DX LISTENING DIGEST 3-135, July 29, 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 later at http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldtd3g.html For restrixions and searchable 2003 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.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 1192: RFPI: Wed 0130, 0800, 1400 on 7445, 15039 [based on monitored first airing around 1930 Tue instead of 1900] WWCR: Wed 0930 on 9475 WRN ONDEMAND: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO [also for CONTINENT OF MEDIA, MUNDO RADIAL]: Check http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html [Low] (Download) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1192.rm (Stream) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1192.ram [High] (Download) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1192h.rm (Stream) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1192h.ram (Summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1192.html FIRST AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1193: Wed 2200 on WBCQ 7415, 17495-CUSB Thu 2030 on WWCR 15825 Fri 1930? on RFPI 15039 Sun 0031 on WINB 12160 ** ARGENTINA. 5241.00 LSB, Broadcast feeder - FM HIT 105.5, Buenos Aires, Jul 27, 0135-0300, pop music, ads, announcer between songs, 0230 telephone talk, ID's "FM Hit", "105.5", fair to good signal with harsh ute QRM from 5237 (Mark Mohrmann, Coventry, VT, NRD 535D, V-Beam 140m at 180 deg. "VT-DX" http://www.sover.net/~hackmohr/ DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BELGIUM. This week`s RVi Radio World features vintage recordings of KOHO 1170, Hawaii, with Hawaiian music, Japanese announcement; R. Cook Islands from the 1970s; R. Huaraki(?) and R. Windy 2XW, 890, Wellington, New Zealand. Listen for one week only: http://www.vrt.be/wm/rvi/rw_HI.asx or http://www.vrt.be/wm/rvi/rw_LO.asx (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. Retorno frecuencia: 4930 Radio San Miguel, Riberalta, 2300, 27th/july, ID (Rogildo Aragão, Bolivia, hard-core-dx via DXLD) [Previously:] 4734.3v, RADIO SAN MIGUEL, 2305, 25th July distorted audio Spanish, program "Integración Docente" 2330 ID "...toda Bolivia, señal internacional, (YL) en Riberalta, Beni, 4925 kHz, onda corta, San Miguel, formar y informar es nuestra meta con un formato noticioso, cultural y educativo" 73 (Rogildo Fontenelle Aragão, Quillacollo, Bolivia, Sony ICF2001-Lowe HF-225E LW50m, ibid.) ** BRAZIL. Among the wealth of resources at the Nagoya DX Circle website is this page listing Brazilian stations by state, not only SW but also those with webcasts and direct audio linx; and then a SW frequency list, researched by Shigenori Aoki: http://www2.starcat.ne.jp/%7Endxc/br.htm (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. No dia 4 de agosto, estréia a nova programação da Rádio Ribeirão Preto, de Ribeirão Preto (SP). A emissora pertence, agora, aos jornalistas José Luiz Datena e Jorge Kajuru. Vários anúncios estão sendo veiculados pela emissora a respeito da mudança da programação. Um deles diz: "rádio nas mãos de quem é do rádio". Outro fala na história dos jornalistas. Foram gravados por Marcos Hummel, apresentador da TV Bandeirantes, e Walker Blás, noticiarista da Rádio Bandeirantes, de São Paulo (SP). A Rádio Ribeirão Preto, que também se identifica como Rádio 79, transmite em 3205 kHz, em 90 metros. Tem sintonia boa em diversos locais do Brasil e exterior. É ver para crer! BRASIL - A equipe de esportes da Rádio Bandeirantes, de São Paulo (SP), vai acompanhar os atletas brasileiros no Pan-Americano de Santo Domingo, na República Dominicana, a partir do início de agosto. Serão apresentados, na programação da emissora, flashes das competições e resultados das últimas provas. Em ondas curtas, você confere em 6090, 9645 e 11925 kHz. BRASIL - A Rádio Clube, de Marília (SP), voltou a emitir em ondas tropicais. Foi ouvida, em Porto Alegre (RS), em 25 de julho, a partir de 0130, em 3235 kHz. Na oportunidade, levava ao ar o programa De Tudo um Pouco, na apresentação de TJ. Foi monitorada, em outros horários. Ao que tudo indica, pode ser captada entre 2100 e 1000. Ao amanhecer, a emissora apresenta um programa sertanejo, com comando de Arari. Em seu programa, à noite, TJ informa que a emissora "espera cartas do Brasil e do exterior". Para tanto, anuncia o seguinte endereço: Caixa Postal 326, CEP: 17500-970, Marília (SP). Vale informar que, em anúncio da indústria Phillips, do início dos anos 70, a Rádio Clube aparecia emitindo pela freqüência de 3255 kHz (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX July 28 via DXLD) ** COOK ISLANDS. See BELGIUM ** COSTA RICA. Contrary to the earlier info, as confirmed on the RPFI website, one of Kofi Annan`s addresses is sg@un.org and not orsg@un.org (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Heard yesterday on RFPI that August 4 is the eviction date. This may or may not be the last day for RFPI. Who knows? Checked their new website, http://www.saverfpi.org and it is up (Ulis Fleming, MD, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) The new web site for RFPI [basically a forum board] is up and working --- http://www.saverfpi.org "RFPI is incurring steep legal bills in its fight to stay alive, eating deeply into our operating budget. We need to raise several thousand dollars to keep up the struggle. Can you help us? Please donate whatever you can. This is your radio station and the only one of its kind in the world. Let's make sure that it survives!! And be sure to check back here often for updates to the current situation and how you can stay involved. We greatly appreciate your support!" The question arises --- is RFPI going to attempt some kind of emergency broadcasting configuration after August 4? (Mike Terry, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Tuesday morning heard Naomi announcing that RFPI supporters were invited to be present at the station next Monday morning August 4 at 9 a.m. local to `observe` what happens when the eviction deadline arrives (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The University for Peace wants RFPI to move by Monday next week. For the time being there are staff members in the studio and continuing the broadcasts. I can actually hear the signal quite well during the night time BST on 7445 kHz. So, still enough time for those of us who wish that RFPI survives to send a letter or an e-mail expressing our support. More info in previous postings on this list or on the RFPI website http://www.rfpi.org Greetings from London (Thomas Voelkner, hard-core-dx via DXLD) 15038.78 at 0100 with usual good signal in South Florida. 73, (Bob Wilkner, UT July 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Parece una comedia clásica del siglo XVI. ¡La Universidad por La Paz pelea contra la Radio por La Paz!...... ¡gringos! (Elmer Escoto, Honduras, radioescutas via DXLD) ** CUBA. LA MAYOR CÁRCEL DE PERIODISTAS DEL MUNDO En Cuba ya no se censura, se encarcela. El 18 de marzo la policía de Fidel Castro detuvo a 26 periodistas independientes al mismo tiempo, y por los mismos motivos, que a medio centenar de disidentes políticos. http://www.rsf.fr/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=372 (RSF via gh, DXLD) ** CUBA [non]. Radio y Televisión Martí en la mira de la Casa Blanca RUI FERREIRA, El Nuevo Herald TOMADO DE LA SECCION METROPOLIS DEL PERIODICO "EL NUEVO HERALD" DE FECHA LUNES 28 DE JULIO DEL 2003. http://www.miami.com/mld/elnuevo/news/local/6398572.htm El Nuevo Herald | 07/28/2003 | Posted on Mon, Jul. 28, 2003 Después de las irregularidades detectadas en la anterior administración de Radio y Televisión Martí, un alto funcionario del gobierno del presidente George W. Bush informó a El Nuevo Herald, bajo condición de anonimato, que la Casa Blanca tiene los ojos bien puestos en los nuevos directivos de las estaciones de transmisiones hacia Cuba, y agregó que exigirá responsabilidades por las decisiones de éstos. El importante funcionario continuó diciendo que esta vez no van ''a tolerar ningún problema, porque el Presidente está bien consciente de la importancia de Radio y Televisión Martí''. ''Estas trasmisiones son una prioridad de esta administración para promover la democracia en Cuba'', añadió la fuente. El anterior director de la Oficina de Transmisiones hacia Cuba (OCB), Salvador Lew, prácticamente fue obligado a renunciar hace unos cuatro meses, después de que un informe de la Oficina del Inspector General del Departamento de Estado concluyó que en los primeros seis meses de su mandato hubo irregularidades en su gestión que incluyeron amiguismo, contratos firmados sin cumplir con los parámetros legales, y mala administración en general. ''Aquello fue un desastre, por eso no lo vamos a tolerar de nuevo'', afirmó la fuente. Una vez que lograron su salida, la administración nombró al abogado Pedro Roig, conocido por su activismo político anticastrista, y quien colaboraba ya con Radio Martí. ''Pedro sabe perfectamente que será llamado a dar explicaciones si las cosas no marchan bien'', enfatizó la fuente. La semana pasada, Roig nombró como nuevo director de Radio Martí al ex jefe de prensa de la alcaldía de Miami, Jorge Luis Hernández, de 62 años, quien fue ejecutivo de Unión Radio y de La Cubanísima (1140 AM) hace 15 años. ''Creo que es el hombre ideal porque tiene experiencia en asuntos cubanos y en la radio. Tiene dominio en el manejo de este tipo de operaciones y conoce la mecánica de las relaciones con el gobierno'', señaló Roig a El Nuevo Herald. Durante su labor en la alcaldía, comisionados municipales se quejaron de que Hernández no sabía organizar las operaciones de su oficina y se preocupaba demasiado de las actividades del entonces alcalde Joe Carollo. Roig afirmó no estar al tanto de los detalles de la salida de Hernández de la alcaldía, pero restó importancia al hecho. La fuente de la administracion Bush coincidió. ''Fue una decisión de Pedro; nosotros aquí hemos escuchado cosas buenas de él'', añadió. Para Hernández, los cuestionamientos de los comisionados eran sólo ''política'', y ''cuando la política está involucrada en algo quien sufre es el servidor público'', aseguró el nuevo director de Radio Martí, quien recibe un salario de $97,000 anuales. ''Aquí mis intenciones son claras, estoy entusiasmado con este trabajo, y quiero hace un trabajo lo más profesional posible, y ayudar a promover la democracia en Cuba'', señaló. En días pasados, Roig también tomó otra decisión. Despidió al jefe de despacho que heredó de la anterior administración, Fernando Rojas, otrora asesor político del líder de la Fundación Nacional Cubano Americana, el fallecido Jorge Mas Canosa. Rojas estuvo casi dos años en la OCB, donde tuvo siempre un perfil discreto, tratando de aplacar los ánimos entre los empleados descontentos, velando por la buena imagen de la entidad y lidiando con los exabruptos de Lew. Roig no quiso dar detalles sobre la salida de Rojas porque ``es un asunto privado, sobre el cual no tengo comentarios''. Pero El Nuevo Herald supo que entre los dos hubo ''fuertes divergencias, casi de fondo'' sobre el funcionamiento, la organización y la contratación de personal. A los empleados de la OCB no les informaron el cambio. Oficialmente, Rojas se encuentra de vacaciones. ''Pedro tenía toda la autoridad para cambiar a su jefe de despacho. Esas cosas suceden, y sobre ello puedo asegurar que la Casa Blanca le proporcionará un trabajo acorde con su preparación, porque Fernando es una persona muy preparada que conoce muy bien cómo funciona la política y no debemos desperdiciarla'', indicó la fuente de la administración. Cordiales 73's (via Oscar de Céspedes, FL, Conexión Digital via DXLD) ** ECUADOR. Ecos del Portete, Girón (cerca Cuenca) ahora de nuevo está en la misma frecuencia de 1610.10 [que R. Sabor, Perú] después una visita corta en aproximadamente 1613v kHz. Tengo que escuchar después a las 2100 hora local, Portete está saliendo más o menos esa hora, y tempranito en la mañana. 73s de (Björn Malm, Quito, Ecuador, July 28, Conexión Digital via DXLD) ** ECUADOR [and non]. New schedule for HCJB"s "DX Partyline" effective from July 24, 2003 Sat 0900-0930 5070 via WWCR 1230-1300 15115 via HCJB QUI 1430-1500 15390 via HCJB KNX Sun 0000-0030 12160 via WINB 0200-0230 5070 via WWCR Tue 0830-0900 11750 via HCJB KNX 0930-1000 9475 via WWCR Thu 2000-2030 15825 via WWCR (Observer, Bulgaria, July 29, via DXLD) ** FRANCE. New MW stations: A N N E X E (*) Nom du service : Superloustic. Zone de planification : Paris. Fréquence : 999,00 kHz. Adresse du site : rue de la Plesse, 91140 Villebon-sur-Yvette. Altitude du site : 157,00 mètres. Altitude de l'antenne : 227,00 mètres. Puissance (PAR max.) : 5 kW. Contraintes : néant. (*) Sous réserve de l'avis favorable de la coordination internationale J.O n 173 du 29 juillet 2003 page 12895 Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel Décision n 2003-414 du 22 juillet 2003 autorisant la SA Télérama à exploiter un service de radiodiffusion sonore par voie hertzienne terrestre en modulation d'amplitude analogique intitulé Radio Livres Télérama-RLT NOR: CSAX0301414S A N N E X E (*) Nom du service : Radio Livres Télérama-RLT. Zone de planification : Paris. Fréquence : 1 062,00 kHz. Site d'émission : Etoile du Pave Meudon, 92360 Meudon. Altitude du site : 171 mètres. Altitude de l'antenne : 271 mètres. Puissance (PAR max.) : 5 kW. Contraintes : néant. (*) Sous réserve de l'avis favorable de la coordination internationale ______________________________________________________________________ J.O n 173 du 29 juillet 2003 page 12896 Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel Décision n 2003-415 du 22 juillet 2003 autorisant la SA La Radio de la mer à exploiter un service de radiodiffusion sonore par voie hertzienne terrestre en modulation d'amplitude analogique intitulé La Radio de la mer NOR: CSAX0301415S A N N E X E (*) Nom du service : La Radio de la mer. Zone de planification : Paris. Fréquence : 1 080,00 kHz. Site d'émission : Etoile du Pavé, 92360 Meudon. Altitude du site : 171 mètres. Altitude de l'antenne : 271 mètres. Puissance (PAR max.) : 5 kW. Contraintes : néant. (*) Sous réserve de l'avis favorable de la coordination internationale ______________________________________________________________________ J.O n 173 du 29 juillet 2003 page 12897 Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel Décision n 2003-416 du 22 juillet 2003 autorisant la SAS Image On Air à exploiter un service de radiodiffusion sonore par voie hertzienne terrestre en modulation d'amplitude analogique intitulé La Radio du temps libre NOR: CSAX0301416S A N N E X E (*) Nom du service : La Radio du temps libre. Zone de planification : Paris. Fréquence : 1 314,00 kHz. Site d'émission : rue de la Plesse, 91140 Villebon-sur-Yvette. Altitude du site : 157 mètres. Altitude de l'antenne : 227 mètres. Puissance (PAR max.) : 5 kW. Contraintes : néant. (*) Sous réserve de l'avis favorable de la coordination internationale ______________________________________________________________________ J.O n 173 du 29 juillet 2003 page 12898 Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel Décision n 2003-417 du 22 juillet 2003 autorisant la SAS Compagnie de Larmor à exploiter un service de radiodiffusion sonore par voie hertzienne terrestre en modulation d'amplitude analogique RNT Radio Nouveaux Talents NOR: CSAX0301417S A N N E X E (*) Nom du service : RNT. Zone de planification : Paris. Fréquence : 1 575,00 kHz. Adresse du site : Etoile du Pave Meudon, Meudon (92360). Altitude du site : 171 mètres. Altitude de l'antenne : 271 mètres. Puissance (PAR max.) : 5 kW. Contraintes : néant. (*) Sous réserve de l'avis favorable de la coordination internationale ______________________________________________________________________ J.O n 173 du 29 juillet 2003 page 12898 Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel Décision n 2003-418 du 22 juillet 2003 autorisant la SAS Editions Hiddekel à exploiter un service de radiodiffusion sonore par voie hertzienne terrestre en modulation d'amplitude analogique intitulé Ciel AM NOR: CSAX0301418S A N N E X E (*) Nom du service : Ciel AM. Zone de planification : Paris. Fréquence : 981,00 kHz. Site d'émission : Ecluse d'Alfortville, 94140 Alfortville. Altitude du site : 33 mètres. Altitude de l'antenne : 56 mètres. Puissance (PAR max.) : 5 kW. Contraintes : néant. (*) Sous réserve de l'avis favorable de la coordination internationale Union des Ecouteurs Français --- Radiodiffusions, utilitaires, radio- écouteurs, radioamateurs, techniques... Courriel: tsfinfo@magic.fr Web: http://www.radiocom.org U.E.F.: B.P.31, 92242 MALAKOFF Cedex, FRANCE. (TSF 2132, excerpt of official notice, via Bill Westenhaver, DXLD) ** HAWAII. See BELGIUM ** HONDURAS. 2859.98 (harmonic 2 x 1430), HRSJ Radio Futura, Jul 25- 27, 0115-0300, fair to good signal all 3 days, sign-off at 0300 with canned announcement, positive ID heard on Jul 26; thanks to Jay Novello, Terry Krueger and Bjoern Malm for IDing this one (Mark Mohrmann, Coventry, VT, NRD 535D, V-Beam 140m at 180 deg. "VT-DX" http://www.sover.net/~hackmohr/ DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. Fred's Close Encounter of the Jovian Kind got me to chase down some facts about actually listening for signals from Jupiter. SPACE TODAY ONLINE has a site dedicated to "How To Hear Radio Signals From Jupiter". http://www.spacetoday.org/SolSys/Jupiter/JupiterRadio.html This page discusses how the signals are generated and points to a NASA project named "Radio Jove" which has some "how to's" in the sidebar of its home page. Apparently a pair of 15 meter dipoles, a hamband receiver that will tune near 21 MHz and a little patience are all that's needed. See the STO page for explanation of Jupiter's 9 hour 55 minute cycle time and something about two trillion Watts. (Damn, sounds like a Canadian NDB! I wonder if its one of those 'Z'-series IDs.) Good DXing, (Joe, K9HDE, swl at qth.net July 28 via DXLD) Hamband receiver? How about a general coverage SW receiver? (gh, DXLD) ** IRAN. Summer A-03 schedule of Voice of Islamic Republic of Iran (VOIROI/IRIB): ALBANIAN 0630-0727 15235 17680 1830-1927 9545 9570 2030-2127 9535 11725 ARABIC 0230-0627 9890 0330-1527 13770 0330-1627 15125 15150 1230-1627 13820 1530-1927 7285 1630-1927 3985 6025 9705 11740 1730-1927 9935 2030-2127 6025 2030-2227 9935 2030-0127 3985 2030-0327 7285 9705 11740 2130-0127 11710 ARABIC# 0330-0427 9610 11875 1930-2027 3985 6025 7285 9705 9935 11740 ARABIC* 0330-0527 7120 7175 7245 ARMENIAN 0300-0327 11860 0930-0957 11700 15260 1630-1727 7230 9780 AZERI 0330-0527 13710 1430-1657 6200 BENGALI 0030-0127 9855 9890 0830-0927 11705 1430-1527 9520 9810 12015 15395 BOSNIAN 0530-0627 15235 17680 1730-1827 7295 9835 2130-2227 9810 11870 CHINESE 1200-1257 17535 21460 21490 21630 2330-0027 11750 15490 15570 DARI 0300-0627 9580 0830-1157 11880 1200-1457 7295 ENGLISH 0030-0227 9590 11920 1030-1127 15450 15550 15600 21470 21730 1530-1627 7245 9635 11775 1930-2027 9800 11670 11750 11860 2130-2227 9870 13665 GERMAN 0730-0827 15084v 17590 1730-1827 11765 11855 15084v FRENCH 0630-0727 17590 17780 21645 1830-1927 11860 11880 13785 2330-0027 9560 12005 HAUSA 0600-0657 17600 21810 1830-1927 11930 15435 HEBREW 0230-0257 9910 11925 0700-0727 21560 1900-1927 5970 7175 7315 HINDI 0230-0257 15165 17635 1430-1527 11695 12030 13805 15490 extended, ex 1500-1527 ITALIAN 0630-0727 17560 17825 1200-1257 15084v 15235 1930-1957 7295 13650 JAPANESE 1300-1327 15555 17810 2100-2127 11855 13635 KAZAKH 0130-0227 11935 13770 1300-1357 11665 13755 15330 KURDISH/S 0330-0527 15425 KURDISH/S 1130-1427 15440 KURDISH/K 1430-1627 15605 MALAY 1230-1327 15200 17555 21745 2230-2327 9685 11965 PASHTO 0230-0327 7130 9605 11790 0730-0827 15440 1230-1327 9790 11870 13785 1430-1527 7270 1630-1727 6015 7195 9725 PERSIAN 1630-1727 15084v 1930-2027 15084v RUSSIAN 0300-0327 9805 11830 0500-0527 11870 15215 21480 21610 1430-1527 7165 9580 9615 11820 1700-1757 5985 7210 1800-1857 6205 7260 1930-2027 7125 7175 SPANISH 0030-0227 9515 9655 11610 0230-0327 13730 0530-0627 17590 17785 2030-2127 11765 13755 SWAHILI 0330-0427 15265 17570 1130-1227 17800 21810 1730-1827 9655 11995 TAJIK 0100-0227 7180 1600-1727 5955 TURKISH 0430-0557 15260 15365 1600-1727 7165 9550 URDU 0130-0227 9525 11880 13640 1330-1427 9665 11695 13805 15490 retimed, ex 1330-1457 1530-1727 7270 1730-1757 7225 9530 additional transmission UZBEK 0230-0257 7180 1500-1557 5985 # VOICE OF ISLAMIC PALESTINIAN REVOLUTION * VOICE OF ISLAMIC REVOLUTION OF IRAQ S=SORRANI DIALECT K=KIRMANJI DIALECT [of KURDISH] (Observer, Bulgaria, July 29, via DXLD) ** ISRAEL. Hi to you all; You probably are wondering why I have not replied to the postings on the "new Voice of Peace", so here goes. I will make a full and clear statement about this next week, as I have promised Henry AlkSlesi (Abie Nathan's right hand man for the past 30 years) not to react to the news conference that was held yesterday, and press releases and interviews that were given. What I WILL say is this. This group calling themselves the Voice Of Peace, have no legal right to use the name, and its jingles. The name Voice of Peace belongs to Abie Nathan. For the past few months, there has been another group working to return the VOP to the airways --- with the full backing of Abie Nathan and Henry. As we learned of this second group, a meeting was held last Sunday to see if we could come to some middle ground. The meeting was not a success, as the other group wanted the station to be a political station, whereas our plan is to avoid politics altogether, and go on the format of the old VOP, with a humanitarian slant. It seems this left wing group wanted to "beat us to the press". But as we had no plans of going to the press before anything was concrete, this idea seems to be very babyish. To summarize: There are two groups. One, wants to start a peace station with cooperation between the Israelis and the Palestinians. I see nothing wrong with this by the way. The other (the group I am involved in) wants to return the VOP in the way Abie would like it - with some improvements, of course; we can't stay in the 70 and 80's. The name and jingles, etc., belong to Abie Nathan, and only WE have the right to use them. The group I am involved in, has the full backing of Abie, and the people around him. I am sorry it has come to this. We did not want to go public until we had something concrete to go on, and only a few people on this list knew of it. But the going public of this other group has forced my hand to reveal a bit of our plans. As there will be developments over the next few days, I will not write any more. I am also going away for the weekend, and I will come out with a full statement and clarification next Monday. By the way, the project will NOT be offshore (Mike Brand, Israel, From radioanoraksuk via Mike Terry, BDXC-UK via DXLD) "The resurrection of the Voice of Peace is a powerful public expression of the faith still held by the people who pioneered the Israeli-Palestinian peace process a decade ago that dialogue and mutual generosity can bring about an end to the bloodshed. The radio station was operated from 1973 to 1993 by Israeli activist Abie Nathan on a vessel known as the Peace Ship. Saddled with a $300,000 debt due to operating costs and declining advertising revenues, Nathan closed down the station in 1993. He had hoped to attract investment to turn the ship into a floating peace museum, but when that did not work out he scuttled it. The Peace Ship lies today at the bottom of the Mediterranean. But the Voice of Peace is back for a rerun, with an annual budget of nearly half a million dollars, 80 percent financed by the European Union. It is a joint project by Givat Haviva, an Israeli center for Jewish-Arab dialogue, and the Palestinian weekly newspaper the Jerusalem Times. The station will mainly broadcast music, with three hours of original programming in Arabic, Hebrew and English. It will be managed and run by a joint Israeli-Palestinian staff." (An extract of Detailed commentary at http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/07/29/MN72365.DTL via Mike Terry, DXLD) Dear Glenn, Re the return of V. of Peace: I was really happy to hear such a thing as I remember I used to stay awake almost everyday till around midnight to be able to get that station on 1539 kHz. One of the reasons of remembering that station is playing real cool music. They used to play ``I want your SX`` by George Michael almost on weekly basis --- which was COOL for a teenager like me. HI! they used to host BIG NAMES. I remember once the Host of the show was Rick Astley. I don't know bout you guys but when I was a kiddo, his hits were topping the charts all over Europe! Glad to have them back (Tarek Zeidan, Cairo, Egypt, July 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ITALY. ITÁLIA - O que está havendo com a Rai? Recentemente, Caio Lopes, de Itajubá (MG), enviou um informe de recepção para a emissora e recebeu o envelope com os dizeres: "casella chiuso". Pelo visto, o dinheiro anda curto, em que pese um certo político daquelas paragens ser bem abonado. Então, o jeito foi cancelar a tradicional caixa postal 320? (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX July 28 via DXLD) ** LATVIA. According to Latvian sources, the new frequency for the 100 kW Ulbroka SW station will be 9290 kHz (ex 9520, ex 5935). This frequency has been coordinated and will be registered at the coming HFCC conference in August. The transmitter is beamed towards the UK (250 degrees) and is open for customers, with Laser Radio UK as one of the potential users (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, Cumbredx mailing list July 29 via DXLD) ** LIBERIA. NUMBER OF LIBERIAN REFUGEES SEEKING SHELTER AT ELWA REACHES 2,100 Posted by: newsdesk on Monday, July 28, 2003 - 12:53 PM The number of Liberian refugees seeking shelter at Radio Station ELWA`s facilities in Monrovia reached 2,100 on the weekend as fighting among rebels and government forces continues to intensify in the capital. SIM Liberia Business Manager Joe Wankollie said an additional 500 to 600 displaced persons arrived at the ELWA campus on the weekend. ``In addition, there is starting to be a serious food shortage in the area,`` he said in a telephone conversation with SIM Liberia Associate Director Rick Sacra Monday morning. ``A 50 kg bag of rice that had been selling for US$20 was selling for US$35 a bag -- but now can hardly be found.`` Sacra described fighting this weekend as the ``heaviest yet`` as LURD rebels continued attacking key bridges from the port area into other parts of the city. ``The fighting seems to be a standoff,`` he said. ``Neither side is strong enough to convincingly defeat the other. [Since the present siege of the city began on July 4] supplies such as food and medicine are all running short. There is no functioning port in Monrovia now, so no way to get in bulk shipments.`` There were also reports on the weekend of fighting between the government and the MODEL rebel group in Buchanan, Liberia`s second- largest city, 20 miles southeast of Monrovia. Many civilians had fled to Buchanan during the last seven weeks of fighting. Sacra urges people to pray that believers will stand firm amid the turmoil, for successful peace talks in Ghana, for safety of civilians and for the arrival of peacekeeping troops, primarily Nigerians. ELWA continues Christian broadcasting a message of hope -- music, Bible teaching and testimonial programs such as ``Unshackled`` -- on a reduced schedule of about three hours each morning and evening. ``The ELWA hospital also remains open and is treating many sick people, coming especially from the nearby soccer stadium where thousands of displaced people are taking shelter,`` Sacra said. HCJB World Radio works in partnership with ELWA, a ministry founded by SIM in Monrovia in 1954, to air the gospel across the country and West Africa. The radio station was destroyed twice by civil war, first in 1990 and again in 1996. ELWA went back on the air in 1997 with a small FM transmitter. Then in 2000 HCJB World Radio provided a low-power shortwave transmitter, again enabling the station to cover the region. ELWA broadcasts the gospel in 10 languages and plans to add more as resources become available. In recent developments, a Nigeria army spokesman said the first peace troops could deploy as soon as Tuesday for a force seen as crucial to ending two months of fighting for the capital. In Accra, Ghana, however, another day in what have been weeks of off-and-on talks on the peace mission brought no immediate announcement of any firm deployment date. The U.S. has said that West African nations and the U.N. must take the lead in any multinational rescue mission for Liberia. Officials of debt-strapped Nigeria, however, have asked the U.S. for greater assistance. Meanwhile, shelling and other fighting accompanying rebel assaults on the capital have killed hundreds of civilians since June. One rocket, fired by troops loyal to Liberian President Charles Taylor troops from a high building this morning, fell short and plowed into the bedroom of a home on the government-controlled side of the capital, injuring eight civilians, aid workers said. Under international pressure to intervene, President George W. Bush has ordered U.S. ships to take up positions off the coast of Liberia to offer still-unspecified support for a West African-led force. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz on Sunday repeated U.S. insistence that any American role in the peace force would depend on the West Africans deploying first, and on the departure of Taylor who says he will leave only when peacekeepers arrive. Since June, Taylor has held out promises to step down, only to later renege (HCJB World Radio/SIM/AP July 28 via DXLD) ** NEW ZEALAND. RADIO NEW ZEALAND INTERNATIONAL TE REO IRIRANGI O AOTEAROA, O TE MOANA-NUI-A-KIWA P O Box 123, Wellington, New Zealand Phone: (64 4) 4741 437 Facsimile (64 4) 4741 433 E-mail address: info@rnzi.com Web Address: http://www.rnzi.com Radio New Zealand International (RNZI) is going to be on air for 24 hours with a new extended news and current affairs service from the beginning of September. A new daily regional current affairs programme called Dateline Pacific will be broadcast at 0800 UT [2000 NZST] Monday to Friday. Dateline Pacific will provide a daily round-up of the very latest news from the Pacific with interviews and features with all the region’s newsmakers. It will draw on the work of RNZI staff and 20 Pacific journalists based in the region. An updated version of the programme will run in RNZI`s Pacific Breakfast Show and it will be rebroadcast at different times to give our audiences around the Pacific in different times zones a chance to listen in. Dateline Pacific will also be available to listen to or download from the RNZI web site http://www.rnzi.com The Bulletin service is also being extended with extra hourly Pacific News at 0100, 1100, 1300, and 1500 UT. During our extended hours of broadcasting, Radio New Zealand International will run a mix of RNZI-originated material and the best of New Zealand`s National Radio. All this from 1 September, 2003 RNZI on the air 24 hours a day. Dateline Pacific will play at these times on Short-wave to the Pacific and also the Internet -: 0308, 0808, 1108, 1308, 1508 , 1815, 2015, 2215 UT Pacific News Bulletins can be heard at these times: 0100, 0300, 0800, 1100, 1300, 1500, 1700, 1800, 1900, 2000, 2100, 2200 UT (Adrian Sainsbury, RNZI, also via Wolfgang Bueschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also BELGIUM ** NICARAGUA. A chronology of Radio Nicaragua concludes with: . . .El Ingeniero Enrique Bolaños Geyer, asume la Presidencia de la Repùblica en Enero del año 2002. Con su apoyo decidido, Radio Nicaragua contarà, a màs tardar en el mes de Abril del 2003, con un transmisor de amplitud modulada (AM), con potencia suficiente para llegar hasta el rincón màs recóndito de nuestro paìs y allende nuestras fronteras. Radio Nicaragua està, hoy mas que nunca, preparada para cumplir con su misión fundamental, de ser la VOZ OFICIAL DEL ESTADO y servir fielmente al pueblo nicaragüense. Sitio Web de Radio Nicaragua http://www.radionicaragua.com.ni Para complementar la historia de Radio Nicargua, hay que decir que actualmente transmite en los 620 kHz (OM) y 88.7 Mhz (FM) y también en vivo desde Internet, ya sea en Real Audio o en Winodws Media Player A principios de la década de los año 90, Radio Nicaragua cesó sus transmisiones en onda corta. Recuerdo que era en la banda de 49 metros, aqui en México se escuchaba bien, con interferencia moderada por Radio Canadá. Yo escuchaba esta emisora cuando tenía el nombre de "La Voz de Nicaragua" (Héctor García Boijorge, DF, Conexión Digital via DXLD) ** PARAGUAY. El plan de Radio América, del Paraguay, es transmitir, con mucha más potencia, en las siguientes frecuencias, según nos informa Adán Mur, desde la emisora: 1480 KHZ, 1 KW, ZP20 Radio América, desde Ñemby 1480 KHZ, 5 KW, ZP20 Radio América, desde Villeta 1590 KHZ, 1 a 5 KW, Radio Villeta, desde Villeta 9905 KHZ, 1 a 5 KW, ZP20 Radio América, desde Villeta 15483 KHZ, 1 a 5 KW, ZP20 Radio América, desde Villeta (via Arnaldo Slaen, July 28, Conexión Digital via DXLD) So ex-15185 ** PERU. VOLVIO AL AIRE PANAMERICANA TELEVISION LIMA (extraido de El Comercio, Lima) --- Panamericana Televisión volvió a transmitirse para ciudad de Lima A las 12:01 p.m. el patrón de sintonía reemplazó a la mancha negra que se apoderó de la señal durante los últimos nueve días. Alejandro Guerrero inició la cuenta regresiva y cuando el rostro de Gunter Rave apareció en la pantalla, los aplausos y abrazos entre técnicos, operadores y directores de cámara no se hicieron esperar. . . http://www.elcomercioperu.com.pe/Noticias/html/2003-07-26/Lima0033842.html (via Arnaldo Slaen, July 28, Conexión Digital via DXLD) ** SOLOMON ISLANDS. FYI the radio station has never been off the air and can be heard on 5020+/- 200 Hz. After 1100z they relay the BBC W/S until 1900z. Very interesting listening at present with plenty of appeals for people to co-operate with Task force which arrived on Thursday (Robin L. HARWOOD, Tasmania, July 28, swl at qth.net via DXLD) ** SWEDEN. Frequency change for Radio Sweden International NF 13580, ex 17505 effective July 27: Swedish 1030-1040 Mon-Fri 1030-1100 Sat/Sun 1215-1230 Mon-Fri 1300-1315*Mon-Fri * Radio Prague in English on same 13580!! 1300-1330*Sat/Sun * Radio Prague in English on same 13580!! English 1230-1300 Daily (Observer, Bulgaria, July 29, via DXLD) ** U K. BBC and the government --- Poor reception Jul 24th 2003 From The Economist print edition THE BBC FACES AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE. GOOD WHO should regulate the BBC? And who should pay for it? Until recently, the status quo looked unshakeable. On important questions, like whether its journalists were biased, the BBC would regulate itself, just as it always has. And when its charter comes up for renewal in 2006, few doubted that it would gain another juicy increase in the licence fee, the annual tax paid by every television-owning household in Britain, which currently stands at £116 ($186). Since the row over Iraq's arsenal, those questions look more interesting and open. The BBC has never managed complaints well: robust self-scrutiny is not a strong point of its bureaucratic, inward-looking culture. The final court of appeal is the 11-strong board of governors. But the governors also appoint the BBC's director- general, which critics say makes them too close to the organisation to be able to regulate it properly. The government certainly feels that its complaint over Andrew Gilligan's reporting was badly handled. The governors leapt to Mr Gilligan's defence, largely echoing the BBC management's line and admitting only minor procedural flaws in the reporting of the story. In retrospect, the governors might have done better to wait for a formal complaint from the government and then to investigate it with visible thoroughness, rather than rushing to support their own. Reports suggest that some have since voiced private doubts, but too late to dispel government fury. The most likely alternative to the current system would be to widen the remit of Ofcom, a new communications industry regulator that takes over from five existing bodies at the end of this year. One of these, the Broadcasting Standards Commission, does deal with complaints about the BBC on issues of taste and decency (ie swearing and nudity), but not the most crucial subject of journalistic bias. Although the BBC would resist Ofcom oversight furiously, the day-to- day difference would probably be minor. Ofcom aims to be a light-touch regulator. But, crucially, a complainant with a serious grievance would have an umpire to turn to. The much bigger question is about future financing. Technology is steadily undermining the BBC's main justification for the licence fee: that as everyone benefits from at least some of its services, everyone should pay. Viewing figures are dropping steadily as viewers turn to digital television, which now reaches nearly half the households in the country. The BBC's response so far has been to provide ever more services. Sometimes this is uncontentious—for example in digital radio, now booming, which would never have taken off without BBC backing. But other offerings are controversial—internet-based education, for example, or a specialist history channel that competes directly with an independent commercial outfit. An outside regulator could stop the BBC from treading on so many private-sector toes. Falling viewing figures have not created a financial problem for the BBC, since thanks to the government's generosity the licence fee has been rising at 1.7% above inflation since Labour came to power. But big rows with politicians could undermine the chances of a similarly lavish settlement in 2006. Copyright © 2003 The Economist Newspaper and The Economist Group. All rights reserved (via Neil T. Greenidge, DXLD) ** U K. NOTES FROM THE PREVIOUS WAR --- BIZARRO BROADCASTING COMPANY By Denis Boyles, From National Review- July 29, 2003, 9:55 a.m. A great deal of the current criticism of the British Broadcasting Corporation is based on the BBC's appalling, biased coverage of the war in Iraq. As the war began and the Coalition invasion proceeded across the desert toward Baghdad, I sat watching French TV and listening to the BBC's World Service. That's as close to a state of suspended disbelief as a man can get. As the capital finally fell to the Americans, I made a few notes. Here they are. "I was wrong." Of all the words in all the paragraphs in all the stories ever written by journalists anywhere, the simple inability to utter those three syllables is what distinguishes, say, a Howell Raines from, say, a Michael Kelly. At the end of the day on April 5, 2003, it was also what finally distinguished the BBC World Service's coverage of the war in Iraq from what was going on in the real world. First, a sense of scale: The World Service of the BBC is the planet's radio station, broadcasting around the clock in virtually every major language, from Arabic to Urdu, to some 150 million people - far more than listen to the Voice of America and CNN Radio combined. While most BBC services are funded from the licensing fees charged to U.K. television and radio owners, the World Service is different: Its annual budget of nearly $370 million comes from a direct government grant funneled through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, to whom it is indirectly responsible. In theory, every significant aspect of broadcasting by the World Service must be justified in its annual report in terms of its "Benefit to Britain." But, in fact, what the World Service does is the World Service's business. And for the most part its business is largely unknown in England, anyway. World Service broadcasts are intended for those living elsewhere. For years, most listeners thought that was fine. The BBC World Service was once the great pleasure of ex-pats and traveling Brits, Aussies, and Americans. It seemed to represent all that was great about faraway Great Britain. Fair, careful news broadcasts, offbeat but intelligent radio documentaries about Patagonia, music from Wales, and goofy old guys with their collections of treasured classical music created a broadcast environment that can only be described as "well-upholstered" - the World Service was a decided luxury for those like me who spent a lot of time away from home in places like Africa and India. But not long ago, and perhaps with some justification, the World Service started taking hits for being too "colonial" in its programming, too British, and not nearly worldly enough. Plus, its numbers started to erode. So the World Service said goodbye to its nutty assortment of odd and unusual radio plays and documentaries. Even "Lilibulero [sic]," the World Service's jaunty, top-of-the-hour signature tune was faded out. Instead of programs that reflected old-fashioned British virtues (like common sense), the World Service adopted an all-news-and-analysis format meant to reflect modern British values - things like "oneness" and tolerance and, lately, a disdain for all things formerly British, like an instinctive trust in the Atlantic alliance. Normally, news-oriented programming at a time when British and Americans are involved in a war would be welcome. But the World Service's revision of focus also coincided unhappily with a key decision announced early in March, as events in Iraq grew hot, by the BBC's controller of editorial policy, Stephen Whittle. It was Whittle's wish that corporation broadcasts specifically reflect antiwar opinion. Imposing a point of view on events before they unfold is a bit audacious. But it was done, and as a result, the Whittle Rule had far-reaching, although not perhaps unintended, consequences. It's also led to some pretty awful examples of lousy journalistic practices. As the first round of explosions rocked Baghdad, for example, the World Service's on-air "Middle East analyst" was a chap from the Arab-funded, pro-Palestinian agitprop group called The Council for the Advancement of Arab-British Understanding (CAABU) - an affiliation never disclosed to listeners. A rough equivalent: CNN hiring an "analyst" to comment on an invasion of Israel without disclosing the fact that he's from the Jewish Defense League. So when the World Service anchor asked him for his analysis, the man promptly pronounced the bombardment "an example of pure American imperialism." Nobody challenged this assertion, [nor?] was he challenged on any of his volatile comments during what became fairly regular World Service appearances. In fact, during it war coverage, the views of guests like the man from CAABU were very rarely balanced with opposing viewpoints, and World Service anchors almost never offered a differing opinion. Instead, the convention is to ask patently biased "analysts" to simply restate their propaganda in more detail: "So, Mr. Hussein, you think this is an illegitimate war, then?" He did, he does and he will tomorrow, too. This insistent bias isn't limited to the World Service's English- language broadcasts, unfortunately. The all-news Arabic service is perhaps worse --- and with consequences far more potentially harmful. As Barbara Amiel has noted in the Telegraph, in the days and weeks leading up to the war, the BBC's Arabic service offered no "Saddam's family firm and the political system underpinning it; there has been virtually no discussion of how he keeps control or the role his sons play in the country. no analysis of [Baathist] war crimes, no serious inquiry about weapons of mass destruction or the policy to destroy oil wells." Instead, listeners were invited to vote on whether the Coalition's invasion would be legal and "and whether the Americans would be looked on as liberators or invaders." In English, Arabic, or any of the other 43 languages used by the BBC World Service, attaching a virulently anti-American viewpoint to one of the most trusted brands in the world has a deep significance. When the Iraqi leadership calls on suicide bombers to attack British and American soldiers, the call goes out over the BBC, without any attempt to deflate the accompanying rhetoric. If a child is hurt anywhere in Iraq as a result of Coalition activity, the World Service is there, broadcasting from bedside and full of sanctimonious fury. You might read about cheering Iraqis greeting troops as they advance through the country, but you will never hear about such a thing on the World Service. The German newspaper Der Tagespiel recently compared CNN Radio to the World Service. CNN, supported by advertisers, was seen by the paper as a uniquely American broadcaster. The World Service, however, was "UN radio." The newspaper meant this as flattery, but it might have added that the World Service resembles the U.N. in other ways, too: it's unresponsive to critics, certain of its virtue, fascinated by radical governments, dependent entirely on taxpayers' handouts for its survival and, after a while, stupidly self-serious, and profoundly depressing. I know. I've been listening to the World Service and nothing else for weeks. I've had a full life. I'm ready to die. Saturday, April 5: this will be the day most people will remember as the day when the journalistic standards of the World Service committed suicide. The BBC's bad day in Baghdad started early: A column of U.S. soldiers had entered southwestern Baghdad just after daybreak. The soldiers - in tanks and armored personnel carriers - drove through the city for several kilometers encountering only sporadic resistance. Near the university, the column turned left, drove out of the capital and parked at the international airport, which was already securely in American hands. In Qatar, the Coalition command center announced the incursion, saying that elements of the 3rd Infantry had gone into the center of Baghdad. At first, the maneuver was reported as a grab for urban territory. Later, more accurate reports, however, said that it was a demonstration by the U.S. that it could and would enter Baghdad at will. Cut to: Andrew Gilligan, the BBC's man in downtown Baghdad. "I'm in the center of Baghdad," said a very dubious Gilligan, "and I don't see anything --- But then the Americans have a history of making these premature announcements." Gilligan was referring to a military communiqué from Qatar the day before saying the Americans had taken control of most of Baghdad's airport. When that happened, Gilligan had told World Service listeners that he was there, at the airport - but the Americans weren't. Gilligan inferred that the Americans were lying. An hour or two later, a different BBC correspondent pointed out that Gilligan wasn't at the airport, actually. He was nearby - but apparently far enough away that the other correspondent felt it necessary to mention that he didn't really know if Gilligan was around, but that no matter what Gilligan had seen or not seen, the airport was firmly and obviously in American hands. It was clearly important to the BBC that Gilligan not be wrong twice in two days. Whatever the truth was, the BBC, like Walter Duranty's New York Times, must never say, "I was wrong." So, despite the fact that the appearance of American troops in Baghdad was surely one of the war's big moments, and one the BBC had obviously missed, American veracity became the story of the day. Gilligan, joined by his colleagues in Baghdad, Paul Wood and Rageh Omaar, kept insisting that not only had the Americans not gone to the "center" - which they reckoned to be where they were - they hadn't really been in the capital at all. Both Omaar and Wood told listeners that they had been on hour-long Iraqi Ministry of Information bus rides - "and," said Wood, "we were free to go anywhere" --- yet they had seen nothing of an American presence in the city. From Qatar, a BBC correspondent helpfully explained that US briefings, such as that announcing the Baghdad incursion, were meaningless exercises, "more PR than anything else." Maybe, implied the World Service, the Americans had made it all up: all day long, Wood repeatedly reported that there was no evidence to support the American claim. At a lunchtime press briefing, the surreal Iraqi Minister of Information, Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, gave the BBC some solid support: The American incursion was a hoax, said al-Sahaf. Not only that, he added, the Iraqis had retaken the airport, the Americans had been driven out, and Republican Guard units were "pounding" trapped American troops in a suburban area. The bizarre announcement was accepted at face value by the BBC. For most of the rest of the day, the BBC's correspondents, including its diplomatic correspondent, Peter Biles, confessed to being "confused" by the conflicting statements of the Coalition military command and the Iraqi information ministry. Who could you believe, they kept asking themselves? The BBC's Wood and Omaar, meanwhile, had been reporting from more of Baghdad in interviews organized by the Iraqi government. For example, for most of the day, the World Service broadcast hourly, sometimes without any disclaimers whatsoever, an interview by Paul Wood of a Palestinian in Baghdad. The interview was obviously arranged by the Iraqis; it was exactly the kind of Iraqi-sponsored propaganda that got Peter Arnett, then with CNN, in trouble in Baghdad twelve years ago. Then, like now, everything British and American correspondents in Baghdad did was monitored and approved by the Iraqis. But like the use of "analysts" with unannounced axes to grind, the BBC made little effort to make it clear that its journalists were shoveling manufactured "news." In this instance, Wood had been taken to a poor neighborhood of angry Palestinians. He dutifully described to listeners the broken glass and bent window bars he saw when he entered one man's house. ("Excuse me for not taking off my shoes," he mumbled.) The Palestinian was apparently sheltering his whole family in a couple of rooms and dealing irritably with the shelling and bombardments that have become a fact of life in Baghdad lately. He was not happy. Neither were his kids, although happily they hadn't been harmed. Except psychologically: "What happens to the children when there's bombing?" Wood asked, urgently, compassionately, deeply worried. "Do they cry?" Oh boy, do they ever, said the man. "And what will happen when the Americans come to this street?" Wood asked. We will fight them, said the man, to keep them from taking our homes. NO COALITION HERE! Mid-afternoon, April 5: I have listened to the World Service for five straight hours. During that time, the World Service, in its reporting and analysis, has been obviously deeply skeptical of any Coalition claims of success and insistent that the Americans be denied simple good faith. The anger of Iraqis, however, has been widely and consistently featured. No indication of any spontaneous support for Coalition troops was ever mentioned. Of all of the things the World Service reported during those hours, one item caught my attention and held it: Iraqi TV had been blacked out for most of the day by a power shortage. "How are people in Baghdad getting their information, then?" an anchor asked a correspondent. From the World Service, he said. What a chilling thought. So I decided to try an experiment - kind of a private Reed Irvine science project. I have a friend in a neighboring village here in France who gets most of the English-language TV news channels - not Fox, but CNN, BBC News, ITV, Euro News, Sky, the usual - on a satellite dish. So I gave him a ring, invited myself over, and walked the three or four kilometers to his house, listening to the World Service on a pocket radio as I went. The afternoon of April 5 was a beautiful one in northern France - bright, crisp, clear. But it was dark and gloomy in Baghdad, I was sure. "The Americans are bombing again," the BBC mourned. I imagined angry swarms of citizens gathering in homes and cafes to listen to World Service reports about the duplicitous Americans and their phony incursions. (In fact, I might have passed a few such places in my walk through the French countryside.) When I arrived at my friend's house, I set up my little test. I watched the TV while listening to the World Service on my hand-held radio. It was a startling multimedia event. I could listen to the BBC's Paul Wood telling me once again that there was no sign of the American incursion into Baghdad. Yet on the screen in front of me there was the 3rd Infantry. They were cruising through Baghdad, driving down the highway, turning into the streets. Look! Along the sidewalks, there were waving children and adults, cheering them on. Men in passed by in trucks and cars crying out, "Saddam down!" and giving the soldiers big smiles and waves. I finally turned off the World Service and turned up the television. At the airport, a correspondent was asked about the Iraqi claim that the Americans had been driven out of the airport and were being "pounded" by Republican Guards. He looked around, mystified, then replied that he'd been at the airport for two days, that it was securely in Coalition hands, and that the only Iraqi challenge he had noticed had been a couple of small skirmishes that were quickly quelled by Coalition forces. "Maybe that's what he meant," he said, generously. Behind him, soldiers lounged around like the stranded tourists they were. On the BBC News channel, the anchors got Wood on camera and very gently pointed out to him that they were getting a lot of video in showing the Americans had indeed taken a drive deep into Baghdad and that the information minister's odd claims didn't seem to be holding up. Wood was kind of chubby, younger than I expected. He seemed obviously pained. But he had his story - no Americans in Baghdad as far as he was concerned - and he was sticking to it. But of course he didn't have the story. One of the war's turning points had taken place under his nose and he and Gilligan the rest of his BBC colleagues in Baghdad had missed it, simply because they were convinced of American deceit and could not bring themselves to look for what they refused to believe had taken place. I turned off the TV, had a cup of coffee with my friend, and returned home. After a half hour or so - call me crazy - I once again tuned into the World Service. By now, I wasn't so much interested in how the war was going. I knew American troops weren't trapped anywhere. But the BBC had trapped itself in a big hole, and I wanted to see how they'd get out of it. Jonathan Marcus, the BBC's correspondent in Qatar, was being interviewed by a troubled World Service anchor, "Jonathan, who should we believe? The Americans? Or Saddam?" It's obvious the Iraqis are lying, Marcus shot back, adding that the American incursion was not only real, it was significant and had gone deep into the capital. "Anybody who questions that can't see the forest for the trees," he said. It was the only real-world comment I had heard in a full day of World Service listening. That was the last I heard of Marcus that day. The anchor instantly went to another, more trustworthy correspondent. As midnight approached, the World Service finally conceded that, okay, the Americans had probably reached into Baghdad, but the real story was the way the military guys in Qatar had misled the BBC's correspondents. It was just another reason why nobody trusted the Americans. For example, the BBC correspondents reported, the incursion didn't go to the "center" of Baghdad - or at least far enough to the center that Gilligan and Wood and Omaar could be satisfied. It was confined to the "fringes" of the city. It was a minor thing, really, and the Americans, in their typical cowboy way, had blown it up into something it wasn't. Baghdad was still safely in Saddam's hands, the World Service wondrously reassured its listeners. The Iraqi government's claim to control over the airport was still being reported without comment or qualification. The World Service was still saying the situation was "confused" - and, for the BBC, no doubt it was. CRAZY NEWS FOR CRAZY PEOPLE The World Service began April 6 by broadcasting to the citizens of Baghdad and the rest of the world the report that an Iraqi mullah had called for the faithful in Baghdad to engage in "holy war" against the Americans and the British who would soon be in their midst. I finally turned off the radio and went to bed. Perhaps reporting the mullah's call for jihad at the moment troops were entering the city was just thoughtlessness, the way reporting the Palestinian's call to arms was thoughtless. Or maybe not. Certainly, the men and women who work at the World Service, from director Mark Byford on down to the likes of Andrew Gilligan or Paul Wood, do not expect to have to answer for any of the consequences of their decisions. If confronted, they will claim they are just the messengers. Of course, that's the journalist's equivalent to the Nuremberg defense. But as Andrew Sullivan recently wrote, "What the BBC is able to do, by broadcasting directly to these people, is to... make the war more bloody... If you assume that almost all these reporters and editors are anti-war, this BBC strategy makes sense. They're a military player. And they are objectively pro-Saddam." Baghdad has been Saddamized for decades, so the World Service is just piling on. And while most Iraqis obviously don't like their brutal government, along the streets and down the alleys of Baghdad, there are some pretty crazy people getting their news tonight from the likes of Wood, Gilligan, and the others at the BBC. The Americans will return tomorrow and the next day and the next and the next. Soon, they will be everywhere in Iraq, trying to rebuild the place. But one day, one of those crazy teenagers they produce over there might remember the World Service interview with the Palestinian guy, or that Iraqi mullah's call for jihad. Maybe he'll grab a gun and go out to welcome the British and American newcomers - and get shot before he blows anybody away. Some hopeless, misguided young BBC correspondent, riding his big Scoop moment, will report it on the World Service as an outrage. And he won't be wrong. Denis Boyles, an NRO contributor, is a journalist based in Europe (via Hans Johnson, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** U K [non]. COULD IT BE ANOTHER BRITISH INVASION? By Meg James, Los Angeles Times HOLLYWOOD - The British Broadcasting Corp. has long been an idea factory for American TV producers, dating back to that United Kingdom export "Til Death Do Us Part," recast for U.S. audiences as "All In the Family." But the BBC has been particularly busy in recent months, scripting itself as a bigger player in Hollywood, hoping to wring more money from its concepts and programs. BBC Worldwide Limited, the commercial arm of the venerable network, sold CBS an idea for a unscripted show called "Sack Race," in which a contestant spends a day at work trying to get fired. The unit also recently hooked ABC with a pitch for a dating show, "Nice Package." Plans are in the offing to launch a 24-hour BBC cable news channel in the United States. And BBC executives last week entertained movie executives at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles to angle for a distributor for their feature-length ocean documentary, "The Blue Planet." And while most Hollywood honchos were off celebrating America's July 4th declaration of independence from England, the Brits were busy putting the final touches on a TV development deal with Universal Television and producer Ben Silverman. "We really want to get ourselves into a position where we provide more of the programming of broadcasters' schedules," said Mark Young, president and chief executive of the BBC Worldwide Americas. "We've changed our strategy from being an exporter of British programming into being a creator of global programs." The BBC already has built a presence around the globe. Its news and entertainment channels reach more than 500 million homes in Latin America, Africa, Australia, Europe and Asia. Now, the BBC Worldwide is aggressively making inroads in the United States, hoping to capitalize on its increasing profile. Five years ago, a dozen public television stations in the United States carried BBC's World News program. Now, it's on more than 225 stations nationwide. In the days leading up to the Iraqi war, more than a million U.S. homes tuned into the nightly BBC newscasts. In May, after major combat was declared over, viewership averaged nearly 900,000 homes - a more than 20 percent increase from the previous year. [not in OK! --- gh] Executives said the recent controversy surrounding the BBC's reporting about the British government's use of intelligence to make the case for a war in Iraq, and the subsequent suicide of one of the network's key government sources, has not dampened expansion plans. BBC Worldwide this month reported a record year, with sales topping $1 billion and profits of more than $50 million. Sales in the United States exceeded $160 million last year. BBC executives' appetite for more American dollars was whetted four years ago after watching the U.S. version of the British game show "Who Wants to Be A Millionaire," explode on ABC. Although the BBC did not own the rights to that program, it saw the potential and quickly offered up "The Weakest Link" and other shows that have gone on to success in the United States. Now, one of the most popular programs on Discovery Networks' The Learning Channel is the home design show "Trading Spaces," a takeoff of the BBC's "Changing Rooms." TLC also duplicated the BBC's "What Not to Wear," a critique of fashion faux pas. But the BBC's biggest marketing weapon in the United States has been its nascent BBC America cable channel. BBC America, launched five years ago by the Discovery Networks, has watched its ratings and ad revenues swell. Available through satellite and digital cable service, BBC America reaches 35 million homes, up from 28 million homes a year ago. Years ago, Americans had little exposure to BBC programmes other than occasional imports that aired late at night or on public TV stations. Fox Broadcasting Entertainment President Gail Berman remembers growing up in Philadelphia and the troubles she had following her favourite British show, "The Interns." "It ran on some UHF channel in the middle of the night," Berman said. "For kids these days, these shows are cool and funny, and easy to find." Big kids are watching, too. NBC Entertainment President Jeff Zucker was channel surfing about a year ago when he landed on BBC America and "Couplings," a show about thirtysomethings looking for love. "It was sophisticated, smart and funny," he recalled. "I came into work the next day and asked: `Has anyone seen this show?'" NBC will roll out a version of "Couplings" this fall. Meanwhile, Fox hopes to capture some of the success of "The Kumars at No. 42," a comedy that delves into Indian immigrant culture. But, on Fox, the Kumars are morphing into Mexican immigrants called "The Ortegas" who live in Los Angeles. "British formats are very appealing to us, in our endless search of new material and being on the cutting edge," Berman said (via Harry van Vugt, Windsor, Ontario, Canada) ** U S A. US BROADCASTER EXPRESSES CONFIDENCE IN FUTURE OF SHORTWAVE The US-based International Broadcasting Corporation (IBCS) today declared its confidence in the future of shortwave by announcing its intent to raise $4 million to $5 million to help successfully implement its business plan. Two weeks ago, the IBC Radio Network announced that it has acquired large blocks of airtime at the weekends on Miami shortwave station WRMI. IBCS says this is simply the beginning, as it believes there is a resurgence in the popularity of shortwave. "Shortwave has not yet been fully exploited commercially," says Daryn Fleming, CEO of IBC. "The future of shortwave is digital; the first experiments are already underway [sic]. With the introduction of digital shortwave, the quality of sound will improve to FM quality. We believe that this quality, coupled with the huge distances a shortwave signal can travel (IBC Radio Network recently received shortwave reception reports from as far away as Nigeria) provides a very significant market that must be exploited. Furthermore, free radio services on an international medium like shortwave provide an opportunity to capture a large market of listeners that will not pay for services offered by satellite radio broadcasters." (© Radio Netherlands Media Network 29 July 2003 via DXLD) ** U S A. CLEAR CHANNEL SEES 5.5 PERCENT BOOST IN EARNINGS By L.A. Lorek Express-News Business Writer Web Posted : 07/29/2003 12:02 PM Despite difficult economic conditions, Clear Channel Communications saw its earnings for the second quarter increase to $251.3 million, up 5.5 percent from a year ago. The San Antonio-based company reported revenue of $2.32 billion, up 6.6 percent from the same quarter a year ago bolstered by higher sales in its outdoor advertising business and lower interest expenses. . . http://news.mysanantonio.com/story.cfm?xla=saen&xlb=110&xlc=1032318 (via Mike Terry, DXLD) ** U S A. HOWARD STERN DROPPED FOR POLKAS This according to Tim Noonan's excellent web site "Radio/DX Information from Wisconsin" http://www.angelfire.com/wi/dxing/index.html "WI Columbus (Madison market) WTLX 100.5 noted with polkas this morning in place of Howard Stern. A stunt that precedes a format change? (Tim Taugher) Update: I see in their web site that Howard Stern has been dropped; a polka show called "Happy Times for Jolly People" is listed in the 5-10 a.m. slot" Here is what the station's web site http://www.wtlx.com says: "**100 X Announces New Temporary Morning Show** Mon 07-28, 10:43 am As of Monday, July 28th, 100X will be airing the type of morning show that will make you want to tap your steering wheel perpetually. You'll want to tap your feet so bad that your vehicle will jerk back and forth. You'll want to get out of bed at five every morning so you can shimmy around in time to the music. That's right, its time to polka! ''Happy Times for Jolly People'' will be five hours of non-stop pleasure for the hidden polka beast that resides inside every soul. Featuring a combination of American, German, Swiss, Polish, Norwegian, and Balkan/Slavic polkas, with a heavy emphasis on bands cultivated by the Dairy State itself, ''Happy Times for Jolly People'' fills a gaping void in the Madison radio market. No longer do you have to desparately try to pull in WTKM out of Hartford. You can now polka to a signal that comes in loud and clear. Alas, you'll want to tape as many shows as you can (with an eye toward re-sale on e-Bay and untold profits), because ''Happy Times for Jolly People'' is temporary. 100 X has another show in development and ready to explode down the pipeline with unequaled aplomb! Another quality offering to satiate the desires of a demanding public. But for now, let's give it up for the 11th president and polka!" I wonder what Howard thinks about being done in by "Oom-Pa-Pa!" 73 (via Bill Dvorak, Madison WI, WTFDA via DXLD) ** U S A. Major changes coming to KC: WDAF-AM 610 will soon begin simulcasting its signal on 106.5 FM --- this means the end of 106.5 the city, which was smooth jazz. Some time after 60 days of simulcasting, WDAF-AM 610 will move to 106.5 FM, and a new Sports talk station will emerge on 610. Problem I see is the fact KC already has one full time sports station. What I think is the worst is the fact that Entercom is also saying there could be a format swap (WDAF`s current format would be "freshened up a bit" to make it more "young and hip" (Glen Briggs - KB0RPJ Grundy County Amateur Radio Emergency Services Coordinator, July 28, amfmtvdx at qth.net via DXLD) Actually, KC has two full-time sports stations, 810 WHB and 1340 KCKN, plus 1320 KLWN in Lawrence. WHB and KLWN both use ESPN. KCKN uses Fox Sports. The new 610 will use Sporting News, which is what KMBZ used overnight. By the way, we forget to mention that KMBZ will become full-time News/Talk (with the exception of Royals and Jayhawk games). Now they'll have 3 city-grade country stations on FM (not counting KMZU, KAIR-FM, Topeka stations, etc), and possibly 4 because the hot rumour is that Union Broadcasting (WHB, KCTE, KZPL) has a personal revenge plan against Entercom, and might start its own country station via LMA. By the way, in the spring book, WDAF, KBEQ and KFKF were 4, 5 and 6 respectively in the 12+ numbers (Rob Zerwekh, Topeka KS, http://kcradio.tripod.com http://zerwekh.hypermart.net ibid.) ** U S A. COMMUNITY AIRWAVES COMING TO SILVERTON [Colorado] July 28, 2003, By Jennifer Kostka, Herald Staff Writer http://durangoherald.com/asp-bin/article_generation.asp?article_type=news&article_path=/news/news030728_3.htm Rumors fly quickly down the unpaved, Old West streets of Silverton on a daily basis. Rather than relying on word-of-mouth, Silverton residents may soon have their own community radio station to air issues and ideas unique to the mountain town, population 475. A group of residents has been raising money, applying for federal licenses and setting up equipment to begin broadcasting on KSJC-FM (92.5) from the Old Miner`s Hospital at 13th Street and Snowden Street in Silverton. The station plans to air Silverton`s public meetings, music and talk shows, and avalanche and road condition reports. The station could also provide students with a chance to learn about radio and perhaps broadcast their own programs. The station has received its construction permit from the Federal Communications Commission, which allows it to broadcast until its official broadcast license comes through. However, it is trying to find a way to broadcast without drowning out a signal from KSUT-FM (98.3) in Ignacio. The station`s volunteer organizers hope it will bring Silverton residents together through common town issues and concerns. Dave "Fid" Fiddler, a Silverton resident of 10 years and president of the station`s board, said the radio station is similar to his house in Silverton. "It`s just one big lump of potential. What comes from it is what we`re looking to put into it," Fiddler said. "I don`t think there`s a segment of this community that this won`t affect." KSJC should soon receive its broadcast license from the FCC, which would require it to broadcast for the next three years, said Kyle Roberts, a former member of the station`s board who is working with other Silverton residents to get KSJC on the air. The station successfully tested its equipment in June. Roberts, who has lived in Silverton for 12 years, began investigating ways to establish a community radio station shortly after he moved there. After talking to other residents who sounded interested, Roberts applied for a FCC construction permit for a low-powered FM radio station in 2001. The group received the permit in December 2001. The construction permit gave the group 18 months to have a working transmitter and antenna to broadcast at 100 watts. At about the same time, another group of residents began approaching KSUT to see if the radio station could bring its signal to Silverton. About 250 Silverton residents signed a petition that said they would like 24-hour programming from KSUT, and the station found a way to transmit its signal at less than one watt into Silverton, said Beth Warren, executive director of KSUT. The Durango Herald is one of KSUT`s underwriters. The station also allowed Silverton residents to broadcast their own programs through its signal. Since KSUT began airing in Silverton in 2001, residents have held their own music and talk shows about once a week, said Scot Jackson, a Silverton resident of 33 years and a member of a loose-knit committee for KSUT in Silverton. Since KSUT started transmitting its signal in Silverton, KSJC has organized and elected a board and begun raising money. The group raised about $500 from the sale of bumper stickers and pledges at the Silverton Jubilee Folk Festival, said Ellen Stein, vice president of the KSJC board and executive director of the Mountain Studies Institute in Silverton. Fiddler also donated about $5,000 for the purchase of the station`s initial equipment. Bruce Conrad, the station`s treasurer, is putting together the station`s first fund-raising event Aug. 7. Papa Mali, a funk and soul band from Austin, Texas, will perform for the fund-raiser. The station is working on the time and location of the event. The station`s organizers hope to garner more support after the station is on the air. "It`s got the support of the community, but right now people are waiting to see if we can get our technical problems fixed," said Jay Canode, a Silverton resident who has worked with other community members to establish KSJC. The Avalanche Coffee House & Bakery, which Canode co-owns with his wife, is an underwriter for KSUT. KSJC tested its 100-watt signal in mid-June from its antenna on top of the Old Miner`s Hospital, next to KSUT`s antenna. The test revealed that KSJC would drown out KSUT`s signal, making it impossible for people to listen to KSUT, Canode said. "We power up and KSUT disappears," Canode said. The two stations hope to find a way for both to broadcast before KSJC begins airing regular programming. Members of KSUT`s staff will meet with KSJC board members in Silverton this week to discuss solutions. "We did say we would help, and what better way to help than by bringing management and engineering to Silverton and getting a plan in place," Warren said. All local programming will go to KSJC when it begins broadcasting, and KSUT plans to continue airing its regular programming in Silverton, Warren said. Once KSJC begins its programming, Conrad believes it will unify a cross section of the small community. "Having a really strong community voice that everyone can tune to could really be strong in this town," Conrad said (Durango Herald July 28 via Artie Bigley, DXLD) ** U S A. Large TIS systems In the current issue of the Information Station Specialists (ISS) newsletter there is a story about the Brazosport Emergency Response Agency's new TIS system designed around the huge Dow Chemical plant in the Freeport, Texas area. The system presently consists of 6 GPS synchronized TIS transmitters simulcasting on 1610 kHz (WPXH924). The addition of a 7th transmitter is planned by the end of the year. The story says that the largest system prior to this was a simulcast system of 5 transmitters on 940 kHz in Pinellas County, Florida (WPTI814) installed in 2001. The article also mentions that Naperville, Illinois was the first city in the nation to have a series of TIS simulcast transmitters. They were installed in 1993 and are on 1610 kHz (WPFP929). The article doesn't specify the number of transmitters in that system but I seem to recall that it was 3. I also found that ISS maintains a state by state list of the TIS stations they have installed. Some of these stations are listings that I have not been able to find elsewhere including some Federal installations. The list is at http://www.theradiosource.com/the_source_news_ears_across_usa.htm (Patrick Griffith, N0NNK, CBT CBNT CRO, Westminster, CO, USA, July 27, NRC-AM via DXLD) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ RECEIVER NEWS +++++++++++++ Re Harry Helms` comments: Ah, truer words were never spoken. Remember quadraphonic? How about stereo AM? Where in the world can you buy a stereo AM receiver? The only AM stereo transmitter that I know of is a talk station! Okay, there is some music on the weekends, but hardly worth stereo. Who is going to spring for those millions of receivers across Africa? I just popped for $1500 for receivers, and there is no WAY that I'm going to spend more, not with a brain tumor and partial paralysis! (Richard Dale, Collins, MO, July 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) SAFETY CAST SIGNS DEAL, by Devan Stuart SOUTHSIDE -- Jacksonville's Safety Cast has signed its first distribution contract -- a three-year, $3.3 million deal -- with Miami-based Ander Police Supply. Safety Cast makes radio transmitters that can be installed in emergency vehicles, railroad locomotives and school buses. The devices transmit an alert tone and a verbal message over all AM and FM radio frequencies warning motorists that an emergency vehicle is nearby. Ander, a leading distributor of public safety products in South Florida and South America, agreed to buy at least 3,000 of Safety Cast's devices at $1,100 each. "This is an exciting piece of technology," said Ander Police Supply President Andrés Dielingen. "Each time I speak of it, we generate a great deal of enthusiasm and interest." Safety Cast officials are trying to drum up more business through meetings with a variety of possible interested parties, including the U.S. Air Force, and in demonstrations, including the International Association of Chiefs of Police conference in Louisville, Ky. "Hopefully, we'll have a thriving enterprise here in Jacksonville in the not-too-distant future," said Safety Cast CEO Mark Foss, who projects $70 million in annual revenues in five years. Foss' big regret is that his company's technology wasn't up and running six months ago to aid in the war on Iraq. "It wasn't ready because we didn't have the funding sources," Foss said. "Everything accelerates when you have a little extra fuel in the tank." That extra fuel recently came by way of Jacksonville's Inman Co., an Ortega investment firm that landed financial commitments needed to move Safety Cast into the testing and production phase. Safety Cast also aims to penetrate foreign markets. With a simple chip exchange, the technology can be switched to any language, an important selling point for Ander's South American markets. © 2003 American City Business Journals Inc (via Patrick Griffith, N0NNK, CBT CBNT CRO, Westminster, CO, USA, NRC-AM via DXLD) What this press release doesn`t tell you is that there is an official FCC complaint on file regarding potential interference to licensed services from this device. Don`t hold your breath waiting to hear this as DX (Paul Smith, W4KNX, Sarasota, FL, ibid.) The way I read it, one interpretation would be that the whole purpose of the device is to cause interference to licensed services.... (Russ Edmunds, Blue Bell, PA, ibid.) Actually any Part 15 device (unlicensed) is prohibited from interfering with any licensed service, i.e. commercial, utility, government, amateur, etc. If the Part 15 device is found to be causing interference it must be shut down until the interference is eliminated. I really hope this doesn't fly even though some will say it is a good and wonderful thing. We already have lights, sirens, and strobes on emergency vehicles. We don't need this. If people would drive past their windshields and pay attention to what is going on around them there would be no need for these at all. It's a bad bad bad idea! (Larry R. Fravel, ibid.) While I'm not sure whether or not this is a good idea, I am sure that sirens and lights and what-all aren't much good when all of your windows are closed to maintain a sane temperature in the vehicle and the EV isn't in your line of sight. The township where I work has been using those devices with which they can take over control of traffic signals and make them red all around- - I've twice now in the past couple of months nearly been hit by other vehicles because the light suddenly turned red unexpectedly almost immediately after turning green - or just enough after to get a car into the middle of the intersection. At least if they take over my radio, they're not endangering me !! (Russ Edmunds, Blue Bell, PA, ibid.) Sorry, but it's still a bad idea. If you are looking around --- checking mirrors, etc., every ten seconds or so like we are all taught in drivers-ed --- rear, right side, left side, etc. (but do not do, myself included), we would be much more aware of what is happening around us. Granted, there are times when the emergency vehicle wouldn't be readily apparent, but the lights and sirens and strobes sure beat another government invasion of our space. In response to the radio on and windows up argument, that is fine for those listening to the radio. What about those who do not turn the radio on but rather play CDs, tapes, or the annoying "bumpers" with their stereos blasting steady "thump thump thump" so loud they couldn't hear a .44 magnum if it was fired next to them. This "take over radio" certainly will not help any of those people. It won't turn down their stereos, eject their CDs and tapes, and turn on the radios. Also for the system to be totally effective it would require it to be extremely broad banded - take over the entire AM and FM bands when it broadcast or not all of those listening to the radio would get the benefits of the marvelous technology. I for one do not want to see this system adopted for any reason. I sincerely hope the FCC does not allow this. The Pandora's Box of interference problems is unimaginable. The first time someone ran in front of an emergency vehicle and got plowed into by it after the system is operational because they said "it wasn't working", "they didn't hear it", they didn't understand it" (how many languages will it broadcast in besides English in this Politically Correct Country of ours) or any other excuse they could come up with, the lawyers will all be jumping on the case faster than the "fast food makes us fat" crowd. Bad Bad Bad idea. We cannot make everything totally safe and perfect. We need to be aware and responsible, especially when we are behind the wheel of a very large steel guided missile (Larry Fravel, ibid.) Actually Paul, I'm presently building a beta version of this device which I will soon begin testing during my daily commute here in the Denver area. The 50 watt transmitter will feed a full size 3 element yagi, tuned to the center of the FM broadcast band, and extending forward from the hood of my SUV. It will be aimed directly at any vehicles in my path. It will broadcast a continual recorded message that says MOVE TO THE RIGHT LANE IMMEDIATELY. I obtained the transmitter surplus from the defunct SETI program at the U of C. It is capable of simultaneous transmission on every frequency in the FM broadcast band, every frequency in the cellular and PCS telephone bands, and most VHF and UHF public safety and amateur radio frequencies. With this acquisition I also obtained a 50 kw mobile RF amplifier. I have connected its power control to a relay activated by my horn button. In case anyone fails to yield to my vehicle I can temporarily switch to the higher power setting and simultaneously activate the horn. The horn is a 7 tube compressed air device which I obtained surplus from the Union Pacific railroad. I expect my test to also demonstrate the added benefit of an extremely reduced commute time resulting in reduced particulate emissions from my vehicle. The FCC will have no choice but to approve it or face the wrath of the tree hugging public. Since most of my commute is westbound in the morning and eastbound in the evening, I hope DXers in those directions from Denver will listen and send reception reports. If you do not hear the tests don't despair. I may visit your city soon! :-) (Patrick Griffith, N0NNK, CBT CBNT CRO, Westminster, CO, USA, ibid.) You forgot the AM Broadcast band. I would recommend a trailing full sized zep. It should be broad banded enough! (Fravel, ibid.) Not necessarily. If I were designing such a system, I would have it transmit in FM at 10.7 MHz and in AM at 455 KHz. I believe a similar system has been in use in tunnels here in the Boston area. Of course inside a tunnel where nothing else is heard it is easier to implement (Allan Dunn, K1UCY, ibid.) Even if you came in on the IF frequencies of the radio's AM and FM bands when you are out of a captive area like a tunnel the required RF to cover an area of two to three city blocks The area that would be needed for this to effective and remember that area would always be moving) with all the signal blocking buildings and other items would require a very high amount of RF Power and that would cause the interference to the licensed services. Sorry, but nothing anyone can say will ever convince me that this invasive thing is needed. I'm all for progress when it is necessary. This is not. It falls in the realms of a gadget. To quote someone that always speaks his mind, "Of course that's just my opinion. I could be wrong" - Dennis Miller (Fravel, ibid.) And now Miller is wrong about most of what he rants (gh) If I were told to design such a thing, I guess I'd start with an oscillator on, say, 2 MHz. Pass it through a modulated amplifier. Mix with a 10 kHz squarewave. Amplify it to a few dozen watts. And pass it through a sharp bandpass filter. But I agree, it's unnecessary. Most of those whose stereos are cranked too loud to hear sirens are listening to CDs. I'd also be worried about these devices getting "into the wild". You've got to know it would become a huge temptation for unscrupulous advertisers. (you know, the kind who jam crap in your email box...) A device that lets them get their ad on *every* station on the dial? The CRTC in Canada has authorized a few stations to provide a similar service. However, they're authorizing spot frequencies on FM. (to be fastened to trucks to warn motorists on logging roads of their approach). That suggests a different dilemma: how does the motorist know when to tune? (or are they supposed to listen to open-channel noise until a truck shows up?) (Doug Smith, TN, ibid.) It`s bad enough that we have Internet over electrical lines, manmade interference from computer devices, and the auto companies dumbing down the radios to avoid a "quality issue". I would not like something that transmits like this device does. To be honest, if I'm not in the area where the event is occurring, I don't need to hear it. And we know that RF is not confined to a stretch of roadway. The solution is to enforce the traffic laws, and get the bad drivers off the road --- and not to make one more source of RF interference. I still don't feel that we need a radio system to alert drivers. I don't think we need more or better alerting devices. Drivers are well aware of emergency vehicles, (although the jury is still out about drivers with cellphones). I just think that the larger portion of drivers don't know, or care to get out of the way of emergency vehicles and as such should be removed from the roadways until they learn how to drive responsibly. It's not a technology issue. It's an issue of stupid people behind the wheel with no common sense nor sense of responsibility (Fred Vobbe, OH, ibid.) I have been driving fire apparatus and ambulances professionally in an urban setting here in the Denver metro area for almost 17 years. My station alone responds to almost 2000 calls a year. Failure to yield situations occur here on a daily basis. Almost every time we are out there is at least one incident of this. You have no idea what it feels like to be piloting a 48,000 pound fire truck through an intersection and have someone zoom across in front of you so close that they disappear from sight below your field of view. We must also be very careful about how we park at scenes. We use the apparatus to protect us from being run over while we are trying to perform our jobs. Although we are required to put someone outside while we are backing, we would never put a firefighter in the street to stop traffic. If they can't see a huge fire truck with all of the lights on, they surely can't see a small target like a firefighter standing in the street. We would rather have them hit the fire truck than a firefighter. I can tell you some failure to yield stories that are almost unbelievable. But I really don't see this type of radio device helping our situation. If all of our sirens, lights, horns, and traffic control devices don't get people to yield, a message on the car radio is probably not going to help either. Does anyone remember the European test of a similar system a couple years ago? It may have been in the UK. It had to do with a digital broadcast system. I recall that their system could force your radio to tune to the specific frequency that the emergency vehicles or roadside devices were transmitting on and it could even turn the radio on if it was off. I wonder what the results of these tests were? (Patrick Griffith, N0NNK, CBT CBNT CRO, Westminster, CO, USA, ibid.) This thing is going to blanket the FM BC band right up to 107.999 MHz and then leave unharmed the VHF Omnirange frequencies (aircraft navigation) that begin at 108.001 MHz?? I can't believe no one has yet remarked on this, especially the pilots on list. || Bad Bad Bad idea. Yes Yes Yes, that it is. And as for transmitting at 455 or 10.7, just how much energy does one think would be needed to couple into these relatively well-shielded devices? (Bob Foxworth, FL, ibid.) This would take considerable energy, and would be very hit-and miss -- - too many variables involved. It's quite feasible (using digital signal processing techniques) to produce a raster of FM signals, each with identical modulation, on every channel from 88.1 to 107.9. If done properly, the signals could also be compliant with the FCC mask. Same thing applies to the AM band. That said, I agree that it's a very bad idea (Barry McLarnon, Ont., ibid.) The FCC has apparently considered issuing Safety Cast an experimental permit to try this: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-03-2109A1.txt RDS has the capability of causing your radio to tune to an emergency broadcast. It really wouldn't be suitable for this application though, as the data is broadcast over the station you're listening to - and thus would retune every radio within the station's coverage area (not just those near the emergency vehicle). (Doug Smith, TN, ibid.) It was RDS, Doug. But I'm pretty certain the test I read about involved mobile and roadside transmitters capable of taking control of the RDS receivers within a small circumference. I remember that the article mentioned that several pirate stations had used the technology to take control of the RDS radios within their coverage area and that a "fix" was being established to prevent such occurrences (Patrick Griffith, N0NNK, ibid.) Seems to me that the FCC is really leaning in the direction of big business no matter what the rules say. The whole broadband over power lines issues is a prime example. There is another example of what will be unlicensed services causing massive interference to a licensed service. In a lot of places I've been you can't use the AM radio in your vehicle any more due to cable TV leakage and nothing is done. It is not enforced and the cable companies know it and don't care. If we get broad band over the power lines; emergency services able to capture our radios because idiots behind the wheel can't, don't, and won't pay attention while driving; and all the other Part 15 devices the FCC has allowed that cause RFI to licensed services the radio world will be going to hell in a hand basket. No wonder all the so called free banders feel they can transmit anyplace they want. Big business is. And the FCC allows it. It's time we started stop selling spectrum and start enforcing the no interference parts of the rules. (Larry R. Fravel, ibid.) This is a very bad idea because the interference is going to be awful. What needs to be done is fine the people out east as they do out here and then the AM and FM bands will be left alone. What about people listening to a CD or tape in the car? What about people listening to XM? The whole thing seems a waste of time to me and another way to pollute the spectrum which is already in a hell of a mess (Kevin Redding, Mesa AZ, ibid.) I have doubts that I would ever hear any kind of "emergency broadcast" even if such a hare-brained radio scheme comes to pass. Not unless they figure out how to override my CD player, anyway. It's not that the radios don't work, but aside from ball games, there's so little worth having on in the car while I'm driving. I'm too busy watching the road to DX while commuting, and I can program music to my tastes with considerably more interest and accuracy than any of the current crop of PDs and consultants. So all that said --- they can build it, but I'll probably never know. What does worry me is that municipalities would want one for "anti-terrorism" or some other government control action hidden behind a security blanket, and use the thing indiscriminately. Or worse, just forget to turn the thing off when done with today's anti-liberty activity, and simply jam the bands. But that's okay, I'm sure. It's all about public safety and security in "these troubled times." (Ever known any times that weren't "these troubled times"?) But, as has been observed here of late, where the FCC is concerned, only money talks now. It's a shame James Madison is dead and his ideas are dying, innit? (Gerry Bishop, Nicenottodayville, FL, ibid.) ###