DX LISTENING DIGEST 3-034, February 28, 2003 edited by Glenn Hauser, ghauser@hotmail.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 HTML version of this issue will be posted afterwards at http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldtd3b.html [note change] HTML version of all January issues: http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldtd3a.html For restrixions and searchable 2003 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html For restrixions and searchable 2002 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid2.html NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn NEXT AIRINGS of WORLD OF RADIO 1171: WWCR: Sat 0700, Sun 0330 5070, 0730 3210, Wed 1030 9475 RFPI: Sat 0730, 1330, 1800, Sun 0000, 0600, 1200, 1830, Mon 0030, 0630, 1230, Tue 1900, Wed 0100, 0700, 1300, 7445 and/or 15038.6 WBCQ: Mon 0545 7415 WJIE: M-F 1300, Mon and Tue 0700 on 7490 WRN: Rest of world Sat 0900, Eu Sun 0530, NAm Sun 1500 WRN ONDEMAND: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO: Check http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html [Low] (Download) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1171.rm (Stream) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1171.ram [High] (Download) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1171h.rm (Stream) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1171h.ram (Summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1171.html ** ALASKA. Since last month`s frequency change KNLS audible in English 0800-0900 on 11765 (Allen Dean, Lancashire...) Heard here February 26th 0840 to 0900 off, religious talk plus hit music from 1942, fair signal but fluttery fading (Mike Barraclough...) Website shows new Russian broadcast from 23rd February 1700-1800 on 9615. It also shows the 1300-1400 English broadcast on 11675 (Michael Beesley, Hampshire...) I wondered if this was a typo by their webmaster for 11765, their FCC registered frequency. However, very weak English station heard 1300- 1400 February 26th, address given with zip code starting 99, same as KNLS, at signoff (Mike Barraclough, UK, March World DX Club Contact via DXLD) Believe they used 11675 before (gh) ** ALGERIA. Bassil Ahmad Zoubi of the ASBU explained that one of the organization`s members, Algiers, has ceased shortwave broadcasts ``until further notice`` because of technical problems (Jeff White, HFCC report in NASB Newsletter via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. AM radio transmission sites under pressure, says ABA http://www.aba.gov.au/abanews/news_releases/2003/9nr03.htm (via Richard Jary, Feb 27, ARDXC via DXLD) ** BANGLADESH. Bangladesh Betar noted regularly here with the Nepali service 1315-1345 on 7185, poor at sign on fading up to fair strength on clear channel (Mike Barraclough, UK, March World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** CANADA. A highlight of this week`s schedule will be heard at 9 a.m. (9:30 NT) on Saturday, March 1 when The House, CBC Radio One`s weekly Canadian political program, interviews Prime Minister Chretien and Mexican President Vicente Fox. Prime Minister Chretien is making an official visit there to hold talks with President Fox. Host Anthony Germain will examine how Mexico is dealing with its trade and security relations in the wake of September 11th. Are there lessons for Canada in the Mexican experience? Should the two countries be considering greater co-operation in their dealings with the U.S.? For more information, go to: http://www.cbc.ca/thehouse In a scheduling change, C`est La Vie, CBC Radio`s window into the life of French-speaking Canadians through interviews with people in the news and documentaries from across the country, will now be heard weekly on Fridays at 11:30 a.m. (12 NT), beginning February 28. The focus of this week`s program will be on ``L`Osstidcho,`` French Canada`s own Woodstock. There was no known recording of it... until now. With guest host Jeanette Kelly. For more information, go to: http://www.cbc.ca/cestlavie Outfront is a CBC Radio program that features Canadian stories about real life. It`s 15 minutes of storytelling, experimental audio and new ways of making radio. Stories told from Canadian perspectives about the Canadian experience. As of Monday, March 3, Outfront moves to a new broadcast time of 11:45 a.m. (12:15 NT), heard weekly Monday to Thursday. Go to: http://www.cbc.ca/outfront, for more details. (CBC On-Air via DXLD) ** CHINA. Updated B-02 schedule for China Radio International: 0000-0027 Hakka 15400 15260 15100 11945 9550 9460 6140 Portuguese 11850 0000-0057 Russian 5990 7110 1521 Spanish 15120 11650 7160 0030-0057 Chaochou 15400 15260 15100 11945 9550 9460 6140 Portuguese 11850 9365 7245 0100-0157 English 9790 9580 Russian 1521 Spanish 11650 9665 0200-0257 Chinese 15435 9690 Spanish 13685 11650 0300-0357 Chinese 9720 English 9690 Spanish 9665 9560 Russian 17740 17710 15435 0400-0457 English 9730 9560 [wrong! As I have pointed out repeatedly here, during the winter the 9560 via Sackville is at 0500 instead, but CRI itself keeps getting it wrong. Let`s hope there are no other such errors in this listing! --- gh] 0830-0857 Hausa 7170 0830-0927 Indonesian 17735 15135 0900-0957 Chinese 17785 15440 15340 15250 15110 11875 11700 9560 7360 6165 English 15210 11730 0930-1027 Malay 17680 15135 0930-1527 Japanese 9855 7190 1044 1000-1057 Cantonese 17755 15440 11875 9550 Chinese 17785 15340 9560 7360 702 English 15210 11730 Russian 9695 7255 7245 7160 6140 5915 1116 963 1030-1127 Cambodian 17680 15160 Indonesian 15135 11955 1100-1127 Esperanto 7170 7150 1100-1157 Cantonese 17785 11875 15340 9590 Mongolian 7160 6140 Russian 7255 7245 7110 5915 1521 1323 1116 963 1100-1257 Korean 5965 1017 1100-1357 Vietnamese 9550 1296 1130-1157 Burmese 9880 1269 Tagalog/En 11700 1341 1130-1227 Thai 9785 7360 1200-1227 Tagalog/En 12110 11700 1200-1257 Cambodian 17680 9440 1080 Cantonese 11855 English 15415 11980 11760 9760 9730 1341 1188 Mongolian 7255 7160 6140 5990 5915 1323 Russian 1521 963 1200-1257 Chinese 17785 15340 15260 11875 9570 1230-1327 Lao 9785 7360 Malay 15600 11955 1300-1327 Esperanto 15210 11650 1300-1357 Burmese 11780 9880 1188 Chinese 17785 15340 15260 11875 9440 English 15180 13650 11980 11900 11760 9570 1341 French 17880 13685 Russian 7255 7245 7160 5990 5915 1521 1323 963 1300-1457 Korean 5965 1017 1330-1427 Indonesian 15135 11955 Thai 9785 7360 1080 1400-1427 Turkish 11800 9535 1400-1457 Amoy 15340 11650 Cambodian 17710 15180 English 17720 15125 13685 13650 11765 11675 9700 7405 Mongolian 7255 5990 5915 Russian 1521 1323 963 Sinhalese 15145 11900 1188 Tamil 11575 9665 9635 Vietnamese 9550 1296 684 1430-1457 Tagalog/En 12110 1341 1430-1527 Lao 9675 7360 1080 1500-1527 Pashto 11880 9665 Persian 11700 6165 1500-1557 Bengali 15300 11810 1188 Chinese 7265 7180 English 17720 15125 13685 9785 7405 7160 Hindi 9690 7235 Nepalese 9535 7215 1269 Russian 9765 7255 7245 6180 5990 5915 1521 963 Vietnamese 9550 684 1530-1557 Pashto 11880 9665 6165 1600-1627 Turkish 11655 6165 Urdu 7175 1323 1600-1657 Arabic 17880 15125 11845 7130 6150 English-AF 13650 7190 Hakka 11825 9770 Hindi 7235 9690 1269 Russian 9885 9605 7265 6040 5965 1521 Swahili 12000 11600 Vietnamese 7360 6010 684 1630-1657 Urdu 7175 1323 1700-1727 Swahili 15125 13685 12000 11600 1700-1757 Cantonese 9770 7220 English 11910 9695 9670 9570 7150 Russian 9885 9795 9605 9365 7265 7245 6040 5965 1521 1730-1757 Hausa 13670 11640 1730-1827 Chinese 9745 9645 7315 7160 7120 6135 1800-1827 Hausa 13670 11640 7190 Hungarian 9860 7265 6020 Persian 9670 7215 7140 7130 1800-1857 German 9620 5970 Russian 9795 9605 9535 9365 7245 6040 1521 1830-1857 Bulgarian 9860 7265 6020 Italian 9945 7110 Persian 9785 9670 6150 7140 1830-1927 Arabic 13685 11640 7315 7200 French 9645 7350 7120 6135 1900-1927 Albanian 9965 7265 Czech 7150 6020 Portuguese 9535 7180 Romanian 9860 7305 Turkish 9785 7215 1900-1957 Cantonese 9765 7255 English 9585 9440 German 11650 5970 Russian 9795 9605 9365 7245 1521 1930-1957 Albanian 9965 7110 Czech 7305 7150 Romanian 9860 6020 Portuguese 13630 11640 7265 7235 1930-2027 French 9645 7315 7190 7120 6135 2000-2027 Esperanto 9965 7265 7110 Polish 7150 6150 6020 Serbian 9365 7180 2000-2057 Chinese 9865 9685 7660 7335 7245 7220 English 13630 11640 9840 9440 5965 Russian 9795 9605 7255 2030-2057 Bulgarian 7180 6150 Hungarian 9365 6020 Italian 9965 7265 Polish 7150 7110 2030-2127 French 9560 7215 7160 7120 6135 2100-2127 Albanian 6150 English 13630 11640 Italian 9965 9610 9365 Serbian 7180 7110 2100-2157 Arabic 9765 9685 7260 English 9840 5965 Spanish 9640 6020 2130-2157 Hungarian 9570 6150 2130-2227 French 15500 11975 9560 7190 7110 6135 2200-2227 Portuguese 7245 5965 2200-2257 English 7170 Spanish 9640 7120 6020 2230-2257 Esperanto 11700 9860 2230-2327 Chinese 15400 15260 15100 11945 9550 9460 6140 2300-2327 Portuguese 13650 English 13680 5990 558 Russian 5990 7110 Spanish 7245 7160 2330-2357 Cantonese 15400 15260 15100 11945 9550 9460 6140 Portuguese 13650 73 from (Ivo and Angel! Observer, Bulgaria, Feb 28 via DXLD) ** CUBA/VENEZUELA. A shortwave role in Cuban gambling? ``In one of the twists of Cuba`s complex relationship with the United States, the Cuban games use the lottery numbers broadcast nightly in Florida.... Cubans say the underground lottery began spreading in the early 1990s with the country`s economic opening. Winning numbers were initially taken from the Venezuelan lottery until Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez reportedly cut the short-wave radio transmissions to the island several years ago as a favor to Castro.`` http://www.gamblingmagazine.com/managearticle.asp?c=280&a=5238 (via Kim Elliott, Feb 27, DXLD) ** DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. Radio Pueblo 1510 AM : escuchada el viernes 28 de Febrero a las 1100 UT en la frecuencia 5010 kHz. Programación musical con merengues y el programa ``Las Deportivas de Fernandito,`` así mismo varias menciones comerciales. La identificación escuchada dice así: ``Originando en Santo Domingo, primera ciudad del nuevo mundo, ésta es Radio Pueblo, estación HIBL, la 1510 AM stéreo digital. Transmite por onda corta Radio Pueblo la 1510 AM stéreo digital de Santo Domingo arropando al sur del ... de punta a punta y Radio Cristal Internacional, nuestro servicio de onda corta cruzando fronteras desde el centro del caribe en los 5010 kHz banda de 60 metros`` (José Elías Díaz, Venezuela, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** ERITREA [non]. 5925, Voice of Democratic Eritrea, still via Jülich, Germany, *1500-1559*, Sa Feb 22, Tigrinya and from 1530 Arabic, ID`s, political talks often mentioning Eritrea, Horn of Africa music. We cannot confirm a recent report that they have changed to Kvitsøy! QRM Voice of Russia, via Armavir, in Farsi on 5925. 54544 (Erik Køie and Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Feb 26 via DXLD) Beware of V. of Russia co-channel in Persian via Armavir site, daily; opening procedure starts 1449-1459 UT with tone pips, always noted underneath V. of Democratic Eritrea on Saturdays. Persian 1500-1700 9840, 7510, 7155, 5935, 5925, 648 (Wolfgang Bueschel, BC-DX via DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA. Re ``Radio Ethiopia is heard in English with news and spoken features at 1600 daily on 7165 and 9560. It is also heard on 6255 in parallel with the other two channels (Livinus Torty, Chad, AWR Wavescan 23/2 via DXLD)`` 6255 is most likely a receiver generated image which can appear at twice the receiver`s intermediate frequency below the actual frequency. 6255 is 910 kHz below 7165; most receivers have an intermediate frequency of 455 kHz (Mike Barraclough, World DX Club Contact via DXLD) Of course! I should have caught that (and so should Wavescan). I was fixated instead on looking for difference products (gh, DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA [non]. NEW PRIVATE RADIO STATION TO BE LAUNCHED | Text of report by Ethiopian newspaper Mebrek on 27 February A new radio station called Voice of Ethiopia is going to be launched soon with the aim to enlighten the international community about the current general situation in the country, an organization called Democracy Frontiers [both elements in English] has noted. The organizers of this radio programme are Ethiopian religious leaders, scientists and engineers, and do not belong to any political organization. Meanwhile, in a statement issued by the Democracy Frontiers recently, stated that the Meles [Zenawi] administration as undemocratic. Adding, the organization said Prime Minister Meles as the secretary-general of the Marxist Leninist League of Tigray [a political party of the Tigray People`s Liberation Front, TPLF] and TPLF is well known for his strong communist stand. Even if he tries to show himself as a Westerner, he is not doing it from his heart. His government lacks transparency and is totally corrupt. The organization went on to say that Ethiopia does not only need relief food at present, but also democracy. The current drought is the result of the prevailing undemocratic and mismanagement of the Meles administration. Source: Mebrek, Addis Ababa, in Amharic 27 Feb 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) Guess what: VOE actually already started Feb 16, and heard again Feb 23, Sundays, as per a number of items in DXLD. Obviously, it originates outside Ethiopia (gh, DXLD) 7560, Voice of Ethiopia, Feb 16, *2000-2100*, heard in Denmark and Greece with 34333, but with 24432 in Argentina. The first 37 minutes were just three different test tones repeated until 2030 and then a silent, open carrier! At 2037-2100* clear anti-Ethiopian Government talks in English. Gave URL and e-mail addresses as http://www.democracyfrontiers.org and info@democracyfrontiers.org (Liangas, Petersen and Slaen, DSWCI DX Window Feb 26 via DXLD) VOE has published Anker`s reception report on their other web site http://www.ethiopiancommentator.com under Feedback. The VOE seems to be an English version of Dejan Radio, but from where (Russia?) (Christian Ghibaudo, Nice, France, DSWCI DX Window Feb 26 via DXLD) ** INDIA [and non]. The QSL Information Pages do have an index for Relay(ed) Stations and an index for time signal stations (both at the end of the QIP front page). From there is quite easy to access all individual QSL logs from the time signal in the reg. countries. And there are still coming in new QSL logs for most of them http://listen.to/qip (Martin Schöch, 06201 Merseburg, Germany, Feb 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. PIONEER 10 SPACECRAFT SENDS LAST SIGNAL Talk about weak-signal DX! NASA says that after more than 30 years, it appears the venerable Pioneer 10 spacecraft has sent its last signal to Earth. Pioneer`s last, very weak signal was received on January 22. NASA engineers report Pioneer 10`s radioisotope power source has decayed, and it may not have enough power to send additional transmissions to Earth. NASA`s Deep Space Network (DSN) did not detect a signal during the last contact attempt February 7. The previous three contacts, including the January 22 signal, were very faint with no telemetry received. The last time a Pioneer 10 contact returned telemetry data was last April 27. NASA plans no additional contact attempts for Pioneer 10, which is venturing into parts of the solar system where nothing built by humans has ever gone before. Colleen Hartman, director of NASA`s Solar System Exploration Division, NASA Headquarters, Washington said Pioneer 10 ``ranks among the most historic as well as the most scientifically rich exploration missions ever undertaken.`` Among other things, the spacecraft was the first to make direct observations and obtain close-up images of Jupiter. The spacecraft has continued to make valuable scientific investigations in the outer regions of the solar system until its science mission officially ended March 31, 1997. Since that time, Pioneer 10`s weak signal has been tracked by the DSN as part of a new advanced-concept study of communication technology in support of NASA`s future Interstellar Probe mission. At last contact, Pioneer 10 was 7.6 billion miles from Earth. At that distance, it takes more than 11 hours 20 minutes for the radio signal to reach Earth. Pioneer 10 carries a gold plaque that describes what we look like, where we are, and the date the mission began. The spacecraft will continue to coast silently as a ghost ship into interstellar space, heading generally for the red star Aldebaran, some 68 light-years away. More information is available on the Pioneer 10 web page http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/tmp/1972-012A.html (ARRL February 27 via John Norfolk, OKCOK, DXLD) ** IRAN [non]. 9375, Voice of Southern Azerbaijan, *1629-1700*, Feb 06 and 13, Azeri talks with very frequent mentions of Azerbaijan, ID heard as: ``Danisir cenub Azerbaican Radiosu.`` 44444 slight CWQRM. It is probably the same station which did broadcast on 13645 around August 1998 (Masato Ishii, Shibata-shi, Japan and Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Feb 26 via DXLD) ** IRAQ. It would be quite interesting to know the number of active MW-outlets of REPUBLIC OF IRAQ RADIO. Listened to their General Service last night 2220 to 0013 UT on 846 kHz. This is their 300 kW transmitter in Nasiriya. First there was a programme that sounded like an interview of Saddam, both in English and Arabic. Clear ID after the news in Arabic 0005. They went off the air 0013. 73´s (Jouko Huuskonen, Turku, FINLAND, Rx: AOR 7030+, Ant: Wellbrook ALA 1530P- loop, Feb 28, hard-core-dx via DXLD) The interview may have been the celebrated one with Dan Rather of CBS News, whose voice I don`t suppose you would recognize. In one of his own numerous follow-up interview appearances, Rather said the interview had also been broadcast on all four Iraqi TV networks (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAQ [non]. WHITE HOUSE CLASH WITH TV CHIEFS The Bush administration and the American TV network CBS were embroiled in a fight last night over charges that the broadcaster rejected a White House offer to rebut comments made by Saddam Hussein in his first US interview in 13 years. "This seems odd they wouldn't let the White House have a voice," Ari Fleischer, President George Bush's spokesman, told reporters yesterday, hours before CBS broadcast the Iraqi leader's meeting with the veteran US news anchor Dan Rather. Mr Fleischer said CBS had refused to give a right of reply unless it came from Mr Bush in person, an offer the administration spurned "in the name of not making a moral equivalence between a dictator and a democracy". Mr Fleischer said the White House was interested in "equal time", but CBS spokeswoman Sandy replied: "The issue of equal time ... is a little curious, because the truth is that the American people see the president and his administration virtually every day". Source: http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,7493,903920,00.html - (via Georges Lessard, CAJ-List via Ricky Leong, DXLD) ** IRAQ [non]. US escalates psy-ops war* http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/world/middle_east/2805127.stm BBC Monitoring takes a look at the latest use of clandestine radio broadcasts to get the anti-Saddam message across. (via Jilly Dybka, DXLD) The ABC program "The World Today" will run a special (third/final part) on 'propaganda psy-ops in Iraq' during its Friday 28th Feb slot. The ABC has audio streaming on many of its outlets as well as direct library file access. This item will go out at approx 20 min past the hour. On local radio Sydney/Melbourne at approx. 0120 UT http://abc.net.au/streaming/audiovideo.htm On Radio Australia at approx. 0220 UT. ra link = http://www.abc.net.au/ra/audio/default.htm direct library file audio after 0120 UT at: http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/ Cheers (Chris Martin, ARDXC via DXLD) ** IRAQ. OVERVIEW OF THE MEDIA | Text of editorial analysis by Peter Feuilherade of BBC Monitoring Media Services on 28 February 2003 Introduction The Iraqi government exercises absolute control over the domestic media, except in the Kurdish enclaves in the north. President Saddam Husayn's son Uday runs two of Iraq's broadcast outlets. In the view of French media watchdog Reporters Sans Frontieres in February 2003, "his influence over Baghdad's media is even more decisive today than that of the Minister of Information". Iraqi radio's domestic service broadcasts in Arabic, Kurdish and other languages, which in the past have included Assyrian, Persian and Turkmen. The authorities are reportedly preparing to maintain broadcasts from mobile installations in the event of attacks. Radio Iraq International, the foreign service, has in the past broadcast in Arabic, English, German and French. However, since 1991 broadcasts from Iraq have been highly erratic and almost inaudible outside its borders. Considerable damage was done to Iraq's once impressive broadcast installations. Radio Iraq International has never recovered from the battering it took during the 1991 Gulf war. In the UN-mandated Kurdish enclaves in northern Iraq, which are not controlled by the government, rival Kurdish factions such as Mas'ud Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party and Jalal Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan operate their own radio and TV stations and newspapers beyond the reach of official Iraqi control. The Communist Party of Iraqi Kurdistan and other small groupings also have their own media outlets in northern Iraq and abroad. Iraq's airwaves are saturated with transmissions beamed to the country from abroad, whether those of established international broadcasters in the USA and Europe, or clandestine media operated by opposition groups or foreign intelligence agencies. Baghdad officially forbids the reception of satellite broadcasts, although a commercial service to allow controlled viewing of selected foreign Arabic entertainment and sports channels has been introduced. Some foreign radio broadcasts are jammed. Private internet access and email services are still in their infancy. In autumn 2002 a public company received permission to open private internet cafes in Baghdad. The same company plans to open internet centres at schools, universities and other educational institutes. The official Iraqi News Agency has an extensive English-language site. Foreign correspondents who are permitted to enter Iraq are required to travel with government minders from the Ministry of Information. Travel outside Baghdad requires written approval, and travelling to a location not specified in the request is forbidden. Domestic radio and TV Audience research data from Iraq is virtually non-existent, which makes it difficult to assess the impact of any individual programme, broadcaster or nation. State-run radio and TV are assumed to be accessible in the parts of Iraq controlled by Saddam Husayn. The main domestic TV service and Uday Husayn's Youth TV are available terrestrially. The Iraqi Information Ministry had plans to launch two new TV channels, including one in English for foreigners living in Iraq, the Baghdad newspaper Al-Rafidayn reported in November 2002. Baghdad radio's main service in Arabic has been heard on six mediumwave frequencies. The station has also announced six different regional FM frequencies. Baghdad radio has reportedly also used mobile transmitters, probably on FM frequencies. Other domestic services heard recently have been Voice of Youth (run by Saddam's son Uday) and Holy Koran Radio. Services that have not been heard recently are Voice of the Masses, the domestic and Persian and Kurdish services from Baghdad and Mother of Battles Radio (set up during the 1990-91 Gulf conflict). Given the erratic operation of some Iraqi broadcasts, there is little evidence of an infrastructure that could jam incoming radio or TV services to any great effect. External broadcasts The state-run Iraq Satellite Channel broadcasts via a number of satellites to viewers across the Middle East and Europe. For several years, Iraqi radio has had only one, and occasionally two, operational shortwave transmitters. These have been heard only intermittently and with a highly variable schedule, often with extremely poor audio modulation. Therefore, broadcasts by Radio Iraq International are highly erratic. In recent months audio modulation has become so poor that it has often not even been possible to determine what languages are being broadcast. Broadcasts to Iraq from abroad Shortwave and mediumwave radio listeners inside Iraq have access to a wide range of general Arabic-language services from the Middle East and from international broadcasters. The main international stations heard in Iraq are the BBC, the USA's Radio Sawa (which has a strand of programmes beamed to Iraqi audiences) and US-funded Radio Free Iraq (operated by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty from studios in Prague). In June 2002 the Iraqi press reported that a subscription-based service providing a selection of foreign satellite broadcasts (probably through some form of local cable or MMDS network) would be available to Iraqis, who would have to apply through the Information Ministry. The annual subscription for a service offering over a dozen channels including films, sports, cartoons and documentaries was set at about 60 dollars (the equivalent of a civil servant's salary for 10 months). After its launch in Baghdad, the service would be extended to Basra and Ninawa before being rolled out to other regions of Iraq. In December 2002 President Saddam Husayn said curbs on viewing foreign satellite TV channels would remain in force. He told an Iraqi cabinet meeting "the majority of Iraqi people were not interested in satellite channels but were seeking to earn a living and improve their conditions". Kurdistan, opposition and clandestine services There are several Kurdish, opposition or clandestine stations representing various factions and ethnic groups within Iraq broadcasting from different locations on a mixture of frequencies in a combination of Arabic and Kurdish. The major ones include: Radio Voice of Iraqi Kurdistan - broadcasts from Salah al-Din in Kurdish and Arabic in support of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, led by Mas'ud Barzani. Voice of the People of Kurdistan - broadcasts from Sulaymaniyah in Kurdish and Arabic in support of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, led by Jalal Talabani. Voice of Kurdistan Socialist Democratic Party - mouthpiece of the Kurdistan Socialist Democratic Party, a member of the Democratic Alliance of Kurdistan, an alliance of five parties under the leadership of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, formed in December 1996. Voice of the Iraqi People in Arabic - mouthpiece of the Iraqi Communist Party. Radio Freedom - mouthpiece of the Communist Party of Iraqi Kurdistan. Voice of Kurdistan Toilers - mouthpiece of the Iraqi Kurdistan Toilers party. Voice of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq - opposition radio sponsored by the pro-Iranian Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq. Radio Tikrit, launched in February 2003, is the latest clandestine radio targeting listeners in Iraq. When monitored in early February, its initial programming was critical of the USA. But over the next two weeks the content of Radio Tikrit's two-hour broadcasts from 1900-2100 gmt every night shifted sharply to a vehemently anti-Saddam Husayn line. The US Central Intelligence Agency's favoured opposition grouping, the Iraqi National Accord (INA), operates two radio stations: Radio of the Land of the Two Rivers and Al-Mustaqbal (The Future). These use a 50- kw Voice of America transmitter in Kuwait. Other radio stations that have broadcast to Iraq include Voice of the Brave Armed Forces. It targets listeners in the Iraqi military, inciting officers to launch coup attempts. According to US-based analyst Michael Knights of Global Information System, "the latter station is part-run by Jordanian intelligence. Saudi intelligence, meanwhile, has run the Jeddah-based Voice of the Iraqi People since 1991." Television Kurdistan TV - based in Salah-al-Din, mouthpiece of the Kurdistan Democratic Party. Kurdsat - based in Sulaymaniyah, mouthpiece of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. In September 2001 the London-based Iraqi National Congress (INC), a US-funded umbrella organization of groups opposed to President Saddam Husayn, launched Hurriyah or Liberty TV - aimed at Iraq. It broadcast on a westerly trans-Atlantic satellite in a digital format unlikely to be available to many Iraqi viewers. Liberty TV broadcasts were suspended in May 2002 owing to concerns expressed by its US backers over the INC's financial management practices. Updated information on external broadcasts to Iraq can be found on the web sites of Clandestine Radio Watch - http://www.clandestineradio.com - and Dxing.info http://www.dxing.info US radio propaganda broadcasts On 12 December 2002 the USA started radio broadcasts targeted at the Iraqi military as well as civilians. The broadcasts are transmitted by US planes flying over southern Iraq. Leaflets printed in Arabic and English dropped over Iraq say the American "Information Radio" broadcasts are on the air from 1500-2000 gmt on five separate frequencies in the FM, mediumwave and shortwave bands. The frequencies listed are: 693 and 756 kHz mediumwave, 9715 and 11292 kHz shortwave, and 100.4 MHz FM. These are all frequencies that have been used at some stage by Republic of Iraq Radio. The broadcasts come from Commando Solo aircraft operated by a specialist US psy-ops unit. The EC-130E Commando Solo is a modified four-engine Hercules transport aircraft that can broadcast simultaneous high-power mediumwave, shortwave, FM and TV signals. The planes can also jam or override local transmissions, in an effort to persuade listeners to tune to propaganda frequencies. Publications While the 1968 Constitution provides for freedom of the press, the government tightly controls all news media. Iraqi newspapers are all pro-regime. The Journalists' Union is headed by Uday Saddam Husayn. The two Iraqi papers that are most daring in criticizing domestic government policies are Babil and Al-Zawra, both of which are headed by Uday. Babil is the only newspaper that reports what international news agencies say. To a certain extent, it uses complete and unedited reports from the BBC, Reuters and newspapers in the Arab world. However, in November 2002, the publication of Babil was suspended for a month by the Information Ministry, reportedly for publishing articles critical of certain Arab countries such as Egypt and Jordan and their relations with Israel. According to Taha al-Basri, former chief editor of Al-Thawrah, the paper used to print 250,000 copies daily but this number was reduced by 92-94 per cent after the trade embargo imposed by the United Nations. More than 130 periodicals ceased publication after the embargo. All Iraqi papers continue to carry a front-page picture of Saddam Husayn, either separately or in the context of a previous day's activity. There are five major daily newspapers (Al-Iraq, Al-Thawrah, Al- Jumhuriyah, Al-Qadisiyah, and Babil) and one English-language newspaper (Iraq Daily) and one sports daily called Al-Ba'th al-Riyadi. There are also nine Iraqi weeklies. These are: Al-Zawra, Nabd al- Shabab, Sawt al-Talabah, Al-Rafidayn, Al-Iqtisadi, Al-Ra'y, Al-I'lam, Al-Ittihad, and Alif Ba. Uday Saddam Husayn is the board chairman of the first four weeklies, in addition to the daily newspaper Babil and Al-Ba'th al-Riyadi. All these Iraqi dailies and weeklies have an Internet version that is updated regularly. Many of them post a version in PDF format, in addition to the usual selections posted from each paper. Other hard-copy publications are issued in the Iraqi governorates, but they do not have Internet versions. Internet Baghdad has over 30 public internet centres, and other major cities have several each. Surfing the Net costs the equivalent of 50 US cents an hour. Subscription to e-mail costs about 80 US dollars per year; these services are reportedly heavily scrutinised by Iraqi security agencies. The web site of the Iraqi National Olympic Committee - http://www.iraq2000.com - is host to web sites for several Iraqi publications and organizations affiliated with Uday Saddam Husayn. They include the dailies Babil and Al-Ba'th al-Riyadi; all the Iraqi weeklies and monthly newspapers and magazines, except Alif Ba; and the web sites of the National Olympic Committee, the Iraqi Journalists Union, the National Union of Iraqi Students, and the General Union of Iraqi Youth. US "psychological operations" In addition to the Information Radio broadcasts carried since December 2002 by US Lockheed Martin EC-130E Commando Solo aircraft flying over southern Iraq, other psy-ops campaigns under way in March 2003 reportedly include the sending of e-mails to prominent Iraqi officials offering them clemency after the fall of the regime, in return for assistance in finding weapons of mass destruction; and swamping mobile phones of senior officials close to Saddam Husayn with calls urging them to disobey orders. Intelligence analysts say future steps could include the jamming of Iraqi broadcasts and the start of TV broadcasts produced by US military psy-ops specialists. Source: BBC Monitoring research 28 Feb 03 (via DXLD) ** IRELAND [non]. The item about cracking down on church services via CB came from Northern Ireland, tho this also goes on in the Republic (gh) ** ITALY [non?]. I tried IRRS on 5780 tonight: Noticeably weaker than broadcast outlets on neighbouring frequencies, indicating a modest power level. Modulation appeared to be AM with full carrier, at least the LSB was present; unclean audio. At 2131 cut-over from the studio feed to a test tone at or close to 440 Hz, about three seconds later the carrier was terminated. No clue to the site, but this is obviously a low cost operation, no professional broadcast transmitter, provided that the transmitter is situated within Europe (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Feb 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5780, IRRS, Milano, 2025-2035, Feb 20, new frequency scheduled 2000- 2130, but audible in LSB and USB only ! English talk about a fiction book, 44444 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Feb 26 via DXLD) ** JORDAN. On February 27, 11690 kHz, Radio Jordan, poor, in English at 1705 UT, with ? news. Then an ID, ``Radio Jordan, 96.4 FM`` into pop music program heard past 1725 UT. Poor, improving to fair at times, absent the RTTY, though a moderate heterodyne. Drake, SW8 with whip antenna. Heard in Utica, New York (Roger Chambers, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH. 657 kHz fair with rather weak modulation but strong carrier of usual mad sounding Korean yelling. Doesn`t this station ever do anything else? They have sounded this way since I first heard them in the mid 60s on 655. At 1451 2/26 (Pat Martin, OR, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH. 4L4FN LEAVING NORTH KOREA Ed Giorgadze, 4L4FN, the first amateur to operate extensively from North Korea and to earn DXCC from that entity, will leave for his next duty assignment March 1. Last fall, after about one year of operation, Giorgadze -- an employee of the United Nations World Food Program who had been operating as P5/4L4FN from Pyongyang -- was ordered off the air by North Korean authorities. The ARRL accredited SSB and RTTY operation of P5/4L4FN for DXCC, and Giorgadze himself earned a mixed DXCC Award during his stay. As of the end of his operation last November 22, P5/4L4FN had logged a total of 16,194 QSOs (12,170 unique call signs) that included 167 DXCC entities worked. More information on P5/4L4FN is available on the AMSAT Net http://www.amsatnet.com/ Web site of QSL Manager Bruce Paige, KK5DO. Click on ``P5 North Korea.`` (ARRL February 27 via John Norfolk, OKCOK, DXLD) ** KURDISTAN [non?]. 4159.6, Voice of the Conservative Party of Kurdistan (tentative), 1620-1659*, Feb 15, Kurdish songs, drifting to 4158.6 during my listening, ex 4167, 22222 CWQRM. 4412.9v, Voice of the People of Kurdistan, 1655-1805, Feb 11 and 15, Kurdish, ID: ``Aira dangi Gelli Kurdistana``, 1700-1755 Turkmen, ID: ``Burazy Iraq Türkmen Sesi Radiouzel`` (This is the Radiovoice of Turkmen Iraq), news, political talks about Kurdistan, folksongs, 1755 Arabic, ID: ``Huna idha`at sawt Sha`b Kurdistan, sawt al-Ittihadi a- Watani al-Kurdistan``, heard // 4023.4v, 33333 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Feb 26 via DXLD) 7560, Mesopotamian R and TV, Arbil, Iraq, via Samara, Russia (Ed), *1700-1800*, Feb 04 and 05, 11 and 12, Tuesday`s and Wednesday`s only. CIS tones to 1658, then introductory music and Kurdish identification by female announcer as ``Denge Mezopotamya`` and into Kurdish comments and local music. The introductory music and format of this transmission is different to those of Voice of Mesopotamia on 11530 & 15675 (Michael L. Ford, UK, DSWCI DX Window Feb 26 via DXLD) ** LEBANON [non]. OPPOSITION ``FREE LEBANON`` RADIO BEGINS OFFICIAL BROADCASTS ON 25 FEBRUARY At 1600 gmt on 25 February, the Lebanese opposition Free Lebanon radio began broadcasting. After the Lebanese national anthem was played, the following announcement was made: ``You are listening to the voice of Free Lebanon [Arabic: sawt lubnan al-hurriyah] on 11515 [kHz] shortwave.`` Later in the broadcast the announcer refers to the station as Free Lebanon radio [Arabic: idha`at lubnan al-hurriyah] ... Source: BBC Monitoring research 25 Feb 03 (via DXLD) ** LEBANON [non]./VATICAN. Despite info given by the WRTH updates, La Voix de la Charité, is on the air in Arabic from 0530 to 0600 on 11715 (WRTH gave 0430), always via Vatican Radio; I just listen to them right now! (Christian Ghibaudo, Nice, France, DSWCI DX Window Feb 26 via DXLD) ** LIBERIA. See SEYCHELLES ** LITHUANIA/GERMANY. The story behind the reserve capacity for Radio Vilnius to NAm via DTK Juelich (6120 in the B02 season): when the transmissions were moved from Juelich to Sitkunai a few years ago, Lithuanian Radio asked DTK to keep this backup option. Meanwhile, DTK is prolonging this reserve on its own initiative (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, Feb 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Strange it was not flagged as backup, unless a symbol got lost (gh, DXLD) ** LUXEMBOURG. Two new organizations will be invited to attend as observers at the next conference. One of them is Broadcasting Center Europe, which is the continuation of the well-known station Radio Luxembourg, which wishes to resume shortwave broadcasts with a powerful transmitter on the 49-meter band (Jeff White, HFCC report in NASB Newsletter via DXLD) [and non]. It seems we are to be infested with more DRM --- from Luxembourg. It will be interesting to see how much QRM they cause to adjacent frequencies --- have they registered the use of 6095? I noted two DRM transmissions this morning --- 11775 and about 12058. Both quite strong and on air at 0825 past 0900. What advantage is there in operating off-frequency --- surely by doing so will result in more QRM? (Noel R. Green, UK, BC-DX Feb 27, via DXLD) Here in Europe 6095 kHz soon will be used by RTL for tests in DRM. We will watch this very closely to find out if it causes more interferences than the "allowed" 10 kHz bandwidth. How about DRM on 6010 from Sackville? Does it cause interference outside the 6005-6015 range? (Harald Kuhl, Germany, A-DX Feb 27 via BC-DX via DXLD) ** MALAWI. Malawi Broadcasting Corporation has recently opened quite comprehensive website at: http://www.mbcradios.com/ (Pentti Lintujärvi, Helsinki, Finland, Webmaster of 1000 Lakes DX Page http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Park/3232/dx.htm hard-core-dx via DXLD) ** MALAYSIA. Voice of Malaysia heard February 27th on 15294.8 at 1604 with news in Arabic, 1700 recheck started Malay service. Good signals with only slight co-channel interference. Morning English service on this frequency not noted for some months (Mike Barraclough, UK, World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** MALI. 7284.4, R Mali, Kati, 0945, Feb 24, modern songs from Mali; reception fair to good on parallel 9635 which, however, gets strong adjacent QRM from DW 9640 1000-1100 in Macedonian & Serbian, 15341. No signal whatsoever on the also supposedly parallel 11960 where Belarus is on; I believe that even with a different bearing, which is most probably the case, 11960 would still propagate into SW Europe, but it`s not audible for quite some time, so whether it`s actually used on a normal basis and at which power would be interesting to know (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DSWCI DX Window Feb 26 via DXLD) OK re the comments from Chris Greenway. Very interesting indeed. It would seem that the Mali aerials are directional according to what he says. 4835, 5995 and 9635 always seem best here. 4785 is now under a digital signal and not audible to me. 7285 is often audible --- but not much more than that --- and 11960 is very rarely audible (Noel R. Green, UK, BC-DX Feb 26 via DXLD) ** MAURITANIA. 4845, R Mauritanie, Nouakchott, 0820-0827*, Feb 20, tribal songs when abruptly closed down, 2534. Reopened on 7245, *0837 feature with talks in Arabic and modern tunes, 45444. Acc. to my observations, that`s common practice with them, i.e. abruptly shutting the transmitter off to reopen on another outlet after a few minutes` pause... possibly without any notice for the audience, which must have been the case on FEB 20 as there was no pause in the songs programme, and 7245 at mid speech (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DSWCI DX Window Feb 26 via DXLD) ** MOLDOVA. The English program of the separatist station R Pridnestrovya on Maiac 5960 (Weds 1700-1730) is transmitted with 1000 kW, according to info from the station to the Moldovan DXer Leonid Cultuclu. Also the Russian program on Maiac 999 kHz (Fris 1800-1830) is aired with 1000 kW, according to the same source (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, DXplorer Feb 26 via BC-DX via DXLD) ** MONGOLIA. In regard to Wolfgang Bueschel`s comments: The current schedule of VOM published on http://www.mongol.net/vom/schedule.htm gives 990 kHz with 500 kW of power and an azimuth of 120 degrees. It is the SW antennas that have the beam of 126 and 178 (as well as 315) degrees (cf. HFCC registration). Apparently the data in the summer table that Wolfgang refers to was pretty much messed up but has been corrected now in the winter edition (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, Feb 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Nevertheless, when IBB is using it on 981, the azimuth is shown as 140 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NAURU. ISLAND STATE LOSES TOUCH WITH WORLD --- LAST MESSAGE FROM NAURU REFERRED TO 'CRITICAL SITUATION' Isabel Vincent, National Post, Wednesday, February 26, 2003 Nauru, a tiny Pacific island that boasts an inordinate number of offshore banks, seems to have fallen off the face of the Earth. A few weeks ago, amid rumours of political unrest, its entire telecommunications network collapsed, cutting off its 12,000 inhabitants from the outside world. Things are apparently so bad on the island, a tiny speck in the southwest Pacific, no one in the outside world is sure who the country's president is any more. Nauru's telephone system shut down in early January during a period of political chaos. Since then, the only contact with the island has been through ships equipped with satellite telephones that have made stops there. Nauru diplomats stationed in New Zealand recently told Agence France- Presse that, apart from these calls, they have been out of touch with their country for weeks. In one of the last messages transmitted from the island, which was discovered by a British navigator in 1789, Nauru was said to be in "a critical situation." The message, which was believed to have come from Bernard Dowiyogo, the President, said many people had not been paid since last year and the 21-square-kilometre island had gone broke. But it is not clear if Mr. Dowiyogo is really in charge. The last communication came during a tense political battle between the President and Rene Harris, the former president and the man he is reported to have unseated in January after a vote of no confidence. Adding to Nauru's problems is the fact that whoever is in power has no money to rule and faces a deadlocked parliament. Moreover, the presidential residence was reported burned to the ground last month. Repeated calls to various government agencies on Nauru yesterday resulted in dead silence on the line. Calls to its consular offices in Honolulu and Guam also went unanswered. A woman who answered the telephone at Nauru's permanent United Nations mission in New York said she had not heard the island's telecommunications system had collapsed. The mission maintains contact through Nauru's consular representation in Melbourne, Australia, she said. When asked whether or not she knew who was in charge on Nauru, she referred the caller to the Melbourne consulate. "We only deal with UN matters here," she said before hanging up. A spokeswoman at Nauru's consulate in Melbourne, which is the island's most important foreign mission, said President Dowiyogo was indeed in charge. However, nobody has heard anything from the island since the satellites that support the island's telecommunications facilities went down two weeks ago. "We can't communicate," added the woman, who did not want to be identified. "We only hear about something when someone there manages somehow to get a message out." She said the satellites are being fixed and communications are expected to resume shortly. The chaotic state of communications on Nauru resembles the tiny country's own economic chaos. The island, which was ruled jointly by Australia, Britain and New Zealand before gaining independence in 1968, once boasted the world's highest per-capita income through its profitable phosphate mining. But the reserves of guano -- fossilized bird droppings -- are expected to run out by the end of this year. This leaves Nauru, a pock-marked rocky outcrop, with no other resources. Everything from water to food and fuel must be imported. To diversify its economy, the government has been developing alternative industries, including offshore banking and tourism. But it came under fire after investigators traced funding sources for terrorist attacks to its offshore banks. Law enforcement agencies around the world accuse Nauru of allowing money laundering to flourish. Everyone from international terrorists to the Russian mafia reportedly has accounts on the island. In one case, investigators found more than 400 banks registered to a single mailbox http://www.nationalpost.com/search/site/story.asp?id=AB204337-46F9-4E24-B349-33C04ECFB673 (© Copyright 2003 National Post via Ricky Leong, DXLD) ** NEW ZEALAND. 6095 kHz, Radio New Zealand International overnight with Cricket World Cup broadcasts from South Africa. Registered 1306- 1659 UT towards north Pacific. Great signal into Europe at afternoon yesterday [Feb 26] approx. 1415-1600 UT (and later, despite 6100 kHz adjacent YUG starts at 1600 UT in Russian targeted eastwards) 73 wb (Wolfgang Bueschel, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) And no Lux DRM this date, I guess (gh) ** NIGERIA. VON was NOT heard on 11770 Feb 9 and 10 at 0500-0600 (David Crystal, Israel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OMAN. R. Oman, English service now being heard again with excellent signals 1400-1500 on 15140. On February 18th I heard identification 1400, music interrupted by call to prayer 1412, news bulletin 1430 followed by a book programme to 1500 when they continued in Arabic (Mike Barraclough, England, World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. VOR What`s New: MOSCOW YESTERDAY AND TODAY In the next edition of MOSCOW YESTERDAY AND TODAY -- on the air from Monday, March 3 -- you will hear a story about the first Governor of Moscow, Tikhon Streshnev, a contemporary of Czar Peter the Great. The program can be heard on Monday at 0930 and 2030 UT, on Tuesday at 1630 UT, on Wednesday at 0530 and 1830 UT, on Thursday at 0330 and 0630 UT, on Friday at 0830 and 1530 UT, and on Sunday at 0230 UT. SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING In the next edition of Science and Engineering, our Science Correspondent Boris Belitzky will first be speaking about changes in the organization of space research in Russia. He will then be answering listeners' questions about the somewhat mysterious subject of torsion fields and about Russian research in Antarctica. Science and Engineering can be heard on Monday, at 0710, 0910, and 2110, on Tuesday at 0310 and 1710, on Wednesday at 0510, 0810, and 1810, on Thursday at 2110, on Friday at 0310, 0710, on Saturday at 0510 and 1910, and on Sunday at 0610 and 1710, all times UT (via Maryanne Kehoe, swprograms via DXLD) ** RUSSIA [non]. It seems maybe the Russians haven`t yet established what they are going to use Juelich for? I guess we should keep the various frequencies under observance. The biggest puzzle is why they need to use Juelich at all --- have they rented out all of their own available transmitters? Or is this something to do with the recent agreement to broadcast from Germany [on MW] that we read about not long ago? Very strange indeed. Maybe eventually we shall hear a Russian version of R Sawa! At 1000, BBC Afghan service took over the frequency [which?] ( \\ 17870) and was clashing for a short period with Juelich. Re VoR via Juelich - 21515 is carrying their English service in \\ with 11820 etc. The signal is peaking to S3 and a bit at 0930 with an echo. According to the latest news about Iraq, it seems Russia does not want the war to start, so maybe they are aiming at British and American troops. I tuned 11655 c1457 and found a loud signal already on air in Russian --- it continued after IS etc from 1500 as VoRussia in Russian. \\ channels noted are 1143 [on its own on this frequency!], 7445 and 12015 - and others less strong on 6 and 7 MHz. Audio quality sounds very good and like Juelich to my ears. Signal strength peaking over 9+20 dB's. I'm trying to think why they want to add this extra frequency to what is already on air --- maybe it will eventually change to something else? I cannot hear any trace of their Dari service on 11655 via Riazan or wherever, and seem to recollect recently trying to hear this outlet and could not (Noel R. Green, UK, BC-DX Feb 25 via DXLD) [as sked:] 11655 VoR Dari/Pushtu 250 kW via Armavir 110 degrees: 1300-1500 1535*, 15460**, 11655, 9900, 5995, 4975, 4965, 4940, 972, 801, 648. 21515 1000-1300 40 Skelton 300 kW at 95 degr. \\ Zyyi-CYP outlet: 17870 0700-1300 40,41NW CYP 300 kW at 77 degr, and BBC Persian 1400- 1500 UT too, x17680?, ed. Feb 26. Maybe that V. of Russia will send an ENGLISH special service to the Anglo-American troops in the war region ? Noted VOR WS in English, opens midst in speaker's sentence around 0656 UT on 21515 kHz via Juelich relay. Program directed towards GB/IRL and the Pacific on other channels too, \\ strong signal from Wachenbrunn MW 1323 kHz, no satellite delay compared to Berlin MW 603 and new Juelich 21515. Feb 27 (Wolfgang Bueschel, BC-DX via DXLD) Juelich 11655: Today VOR via Juelich 11655 came on at 3.5 mins before 1500 in Russian, covering the weaker signal of the VOR Afghan service. The program from 1500 was again the Sodruzhestvo [Commonwealth] service. The signal was fair at best (Olle Alm, Sweden, BC-DX Feb 26) It seems that DTK can give the VoR some extra mins of time on 11655. I heard it again yesterday mixing with the BBC and opening of CRI at 1600. Usually the DTK outlets seem to come/go exactly to time. 11655 has been very strongly received here at opening, but fades down by closing. 9405 and 9515 were much stronger last night. PAK was not on 9400, but would have suffered much splash if it had been - BBC CYP 9410 was getting splashed too. It seems that transmissions from Juelich to SE Europe and the ME are well received here (Noel R. Green, Blackpool, UK, BC-DX Feb 27 via DXLD) ** SEYCHELLES [and non]. Dick Whittington of FEBA Radio reported that their Seychelles shortwave station will have to cease transmissions at the end of the winter season ``due to financial and environmental reasons on the island.`` However, he said FEBA will continue its shortwave transmissions via the facilities of other stations (Jeff White, HFCC report in NASB Newsletter via DXLD) Our organization is purchasing the three 100 kWs from Far East on the Seychelles. Sorry I couldn`t tell you sooner. We are shipping one to Liberia and the other two back to the US. One may end up at an undetermined location. Thanks again for your hard work (Doc Burkhart, WJIE, Feb 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOUTH AFRICA. Peter de Klerk, Special Advisor to South Africa`s Minister of Communications, mentioned that the country`s official international radio service, Channel Africa, is being restructured, with program production now originating from countries throughout the continent. In the nearby Johannesburg suburb of Auckland Park. Channel Africa occupies an entire floor of the impressive SABC (South African Broadcasting Corporation) building. For many years now its emphasis has been on providing a news and current affairs service in several languages to Africa (primarily sub-Saharan Africa) on shortwave, but it is also available via the Internet in other parts of the world. Many cooperative programming projects with other African broadcasters have made Channel Africa more than a voice of just South Africa. The station now calls itself ``the Voice of the African Renaissance.`` More information is available at http://www.channelafrica.org (Jeff White, HFCC report in NASB Newsletter via DXLD) And see the full report below for more on RSA ** SWITZERLAND. 3947.2, Spurious signal from Radio Emme, Langnau, operating on 106.0 MHz and seven other FM-frequencies in that canton. QSL-card and sticker received after two weeks by Silveri Gomez. These spurious SW signals were heard by different DX-ers on Dec 24, 25 and 31 and Jan 01 and believed to be R Greenland in Tasiilaq (cf. DX- Window no. 213), but have now been identified. What a difference between Greenland and Emmenthal Land! (PLAY-DX, Feb 09 via DSWCI DX Window Feb 26 via DXLD) ** SYRIA. The government-controlled Broadcasting Service of the Syrian Arab Republic, used for military and civilian communication programmes, has shifted one of their shortwave frequencies to 9335 kHz, up from their previous dial position of 9330. As a result WBCQ suffered co-channel interference, and applied to the FCC for an emergency frequency shift to 9330 (Source? rec.radio.shortwave via Mike Terry, DXLD) This doesn`t add up, as we have already shown that IBB Sri Lanka is on 9335 (after 2230), quite a coincidence. Hmmm, a conspiracy theory: if WBCQ had complained that IBB was the problem, nothing would have been done. I am not aware of any use of 9335, or 9330 by Syria. Has anyone ever heard Damascus on either at any time? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAIWAN. 8300, New Star Broadcasting Station, confirmed as WHO service of R Taipei, called Heath service, in a QSL card just received. On the front page it showed two patients getting eye operations (!) and on the full data backside there were also these addresses: P. O. Box 24-38 Taipei, Taiwan, Fax 886-2-2886-2294, e- mail: cbs@cbs.org.tw and http://www.cbs.org.tw (Gian Luigi Naj, Astii, Italy, DSWCI DX Window Feb 26 via DXLD) A real eye-opener ** THAILAND. 6765 usb, Bangkok Meteorological R., Feb 22 1505 Good. Weather forecast and report in Thai and English (IWATA Gaku, DX- pediton at Kanagawa, JAPAN, Japan Premium via DXLD) ** U K. Saga Radio the new East Midlands station is now on 106.6 from Waltham and 101.4 from Derby. Regular programmes started February 11th, address: Saga Radio House, Alder Court, Riverside Business Park, Nottingham NG2 1RX (Roy Patrick, Derby, March World DX Club Contact via Mike Barraclough, DXLD) The station`s test transmissions and regular broadcasts were being relayed on 7160 mid February (Mike Barraclough, Allen Dean, ibid.) ** U K. A radio transmitter which broadcasts BBC Radio Swindon and BBC Radio Wiltshire was stolen from Blunsdon. The equipment, worth around 10,000 pounds, was taken around 2330 February 10th and engineers worked throughout the night to ensure that transmission could start in time for the radio stations¹ breakfast shows. Kerrie Lofthurse, BBC spokeswoman said: ``It is a very odd thing to steal unless it was done to order. It is in the hands of the police now.`` Tony Worgan, BBC Radio Swindon¹s managing editor said: ``I understand that they smashed a hole in the wall and half-inched the transmission equipment out; God knows what they plan to do with it.`` (Swindon Evening Advertiser, February 13th via Paul Watson, UK, World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** U K. Mark Byford and Alex Brodie letters to the Guardian re firing of two BBC Arabic broadcasters: http://www.guardian.co.uk/letters/story/0,3604,902963,00.html (via Kim Elliott, DXLD) ** U K [non]. AZERI SOLDIER SUBJECT TO BBC’S DISCIPLINARY PROCESS The BBC Monitoring Caucasus Unit, based in Azerbaijani capital Baku, responded to a story in the daily Azg last January 31, which was about a letter received via e-mail from an Azeri, who signed it as ``Azeri soldier.`` It was full of hatred towards Armenians and their language, which the ``soldier’ said was ``the language of dogs and rats.`` The ``soldier`` was tracked down by the daily Azg webmaster and appeared to be an employee of the BBC Monitoring Caucasus Unit. The following is the letter, sent by Anne Thompson, head of the Unit, to the daily Azg. Dear Mr. Havetikian, I am writing to you in connection with the e-mail sent under the pseudonym ``Azerbaijani Soldier`` to Azg newspaper on 31 January 2003. The person responsible is an employee of the BBC and works as a monitor in BBC Monitoring's Caucasus Unit, based in Baku. He is now subject to the BBC's disciplinary procedure. He has been asked not to come to work pending the outcome of the disciplinary process. The views expressed in his e-mail do not at all reflect the views of the BBC. I very much regret that this e-mail was sent by a BBC employee using the BBC's equipment. Although this was done without the BBC's knowledge or consent, the BBC wishes to offer its apologies to you, your newspaper and your readers. Yours sincerely, Anne Thompson, Head of BBC Monitoring's Caucasus Unit, Botanical Institute, Patamdar sosesi 40, Baku, 370073 Azerbaijan Tel: (00 99 412) 97 50 72, (00 99 412) 93 92 36 Fax: (00 99 412) 97 50 71 Mobile: (99 4 55/855) 590 36 24 E-mail: anne.thompson@mon.bbc.co.uk (Neighbors, AZG Armenian Daily Feb 28, http://www.azg.am/_EN/20030228/2003022805.shtml via Jilly Dybka, DXLD) ** U K. The BBC is able to progress with the development of Broadcasting House in the West End after reaching agreement with the building`s former owners Howard de Walden Estate, which demanded compensation because the BBC plans would restrict light to the surrounding buildings which it owns (The Times, 22/2 via Mike Barraclough, World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** U K. Catholic services on CB: See IRELAND [non] ** UNITED KINGDOM [and non]. Remember BFBS? Yesterday and today, 13 Feb, I heard BFBS on 5945, sign-on at 1500 and off at 1800. Contents are from BBC domestic broadcasting. ID is before the beginning of the hour, ``the FBS... in 10 seconds``. I have not heard the sign-off at 1800, but until almost 1730, and Austria is on 5945 without the BFBS from 1800. Obviously, this is in honor of IRAQ (David Crystal, Israel, Feb 15, by airmail, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS) has verified my reception report on 5945 with a QSL signed by the Managing Director, David Crwys-Williams. I reported it 9 days earlier by ordinary mail to BFBS UK, Narcot Lane, Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire SL9 8TN, United Kingdom, and by e-mail to info@bfbs.com According to the attached schedule it is now broadcasting for UK troops in the Persian Gulf: 0200-0300 6025 and 13720 0300-0400 6135 and 13720 0400-0500 9820 and 13720 1500-1600 5945 and 15530 1600-1700 5945 and 15530 1700-1800 5945 and 12040 [that accounts for 12 frequency-hours per day as per press info] The v/s wrote: ``Thank you very much for your letter of 12th February about your reception of BFBS on short wave. I can confirm that the details of your report correspond to our broadcasts at that time. Our short wave schedule can be seen on our website http://www.ssvc.com under BFBS Radio Worldwide Frequencies Operation Telic. The transmissions come from St Petersburg, Tashkent and Rampisham in the UK.`` (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Feb 26 via DXLD) BFBS, 15530/BBC 15565 from Rampisham-UK. Today 15600 was much cleaner at 1500 so that I could confirm that a weak signal appeared just as 15530 was switched on. The BFBS program was also audible at a very low level. This seems to confirm that 15530 is co-located with 15565, i.e. in Rampisham. Since 15565 is beamed in my direction the signal is very strong, while 15530 is much weaker and about level with 15410 (Olle Alm, Sweden, BC-DX Feb 21 via DXLD) 6135 at 0259 should be from Rampisham, UK, if CIS opening tones be missing prior to the service around 0249-0259. It's a very unpleasant time to wake-up here in Europe for monitoring this service (Wolfgang Bueschel, Germany, BC-DX via DXLD) ** U K. RADIO REQUESTS FOR GULF FORCES Ciar Byrne, Thursday February 27 2003, The Guardian British troops in the Gulf suffering from lonely hearts will now be able to tune into Steve Wright`s Sunday Love Songs on Radio 2 to hear dedications from loved ones. The BBC has teamed up with the British Forces Broadcasting Service to broadcast the show in the region through special transmitters, starting this weekend, it was announced today. ``BFBS approached us to see if we would do this, and we were pleased to be able to help,`` said the Radio 2 controller, Jim Moir. ``Steve Wright has over three million listeners tuning in every Sunday morning, many of whom will know some of the 40,000 plus people currently stationed in the Gulf,`` he added. DJ Richard Allinson will also take requests and dedications in his late night Monday to Thursday show. ``Through these live link ups, we can help them to keep in touch through dedications, messages and requests. Separation from loved ones is never easy but hearing a special message or a song that really matters can make a world of difference,`` said Charles Foster, the controller of BFBS radio. BFBS Radio has already set up a network of FM transmitters in the Middle East providing a 24-hour service to armed forces in the region. The dedication slots follow in a long tradition of the BBC broadcasting to the armed forces, started by Two-Way Family Favourites which was first broadcast on Radio 2 in 1945 and ran until 1980. Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited (via Bill Westenhaver, DXLD) Wright`s show on Sundays is 0905-1100; Allinson`s show is at 2230-2400 UT, not times BFBS is currently on SW; so will those be added? Guess not: (gh, DXLD) UK/MIDDLE EAST: BBC RADIO 2 TO START PROGRAMMES FOR THE GULF | Excerpt from press release from BBC on 27 February BBC Radio 2 is to link with the British Forces Broadcasting Service to support British troops stationed in the Gulf by broadcasting special programming to help them stay in touch with families and friends. From this Sunday (2 March) Steve Wright will kick off the two way communication in the second hour of his Sunday Love Songs show (9.00- 11.00 a.m.). Steve will be passing on dedications and messages and playing requests from listeners in the UK for friends and family in the Gulf who will be tuned to BFBS. Richard Allinson will then relay requests and dedications from the Gulf in his late night show (Monday to Thursday, 10.30 p.m.-12.00 midnight). The troops will be able to listen to Radio 2 via BFBS Radio who have set up a network of FM transmitters in the Middle East that are providing a dedicated BFBS Radio service 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to HM Armed Forces on deployment in the Gulf region and direct to many Royal Navy ships... BBC Radio 2 is following in a long BBC tradition of broadcasting to the forces. The most popular show was Two-Way Family Favourites which was first broadcast on the Light Programme (Radio 2`s predecessor) on 7 October 1945. The BBC and British Forces Network, Hamburg linked for the very first edition for Family Favourites (as it was first known) and at the height of its fame it had an audience of approximately 20 million in the UK and seven million listeners in Germany. The last show was broadcast on 13 January 1980 as part of Pete Murray`s Sunday show on Radio 2. During the seventies and eighties BBC Local Radio stations also linked up with various BFBS stations around the world for their versions of Family Favourites. Source: BBC press release, London, in English 27 Feb 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** U S A. BBG Chairman Kenneth Tomlinson`s testimony to Senate Foreign Relations Committee on 27 February is available at http://www.bbg.gov/_bbg_news.cfm?articleID=64&mode=general Note in particular: ``Finally, on this day as I sit before you with my esteemed colleague Undersecretary of State Charlotte Beers, we need to understand the importance of maintaining the strength of public diplomacy and the traditions of international broadcasting. I am convinced that we will not be successful in our overall mission of delivering our message to the world if we fail to grasp that these are two different spheres and that they operate according to two different sets of rules.`` (Kim Elliott, DX LISTENING DIGEST) DARTMOUTH STUDENT ASSEMBLY TO LOBBY FOR INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING: ``The Assembly will also encourage media outlets on campus to carry international news stations to `provide alternative viewpoints that may differ from mainstream American news networks.` Student Body President Janos Marton `04 said that alternative networks such as BBC World, `would be less biased` than mainstream American news.`` http://www.thedartmouth.com/article.php?aid=200302260101 (via Kim Elliott, Feb 27, DXLD) ** U S A. TOURS OFFERED FOR VOA BETHANY SITE ... ``The building has been surrounded by mystery for so long and we`re pleased to tell the story of Voice of America.`` Restoration of the building is in its earliest stages, but West said there is much to see and learn about the facility. As part of the tour, visitors will view a restored transmitter and control panels, once used by the Voice of America engineers, along with the tower that served as a lookout post. The tours of the Voice of America Building also include a firsthand experience with short-wave radio. The Amateur Radio Association has established a radio station in the building where they communicate with other radio operators from around the country and abroad...`` http://www.journal-news.com/news/newsfd/auto/feed/news/2003/02/23/1046059744.16698.8887.4143.html (via Kim Elliott, Feb 27, DXLD) That`s nice, but Bethany was a BROADCAST facility, not a ham station. Why don`t they have an SWL setup for visitors??? (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. NASB member WMLK was shown to have several collisions in Europe on its newly-planned frequency of 9955 kHz. But consultations with Bernd Friedewald, who handles the station`s frequency management, found that the collisions all involved what Bernd expected to be ``wooden`` entries from European stations, so it was considered that no serious clashes were really likely to occur (Jeff White, HFCC report in NASB Newsletter via DXLD) ** U S A. WJIE: see SEYCHELLES ** U S A. Solid Rock Radio (WSRR) via WRMI 7385: Card and letter in 31 days for mint stamp (used). Report sent to Box 1, Belfast, NY 14711. Card says ``we’re glad you caught our signal and not us!!``. Letter says ``WSRR used to be a pirate radio station that broadcasted on it’s on shortwave frequency (sic). Today we broadcast over the internet out of two studios, one for our Hip Hop R&B lovers and the second one for lovers of unsigned music artist. We also broadcast over FM 104.9 MHz and soon over AM 1700 both of these stations are low power part 15 but have a serious coverage over our city``. V/S: Tim Hall, Station owner. 73 (Mike Brooker, Toronto, ON, Feb 27, hard-core-dx via DXLD) ** U S A. Homeland Security PSA: Found them! It turns out that all three :60 second PSA's are available for downloading on the NAB Web Site. http://www.nab.org Follow the link to "Public Service". 73, (Les Rayburn, N1LF, Feb 26, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** U S A. PNW Tower topics of particular interest to Western DXers: (1) KRKO [1380] has passed another hurdle (they have approval from another city/county government body) in its quest to erect new towers so it can increase day power to 50 kW. When this will happen I don't know. Stay tuned. (2) A sales rep from KGNW-820 called this morning regarding running ads for one of my clients. I asked her about the status of co-owned KKOL-1300. She said the 50kw day/35kw night power increase would take place NEXT MONTH. I didn't realize it had moved along this far. Currently it is running 1kw ND off some boat. The signal is not too potent; however, this is an old facility and it is well protected, so as weak as it is, not a lot of other stuff has gotten through it. (3) She also said that KTFH-1680 will be an "international" station and will be coming on the air on March 31. This news does not make my day. I did not ask if they will be running IBOC... (Pete Taylor, Tacoma, Feb 17, IRCA via DXLD) ** U S A. For the part two evenings KQXX-1700 Brownsville TX has been pounding in here (Calgary AB) with one of the strongest signals in the X-Band. Now (0105 ELT) they continue to do so, so tune to the end of the band if you need this station. Nice Oldies format , ID as "Oldies Radio" with full legal ID at the top of the hour, but no ads for some reason. Is this station cheating (listed at 880 watts night)? 73, (Deane McIntyre, VE6BPO, Feb 27, NRC-AM via DXLD) Obviously. They were the dominant here on the channel, and I'm much closer to Sherman than Brownsville (Bill Hale in Fort Worth, ibid.) Per an earlier posting, I do find KQXX to be running 8800 watts instead of their 880 watts at night. KQXX is totally dominant and much stronger than usual. They are peaking on the R8 S9+20DB on the Eastern beverage and they are heard on all of my other antennas too. 73s, (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, ibid.) ** U S A. 1680 kHz, WTIR Winter Garden, Florida, USA. Englisch, ID: "WTIR Winter Garden, Orlando", free vacation guide, "Travel Information R Network", WX, tourist info; 0400 UTC, 24.02.2003, 33333. 1690 kHz, WPTX Lexington Park, Maryland, USA. Englisch, ID, NX: "United States seeks to liberate Iraq", Grammy Awards, ad: Viagra Prescriptions, National Allicance of Breast Cancer Organizations; 0430 UTC, 24.02.2003, 33333. Rx: Rohde & Schwarz VLF-HF Receiver EK 085 Antenna: Fritzel FD-4, ca. 10m ueber dem Schelfeis. Location: Neumayer Station, Dronning Maud Land, Antarktis, 70 degr39'South, 008 degr15'West (Felix Riess, Antarctica, DP1POL; Feb 23) PS: Wer sich fuer das Leben und Arbeiten auf der deutschen Antarktis- Forschungsstation interessiert, kann auf der Webseite http://www.awi-bremerhaven.de/atkaexpress/ (BC-DX Feb 27 via DXLD) ** U S A. Directional patterns of US MW stations, e.g. WMAL-630 DC: My reference is the plot generated by NRCer Neil Adams' Medium Wave Viewer program. I have no doubts that the plots shown by this program are anything but being 100% true, providing of course, that the FCC information used is correct. It indicates when the data isn't sufficient to provide a pattern. I download the FCC CDBS files daily to keep the info as up-to-date as possible. A plot of WMAL's night pattern can be seen on my GYDXA web site at: www.angelfire.com/tx2/phantom2/index.html . . . scroll down and click on WMAL. 73, (Bill Hale, TX, NRC-AM via DXLD) Bill, your plot matches that of the 1996 NRC Nighttime Antenna Pattern Book. Based on the plots, WMAL should indeed cover central North Carolina, most of Virginia and Maryland, and the eastern two-thirds of Pennsylvania into western upstate New York. There's a major null in my direction which explains why WMAL is so rare here (Bruce Conti, Nashua NH, ibid.) Neil's program is the best one out there: http://www.bright.net/~nsadams/ Robert Carpenter's AMSTNS will also display patterns from the FCC database (he's got one for FM and TV too) http://www.qsl.net/w3otc/ (Doug Smith, TN, ibid.) ** U S A. KNTU, the University of North Texas station at Denton, returned to the air on 88.1 MHz midday Friday, February 28. KNTU had been silent 36 hours when audio equipment failed. The station, which features an all-jazz format, has been plagued with aging and failing equipment. Funding for KNTU has been curtailed drastically by shortfalls in state funding. Station officials say $125,000 is needed for immediate necessary repairs which include antenna, feedline, transmitter and audio processor. See http://www.kntu.unt.edu/xmitter.htm#damagerepair for photos of 100 KW feedline flasher. (Bill Smith, W5USM, Dallas, TX, Feb 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VENEZUELA. VENEZUELA: INVESTIGATION INTO TV CHANNELS CONTINUES, NO DATE SET FOR CONCLUSION | Text of report in English by Venezuelan pro- government VENews web site on 27 February Infrastructure (Minfra) Minister Diosdado Cabello has announced that investigations into Globovision and RCTV are the most advanced of the several similar investigations launched several weeks ago into privately-owned TV stations accused of breaking broadcasting regulations by screening violence at inappropriate times and refusing to show commercials, instead broadcasting opposition advertisements. However, the minister refused to give a date when the investigations may be completed, saying only that the ministry has 120 days in which to come to a conclusion regarding the probe before having to announce its findings. If the stations are found to be in breach of regulations then they could face stiff fines, a suspension of their licenses or the complete withdrawal of the broadcasting rights. Source: VENews web site in English 27 Feb 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED [non]. Hi Glenn, R. Korak International, 3927 is a very active Euro pirate; in this log Roberto Pavanello listened music and an identification in English. This was a message of mine on HCDX. Bye (Roberto Scaglione http://www.bclnews.it DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 11860, Merlin Network One, London, *1900-1910*, Feb 17, 19 and 20, testing this frequency with its well known interval signal of ``Afghan music`` for an unknown future broadcast. A Kvitsoy transmitter is available, but it may also be another transmitter. 35444. From *1909 sideband splashes from RAI 11855 starting its broadcast in Somali at 1910. It was off Feb 23 and 24 (Køie and Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Feb 26 via DXLD) It`s Merlin, but I thought the `Network One` name went out of use years ago? (gh, DXLD) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ FIRST HFCC CONFERENCE IN SOUTHERN AFRICA CALLS ATTENTION TO SHORTWAVE ON THE CONTINENT, by Jeff White, NASB Vice President Africa is one of the principal target areas of many major international shortwave broadcasters. Despite the rapid development of local FM broadcasting in this area, shortwave radio remains the only practical means of receiving news, information and entertainment for millions of Africans who live in smaller cities and rural areas where local AM and FM radio are non-existent or not audible. Yet despite the large penetration of shortwave radio in sub-Saharan Africa, the High Frequency Coordinating Committee (HFCC) had never held a meeting in the region until the A03 conference February 3-7, 2003. The idea was to call attention to shortwave broadcasting to and from Africa, and to encourage more African shortwave broadcasters to participate in the HFCC frequency planning process. The joint HFCC/ASBU (HFCC and Arab States Broadcasting Union) Conference was sponsored by the South African communications provider Sentech and took place at the Hilton Hotel in Sandton, a wealthy suburb of Johannesburg. In the end, relatively few African stations participated in the meeting, perhaps due to the fact that most of the shortwave broadcasting originating from Africa is aimed at domestic audiences. Major international HF broadcasters from Africa, such as Radio Cairo and Channel Africa, are few and far between. Nevertheless, the 140 or so representatives of international HF broadcasters gathered in Sandton had a rare opportunity to gain first-hand experience in one of shortwave broadcasting`s primary target areas. The South African government-owned Sentech, along with their contractor Eventdynamics, proved to be an expert in organization and a very good host for the gathering. Dr. Sebiletso Mokone-Matabane, CEO of Sentech, officially opened the conference on February 3, followed by welcoming remarks from Peter de Klerk, Special Advisor to South Africa`s Minister of Communications. De Klerk was hopeful that this meeting could be the beginning of a regular regional HF coordination conference for Africa. ``Shortwave broadcasting,`` he said, ``will continue to be an important and often the only method of transmitting news, information and entertainment to much of Africa.`` De Klerk mentioned that the country`s official international radio service, Channel Africa, is being restructured, with program production now originating from countries throughout the continent. In his opening remarks to the Conference, HFCC Chairman Oldrich Cip [hook over the C] noted the presence of representatives from Uganda and Lesotho. He expressed the hope that even if it is not practical for most African stations to attend future conferences, more shortwave stations from the continent might be able to at least submit frequency requirements on a regular basis as non-members, just as some major Latin American broadcasters are now doing with the assistance of the NASB. Mr. Cip noted the presence for the first time of a delegate from Cuba [Arnie Coro has broadcast that it was he --- gh]. Oldrich Cip also pointed out that constant improvements are being made in the HFCC software for reporting requirements and determining potential collisions (i.e. co-channel or adjacent-channel interference). After the A03 conference, he said that operational schedules will now be updated continuously. Oldrich mentioned the HFCC`s IRUS monitoring project, and said that ``preliminary results are that the inaccuracies are much greater than we previously thought.`` These schedule ``inaccuracies`` are the result of so-called ``wooden`` transmitters that are listed in stations` operating schedules, but are not really on the air. Fortunately, however, the wooden frequencies are limited to relatively few administrations, and Oldrich said the HFCC Steering Board would be contacting those stations directly to attempt to improve the accuracy of future HFCC schedules. Also at the opening session, HFCC Steering Board member Jan Willem Drexhage explained a bit about a new web-based option for submitting station schedules that will be available in the near future, along with the present e-mail submissions. The new system was tested for the first time at the conference in Sandton. Certain modifications were also being made to the collision lists to indicate new collisions and deleted collisions during the week of the conference. After the opening session, the week-long conference got into full swing with the beginning of the coordination activities, where participants -- mostly hovering over laptop computers -- checked and re-checked their own stations` requirements and collisions with other stations. Then began the negotiating process with other participants to try to eliminate as many collisions as possible before the end of the week. These negotiations are technical, of course, but they are also very diplomatic. Sometimes they are very sensitive and difficult; other times they are quite simple and cordial. For example, I was involved in the elimination of an adjacent-channel collision that was shown between NASB member WSHB on 6095 kHz and the Caribbean Beacon (on Anguilla) on 6090 kHz. Both stations were beaming to the same target area (the Caribbean) for one overlapping hour from 1000 to 1100 UT. Actual monitoring prior to the conference showed that the Caribbean Beacon was signing off at 1000 UT instead of 1100, so there was no collision currently. However, if the Beacon were to change the sign- off time to 1100 with the beginning of the A03 season, a potentially messy collision would occur with WSHB for the hour from 1000-1100 UT. In the end, it turned out that the change of sign-off times for the Caribbean Beacon from 1000 to 1100 UT was a miscalculation because the station always signs off at 6:00 a.m. local time year-round, and Anguilla stays on UT -4 all year, which means the sign-off time remains 1000 UT during the entire year. So in this case, there never really would have been a collision. The time was corrected on the schedule, and the collision on paper was automatically eliminated. Another collision involved WSHB and the Voice of Greece. I had the opportunity to work with Andy Rook of Merlin Communications (which coordinates WSHB`s frequencies) on this one. We both went together to see the Greek delegation and were able to cordially resolve the problem quite promptly. In the case of the HFCC Conference, the engineers who attend also learn to be good diplomats, and this makes it much easier to resolve frequency conflicts. [WMLK: see USA above] Before going to Johannesburg, several of our NASB members had been in touch with me regarding their A03 schedules. Some wanted me to check their submissions to see if they were entered correctly in the HFCC master lists. Others wanted me to take some action regarding collisions, such as changing times, frequencies and target areas. In some cases, they wanted me to work with their frequency management organizations that were also on hand at the conference. Still others wanted to be issued passwords so that they could check the lists posted on the global area of the HFCC website. As a result of discussions that began at the HFCC Conference in Bonn in February of 2002, the HFCC has recently agreed to allow frequency managers of NASB member stations to access those restricted areas of the HFCC website in order to help eliminate more collisions before they occur. Even at a highly technical conference like the HFCC, there will be technical problems and issues. Portable laptop users had to have converters for 220 volts and adapters for the special electrical plugs that are used in South Africa. Despite pre-planning in this regard, the laptop brought by Tom Lucey, head of the FCC delegation (of which NASB is a part), stopped working after about the first day or so, forcing him to use the shared ``public`` computers which Sentech had thoughtfully provided at the rear of the conference room to make daily updates to the FCC requirements. Those shared computers all had Internet connections, enabling conference participants to access web sites and e-mail accounts, although the Internet infrastructure in southern Africa is still apparently somewhat limited, and connections were at times quite slow, and some e-mail messages seemed to disappear into the ether without explanation. Perhaps this served to emphasize the point that shortwave radio is still a much more reliable and practical way to reach millions of Africans than the ultramodern Internet, which is still out of reach for most of them. The frequency coordination work continued throughout the five days of the conference. But there were occasional presentations and seminars as well. For example, there was an update on DRM (digital shortwave broadcasting), a seminar for those interested in participating in the IRUS monitoring program (the HFCC`s comparison of its own databases with what`s really on the shortwave bands), and a workshop by Hai Pham of the ITU on how to use new software programs to report stations` frequency requirements. A summary of the DRM presentation will soon appear on the public area of the HFCC`s website http://www.hfcc.org The two main social events on the conference agenda were a Sentech cocktail on Tuesday afternoon at the Hilton Hotel, and the Wednesday night hospitality dinner, also sponsored by Sentech. Chartered buses took conference participants, friends and family members about an hour outside of Johannesburg to a place called Lesedi Cultural Village, where they were treated to a presentation of traditional folk dancing by the principle ethnic groups in South Africa, followed by an African-style buffet dinner featuring such specialties as ostrich stew, crocodile and impala meat, as well as a good selection of South African wines. (There was more traditional international cuisine as well for the light-of-heart.) It is at these social functions that the frequency planners from far-flung countries often become the best of friends. As Chairman Oldrich Cip commented, ``we`ll remember these moments for a long time to come.`` For the most part, the conference coordination work winds down by the time of the Plenary Session on Thursday afternoon. This is where the various committees report on the work they`ve done since the last conference, and plans for the near future. It was announced that the deadline for submission of operational schedules for the A03 season will be March 14, 2003. The B03 HFCC Conference will be held in Norway (exact city not decided yet, but probably not Oslo) August 25-30, 2003. The final date for submission of requirements for that conference is July 18, 2003. The ASBU (Arab States Broadcasting Union) confirmed that it will host the A04 HFCC/ASBU Conference in the United Arab Emirates beginning on February 9, 2004. When asked about security concerns, Bassil Ahmad Zoubi of the ASBU explained that the UAE is one of the most secure countries in the world, with minimal crime, and besides ``the annual shopping festival will be taking place in Dubai at that time.`` The A04 conference will be a joint meeting with the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union. The Russian delegation announced that it is hoping to host the B04 HFCC Conference, and hopes to be able to confirm this within a short period of time. Jan Willem Drexhage reported that the HFCC`s new collision software will enable users to choose different options, and he reported on a ``very successful experiment`` with a wireless LAN system that was used at the Sandton conference to distribute data throughout the conference hall without the need to use conventional diskettes. He said the HFCC software will use a series of standard three-letter language codes in the future, to allow the inclusion of more language information for each transmission. Geoff Spells of VT Merlin Communications reported on the World Administrative Radio Conference (WRC-03) to be held at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva from June 9-July 4, 2003. He explained that there are three subjects on the conference agenda concerning HF broadcasting. Item 1.2 involves the incorporation of digital emissions into the radio regulations. There are no real issues here, but the wording of the regulations must be changed. Item 1.23 covers various proposals for the realignment of the spectrum around 7 Megahertz to allow amateur radio operators extra space. One of the proposals is for no change to the present allocations, ``and this may likely be the outcome,`` said Geoff Spells. The third item, 1.36, involves extra spectrum space that HF broadcasters desire between 4 and 10 MHz, but this may be postponed until a subsequent WRC. An update on these issues should appear on the HFCC website http://www.hfcc.org shortly, as will a document about power line interference to HF broadcasting, which is seen as a major issue in Europe. At the Plenary Session, HFCC Chairman Oldrich Cip announced that as a result of the IRUS monitoring results, the Steering Board had made informal contacts with nine organizations regarding inconsistencies between submitted schedules and monitoring results. Some of the inaccuracies noted by IRUS were from FCC-licensed broadcasters, so NASB members should take note of this in regard to submission of future schedules. ``The overall result has been very positive,`` said Oldrich. ``All countries have agreed to start the new season free of wooden frequencies and transmissions.`` Oldrich mentioned that a new IRUS monitoring campaign will take place in May 2003, and any inaccuracies will be reported to the countries involved. The HFCC`s routine financial matters were discussed briefly by Dennis Thompson, and two new organizations will be invited to attend as observers at the next conference. [see LUXEMBOURG above] The other new applicant is a consultant who plans to coordinate frequencies for international radio broadcasting from Taiwan. [see SEYCHELLES above]. Doug Weber of HCJB in Ecuador announced that their new sister station in Australia has just recently gone on the air, and is experiencing transmitter and antenna ``teething problems`` which have the station on and off the air at the present time. [see ALGERIA above] The final day of the HFCC Conference was a half-day of coordination work on Friday, February 7, followed by a farewell cocktail after the official closing at noon. Unfortunately, I had to miss the closing session in order to take advantage of an invitation to visit Channel Africa in the nearby Johannesburg suburb of Auckland Park. [see SOUTH AFRICA above] Finally, HFCC Conference delegates were encouraged by the organizers to take advantage of the long distances most of them had travelled to take some time before going home to see a bit of South Africa. A well- staffed travel desk was on hand all week long to assist delegates with booking short tours to local sites around Johannesburg (such as Soweto and some excellent game parks), as well as longer tours to locations such as the popular Kruger National Park (one of Africa`s premier safari locations), Cape Town (South Africa`s most dynamic tourist city) and even the spectacular Victoria Falls in the neighboring country of Zimbabwe (Jeff White, Feb NASB Newsletter via DXLD) NASB Members: Adventist World Radio Assemblies of Yahweh Family Radio Network Far East Broadcasting Co. Fundamental Broadcasting Network Herald Broadcasting Syndicate High Adventure Ministries LeSea Broadcasting Corp. Radio Miami International Trans World Radio World Christian Broadcasting World International Broadcasters World Wide Catholic Radio NASB Associate Members: Antenna Products Comet North America George Jacobs & Associates HCJB World Radio IBB IDT Continental Electronics Corp TCI/Dielectric TDP Thales Broadcast and Multimedia National Association of Shortwave Broadcasters, 10400 NW 240th Street, Okeechobee, Florida 34972 Ph: (863) 763-0281 Fax: (863) 763-8867 E-mail: nasbmem@rocketmail.com (Dan Elyea, ed., Feb. NASB Newsletter via DXLD) RECEIVER NEWS \ DRM +++++++++++++ +++ DRM Software Receiver The software receiver mentioned in the last update has been selling well to DXers and Hams in the USA and Europe. The forum http://www.drmrx.org is quite active and has a section to share tips and hints on converting general coverage receivers for operation with the software decoder. There are conversion plans posted for about a dozen receivers and I am planning to convert my IC-735. If you would like to see the software RXer in action it will be on display at the Winter SWL Fest, March 7-8 in Kulpsville, PA. http://www.swlfest.com There will be live demonstrations from Bonaire and Sackville. Launch at WRC03 Geneva The official launch of DRM will happen in Geneva in conjunction with WRC03 when final approval for DRM on SW is expected. There may be up to a dozen SW stations beaming towards Geneva when they ``throw the big switch`` to begin regular broadcasts. Regular consumer radios are still a bit behind with DSP based radios aiming for the market at Christmas 2004 and IC Chip based radios at Christmas in 2005. There are at least 3 transmission providers who will rent airtime towards Europe for NASB members who want to join in on the launch but do not have DRM equipment. Perhaps a NASB group deal could be arranged? ITU Approval for MW & LW The ITU acted with speed that is unusual for an organization of this type as it approved digital modes for use on MW and LW in all ITU regions. The approval for MW/LW has required a different regulatory approach than SW and it was feared that it could drag on for years. The approval which came in January allows operation in digital modes on assigned frequencies, but still requires local government approval. (Mike Adams, Feb NASB Newsletter via DXLD) ITU CLEARS REGULATORY PATH FOR DRM Published: Thursday, 27 February 2003 Rules of Procedure Change by ITU's Radio Regulations Board Clears The Regulatory Path for DRM in Medium- wave/AM and Long-wave http://ukradio.com/news/articles/8C9B94EFF2F0462B85082067DB996C88.asp (via Jilly Dybka, KF4ZEO, DXLD) THIS DAY`S ARABIC LESSON ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Just a notice for Adha (cross checked with more than 5 Muslim students in the residence) Adha (or Bairam) is the Muslim Easter. Hajj(i) is the: 1. Muslim person who makes his/her pilgrimage to Mecca during Adha; 2. Christian person who visits Jerusalem (two Egyptian students told me. I do not know about it and neither am sure) (Zachrias Liangas, Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I was merely guessing, incorrectly as it turned out, that ``Adha`` was the word for ``Hajj`` in some other language or Arabic dialect. The pronunciation could be quite similar despite the different spelling in Roman (gh) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ News Headline Readers, and Propagation... and more! Hi, folks. If you are using a news headline reader (see http://blogspace.com/rss/readers for readers, and news feeds, etc.), you will be interested to know that you can get the latest propagation ``alerts`` that I send through my eAlert service (see http://prop.hfradio.org/ealert/ for more information) by setting a news channel at http://hfradio.org/propsupport/prop.rss - this is the News Feed for the propagation information from HFRadio.org. Don't forget: If you have a WAP phone or device (WML), you can set your cellphone to browse http://wap.hfradio.org for propagation, SWL support, and more. 73 de Tomas, NW7US // AAR0JA -- : Propagation Editor, CQ/PopComm Magazines - Member, USArmy MARS : : http://prop.hfradio.org : Brinnon, Washington 122.93W 47.67N : : A creator of solutions : http://accessnow.com : Perl Rules! : : 10x56526 - FISTS 7055 - FISTS NW 57 - http://hfradio.org/barsc : : A.R.Lighthouse Society 144 -- CW, SSB, RTTY, AMTOR, DX-Hunting : (Feb 27, SWBC via DXLD) ###