DX LISTENING DIGEST 3-175, October 4, 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/dxldtd3j.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 1201: RFPI: Sat 2330, Sun 0530, 1130, Mon 0030, 0630, 1230, Wed 0100, 0730 on 7445; maybe testing on 15115-USB WWCR: Sun 0230 on 5070; 0630 on 3210; Wed 0930 on 9475 WRMI: Sat & Sun 1800+ via IBC Radio on 15725 WBCQ: Mon 0415 on 7415 and NEW 5105 WRN: Europe Sun 0430, N America Sun 1400; 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 1201 (high version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1201h.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1201h.rm (summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1201.html WORLD OF RADIO 1201 (low version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1201.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1201.rm ** AFGHANISTAN. Hi Glenn. DXLD 3-174 had an item about "Information Radio" of Afghanistan. I can hear a station on 9000 on daily basis, sometimes with good signal, but often badly interfered by RTTY-like ute station. It sounds like AM mode now, both sidebands, perhaps a bit reduced carrier. Best audible here around 15-16 UT. I believe they sign off sometime around 1830. Mostly local music with very short announcements in Dari/Pashtu. I've been trying to find out what is the station name/ID nowadays, but no luck yet. They were on 7000 and disappeared sometime in June, maybe moved then to 9000. On 7000 they used ID like "Radyo Mau'lumati" but this might have been changed now (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Jari, Glenn, Sorry, I meant to send this in three weeks ago, but it slipped my mind! The station on 9000 kHz, formerly Information Radio, was observed on 17th September identifying as "Peace Radio" [Radyo-e Soleh in Dari]. Regards, (Dave Kernick, UK, Oct 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Thanks Jari's and David's tips, tuned in via Javaradio at 1455 Oct 3 and could hear music underneath the ute. A real pain as the ute is constant and in sidebands. I kept losing the signal off and on. Was best as I tuned in and I gave up by 1520; the ute was driving me crazy (Hans Johnson, Cody WY, Cumbredx via DXLD) Glenn, Sorry it took so long to get back to you on this. Had to wait on the [antenna] clip and now I have it. For the past few days I would tune into 9000 kHz and all I received is what sounds like an Arabic station. I'd give it a SINPO of 33333 because it is coming in somewhat weak and there is a bit of interference. I will keep listening to it when I get a chance during the next few days and let you know if I get anything different. 73s (James Cadwell, Kabul, Afghanistan, Oct 3, shortwavelistening yahoogroup via DXLD) ** AFGHANISTAN [non]. RUSSIA(non): Radio Amani, Afghanistan Peace Association in Dari/Pashto: 1630-1730 Friday on 15615 (35443) via ARM 100 kW / 104 degrees (Observer, Bulgaria, Oct 3 via DXLD) NORWAY? 15615, R. Amani, Fri Oct 3, 1628 open carrier but rather poor reception so switched over to Javaradio Europe. 1635 music, 1640 ID and talk by man. Service for Afghanistan (Hans Johnson, Cody WY, Cumbredx via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. ROYAL FLYING DOCTOR SERVICE – FREQUENCIES Frequencies and times of operation are subject to change without notice. The primary radio frequency of each station is shown in BOLD print [NOT --- no bold visible even in the original] Base Organisation Telephone Contact Frequencies VJB Derby Western 08 9414 1200 5300, 5360, *2792 VKL Port Hedland Western 08 9414 1200 5300, 5360, *2280 VJT Carnarvon Western 08 9414 1200 5300, 5360, *2280 VKJ Meekatharra Western 08 9414 1200 5300, 5360, *2280 VJQ Kalgoorlie Western 08 9414 1200 5300, 5360, *2792 VJD Alice Springs Central 08 8952 5355 2020, 5410, 6950 VNZ Port Augusta Central 08 8642 5555 2020, 4010, 6890, 8165 VJC Broken Hill South Eastern 08 8080 1777 2020, 4055, 6920 VJN Charleville Queensland 07 4654 1233 2020, 4980, 6845 VJI Mt Isa Queensland 07 4743 2800 2020, 5110, 6965 VJN Cairns Queensland 07 4053 1952 2020, 2260, 5145, 7465 VZX Firefly Penta Comstat 02 6559 1888 call *The 2 MHz frequencies are primarily for night use. (from http://www.rfds.org.au/hfradio.htm via Bandscan Australia, SW Magazine via DXLD) ** BOTSWANA. R. Botswana (Cumbre DX follow up). Both Jari Savolainen and Graham Powell were kind enough to point out that they haven't heard Botswana on 4820 since July. I have followed up with the engineer by email, but he did mention that they also sometimes use 4830. Has anyone heard them recently on either channel? (Hans Johnson, Cody WY, Oct 3, Cumbredx via DXLD) Botswana is regularly listened to in south Italy with good/very good signal. These days no signal on 4820 (not 4830). (Roberto Scaglione, Sicily, ibid.) ** CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC [non]. U.K. Very good reception of R. Ndeke Luka/R. Hirondelle/R. Swallow in French/Singo [sic] 1900-2000 Daily on 15545 (55555) via WOF 300 kW / 170 degrees (Observer, Bulgaria, Oct 3 via DXLD) ** CUBA. Any resemblance between frequencies announced and frequencies actually used by RHC is entirely coincidental. Yet another example: Portuguese service opening on 17705 at 2200 immediately after Greece via Delano closed, Oct 3, claimed to be on 15340, where nothing was heard but splatter from Martí via Delano on 15330 with a silly ballgame. There really must be absolutely no communication between the engineering side and the programming side of this station (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. RADIO EQUIPMENT MEANT TO JAM U. S. BROADCAST SIGNALS TO CUBA NUEVA GERONA, September 30 (http://www.cubanet.org) - The Cuban government agency Radio Cuba has installed a third television channel and a radio transmitter to jam U. S. radio and TV broadcasts. The transmitters have been installed in the Isle of Youth, south of Havana, and were bought with a credit granted by China. Cuban government officials have said that the investment was made to improve the signal of the local station, Radio Caribe, but others say the operation is part of the "battle of ideas" decreed by Fidel Castro. In Nueva Gerona, the capital of the Isle of Youth, U. S. broadcasts from several Miami radio stations, as well as the TV signal from Telemundo, can often be received (CubaNet Oct 2 via Artie Bigley, DXLD) POLITICA: INSTALAN EQUIPOS PARA INTERFERIR RADIO, TV DE ESTADOS UNIDOS NUEVA GERONA, 30 de septiembre (http://www.cubanet.org) - La empresa gubernamental cubana Radio Cuba instaló en el municipio especial Isla de la Juventud un tercer canal de televisión y un transmisor de radio para interferir las señales de emisoras y canales de televisión de los Estados Unidos de América. El transmisor fue adquirido por Radio Cuba mediante un crédito otorgado por la República Popular China y fue instalado en el centro transmisor de la emisora Radio Progreso, ubicada en la carretera del sur de la región. Aunque los funcionarios gubernamentales han dicho que la inversión se realizó para un mejoramiento de la calidad de la señal de la emisora local Radio Caribe, otras son las causas. El inicio de las transmisiones del canal de televisión y el transmisor de Isla de la Juventud se inserta en la llamada batalla de ideas, convocada por el gobernante Fidel Castro. Se empeñan en que la verdad de lo que acontece dentro y fuera de Cuba no sea conocida por la población. En Nueva Gerona, capital de Isla de la Juventud, así como en el asentamiento La Demajagua, se captan las transmisiones de Radio Martí, La Poderosa y WQBA, 1140, así como las señales de televisión de Telemundo. cnet/08 (CubaNet Oct 1 via DXLD) ** CUBA [non]. 5834v kHz Radio Martí (USA) 3/10 2003 - 1100 UT. Amigos DXistas! DXers in USA have had this unID Spanish speaking station here for some weeks. This morning the station gave ID at 1100 UTC as: "...Radio Martí transmitiendo desde Estados Unidos". Up to 1100 UT talk and music among others my great favorite from México Marco Antonio Solís. After 1100 a newsprogram with OM and YL. The station`s QTH is Florida?? Yesterday I put up the first of the 3 new antennas: "Horizontal Sloped Inverted L" 18 meters. 73s de (Björn Malm, Quito, Ecuador - SWB América Latina 3/Oct/2003 8:18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Transmitter site either California or North Carolina (gh, DXLD) My guess is that it is a spur from one of the 49 mb channels, heard a number of spurs from them in the past in this range (Hans Johnson, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Seems a spur of 6030 (Bob Wilkner, FL, ibid.) ** CYPRUS [non]. SONNET RADIO EUROPE TESTS VIA NORWAY IN DECEMBER Mediterranean Plaza, Building 10, Unit 2 Antheou Street, Larnaca Bay, 7080, Cyprus. Tel: (+357) 24-646108. info@rtidigital.com http://www.rtidigital.com Press Release 021003a --- Shortwave Test Transmissions In association with RTI Digital Ltd, Sonnet Radio are pleased to announce that test transmissions will commence on Shortwave during December to ascertain Winter Coverage / Transmission patterns from the VT Merlin Communications transmitter in Norway. ERP will be 400 kW (AM Mode) omni-directional and the frequency is yet to be announced pending frequency clearance. The dates for the test transmissions are Friday 12th December, from 1900 GMT to 2000 and Friday 26th December from 1900 to 2100 GMT. A full service will be introduced from the end of February broadcasting from 1900 to 0100 GMT every night. Schedules are posted on our web site. We appreciate all feed back regarding our service and quality of transmissions. During our test transmissions all QSL Requests will be free of postage charges. You can submit QSL Requests to our mailing address or via email. QSL information is listed on our web site and we request that the information for QSL Cards is included in your reception reports. If you require further information regarding this project, please do not hesitate to contact us. Yours Sincerely, (Mike Taylor, Technical Director, RTI Digital Ltd (Cyprus), Oct 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EGYPT. Deleted frequencies of Radio Cairo General Service in Arabic effective Sep. 29: 11720 ABS 2 x 250 kW / 106 & 286 deg 0500-1300 11540 ABS 2 x 250 kW / 106 & 286 deg 1000-2300 (Observer, Bulgaria, Oct 3 via DXLD) ** ESTONIA [non]. Hi Glenn, this should have been labelled "ESTONIA [non]", since the transmissions are not carried out from Estonian territory but are relayed via other pirate stations (Sweden and Italy in this case). It is correct, the Radio Natalie programs are produced in Estonia. The original message (via Dario Monferini) was by the person behind the station, Valentin Yershov, an ethnic Russian living in Tallinn (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. 4970, AIR Shillong, 1352 Oct 4, Western pop music program hosted by woman who spoke in English. ID at 1400 (Hans Johnson, Cody WY, Cumbre DX via DXLD) see also SIKKIM ** INTERNATIONAL WATERS. RADIO CAROLINE THE PIRATE YEARS Review by Hans Knot When you do take a look at the bookshelves from a intensive radio enthusiast you will maybe find about 10 books regarding the history of the offshore radio station Radio Caroline. Many have been published in thicker or thinner form. Especially around the 25th birthday of the station, way back in 1989, many were published. Next year it's 40 years ago the station made her maiden trip into radio and as a predecessor a book has been published in the English language called: 'Radio Caroline, The pirate years' written by Ralph C. Humpries. Hans Knot did read the book for us. As I did follow the Caroline Organisation from the early days, way back in 1964, it's very difficult to review a book by another person written about the history of Radio Caroline. Ralph C Humphries starts, the 208 pages thick, book with the reason why is had been published. In the sixties he did listen a lot to the offshore stations including Radio Caroline. But after both radio ships from the organisation were towed away in March 1968 by towing vessels of the Wijsmuller company as a result of financial problems of the Caroline organisation, listening to them was not possible anymore. Other options were taken and Ralph had a job with the Trinity House on several locations and one of his daily jobs was to make a weather forecast and sent it out to the Meteorological Institute. One day he heard a signal on the background, when sending the report and asked his opponent what kind of music he was listening to. It was 1976 and the answer was 'Radio Caroline'. So Ralph's radio was the direct solution to get the old lady back on the transistor radio. From that moment on he was fascinated by the station's history and made many contacts all over Europe to discuss the history. During the first years he was a lot in contact with the late 'Buster' Ronald C Pearson in Benfleet, who was chained to his chair and bed to a live long disease and had followed Radio Caroline almost from minute to minute since it started, way back in 1964. It was Buster who helped Ralph on his way to more new contacts, as he wrote in the introduction of his book. Reading the first chapter again the reason that is mentioned why Ronan O'Rahilly - Caroline's co-owner and director - started his own radio station. It was while he couldn't get his artists` records played on the radio. He suggests already for almost four decades that he was the manager of several groups, including Georgie Fame and the Blue Fames. He tried to get their records played on stations like the BBC and Radio Luxembourg but they wouldn't play music from new artists. This may be true but once thing isn't true and that is that Ronan was the manager for Georgie Fame. It was Rick Gunell who also managed artists like Zoot Money, John Mayell and Chris Farlowe. Ronan was more like a record plugger but had also the luck that he had a very rich father who had his own harbour, well known friends and the ability to impress people. Yes, Radio Caroline was born from the MV Fredericia and came on the air with Eastern 1964. After the introduction about the start of Britain's first Offshore station Chapter One is titled 'The Baltic Pirates'. Strange enough is that in this chapter he also gives us a look at the birth of Radio Veronica and CNBC, the English language service of Veronica. Very confusing for the people who do read the history on Offshore Radio for the first time. Both stations, transmitting from the MV Borkum Riff in those days, were not transmitting from an anchorage of Scandinavia but from international waters off the Dutch coast. When it comes to the reason of the quick closure, in 1961, of CNBC, the author writes that the commercial success of Radio Veronica was the reason to stop broadcasting English programs. Of course this is not the reason. On several occasions co-owner Bull (Hendrik) Verweij told that the only reason CNBC closed down was the person, responsible for selling airtime in the Greater London area was not of any use as he spent more times in cinemas and pubs than with potential advertisers. Next, the author, from whom I think he hasn't showed his chapters to an insider before going to a publisher which never published a book on the history on radio before, goes on with a chapter called 'The British Corsairs'. Of course he writes about the merger between Radio Caroline and Radio Atlanta, which was the second station which was fitted out in the same harbour in Greenore. But after the merger Ralph writes that the new organisation needed a bigger building, which they found at 61 Chesterfield Gardens. This small street is in May Fair in London and certainly there are no 61 buildings. It was 6 Chesterfield Garden. Typically a mistake of quick writing and I think he made the mistake while he also read in another publication the address Caroline North also used in the sixties in Liverpool, which was 61 Lord Street. Next Humphries also brings us the competitor Wonderful Radio London, which first came on the air in December 1964. He tells us the station was on the air with a power of 17 kW. Well this is again information he did read elsewhere instead of checking it double. The station mostly used a capacity of 80% of their 50 kW transmitter, they had on board the MV Galaxy. And the '17' stood for the house number of the office, at Curzon Street - near Chesterfield Gardens in May Fair. Page 31 brings us the first steps to the building of the REM isle. A structure built partly at a wharf in Ireland and partly at the North Sea, off the coast of Noordwijk in Holland. One of the important backers of the project get a constant renaming in the book: Verlome instead of his real name Verolme. After the official opening of Radio and TV Noordzee they bring English and Dutch language programs, the author tells us. Well maybe the series and movies were, but all the spoken words by the presenting team were in Dutch. The station had no long living as the Dutch authorities brought in law into Parliament and mid December 1964 the law became act and so they could close down the station. When the author comes to this point he only mentioned the time in the morning when the boarding by authorities took place on The REM island. No date of the boarding has been mentioned (December 17th 1964 at 9 o'clock in the morning). However there are also chapters in the book which are worthwhile to read. For instant there is a part in which a very good description has been given how a ship reacts on the anchor and anchor chain, while in international waters. Next a very nice inside story about the rebuilding of the MV Comet, the former lightship which would become the home of Radio Scotland. Exclusive photographs are enclosed with the story, which even brings us to the harbours of St Simpson, and St Peters port at Guernsey. It was there that my radio friend since 1971, Raymond Urquahart, told me some three years ago what he remembered of the radio ship there at the Channel Islands. Memories we do remember from the mid sixties, when Raymond didn't know that offshore radio would become an important part in his life. Of course I won't break down everything in this book as Ralph brings also things we never have read so comprehensive before. Take the story of the Cheetah 2 off the coast of England. Britt Wadner offered her radio ship to Ronan O'Rahilly as the MV Mi Amigo, the other ship from Radio Caroline, had run aground and had to go to Holland for repairs and instalment of a new transmitter. Ralph gives a very detailed story of what has happened during that period with the radio ship and shows us photographs, which even I didn't see before. It's already spring 1966 at that time and the author goes on with describing the murder on Reginald Calvert, owner of Radio City. He's murdered (self-defence) by Olivier Smedley. And then the author again makes the mistake to rewrite other ones stories or by taking facts from other books without checking the reality. Humphries tells us that one of the reasons Calvert has been murdered is that Crawford owned a transmitter, which was lent to Calvert and not given back. In fact it was the Caroline organisation, which was the owner, and Smedley was only one of the directors of the Caroline organisation. Next all the other radio stations from international waters, which came on the air before August 1967, are described. He writes a well reading piece on all the things happening within Parliament and Government and their force to close down the stations as they're breaking the monopoly position of the British BBC. Also he describes the closedown of most of the British Offshore radio stations, excluding Radio Caroline South and Radio Caroline North, which would both be renamed into Radio Caroline International. When describing what happened after the MOB went into force in August 1967 the author wants to tell the reader several things, for instant what has happened to the radio ship which was used by Radio London. The MV Galaxy, he tells us, went to the harbour of Hamburg where the ship sunk in the eighties. It was in the harbour of Kiel, this did happen. On page 78 suddenly Tony Allan comes into the story to open Caroline International on August 31st 1967 from the Caroline North ship, MV Fredericia. Tony never worked for Radio Caroline before the end of 1972. As a 17 years old guy he went to work for Radio Scotland in 1966. But rewriting the history is very simple, just change Tony into Don and you've the right person on the MV Fredericia in 1967. Of course Humphries also comes with the story that both Caroline ships were towed away from their anchorage in March 1968, due to debts to their tendering company Wijsmuller, from Soest in Holland. And again, we have a positive note for the author as he brings some exclusive photographs, which I haven't seen published during the past four decades. Chapter Three is called 'The Dutch Era' and describes the period between 1970 and 1974. After a long introduction the author comes with the story that Radio Veronica's first radio vessel, the MV Borkum Riff, has been left for a new ship, the MV Norderney in 1966. Really something we've have read in other books before but it happened in November 1964. I must say that the things happening to Radio Nordsea International, way back in 1970 are described very well. He doesn't forget the things happening round the name change into Radio Caroline, the interference problems and the jamming by the British authorities. Next the hijack attempts by entrepreneur Kees Manders and ir Heerema to get the MEBO II inside a Dutch harbour are mentioned on a correct way, as well as the first closedown for RNI in September 1970. 1970 brings us the start and speedy close down for another station Capital Radio, which is quite correct written but Ralph forgot to mention that the International Broadcasting Society was the owner and also what the aim was for the stations owners. When one of the most important facts in Offshore Radio happens, a bomb attack which had been done on the MEBO II, the radio ship of RNI on May 15th 1971, the author comes with a mistake he has done many times in his book: taking facts from other books. He writes that the fire ship Smitsbanks goes out of the harbour of Scheveningen for assistance. In fact this must the MV Volans. When Radio Veronica got in problems on April 2nd 1973, Caroline stood by to lent their radio ship. Veronica put new equipment on the ship and used it on a temporary base. Ralph tells us that a demonstration took place in The Hague on April 18th 1973 with some several thousands of attendees. It were more then 150.000 people taking a day off for taking part into the biggest demonstration ever in Holland until that day. In 1973 another station hired airtime from the Caroline organisation. It was Adriaan van Landschoot from Adegem in Belgium. The station was planned to transmit on 385 metres. But on the day programs started there were severe problems and so the technicians on board changed frequency to 259 metres. And there Ralph Humphries makes again a mistake. He reproduces information he has read in other sources and brings Radio Atlantis on the air on 385 instead of 259. When he enters the story at the end of 1973 having Van Landschoot his own radio ship he comes with another surprise. He tells the reader that Adriaan has hired a transmitter from a record company instead of from Arie Swaneveld, an official radio amateur from Naaldwijk who had bought all the old REM island equipment years ago and would go to court to get the things back from Van Landschoot. Typical mistakes made by the author by writing facts from other books. And the worst thing is that nowhere in the book is a form of reference made. Every normal book, published, has a reference page but not in this one. On page 123 a research is mentioned from spring 1974 in which is stated that Radio Veronica isn't anymore the number one station in Holland but has reached number 3 and has been passed by the National Pop station Hilversum 3 and the Flemish Radio Mi Amigo. Indeed Veronica wasn't anymore number one. Already in 1971 Hilversum 3 got the number one spot. But Radio Mi Amigo on number 2? The author again did fall in a mistake of someone else, published earlier. What really is mentioned is a research, which has been taken place in 1974 in Belgium, to be precisely in the Flemish language zone of this country. Suddenly the oil crisis is mentioned to happened in 1974 in Holland. The offshore radio stations came also in problem due to the fact oil was rationed. However this took place directly after the ending of the Yom Kippur War in the Middle East, in October 1973. A page late, Ralph Humphries is mentioning that all form of advertising of Radio Atlantis has been stopped in June 1974 due to a treatment from Belgium Government if they go on with airing them they will be closed down. Probably my own recordings, which I have intensively made during the last months of the station, have been manipulated, as there are every hour during daytime commercials in the programs. From that point on the author goes to the closedown of the most offshore stations off the Dutch coast, excluding Radio Caroline and Radio Mi Amigo who would fight the Dutch law and re-anchor their ship of the British coast at the end of August 1974. When mentioning the programs of the last evening of the international service of Radio Northsea International he simply forgets to mention Bob Noakes in the line up. Also he tells us that the final hour of Radio Veronica was transmitted live from the Norderney, while the tape recording was brought to the ship, just hours before to be aired on August 31st 1974. The last hour was recorded at the Veronica building at the Utrechtseweg in Hilversum in the early hours of the morning. Next the author tries to tell us about the illegal period of Radio Caroline and Radio Mi Amigo. He does mention that the Mi Amigo organisation already went to Playa de Aro in Spain in the month of June 1974. On September 2nd I did visit the private bungalow of Sylvain Tack at the mountain Maz Nou in Playa de Aro and can tell you that there was no sign at all of any activity for Radio Mi Amigo. When the BOB, the Belgium organisation responsible for searching for illegal activities, rolled up a studio building from Mi Amigo in a village called Opbrakel, all activities were done at Playa de Aro. But then it was already for a long period 1975. Of course I can go on writing some other pages with mistakes made by the author. Those I didn't mention and those, which are on the pages, I didn't read anymore to get more annoyance. In the 34 years I'm writing on the subject 'radio' I've read many books on this subject and also written a lot of reviews. Only one time, in 1997 with the book 'From International Waters' by Frank Leonard, I had to be very critical by the many mistakes published. Of course, the author has some points in favour. There are many beautiful photos in the book, which haven't been published before. Second one is the last chapter in the book, brought as an appendix. And really it is an appendix, as Ralph Humphries didn't write himself it himself. It's a very nice story written by Harry Spencer. This guy has been working on several radio ships doing the building of the equipment and masts, including the one on the Fredericia for Radio Caroline, the one on the MV Oceaan 7 from Radio 270 and the MV Comet of Radio Scotland. He brought in many new facts, which were not known until recently and surprised us with photos and drawings of the masts. The book 'Radio Caroline, the Pirate Years' can be obtained from The Oakwood Press, PO Box 13, USK, MON, NP15 1YS Great Britain and the price 15 Pounds (http://www.offshore-radio.de/ via Mike Terry, DXLD) ** IRAQ [non]. SAUDI ARABIA, V of Iraqi People/V of Iraqi Republic. Monitored at 2200 UT Sept 27 (After the sign off of CRI) on 9568 kHz. Reception suffered from background noise and fading. I listened to Iraqi song, then a program of 6 minutes called "Iraq Of Tomorrow". The purpose of this program is to make the Iraqi poeple aware of how to make Iraq a democratic country. "...There is no need to have 100 parties to say that Iraq is a democratic country, 10 parties are enough and so the elections will be much more efficient...We call the counsel of judgment in Iraq to issue the parties low..." (Chaabane, Tunisia, CRW via Schoech via Hans Johnson, Cody WY, Cumbredx via DXLD) ** IRELAND. Glenn, I reported the fault to RTE some time ago and although it took a few days, they did eventually reply to say the matter was receiving attention. In fact the 612 kHz transmitter has been back on channel since around the middle of last week (26-27 September). I haven't noticed any problems since then, although it remains rather weak here as usual - it`s never been much of a signal this far inland (approx 45 miles west of London). Note, Paul Guckian (Dave Kenny, UK, Oct 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ISRAEL. One-hour shift in scheduling confirmed Fri Oct 3 with Spanish as 2045 instead of 1945, on 15640, so English would have been at 2000 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ITALY [non?]. SITE? 5775, IRRS, 1853 Oct 3 with tone, but couldn't figure out how many hertz before it ended. 1855 Christian program in Italian then IS a few times. A few breaks in the audio. ID in English at 1900 and then UN news in same. IRRS says this is a 20 kW transmitter. Via javaradio Europe. Retuned at 1957 to African music. 2000 ID in English mentioning that it was a test transmission. Then UN news again. I couldn't detect any real change in break or in strength when it was supposed to go to 100 kW at 2000 (Hans Johnson, Cody WY, Cumbredx via DXLD) Also here in south Italy no change in strength of signal at 2000 (Roberto Scaglione, Sicily, ibid.) ** KASHMIR [non]. CLANDESTINE from INDIA to PAKISTAN. The present sked of Radio Sadaye Kashmir is: 6100 0230-0330, 1430-1530; 9890 0730- 0830. The first 40 minutes of the programs are in Urdu and the rest in some other language. The first broadcast is at 0230 which is repeated at 0730 and 1430 (Jose Jacob, India, Oct 3, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Tried at 1430 Oct 3 here in Wyoming. Malaysia is there and an unID station, but wasn't able to hear this one yet (Hans Johnson, Cody WY, Cumbredx via DXLD) 6100 (tentative), Radio Sadaye Kashmir good reception from India today Oct 4 and got a bit closer on this one. 1425 steady tone. 1428 dead air, 1430 music and then talk by woman. Weak and under Malaysia. Other UNID station noted yesterday not heard today. The steady tone and bit of dead air sequence is in line with the sign on procedures I have heard before from this one (Hans Johnson, Cody WY, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** KURDISTAN. IRAQ? 4161.6, Voice of the Conservative Party of Kurdistan (tentative), 0245-0315 Sept 29, Kurdish talk about Kurdistan, Iran and Iraq, songs, frequency announcement; strong signal, but bad modulation and drift to 4161.4. 35443. [Had] Not [been] heard since Feb 2003 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, for CRW via Schoech via Hans Johnson, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** LATVIA. 9290, Radio Seagull, 1158 Oct 4, American pop music, 1200 sea gull sounds and ID in English by man mentioning they were being relayed by Laser Radio. Pop music continued. Nice signal on Javaradio Europe (Hans Johnson, Cody WY, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Altho to be consistent, the Latvian relays ought to be under UK [non], NETHERLANDS [non], or whatever, I am more inclined just to file them under LATVIA, as I have been doing for several issues now (gh) ** MALAYSIA [non]. Re previous report on 6180: the next day, UT Oct 3 at 2115, all I heard was R. Japan (Chris Hambly, Vic., DX LISTENING DIGEST) Must have been that program on R. Japan, where they quote what other Asian stations have broadcast, probably mentioning R. Malaysia. We must be careful about such things, and stay tuned long enough to be sure what we are really hearing. ADDX English schedule confirms NHK Warudo on 6180 at this time, from G site, meaning UK? Gabon? (gh, DXLD) ** MEXICO. The consensus is that XESURF 540 in TJ is running a heck of a lot more than 100 watts. Their tower is mounted atop a "Gigante" supermarket not far from the Otay Mesa border crossing on the east side of Tijuana. You can see a picture of it on my Tijuana tower page: http://www.fybush.com/site-030403.html It's not a very tall tower for 540; I'd guess maybe 200 feet at the most - and it's not obviously top-loaded, nor would I guess it has much of a ground system. So I'd bet they're putting 5 or 10kw into that antenna to get anything useful out of it... s (Scott Fybusy, NY, Oct 2, NRC-AM via DXLD) Scott, They may be running more than 100 Watts, but I doubt anywhere in the 5-10 kW range. XEMO runs 5 kW and XESURF is much much weaker than XEMO. During AU CX, XEMO was S9+10 DB and XESURF was and S5 last night. After hearing the 40 watt LPRT 540 on Vancouver Island for many years, it still would not surprise me if XESURF was running 100w at night, or at least well under 1 KW. I tried to phone the CE at 1260- LA, but he was out of town for 3 weeks, so I will call back later. If I find out, I will pass the info along. 73s, (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, ibid.) ** NETHERLANDS. EUROPIRATE, Galaxy International (Dutch) [will broadcast Oct 5?] UT Sun 0030 in AM mode somewhere from 7300 to 7517 (SW Pirates Oct 3 via Hans Johnson, Cody WY, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS. RADIO NETHERLANDS ENGLISH SCHEDULE EFFECTIVE 26TH OCTOBER 2003 The new edition of On Target is currently being distributed. For those of you who are not on the mailing list, here's a summary of the new shortwave/mediumwave transmission times and frequencies for our programmes in English. Note that our transmissions will begin on the hour rather than the half hour. If you're in North America, note the additional weekend transmission at 1900-2100 UTC. Full technical details of all our transmissions will be published on the Media Network Web site as soon as my colleagues in Programme Distribution release the schedule, to which final changes are still being made. English Schedule 26 Oct 2003 - 28 March 2004 (all times UTC) To North America 1200-1300 on 5965 kHz 1900-2100 (Sat/Sun) on 15315, 17725 and 17875 kHz 0000-0100 on 9845 kHz 0100-0200 on 6165 kHz 0400-0500 on 6165 and 9590 kHz To Africa 1800-1900 on 6020, 9895 and 11655 kHz 1900-2100 on 7120, 9895, 11655 and 18710 kHz To Europe 2200-2300 on 1512 kHz To Asia, Far East & Pacific 1000-1100 on 7260, 9785, 12065 and 13820 kHz To South Asia 1400-1500 on 12070, 12080 and 15595 kHz The budget cuts resulted in the necessity to find immediate savings of 40% in shortwave transmission hours. At the same time, there are lifestyle issues: people generally don't have time to sit and listen to long transmissions these days, at least not on weekdays. The second hour of a two hour block contains an edition of Newsline which is practically identical to the previous one, and a feature repeated from a previous day. By re-timing the shortwave transmissions, we effectively start half an hour later and finish half an hour earlier, retaining Newsline and one daily feature. There will be no cuts in the output of English on our Internet or satellite streams, since these are available 24 hours anyway. And of course, now the feature programmes are available on demand on the Internet for 7 days after the first transmission. There will be gripes, of course, but my colleagues have worked very hard on different variations of the schedule (which of course has to accommodate our Dutch, Indonesian and Spanish services too) before finally arriving at this one (Andy Sennitt • 10/4/03; 8:32:10 AM Media Network blog via DXLD) ** NEW ZEALAND. Haere Mai. Welcome! Update on the RNZI Transmitter - The RNZI short-wave transmitter has been off-air since Saturday 30 August. The RNZI transmitter remains off-air as a result of a serious lightning strike. Most replacement parts have now arrived and have been installed with one remaining part due from Europe next week. It now looks hopeful that we will be able to resume operation in another week (from http://www.rnzi.com UT Oct 3 via DXLD) ** NIGERIA. Frequency changes for Voice of Nigeria: English 0500-0600 NF 17800 co-ch RFI in French, ex 15120 0600-0700 NF 17800 co-ch RFI in English and French, ex 15120 0700-1000 NF 17800, ex 15120 1000-1100 NF 17800 co-ch AIR in English, ex 15120 1100-2000 on 15120 2000-2300 NF 17800, ex 15120 Arabic 1600-1800 on 11770 French 1800-1900 on 11770 (Observer, Bulgaria, Oct 3 via DXLD) ** NORWAY. In a few days this year's UKA will start in Trondheim (Oct. 9 till Nov 3), but I've heard nothing of a UKE-Senderen yet. In former years they used to start testing the transmitter a few days before the event, so in case they are on SW this year tests should be immanent. The website http://uka.no/ does not give any informations. Anybody out there with infos? They were running a 1 kW transmitter every second year on around 7.22 MHz. Was always a nice DX-target. 73 (Martin Elbe, Wolfsburg, Germany, Oct 3, dxing.info via DXLD) I just gave them a phone call, and was told there will be no transmissions from UKE-senderen in Trondheim this year. This is a decision from the board of UKA-03 (Arnstein Bue, Trondheim - Norway, hard-core-dx via DXLD) ** PERU. Desde alrededor de las 0020 vengo escuchando de nuevo la frecuencia de los 6536 kHz, pero ahora identificándose como Radio La Poderosa, luego de haber pasado un tiempo en Sondor como Radio San Miguel. Esta es la misma RD Huancabamba; ya en marzo de este año utilizaba este adjetivo en su identificaciones "RD Huancabamba la poderosa" Parece ser que ahora va a utilizar como nombre este adjetivo. "...ya estamos de vuelta, somos Radio la Poderosa desde Huancabamba..." Anuncia transmision en AM de 1000-2300 y en onda corta de 2300-0200. También menciona el retorno del programa Tribuna Popular (Rafael Rodríguez, Colombia, Oct 2, Conexión Digital via DXLD) ** PHILIPPINES. Radyo Pilipinas, 15190, 1842 GMT, EE/Pilipino, 444, Sept 29th. OM with comments on the Stock Market, then YL/OM with comments with Malaysia mentioned often. //17720 (Stewart MacKenzie, CA, WDX6AA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Entire transmission is 1730-1930, rarely audible here (gh, OK) ** QATAR. SAUDI DAILY REPORTS US RESOLVE TO CLOSE DOWN OR TONE DOWN AL-JAZEERA | Text of "exclusive" report by John R. Bradley, the managing editor, from Jedda: "US threatened to downgrade Qatari ties over Al-Jazeera"; published in English by Saudi newspaper Arab News web site on 4 October Al-Jazeera made the decision to pull two "anti-US" cartoons from its web site last month under US pressure after an article appeared in a Kuwaiti newspaper quoting a US Gulf-based diplomat as saying that Congress had proposed to George W Bush he should put "all possible pressure" on the Qatari government to close down the satellite station, Arab News has learned. The two cartoons were pulled "without any hesitation" from both the Arabic and English language web sites after a US government official complained about them, Arab News reported yesterday, making a mockery of Al-Jazeera's reputation for fiercely safeguarding its journalistic independence against outside pressure. The article, published in the Kuwaiti Arabic language daily Al- siyasah, sent shockwaves through the news organization, even though Al-Jazeera could not verify its factual accuracy, according to inside sources who spoke to Arab News on condition of anonymity. The article was even translated into English and forwarded by e-mail to all staff members at the new English language Al-Jazeera web site. Obtained exclusively by Arab News from a former senior member of the Al-Jazeera news team, the e-mail reported that Al-siyasah quoted a Gulf-based US diplomat as saying that a series of meetings were held in late August at the headquarters of the Security Intelligence Committee of the House of Representatives. The subject of the meetings, according to the Al-Jazeera journalist who sent the e-mail, was "US-Qatari relations in light of the role Al- Jazeera has played in inciting anti-US sentiment". If Al-Jazeera failed to reconsider its news content, the e-mail reported the committee as having concluded, the US would in turn have to reconsider its relations with Qatar. Suggestions made, the Al- Jazeera journalist wrote, included transferring its largest military Gulf base to another Gulf state, minimizing its civilian presence, cancelling the 50-year-old defence treaty between the US and Qatar, and withdrawing most other US support for the tiny Gulf state. Analysts say that the Qatari government will have no choice but to make it tone down its content, as it will otherwise find itself caught between a rock and a hard place: Forging ever-closer ties to the US while bankrolling a news organization the US sees as backing its enemies in the so-called "war on terror". Committee members, according to the e-mail, accused Al-Jazeera of being against both US foreign and domestic political interests and its armed forces, particularly those in Iraq and Afghanistan; of becoming a platform for Al-Qa'idah and the ousted Iraqi regime; and of promoting other fundamentalist and terrorist Islamic groups. The diplomat was quoted as saying that the meetings - which he said included key members of the House of Representatives, the Senate and the Pentagon, the State Department, the CIA and the FBI - reached a unanimous proposal on the second anniversary of the 11 September attacks: To advise Bush to warn the Qatari government to close Al- Jazeera or, as a first step, replace its current journalists with others who are "moderate and neutral". It was immediately after the article appeared that the two "offensive" cartoons were pulled from the Arabic and English web sites, suggesting that US threats were already starting to get the desired results. Since then, according to another Al-Jazeera source, there has been unprecedented tension in the Al-Jazeera newsroom that is home to both the Arabic and English language web sites' staff as a result of senior editors being increasingly reluctant to give the go-ahead to controversial story ideas. Source: Arab News web site, Jedda, in English 4 Oct 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** RUSSIA [non]. GERMANY, 17705, Russian International Radio ID at the beginning of the program at 1400, a bit of talk. Program is mostly pop music though. Fair reception at tune in, improves a bit closer to 1500* Oct 1, 3 (Hans Johnson, Cody WY, Cumbredx via DXLD) ** SIKKIM. INDIA, 3390, AIR Gangtok (tentative) transmitter sounded fine instead of the howling I have heard in the past. Oct 4, 1336 talk by woman, 1348 music, 1356 more talk and faded by 1401. My best reception of this one (although tentative) of this one in quite some time (Hans Johnson, Cody WY, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** SOUTH AMERICA. 6950.00 kHz Radio Cochiguaz - 2 de Octubre (3 de Octubre UTC) 0245-0333 UT. Hola Amigos DXistas en Conexión Digital! He probado más que una vez captar Radio Cochiguaz sin tener buena suerte pero esta noche entre 2145 - 2233 hora local en Quito por fin la estación estuvo allí esperándome en la frecuencia de 6950.00 kHz LSB. Justo hoy (la razón de mi buena suerte?) he puesto la primera de tres nuevas antenas: "Horizontal Sloped Inverted L"-de 18 metros. Dentro de algunos meses tambien voy a poner una "Horizontal Sloped Inverted L"- de 36 metrosnas y una antena que se llama "EWE``. Tuvo una programación conteniendo música americana de pop/rock. A las 0333 UT "El cóndor pasa" e IDs en inglés y español. Tengo una grabación y se puede un poco más tarde escucharla en la página web: http://homepage.sverige.net/~a-0901/ Envío este email también a las dos direcciones de Radio Cochiguaz: jazzlighthouse@gmx.li -Radio_Cochiguaz@yahoo.com 73s de (Bjorn Malm, Quito, Ecuador - SWB América Latina Quito 2/Oct/2003 22:50, DX LISTENING DIGEST) PIRATE RADIO COCHIGUAZ will be active today hoisting the pirate flag testing again on 6950 kHz, LSB mode. Our main frequency will continue being 11430U kHz. Times UT Sat, 4 October 2003 - 11430L kHz 2200-2300 Radio Dr Tim Sun, 5 October 2003 - 6950L kHz 0100-0200 Radio Dr Tim For reports write to: (Pls add return postage) SRS-Germany, c/o Radio Dr Tim, Box 1136, 06201 Merseburg, Germany. Email: doctortim@t-online.de Radio Cochiguaz, Box 159, Santiago 14, CHILE. Email: Radio_Cochiguaz@yahoo.com FFFR, ;-) Cachito, Radio Cochiguaz op. http://www.geocities.com/rcochiguaz (via Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** UGANDA [non]. R. Rhino International Africa, 17555 via Germany, fairly good again from *1500 Sat Oct 4. Seems their opening theme is Trini López` version of ``If I Had a Hammer...``, also heard on several other occasions. Faded down a lot before the hour was over (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U.K. Additional transmission for Bible Voice Broadcasting Network/BVBN/ in Arabic: 1700-1715 Mon-Fri on 17860 (55555) via RMP 500 kW / 125 degrees On same time and on same freq also in B-03 season! (Observer, Bulgaria, Oct 3 via DXLD) ** U S A. B. H. KAMENSKE, 75, A RANKING OFFICIAL AT VOICE OF AMERICA, DIES --- October 2, 2003 By DON R. HECKER Bernard H. Kamenske, former chief of the Voice of America's news operation, died on Sept. 25 in Bethesda, Md. He was 75 and lived in Bethesda. The cause was heart and lung disease, said Alan L. Heil Jr., a former colleague. Mr. Kamenske became chief of the news operation in 1973. In 1981 when he resigned in the face of Reagan administration proposals to make the Voice of America a more partisan supporter of United States policies. The news service operates separately from the Voice of America's commentary arm. Mr. Kamenske was widely credited with seeing that the news operation obtained a Congressional charter in 1976 guaranteeing its accuracy and objectivity. During the Reagan administration, tensions arose when a new appointee in the Voice of America's parent agency wrote that the organization should function as a "propaganda agency." A New York Times editorial described Mr. Kamenske's resignation as "loyally discreet," but it focused attention on the Reagan administration's shift in approach. Afterward, "in the news division there was pretty much a backing off" of pressure by the administration, said Mr. Heil, who has written a history of the Voice of America. Mr. Kamenske began his career at the Voice of America in 1955 as a news writer, rising steadily through the ranks to the news operation's top position. Bernard Harold Kamenske was born on Oct. 11, 1927, in Nashua, N.H., and attended private schools in Boston, where he joined The Associated Press in 1944 as a writer and editor. After leaving the Voice of America, he worked for two years for CNN as a senior news editor in Washington. He is survived by his wife of 43 years, Gloria Cheek Kamenske, and a sister, Jeannette Ruderman of Hollywood, Fla. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/02/obituaries/02KAME.html?ex=1066217851&ei=1&en=7728b06ba5a5f529 (via Don Thornton, DXLD) ** U S A. (non): Updated schedule for Radio Free Asia as of Sep 7 & 28 0000-0100 LAO 12015 13830 15545 0030-0130 BURMESE 11540 13680 13820 15660 17835 0100-0200 UIGHUR 9350 11520 11895 11945 15405 0100-0300 TIBETAN 9365 11695 11975 15225 15695 17730 0300-0600 MANDARIN 13670 13760 15150 15665 17495 17525 17615 17880 21690 0600-0700 MANDARIN 13670 13760 15150 15665 17495 17525 17615 17880 0600-0700 TIBETAN 17485 17510 17720 21500 21690 1100-1200 LAO 9355 9545 15635 15680 1100-1200 TIBETAN 7470 11590 13625 13830 15510 1200-1400 TIBETAN 7470 11590 13625 13830 15510 17855 1230-1330 KHMER 13645 15525 15625 1300-1400 BURMESE 11540 11765 13745 1400-1500 CANTONESE 9775 11715 13790 1400-1500 KOREAN 7380 9695 11790 13625 15625 1400-1500 VIETNAMESE 9455 9635 9930 11520 11535 11605 11765 13775 1500-1600 KOREAN 648 9385 13625 1500-1600 MANDARIN 7540 9905 11765 12025 13690 15510 1500-1600 TIBETAN 7470 11510 11590 11705 11780 13835 1600-1700 KOREAN 7210 9385 13625 1600-1700 MANDARIN 7540 9455 9905 11750 11795 12025 13690 15510 1600-1700 UIGHUR 7465 9350 9370 9555 11780 13715 1700-1800 MANDARIN 7540 9355 9455 9540 9905 11750 11795 11995 13690 15510 1800-1900 MANDARIN 7530 7540 9355 9455 9540 11740 11995 13680 15510 1900-2000 MANDARIN 7530 7540 9355 9455 9905 11740 11785 11995 13625 13680 15510 2000-2100 MANDARIN 7530 7540 9355 9455 9850 9905 11700 11740 11785 11935 11995 13625 15515 2100-2200 MANDARIN 7540 9455 9850 9910 11700 11740 11935 11995 13625 15515 2200-2300 CANTONESE 9355 9955 11785 13675 2200-2300 KOREAN 7460 9455 9850 11670 12080 2230-2330 KHMER 7455 9490 9930 13735 2300-2400 MANDARIN 7540 9910 11785 13640 13800 15430 15550 2300-2400 TIBETAN 7470 7550 9395 9805 9875 2330-0030 VIETNAMESE 9975 11560 11580 11605 11670 12010 13735 15560 73! (Observer, Bulgaria, Oct 3 via DXLD) ** U S A. 6980, WWRB Manchester TN; 0452-0503+, 1-Oct; 6980 SIO=2+52 //6890 w/S20 signal. Hate everybody call-in program to Call/QTH ID at 0459. 6890 strong at 2325, 1-Oct, but nothing on 6980. At 0504, 2-Oct, 6980 //6890 with 6980 a little better & 6890 much weaker than usual (Harold Frodge, MI, MARE via DXLD) tnx, no confusion about this ** U S A. 1520, WJR Detroit MI; (2 x 760 Harmonic) 9/14 1335 UT. Been hearing a lot of this harmonic lately, would be interested if this is being heard in other states due to station's clear channel status (Joe Miller, Troy MI, MARE via DXLD) How far are you from the transmitter site? I suppose you hear it only in daytime? (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. 1690 Berwyn IL: Glenn: A license application and request for Program Test Authority for the Berwyn, IL expanded band AM facility were filed with the FCC on Tuesday. This is the normal procedure when a new facility or existing station modified facility authorized by a construction permit has been built, tested, and is ready for normal operation. The application for license should show up in the FCC CDBS database reasonably soon. There is often a lag of a few days between an application filing and its appearance in the database. The FCC website discusses some database glitches that are delaying matters at present when I looked at it a few minutes ago (Ben Dawson, WA, Oct 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 'REAL OLDIES 1690' SOUNDS READY TO GET REAL October 3, 2003 BY ROBERT FEDER SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST http://www.suntimes.com/output/feder/cst-fin-feder031.html Although Clear Channel Communications' new station will boast a killer lineup of on-air talent, the real stars of WRLL-AM (1690) will be Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra. Those two artists will epitomize the baby-boomer format of pop standards and rock oldies from the '50s and '60s, according to John Gehron, general manager of "Real Oldies 1690" and executive vice president of Clear Channel's operations in Chicago. If all goes as planned, "Real Oldies" will sign on for real at 5 a.m. Monday [1000 UT Oct 6] -- after stunting over the weekend with a mixture of Elvis and Sinatra songs and other audio drop-ins and teases. Tommy Edwards, who's doubling as program director and morning personality, will be joined from 5 to 10 a.m. by co-host and old pal Larry Lujack and news anchor Kathy Worthington. Other local rock radio veterans on the lineup include: Scotty Brink from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Ron Britain from 3 to 8 p.m.; music director Ron Smith from 8 p.m. to midnight, and production director Len O'Kelly from midnight to 5 a.m. Prime target will be listeners between the ages of 45 and 54. "We've got a huge number of [song] titles that no other station is playing," Edwards said. "Our music represents a wonderful time in people's lives and evokes deep emotions and happiness." (Chicago Sun-Times Oct 3 via Artie Bigley, DXLD) ** U S A. COLLEGE TRYING TO SELL WRVG GEORGETOWN SAYS IT CAN'T AFFORD TO KEEP PUBLIC RADIO STATION By Heather Svokos, HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER After 40 years of affiliation with Georgetown College, and a sometimes-turbulent five years as one of Lexington's key public radio stations, WRVG-89.9 FM is about to be sold. "We are working toward that, yes," said Michael D. Dawahare, vice president for institutional advancement for Georgetown College. "It is not a done deal." Dawahare would not disclose the station's potential buyer, citing a mutual confidentiality agreement. He did estimate that the deal could be closed by sometime in November. The reason for the sale: economics. Georgetown, like colleges and universities around the country and in Kentucky, is "facing some real challenges," Dawahare said. "We've taken a look at our core business, which is education, and we're basically realigning the institution to serve the core mission. ... The radio station just fell into the sights on the radar screen." Though rumors of the station's sale have swirled for three years, the idea has been given more serious consideration within the last six months, Dawahare said. "As an officer of the college," he said, "I understand that it's something that absolutely needs to be done. ... On a personal level, it would be great if it were possible for a non-profit in the community to take the station. Without a doubt, WRVG is a cultural icon in Lexington. I think it's dearly loved by its listeners." Dawahare estimates that it would take about $1.6 million to buy and run the station. The college would be happy to work with a community group that could find the financing to save the station, Dawahare said, but at the moment, that outcome doesn't seem likely. "We've actively gone out there looking for that and haven't found it yet." Dawahare, who used to be WRVG's general manager, has long advocated the public-radio model used by Louisville and other cities, that of a "single management umbrella" for all the cities' public stations. But other Central Kentucky stations haven't been convinced. "One of the reasons that this radio station's going to go away is because of the absence of vision and courage to execute that model," he said. "Don't be surprised if the public institutions start cutting dramatically the subsidies that those stations receive." There is a national trend of schools divesting themselves of their radio stations, Dawahare said. WRVG was launched as a student-run station in 1963. In June 1998 it landed on the map, thanks to a huge power boost and the ambitious World Radio experiment. The World Radio goal was to give second- and third-tier public stations an alternative to National Public Radio and Public Radio International. A little more than a year later, the station laid off several employees, scrapped the World Radio network, and started focusing on surviving on its own. "The staff that we do have here have been committed to this project for a long time," said Mike Francis, operations and general manager. Many listeners seem equally committed, and very vocal. Earlier this year the station, acting on listener surveys, dropped the morning music format and picked up National Public Radio's Morning Edition. "A large host of our listeners went ballistic," recalled program and music director Keith West. The station quickly reverted to its old music format. West said staffers are keeping their chins up, despite both the uncertain future and a lightning strike nearly a month ago that still hinders operations. "This station is something that you dearly love when you're here," West said. "It's like our baby, so we can't just walk away and say to heck with it." Said Francis: "We've gone through this sort of emotional thing many times with this place, and now it seems like, finally, we're at the end. That's unless miracles happen." (Lexington Herald-Leader Sept 25 via Current via DXLD) ** U S A. The FCC is levying a fine of $357,500 against Infinity and other stations which carried the infamous "Sex in Church" episode on the Opie and Anthony Show. Full text with all the lawyer-speak can be found at: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-03-234A1.txt They're gettin' off too easy --- Again! (Bill Hale, NRC-AM via DXLD) FCC PROPOSES SECOND-LARGEST FINE FOR INDECENCY ON THE AIR By JONATHAN D. SALANT, The Associated Press, 10/2/03 5:23 PM WASHINGTON (AP) -- The government on Thursday proposed the second-biggest fine ever for indecency: $357,000 against Infinity Broadcasting for a radio segment in which a couple was said to be having sex in New York's St. Patrick's Cathedral… http://wizzer.advance.net/cgi-free/getstory_ssf.cgi?a0761_BC_FCC-ShockJocks&&news&newsflash-washington (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) INFINITY FACES $357,000 FINE FOR CATHEDRAL SEX STUNT (New York) --- By Monty Phan (c) 2003, Newsday NEW YORK -- Here`s a shock for shock radio: An alleged sex act in St. Patrick`s Cathedral aired by Infinity Broadcasting stations last year warrants a $357,500 fine, the second-largest for an indecency violation, the government said Thursday. The Federal Communications Commission recommended that Infinity pay that amount, the maximum, for airing ``explicit sexual descriptions designed to shock, pander and titillate listeners`` during the ``Opie and Anthony`` radio show, which ran on station WNEW/102.7 FM in New York until it was canceled shortly after the August 2002 broadcast. One commissioner, Michael Copps, called the proposal a ``slap on the wrist`` and pushed for hearings to revoke Infinity licenses for ``repeated`` violations. In separate statements, commissioners Kevin Martin and Jonathan Adelstein suggested treating each ``distinct`` conversation, rather than the entire segment, as a separate violation, allowing the FCC to increase the fines to a level that would ``be more commensurate with the offenses.`` Infinity, which in 1995 paid the FCC $1.7 million to settle a series of cases accusing Howard Stern`s show of indecency violations, has 30 days to contest the proposed fine. Also Thursday, the FCC proposed that Clear Channel Communications` AMFM Radio be fined $55,000 for an apparent indecency violation during the ``Elliot in the Morning`` show on Washington station WWDC. ``The message to licensees is clear,`` Copps said in the statement. ``Even egregious repeated violations will not result in revocation of a license. Rather, they will result only in a financial penalty that doesn`t even rise to a serious cost of doing business.`` Dana McClintock, an Infinity spokesman, said only that the company has an opportunity to respond and will do so. Brian Florence and Loretta Harper, the couple accused of having sex in the cathedral, were expected to plead guilty Tuesday, but Florence died of a heart attack last week. Comedian Paul Mercurio, who had stood nearby describing the act on-air, pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and was to serve 7 days of community service. In April, Infinity changed WNEW`s format to entertainment news, gossip and music aimed at women 25-44 (Newsday via DXLD) ST. PAT'S RADIO SEX MAN IS DEAD --- By DAREH GREGORIAN Click on the link below to access the story. http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/6979.htm (via Don Thornton, NJ, DXLD) By Deborah S. Morris, Newsday, NEW YORK --- A 38-year-old man who had sex inside St. Patrick's Cathedral has died of apparent heart failure, it was revealed in court Tuesday. Brian Florence, 38, died in Alexandria, Va., on Thursday, said the defense attorney for Florence and his wife, Loretta Harper, who was also charged in the bizarre August 2002 incident. "We are all in shock - he was a young guy," said the attorney, Maranda Fritz. Tuesday, the comedian who had narrated the couple's X-rated cathedral exploits in real time, Paul Mercurio, pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct. At the time of the incident, he was a producer for the now-defunct Opie and Anthony radio show. Under the plea deal, he will serve seven days of community service for his role in the stunt. He was originally charged with public lewdness. The court adjourned the case against Harper, of Virginia, until Nov. 6 in light of her husband's death. Mercurio used his cell phone to narrate on air as Florence and Harper had sex in a side entrance vestibule of the church to win a prize from the shock jocks. It was actually a contest, sponsored by Sam Adams beer company, in which several couples had agreed to compete by having sex in public at sites around Manhattan. Harper appeared in court but did not say anything and left the building without commenting. Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service (via Harry van Vugt, Windsor, Ontario, Canada, DXLD) I thought they were only simulating sex, but hey, what`s the difference? Evidently the FCC is buying into the idea that the church is inherently anti-sex, so if this had been done somewhere else, it would not have been so reprehensible! (gh) ** U S A. LIMBAUGH PROVES AIRWAVES NEED FAIRNESS DOCTRINE Paul Carpenter, October 3, 2003 Why the fuss over Rush Limbaugh bashing Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb? Limbaugh, after all, was just being what I feel he always has been -- a liar, a bigot and a functionary for the Republican Party's reactionary fringe. On Sunday, Limbaugh proclaimed on an ESPN television show that McNabb ''got a lot of credit for the performance of this team that he didn't deserve.'' That, Limbaugh said, is because ''the media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well.'' In other words, any success the Eagles have is not because of McNabb's talents; he is boosted by the evil liberal media only because he's black. Actually, I also was hoping for McNabb to fail on Sunday, but that's because I am from Buffalo. The Bills (sob) were beaten by everybody on the Eagles team except McNabb, according to Limbaugh logic. Anyway, people should not be surprised by this hyena's bigotry. What do they expect? He gained fame on radio talk shows, which are full of far-right screwballs, for good reason. People who run radio stations always have been aligned with wealth and conservatism (Limbaugh is from a rich and politically connected family), and they always resented the Fairness Doctrine. That rule required balance because radio frequencies are allocated by government. So if a station wanted to air deluges of lies and polemics from someone like Limbaugh, it had to briefly give others a chance to respond. Downright cruel. At the behest of Limbaugh's fat-cat family and other Republicans in the radio racket, Ronald Reagan killed the Fairness Doctrine after he became president. That gave America a huge government-licensed media network that can hire partisan windbags with no need to worry about anyone else refuting their baloney. So the offensive thing about Limbaugh's bigotry is not that it exists. Al Sharpton is proof that brainless bigotry can exist anywhere. The offensive thing about Limbaugh and his ilk is that they have a monopoly. Locally, Limbaugh's show is aired by WAEB-AM. I asked program director Craig Stevens how many liberal commentators the station has. ''I would say every single one,'' Stevens replied. He mentioned Glenn Beck and I loudly expressed incredulity. ''I would say is 90 percent conservative,'' Stevens allowed, '' Phil Hendrie is a liberal.'' (It is pertinent to note that WAEB schedules Hendrie's amateurish shtick in the middle of the night.) I asked if WAEB is ever tempted to add balance by allowing a serious and competent liberal commentator. ''Here is the way that is viewed,'' Stevens said. He noted there are very few liberal talk show hosts out there, and WAEB seeks to have ''consistent'' programming. You want to accommodate a certain audience? ''You got it,'' he said. With the Fairness Doctrine shelved, they get away with it. American newspapers, by contrast, have never been licensed by government and there also has never been a fairness doctrine. Isn't it odd that most papers still manage to offer diverse commentary? (The claim that newspapers have a liberal bias, by the way, is false, as can be clearly illustrated by checking the ratio of endorsements in presidential elections for the last 50 years.) If we are upset over the likes of Limbaugh, and if we still want to coddle radio stations by giving them exclusive federal licenses, there is no way to justify the continued monopolization of opinion on limited radio frequencies. The problem is not that a bigot and blind partisan exists; the problem is that he can spew his drivel for hours and no one is allowed even one minute on the air to refute it. We should thank Limbaugh for proving it's high time to restore the Fairness Doctrine. (c) 2003, The Morning Call [Lehigh Valley PA] This article originally appeared at: http://www.mcall.com/news/columnists/all-5fairness-aoct03,0,5705355.column (via Richard Cuff, PA, DXLD) ** U S A. Here's notice of an upcoming DX test... PLEASE NOTE: Even if you don't hear a test, be sure and drop a card, letter, or e-mail to the station personnel, thanking them for going to the trouble to run a test! Friday, October 10, 2003 - KTNS-1060, Oakhurst, CA will conduct a DX test from 9:00 pm to 10:00 pm PST [sic] (12:00 am-1:00 am 10/11/03 EST [sic]). [Presumably means PDT and EDT, which would be 0400-0500 UT Oct 11] The test will consist of "Music of your life" and Morse code IDs. The test will be run at KSTN's full daytime power of 5000 watts and a non-directional antenna pattern will be used. Reception reports may be sent to: Mr. Larry W. Gamble General Manager KTNS-AM 40356 Oak Park Way Oakhurst, CA 93644 Email: mtkaat @ sierratel.com Also, if you hear a test, PLEASE, PLEASE let me know, via either e-mail or in rec.radio.shortwave! And if you send a reception report to a station, please remember to include return postage with your report... (Lynn Hollerman, LA, Oct 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ircamember @ ircaonline.org Visit the IRCA Web site at http://www.ircaonline.org Isn`t there something wrong above? Day facility tests are supposed to be only after local midnight; and surely the times are PDT and EDT, i.e. 0400 UT?! (Glenn Hauser to Lynn via DX LISTENING DIGEST) No, this is the same as last year. 9 pm PST is what the station told me. I presume he has a reason for the time - I seem to recall last year there was something constraining them to test at that time! (Lynn Hollerman, Lafayette, LA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) If you insist it`s in PST, then that would be 0500 UT, but I still doubt it, even if they do really mean 9 pm local time rather than after midnight (gh) ** U S A. In ``W1AW 160-meter transmission to QSY slightly,`` in The ARRL Letter, Vol 22, No 37 (Sep 19, 2003), we reported that W1AW would shift its 160-meter bulletin frequency from 1818 kHz to 1817.5 kHz starting September 29. This change affects only the CW bulletin and code practice transmissions. W1AW`s 160-meter phone bulletins continue to be on 1855 kHz (ARRL Letter Oct 3 via John Norfolk, DXLD) ** U S A. AMATEUR RADIO SUPPORT WINDS DOWN AS ISABEL RECOVERY CONTINUES Hurricane Isabel is long gone, but its effects linger in the US Southeast, especially in North Carolina. Amateur Radio activities supporting the storm response, relief and recovery have wound down for the most part, but one disaster relief professional has suggested an additional role for Amateur Radio in these kinds of disasters. In North Carolina, joint Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network (SATERN)-Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) support for The Salvation Army`s relief efforts in the Morehead City area ended September 30. Well over a dozen ham radio volunteers participated. Carteret County Emergency Coordinator Rich Wright, KR4NU, said his ARES/RACES team helped in areas where ham radio provided the only reliable communication. ``Absolutely no communications available except ham radio,`` is how Wright described one especially hard-hit area of Carteret County. Wright and his ARES-RACES team stepped in late last week after Salvation Army mobile kitchens from New York needed communication support. Amateurs also were able to assist at several other sites in the region as well as at the command center in Morehead City. Jay Wilson, W0AIR jay.wilson@dhs.gov; --- a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) director from Colorado --- was among the disaster-relief professionals working in North Carolina in Isabel`s aftermath. Wilson suggested that Amateur Radio operators could play an important role in post-disaster relief that goes beyond providing communication support to relief agencies. ``Right now, if hams did nothing else, just driving back roads and stopping to talk with people would mean more than you can imagine,`` he said this week. ``Just helping to spread the word about where canteens are, and where the FEMA/state application trailers are would help tremendously.`` Wilson, who toured Tyrrell, Hyde and Dare counties, reported many were still without power, telephone service and drinkable water. He says he saw clusters of homes that had been flattened and people living in their cars. ``One older woman told me that she and her son had been living on swamp critters and drinking ditch water for a week,`` Wilson related. ``The lady did not know that Salvation Army had a canteen about five miles from her house and that they would get food delivered to anyone who couldn`t come to them.`` He and his team subsequently asked The Salvation Army volunteers to put the family at the top of their list. In another area, Wilson said, his team kept a FEMA trailer open after realizing that residents just a couple of miles away were unaware that outside aid had been sent. A FEMA HAZMAT officer, Wilson is executive director of Disaster Preparedness-Emergency Response Association (DERA) http://www.disasters.org/dera/dera.htm a nonprofit international service organization and an ARRL-affiliated club. He was among five amateurs --- also disaster professionals --- working at the FEMA/state disaster field office (DFO) in Raleigh, where he served as emergency services branch chief. The team was expected to remain there until week`s end. Wilson said the team made extensive use of EchoLink via the DERA- provided N3DAK portable repeater. The 20-meter SATERN Net (14.265 MHz) provided HF liaison for travel into the primary disaster area. ``Strange, isn`t it?`` Wilson asked rhetorically. ``The emergency is over and now the real suffering begins just as the outside world loses interest.`` Chesapeake Amateur Radio Service President Ruth Bigio, KB4LIF, reports that more than 30 hams responded to an activation in Virginia`s Tidewater Area that lasted 12 days. ``Hams took HF reports and passed traffic up to the state EOC and worked the Hurricane Watch Net http://www.hwn.org/ from their homes, while others worked UHF/VHF,`` she said. ``SKYWARN reports from all over Tidewater poured into our EOC and were passed on to Wakefield NWS.`` Tidewater Area hams also supported communication at more than a dozen shelters, provided damage assessments and assisted in clearing roadways. Bigio says ARES members later helped The Salvation Army and American Red Cross relief efforts. --- some information provided via Bob Dockery, WD4CNZ (ARRL Letter Oct 3 via John Norfolk, DXLD) ** VENEZUELA. Hace pocos minutos la señal de GLOBOVISION tuvo una interrupción en su señal los trabajadores de CONATEL hacen lo posible por sacar la señal del aire. Esto es una agresión a la libertad de expresión en Venezuela (José Elías Díaz Gómez, Venezuela, 1713 UT Oct 3, Cumbre DX via DXLD) EL GOBIERNO DICTATORIAL Y COMUNISTA EN VENEZUELA INTENTA SILENCIAR A GLOBOVISIÓN En un intento más de este régimen comunista de liquidar las libertades democráticas en Venezuela, personal de CONATEL a partir de la 1:04 de la tarde, 17:04 GMT, ha neutralizado de manera momentánea la señal abierta para Caracas del canal 24 horas de noticias Globovisión, en un abierto desafío a silenciar la libertad de expresión en Venezuela. Globobovisión solamente puede ser visto hasta los momentos a través de su señal vía satélite, y ésta a su vez por cable gracias a las diferentes compañías que hasta los momentos se sirven de su señal. La estación repetidora de Mecedores situada en el cerro El Ávila, así como las antenas ubicadas en el techo de la sede del canal ubicada en la Alta Florida, están siendo desmontadas sin ninguna orden judicial previa. Esta acción significa una acción sin precedentes en la vida democrática de Venezuela, y una intensión clara por parte de este régimen comunista de arremeter contra los medios de comunicación libres, y cuya línea objetiva no simpatiza con la mal llamada revolución bolivariana. Es indudable que esta acción de confiscar los equipos de Globovisión, es dar un golpe a la lámpara e impedir a como de lugar las jornadas de recolección de firmas para la revocación del mandanto del presidente Chávez, que de antemano sería un revocatorio o plebicito adelantado, previsto para a finales del presente mes. Ayer en el programa "Aló Ciudadano" se presentó imágenes grabadas por un video aficionado oculto en un automóvil, tomadas desde El Fuerte Tiuna donde se observa decenas de jóvenes afectos al regimen de Chávez, procedentes de Cuba que tomaban autobuses con destino desconocido. Sin duda alguna este fué la gota que colmó el vaso al gobierno, arremetiendo de manera ilegal contra este importante canal de televisión. Invitamos al mundo, a que estén pendientes de los últimos acontecimientos en Venezuela, donde nuestra democracia se encuentra en dura prueba contra un régimen de corte Castro Comunista como lo es el de Chávez. Sin duda el gobierno ha pasado la raya amarilla, y como ha pasado con Yugoslavia después que Milosevic cerró a la radio independiente B92, la caída de Chávez ya es irreversible (Jorge García, Barinas, Venezuela, Oct. 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) No doubt Adán González sees this quite differently; J.G. also forwards these reports (gh): ----------------------------------------------------- "El gobierno nos está comenzando a cerrar" Sin dar declaraciones de ningún tipo porque "no estamos autorizados", funcionarios de Conatel comenzaron de forma violenta a remover los equipos de Globovisión ubicados en las estaciones de transmisión de El Volcán y Mecedores, y los equipos dentro del canal para las transmisiones en directo. Los representantes de Conatel se presentaron intempestivamente en la sede de Globovisión al mediodía de este viernes para incautar los equipos de microondas diciendo que era una "inspección rutinaria". El director general de la planta, Alberto Federico Ravell, denunció que "el gobierno nos está comenzando a cerrar". "Un canal que no tenga microondas está muerto. Nos quitan la operatividad. Vamos a ver qué hacemos. Hemos tenido el ofrecimiento del resto de los canales de darnos el apoyo necesario", expresó Ravell. "El presidente Chávez pasó la raya amarilla en el tema de la libertad de expresión", agregó. "El gobierno del teniente coronel Chávez está medio cerrando Globovisión. Tomaron su decisión hace tiempo y hoy lo están cumpliendo. Ya nos cerraron la mitad del canal al quitarnos las microondas y quizá mañana vengan de nuevo, dirán que algún transmisor tiene un problema y se lo llevarán". Los representantes legales del Globovisión señalaron que la ejecución de la orden se está realizando de manera ilegal e incorrecta. Además, Ravell indicó que el organismo debe hacerse responsable de los daños que se provoque a los aparatos. "Esto es un adelanto de la Ley Mordaza. No podremos hacer transmisiones en vivo, no podremos transmitir desde la Asamblea cuando pretendan aprobar la ley del Tribunal Supremo, cuando la Guardia Nacional arremeta contra la gente del petróleo, cuando haya una manifestación y la guardia masacre esa manifestación", dijo. Todo el personal salió en defensa protestando contra la presencia de los funcionarios de Conatel gritando "¡Fuera! y "¡Libertad!". En las calles adyacentes a la sede del canal, con banderas, pitos y pancartas, personas y vehículos se concentran en apoyo a Globovisión. "Estoy tan consternada como venezolana, tan indignada, que lo que me provoca es llorar. Mi país se está cayendo", expresó una de las manifestantes a las puertas del canal. En las casas y edificios las cacerolas en respaldo a la televisora no cesan de sonar. Lo que dice el gobierno El Ministro de Información y Comunicación, Jesse Chacón, aseguró que "el procedimiento de Conatel no tiene nada que ver con la operación de Globovisión". Dijo que el procedimiento realizado está relacionado con "el uso ilegal" de la frecuencia de microondas por parte de Globovisión. Dice que Conatel no está negando el derecho de los canales de televisión o radio a utilizar frecuencias de microondas; sólo exigen que se cumpla un procedimiento de habilitación. "Esto tiene que ver con una organización del espectro y el uso racional del mismo. El día que la empresa Globovisión haga su trámite legal, solicite la frecuencia y mediante ese procedimiento se le entregue, podrá utilizar esa frecuencia específica de microondas", aseguró. Afirmó que la Ley Orgánica de Telecomunicaciones contempla que, en caso de uso ilegal de una frecuencia, puede, "dentro del marco del mismo procedimiento retirar el equipo como un mecanismo para que no se utilice". En cuanto al resto de los canales, recomendó que "tomen las medidas que desde hace tiempo se les ha solicitado para ponerse al día con el uso del espectro, que se pongan a derecho y no utilicen esta figura de simplemente yo pongo una microonda y la pongo al aire sin pedir permiso". Globovisión señaló que durante los casi cinco años de gobierno, Conatel no ha querido dar ningún tipo de permiso a los canales de televisión y eso lo sabe el ministro Jesse Chacón, ex director de ese organismo. La vicepresidenta de Globovisión, María Fernanda Flores, señaló que existen equipos que están perdiéndose por no ser utilizados en espera de los permisos que Conatel se niega a otorgar. El diputado Pedro Castillo denunció que el funcionario encargado de ejecutar el procedimiento contra Globovisión, Hugo Tirado, fue citado por la Asamblea Nacional en relación con un presunto tráfico de armas de la gobernación del Estado de Cojedes cuando actuaba como jefe de seguridad de ese gobierno regional. Globovisión/MGC 03-10-03 http://www.globovision.com ---------------------------------------------------- GOBIERNO INCAUTA EQUIPOS DE TELEVISORA VENEZOLANA CARACAS (AP) - La Comisión Nacional de Telecomunicaciones (Conatel) se presentó el viernes en la sede de la televisora privada de noticias Globovisión para decomisar una serie de equipos del canal utilizados para transmitir en vivo. La incautación de los equipos de la televisora ocurre en medio de una efervescente campaña electoral a favor del referendo para el recorte del mandato del presidente Hugo Chávez que está promoviendo la oposición. El presidente de la televisora Alberto Federico Ravell, denunció que la acción emprendida por el organismo estatal es un hecho "sumamente grave", debido a que representa "el primer paso para el cierre de una canal de noticias". "Nos dejan con las manos amarradas... es un ataque frontal, definitivo contra los medios de comunicación", agregó. Explicó que la incautación de los equipos de transmisión en vivo inhabilita a la televisora para cubrir los hechos que ocurran fuera del canal. El ministro de Comunicación, Jesse Chacón, negó que el gobierno pretenda cerrar Globovisión, y justificó el decomiso señalando que eso es un "mecanismo" para evitar que "no utilicen el equipo". Precisó que hasta que la televisora no cumpla una serie de trámites, que podrían tardarse unos 90 días, no podrán recuperar los equipos de transmisión en vivo. Refirió que la televisora cometió un "error" y una "omisión" al utilizar "ilegalmente el espectro (la frecuencia de transmisión)". "A ese desorden, a esa anarquía, hay que ponerle remedio", expresó Chacón al instar a Globovisión y al resto de las televisoras a "ponerse al día" con Conatel y tramitar el permiso para las transmisiones en vivo. Varios centenares del manifestantes opositores se presentaron con banderas venezolanas a las puertas del canal para protestar la acción de Conatel. Chávez mantiene desde el inicio de su gobierno, en febrero de 1999, una fuerte pugna con los principales diarios y televisoras del país a los que acusa de difundir informaciones "falsas" para tratar de derrocar a su gobierno. A comienzos de este año Conatel abrió procedimiento administrativos contra Globovisión, Venevisión, Radio Caracas y Televen, las cuatro mayores televisoras del país, por violar la ley que regula el sector. Los cuatro canales se sumaron el diciembre pasado al paro que convocó la oposición por 63 días para presionar la renuncia de Chávez. Durante la huelga opositora las televisoras suspendieron la transmisión de comerciales y de sus programas habituales, y sólo se limitaron a difundir películas y dibujos animados. El oficialismo, que controla 53% del congreso, presentó en enero pasado en la Asamblea Nacional un proyecto de ley que regula los contenidos de la radio y televisión. Human Rights Watch advitió que representa una "seria amenaza" a la libertad de expresión. (all via Jorge García R., Venezuela, Oct 3, DXLD) Noticia completa leia em: http://www.el-nacional.com/ http://www.el-universal.com/ http://www.2001.com.ve/20031004/default.asp 73 (Rogildo Aragão, Bolívia, radioescutas via DXLD) ** VENEZUELA. INNOVACION EN YVTO OBSERVATORIO CAJIGAL / UNA INVERSIóN DE $ 282 MIL ...HORA LEGAL, SIN RIESGO DE ERROR Si usted es de los que acostumbran marcar el 119 (antes simplemente el 19) para empezar a repartir abrazos y deseos de felicidad para el año nuevo, sepa que el 31 de diciembre venidero obtendrá la hora con más puntualidad que nunca. Desde la fresca Loma Quintana del 23 de Enero, sobre la cual se asienta el Observatorio Cajigal, ya no se facilitan las observaciones astronómicas. Eso es cosa del pasado. "La contaminación lumínica y ambiental lo impide", confirma el jefe del Servicio de Hora Legal de la Dirección de Hidrografía y Navegación, Jesús Alberto Escalona, con respecto a una presunción de la gente común. No obstante, desde ese sitio se sigue definiendo y difundiendo la hora oficial del país, aquella por la cual deben regirse no sólo todas las instituciones oficiales y privadas, sino todos los habitantes del territorio nacional. Y antes de que finalice el año en curso, en ese encumbrado lugar se recibirá y pondrá en funcionamiento un nuevo equipo para determinar, con exactitud casi absoluta, el tiempo de los venezolanos, de los puntuales e impuntuales por igual. 282 mil dólares costó el reequipamiento, un monto compartido por convenio entre la Dirección de Hidrografía y Navegación y la Compañía Anónima Teléfonos de Venezuela (Cantv), aliadas "desde los años 70" en la misión de monitorear y divulgar la hora venezolana. . . (Morelia Morillo M., El Universal, Venezuela, http://www.eluniversal.com/2003/09/29/car29.shtml via Horacio Nigro, Uruguay, oct 1, Conexión Digital via DXLD) Mas... OBSERVATORIO CAJIGAL/65 AÑOS QUE QUEDAN EN FAMILIA A finales de los 30, Luis Escalona debía recibir la información de los astrónomos "producto de su manejo del Teodolito Universal" para calcular, por medio de los relojes de péndulo, la hora legal venezolana. En esos predios del Observatorio Juan Manuel Cagigal, Luis Escalona pasó más de 38 años de su vida...(El Universal.com, Venezuela, http://www.eluniversal.com/2003/09/29/car2.shtml Sep 29, via Horacio Nigro, Uruguay, Oct 1, Conexión Digital via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. The MW station in Bogotá putting out the harmonic on 2740 is Radio Mundial, not Radio Capital as I mistakenly reported in an earlier log (Mark Mohrmann, Coventry, VT, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ INSIDE THE SHADOW GOVERNMENT National Emergencies and the Cult of Secrecy, by Harry Helms The Washington Post has reported that a parallel "shadow government" was activated in response to the September 11th attacks. Inside the Shadow Government is the first in-depth exploration of these standby plans. Among its revelations are details of plans for arrest - without probable cause or warrant - of American citizens by presidential order and government control of all media outlets. Special attention is given to the rise of "executive orders," a device that lets a president bypass Congress to create new laws. This book makes a powerful case that the "shadow government" is more concerned with restricting American civil liberties and constitutional government than it is with fighting international terrorism. Included are photos, illustrations, maps, charts and appendices that contain the complete text of government and military documents outlining plans for implementing the shadow government in future emergencies. Size: 7 x 10 Pages: 240 Type: Paperback Price: $12.95 ISBN: 092291589X Ordering info: http://www.feralhouse.com/shadowgovernment.html (via DXLD) Thanks to Harry Helms for a review copy of his latest book. Not directly about radio, but communications are certainly involved in this rather alarming scenario (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) POWERLINE COMMUNICATIONS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ [AUSTRALIA] PLT/BPL/PLC -- THE WORLD MAKES A NOISE! Don Beattie, G3BJ in this month`s IARU newsletter, says ``Member societies should be on the lookout for any signs that PLT is being planned in their country. Alone, it is unlikely that amateur radio can fight the supporters of PLT/BPL/PLC but if member societies work with other users of the HF spectrum in their country to build an alliance to protect the HF frequencies, there is much more chance of success. That is the challenge for us all.`` Phil Waite, who we heard last week on QNEWS says re the BPL/PLC/PLT scene, they are ``receiving a huge amount of information concerning BPL from many organizations.`` In many ways the proposed BPL system is a dinosaur. In today`s society the need is for faster data allowing the new digital formats such as MP4 and Video-on-Demand to be transferred quickly. Traditional multi-drop cable and BPL systems are built on 1960`s cable architecture and will not provide sufficient bandwidth to each home for tomorrow`s applications. Rather a deep fibre network with a minimum of homes connected to each node will be required. For these reasons the `window of opportunity` for deployment of BPL systems` is quite narrow. Australia is a country that relies more heavily on HF radio than most. Our military, civilian, and emergency communications systems rely heavily on HF radio, and the Over The Horizon Radar System processes very weak signals indeed. BPL technology needs to be very carefully evaluated in this light (Wireless Institute of Australia Q-News October 5 via John Norfolk, DX LISTENING DIGEST) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ QST de W1AW Propagation Forecast Bulletin 40 ARLP040 From Tad Cook, K7RA Seattle, WA October 3, 2003 To all radio amateurs This has been a good week for HF propagation. Not only have we moved into fall with its associated good HF propagation around the equinox, but this week also saw rising sunspot and solar flux values coupled with quieter geomagnetic conditions. Average daily sunspot numbers rose from the week previous by 33 points to 125. The average daily solar flux for the week was nearly 15 points higher at 133.6. Excepting the first day of the reporting week, when the planetary A index was 28, these numbers settled down to average only 12--nearly 15 points lower than the previous week. The quietest days were Sunday through Tuesday, September 28-30. Even at high latitudes, conditions were stable, with Alaska`s college A index at four on two of the days. We are now within a solar wind, but it is moderate and probably won`t cause any upset, at least for the next few days. Predicted planetary A index for Friday through Sunday, October 3-5, is 12, 10 and 10. On Monday it could rise to 15, then higher numbers are predicted, a planetary A index of 20 for October 7-8. Solar flux is expected around 120-125 over the next week. Let`s look at the numbers for the third quarter of 2003, which just ended: Average daily sunspots for July 1 through September 30 were 110.2, slightly higher than the previous quarter. From the third quarter of 2002 through the current quarter the average daily sunspot numbers were 193.5, 152.7, 120.3, 107.3 and 110.2. That reflects a definite downward trend with levels relatively unchanged from the last quarter to the current one. Average daily solar flux for the same five quarters were 178.1, 164.2, 134.3, 124.2 and 120.8. No doubt about a smooth downward slide there. Propagation this fall will surely not be as good as last year`s as these numbers continue. Over the past three months, July through September, average monthly sunspot numbers were 132.8, 114.3 and 82.6. Average solar flux numbers for those same months were 127.1, 122.1 and 112.2. Grim news emerged recently concerning the NOAA Space Environment Center in Colorado, where most of the data for these bulletins originates. I suspect due to some misunderstanding about their work, the Senate Appropriations Committee wants to eliminate the Space Environment Center`s budget for fiscal year 2004, which officially began October 1. The Senate Appropriations Committee said in a report that NOAA`s work should only be terrestrial and not extend to space, so it`s proposing to cut all funding for the SEC. The House appropriations bill proposes cutting funding by 40 percent, even in the wake of severe cuts during the fiscal year just ended. The funny thing about the Senate report is that all of the effects of solar flares and sunspots that concern us are here on Earth. Claiming that NOAA should ignore the sun because it is in space seems silly, since the same standard doesn`t apply to NOAA`s conventional weather forecasting. The SEC is a small part of NOAA, with an annual budget of just 8 million dollars. There`s a story on this subject on the ARRL Web site. See ``Space Environment Center Funding in Jeopardy`` http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2003/10/03/3/ The Seattle Post-Intelligencer ran a story in its October 2 editions http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/142217_space02.html and there`s an item on the September 20 SpaceWeather.com Web page, available in the archive for that date http://spaceweather.com/archive.php I`ve contacted my representatives in the Senate and House and found that, as expected, staff members really had no idea what the obscure sounding Space Environment Center does. The only hope is that when the House and Senate committees work out that portion of the budget, funding for the SEC will somehow be preserved. You might contact your representatives to inquire about this. Members of the Senate Appropriations Committee are listed on the committee`s Web site http://appropriations.senate.gov/ For more information on propagation and an explanation of the numbers used in this bulletin see the Propagation page on the ARRL Web site http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/propagation.html Sunspot numbers for September 25 through October 1 were 122, 127, 137, 139, 108, 116 and 126, with a mean of 125. The 10.7-cm flux was 132.6, 131.1, 129.7, 137, 135.1, 133 and 136.8, with a mean of 133.6. Estimated planetary A indices were 28, 17, 9, 6, 7, 7 and 10, with a mean of 12. Copyright © 2003, American Radio Relay League, Inc. All Rights Reserved (via John Norfolk, DX LISTENING DIGEST) SPACE ENVIRONMENT CENTER FUNDING IN JEOPARDY With final action pending by the US House and Senate on a Fiscal Year 2004 appropriations bill, the fate of the Space Environment Center (SEC) http://www.sec.noaa.gov/ in Boulder, Colorado, hangs in the balance. The FY 2004 Senate appropriations bill has eliminated funds for the SEC and for all space weather-related activities in the center`s parent agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The House version of the appropriations bill holds the center`s funding at $5.2 million. The White House requested $8.3 million for the SEC. Seattle-based ARRL propagation bulletin editor Tad Cook, K7RA, says the possible loss of SEC`s funding has him very concerned. ``The NOAA SEC provides all of the data for our weekly propagation bulletin http://www.arrl.org/w1aw/prop/ `` Cook said. ``It is SEC staff that prepares the forecasts that I rely on when I tell readers what the geomagnetic and solar indices will be during a given forecast period.`` Cook encourages ARRL members to contact their senators and representatives in Congress http://thomas.loc.gov/home/legbranch/legbranch.html urging them to restore the SEC`s funding. The Space Environment Center provides real-time monitoring and forecasting of solar and geophysical events. See the Space Weather Now Web site http://www.sec.noaa.gov/SWN/ Those include solar flares and geomagnetic disturbances that can affect radio wave propagation. The SEC Radio User`s Page http://www.sec.noaa.gov/radio/ includes data and information specific to the current state of the ionosphere. The center also conducts research in solar-terrestrial physics and develops techniques to forecast solar and geophysical disturbances. With the US Air Force, the SEC also operates the Space Weather Operations Center http://www.sec.noaa.gov/AboutSEC/swo_page.html which serves as the national and world warning center for disturbances that can affect people and equipment --- such as astronauts and communications satellites --- working in the space environment. ``It is the government`s official source for alerts and warnings of disturbances,`` Center Director Ernest Hildner explained in a recent posting to SEC clients. A Senate Appropriations Committee Report included a terse explanation on funding cut. ``The `Atmospheric` in NOAA does not extend to the astral,`` the report said. ``Absolutely no funds are provided for solar observation. Such activities are rightly the bailiwick of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Air Force.`` The Department of Defense, NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration are among the SEC`s customers, which also include the airlines, electric power grid operators, communications facilities, satellite operators, the National Space Weather Program and commercial providers of value-added space weather services. Hildner said that unless the SEC`s appropriation level is increased in a House-Senate conference committee, the most optimistic outlook is that the SEC will shrink to less than half its capability --- the House funding level --- or go away altogether under the Senate bill. ``In this case,`` he concluded, ``the nation`s space weather service will have to be reconstituted in some other agency, at greater cost and lesser capability, to meet the nation`s needs.`` (ARRL Letter Oct 3 via John Norfolk, DXLD) CUMBRE PROPAGATION REPORT One M1 class flare in the past week on Oct 1. Otherwise flare activity has remained very quiet as indeed it has been for quite a while now. Geomagnetic activity was at unsettled to active levels early in the week due to a recurrent high speed coronal hole wind stream. Activity has declined steadily to quiet to unsettled levels during the week as the coronal hole has rotated out of geoeffective range. Conditions are expected to remain good for the next week with the geomagnetic field at quiet to unsettled levels, apart from possibly disturbances at high latitudes. Disturbed conditions are forecast from Oct 10-20 (probably as I will be on holidays with the radio!) Prepared using data from http://www.ips.gov.au (Richard Jary, SA, Cumbre DX Oct 3 via DXLD) ###