DX LISTENING DIGEST 3-183, October 18, 2003 edited by Glenn Hauser IMPORTANT NOTE: our hotmail accounts are being phased out. Please do not use them any further, but instead woradio at yahoo.com or wghauser at yahoo.com Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only if full credit be maintained at all stages and we be provided exchange copies. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without permission. Materials taken from Arctic or originating from Olle Alm and not having a commercial copyright are exempt from all restrictions of noncommercial, noncopyrighted reusage except for full credits HTML version of this issue will be posted later at [note change] http://www.w4uvh.net/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 1203: RFPI: Sat 2330, Sun 0530, 1130, Mon 0030, 0630, 1230, Wed 0100, 0730, 1330 on 7445 [nominal times, often late] WWCR: Sun 0230 on 5070, 0630 on 3210, Wed 0930 on 9475 WRMI: Sun 1800+ via IBC Radio on 15725 WBCQ: Mon 0415 on 5105, 7415 WRN: Europe Sun 0430, North 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 1203 (high version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1203h.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1203h.rm (summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1203.html WORLD OF RADIO 1203 (low version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1203.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1203.rm ** ANNOBON ISLAND. The Daily DX: 3C0V TEAM WAS GIVEN JUST HOURS TO LEAVE NEWINGTON, CT, October 15, 2003 -- The Daily DX reports this week that the Annobón Island 3C0V DXpedition team was given just a few hours to leave October 4 after the island's military commander reportedly objected to the Amateur Radio operators' presence. The 3C0V operation commenced September 26, and, until its abrupt and unceremonious termination, the DXpedition intended to continue until October 11. Before the shutdown, the four-member group managed to log numerous contacts on 20, 17, 15, 12 and 10 meters. The Daily DX Editor Bernie McClenny, W3UR, reported this week that he spoke October 12 with team member Franz Langner, DJ9ZB, now safely home in Germany but nursing a cold. "Franz says the 3C0V crew first met with the governor of the island and the head of the military on their arrival there," McClenny reports. "At that time they had the approval to operate from both of these officials. Gifts were even presented." McClenny says the group had a "proper license" and a landing permit good for two years. "On Saturday [October 4] at 10 AM local they were told they had two to three hours to take everything down and be ready to leave," McClenny said, adding that the demand came from the military commander of the island. After dismantling the equipment and antennas and leaving nothing behind, all four operators boarded a plane to Malabo, the capital of Equatorial Guinea. A part of Equatorial Guinea, Annobón, is located in the Gulf of Guinea off Africa's west coast. Langner and Victor Polo, EA5FO, continued homeward on October 6, while Team leader Elmo Bernabe, EA5BYP, and Vicente Pastor, EA5YN, remained in Malabo "to resolve bureaucratic formalities," as Bernabe explained in a statement on the group's Web site. Both left Equatorial Guinea October 10. The 3C0V team reports all members "are in excellent health and safe at their respective homes." A news update on the 3C0V Web site said that even though the group had all necessary documentation, military authorities frequently interrupted the DXpedition. "During our first week there, we negotiated several times with the military authorities without success," team leader EA5BYP said. The group this week posted all documents for the Dxpedition -- including licenses for each group member and written authorization from the Minister of Transportation and Communications to visit Annobón for two weeks -- on its Web site. "We deeply regret not having been able to fulfill the objectives of this expedition, and are very grateful for the help given us by the associations, clubs and individuals, as well as the kindness and friendship always given us by the people of Annobón," EA5BYP said on behalf of the 3C0V team. "A heartfelt thanks for your support." He kept open the possibility of a future attempt to activate Annobón Island. McClenny says Langner told him the 3C0V logs are safe and expected to eventually be loaded onto the 3C0V Web page. He said he didn't know if the logs would be uploaded into the Logbook of the World (LoTW) database. The DXCC Desk has not yet approved the 3C0V DXpedition for DXCC. Also known as Pagalu, Annobón was the site of the 1999 3C0R DXpedition in which EA5BYP and EA5YN also participated. Copyright © 2003, American Radio Relay League, Inc. All Rights Reserved (via John Norfolk, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARGENTINA. Radio Baluarte abre emisión alrededor de las 1900 UT (a confirmar), cuando no tiene un espacio vendido, pasa música (Gospel), los espacios relgiosos en español son producidos por una Iglesia Pentescostal del Paraguay, la mayoria son en portugués y producidos por alguna Iglesia de Foz de Iguacu, Baluarte a icorporado avisos comerciales de la Zona de Puerto Iguazu o Foz de Iguacu (por ejemplo hay una promoción de relojes de una joyeria en Foz de Iguacu y con precios en reales), algunos programas de hoy en portugues con precios en reales (Nicolás Eramo, Argentina, Oct 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARGENTINA. While on vacation in Puerto Iguazú, Argentina, I thought I was listening to a local station R Cataratas del Iguazú on 1160 kHz. It was R MITRE (790 kHz) from Buenos Aires! Maybe it was a relay? 1350 kHz, R Buenos Aires with religious programming also in Portuguese. This station was heard in Buenos Aires. 73s (Jouko Huuskonen, Turku, FINLANDIA, Europa del Norte, Rx: Sony 7600G, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BELGIUM [non]. TDP Radio: Well, it is techno of the harder kind, not exactly "dance, club and trance" as stated on the webpage (these would be more listenable styles, so to speak). Strong signal of TDP Radio on 7560 here. Carrier on at 1948, between 1952 and 1958, 770 Hz tones with strong harmonics, then silence until program start at 2000 with announcement over music, including reference to http://www.tdpradio.com I am curious about possible comments on the programming, having in mind how I learned two new English words after the ORB transmissions via Juelich in 2000. Anyway quite severe clipping occurs somewhere in the audio pathl I think even the transmitter itself is somewhat overmodulated. As for the site: Appears to be the usual suspect, i.e. Tbilisskaya, anyway not Norway (Kai Ludwig-D, BC-DX Oct 11 via DXLD) The music had a lot of "distortion" in the bass, but maybe this is intentional as part of this kind of music? (Olle Alm, Sweden, ibid.) No, and it can be verified by the audio on the website that this was indeed merely a technical fault, sounding like digital clipping although no one is obvious on the waveforms but instead old-fashioned nonlinear distortion. Anyway the audio level was obviously set too high somewhere in the chain (Kai Ludwig, Germany, BC-DX Oct 12, ibid.) 7560, TDP Radio, e-mail reply from Daniel Versmissen, Program Manager & alleged DJ for the first broadcast on Oct 11. Not quite full data verie as he just said, "Thanks for your reaction." Better than nothing though. Claimed that there were no technical problems "here" (did he mean the studio or the transmitter or the link?). Still cagey about the transmitter location, mentioning it as 'Western Russia'. Reply in about eight hours (David Foster, Australia, DXplorer Oct 12 via BC-DX via DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. Dear Friends: Most of the Bolivian radio stations plow in the air in these moments 0250 UT with a message from the President??? About Radio Pio XII (that had an attack with explosive), in their habitual frequency of 5952.52 (Nicolas Eramo, Oct 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Oct 18 logs during crisis include: 5927.11, Radiodifusora Minería, Oruro, 1030-1045 om, with rather weak signal. Usually only noted from 2300 to 0100v. 5952.44, Radioemisora Pio XII, Siglo Veinte, 1000-1045, om news items in hyper Spanish, usual good signal. Seemed to remain on, or return to the air quickly, during the crisis, tnx Anker Petersen tip (Robert Wilkner, Icom R-75 NRD535D, Pompano Beach, Florida, US, hard-core-dx via DXLD) Bob, the bomb blast was against their FM outlet in nearby Oruro. The Siglo XX facilities remained unaffected (See current DXLD) (Henrik Klemetz, Sweden, ibid.) EXPLOSIÓN EN EMISORA DE RADIO La emisora de radio Pio XXII de Oruro, 230 kilómetros al sur de La Paz, sufrió un atentado con explosivos en los equipos de transmisión, informó la Confederación de Trabajadores de la Prensa. Los explosivos fueron colocados en las antenas de transmisión de la radio, que forma parte de la red Erbol, una de las más importantes de país, situadas en un cerro cercano a la emisora, cuando transmitían los enfrentamientos que protagonizaban en esta ciudad agentes de policía y estudiantes universitarios. "Primero atentaron contra la antena del canal de televisión de Canal Trece y a los diez minutos pusieron otro explosivo en nuestra caseta", dijo el jefe de prensa de Radio Pio XII, Abenor Alfaro. AP-AFP/el-nacional.com http://www.el-nacional.com/Articulos/DetalleArticulo.asp?idSeccion=84&id=34225 73's (via Bob Wilkner, FL, DXLD) LES ATTAQUES CONTRE LA PRESSE SE MULTIPLIENT 17.10.2003. Le 15 octobre, dans un contexte de durcissement de la crise, deux médias ont été réduits au silence par un attentat, les éditions de deux journaux ont été saisies, plusieurs médias et journalistes ont rapporté des cas de menaces ou d'agressions --- Alors que l'armée ou les services de renseignements sont mis en cause par la presse, Reporters sans frontières a demandé au président Sanchez de Lozada l'ouverture d'enquêtes. "Alors que l'armée ou les services de renseignements sont mis en cause dans des attaques contre la presse, nous demandons l'ouverture d'enquêtes sur ces différents cas afin que les responsables soient sanctionnés", a déclaré Robert Ménard, secrétaire général de Reporters sans frontières, dans une lettre adressée au président Sánchez de Lozada. "Sans attendre les résultats de ces investigations, nous vous demandons de donner des consignes très claires aux différentes forces de l'Etat pour qu'elles respectent la liberté de la presse", a ajouté l'organisation. Le 15 octobre 2003, en fin d'après-midi, un émetteur de Radio Pio XII, une station catholique basée à Oruro (200 km au sud de La Paz), et de la chaîne Televisión Universitaria a été détruit par une explosion. Selon la direction de la radio, deux hommes cagoulés ont neutralisé le gardien des installations et placé un explosif sur l'antenne. La station rappelle que des fonctionnaires lui avaient reproché sa couverture de la répression. Les deux médias ne peuvent plus émettre. Comme Radio Pio XII de Oruro, Radio Pio XII de Cochabamba (sud-est de La Paz), le réseau de radiosErbol (Educación Radiofónica de Bolivia), Radio Pachamama et la radio Celestial, basées à El Alto et La Paz, ont reçu de nombreuses menaces au cours des trois jours précédents. Toujours le 15 octobre, des agents des services de renseignements ont saisi les éditions du jour du quotidien El Diario et de l'hebdomadaire Pulso. Le premier faisait sa une sur le bien-fondé de la démission du président Sánchez de Lozada tandis que le second révélait que quatre experts militaires de l'ambassade des Etats-Unis conseillaient les forces armées boliviennes dans la répression du mouvement de protestation. Pour sa part, Monica Medina, directrice de la chaîne de télévision Radio Televisión Popular (RTP) a rapporté le même jour que ses lignes de téléphone ont été coupées. Selon Eduardo Godoy, responsable de l'information, une nouvelle ligne de téléphone a immédiatement été installée. La chaîne, critique à l'égard du gouvernement, aurait reçu des appels anonymes menaçant de détruire ses installations ou de voir ses journalistes pris à partie dans la rue si elle ne suspendait pas ses émissions. Par ailleurs, la chaîne Cadena A, proche de l'opposition, a également rapporté des menaces des membres de l'armée. Dans la journée, ses programmes ont été brièvement suspendus et remplacés par de la musique. Les émissions ont repris avec la diffusion d'un message d'Amalia Pando, directrice de la chaîne, annonçant qu'elle soutenait la rédaction face à des menaces extérieures, sans préciser lesquelles. Selon l'Agence France-Presse, le ministre du Travail, Adalberto Kuajara, a déclaré qu'il s'agissait d'un "malentendu" et que le gouvernement respectait la liberté d'expression. Le même jour, à La Paz, Walter Chávez, directeur de l'édition bolivienne du mensuel français Le Monde Diplomatique et du bimensuel El Juguete Rabioso, a accusé des agents des services de renseignements de le persécuter. Il a également précisé avoir reçu de nombreuses menaces par téléphone. Il affirme avoir été contraint de suspendre la parution d'une édition spéciale qui devait sortir le 16 octobre dans laquelle le journal se prononçait pour la démission du Président. Enfin, Carlos Colque, correspondant du réseau de radio Erbol à Patacamaya (environ 100 km au sud de La Paz), a été touché au dos par une balle en caoutchouc tirée par un militaire, juste après avoir été menacé par un lieutenant-colonel de l'armée. Un fort mouvement social violemment réprimé secoue la Bolivie depuis plusieurs semaines. Les syndicalistes et les leaders indigènes ont appelé à la grève générale pour protester contre un projet du gouvernement d'exportation de gaz naturel. La ville de El Alto, située à 15 km de La Paz, a été le centre des mobilisations ces derniers jours. Au cours des trois semaines de crise, quatre-vingts personnes auraient trouvé la mort dans les affrontements opposant manifestants et forces de l'ordre. Reporters sans frontières défend les journalistes emprisonnés et la liberté de la presse dans le monde, c'est-à-dire le droit d'informer et d'être informé, conformément à l'article 19 de la Déclaration universelle des droits de l'homme. Reporters sans frontières compte neuf sections nationales (Allemagne, Autriche, Belgique, Espagne, France, Grande-Bretagne, Italie, Suède et Suisse), des représentations à Abidjan, Bangkok, Buenos Aires, Istanbul, Montréal, Moscou, New York, Tokyo et Washington, et plus de cent correspondants dans le monde. © Reporters sans frontières 2002 [sic] http://www.rsf.fr/imprimer.php3?id_article=8278 (via Bob Wilkner, FL, DXLD) Here's my attempt at translating the text previously sent by our friend Arnaldo Slaen. Please forgive any errors. Elmer Escoto San Pedro Sula, Honduras ******************************************************* INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY NET - AMARC - ALERT - 15/10/03 Radio Pio XII from the city of Oruro [sic] suffered an attack with explosives yesterday afternoon. Its transmitter site and that of University Television have been completely destroyed and are currently unable to carry their informative work. This action occurred amongst systematic threats via telephone against community media affiliated to ERBOL (Escuelas Radiofónicas de Bolivia) [Bolivian Redio Schools] in Oruro, Cochabamba and La Paz. Then follows a letter to the Inter-American Human Rights Comission of the Organization of American States. La Paz, October 15, 2003, Sirs, Inter-AmericanComisión Human Rights Comission of the OAS Washington. Ref: Indictment At 18.05 hours the transmitting plant located on a hill near the city of Oruro, where other radio and TV-station antennas are installed, was completely destroyed by explosives. Efraín Mamani, the plant's watchman, told that two camouflaged men forced him out of his quarters, tied him and made him reveal the location of the transmitter house of the university television channel and Radio Pio XII. Representative Ivo Arias, of the governing Left-wing Revolutionary Movement [in spanish, Movimiento de la Izquierda Revolucionaria (MIR)], condemned the attack and said he "had no knowledge" of the fact. Faced with that answer, dwellers of Oruro and the workers of Pio XII demanded that a comission be formed with members of the Technical Courthouse Police and a counsel, to verify 'in situ' about this criminal attack aimed at silencing the catholic broadcaster, which is one of the emblematical institutions of resistance against dictatorship. The comission and the dwellers were surprised to learn that the explosion was so professionally controlled that it damaged only the close perimeter of the transmitter site. According to the watchman, a few hours before the attack he saw two men in police uniforms wandering about that area. ............ [cut text] The other two stations of Pio XII, located in Siglo XX (Potosi province) and in the city of Cochabamba were also menaced in terms that made it clear they could be the target of military actions in retaliation for the information they are broadcasting in adherence to the principles of journalism. In these days of political unrest, other stations have also been menaced, for instance, Radio Televisión Popular (RTP), Channel 36, Radio Wayna Tambo y Pachamama in the city of El Alto, as well as other stations throughout the whole bolivian territory. These cowardly menaces clearly intend to shut down the informative programs and to put an end to the democratic system, whose legal-philosophical bases rests on the principle of freedom of speech. Rev. P. Guillermo Siles Paz, OMI Legal Representative Radio Pio XII Gustavo Gómez, Director Programa de Legislaciones y Derecho a la Comunicación AMARC-ALC (Translated by Elmer Escoto, San Pedro Sula, Honduras, hard-core-dx via DXLD) This week`s Radio Enlace on R. Nederland starts with a report about the Pio XII situation (and stay tuned for gh DX). Audio links at http://www.rnw.nl/sp/toolbar/radioenlace.html The mp3 works for me but not the rms (gh, DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. 4902.5 kHz, Radio San Miguel, from 0900 UT to 0930. Beat Latin pops, ID at 0908 in Spanish by OM. Peak about 0915 at SINPO 43343, much weaker by 0930, October 16 (Drake SW8 with 50 ft. sloper, Roger Chambers, Utica, NY, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CAMBODIA. National Radio from Phnom Penh heard again last night (Fri 17th) at 0000-0030 UT on 11940 kHz [seemingly in Khmer only, ed.] (Roland Schulze, Philippies, BC-DX Oct 17 via DXLD) ** CHINA. Here follows a review of what has been audible from China in the past week. Propagation has improved over what it has been for several months, apparently thanks to reduced corona hole activity. 729 Jiangxi PBS has always been an easy catch. Well heard on 13.10 until drowned out by Putbus DRM from appr. 1515. The audio indicates a new tx with processing. 738 Xinjiang PBS Chinese often heard in the early evening, with or without QRM from Chelyabinsk. 945 CNR1 weak signal in the early evening when propagation swings to the northeast. 981 CNR1 audible in the early evening and from 2000 when propagation swings to the northeast. 1044 Xinjiang PBS Uighur sometimes in the mess in the early evening. 1107 Xinjiang PBS Kazakh has been a common catch, often dominating in the early evening. Like 738 has soft or shallow modulation with no audio processing. 1134 CNR1 has been a regular catch, on 13.10 heard as early as 1345. Due to Murmansk it is seldom heard alone. 1359 CNR1 occasionally in the mess. 1377 CNR1 has been a regular catch, often heard in the background of France and at times dominating. 1386 UNID Chinese after 2100, probably Tianjin. 1413 BBC Oman, Xinjiang PBS Uighur and JPN taking turns here in the early evening. 1539 strong CNR1 on 13.10, another one of the new monsters? 1593 CNR1 occasionally heard. VOA Kuwait is now covering this frequency. Many more Chinese speaking stations were heard on 13 October from 1345 to 1600, when all eastern signals died and the noise level rose with at least two S units (Olle Alm, Sweden, BC-DX Oct 5-13 via DXLD) ** CHINA [non]. CRI`s Sat feature at 1330 on 9570 via Cuba, undermodulated but OK with the volume turned up, was Listener`s Garden, with E-mail from listeners, what else? Congratulating China on manned space flight (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See UNID ** COLOMBIA. 6035 kHz, 1017-1037 UT, La Voz del Guaviare, with guitar music of the llanos, ads, brief announcements by YL and OM, time checks UT -5, morning greetings to ``colombianos y venezolanos.`` Fair on October 18 (Drake SW8 with 50 ft. sloper, Roger Chambers, Utica, NY, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CONGO. I`ve been checking through 31mb during the day and managed to ID some I hadn`t previously been able to. I also IDed the station on 9610 --- it`s slightly lower today by a few hertz ``` as Radio Congo. It was in before 1600 Oct 17 in what sounded a vernacular, then news in French at 1700 followed by a clear ID and programme in French. The signal peaking to S5 (Noel R. Green, UK, BC-DX Oct 17 via DXLD) ** CUBA [non]. Sat Oct 18 at 1345 R. Martí, best on 7405, had a program of really ancient records, ending at 1358, nostalgia for the good old days of a childhood in Cuba, sort of the Marion`s Attic of Martí. Couldn`t catch the name of the show and there`s no trace of a *program schedule* on the Radio Martí website http://www.martinoticias.com --- Does anyone have one, or know where to find it? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CZECH REPUBLIC. For more on the radio-related events of the 1968 Soviet invasion, there is an article I wrote for Monitoring Times on my website at: http://donmoore.tripod.com/genbroad/czech.html and some additional comments at http://donmoore.tripod.com/genbroad/czech2.htm (Don Moore-USA, DXplorer Oct 14 via BC-DX via DXLD) ** CZECH REPUBLIC [non]. Other foreign relays of Radio Prague GERMAN 1730-1757 **5990 250 kW WeEurope RUSSIAN 0500-0527 684 20 St. Petersburg 1630-1657 ***5850 250 EaEurope SPANISH 0000-0027 5915 and 7345 100 SoAmerica *11665 250 SoAmerica Transmitters at Litomysl 16E10 49N48 * Relayed via Ascension, 14W23 07S54 ** Relayed via Tbilisskaya (Armavir-Krasnodar)-RUS, 39E00 45N02 *** Relayed via Novosibirsk-RUS, 82E58 55N04 (via Andreas Volk-D, ADDX Oct 9, 2003 via BC-DX via DXLD) B-03? ** DENMARK. Re DXLD 3-182: I have translated - as well as possible - an article from Ritzau news agency via Politiken Internet newspaper: October 17th: The Danish SW radio seems to be history after 2003. Danmarks Radio has found other ways to send news, entertainment and information to Danes far away from Denmark. That's why DR has started negotiations with the Ministry of Cultural Affairs aim of which to replace radio transmissions via SW with other services. "With DR's new offer, the users can get the programs they want and on equipment they already have - an ordinary TV, a telephone, Internet, a fax or a teleprinter", DR director Leif Lønsmann says. The new services will be ready from January 1st. Best 73s (Ydun Ritz, Denmark, Oct 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EL SALVADOR. R. Imperial, no doubt, tho no ID heard, near 17835 but causing a low het with something else, Oct 17 at 1346 some vocal music in Spanish with trumpets, better signal and modulation than I`ve heard from them before; too bad not in the clear. 1352 soft-spoken YL announcer, so all I could make out was `Nuestro Señor Jesucristo`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FRANCE [non]. UNKNOWNIA: 15160, 1636-1659:25*, *1700-1730+, 16-Oct; Rendezvous EE feature on Marie Curie to 1653 then FF vocals to s/off. SIO=3+44- FF back on at 1700, but much weaker. "Rendezvous" is a TWR program, but there was no religious content and no IDs. 1700 broadcast might be Spain (Harold Frodge, MI, Cumbre Oct 16) RFI Paris via Meyerton, RSA, in English 250 kW 328 degrees but 1600- 1700 UT only (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) That would have been my guess, but there was no ID (and they're usually pretty reliable in that respect), and I do not find 15160 at that time in the English sked currently on their web site (Frodge, ibid.) Hi Harold, the RFI website seemingly NOT updated yet !!! The frequency started in April on 15255 kHz via Meyerton, later changed to 15160, see BELOW ! \\ 9730 9735 11615 15605 17605 17850 also English. 15255 1600-1658 MEY 250 kW / 328 deg English ---- !!!! now 15160 1600-1700 Mey 19 m 15255 English wb (Wolfgang Büschel, Stuttgart, Germany, ibid.) ** GERMANY [and non]. The Deutsche Welle B03 schedule shows what appears to be the first use of Merlin facilities by DW: UAE - Al-Dhabbaya 0500-0600 15410 English 1200-1250 21650 Indonesian Singapore - Kranji 1000-1055 15190 English, Chinese 1300-1350 13735 Chinese No transmissions via RNW facilities are shown anymore, so obviously the cancellation of RNW's English shortwave broadcast to Europe (as well-known via transmitters in Germany) brings the airtime exchange between RNW and DW to an end. There will be also no more DW transmissions via Lesnoy ("Moskau"). Especially interesting amongst the transmissions via hired facilities is the usage of Karaturuk in Kazakhstan on 6225 (this OOB frequency at other times also via Siberia) and 21650 (first 13 metres transmissions from there since when?): Canada - Sackville 0200-0400 6100 German 2200-2400 11690 German Albania - Flläke 2100-2115 1458 Serbian Moldova - Grigoriopol 0530-0630 999 Ukrainian/Russian 1600-1700 999 Russian 1900-2000 999 Russian Russia - Tbilisskaya ("Krasnodar") 0900-0930 15220 Dari/Pashto 1000-1030 17860 Persian 1330-1400 12015 Persian Russia - Novosibirsk and/or Oyash 1000-1200 17650 German 1200-1400 12030 German 1700-1730 6225 Urdu Russia - Angarsk ("Irkutsk") 1000-1400 7400 German 1300-1350 6225 Chinese 2300-2350 5905 Chinese Russia - Kamchatka (Petropavlovsk) 0100-0200 15145 Russian 1000-1055 6205 English, Chinese 1000-1400 5910 German Russia - Ussuriysk ("Vladivostok") 0100-0200 17650 Russian Armenia - Gavar (still listed by DW as "Kamo") 2100-2130 1350 Arabic Tajikistan - Orzu ("Dushanbe") 1900-1930 972 Dari/Pashto Kazakhstan - Karaturuk ("Alma Ata") 1100-1200 21650 English 2200-2350 6225 English, Chinese Otherwise noteworthy is Nauen being involved in the 6075 operation for the first time, shown for the 0200-0400 and 1800-2000 periods (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Oct 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. 4850, AIR Kohima: I have been hearing English news from this guys at 1350-1400. Jose Jacob of India tells me that this is their own news, not news from Delhi. He adds that they seem to be having transmitter problems and are on the air only irregularly (Hans Johnson, WY, Oct 12, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** INDIA. FIRE BREAKS IN AHMEDABAD AIR BUILDING, NO CASUALTIES Press Trust of India, Ahmedabad, October 18 http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_422848,000600030005.htm An intense fire broke inside the duty room of All India Radio building in the wee hours on Saturday, fire brigade sources said in Ahmedabad. However, no casualty or injuries were reported due to the fire. Senior fire officer Rajesh Bhatt told PTI that the fire had severely burnt records, furniture and other things kept in the duty room. Nobody had noticed the fire as the building remains shut over night, he said, adding, the situation was quickly brought under control (via Mike Terry, DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL. JOTA! JOTA! JOTA! The 2003 Jamboree On The Air http://www.arrl.org/FandES/ead/jota.html begins Saturday, October 18, at 0001 local time and ends Sunday, October 19, at 2359 local time. JOTA gives Amateur Radio operators and clubs a chance to let Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts (Cub Scouts, Brownies and Girl Guides are welcome) share experiences over the air with other scouts. It`s also an opportunity to take part in a worldwide scouting tradition that`s now in its 46th year. Maxim Memorial Station W1AW will be on the air for JOTA the afternoon of October 18. ARRL Educational Programs Coordinator Jean Wolfgang, WB3IOS, points out that ARRL has revamped the JOTA survey/log form http://www.arrl.org/FandES/ead/jotalog/ JOTA participants are encouraged to complete and submit the form on the Web. Last year, more than 10,000 Scouts from around the US took part in JOTA. Details are on page 46 of the September issue of QST. Also see ``Jamboree On The Air 2003 is October 18-19`` http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2003/09/21/1/ For additional information, contact Jean Wolfgang, WB3IOS, jwolfgang@arrl.org (ARRL Letter Oct 17 via John Norfolk, DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL. Re: Bible Voice Broadcasting Network; Voice of Hope/High Adventure Ministries. But is now BCN Bible Voice Network. There are "very close ties" between BVN and VOH High Adventure Ministries - The Voice of Hope (ex HAM). There does seem a lot of confusion about this setup, and its connection with VOH. I had also seen the listing for 13590 while looking for which freqcy 7485 may have moved from (Noel R. Green, UK, BC-DX Oct 3) Similar discussion we had recently on German A-DX Newsgroup, like VOH/BVN 6010 (x5970) Juelich outlet at 1800-1845, in B03: 6015 1900- 1945 UT. Scheduled as VOH, but program annmt as Bible Voice Network (ed, Oct 2) I queried this confusion about the the name several months ago. The reply was that it is one and the same organisation but that Bible Voice Broadcasting Network is the new name. So, Voice of Hope/High Adventure Ministries is the OLD old name for BNBN. Perhaps this confusion continues to arise because DTK uses an an abbreviation for the old name in their schedules? (Dave Kenny-UK, BC- DX Oct 9; all via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. Glenn, Following item from the October 16, 2003 Washington Post. Didn't send link as item is part of the "In Brief" column in the Business section. "EchoStar Communications, owner of Dish Network, bid $1.03 billion for six Loral Space & Communications satellites that Washington-based Intelsat has tentatively agreed to buy. EchoStar spokesman Steve Caulk said the bid tops Intelsat's offer by $29 million; Loral has valued the Intelsat offer at $1.1 billion, while Intelsat has valued it at $1 billion. Loral, which is in bankruptcy protection, turned down a $1.85 billion offer from EchoStar last week for all of its assets." 73, (Kraig Krist, VA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAQ [non]. SCIRI RADIO ANNOUNCES RECEPTION FREQUENCIES, INTERNET PAGE Voice of the Mujahidin, the radio station the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, at 0655 gmt on 18 October carries the following announcement regarding its broadcast frequencies: "Dear listeners, you can listen to this station on the medium wave frequency of 720 KHz AM, and on 90.1 MHz FM. "You can also listen to this station on Hot Bird with a frequency of 12,437 MHz [words indistinct], horizontal. "Dear listeners in Iraq, you can listen to Voice of the Mujahidin Radio on the internet at http://www.iraqimojahidin.com "You can also send us your suggestions by e-mail at: sogmoj@jawab.com" Source: Voice of the Mujahidin, in Arabic 0655 gmt 18 Oct 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) As I recall this outfit is based in, and probably transmits from, IRAN (gh) ** IRAQ [non]. TEHRAN BROADCASTING ACTIVE IN BAGHDAD Of the 59 AM radio broadcasts audible in Baghdad on 7 October, broadcasts originating in Iran could be heard on 33 AM frequencies. Four of the frequencies broadcast programming in Arabic, one was in Kurdish, and 28 were in the Persian language. Reception varied from poor to good. Four FM broadcasts originated in Iran, including Tehran radio's Arabic service, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq's Voice of the Mujahedin, and Tehran's youth-oriented Javan radio. The newest entry is Tehran's Voice of the Palestinian Islamic Revolution. Voice of Rebellious Iraq apparently transmits from Ahvaz on AM for seven hours a day. Four Iranian television channels can be seen and heard in Baghdad. The Arabic-language Al-Alam news channel and the Sahar news channel are audible and offer good-quality video, while Sahar's English broadcasts can also be heard. Al-Alam is available via the Arabsat, Asiasat, Telstar, and Hot Bird satellites, and can be received in the Middle East, Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, and the U.S. Iran's Al-Thiqalayn Television transmits religious programming to Iraqi viewers. The SCIRI's Resistance Channel television is based in Tehran; it broadcasts for six hours a day and can be received via satellite. ("RFE/RL Iran Report," 13 October 2003 via RFE/RL Media Matters Oct 17 via DXLD) ** ITALY. Imporatante novità nel palinsesto di Radio Studio X, la nota emittente di Momigno che trasmette anche in AM stereo sui 1584 Khz: la radio si è infatti aggiudicata i diritti in esclusiva della squadra di basket di Legadue (la ex serie A2) Agricola Gloria Montecatini di Montecatini Terme. Saranno quindi trasmesse le radiocronache delle partite, in diretta, tutte le domeniche a partire dalle 18 circa. Altre novità sono previste per le prossime settimane, anche di queste vi daremo puntuale informazione (BCLNEWS.it via DXLD) Might pre-empt WOR Sun at 2100 local time, currently 1900 UT, soon 2000 UT? (gh, DXLD) ** KASHMIR [non]. 6100, Sadaye Kashmir (presumed, no ID heard), 8 Oct, 1442-1530*, in an Indian-sounding language (must be Urdu). Music and quiet talks, with several mentions of Pakistan. SINPO 34333 initially, then decreased to 24322. I know from Indian DXers that during the last 20 minutes a program in another language (Kashmiri?) is aired, but I didn't notice such a language change. Maybe this language is related to Urdu as well (Dmitry Mezin, Kazan, Russia, Signal via DXLD) ** KAZAKHSTAN. BBC KAZAKH SERVICE TO RESUME BROADCASTING IN KAZAKHSTAN Text of report by Kazakh TV on 17 October [Presenter] The Kazakh service of the BBC is resuming broadcasting in six regions of Kazakhstan. One of the tasks set by the BBC leadership is to popularize the state language [Kazakh] in the country. [Hamid Ismailov, captioned as the head of the Central Asia and the Caucasus department of BBC World Service] The Kazakh service will broadcast its 30-minute programmes five days a week - from Monday to Friday - at 1900 Almaty time from 27 October this year on the same waves which we used previously. That is, Medium Wave 1098 - in Almaty and 1197 - in Astana. [Correspondent] In addition to Almaty and Astana, the BBC Kazakh service will be broadcasting in Karaganda, Kyzyl-Orda, Saryagash and Shymkent. From next year, it is planning to move to FM [frequency modulation]. The 30 minutes programmes can also be heard through the Internet. Now they contain only world and regional news. But the leadership of the service intends to expand its network and scale of broadcasting. Intellectual young people who can fluently speak in Kazakh are the target audience. That is, it [programme] is oriented precisely to this sector of the population. In general, the leadership of the service thinks that the resumption of broadcasting is well-timed because it will make a contribution to the popularization of the state language. Now, the BBC Kazakh service is recruiting a team. It is looking for young and promising journalists who can fluently speak in Kazakh, Russian and English. Source: Kazakh Television first channel, Astana, in Russian 1330 gmt 17 Oct 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** KOREA SOUTH. Estimados Amigos: En el programa "Antena de la Amistad" del 18 de octubre de 2003, a través Radio Corea Internacional, se anunció el nuevo esquema vigente a partir del 27 de octubre próximo para las emisiones diarias en idioma español. Se introducen dos cambios importantes, a saber, en la transmisión para América del Sur vía Sackville-Canadá de las 1000-1100 UT la frecuencia de 11715 se reemplaza por la de 9760 y en la transmisión hacia Europa de las 2000-2100 la frecuencia de 15575 se reemplaza por la de 9515. El esquema completo de horarios UT, frecuencias y destino de RCI en español queda de la siguiente manera: 1000-1100 15210 Europa 9580 América del Sur 9760 América del Sur (vía Sackville) 2000-2100 9515 Europa 0100-0200 11810 América del Sur 0700-0800 13670 Europa Finalmente, el Espacio Literario de los días miércoles dentro del programa "Corea a Diario" será substituido por la nueva realización "Cuentos y Leyendas de Corea". Saludos a todos de (Rubén Guillermo Margenet, Conexión Digital via DXLD) ** LATVIA. Information from the Latvian owner of the SW tx in Ulbroka on 9290 kHz: the relays of the Radio Seagull Internet radio station (Netherlands) will be each Saturday 1000-1500 UT; the UT will *not* change when Latvia and other European countries will change to winter time on 26 October. This coming Sunday there will also be of relay of the Overcomer Ministry (Brother Stair) at 1400-1900 UT (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, DXplorer Oct 16 via BC-DX via DXLD) ** LIBERIA. Re Taylor`s KISS-FM closed down: Nothing on the fate of Taylor's shortwave outlet, Radio Liberia International, last reported using 5100 and 6100. Untraced on Javoradio Europe checks around 2300 (Hans Johnson, Oct 12, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Nothing heard here in New York either (George Maroti, Cumbre editor, ibid.) ** LUXEMBOURG. Die technische Abt. von RTL, die BCE (Broadcasting Center of Europe), hat drei neue QSL- Karten fuer den Empfang von Marnach (1440 kHz), Beidweiler (234 KHz) und Junglinster (6095 KHz; nur DRM!) aufgelegt. Fuer alle drei Frequenzen gibt es konkrete DRM- Plaene. Wie mir der Technische Direktor von RTL, Herr Muller, gestern beim Rundgang erklaerte, betrachtet RTL DRM als Zukunftsoption. Adresse: BCE, 45, Bd Pierre Frieden, L-1543 LUXEMBURG (Hendrik Leuker-LUX, A-DX Sept 30 via BC-DX via DXLD) QSL - a nice blue sky and antenna masts card from B.C.E. arrived last week, confirming a report of Feb 11, 2003, on 6095 kHz 35 kW. v/s J. Junk. For more information http://www.bce.lu (Wolfgang Büschel, Oct 13, BC-DX via DXLD) ** MEXICO. In 31m bandscan Oct 17 at 1330, no sign of XERMX on 9705, but there it was when I came to 9970 --- the large distorted spur, impossible to pin down a carrier frequency, mentioning the 20th anniversary of Antena Radio, and timecheck for 8:32 --- so México DF must be staying on DST of UT -5 this year as long as we have to put up with it in El Norte. Previously this spur has been on the high side of 10 MHz; searched for matching spur some 265 kHz below 9705, if that fundamental still have any significance at all, but unfound around 9440. It could have been buried under the WSHB 9430 monster, also in Spanish at the moment. Nor was a matching spur found anywhere else in the lower 9 MHz area. I wonder whether the XERMX transmitter itself is to blame, or if it is simply being mistuned. Don`t they monitor their own broadcasts, at least to know what frequency is actually being radiated. Or do they monitor and just not care? Same situation 24 hours later (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO [non]. Hello Glenn, In DXLD 3-182 you edited my answer that included a reference to 'Evita'. You made the producer Andrew Lloyd Webber to a Mr. Weber. Anyway, best wishes to you from (Martin Schöch, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Sorry about that: the name looked strange without the Lloyd and I just had to fix it somehow (gh) ** MONACO [and non]. TRANS WORLD RADIO - MONTE CARLO, MONACO [gh excerpted ENGLISH only on SW] TIME/UTC | DAYS | LANGUAGE | MB | FREQ | PWR | AZI | ZONES 0745-0850 | 6 | English | 31 | 9870 | 100 | 324 | 27 0745-0920 | 7 | English | 31 | 9870 | 100 | 324 | 27 0755-0920 | 12345 | English | 31 | 9870 | 100 | 324 | 27 TRANS WORLD RADIO _ CERRIK, ALBANIA 0745-0850 | 6 | English | 25 | 12070 | 100 | 310 | 27 0745-0920 | 7 | English | 25 | 12070 | 100 | 310 | 27 0755-0920 | 12345 | English | 25 | 12070 | 100 | 310 | 27 Day 1 = Mon .. 7 = Sun TWR - EUROPE, Vienna Office, Frequency Coordination, Trans World Radio, Postfach 141, A-1235 Vienna, AUSTRIA (via Alokesh Gupta, hard- core-dx via DXLD) ** MONGOLIA. 25 Sep, 2155-2205: discovered that Mongolian Radio transmits two domestic programs in SW: the 1st goes on 4865 and 4895, the second can be heard on 4830 and 7260 kHz. I think both started at 2100 (open_dx - Fyodor Brazhnikov, Russia, Russian DXsignal Oct 7 via BC-DX via DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS [and non]. NUEVO HORARIO DE RADIO NEDERLAND Estimados amigos y amigas: Luego de más de 10 años de mantener un horario fijo, Radio Nederland se ve en la necesidad de realizar una gran modificación en su esquema de emisiones. La razón para esta inusual medida se debe en parte a la reestructuración que se está llevando a cabo, por medio de la cual se desea acoplar mejor nuestras propias emisiones a las retransmisiones que efectuamos para terceros. De esta forma se intenta mejorar el rendimiento de nuestros parques emisores. Por tal razón, a partir de esta temporada casi el 95% de las emisiones de Radio Nederland por onda corta se difunden a la hora en punto. Dicho en otras palabras, las noticias las escucharán al inicio de cada hora. Lamentablemente esta pequeña corrección en nuestros horarios nos obliga a mudarnos en el dial en muchas de nuestras transmisiones. Si nos sintonizan por onda corta tengan en cuenta que la señal de intervalo (carillón) que precede al inicio de cada transmisión se acorta de 3 a 1 minuto. A partir del domingo 26 de octubre pueden sintonizarnos por los satélites Panamsat 3, Telstar 12 (en las Américas), Astra 1G (en Europa) y por internet durante las 24 horas, con la retransmisión de nuestros programas en español y portugués. Por onda corta nos podrán sintonizar a estas horas y frecuencias en las siguientes regiones. Hacia el Norte de Sudamérica, es decir los países situados al Norte del Amazonas, de 11.00 a 11.57 Tiempo Universal, por la frecuencia de 9715 kHz (31 metros) vía Bonaire (Antillas Neerlandesas), con dos ediciones de La Matinal. Y durante la noche de 23.00 a 01.57 Tiempo Universal por los 9.895 kHz (31 metros). Es decir en el nuevo horario que comprende entre las 7 y las 10 de la noche, hora de Caracas. (De 23.00 a 00.00 UTC la frecuencia de 9.895 kHz se difunde desde Flevo, Holanda. Y desde las 00.00 la misma frecuencia se difunde desde la estación repetidora de Radio Nederland en Madagascar, Océano Índico). Hacia el sur de Sudamérica (es decir Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia y Chile) en un SOLO horario nocturno, desde las CERO horas y hasta las DOS Tiempo Universal por la frecuencia de 15.315 kHz (19 metros) vía Bonaire. Es decir, en el nuevo horario que comprende entre las 9 y las 11 de la noche, hora de Buenos Aires. En el área del Caribe (en especial Cuba). Transmitiremos a partir del domingo 26 de octubre, durante la mañana, la primera edición de La Matinal de 11.00 a 11.27 Tiempo Universal por los 6.165 kHz (banda de 49 metros) vía Bonaire. Es decir a partir de las 7 de la mañana (durante todo el año). En la noche nos podrán captar desde las 23.00 y hasta las 03.57 horas Tiempo Universal por la frecuencia de 9.895 kHz (31 metros). (De 23.00 a 00.00 UTC la frecuencia de 9.895 kHz se difunde desde Flevo, Holanda. Y desde las 00.00 la misma frecuencia se difunde desde la estación repetidora de Radio Nederland en Madagascar, Océano Índico). Hacia Centroamérica, México y la costa Este de Norteamérica, de 12.00 a 12.27 TU por los 9.715 kHz (31 metros). Es decir a partir de las seis de la mañana hora de Ciudad de Guatemala. Durante la noche, a partir de las 01 y hasta las 03.57 horas Tiempo Universal por los 9.895 kHz. (31 metros). Es decir desde las 7 y hasta las 10 de la noche, hora de invierno en Ciudad de México. Además, para garantizar la recepción en el área de Centroamérica transmitiremos por las frecuencias adicionales de 6.165 kHz (49 metros) y 9.845 kHz (31 metros) entre las DOS y TRES Tiempo Universal. Mayor información sobre las horas por las cuales podrán escuchar nuestros programas, la encontrarán en la revista EN SINTONIA. CANAL 24 HORAS EN ESPAÑOL Y PORTUGUÉS DEL 26 DE OCTUBRE 2003 HASTA EL 27 DE MARZO 2004 HORA UTC IDIOMA SATÉLITE / EMISOR 0800-1100 Portugués Panamsat3, Telstar12, Astra1G, internet 1100-1430 Español Panamsat3, Telstar12, Astra1G, internet 1100-1157 Español B 9715 (Sudamérica Norte) 1100-1127 Español B 6165 (Caribe / Cuba) INVIERNO 1200-1227 Español B 6165 (Caribe / Cuba) VERANO 1200-1227 Español B 9715 (Centroamérica) 1430-1500 Portugués Panamsat3, Telstar12, Astra1G, internet 1500-1730 Español Panamsat3, Telstar12, Astra1G, internet 1730-1800 Portugués Panamsat3, Telstar12, Astra1G, internet 1800-2000 Español Panamsat3, Telstar12, Astra1G, internet 2000-2100 Portugués Panamsat3, Telstar12, Astra1G, internet 2100-0800 Español Panamsat3, Telstar12, Astra1G, internet 2300-0000 Español F 9895 (Sudamérica Norte/Caribe) 0000-0157 Español M 9895 (Sudamérica Norte/Caribe) 0000-0157 Español B 15315 (Sudamérica Sur) 0200-0257 Español B 6165, B 9845 (Nte+Centroamérica) 0200-0357 Español M 9895 (Caribe/Centroamérica) Esperamos que estos cambios resulten del agrado de nuestra querida audiencia (Jaime Báguena, Director Artístico, Radio Nederland Wereldomroep, Oct 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) SINCERELY YOURS - OVER AND OUT I just returned from the studio in Hilversum, where I took part in the final edition of Sincerely Yours. Normally the material for each programme was recorded at different times during the week, but for this final edition some of us got together to record the programme "as live" - well almost. Others who joined Howie Shannon in the studio were Laura Durnford, Anna Yeadell, Kathy Klugston, Rob Green and Hal Crawford. There was time to include some bloopers - including a very long and embarrassing one of mine. If you want to hear me making a complete fool of myself (so what's new?), listen on Sunday or during the week via our Web site (Andy Sennitt, Oct 17, Media Network blog via DXLD) ** NEW ZEALAND. Checking for RNZI, Oct 17 at 0540 found them on 11820, and at 0600 recheck news on the hour, 0605 Living On Earth – the US public radio show, this time about New York. Not exactly what I expect to hear from Wellington, but usual good reception. 1305 recheck, nothing audible on 6095 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA. 6050, R. Nigeria, Ibadan, audible on 11 Oct 1840-1850 while airing English program with talks and newscast 1900. Troubled modulation/audio with noise and some distortion thus spoiling a good signal; 44433 (Oct 11). 7255, V. of Nigeria, Ikorodu, audible on 13 Oct 0731-s/off 0956 airing Vernacular programs with music and talks, resumed on 9690 right after 7255 s/off. 35332; the 31 mb outlet had co-channel QRM de DW in German till 0959 (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, Oct 11/13, BC-DX Oct 17 via DXLD) ** PHILIPPINES. So far the best Filipino morning I have heard this season. It all peaked around 1400 UT 10/17. Nothing much in before that. I also heard nothing above 1200. No HLAZ, VOA, etc. The opening did not last long, but it was strong while it did. 531 Unid filipino in Tagalog talk u/JOQG at 1406 540 Unid, filipino talk in Tagalog u/CBXQ at 1407 549 Unid talk by man at 1409, weak in splatter. 558 Pasig, DZXL, very loud and totally dominating the channel with tel talk at 1422, man mentioned "DZXL" in conversation with caller, some JOCR QRM. 567 Unid filipino talk u/JOIK at 1425 594 Unid filipino talk u/JOAK, presume unneeded DZBB at 1415 603 unid, weak filipino talk buried in jumble at 1411 630 Quezon City, DZMM, fair and mixing with KWRO with man in Tagalog, spot for telecommunications company in Metro Manila. First time heard in 2 or 3 years. This one used to be a regular. Heard at 1413. 639 Unid filipino buried u/JOPB at 1403 648 Tagalog talk at 1406. 666 Makati, DZRH, presume the filipino talk mixing with JOBK at 1409 720 Unid here buried u/KUAI with filipino talk. Logged DYOK here several times in the past at 1412 729 more Tagalog talk buried in het u/JOCK at 1422 801 loud Tagalog talk by man at 1419, faded before an ID was possible. Logged DZNC here years ago. 954 Unid with filipino talk tearing up JOKR with man, DZEM-Metro Manila? at 1444 972 Tagalog talk at 1446, weak. 1062 Makati, MM, DZEC, good with tel talk by man "D-Z-E-C" ID at 1405 Drake R8, EWE antenna, MFJ-1026 (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** PORTUGAL. PROGRAMS ON SHORTWAVE – RDP Internacional --------------------------------------------------------- Effective from 26-10-2003 Portuguese language programs from Monday to Friday: UTC kHz kW AZIMUTH (º) EUROPE (Central) 0600 – 0855 9755 300 45 0600 – 1300 9815 100 52 0745 – 0900 11660 250 55 0900 – 1055 11875 300 45 1100 – 1300 15140 300 45 1700 – 2000 11740 300 45 2000 – 2400* 11630 300 45 2000 – 2400* 11860 100 52 M EAST / INDIA 1400 – 1600 21810 100 81.5 AFRICA 1100 – 1300 21830 100 142 1700 – 2000 17680 300 144 USA / CANADA 0600 – 0800 11675 100 310 1300 – 2400* 15540 100 294 VENEZUELA 1800 – 1950* 17745 100 261 2000 – 2400* 13770 100 261 1100 – 1300 21655 100 215 BRAZIL / CABO VERDE / GUINEA 1700 – 2000 21655 100 215 2000 – 2400* 11905 100 215 Portuguese language programs from Tuesday to Saturday: USA / CANADÁ 0000 – 0300 9715 100 294 0000 – 0300 11655 100 310 VENEZUELA 0000 – 0300 13700 100 261 BRAZIL 0000 – 0300 11980 100 215 0000 – 0300 13770 300 226 Portuguese language programs on Saturday and Sunday 0800 – 1455 11875 300 45 0800 – 1455 15575 100 52 0930 – 1100 9815 250 55 EUROPE (Central) 1500 – 1800 11960 300 45 1500 – 1800 11775 100 52 1800 – 2100 11740 100 52 1800 – 2100 11630 300 45 2000 – 2400* 11860 100 52 AFRICA 0800 – 1755 21830 100 142 1800 – 2100 17680 300 144 USA / CANADA 1300 – 2100 15540 100 294 VENEZUELA 1300 – 2100 17745 100 261 2000 – 2400* 13770 100 261 BRASIL / CABO VERDE / GUINÉ 0800 – 2100 21655 100 215 2000 – 2400* 11905 100 215 UTC = LISBON TIME ­ Possibility to extend until 2400 (UT) * Only for Special transmissions [SATELLITE TRANSMISSIONS also in schedule, not here] (Source: Isabel Saraiva, RDP via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, India, DXLD) ** RUSSIA. A NEW BIRTH OF TOTALITARIANISM? The reinstitution of Soviet-era public-life traditions is in full swing, according to a recent report by human rights activists Lev Ponamarev, Yurii Samodurov, and Andrei Babushkin, "Moskovskii komsomolets" wrote on 13 October. Since 2000, many senior government posts have been occupied by veterans and members of the security organs, and the human rights situation in the country has deteriorated markedly, the newspaper wrote. In addition to the ongoing war in Chechnya, there has been increased pressure on the mass media, public organizations, and the business community. The independent national television channels NTV and TVS were taken over. A chain reaction of mass-media persecution was set off in the regions and many local independent media outlets have been closed or muted. As a result, there is almost no widely available information about violations of law and human rights. Russia has almost returned to Soviet-style power, the daily concludes. ("RFE/RL Newsline," 14 October via RFE/RL Media Matters Oct 17 via DXLD) ** RUSSIA [non?]. 7434.3 at 0359, a Krishnaite station, YL religious talk, Russian music, 44444, suddenly went off at 0400 (open_dx - Igor Zhurkin, Russia, Russian Signal Sept 27 via BC-DX via DXLD) Yes, they apparently implemented an extended schedule. I noted the station on 29 Sept at 0455, freq was 7434.8 kHz. Weak and noisy reception (open_dx - Alexander Yegorov, Ukraine, Russian Signal Oct 6, ibid.) Previously thought to be from Ukraine site? (gh) ** TIBET [non]. Voice of Tibet (Radio) administration office in Norway. Dear Martin Schoech, my name is Oystein Alme and I am in charge of Voice of Tibet SW frequency planning. I am now searching for somebody who can: a: monitor VOT signal vs. Chinese jammers in northeastern India (Arunachal Pradesh or northern West-Bengal) b: help us figure out from where and which direction China airs their jamming signals, and MORE THAN ONE transmitter is used by China - or at least whether this can be determined... I have started wondering whether China now use foreign transmitters to jam our transmissions as well. I would be most happy to provide frequency schedule, etc. if a and or b could be accomplished. Here is our present schedule (alterning between two freqs for each (of three) transmissions. With kind regards, for VOT, Oystein Alme, project manager. http://www.vot.org (Oct 7) (via Martin Schoech, Germany, BC-DX Oct 14 via DXLD) ** TURKEY. B-03 Voice of Turkey October 26, 2003 - March 28, 2004: ALBANIAN 1230-1325 11910 ARABIC 0500-0655 9755 1000-1155 15105 15245 1500-1655 6120 15195 AZERI 0800-0925 11835 15160 ||||| ex 17755 for B-02 1500-1555 5965 BOSNIAN 1900-1955 5990 BULGARIAN 1430-1525 7140 CHINESE 1200-1255 15320 CROATIAN 1700-1725 9595 ENGLISH 0400-0450 6020 7240 1330-1420 15155 ||||| ex 17690 for B-02 15195 ||||| ex 17815 for B-02 1930-2020 5980 ||||| ex 9890 for B-02 2130-2220 9525 2300-2350 6015 ||||| ex 6020 for B-02 9655 FRENCH 2030-2125 5980 ||||| ex 9715 for B-02 6050 GERMAN 1230-1325 17700 ||||| ex 21530 for B-02 1830-1925 7205 ||||| ex 9745 for B-02 GEORGIAN 0800-0855 11690 GREEK 1130-1225 7295 11855 1530-1625 6015 HUNGARIAN 1030-1125 15160 ||||| ex 17565 for B-02 KAZAKH 1600-1655 7295 KYRGHYZ 1700-1755 6095 MACEDONIAN 0900-0955 11895 PERSIAN 0930-1025 11795 17690 1330-1455 11705 ROMANIAN 1030-1125 9560 ||||| ex 11930 for B-02 RUSSIAN 1400-1455 11980 1800-1855 6135 SERBIAN 1430-1455 11935 SPANISH 1730-1755 9780 ||||| ex 11690 for B-02 TATAR 1600-1655 6005 ||||| ex 5955 1900-1955 TURKISH 0500-0755 17690 0500-0955 11925 15480 ||||| ex 17570 for B-02 0500-1655 11955 0800-1655 15350 0800-2155 9460 1000-1255 17720 ||||| ex 21715 for B-02 1100-1555 17860 Friday only 1300-1655 9705 ||||| ex 13615 for B-02 1700-2255 6120 ||||| ex 5980 for B-02 9560 1800-2255 6185 2200-0755 9460 2300-0455 7300 TURKMEN 1630-1725 5965 URDU 1300-1355 15225 ||||| ex 17715 for B-02 UZBEK 0200-0255 7115 1800-1855 5955 (Observer, Bulgaria, Oct 17 via DXLD) ** U K. BBC: see KAZAKHSTAN ** U S A [and non]. NASB BEGINS JOINT BROADCASTS IN DIGITAL AND ANALOG MODES On October 26, 2003, the National Association of Shortwave Broadcasters (NASB) in the United States will begin a 23-week series of special joint broadcasts produced by the organization`s member and associate member stations. This is the first time in the NASB`s history that is has produced joint broadcasts by its members. And equally important, this series of broadcasts will be transmitted in the DRM (Digital Radio Mondiale) mode, as well as in traditional analog form. The broadcasts, titled "Voice of the NASB," will be transmitted in the DRM mode each Sunday at 1330-1400 UT on 9785 kHz, beamed primarily to Europe from the facilities of VT Merlin Communications in Rampisham, England. Each program will also be broadcast on UT Sunday at 0330-0400 on 7385 kHz, primarily to North America via WRMI in Miami, Florida. The broadcasts will run from Oct. 26, 2003 through March 28, 2004. A special NASB QSL card will be issued for reception reports on these transmissions, both digital and analog. Reports should be sent to the Voice of the NASB, P.O. Box 526852, Miami, Florida 33152 USA. NASB, founded in 1990, has been a member of DRM since 1999 -- one year after the DRM Consortium was launched. DRM officially inaugurated regular digital broadcasts on June 16, 2003. Since then, over 25 stations in various countries have broadcast programs in DRM. NASB has helped promote DRM to its members and around the world, helping coordinate DRM demonstrations at trade shows, shortwave exhibitions and the World Radiocommunication Conference 2003 in Geneva. NASB stations operate shortwave transmitters throughout the contiguous United States, Alaska, Hawaii, Guam and Saipan. NASB broadcasters cover every continent with more than 5000 program hours per week, according to a BBC study. Jeff White, NASB President, commented: "We are very pleased to be a member of DRM, and very pleased to be in the forefront of digital shortwave broadcasting. While we believe that it is important to continue broadcasting in analog form -- especially to certain parts of the world -- it is impossible not to see the tremendous advantages that DRM offers shortwave broadcasters and listeners. DRM-capable receivers are already on the marketplace, and the number of models is rapidly increasing, while the prices are rapidly decreasing. And with dozens of organizations already broadcasting in DRM, listeners will have more and more variety of programming to tune into." There are 25 privately-owned shortwave stations licensed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the United States and its territories. Eighteen of the 25 stations are members of NASB. Each week, a different station will produce the Voice of the NASB program, beginning with Adventist World Radio on Oct. 26 (a special edition of the "Wavescan" program). Some of the NASB`s associate members, such as the U.S. International Broadcasting Bureau, HCJB, TDP Radio and Merlin Communications itself will also be featured on the series of broadcasts. The tentative schedule through Feb. 22, 2004 is as follows: October 26 - Adventist World Radio November 2 - WMLK (Assemblies of Yahweh) November 9 - WEWN (EWTN Worldwide Catholic Radio) November 16 - WYFR Family Radio November 23 - Far East Broadcasting November 30 - WTJC/WBOH December 7 - WSHB/Herald Broadcasting December 14 - Word Broadcasting (WJIE/KVOH) December 21 - WRMI Radio Miami International December 28 - Trans World Radio January 4 - KNLS (Alaska) January 11 - KAIJ (Dallas, Texas) January 18 - WINB January 25 - HCJB February 1 - International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB) February 8 - TDP Radio February 15 - LeSea Broadcasting (WHRI, WHRA, KWHR) February 22 - VT Merlin Communications Listeners in North America should note that the analog broadcast of the Voice of the NASB will be on local Saturday nights, although it is 0330 UT Sunday. This transmission on 7385 kHz will preempt WRMI`s regular program "Viva Miami" during the B03 transmission period from Oct. 26, 2003 through the end of March, 2004. ------------- (Jeff White, President, National Association of Shortwave Broadcasters (NASB) E-mail: radiomiami9 @ cs.com http://www.shortwave.org Oct 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ADVENTIST WORLD RADIO IN THE DIGITAL MODE Adventist World Radio is pleased to announce that specially endorsed QSL cards will be issued from the Indianapolis address for our first broadcast on shortwave in the digital mode. This broadcast will also be heard in the analog mode in a series of special brcoadcasts from Radio Miami International WRMI, in Miami, Florida. The opening broadcast on Sunday October 26 will be a special edition of the global DX program, `Wavescan`, from Adventist World Radio. AWR comes first in the alphabetic list, and we count it an honor to present the first program. These special broadcasts from the North American shortwave stations over WRMI will provide a unique once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for shortwave listeners, international radio monitors and DXers to obtain QSL cards verifying these relay transmissions. In addition, NASB will offer a special QSL card to confirm both the analog and digital versions of the broadcasts. These cards will be available from Box 526 852, Miami, Florida 33152. Adventist World Radio will also honor our initial broadcast on October 26 with a special endorsement on our new QSL card. This NASB relay endorsement will be available specifically from the American address, at Box 29235, Indiana 46229, USA. If you are listening to the digital broadcast on an analog receiver, we would like to know the reception conditions, including the width of the digital signal in your radio receiver. -=oOo=-=oOo=-=oOo=-=oOo=-=oOo=-=oOo=-=oOo=-=oOo=-=oOo=-=oOo=-=oOo=- (Dr. Adrian M. Peterson, DX Editor - Adventist World Radio, Box 29235 Indianapolis, Indiana 46229, USA, Oct 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. KSNT UPGRADES UNIT - NEW TRANSMITTER REPLACES 35-YEAR-OLD EQUIPMENT The Capital-Journal No more fuzziness on "Friends." Better sound from "Oprah." KSNT-TV expects viewers will notice a clearer picture and better audio next week as the station begins broadcasting through its new, $1 million transmitter. The unit, which compiles and amplifies the station's video and audio signals, will be turned on early Friday for testing and tuning. . . http://www.cjonline.com/stories/101603/bus_ksnt.shtml (Topeka Capitol Journal via Ken Kopp, DXLD) ** U S A. Previous report, quoted on WOR, said the KTNS test had been rescheduled to early Sat morning, but apparently they changed it again to early Sunday morning (gh) For anyone interested, here's a reminder of upcoming DX tests; if anyone has any additions or corrections, please contact me. (BE SURE TO NOTE THE TIME OF THE TEST; THEY ARE IN THE LOCAL TIME OF THE STATION) Sunday, October 19, 2003 - KTNS-1060, Oakhurst, CA 12:00 am-1:00 am PST [sic, surely means PDT] (3-4 am EST [sic, surely means EDT]). [= 0700-0800 UT] E-mail: mtkaat@sierratel.com WWW: http://www.ktnsradio.com Saturday, November 1, 2003 - WJNT-1180, Pearl, MS 12:00 am-1:00 am CST (1-2 am EST). [0600-0700 UT] E-Mail: slcarter@wjnt.com WWW: http://www.wjnt.com Please remember, what's listed as being on, say, Monday *may* be what you think of as Sunday night! If you try for (or hear) any of these tests, PLEASE post a message letting me know, and please, drop the station personnel a note, via e-mail or snail mail, thanking them for running the test! Also, for brevity's sake, I didn't post the QSL addresses; if you need these, let me know! (Lynn Hollerman, Lafayette, LA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Check out the IRCA web site at http://www.ircaonline.org ** U S A. AL GORE WANTS HIS VTV --- by Joe Hagan Al wants his VTV. As former Vice President Al Gore edges toward mini- media-moguldom, press sources quoted his partners this week as saying that Mr. Gore would go younger, not leftier --- and now, if his plans work, The Observer has learned, Mr. Gore`s news channel could be --- VTV. V for victory, V for Vice President, V for Vermont, which Mr. Gore won by 30,000 votes in 2000. In April, Mr. Gore`s principal business partner, Joel Hyatt, purchased a Web site called V.tv from The .tv Corporation, which supplies .tv domain extensions to customers like TBS, the Lifetime Channel and PAX. The company`s Web site lists Mr. Hyatt as V.tv`s administrative contact and as a representative of INDTV, L.L.C., located in Stanford, Calif., where Mr. Hyatt teaches business at Stanford University. An industry source confirmed that INDTV is the working incorporated name of Mr. Gore and Mr. Hyatt`s TV project, which has been characterized in press reports as either a news network for the reality-TV generation or a liberal answer to Fox News, or both. As of this writing, V.tv has not yet been activated. According to the .tv Web site, the price of a fancy one-character domain name is $10,000. Mr. Hyatt didn`t return calls seeking comment, so it`s hard to know what the V in VTV stands for. One can only visualize Winston Churchill—or John Lennon—holding up two fingers. If VTV sounds like that other three-lettered channel so beloved by the Oxy Cream generation, that`s no coincidence. Mr. Gore`s channel will reportedly be geared toward the young Democrats of tomorrow, who can relate to Mr. Gore`s fixation with the Internet and hand-held digital- video cameras (V for va-va-video!). Mr. Gore was a fan of MTV`s late- 90`s video-diary show, Unfiltered, and met with the show`s producer earlier this year to talk about similar programming concepts. With that in mind, The Observer called up a few members of the potential consumers in VTV`s future target audience to see if they`d ever flip to a channel that aired "edgy" 24-hour news about, say, Iraq and file-sharing and those bad, bad Fox News commentators. "Yeah, I`d be interested," said Jimmy Jung, a 23-year-old advertising assistant. "I`d be curious. I don`t know if I`d check it out all the time, but probably." Mr. Jung assumed that, if Mr. Gore was involved, it would be "liberal- slanted media." In fact, Mr. Gore`s name had to be considered, even if the respondents were fond of the idea. "I`d be hesitant, because it`s being operated by former Vice President Al Gore," said Sarah Lewitinn, a 23-year-old assistant editor at Spin magazine whose friends call her "Ultragrrrl." "But at the same time, it`s cool that he`s trying to bring current affairs to the young. I think people get their information from MTV anyway, so here`s a network for them, which is kind of smart. I know a lot of people in my age group are really unaware of what`s going on in the world. They know more about the new Strokes album than what is going on in Iran and Iraq and Syria." She said it would have to be something with a sense of humor, like The Daily Show, to work. But Elliot Aronow, 23, a public-relations assistant, said it needed to have some gravity. "It depends how seriously they took themselves and how much they gave young people an opportunity to report what they see," he said. "I think young people need to be informed, but not pandered to with all sorts of jump-cut, MTV-style editing. On the other hand, I do believe that most conventional news is totally disconnected from most young people." Karen Ruttner, a 22-year-old intern at a music-booking agency, gave The Observer the bottom line: "The truth is, when it comes to important news, I don`t really care what people my age think. I`d rather hear the professional opinions of, like, seasoned news vets— people who know history and can really be comforting." Josh Rosenblatt, 20, a student, said he had actually worked on Mr. Gore`s Presidential campaign in the former Vice President`s home state of Tennessee in 2000—and even he wasn`t too sure about Mr. Gore`s new thing. "I like him as a person and as a candidate, but I don`t know how much I trust him with TV," he said. "I just think, for the average 18-to- 21-year-old or whatever they`re aiming for, you can`t fool them into liking politics. At the end of the day, they have to compete with The Daily Show." But what do the seasoned professionals think of it? "I think there`s a market for it, but a small market," said Jim Murphy, the executive producer of the CBS Evening News. "How are they going to engage people? Personality? Smarts? You can do it by being hip, but news is not a hip thing. College-age kids and kids in their 20`s are interested in what`s going on, but it doesn`t mean they want to consume news. Can you make them feel young, smart and hip by watching this? Sure. But can you do that with homegrown documentaries? No." For now, Mr. Gore and his partners are still negotiating the $70 million acquisition of digital-cable network Newsworld International from Vivendi Universal after French-owned Vivendi agreed to merge the rest of its entertainment assets with NBC. Another unresolved question: Will VTV air reruns of V, the 1980`s sci- fi series about rodent-eating aliens who take over the earth? They should! That is, if their deal with Universal isn`t Vaporized. For now, the only place on the tube where you can see the Gore-like Vulcans is on Star Trek: Enterprise. [WWOR, 9, 8 p.m.] (NY Observer via DXLD) ** VENEZUELA. Hola Glenn, Saludos desde Catia La Mar, VENEZUELA. - YVTO, 5000kHz, lleva más de una semana fuera del aire. Se ha hecho una costumbre no conseguirla en el dial. 73's y buen DX (Adán González, Oct 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. Polisario Front's new MW outlet [700 kHz] is being irregular evenings while 1550 and 7460 are always used. The new channel was noted on 10 Oct 2200-... with a formidable signal during an Arabic program with talks & tunes; 55444 (S9+35 dB via the K9AY, S9+45 dB via a 100 m unterminated mini-Beverage beamed to SAm); that was again \\ to 1550 (jammer poorly noted at my SW coast location) and 7460. That jammer had not been noted for some time until that evening, but neither the new "X00" outlet nor the SW get jammed (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, BC-DX Oct 13 via DXLD) The new 700 kHz outlet became irregular while 7460v & 1550 do remain in \\ , with the former putting a much better signal than recently. I shall try not to forget to monitor those mornings too, but that`s a "bad" period for many to receive the station on MW, except perhaps for those in SW Europe like yours truly (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, BC-DX Oct 16 via DXLD) Measured 7460.00 tonight around 2245-2300 UT, strong signal, good propagation condition. And superpower CRI Bamako, Mali on 11975 at same time too, latter 2130-2357 UT (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED [non]. Amigo DXista Adán! Probablemente hayas escuchado Radio Horizonte 5019.91 kHz. He notado justo ese tipo de programación, música non-stop una hora o más sin hablar. 73s de (Björn Malm, Quito, Ecuador, SWB América Latina, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Continuous classic orchestral music heard on 7350, 13740, 15190, and 17615. New 500 kW Chinese antenna farm on test? Roland Schulze, Mangaldan, Philippines, phoned me this morning: He noted - seemingly - an UNKNOWN test on 7350, 15190, and 17615 kHz at least in the 1000-1200 UT time span. The program content was playing Russian [?Tchaikovsky? - sorry I'm not an expert] like classical orchestra music continously. Observed both 15190 and 17615 kHz too here in southern Germany. 17615 - Interfered DW Trincomalee Chinese, and Riyadh in Arabic. I have a strong feeling, --- and guess --- that could be another test transmission from China mainland. The Chinese testing seemingly new erected powerful 500 kW transmitters and antenna arrays. Similar test transmissions playing Chinese music over and over again, then heard in previous years from Urumchi-Xinjiang location, just one week before new season started. I think - playing such kind of classical and operetta music --- the Chinese would like to DECEIVE the WEST??? (later...) Roland Schulze, Mangaldan-PHL completed his monitoring, at 1200 UT 17615 replaced by 13740, latter hetting Vietnam. 15190 signal is equal of IBB Udorn Thani in Urdu 1330-1430: 1000-1200 7350 (+70 dB), 15190 (+60dB), 17615 (+50 dB) 1200-1400 ... 13740 (+70 dB), 15190 (+60 dB) The program content was playing classical orchestra music continously, but between 1300 and 1400 UT also light comic opera (operetta) music like Can-Can Musique Parisienne could be heard. Music has a 'crispy' kind, so seemingly also the satellite feed is tested from bc house to the new transmitter location. Maybe another powerful transmission center erected in either Xian, Kunming or DongFang Hainandao Island ??? (Wolfgang Büschel, BC-DX Oct 17 via DXLD) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ 73 No word what will happen to those with outstanding subscriptions to 73, especially hams who bought lifetime subs at a bargain price when the magazine first started up. Green always said it would last through his lifetime or that of the purchaser, but it looks as if W2NSD and a number of lifetime subscribers may have outlived 73. We expected it of Green. His phonetics are W-2-Never-Say-Die. You can hear W2NSD talk about the demise of 73 on this weeks RAIN Report. Its available on-line at http://www.rainreport.com or by telephone at 847-827-7246 (ARNewsline via John Norfolk, DXLD) CLANDESTINE RADIO WATCH Can be found at http://www.schoechi.de/crw It's a neat site with many updated skeds (MARE via DXLD) DX ANTWERP Has many B03 skeds at http://dxa.be/schedules/ (MARE via DXLD) AM STATION ANTENNA PATTERNS If any of you have ever been curious about what the pattern is for an AM station, there is an on line list. One of my web sites includes all the patterns in the FCC AM database. Day, night or critical hours. Almost every foreign station is there as well. The site is geared toward AM DXers, but will be of use to broadcast engineers as well. There are about 3,500 small .gif files of these patterns. They load quickly even by a dial-up connection. Listings for stations are presented by frequency, state/province, or alphabetically. Typically I update this on a monthly basis. The site is free, and includes a number of other features. http://www.am-dx.com (Craig Healy, Providence, RI, via Charles Hutton, NRC-AM via DXLD) It's unfortunate that there is NO mention of the NRC in the box labelled "AM DX CLUBS". And they have the gall to ask for 'support'. (BILL Hale, Ft Worth, NRC-AM via DXLD) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ C CRANE COMPANY New catalog No. 14R has just been received, including gh`s SW frequency page. http://ccrane.com or 1-800-522-8863 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIVERSAL RADIO I received a flyer in the mail today (15 Oct) from Universal Radio. They have many radios and books on sale from now until the end of the year (MARE via DXLD) Re: [SWL] A MODERN "TUBE" TYPE RADIO Well, Phil maybe it's OT, but .... Meee 2 I was in Walgreens a few weeks ago as we were expecting that hurricane to graze us here in NY. I was looking for extra D batteries, which where all gone. A lady came up to me and asked me to help, etc. I quickly replied "I don't work here..." but she said she knew -- it was just that I'm tall and could reach a radio for her on the top shelf. What was it? Same thing -- the cute "mini-boatanchor" chassis. I gave her one and grabbed one myself. I mentioned to her something like "Hey -- looks like tooobs!" then tried to explain. She was no youngster, but didn't know what the heck I was talking about. Odd product concept for general merchandise. I doubt if most shoppers would recognize what it's supposed to look like. Actually, Walgreens does have some boatanchor needs -- glue, tools, cleaners, metal polish, etc. Little known fact but they also carry metal Slinkies, in case you need to rig an antenna at 3 AM. (Place is 24/7). I didn't play with the radio much. Seemed fairly sensitive, but then maybe it was those images. Somewhat disappointed to learn of its retro circuitry -- though it's consistent -- like a three tube TRF. All three phony tubes look the same -- no variety, but then, again, the old '20's radios with the 4-pin globe tubes tended to look like that in side and use 3 or more of a type. (There weren't many types available back then.) I didn't get to tell that shopper that it probably wasn't a good choice for an emergency. The three orange LED's probably drain the battery more than the radio itself. Anyhow, nice item for $10. If you prefer, you can pay $29.95 you-know-where, unless someone outbids you. (yup) Of course, the next post from Phil on the subject, he`ll be telling us how he converted it to a beacon-chasing Lowfer-rig. Heck, it only has a two section tuning cap, so ....heh heh (Barry Hauser, swl at qth.net via DXLD) I spotted this thing some time ago, but was too unimpressed (Glenn the other Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I've never seen the radio you are refering to. However, I did see an "all tube" retro-radio in a store in Spokane, Washington a few months ago. The store is one of those kind where you can buy a $500.00 toaster, or a $50.00 hinge for a kitchen cabinet. The radio was a perfect square, probably 8", and white, with a round dial. AM only. I didn't look more closely because the price tag got in my way: $199.95. 73, (Barrie, W7ALW, Smith, swl at qth.net via DXLD) MOBILE BROADCAST NETWORK Hi Glenn, Of course you can access Mobile Broadcast Network via their Nashville number on a regular wired phone! I have done it many times. The only real challenge is to know what numbers to punch in for what stations. I guess you can find that on their web site. It is beyond me why anyone would want to listen to music on a cell phone, even if you do have the free minutes (Tim Hendel, AL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) POWERLINE COMMUNICATIONS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ GOOD NEWS AND BAD NEWS FOR BPL COMMUNITY A variety of developments on the broadband over powerline (BPL) front add up to a very mixed bag for the emerging technology. Trials continue to take place, and a startup BPL technology vendor has announced what could be a significant breakthrough. On the other hand, RF interference issues continue to dog the technology, both in the United States -- where more trials mean more opportunities for opponents to look for problems -- and overseas where the Australian government has taken a wary stance in regard to interference with radio services it considers vital. One of the new trials to emerge is being conducted by Southern Telecom, the telecommunications subdivision of Atlanta-based electrical utility Southern Company [NYSE: SO]. Southern is using equipment from Andover, Mass.-based Amperion Inc. The vendor's Amperion Connect solution (see BBR's March 11 issue) delivers broadband data over medium voltage power lines at speeds of up to 20 Mbps (shared throughput). The system uses a wireless link to inject signals onto the power lines at the substation, and small Wi- Fi repeaters strung along the power lines themselves to provide the last link to the customer's PC. BPL's Salvation at Hand? But it's another BPL trial that could turn out to be the big news. (If it pans out, and that's not definite yet.) In California, utility Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) [NYSE: PCG] has conducted a simple technology trial of a PLC solution from Santa Rosa-based startup Corridor Systems. Corridor's technology looks like Amperion's in some ways. For example, it also uses Wi-Fi to get signals from the medium voltage power grid to the end user's computer. But in other ways, Corridor's system is like no other BPL technology ever seen. For one thing, it delivered blistering speeds, achieving throughput of an astonishing 216 Mbps, which the company believes is not only the highest speed ever achieved over an actual medium voltage powerline, but a full "four times faster than has been claimed with any previous technology." The other benefit is the potential to remove emissions from the HF bands currently being hotly defended by the amateur radio community. Instead of those frequencies being used by most other BPL technologies, Corridor CEO David Gaw says "we're using 5 GHz on the line." This means that the emissions from his system aren't at ham frequencies, but in the unlicensed 5 GHz ISM band. The solution promises to neatly solve two of BPL's biggest problems with a single stroke. First, the technology has tended to lag behind other broadband options in speed -- to the point where critics have taken to calling it "midband." A blistering 216 Mbps, with latency of less than 500 milliseconds, should give the technology room to work with. At the same time, using higher frequency signals on the line moves the unavoidable line emissions into a different band, away from the one where current emissions are generating so much controversy. "There is a fundamental relationship between those frequencies and higher speed," says Gaw. "Higher frequencies, if you can engineer them to work, offer advantages both on the interference and emissions issue but also higher speeds." Gaw says his company has worked for more than two and a half years to achieve the "non-trivial things to make all this viable." Between the speed, the appeasement of the ham radio community -- which has really dug in its heels on this issue -- and additional benefits like leveraging the mass economies of scale of Wi-Fi chipsets, Corridor could have something enormous on its hands. But don't pop the champagne corks just yet. For one thing, the PG&E deployment was the most basic of technology tests. It took place between two computers over a single, quarter mile segment of line. That's a far cry from a full scale deployment with more complex power grid topology and plenty of users contesting the bandwidth. Of course Gaw believes the technology can be scaled up. "We're building a business around that," he says, "so we fully intend to do that and we don't see any real inhibitors to doing that at this point." The thornier problem is that there isn't a lot of junk spectrum out there just waiting to absorb BPL emissions. While Corridor's solution would spare the hams, there are also technologies using or planning to use those 5 GHz bands -- 802.11a for example. While Corridor's technology shows that we at least have some degree of control over where we dump BPL's RF trash, it has to go somewhere. And pretty much anywhere you look, you'll find existing users demanding that it not be dumped in their back yard. Australian Government Skeptical In a move that is hard to interpret as good news for BPL technology in Australia, the government's telecom regulator has expressed concerns about radio interference issues and suggested that Australia may need to hold such systems to tighter standards than the United States or other countries. The Australian Communications Authority's (ACA) Spectrum Planning Team, Radiofrequency Planning Group has issued a paper on BPL titled Broadband Powerline Communication Systems, A Background Brief. The paper provides a primer on BPL technology, including spectrum interference issues, and an overview of regulatory actions taken in other countries. The purpose of the paper is to provide background for some kind of regulatory approach as BPL is beginning to become an issue for Australia. Equipment is already being offered for small area networking over home powerlines -- equipment similar to HomePlug technology in the United States. The paper also reveals that an unidentified Australian electrical supply authority has approached the ACA to discuss a potential trial of BPL as a last-mile technology. The RF emissions of in-house networks are much lower than those for last-mile applications -- thanks to the lower power levels needed over short, in-house distances. However, the report says that the "potential risk to HF radiocommunications services from the widespread use of broadband powerline communication systems" are "associated with in-house applications as well as last mile applications." On the in-house side, the report suggests that in-home terminals presently being marketed in Australia are unlikely to meet the international CISPR 22 standard, created by the International Special Committee on Radio Interference. Changes to CISPR 22 are currently being debated. However, the larger issue is last-mile applications. Here, the report takes a close look at current U.S. activity on the BPL front, particularly the FCC's ongoing inquiry and the Part 15 rules under which present BPL equipment operates. Notably, the report argues that, even if the U.S. should decide to go ahead with large-scale BPL, what works for the United States may not work in Australia. It cites differences in the structure and engineering of the power grids in the two countries, and raises the idea that emission limits considered acceptable in the United States may be unacceptable when applied to Australia. "While as a general principle, the ACA seeks where possible to align its management arrangements in Australia with those in place in other regions," the report states, "this is not always possible or appropriate. Europe and the USA have greater degrees of urbanisation than Australia and the weighting placed on the protection of HF services in those countries may well be less than that required in Australia." David Gaw, Corridor Systems, 415/455-9264; ACA Radiofrequency Planning Group, freqplan @ aca.gov.au This article first appeared in PBI Media's Broadband Business Report Oct 16 (via Mike Terry, DXLD) DRM +++ See USA [and non] for upcoming NASB broadcasts PROPAGATION +++++++++++ THE K7RA SOLAR UPDATE SEATTLE, WA, Oct 17, 2003 -- Solar flux and sunspot numbers were lower this week, but the planetary A index was higher. In general, we like to see the reverse for favorable HF propagation. The planetary A index was low for October 9-12, but on October 14 and 15 conditions were quite stormy. This is because a coronal hole on the sun was spewing a strong solar wind, and the interplanetary magnetic field pointed south, leaving Earth vulnerable. Planetary A index was 48 and 42 on October 14 and 15, and Alaska`s high-latitude college A index was 65 and 71. When the sunspot count went to 24 on October 14, this was the lowest sunspot number since May 10 of this year, when it was 22. We should expect more days like this as the solar cycle declines. Sam Coppedge, KC4AQT, a Technician licensee in Richmond, Virginia, wrote to ask if 10 meters ever would open again. Expect to see less and less 10-meter propagation as the current cycle declines. While it`s true that 10 meters can and does open even during the low points of the sunspot cycle, often on those occasions there is so little activity in that part of the spectrum that nobody notices. We can run some numbers to see what KC4AQT is up against. From his license address, it looks like his coordinates are about 37.5 degrees north latitude and 77.5 degrees west longitude. Using W6ELprop, we can use the average sunspot number from the past few days, October 12-16, which is 28. You can use the sunspot number in W6ELprop by entering ``S`` before the digits. Plotting from his location in Richmond to mine in Seattle for October 16, it shows no openings at all on 10 or 12 meters and a remote chance of an opening on 15 meters from 1900 to 2100 UTC. That`s early afternoon on the Seattle end. If KC4AQT upgrades, we`d have a pretty good chance of being able to contact each other on 17 meters, and an even greater opportunity on 20! Let`s compare that with conditions just one year ago. We can look at the sunspot numbers in old bulletins or check the data list in WA4TTK`s solar plotting utility. It shows sunspots for the same five- day period leading to October 16, 2002, yielding an average number of 172. Plug that number into the same program, and the results are vastly different. This is instructive, because the seasonal effects are identical. Last year at this time 10 meters should have opened solid with strong signals from morning until evening Seattle time--from 1500 until 0030 UTC. Twelve meters was open longer than that, and 15 was open from 1330 to 0230 UTC. If KC4AQT (and others in his situation) can upgrade, and if he has room for a larger antenna, 160, 80 or 40 meters may be more to his liking over the next few years --- especially on those proverbial ``long winter nights.`` Over the next few days, sunspot numbers and solar flux should rise, with solar flux values peaking around October 25 at 130. Solar wind over the next few days should cause more geomagnetic upset, with the October 17-22 planetary A index pegged at 25, 20, 15, 15, 30 and 25. If solar flux and sunspot numbers rise as predicted over the next week, our friend in Richmond could see some 10-meter openings. However, as days get shorter, the northern hemisphere sees less sunlight, and we are farther from the peak propagation around the equinox. Last week`s bulletin mentioned solar activity forecasts by OK1HH http://sunkl.asu.cas.cz/~sunwatch/forecasts.html Franta informs that they are available weekly via the Web. When you check that Web page, note the dates are in the format such as 031017. We in North America would express that as 10-17-03. For more information about propagation and an explanation of the numbers used in this bulletin see the Propagation page on the ARRL Web site http://www2.arrl.org/tis/info/propagation.html Sunspot numbers for October 9 through 15 were 68, 79, 77, 35, 25, 24 and 29, with a mean of 48.1. The 10.7-cm flux was 110.8, 111.8, 105.8, 97.8, 94.4, 92.4 and 95.9, with a mean of 101.3. Estimated planetary A indices were 8, 5, 5, 6, 13, 48 and 42, with a mean of 18.2. Amateur solar observer Tad Cook, K7RA, Seattle, Washington, provides this weekly report on solar conditions and propagation. This report also is available via W1AW every Friday and an abbreviated version also appears in The ARRL Letter. Readers may contact the author via k7ra@arrl.net. Copyright © 2003, American Radio Relay League, Inc. All Rights Reserved (via John Norfolk, DX LISTENING DIGEST) MAJOR GEOMAGNETIC STORM Coronal Hole #63 arrived with a bang approximately 72 hours. It created a major geomagnetic storm that has only now begun to wane. At it's peak the Kp reached 7 which is major storm level and the Ap reached 106 which is at severe storm level. Though recent indices have fallen to a Kp-3 which is unsettled and a Kp-4 which is active, there is a fair chance that minor Kp-5 to moderate Kp-6 geomagnetic storm conditions may return again at any time and last for another 24-48 hours. Take Care, (Thomas F. Giella, Retired Space & Atmospheric Weather Forecaster, Plant City, FL, USA, Oct 17, hard-core-dx via DXLD) ARNIE CORO`S DXERS UNLIMITED HF PLUS LOW BAND VHF PROPAGATION UPDATE AND FORECAST Solar activity is certainly at the very low level, while at the same time the solar wind is still impacting the Earth's magnetosphere. Both low solar activiy and a disturbed magnetic field are certainly not a very nice combination for the HF bands !!! Solar flux and sunspot numbers were lower this past week, and the planetary A index was higher. Generally we like to see the reverse for HF propagation. October 14 and 15 conditions were quite stormy. This is because a coronal hole on the sun was spewing a strong solar wind, and the interplanetary magnetic field pointed south, leaving earth vulnerable. The planetary A index was 48 and 42 on October 14 and 15, and Alaska's high latitude College A index was 65 and 71. The sunspot count dipped really low to 24 on October 14, this was the lowest sunspot number since May 10 of this year, when it was 22. We should be expecting more days like this, with very low sunspot counts as the solar cycle declines. The good news is that,over the next few days, we should see sunspot numbers and solar flux rising, with solar flux values peaking around October 25 at 130. Solar wind over the next few days should cause more geomagnetic upset, with the October 17-22 planetary A index pegged at 25, 20, 15, 15, 30 and 25., all way above the A indexes of between zero and about 10 units that provide the best overall HF propagation conditions (Arnie Coro, CO2KK, RHC DXers Unlimited Oct 18 via Bob Chandler, VE3SRE, ODXA via DXLD) WINTER SEASON DX PROPAGATION PRIMER The following is an excerpt, digested version of some of my current writings in Monitoring Times, and Popular Communications. My full texts appear in those publications between November and January issues. And, one can always check out http://hfradio.org/forums/ as well as http://prop.hfradio.org/ Here you go: A welcomed change takes place as the winter season arrives which can be observed in the Northern Hemisphere as we move away from the long sunlit days of summer into the longer hours of winter`s darkness. The amount and strength of radiation arriving and passing through our atmosphere varies from season to season, as well as from the solar cycle minimum to the solar cycle maximum. While the chemistry and mechanics of the ionosphere might be complex, a few simple ideas can be used to understand how things work. The temperature of the air in the highest regions of our atmosphere plays a role in how the ionosphere is structured. During the summer, the way the various gases are distributed in these upper layers differs from the wintertime distribution. In addition, during the Northern Hemisphere`s winter months, the Earth is closer to the sun than during any other time of its travel around the sun. This makes the daytime ionization more intense than that of summer daytimes. To understand the significance of this, think of a wood stove. When you open the front door to add more fuel to the fire, and get very close to the fire, you feel intense heat. When you close the door and back away from the fire, the heat decreases. This is much like the position of the Earth in the winter?closer to the sun than during the summer. But the "door" is only open during the short period of daylight. With the more intense ionization during winter?s daylight hours the radio waves refracted off of the ionosphere are relatively higher in frequency than those of summer. During the longer winter hours of darkness, the ionosphere has more time to lose its electrical charge. These conditions cause a wide daily variation in the maximum frequency that can be refracted by the wintertime ionosphere. At any given time during the day, a fairly wide range of frequencies will be refracted from the ionosphere. The Ionosphere is made up of ionized particles and electrons in the uppermost portion of the earth's atmosphere that is formed by various influences, including solar radiation. These ions are responsible for the reflection or bending of radio waves occurring between certain critical frequencies with these critical frequencies varying with the degree of ionization. The highest frequency that will still be refracted by the ionosphere is called the critical frequency, or Maximum Usable Frequency (MUF). This critical frequency varies with the amount of ionization at the point where a signal enters the ionosphere, and the angle by which the radio wave arrives. In winter months, the noticeable rise during the day in this critical frequency brings a steady parade of DX signals through the higher shortwave bands during the day. But the winter daytime openings are short. Summer openings last much longer, since the ionization continues as long as the daylight lasts, and can last all night long as well, because recombination times are much shorter during the shorter hours of darkness. In the summer, the long hours of sunlight keeps the ionosphere from recombining, but because the heating of the gases causes the layers to expand and thin out, the daytime critical frequency is generally lower than during the winter. But, the nighttime critical frequencies of summer are typically higher than nighttime critical frequencies during the winter. This gives us better nighttime DX in the summer, but better daytime DX in the winter over paths that propagate through sunlight regions. In addition, winter nights are far more quiet on lower shortwave bands due to the seasonal low in tropical storms, and because the lower critical frequencies won't propagation as much of the atmospheric and man-made noises. It is the combination of these conditions that cause many radio enthusiasts to celebrate the arrival of the winter shortwave season. The winter of 2003 and early 2004 is promising, in part because of the seasonal relief we are having from the high geomagnetic storminess we've had this year, and because the latest and second geomagnetic peak of this cycle is slowly declining now, as we move ever closer to the solar cycle minimum. With these improvements, we also experience a relief from the electrical storm and atmospheric noise of summer. This makes it much easier to DX those tropical band broadcasts, medium wave AM broadcast stations, and HF International broadcasters. (copyright, 2003, Tomas Hood) 73 de (Tomas, NW7US (AAR0JA/AAM0EWA) swl at qth.net via DXLD) ###