DX LISTENING DIGEST 3-211, November 24, 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 1208: WWCR: Wed 1030 9475 WRN ONDEMAND: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO [also for CONTINENT OF MEDIA, MUNDO RADIAL]: Check http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html WORLD OF RADIO 1208 (high version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1208h.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1208h.rm (summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1208.html WORLD OF RADIO 1208 (low version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1208.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1208.rm WORLD OF RADIO SW RECEPTION IN EUROPE I would love to know, from our listeners in Western Europe, what is consistently the best time for listening to World of Radio via SW, excluding the period between 0700 and 1700 UT weekdays. Thursdays at 2130 on 15825 is not proving very good at the moment, although this obviously could change if WWCR drop down to 9475 for this hour during the December-February period, as they have during most recent winters [so it is planned: only one more week on 15825 --- gh]. At the moment my listening to this program is done via the net, which obviously gives me by far the best reception, but of course costs me a penny a minute on the 0845 number I use for internet connections. PAUL DAVID, Chairman, Brent Visually-Handicapped Group, Registered Charity No.: 272955, Nov 22, swprograms via DXLD) Well, I hope it`s worth the 28.7p, anyway (gh) UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS. Hope you're well. Listened to you on Sirius this morning on the way to Ontario to look at an animation school (Sheridan) for our youngest son. You sound good in digital. No luck hearing the Enid X-bander here yet, either. PS: How about shocking the world and coming to Kulpsville in March? (Had to ask!) 73 (John Figliozzi, NY, Nov 23, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Mr. Hauser: You and I haven't seen eye-to-eye regarding politics and religion, but we do share a common enemy when it comes to BPL. I gave credit to your suggestion of contacting the BIG GUNS of broadcasting. That article is written at eham.com along with many comments. Just thought you'd be interested. 73, (Bill Lauterbach, WA8MEA) THANKS FOR MENTIONING THE "GSWC" [Global Shortwave Club] ON YOUR WEB PAGE. President DR. E.C. FULCHER, JR. (http://www.truthhouse.org) ** AZERBAIJAN. Re 9677.7, Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Rep. (Stepanakert): 0600-0635 on Weds/Fris, 1500-1535 Tues/Thurs in Azeri (Wolfgang Büschel, BC-DX Nov 21 via DXLD) ** BELGIUM [non]. TDP goes DRM --- I noticed this addition on the TDP schedule http://www.airtime.be/schedule.html TDPradio in DRM 1100-1200 9850 Saturday English (Silvain Domen, Belgium, 24 November, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Can TDP keep the site for this one secret too? Not so many DRM-capable transmitters available yet, presumably in Europe (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BHUTAN. 6035, The Bhutan Broadcasting Service (BBS), Thimphu, all nights here in Milano (North Italy). It starts broadcasting at 0055 with gongs, then talks and at 0105 long religious slow song/music. At 0020 fade out. Poor signal but sometimes clear. I think best reception will be possible at the end of December and January. Last January I got it with strong signals. A nice info about this station can be found on DX Window 232 and 233 issued by DSWCI [already in DXLD]. Rx: 7030 + t2fd Ciao (Giampiero Bernardini, Avvenire, Milano, Italy, Nov 23, dxing.info via DXLD) ** BIAFRA [non]. 7380, CLANDESTINE/NIGERIA, V. of Biafra Int`l, *2100- 2113, Nov. 22, English, Sign-on with music and familiar ID "You are listening to Voice of Biafra International coming to you from Washington, D.C., transmitting on frequency 7380 in the 41 meter band, Please stay tuned for the entire hour". This was repeated 3 times with instrumental music between IDs. A male speaker was noted with a passionate talk regarding corruption and "liberty and justice in our land". Fair/good (Scott Barbour, NH, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BURUNDI. RADIO STATION WANTS TO BE VOICE OF CHANGE IN SCARRED BURUNDI --- By NORA BOUSTANY Washington Post Nov. 21, 2003, 8:55PM WASHINGTON -- At another time, in a different place, Jeannine Nahigombeye, 30, a tall, striking woman with high cheekbones, a gleaming smile and a voice that carries, could have had a stellar career on stage or in film. In Bujumbura, the capital of Burundi -- where hacking people to death in the 1990s became as routine as skinning chickens, where neighborly betrayal is still a weeping wound -- she had to opt for a role in real life. The director of Radio Isanganiro, poised and pensive, remembers when home was a peaceful African nation... http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/world/2241308 (via Houston Chronicle via Andy Sennitt, DXLD) Not on SW ** CANADA. Powerline communications coming to Quebec: see below ** CANADA [and non]. Re CODAR QRM to RCI on 13655: I heard same yesterday morning on 13655 kc but it was weaker then RCI. I also hear it on 4840 kc +/- from late afternoon through late morning. It sounds a bit different then the one on 13600 kc +/- though. Being Nostalgic: Speaking of programs on shortwave, about the only ones left that I regularly listen to are "Sunday Morning" and "Quirks and Quarks" both on RCI. I also listen a lot to the endless parade of bizarre and unique programming on WBCQ while working in my website design business. I still listen to news on the BBC and at times the VOA but neither are impartial and independent. Otherwise in my personal opinion the programming quality on RCI, VOA, BBC and Radio Australia has really gone down the tubes. Also I really miss the many long gone low power 49 meter HF stations from Mexico, also 120, 90 and 60 meter stations from Central America like R. Belize, African stations like Botswana and Pacific stations like WSZO in the Marshall Islands, etc. I can remember when the tropical bands were jam packed with stations. I think that shortwave broadcasting was at it's zenith prior to the end of the Cold War and it's been all down hill since. 73, (Thomas F. Giella, KN4LF, Plant City, FL, USA, Nov 24, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHILE. As I write at ~11 am Central [1700 UT], I am hearing those Chilean Muzak stations full scale across the band [47-50 MHz?], and Argentines are in on 6m. The chances of TV getting some ain't great, but keep an eye out. Gosh, I love solar storms (Peter Baskind, J.D., LL.M., N4LI, Germantown, TN/EM55, Nov 21, WTFDA via DXLD) ** CHINA [non]. Jammer and China Radio International Hi Glenn, I don`t know how you want to categorize this but --- 11/23/03; 2040­2130 UT; 13630 kHz. There was a quite strong `bubble jammer` signal. It sounded very similar to the Cuban jamming of R. Martí. The jammer frequency was right on 13630 when I checked it by the side bands on the IC­R75. Under the jammer signal was a weak English program (SINPO 21331). I could only make out a word here and there. There was also a CW signal for several seconds at a time. (I don`t read morse code, and so don`t know what it was saying.) China Radio International is scheduled 2000-2057 and 2100-2127 UT on this frequency to Africa [via MALI], (per the schedule in a recent DXLD and Eike Bierwith`s B ­ 03 schedule which might be from the same source.) The program ended at 2057 with Chinese sounding music. Another program started at 2100. The signal under the jamming faded out about 2120, so I could not check the sign off time. China Radio International parallel 11640, was just barely audible and appeared to be the same program with no jamming. I would conclude that it probably was the China Radio International signal under the jamming. The jammer continued throughout, and after the fade out of the CRI program. Who would jam China in English to Africa? --- Two thoughts: 1) The broadcast originates in Cuba and the Cubans goofed. Leaving a jamming transmitter co-frequency. 2) I haven¹t heard the Iranian jammer, but it could also be that - although the enduring question of *why* is still there. Any ideas? (Mark Taylor, Madison, WI, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Mark, Answer: R. Martí was on 13630 in the A-03 season, but the dentrocubanos haven`t caught on yet that it moved, so their very good friends the Chicoms, who also jam, are getting jammed! Shhh, fewer jammers on a real Martí frequency. 73, (Glenn to Mark, via DXLD) ** COLOMBIA. 6010, LV de tu Conciencia: "We are also making progress on our new SW transmitter (which we are building here in Bogotá)." (Russ Stendahl, Colombia Para Cristo NL) Per RS, new transmitter will have dual frequency capability and up to 10 kW. They are asking for 5910 in addition to 6010, and are also considering some daytime transmissions in 31 mb (maybe circa 9400-9500). (Jerry Berg, DX-plorer via DXLD) ** COLOMBIA. Quito 24/Nov/2003 20:05, Amigos DXistas! 10282vH kHz HJKS LV del Llano, Villavicencio, 24/Nov/2003 - 2355 UT. Strong signal and clear IDs this time. Last month I made a mistake reporting 10262V, LV del Guaviare, San José de Guaviare with program not in // with Guaviare on 6035 kHz. I´m VERY sorry! Is giving their SW frequency 6115 kHz but presume it´s inactive. It has to be an harmonic from MW 1020. You can within 24 hours listen to a recording of the station on SWB homepage: http://homepage.sverige.net/~a-0901/ 73s (Björn Malm, Quito, Ecuador, SWB América Latina, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Only if the MW varies to 1026, 1028+. Can you hear that? (gh) ** COSTA RICA [non]. The annan@un.org bounces when I've tried it: Your message cannot be delivered to the following recipients: Recipient address: annan@un.org Reason: Rejection greeting returned by server. Diagnostic code: smtp;571 Sorry... Connection denied. Listed in deny list (Walter (Volodya) Salmaniw, MD, Victoria, BC, Canada, Nov 23, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** CUBA. Altho we well know actual frequency usage varies from day to day, RHC appears to have put up a revised schedule on its website; at least we found it actually accurate for Aló, Presidente, Sun Nov 23, [see VENEZUELA [non]] so here is the rest of it: Zona Geográfica Frecuencias Horarios En La Mañana Caracas 11705 11-15 Norte-Centro-Sudamérica 11760 11-15 Caribe 6000 11-14 9820 11-14 Buenos Aires 15230 12-14 En La Tarde Europa 17750 21-23 América Del Sur 15230 21-23 Caribe 9550 21-23 En La Noche Caracas 9600 00-05 Nueva York 11760 00-05 México 5965 00-05 Buenos Aires 15230 00-05 Chicago 9820 00-01 Washington 6000 00-01 America Central 9505 00-05 Mesa Redonda Informativa (De Lunes A Viernes) Estados Unidos 6000 23-01 Nueva York 11875 23-01 Transmisiones En Inglés Nueva York 11760 2030-2130 Chicago 9820 01-05 Washington 6000 01-05 San Francisco 9820 05-07 Caribe 9550 05-07 [Note: Still omits recently reconfirmed 2300-2400 English On 9550!; heard it very strong Nov 23; must be one of the new transmitters] Transmisiones En Francés Caribe 9505 22-2230 9550 00-00:0100 [sic; I deleted clutter elsewhere, but am not sure what to do with this! -- gh] Caribe 9550 0130-0200 Nueva York 11760 2000-2030 11760 2130-220o Transmisiones En Portugués Europa 17750 20-2030 Brasil 17705 22-2230 17705 23-2330 15230 23-24 Transmisiones En Guaraní América 17705 2230-23 América 17705 2330-24 Transmisión En Quechua Brasil 17705 2330-00 17705 2230-23 [Since when has Brasil any significant Quechua-speaking population?] Transmisiones En Creole Caribe 9505 2130-22 9505 2230-23 Caribe 9550 01-0130 Transmisiones En Esperanto (Sólo Los Domingos) San Francisco 9820 07-0730 Nueva York 11760 15-1530 Nueva York 11760 1930-20 Caracas 9600 2330-24 America Central 9505 2330-24 We also ran across the Esperanto broadcast, Sun Nov 23 at 1520 on 11760, a travelogue about Sancti Spíritus, giving a website, but cut off in mid-sentence at 1521:30; I think it was back on a few minutes later when I was otherwise occupied (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Jamming: see CHINA above ** CUBA. 2060 harmonic, Radio Musical Nacional, classical music // 590, presume 2 x 1030 unknown site, fair sig but rather low audio, 0110 UT Nov 24. Was an open carrier previous several days. 2380 harmonic, Radio Sancti Spíritus, 1110Z, 2 x 1190, pop music and Spanish W chatter // 1210 etc. Weak, low audio, seemed to be another harmonic on frequency also, but unreadable. Noted local evenings also (David E. Crawford, Titusville, Florida, 28.51N 80.83W, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** ERITREA/ETHIOPIA. Between 0410 and 0420 I had announcers with weak talks on both 7100, V. of the Broad Masses, Eritrea and 6940, Radio Fana, Ethiopia. I intend to try for better reception tonight at 0300 sign-on (Scott Barbour, NH, Nov 24, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA [non]. 6350, CLANDESTINE/ETHIOPIA, V. of Peace and Democracy, 0338-0351*, Nov. 24, Amharic? long talk at tune-in, Horn of Africa music at 0348, brief talk and more music. Weak talks at 0350 with "echo" vocal effects (presumed ID). Fair/poor, surprisingly decent signal poking through noise floor. [Then::] 6350, CLANDESTINE/ETHIOPIA, V. of Tigray Revolution, *0356-0410, Nov. 24, Amharic?, Horn of Africa music until 0400, OM with talk and musical jingles, different OM with fast-paced talks, back to original OM with long talk. Fair/poor, starting to deteriorate under QRN before tune-out. [Then:] 5500, CLANDESTINE/ETHIOPIA, V. of Tigray Revolution, 0421-0436, Nov. 24, Amharic?, Didn`t think to check for this parallel of 6350 until later! Presumed interview with a YL speaking briefly on a few occasions followed by an OM with long talks. Vocal music at tune-out. Fair at tune-in, beginning to fade out around 0430, much better copy than 6350 (Scott Barbour, NH, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GEORGIA. Georgian R+TV odd on v11805.13 till closedown at 0727:47 UT. SINPO only 1-2/2/3/3/2, also when smallest filter in use. QRM by S9+60 dB signal of RAI Rome 11800 and Jordan Radio Amman on 11810 kHz. Schedule Georgia Russian 0600, English 0630, German 0700-0728 (Wolfgang Büschel, Stuttgart, Germany, BC-DX Nov 19 via DXLD) Radio Georgia in Azeri on 4540 kHz was heard at *1600-1625* UT (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, WWDXC BC-DX Nov 17, via DXLD) With all the political strife just recently in Georgia, it would have been nice to be able to monitor this in English without strain. No chance of that (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. Glenn, thanks Ralf Weyl and Rudolf Krumm, and another religious broadcaster on DTK Wertachtal to mention. Not only "EMG Evangelische Missions Gemeinden in Deutschland", but also SANTEC: 6015 1130-1159 27,28 314 ND 930 17 151103 280304 WER 125 EMG Also R. Santec programmes, Sundays only 1200-1300 UTC: 6015 1200-1300 27,28 314 ND 930 17 151103 280304 WER 125 Santec 73 (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Nov 24, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL. NEW COMPUTER PROGRAM MAKES FREQUENCY PLANNING MORE EFFICIENT The HFCC has launched a new program called IRUS. Its purpose is to detect unused and unregistered transmissions. It has proven to be very successful. The most recent campaign was coordinated by Arto Mujunen of the IBB. A team of IBB monitors, as well as participants from the ASBU, Digita, Deutsche Welle, RaiWay, RCI, RNW, Sentech, and Teracom took part in the campaign. Numerous discrepancies were found. The affected Frequency Management Orgqnizations (FMOs) were notified of their errors. Inaccuracies must be removed from the schedule. Global coordination of a single HFCC/ASBU/ ABU-HFC database is now a reality. After the recent WRC03 (World Radiocommunications Conference) in Geneva, there is not much hope of new frequencies in the future. There are indications that the current IRUS campaign has resulted in fewer ``wooden`` registrations. (Source: NASB Newsletter, December 2003) # posted by Andy @ 08:05 UT Nov 24 (Media Network blog via DXLD) ** IRAN. In recent weeks, there has been a lot of speculation about the future of shortwave broadcasting from Iran. In letters to listeners they were informing them that shortwave was being reduced in favor of the Internet. They encouraged feedback from listeners and a number of listeners, including myself, wrote in to the station about continuing shortwave broadcasting. After waiting for about a week or so, I received the following encouraging reply from the station: "Dear Richard D`Angelo, Many thanks for your comments on the importance of short wave. We have again established frequencies for North America. I would be very pleased if you listen to it and send us a reception report. The frequencies are as follows: 9580 KHz and 6120 KHz at 00:30 to 02:30 I would also pleased if you listen IRIB english radio through internet (http://www.iribworld.com) and let us know the quality of the voice the its speed. We thank you in advance. Best Regrads English Radio" I already sent them my log of 6020 from earlier this week which appears to have been a punch up error. There is no mention of the Voice of Justice ID announcement (Rich D`Angelo, PA, NASWA Flashsheet Nov 23 via DXLD) Viz.: 6020 IRAN Voice of Justice, *0128-0156 Nov 19, instrumental music opening followed by "This is the Voice of Justice" identification. Choral anthem followed by opening announcements with 9875 and 6025 mentioned to North America (neither heard). After Holy Koran, the news followed by political commentaries. Only "Voice of Justice" station IDs noted throughout broadcast. Fair to good signal. I had seen reports from Australia about Voice of Justice IDs at the end of VOIRI broadcasts, but this was clearly all Voice of Justice (D`Angelo, PA, ibid.) ** IRAQ [and non]. L. PAUL BREMER III TO BLITZER I: NEWS BUSINESS IN `DEFORMATION` --- by Joe Hagan, Wednesday, Nov. 19 After he flew back to Baghdad on Thursday, Nov. 13, Ambassador L. Paul Bremer III got on the Sunday talk circuit to explain the Bush administration’s timetable for turning authority in Iraq over to the Iraqis—and to attempt to counteract the appearance of quagmire syndrome. At his last appearance, on CNN’s Late Edition, Mr. Bremer --- the Bush-appointed head of the Coalition Provisional Authority --- took a parting shot at network television, blaming the news business for transmitting overly gloomy images to American viewers. The saturation coverage of near-daily bombings, helicopter crashes and terrorist attacks, he told CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer, was the result of a fundamental flaw in news-gathering organizations... http://www.observer.com/pages/story.asp?ID=8200 (NY Observer via DXLD) Plus two related articles recently ** ISRAEL. Thiny 5 kW Israel's military transmitter of Galei Zahal in Hebrew on v15785.08 kHz at 0625 Nov 19 (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, BC- DX via DXLD) ** ISRAEL. Kol Israel - new Hotbird frequencies --- I don't know how new this is, but I just saw this on the http://www.israelradio.org homepage: Hot Bird Satellite --- Please note that if you tune to the Hot Bird satellite for IBA digital Radio or TV there are now new tuning parameters NEW: Frequency 12.207 GHz Horizontal Pol SR= 27,500 FEC=3/4 (Daniel Ronsenzweig, Nov 23, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ISRAEL. ARUTZ 7 SHIP LEAVES ANCHORAGE A message received today from Mike Brand in Israel says that the radio ship used until recently by the right-wing offshore broadcaster Arutz 7 has now left its anchorage off the coast of Tel Aviv. According to earlier announcements by Arutz 7, the ship is going to be scrapped. # posted by Andy @ 12:53 UT Nov 23 (Media Network blog via DXLD) ** JAMAICA. Jamaica's version of BBCM, RIP Jamaica Observer 23 November 2003: We note the recent passing of one of the less known, but a real rock stone of the JBC, Horace A Cardoza, a broadcast engineer, who was known to JBC originals as 'Raguzar', the 'Man from the Hills' -- a reference to the fact that he was almost always at the Wareika Hills site in East Kingston monitoring BBC, Armed Forces radio and other international short-wave broadcasts for stories for JBC newscasts. That was before 'satellite' and 'digital' became commonplace and anyone, anywhere, is in instant touch with anyone, anywhere, anytime. It was a time when human ingenuity had to coax temperamental equipment through unpredictable weather to get an audible signal so that listeners could actually get past the static and crackle to the news. Cardoza was the best at that business! In March 1964, he migrated to the United States as one of the pioneers in what was to become a veritable flood of former JBC and RJR broadcast engineers to make their mark at the United Nations and the major broadcast networks in New York. He retired from ABC in the early 90s and moved to South Florida where he died recently at the age of 73. Personally, I can never forget the morning of 22 November, 1963, when his voice came through to the newsroom on the two-way radio. "President Kennedy get shot". It changed the news day, and history! http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/columns/html/20031123T000000-0500_52006_OBS_CAMPAIGN_FINANCING.asp (via Kim Elliott, DXLD) ** JORDAN. 11690, R. Jordan, 1630 tune-in 23 Nov to nice classical and semi-classical music program; S6 signal suffered from usual RTTY interference; news headlines at 1700; IDs at 1703 and 1708; studio audio seemed highly compressed and mushy (Jerry Strawman, Des Moines, IA, 41.64131306N 93.66210470 W, R8B + R7+ Inverted L, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Must not be a straw man with such precise coördinates ** KUWAIT. R. Kuwait`s English Programmes 0500-0800 on 15110 to S&SE Asia, Au & NZ: 0500 Opening Announcement & [P]Review of This Morning`s Programmes 0505 The G.C.C. March [== regional anthem? Gulf Coördination Council] 0515 Islam The Religion of Truth & Justice 0530, 0605, 0630, 0730 Songs 0540 Kuwait Land of Prosperity / Pioneers & Famous Personalities of Kuwait [days of week?] 0600 News 0615 Theatre in Kuwait 0658 Scene & Heard / Pell Mell / Helter Skelter / International Top 20 / Pop Session Special [which days of week???] 0700 Discovering Your Hidden Powers / Pop Scene [ditto] 0758 Close Down 1800-2100 on 11990 to Eu, NAm, CAm: 1800 Opening Announcement & [P]Review of This Evening`s Programmes 1802 The G.C.C. Mach [see above] 1815 Islam The Religion of Truth and Justice 1830 News 1845, 1915, 2015, 2045, 2055 Songs 1900 Kuwait Land of Prosperity 1930 Theatre in Kuwait 1945 Discovering Your Hidden Powers / Scene and Heard / Pell Mell / Helter Skelter / International Top 20 / Pop Session Special [what days of week?] 2030 Care of the Handicapped in Kuwait & Social Welfare 2050 News in Brief 2058 Close Down R. Kuwait`s Programmes [in Arabic, titles as translated] 0300, 1000, 1700, 2100 News 2300, 0100, 0600, 0700, 0800, 1200, 1300, 1400, 1500, 1900 News in Brief 0330 Good Morning 0602 The World of Family 0630 Maraheb 0700 International Novels 0915 Stars Covered by Clouds 1015 Events & Comments 1100 Noon Break 1302 Juhainah News 1402 Top Stars 1445 Kuwaiti House 1530 Cultural Horizon 1630 Good Evening Kuwait 1715 The World Around Us Transmission schedule, including Arabic and English, Urdu, Persian, Filipino; since the languages are color coded, it`s not clear in the monochrome photocopy when Urdu and Persian are on; WRTH and PWBR no help either! So this is mostly Arabic, u.o.s.: 0200-1305 6055 Gulf Area 0000-1000 9750 Gulf Area 0500-0925 15110 S&SE Asia, Au/NZ [English 0500-0800] 1315-1800 15110 S&SE Asia, Au/NZ [probably including Urdu, Persian] 0400-0740 15505 W Asia 1315-2130 9880 ME/NAf/CAm 0200-1305 15495 ME/NAf/CAm 1800-2400 15495 C/N/WAf, SEu, C&SAm 1015-1740 15505 C/N/WAf, SSAm 1000-1200 17885 FE, Russia & Mongolia [Filipino] 1210-1505 17885 FE, Russia & Mongolia 1815-2400 9855 Eu, NAm, CAm 1615-1800 11990 Eu, NAm, CAm 1800-2100 11990 Eu, NAm, CAm [English] 0930-1605 13620 Eu, NAm, CAm 1745-2130 15505 Eu, NAm, CAm 2200-0530 11675 WNAm, NEu (From R. Kuwait B-03 printed folder, via Richard Lemke, St. Albert, Alberta, Canada, retyped and organized by Glenn Hauser for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LATVIA. See NETHERLANDS ** MEXICO. XERMX blobmitter check! Sun Nov 23 at 1513 it was centred around 10355, fortunately far enough away from India 10330 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also ZIMBABWE ** MEXICO. 2390, R. Huayacocotla, 0013-0106 Nov 20. News items were read by a YL, punctuated by strums of an acoustic guitar. A new program began at 0016, which featured banda (or band) music. Some talk by OM and YL, but mostly heard the rather repetitive banda music. ID by YL at 0025. SINPO 24332 (George Maroti, NY, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) Wonder how long they stayed on? Used to close at 0100 (gh) ** MEXICO [and non]. Southern California 550 mystery solved --- it's XEKTT Tecate, moving down the dial from 1600, or so claims allaccess.com: What would you do if the government authorized a station on the next channel from yours just a few miles away? Adult Standards XESURF-A (K-SURF)/TIJUANA-SAN DIEGO is faced with that problem, as XEKTT- A/TECATE signed on last week with a signal at 550 AM that is causing interference on K-SURF's 540 AM signal. XEKTT's signal is being heard well into the LOS ANGELES area (including ALL ACCESS' MALIBU and RANCHO PALOS VERDES locations) with a daytime signal sounding stronger than K-SURF's, although it receives interference itself from Country KUZZ-A/BAKERSFIELD in evenings. SDRADIO.NET reports that the new station is causing trouble for K-SURF throughout the target SAN DIEGO market. XEKTT will carry PACIFIC SPANISH NETWORK programming and is moving to 550 from 1600, which is still on the air as "LA TREMENDA"; TECATE is about 50 miles east of TIJUANA and SAN DIEGO along the BAJA CALIFORNIA NORTE-CALIFORNIA border. --- Scott notes: Could it be that the Mexican officials also had XESURF down as a "100 watt" station, even though we all know it isn't? The San Diego board at radio-info.com is full of buzz about this signal, too. s (Scott Fybush, NY, Nov 24, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS. NO FINAL DECISION YET ON FURTHER RNW BUDGET CUTS Following nearly 6 hours of debate in the Dutch parliament today, State Secretary for Education, Culture and Science Medy van der Laan said that she is sticking to her target of a 60 million euro cut in the annual budget for public broadcasting. However, she said she is prepared to re-examine exactly how the savings are spread across the whole of public broadcasting. Under the plans presented to parliament, Radio Netherlands would have to save an extra 2-4 million euro from 2005, in addition to the 10% cut already planned from 2004. Radio Netherlands received broad support from the MP's present at the debate, and the State Secretary was persuaded that further consultations should be held before a final decision is made. # posted by Andy @ 16:26 UT Nov 24 (Media Network blog via DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS [and non]. RADIO SEAGULL TO STOP SHORTWAVE BROADCASTS Dutch broadcaster Radio Seagull, which last week was awarded a regional mediumwave licence in the The Netherlands, has announced that it will stop broadcasting on shortwave 9290 kHz "for the time being". On Saturday November 29th, the last programmes will go out via the Latvian transmitter between 1100 and 1600 UT. Radio Seagull says all its resources are needed to enable the new 1602 AM service to start as early as possible in the new year. The station says "The programmes that we have broadcast on 9290 SW have been highly appreciated, as shown by the hundreds of letters and emails we have received. We are definitely not saying farewell to 9290, but for now we need to focus on something new. We sincerely thank everyone who has sent in reports, letters and emails." # posted by Andy @ 15:55 UT Nov 24 (Media Network blog via DXLD) ** NEW ZEALAND. John, trying to pin down correct times for Media Watch. Your previews have it at 0912 Sun, but the RNZI website grid no longer shows it there. Instead they have it at 0906 NZT Sun, misconverted as 2106 UT Sat, so is it really 2006 UT Sat? No webcast at that time and 15265 not propagating here. Besides clarifying this, could you possibly get them to show the correct 13-hour difference on their program grid? 73, (Glenn to John Figliozzi, via DXLD) Hi Glenn: RNZI's posted program schedule is out of date (last update 9/9). There are mistakes (as you noted) and the time conversion (when it is correct) is for NZ winter, not summer. Mediawatch is listed by the National Radio schedule site; try http://www.rnz.co.nz/nr/f-nr.htm for Sun. at 2212 (10:12 pm). RNZI (unless there's a silly ball game |g|) relays National Radio at this time which corresponds to 0912 UT (NZ Summer Time = UT+13). On National Radio, Mediawatch also airs 13 hours earlier at 0906 NZT. This would be 2006 UT Sat., but without an ability to aircheck this, I don't know if RNZI is relaying National Radio at that time. I have not airchecked Mediawatch on RNZI since the seasonal time change, but it was there just prior to that. Adrian has been promising a new web site for some time. This apparently got pushed back some by the transmitter problems, but I was in touch with him a week ago and he said a new site is still coming. When? I can't say. It doesn't seem to be a priority -- or if it is, there are too many priorities for the staff size, I guess. Finally, Mediawatch has its own web site http://www.mediawatch.co.nz/ It is a contract program and the site is independent of RNZ. There are what appear to be transcripts or partial transcripts of the program and these are archived. There is also a small link to audio archive files (at the Xtra site) for the program on the Mediawatch "archive" page. This used to work, but I couldn't get it to do so tonight when I tried it. However, I also note that the RNZ National Radio site had a link to audio for Mediawatch at one time and that is no longer there either. So, these may not be available anymore (John Figliozzi, NY, Nov 23, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. Rounding up some other reports of KMMZ-1640 which have come to my attention, before it went off the air for a while, and still off as of 0240 UT Nov 25: 1640, KMKZ (presumed), OK, ENID, 11/19 2302 EST, fair in WKSH null. ?All Comedy Radio? slogan heard several times, but no actual ID, so presumed only. All times are EST. Receiver: Drake R8. Antenna: Quantum QX-Pro (Christos Rigas, Wood Dale IL, posted 11-20 at 2240, DX Mid- America via DXLD) I mentioned it on this month`s MUNDO RADIAL, recorded Nov. 19 before it went off again, also on R. Nederland RADIO ENLACE Nov. 21-24: ESTADOS UNIDOS / OCLAJOMA: Nueva emisora en el aire desde mi ciudad, Enid, Oclajoma, con alcance DX mundial, en 1640 kilohercios, comenzando el 14 de noviembre. Debe llamarse KMMZ, pero hasta ahora carece de identificaciones en el aire, llevando las 24 horas la cadena comédica, All Comedy Radio (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Pattern is a slim figure 8 with lobes aimed at 160 and 340 degrees (Bill Hale, AM Switch, NRC DX News Nov 24 via DXLD) Thanks for the update, Glenn. Glenn said: The brand-new towers are steel, unpainted (yet?). My response: The CP calls for 90 degree towers which would be about 150 feet tall. Unless there is an airport close by, these towers may never be lighted or painted. I know of many AM arrays that are not lighted or painted (KRVN, KCUV, KNRC, etc.). The rules are pretty lax if the towers are rural and less than 200 feet tall. Glenn said: Each has three little spikes on the top --- for lightning arrest, or is this what now diminishes skywave? My response: Modern lightning protection standards call for an air terminal on each leg of a tower. These might be standard spikes (lightning rods) or the "spline balls" or "dissipation brushes" designed to dissipate the static charge and prevent a strike. Patrick said: I'm surprised that nobody seems to have questioned how they were permitted a directional antenna for this station. Here's a quote from the FCC expanded band question and answer fact sheet: Can I use a directional antenna system? Probably not. The revised allotment plan is based on fully spaced Model I non-directional facilities. Accordingly, directional antenna systems will not be necessary to offset "marginal" short-spacings. See Review of the Technical Assignment Criteria for the AM Broadcast Service, 6 FCC Rcd 6273, 6305 (1991) ("Report and Order"). However, the Report and Order recognized that it might be advantageous to permit directional antennas in coastal areas. Thus, the Commission has provided the staff with limited flexibility in this area. However, absent extraordinary circumstances, non-directional antenna systems will be required. (Patrick Griffith, NØNNK, Westminster, CO, Nov 23, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA [and non]. On November 6, 2003, National Public Radio President Kevin Klose announced that NPR will be the recipient of a bequest of more than $200 million from the estate of philanthropist Joan B. Kroc. It is believed to be the largest monetary gift ever received by an American cultural institution. We`ve heard from a few listeners inquiring how this major bequest to NPR will affect KOSU. Some TV commentators have suggested that, with this gift to NPR, the American people no longer need to invest public or private funds in public radio. Here are a few facts to help contextualize this generous gift. * KOSU does not receive funds from NPR, nor from this gift. * NPR receives no direct federal funding. It competes for grants with stations and producers and generally is successful in securing grants that equal about 1 to 2 percent of its budget. Most federal funding of public broadcasting is provided directly to stations. Federal funding accounts for about 13% of KOSU`s budget. * Most of the Kroc bequest will be invested in the NPR Endowment Fund and will likely generate about $10 million annually which is about 10% of NPR`s annual budget. * KOSU and other NPR member stations will remain the key investors in NPR programming. We believe this is best as we represent the interests of almost 30 million listeners to NPR member stations. We don`t expect this gift to have a substantial impact on the fees that KOSU pays for NPR programming. We will urge NPR to use these funds to develop new programs and services, improve current services and deepen their international and domestic news coverage. This bequest by Mrs. Kroc is a great honor for public broadcasting. In addition to supporting NPR, she also gave $5 million to her local station KPBS in San Diego. By recognizing NPR and KPBS in this way, she demonstrated that both national and local public radio are worthy of significant philanthropic investment. Thank you for your investment and interest in KOSU and public radio. Your contributions remain the most important source of support for this station and by extension, for NPR (KOSU Weekly Nov 19 via DXLD) ** PAKISTAN. On 24 Nov at 1620 noted a station with Qur`an recitation on 4955 with good signal strength. Parallels were heard on 4790 and 5080.2 while the 5027.1 transmitter carried separate programming. So this is R. Pakistan. Qur`an continued (except one brief announcement in Urdu) and 4955 pulled the plug mid-sentence (or rather mid-verse) at sharp 1700. The other two frequencies in parallel were still on at 1730 when I tuned out. I heard this 4955 station also on 23 Nov at 1710, but had no time to listen further then. 4955 was strong, almost the same as 5080.2, while 4790 and 5027.1 are a lot weaker. This new outlet could be one of Islamabad transmitters (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re Jari's logging - 4955 is via Islamabad 100kW and at 1615-1700 the programme is listed as ISLAMABAD PROG. (AAINA). The same transmitter and frequency are used to broadcast: Balti News 1350-1400 & Sheena News at 1420-1428 all above using a Quadrant antenna. And via 270 degrees 4955 is used to carry the Dari Service at 1515-1545 // 5860, also Islamabad 100 kW 270 degrees. This same transmitter is used via the Quadrant antenna on 5050 at 0045-0215 to carry HAYA ALLAL FALAH, which includes news in Urdu at 0200-0210. 73s (Noel R. Green [Blackpool, UK], Cumbre DX via DXLD) Hi Noel. Many thanks for the info. When did they start using 4955? Funny I haven't noticed them earlier. Hmm, I have to pay more attention to what I'm hearing when scanning the 60 meterband :). Thanks again and 73 (Jari, ibid.) ** PAKISTAN [non]. 24-HOUR VOA BROADCASTS TO PAKISTAN: see U S A ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. Bandscan: Pidgin broadcasts clearly audible on 3325, 3335, 3260 3365, 3375 at or around 0800 16th Nov. Heard on AOR7030, DXing at Whitford Forest, Auckland (David Norrie, New Zealand, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. Quito 23/Nov/2003 21:27, Amigos DXistas! 6329.14 kHz, unID Perú. Estación C, Moyabamba reactivated? 23/Nov/2003 - 0140 UT. Strong signal with nonstop Peruvian music without talk, the OM-DJ just once said "Buena música en un buen ambiente". I´m not sure but in one of the songs I think I heard this phrase: "...vamos a Moyabamba...." Estación C, Moyabamba I heard 3 years ago on 6328.83 kHz. Close down(?) at 0203 UT without ID. 73s (Björn Malm, Quito, Ecuador, SWB América Latina, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PHILIPPINES. THE VOICE OF AMERICA IN THE PHILIPPINES These days, it is not so well known, that the Voice of America has operated a total of four different shortwave radio facilities located in the Philippines. To commemorate this long and interesting history, we take a look at each of these four VOA facilities in the Philippines in turn. * 1. MANILA: Towards the end of the Pacific war, when American forces returned to the Philippines, the Voice of America began the relay of its programming over two radio transmitters that were on the air previously as a commercial enterprise. This was station KZFM, with two transmitters at 5 kW each, one on mediumwave and the other on shortwave. This relay of VOA programming was simply an interim usage awaiting the construction of a new VOA facility at Malolos. The two transmitters that were in use as VOA-KZFM were located on the edge of Manila city and they were on the air as a VOA relay station for a period of four years, stretching from 1945 - 1948. This facility was returned to its previous owners for use as a commercial enterprise. * 2. MALOLOS: This second VOA location in the Philippines was situated on the northern edge of Manila Bay. It was here that the Voice of America constructed its own facility with a total of four transmitters; one on mediumwave at 50 kW and three on shortwave at 50 kW & 7.5 kW. This new facility at Malolos began test broadcasts under the same callsign KZFM, though when the station was taken into regular service, it identified on air as VOA Northern Luzon. This station replaced the interim facility that operated on air as VOA Manila. In those days, the 50 kW mediumwave unit located at Malolos and operating on 920 kHz was heard widely at night while most other mediumwave stations in Asia, Australia and the Pacific were off the air. VOA Malolos was in use for a period of 22 years, from 1948 to 1969. It was gifted to the Philippine government who then operated it as DZRP, the ``Voice of the Philippines``. * 3. PORO: Actually, the third VOA facility in the Philippines was made up of two separate units, one a permanent facility and the other a transportable unit. These were both co-sited in the Wallace Air Force Base at Point Poro, near San Fernando, 150 miles north of Manila. The first unit on the air at this location was the one megawatt, that is 1,000 kW, mediumwave transmitter which was heard widely on 1140 kHz. This unit went on the air in June 1953 and at one stage, this massive super-powered mediumwave transmitter was licensed by the Philippine authorities with the callsign DWVA. The installation of six shortwave transmitters at 100 kW, 35 kW & 15 kW followed soon after the mediumwave station became airbourne. In VOA scheduling, this fixed VOA station at Poro was designated with the abbreviation, PHP, followed by the actual number of the transmitter. A transportable unit containing three shortwave transmitters at 50 kW and known as Transportable 1, was transferred from VOA Liberia and installed at Poro in 1964. These transportable transmitters were designated in VOA scheduling as PHPX. A few years ago, a nearby volcano, Mount Pinatubo, erupted producing a massive devastation which closed VOA Poro for some weeks. At the end of September 1999, the VOA shortwave station at Poro was closed down, though the mediumwave unit still remains in service with 1 megawatt on 1143 kHz. [sometimes shifted to 1147.5 --- gh] * 4 TINANG (t`-NANG): The fourth VOA unit in the Philippines is located at Tinang, about 50 miles north of Manila and rather close to the original facility at Malolos. This large radio base is also made up of two separate units, the permanent facility and a transportable unit. The first unit to go on the air at Tinang was Transportable 2, which was manufactured in the United States specifically for installation at Tinang. This unit, with three transmitters at 50 kW, became operational in May 1968. A total of ten transmitters at 250 kW each were installed at Tinang and these came into service progressively beginning in May 1969. Two additional transmitters at 250 kW were installed in an adjoining facility at Tinang in 1982. In VOA schedules, the main transmitters at Tinang are designated as PHT and the transportable transmitters are designated as PHX. This fourth VOA shortwave station in the Philippines is now the only remaining VOA facility in that country. In the earlier days, VOA QSL cards were issued over the years for all four VOA units in the Philippines, from both Manila and from Washington. These days only VOA Washington issues QSL cards for the Philippine relay station and the Philippine cards are now quite rare (Adrian Michael Peterson, AWR Wavescan Nov 23 via John Norfolk, DXLD) ** ROMANIA. THE PERSONALITY OF THE YEAR 2003 ON RRI Every end of the year has been an opportunity for Radio Romania International to challenge you into giving your votes for the Personality of the Year contest. This year, too, Radio Romania International is ready to designate the Personality of the Year based on your votes. It can be any international personality, businessperson, politician, representative of the Church, athlete, artist, researcher, virtually any person who has made a significant contribution to the advance of mankind in 2003. Just let us know who you would vote for and why. We can be reached by fax at 00.4021.223.26. Our e-mail is engl@rri.ro You can also send us your vote by regular mail at General Berthelot Street 60-62, PO Box 111, sector 1 Bucharest, Romania. As usual the personality who has received the biggest number of votes will be announced in our programs on January the 1st 2004. Give your vote for the Personality of the Year 2003 on Radio Romania International (via Swopan Chakroborty, India, Japan Premium Nov 21 via DXLD) ** UGANDA [non]. 17870, CLANDESTINE/UGANDA, R. Rhino Int`l, 1527- 1558*, Nov. 22, English, End of interview followed by ID, "You are listening to Radio Rhino International, short wave radio Africa" with a request for e-mails (no address given), phone numbers for Germany and web address http://www.radiorhino.org Two telephone interviews followed, one with UPDA spokesman regarding Ugandan rebels and war crimes, the second with an ANRA? representative who sounded rather aggravated at some of the questions asked, such as "what do you plan to do after you remove the government" and especially "allegations of committing atrocities". Interesting listening. Interview cut-off for brief music jingle at 1558*. Fair/poor with static and fades (Scott Barbour, NH, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. Ciao! Alerted by a message received from UK DXer Keith D. Phillimore, I have listened on 1035 kHz to the night program from EASY RADIO LONDON (the new name of former MEAN COUNTRY 1035); the station will start regular programs from 1st December. The tests transmissions have lot of oldies (heard the Beatles song "with the little help from my friend") and the same identification loop. They have a WEB : http://www.easy1053.com and e-mail: info@easy1035.com In the WEB you will find also a formular to send your comments and reception report. Snail address is: 43-51 Wembley Hill Road, London, HA9 8AU. Reception in Milano resulted difficult at 0115-0145 UT cause on 1035 kHz RAI 2 is over all night (in // with FM) but with my 90 cm Loop (not amplified) I was able to capture the EASY RADIO LONDON signals (Dario Monferini, Itlay, Play-DX via DXLD) ** U S A. 24-HOUR VOA BROADCASTS TO PAKISTAN --- By Khalid Hasan http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_16-11-2003_pg7_55 WASHINGTON: The Voice of America (VOA) is going to bombard Pakistan from January next year with 24-hour broadcasts made up mostly of pop American and Pakistani music, news, interviews and commentary. What is more, VOA is even going to change its name in an obvious effort to de-emphasise the fact that it is owned and operated by the US government. The new name for the jazzed up 24-hour service is going to be 'Radio Aap Ki Dunya.' [which means???] Why Pakistan has been chosen for this special saturation-style coverage, no one at Voice of America is prepared to say. Joseph O'Connell, VOA spokesman told this correspondent in answer to his inquiry Friday as to the what had prompted such a major change, "We are developing additional Urdu programmes for Pakistan which has always been a priority area. Beyond that, I am not in a position to say anything." Brian Silver, head of the VOA Urdu service, was equally reticent, saying that a number of things remained to be worked out but did confirm that an extension in broadcasts to Pakistan was under implementation. Meanwhile, AFGE, Local 1812, the union representing many of the VOA employees has lodged a strong protest at what is considers the dismantling of a service set up in 1942 as part of American public diplomacy. In a statement, the union points out that the Arabic service of the VOA has already been abolished and is now known as Radio Sawa, broadcasting music and light entertainment, and the Persian service goes out as Radio Farda. It also accuses VOA of shedding its universally known and recognised brand name. A five-hour cut in English broadcasts has been lamented by even a former VOA former chief through an article in Washington Post this week. AFGE fears that the next round of cuts may be "around the corner." A union member said the Bush Administration does not believe in public diplomacy. It prefers to force its views on the world through the barrel of a gun. It fears the words 'America' and 'Voice of America' which have lately become a "turn off" in the VOA listening areas, so they are being hidden in local, assumed names. Another member said the White House has sent its "well-paid undertakers" to gradually kill VOA and bury it forever. Money saved will be spent on fuelling the war machine. In a newsletter, the union called upon its members to tell their representative in Congress that the Bush administration is flouting US Law PL94-350 which enshrines the Code of ethics for VOA operations. Funded by Congress, VOA, "since 1942 has built a global reputation as a consistently reliable source of news and information." From December 01, Urdu will be on air from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. [PST? = 0400-1600 UT?] on short wave. Twenty-four hour broadcasting is expected to start from 1st January on medium wave with the aid of a new medium wave transmitter the US has been able to establish in Tajikistan. The target audience of the pop-oriented programming is the age group 19-39. Preparations are well in hand because VOA has already hired seven relatively young people, all Pakistanis or of Pakistani origin, to convert the projected Urdu broadcasts into FM style musicals for round-the-clock broadcasting. Among those hired are Ms Nafisa Hoodbhoy, sister of Pakistani physicist Dr Pervez Hoodbhoy, as well as a former Radio Pakistan broadcaster Asad Nazir (via Mike Terry, DXLD) ** U S A. 1250.67, ALABAMA, WAPZ, Montgomery, 1130+ 11-24, black gospel music, adstring including "Rose's Discount" and Alabama State University pregame bash somewhere, non-ID as "Heart and Soul of Southern Alabama." 1137 callsign by Reverend Walter. Fair level at peaks, deep slow fades. Was on same off-frequency a year ago (David E. Crawford, Titusville, Florida, 28.51N 80.83W, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** U S A. Expanded daytime bandscan --- November 23, 2003 Between 11:00 AM-1:00 PM Eastern local time [1600-1800 UT] Sony 2010 120 foot longwire inductively coupled. 1610 WPQX600 Watkinsville, GA --- TIS Female loop on severe weather precautions. 10 watts at 35 miles distance. Poor (Ground wave regular) 1620 WTAW College Station, TX --- ID mentions 10,000 watts. Into CBS News 11:00 AM. Poor (Residual sky wave?) 1630 WRDW Augusta, GA --- ABC News at top of the hour. Good (Ground wave regular) 1640 No signal [`cause Enid was not on ;-\] 1650 WHKT Portsmouth, VA --- Radio Disney. Poor to fair at peaks throughout this two hour daytime window. 1660 WCNZ Marco Island, FL --- ID into ABC News at 12:00 PM. Local weather after newscast. Poor. 1670 WMWR Warner Robins/ Macon, GA --- Note new calls now in use. Fox sports net during this time. No local spots just PSA's during local avail. network breaks. Excellent (Ground wave regular) 1680 WLAA- Winter Garden, FL --- ID in English by Spanish accented male at 12:58 PM. Poor to good on peaks throughout this two hour daytime window. 1690 WSWK Adel, GA --- Usual Wild Adventures theme park ads. Poor. (Ground wave regular) 1700 No signal 1710 No signal (Brock Whaley, WH6SZ/4, Lilburn, GA (Just east of Atlanta), DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also OKLAHOMA ** U S A. There is a new TIS in the Northern Virginia part of the Washington, DC area. 1620, WPMU747, Alexandria, VA (location assumed). 11/23 1345 [EST?]. Loop tape announcement by female. Gave call letters and contact phone number. The signal was fair with some interference. This call is also licensed to broadcast from Worton and Franconia (Bill Harms, MD, Nov 23, IRCA via DXLD) What for? ** U S A. One of the interesting features of living in Washington DC is how you frequently bump into different government jurisdictions. For instance, the greater Washington area embraces the states of Maryland and Virginia, plus the District of Columbia which aspires to recognition on a state. Beneath the state governments are various county governments which have responsibility for policing and emergency services, education, and various other public services (comparable to local government in Australia, with the obvious exception of education and law and order). Then there's the various police services: driving to work each morning, I have to watch out for the Fairfax County police from the end of my street for about a mile or so. Then, I'm briefly on the Arlington County police patch for another three quarters of a mile. I cross the Potomac River and I'm in the hands of the DC Metropolitan Police department until I reach the office downtown. If I decide to take my chances on the Beltway (the multi-lane freeway encircling Washington that fluctuates between a crowded parking lot and public speedway), I might see the Maryland or Virginia state police at work. If I take the subway, I'll see the Metro Transit Police. Visit Capitol Hill to see Congress at work, and you'll deal with the Capitol Police. Other places around town, including parklands and monuments, fall under the control of the Park Police. That's all by way of setting the context for this item in today's Washington Post on emergency radio services here. (Prince George's County covers the Baltimore-Washington corridor, bordering Washington DC.) Cheers (Matt Francis, VA, ARDXC via DXLD) DISASTER RADIO NETWORK CLOSER BUT STILL ON HOLD --- By Sarah Cohen, Washington Post Staff Writer, Sunday, November 23, 2003; Page A17 The attack on the Pentagon reinforced the goal at the top of virtually every emergency preparedness list: Build a communication network that allows firefighters, police and federal agents to talk to one another at the press of a button. Since 2001, at least 12 agencies in the Washington region have allocated more than $63 million toward upgrading communication systems. But despite the investment -- the single largest allocation of homeland security dollars -- critical gaps remain in the network. Prince George's County lacks the standard 800-megahertz radio technology used by other jurisdictions. Virginia and Maryland state troopers are without the radios. Federal agencies use their own equipment on their own airwaves. And even if those left out of the 800-megahertz system spent the money to join it, a seemingly insurmountable problem remains: There is no more room in the region's allocated airwaves. Plans made a decade ago to expand capacity by recovering surplus bandwidth from television stations will still take years to complete. For decades, 800-megahertz radio systems have been viewed as a way to impose order on the chaos that defines communication between first responders at a disaster. The problem came home when an Air Florida jet crashed into the 14th Street bridge in 1982. Almost two decades later, rescuers at the Pentagon were sometimes forced to rely on foot messengers. "Why is it that so many years later, when we have an event at the Pentagon, we're not prepared to deal with the same issues?" said Michael Mohler, president of the Virginia Professional Firefighters union and a Fairfax firefighter. The millions allocated to address the communication obstacles after Sept. 11, 2001, have made significant inroads. In the District, which spent $37 million, officials now have a digital network that will allow all responders to communicate with one another on one system. The technology includes towers that can be brought to the scene of a disaster. That should address one problem evident at the Pentagon: The thick walls inhibited radio signals. But Prince George's still faces twin problems: the lack of funds to buy radios and the lack of airwaves to support them. Now, when Prince George's police cross into the District, a dispatcher picks up a telephone and calls a counterpart in the city to coordinate between the two departments. Conversations between parties are conducted through a dispatcher on the equivalent of one telephone line. Officials across the country complain that the federal government is not moving quickly enough to free up space on a compatible band. In the case of Prince George's, getting money wouldn't guarantee a solution because of the shortage of airwaves. "Right now, we couldn't move forward," said Jacqueline Brown, the county's chief administrative officer. On Sept. 11, 2001, the FBI and other federal agencies at the Pentagon relied on an unexpected stockpile of 800-megahertz radios from Montgomery County to communicate with rescuers. But those radios are now in use in Montgomery. The federal government has plans to stash extra radios in warehouses, but they have not yet been purchased. The District, faced with the bandwidth limitations, invested in alternative technologies for its police department. The system was implemented in September, and officials said it will be integrated with the rest of the region sometime next year. Expanding the capacity of the airwaves is up to Congress and the Federal Communications Commission. The federal government has promised to deliver more space on the airwaves, but a solution could be a decade away (via Matt Francis, DC, and Mike Cooper, GA, DXLD) ** U S A. WAMU DEFICIT OF $2.3 MILLION SHOCKS BACKERS STATION DEPLETES RESERVES; UNIVERSITY COVERS SHORTFALL By Jennifer Frey Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, November 20, 2003; Page C01 WAMU ran a $2.3 million deficit in fiscal 2003, depleting all of its cash reserves and putting the public radio entity nearly $500,000 in debt to American University, its license holder, according to an audited annual report released by the station this week. That number came as a shock to WAMU staff and donors, who knew that the station had run a significant deficit for the third straight year but were unprepared for the magnitude of the figure. The deficit represents 23 percent of the station's operating budget for the year. "I am absolutely appalled by this deficit," said Michael MacLeod, a member of the WAMU community council, an organization that represents the concerns and interests of listeners. "I don't know what to say. I just can't conceive of that." WAMU had $4.5 million in cash reserves at the close of the 2000 fiscal year (April 30, 2000), but the station lost $878,000 in fiscal year 2001 and $1.4 million in 2002. As late as last month, sources inside both the station and the university said they believed that the 2003 losses would reach approximately $1.5 million. Public scrutiny of those numbers, as well as expressions of disgruntlement by WAMU staff members, led to the firing of executive director Susan Clampitt on Oct. 30. Clampitt had been at the station since June 2000. The new, higher figure was released as American University continues to conduct an internal audit of the station's finances and David Taylor, chief of staff to AU President Benjamin Ladner, serves in an oversight capacity over the National Public Radio affiliate. Taylor acknowledged yesterday that the 2003 figures were "definitely confirmation that things were not heading in the right direction," but he stressed that the station remains solvent with the financial support of the university. "This is not the first time there have been losses at this station," Taylor said. "It's fundamental to understand that the university will backstop these current losses." WAMU still does not have an approved budget for fiscal 2004, according to Don Myers, the vice president of finance for the university. He said he expects it will "probably take a year or two" to get the station's finances back in order. NPR talk-show host Diane Rehm, who has been vocal in her criticism of the Clampitt administration, said: "We knew things were bad, we just didn't know how bad they were." The 2003 numbers show a station that fell significantly short of its own projected revenue numbers while continuing to increase spending in several areas, most significantly fundraising and membership development. That budget rose $500,000 in 2003, to $2.8 million. Despite that investment, the biggest area of underperformance in terms of projections was membership contributions, long a staple of public radio support. A copy of WAMU's 2003 budget obtained by The Post shows that the station expected to bring in $5.15 million from membership contributions, an increase from the $4.2 million raised in 2002. According to the report, WAMU raised only $3.9 million. In each of the past three years revenue fell short of budget projections, but 2003 reflects the first year in which the fundraising numbers actually declined -- they were $7.5 million, $130,000 less than the year before. In the previous two years, WAMU had increased its revenue by a total of 30 percent. "I saw the annual report and I'm not sure what I have to say about it can be printed in the newspaper," said Forbes Maner, one of several former WAMU donors who have been asking the university for an accounting of the station's spending. "It's a real surprise. I think it's scandalous." In an e-mail to The Post yesterday, Clampitt described the management plan as being a long-term strategy, not a short-term fix, and said the decision to proceed with the plan despite deficits was one endorsed by Ladner. "In order to increase revenues and to put the station on firm financial footing, investments were made to increase revenue," Clampitt wrote in her responses to questions submitted by The Post. "When the economy softened and contribution levels decreased, President Ladner decided to fund the shortfall with the accumulated reserves. . . . We continued to be hopeful that the budget shortfalls would be resolved as the economy improved, and as we began to feel the effects of our capital spending." After fundraising, the largest budget increase in 2003 came in public information and promotion, which rose from $400,000 to $700,000. Management salaries went down slightly. So, too, did the programming budget, mainly because the station's costly NPR dues decreased by $300,000 to $620,000. Across the board, all departments saw significant increases in "facilities and administrative fees," which totaled $2 million, up from $1.5 million the previous year. That increase included a $500,000 cash advance from AU to balance the budget. The bulk of those fees reflect WAMU's annual payment to AU for "indirect costs," which include occupancy costs and administrative support. WAMU pays AU 16 percent of its revenue each year, a figure that totaled just under $1.2 million in 2003, according to WAMU's senior director of business administration, Carey Needham. "So basically we've gone from a reserve of $4.5 million to a net minus of $500,000?" MacLeod said, doing the math in his head. "So that would be a swing of $4.9 million? Oh yeah, that's a concern." (c) 2003 The Washington Post Company (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** U S A. With the FCC`s announcement of a filing window for major AM applications, expect a flood of applications at the Commission. The window runs Jan. 26-30, 2004. Any minor change application that makes it to the FCC by 12:01 a.m. on Jan. 12 must be protected by major change applications when they file their Form 301 applications and the Form 175 short-form applications that will get them ready for the auction process that will decide among mutually-exclusive major change applicants. Otherwise, the FCC won`t take minor change apps. between Jan. 12-30, and no filings for expanded band (1610-1700 changes or new stations) The FCC will be looking for minority applicants. But ``how extensively will the new window be used?`` mused the online M Street Journal. ``Locating AM transmitter sites and building new arrays ain`t cheap, and local zoning boards can be downright inhospitable to a station that wants to plunk down 3, 4 or even 6 towers in a suburb.`` (Nov FMedia! via DXLD) ** U S A. WILLCOX APPLIES FOR 50 KW AT WNSH The top end of the AM dial in eastern MASSACHUSETTS could sound different soon if veteran broadcaster Keating Willcox has his way. His Willow Farm, Inc. is applying to boost WNSH (1570 Beverly) from 500 watts directional by day to a full 50 kilowatts, using the same three towers WNSH currently uses on the Endicott College campus in Beverly. To make the move happen will require the Bay State's other 1570 signal, WPEP in Taunton, to surrender its license - something we speculated about in NERW way back when Willcox bought WNSH in 1998. In the meantime, though, Willcox sold WPEP (as well as his stations in Nashua and Woonsocket) to Ernie Anastos' Anastos Media Group, and so any thought of a "mega-1570" slowly vanished from the rumor mill. What we didn't know, though - at least not until Willcox filed his application for the WNSH upgrade last week - is that Willcox has negotiated an agreement with WPEP that will now allow the Taunton station to go silent and WNSH to boost its power by a factor of 100. (As for "local service" to Taunton and Bristol County, the application notes that WSNE will continue to "serve" Taunton, at least as far as the FCC is concerned.) That's the good news - the bad news is that even with all that juice, WNSH still won't be a potent signal in much of the Boston market. The combination of poor ground conductivity (WNSH's ground system is, as its application explains, laid over bare rock because there's no soil on much of the site) and the need to protect co- and adjacent-channel stations in New York (WQEW 1560, WFTU 1570 and WLIM 1580) mean WNSH's signal, with a directional pattern aimed north, will serve the North Shore, outer Cape Cod, coastal New Hampshire and Maine, and - well, we'll quote a local radio wag on this one - "I guess WNSH stands for Nova Scotia/Halifax?" (Actually, it'll be more of a Yarmouth signal from the looks of it...) And at night on a Canadian clear channel, WNSH will still be limited to 85 watts non-directional. In any case, we're happy to see Willcox's dream of a big power increase move closer to reality, and the 50kw WNSH will be a very potent signal all along the North Shore and Cape Ann if this application is approved (Scott Fybush, NY, NE Radio Watch Nov 24 via DXLD) ** U S A. RADIO TOWERS DROP DOWN TO SIZE Nat Worden, Dow Jones News November 21, 2003 Radio stations WDRE and WXXP have been taken down a peg or two by the federal government after a surprise inspection revealed that their broadcasting towers were significantly taller than they were supposed to be. The antenna for classic rock station WDRE/98.5 FM is licensed to be 40 meters above ground level. But during the mid-October visit, regulators from the Federal Communications Commission reckoned that it stood at 114 meters - that's, 74 meters, or 242 feet, higher than it's supposed to be, according to reports filed by the FCC. Sister station WXXP/105.3 FM, known as Party 105, had an antenna 42 meters higher than its approved limit of 132 meters. Both stations' antennas are on a site on Kimberly Court in Manorville. The FCC notified management and gave them until Nov. 18 to explain the discrepancy and avoid an FCC fine. Jarad Broadcasting, operator of WXXP and WDRE (which broadcasts under the call sign WLIR), is part of the Morey Organization, a Long Island entertainment conglomerate. Gina DeGregorio, a spokeswoman for Morey, said yesterday that both towers had been restored to their approved height. DeGregorio said the station knew of the problem after the Oct. 15 FCC visit and lowered the towers by Oct. 28. The height of an FM broadcast antenna affects the distance of coverage that a broadcaster can reach. The higher the antenna, the wider the audience it can reach depending on the level of power that it transmits on. The FCC sets limits on the height of antennas to make as much room on the airwaves as possible for a multitude of broadcasters. If an antenna exceeds federal regulations, other broadcasters could be short-changed. --- Nat Worden http://www.newsday.com/business/printedition/ny-qzli213553048nov21,0,2095037.story?coll=ny-business-print (via Kim Elliott, DXLD) ** U S A. ANOTHER HIP-HOP FM STATION IN PHILLY? Looks as if Philadelphia will have a third hip-hop station on FM -- the third different format for the station on 96.5 since it dropped the long-standing news-talk format of WWDB in November 2000: What was "The Point", which had an 80's rock format, and later 80's/90's/ current hits, is now "Wild 96.5", with what appears to be a repetitive loop tape of popular hip-hop tunes, with some songs like 50 Cent's "Da Club" being played twice in a 40-minute span; also some announcements about a "janitor" pushing listeners to spot a van with Wild 96.5 written on it, and mentioning the station plays "ishloads (what`s that?) of music". The WPTP call letters remain, for now. First noted late at night on Nov. 21; it seems as if the change was made about a week ago but I'll have to search the http://www.philly.com (Inquirer/Daily News) site to see if any mention of this change shows up there. Looks as if Power 99 (WUSL-98.9) and 103.9-The Beat (WPHI) are in for competition for the young urban listenership (Joe Hanlon in Vincentown, NJ, Nov 23, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. BEAT GOES ON FOR STATION --- STOCKTON'S KSTN MUCH THE SAME AS IT WAS IN '50S --- By Emil Guillermo, Record Staff Writer Published Monday, November 24, 2003 Howard Stern makes millions for radio-station owners nationwide, but he's no John Hampton, the morning deejay at KSTN-AM 1420. Station owner Knox La Rue said he wouldn't trade Hampton for Stern, not for ratings, not for money. "Howard Stern's not right for KSTN," La Rue said. "I wouldn't have him on our station. John's doing a good job here." Hampton has been on the air for 24 years at KSTN, but LaRue's been at the helm 57 years, doing radio the old-fashioned way and surviving all the threats. When TV went from black and white to color, LaRue gave away candy- colored transistor radios and called KSTN "color radio." The phrase is on a clock that hangs on the wall at KSTN. And it's still ticking. While other Stockton radio stations are owned and operated by large national conglomerates, KSTN remains home-grown and family-owned, a small, 5,000-watt station that trades on its local legendary status as home of the area's original "Boss Radio." . . . http://www.recordnet.com/daily/news/articles/112403-gn-5.php (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** VENEZUELA [non]. Sun Nov 23 at 1514 I found RHC with Aló, Presidente on new 11670 with heavy co-channel interference, so I went looking for parallels and found four of them instead of three, 17750 and 13750 (best), 11875 very strong signal but lower modulation, and 13680 barely in the sideband of CRI via Canada 13675. Then I checked http://www.radiohc.cu/espanol/frecuencia.htm and found an exact match! "A LO [sic] PRESIDENTE" (PROGRAMA DOMINICAL DEL PRESIDENTE DE VENEZUELA, HJGO [sic] CHÁVEZ FRÍAS) CENTROAMÉRICA 13680 KHZ-22M 14 UTC ANTILLAS 11670 KHZ-25M 14 UTC AMERICA DEL SUR 17750 KHZ-16M 14 UTC CHILE 11875 KHZ-25M 14 UTC CHICAGO 13750 KHZ-22M 14 UTC So the website may actually be up to date; for the rest, see CUBA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VIETNAM [non]. Re: [Let`s see, this would be Degar Voice, right?] 9585 1330 1430 49,50 202 70 218 1234567 261003 280304 JUL 100 NHS (DTK T-Systems schedule revised Nov 14, via Alokesh Gupta, DXLD) No, that is New Horizon - Chan Troi Moi, which goes out via a High Adventure Radio program. Degar Voice = Radio Montagnard is on 7180 1300-1330 (Tue/Thu/Sat) via Chita, Russia (Silvain Domen, Belgium, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I've tuned 9585 again and it is announcing "Chan Troi Moi", although I cannot understand much else. They also were saying "FBF" or FBS TV". Audio is not perfect - words are "skipping" with some distortion. A man and woman talking alternately and some western classical mx is heard between items. R. Veritas Asia is using 9590 at 1330-1430 in Hindi & Bengali --- heard now at 1400. Maybe that is why Chan Troi Moi is testing? (Noel R. Green-UK, BC-DX Nov 21) ** ZIMBABWE. I had 6045 from around 2025 Nov 19 when there was talking on the frequency, I think in English, not very strong but definitely useable. Concert music started soon after 2030, but then I had to leave and could not check the frequency again until 2245 when the classical music signal was quite good until wiped out at 2300 (Jerry Berg, MA, DXplorer Nov 20 via BC-DX via DXLD) NOTE: as recently reported, ZBC reactivated this frequency; however, XEXQ has also been reported on 6045 in this time period, with, of course, classical music. Seems to me the latter would be much more likely to be the one with classical. Did anyone get a definite ID? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6045 MEXICO I reviewed my logging of R. Universidad of last week. I heard a pretty good signal of classical music for 45 minutes. Later on another classical music station mixed in. At 2300 both signals dropped down and I heard 2 Radio Universidad IDs. The weaker station was probably Mexico while the stronger one may have been Zimbabwe. I also had the Chinese station on the same frequency (Sheryl Paszkiewicz, WI, NASWA Flashsheet Nov 23 via DXLD) ** ZIMBABWE [non]. RADIO FREE ZIMBABWE [headline, NOT station name] [excerpts from a much longer story, recommended reading!] http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/features/story/0,11710,1091773,00.html From a grimy suburb of London, exiled radio superstars are beaming out the only opposition voice to Mugabe's regime. Douglas Rogers meets the resistance --- Monday November 24, 2003 The Guardian In the foothills of the Bvumba mountains near the Mozambican border in eastern Zimbabwe, a group of villagers are gathered around a small portable radio waiting for the daily broadcast of their favourite station. Their battery-powered short-wave transistor is tuned to the 49m band and, as the evening sun dips below the masasa trees, a song from Zimbabwe's musical superstar Oliver Mtukudzi jangles to life. The Shona track Wasakara - "You are old, you are spent, it is time to accept you are old," - is a thinly veiled reference to ageing president Robert Mugabe and is banned from state radio, but the villagers know it well and some even sing along. As the chorus fades, the deep, chocolate-smooth voice of Zimbabwe's legendary music DJ John Matinde crackles through the static. "This is SW Radio Africa, Zimbabwe's independent voice." For the next three hours, these and hundreds of thousands of other Zimbabweans will tune in to hear music, news and political interviews about their country that state-run radio and television would never broadcast. And every evening, ordinary Zimbabweans will speak to the station about the brutality and hardship of life in the country. . . [large segment omitted here] . . . Just how many people the station reaches is hard to say. Batteries are too expensive for many Zimbabweans and the short-wave signal is not brilliant. Short-wave radios are also hard to come by. Ironically, Ian Smith's regime stopped making them in the 1970s so that blacks could not listen to outside broadcasts. That said, Jackson gets reports all the time of villagers in Zimbabwe and exiles in South Africa huddled around campfires listening to the station. There is talk too that its archives - digital recordings of every interview they have done - could be used in future human rights trials. Perhaps what is most extraordinary is that, after two years of airing mostly grim stories, the staff have managed to stay sane and keep a sense of humour. As I write this I am listening to the live webcast and rumours are spreading through Harare that Mugabe has died from a stroke. A jubilant caller says people in Harare are celebrating: "Mugabe has gone to the one-party state in the sky!" Presenter Tererai Karimakwenda laughs at the joke and, with impeccable irony, plays a hit song by Latin Quarter: "I'm hearing only bad news, on Radio Africa." SW Radio Africa broadcasts every night from 4pm to 7pm British standard time on 6145 kHz in the 49m band. Listen live or download archives and reports on http://www.SWRadioafrica.com (Guardian via Andy Sennitt, Chris Greenway, DXLD) 1600-1900 UT via South Africa ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ MUSEA +++++ RADIO HISTORIANS SEND CLEAR SIGNAL ABOUT MUSEUM Group wants to restore old By Angela Hill, STAFF WRITER, Tri-Valley Herald, Pleasanton, CA Sunday, November 16, 2003 - 2:59:32 AM PST http://www.trivalleyherald.com/Stories/0,1413,86~10671~1770634,00.html BERKELEY -- It may currently serve as the base for a spindly cell phone tower. It may very well be swathed in graffiti and occasionally used as the "to" part of a lean-to for the homeless. But not for long. Someday, folks at the California Historical Radio Society hope, the old two-story KRE radio station building at the freeway end of Ashby Avenue in Berkeley (you see it through the bushes as you take the Interstate 80 East on-ramp) will be restored and converted to a radio history museum. It will serve as headquarters for California Historical Radio Society radio buffs, a vintage radio repair shop, a radio research library and an education center, buzzing with excitement about such things as kilowatts, transistors, frequencies and old static-filled radio shows. "The main goal of our society is to preserve and restore old radios, so preserving and restoring an old radio station follows right along," said Steve Kushman, CHRS president. "Plus, we're very interested in the education factor," he said. "Most everybody below age 50 doesn't know the roots of the technology and wireless communication they use today. You take it all for granted. But 100 to 150 years ago, people were working very hard to invent and create these things, and it's fascinating to see how it all developed." A ribbon-cutting and kickoff for the restoration project is scheduled for 2 p.m. today at the old station. (While the address is 601 Ashby Ave., you can't get to it from there. Best way is from Bay Street, just before the entrance to Aquatic Park.) The radio society folks will take possession of the building in January, then slowly start to renovate it and set up the museum. They're hoping to have "something to show" in about a year, Kushman said. The group believes this will be the first radio history museum in an actual historic radio station. The KRE station was built in 1937. It got its 15 minutes of fame in the movie "American Graffiti" as the venue for the infamous Wolfman Jack. The station has been vacant the past nine years and fallen into disrepair. The nonprofit CHRS will be relying on donations to get the place up and running. No worries when it comes to museum displays, though. "We have about 450 members, all with their own personal extensive historical radio collections," Kushman said. "So getting pieces to put in the museum part of the building will not be a problem." (via Chuck Hutton, NRC-Am via DXLD) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ DIGITAL RADIO VS. RELEVANT RADIO Glenn: Have you read this? http://www.radioworld.com/reference-room/guywire/lpfm-idolatry4disbelievrs.shtml Though it's an old article, Radio World's anonymous engineer-columnist "Guy Wire" tries to debate an angry but obviously very sincere and well-meaning LPFM-and music-diversity advocate. While I -- as a retired broadcaster and engineer -- probably have more in common with "Guy", I am not comfortable at all with his rather cut-and-dried, predictably industry-supportive rejoinders. They sound to me quit smug, condescending, and crude. To me, though LPFM defender Chris Maxwell is obviously quite wrong about the technicalities of digital transmission -- strangely, his misperception of the transmission level of digital data carriers, confusing them with the MAIN high power of the 'original' analogue signal component, is a point NOT specifically rebutted by "Guy"! -- he is right on the button in almost every other assertion related to the unsatisfactory nature of today's FM broadcasting scene. "Guy" responds, in my opinion, by simply dismissing him as a crank with weird tastes. This is the boiler-plate answer trotted out by almost anybody who is working in contemporary radio. Why? Well, for one thing: if they've been around for a few decades, they've survived and adapted very well, and have been faced with the continual need to "dumb down" their personal expectations for self-expression, and assertion of honorable programming and engineering principles. The corporatized media, cookie-cutter programming, cannibalistic convergence, and winnowing away of human staff have left a core of pretty hardened individuals still standing. They'll put up with ANYTHING in order to draw their monthly paycheck from some nameless, faceless business entity perhaps a continent-width's distant. The point I made earlier, in a discussion of LPFM as "savior" to classical music, is that the weak signals of a few peanut stations in the niches will not serve sufficient audiences to be very socially useful, except to provide a playground for people who might otherwise consider piracy. So, unlike Maxwell, while I appreciate the niche programming that he reveres, I don't think LPFM will do much to support it except as random "neighborhood" phenomena. *Is* there a solution? "Guy" is quite right about the financial constraints but he seems comfortable with them. This is an argument that invokes the slippery slope: heck, Shakespeare doesn't "pay" well enough, so forget about him. I am not comfortable with that as a sensitive, educated human being. I remember an FM broadcasting scene, in my college and high school days, when you COULD hear Shakespeare; and classical and jazz concerts; serious talk; and progressive music, with strong clear signals. The relentless market grind has almost swallowed it all; are we going to let it silence almost every subtlety of the human spirit? (Steve Waldee, CA, Nov 24, DX LISTENING DIGEST) EDTV UPGRADE You have to love this stuff. 525 line analog - clear as a bell and robust as can be 1940s technology. Why not "upgrade" to 480p digital? - you can hang it on your wall, but give up a little definition and then a little more due to motion artifacts and other compression. The neighbors are impressed by the widescreen. Hey, they don't have to watch it! Or...try "HDTV" via cable or DirecTV which improves further the smear factor and will display your motion artifacts further. Or...(horrors!) put up an antenna and get 1080i from the broadcaster direct! Remind me again...What's an antenna? Is that like a dish? I'm looking in my basement for the colored plastic gel that will make my black and white TV work in "color!" Coool! (Karl Zuk N2KZ, Nov 10, WTFDA via DXLD) I remember now! Back in the '60s they had an ad for a color plastic screen in the back of the comic books, etc. That you could tape over your black and white TV and "voilà" it was magically turned into color! Well, I had to have one as a preDX teenager. It was one 1/3 blue on on top, 1/3 middle for pink and 1/3 blue on the bottom. Cool!- until the heat of the TV curled the plastic...Ah, those were the days. (Joe Perge, ibid.) Just a minor point: 480 digital is the same resolution as 525 analog. There are 22 lines in each field in the vertical blanking interval - lines that are not supposed to be displayed on the screen. (they're the black area, usually with some dashed and/or colored lines mixed in, that appears when you intentionally misadjust the vertical hold control. They were intended to ensure the electron beam is cut off while the scan returns from the lower-right corner to the upper- left. If you attempted to display active video for all 525 lines, you'd have a white line across the screen from lower-right to upper- left.) Digital doesn't require a vertical blanking interval, as the receiver is able to store the top line of the next field while it waits for the electron beam to get back to the top of the screen. Subtract the 22 undisplayed lines for field 1, and the 22 undisplayed lines for field 2, from the 525 analog lines, and you get -- 481 lines displayed. So I guess 525 analog really *is* higher resolution than 480p -- but I doubt anyone's going to fight over one line |grin|! (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66, ibid.) RDS SLOWLY GAINING ACCEPTANCE --- by Randy J. Stine LOS ANGELES --- The never-ending race for revenue has some broadcast groups taking another look at the Radio Data System, a text and data delivery technology that failed to catch the attention of most broadcasters when introduced in the United States in 1993, as a possible means of boosting bottom line through non-traditional advertising. Following the lead of Clear Channel and at least one other major radio group, some broadcasters appear ready to take the RDS leap... http://www.rwonline.com/reference-room/special-report/03_rw_rds_2.shtml (Radio World Online via Jim Thomas, WTFDA via DXLD) Just curious --- I know people have been talking about IBOC on AM radio. Is there some kind of plan to possibly implement IBOC on fm (HD FM, as an engineer called it) on a nationwide scale??? An engineer I was talking with today with Entravisión in San José was telling me if HD FM is implemented (IBOC), it destroys any attempt to utilize RDS technology. I'm just curious of the validity of that and if it REALLY is a concern of radio station engineers. He said that is a reason that most of the Entravision stations do not have RDS. I have two of them in my market and neither one runs RDS. He also mentioned that a company called Cue Paging (now bankrupt and off in the sunset) used to hold a large percentage of the metro markets RDS capabilities and they would lease the equipment/ technology. That had the use of RDS across the US kind of in limbo, because they were basically the big player in a small market. Long story, short --- now that Cue Paging is gone, this is why broadcast corporations are just now trying to organize the use of RDS and there is still a big question mark in the broadcast community if it will fly like it has in Europe. He said we have to remember that we're talking about two different types of radio ownership --- state owned and private. That makes a difference in how it`s used. I've been trying to do some research on the biggest 20 players in FM radio and its almost beyond pulling teeth in trying to get them to tell me about their company plans for RDS. Some have even commented they think CC is making a mistake with their push for RDS, thinking that the US isn't knowledgeable enough about RDS for it to go anywhere. I guess we'll see (Jim Thomas, wdx0fbu, Milliken, Colorado, WTFDA via DXLD) FCC SPECTRUM POLICY TASK FORCE REPORTS ON PROGRESS, INITIATIVES NEWINGTON, CT, Nov 18 2003 --- The FCC`s Spectrum Policy Task Force has reported steps the Commission has taken during the past year to implement spectrum policy reform and initiatives planned for the next 12 to 18 months. The Task Force noted the FCC already has made significant progress in modernizing the policies guiding allocation and utilization of FCC-administered spectrum resources. ``The FCC continues to move toward innovative approaches to spectrum policy that are designed to maximize the public benefits derived from the use of the radio spectrum,`` the Commission said in a public notice. The Task Force also announced plans to launch a research tool on its Spectrum Policy Task Force Web page http://www.fcc.gov/sptf The program will allow the public to track the progress of all FCC spectrum-related rulemaking proceedings and initiatives in one place. FCC Chairman Michael Powell established the Spectrum Policy Task Force in June 2002. In November 2002, the Task Force issued a report containing specific recommendations for spectrum policy reform. Among its principal recommendations: To migrate from the current ``command- and-control model`` of spectrum regulation to market-oriented exclusive rights and unlicensed device/commons models, to implement ways to increase access to spectrum in all dimensions for users of both unlicensed devices and licensed spectrum, and to implement a new paradigm for interference protection. The Spectrum Policy Task Force Report (ET Docket 02-135) has drawn significant interest and more than 130 formal comments http://www.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2002/db1115/DOC-228542A1.doc The FCC said the report has also been the subject of discussions between Commission staff and their counterparts in nine countries and the European Union. The ARRL registered its own mixed feelings about the report last January. The League called the report ``a positive first step`` in developing a comprehensive national spectrum management approach but said it also ``fails to address the needs and goals`` of the Amateur Service. The ARRL urged the FCC to not abandon longstanding allocation policies based on engineering. ``Spectrum policy reform should be viewed as an ongoing process, not as a wholesale paradigm shift to be accomplished in half a year,`` the League said. The ARRL said it was ``encouraged,`` however, that the FCC had worked to involve all portions of the telecommunications industry in developing a spectrum policy. In its initial comments to the Spectrum Policy Task Force filed in 2002, the ARRL told the FCC that marketplace forces should not determine Amateur Radio spectrum allocations and that interference management is a technical, not an economic, issue. The FCC said Task Force Director Peter Tenhula claimed ``tremendous progress`` on the FCC`s part in embracing most of the 39 Task Force recommendations. For example, the Commission noted its inquiries into improving access to spectrum in rural areas, specifying interference immunity performance standards for radio receivers, and establishing an interference temperature metric. In addition, there are five ongoing or recently concluded proceedings to designate additional spectrum for unlicensed users or to promote such use. The FCC also has issued final rules in its secondary markets proceeding, providing licensees in about two dozen wireless communications services flexibility to lease or transfer their unused or underutilized spectrum rights to other facilities-based providers under a streamlined process. Copyright © 2003, American Radio Relay League, Inc. All Rights reserved (via John Norfolk, DX LISTENING DIGEST) POWERLINE COMMUNICATIONS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Another BoPL disaster: Hydro-Quebec CBC News: HYDRO-QUÉBEC TO TEST INTERNET OVER POWER LINES http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/11/21/Consumers/power_lines031121 MONTREAL - Hydro-Québec is planning to offer high-speed internet service over its power lines to compete with similar services from cable and telephone companies. The utility already uses signals over its power lines to control stoplights, but now it wants to adapt it to offer internet access. Some experts say such a service could be up to five times faster than high-speed cable internet service. Jim Carroll, author of "Surviving the Information Age," said the addition of the new service could be great for consumers. "If we have that many participants in the broadband marketplace then the real impact is perhaps it's going to help to keep prices down or drive down the monthly price," said Carroll. Jean-Paul Galarneau, of the Quebec cable company Vidéotron, said its service will stand up to the competition. "Videotron has to compete with satellite, we're doing pretty well today, and we're ready to fight with any competitor," said Galarneau. But some broadcasters use electrical wires as antennas for radio signals and are concerned that the internet signals could interfere with radio and television reception. Broadcast expert Jacques Bouliane said the internet signal could completely ruin television reception. "Even if you don't subscribe to the service, you would get interference from it," he said. Hydro said it won't be a problem, and pointed out that interference doesn't occur over cables that provide both television and internet service. German utilities company RWE started offering Internet service over power lines the summer of 2001, and Swedish company Sydkraft also offers the service. Canadian tech company Nortel ran tests of the technology in Britain in the late 1990s and concluded that it would be far too expensive to adapt power grids to carry internet signals. Hydro-Québec said it will start testing the service in January and hopes to offer the service in a few years. Written by CBC News Online staff (via Daniel Say, swprograms via DXLD) I don't ever remember hearing about this before. One has to wonder who authorized this and why no one ever held parliamentary commissions or anything (Ricky Leong, QC, ibid.) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ NW7US UPDATED FORECAST FOR CQ WW CW WEEKEND Here is my updated predictions for the CQ WW CW contest weekend (29- XI-2003 UTC and 30-XI-2003 UTC): The solar activity that took us by surprise during the end of October and beginning of November 2003 has me revising my outlook for the CQ WW CW contest period of November 29 and 30. I am now expecting conditions to be slightly degraded compared to the forecast conditions published in the CQ Magazine. See my latest "Last Minute Forecast" chart at http://prop.hfradio.org/ Using the 27-day solar cycle as a guide, we are looking at Above Normal on day one, to High Normal conditions on day two of the contest weekend. Low- and mid-latitude paths will be good, while high-latitude and polar paths will be fair. The predictions right now call for the planetary A index (Ap) to be 10 on 28-XI-2003 and 29-XI-2003, and 15 on 29-XI-2003. (Some predictions called for the Ap to remain at 15 for both contest days, making day one only High-normal conditions). The 10.7-cm Flux is predicted to be at least 165 to 180 on 28-XI-2003 and 29-XI-2003. On 30-XI-2003, the flux is expected to fall to about 160. A maximum planetary K index (Kp) of 3 is expected for both days. Polar geomagnetic forecasts are calling for unsettled conditions for trans-polar and high-latitude propagation paths. This will make over- the-pole contacts more challenging. Will solar flares play havoc on the bands during the daylight hours during the contest? The sunspot regions, 507 and 508, pose the most risk for flare activity. Both have beta-gamma magnetic configurations. Old sunspot region 498 is expected to return from around the sun on day one, but will still be on the very edge. It is predicted to have a beta configuration, so 498's flare risk is low. A note about magnetic configurations of sunspot groups: Sunspots classed as "beta" groups are simple bipolar regions. "Beta-gamma" sunspot groups are more complex and consist of an irregular mixture of magnetic polarities. The "delta" magnetic configuration only occurs when two closely-spaced, opposite polarity umbrae appear within a single penumbra. This characteristic implies that magnetic field gradients are high and that respectable levels of magnetic shear may exist around the two opposite polarity umbral spots. Sunspot regions that possess the "delta" configuration are the most potentially volatile and flare-prone active regions. Some of the most powerful solar flares in recorded history (including the rare white-light flares) have issued forth from complex sunspot regions containing magnetic delta configurations. The most complex magnetic configurations of sunspot groups is known as a beta-gamma-delta magnetic configuration. More information: http://sidc.oma.be/edu/classification.html I expect that there will be minor flare activity from these regions over the contest weekend. This will impact the highest bands (10 to 15 meters). Therefore, I expect that the higher bands will be poor to good, depending on the path: Trans-equitorial paths (N/S) will be the best, while polar paths will be the worst. The middle HF bands will be good over most paths. The low HF bands and the MW band will fair nicely, since the background X-ray levels are expected to be in the B-class range, and very little geomagnetic activity is expected. Those operating in low-latitudes will have the best propagation into most areas of the world. All stations will have a slight challenge for any over-the-pole paths. Mid-latitude stations should otherwise have good conditions, while high-latitude stations will have fewer higher frequency openings. I'll be watching things closely, and will update my predictions if warranted. You can find the latest version at http://prop.hfradio.org/ Happy DXing! 73 de Tomas, NW7US (AAR0JA/AAM0EWA) -- : Propagation Editor, CQ/CQ VHF/Popular Communications Magazines : : http://hfradio.org/ -- http://prop.hfradio.org/ -- Brinnon, WA : (via Cumbre DX via DXLD) ###