WORLD OF RADIO #1229, produced May 5, 2004 by Glenn Hauser *New edition of Continent of Media now available online, 04-03, via http://www.worldofradio.com and http://www.dxing.com *Also at our site, new versions of John Norfolk`s Nets To You, and DX/SWL/Media programs *WBCQ sold weekend daytime on 17495 to Brother Scare, so we may not still be heard Saturdays at 2030 UT; but still at same time on WWCR 12160; some other WOR times on WBCQ 9330: UT Sun 0300, Mon 0100 *US government soliciting shortwave broadcast expertise for PsyOps http://www.fbodaily.com/archive/2004/04-April/29-Apr-2004/FBO-00573918.htm *AFGE Local 1812 at VOA obtains document on long-term plans to privatize and convert VOA into a television and internet service *Air America has some start-up problems, change in management, and lost some initial affiliates; but http://www.airamericaradio.com shows more and more affiliates currently and coming soon, including KPOJ 620 in Portland which is owned by Clear Channel; and WMQM 1600 in Memphis under same ownership as WWCR; AA ought to outbid Dr. Scott or Bro. Scare for a SW transmitter to fill coverage gaps *CKY 580 Winnipeg already closed as of May 1 *R. Cultural, Guatemala, gave up on SW, but being heard again on 3300 and maybe 5955 *Radio Miskut, Nicaragua, reported back on 5770-USB at 2245 *Six new SW transmitters for R. Habana Cuba at Bauta plus one for R. Rebelde, thanks to $200 million of Chinese credit; also upgrading two other SW sites Bejucal and Titan; no mention of SW jamming transmitters. Could it be Cuba is ashamed of them? *R. Marti heard testing on 1620 April 25, via WDHP in US Virgin Islands *ZBVI, 780 in British Virgin Islands heard near Chicago by Neil Kazaross with phased beverage antennas on ground at lakeshore, minimizing signal of WBBM on same frequency *Radio Amazonas, Venezuela, 4939v, has QSL manager to be used instead of own address; with 2 IRCs or $2, in English or Spanish, text, cassette or CD, to: Sr. Jorge Garcia Rangel, Radio Amazonas, QSL Manager, Calle Roma, Qta. Costa Rica A-16, Urbanizacion Alto Barinas, Barinas 5201, Venezuela *Many more reports of extended relays of Radio Nacional, Venezuela via Cuba, which neither admits. Schedule given in 1228 is more or less but not completely reliable *Via shortwave, mediumwave, FM, satellite and internet, this is World of Radio 1229, woradio at yahoo.com or P O Box 1684, Enid, OK 73702 USA; http://www.worldofradio.com for much more, DX Listening Digest *Thanks this week for financial support go to Michael Beu in Texas *R. Senado, Brazil, heard on 5990.3 but also spur on 6366.8 at 1000 *R. UNAMSIL, Sierra Leone, 6137.7v, not heard lately, but now sending out QSLs after two years, with T-shirts, from verie signer Sheila Dallas *Voice of Nigeria off the air for a week when a transformer exploded, until April 27; back on but schedule as unreliable as ever; workers allege 3 meganaira of allowances are unpaid *No English, but RTT in Tunisia has great Arabic music at 0400-0500 on 7275, 9720 *Direction-finding from central Europe indicates Libya`s services to Iraq are actually from Libya, old utility sites, i.e. 1203-1300 on 11890 and 1800-1900, 2100-2200 on 7425, 11890 *Monitored times for English news bulletins from Libya: 1140, 1730, 1820, 1920, 2030, 2120; frequencies via France, from one to four at a time are: 21695, 21675, 17880, 17695, 17635, 15660, 15610, 15315, 15205, 11635 *R. Tanzania, Dar-es-Salaam definitely active on 5050, but nothing from Zanzibar on 11734.1 *Mark Connelly from coastal location near Boston claims first North American reception of Radio Sawa, Djibouti, on 1431 kHz; at 0034, 6800 miles, 600 kW beamed this way, so more may hear it *Radio Sawa Djibouti 1431 has different programming from other R. Sawa services, such as Kuwait on 1548, but they join at 15 past the hour for newscasts *R. Kuwait in Arabic at 1900 on 9880, but no more English on 11990 at 1800; still in Arabic on 11990 until 1800 *Coalition maritime forces have SW broadcasts since April 15, per navigational warning to Persian Gulf; pop music, info in six languages including English, on assiting forces to ID terrorist activity at sea: 0300-0800 on 6125, 1400-1900 on 15500; National Geospatial Intelligence Agency involved. These and nine other frequencies were published in Merlin schedule for A-04 as Radio for Peace. These two listed for Dhabayya, UAE, and Rampisham, England respectivley. It`s MARLO, Maritime Liaison Office, in Bahrain doing this but not clear if presently from Bahrain, as Merlin deal is not yet in force, and using only 250 watts, difficult to DX. Jari Savolainen in Finland succeeded at 1556 on 15500-USB, hearing phone number offering monetary rewards for terrorism tips, the Coalition Rewards for Justice program; Kuwait interferes from 15505 [and 15495?] *Israel Radio has not closed English on SW yet, still heard since May 1, such as 0400 on 11590, 15640; 1700 on 17535; 1900 on 15640 *Voice of Turkey, English at 1230-1325 moved from 15405 to 15535, ending collision with HCJB Australia *Two Iranian clandestines changed frequencies in May: Radio Voice of Iran, KRSI, Radio Seda-ye Iran, 1530-1730 from 11520 to 17525; R. Pedar, 1730-1830 from 17735 to 15585 *R. Pakistan has a third frequency for English news at 0800 and 1100, besides 17 and 21 MHz: 7130, 100 kW Islamabad on domestic service *Sri Lanka`s All Asia Service frequency slipped upwards to 15748 at 1430, oldies music *R. Thailand dropped direct frequency to North America 15395 around April 18, since new relays via USA on 5890 work well *Signals on 4960 are not yet the new Catholic network from Vanimo, Papua New Guinea. Organization says not yet installed, but hopes to be shortly with 1 kW; two more on 90m will be 10 kW *Sad to hear of the death of Rudi Hill, who kept R. New Zealand going during the years it was off SW, April 30 at 83; also check http://www.rnzi.com for audio file of special about POW monitoring in World War II *Reprieve until July 1 for R. Slovakia International dropping SW, and perhaps beyond due to all the controversy *World Radio TV Handbook put up 62 pages of new A-04 schedules in pdf at http://www.wrth.com *North American SW Association files with FCC to keep broadband over powerlines off SW, and use vacant TV channels instead; see DXLD 4-074 *Propagation outlook from Boulder, May 4: flux fluxuating 90/100 *And so concludes yet another World of Radio, #1229 *With a standard disclaimer, Glenn Hauser, here, hoping you will hear me again, next week ###