DX LISTENING DIGEST 3-140, August 5, 2003
        edited by Glenn Hauser, ghauser@hotmail.com

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NEXT AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1193:
RFPI: Wed 0100, 0730, 1330 on 7445, and maybe new experimental 15115 
      ex-15039 [nominal times may be delayed]
WWCR: Wed 0930 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/wor1193.rm
       (Stream)   http://www.k4cc.net/wor1193.ram
[High] (Download) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1193h.rm
       (Stream)   http://www.k4cc.net/wor1193h.ram
       (Summary)  http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1193.html

FIRST AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1194:
Wed 2200 on WBCQ 7415, 17495-CUSB
Thu 2030 on WWCR 15825
Fri 1930 on RFPI 15115?
Sun 0032 on WINB 12160

DESOLICITED TESTIMONIAL

I have been getting SW news from you for uncountable years. I find the 
multi-language format of DXLD intriguing. Will you branch into non-
Indo-European languages? I am inspired to work on my Spanish more. I 
don't read all the UK and USA news, but occasionally have the time to 
read a few, great stuff. No other source like it. Keep knockin' 'em 
dead, including the commenters and pseudonymers (David A. Norcross, 
San Luís Obispo, CA)

** ARGENTINA. 11710, RAE, thanks to Mickey Delmage for the reminder of 
this great station. Listened to their 1 hour English on 8/2 at 02. The 
tango music is great. Good signal for listening. Very nice mix of 
news, features and music. Checked my last log of them... it was 10/83! 
Received a "Las Malvinas" card. Also received a nice note from Roxana 
?; they were thrilled when Raúl Alfonsín was elected. Doesn't seem so 
long ago... the joys of SWLing (David Norcross, djnorx@fix.net, SLO 
CA, 7600G & DX-402, eve hung short wire Aug 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 

** AUSTRALIA. AUSTRALIAN MINISTER DENIES NATIONAL BROADCASTER'S BUDGET 
CUT DUE DISCONTENT | Text of report by Radio Australia on 5 August 

Australia's national broadcaster, the Australian Broadcasting 
Corporation [ABC], is facing cuts to programmes and staff as a result 
of a reduced funding from the federal government. Radio Australia is 
the corporation's international broadcaster. 

The federal communications minister, Richard Alston, has rejected 
suggestions the ABC's tight budget was predicated on government 
discontent with its handling of his complaints of bias in reporting on 
the Iraq conflict. Senator Alston says the government has given the 
ABC all it can afford in tight economic conditions and has denied 
there has been any retribution. 

[Alston] That would be very, very wrong for governments to act in that 
way. I mean, we make a judgement call about what we can afford over 
the budget. It was always going to be tough. You had the drought, you 
had Timor, you had Iraq. You can't just accommodate people's wish 
lists. We certainly didn't take any general level of discontent with 
the ABC into account. I mean, I've always regarded it as a great 
national cultural institution which needs proper funding. Source: 
Radio Australia, Melbourne, in English 0300 gmt 5 Aug 03 (via BBCM via 
DXLD)

** AUSTRALIA. THE ROYAL FLYING DOCTOR SERVICE 

The RFDS of Australia was founded by the Reverend John Flynn in 1928, 
during his association with the Australian Inland Mission. During his 
travels as a young missionary through Australia's outback, Flynn was 
amazed and horrified at the lack of medical care available to those 
pioneers living, working, and travelling in remote areas. His vision 
was to provide a "mantle of safety" for those attempting to settle and 
raise families in isolated outback areas. 

With the birth of aviation, Flynn seized the opportunity to reach 
those who were once unreachable, except through journeys of days or 
weeks, over roads that were not roads at all. The first Flying Doctor 
aircraft was a QANTAS DH50A named Victory, flown by pilot Arthur 
Affeck. The first Flying Doctor was Dr Kenyon St Vincent Welch, who 
took up duties at Cloncurry. Queensland, on 15 May, 1928. He performed 
his first duly two days later, conducting two minor operations at 
Julia Creek. 137 kilometres away. The doctor, pilot, and the aircraft 
provided the beginnings of the lifeline that was to extend throughout 
the country. 

In 1928, transport was not the only problem facing those living in 
isolated areas as communication over the distances Flynn's aeromedical 
service travelled was all but non-existent. However in 1929. a 
brilliant electrical engineer, Alfred Traeger, solved Flynn's problem 
of communication over long distances, by inventing the pedal wireless. 
Traeger's invention of a pedal operated generator to power a radio 
transceiver gave isolated Australians the ability to contact the 
Flying Doctor in emergencies. Two fledgling industries, radio and 
aviation, had joined with the age-old profession of medicine, and the 
Royal Flying Doctor Service was born. 

Today, while still fulfilling John Flynn's dream, the Royal Flying 
Doctor Service of the 21st century has developed into a 
technologically advanced and highly unique organisation. The RFDS has 
21 bases throughout Australia, which provide medical assistance to a 
service area which covers more than 7 million square kilometres of 
this continent. 

The QUEENSLAND Section is operated autonomously from the other RFDS 
Sections. It provides and supports primary healthcare in rural and 
remote areas, and is the pre-eminent provider of aeromedical services 
throughout Queensland. It receives generous operational funding from 
the State and Federal Governments, but needs to raise all of its 
capital costs through legacies and charitable donations from 
corporations and individuals. It has seven bases, employing 18 
doctors, 30 nurses, and 28 pilots and a fleet of ten aircraft. 

This includes three Pilatus PC12s and seven Super King Airs. The Super 
King Air is used mainly for emergency retrieval work, is capable of 
speeds up to 500 kilometres per hour and a range of 1500 kilometres, 
with a pilot, medical team and two patients on board. The Pilaius 
PC'13 is mainly used for clinic work. All RFDS aircraft are 
pressurised, enabling patients to be flown at the equivalent of sea 
level - an essential requirement in the event of many serious 
injuries. The aircraft are also fitted with Emergency Locater Beacon 
Homing Devices, allowing the RFDS Queensland Section to play a major 
role in search and rescue. 

RFDS doctors, pilots and nurses are on call 24 hours a day, seven days 
a week. The most common cause of injury requiring RFDS transportation 
are motor vehicle accidents and the most common illness is heart 
disease. In Queensland alone, the RFDS conducts over 48,500 patient 
consultations per year and over 2000 health clinics providing routine 
health care to people living in outback towns, farming and grazing 
communities, aboriginal communities, and mining sites. 

The pedal radio was invented by South Australian electrical engineer 
Alf Traeger in 1929 and it was modelled on a radio set used by the 
German army during World War I. The operator sat on a box or chair and 
placed his feet on a pair of bicycle pedals. By pedalling without 
great effort, the operator was able to generate enough power to 
produce 20 watts. The method of transmission was by Morse key so the 
pedalling operator had his hands free for tapping. The cost to produce 
a pedal radio set was 33 pounds. It had a range of 1,200 kilometres 
and the automatic Morse keyboard was introduced in 1932. 

The base station is at Cloncurry in northwest Queensland and the first 
pedal radio was installed at Augustus Downs's station 280 kilometres 
from Cloncurry. The first message was sent on 19th June 1929. A copy 
of which is displayed in our museum. Alf Traeger manufactured the 
first portable pedal radio set in 1933 and it was used by Kingsley 
"Skipper" Partridge, the Centralian Patrol Padre. The pedal radio 
broke the silence of the outback. In 1937, a letter from a cattle 
station out from Broome, in the Kimberley said; "Our transceiver is 
great. I do love that little morning schedule. Sometimes it's just a 
few words spoken on both sides, but it's so friendly and protective 
and such a security. Our neighbours of 100 miles away are really our 
neighbours now, for we hear his or her voice and exchange messages." 

The invention and development of the pedal radio is a fascinating 
story. To read more about the pedal radio and its inventor it is 
recommended that you read 'Traeger the Pedal Radio Man' by Fred McKay. 
This book is on sale in our Outback Shop (via Mike Evans, Aug World DX 
Club Contact via DXLD)

** CANADA. PAUL LOGAN'S TADX MENTIONED ON RADIO-CANADA 

Paul Logan's reception of CBAF-FM 88.5 Moncton was mentioned tonite on 
the very same program he heard via multi-hop e-skip on July 20! The 
program, which airs every Sunday night on Radio-Canada's "La Première 
Chaine", is called "Les Chemins De Travers" (Crossroads).

Here's the translation:

"We receive lots of e-mails concerning our program and notably one 
particular one that is a bit "curious" this week... you know, radio 
can be magic sometimes and waves can be propagated towards all kinds 
of surprising places. Well we have received an e-mail from Mr Charles 
Gauthier of St-Lambert that informs us that we were heard, "naturally 
heard", in Ireland! "Les Chemins De Travers" heard in Ireland, in 
French and about "courage" (that was the program theme that night). 
Well, waves were courageous that night: our signal travelled more than 
4000 km above the Atlantic. And there is a Mr. Logan that heard us and 
who must have been very surprised. He reported it to a group (that's 
us!!) dedicated to the long distance reception of radio signals. Well, 
imagine that! Personally, I'm very impressed and amazed that our 
program was bounced off to Ireland!"

I'm so glad they mentioned it, it was certainly an event worth 
mentioning. COOL!!

I should say that Paul sent me a 10 second MP3 of his reception, and 
in those 10 seconds you could clearly recognize the voice of this 
particular radio host. I also played it to a friend who immediately
recognized without hesitation the person, from only the few words 
mentioned on there!

Congrats again, Paul, for the amazing catch!

If anyone is interested to hear the clip from tonite's mention of TA 
reception of CBAF-FM, here's the link: (it's in French of course)
http://www.geocities.com/catgoodies/travers.mp3

[Later:] Hopefully, this link will work better. You can try 
downloading the file here:
http://www.colba.net/~tvfmdx/travers.mp3
(Charles Gauthier, St-Lambert, Québec, Aug 3, WTFDA via DXLD)

** CANADA. Last week's WTO mini-meetings: protesters produced a pirate 
station on 104.5 FM. See http://www.rock-the-wto-radio.taktic.org 
(CKUT International Radio Report via Ricky Leong, swprograms via DXLD)

** CONGO, Rep., 5985, Radio Congo, Assumed - 0440, Great signal... for 
less than five minutes, while WYFR was off to change azimuth to NAm 
west coast. 0450 great highlife (?) music. WYFR carrier at *0452, and 
that was that. Best short music program (!) (David Norcross, 
djnorx@fix.net, SLO CA, 7600G & DX-402, eve hung short wire Aug 4, DX 
LISTENING DIGEST) 

** CONGO DR. NEW UN MISSION-RUN RADIO ARTEMIS BEGINS BROADCAST FROM 
BUNIA | Excerpt from report by Congolese radio from Bunia on 5 August 

During yesterday morning's briefing, Col Dubois, spokesman of [French-
led] multinational force, announced that the broadcast of programmes 
by Radio Artemis began yesterday on 86.10 [sic] MHz as well as the old 
[word indistinct] on 90.2 MHz. 

There will be broadcast of music, [words indistinct], news in French, 
Swahili and Lingala. The programme line-up have not yet been 
established. News will be aired three times a day. The radio will work 
in collaboration with the information office of the MONUC [UN Observer 
Mission in Congo], which is managed by Mr Leo. 

Radio Okapi which is currently experiencing technical problems will 
work in close collaboration with the radio. In fact, MONUC will handle 
the management of the radio from September. [Passage omitted] Source: 
Radio Candip, Bunia, in French 0500 gmt 5 Aug 03 (via BBCM via DXLD)
 
** COSTA RICA. Latest from our studios August 4

University for Peace guards are acting on orders to stop all people 
from entering the RFPI building. This is happening despite an 
agreement for both organizations to meet to discuss the resolution 
amicably on the 11th of August. The University for Peace gave their 
word that no further action would be taken until the meeting took 
place.

Staff arrived for work this morning to be greeted by a guard posted 
outside the building who informed them that they had orders not to let 
anybody pass. Staff members explained that it was RFPI's building, it 
is their place of work and politely passed by. RFPI has invited 
supporters to gather at the radio station today and they are expecting 
people to arrive shortly. We will keep you informed 
(http://www.rfpi.org via DXLD)

** DENMARK. Referring to DXLD 3-138 I've been trying to find out 
whether these 3 ham 70 MHz frequencies are for CW only. I haven't 
found any mention of restrictions, so I guess you can use all modes 
(Erik Køie, Copenhagen, Aug. 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 

** ETHIOPIA [non]. ORAL MORSE CODE - Recently I noted a WUN monitor 
item which described an activity sending the message by speaking the 
dits and dahs of Morse code. This caused my memory cells to kick in 
and in searching through some old file material, I found material 
which had been copied in the 80s. The communications were between the 
Ethiopian Embassy in Washington DC and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs 
(MFA) in Addis Ababa. The Embassy used the assigned callsign of KNY44 
but in addition sometimes used NDL as his callsign. The MFA used ADL 
as his callsign. FTK and WSL were also noted as callsigns on the 
frequency but they were unidentified. The Embassy operator had an 
absolutely horrible fist and evidently was broken frequently by Addis 
to request repeats. I have to point out that the Morse code the 
Embassy operator sent in the voice mode was a vast improvement and 
completely readable as opposed to his hand sending (Radio Intrigue 
with Don Schimmel, Aug 1, at DXing.com via DXLD)

** IRAQ [non]. Re: 1314 - (US-run) Radio Free Iraq via Abu Dhabi
(BBC Monitoring research 1 Aug 03 via DXLD 3139, 4 August 03)

NB. The Radio Free Iraq relay on 1314 kHz originates from the Gavar 
transmitter in Armenia (acc. to IBB's own schedule; times are 0300-
0400 & 1400-1600) rather than via Abu Dhabi (Bernd Trutenau, 
Lithuania, MW-DX via DXLD)

** ISRAEL [and non]. From http://www.israelnn.com/news.php3?id=47557 
(IsraelNN.com) Northern area residents were somewhat surprised to 
learn that Hizbullah Radio transmitted from Lebanon is now interfering 
with Galei Tzahal (Army Radio) broadcasts in northern Israel. 06:29 
Aug. 04 (via Mike Terry, DXLD) WTFK??? That`s the entire item (gh, 
DXLD)

** ITALY. Altri link di radio FM sui 50 MHz ascoltati da Bocca di 
Magra (La Spezia) --- Other Italian FM links on 50 MHz heard from 
Bocca di Magra (La Spezia, Liguria, Italy)

52.52 Radio Quattro (Pisa)
56.40 Contatto Radio Popolare Network (province Massa Carrara), with 
      RDS pi 50C6
58.20 Radio Studio 3 (La Spezia)
60.00 Lattemiele with RDS pi 5355
64.98 R. Milano 5 (Massa Carrara) with RDS pi 5ACA
68.40 Radio A Aulla (Massa Carrara)

Rx: AOR 5000 - Ant.: Miracle Whip (Giampiero Bernardini, Avvenire, 
Milano, Italy, BCLNews via DXLD) This adds to the list in 3-136

** KOREA NORTH [non]. Yesterday, we carried an item from RN Media
Network about North Korea asking South Korea to end various services.
These included what the North Koreans called the Social Education
program. The WRTH says that this is the same as the Liberty program
which is actually two services on 3930, 6015, and 6135. I can't tell
if these services are on, but I suspect they are. The other two
stations, Voice of the People and Echo of Hope, also remain on. Just
noted both of them right before 1300 (Hans Johnson, WY, Cumbre DX via
DXLD)

If to judge from the KBS home page, there is only one service left 
(24h): http://www.kbs.co.kr/radio/social_radio.html ILG lists 3930 
(0000-2400) & 6015 (0400-2130), marks 6135 (former R. Liberty 2) as 
inactive. 73s, (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, Aug 5, Cumbredx mailing 
list via DXLD)

** LIBERIA. Further to DXLD 3-138: IDPs are 'internally displaced 
persons', people who move within national boundaries to escape 
conflict or persecution, but don't cross international borders. There 
are an estimated 25 million IDPs in the world today, 13 million of 
them in Africa. For more, see http://www.idpproject.org (Matt Francis, 
Washington DC, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

IDP is an abbreviation often seen in Africa. It means internally 
displaced people. The word "refugees" suggests those who have fled 
from one country to another, rather than those fleeing within their 
own borders. Regards, (Chris Greenway, Nairobi, Kenya, Aug 5, DX 
LISTENING DIGEST)

FOOD IS SCARCE FOR LIBERIAN REFUGEES AS PEACEKEEPERS ARRIVE
Posted by: newsdesk on Monday, August 04, 2003 - 03:28 PM

``People are cautiously optimistic about peacekeepers arriving in 
Liberia,`` Rick Sacra, M.D., SIM Liberia Associate Director reported 
on Friday. ``I spoke at noon today with our friends at Radio Station 
ELWA (in the Liberian capitol of Monrovia) and the Chairman of ECUL 
(the SIM related national church in Liberia). Food is still very 
scarce. Rice costs about 6000 Liberian dollars ($80 US) for a 50 kg. 
bag on the eastern side of the city, and many are going hungry.`` 

Sacra added, ``Fighting is still going on but the situation at Radio 
Station ELWA has remained calm. The ELWA management is not accepting 
any more displaced people on the campus, since all the shelters and 
buildings are full.`` There are now about 2,550 persons, roughly 2,150 
of them displaced, on the ELWA campus. In addition, there are an 
estimated 1,000 displaced people on Carver Mission`s campus across the 
highway. A small food distribution (one day`s food supply) was carried 
out there, provided by the Great Commission Movement (Campus Crusade 
for Christ) in Monrovia. 

ELWA continues broadcasting a Christian message of hope -- music, 
Bible teaching and testimonial programs such as ``Unshackled`` -- on a 
reduced schedule of about three hours each morning and evening. 
However, the future of the broadcasts hinges on the availability of 
diesel fuel for the generators. ``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 added. 
(From: 
http://www.hcjb.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=656&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0
via DXLD)

** LIECHTENSTEIN. RADIO L IN FINANCIAL DIFFICULTIES

According to a performance agreement with the government, Radio L 
receives 750,000 Francs annually from the state, but if the radio 
station is to get its way, more money is to flow in the future. The 
only Liechtenstein radio station, Radio L, which will have been on air 
for eight years on the coming National Day on 15 August, seems to be 
in financial difficulties. As the press department reported last week, 
government agreed on talks with the Radio L management and its owner, 
the Radio-TV AG, with the aim of keeping the station on air (From 
http://www.news.li/news/meld3.htm via Mike Terry, DXLD)

** MEXICO. Checking out XERMX`s alleged Portuguese fortnightly for a 
radioescutas member --- it`s still mentioned on the home page via 
http://www.imer.gob.mx but not in the new pdf grid 
http://www.imer.gob.mx/cartas/rmi/pdf --- I also discovered that the 
current schedule has gone through a great many changes. There are no 
longer any DX or mailbag programs in English, the equivalents in 
Spanish have new names, and are not repeated at various times of day, 
here all times converted from `TM` to UT, just:

DX 21, Tue & Fri 2030-2045, ``espacio dedicado a los radioaficionados 
y diexistas del mundo`` 

Línea Abierta, Mon, Thu, Sat 2030-2045, ``los comentarios y opiniones 
de los escuchas de RMI``

Check out the grid for everything else, including lots of music 
programs, one of them in English. Even blowing it up to 300%, the 
finest print is barely legible here. The grid appears to be color-
coded, but this has nothing to do with language; unless I missed 
something in the fine print, the only English blocks remaining are:

Antena Radio (translation of the main Spanish newscast), 
M-F 1400-1430, 2200-2230
Talking Mexico, Sat & Sun 2200-2230
Regional Roots & Rhythms, M/W/F 2000-2015

At the top of it a postal address appears to be new:
Mayorazgo #83, Colonia Xoco, CP 03330, Mexico DF

Furthermore, I had to go back to the IMER main page to find XERMX, 
rather than the direct link in Media Network`s hit list, which no 
longer works.

This is effective until Oct. 1, 2003, when we suspect DF will go off 
DST earlier than we, and shift all programming one UT hour later; all 
on 9705 and 11770, with the usual weak signals and modulation, so good 
luck in hearing RMI well enough to get anything at all out of the 
programming! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MEXICO. Furthermore, at the http://www.imer.gob.mx site if you 
click on Estaciones Foráneas, you get this list of stations around the 
country outside the DF, each with its own logo and capsule, some non-
commercial stations worth checking out; the dates are not explained, 
but I can guess they are the anniversary of each station, something 
important to Latins. Yes, specified as such under each station`s link. 
Note that XERF, with dead links to `Cartas programáticas` and `ficha 
técnica` is shown with only 15 kW here and covering only a few towns 
in Coahuila!

El IMER cuenta con ocho estaciones en el D.F. y doce estaciones en el 
interior del país. La importancia de la red de emisoras del Grupo se 
refleja en la cobertura, que abarca gran parte del territorio Nacional

XHSCO Estéreo Istmo, Salina Cruz, Oaxaca. 96.3 FM, 3,000 Watts. 
Diciembre 7.
XEBCO La Poderosa Voz de Colima, Villa de Alvarez, Colima. 1210 AM, 
50,000 Watts. Junio 26
XEMIT La Voz de Balún Canán, Comitán, Chiapas. 540 AM, 5000 Watts. 
Diciembre 7.
XERF La Poderosa 15-70, Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila. 1570 AM, 15,000 Watts. 
Febrero 22
XHYUC Radio Solidaridad, Mérida, Yucatán. 92.9 FM, 30,000 Watts. 
Octubre 24.
XETEB Radio Mar, Tenabo, Campeche 920 AM, 1,500 Watts. 1  de 
Noviembre.
XHUAN Estéreo Frontera, Tijuana, Baja California Norte. 102.5 FM, 
10,000 Watts. Agosto 10.
XECAH La Popular 13-50, Cacahoatán, Chiapas. 1350 AM, 5,000 Watts. 
Septiembre 16.
XEFQ La Voz de la Ciudad del Cobre, Cananea, Sonora. 980 AM, 2,500 
Watts. Junio 10.
XHUAR Orbita, Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua. 106.7 FM, 25,000 Watts. 1  de 
Noviembre
XECHZ Radio Lagarto, Chiapa de Corzo, Chiapas. 1560 AM, 20,000 Watts. 
Noviembre 23.
XELAC Radio Azul, Lázaro Cárdenas, Michoacán. 1560 AM, 5,000 Watts. 
Noviembre 4.
(Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** NIGERIA. STATE BROADCASTER NEEDS 48M DOLLARS TO ACHIEVE ITS 
OBJECTIVES (Correcting spelling of name Taiwo Allimi (BBCM via DXLD) 
Re 3-139: Not Alimi

** PALESTINE. US RADIO SAWA USING FM FREQUENCY FORMERLY USED BY 
   RAMALLAH STATION 

The US Arabic-language broadcaster Radio Sawa's web site now lists 
94.2 MHz as a frequency on which it can be heard in the 
"Ramallah/Jerusalem/Bethlehem" region. 

BBC Monitoring confirmed on 4 August that Radio Sawa was using that 
frequency. Programming was in parallel with that on Radio Sawa's Amman 
transmitter (98.1 MHz) and the station's shortwave programming on 
9505, 11745 and 11785 kHz. 

The 94.2 MHz frequency was previously occupied by Palestinian 
broadcaster Voice of Love and Peace, based in Ramallah. This station's 
web site http://www.volpfm.com audio stream no longer functions, and a 
statement on the programme guide page states that the page is "under 
construction". 

On 30 July Palestinian Information Ministry officials said Radio Sawa 
had hired airtime "from a Palestinian local radio, in contravention of 
Palestinian regulations in force," the Egyptian news agency MENA 
reported. 

[The Radio Sawa web site - http://www.radiosawa.com - offers live 
streaming audio and states that the station broadcasts "24 hours a 
day, seven days a week on FM frequencies throughout the Middle East. 
Radio Sawa is also available via Nilesat, Arabsat and Eutelsat." 

The site lists the following FM frequencies: 
Abu Dhabi - 98.7; Amman - 98.1; Baghdad - 100.4; 
Bethlehem/Jerusalem/Ramallah - 94.2; Djibouti - 100.8; Doha - 92.6; 
Dubai - 90.5; Arbil - 100.5; Kuwait - 95.7; Manama - 89.2; 
Sulaymaniyah - 88.0. 
Radio Sawa is also on mediumwave: Egypt-Levant - 990 and 1260 kHz; 
Iraq and The Gulf - 1548 kHz. 
Radio Sawa's web site also lists a selection of shortwave 
frequencies.] Source: BBC Monitoring research 5 Aug 03 (via DXLD)

** SEALAND. HAS 'HAVEN' FOR QUESTIONABLE SITES SUNK? 

Was this not connected with pirate radio/offshore radio activities in 
past years? -fw

By Declan McCullagh, Staff Writer, CNET News.com, August 4, 2003, 1:38 
PM PT

LAS VEGAS --- A widely publicized project to transform a man-made 
platform in the English Channel into a "safe haven" for controversial 
Web businesses has failed due to political, technical and management 
problems, one of the company's founders said. 

Ryan Lackey, former chief technology officer of HavenCo, said on 
Sunday afternoon that he left the project because his business 
partners had become nervous about hosting objectionable material and 
were leading the company toward financial ruin, with only about six 
customers remaining. 

"The key lesson on this is if you're going to put a colo facility 
somewhere, political and contract stability in that jurisdiction is 
very important," Lackey said, referring to co-location setups, or 
virtual site-hosting facilities. "Customers want stability. They don't 
want the network to be down for two months." The 24-year-old Lackey 
spoke to an audience of about 600 at the DefCon hacker convention 
here. 

HavenCo did not immediately respond to inquiries. The company's Web 
site says HavenCo is "fully operational, offering the world's most 
secure managed servers in the world's only true free-market 
environment." 

When HavenCo launched in June 2000 to widespread press acclaim ---
including a cover story in Wired magazine --- its founders promised to 
transform a windswept gun tower anchored six miles off the stormy 
coast of England into a co-location facility that would be a virtual 
home for businesses that were too controversial to place their servers 
elsewhere. The name of the company was derived from the concept of a 
safe haven from governments around the world that have become 
increasingly interested in Internet regulation and taxation. 

HavenCo is located on a rusting, basketball court-size fortress 
erected by the British military during World War II to shoot down Nazi 
aircraft. Roy Bates, the quirky "crown prince" of "Sealand" landed on 
the abandoned platform in 1966 and claimed it as an independent nation 
with its own currency, stamps, and flag. Although its legal status is 
unclear, Sealand lies within the territorial boundary of 10 miles 
claimed by England. 

A Sealand representative said in an e-mail interview on Monday that 
"HavenCo is a viable operation. It is moving from strength to 
strength." 

The representative said that "for our part, we would simply ask you to 
note that Mr. Lackey is no longer an employee of HavenCo --- He does 
not at this time have a valid visa for return. We hope the confusion 
generated by his remarks can be cleared up in due course." 

Lackey said, "Financial stability was getting questionable because we 
were spending more money and reducing demand. Then they started 
talking about taxing Sealand-hosted companies, and that was very 
interesting." 

Lackey, who said HavenCo owes him $220,000 in cash and additional 
money in stock, said another problem was the Sealand family's 
tinkering with the network connection, which caused extended outages 
and occasionally left it dependent solely on a slow satellite link. 

Lackey blamed what he described as HavenCo's impending demise on 
increasingly sour relations with Bates, Bates' son and royal heir-
apparent Michael and the family's legal advisor, coupled with the 
family's increasing nervousness about their customers' activities 
after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States. 
During an interview with the BBC, the family said they'd readily "turn 
customer information over to the authorities if there was any serious 
problem with our stuff," Lackey said. 

Bates, a former British Army major, has undertaken a string of failed 
business ventures in an attempt to profit from what he asserts is the 
world's smallest country. One Bates plan was to extend Sealand into a 
three-mile-long, man-made island with banks and its own airport. 
Another scheme included working with German investors to build a $70 
million hotel and gambling complex --- a scheme that fell apart after 
the Germans took over the fortress in 1978 and Bates regained control 
in a dramatic helicopter raid at dawn. 

In an interview after his speech, Lackey said that the turning point 
of his relationship with the Sealand royal family was a meeting in 
London last year with Alex Tan, a Malaysian entrepreneur who ran the 
Film88.com Web site, which had been the target of legal action 
including a July 2002 suit filed by the Motion Picture Association of 
America. 

Tan was prepared to pay HavenCo millions of dollars to host a Web site 
that would let customers stream movies from legally purchased DVDs, 
something that was not clearly illegal because only one customer at a 
time could view each stream, Lackey said. The Sealand royal family 
balked over the possibility of bad publicity, Lackey said. "I decided 
as soon as I got out of the meeting that I was going to quit," Lackey 
said. 

Lackey is still listed as the "whois" administrative and technical 
contact for the havenco.com domain (via Fred Waterer, Ont., DXLD)

** SERBIA & MONTENEGRO. Hi Glenn, Yesterday evening at mid-night 21 UT 
I was listening to the English news from ex-Radio Yugoslavia on 6100 
kHz. Their new name is The International Radio of Serbia-Montenegro. 
However, 2107 UT jingle: "Radio Yugoslavia"! Transmitter site still in 
Bijeljina, Bosnia-Hercegovina? 73´s (Jouko Huuskonen, Turku, FINLAND, 
Aug 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Sure; where else?

** SOLOMON ISLANDS. I saw this story in today's New Zealand Herald but 
I couldn't find it in their on line edition. So I went to my friend 
and colleague Michael Field's web-site and got it from there.
Regards, Barry

http://203.97.34.63/sol29.htm

REMOTEST PARTS OF SOLOMON ISLANDS COMING ONTO THE INTERNET -- AND 
MAKING VAST DIFFERENCE TO RURAL LIFE

By Michael Field

HONIARA, Aug 1 (AFP) - Despite the tag of being the Pacific's first 
"failed state", and now under a benign Australian military occupation, 
the Solomon Islands is blazing a radical trail of short-wave wireless 
Internet service linking its remotest of islands and atolls and 
improving life.

No longer do remote islanders have to risk their lives in long canoe 
trips to send messages. And in remote islands where the biggest 
business opportunity used to consist of drying copra and bagging it in 
anticipation a passing ship might call by, Peoples First Network or 
PFnet http://www.peoplefirst.net.sb is opening new worlds.

With off the shelf technology built around second-hand laptop 
computers Solomon Islanders are plugging into email and e-commerce.

It offers a radical contrast to the international image of the 
Solomons with its pictures of rebels and Australian soldiers and 
police sweeping ashore onto Guadalcanal's Red Beach, as part of 
Operation Helpum Fren that promises to restore law and order to the 
Pacific nation.

PFnet works in a different reality; 85 percent of Solomon Islanders 
live in tiny functioning rural communities scattered across 100 
populated islands.

PFnet technical adviser David Leeming takes real pleasure in the case 
of Dreamtime Traders, a wholly owned Solomon Islands company operating 
on Ulawa Island, 200 kilometres (125 miles) east of here.

"This is an example of the difference the Internet can make to lives," 
he told AFP.

Dreamtime, with its 10 local staff, buys seafood products, caught by
traditional bamboo pole methods as well as diving, and offers 
chilled-in-brine crayfish tails, reef fish and flying fish which are 
flown to the capital each Saturday.

Dreamtime receives its email orders from buyers in Honiara and once
confirmation is received that payment has been banked, the order is 
sent.

"They deliver it to your door, fresh lobsters," Leeming says.

The project is so much at odds with the image of a failing Solomons 
that the United Nations Development Project is to highlight it at the 
World Summit on the Information Society in Geneva in December.

Communications has always been a severe problem in the Solomons, even 
in Honiara which is one of the few places on earth effectively outside
communication satellite footprints. It makes satellite 
telecommunications expensive because big dishes are needed and puts it 
out of reach of most communities.

They have always had short-wave radio though and for decades 
particular settlements have had radio operators who use voice 
communications on a network celebrated by its complete lack of 
confidentiality.

Leeming says it is also not very reliable and it can take hours to 
establish contact and the radio stations are often still hours away 
from  settlements.

Digital short-wave is different; and PFnet is using it to create one 
of the world's furthest flung wireless net internet services, all on 
the most basic of funding. With solar panels, a particular kind of 
modem and a laptop, and any community is linked up to the world. PFnet 
provides training to local women to run the computer and type up the 
emails. Each person on the remotest atoll has his or her own email 
address.

At this stage the project does not have the world wide web, but 
Boston's MIT is developing, partly with PFnet in mind, an email search 
engine in which a person can email a search criteria and receive back, 
as an email, the best set of hits for the search term. It is not a web 
page but rather text pages stripped of all the pop ups and pictures.

Leeming came here as a British volunteer on remote Santa Isabel.

"There were no communications at all, sometimes it took six months for 
the mail to arrive," he said.

"If they had wanted to send messages they have often had to take 
canoes and travel for hours. People have drowned here trying to send 
messages and Pfnet cuts out these unnecessary journeys."

PFnet offers highly confidential information to women who have never 
had such information before. PFnet is aiding in the teaching human 
rights on remote atolls. As the Solomon's central government falters, 
PFnet is playing an important role in constitution reform debate.

"People are saying it is increasing their health security, they know 
that they can ask for help."

One on island a man was able to send an email to New Zealand, locate 
his long lost son and get an email message back from him within two 
hours.

"He broke down and cried when it came, he had not heard for so long."

Pickering says it is hoping to breakdown the cycle of suspicion among 
the islands.

"People have seen it is a very quickly that it is a useful thing to 
have*. It has as a definite target to engage in peace building."

Farmers on Malaita Island have been able to send pictures of sick 
chickens to vets in Australia and at the beautiful Morovo Lagoon 
traditional carvers are exploring ways of putting their material up on 
the web and taking orders direct from customers.

Early this year the Solomon's atoll of Tikopia attracted world 
headlines when a powerful cyclone rolled over top of it, cutting it 
off from the world for over a week.

PFnet hopes to have them on the web soon and next time, rather than 
waiting for some foreign air force to fly in and take their photos, 
Tikopia Islanders will be able to email out a jpeg to anybody 
interested (via Barry via Wolfgang Bueschel, DXLD)

** SUDAN [non]. Glenn, I heard the new broadcasts to Sudan with 
excellent signals last night on 17630 and 17660 at 1600 and 1700 
respectively. Programming was entirely music. The programming started 
30 seconds before the top of the hour, an old standard BBC procedure 
that strongly suggests a Merlin connection to the broadcasts (Chris 
Greenway, Kenya, Aug 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** UGANDA. MPS GRILL MINISTERS OVER RADIO VERITAS
   http://allafrica.com/stories/200307310138.html
   The Monitor (Kampala) July 31, 2003
   Ssemujju Ibrahim Nganda, Kampala

The closure of a radio station in Soroti sparked off an angry debate 
in Parliament yesterday. Kyoga Veritas radio is run by the Soroti 
Catholic Diocese Integrated Development Organisation (Socadido).

It was closed on June 22, when the police raided its offices.

MPs on the Presidential and Foreign Affairs committee asked two 
ministers from the President's Office: Dr Nsaba Buturo (Information) 
and Mr Omwony Ojwok (Economic Monitoring) to explain why the 
government has not reopened the station.

The ministers were appearing to present their 2003/2004 budget 
estimates. "The Catholic Church believe government is working against 
its interest," said the committee chairwoman, Ms Salaam Musumba.

Buturo described the Catholic Church's reported bitterness as 
"ridiculous".

MPs Elijah Okupa (Kasilo) and Mr Louis Opange (Pallisa) alleged that 
some influential politicians are behind the closure. This prompted 
Kashari MP Maj. John Kazoora to demand that the politicians be named.

The Samia Bugwe North MP, Mr Aggrey Awori, said that the influential
politicians are ministers Michael Mukula (state for Health) and 
Christine Aporu (state for Disaster Preparedness).

Bukonzo East MP, Mr Apolinaris Kithende, said that Mukula is one of 
the directors at the rival Voice of Teso FM.

Minister Buturo got into trouble when he told the committee that the 
radio station was actually not closed. He said that the Police only 
took its equipment.

Musumba asked him to name the state security agency that descended on 
the radio and on whose orders. The minister's answers failed to 
satisfy the MPs.

The MPs demanded that a report on the closure of the radio should be 
tabled in Parliament.

Concerns over Veritas thus overshadowed the debate on the sorry state 
of Radio Uganda and Uganda Television. MPs had earlier warned the 
ministers that they would never consider the Uganda Broadcasting 
Agency (UBA) again if the government failed to have it in place this 
year.

The Ministry of Information had asked for Shs 15 billion but the MPs 
were surprised to learn that it has been allocated only Shs 150 
million this financial year (via Mike Terry, DXLD)

** UGANDA. IDI AMIN'S SON A DJ  
   http://allafrica.com/stories/200307310035.html
   bottom half of article:

His 1971 to 1979 reign in Uganda following a military coup was one of 
the bloodiest in Africa's modern history, and Amin has not been back 
to his country since he was ousted by joint forces of Tanzanian troops 
and Ugandan exiles on April 11, 1979.

Up to 400,000 people are estimated to have died during his time in 
office or are still unaccounted for.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni warned last week that Amin would 
face trial for his atrocities if he returned to his homeland alive.

Last week, one of his wives and a daughter joined him at his bedside 
after a flight from Kampala "facilitated" by the government. On Monday 
his son, Hussein Lumumba, flew to Saudi Arabia. His flight was also 
facilitated by the government.

Lumumba is a producer and Disk Jockey with Kampala's Capital Radio.

"He arrived safely in Jeddah and was linking up with his brothers who 
are looking after their father who has a kidney problem," said a 
source (via Fred Waterer, DXLD)

** U K [and non]. WHAT'S HAPPENING TO THE BBC?

I found this on the Columbia Journalism Review's web site. What Murrow 
described in his speech happened to US commercial broadcasting many 
years ago and today we see this branch of the electronic media in all 
its uselessness. One can take the view (and this "one" does) that what 
Murrow described is now taking place at the BBC, albeit a half century 
later.

http://www.cjr.org/year/02/3/grossman.asp

BTW, I was led to this from the web site for Bill Moyers' "Now" 
program, which has some truly excellent and stunning examples of what 
journalism can be on a wide variety of topics, including the media 
concentration of control issues now under discussion in the US. (As an 
aside, I wonder if the title of the program -- "Now" -- is in some 
ways a homage to Murrow's classic program in this vein -- "See It 
Now".) (John Figliozzi, NY, Aug 4, swprograms via DXLD)

** U K. CHARIOTS OF FIRE SPECIAL ON BBC RADIO
   Follow up to item in DXLD 3-137, from the ``Elsewhere`` web site:

Chariots

The BBC radio show only too briefly touched the subject of the film's
music, but for those interested, the show can be listened back to
online at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/reunion/reunion2.shtml
(from http://www.elsew.com via John Norfolk, DXLD)

** U S A. Friendly persuasion  
   Story in Globe and Mail, Toronto, Aug. 2

AMERICA'S CULTURAL OFFENSIVE

Washington hopes to ease foreign-policy woes in the Middle East by 
wooing hearts and minds with a new Arabic-language radio network, 
satellite TV channel and glossy monthly magazine. It's the funky side 
of the war on terror, SIMON HOUPT writes

By SIMON HOUPT, Saturday, August 2, 2003 - Page R1
    
Toni Braxton is going to save the United States from terrorism. All 
across the Middle East this week, from Cairo to Baghdad, the R&B 
singer's 10-year-old soft-rock hit Another Sad Love Song wafted out of 
taxicabs, cafés and the bedrooms of middle-class teenagers.

To most of the Arabs swaying along to Braxton's warble, maybe the tune 
was something to help them relax while they sipped their coffee or 
waited out the endless petroleum lines. To the U.S. government, 
however, that song is a vital weapon in a war it can't afford to lose.

Braxton is in a new kind of army, standing at attention with Celine 
Dion, Eric Clapton, Ace of Base and the rapper Coolio, making up a 
Trojan-horse brigade drafted to seduce young Arab adults into admiring 
the United States.

Their staging ground is Radio Sawa, a Washington-based Arabic-language 
radio network heard in most Middle Eastern countries.

This is the funky side of America's war on terror. After conquering 
the world's movie and TV screens with Hollywood culture and Madison 
Avenue marketing, the U.S. government is trying to put its competitive 
advantage in storytelling to a more high-minded purpose.

Along with Radio Sawa, which replaced the old and ignored Voice of 
America Arabic-language service, the government is throwing its muscle 
and money behind Hi magazine, a glossy new monthly distributed 
throughout the region, and a TV network.

The debut issue of Hi, which hit newsstands two weeks ago, looks at 
the Arab student experience at American universities, a profile of the
Lebanese-American actor Tony Shalhoub, and a piece about the sport of
sandboarding (more accessible to Arab youth than snowboarding, to be 
sure).

Last month, Congress voted to give $62-million (U.S.) to the Middle 
East Television Network, an Arabic-language satellite channel slated 
to launch by the end of the year.

Its creators are calling it a cross between NBC and CNN. Programming 
is still being planned, but it will likely include a morning news 
broadcast like The Today Show, lifestyle programming, women's shows, 
children's shows, sports, popular American sitcoms and dramas dubbed 
into Arabic, and an evening news program similar to Nightline.

Many nations engage in cultural diplomacy to raise their profile 
around the world, including Canada through the Department of Foreign 
Affairs, but none with the intensity, financial backing, or newfound 
desperation of the United States. For America, convincing the world it 
is a benign presence may be a matter of life and death. "We're 
fighting a war of ideas as much as a war on terror," Tucker Eskew said 
recently. Eskew is the director of the White House's Office of Global 
Communications, which President George W. Bush created in January.

Sawa is on the leading edge of its effort. While the old VOA Arabic 
service could only be heard on shortwave -- which meant that it was 
barely heard at all -- Sawa is carried on regular AM or FM frequencies 
licensed by many of the regional governments. (Strangely, it has not 
been licensed yet by two of America's closest friends, Egypt and Saudi 
Arabia; Sawa reaches into those countries from powerful transmitters 
stationed elsewhere.)

Named after the Arabic word for together, Sawa is a boom-box vision of
American and Arabic cultures happily nuzzling one another. It is the 
only radio network in the world that alternates Western and Arabic pop 
songs, throwing in news and information bursts from an American 
perspective. 

Broadcasting from a studio in Washington, where a team of Arab-
American journalists co-ordinate with bureaus around the Middle East, 
the station tries to interact as much as possible with its audience. 
The occasional feature Sawa Chat, heard between songs, offers man-on-
the-street interviews and phoned-in comments about issues of the day, 
from dating and marriage to politically sensitive discussions about 
local governments.

As propaganda goes, it's awfully subtle. The aim is to project an 
image of openness, to give Arab youth an outlet they haven't had 
before, while reminding them that it has all been brought to them by 
their friendly neighbourhood U.S. government-sponsored broadcasters.

Tune in to Sawa, as Arab youth increasingly have been doing since it
launched in March, 2002, and you'll hear Celine Dion's anthemic I'm 
Alive bumping up against Lebanese heartthrob Fadel Shaker's Euro-disco 
hit Ya Ghayeb, then right on into the gouchie gouchie yaya dada swank 
of Lady Marmalade from Baz Lurhmann's Moulin Rouge. There's a global 
village thumping from your speakers.

This is supposed to make Arab youth feel better about the Bush
administration's continuing support of Israel and its installation of 
a U.S.-friendly government in Iraq.

The music softens up the audience for a light dose of American-style
journalism. "Clearly our policies in the Middle East are not embraced 
by most of the population, so if you want to attract an audience, you 
don't lead with policy," explains Norman Pattiz, a member of the 
Broadcasting Board of Governors, an independent agency that oversees 
all of the U.S.-government-sponsored international broadcasting 
services.

As the founder and chairman of Westwood One, the largest radio network 
in the United States, Pattiz rode modern market-research techniques to 
the peak of the American industry, and he's doing it again in the 
Middle East.

If you want to know what makes Arab youth tick, head into the heart of 
New Jersey. About 50 kilometres southwest of Manhattan, in a recently 
renovated grand Victorian house tucked away on a leafy side street of 
Somerville, N.J., you'll find Edison Media Research. Clients include 
The New York Times, the Orlando Magic basketball team, the pay 
television network HBO, and Radio Sawa.

Through its Middle East affiliates, Edison is bringing a Western 
approach to Sawa's programming by conducting weekly studies -- focus 
groups, telephone surveys and other polls -- to help its executives 
calibrate the music and news to the audience's tastes. The scientific 
approach is working, according to numbers provided by Edison that show 
Sawa is the No. 1 radio station in Amman, Jordan, among its target 
audience of 18 to 30-year-olds.

But the cultural efforts of the U.S. won't be successful, says 
Columbia University religion professor Peter Awn, because America, "is 
viewed with enormous suspicion."

Edison's executive vice-president Joe Lenski says those in the region 
aren't merely suspicious of the United States. "The average 18 to 30-
year-old American is a minimal user of media for news, and also very 
trusting and in a lot of ways naive," Lenski explains. "Those in the 
U.S. will say, 'It's on the news, so it must be true,' but 18 to 30-
year-olds in the Middle East will say, 'If it's on the news, someone 
must have put it there for a reason. What's the reason?' "

Back in June, 2002, Sawa asked people in its target demographic which 
radio stations they listened to for news. Sawa barely registered. But 
a few months later prospects were looking up. By last fall, half of 
the target audience regularly listened to Sawa, according to numbers 
provided by Pattiz. Thirty per cent said they found the network's news 
credible and reliable.

Against that backdrop, then, Sawa is doing all right. Bolstered by the
numbers and $35-million in congressional funding, Sawa recently 
expanded its activities, launching four streams tailored to the 
different countries in the region, including one dedicated to Iraq and 
another, Radio Farda, broadcasting in the Farsi language into Iran.

"If you take a look at the media in those countries, what you find are
things like hate speech on radio and television, incitement to 
violence, disinformation, government censorship and journalistic self-
censorship," Pattiz says. "Up until Radio Sawa, the U.S. did not 
really have a horse in this race. So what you have is an opinion of 
the United States, which is of course at an all-time low, that is 
pretty much the product of government-controlled media outlets.

"The point is to get our views and the way that we cover the news out 
there, and to let the people decide for themselves."

Some antagonists aren't thrilled with the United States' increasing 
cultural activities. Last month, on the day that Voice of America 
launched a new half-hour Farsi-language TV program, News and Views, 
into Iran, Cuba responded by jamming the broadcasts. But Fidel Castro 
isn't the only one who objects; Americans themselves have an 
ambivalent and thorny history with cultural diplomacy.

Back in 1938 the State Department created a Division of Cultural 
Relations as a way of bringing American artists out from under the 
shadow of their more famous European and Russian colleagues. The 
Division sent thousands of musicians abroad, including Dizzy 
Gillespie, Dave Brubeck and Louis Armstrong. The experience inspired 
Brubeck and his wife, Iola, to write the musical The Real Ambassadors, 
which suggested it was odd to be telling the world that America was a 
beacon of freedom when blacks in the U.S. South were still suffering 
under segregationist Jim Crow laws. Perhaps the show, which starred 
Armstrong and his wife Carmen McRae, was too cynical. It never made it 
to Broadway.

Recognizing there was a revolution under way in the fine-art world, 
the Division organized painting exhibitions abroad and even began 
collecting works by artists such as Milton Avery and Stuart Davis. 
Then a few politicians who didn't like modern art declared that public 
money shouldn't go toward supporting private artists, and that was the 
end of that. The White House restored support and in 1964, Robert 
Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Claes Oldenburg, Frank Stella and others 
won acclaim at the Venice Biennale. The support was short-lived; 
Congress again declared the arts an elite waste of money and cut the 
funding.

But that's because those painters were engaged in arts for art's sake. 
Art with a political purpose, well, that was something the politicians 
could wrap their vote-seeking heads around. Throughout the Cold War, 
the U.S. government, through the Central Intelligence Agency, 
channelled millions of dollars into cultural efforts designed to 
rebuff the communist threat and present America as a free and 
democratic place.

Among the agency's beneficiaries was the Congress for Cultural 
Freedom, a group of anticommunist intellectuals who worked to 
discredit Stalinist apologists in the U.S. artistic community. The CIA 
also paid for the publication of more than 1,000 books (the full list 
is still classified), and operations such as Radio Free Europe and 
Radio Liberty, which broadcast anticommunist messages into the Eastern 
Bloc countries. The CIA was removed from those activities in the late 
1960s when their connection was discovered.

Mindful of the image of the Ugly American abroad, those behind the new
initiatives are trying to be more sensitive to the cultures they hope 
to engage. In some of the stricter Muslim countries, where gender 
segregation is the norm, Edison Research conducts separate focus 
groups for men and women. Sawa won't play unedited Eminem tracks, to 
avoid offending conservative listeners. "If we're trying to create a 
connection between ourselves and our audience, we have to be very 
sensitive to their cultural sensibilities," says Norman Pattiz.

Still, Abdallah Schleifer scoffs at efforts such as Sawa. Schleifer, 
who grew up Jewish in Queens, N.Y., before converting to Islam, moved 
to the Middle East in 1970 as a reporter for NBC News. He is now the 
director of the Adham Center for TV Journalism at the American 
University in Cairo, where he teaches primarily upwardly mobile 
middle-class students with an affinity for Western lifestyles.

"I don't think Radio Sawa is going to cut any ice with people who feel 
their culture and heritage is threatened by the West and by America, 
by those who would be sympathetic to Islamist movements," Schleifer 
says. "It'll cut ice with people who are already engaged by Western 
culture. The irony is, the fact that it engages them doesn't mean it's 
going to make them pro-American. Just because you go for American rap 
doesn't make you pro-American.

"I don't want to fault them, they're spending all that money," 
Schleifer continues, "but those who like Sawa and say, 'Yeah, who 
wants to fight America? It's great, it's the future, I wish I could be 
American' -- they're not going to be in the vanguard of liberalism. 
They're going to be at the disco, dancing. So in a sense it gets 
nowhere.

"Radio Sawa is not going to produce battalions marching to a political
tune."

Schleifer suggests a different tack. "What's always sold people here 
to America is the quality of American education, American medicine, 
American science and technology -- whereas MTV, which may get to their 
kids, appalls them. This is one of the weird things, to hear the U.S. 
administration -- which rests on a silent majority of churchgoers -- 
talking about American culture in its Hollywood and New York 
television manifestation, which is utterly devoted to undermining the 
values of a conservative Christian society."

Like many others, Schleifer says the best thing America can do to 
convince the rest of the world of its beneficent intent is to expand 
scholarship programs to U.S. colleges and universities. But the 
country is instead going in the other direction, making it more 
difficult for foreign students to study in the United States, through 
visa restrictions and other bureaucratic hurdles.

Maysan Marouf, a 23-year-old masters student in environmental sciences 
at the American University of Beirut, is frustrated by the fact that 
cultural diplomacy only ever seems to go one way. "Diplomacy implies 
dialogue," she writes in a recent e-mail exchange. "No dialogue is 
ever one-sided. I think the Americans should start to listen instead 
of telling us about their perspective, because their perspective is 
already widely known: We hear about it on the news, and Hollywood is a 
very powerful tool that markets the American view."

Marouf recently sponsored a screening at the university of Michael 
Moore's Bowling for Columbine, which drew about 100 students. Though 
the film didn't receive theatrical distribution in Lebanon, its 
popularity on video spiked after Moore's anti-Bush screed at the 
Oscars endeared him to Arabs who were against the war.

"Nothing can truly change things unless the U.S. changes its foreign
policies. I don't think Arabs can be fooled so easily," Marouf writes. 
"MTV is very popular here. When I was about 12, such programs made me 
dream about going to the U.S. But then I grew up and realized how 
superficial these programs are."

(Via Harry van Vugt, Windsor, Ontario, Canada, DXLD) v. also PALESTINE

** U S A. PARANORMAL TALK SHOW HOST WHITLEY STRIEBER TAKES HIS 
``DREAMLAND`` TO SHORTWAVE RADIO

The best-selling author will return to radio later this month, when 
his ``Dreamland`` show debuts on IBC Radio Network — which provides 
``niche programming not found on major networks.`` Strieber claims to 
have 17 million hits a month on his UnknownCountry.com website 
http://www.unknowncountry.com (Inside Radio Aug 5 via DXLD) Viz.:

DREAMLAND NOW ON SHORTWAVE RADIO -- 04-Aug-2003

You can listen to Dreamland for free anytime, by clicking ``Listen 
Now`` on our masthead, and subscribers can burn it onto a CD, and 
listen anywhere. But if you still like radio listening best, you`ll be 
glad to know that Dreamland will be on LGPRN, Lou Gentile`s Paranormal 
Radio Network, which is part of IBC Radio Network. You can hear it on 
Shortwave 7.385 on Saturday and Sunday evenings at 11 p.m. EST. It 
will also air Monday-Friday from 3 to 5 a.m. [sic; means EDT = UT: 
Sun, Mon 0300-, M-F 0700-0900]

DREAMLAND with Whitley Strieber -- Whitley Strieber is an author, 
producer and radio host. There are over 135,000,000 copies of his 
books in print worldwide. He is the author of many bestsellers, 
including the classics the Hunger, Warday, Communion and Superstorm 
with Art Bell. His website, http://www.unknowncountry.com, offers 
daily news of the edge, covering everything from crop circles to earth 
changes to cutting edge political news. It also has an outstanding 
bookstore of the highest quality books on edge and paranormal subjects 
in the world, and a special section for subscribers.
(2 hours: Show may end at 90 minutes but continues with encore) 
(from http://www.ibcradio.com/radioschedule.htm via DXLD)

** U S A. FCC goes WiFi (Aug 4, 2003) -- The FCC has announced that
it now provides free wireless Internet access for visitors to its
Washington, DC, Headquarters (445 12th Street SW). ``When you come to
the FCC, leave the cords at home,`` says FCC Chairman Michael K.
Powell. ``We`re embracing the power of WiFi and the freedom and
convenience of wireless Internet access it gives to consumers.``
Powell directed his staff last year to take the necessary steps to
make the FCC one of the first federal agencies to provide public WiFi
access. Visitors bringing their own hardware and software can use the
service on the Twelfth Street, Courtyard, and Eighth Floor levels of
FCC Headquarters. The system uses the IEEE 802.11a and 802.11b
protocols--commonly referred to as WiFi. As for tech support,
however, the FCC says users are on their own. For now, the FCC will
not request personal identifying information prior to allowing access
to the wireless network. If requested by outside authorities,
however, the FCC will provide data from system audit logs to support
external investigations of improper Internet use. In case of a system
outage, users can call 202-418-WIFI. --FCC public notice (ARRL via
John Norfolk, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. MEDIA-MERGER RULING IMPERILS DEMOCRACY (Op-Ed)
   Mort Zuckerman, Chairman & Co-Publisher of the New York Daily News

Three anonymous political appointees to the Federal Communications
Commission have delivered a body blow to American democracy. Large 
media companies are to be allowed to buy up more TV stations and 
newspapers, becoming more powerful and reaping a financial bonanza.

Astonishingly, the FCC has done this without public review, without
analyzing the consequences and without the American people getting a 
dime in return for their public airwaves.

Under the FCC deal, big media companies must make no commitment to 
provide better news, or even unbiased news. Ditto local news coverage 
and children's programming. In fact, the new rules dramatically worsen
opportunities for local news coverage, for diversity of views and for
competition. "The public be damned!" was a robber barons' slogan from 
the Gilded Age. Seems to be just what the FCC is saying.

Consider the enormity of the changes. The commissioners removed the 
ban on broadcasting and newspaper cross-ownership. They raised the 
national cap on audience reach by station-group owners to 45%. They 
allowed ownership of two stations in more markets, and even three in a 
handful of markets. There's more, but you get the idea.

These FCC rules allow new merger possibilities without any public-
interest review. The details are complicated, but basically, one 
company now can own UHF TV stations in 199 of the nation's 210 TV 
markets, which is pretty much the equivalent of owning stations in 
every TV market in every state except California.

That means a single company could influence the elections of 98 U.S.
senators, 382 members of the House, 49 governors, 49 state 
legislatures and countless local races.

Employing another strategy now allowed by the FCC, that same company 
could own VHF stations in every TV market in 38 states, with the power 
to influence elections in 76 U.S. Senate races, 182 House races, 38
gubernatorial races and 38 state legislative races, along with 
countless local races. There are other scenarios. But again, you get 
the idea. Easing the rules on cross-ownership means that in many local 
markets, one company could own its leading daily newspaper - often, 
its only newspaper - its top-rated TV station, the local cable company 
and five to eight radio stations. Previously, no TV and newspaper 
mergers were allowed in the same market, except when a firm was 
failing.

Now, the merger of the dominant newspaper and TV station could create 
local news monopolies in 200 markets serving 98% of Americans.

One defense of this outrage offered by the big media companies is the
diversity provided by the Web. Well, yes. But does anyone really think 
the Internet is anything like an organized political or media power, 
much less a counterweight to a claque of billion-dollar media 
behemoths?

The good news is that the nation, finally, is waking up. The FCC has
received hundreds of thousands of protests. Congressmen, both 
Democrats and Republicans, are alarmed. So are groups as diverse as 
Common Cause, the National Rifle Association and the Screen Actors 
Guild.

Conservative columnist William Safire of The New York Times writes, 
"the concentration of power - political, corporate, media, cultural - 
should be anathema to conservatives." John Roberts in the Chicago 
Tribune deplores the "blatantly disingenuous, if not dishonest, 
explanations being given by FCC Chairman Michael Powell and his 
supporters for their actions."

No prizes for guessing who supports the commission: the major media
conglomerates that have coincidentally spent more than $80 million on
lobbying, plus more than $25 million in political contributions, in 
the past three years and stand to gain enormously from this.

Regardless of their political ideology, we cannot risk nonelected 
media bosses having inappropriate local, regional or national power. 
The FCC was created to ensure that the public interest is served by 
the media companies that use our airwaves.

Everyone is entitled to a mistake sometimes, but the FCC is abusing 
the privilege. Congress must act now and reverse the FCC's 
irresponsible new rules (via August NRC DX Audio Service whazzup via 
DXLD)

** U S A. DORGAN GATHERS SUFFICIENT SUPPORT TO FORCE SENATE ACTION ON 
   MEDIA RULES --- July 24, 2003

Senators Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), Trent Lott (R-Miss.), and Russell 
Feingold (D-Wis.) announced July 15 that they had enough signatures to 
force the Senate to vote on a resolution of disapproval to overturn 
the Federal Communications Commission's new media ownership rules.  
Force will not be necessary, however, because Senate Commerce, 
Science, and Transportation Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) 
has agreed to mark up the resolution in committee and report it out 
without a petition, Dorgan said.

A resolution of disapproval is a little used procedure, created under 
the 1996 Congressional Review Act, that is the equivalent of a 
"legislative veto" of regulations.  This would be only the second time 
the Senate had voted on such a resolution.

The FCC adopted new rules June 2 that would increase the number of
newspapers, television stations, and radio stations any one entity 
could control.  "Many of us are very concerned about concentration in
broadcasting and in the media," Dorgan said.  "And the FCC rule moves 
in exactly the wrong direction in my judgment."

If the resolution were signed into law, the new rules would be 
invalidated. "So if we overturn these rules, they're back at square 
one," Dorgan said. "They have the existing rules.  They will, I 
assume, develop a process by which they determine what would be 
appropriate in terms of a new rulemaking."

Dorgan said he was unsure of when the floor vote would occur, although 
the vote cannot be blocked.  It is his preference, he said, to hold 
the vote prior to the August congressional recess; otherwise it would 
be held in September.

Less House Support.  Lott stressed that this issue was not regional or
partisan, and that the resolution has broad support in the Commerce
Committee.  It could run into trouble in the House, though, where 
leaders are more inclined to support the Commission.

Lott said he had spoken with House Energy and Commerce Committee 
Chairman W.J. "Billy" Tauzin (R-La.) and House Majority Leader Tom 
DeLay (R-Texas), who support the new rule.  "They did not indicate any 
plans to move on this right away, and that's one of the reasons why I 
decided to go ahead and join this effort," Lott said.

It is also unclear what the White House would do, although if the 
Senate disapproves the rules, it would put a substantial amount of 
pressure on both the House and the White House to follow suit, Dorgan 
said. "You never know," Lott said. "He [President Bush] hasn't vetoed 
any bills, he may want to make this the first one.  But my position 
is, I feel strongly about the rightness of what we're trying to do."

Dorgan noted that five Democrats and four Republicans had co-sponsored 
the resolution, but that more would join shortly.  A separate petition 
to force the resolution out of committee contained the signatures of 
28 Democrats and seven Republicans.  Dorgan said there would have been 
more, but he quit collecting signatures after reaching 35.

"I think there's going to be a fairly substantial amount of support to
overturn this rule and say to the FCC, 'start over and get it right,'"
Dorgan said.

Co-sponsors of the resolution were Dorgan, Lott, Feingold, and Sens. 
Susan Collins (R-Maine), Ernest "Fritz" Hollings (D-S.C.), Olympia 
Snowe (R-Maine), John Kerry (D-Mass.), Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), 
and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). Seven of the nine co-sponsors are members of 
the Senate Commerce Committee.

Ferree Says Rules Sustainable

In contrast, Kenneth Ferree, chief of the FCC's Media Bureau, defended 
the new rules, saying that the opposition to them was based on 
political concerns. At the bureau level, he said, staffers had tried 
to avoid politics and to focus on the facts and the law as cleanly and 
non-ideologically as they could. "And for those reasons, I think the 
rules are imminently sustainable in court," he added. "I think if we 
go to court on any of these, or all of them, we will win on most 
accounts if not all," Ferree said.

Ferree said they were now moving ahead and leaving politics to Capitol
Hill. "Whatever they do on the Hill, they do," he said. "That's a
different process." (via August NRC DX Audio Service whazzup via DXLD)

** U S A. F.C.C. CHIEF PUTS LAW ABOVE POLITICS AND GETS REBUKED
   By Jennifer Lee, New York Times - Fri, 25 Jul 2003

The vote in the House today to derail media ownership rules was a 
setback for Michael K. Powell, the chairman of the Federal 
Communications Commission, who was guided by the laws, rather than the 
politics, constraining media conglomerates.

Mr. Powell became chairman in 2001 with a broad mandate to deregulate,
bolstered by a number of court rulings that had backed industry 
challenges to telecommunications and media regulation.

But on both fronts in recent months, he has faced resistance, most 
recently with the building Congressional momentum to overturn the 
rules the F.C.C. approved in June allowing big media companies to get 
even larger.

"This is a real dangerous spot for Powell," said Andrew Schwartzman, 
head of the Media Access Project, an advocacy group. "He is facing a 
kind of Congressional repudiation of a rare kind."

Mr. Powell, however, serves at the discretion of one person, the 
president, who has threatened to veto the $37.9 billion spending bill 
if the provision reversing the media rules remains in it. The 
chairman, technically, does not need public or Congressional support 
once he is in office. At the same time, he has a bully pulpit that he 
can use to build support in line with a White House's agenda, and in 
this case, he failed to use it effectively.

One problem is that Mr. Powell has approached his position like the
antitrust lawyer he is - with subtle legalistic arguments that fail to
stick in the public mind. He argued in June as the rules rolled out:
"Keeping the rules as they are, as some so stridently suggest, was not 
a viable option. Without today's surgery, the rules would assuredly 
meet a swift death."

The provision the House approved today would allow any one network 
owner to reach up to 35 percent of the nation's households. The F.C.C. 
rules had increased that to 45 percent, partially in response to court 
rulings that said the lower cap had not been justified.

Today, Mr. Powell put out a statement from his vacation retreat (his 
office would not say where he was) defending the rules, which he said 
were mandated by Congress and the courts. "We are confident in our 
decision," he said.

His statement also noted that in February a federal court had branded 
the previous commission's decision to maintain the existing rules, 
including the 35 percent cap, as "arbitrary and capricious and 
contrary to law."

These may be true, but these are arguments that appeal to the 
dispassionate mind of a judge, not the emotional public fervor. What 
Mr. Powell failed to understand is that given a choice between big 
government and big media, the public often sides with the government.

The F.C.C. - along with the Securities Exchange Commission and the 
Federal Trade Commission - is designed to be a bipartisan regulatory 
agency largely insulated from everyday politics. The F.C.C. is not 
allowed to lobby on Capitol Hill. But the number of 3-to-2 votes 
registered during Mr. Powell's term belies the politicization that has 
occurred on his watch.

Not too much can be read into today's overwhelming 400-21 House 
approval of the appropriations bill, given that few members would be 
willing to hold up financing for government programs for something 
that essentially affects only four networks.

A more provocative measure comes from Senator Byron Dorgan, Democrat 
of North Dakota, who is trying to invoke the seldom-used Congressional 
Review Act to overturn the entirety of the F.C.C.'s regulatory order. 
He has gathered more than 30 supporters so far, a number of them 
Republicans. "The Congressional reaction is not good for him, but it's 
not devastating," said Blair Levin, an analyst at Legg Mason who 
previously served as chief of staff at the F.C.C., referring to Mr. 
Powell. Mr. Powell has denied published reports that he is thinking of 
resigning. And, at least for now, he has the support of those who 
matter. "The White House is backing him up," Mr. Levin said. "At least 
threatening to do a veto is support for what Powell did."
(via August NRC DX Audio Service whazzup via DXLD)

** U S A. FCC NOT INCLINED TO CHANGE POLITICAL ADVERTISING COMPLAINT 
   PROCESS --- July 24, 2003

The Federal Communications Commission has a highly effective, if 
informal, way of dealing with complaints about political advertising, 
and the Commission will not change the way it handles those complaints 
unless and until a new mandate is signed into law, Kenneth Ferree, 
chief of the FCC's Media Bureau, told reporters July 15.

"The short answer is, we are not looking at changing our political 
team in any way absent congressional direction that we do so," Ferree 
said.

Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee Chairman John 
McCain (R-Ariz.) added an amendment to the FCC's authorization bill 
(S. 1264) that would require the FCC to develop new rules for 
broadcasters with regard to political advertising. Specifically, 
McCain is seeking new rules by Aug. 1, 2004, that would require 
broadcasters to better identify the purchasers of political 
advertising, and establish a formal complaint procedure at the
Commission to handle violations of the rules on political advertising.

Ferree, however, said it would be a huge mistake for the Commission to
change its current process. "The folks that handle political 
complaints in the bureau are probably the most efficient group in the 
FCC. They handle 99 percent of the complaints literally within 
minutes, informally, on the telephone, with the stations and the 
candidate's representatives," he said.

Ferree made his comments at a wide-ranging press briefing at the 
Commission July 15. The bureau chief's remarks on political 
advertising came in response to questions from reporters.

Formal Process Time Consuming

Right now, only the odd case is handled
through a formal process, and like every other FCC process, it takes 
time to resolve, Ferree said. "I think if we had to do every one of 
them formally -- and we do lots of them -- it would be incredibly 
cumbersome, very slow, and I'm not sure ... the results would be any 
better," he said.

Currently, both the stations and the candidates are usually pleased 
with the results from the more informal process, Ferree said. "From 
what I hear, it's one of the best operations in the FCC," he said.

Later, Ferree said that FCC rules already require broadcasters to keep 
a public file with the name and a point of contact of all 
organizations purchasing political advertising. If someone provides 
credible evidence that the organization is a front or a fraud, then 
the broadcast station has an affirmative duty to investigate that 
claim, he said.

However, if the station fails to adequately investigate the claim, an
individual may call the FCC to complain about the station, Ferree 
said. "The question is, do you need a formal process then to go 
through?" he said.

Currently, when the FCC receives this type of complaint, a staffer 
calls the broadcast station for answers, Ferree said. "And typically 
this is all kind of worked out, very informally, usually the same 
day," he said.

During the campaign season, the Commission receives hundreds of these 
types of complaints, Ferree said. "And in an election cycle, a matter 
of days or weeks can make the difference," he said. "So it's not clear 
to me that a formal process to resolve these things would actually do 
anybody any good; in fact, it might do a great deal of harm," Ferree 
said.

Additionally, asking broadcasters to investigate too closely the 
identity of political organizations could run into constitutional 
problems, Ferree added. "You'd have to draft the rules in a way to be 
very cautious about treading into the political speech arena," he 
said.

Decline in Ad Spending

Separately, the investment consulting firm Legg Mason July 15 issued a 
report cautioning that the growth in spending on political advertising 
in the upcoming election cycle is not likely to follow recent trends, 
which saw record-breaking spending on ads.

The firm said that while the constitutionality of the McCain-Feingold
campaign finance reform law remains to be seen, it appears that the 
new law is likely to reduce fund raising from some of the traditional 
campaign machinery.

There are also other political dynamics that could restrain campaign
spending on political advertising, the Legg Mason report concluded. "A 
key catalyst to increased spending, competitive parity, may be missing 
from even more races and the traditional funding gap between the 
parties will be widened by the fact that, for the first time in modern 
politics, the Republicans control the White House and Congress heading 
into a presidential election," the report said.

Also, because control of the House or Senate does not appear to be in 
play, there is less incentive to spend money on political advertising, 
the report added. "Another factor that could dampen spending on 
broadcast political advertising is an emerging trend toward greater 
campaign budget emphasis on more targeted contacts designed to get out 
the vote," the Legg Mason report said.

The report noted that President Bush was building a sizeable war chest 
that could boost broadcasters' revenues, and that the political 
landscape was always volatile. Even so, the growth in spending on 
political advertising was likely to be reduced from previous years, it 
said (via August NRC DX Audio Service whazzup via DXLD)

** U S A. BOROUGH FILES OBJECTIONS WITH FCC OVER WATER TANK SHOCKS
   By Cathy Mentzer, Staff writer - Public Opinion News

The borough has hired a Louisiana attorney to try to force the owners 
of radio station WCBG-AM 1590 to cease operating long enough for 
workers to finish a 2-million-gallon water storage tank project in 
Chambers-5 Business Park.

The attorney, who specializes in matters involving the Federal
Communications Commission, filed objections with the FCC in late May 
to try to block WCBG's continued radio broadcasts, according to 
Borough Solicitor Tom Finucane.

The FCC regulates the radio broadcasting industry.

Radio station owner Verstandig Broadcasting, which is based in 
Greencastle, filed a response to the borough's objections. The FCC has 
not made a decision but in the meantime, the station is allowed to 
continue broadcasting, owner John Verstandig said.

Construction of the borough's $1.75 million elevated water tank has 
been on hold since October when the builder, CB&I Contractors of 
Pittsburgh, pulled its workers off the job because they were receiving 
electrical burns from radiofrequency (RF) electromagnetic waves being 
emitted by WCBG's four radio towers -- located across Tower Road from 
the water tank site.

The borough has been unable to negotiate an arrangement with 
Verstandig that would solve the construction problems created by the 
proximity of the towers and the 150-foot-high water storage tank.

Complicating the situation is the fact that the 150-foot-high water 
storage tank interferes with the radio signal.

Despite the impasse between the borough and Verstandig over a long-
term solution, radio station officials agreed to cease operating on 
June 26, giving CB&I workers an opportunity to remove metal forms the 
company had placed to pour the concrete column for the water tank.

"The station agreed to do that so that the workers could get in there 
and remove the equipment," Finucane said.

The station did not broadcast for 10 hours, according to Verstandig. 
He said the station notified its listeners in advance and absorbed the
economic loss associated with the shutdown.

"They asked if we would help them out of a jam," Verstandig said of 
borough officials. "We did it as a courtesy to them."

When there will be further progress on the water storage tank, which 
had been scheduled for completion in September, seems anyone's guess.

"Some discussions will be under way some time in July with Verstandig 
to see if there's any way to get this thing resolved that works for 
them and works for us," said Finucane.

According to officials, possible solutions to the problem call for the
borough to move the water tank, pay for moving WCBG's operation or buy 
the radio station. No cost estimates were available but all of the 
options would be costly, officials said.

The cost of the borough's legal maneuverings to date was not available 
and Borough Council President Bill McLaughlin said he has not seen an 
invoice and doesn't know what the Louisiana attorney's and Finucane's 
fees might eventually cost.

"Right now the approach that we're taking is less expensive than any 
of the other alternatives" McLaughlin said.

He indicated that the borough might take legal action against whomever 
is responsible for the selection of the ill-fated water tank site in 
Chambers-5.

"Within all these arguments, there are other legal issues that would 
go to culpability involved with others that were involved in the 
process," McLaughlin said. "That I can't comment on at this point 
because I'm not aware of all the issues that are going to come into 
play there. At this time all our options are open."

The borough bought the 1.4-acre site from Chambersburg Area 
Development Corp. in February 1999 for $35,500.

Borough Water Superintendent Carl Rundquist said last year that the
borough, which used engineering firm Gannett Fleming Inc. to advise it 
on the project, is responsible for selecting the water tank site.

The water storage tank is part of Chambersburg's $8 million water 
system improvement plan and is intended to boost water pressure in the 
south end of town and provide improved fire protection.

"It improves the system, but we've operated over 100 years without it 
so a year's delay is not going to affect anything," McLaughlin said. 
"Nothing gets any worse. The pressure problem in the south end of town 
just doesn't get any better until it's done." (via August NRC DX Audio 
Service whazzup via DXLD) see 3-124

** ZAMBIA. 4910. ZNBC, has English news at 06, has been very good here 
for weeks, as has Botswana 4820 (David Norcross, djnorx@fix.net, SLO 
CA, 7600G & DX-402, eve hung short wire Aug 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 06 
is pretty late, but I guess possible at mid-winter there (gh)

UNIDENTIFIED. 5006: Amigo DXista Steve Waldee, San José, California! I 
have not heard anything on 5006.00 kHz for the last 5 years or more, 
but I do have the same carrier as you on that frequency. Not very 
strong and always unmodulated. I don´t think it is Radio L.T.C., 
Juliaca (Perú) which I noted the last time the 4th of April 2002-2355 
UT on 5005.32 kHz. I have never heard Radio Jaén but could might well 
be that station with extremely low modulated signal. For a very long 
time I had an "unmodulated signal" on 5046.37v kHz. It took me a long 
time to hear the "first voice" but I know now that it probably is an 
Peruvian station with extremely low modulated signal. I will monitor 
the frequency. 73s from (Björn Malm, Quito, Ecuador (ARC - SWB América 
Latina), Aug 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 5924: Help wanted on signal. On Sunday night I was 
tuning around the 49 meter band and came across a numbers station 
broadcasting on LSB on 5924. The time was 1220 and initially thought 
the Language was Chinese but listening to a tape of it I think it may 
instead be Indochinese possibly Thai or Khmer. I can send a wav file 
on request.. The signal stopped abruptly at 1228.Noted also that prior 
to groups being sent heard English letters e.g. Aye, Bee , Haitch, 
Kay. Not given phonetically. Some numbers sounded like Leo or Liaow, 
sur, ban. 3/8/03 1220 5924 LSB UNID station with female reading/ 
singing three figure groups in possible Indochinese Language. SIO 434. 
The station naturally has aroused my curiosity. I again tuned in last 
night and they were there and lasted until 1236. There was a weak 
carrier and modulation on 5925 and it improved at 1300 and was 
broadcasting in Vietnamese. My QTH is northern Tasmania at 41.26 S 
147.08 E (Robin L. HARWOOD rharwood@iprimus.com.au tai501@praize.com 
swl at qth.net via DXLD)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

DRM
+++

DRM FEEDS SOME DIGITAL NEEDS 
by Michael Hedges 08.01.03 
http://www.rwonline.com/reference-room/iboc/02_arw_drm.shtml 

GENEVA -- Seven years in the making, Digital Radio Mondiale has 
arrived. 

Approximately 300 DRM proponents and international delegates to the 
International Telecommunication Union 2003 World Radiocommunication 
Conference gathered here for the flip of the digital switch in June. 
Voice of America was among them. Digital shortwave, medium-wave/AM and 
long-wave broadcasts launched when DRM chairman Peter Senger cued 
engineers at nearby Mount Saleve in France. Senger also is director of 
marketing, sales and technology for Deutsche Welle. 

Deliberate effort 

DRM founding members Thales Broadcast & Multimedia and Télédiffusion 
de France installed a Thales transmitter with DRM encoder/modulator on 
Mount Saleve, overlooking Geneva, for the launch broadcast. 

International broadcasters taking part in the event included BBC World 
Service, Christian Vision, Deutsche Welle, Kuwait Radio, Radio Canada 
International, Radio France Internationale, Radio Netherlands 
Wereldomroep, Radio Vaticana, Sveriges Radio International, Voice of 
Russia and Wales Radio International. 

National broadcasters DeutschlandRadio and Radio France; a local 
station in Nürnberg, Germany; and the Luxembourg-based RTL Group 
participated. Fraunhofer-Institut, Nozema, Telenor/Norkring, T-Systems 
Media & Broadcast and VT Merlin Communications also took part. 

The idea for DRM began in 1996 when several international broadcasters 
and technology companies began discussions. The participants felt 
something had to be done to improve broadcasting below 30 MHz as many 
international broadcasters were scaling back or ending such 
transmissions due to poor audio quality compared to FM. 

That mandate was set at a meeting in Guangzhou, China, in early 1998. 
Members of the DRM Consortium, now more than 80 broadcasters and 
technology companies, committed themselves to upgrading long-, medium-
/AM and shortwave broadcasting below 30 MHz. 

Endorsement 

The ITU radio communication sector approved DRM specifications in 
April of 2001. The European Telecommunications Standards Institute 
published DRM technical specifications in September of that year. This 
cleared the way for broadcasters to test the system. 

DRM uses aaaPlus audio coding. This format is a combination of MPEG 
advanced audio coding developed by Fraunhofer and a spectral band 
replication bandwidth extension algorithm developed by Coding 
Technologies. 

The coder helps correct fading as propagation interference is 
minimized, DRM proponents say. 

Savings 

In a demonstration the week before the official launch at the European 
Broadcasting Union, transmissions from Russia, Canada, France, 
Portugal, the Netherlands, Germany, the United Kingdom and Kuwait were 
switched from analog to DRM. 

Some broadcasters need to upgrade studios and facilities to take 
advantage of the digital framework, according to DRM proponents. 
Thales Broadcast Advanced Technologies Director Pierre Vasseur also 
said "content changes" were necessary for the full impact of DRM to be 
felt. However, the upgrade to DRM was quick, said Vasseur. 

"From order to on-the-air in Kuwait took less than six months," 
Vasseur said. 

The Ministry of Information of the State of Kuwait modified a 500 kW 
Thales shortwave transmitter at its Kabd Shortwave Center for DRM 
operation. 

An implementation bonus with DRM, proponents say, is cost savings on 
the transmission end. DRM transmission costs less than comparable 
analog broadcasting, according to the consortium. Energy cost, which 
can be substantial for high-power transmitters, can be cut by as much 
as 50 percent because, proponents say, stations can cover the same 
geographic area with a digital signal while using less power. 

Dr. Don Messer, chairman of the DRM technical committee, said cost 
savings are always an issue. Messer, head of spectrum management for 
the International Broadcasting Bureau, said, "It helps me move things 
around in the budgets." 

Messer said the interests of shortwave, long -- and medium -- wave 
broadcasters are similar. Quality is an issue for all, as consumers 
demand a sound at least similar to their local FM stations, he said. 

Optimum frequency 

Broadcasters have neglected upgrading frequencies below 30 MHz over 
the past decade, according to international broadcasting observers. In 
many parts of the world, FM broadcasting has surpassed shortwave, long 
-- and medium -- wave/AM services. 

Receivers for the DRM demonstrations were professional-level sets, 
although a software version of DRM can be downloaded from its Web 
site. Consumer-priced receivers are under development and slated for 
2004 shipping. 

DRM can integrate audio with data and text, so additional content can 
be displayed on DRM-capable receivers. The units will be "smart" - 
once a station is tuned in, the receiver finds the optimum frequency. 

Messer predicts future digital receivers meant for overseas use will 
be multi-band, with DRM and Eureka-147 capabilities in the same 
receiver along with analog AM/FM. 

At the end of his brief remarks, just before using a cell phone to 
launch the inaugural broadcast, Senger asked WRC-03 delegates to work 
with regulators in their home countries to make DRM available. 
(via Kevin, NRC FMTV via DXLD) 

RECEIVER NEWS
+++++++++++++

NEW HF RFID TAG LIMITS SHOULD NOT AFFECT AMATEURS

NEWINGTON, CT, Aug 4, 2003 -- Little or no impact to the Amateur
Service is expected at the low end of 20 meters in the wake of an FCC
decision to raise the power limit for radio frequency identification
(RFID) tags that operate in the vicinity of 13.5 MHz. The FCC agreed
in a Second Report and Order (SR&O) and Memorandum Opinion and Order
(MO&O) in ET Docket 95-19 released July 17 to allow 3.5 times the
previous harmonic field strength in the range of 13.710 to 14.010
MHz.

The joint SR&O and MO&O were in response to a Petition for
Declaratory Ruling filed by M/A-COM Private Radio Systems Inc in 2001
and a Petition for Reconsideration filed by the Information
Technology Industry Council in 1997.The FCC authorized an increase in
the maximum allowed field strength of unlicensed Part 15 devices that
transmit data -- specifically RFID tags -- in the 13.553 to 13.567 MHz
band from 10,000 to 15,848 uV/m at 30 meters.

Additionally, the FCC permitted an increase in the maximum field
strength of harmonics from the devices in the range of 13.110 to
13.410 MHz and 13.710 to 14.010 MHz from the current 30 uV/m to 106
uV/m at 30 meters. All other harmonics of the devices must remain
below 30 uV/m at 30 meters.

While the increased strength in lower sideband harmonics of the RFID
devices creeps into the lowest 10 kHz of the 20-meter CW band, ARRL
Lab Manager Ed Hare, W1RFI says there is little, if any, cause for
hams to worry about increased noise.

``The potential impact on amateurs from this rule change is
minimal,`` he said. ``To meet the field strength requirements at and
above 14.010 MHz, these systems, in practice, would typically exhibit
less than 1 dB over current FCC limits. The signal rolls off to 30
uV/m at 14.010 MHz; there would be just a little more than that
measured at 14.000 MHz.``

Several comments filed with the FCC cited the potential to
interference to the Radio Astronomy Service from 13.360 to 13.410
MHz, but the Commission determined that under the new limits,
harmonic emissions from RFID tags would be too low to cause
interference with radio astronomy operations. The FCC also said the
new limits would not adversely affect existing RFID tag technology.

The FCC said the changes would allow for improved operation and spur
development of the RFID tag technology, as well as bring the
standards in line with those in Europe and Australia.

Copyright © 2003, American Radio Relay League, Inc. All Rights
Reserved (via John Norfolk, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

`MONTREAL` TRAPS

For more than 40 years, electronics manufacturers have been putting 
out these switchable combined traps on the Montreal market, which 
enables viewing of WCAX-3 and WPTZ-5, by cutting down the sound 
carrier of Channel 2 (CBFT) and the video carrier of Channel 6 (CBMT).

Last week my good old "Montreal trap" (marked AUG 1980 inside!) gave 
out. I've been using it extensively this summer for getting more skip 
mainly on 3 and 4 (ch. 4 being also affected by the CBMT powerhouse). 
I was lucky enough this weekend to find a more modern version of the 
Montreal Trap at my local electronic shop and at a considerably 
reduced (and ridiculous) price (they sell less and less of these 
things) AND got the last one they had in stock!

It is the "Tin Lee Electronics" (TLE) switchable notch trap, Model # 
MQ7-CH2SCH6P (ch. 2 sound, ch. 6 picture) with 40 db notches. Works 
like a charm, it also passes VHF-Hi and UHF when trap is "OFF", which 
was not the case with my old trap. Loss on UHF was horrible. Tin Lee 
is a Toronto based company and they have all sorts of neat goodies for 
MATV system. If you want to check them out, try this link:
http://www.tinlee.com/
73, (Charles Gauthier, St-Lambert, Québec, WTFDA via DXLD) 

MUSEA
+++++

TAIWAN/JAPAN --- According to Japan Industrial News, CBC-Taiwan and 
NEC (Nippon Electric Company, Japan) agreed on July 31 to preserve 63 
year old 100 kW MW transmitter which was in operation until 1995 and 
is still workable.

The transmitter MB-15A was manufactured by NEC in 1940 using the 
technology developed by Bell Research, and delivered to Mingshiong 
transmitting station of "Taiwan Broadcasting Corporation" of that era, 
and began transmitting on 670 kHz. After the surrender of Japan in 
1945, the transmitter was taken over to CBC. In 1951, engineers of 
NEC, who themselves developed, visited Taiwan and recovered the 
transmitter.

MB-15A will be removed to National Broadcasting Museum of Taiwan and 
exhibited in workable condition as one of the longest aged living 
radio broadcasting transmitter in the world (Takahito Akabayashi, 
Japan, BC-DX Aug 1 via DXLD)

W1TP TELEGRAPH & SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENT MUSEUMS

Tom Perera, W1TP, presents these museum pages dedicated to the 
preservation of telegraph history, lore, and instrumentation. 
http://w1tp.com

TRANSDIFFUSION NETWORK
 
Run on a not-for-profit basis and staffed entirely by volunteers, 
Transdiffusion is dedicated to using modern methods of communication 
to educate and inform on broadcasting history. We do this by making
available Transdiffusion's broadcasting archive for research and 
educational purposes. This is an incredible wealth of information for 
radio and television buffs. http://www.transdiffusion.org/

NADCOMM-NORTH AMERICAN DATA COMMUNICATIONS MUSEUM
 
The North American Data Communications Museum (NADCOMM) is committed 
to the project of collecting, displaying, and operating the equipment 
that has powered the communications revolutions of the twentieth 
century, from telegraphy to digital telephony. The collection, largely 
donated by committed telecommunications workers and businesses, 
already encompasses a wide array of machines spanning the entire 
history of teletype and the transition to contemporary digital modem 
technology http://www.nadcomm.com/

(all via Sheldon Harvey, Greenfield Park, Quebec, Aug Radio HF 
Internet Newsletter via DXLD) ###