribers. Yet another case of someone buying cheap real estate, and then trying to force others to spend money (or stop using their property) in order to drive up the value of the newcomers' land. Radio hams are all too familiar with this; so are farmers. Now, we can add TV broadcasters to the list. KRMA's licensed analog site is on the mountain, but their digital CP is elsewhere. They also have a CP to move the analog to a different site, off Lookout. KBDI's licensed analog site is well to the north of Lookout, and their digital facility is at the same site. Of the other major stations: KWGN-2: 450kw/248m at analog site KCNC-4, KUSA-9, KTVD-20: 11kw (4/9), 6.5kw (20) /178m at 39-44-37/104- 59-18, I think this is the Republic Bank building in downtown Denver. KMGH-7: 1.9kw/20m at 39-43-34/104-59-06 which would appear to be just south of downtown. It's probably their studio site. KDVR-31: 223kw at analog site. Channels 2 and 31 should be getting out OK. ``Only in Colorado!`` If it only happened in Colorado a lot of stations would be a lot happier! -- (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66, ibid.) As a former (but brief) resident of Denver, I have always wondered why the TV antenna farm did not go up on a REAL mountain. Lookout`s summit is only 8500 feet, no Sandia Crest, and not far away are a bunch 14+ kilofoot peaks. Going up on one of them would have given the stations much greater coverage, especially to the west where the Front Range has always blocked them from Lookout, and urban development would not have been a threat (Glenn Hauser, OK, ibid.) ###