DX LISTENING DIGEST 3-170, September 23, 2003 edited by Glenn Hauser Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only if full credit be maintained at all stages and we be provided exchange copies. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without permission. Materials taken from Arctic or originating from Olle Alm and not having a commercial copyright are exempt from all restrictions of noncommercial, noncopyrighted reusage except for full credits HTML version of this issue will be posted later at http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldtd3i.html For restrixions and searchable 2003 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn NEXT AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1199: RFPI: Tue 1900, Wed 0100, 0730 on 7445, maybe 15115-USB [nominal times may be delayed] WWCR: Wed 0930 9475 WINB: Thu 0130 9320 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 WORLD OF RADIO 1199 (high version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1199h.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1199h.rm (summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1199.html WORLD OF RADIO 1199 (low version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1199.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1199.rm FIRST AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1200: Wed 2200 on WBCQ, 7415 and 17495-CUSB Thu 2030 on WWCR, 15825, Sat 1030 on 5070 Sat 0130, 0800, 1400, 1730 on RFPI, 7445, maybe 15115-USB Sat 1800+ on WRMI, 15725 WORLD OF RADIO 1200 (high version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1200h.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1200h.rm (summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1200.html WORLD OF RADIO 1200 (low version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1200.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1200.rm WORLD OF RADIO ON WPKN 89.5 BRIDGEPORT CT Rod Richardson, PD, advises that from Sept 20, WOR is no longer a week delayed on WPKN, Saturdays 2:30 pm ET. Welcome news! Also webcast (gh) MUNDO RADIAL, para setiembre-octubre en WWCR 15825: todos los viernes 2115, martes 2130, miércoles 2100. Además: (corriente) http://www.w4uvh.net/mr0309.ram (bajable) http://www.w4uvh.net/mr0309.rm [correcto] (texto) http://www.worldofradio.com/mr0309.html UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS Number 1200 --- Congrats on a new milestone....keep it up – 73 and Best of DX (Shawn Axelrod, Manitoba, Sept 22) Visit the AMANDX DX site with info for the new or experienced listener: http://www.angelfire.com/mb/amandx/index.html REMEMBER ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN HEAR FOREVER (WORLD OF RADIO 1200) ** ALASKA. HAARP FINALLY ENDS MAXIMUM POWER SIGNALS AFTER 10 DAYS !!! http://www.brojon.org/frontpage.shtml (Brother Jonathan Gazette Sept 22 via DXLD) This site covers HAARP at great length, but it is very hard to know what to believe (gh, DXLD) ** ARMENIA. 4810, 19.9 0355, unID with `románticos`; I thought it could be the `new` XERTA, Mexico. But not! It turned out to be a weak Voice of Armenia! S 2-3 and lots of noises. BEFF (Björn Fransson, Sweden, SW Bulletin Sept 21, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST, WORLD OF RADIO 1200) ** BOLIVIA. Radio San Miguel se ha corrido de canal. El 20/09, fue escuchada en los 4902.57 kHz, a las 2238, con locutor de guardia y música tradicional. Tal vez se ha movido para evitar interferencias. El 21/09, también se movió, pero esta vez a los 4902.74, a las 2314 (Adán González, Catia La Mar, VENEZUELA Yaesu FT-890/ TH3MK3, Sept 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4902, Radio San Miguel, from 0921 UT, male vocals with strings, OM at 0928, ID by YL, then OM, "Buenos Días, Amigos," fair; still fair at 0948, September 22 (Roger Chambers, Utica, NY, Drake SW8 with whip antenna, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4902.41[v .67], Radio San Miguel 1000-1015 "Radio San Miguel ...onda corta.. frecuencia de... Noticias San Miguel, Señor y Señores..." Time checks and repeated IDs. 4781.29, Radio Tacana, Tumupasa - rapid OM en español 0955-1015 "...Boliviana ...Santa Cruz...." 22 and 23 Sept. (Robert Wilkner, Pompano Beach, Florida, NRD 535D, Icom R 70, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. BRASIL - Alguns deputados e senadores brasileiros pretendem acabar com o horário fixo da Voz do Brasil. A idéia é transformar o noticiário em spots de até três minutos, que seriam veiculados em diversos horários pelas cerca de 3.000 emissoras do país. O projeto pode não dar certo uma vez que as pequenas estações não têm condições técnicas para efetuar as mudanças. As informações são do periódico Folha de São Paulo e a dica é do Sarmento Campos, do Rio de Janeiro (RJ). [also via WORLD OF RADIO 1200] BRASIL - A Rádio Guarujá Paulista, de Guarujá (SP), está atenta aos novos ouvintes, no Brasil e exterior. O apresentador Fábio Bueno, no período noturno, pede a todos que reportem a sintonia da emissora. A Guarujá Paulista transmite em 3235 e 5045 kHz. O e-mail é o seguinte: rampazo@radioguarujaam.com.br BRASIL - A Rádio Caiari, de Porto Velho (RO), transmite, em 4785 kHz, entre 0900 e 1400 e entre 1900 e 0400. A direção postal é a seguinte: Rua das Crianças, 4646, Areal da Floresta, CEP: 78912-210, Porto Velho (RO). E-mail: caiari@enter-net.com.br. As informações são do bem informado Paulo Roberto e Souza, de Tefé (AM). (All: Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX Sept 21 via DXLD) ** CHINA [and non]. Just got a QSL-folder from the CRI's English service for 11945 kHz, indicating "... our China National Radio program ...", they wrote that the second channel 13690 kHz in which 11945 kHz was in parallel "not available at this time". Both frequencies carried CNR's "music jammer" that time, looks like they jammed an unID (?) Chinese service from anyone else (which ?). My first QSL from a jammer...hi. Does anyone remember the Russian jamming stations in the past which carried a Morse identification? Is there any webpage about these older ones? Anyone got any QSL from them? Location versus morse ID? 73, (Tom - DL8AAM, hard-core-dx via DXLD) ** CONGO DR. 7435.009, 1.9 1740, probably Lubumbashi with highlife music and announcement in guttural language. Not heard after this date. 2 SA (Stig Adolfsson, Sweden, SW Bulletin Sept 21, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COSTA RICA. The Spanish heard on RFPI Sat at 1230+ is actually a new bilingual English/Spanish program, Pueblo Sin Fronteras, which RFPI has scheduled M-F at 1830-1900, plus repeats (Naomi Fowler, RFPI Fiesta Sept 22 via DXLD) ** CUBA. ``I'M PROUD``, SAYS DOCTOR WHO SPIED FOR SECRET POLICE A couple recruited to work as double agents during Fidel Castro's campaign to hunt out dissidents meet David Rennie in Havana The wickedness of Pedro Luis Veliz is not written in his face. Unless forewarned, you would not give the mousy Cuban doctor a second glance… http://tinyurl.com/o80p (Telegraph (Filed: 20/09/2003) via Jilly Dybka, DXLD) Touches on shortwave radio ** DENMARK [non]. Attached please find the B03 schedule - valid until the end of the year. The schedule also goes for NORWAY (xx.00-xx.30). THEY will leave short wave by the end of the year. The decision about Radio Denmark will probably be taken on October 7. The schedule is in HTML format on our web site: http://www.dr.dk/rdk - look for Sendeplan / Schedule. All the best/73, (Erik Köie, WORLD OF RADIO 1200, DX LISTENING DIGEST) R A D I O D E N M A R K October 26 - December 31, 2003 UTC Target (primary coverage in brackets) kHz Tx Beam 12.30-12.55 South East Asia, Australia (west), Russia 11615 K 80 Far East 12070 K 40 Europe, Mediterranean, Canary Islands 13800 S 180 North America (east), Caribbean 18950 S 280 13.30-13.55 Europe 9590 S 180 Far East 11610 K 40 South East Asia, Australia (west), Russia 13800 K 80 North America (east + central), Greenland 17550 S 300 14.30-14.55 Russia, Europe (south east), Middle East (north), South Asia (India) 13800 K 95 North America (east + central), Greenland 17735 S 300 15.30-15.55 Russia, Europe (south east), Middle East (north), South Asia (India) 13800 K 95 Middle East (west) 15735 K 120 North America (west), Greenland 17525 S 315 16.30-16.55 Russia, Europe (south east), Middle East (north) 7490 K 95 Europe (south east), Middle East (west), Africa (east) 13800 K 145 North America (west), Greenland 15705 S 315 17.30-17.55 Europe 7490 S 180 Europe (south east), Middle East (west) - NOT Sundays! 9980 K 120 Europe (south east), Middle East (west), Africa (east) - NOT Sundays! 13800 K 145 North America (east), Caribbean 18950 S 280 18.30-18.55 Europe 7490 S 180 North America (east + central), Greenland 15735 S 300 19.30-19.55 Europe, Canary Islands 7490 S 180 North America (west), Greenland 13800 S 315 20.30-20.55 Europe, Canary Islands 7490 S 180 Africa 9980 K 165 21.30-21.55 Europe, Canary Islands, Africa (west) 7490 S 195 Australia 7560 K 65 22.30-22.55 Far East 7465 K 40 South America, Canary Islands 7560 S 235 23.30-23.55 North America (east), Caribbean 7390 S 280 South America 7465 S 235 South East Asia, Australia (west) 7490 K 80 Far East 7560 K 40 00.30-00.55 South East Asia, Australia (west) 7490 K 80 North America (east), Caribbean 7560 S 280 01.30-01.55 North America (east), Caribbean 7560 S 280 North America (east + central), Greenland 9945 S 300 02.30-02.55 South Asia (India) 7490 K 95 North America (east), Caribbean 7560 S 280 North America (east + central), Greenland 9590 S 300 04.30-04.55 North America (west), Greenland 7465 S 315 Russia, Middle East (north) 7490 K 95 Europe (south east), Africa (east), Middle East (west) 7560 K 145 05.30-05.55 Europe, Africa (north) 7490 K 165 06.30-06.55 Europe 5945 S 180 Africa, Europe (south) 13800 K 165 07.30-07.55 Europe 7180 K 165 Europe, Canary Islands, Africa (west) 9590 S 195 08.30-08.55 Far East, New Zealand 11975 K 35 Australia, Europe (south west), (South America) 13800 S 250 09.30-09.55 Far East, New Zealand 11975 K 40 Australia, Europe (south west), South America 13800 S 250 Middle East (east), South Asia (India) 18950 K 110 10.30-10.55 Europe, Mediterranean, Canary Islands 13800 S 180 South America, Canary Islands, Africa (west) 21765 S 235 11.30-11.55 Europe, Mediterranean, Canary Islands 13800 S 180 Africa 21755 K 165 Address: Radio Danmark, Radioavisen, Rosenorns Allé 22, DK-1999 Frederiksberg C, Denmark RD office telephone: +45 35 20 57 84 (then press ‘9’) - Telefax: +45 35 20 57 81. e-mail: schedule, programme matters: rdk@dr.dk - technical, reports: rdktek@dr.dk The schedule is also available by auto-reply email from: schedule@dr.dk WWW: http://www.dr.dk/rdk or http://www.dr.dk/radiodanmark - including RealAudio 'on demand' of our broadcasts. The two daily news transmissions in Danish only are aired at 12.30 and 18.30 utc. Transmissions inbetween are repeats. The technical letterbox programme, `Tune In` is heard every second Saturday from 12.48 UT until 17.48 UT. Transmissions may be cancelled without warning. Radio Denmark shares the Norwegian transmitters with Radio Norway. They broadcast at xx.00-xx.30, followed by Denmark at xx.30-xx.55, 24 hours a day. Stations: Kvitsoy (K) and Sveio (S) each have two 500 kW transmitters. They are located on the Norwegian west coast near Stavanger and Haugesund at 05.27E 59.04N (K) and 05.19E 59.37N (S). Kvitsoy covers the Eastern Globe, while Sveio covers the Western Globe. [Hemispheres] Radio Denmark replies complete reports by a QSL-card. Although not necessary, return postage is appreciated (1 IRC, 1 Euro or 1 US dollar). Recordings (incl. RealAudio and MP3 email files) are accepted. Tapes, however, are not returned. (via Erik Køie, DR, Sept 22, DX LISTENING DIGESDT) ** DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. Inactiva República Dominicana en 4959.87 kHz (Adán González, Catia La Mar, VENEZUELA Yaesu FT-890/ TH3MK3, Sept 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR. 5040 kHz, La Voz del Upano, carrier from 0958 UT, YL in Spanish with Santa María meditations, brief orchestral bridge at 1003; continued prayers: ID by YL at 1023 UT; SINPO 33222+, September 22 (Roger Chambers, Utica, NY, Drake SW8 with whip antenna, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Roger, I hesitated to mention this since your Yopal log was pretty definite with the Colombian national anthem, but it occurred to me that ``Upano`` could be mistaken for ``Yopal``. Since no one else has reported Yopal and you have now reported Upano too on 5040, I wonder whether you are still certain it was the Colombian anthem and you had long-inactive Yopal on Sept 11? Any sign of Yopal QRM when you got Upano? 73, (Glenn to Roger, via DXLD) ** ERITREA [non]. BEHAVIOUR OF OPPOSITION RADIO ON 21 SEPTEMBER Please note that the Eritrean opposition radio, Voice of the Eritrean People, did not carry news items on 21 September, saying that it did not have any. Source: BBC Monitoring research in English 21 Sep 03 (via DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA. Heard in Aafar language according to Klingenfuss guide on 11802.5, fair signals. with QRM from Rai on 11800. Hr [?] music, then OM with long talk, then three rings of a bell at 1400 UT Sept 23, into the news. Did not make out ID. But tentative. Still on as I type this (Ron Trotto, Waggoner, IL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Saw this message just in time to check 11802.5 at 1457. R. Ethiopia with closing announcement at 1459 in Arabic. Transmitter off at 1500. Good signal here in Finland. 73 (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA [non]. 12120, *1700-1800* Sat 13-09, Dejen R, via Samara. Tigrinya Test tones from 1658, opens with a shouting man and flute, 1702 and 1705 IDs "...Dejen Radio...", website: http://www.ehtiopiancommunicator.com [sic], talk about globalisation and the WTO meeting in Cancún, Horn of Africa song, mentioned the VOA, closed with Horn of Africa martial song. 45544 AP-DNK. The website asks for money sent to : Liberty Bell Communications Inc., P.O. Box 792, Indianapolis, Indiana 46206 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, @tividade DX Sept 21 via DXLD) URL no work even if spelling corrected (gh, DXLD) ** HONDURAS. Al parecer Radio M.I. se ha mudado de frecuencia. El 20/09, a las 0317 UT, en los 3324.78 kHz, capté una emisora con un formato parecido. Mucha música religiosa en español. SINPO 2/2. Ya fuera del aire a las 0350 (Adán González, Catia La Mar, VENEZUELA Yaesu FT-890/ TH3MK3, Sept 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) En 3325 habrá Radio Maya de Barillas, GUATEMALA, porsupuesto religiosa (gh) ** ICELAND. There is an increasing number of logs in the DX press calling the transmissions on 13855U as "AFRTS Iceland" or "AFN Iceland", considering them an extra output of the local AFRTS station in Keflavík which broadcasts on 1530 kHz & FM 104.1 MHz. This is a misunderstanding. The AFRTS/AFN SW transmissions via Grindavík, Iceland are part of the temporary, "global" AFRTS shortwave feeder system for the US Navy fleet, in this case serving ships in the Atlantic Ocean. They are not conducted by the local AFRTS affiliate in Keflavík. It has perhaps been forgotten meanwhile that AFRTS was forced to resume the SW feeds in 1998 after it lost a satellite feeder system for Navy ships, according to unofficial Navy sources quoted in the DX press at that time. These feeds are "internal" Navy feeds, transmitted from US Naval bases (like in Iceland) and exclusively intended for floating Navy vessels. Stationary US military units receive AFRTS programs via satellite resp. local relays on FM, MW, or cable (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, DX LISTENING DIGEST) OK; but I don`t understand your, and others` use of ``resp.`` (gh) ** INDONESIA. Voice of Indonesia started Korean service. It is heard at 1200-1300 on 9525 kHz. This time was former Indonesian program. Now Indonesian service was changed to 1300-1400. At the end of Indonesian service, National Anthem can be heard. Many thanks information for Atsunori Ishida. He noted for the first time on September 21 (Juichi Yamada, JAPAN. . .) RRI Biak is now on 4920 kHz. It is heard in local morning and local evening. Thanks information for Atsunori Ishida (Juichi Yamada, JAPAN) According to the homepage of RRI, RRI network is as follows: RRI Cabang Utama: Jakarta RRI Cabang Madya: Bandung, Banjarmasin, Denpasar, Jayapura, Makassar, Medan, Palembang, Semarang, Surabaya, Yogyakarta RRI Cabang Muda: Ambon, Banda Aceh, Bandar Lampung, Bengkulu, Biak, Bukittinggi, Gorontalo, Jambi, Kendari, Kupang, Manado, Mataram, Merauke, Padang, Palangkaraya, Palu, Pekanbaru, Pontianak, Samarinda, Sorong, Sungailiat, Surakarta, Ternate RRI Cabang Pratama: Cirebon, Ende, Fak Fak, Jember, Lhokseumawe, Madiun, Malang, Manokwari, Nabire, Purwokerto, Ranai, Serui, Sibolga, Singaraja, Sintang, Sumenep, Tanjung Pinang, Toli Toli, Tual, Wamana (Juichi Yamada, JAPAN, Jembatan DX Sept 23 via DXLD) ** IRAN [non]. 7750, 10.9 0130, Voice of Mojahed in Farsi, mentioned Iran several times, Iranian music, loud and clear until a jammer started at 0132. S3 BV (Bjarke Vestesen, Denmark, SW Bulletin Sept 21, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ISRAEL, 11605, Kol Israel from 1923 UT with end of newscast, website address, "Goodnight, shalom from Jerusalem," into trumpet IS at 1925, SINPO 33222, September 22 (Roger Chambers, Utica, NY, Drake SW8 with whip antenna, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH. 3959.717, 14.9 1630, KCBS, Kanggye, solemn singing and // to 2850.083, both 2+ SA (Stig Adolfsson, Sweden, SW Bulletin Sept 21, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KURDISTAN [non?]. 4027v, 10.9 0135, Voice of People of Kurdistan, nonstop Kurd music for a long time, pompous battle songs, ID at 0153, mentioning Kurdistan and Komala several times, mentioned e-mail- address, freq. ann. And Qur`an-prayers. S3 BV (Bjarke Vestesen, Denmark, SW Bulletin Sept 21, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST, WORLD OF RADIO 1200) 8170, 18.9 1635, Voice of Iraqi Kurdistan with Turkish-Kurdish pop music, harmonic of 4085 kHz. S2 BV (Bjarke Vestesen, Denmark, SW Bulletin Sept 21, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KURDISTAN [non]. KURDISH BROADCASTERS MEET IN GERMANY A conference of Kurdish broadcasters has been held in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, reports the Turkish newspaper Yeniden Ozgur Gundem. The conference was designed to exchange ideas and encourage closer cooperation between the stations. Those present included Brussels- based Denge Mezopotamya, Radio Mezopotamya from Linz, Austria, as well as three local Kurdish stations in Germany: Radiostan from Marburg, Denge Welat from Stuttgart, and Denge Kurdistan from Freiburg. Mirhem Yigit of Denge Mezopotamya, which broadcasts on shortwave 12 hours a day, said that despite the emergence of various Kurdish satellite TV channels, radio remains important. He said the goal of Denge Mezopotamya is to be a national radio. Local broadcasters present expressed their concern that financial difficulties are hampering their efforts, and lead to a high turnover of staff. They urged Kurdish organizations to give sufficient importance to radio broadcasting (© Radio Netherlands Media Network 22 September 2003 via DXLD) ** LATVIA. Re: ``I am afraid the authorities in Latvia will need to do some homework. This frequency, in the main will be too high, for most of the B03 Period at this time, more suitable for an afternoon transmission, say 1300-1600. 2048, Radio Seagull now almost faded out (Ken Fletcher, UK, September 20th 2003, BDXC-UK via DXLD)`` Actually, the frequency 9290 was chosen and coordinated at the B03 HFCC conference on behalf of the Latvian authorities by Britain's most prominent frequency management organisation (you may guess which one I am referring to). ``Further broadcasts are planned (via Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, DX LISTENING DIGEST) But not every Saturday?? (gh, DXLD)`` The extent of the relays depends fully on the funding (i.e. how much money Laser Radio is willing to spend resp. how many customers they have) (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LIBYA [non]. LJB, Tripoli on 17980 today! (1200-1300). Can't work out the maths for that one at all! Audio on LSB only (Tim Bucknall, UK, Sept 22, harmonics yahoogroup via DXLD) via FRANCE presumably ** LITHUANIA. 3330, What BEFF (Björn Fransson, Sweden) hears is nothing of interest but the 5th harmonic of Sitkunai, on 666 kHz. I reported this more than a year ago. SA (Stig Adolfsson, Sweden, SW Bulletin Sept 21, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LITHUANIA. LITHUANIA STATION SEEKS U.S. PARTNER Radio Baltic Waves International, a Lithuania-based private AM radio station, said it has been awarded with a license for broadcasting on AM 1386 kHz, using a 1,000 kW transmitter. "RBWI is looking for a U.S. partner interested in broadcasting on our high-power AM channel," said Project Coordinator Rimantas Pleikys. "A sky-wave coverage area includes most of Europe and European part of Russia. Currently we operate 100, 150 and 500 kW AM transmitters. RBWI is ready to negotiate on the issue of installation of a new 1000 kW AM transmitter of our partner. The broadcasting is possible in any language, the daily transmitting duration is unlimited." For information, e-mail to riplei @ takas.lt (Date posted: 2003-09-22, Radio World E-byte via DXLD) ** MALAYSIA. 5979.4, Radio Malaysia Sabah. The best way to get this one for me is to listen to their local news at 1315. Heard today Sept 23 with an ID as above at 1322. News ended at 1327, when short theme was heard. Short instrumental piece played a few times and pulled plug at 1328 (Hans Johnson, Cody WY, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** MEXICO. Re XERTA`s ``self-inflicted`` interference: I've engineered hi-powered (10 to 50 kW) stereo AM stations using Kahn, Harris, and Motorola C-Quam, and don't see how this can happen. It certainly cannot happen with a standard class AB push-pull high level modulator system using valves; nor do I even see how an Ampliphase transmitter could do this. What *I* have heard quite a few times is a very loud jamming or ute signal that is almost superimposed over the upper sideband frequency region of XERTA, and due to the modulation characteristics of this roaring signal, hard to zero-beat; but surely not a spurious audio signal generated by the XERTA rig. Or am I wrong? (Steve Waldee - retired AM ce, DX LISTENING DIGEST) La estación mexicana de 4810 kHz no se escucha debido a un insoportable ruido en esa frecuencia que muchos llaman UTE (Adán González, Venezuela, Sept 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also ARMENIA 4810, XERTA, 22 Sept. 1000-1010 "las palabras del hijo..." over modulated signal, feel I was wrong on the earlier observation regarding the usb signal. Very long periods of carrier with no audio; transmitter problem? 23 Sept: 4810.83 tentative, strong carrier 1120- 1126 then off (Robert Wilkner, Pompano Beach, Florida, NRD 535D, Icom R 70, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4810, XERTA, from 0910 UT (poor initially), English ID at 0945 by OM, music of Mexico; hard to pinpoint frequency, at times better on 4806 kHz, fair on September 22 (Roger Chambers, Utica, NY, Drake SW8 with whip antenna, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4810, XERTA, English E-mail to them seeking their postal address brought quick Spanish reply from charlaxerta@yahoo.com.mx giving QTH as: XERTA, R. Transcontinental de America [presumably the "RTA" in XERTA-JB], Plaza San Juan No. 5, Despacho No. 2, Col. Centro, Centro Historico, C.P. 6050, Mexico D.F. Tel. 55184938 (Jerry Berg, MA, Cumbre DX Sept 23 via DXLD) ** MEXICO [non]. 15045.0, 2020-2345 13 and 14-09, R. Free Cascadia, western USA, English, excited reports from WTO meeting, 15111, AP-DNK (Anker Petersen, Denmark, @tividade DX Sept 21 via DXLD) Glenn, With reference to the comments by Mr. Ludwig re Radio Free Cascadia: Kai Ludwig writes: "I am somewhat surprised about Nick Grace and Martin Schöch issuing a joint statement with RNW." They did no such thing. The statement was written on behalf of Media Network, the Webzine (i.e. me) and not RNW, the organisation. I do not speak for Radio Netherlands management, I am merely an employee. And Mr. Ludwig knows that perfectly well. As to why CRW issued a joint statement with Media Network, we have made no secret of the fact that we work closely together. Media Network has published a number of articles written by Nick Grace of CRW, and will continue to do so. We were two of the media outlets you specifically bracketed together as possibly having a political motive for not covering Radio Free Cascadia. I asked Nick Grace to reply on behalf of both of us. If Mr. Ludwig has a problem with that, I am sorry. He is welcome to write a letter of complaint to Radio Netherlands management if he thinks I have acted incorrectly. 73, (Andy Sennitt, Holland, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I should clarify that my incomplete list of media news organisations which did not mention RFCI, including Media Network, did not mean to imply that all of them did so for political reasons. It`s not really unusual that MN did not mention it; MN in particular is extremely selective in the news items covered, with no attempt to be comprehensive, but instead to post items which may not have appeared elsewhere --- often only one a day, or even less. It does seem somewhat odd that Media Network must be considered a separate entity from RN itself, as we need to be reminded frequently (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hello CRW readers, in a recent mail I compared the station RFCI with the German 'radios for a special event' ('Veranstaltungsrundfunk') on FM. As it seems this caused some confusion and nobody of you saw the ironic meaning of this classification. [If I I would have used some smileys :-) in the text it would have been easier]. Kai is right, Veranstaltungsrundfunk in Germany is done (temporary) licensed, low power station on FM. RFCI is of course some kind of 'Anti-Veranstaltungsrundfunk' (radio against a special event). If Radio Freies Gorleben does a FM transmission against the transport of old nuclear material into the subterranean caves of Gorleben it is also 'radio against a special event', but not a clandestine. Some comments received here mentioned f.i. 'RFCI is more a clandestine than R Marti/RFE-RL'. Well, that is a question of definition. If you define a 'clandestine station' via the tx-site then it might be true. But if you define it as 'a station that wants to alter the political system of a given state' then the interpretation of CRW might be true. I doubt that it has been the aim of RFCI to get the 'world leadership' ('Clandestine to Earth' (DXLD)). I'd rather assume they wanted to inform/mobilize the anti-globalization-protesters itself and a part of the public opinion. Since we at CRW/CRC edit a newsletter and a webpage about Clandestine Radio we have to stick to some (own) rules of course. That does not mean that these rules are the absolute truth or that we condemN the opinion of other DXers, but of course we will follow our own rules in our own publications. We have several (different) opinions and we have several DX- publications that can publish these (different) opinions. Such a variety is a valuable good and we should keep it that way. yours, (Martin Schoech, Germany, Sept 23, DX LISTEING DIGEST) One of the participants in RFCI, not necessarily representing the opinion of the organization, responded to the previous discussion about whether it`s pirate or clandestine: Now THAT`S funny! Let me get this straight, because we do not answer to some overarching hierarchical structure, itself a recreation of the statism against which we struggle, we are relegated to the belittling label of "pirate" rather than somehow making the cut to graduate to actual "clandestine" status. I suppose I would argue that the anti corporate globalization movement, the movement that brought you the battle of Seattle, that has scuttled two WTO trade rounds in four years costing transnational capitol hundreds of billions in delays, that has personnel in occupied Palestine defending people`s houses and getting killed for it, is a legitimate, if disparate, political entity. I wonder, had we downed that federal helicopter would we have made the grade? What if we are still here ten years from now, then do we make it? Thanks for all the press, Glenn. Everyone appears to have extracted without loss. They did scope one transport volunteer with a particularly hot load but did not make contact. Our feeling is that it was a bad week to draw additional attention to either the FCC or the WTO so they decided to gather information only. We also note NPR's total news blackout on the collapse of the Cancún round Monday --- funny, it was news last week, now not a peep, and they wonder why we build our own stations. We have one half hour posted on radio4all as mp3; hope to get more up but the archive needs to be logged first, may take a while. Got to keep moving, later (via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEPAL. "MAOISTS" ON FM | Text of report by Nepalnews.com web site on 19 September Maoists have started FM broadcasts from an unknown place in Bara, Annapurna Post said. The transmission was heard clearly Tuesday [16 September] east of the district. The broadcast was heard in Sapahi, Kohalbi, Rampurba and adjoining villages on 95.1 MHz Source: Nepalnews.com web site, Kathmandu, in English 19 Sep 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) TFK! ** NETHERLANDS. See MEXICO [non] ** NEW ZEALAND. Glenn, Download the RNZI 22/09 Mailbox. The truth is out, the transmitter was hit by lighting! 73 (Larry Nebron, CA, Sept 21, DX LISTENING DIGEST) http://www.rnzi.com/audio/mailbox.ram Website now says: Haere Mai. Welcome! Update on the RNZI Transmitter - The RNZI short- wave transmitter has been off-air since Saturday 30 August. It is now hoped that it will be operational again in the first week in October. We have continued to broadcast on the Internet (www.rnzi.com) Additionally, since 8 September we have been leasing just over four hours of time on one of Radio Australia's transmitters to broadcast the RNZI breakfast session each morning - on 9580 kHz. We will continue to do this until we are back on air. It appears likely that a lightning strike caused a series of major faults in the transmitter. Replacement parts have been ordered and are now on their way to New Zealand. [also via Bernie O`Shea, Ont.] On the Mailbox Adrian Sainsbury said: We hope and pray to be back on air by Oct 1, when replacement parts arrive from Switzerland. Contractors BCL [?] have been working steadily on the problem. Lighting strike was cause of a series of faults. Lightning protector device on the transmitter housing appears to have failed, allowing lighting to cause considerable damage to the transmitter. Attempted to repair the transmitter to allow it to run on low power, but this did not work. Spare parts are very expensive; have an enormous supply on hand, but as a result of the number of faults caused by the lightning, took out a lot of parts for which there were not spares. Had to shop around for the needed parts at the best price, considering current exchange rates, etc. Longer term options: a silver lining. Plans for a new digital SW transmitter in a couple of years. Hope that as a result of this, government will make it possible to buy that sooner rather than later, but still about a year away. Also it may be possible to enter into an agreement for R. Australia to help us in the future if needed. Positive side is that in future RNZI can provide a more reliable service. Unusual that lightning hit the building, rather than the highest point, the towers, where hits are usual. First major hit since the site was opened in 1990 (Adrian Sainsbury, RNZI Mailbox Sept 22, notes by gh for WORLD OF RADIO 1200, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. When did "Double Talk" KOKB/KOKP change to "Double Play Sports"? It's still listed on 100000watts.com as a talk station... [KOKB = 1580 Blackwell, KOKP = 1020 Perry] They changed their name when they moved their Perry stations to Stillwater. They thought they'd "Double-Team" their way into dominating North Central Oklahoma Sports. They talked a lot of smack, telling Stillwater area OSU advertisers that THEY would be the Stillwater OSU Affiliate. Trouble IS, they forgot that Stillwater already HAS an OSU Affiliate (KSPI-FM) and so they LOST their OSU Affiliation on KOKB when they moved to Stillwater. They're trying to get around that fact by using Learfield employees to do OSU Sports stuff on KOKB anyway, and THAT could cost several folks at Learfield their jobs... What is Learfield? It's the Broadcast Group that does OSU's (and many more schools)sports broadcasts... (anonymous Sept 10 and 11 postings on a thread at Oklahoma Radio Board http://www.radio-info.com/mods/posts.php?Cat=&Board=oklahoma via DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA [non]. Little by little, I am getting back the public FM stations I used to be able to pick up off the air in Enid with my big antenna, until the proliferation of local gospel-huxter transmitters. KBVV has blocked 91.1 for many years now, but thanks to a tip from PublicRadioFan.com, I see that High Plains Public Radio, originating with KANZ in Garden City KS, has started webcasting, as I have been urging them to do: http://pubint.sc.llnwd.net:9095/listen.pls Unfortunately it`s only 24 kbps, so not great for music, and the website http://www.hppr.org and the programming have been redesigned since last I looked at them, making it all more public-generic. But HPPR still has a few programs not heard elsewhere, or hard to find: Sat 1500-1630 UT, Western Swing and Other Things Sat 1630-1700 UT, Riders Radio Theater Sat 1700-1900 UT, Silver Rails Sun 1400-1700 UT, Classical Enlightenment Sun 2200-2300 UT, Thomas Jefferson Hour --- HPPR gets produxion credit for this national show, I assume as a result of $$ rather than physical production in Garden City. Also noteworthy is that KUNM Albuquerque, which has a large amount of original programming, especially music, and consequently deprives NM of many otherwise national NPR/PRI shows, has added a 64k mp3 stream to Real and Quick (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAKISTAN. Is there any chance that Radio Pakistan on 21465 could be an intentionally radiated 3rd harmonic of 7155? (Tim Bucknall, UK, Sept 22, harmonics yahoogroup via DXLD) Yes, there is a chance (gh) ** PALESTINE [non]. CLANDESTINA VIA IRÃ - Existe, no Irã, uma programação, em árabe, intitulada A Voz da Revolução Islâmica Palestina. Trata-se de uma emissão que luta contra o líder Yasser Arafat. Tem excelente sintonia, aqui na América do Sul, após às 0330, em 9610 e 11875 kHz. É fácil identificar: vão ao ar longos discursos e marchas militares, ao estilo norte-coreano. Confira! (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX Sept 21 via DXLD) ** PERU. La Voz del Campesino, emisora la cual presumo haber captado, fue monitoreada el 21/09, a las 2328 UT, con SINPO 1/1, en los 6958.12 kHz. RTTY QRM. Demasiada estática. 73's y buen DX (Adán González, Catia La Mar, VENEZUELA Yaesu FT-890/ TH3MK3, Sept 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PORTUGAL. RDP spurs on 15690 & 11793 today (Tim Bucknall, UK, Sept 22, harmonics yahoogroup via DXLD) ** ROMANIA. Re: ``But what frequency is it supposed to be on? Or did you mean 15105?`` Yes, 15105 (which should be found in all reference lists for the A03 season). About half of the Romanian language SW programs of Radio Romania International are home service relays, you find the exact schedule at http://www.rri.ro/ro/live.htm It's in Romanian; all is HS except for transmissions marked "RRI". 73, (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Was the 15015 typo at the transmitter or at the receiver, Tim? When people hear a station on an incorrect frequency, they should make absolutely clear that it was the station`s mistake, rather than make us guess; besides proofreading own reports (gh) ** UGANDA [non]. CLANDESTINE from GERMANY to UGANDA. 17555, Radio Rhino Intl. *1500 with multiple IDs and slogans. Schedule on website is 1500-1530 Tue-Fri and 1500-1600 Sat/Sun. First day of regular broadcasts, Sept 23, announcer gave outline. Introduction, music, news, two topics, music. Topics: education, corruption, tourism, religion, etc. Then talk by politician, who officially opened the station (Hans Johnson, Cody WY, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** UKRAINE [and non]. Re: Thanks for the reminder; well, why do the Ukrainians and Bulgarians keep using ``SMF``?? I was explaining what the letters stand for (gh) Well, this is a long story. I think there is nothing to say against the use of the code "SMF", my point was that it should not be "translated" with "Simferopol" (but "Kopani" resp. "Mykolaiv"). Observer is using "SMF" because "SMF" is the code that the HFCC frequency list shows. I am not sure what you mean with "the Ukrainians". As far as I can recall, Radio Ukraine International (e.g. in the person of Alexander Egorov) does not use the term "Simferopol" in its schedules but "Mykolaiv". The site Kopani is located 300 kilometers NW of Simferopol, some 10 kilometers SE of Mykolaiv, which I think does make a difference for DXers that would like to look it up on the map. The code "SMF" was registered with the HFCC/ITU during Soviet times when the transmitter locations were top secret and the Soviet authorities tried their best to disguise them. The code was not changed by the Ukrainian authorities after the country's independence. RUI itself does not have own transmitters, it leases them from RRT, the national Ukrainian transmitter network operator, and it is not RUI that is coordinating SW frequencies at the HFCC conferences, but RRT. Apparently, RRT does not see a reason to change the code. In fact, only few administrations bother to update the codes that are in the HFCC reference table "Global HF Transmitter Sites" (esp. if it comes to deleting dismantled sites). One that did was India which some few years ago replaced its "British" place names with the new official Indian orthography. As for HF sites in the successor states of the former USSR: since the mid-1990s the WRTH is listing the correct names and exact coördinates that are based on the actual transmitter location rather than "external registrations" with he HFCC or ITU. The site Kopani was first published already almost 10 years ago in WRTH1994. Later these details were published also on the Transmitter Documentation Project website (based on the same sources as WRTH): see http://www.tdp.info/ukr.html for UKR and also other ex-USSR states (though the ex-USSR section was not much updated in recent years, more details have been established or confirmed since then). (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, Sept 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. Comment --- WHY BIG HAS NOT BEEN BEAUTIFUL FOR BELEAGUERED BBC Peter Preston, Sunday September 21, 2003, The Observer Small is beautiful, but big can be beastly - a new motto for the BBC after one of the lousiest weeks in its history. More wreath than Reith http://politics.guardian.co.uk/columnist/story/0,9321,1046673,00.html (Guardian via Jilly Dybka, KF4ZEO, DXLD) ** U K. Is this electronic purveyance really the way to finance the BBC? Glenn, I wonder if you have seen this from the UK's TV licensing agency website. It indicates the legal consequences for UK residents who operate a TV without first subscribing to the BBC's licensing scheme. There is also information about the fleets of disguised vehicles and electronic purveyance systems used to catch licence evaders, usually under the cover of darkness. Most of those prosecuted tend to be people on low incomes or those living on pensions or government social security benefits. The licence fee is the same for a single person living in a one room flat as it is for the occupiers of a substantial luxury residence. This revenue is used to finance BBC local and national radio stations and also BBC television channels: Most services are available, depending where you live, in both analogue and digital formats and carries no advertising (Andy Cadier, UK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk (See media) NEW GENERATION OF TELEVISION DETECTOR VANS HIT THE STREETS TV Licensing launches 10th model of van in UK TV Licensing today (10.30 am, 24 June, Alexandra Palace, London) launches its new generation of detector van, the 10th to be unveiled since they first hit the streets in 1926 and over 50 years since TV detector vans were first rolled out. The new vans, which not only use the most advanced technology available, are also the first to be designed with removable TV Licensing branding - which makes them look like any other white van on the streets. Vanessa Wood, TV Licensing spokesperson said: "These new vans really are a case of 'now you see it, now you don't'. By having the option of being able to remove the TV Licensing logo, licence evaders won't know we're in the area unless we want them to. "50 years ago you could spot the first TV detector vans coming a mile off as the aerial on top was as wide as the van. This is the first time we have used covert vans and they will be only one part of our activities to target licence evaders." Last year TV Licensing caught over 440,000 evaders. The technology developed especially for this new generation of vans means that evaders are even more likely to be caught. Vanessa Wood said: "The new vans are so powerful they can tell if a TV is in use in as little as 20 seconds. And once the television is detected, the equipment - which works from up to 60m away - can pinpoint the actual room that the television set is in. "However, the technology is so secret that even the engineers working on different detection systems worked in isolation - not even they know how the other detection methods work." For the first time the detector vans will use GPS satellite technology to track down targeted addresses. This will enable TV Licensing to precisely target individual evader homes using up-to-the-minute information from its database of 28 million addresses. TV detector vans help TV licensing catch around 1,200 evaders every day. Anyone caught without a licence risks a trip to court and a fine of up to £1,000. It is illegal to use or install television receiving equipment to receive television programme services if you are not properly licensed. For further information about the many ways to buy a licence or the concessions available please call 0870 241 5590 or visit http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk For further information: TV Licensing press office 020 7544 3144/07900 913 434 Notes to Editors Ways to Pay A colour TV Licence costs £116. There are several ways to pay: Credit/Debit Card: Simply call 08705 22 66 66 and pay by credit or debit card. This facility accepts payment from a range of cards including Visa, Mastercard, Switch, Delta and Connect. You can also pay online using your credit or debit card at www.tvlicensing.co.uk Direct Debit: Direct debit is now the most popular and hassle-free way to pay for your licence - more than half of all licence payers now pay this way. Phone 08705 22 66 66 to set up a monthly, quarterly or annual Direct Debit. By Post: Simply send a cheque made payable to TV Licensing to the following address: TV Licensing, Freepost BS6689, Bristol BS1 3YJ. Please write your name, address and reference number on the back. At Any Post Office: Pay by cash or cheque at any post office branch. Just pick up an application form when you're there or ask at the counter for details. PayPoint: Cash payments under the Cash Easy Entry scheme at PayPoint outlets around the UK - call 08457 289 289 (via Andy Cadier, UK, DXLD) Americans in the land of `free` television tend to be aghast at such big-brother tactics. It`s really not that different from our cable TV fees --- except they are optional! (gh) ** U S A. http://www.bbg.gov Media Advisory - Los Angeles U.S. BROADCASTING BOARD OF GOVERNORS HOLDS NEWS CONFERENCE TO UNVEIL SURVEY RESULTS OF RADIO SAWA IN THE MIDDLE EAST; PLANS FOR A MIDDLE EAST TELEVISION NETWORK What: The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), the federal agency that oversees all U.S. nonmilitary broadcasting, will release a new survey showing listenership of Radio Sawa, the Arabic-language station, in the Middle East. The BBG will also discuss plans for the Middle East Television Network, an Arabic-language satellite television station. Speakers: Kenneth Y. Tomlinson, Chairman, BBG (By Videoconference in Washington); Norman J. Pattiz, BBG Governor and Chairman/BBG Middle East Committee Where: The Museum of Television and Radio Boardroom, 465 North Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills, Calif.; 310-786-1000 When: Thursday, September 25, 2003, 9 AM PDT RSVP: Donna Bojarsky, 323-850-3140 (BBG Press release Sept 22 via DXLD; another at a Washington site) ** U S A. WOR was a few minutes late in starting on WBCQ, 7415, UT Mon after 0415, so I found myself listening to an editorial by Ed Bolton, producer (and voicer) of Amos & Andy, endorsing ex-Judge Moore in Alabama for imposing his Ten-Commandment monument upon the people`s secular court. After all, A&A went to church! And the country is doomed if it doesn`t become a theocracy --- well, that wasn`t exactly how he put it. But disgusting (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. New 1996 foot FM tower east of Denver --- There is an interesting story with a neat photo of this tower in today's Denver Post. I tried to cut and paste it but the site is set up to prevent that. However this is an open site that does not require registration. The article is at http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~53~1616286,00.html or just go to www.denverpost.com/news and it is the 2nd article down. This is the tower that I have been documenting during construction on my N0NNK web site (see link below). (Patrick Griffith, N0NNK CBT CBNT CRO Westminster, CO, USA, NRC FM-TV Sept 7 via DXLD) http://community.webtv.net/AM-DXer/ http://community.webtv.net/N0NNK/ GIANT TOWER IN RURAL ADAMS WORRIES PILOTS --- 1,996-foot structure for radio signals called hazard; county, FAA disagree by Jeffrey Leib, Denver Post Staff Writer One of the tallest communications towers in the nation has been built near Hoyt, worrying some pilots who fear it's a hazard to small planes flying east of Denver International Airport. Adams County commissioners approved the 1,996-foot-high tower after developers agreed to provide free space for county emergency communications equipment... (link above via gh, DXLD) Never mentions WHICH FM stations are supposed to go on it ** U S A. This is a piece about the suspension of a WHAM talk-show host for seemingly racist comments about the mayor of Rochester. (Scott Fybush also refers to the affair in this week's column.) http://www.democratandchronicle.com/news/0923521SO9F_lons23_news.shtml 73- (Bill Westenhaver, QC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VENEZUELA. Saludos colegas diexistas. Tal como lo informara el colega Malm, en estos momentos Radio Táchira 4830 se encuentra en el aire, 0305 UT con el programa: Música y Costumbres de Colombia. Hubo una identificación en inglés y castellano. Atte: (José Elías Díaz Gómez, Sept 22, WORLD OF RADIO 1200, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Radio Táchira reactivada el sábado 20/09, a las 2133, en los 4830 kHz. Transmitía el programa "Romances, copla y sabana". SINPO 4/4. Programa religioso a las 2330, ¡cuidado!, podría confundirse con Radio Litoral. Cadena nacional con el presidente Chávez a las 0218. Aún en el aire a las 0302. Totalmente atípico captar a Radio Táchira más allá de las 0200. Escuchada otra vez el 22/09, a la 0148, a pesar de haber estado todo el día fuera del aire. Emitía el programa "Música y costumbres de Colombia". SINPO 5/4. El locutor anunciaba la dirección electrónica: radiotachira@hotmail.com --- los colegas diexistas podrían intentar enviar sus informes a través de esta vía. Está más fuerte que de costumbre... ¿será un transmisor nuevo o repotenciado? (Adán González, Catia La Mar, VENEZUELA Yaesu FT-890/ TH3MK3, Sept 22, WORLD OF RADIO 1200, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VIETNAM [non]. CLANDESTINE from GERMANY to VIETNAM. 15775, Chan Troi Moi card with "CTM" and antenna on front, full-data (sans site) on back. Address on card is same that I used: Correspondence Section, Radio CTM, P.O. Box 48, Nishi Yodogawa, Osaka 555, Japan; but card was mailed from Sacramento. In 5 months for CD report (Jerry Berg, MA, Cumbre DX Sept 23 via DXLD) ** VIETNAM [non]. CLANDESTINE from CIS to VIETNAM. 15660, Khmer Krom Radio (non) --- checking for this one today Sept 23 at 1450 and only heard a station in Arabic on the frequency (Hans Johnson, Cody WY, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** YEMEN. 9780.38, 14.9 1800, Radio Yemen, Sana'a, started an English programme, ID, news among others about the Iranian claimed atomic weapon program followed by pop music by Roxette. S3 BV (Bjarke Vestesen, Denmark, SW Bulletin Sept 21, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. No identificadas: andinas que aún no he podido descifrar... 1) El 20/09, a las 2316 UT, en los 4681.09 kHz, SINPO 2/2, con locutor de guardia y presentación del tema "Dime la verdad", de Marta Sánchez, ex-vocalista de Olé-Olé. [R. Amistad, Guatemala?] 2) El 20/09, a las 2320 UT, en los 5458.99 kHz, con música andina. Modulación deficiente. [R. Emisora Bolívar, Perú? SWG: 5460] 3) Voz femenina incomprensible y muy débil, en los 4635 kHz, a las 2348 UT. SINPO 2/1. (20/09). [Tajikistan?] 4) Locutora con sermón religioso en los 6214.99, a las 2351, SINPO 3/3. Fuerte QRM de radioaficionados. ¿Será una peruana? (20/09). (Adán González, Catia La Mar, VENEZUELA Yaesu FT-890/ TH3MK3, Sept 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Ésta será Radio Baluarte, Argentina. No hay radioaficionados en esta banda; ¿marítimas? (gh) UNIDENTIFIED. 15545, HDL, 1900-2000, Woofferton to W Africa: Still same endless tape loop of Merlin Comm. on Monday Sept 22nd. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, WORLD OF RADIO 1200, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ COMMENTARY ++++++++++ SWL CALLS Mr. Hauser, There is a good website devoted to the Popular Electronics "WPE" SWL calls, http://www.qsl.net/wb1gfh/swl.html Also includes a general history of the program. I would agree that to a licensed ham, they may have seemed frivolous, but it was a big deal to young SWLs back then (many of which went on to ham radio). Also agree about comments in the latest DXLD, that many SWLs are potential hams, and ARRL should indeed recognize and cultivate them as future members. I am an active ham AND SWL, and I'm really surprised by how few hams 'cross over' or 'revert' to shortwave listening, especially when a high performance general coverage SWL receiver is literally at their fingertips in virtually all HF rigs today. Best Regards, (Ben Loveless WB9FJO ex-WPE9JLQ, Michigan, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WPE calls don`t expire, do they? ARRL does nothing to counter the ham mindset that SWLing is grossly inferior to hamming. At best, SWLing is merely a stepping-stone to becoming a real ham (gh) Here's a collection of SWL Call Signs and their owners, not limited to Popular Electronics, or the USA for that matter. http://kc5jk.tripod.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/swlcs.txt (Pete Costello, DX LISTENING DIGEST) DEATHURBIA Your radio article is -- sad to say -- idiotic. To Whom it May Concern at http://members.aol.com/deathurbia/wireless-broadband.html -- I have no idea who you are; there was no explanation on your long webpage. I am a retired classical music program director (of five large market stations), and chief engineer-manager-commercial voice announcer at many more, with 27 years in the business in the SF bay area. I have some very negative reactions to your article. First, your web page about LPFM and IBOC is so riddled with mistakes and misspellings that it should embarrass you. It's really shocking to an educated reader, and unless your screed is composed by *one* dyslexic person with no editorial assistance, it would betoken some kind of illiteracy. You really *must* proofread your article and fix it up: anyone reading it is so distracted by the terrible mistakes that much of the gist of your message is weakened. Second, the statements you make about digital audio and RF transmission, bandwidth, and other technical matters illustrate the fact that you are completely ignorant of the issues involved: you are merely spreading "urban legend" with such nonsense. Extrapolating from something said by Sony regarding the required digital signal bandwidth under some arbitrary, undisclosed condition to an idiotic claim that a low-deviation digital stereo FM signal of only 20 kHz bandwidth is practical shows that you have no comprehension of FM modulation indices and how FM signals are modulated and demodulated (whether analogue or digital) and their consequential sideband components. Third, your claim that 30% of total records sold being of such musical genres as classical (which you spell "Claisscial", oddly capitalizing it), techno, bluegrass, etc., therefore mandates that thirty percent of broadcasting *should* transmit these musical formats shows a complete lack of understanding of the demographics and statistics (which I might question anyway), and makes some unsupportable social assertions. In addition to my own work for 27 years in broadcasting, I later worked as a buyer in the classical department of a large chain dealer of CDs, and question your numbers based on actual professional experience with industry-wide (and local store) sales statistics. Furthermore, the sheer sales of CDs per capita reflect NOTHING relevant with respect to the "correct" balance of broadcast programming (if there COULD be any such nonsensical concept anyway.) I'll give you just one quick example to prove my point. I used to own more than 13,000 classical LPs, and now have a collection of over 9,000 classical CDs. I have hundreds of operas on CD. Now, my own purchasing habits have had a significant impact on various retailers (as confirmed by at least two of them who reported that I am known by them as one of their most important customers.) I might be "0.xxx %" of total classical sales, an arbitrary number that cannot be pinned down without extensive research, but nevertheless a REAL number. Now, I do know for a fact that no one in my immediate neighborhood buys classical operas on CD; probably no one buys any classical CDs at all. Whereas, I have possibly purchased more than most of the classical customers in my home town *put together*. The anomalously large number of records I have purchased over the last 45 years do not represent anything other than the purchases of ONE person. The large quantity of sales of classics and opera around the geographic area of my house do not indicate a significant demographic cluster of interest; it merely indicates the existence and buying habits of little old me! You cannot take the sales figures of the dealers that have served me, and extrapolate from them "how many classical customers are in the community" and "how much of radio programming should be classical." For, in a very true sense, I *could* represent just ONE person in a field of perhaps ten thousand individuals, none of whom would ever tune in or pay any attention to classical music. So, putting a proportion of classical music on ALL of broadcast radio in my market - - in concurrence to the buying habits of just one voracious collector (me) -- would not reach a real audience of listeners; would not have any significant social impact; would not serve anybody but ME; and surely would be both a waste of precious broadcasting spectrum, and a waste of financial resources. Furthermore, as the former webmaster for one of the world's most prominent classical CD producers (Mark Obert-Thorn) I must inform you that his typical CD issues, released world-wide by UK labels, and received with the wild praise of the leading American and European record critics, often consist of merely 1,000 individual units exported from the UK label **to the entire United States**. Truly, in a given large community such as mine -- San Jose, CA. -- it might be found that the two local Tower Record stores would sell no more than ONE of his individual CD titles in a period of perhaps two to five years. That one CD issue might well be regarded by music critics as an important historical and cultural contribution to the world classical music scene; but individual CD copies were spread so wide and thin that it often might be possible to track almost every single sale across the entirety of the US. Yet people who idolize and are obsessively focused on such musical releases -- people like me -- often mistakenly extrapolate from their own sense of the worth of such material and conclude erroneously that many more persons *could* or *would* investigate them -- if only they were able to. Well, the Internet has now provided that real possibility; and his issues still each sell maybe a thousand copies in the whole country. Everyone who wants one will ultimately get one; and that's that. There are not tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or millions of potential customers for his issues; only a thousand customers. Period. It's a sad thing to accept this fact, if you love classical music as I do; but you just have to do it to be able to function in the real world without falling into what I might call irresponsible "Don Quixote" behavior. You must also realize that 100 w FM signals -- especially stereo ones -- as typically used in LPFM stations, which are often not situated in ideal transmission locations, cannot serve much of a significant geographical area. My experience in broadcast engineering has indicated that a typical result would be a primary coverage radius of perhaps 2 to 5 miles. Within that range, whether or not there are competing sidebands of strong stations, a large amount of audio compression would be necessary to overcome receiver noise from such a weak stereo signal: the very thing that destroys the realism of classical music, certain types of jazz or world music, and any intellectual program material that demands sonic realism. If you bother to do the SLIGHTEST amount of research into the technical issues involved in transmitting hybrid IBOC on FM, you will discover that the digital sideband signals might well have little more power than your proposed "salvation" of broadcasting, LPFM stations: and indeed often much less. Please read the article at http://www.broadcastpapers.com/radio/BCA03IBOC.pdf by an engineer from Broadcast Electronics, a transmitter manufacturer: and note that an FM station currently operating in standard modulation with 10 kw would, using IBOC, transmit a 10 kW analogue FM carrier ***and a digital signal of only 63.1 watts***! This is truly an inconsequential signal level compared to the analogue carrier and sidebands, and since scrambling of the digital signal's modulation characteristics is done to remove any discernible periodicity, it is indistinguishable from the broadband shot noise present in the FM baseband; in other words, it's just random high frequency noise when demodulated by a standard analogue FM detector, virtually indistinguishable from the hiss heard between stations at any spot on the dial where there is no discernible signal (ultimately traceable, I might add, to the 3 Kelvin background radiation from the Big Bang, some 14 billion years ago!) Any decent receiver's capture effect will ignore such sideband noise under reasonable clean signal reception conditions (though of course you COULD contrive some worst-case anomalous mobile reception conditions -- or use of lousy, cheap portable radios -- to try to PROVE that the noise would have a degrading interference effect. People have been doing that kind of thing for half a century to attack any kind of technical innovation proposed for radio; relatively recently, a promising concept called "FMX" was killed off by some exaggerated criticisms. Thus, any kind of change is resisted with every possible honest and dishonest argument, depending on whose ox is gored...) Now, I have no objection to proposing LPFM and alternative, niche programming. I love niche music of all types, from Arabic chants (which I have listened to, mesmerized, hour after hour on shortwave) to Hungarian and Rumanian folksong, to Zydeco. But I would ask you to point to one single example of any entity in world broadcasting that presents such material without full subsidization. Please show a single instance where a commercial venture can be self-sustaining and provide a steady stream of such programming. I'm waiting. I was IN the broadcasting business of niche programming for more than a quarter century; was the engineer for funky counter-culture stations like KPIG; was a supporter and enthusiast of Pacifica Radio. And I worked for market-leader, competitive stations in the SF bay area, stations like KNBR or KSOL, doing mass-media programming to the widest possible audience. I have seen both sides of the coin, as it were, and have found it impossible to support my own classical music activities, even in SF stations, so that I did not have to take part time jobs with other popular formats. The most I have ever been able to make from a classical music station was $1600 per month income: NOT what one needs to earn to be able to live respectably in the SF bay area. So I had to work at four or five OTHER stations as an engineering consultant and technician, just so that I could also do classical music programming as a more-or-less glorified hobby. If you can show me ONE instance of -- say -- a Zydeco or serial chamber music or polka broadcasting service being able to hire and support a programming, marketing, engineering, sales, and operations staff with an appropriate market-standard income, then I'll be happy to backtrack. But I haven't seen any such evidence in the years I worked in radio (from the early sixties through the late eighties), and I see even less now. I a copying this letter to Glenn Hauser's DX Listening Digest, as he has had some recent discussion of LPFM that I found interesting and worth commenting on, from the perspective of being a broadcasting professional who had a grounding in realities, not merely illusions and dreams. Sincerely yours, Stephen R. Waldee, technical director of Roper Piano Studio and former broadcasting PD and chief engineer, San Jose, CA. (Sept 21, cc to DXLD) Later: Subject : "Deathurbia" frustration Glenn: Having unburdened myself to "Deathurbia" about their silly web article attacking digital broadcasting, I find -- of course -- that my forty- five minutes of effort to talk sense to them was all wasted: the link for their email contact is non-operative, and my email was almost instantly bounced back to me by AOL. Nor have I been able to find any other working email to this shadow outfit. So you will at least be able to follow my argument, for whatever it's worth, if not them. I was fascinated to discover the low impact of the IBOC digital FM signal and its very small contribution to the entire RF envelope transmitted by a hybrid IBOC FM station. Indeed, the diplexing loss of the IBOC digital carrier is an order of magnitude larger than the resulting signal over the air itself: I just cannot accept the claims of the LPFM do-or-die advocates that this TINY wisp of an apparent white-noise signal will wipe out LPFM; and if I'm wrong, and it DOES do that, it further supports my argument that LPFM is not robust enough to be worth the effort. Times change; people change; whole societies change. It's no longer the world of, say, 1964 when I could go down to Lorenzo Milam's 600 watt FM station in Los Gatos and volunteer to put on a program of Urdu chants. That does not mean that there is a giant conspiracy out to DENY me the opportunity to do just that; it is simply that in the tentative, formative, experimental years of any niche technology that has just emerged into the consciousness of avant-garde enthusiasts, you can do thing that you won't be able to do when the situation matures and evolves... Well, the effort to write this letter did give me the opportunity to listen, in the background, to more than a half hour of music and strange sounding talk from R. Tatarstan: a genuine thrill and a new catch for me, at 11665. It was worth it, and the fact that I was STILL able to hear such rare stuff via the ether -- LPFM, digital, or not -- is proof that there are things to divert you, if you just look for them. Best, (Steve Waldee, CA, Sept 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RECEIVER NEWS +++++++++++++ MOTOBRÁS CAR RADIOS Os robustos receptores analógicos da Motobrás também podem ser adquiridos pela Internet. Para conferir os modelos e efetuar a compra, basta ir até o seguinte sítio: http://www.radioshopping.com.br/ Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX Sept 21 via DXLD) ###