DX LISTENING DIGEST 3-201, November 7, 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 http://www.w4uvh.net/dxldtd3k.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 1206: WWCR: Sat 1130 5070, Sun 0330 5070, 0730 3210, Wed 1030 9475 WRMI: Sat 1900+ 15725 WBCQ: Mon 0515 7415 WRN: Rest of world Sat 0900; Europe Sun 0530; North America Sun 1500 WRN ONDEMAND [from Fri]: 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 1206 (high version is in two parts): Part I: (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1206h.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1206h.rm Part II: (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1206i.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1206i.rm (summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1206.html WORLD OF RADIO 1206 (low version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1206.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1206.rm ** BAHAMAS. BEACON NEWS: C6AFP COMING BACK ON THE AIR Steve Rutledge, N4JQQ says over the VHF Reflector that the C6AFP beacon in grid square FL16, should be operational soon. This, thanks to W4WSR who rebuilt the old one that WZ8D originally supplied. That one took a lightning hit last summer. Rutledge says that he was able to salvage the RF board but that was it. Rutledge thanks C6AGN, whose QTH the beacon now lives at. This is in Coco Bay, Green Turtle Cay, Abaco, The Bahamas. He says that Bill should be back on the island on or about the time this newscast hits air. Hopefully we will hear the beacon sometime later this month (VHF Reflector via Amateur Radio Newsline Nov 7 via John Norfolk, DXLD) WTFK?? 50+ MHz? ** BANGLADESH. ECNEC okays 13 projects [including 100 kW SW fixup] By BSS, Dhaka Nov 6, 2003, 03:01 http://nation.ittefaq.com/artman/publish/article_6041.shtml The Executive Committee of National Economic Council (ECNEC) on Wednesday approved 13 development projects involving Taka 3,027.86 crore, including Taka 1,100.25 crore project assistance. The approval was given at a meeting of the ECNEC at Sher-e- Banglanagar NEC conference room with Prime Minister and ECNEC Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia in the chair. The projects approved by the ECNEC are: Construction of Bhola 150- megawatt combined cycle power plant, area-based electrification 5th phase "Ga" and further consolidation and expansion of transmission system of 67 palli bidyut samity under Power Division, project for Dhaka clean (RPGCL part), development and strengthening of old 100- kilowatt shortwave transmitter at Savar under Information Ministry, protection of Fulchhari headquarters and Kamarjani Bazar from erosion of the river Jamuna under Water Resources Ministry, earth filling for rural infrastructure development and development of infrastructure in greater Dhaka district under Local Government division, development of Iliatganj-Muradnagar- Ramchandrapur-Bacharampur road under Communications Ministry (Commilla part), remodeling of Rajshahi Railway station and yard and development of Ekatabazar-Pahorchada- Pekuabazar-Maghanamghat road, introduction of pre-paid mobile phone service by BTTB under Ministry of Post and Telecommunication and project for making Sylhet Osmany International Airport fit for operation of wide-bodied aircraft. Finance and Planning Minister and ECNEC Co-chairman M Saifur Rahman, LGRD and Cooperatives Minister Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Khandakar Mosharraf Hossain, Industries Minister Motiur Rahman Nizami, Communi-cations Minister Barrister Nazmul Huda, Agriculture Minister MK Anwar, Post and Telecommunication Minister Barrister M Aminul Haq, Information Minister Tariqul Islam, Education Minister Dr M Osman Farruk, State Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism Mir Mohammad Nasiruddin, State minister for Finance and Planning Maj Gen (retd) M Anwarul Kabir Talukdar and State Minister for Power Iqbal Hassan Mahmud attended the meeting. Cabinet Secretary, Prime Minister's Principal Secretary, members of Planning Commission, and secretaries and high officials of the ministries concerned were present. © Copyright 2003 by The New Nation (via Google news alert via Horacio Nigro, Uruguay, DXLD) ** BOTSWANA. Glenn Hauser pointed out the error I made in my QSL report of Botswana. The report should read as follows: Radio Botswana, 4820, f/d "Basket Market Day" postcard in 142 days for English report, $2 US, and local postcard. Ted Makgekgenene, Chief Engineer, v/s. I heard Radio this broadcast on 5-26-03. The frequency I originally reported was 4835 kHz. Sorry for the inaccuracy!!!!! (John Beattie, CA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. 2180.00, (harmonic 2 x 1090) CKKW, Kitchener, Ontario, Nov 6, 0140-0152/1117-1130, only heard this one evening/morning, erratic broken audio as if voltage was arcing over or a bad connection was being made, oldies music format, time checks, traffic report, IDs for "Oldies 10-90", fair signal (Mark Mohrmann, Coventry, VT, NRD 535D, V- Beam 140m @180 deg., "VT-DX" http://www.sover.net/~hackmohr/ DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. TWO UNIONS VIE FOR 8,000 CBC WORKERS By JAMES ADAMS Globe and Mail UPDATED AT 2:03 AM EST Monday, Nov. 3, 2003 http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPPrint/LAC/20031103/CBC03/TPEntertainment/ Ballots are being mailed today to the homes of an estimated 8,000 English-language employees of the CBC in what is one of the most crucial votes in the Crown corporation's 67-year history. The vote is for the creation of "one big union" to represent all these employees. CBC staffers -- announcers, producers, technicians, clerical staff, journalists and the like working in 35 locations outside Quebec -- are being asked if they want as their bargaining agent one of two unions, the Ottawa-headquartered Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union or the Canadian Media Guild, a division of the Washington-headquartered Communications Workers of America. Both unions already represent different categories of workers and "cultures" at the Crown corporation. While the CEP is Canada's largest media union , its CBC membership totals about 1,700, most of them camera staff, sound engineers and other technical and trade personnel. The other 5,000 or so CBC staffers, including producers, editors, reporters, sales representatives and announcers, are affiliated with the CMG. This consolidation or "extinction" vote, as some have called it, is being conducted by a mail-in ballot under the supervision of the Canada Industrial Relations Board. Once all eligible CBC employees have received their ballots, they'll need to have submitted them for counting by the deadline of Dec. 12. Tabulation starts Dec. 15, with the announcement of the winner-takes-all victor expected on Dec. 16. The vote this month is coming at the behest of CBC management. In the late nineties, the CMG took over the clerical/administrative union previously represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees. It then asked that this unit be merged with the production/on-air unit that CMG already was representing. In 2000, CBC management asked the Industrial Relations Board if all CBC bargaining units could be amalgamated into one. CBC's argument was that negotiating with two or three bargaining associations and grievance committees was expensive, awkward and time-consuming. Moreover, with the rise of digital technology and the concept of "multitasking," the hard and fast distinctions that previously defined life in the analog workplace were being blurred. The CIRB, after starting a round of hearings late in 2000, agreed earlier this year that a new, unified bargaining structure should be established, paving the way for this month's vote. Nationalism seems to be a major issue in the consolidation vote, at least from the CEP's perspective. CEP executives have said they find it "silly," "ridiculous" and "absurd" that the employees of Canada's public broadcaster would allow themselves to be represented by a U.S. union. For its part, the CMG argues that, with respect to the CBC, its actions are almost entirely autonomous from its Washington parent and that, in the past 10 years, it has steadily built itself into "a homegrown CBC union" by taking over bargaining functions for all kinds of CBC staff. CBC Bargaining Unit Council of the CEP URL: http://www.cbucc.org/ (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC [non]. Dear friends, last night I sent an e-mail to R Ndeke Luka thanking them for the nice QSL-card. I also asked why I no longer can hear them on 15545 kHz. Here is the reply which I received this afternoon: Cher Monsieur, Nous avons bien reçu votre e-mail et vous en remercions. Vous pouvez dorénavant écouter Radio Ndeke Luka sur la fréquence 11785 kHz à la même heure. Nous vous souhaitons une bonne journée et une bonne écoute de RNL, Cédrine Beney, Chargée de projet This means that they have replaced 15545 with 11785. In fact I can right now hear their relay from Bangui there with 25333 in French and Sango, talks, Afropop and French songs. Scheduled 1900-2000 daily. Best 73, (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Also as previously reported here, changed site from UK to UAE (gh) ** CHINA [non]. CRI at 0400 in English on 9755 (French Guiana), 9560 (Canada?), 6190 (Canada) on 11/7/03. 6190NF via Canada was //9560. 6190 was the best heard here (Bruce MacGibbon, Gresham, OR, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9560 always used to be Canada. FWIW, HFCC B-03 shows 6190 but as RCI, until 0430 only, not CRI. Is this your source for putting 6190 in Canada?: 6190 0400 0430 6-8,10,11 SAC 250 240 1234567 261003 280304 D CAN RCI 9560 0300 0400 10-12 SAC 250 189 1234567 261003 280304 D CAN CRI RTC 9560 0300 1200 42N URU 100 0 1234567 261003 280304 D CHN CRI RTC 9560 0500 0600 6,7,8W SAC 250 277 1234567 261003 280304 D CAN CRI RTC (via gh, DXLD) URU = Urumqi but surely not a factor over here (gh) ** CONGO DR. JOURNALIST AT PARTNER STATION IN DEM. REP. OF CONGO WINS AWARD - Posted by: newsdesk on Wednesday, November 05, 2003 - 06:57 PM Jacques Kalume M`Vita, a journalist at HCJB World Radio partner ministry Radio Kahuzi in Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo, has won a prestigious international contest for excellence in reporting on the issue of tolerance. M`Vita won the award for his story, aired in French, that exposed the plight of women in the war-torn country. ``One of the choice weapons of war is the violation of women and young girls,`` said Harold Smith of Believer`s Express Service, Inc., a ministry based in Eastanollee, Ga., that supports the radio outreach. ``This weapon is continuing even now throughout this area of the world.`` The award from the International Federation of Journalists included a prize of 1,000 euros (US$1,150) plus additional cash in lieu of a plane ticket to Dakar, Senegal, where the award was presented on June 26. The contest is open to journalists in five regions of the world. This was the second broadcasting award that M`Vita has won in the last year as he topped a separate contest sponsored by the British government in 2002. ``We are very proud of Jacques and the level of broadcasting professionalism that he has achieved under the training of missionary Richard McDonald who manages the station,`` Smith said. The station, founded in 1992, broadcasts via FM (91.1 MHz) and shortwave (6250 kHz) in five languages: English, French, Lingala and Swahili. The station is among the first to be established via HCJB World Radio`s ``radio planting`` ministry, helping local believers start Christian stations. More than 200 partner stations around the globe are now on the air through this ministry (HCJB World Radio press Nov 5 via DXLD) I think not. On 6250 you will find Equatorial Guinea. Means 6205, but hardly ever reported by DXers. And I count only four languages mentioned above (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COSTA RICA. Early UT Fri Nov 7, James Latham was online to chat with RFPI supporters: Glenn, Not much good news to report. James' small generator was brought into the station. Bringing in the gas for it was a problem --- the police thought James was going to torch the station. Food is still getting through, including food for Paz the cat (Franklin Seiberling, IA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The generator, I assume, only to power the building, not enough for SW broadcasting. BTW, I see at AM Costa Rica that Kofi Annan was in Santiago de Chile this week, with some more Latin American stops planned, not including Costa Rica. Notice also in the story below that Maurice Strong is rarely in CR, but instead NY (gh, DXLD) Radio for Peace Int'l, Costa Rica: Per a posting on the Free Radio Net, RFPI facilities have been isolated by the Costa Rican authori- ties, with employees barricaded inside. Apparently, they have never been licensed. They have recently been operating only on 7445. Their demise would appear to be imminent. Per Cumbre posts, the plug was pulled on 5-Nov. At 1730, 6-Nov, there was a very weak, uncopiable signal on 7445 (Harold Frodge, MI, MARE Tipsheete via DXLD) Re: RFPI Has Been Shut Down! 3-200: John, thank you for your comments, you have some very good ideas and your perceptions are accurate. I made the statement the other day that RFPI has a very strong listener base, which is true, but I failed to consider that this base is spread out all over the world. I only got the chance to observe the final months of the Pacifica campaign, but was impressed with the amount of dedication and persistence of those involved. Another question that arises is how many people *can* take direct action (i.e., protesting at Strong's speaking engagements, if he does such things). So many of us are likely to be in a location where he isn't apt to be speaking, and for whatever reason are unable to go someplace where he is. That said, there's still a wide range of opportunity. Media coverage is always good, and I hope others are doing whatever they can to try to sell this as a story worth covering. Admittedly, I've had zero luck so far, but I think it's worthwhile to continue contacting whatever media outlets we can think of. One question which I keep asking myself is whether RFPI would be far better off in the long run to get completely away from *anything* connected with the U.N. I'm somewhat short on funds at the moment, but that won't always be true, and I would take joy in helping finance a move which would eliminate any possibility of a repetition of this nonsense. As a temporary measure, internet streaming of RFPI may be viable, and I have limited streaming facilities available which can be used as a relay, if necessary, to serve a few more listeners. I'm sure I'm not the only one who could offer something like this. Add even 5 or 10 people relaying internet streams and you have a vastly increased audience potential. I should add that these are just my own ideas, I don't know what RFPI's plans or wishes may be at this point. Whatever the case, I don't believe that RFPI is going to roll over and play dead because of some billionaire with an exaggerated sense of his own nonexistent self-importance, and I'm sure as hell not going to. In Solidarity, (Steve Stocker, Nov 6, saverfpi via DXLD) Greetings --- I have sent out about 2000 e-mails to major media sources all over the planet regarding RFPI's plight. I have also created a web page on the situation at: http://www.geocities.com/paragon774/rfpi.html and will try to keep it updated as best I can (Jonas the Prophet, Mount Shasta, California, USA, Nov 7, ibid.) RFPI is the top story in this week`s issue of the Tico Times: http://www.ticotimes.net/topstory.htm PEACE RADIO REFUSES TO LEAVE SITE By Tim Rogers, Tico Times Staff In a surreal and escalating war between two international institutions dedicated to peace, human rights and non-violent conflict resolution, Radio For Peace International this week appealed to the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court (Sala IV) to intervene in the shortwave station's fight for survival against the United-Nations-created University for Peace (UPEACE). The legal motion, filed Tuesday and signed by the station's board of directors and former President Rodrigo Carazo, asks the Costa Rican court to order the university to repeal the UPEACE-issued eviction notice and allow the station to continue its worldwide broadcasting on issues of peace and social justice from the university's campus in Ciudad Colón, 25 km west of San José. The radio station went off the air Wednesday at 11 p.m. - for the first time in 16 years - when the university cut the power to the transmitting building. In July 2002, the university terminated the operating agreement and gave Radio for Peace 90 days to vacate the land. The university claims Radio for Peace is operating without a legal contract, broadcasting on a pirate shortwave band, has not paid outstanding debts to the university and is not consistent with the modernization efforts of UPEACE. "In the expansion and internationalization of its programs, UPEACE is emphasizing the use of state-of-the-art technologies and the Internet to disseminate knowledge and teaching materials worldwide. As such, UPEACE sees no role for the shortwave transmissions of [Radio for Peace], which are transmitted principally to North America," the university told The Tico Times this week in a prepared statement. Radio for Peace cofounder and director James Latham dismisses the UPEACE's allegations as: "The same old crap they throw at us again and again and again." Latham also takes exception to comments that shortwave radio is antiquated, and therefore no longer relevant. "Such comments show an arrogance toward the rest of the world that is not connected to the Internet and fall on the other side of the digital divide," he said, adding that Radio for Peace's strongest signals are in rural areas in Latin America and the Caribbean. He claims the attempted shutdown of the radio is a form of censorship and a violation of press freedom. Perhaps the most important issue at the root of the eviction order is the fact that UPEACE wants its land back. "The University for Peace is now expanding it activities in accordance with its mission from the United Nations General Assembly and is extending the facilities on its campus in Costa Rica to meet the needs of a growing number of students," the UPEACE statement reads. The eviction deadline was extended several times during the last 15 months, but is now being enforced for the first time, following Radio for Peace's failure to leave by last week's Oct. 31 deadline. UPEACE went on the offensive this week by ordering university guards to prevent anyone from entering the station, placing barbwire around the station's already-padlocked gate and cutting off telephone and water service to the radio station's building. Five members of the station, including Latham, remained holed up inside the station at press time, afraid that if they leave they will never be allowed back in and will lose their radio equipment and the building, which was built with private donations raised by Radio for Peace. The radio station's journalists, who were still broadcasting internationally at press time, were being fed by loyal listeners who slid food through the gate. Buckets that collect rainwater outside the station were being used to provide drinking water. Watching the university's maintenance staff wrap barbwire around the steel gate - once used to keep cattle out and now serving as an unfriendly reminder that the peace station is no longer welcome at UPEACE - Latham on Tuesday maintained a tragic sense of humor about the situation. "At least they haven't electrified it yet," he said. On a more serious note, Latham showed the maintenance workers a magazine picture of Jews locked behind barbwire at a Nazi concentration camp and comments: "This is how it starts, my friends." The university argues that the original 1987 operating agreement was signed between UPEACE and a now-defunct U.S. company called World Peace University, which started Radio for Peace International as a project in the late 1980s. World Peace University left Costa Rica and changed its name, but Radio for Peace continued to operate from the UPEACE campus under the existing agreement. UPEACE claims it does not recognize the station's right to operate on its premises because Radio for Peace is not a signatory on the agreement. "No such organization as Radio for Peace International is legally registered either in Costa Rica or in the United States of America. As such, [the radio] has been operating from the land of the UN- affiliated University for Peace without any legal status. The operations were conducted by a small group of individuals living in Costa Rica," the university statement said. However, the radio has been registered in the U.S. state of Oregon since 1992 as Earth Communications Radio for Peace, a non-governmental organization with 501(C3) status. The radio station is in the process of applying for non-profit status in Costa Rica, explained Emily Morales, Radio for Peace's operations manager. Radio for Peace International did not always have recognition problems with UPEACE. According to a document obtained this week by The Tico Times, former Vice-Rector Francisco Barahona issued the station a letter in September 1990 saying: "Radio for Peace International is authorized to construct a new transmitting building and antenna system at the campus of the University for Peace and has exclusive use of said installations." Although Radio for Peace built its $200,000 two-story transmitting station with funds raised from grants and listeners, the University for Peace has not offered to pay an indemnification for the property, according to Latham, who claims the station doesn't have any money to relocate. The university's lawyers, meanwhile, claim they can't pay an indemnification to a "non-existent" entity. Latham dismisses charges that Radio for Peace is broadcasting on illegal shortwave bands, claiming that frequency 7445 kHz is an international band registered with the High Frequency Coordination Committee. Since the radio is broadcasting from UN-owned territory, Latham claims he is able to broadcast on international bands (TT, July 25). The radio station and the UPEACE attempted to resolve their differences in a series of meetings beginning last August (TT, Aug. 1). But the talks collapsed last month when the two sides failed to reach any agreement. Radio for Peace has sent two letters to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, but the man who is apparently spearheading the ouster effort is UPEACE President and Under-Secretary General of the UN, Maurice Strong. Strong, who spends his time at the General Assembly in New York and visits the UPEACE a couple times a year, repeatedly has declined to comment during the last four months. Latham, meanwhile, continues to scratch his head over a raging conflict between organizations dedicated to peace and human rights. "The UPEACE teaches Master's courses in conflict resolution. But if they can't do it here, it is going to be even harder in the Middle East," he charged. See also http://www.ticotimes.net for a shot of James behind the barbed wire, at least for now (via Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** CUBA. 1900.00, (harmonic 2 x 950) Radio Reloj, Nov 6, 1041, the only Cuban MW harmonic I am currently hearing, Spanish news, time pips and IDs every minute. Poor but consistent signal (Mark Mohrmann, Coventry, VT, NRD 535D, V-Beam 140m @180 deg., "VT-DX" http://www.sover.net/~hackmohr/ DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [non]. USA, 9955, WRMI --- Having arrived back in southwest Florida away [sic], I decided to try for the various Cuban exile programs carried by WRMI in Miami. I have listened for these from many locations in the United States and they are typically buried by Cuban bubble jamming. When I last tried from Naples, Florida, two years ago, the only luck I had was during a hurricane which knocked the power off (and the jammers) in Cuba. I thought that things might be different this time with the unusual propagation and I was right: 0000-0100 Foro Militar Cubano UTC Sunday only 0000 Guitar and singing by man ID at 0002, slogan of "La Voz de la Democracia." Readable signal over the jamming on Nov 2nd. 0100-0130 Conversando entre Cubanos UTC Sunday only, same reception as Foro at 0000 at 0100 on Nov 2nd. 0200-0300 Radio Revista Lux UTC Sunday only, ditto above two with ID and address at start of program. 1100-1200 Foro Militar Cubano Saturdays only, 1150 with talk by man, ended in mid-sentence at 1201 with English WRMI ID on Nov 1st. No sign of any jamming. 1100-1130 La Voz de la Junta Patriótica Cubana Mondays only, tuned in at 1116 on Nov 3rd and heard a man talking Spanish, many mentions of Cuba of course. Jamming heard but far below the level of the programming. 1200-1300 Radio Revista Lux Tuesdays only, 1159 jamming in progress, but signal was fine in LSB where jamming seemed less. WRMI IDs in English and Spanish and then start of this program with IDs and address at 1200 on Nov 4th. Buried by jamming at 1242 check. Jamming was already noted during previous program of Solid Rock Radio (Hans Johnson, Naples, FL, Cumbre DX Nov 7 via DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA [non]. 12120, Radio Solidarity has a audio file on their website dated Oct 26, perhaps they have also restarted their shortwave broadcasts, Sundays 1700-1800 (Hans Johnson, FL, Nov 4, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** FRANCE. Since B-03 began, the best frequency here for RFI in English, naturally not intended for NAm, is 17620 at 1400-1500, taking the place of 17515 in the A-03 season. But RFI`s English page, http://rfi.fr/fichiers/Langues/rfi_anglais_main.asp displays contradictory info for English frequencies, including this hour. On the left: ``14h00 UT to the Middle East on 16m on 17515 kHz. To Asia on 25m on 11610 kHz and on 16m on 17515 kHz.`` While the list of English broadcasts on the right, including ondemand audio links, claims: English to Asia 14h-15h GMT Listen Download Ondes courtes 16 m : 17515 KHz 25 m : 11610 KHz 16 m : 17620 KHz 41 m : 7175 KHz (26/10 - 07/03/04) 25 m : 9580 KHz (07/03/04 - 28/03/04) 16 m : 17620 KHz That`s the way the frequencies are grouped. So does the 26/10-07/03 apply to all four frequencies above it, or only the one immediately above it? And why are no dates specified with the bottom 17620, which also appears in the top bunch? BTW, we hear no trace of RFI now on 17515. What a mess! On Nov 7 at 1415 RFI had a report on the Sri Lanka political crisis, a story which is going mostly unnoticed in US news media; the other day it was at the top of the headlines on RN (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAQ. COMMANDER TAKES RADIO REQUEST PUBLIC By BARTHOLOMEW SULLIVAN Scripps Howard News Service November 04, 2003 - While they're transporting heavy equipment in an Iraqi war zone where roadside bombings make regular headlines, members of the 1175th Heavy Equipment Transport Battalion based in Brownsville, Tenn., can't communicate truck-to-truck. But instead of waiting for the Pentagon to provide the communications assistance, the unit's commander has gone hat-in-hand to the public. Lt. Thomas 'Hud' Moore, commander of a detachment that carries heavy tanks and gear from a base in Kuwait into Iraq, is asking for a holiday gift for his troops: Citizens Band radios and antennas so his unit can communicate while on the road. "They don't have to be expensive, only good enough to talk from truck to truck is all I am asking," Moore said in a message back home. "These are things that could help save someone's life here." Moore's concerns aren't the first to focus on the need for improved communications by Army personnel in Iraq. A recent Army investigation found soldiers have resorted to buying their own hand-held radios after finding the Army-issued units unacceptable. However, Moore's request struck at least one family member in Memphis, Tenn., as evidence of "an honest mistake" and a safety "oversight" that needs to be corrected. A former Air Force communications expert said it would be his hope that such communications would be available, but also questioned whether Moore's request should have been made publicly. And Capt. Trey Brannom, a Tennessee National Guard spokesman in Nashville, said a CB radio would be a "nice-to-have item" but not a necessary one. Brannom said the 1175th has already distinguished itself without them. Moore's unit, which specializes in transporting 63-ton M-1 Abrams tanks, has covered more than a million miles hauling 2,072 pieces of equipment since 141 of its members left Brownsville in 40 trucks and Humvees in February. Moore's letter home speaks of his pride in commanding the men and women of his unit. It's addressed to "Dear Concerned Citizens." Moore, the father of a then-10-year-old son when he was deployed in February from his home in Lawrenceburg, did not respond to an e-mail message sent to his military Internet address. An Army spokesman at the Pentagon, Capt. David Romley, said the truck-to-truck communications issue boils down to priorities and costs. Romley said the Army needs to communicate effectively. Of the request for CB radios, he said the Army would prefer for all communications devices to be secure. On another issue raised by Moore's request, Romley said he hoped the citizens of Brownsville would respond since "any support toward this fight on terrorism would be welcome." But then he suggested Moore may have been out of line to even make such a request. "I don't believe that, technically, he can solicit for those sorts of things," Romley said. "But let's play the reasonable man test: Is anyone going to come down on this gentleman?" It remained unclear whether Moore has made a request through Army channels. Cliff Borofsky of San Antonio, Texas, a 20-year Air Force veteran who specialized in security for military communications, said "it would be my hope that they would have them (truck-to-truck radios), from an operations standpoint," although he acknowledged he didn't know enough about the transport unit's needs. But he, too, questioned "whether (Moore) should be asking that publicly." Janice Bohannon of Ripley, who is caring for her grandchildren while her step-daughter and son-in-law are with the 1175th in Iraq, said she hadn't heard about Moore's request. "I wasn't familiar with it, but I think it's a good idea," she said. "I'm surprised they don't already have them. I would think that would be something the Army would have thought of. It would make it so much safer for them." (via Memphis Commercial Appeal, via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** LATVIA. Euronet Radio is pleased to announce that on Sunday 23rd November we will be relaying the Alternative music programmes of Radio Marabu. Our relay broadcast of Radio Marabu will commence at 13h00 UTC until 16h00 UTC on our usual frequency of 9290 kHz. ... All reception reports for this transmission should be addressed to: Radio Marabu, Postfach 1166, D 49187 Belm, Germany Or via email to: marabu @ radio-marabu.de The Radio Marabu website can be visited at: http://www.radio-marabu.de (EuronetRadio Group, Nov. 5 2003 via Sergei Sosedkin, IL, DXLD) ** MEXICO. I found an interesting website with current listings of SOME Mexican stations on which some official government programming has been scheduled: http://www.ife.org.mx/wwwppp/pipan.htm (John Callarman, Krum TX, Nov 6, Corazón DX via DXLD) Rather, it`s about mandated free airtime for various political parties, PAN in this case; use back arrows for less specific info (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS. English Radio Guide changes --- We're in the process of making some changes to the online Radio Guide to our English programmes. This is still work in progress, but already we've added audio links on the actual programme pages so that you can click to listen as soon as you've read the details. You can, of course, still use the existing online audio page, but the aim is to make things as user friendly as possible. In due course we'll be adding a lot of additional information and features to give you a glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes. If you're a subscriber to our weekly English programme newsletter, that too will be undergoing a facelift in the near future. http://www.rnw.nl/en/ (Media Network Newsletter Nov 6 via DXLD) ** NIGERIA. Voice of Nigeria has been heard on 17800 from 2100 to 2300 s/off with anthem, perhaps from 2000 UT in English. I was not sure where it was beamed to, but heard here in Eastern North America several times over the past week (early November). Heard on October 31 with English news at 2200 with SINPO 34322; on November 4th at 2255 with closedown at 2300 with anthem; and on November 1 at 2050, SINPO 33333. I wonder where they find propagation experts that would [pick] such high frequencies? Needless to say, usually much better early on, with pretty severe fading by 2230. I am not sure if this replaces 15120, that frequency has not been heard (Roger Chambers, NY, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA [and non]. ANNUAL BURROWING OWLS STORY T-HUNTING NEWS: THE BIRDS OF FALL If you are into hidden transmitter hunting, listen up. This one is for you. Keeping track of over 300 migrating radio tagged birds. Joe Moell, K0OV, is here with the details. Since 1998, you`ve heard me reporting on hams and scanner fans tracking Burrowing Owls that migrate from Canada to southern states and Mexico. Researchers are so impressed by the capabilities of hams to do this sort of thing that they are asking for help with other critters. Right now, we`re starting our biggest ever project, with more birds and more states involved. Nick Myatt of the Arkansas Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research unit has radio-tagged 360 American Woodcock in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan, and he wants hams to help him find out where they`re going. They`re heading out now, and the list of possible stopover and destination states is big, including Southern Minnesota, Southern Wisconsin, Southern Michigan, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Eastern Kansas, Eastern Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, and Eastern Texas. If that`s where you live or travel, please check my Web site for the list of active frequencies, all between 150 and 152 MHz. Also at this time, Dave Sherman, a Biologist with the Ohio Division of Wildlife, is looking for help in keeping track of two radio-tagged Sandhill Cranes that should be leaving Ohio about the time you hear this. More information, including the frequencies, is on the Web. Go to http://www.homingin.com Besides the frequencies, you`ll learn how to identify the special characteristics of a radio tag signal, and you can subscribe to an e- mail list for fastest notification of these studies. From southern California, this is Joe Moell, K0OV, for Amateur Radio Newsline. (K0OV, ARNewsline Nov 7 via John Norfolk, DXLD) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. A large number of their provincial stations were in // with NBC on 4890 today Nov 4: 3315, 3325, 3335, and 3365 at 1120 (Hans Johnson, FL, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** PERU. 6819.45, La Voz de las Huarinjas, Nov 3, 1046, Andean vocal, announcer with lots of "...La Voz de las Huarinjas..." IDs in passing. Fair signal (Mark Mohrmann, Coventry, VT, NRD 535D, V-Beam 140m @180 deg., "VT-DX" http://www.sover.net/~hackmohr/ DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SINGAPORE. Re the item in DXLD 3-200 showing the daily schedule for the domestic relays of Mediacorp Radio on 6150 kHz and your comment that " This contradicts recent report that only News Radio would be carried; which is more recent and correct? (gh, DXLD) The Mediacorp / Radio Singapore International website has a shortwave schedule showing only News 938 and RSI: " Shortwave Timetable (all Mon-Sun) 0700 (Singapore Time) NewsRadio 1900 RSI English 2200 NewsRadio 2400 CLOSE " (i.e. 2300-1100 UT NewsRadio; 1100-1400 RSI; 1400-1600 NewsRadio) (Alan Pennington, Caversham, UK, Nov 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, the schedule you listed in DXLD 3-200 was what had been in effect in October. So the most recent information is what Tony Rogers got in an email from NewsRadio 938 (that is how they announce it, not NewsRadio 93.8) which said that effective 1 November, NewsRadio 938 would be carried on 6150 kHz at 2300-1100 and 1400-1600 UT. So, I presume NewsRadio 938 is now carried instead of the former mix of domestic service relays. Can anyone in SE Asia confirm that this has happened? 73s (Dave Kenny, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SLOVAKIA. Radio Slovakia International B-03 0100 – 0130 North America English 5930 Central America English 7230 South America English 9440 0130 – 0200 North America Slovak 5930 Central America Slovak 7230 South America Slovak 9440 0200 – 0230 North America French 5930 Central America French 7230 South America French 9440 0230 – 0300 South America Spanish 11990 9440 Central America Spanish 7230 0700 – 0730 Australia English 13715 15460 17550 0730 – 0800 Australia Slovak 13715 15460 17550 0800 – 0830 Western Europe German 5915 6055 7300 1400 – 1430 Eastern Europe and Asia Russian 9440 11990 13715 1430 - 1500 Western Europe German 6055 7345 9450 1530 – 1600 Western Europe Spanish 7345 9440 11600 1600 – 1630 Eastern Europe and Asia Russian 5915 9535 11990 1630 – 1700 Western Europe Slovak 5915 6055 7345 1700-- 1730 Western Europe German 5915 6055 7345 1730 – 1800 Western Europe English 5915 6055 7345 1800 – 1830 Western Europe French 5915 6055 7345 1830 – 1900 Eastern Europe and Asia Russian 5915 6055 9485 1900 – 1930 Western Europe German 5915 6055 7345 1930 – 2000 Western Europe English 5915 6055 7345 2000 – 2030 Western Europe Slovak 5915 6055 7345 2030 – 2100 Western Europe French 5915 6055 7345 2100 - 2130 Western Europe Spanish 7345 W. Europe, S. America 9440 S. America, C. America 11610 (From website Nov. 6, 2003, rearranged a bit by Bernie O’Shea, Ottawa, Canada, for DX LISTENING DIGEST) Surprising changes came into effect from 1 NOV 2003: - silenced transmitters, more regional transmissions on MW, less power on SW... SHORT WAVES: Radio Slovakia International, transmitter site Rimavská Sobota (3 transmitters): power reduced to 200 kW (ex 250). FUTURE PLANS: On short waves, one of the 3 transmitters in Rimavská Sobota will be put out of operation. It is my view that Slovakia should upgrade its SW transmitters to the ALLISS system (a rotatable HRS 4/4/1 antenna system), but using cheaper RIZ (riz.hr) transmitters. Telefunken or Thales transmitters are probably too costly (and perhaps complex) for the nation's needs. Because each ALLISS module operates at 500 kW, one ALLISS module per province is probably the best approach to take with respect to EM compatibility. I must add that it is not a requirement to operate at 500 kW all the time, power can be modified to best fit target areas and those ^%^&%&*^%!!! geomagnetic storms... I would assume that only 4 ALLISS modules would be needed to meet current or future broadcasting requirements. This upgrade probably needs to be done over a 7 to 10 year timeframe (Karel Honzik, Czechia, hard-core-dx via DXLD) ** TIBET. 4905, 1100 with woman in language (Roger Rogan, MA, Nov 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Other than English? ** TURKEY. 7100 to be vacated: See INTRUDER WATCH ** U K. PIRATE ON PARADE --- The BBC's digital radio station 1Xtra does its best to sound like an illegal broadcaster. The real pirates are less than happy, reports Ian Burrell 04 November 2003 When the BBC came up with the idea of in effect setting up its own digital pirate radio station, it was widely received as a fatally flawed idea. Listeners who wanted to hear the authentic voice of the underground were hardly going to turn to the state-funded broadcaster, which has had a hard enough time retaining the attentions of young people in the Home Counties, let alone representing the sound of the streets. And in any case, all the digital radios in circulation were in the hands of white, middle-class nerds, not the urban youth that was the station's chosen demographic. The genuine pirate stations bristled with hostility, suspecting an elaborate attempt by the Establishment to close them down once and for all. Yet little more than a year after its launch, the BBC's 1Xtra - with its undiluted urban music diet of hip-hop, UK garage, drum & bass, desi beats (bhangra) and R&B - has confounded media critics who said it had "a serious credibility problem". In its first audience figures, announced last month, 1Xtra recorded a weekly reach of 331,000, making it the star turn of the BBC's digital radio output. The figure was well in excess of the predictions of some doom-mongers inside the BBC, who feared that the station might struggle to register six figures. For a stand-alone digital network, unsupported by a parallel music television station - unlike Kiss, Kerrang! and Smash Hits, which all have TV channels - the achievement of 1Xtra is unrivalled. It outscored all the other new BBC digital networks, including 6 Music, Five Live Sports Extra and BBC7, the spoken-word station. Matt Mason, editor of RWD magazine, which reports on the pirate radio scene, says the success of the BBC station had taken many by surprise. "People were really wary of it at first. There was a lot of distrust from those who thought it would be used as an excuse to shut down the pirates. But it has gone down an absolute storm." In his first interview since the launch of the station 14 months ago, Willber Willberforce, 1Xtra's head of programmes, says he is attempting to combine the passion of a pirate station with the professionalism of the BBC. "The listeners are saying that we are bang in the middle of a pirate and a legal radio station," he says. 1Xtra, like all radio stations that can be accessed digitally, has benefited from the popularity of listening to digital radio through multichannel television sets, which was largely unforeseen when the idea for an urban music digital network was hatched back in 1999. In the past 12 months, the proportion of adults who listen to radio via the television has increased from 12 per cent to 20 per cent. But the real key to 1Xtra's success has been its national reach. Willberforce, 36, admits that despite 1Xtra's inner-city feel the most enthusiastic respondents to the station's online message boards are those living in parts of the country that have never been within the signal of an urban pirate. "They say it's a godsend," he says. "They feel that at last they are connected." To support this nationwide approach, Willberforce has taken 1Xtra around the UK, with 68 live events in the past year, from Northern Ireland to the south coast. The station's presenters represent a similar geographical spread, with the likes of Richie Vibe Vee (a garage specialist from Wales) and El Double (a drum & bass DJ from Huddersfield), as Willberforce has deliberately stayed away from hiring big stars. Instead, he spends a lot of his -L-6m-a-year budget on putting 1Xtra on the international stage, attending carnivals in Trinidad and Miami and being the only European station present at the annual Hip-Hop Summit, staged this year in Puerto Rico. The latter event established connections with American superstars such as 50 Cent and Alicia Keys, and put 1Xtra on a level that pirate stations can only dream about. "The pirates are about turning up and playing records to their local community and telling them about a gig down the road," says Willberforce. "Being passionate about the music is our pirate element. But when it comes to professionalism and going abroad to the events that matter, we are offering something that you are not going to get with a pirate station." (c) 2003 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** U S A. Almost a fortnight into the new season, WWCR`s online program schedules have still not been updated, but on Nov 6 we received in the P-mail the program guide as of 01 November, whence we excerpt specialty programs: WORLD OF RADIO: Thu 2130-2200 15825, Sat 1130-1200 5070, Sun 0330-0400 5070, Sun 0730-0800 3210, Wed 1030-1100 9475 MUNDO RADIAL: Tue 2230-2245 9475, Wed 2200-2215 9475, Fri 2215-2230 9475 ASK WWCR: Fri 2130-2145 15825, Sat 0945-1000 5070, Sun 0045-0100 3210, Sun 1115-1130 15825, Sun 1830-1845 12160, Wed (1,4,5) 1815- 1830 15825, Fri 1045-1100 9475 CYBERLINE: Sun 0405-0600 3210, Mon 0305-0600 3210 DX PARTYLINE: Sat 1530-1600 12160, Sun 0300-0330 5070, Tue 1030-1100 9475, Thu 2100-2130 15825 WORLD WIDE COUNTRY RADIO: M-F 1100-1200 15825, M-F 1400-1500 15825, M- F 1700-1800 15825, Tu-Sa 0500-0600 3210, Sun 1400-1500 12160, Sun 2100-2200 12160, Mon 0200-0300 3210, Mon 0905-1000 5070 COUNTRY CROSSROADS: Mon 0100-0130 3210 OLD RECORD SHOP: Mon 1030-1100 9475 KEN`S COUNTRY CLASSICS: Mon 0130-0200 3210 THIS WEEK IN AMERICANA: Sun 0705-0800 5070 SING FOR JOY: Wed 0400-0430 3210, Sun 1500-1530 12160 LATIN CATHOLIC MASS: Sun 1700-1730 15825 ROCK THE UNIVERSE: Sat 1205-1300 5070, Sun 0905-1000 3210, Sun 1305- 1400 12160 MUSIC & DANCING: Mon 2100-2130 15825 MÚSICA Y DANZAS: Mon 2200-2230 9475, Wed 2215-2245 9475 A VIEW FROM EUROPE: Sat 1210-1215 15825, Sun 1110-1115 5070, Sun 1810- 1815 12160 AMERICA`S GREATEST HEROES: Sat 1505-1600 15825, Sun 1605-1700 12160 ACTING PRESIDENTIAL RADIO ADDRESS, DEMOCRATIC RESPONSE: Sat 2000-2015 15825 (compiled by Glenn Hauser for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WRMI: see CUBA [non] ** U S A. What happened to WRNO radio? (Charlie, USNS BOWDITCH, Nov 7 to gh at MONITORING TIMES) Transmitter has been down for years. Occasionally heard with very low power backup on 7355, perhaps a ham rig. Was sold a few years ago by the estate of Joe Costello to Good News Outreach in Dallas, but they have done little or nothing to revive the station. If and when they do, it will obviously be nothing more than yet another very unnecessary gospel huxter (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 1830.00, (harmonic 3 x 610) (tentative) WTVN, Columbus, Ohio, Nov 7, 0154-0246/1030-1100, apparent all-news format which would fit this station, 1100 tentative ID, first noticed the last week in October, fair to poor signal with good peaks (Mohrmann-VT) 2479.98, (harmonic 2 x 1240), WGVA, Geneva, NY, Nov 7, 1106, Local news for Ontario County, ID as "Finger Lakes News Network", fair to poor signal with very good peaks (Mark Mohrmann, Coventry, VT, NRD 535D, V-Beam 140m @180 deg., "VT-DX" http://www.sover.net/~hackmohr/ DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Here's notice of an upcoming DX test... PLEASE NOTE: Even if you don't hear a test, be sure and drop a card, letter, or e-mail to the station personnel, thanking them for going to the trouble to run a test! Sunday, December 14, 2003 - WILM-1450, Wilmington, DE will conduct a DX test from 1:05 to 3:00 am EST [0605-0800 UT]. The test will consist of Morse code IDs, regular IDs, recognizable music and various sound effects. On-air calls will be accepted at 302-656-9800 (Fax:302- 655-1450). Reception will be verified with a letter and full-data anniversary QSL card. Reception reports(with return postage) may be sent to: Allan R. Loudell, Program Manager, WILM-AM, 1215 French Street, Wilmington, Delaware 19801 (Arranged by Ron Musco for the NRC CPC.) Also, if you hear a test, PLEASE, PLEASE let me know, via either e-mail or in rec.radio.shortwave! And if you send a reception report to a station, please remember to include return postage with your report... Lynn Hollerman, LA, (ircamember@ircaonline.org) Visit the IRCA Web site at http://www.ircaonline.org (via amfmtvdx at qth.net Nov 4 via DXLD) ** U S A. The Indian Hindi music you are listening to on 1680 is most likely WTTM 1680 Princeton, New Jersey. I get signal reports From all over the world. As Far as I know we are the only 24/7 Commercial Indian Station in the United States. Visit us at http://www.ebcmusic.com (Neal Newman, CE-WTTM, America's largest South Asian Music, News Talk station, Nov 7, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** U S A. There's a new pirate on the air in southern New Hampshire, received at 1700 kHz yesterday while on the road in Manchester, playing unedited rap with explicit language. No announcements through the top of the hour on a couple of checks. Seemed to be playing a CD over and over without interruptions. The signal covers a good five miles beyond the city on the car radio, and can be received in Nashua with phasing now that I know it's there (Bruce Conti - Nashua NH, http://members.aol.com/baconti/bamlog.htm Nov 6, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** U S A. RADIO FREE FLATBUSH --- Crackling under the mainstream, micro-radio serves immigrant New York. The man known on the air as Manno is on the run. But those chasing him are not corporate broadcasters–they’re community radio stations tired of having to play by the rules while Manno flouts them. He drives a cab by day. At night, he broadcasts Haitian gospel music somewhere between Flatbush and Crown Heights with the help of a used, low-power FM transmitter that he bought from a friend for $1500. Last Saturday night he was parked on 87.9 FM. "My music is my ministry," he says with a thick Creole accent and gravelly voice. "But there’s no one in Brooklyn who knows my place. Even my wife, I can’t tell her. I am always traveling. I don’t even get time to sleep." In a twist that pits two Davids against each other, small Haitian radio stations called subcarriers are going after pirate radio in Flatbush. The managers at those stations (who rent their bandwidth from FM stations and broadcast to specially designed radios) complained to the Federal Communications Commission’s enforcement bureau that Manno, and others like him, dip into both the local audience and local advertising. Unlike pirate radio, sub-carriers must pay around $15,000 per month to rent bandwidth from FM stations. Their advertising therefore is more expensive than that of pirate radio stations, which only have the fixed cost of a transmitter. "If somebody charges you $500 or $100, which one you gonna do?" asks Jude Joseph, station manager of Radio Panou, a Haitian sub-carrier in Flatbush. Whether this competition will cause legal stations to go bankrupt or force them to attract advertisers with deeper pockets is still an open question. The answer will determine the growth of Haitian media in the area. On any given day, there are somewhere between two and eight pirate stations in Flatbush, where a large percentage of the tri-state’s 1.4 million Haitians live. But there are also four subcarrier stations, the highest single concentration of the 22 subcarrier radio stations operating legally in the city’s Haitian, Russian, Chinese, Korean, South and Latin American, Polish and Italian communities. Each specially designed radio can only pick up the stations in the community it is designed for, thus allowing each FM station to carry up to two subcarrier stations. "I call it `free money,`" says Ralph Sorbara, a manufacturer of the special radios. He is referring to the FM stations that rent bandwidth at zero cost. Subcarrier technology, known as Subsidiary Communications Authorization or SCA radio, originally transmitted data, reading services for the blind and Muzak. But with the influx of immigrants over the last 30 years and the high cost of running or buying an AM or FM radio station, many communities use it as a means of legal, low- cost community radio. Listeners tuned to 96.3 FM would find classical music. But those with the special radios tuned to Radio Lakay at 96.3 SCA pick up news in Creole and French, heated political talk shows about the future of Haiti under President Aristide and the latest news on immigration issues, as well as music ranging from calypso to hiphop. "Our goal here is not just to inform people about Haiti, but to teach them about integration into American society," Jean Beliard Lucien, Lakay`s station manager, says. "We are also a cultural life preserver in a sea of American culture." Lucien claims that Haitian radio in the city has up to 400,000 listeners, adding that many others listen online to the station that broadcasts from the third floor of a house on Church Ave., above a bakery and travel agency. Proving that the messenger is as important as the message, politicians have begun to court Haitian voters through the local airwaves. Last year, both the Pataki and McCall campaigns for governor courted the 146,000 registered Haitian voters through radio. After the case of police brutality involving Abner Louima and Patrick Dorismond, the police department began recruiting Haitians to the force through radio. Today the 67th precinct in Flatbush has four Haitian police officers who speak Creole and French. Likewise, the health department has used local radio to educate the Haitian community, which has high HIV-infection and infant-mortality rates, about health issues. According to Ann Sternberg, who works on the health media and marketing group for the city`s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, "One of the principal challenges is trust. We`re able to sense from focus groups that they trust local radio." But she adds, "All our budgets are reduced, not just what we spend on ethnic and community radio." Station managers like Lucien estimate that city-funded public service announcements make up 15 percent of their budget. With advertising dollars shortchanged everywhere, advertisers are looking for the cheapest deal in town. "We are struggling to keep our nose above water financially," Lucien says. "We will survive, though, I am confident of that." Lucien professes to be unconcerned with pirate radio and more interested in convincing corporate America that the Haitian community is worth advertising in. He looks to the Spanish language television channel, Univision, as a model. "Before, a major toothpaste producer was not convinced that Spanish people actually brush their teeth. Now, the station has all the mainstream advertisers." One of the biggest and most consistent advertisers is Unitransfer, a money-wiring service that is a subsidiary of Unibank Haiti. Behind the bulletproof glass, store manager Jean Montas, who advertises exclusively on Haitian media, says 95 percent of his customers are Haitian. While there are about two million Haitians nationally, it may not yet be enough to break into the FM radio, where stations in major markets like New York cost millions to buy and hundreds of thousands per month to operate. Lucien believes the role of pirate radio in Flatbush is waning. Manno, citing the sharp drop in stations since last year, agrees. Though the FCC has only seven investigators in the metropolitan area, they have been busy handing out $10,000 fines to pirate broadcasters in Flatbush. I asked Manno if he knew what happened to some, like Dr. John Pierre, whose Faculty of Theology sold Christian books from the second floor of a building on Church Ave. Today the store is empty and a "For Sale" sign is posted on the brick exterior. "Oh, he plays his music with me now," he tells me. Then there was Emmanuel Frederic, who had also been slapped with a $10,000 fine in January. Judging from the sticker on his apartment door in Crown Heights, he was a minister of the airwaves too. It read: "Jesus is my best friend, Amen." "Okay, I`m not going to lie to you," Manno says, suddenly sounding exhausted. "I`m Emmanuel Frederic… I tell you, before this community had a lot of low-powered radio. Today, it’s dead, dead. They shut everything down." Then he repeats what he had said earlier during our phone conversation: "It`s very hard to find that license," referring to the fees subcarriers pay. "But I`m gonna open, honest. I`m gonna get straight with media in America." (NY Press via Bill Westenhaver, Nov 5, DXLD) ** U S A [and non]. HISTORY OF KLIF --- It`s all at http://www.historyofklif.com/ Check out http://www.reelradio.com on Sat November 22nd when there will be a streaming audio special of 11 hours of KLIF from 22/11/63 - 40 years since JFK's assassination. News reports from Joe Long, who originated the 'quick fire' high-reverb style we all remember from Big L and copied almost everywhere else! reelradio.com, if you don't know it, is a superb site for great Top 40 recordings, but they positively discourage downloading of the real audio files. If you want to download the best way is to get Streambox VCR, available here: http://www.afterdawn.com (John E john @ miamigo.fsnet.co.uk on Anorak Nation anorak @ anoraknation.com) Note: The summer of 1964, all you need is.....$500,000. Buy a decommissioned ex US minesweeper called Density, a 50.000 watt RCA BTA 50H and a 10.000 watt RCA BTA 10J medium wave transmitter, the latest American standard studio equipment, a 212 ft aerial mast, Pams jingles, cross the Atlantic Ocean and anchor 3,5 miles off the Essex coast in the UK, tune the transmitter to 266 metres mediumwave, in between deejays onboard the ship listen to recorded programmes from Dallas Texas number one top 40 station in the midsixties KLIF, open up a small office in London and employ a small but very good marketing and sales staff, turn it in to the UKs most successful top40 station, close her down on August 14, 1967 and surprise.. surprise, she made over $800,0000 [sic]. Radio London, known as BIG L, was a unique radio station in the midsixties for the UK and West European Island listeners because we had not ever heard anything like it before. In the USA BIG L would have been just another top 40 station. The 50.000 watt Wonderful Radio London was known in Holland as Whistling Radio London, she was a bit to close to FAN Bremerhafen in Northern Germany and that caused a whistle on her signal. But of course we listened! What a superb radiostation! http://www.marine-broadcasters.com/galaxy/mv%20Galaxy.htm (Mike Terry, UK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. MEDIA REFORM --- An update from the field We've been fighting together to reverse the FCC's efforts to legalize media monopoly for five months now. We've won some stunning victories and overcome huge obstacles because people have taken time to get involved and demand a better media [sic]. Now that Congress is heading toward the end of the 2003 session, we wanted to give you a brief update on where we stand, and an update on the National Conference on Media Reform, happening this Friday and featuring Bill Moyers, Al Franken, FCC commissioners Copps & Adelstein, and several members of Congress. We can't stress enough: it is only because of your efforts - your petitions, your phone calls, your emails - that we have accomplished as much as we have. The people yelled and Congress listened. And the next session of Congress is going to be crucial for media reform efforts. Our challenge now is to increase the number of people who can be called upon when we reach the next critical stage. If you - and others receiving this email - can get just a few of your friends to join Free Press as an E-Activist, we would be close to unstoppable. Forward them this message, or link them to http://www.mediareform.net/mailinglist.php Together - with millions of Americans unified against media monopoly, is the only way we can insure that media issues are finally addressed and remedied. LATEST IN CONGRESS Big Media is one of the most powerful lobbies in Washington. Despite this, we won three big votes in Congress, the latest in the Senate in September, when the "resolution of disapproval", which essentially vetoes the FCC rules, passed by a 55-40 margin. We've been pushing hard ever since to get that resolution voted on in the House of Representatives. Naturally, the Republican leadership (backed by fat cat campaign contributors) have blocked that effort. In response, our bipartisan allies in the House (chief among them Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), Rep. Jim Leach (R-IA), and Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN)) circulated a letter addressed to the Speaker of the House -- the man who controls which issues get a House vote, and which are left to die on the vine. The message of the letter is simple: media ownership rules matter to Americans and the people's House should vote on them. Shocking our opponents, the letter racked up tremendous support for the cause, setting a new highwater mark in the House. 205 Representatives have signed on. The letter will be formally delivered to the Speaker tomorrow. Everyone in Congress now recognizes that if honest politics prevailed and the House voted on the FCC rules, it would strike them down, just as the Senate did. House Republican Leadership have redoubled their efforts to stop a vote from happening. But they have only delayed a final showdown. Thanks to a Federal Court ruling in early September, the FCC rules remain temporarily blocked and Congress has plenty of time to act well into next year. The opposition has the power to make us wait, but they cannot stop this reform movement -- not by any stretch of the imagination. We need only to be patient, marshal our resources, stay [...] We should be enthusiastic: it won't just be ownership in 2004. It will be community radio. It will be protecting our media system from destructive global trade agreements. It will be reforming the FCC so that the public is never again excluded from important policy debates. THE CONFERENCE All of these issues - and how to fix them - will be addressed at the biggest event in the history of media reform in America -- the National Conference on Media Reform in Madison, Wisconsin, this Friday through Sunday, November 7-9. [see CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES, 3-200] Meanwhile, please send an email to a few friends. Tell them about the importance of a democratic, diverse and independent media, and ask them to join the Free Press E-activist list. Thanks and best wishes, -The Free Press Team PS. Stay informed on the latest news relating to media and media reform. Subscribe to our new daily headline service. Sign up at http://www.mediareform.net/news/deliveries.php PPS. For a more detailed summary of the last 5 months of legislative action in Washington, visit http://www.mediareform.net/congress/updates.php ______________________________________________ Freepress_E_Activist mailing list Freepress_E_Activist@mediareform.net http://www.mediareform.net/mailman/listinfo/freepress_e_activist (via E. B. Stevenson, MO, DXLD) ** U S A. NWS/ARRL SKYWARN Recognition Day NEWINGTON, CT, Nov 6, 2003 --- The fifth annual SKYWARN Recognition Day will take place Saturday, December 6, 2003, 0000 UTC to 2400 UTC. During the special event, Amateur Radio operators visit National Weather Service (NWS) offices and contact other operators around the world. The purpose of the event is twofold: to recognize Amateur Radio operators for the vital public service they perform during times of severe weather and to strengthen the bond between radio amateurs and their local NWS office. The event is cosponsored by the American Radio Relay League and the National Weather Service. Traditionally, hams have assisted the National Weather Service during times of severe weather by providing real-time reports of severe events and storm evolution. ``You simply can`t put a price tag on it,`` said Scott Mentzer, N0QE, organizer of the event and Meteorologist-In-Charge at the NWS office in Goodland, Kansas. ``The assistance that radio amateurs provide to the NWS throughout the year is invaluable.`` This year, radio amateurs once again proved their worth. On May 4, after tornadoes knocked out all communications in Stockton, Missouri, portable ham radio stations were set up and staffed by volunteers, with licensed NWS employees forwarding specific forecasts to hams at the Stockton Emergency Operations Center (EOC). In August, an Amateur Radio storm spotter in Iowa tracked a tornado until it lifted, providing the local NWS office in the Quad Cities with ``ground truth.`` This resulted in more specific information and earlier warnings being disseminated to the public. The story doesn`t stop there. Deployed during a winter storm last March, hams in Fairbanks, Alaska reported pinpoint locations of freezing rain and snow. The information was relayed on 2 meters, which allowed the local NWS office to sharply define the warning area and provide detailed statements of ice accumulation. In Wisconsin, a volunteer operator reported to the NWS office at early one spring morning and solicited snowfall reports from amateurs across the region, allowing the NWS to produce a detailed snow graphic and make a public statement summarizing the storm. Amateur Radio success stories such as these occur every year, all across the country. In 2002, participants logged nearly 23,000 QSOs during the 24 hour event. Last year nearly 70 countries were contacted. To learn more, check out the NOAA Web site http://hamradio.noaa.gov/ --- Thanks to David Floyd, N5DBZ, Warning Coordination Meteorologist, NWS Goodland, Kansas; david.l.floyd@noaa.gov Copyright © 2003, American Radio Relay League, Inc. All Rights Reserved. (via John Norfolk, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VIETNAM. 6378.8, Lai Chau BS heard here at nice level, following up on Bob`s unID of a few weeks back. Heard at 1140 with talk in Vietnamese by man and woman, very good conditions today Nov 4. Also heard Nov 6 at 1140; can be logged on ECNA for those checking the frequency daily around sunrise (Hans Johnson, Naples FL, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** ZANZIBAR. As I mentioned in the last line of my log, the signal was best heard on the frequency I listed. Tuning any higher to V. of Tanzania-Zanzibar`s listed frequency of 11734, resulted in a nasty het. It is what it is! (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, hard- core-dx via DXLD) No, it isn`t! From what you say it looks as if you, among other relatively new DXers, have fallen into the trap of reporting off-tuned frequencies as displayed on your readout rather than the true carrier frequency of the station. ONLY the latter should be given as a station`s frequency, because that is where it really is, regardless of interference problems, which you may then detail with e.g. the necessity for off-tuning. The carrier frequency can easily be determined by using the BFO/SSB/CW setting; cannot easily be determined on receivers lacking that (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 3204.99 kHz, unID Spanish religious, 6/Nov/2003 - 1150 UT. For the last hour I have been listening to religious music nonstop in Spanish, sometimes between the songs the male preacher was talking also in Spanish. I noted the station first 1150 UT and stopped listening 1240. No ID/talk 0000 or 0030 UT [means 1200 or 1230???] During 5 years here in Quito I have had a station on this frequency just two times and both times: 3205.00 Ribeirão Preto (Brazil). I can`t find any Spanish speaking station listed. So, is it Ribeirão Preto or perhaps a new station? 73s from (Björn Malm, Quito, Ecuador SWB América Latina, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 6150.8, 2347-0000+ Nov 3, very few announcements in English, otherwise pops. Program probably called 'The World on Weekend' as announced just before 2400 (program name very tentative) also something like '...on this Saturday afternoon from ... and his ... team' - so obviously tape (Finn Krone, hard-core-dx via DXLD) A little bit overmodulated? Then Radio Bayrak would fit in perfectly. 73's (Martin Elbe, hard-core-dx via DXLD) Hi Finn, A format like that could resemble Radio Bayrak's. Used to close down at 2300 UT in the summer, so perhaps a winter time change? Also, the frequency is slightly further above nominal 6150 than it used to be. 73s (Andy Lawendel, Italy, ibid.) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES +++++++++++++++++++++++++ BOSTON AREA DX EVENTS, REMAINDER OF 2003 For the rest of 2003, there will be four significant DX-related activities in the Boston area: three in November and one in December. --- 20/21/22 NOV - The "DX Trifecta" 20 NOV (Thursday) - South Shore DXpedition - Plymouth, MA I expect to be leaving work around noon and will be running a sunset- period DXpedition from the Robbins Road site in North Plymouth, MA. Other DXers are welcome to join in. Bring antennas, radios ... you know the drill. In future this site may not be as accessible or as desirable for DXing as new construction will eventually block some of the exposure to the sea view. So while it can still be used, I'd like to do so. I have a map online at http://members.aol.com/capecodmwdx/n_plymouth_ma_dx.gif The map also shows a nearby alternate site (Nelson Street Beach) that could be used if, for some reason, Robbins Road is not accessible. Both sites have provided good DX on previous outings. Since it could be cold and quite possibly rainy (or even snowy), plan to DX from inside your car with antennas that can be mounted outside: wires on ground, active whips, remote loops. Phasing unit and communications quality receiver are suggested, though not mandatory. I'm not making a big deal about getting together as a group to eat ahead of this since I suspect that many DXers aren't likely to be able to get out of work as early as I want to get started. You might have a chance of running into me about 1:30 - 2 p.m. at the D'Angelo sandwich shop on 152 Samoset St. (Route 44) in Plymouth before I venture over to Robbins Road. For those with 2-m rigs, I'll listen on 146.445 MHz direct some of the time. I'd like to be positioned for Dxing by about 3 p.m. EST when early MW Transatlantics (1467, 1521, etc.) start to show (conditions permitting). The anticipated departure time from the site will be in the 8 to 9 p.m. range unless DX is fantastic beyond all expectations. With winter bearing down, this will likely be the last of my outdoor DXpeditions until at least March 2004. 21 NOV (Friday) - Boston Area DXers (BADX) meeting - Stoneham, MA This is the monthly meeting of our local group that has many familiar names among its membership. Anyone interested in radio / DX (listening or hamming) on any band is welcome. We're always happy to see new faces. Typical meetings attract about 10 DXers. We get together at 7:30 p.m. at member Chris Lobdell's place of employment, the Northeast Manufacturing Company on Spencer Street in Stoneham, MA. Look up the company web site at http://www.northeastmfg.com and click on "how to find us". I think you can get the map directly by going to http://www.northeastmfg.com/map.html 22 NOV (Saturday) - Ray Arruda annual DX get-together - Acushnet, MA Ray and Arlene's home near New Bedford, MA (about 50 miles south of Boston) will once again be open to DXers for what's always a fun time. With new topics such as computer-controlled receivers and recorders, high-tech DXpeditions, BOG antennas, IBOC/DRM, BPL, and the recent wild 'n' crazy propagation, there'll be a lot to talk about, along with the usual reminiscences, DX and otherwise, that will no doubt be accentuated by all the TV and radio news retrospectives about the JFK era. Bring gadgets, gizmos, receivers, recordings, QSL collections, and anything else you'd like to show. Or just bring yourself. Festivities kick off at noon, though if you straggle in around 3 p.m. that's no problem. The assembled group usually goes over to the nearby Cafe Roma for eats around 4-5 p.m. and then reconvenes at the house. This is when actual DXing may occur. I plan to bring a couple of antennas and accessories to try out. The location does best to the south with DX from South America, the Caribbean, and southeast US domestics often on the "menu". If things stay auroral, DX could be amazing. For a map to Ray's see http://members.aol.com/capecodmwdx/arruda_map03.gif or get more information from Ray at kb1evx @ earthlink.net --- 12 DEC (Friday) - BADX Holiday Dinner - Bedford, MA The annual Boston Area DXers holiday dinner will be held at 7 p.m. at the Great Wall Chinese restaurant in the Great Road shopping plaza (Routes 4 & 225, Bedford, MA about 2 miles NW of Routes 95 & 128). Contact Gary Thorburn gary @ thorburn.org if you want to attend. All DXers are welcome, but an approximate head count a few days ahead is necessary to set up the reservation. --- Any of you who live in the eastern MA / RI / southern NH region, or will be travelling through the area, are welcomed to these events. Get to exchange information in person with some of the local "gurus" in many aspects of the radio hobbies. If any of these activities has to be changed or cancelled, I will inform the DX community as quickly as possible. 73 / good DX ... Mark =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= Mark Connelly, WA1ION, Billerica, MA, USA, GC = 71.221 W / 42.533 N e-mail = MarkWA1ION @ aol.com RF circuit page = http://www.qsl.net/wa1ion/index.html Web Links = http://hometown.aol.com/MarkWA1ION/weblink.htm (via NRC-AM via DXLD) FORUM OF MULTILINGUISM AND INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING The first broadcasters conference ever in Malta was held on Oct 24-26, 2003 hosted by the Voice of the Mediterranean (VOM), supported by the European DX Council (EDXC), at the five-star Corinthia Marina Hotel NW of Valletta. About 30 men and women from 11 countries took part in the Forum for Listeners and Broadcasters held by the Voice of the Mediterranean (VOM). These radio stations took part: The VOM, Vatican R, Swiss R, Deutsche Welle, R Exterior de España, R Vlaandern International and R Free Asia. The DSWCI was represented by these members: Torre Ekblom (Finland), Valerio Cavallo and Paolo Morandotti (Italy), Peter Zerafa (Malta) and Anker Petersen (Denmark). The mother tongue of most of the population in Malta is Maltese – a Semitic language related to Arabic and Hebrew. To me the pronounced language sounded more related to Hebrew although many written words have Arabic origin. It also has many English and Italian words included. Both Maltese and English are official languages, but Maltese was first officially accepted 120 years ago! Nearly everybody speaks very good English, so it is easy to be a tourist there. Thus Malta is a multilingual country like Belgium, Finland, Switzerland and many others. The conference began with a visit to the new premises of VOM in the western suburb of Birkirkara inaugurated on March 28, 2003. The Managing Director, Mr. Richard Muscat welcomed us and kindly showed us around in this two storey building. On the ground floor are the managing and administrative offices, and on the second floor several state-of-the-art studios and offices for the producers. Their offices are split into an Arabic section mostly manned with Libyan personnel and an International section with Maltese, because the VOM is jointly owned by the Maltese and the Libyan Governments! In the Arabic section a photo of President Gaddafi was seen on the wall. The VOM was established in 1988 to spread information about the Mediterranean countries, but particularly about Malta. It does not have its own transmitter, but has always been renting airtime from transmitters abroad. Nowadays its programs in seven languages are broadcast via Prato Smeraldo near Rome; Moscow and Komsomolsk. The station appreciates reception reports and verifies with nice QSL- cards. Address: Chircop Building, Valley Road, Birkirkara BKR14, Malta. VOM has registered listeners in 64 countries and receives about 2000 letters each year, particularly from shortwave listeners. Since July 2003 programmes have also been broadcast 24 hours a day via the internet at http://www.vomradio.com --- click ``vom live radio``. The Forum on Multilinguism and International Broadcasting had a session Friday afternoon and another Saturday afternoon, co-chaired by Messrs. Richard Muscat, Luigi Cobisi and Paolo Morandotti. Broadcasters and DX-ers had a lively exchange of views in English and Italian on how radio listening and broadcasting are affected by the use of local and international languages and how languages are chosen for the tasks of international broadcasters. One of the conclusions was that Radio is the largest medium and will continue to stay so. It can reach everyone with news, education and entertainment. Since many people only understand their mother tongue, the broadcasting stations will be more efficient when they produce programmes in several languages. Little countries need to have a Foreign Service in order better to be known abroad. I explained that a small country like Denmark cannot do much communication and trade with other countries using the Danish language, so additional languages are compulsory taught in our schools. That is also why the DSWCI shortly after it was established in 1956 began to publish ``Short Wave News`` in English. The result was that we soon got members in about 35 countries around the world, and still have so. Another conclusion was that it is very useful for the communication with neighbouring countries, if the international stations broadcast in the languages of these countries. During the Forum the EDXC Secretary General donated to the VOM archives seven boxes with the unique collection of the past three years DX-bulletins from the 17 member clubs received at the Florence Postbox of the EDXC, including Short Wave News from the DSWCI. During an official dinner at Bay View Restaurant, Luigi Cobisi also presented the ITALRADIO Prize 2003 to the VOM. Cf. http://www.italradio.org The official domestic broadcaster is R Malta 1 on 999 MW and 93.7 FM and R Malta 2 on 91.7 FM. Besides these, I heard 10 commercial and 14 community stations – all on FM. Between these I was also able to catch many weak Italian stations on Sicily from the listening post at the 6th floor of my hotel. There was little time for shortwave DX-ing except that several broadcasts from R Denmark could be received well (Anker Petersen, DSWCI DX Window Nov 5 via DXLD) I'm really very happy you all enjoyed the Forum in Malta. I'm sure it has produced new and very positive contacts among us and radio stations. Both web portal http://www.edxc.org and http://portale.italradio.org report about the Forum and you can find photos and comments at: http://www.vomradio.com --- section: events. Audio and script coverage by Frans Vossen is available on http://www.rvi.be/rvi_master/uk/radio_world (Luigi Cobisi, Nov 3, ibid.) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ NEO-LUDDITES AND RADIO TECHNOLOGY Dear Glenn: I am noting with some alarm that a hobbyist sect is springing up that actively promotes old, obsolete, and completely inferior electronic technology, claiming that it is in many ways superior to today's state of the art analogue, or even proposed new digital, methodology. We have HAM radio operators who, against all reason and sense, advocate wideband modulation with either AM or SSB modes, in ever- more-crowded bands where increasing noise levels and interference can only be exacerbated. There are FM radio nostalgia buffs who are resurrecting old Serrasoid and Phasitron exciters, spending thousands of dollars to polish up and rewire sixty year old gear that barely worked in its own time. Modern audio processing techniques that have improved the consistent clarity and effectiveness of AM and SW transmission are being bashed as having "ruined radio" (the actual terms written to me by one pompous crank.) All the brilliant investigatory study of phase response and filter integrity that led to the establishment of world-wide standards for audio processing are dismissed as being inconsequential, in favor of old tube-type limiter or clipper designs that could barely cope with the audio response of a 78 rpm record. The latest target of these neo-Luddites is digital broadcasting. Rather than actually test or observe its progress properly, using real-world off-air experience, they are "theorizing" from faulty premises or by specious reasoning, or simply reacting in a negative knee-jerk fashion. Many years ago, as a broadcast and sound engineer who was working on the very cutting edge of audio processing technology with one of the world's leading scientific authorities, I came face to face with this phenomenon and coined "Waldee's Law": to wit, "No two engineers agree on anything." It seemed evident to me, back in the 1970s, that most electronic technicians and engineers were ultra-conservative in temperament and outlook, and resisted the slightest change from the "truths" that they had assimilated at a certain period in their education or work- experience. This syndrome especially affects otherwise intelligent and highly skilled practitioners of electronics who are working outside their own area of specialization. One may be an exceptional RF engineer, and have only the barest rudimentary knowledge of psychoacoustics and electronic sound processing: therefore it is easy to suspiciously dismiss the latest findings of processing experts. At the NAB convention in New Orleans during the late 70s I once served on a discussion panel with some famous AM broadcast consulting engineers. The "antenna design expert" was haughtily and caustically dismissive of any practical ideas about audio shaping and processing, asserting that the complete achievement of the goal of punchy, effective broadcast sound was merely having a linear, wideband antenna system. The transmitter folks focused exclusively on modulator system design and efficiency. The audio processing guys were probably not people who had ever tuned up a transmitter or measured common point impedance. No one seemed to have a comprehensive, integrated, "systems" approach, or a real appreciation of the experience of a typical listener who noticed only certain very obvious things about a radio signal. I tried to suggest that the cumulative effects of production studio practice, equipment maintenance, and the proper integration of processing techniques with audience demographics and artistic goals -- informed along the way by proper engineering practice in each niche of the unique types of technology employed -- created the totality of impact on the home or car listener; that one could fine-tune any *one* aspect of a broadcast facility in a vacuum and still not succeed in impressing a listener by the station's on-air quality. I fear that the reductionist engineers looked at me with wrinkled-up faces and expressions of extreme distaste. Many of these guys are now retired, and promote their brand of isolated ultra-conservative ("reactionary") skepticism whenever new industry advances are brought to the earliest stages of marketplace trials. Are they often, or EVER, right? One remembers the outcries against digital audio in the early eighties. At an AES convention in Los Angeles, I recall one gadfly attempting to demonstrate that digital sound would affect the human nervous system by generating a muscular tension that would disturb the auditor and destroy the aesthetic appreciation of music. He used what I later found was an old carnival trick to try to "prove" that there was something inherently evil about digital audio that caused involuntary spasms. If so, then where are the sufferers today? Digital audio has no such deleterious physical effect on human beings. At least 90% (or more) of the world's music lovers have gladly put aside analogue LPs. The remaining few percent are entitled to enjoy their nostalgic experiences -- often involving mostly old music or artists that are not currently on CDs -- but virtually no one is asserting that the human nervous system is negatively assaulted by the stream of ones and zeroes that make up the basis of digital sound. I would ask the radio neo-Luddites if we *really* want to go back to tube-type high level modulators, single band limiters, and exclusive use of amplitude modulation (and the huge impact on our electric bills that such inefficient technology has on our economic status); weak, fussy, and barely copyable signals (think third-world shortwave stations that you strain to listen to merely to identify the *language* being spoken!); and the waterfall of hiss, noise, and buzz from ionospheric and earthly interference; and stop THERE without seriously investing in our broadcasting infrastructure for the future of our communications industry? Yours, (Steve Waldee -- retired radio station CE and PD, San Jose, CA, Nov 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) CONTINENTAL ELECTRONICS HAS A NEW OWNER --- Broadcast transmitter manufacturer Continental Electronics has a new owner. Date posted: 2003-11-06 Few people in the broadcast industry took note this week when it happened, but the Dallas-based company was part of the $543 million purchase of Integrated Defense Technologies Inc. by defense electronics supplier DRS Technologies Inc., headquartered in Parsippany, N.J. The transaction was completed following approval by a majority of IDT stockholders, the buyer said. A Continental spokesman told Radio World Online Thursday that the impact of the sale on Continental is not yet known; but, he said, "I think it can only be positive." Continental has 140 employees. The company has had a varied ownership history. Continental was founded in 1946 by James O. Weldon and later became part of LTV Corp. In 1972, Weldon bought it back. In 1985, the company became a division of Varian Associates; in 1990, it was acquired by Tech-Sym Corp., which was bought in turn by IDT in 2000. DRS, the new parent company, employs 5,700 people. Its announcement of the acquisition of IDT did not mention Continental. A spokeswoman did not immediately return a call about the company's plans for the broadcast marketplace. Mark S. Newman, DRS Technologies' chairman, president and CEO, said in a statement, "This transaction has enhanced our content on key U.S. Army and Navy weapons programs, contributed a significant new base of U.S. Air Force programs and greatly expanded DRS's intelligence agency business, creating a formidable, defense electronics industry competitor." (Radio World daily NewsByte Nov 6 via DXLD) RADIO LAW: EMERGENCY OFFICIALS CONCERNED ABOUT PUBLIC ACCESS TO ``MIRT`` Emergency responders are concerned that MIRT, or mobile infra red transmitters are falling into the wrong hands. Mainly, into the hands of people not willing to obey traffic laws. A mobile infra red transmitter allows personnel aboard emergency vehicles responding to emergency calls to quickly change specially- equipped traffic signals in their favor. That was fine until Internet websites began offering the same devices for use by the public for around $300 a pop. Unlike radar jammers and certain laser detectors that emit radio signals, the mobile infra red transmitter and other signal changers send out a beam of invisible light. Since light is not controlled by the FCC the devices do not run afoul of the agency`s rules. Needless to say, that this is causing concern for those who rely on the technology for legitimate needs. Don`t be to surprised if states begin enacting their own laws to control the sale and purchase of the units. More on the situation and the device is in cybrspace at http://www.detnews.com/2003/commuting/0310/26/a01-307303.htm and http://www.themirt.com (CGC, others, Amateur Radio Newsline Nov 7 via John Norfolk, DXLD) FCC APPROVES INTERNET ANTI-PIRACY TOOL By JONATHAN D. SALANT, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - The government on Tuesday approved an anti-piracy mechanism to make it harder for computer users to illegally distribute digital TV programs on the Internet. In its order, the Federal Communications Commission told makers of digital television receivers that by July 1, 2005, their models must recognize an electronic marker that broadcasters can embed in their programs to limit piracy. As Internet connections get faster and broadcasters switch to much clearer digital TV, the movie and television industries are concerned that consumers will put high-quality copies of shows and films on the Web that others can download for free. This would reduce the broadcasters' ability to sell the shows for syndication or overseas. The proliferation of music on the Internet has held down the sales of CDs, and the music industry has started to sue listeners who illegally distribute the songs online. FCC Chairman Michael Powell said his agency was taking "an important step toward preserving the viability of free over-the-air television." The deadline would be in advance of the congressionally mandated goal of 2007 for all TV broadcasts to switch to a digital format, which uses computer language, from the current analog format, which uses radio signals sent as waves. After the switchover, consumers who don't subscribe to a cable or satellite service would need digital tuners, either inside a TV or in a set-top box. FCC officials said the embedded electronic signal, known as a "broadcast flag," would not prevent consumers from using existing or new DVD or VCR machines to make copies of TV programs. But the signal is designed to make it more difficult for consumers to then transfer those copies to the Internet and make them available to potentially millions of others. While all five commissioners supported the order, Jonathan Adelstein, one of two Democrats on the five-member panel, said the decision did not safeguard viewers' privacy. "Improper use of the technologies could arguably allow such things as tracking personal information," Adelstein said. "The broadcast flag should be about protecting digital content, not about tracking Americans' viewing habits." Broadcasters had strongly urged the FCC to approve the flag. "Without it, high quality programming will migrate off of free television," said Edward O. Fritts, president of the National Association of Broadcasters. But consumer groups said the electronic marker is not the solution to prevent illegal copying of TV programs. "We would like to be talking about how to best protect over-the-air content rather than rush 1,000 miles an hour to approve a solution that isn't going to work with technology we haven't seen for a problem we don't yet have," said Chris Murray, legislative counsel for Consumers Union, the publisher of Consumer Reports magazine. On the Net: Federal Communications Commission: http://www.fcc.gov National Association of Broadcasters: http://www.nab.org Consumers Union: http://www.consumersunion.org (via yahoonews via Bruce MacGibbon, DXLD) INTRUDER WATCH ++++++++++++++ PIRATES OF THE PACIFIC On the intruder watch scene, VK6XW in Albany Australia reports over 130 of them in the ham bands in recent days. The majority are found on 20 meters and appear to be Indonesians, with the rest being Asian Intruders including a number of fishing boats. VK6XW says that the boats also use Amateur Radio VHF frequencies for ship-to ship communication. Meantime, Chris Wright, VK2UW in Lighthouse Beach New South Wales Australia reports on other pirates in the Pacific. This group is using Amateur Radio calls such as VK4ZLY, several Zed L calls and American calls --- portable VK. These are also on 20 meters and Chris says that they have become a major headache to a number of regularly schedule ham radio nets (Q-News via Amateur Radio Newsline Nov 7 via John Norfolk, DXLD) VOICE OF TURKEY AGREES TO VACATE 7100 Dear fellow radio amateurs, here you find the answer of Mrs. Sedef SOMALTIN from HFBC Frequency Management of Turkish Radio Television. There is a German saying: Success has got many Fathers. Who exactly it was to give TRT Ankara the FINAL PUSH to leave 7100 kHz: We don´t know. I am indebted to: Wolfgang Bueschel, DF5SX. He is an enthusiastic BCL, and he sent me the transmission schedule some days before TRT started the transmissions, so I could listen and react. Another BCL is Andreas Volk from Munich. He gave me some details to get directly thru to TRT via email. And, last but not least, there is Aziz Sasa, TA1E, from the board of directors of the Turkish Radio Amateurs, who made many phone calls and who had many talks with people from the Turkish Telecoms. and TRT Ankara. Right when TRT Ankara started the transmissions I informed the German Telecoms. "RegTP". Thank you, Mr. Wulff Pecori for taking action. And, of course, there were some members of amateur radio societies abroad who alerted their telecoms. authorities. It was a combined attack, and it was successful. Thank you all for your activities and for your engagement! Fraternally yours in amateur radio,Ulrich Bihlmayer, DJ9KR, Coordinator of DARC MONITORING SYSTEM INTRUDER WATCH ********************* Letter of Mrs. Sedef Somaltin ***************** Dear Mr. Bihlmayer, We are changing the frequency of 7100 kHz to 9840 kHz which will be effective on 10 Nov. 2003. Thank you for your cooperation. Yours Sincerely, Sedef Somaltin Previous -----Original Message----- Dear Bihlmayer, Thank you for your e-mails. It has been clear that 7100-7300 kHz is not the frequency usage for the broadcasters but is the frequency spectrum for the broadcasters. We already began studying an alternative frequency to move to. For our transmission targetted to North Africa 6 and 7 MHz are the suitable bands and it is very difficult to find a clear one especially for such a long 5 hours transmission. We want to inform you that we are making our best to do the frequency amendment in a very short time. Thank you in advance for your understanding. Yours Sincerely. Sedef Somaltin, Kiymet Erdal, HFBC Frequency Management, International Technical Relations, Turkish Radio-Television Corporation, Nov 3 TRT Sitesi C Blok No:525 ORAN-ANKARA Tel: +90-312-4901732 Fax: +90-312-4901733 E-Mail: sedef.somaltin @ trt.net.tr E-Mail: kiymet.erdal @ trt.net.tr Direct Link to HFBC Seasonal Schedules: http://www.trt.net.tr/duyurufiles/vot.htm Web Site: http://www.trt.net.tr (all via Wolfgang Büschel, Spain, Nov 7 via DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ THE BIGGEST SOLAR X-RAY FLARE EVER IS CLASSIFIED AS AN X28 -- Jonathan Marks has passed on this announcement from the European Space Agency: It has just been announced that the massive solar X-ray flare which occurred on 4 November was, at best estimate, an X28. There is still a small chance this will be revised by a small amount, but it is now official: We have a new number 1 X-ray flare for the record books, the most powerful in recorded observational history. For more information, see http://www.esa.int/export/esaSC/SEMNFTWLDMD_index_0.html # posted by Andy @ 14:44 UTC Nov 7 (Media Network weblog via DXLD) ###