WORLD OF RADIO #1236, produced June 30, 2004 by Glenn Hauser *Standard disclaimer *AFGE Local 1812 website, representing VOA workers reports: House appropriations committee approved [FY2005] budget for BBG of $610.3 mega; VOA $160.8 mega, up 5; news budget $20 mega as requested, but: *``Management wants employees to stink and starve`` -- give up privacy rights to take sick leave; no food, bathing or sleeping provisions in emergencies *VOA to close editorial funxions at London bureau September 1; Tokyo closed earlier this year *Brother Scare off WBCQ after June 30, opening up many hours on 5105, 7415, 9330, 17495, mostly in daytime *Anti-Stair sites with inside info on behind the scenes in Walterboro: http://www.isitso.org/guide/stair.html http://www.clrc.net/brostair.html http://www.christianmediaresearch.com/stair-01.html http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=36 *WYFR got religion, moving Taiwan relays out of aero and maritime bands: 0000-0200 to India 15060 to 15195; 1100-1600, 2100-2400 to China from 6300 to 6155 *Lower and Upper California MW situation: XESS 780 Ensenada moved to 620 as `La Tropical 620` between KOGO and KFI; inactive 920 to move to 1030, right next to US station on 1040 with same owner. High- level negotiations between FCC and SCT over resolving interference issues; 560 also moved, to 1700. See DXLD 4-099 for official documents about these and many other interference issues *From Key West, 14 Cuban FM frequencies were audible. While getting FM DX from Florida, check 96.7 for R. Rebelde in Cuba since there are no 96.7 stations in Florida *Where is Commando Solo? Exiles impatient for airborne relays of Radio and TV Marti to start. Department of State hesitating over legality; and very expensive to implement, including escort by fighter planes. Bush may be waiting until closer to the elexion *Radio Marti has new MW relay on 1620, Sat & Sun 1400-0400; it`s WDHP in US Virgin Islands, licensed for only 1 kW at night, and not that close to Cuba *Dominican Republic station heard on 1640 until 0300*, sounded like ``Radio Bufay`` [could it be the listed 1620 station, moved to avoid WDHP?] *New Argentine X-band list in DXLD 4-099 via http://worldofradio.com *List of Brazilian MW harmonics in same issue, including a sesqui- harmonic on 1754 of a station on 1170 *Peruvians identified: 5949.78 is R. Bethel, Arequipa, at 1130, relaying CPN Radio for hours and hours, religion, no IDs; 5930.27 is R. Melodia, also in Arequipa, at 0030 *Lack of new Peruvian SW stations may be due to crackdown on pirates, mainly FM, 93 stations cancelled *V. of Biafra International, clandestine from South Africa, Sat only on 7380 2100-2159, in English and vernaculars, heard in Pennsylvania; southern winter gives it a good head start toward the Equator *R. Okapi, Congo DR, heard in Australia on 6030 as late as 0030 UT, 10:30 am local with no QRM from Marti *RTV du Congo, Brazzaville, QSLed after 22 years of trying by Terry Palmersheim, spending over $53; schedule: 0600-0830 & 1700-2030 50 kW on 6115; 0700-1700 9610; 0430-0700 & 1700-2300 100 kW at 50 on 5985 *David Ricquish in New Zealand commentary ``Let`s dump DX and kill the QSL from our vocabulary`` in DXLD 4-099; even radio stations now say we are strange *The media magazine you monitor with your mind, this is World of Radio #1236, woradio at yahoo.com or P O Box 1684, Enid, OK 73702 *Thanks this week for financial support go to Brock Whaley *African Union summit special broadcast June 27-July 5, including English on 7165, 9560, 1700-2100, from R. Ethiopia *V. of Ethiopian Unity, clandestine, now 1830-1930 Sun & Wed on 15565 via Germany *R. Free Syria, new clandestine mentioned last week, is brokered by WRMI; Sun 1800-1859 on 13650 via Germany; undecided who will QSL: R. Free Syria itself, DTK or Jeff White *Arabic Radio, clandestine to Syria, reconfirmed, 1507-1530 on 7460, 12085 *Coalition maritime forces outlet on 15500-USB, 1600-1730+, known as Information Radio, or Radio One, or Radio Ma`lumati, including some English on drug smuggling; 0300-0800 6125, 1400-1900 15500; unclear if from Bahrain or a ship *China expanding Bengali service from July 15 to one hour at 1300, 0200 *Degar Voice, clandestine for Vietnam, on behalf of Montagnards: for background see DXLD 4-098; 1300-1330 Tue, Thu, Sat via Chita, Russia site on frequencies variable to avoid jamming: 7125, 7250, 7350, 7420 *Indonesian heard on 3385, presumably RRI Kupang, Timor, which was thought to be inactive; clash with PNG before 1300, then in the clear until 1457* *Catholic Radio Network, PNG, still being DXed as far as Washington state on 4960, 0910-1050, to the chagrin of the Vanimo station *From July, new AXO429 on 6676, AXO421 on 11387, with aviation weather on hour and half hour, Australian VOLMET, 6 kW *In German, R. Slovakia International announced another reprieve for SW, until August 1 instead of July 1; study group to develop proposal on how to operate foreign service *Of use only to those hearing our very first broadcast Wednesday at 2200: Scotland`s Radio Six International makes first test from US, UT Thu 1 July 0000-0200 on WBCQ 7415, live from Glasgow, with unsigned musicians, special QSL. See http://www.radiosix.com *R. Six also on IRRS; Tony Currie visited Milan but they would not let him go to site and is not sure whether transmitters are really in Italy *KRSX, pirate in Victorville, California, on 660 and 91.3, despite FCC fine, is still operating. Next step may be seizure and jail time *Unusual stations being sold: WKLU 101.9 Indianapolis, owned by former pirate Bruce Quinn, Jolly Roger Radio, for $6.2 million with $1 million of that to Quinn. New owner Russ Oasis says he will bring it into the XXI century *WCTM, 1130, Eaton OH, which played big band music, sold to group which will adopt classic country. 81-year-old owner retired *Sirius adding an Elvis-only channel 24 hours from July 2, originating in Memphis, trying to avoid repetititivenessness *DirecTV repositioned satellite without permission; $87,000 FCC fine *FCC turning blind eye in BPL proceeding, ARRL charges; White House relying on NTIA to make BPL interference issue go away *Worldwide TV-FM DX Association convention July 30-August 1 in Omaha; see http://www.amfmdx.net/WTFDA2004/ *Another instance of trans-Atlantic FM DX via multiple-hop sporadic E June 19 at 1310-1330 UT, heard by Paul Logan in Northern Ireland on 88.5, American accented signal, but source not identified; audio file at: http://www.geocities.com/yogi540/unid *Propagation outlook from Boulder June 29; solar flux range 85-115-90 *And so concludes World of Radio #1236. Glenn Hauser; I hope you`ll hear me again next week ###