DX LISTENING DIGEST 3-219, December 7, 2003 edited by Glenn Hauser IMPORTANT NOTE: our hotmail accounts are being phased out. Please do not use them any further, but instead woradio at yahoo.com or wghauser at yahoo.com Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only if full credit be maintained at all stages and we be provided exchange copies. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without permission. Materials taken from Arctic or originating from Olle Alm and not having a commercial copyright are exempt from all restrictions of noncommercial, noncopyrighted reusage except for full credits HTML version of this issue will be posted later at http://www.w4uvh.net/dxldtd3k.html For restrixions and searchable 2003 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn NEXT AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1210: WWCR: Wed 1030 9475 WSUI: Mon 0430 910 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 1210 (high version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1210h.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1210h.rm (summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1210.html WORLD OF RADIO 1210 (low version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1210.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1210.rm WORLD RADIO NETWORK -- are the WRN servers too busy for you? Try the alternate page http://ituner.com/special/wrn.html that works very well here (Tom Sundstrom, Net Notes, Dec NASWA Journal via DXLD) ** AFGHANISTAN. Kabul has its first ever privately owned independent FM radio station. Arman FM on 98.1 broadcasts Indian, Western, Arabic and Afghan music 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Read the details at BBC News at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3283975.stm and dial into the station Web site at http://www.arman.fm Afghan ITT at http://www.afghanitt.com is hosting Arman FM. It might be worthwhile to periodically check this Web site to see what other Afghan companies (or broadcasters) may be hosted on the ITT servers in the future (Tom Sundstrom, Net Notes, Dec NASWA Journal via DXLD) ** ARGENTINA. Yes, I heard BBC 1670, my third Argentine X Bander and the only one I have not been able to QSL. I have a nice tape of it. I sent two reports to London. One never replied and the other one, I got a reply stating that the BBC had nothing to do with that station. I think my reception of BBC-1670 was in 2001. The other two I have is a religious one on 1620 that operated with 5 KW for a while and the other was a relay of Red92 on 1630. I got a beautiful QSL on that one too (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, NRC-AM via DXLD) The amazing thing is that none of those three stations has a listenable signal in central Buenos Aires. They are strictly limited to very small suburban areas, and have really small coverage areas. In several hotels, and in the stations I work at, you can't get them at all. Amazing what near short-wave frequencies will do at night! I don't know the sites precisely. However, there are 3 or 4 of the X band stations in the first populated area near Ezeiza airport; all are probably about 50 meters with unipole configuration on very small pieces of land. They are all neighborhood stations. There is only one station that covers all Buenos Aires with a good, fade and interference free signal, and that is Radio 10 on 710. 100 kw, with an intentional directional pattern pushing 140 kw over the city. 630, 790, 590 and 870 all do well, although 630 and 790 are not too good at night with lower power. 910 and 950 are next best (LRA 870 is inconsistent due to old, bad equipment). The rest, including 1030 and 1070, have real problems with signal. 1110 and 1190 are miserable, for example. Buenos Aires is a very noisy city, with lots of loose electric wires, stuff that sparks, radiates and so on. Takes 100 kw to cover it OK. None of the X-bands are more than neighborhood stations, as are most of the BA FMs, too. There are even FM frequencies duplicated inside metro BA! (David Gleason, CA, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. I noted what must be Radio Australia, still going strong on 9580 kHz, under Africa No. 1, as late as 1900 UT today. I've never heard Radio Australia on such a low frequency in mid afternoon (Dan Srebnick, NJ, Dec 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BELARUS. Noted SW relay of Radius FM on 23 Nov at 2245. Two frequencies were active: 3346 DSB S1-S3 and 2338 DSB with weaker signal (S1). Broadcast was entirely in Russian. IS and female announcements at 2250. Daytime frequencies (after 0600 or so) are 4246 and 5256 kHz. (MIDXB No.347 - Konstantin Gusev, Moscow, Russia, via Signal Dec 6 via DXLD) ** BIAFRA [non]. 7380, SOUTH AFRICA, R. Biafra Int`l, 12-06 2132-2200* English, African vocals, IDs, commentary, 2147 talk in language, IDs, English Nigerian news, sign-off announcements (Sheryl Paszkiewicz, WI, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. 5045, R. Guarujá Paulista, 2325-2359, Dec. 6, Portuguese, Got 2 conflicting messages regarding the schedule for the DX Clube de Brasil's "Nas Ondas Curtas Da Guarujá" 2330-0000: one said this Saturday, the other says next. So I checked this evening and heard a signal, (suffering from way too much "splatter" from 5050 WWRB) with pop music and talks until 2338. Then OM mentions http://www.ondascurtas.com Continuous talks, with brief musical breaks, until 2359 when address mentioned again. Not sure if I logged the DX program in question, but the URL takes you to DX Clube de Brasil's website! Poor with slop from 5050, WWRB bible-thumper (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, MLB-1, RS longwire with RBA balun, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. The unidentified semi-classical music sender is active again on 17480 at 1025 today (Sunday), and I hear a weaker 11640, which is co-channel with Firedrake-CNR. 17480 is a strong signal, and playing the same "tape loop" heard previous. This takes about one hour ten minutes before repeating. I cannot hear any identifying characteristics. Audio quality is very good and clear (Noel Green, Uk, Dec 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Test transmissions on 17480 and 21730 noted with quite strong, but obviously multi-hop signals here, too. Recording of 21730 at 1015: http://kailudwig.bei.t-online.de/21730_071203_1015UT.mp3 Note how the AGC sucks up a quite terrible mains hum in the pause between two music pieces, indicating a quite provisional audio source. (Kai Ludwig, Germany, ibid.) Yes, noted also by yours truly since wake up at 0800 UT. But this hum audio heard today for the first time. Never happened on Monday to Wednesday test series. But I think, the hum coming from the final linear amplifier circuit on the transmitter unit. I guess the break on Thur/Fri has something to do with the Muslim world around Kashgar, PAK, AFG, UZB etc., and also the staff people has done a working break, due of local 'BEINGS'. Still another puzzle: Also heard a different Chinese music station on Sat + Su, around 07.30-09.57:30* UT, at latter heard the close-down today. Looked to the Nagoya website, but couldn't find any entry. It could be another Chinese station, also on test? A much weaker 'old' Chinese station with muffled audio is a daily guest with fair signal on 13810. I couldn't find any entry in various B03 databases. Heard a weak signal at 1030 on 9634.96 Bamako ? Mali, I guess. UNID classical music station tentatively from Kashi-Kashgar in south west China, 39.20N 75.46E. Noted today around 0800-1000 UT on 12065, 17480 and 21730 kHz. 12065 replaced by 15670 kHz around 0958 UT. Since Dec 1st, test transmissions on 9410, 11640, 11940, 12065, 13570, 13625, 13860, 15670, 17480, 21460, and 21730 kHz noted by the DX community. 73 (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Dec 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNID classical music test station: At 1320 UT 11460 kHz S=9 +40 dB 17480 S=7 fade-way, due of poor propagation from 19-13 m bands. QRM Skelton Ar 17585. 21730 now weak S=3-5 fading Service break between Thursday and Saturday. Heard today Sunday again: 0800-1000 12065 17480 21730 1000-1300 15670 17480 21730 1300-1400 11460 17480 21730 1400-1500 7630 17480 21730 Move to another frequency occurs mostly at hh.57:30 UT 73 (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, 1432 UT Dec 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Here in south Italy (0930 UTC): 21730 - SINPO 55544 17480 - SINPO 45534 12065 - SINPO 35433 (Roberto Scaglione, Sicily, Dec 7, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Here in Natal, northeast of Brazil, (1005 to 1046 UTC): 21730 - Excellente signal, SIO 555 17480 - Good signal, SIO 545 12065 - Not heard Vy 73, de PS7KM, (Karl Leite, Natal, RN, Dec 7, Cumbre DX via DXLD) The music station heard today (8 Dec 2003) at 0200 on 11985 (till around 0300), 17480, 21730, 21850 still continuing at 0415. Sincerely, (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, India, ibid.) ** CHINA [and non]. Unfortunately the following is still incomplete/not updated, as it lacks e.g. the Chinese broadcast I am hearing, again Dec 7, at 1600 on 17735 via Canada. No key to the site abbrs. here, but we may guess (gh, DXLD) China Radio International B03 December 3, 2003 UTC 0000-0057 Chinese 13680C 702MW 107.1FM Hakka 15400B1 15260X1 15100X1 11945K2 9550K3 9460K2 7255U1 6140K Portuguese 11850G 11680B4 7245X1 Russian 9870B1 7110HU 5990HU 1521 Spanish 15120Cu 11650X1 7160X1 5990Cu 0100-0157 Amoy 15100X1 11945K2 11700B4 9550K3 9460K2 7255U1 6140K English 9790C 9580Cu Russian 1521 Spanish 11650X1 0200-0227 Tamil 15260K2 13715U3 0200-0257 Chinese 17680B1 9690E 9580Cu Spanish 11650X1 13685G 0230-0327 Nepalese 15320X1 13790K5 0300-0357 Chinese 9720G English-NA 9690E Spanish 9560C Russian 17740X1 17710B2 15435B1 0400-0457 Cantonese 702MW 107.1FM English-NA 9755G 9560C 6190C 0500-0557 English-NA 9560C 6190C 0500-0557 Cantonese 702MW 107.1FM 0600-0757 German 15245U1 13820U3 0830-0927 Indonesian 17735B1 15135K1 0900-0957 Chinese 15440K5 15110X1 11875K4 11700B1 9665B2 English-S. Pacific 17690B2 15210K5 0900-1057 Chinese 17785X1 15340X1 15320K2 702MW 107.1FM SMTWTFS 0930-1027 Malay 17680K1 15135K1 0930-1527 Japanese 7190B1 1044 1000-1057 Cantonese 17755XI 15440K5 11875K4 English-S. Pacific 17690JI 15210U1 Russian 9695B4 7290JI 7255B1 7110HU 5915HU 5905Z5 1116 963 1030-1127 Cambodian 17680K1 15165X1 Indonesian 15135K1 11700K2 1100-1157 Cantonese 17785X1 15340X1 9590K5 9790Cuba 702 107.1 Chaozhou 11875K4 9440K3 Esperanto 9510X1 7150X1 Mongolian 7110HU 5955B1 Russian 7290JI 7255B1 5905Z5 1521 1323 1116 963 Vietnamese 11990X1 9550X2 1296 1100-1257 Korean 5965B1 1017 1130-1157 Burmese 11780X1 9880K1 1269 Tagalog 11700X1 1341 1130-1227 Thai 9785K4 7360K 1200-1227 Tagalog 12110K 11700X1 1200-1257 Cambodian 17680X1 9440K3 1080 Cantonese 11855C 9790Cuba 702 107.1 English-SE Asia 11980K3 9730B1 1341 1188 684 English-S Pacific 15415K5 11760K6 9760JI Mongolian 7255B1 5990HU 5915HU 1323 Russian 5905Z5 1521 963 Vietnamese 11990X1 9550X2 1200-1357 Chinese 17785X1 15340X1 11875K4 9570Cuba to 1257 1230-1327 Lao 9785K4 7360K Malay 15600K1 11955K2 1300-1327 Burmese 11780X1 9880K 1188 1300-1357 English-NA 13675C 9570Cuba 1120(WUST/M-F) English-SE Asia 15180X1 11980K3 1341 English-S Pacific 11900K5 11760K6 Esperanto 11650X1 9440K3 French 1440Lux SMTWTFS Hindi 11675U2 9635U1 Russian 9675B2 7255B1 5990HU 5915HU 5905Z5 1521 1323 963 Vietnamese 11990X1 9550X2 1300-1457 Korean 5965B1 1017 1330-1357 Burmese 11780X1 9880K1 1188 1330-1427 Indonesian 15135K1 11955K2 Thai 9785K4 7360K 1080 1400-1427 Sinhalese 15145K2 7265B2 1188 Tamil 9665K3 7215U1 Turkish 11800K5 9535U2 1400-1457 Amoy 15340X1 11650X1 Cambodian 17710X1 15180X1 English-SAs 11765U3 11675K6 English-NAm 17720Cuba 13675C English-Af 15125M 13685M Mongolian 7255B1 5990HU 5915HU Nepalese 9600X1 7205B6 Russian 5905Z5 1521 1323 Vietnamese 11990X1 9550X2 1296K 684Dongfang 1430-1457 Sinhalese 15145K2 7265B2 1188 Tagalog 12110K(Nov.13-) 1341 Tamil 9665K3 7215U1 1430-1527 Lao 9675K4 7360K 1080 1430-1627 Russian 1467 1500-1527 Bengali 11810K2 9600X1 1188 Pashto 11880K5 9665U2 Persian 11700K5 6165U4 1500-1557 Chinese 7265X1 7180X1 English-SAs 9785JI 7160U1 English-NAm 17720Cuba English-Af 15125M 13685M Hindi 9690U5 7235B1 1323 Nepalese 9535XI 7215K6 Russian 9765Z5 7255B1 7245X1 6180U3 5990HU 5915HU 5905Z5 1521 963 Vietnamese 11990X1 9550X2 684D 1530-1557 Bengali 11810K2 9600X1 1188 Pashto 11880K5 9665U2 6165U4 1600-1627 Swahili 12000K1 11600X1 Turkish 11655X1 6165U1 Urdu 7175K6 1323 1188 1600-1657 Arabic 17880M 15125M 11845K6 11730K5 7335U1 7130R(Peterburg) Hakka 9770U2 11825X1 Hindi 7235B1 9690U5 Russian 9885B1 9765Z5 7265U1 5965B4 6040U4 1521 Vietnamese 11990X1 7360K 6010K 684D 1600-1757 English-Af 9570X1 7190X1 1630-1657 Swahili 12000K1 11600X1 Urdu 7175X1 1323 1188 1700-1727 Swahili 15125M 11640M 12000K1 1700-1757 Cantonese 9770U2 7220B2 Russian 9885B1 9795U5 9765Z5 9605XI 9365B1 7265U1 7245X1 6040U4 5965B4 1521 1730-1757 Hausa 13670M 11640M 1730-1827 Chinese 9745K4 9645K6 7315K8 7160U5 7120U1 6150X2 1800-1827 Hausa 13670M 11640M 9570X1 Persian 9670K5 7140U2 7130(Peterburg) 1800-1857 Chaozhou 7255X1 6040U4 Italian 11875JI 9945X2 Russian 9795U5 9765Z5 9535F 9365B1 7245X1 1557Sit 1521 1800-1957 German 9620U3 5970B4 1440Lux SMTWTFS 1830-1857 Bulgarian 9860B1 7265U1 6020Z6 Hausa 9570X1 7120JI Persian 9785JI 9670K5 7140U2 1830-1927 Arabic 11640M 13685M 7315K8 7200R(Kurovskaya) 7160U3 1830-2027 French 9645K6 7350U5 1900-1927 Albanian 9965X2 7265U1 Czech 7150U4 6020Z6 Hungarian 9860B1 Romanian 7305F 6145U2 Turkish 9655JI 7215K5 1900-1957 Cantonese 9765Z5 7255X1 English-Af 9585K5 9440B2 Portuguese-Eu 7225X1 Portuguese-Af 13630M/11640Mfr1930 9535X1 7180X1 6135XI Russian 9365B1 7245X1 1557Sit 1521 1930-1957 Albanian 9965X2 Czech 7305F 7150U4 Romanian 6145U2 6020Z6 Turkish 1170(Krasnodar) 1930-2027 Esperanto 9720X2 7265U1 2000-2027 Polish 7150U4 6145F 6020Z6 1557Sit Romanian 1548(Moldova) Serbian 9365B1 7180U2 2000-2057 Chinese 9865K5 9765Z5 9685K4 7245X1 English-Af 13630M 11640M 9440B2 English-Eu 9840U3 5965B4 1557Sit fr2030 Russian 9730U5 7255X1 2030-2057 Bulgarian 7160X1 6145F Hungarian 9365B1 6020Z6 Polish 7150U4 7110JI Serbian 1548(Moldova) 2030-2127 Italian 9965X2 7265U1 2030-2227 French 13630M/11975Mfr2130 7215R(Samara)to2127 7200U2 6135XI 2100-2127 Albanian 9610U4 6145F English-Af 13630M 11640M Serbian 7160U2 7110JI 2100-2157 Arabic 9765U1 9685K4 7260K8 Chinese 1557Sit English-Eu 9840U3 5965B4 1440Lux Spanish 9640U5 6020Z6 2130-2157 Hungarian 7120U4 6145F 2200-2257 Chinese 15400B1 15260X1 11945K2 9550K3 9460K2 7265K5 7255U1 7190U4 7180X2 6140K 5955B5 English-Eu 7170R(Taldom) Esperanto 11700B2 9860B2 Portuguese 7245X1 5990B4(Nov.17-) Spanish 9640U3 7120U4 6020Z6 2230-2257 Chinese-AF 15500M/11975M 2300-2357 Cantonese 15400B1 15260X1 15100X1 11945K2 9550K3 9460K2 7255U1 6140K Chinese 702MW 107.1FM Chinese-Af 11975M 7170M English-Eu 558 London-Spectrum Radio English-NAm 13680C 5990Cuba Portuguese 13650Cu Russian 7110HU 5990HU 5955B1 Spanish 7160X1 7245X1 Extended the broadcasting hours of some languages from August 5th 2003. April 16th 2003 the relays of China Radio International start via Sitkunai, Lithuania 1557kHz (150kW ND). The schedule: 1900-2000 Russian, 2000-2030 Polish, 2030-2100 English, 2100-2200 Chinese B03 [relays via Chinese sites] UTC RFI 0100-0157 French 15605B1 1100-1200 French 11600B1 1200-1257 Khmer 11600X1 1300-1357 French 684(Dongfang, Hainandao Island) 1400-1457 English 7180XI 1500-1557 Vietnamese 1296K 1600-1657 French 6090K1 1296K REE 1000-1157 Spanish 9660B1 1200-1357 Spanish 11910X1 VOR 1200-1300 Vietnamese 603(Guangdong) 1300-1400 Hindi 1269K 1400-1500 English 1269K 1500-1557 English 11500X1 1700-1757 English 1269K RCI 0000-0057 English 11895X1 0200-0257 English 17860X1 15150X1 1500-1557 English 11935X1 9635X1 http://www.crienglish.com/about/frequencies.htm (NDXC Nagoya DXers Circle website, via Wolfgang Büschel, Dec 7, DXLD) ** COLOMBIA. Björn Malm`s log of La Voz del Llano says 6113.02, and no one has questioned this, despite his mentioning in the body of the item `6115`. I suspect 6113.02 was a typo for 6115.02; correct? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** C I S. Foreign relay via short wave transmitters of the countries of CIS --- 26/10/2003 - 27/03/2004 kHz UTC kW Radiostation Armenia 5855 1710-1840 100 TWR 7365 0030-0130 100 FEB 7475 1400-1500 100 RFA 7550 2300-2400 500 RFA 7560 0100-0300 500 RFA 9365* 1100-1400 500 RFA 11520 1400-1600 500 FRA 11590** 1100-1400 500 RFA 11790 1400-1500 100 VOA 17540 0600-0700 500 RFA * Till 06/03/2004 ** Since 07/03/2004 Moldova 7460 0230-0315 500 RPD 7480 1800-1845 500 RPD 7490 1730-1815 500 RIN 11530 0800-1700 500 MSP Kazakhstan 5905 1430-1530 200 DVB 6225 2200-2400 500 DWL 7530 2230-2330 200 RFA 7550 1300-1300 200 RFA 9355 1630-1700 Tue, Fri200 VOO 9490 2330-2430 200 RFA 11510 1230-1330 200 RFA 11535 1400-1500 200 RFA 11570 0030-0130 200 RFA 13830 0000-0100 200 RFA 15680 1100-1200 200 RFA Tajikistan 4760 0100-0200 100 RFE 4760 1630-1700 100 RFE 4995 1500-1700 100 RFE 5035 0200-0300 100 RFE 6140 1900-2000 100 RFE 6160 0200-0300 100 RFE 7415 2300-2400 200 RFA 7455 1800-2100 500 RFA 7470* 0100-0300 200 RFA 7480 0100-0200 200 RFA 7495 1500-1600 200 RFA 7515 2330-0030 200 RFA 7515 1600-1700 200 RFA 7530 1600-1700 200 RFA 7540 2300-2400 500 RFA 7540 1500-2100 500 RFA 9355 1300-1400 200 RFA 9365 0100-0200 200 RFA 9365 1400-1500 200 RFA 11535 0030-0130 200 RFA 11540 1100-1400 200 RFA 11640 1215-1300 100 VOT 15645 1215-1300 100 VOT 15660** 0100-0300 200 RFA 17495 0300-0700 500 RFA 17515 0600-0700 200 RFA 17525 0300-0700 500 RFA * Till 06/03/2004 ** Since 07/03/2004 Uzbekistan 7345 0030-0130 100 FEB 7375 0100-0130 200 BBC 7430 1330-1445 200 BBC 7430 1500-1530 200 BBC 9485 1300-1345 200 FEB 9855 1400-1700 100 VIL 9865 1430-1550 Sun-Fri 100 VAT 9865 1430-1600 Sat 100 VAT 9925 2315-0145 200 TWR 11850 0100-0400 100 VIL 12025 1430-1545 100 VOT 12070 0100-0100 Wed, Fri200 HLR 12070 1300-1600 100 RNW 13630 0500-1100 100 VIL 13765 1100-1400 100 VIL 15615 1215-1300 100 VOT 17690 1200-1230 100 RVI AMN - Radio Amani BBC - British Broadcasting Corp. BVB - Bible Voice Broadcasting Network CRI - China Radio Int. DEG - Degar Voice DER - Dejen Radio DVB - Democratic Voice of Burma DWL - Deutsche Welle FEB - FEBA Radio FGM - Fang Guang Ming Radio HBS - Herald Broadcasting Syndicate HLR - Hmong Lao Radio IBC - IBC Tamil IBR - IBRA Radio MAR - Radio Maryja MES - Mesopotamian Radio & TV MSP - Voice of Mesopotamia RCI - Radio Canada Int. RFA - Radio Free Asia RFE - Radio Rfee Europe / Radio Liberty RFI - Radio France Internationale RIN - Radio Anternacional RNW - Radio Nederland Wereldompoep RPD - Radio Payam-e Doost RPG - Radio Prague RVI - Radio Vlaanderev Internationaal SAW - Sawt al-Watan (Voice of Homeland) TAY - Saet Loubnan al-Horriyah ( Voice of Free Lebanon) TIS - Radio Solidarity TWR - Trans World Radio VAT - Radio Vaticana VEM - Voice of Ethiopian Medhin VIL - Voice International VKK - Voice of Khmer Krom VOA - Voice of America VOM - Voice of Mediterranean VOO - Voice of Orthodoxy VOT - Voice of Tibet The information on relaying Bible Voice Broadcasting Network is absent (Nikolay Rudnev, Belgorodskaya oblast, Rus-DX Dec 7 via DXLD) v RUSSIA ** CONGO. 9610, 1644- Dec 6, Radio Congo. French language program at just above threshold levels. Variety program. Music at 1652, then talk by YL, interspersed with background music. Parisian sounding French, without any African accent. Signal improving over time. Quite good at 1656, with lively music. Talk at 1659, with mentions of Nationale. A presumed logging, but fairly certain (Walter (Volodya) Salmaniw, MD, Victoria, BC, Canada, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CONGO DR. On 7 Dec at 1553 I heard a station on 5066.3 in an African language, a bit similar to Swahili. Mentioned often Congo and Bunia. Around 1603 some instrumental music and possible canned ID (or promo) by male and female (but muffled voices). Then some music and transmitter went off at about 1605. I believe it was R Candip from Bunia (Congo Dem. Rep.). Unfortunately the signal was rather poor, so no positive identification at this time. Haven't seen this one logged for some time (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. 5021.3v, R. Rebelde, 6 Dec. 0945-1055, Pop and LA music with no announcements heard. Finally at TC at 1000 "La hora ? mañana". Mention of cubano at 1001. "Muy buenos días". Not very strong for Rebelde and QRMed from SIBC. Frequency varying as low as 5021.27 and as high as 5021.42 (Dave Valko, PA, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** CUBA [non]. I hesitated to re-recommend ``Cubanola`` on R. Martí, following news of their expanded news format from Dec. 1; and sure enough, ``Cubanola`` is gone from 1400-1500 UT Sat, when checked Dec. 6 on 15330, 13820, 11930 and 7405. Instead, ``Sin Censores ni Censura``, breaking at 1430 for a message in Gringo Spanish read by the head of the US Interests Section in Habana trying to discourage hijacking and other forms of illegal immigration. Note the story in 3- 218 mentions audio archive, complaining that many links are dead, but supposedly several editions of Cubanola are there. What`s the URL? Everything seems to lead to the uninformative re-named http://www.martinoticias.com (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ESTIMADO AMIGO GLENN HAUSER: Conociendo su interés por el programa "Cubanola" que conduce Francisco Ojeda en la programación de RADIO MARTI, le comunico que con la restructuración de programas iniciada el 1 de Diciembre, el mismo sale ahora los dias SABADO a las 18:00 UTC. Las frecuencias en operación a esa hora 17670, 15330, 13820 y 11930. Para mi QTH (Miami) la mejor señal era 13820, aunque 17670, 15330 eran también aceptables, no asi 11930 con un fuerte Jamming. Espero en los dias sucesivos seguir conociendo los cambios realizados en la programación de Radio Martí. Por el momento los NOTICIEROS son cuatro bloques de dos horas de duración cada uno: 10:00-12:00 UTC, 17:00-19:00, 22:00-24:00 y 03:00-05:00 de Lunes a Viernes. El horario de la madrugada en vez de repetir los programas del dia, añade nuevos: cómicos y políticos a partir de las 05:00 UT. Espero le sea útil la información. Cordiales 73's (Oscar de Céspedes, FL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) R MARTI HOMEPAGE STREAM LINKS Glenn: Re Alexis Molina's claim about the Radio Martí and TV Martí websites that: "...a page with three or four dysfunctional links is the result of permissible human or technical error. But 80% of dead links cannot be merely a human error, but must be a premeditated action." I just read the entire Molina letter with some skepticism. This was confirmed when I got to the end and found that he was residing in Ireland, a long way from the US. I have some difficulties, for example, in getting reliable streaming web video from Europe in general, and the UK specifically: no "intent" or dark motives involved, merely technical issues related to packet routing, the "final mile" from an ISP, and the behavior of video applets and their buffering setups and protocols. For instance: I live in San José, California, and at present am using an old computer -- 600 MHz Pentium III -- running Windows XP. Today - - Sunday 7 December after noon, local west coast standard time, I checked all the audio and video links at http://www.martinoticias.com/radio.asp and http://www.martinoticias.com/tv.asp (Radio and TV Marti.) I found that three of the four audio reports played instantly in superb audio quality (though it seems that the first one, by Diana Molineaux, is a bad link); and all of the nine video reports started within 3 to 5 SECONDS and played perfectly. I am using Earthlink DSL. Unless Alexis's letter had the effect of making Martí webmasters *immediately* fix a problem -- which isn't the implication of their reply to him -- I suspect that the trouble may be in Ireland, and specifically at either Alexis's ISP, or with his computer system. I myself am a web developer. Before I would publicly claim that other entities with web media -- even the US Government -- are involved in some strangely motivated, bizarre, and illogical plot to confuse and annoy the rest of the world, I would think it prudent to check many different computer users in diverse areas and with different Internet connections. Maybe Alexis did that. At any rate, there does not seem to be a significant problem NOW; there was one dead link out of 13, a failure of 8%, not 80%: a problem that at this very moment is an order of magnitude LESS than asserted by Alexis. I have to admit, sheepishly, that recently I discovered a dead file link to a sound clip on my own wife's website, which had been due to a typing error I made a year earlier. So things like this happen in an imperfect world. Therefore, it's wise to try to be as perfect as one can be in detecting, troubleshooting, and analyzing (Steve Waldee (retired broadcast engineer, San José, CA), DX LISTENING DIGEST) Spurs on SW: see USA ** CUBA [non]. No sign of R. Marti on 1700 so far. The frequency is a jumble right now, mostly a mix of WJCC Spanish religion and WEUV gospel music over likely Texas and Iowa. If interested in what a Cuban bubble jammer sounds like, check out the R. Marti shortwave frequencies 6030 and 7365 kHz, quite a bit different than the slow bubble on 1020 kHz or the buzz on 820 kHz (Bruce Conti - Nashua NH 0010 UT Dec 6, NRC-AM via DXLD) At 1940 EST, I believe I have two SS on 1700 - one with slow ballads, the other with talk. WEUV is also there. Both tend to loop more or less South, as best as I can tell with WEUV in the mix (Russ Edmunds, Blue Bell, PA ( 15 mi NNW Philadelphia ), ibid.) Your 2nd SS is likely Iowa which is often SS now. CX stink again tonite. 73 KAZ (Neil Kazaross, IL, ibid.) As a friend suggested after I told him about my call to WJCC, where they told me that Radio Marti had offices in the same building with WJCC, comes to mind that just maybe :)....maybe....that WJCC is running Radio Marti programming late at night. They denied it, but that doesn't mean anything. Because I should have heard WJCC at the same time as Radio Marti I would think. The "signal sound" sure had that "WJCC" sound though. Earlier I thought I had heard Rel. pgm on there in SS. I will check after 10 or 11 PM PST and see if there is anything tonight. Thanks Bruce. 73s, (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, ibid.) This could have been as simple as some kind of cross-connection, too, if they're sharing the same building. We had that yesterday during AM drive when I listened to WOKV 690 Jacksonville, FL, they had a line that cross connected their board with WFYV-FM Atlantic Beach - Jacksonville, FL Rock 105, where the Rock 105 control room operator worked the phones and that audio came across WOKV's signal for a good 10 minutes (including Rock 105's traffic reporter, and random incoming calls). They're both Cox stations in a brand new facilities, so it was a matter of working out a few kinks. Judging from the 690 WOKV's (Mike Dowart) PD's (in for Mike Cella) delivery either he's not easily distracted or he didn't hear the interference on his monitor (Ron Gitschier, Jacksonville and Palm Coast, FL, ibid.) Of course almost as soon as I send the prior email, WEUV takes over the frequency. But I've set up for remote recordings across 0100, 0200, & 0300 EST (Russ Edmunds, Blue Bell, PA, ibid.) Hi Ron, That is true, as that did cross my mind. I do know I heard Radio Marti on 1700 as others have heard too. I have no idea how the signal got on 1700, but it was there. It could be some crossing of wires, etc. But it was sure odd how evasive the people were at WJCC (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, ibid.) If 1700 WJCC Miami shares the same building with Marti, there are some possibilities: 1) Marti has other buildings and this is merely a coincidence. It is possible in my view that Marti might have other buildings / locations, but I don't think WJCC would, and so I would suspect there's more reason than mere coincidence they are in the same building. 2) WJCC beams in one direction, and Marti in the other, or they willingly overlap in some fringe areas but still serve distinct areas. Marti aimed at Cuba, WJCC intended to serve the domestic and regional (FL) markets. 3) Marti is riding on WJCC and neither Marti nor WJCC wants to make any noise about the arrangement. This makes sense to me. I'm seeing smoking guns all over this discussion. Are there any Miami area listeners on this list who can listen and/or investigate? Or is it time to find Don Trelford, who I think is now in Jamaica (he summers near Toronto), and ask him what he hears on 1700? (Saul Chernos?, ibid.) Saul, You make some very good points there. There might be some arrangements between Radio Marti and WJCC. But we may never know. If someone could hear both Radio Marti and WJCC on at the same time we might have more of an idea. I am leaning towards WJCC running Radio Marti programming as I did not hear WJCC in there, even though I believe I heard SS Rel programming earlier (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, ibid.) WJCC, Radio Luz, has been running Spanish religious programming (evangelical, not Catholic) every time I have checked it in Miami. Last time was a month ago, where I tuned in because I saw a Radio Luz van on Le Jeune near the airport and it reminded me to check. http://www.radioluz.cc where they stream live. 2828 Coral way is the old studio location for WQBA/WAQI/WAMR/WRTO. The building is owned by the former owner of WAQI, Amansio Suárez. I was not aware of any Marti operations there. Marti streams at http://www.martinoticias.com (David Gleason, ibid.) All three of my recordings had no SS at all - only WUEV & Iowa. Will repeat tonight with the antenna oriented further toward the SSE. (Russ Edmunds, Blue Bell, PA (15 mi NNW Philadelphia), ibid.) Wouldn't just listening to the stream of 1700 and that of Martí and comparing be enough? Both have live streams on their websites (David Gleason, CA, ibid.) My theory on all of this --- Sometimes transmitters are tested out here in the desert at the various test sites in AZ and NV and they use R. Martí, VOA and AFRTS for modulation, I believe. I don't think that Martí has a station on 1700 or 1710. I just think that these are transmitter tests that are for the military to use overseas. I have heard Martí, VOA and AFRTS on occasion on those two frequencies. It`s the only thing I can imagine it to be. There`s not much more that I can guess it could be (Kevin Redding, Mesa, Arizona, ibid.) Or maybe a Radio Martí program on WJCC too (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, ibid.) Radio Martí is chartered to broadcast specifically to Cuba under an act of Congress dating back to about 1983. It is also prohibited from broadcasting into the US; this is one of the reasons why the Marathon transmitter is so directional at Cuba. I did some work for Martí in the 80's and one of the first provisions was acknowledging that there was to be no intent to broadcast to any place but Cuba. Broadcasting on 1700 would be in direct conflict and violation of a Congressional Act. Martí is part of the USIA, which is also globally chartered to not broadcast to any part of the US (although it may broadcast to expats living abroad). (David Gleason, CA, ibid.) But what if WJCC, (located in the same building as Martí), accidentally got R. Marti audio on the their station due to patching in something wrong or flipping a switch? It's not the first time a station crossed a feed and got something wrong on the air, especially if they are paying McDonald's wages for board ops, or it is automated, or non Spanish speaking persons are controlling it. I would really like someone locally to step up and swear that they heard WJCC and R. Martí on at the same time with different programming (Ed Richards, ibid.) The problem is that at night Martí is not generally listenable on AM (1180) in Miami. The new 100 kw system seems to be even more tightly directional, and I have never been able to hear it well in Miami unless I am South of Homestead. The SW signal, of course, is listenable. 1700 is run entirely by Spanish speaking persons. In Miami, half the Market is Hispanic, so they would not need to have any non-Hispanics there. My question is how they would even get an unintentional Martí feed, as it would require either taking it off a satellite, the internet or short-wave, something most stations don't have set up (in the case of satellites, board ops don't have access to the satellite receivers as a rule). Again, the answer is in listening to the live audio stream on each website (David Gleason, ibid.) Recording 12/7 0100 EST yielded multiple R. Luz slogans mixing with WEUV. Near the end of the recording, about 0103, however, I heard a brass musical signature followed be "Esta es ~~ Radio Fe... noventa~~tres F M..." followed by multiple repetitions of "Panamá". I've found nothing listed for 1700 in Panama, nor anything similar to 'Radio Fe'. No way to know if this was also WJCC or KBGG. The 0200 recording was predominantly WEUV, with SS way down, however about 0201 an oldies station surfaced suddenly with a jingle, but it had no resemblance to KQXX nor 'Oldies Radio'. Then after that SS surfaced with something like "R. Atamayos" at 0203, here also nothing to link it to WJCC or KBGG. The 0300 recording also had WEUV dominant over an SS, but nothing else, and the SS wasn't distinguishable. I have .mp3's of the 'Radio Fe', the oldies station, and the 'R. Atamayos' available for anyone who'd like to take a shot at ID'ing any of them (Russ Edmunds, Blue Bell, PA (15 mi NNW Philadelphia), ibid.) Non-SW people may not be aware that WJCC carries some (or all?) of the Voz Cristiana programming, which on SW is transmitted from Chile, but with HQ in Miami. In turn, much of the input to VC comes from various Latin American stations, so that explains the odd IDs. Not that this does anything to explain the R. Marti connexion (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) ** DAGESTAN. RUSSIA'S DAGESTAN SETS UP BROADCASTING COMPANY | Text of the decision of the government of the Republic of Dagestan "On the institution of the Republican State Broadcasting Company Dagestan" posted on Republic of Dagestan government web site on 5 December In carrying out decision No 186 of the State Council of the Republic of Dagestan of 19 September 2000 "On the state of and measures to improve the supply of information to power bodies of the Republic of Dagestan" and its decision of 17 October 2001 No 148 "On the work of the republican mass media in disseminating the activities of the state power bodies of the Republic of Dagestan, towards the socio-economic development of the republic" and with the purpose of improving the supply of information to the citizens of the republic and developing the republican television and radio broadcasting of the Republic of Dagestan, it is decreed: 1. To institute the Republican State Broadcasting Company Dagestan (RSBC Dagestan). To establish that the RSBC Dagestan is to be under the jurisdiction of the Ministry for National Policy, Information and External Relations of the Republic of Dagestan. 2. To institute the Charter of the RSBC Dagestan. 3. To appoint Garun Magomedovich Kurbanov as General Director of the RSBC Dagestan. 4. The Ministry for National Policy, Information and External Relations of the Republic of Dagestan, in conjunction with the RSBC Dagestan, is to establish the procedure for the registration of television and radio programmes and the provision of licences. 5. The Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Dagestan is to provide funding from the republican budget of the Republic of Dagestan for 2004 and subsequent years for the RSBC Dagestan, ensuring that this expenditure is supplied from budget funds under the mass media section. 6. The Ministry for Property Relations of the Republic of Dagestan is to establish the procedure for handing over to the RSBC Dagestan at the Dom Radio [Radio House] building at the following address: 188 M. Gadzhiyev Street, Makhachkala, equipment and fittings acquired from republican budget funds and used by the Dagestan State Television and Radio Company. 7. To entrust First Deputy Chairman of the government of the Republic of Dagestan N. E. [Nizami] Kaziyev with monitoring the fulfilment of this decision. [Signed] Chairman of the government of the Republic of Dagestan Kh. [Khizri] Shikhsaidov Decision No 343, Makhachkala, 5 December 2003 Source: Respublika Dagestan web site, Makhachkala, in Russian 5 Dec 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) Sure sounds like at least a radio country to me, or should I say, ``entity``, but WTFK??? (gh, DXLD) ** ECUADOR [non]. 12025, CANADA, Akhbar Mufriha (The "Joyful News" Station) via Sackville, 2125-2229* Dec 1, interesting mix of Arabic language Christian religious stations here with Arabic Broadcasting Service ("ABS") program noted until 2130 giving website: http://www.arabicbroadcasting.com This was followed by drama feature and musical selections until Radio Ibrahim IDs at 2158 including website address: http:// www.radioibrahim.com More programming that ended at 2229 with sign off and final ID by a woman announcer. Initially I was guessing Germany transmitter with Passport listing HCJB "various sites" during this time period with Arabic language programming. On its website ABS says, "We broadcast our programs to the Arab World on short wave 12025 KHZ from the Joyful News station every night at 9:00 GMT." I suspect that's 9:00 PM, or 2100, but who is "the Joyful News station?" HCJB? Radio Ibrahim? Someone else? Turns out it`s Akhbar Mufriha but they are apparently run by HCJB since its e-mail verie signer, Andy Braio, Station Manager - Akhbar Mufriha has an HCJB in his e-mail address abraio@hcjb.org I seem to recall mentions in the hobby press about Radio Ibrahim being tied into HCJB is some fashion. Apparently this is may be the case based on Andy's e- mail address. So, it appears Radio Ibrahim is a program provider to another program provider, Akhbar Mufriha, and all this relates to HCJB who is keeping a low profile. Interesting but why the CIA-like operation? Good signal (Richard D`Angelo, PA, NASWA Flashsheet Dec 7 via DXLD) I think it`s just evidence of the ever-increasing decentralization/ merging/ interlocking of evangelical broadcasting. They failed to convert the ``World by 2000`` but they`re still having at it. The sad thing is that the PTB in Canada think it`s OK to demean the Sackville transmitters with this stuff --- but then even Commies are OK there, relaying China and Vietnam (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EL SALVADOR. After a dekaday or so of silence, R. Imperial again heard Sunday Dec 7 on 17835 at 1520 with hymn, 1525 ``Está en sintonía de Radio Imperial``. Adequate modulation and signal, tho hardly a powerhouse. This is now easy in NAm when it`s on; but I seldom see reports of it from other continents. Still a tough catch? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA. 9560.71, 1618-, Dec 6, Radio Ethiopia. English language programming at poor levels. Address heard at 1619, then into a modern song, not sure if in English. Parallel to 7165.40, also suffering from a lot of splatter. Using John Bryant's audio switching unit very helpful here! Nothing on 11800 (Walter (Volodya) Salmaniw, MD, Victoria, BC, Canada, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FINLAND. Hi Glenn, Little X-Mas is period somewhere between mid- November to early December. It´s celebrated among families like ours and in companies like my employer Finnish Post. I just wanted to point out I´m not running any business of my own. I´m just a simple postman with mail order parcels and having fun with my great hobby of DX-ing. Dec 6 is the Independence Day of the Repuplic of Finland. Really, it was today! So we lighted two candles in window at 6 PM. That´s beautiful Finnish tradition. The Independence day here in Turku was sunny, but chilly with temperature -6 degrees below zero. Thanks for good work, I really enjoy reading the news of radio world. 73´s (Jouko Huuskonen, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GEORGIA. I noted Radio Georgia yesterday Fri morning 0630 UT with program in English on 11805.13 kHz. They continued in German 07. Signal strength was OK, but audio was lousy with very distorted audio. 73´s (Jouko Huuskonen, Turku FINLAND, Dec 6, hard-core-dx via DXLD) ** GREECE [and non]. ERA-5 - THE VOICE OF GREECE TRANSMITTER SITES: AVLIDA (Avlis) 23.36E/38.23N SW: 2x100 KW 3 SERIES OF CURTAINS; 2 LOG PERIODICS 0-360 DEG. DELANO, USA 119.17W/35.45N SW: 1x250 KW GREENVILLE, USA 77.25W/35.35N SW: 1x250/500 KW KAVALA 24.50E/40.53N SW: 2x250 kW MW: 1x500 kW DIPOLE CURTAIN ANTENNAS RADIOPHONIKOS STATHMOS MAKEDONIAS, MACEDONIA RADIO STATION: SITES: PIERIA-NEA MALGARA (THESSALONIKI) 22.59E/40.31N SW: 3x35 KW DIPOLE - 315 DEG. (7430 kHz) DIPOLE - 315 DEG. (9935 kHz) RHOMBIC - 115 DEGREES (11595 kHz) (via Dr. Juergen Kubiak, Dec WWDXC via Michael Bethge, DXLD) ** HAWAII [non]. Radioman last chance to warn Pearl Harbor - Pentagram Sometimes a fellow can be in the exact right spot at the exact right time, and still miss the boat. In one young man's instance, it was an entire fleet that escaped unnoticed. A Washington civil service worker reports promptly at midnight Dec. 6, 1941 for his duty as short wave radio operator. Dials, wires, and ticker tape clutter room 3441 in the Munitions Building, which stood between the National Mall's reflecting pool and Constitution Avenue. This communication center is the hub for the Army's radio web, and the only direct connection between Washington and remote stations like Panama, the Philippines and Hawaii. ... http://www.dcmilitary.com/army/pentagram/8_48/features/26570-1.html (via Kim Elliott, DC, DXLD) ** HONDURAS. Received a QSL from HRMI 12/6, from the San Bernardino address. Full data card indicates that 3340 is running 1 kW. Hand- written note reads "5010 to be restored later." This no doubt in response to my question about the EG ID including 5010, which was and remains inactive (Gerry Bishop, Niceville FL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 3340, HRMI, 0406-0432, Dec. 3, Spanish, religious program with OM and YL, contact info mentioned "USA". YL with quick ID at 0415, followed by ballads and talk between songs. Poor (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, MLB-1, RS longwire with RBA balun, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. 7170, AIR Delhi, 1048-1106, Dec. 6, Hindi music, OM and YL with banter, jingle (ID?) at 1100, OM with talks until 1105, brief YL into more music. Fair with increasing ham QRM. PWBR lists this as "FM Gold" relay (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, MLB-1, RS longwire with RBA balun, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. 15150. V. of Indonesia, 1958-2018, Dec. 3, English, YL with date, "Dec. 4, 2003" and ID, news re envoy to N. Korea and 6 nation meeting, Indo imports with mention of 2001 Burma summit. Commentary re HIV/AIDS. Program, "Getting to know Indonesia" with unintelligible audio quality. Fair with a few breaks in audio (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, MLB-1, RS longwire with RBA balun, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL. The following website has a very handy "current month" and "next month" calendar of national anniversaries, special days etc when stations might be on extended schedule. http://www.multicultural-matters.com/ 73s es Good DX de (Mike Dawson, ENGLAND, hard-core-dx via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL INTERNET. Don`t forget about the New Year Eve challenge of tuning in the New Year Day hour-by-hour. Read the details at Lou Josephs` http://www.ibc.net and the Media Network blog at http://www.myjamby.com/medianetwork (Tom Sundstrom, Net Notes, Dec NASWA Journal via DXLD) ** IRAN. BBG video on broadcasts to here: see U S A ** IRELAND [non]. Dear friends, RTE Dublin is currently reviewing its shortwave transmissions. So, RTE Dublin is requesting listeners to give their feedback on the following points (edited version): When and where you are listening to RTE (info on time and frequency etc., reception quality, kind of receiver, etc., may be included) and do you have access to satellite radio receiver and internet and also other latest multimedia equipment etc. You can send your feedback via e-mail sw@rte.ie Thanks, Gautam Kumar Sharma, Assam, India (via Swopan Chakroborty, West Bengal, DXLD) Hi Glenn, I am sure you are probably aware that RTE (Ireland) is reviewing its shortwave broadcasting. Tuning in the past 2 weeks I have heard that they are evaluating SW and ask listeners if they listen to RTE on other devices such as satellite or Internet. They ask SWL to send them comments, which I did. It doesn't sound good for the SWL. I for one am getting tired of seeing stations like RTE go off the SW band and another Christian evangelist come on (Lee Conrad, Binghamton, NY, Dec 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ISRAEL. Ya estaba pensando en que la emisora israelí al exterior dejaría de emitir definitvamente en español el 01.01.2004, pero viendo su página web http://www.israelradio.org me parece es que Reshet Hei deja de funcionar, pasando las emisiones en inglés (Alef y Hei), francés (Alef y Hei) y persa (Hei) a integrarse en Reshet Bet. Entre paréntesis he puesto el canal que lo produce. Por su parte, el programa en español es producido por Alef y Hei; el programa en judeo-español es de Hei; mientras que el ladino es de REQA. Por otro lado, en la página web dice que desaparece el canal Reshet Hei y que cesan las emisiones en OC. Conclusión. Podremos escuchar las emisiones en el satélite y/o Internet que no sean de Hei. Por lo que algunas emisiones de español/judeo-español/ladino proseguirán. Un saludo (Pedro Sedano, Madrid, España, Dec 6, Conexión Digital via DXLD) ** JORDAN. Tried to listen to Radio Jordan in English this afternoon on 11690 at 1430 UTC (tune-in), but although the signal is strong, only short staccato bursts of audio are audible. Could just about recognise overmodulated bits of records (e.g., Dancing Queen - Abba) and Radio Jordan ID before news at 1500. Unlistenable and a waste of 500 kW. Is Radio Jordan always like this on this frequency and don't they monitor their broadcasts? An email to dir-english@r... [truncated] to point out the problem bounced as well (Alan Pennington, Caversham UK, AOR 7030+ / longwire, BDXC-UK via DXLD) No, used to be pretty good modulation, However I tuned in for last 10 Minutes or so on Thursday (4th) and also noticed very poor modulation, I wonder are they going to pack this up altogether, several times I listened during Ramadam, last year, some interesting features, this year on at least a couple of occasions, just old scratcy records, of 'suitable Music' between the News. Reception in North America is reported to be plagued by some sort of RTTY, though I have never traced this here. An Enquiry to Glenn Hauser, might yield some facts (Ken Fletcher, 1725 UT, 6th December 2003, ibid.) I was about to remark that there is so much constant RTTY on 11690 that in NAm, we don`t have the luxury of examining RJ`s own transmission problems. Isn`t King Abdullah a ham, like his father? Perhaps one could get word to him about this thru ham radio routes. 73, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) ** MALI. 4835, RTV Malienne, 0048-0118* Dec 5, continuous French Highlife vocals. ID at 0100 and brief French talk by man followed by more highlife and man and woman talk. At 0117 a woman gave sign off ID and announcements followed by marching band National Anthem. Fair (Rich D`Angelo, PA, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ** MEXICO [and non]. Everyone's read by now [about] the cassette of an old reel passed to me a few years ago holding a stretch of AM DX of sign-ons and station IDs/Slogans, recorded around 1954. I deciphered another station I asked for help on... "XEFW, Brownsville Texas" turns out to be (according to my 1949 Whites Radio Log and still in my 2001 WRTH) XEFW 810 khz, Tampico, Mexico. 1949 has it listed as 50 kw and it is today, with 35 kw listed for night power. Still chipping away at the project. I took a quick look in Mapquest punching in Tampico, Mexico and it seems like it's at least 250 miles away from Brownsville, Texas, rimshotting indeed at very best. Maybe that's something they used for the night signal. But the English language gentleman said "XEFW Brownsville, Texas". Strange. Anyone remember hearing this station back in the day??? I'm thinking it's safe to label this audio cut as 810 in Tampico - anyone agree/disagree. Comments encouraged and welcomed (Ron Gitschier, AM ID Central, Palm Coast, FL, Dec 7, NRC-AM via DXLD) XEFW wanted to be a border-blaster too and had some English -- what other US city to ID with than the closest one, Brownsville? They may have had a P O Box there, and perhaps a sales office. That`s nothing --- I remember another borderblaster had an oft- repeated address in Fort Worth, 11, Texas. Believe that was XEG-1050. Casual listeners may have believed that was where it actually was. 73, (Glenn Hauser, Alto Tejas, ibid.) Well, I didn't hear XEFW "in the day" because I wasn't even born yet, but I did hear them on 10/26/03, and several times since. They now play what I would call a Spanish adult contemporary format. They gave a fairly clear ID mentioning Tampico and XEFW. From what I've read on this list, stations out of Mexico used to routinely run programming intended for reception in the United States. The only ones that seem to do that now are border stations like XETRA. Unless XEFW moved, I'd hardly call it a border station (Adam Myrow, TN, ibid.) I heard them infrequently when DXing from Des Moines in the early 1950s. They did seem to try to emulate the Border Blaster programming but didn't have the signal that XERF, XELO or some of the others put into DM (John Sampson, ibid.) ** MONGOLIA. 4850, (presumed), Mongolian Radio, 1137-1211, Dec. 6. Mongol?, Pop-like music at tune-in followed by brief talk, Wind instrument "blast" (sounded similar to the Lesiba IS used by Lesotho) and more talk and music. YL at 1154 with a drop in signal strength, returned at 1202 with another wind instrument "blast" and more OM talks. Fair/poor. I don't think this was AIR Kohima or CPBS, China, the music was not Hindi and the language was not Mandarin (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, MLB-1, RS longwire with RBA balun, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS. RNW DENIES MISUSING PUBLIC MONEY A report in today's issue of the Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad claims that Radio Netherlands is involved in commercial activities that are not in accordance with the mission of a public broadcaster. The newspaper cites as examples two activities associated with the Radio Netherlands relay station on the island of Bonaire, in the Netherlands Antilles. One is a power company and the other, RNB Technology, provides technical services to other broadcasters in the region. Some of the Radio Netherlands employees on Bonaire work full time for these spin-off companies. The article in NRC Handelsblad goes on to mention the activities of RN Music, and the privatised company BFN, that provides all studio and technical services in Hilversum. Radio Netherlands management have this morning responded by saying that the article in NRC Handelsblad is "incomplete, incorrect and one- sided." The Commission for the Media has already looked into the matters raised by NRC Handelsblad, and concluded that: 1) No irregularities have been found in the financial administration of RNW-Bonaire. 2) There are no indications that public resources have been spent unlawfully. 3) There are, however, activities on Bonaire which are causing unrest locally, and that has to do with competition in the market place. Radio Netherlands must provide more information about these activities, especially concerning RNB Technology, and should cease all activities which are not related directly to the core functions of Radio Netherlands. For those who understand Dutch, there is much more information on our Dutch Web site at http://www.rnw.nl/Cosmo/corp/html/pers20031206.html # posted by Andy @ 10:48 UT Dec 6 (Media Network blog via DXLD) Dutch public doesn't realise that no other public broadcaster in Holland has to run its own transmitter site. It also makes sense to share the knowledge about diesel generators/distilled water with similar industries. Without either you don't go on the air. I normally have respect for NRC, but this is just a load of non-issues (Jonathan Marks, ibid.) ** NEW ZEALAND. 6095, 1555-, Dec 6, RNZI, Very good reception of RNZI, with program entitled 'At the Movies', until 1558. Into pop music. 6 time pips, ID for Radio New Zealand, and into news about Zimbabwe and Commonwealth conference (Walter (Volodya) Salmaniw, MD, Victoria, BC, Canada, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA. 15120, V. of Nigeria, 1917-1944, Dec. 5, Vernacular, Continuous Afropops, no ID or announcements, parallel 9690. Both signals good (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, MLB-1, RS longwire with RBA balun, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA. NATIONAL RADIO TO FIX UP NEW SIGNALS TO INFLUENCE HAUSA LISTENERS [including SHORTWAVE] | Text of report by Radio Nigeria from Lagos on 4 December The Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) is to re-introduce its short and medium wave signals in order to regain its Hausa listeners from the BBC, VOA, and Deutsche Welle. The director general of the corporation, Mr Eddy Iroh, made this known today while briefing members of the board of directors of FRCN of the achievements of the corporation in the past few years. He said research shows that the Hausa listeners of Radio Nigeria have shifted their attention to the foreign stations hence the need to re-introduce the short and medium wave signals to be able to regain them. Mr Iroh said that the installation of the new state of art studios of the network news directorate has considerably improved the quality of its productions. Meanwhile, the minister of information and national orientation, Chief Chukwuemeka Chikelu, has applauded the FRCN for its commitment to excellence. Chief Chikelu gave the commendation today in Abuja while commissioning the new digital studios of the network service of the corporation. The minister commended the corporation for the successful configuration and installation of the ultra-modern digital studios using its manpower resources. Source: Radio Nigeria-Lagos Channel 1 in English 1800 gmt 4 Dec 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) WTFK??? ** NORWAY. Rogaland Radio, transmitter at Sola airport 2 miles south of Stavanger, 2182/1725 kHz, letter in 29 days. V/s Arne Bjorndal (Radio-operator). Rogaland Radio is situated in a brand new building. In this house also Rescue center, South Norway located. The station is serving all kind of ships and platforms in the North Sea and along the coast of southern Norway. They also listen for distress on VHF channel 16 and SW 2182 khz. The staff consists of 14 radiooperators, 8 technicians and some 4 in the offices (Sergey Kolesov, Kyiv, Ukraine, Signal Dec 6 via DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA. KCSC Holiday Specials: http://www.kcscfm.com/programming/specials/program_specials.asp (via John Norfolk, DXLD) This and some other special holiday pages from public radio stations are being accumulated at http://worldofradio.com/calendar.html#advance (gh, DXLD) ** PAKISTAN. R Pakistan in Arabic slightly off frequency on 6223.60, at 1840-1900 UT instead of the listed 6220.00 kHz. End at 1900 with Nat Anthem (John Kecskes, Melbourne, Australia, Dec 7, ripple via DXLD) ** PERU. 4460.7, R. Nor Andina, 10S41-1058, Dec. 5, Spanish, music with OM, briefly, between selections. Solid "Nor Andina" zinger over music at 1055. Poor, unusable at 1100 (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, MLB-1, RS longwire with RBA balun, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 5024.93, R. Quillabamba, 6 Dec. 1003-1009, Nice of Rebelde to move down and let this come through!! Talk about San Martin, Quillabamba, TC, Peru Andina. Nice soft OA campesina harp music. 1007 nice TC/ID, then comunicados with mentions of campesino, Quillabamba, familia, "amigos trabajadores". Decent signal (Dave Valko, PA, Cumbre DX via DXLD) 5024.90, Radio Quillabamba, 1010-1020 Dec 6 with huaynos music and between tunes live Spanish comments. Noted TCs and ID as "Radio Quillabamba". Cuba not on the air yet here. Quillabamba was at fair level (Bolland, Chuck, Clewiston, Florida, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PHILIPPINES. Now in use at FEBC are four new 100 kW Continental transmitters, replacing old WW-II-era units of only 30 kW, plus new antennas to go with them. There are still no plans to resume English broadcasts (Christer Brunström`s Christian DX report, HCJB DX Partyline Dec 6, notes by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. Sunday, December 07 2003 "RUS-DX" # 125 - B Broadcasting of Russia, countries of CIS and Baltiya December 2003 Monthly information bulletin of Russian DX League Electronic version ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Chief Editor : Anatoly Klepov Managing Editor : Marianna Pavlova ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Foreign relay via short wave transmitters of Russia 26/10/2003 - 27/03/2004 kHz UTC kW Radiostation Moscow 7170 2200-2300 250 CRI 7200 1830-1930 200 CRI 7435 1600-1700 250 BBC 7440 2000-2200 250 VOM 9475 0345-0430 250 FEB 9875 1630-1745 250 FEB 13690 0600-0900 250 RVI 15160 1200-1230 250 RVI Sank-Petersburg 7130 1600-1700 400 CRI 7130 1800-1830 400 CRI Samara 5935 2000-2130 250 IBR 6035 2100-2200 200 FGM 7215 2030-2130 250 CRI 7365 1600-1630 250 TWR 7400 1600-1800 250 MAR 7560 1700-1800 Tue, Wed, Fri 250 MES 9625 2100-2200 200 FGM 11515 1600-1700 200 TAY 11695 1300-1400 250 FEB 12120 1700-1800 Sat 250 DER 12120 1700-1800 Sun 250 TIS 12120 1830-1930 Sun 250 VEM 15525 0400-0530 250 FEB Krasnodar 5990 1730-1800 250 RPR 7330 1800-2200 100 RVI 7350 1630-1730 Mon 100 AMN 7425 2100-2200 100 RCI 9415 1530-1700 100 IBR 9485 1400-1500 200 FEB 12015 1630-1700 200 DWL 12060 0600-0815 Mon-Sat 250 MAR 12060 0700-0900 Sun 250 MAR 13690 1400-1700 Sun 100 RVI 17860 1000-1030 200 DWL Ekaterinburg 7400 1800-2300 200 MAR Novosibirsk 5850 1630-1700 200 RPR 6210 1710-1740 100 VAT 6225 1700-1730 500 DWL 7110 0100-0130 500 FEB 7390 1300-1500 200 VOA 7430 2200-2300 200 RFI 7430 1200-1300 500 RFI 7460 0000-0100 100 IBC 9445 1400-1515 500 FEB 9450 0200-0245 500 FEB 12025 2300-0100 500 RFI 12030 1200-1400 500 DWL 17650 1000-1200 500 DWL Irkutsk 5905 2200-2300 250 VOA 5905 2300-2350 250 DWL 5945 0930-1030 500 RFI 6225 1300-1350 500 DWL 7340 1300-1400 250 HBS 7400 1000-1400 250 DWL 7560 1115-1645 250 TWR 9945 1130-1230 250 RVI 12015 1100-1300 500 RFI 12065 1000-1100 250 RNW 15510 0230-0300 250 BBC 17665 0200-0330 250 VAT Chita 6205 1315-1400 500 VAT 7125* 1400-1430 The, Thu, Sat 500 DEG * Alternative 7180, 7420 Vladivostok 7115 1230-1300 250 IBR 7315 2200-2300 500 RFI 7330 1100-1530 500 BBC 11560 1400-1500 Tue 250 VKK 12075 2300-2400 500 RFI 17650 0100-0200 200 DWL Khabarovsk 6205* 2200-2245 120 VAT 9865 1300-1400 100 RNW 11830** 2200-2245 120 VAT 13820 1000-1100 100 RNW * Till 06/03/2004 ** Since 07/03/2004 Komsomolsk-na-Amure 9585 1200-1300 250 HBS 15560 0500-0600 Sun 250 VOM Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy 5895 1200-1330 200 IBR 5910 1000-1400 250 DWL 6205 1000-1055 200 DWL 7260 1000-1100 250 RNW 7375 1300-1400 250 RNW 12065 2130-2200 250 VOA 15145 0100-0200 250 DWL (Nikolay Rudnev, Belgorodskaya oblast, Rus-DX Dec 7 via DXLD) see CIS for more and key to abbrs. ** RUSSIA [non]. GERMANY, 9555, 1543-, Dec 6, Russian International Radio. Very good reception with ID at 1544, then into popular Russian vocals, then a piece about Soviet propaganda. Very modern sounding (Walter (Volodya) Salmaniw, MD, Victoria, BC, Canada, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RWANDA. 6055, R. Rwanda, 1917-2007, Dec. 6., Vernacular/French, 2 OM with Vernacular talks, Native stringed music intro at 1935, YL in French until stringed music at 1944, Afropop intro with OM in Vern, Pop/R&B ballads until instrumental dance music at 2001 then OM in French with talk over Afropops, 2 solid mentions of "Radio Rwanda". Very pleased to log this one. Thanks to tip from Noel Green and Ray Browell, from Observer-BUL, reporting Slovakia off 6055, 1900-2100 (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, MLB-1, RS longwire with RBA balun, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SINGAPORE. 6150, R. Singapore Int`l, 1100-1113, Dec. 5, English, Weak copy of YL with news of Philippines with field reports, RSI ID and promos at 1108, musical intro with talk of Bangalore, India, sounded like a tourism promo! Poor (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, MLB-1, RS longwire with RBA balun, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOMALIA. Out of Africa -- By Pauline Tamm, The Ottawa Citizen The violence, threats and intimidation began immediately after Mohamed Elmi and his business partners launched Somalia's only independent broadcaster. Twice, gunmen opened fire on the station's gated compound. One morning, while Mr. Elmi was setting up a radio transmitter on top of a building, his driver was shot dead in the street. On another occasion, a car carrying Mr. Elmi and his partner, Ali Sharmarke, came under fire. The two men were lucky to escape with their lives. In Mogadishu, a lawless city run by feuding warlords, there is no such thing as a routine day for the journalists of Horn Afrik. The privately owned radio and television station is run by three friends who fled Somalia's civil war and settled in Ottawa. Four years ago, they returned to their homeland with $500,000 in seed money and a shared dream. In a country where news is controlled by warring clan leaders, the partners established Horn Afrik to report the news impartially and encourage open debate. The hope was to transform a culture of suspicion bred by years of miscommunication and propaganda into a society that promotes peace and understanding. "We wanted to harness private business with a social agenda," says Mr. Elmi. The experiment was unheard of in a nation without government, let alone a tradition of independent media. Since 1991, when the overthrow of dictator Mohammed Siad Barre precipitated Somalia's deadly spiral, law and order has been as elusive as truth and fact. Yet despite repeated attempts to shut them down, the partners are still in business. That's not to say the work is easy. These days, armed guards patrol the station at all hours. They also accompany reporters on assignments. This hasn't stopped gunmen from harassing TV crews, but it has allowed journalists a measure of security. The station has become such a favourite with Mogadishu's one million citizens that its closest competitor, the BBC World Service, now broadcasts its twice daily Somali news program on Horn Afrik's radio service. In fact, Horn Afrik is so popular that earlier this year, when a warlord took issue with a report about him and dispatched armed thugs to ransack the station, the city came to its rescue. "The public came out in full force," Mr. Elmi recalls. "They wrote letters and they showed up at the station. Civil society - the lawyers, the teachers, the students, the women's associations - they all came out and said, `You can't touch them. They are our voice. If anything happens to them, we will hold you responsible.' That's the most powerful weapon we have to defend us." Last year, Horn Afrik's founders received an award from the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression in recognition of their efforts to "uphold freedom of the press under challenging conditions." This week, they are the subject of a documentary, which airs tonight at 10 p.m. on VisionTV. Talk Mogadishu: Media Under Fire, produced by filmmaker Judy Jackson, follows the partners through their precarious undertaking, and explains why they have risked their lives to return to a country where murder, kidnapping and torture are daily realities. The choice is clear for Mr. Elmi, 47, a former engineering professor who arrived in Canada 1990 as a refugee and retrained as a social worker, before he quit to start Horn Afrik. "We could have chosen the status quo here - having good jobs, a house and a mortgage - or we could have gone back and contributed to what was happening over there," he says during a recent interview. "We thought we were at the age and the level that we had to give something back." On this frigid day, Mr. Elmi is sitting in the Hunt Club restaurant owned by his wife. Beside him is Mr. Sharmarke, 42, who recently returned from six months in Mogadishu, where he ran the station with Ahmed Abdisalam Adan, 43, Horn Afrik's third founder. The men's business partnership extends into their personal lives. Because all three have wives and children in Ottawa, they take turns travelling to Somalia. Whenever a partner is away from home, the ones that remain act as surrogate fathers, assuming responsibility for the families left behind. Mr. Sharmarke admits he's torn between his duties as a father and his job overseas. Recently, his six-year-old daughter coaxed him into watching Daddy Day Care, a movie in which Eddie Murphy plays a laid- off executive who stays home with the kids and makes a business out of it. The message wasn't lost on Mr. Sharmarke: his daughter missed him and wanted him home. "As time goes by and there's no stability in Somalia, that issue becomes more and more relevant," he says. "But we are at the point of no return. We have to do it. Yes, our families need us here. But we also have a duty to our countrymen." Indeed, in its brief history, Horn Afrik has done more than introduce western-style media to Somalia. It has challenged the country's tribal structures by hiring journalists and technicians from different clans to work together. While the station's staff of 70 are trained by the BBC to report impartially on the daily violence that erupts from clan conflicts, they don't hide the fact that their sympathies lie with the innocent people caught in the crossfire. In one of the documentary's more moving moments, a group of homeless children talk about their lives on the street, and recount, with alarming detachment, horrific stories about seeing their families tortured and murdered. The testimonials were part of a call-in show devoted to Mogadishu's street children, who make up a majority of the estimated 400,000 people without adequate housing in the city. Callers to the station were so moved by the children's stories that some volunteered to take them into their homes. Indeed, of all the station's programs, the most popular are the call- in shows, which allow ordinary Somalis to speak out about the country's problems. Even the warring faction leaders have felt compelled to make appearances on the shows, where they are grilled by both journalists and citizens. "Before we came along, Somalis had never heard of call-in shows," says Mr. Sharmarke. "People told us it wouldn't work. But we said, `Let's try.' As of today, we haven't had a single incident where callers on the air have said bad things against another clan. That tells me that ordinary people aren't the ones that view each other with suspicion. It's the leaders who are responsible." Four years into the business, Horn Afrik is only now starting to break even. The station survives by selling commercials, which Mr. Sharmarke says is not as difficult as it sounds. Indeed, despite having no state government, business is booming in Somalia. The paradox is not lost on the founders of Horn Afrik. What helps make their business so good - freedom from government - is exactly what could kill their business in the long run. As a result, says Mr. Elmi, entrepreneurs are among the key supporters of a peace process. "The way people do business right now is very crude because there is no infrastructure. That's why even the business people are begging for a government. They would love to be taxed because they are paying more now for security and other services than they would if a government were in place. That's why it would be better if there was the law of the land." (Via Harry van Vugt, Windsor, Ontario, Canada, Dec 4, DXLD) ** SWEDEN/VIETNAM. Re Vietnam resuming jamming, 3-218: Radio Sweden from Hörby-S is "sharing" 9920 for South East Asia with FEBC from Bocaue-PHL and the jamming on 9920 is likely directed towards the FEBC transmissions in various local languages for Vietnam until 1245. In the HFCC schedule, FEBC has reserved 9920 until 1300, apparently the jammer(s) is/are not being switched off immediately and are "unintentionally" jamming Radio Sweden's Swedish language transmissions that follow. Radio Sweden also broadcasts to SEA from 1100-1130 until the FEBC transmissions start (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, DX LISTENING DIGEST) That was the gist of the previous item; but shows it does no good to help out the Commies --- they`ll stab you in the back, at least unintentionally. First things first, after all. Hardly the only case of jamming extending beyond the necessary hours. If you`re doing something illegal and harmful in the first place, do you really care about collateral damage? The obvious solution, rather than trying to persuade the Vietnamese jammers to behave, is for Sweden to find a different frequency which does not abut jammed services when Sweden needs to use it (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. BBCWS BRAND --- Excerpt from "Playing the name game: Branding is the most bandied about keyword in business today, but what is it really all about?" in the Straits Times (Singapore).... Examples of global trust marks which have taken decades, even centuries, to build include food giant Nestle, Reader's Digest magazine and radio station BBC World Service. http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/think/story/0,4386,223998,00.html (via Kim Elliott, DXLD) ** U S A. COMMENTS ABOUT WILLIS CONOVER --- Excerpt from a review of the book ``Friends Along the Way``, by Gene Lees, in the Ojai (California) Valley News... "Friends along the Way" is anything but snobbish, in the sense that snobbish means 'inaccessible' or 'hard to digest.' On the contrary, Lees` 13th book is eminently readable, a delight to read, actually, even for those who might have never heard or ever cared to hear a lick of jazz. "Friends" is a collection of 15 mini-biographies of friends Lees hadn't, until now, profiled - some well-known jazz musicians, some certain to become well-known, and some, like talent agent Helen Keane and Voice of America broadcaster Willis Conover, other "best friends" of jazz. The story of Willis Conover, whose "Music USA" program turned millions of oppressed people living in communist bloc countries on to jazz (as well as a reason to tune into Voice of America) in his 42-year career, still vexes Lees. "The government resolutely continues to ignore Willis' contribution" - to the fields of both entertainment and diplomacy - "while giving the Medal of Freedom to all sorts of improbable people." Conover, who died in 1996, was twice nominated for the presidential Medal of Freedom award; the first time during the George H.W. Bush administration, the second time during President Clinton's. Twice his nominations were ignored. "My God," Lees writes, "aside from his VOA broadcasts, the White House had used him repeatedly over the years," for everything from inaugural events to government-sponsored festivals. The author was speaking to his friend Leonard Garment (former president Nixon's personal counsel and executor of Conover's estate) about Conover recently; both agree "it's an ongoing disgrace." http://www.ojaivalleynews.com/issues2003/12-December2003/12-05-03/12-05-03news5.html 73 (via Kim Elliott, VOA, DXLD) ** U S A. VOA Music Time in Africa was not heard on Sunday, December 7, at 1730 UT. Instead, we got "New Dynamic English" and some fill music. The 1930 show aired as scheduled. (Mike Cooper, Dec 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. UNION SIGNS AGREEMENT OVER MBC Dateline: Washington, 12/04/03. On November 26, 2003, AFGE Local 1812 and the Broadcasting Board of Governors signed an agreement over the move of English language broadcasters to the MBC. Two days earlier, the parties signed a settlement agreement resolving an arbitration case the Union had filed against the Agency over work space issues in the MBC. Despite the fact that all remaining issues with the Union have been resolved, employees will not be moved into the MBC in the near future. Although some management officials tried to blame the Union for the fact that no one was being moved into the MBC, the truth is that the MBC is still not ready for occupancy. Don't expect anyone to be moved into the MBC on a permanent basis until February at the earliest. Even though the Union had filed two Unfair Labor Practice charges against the Agency's unilateral implementation, the Agency never stopped construction of the MBC. Employees will soon see postings against the Agency from the FLRA on Agency bulletin boards. The Agency lost an Arbitration and was charged with two ULPs regarding the construction of the MBC (AFGE Local 1812 via DXLD) So what does MBC stand for and what is the significance of this? (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. BBG IN IRAN: A VIDEO Washington, D.C., December 04, 2003-- The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) has released a 3-minute video featuring U.S. international broadcasting - radio and satellite television - to Iran. Please click to view the video [more like 4 minutes]. http://www.voanews.com/real/voa/english/test/BBGVideo.ram The release features the Voice of America's (VOA) Persian television programs News and Views, a daily show that focuses on news and information; Roundtable with You, a weekly call-in show; and Next Chapter, a weekly youth-oriented newsmagazine. Radio Farda, a round-the-clock Persian service aimed at listeners under 30, is also featured, as is VOA's Persian radio service. Radio Farda, a joint service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) and VOA, produces news twice an hour, with longer, in-depth public affairs shows and entertainment (BBG press Dec 4 via DXLD) Interesting use of black and white photos to underscored "oppressed" Iran which colours up when Radio Farda comes along (Jonathan Marks, Media Network blog via DXLD) ** U S A. R. Martí, Delano, 17670, putting out weak spurs at 131.7 kHz plus and minus, on 17538.3 and 17801.7, at 1535 Dec 7; heard these on two receivers, even with attenuation, distinct from the receiver overload closer to 17670 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. The other two DX programs WINB was carrying are also gone, at least from their last known times: AWR Wavescan and DX Partyline at 1800-1900 UT Sat. Dec 6 on 9930, something else was running then (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) John and Glenn, Checked today at 1800 and 1830 on WINB, 9930. No DX Programs. An hour long religious program instead. Don't know if they're somewhere else or not as WINB is not a station that I would listen to all day (John H. Carver Jr., Mid-North Indiana, Dec 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I just checked winb.com and found a new program schedule dated December 7. The DX shows are history on WINB (John Norfolk, OK, ibid.) DX Partyline Dec 6 confirms they are gone from WINB (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. WOR was back on IBC Radio via WRMI this Sat, 15725, at 1902 UT. I am well aware that the audio quality leaves a lot to be desired, and wish I could do something about it. Apparently it gets degraded in internet relays of internet relays before it eventually gets to the transmitter. There were also buffering pauses. It might help a little to switch to SSB or synch detexion (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO was back at 0515 UT Mon Dec 8 on 7415, and this week also on 5105; unfortuntely, WBCQ`s internet connexion wasn`t working so could not download a better copy of WOR 1210 than the one recorded off the phone last Wednesday with hum. No 4847 spur audible here (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Allan Weiner was notified by email to wbcq at gwi.net on November 30th about the spur on 4845 kHz. He did not respond to the report (Dan Srebnick, NJ, Dec 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WJCR seems to have been missing from 13595 for several days now, at random daytime chex (Glenn Hauser, OK, Dec 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. JUST GIVE IT TO ME THE WAY I LIKE IT By DOUG SAUNDERS UPDATED AT 7:30 PM EST Saturday, Dec. 6, 2003 I met Eric, a pleasant man in his 40s who is a successful engineer, at a party in Toronto a couple weeks ago. He asked me what I did for a living, and when I named this newspaper, he just shrugged. "I only do alternative media now," he said. He explained that this meant a variety of left-wing U.S. weeklies such as The Nation and In These Times, and daily visits to left-leaning websites such as Common Dreams and AlterNet. These are his main sources of daily news. Eric, along with a growing number of North Americans, has left Earth and taken up permanent residence on Planet Left. I asked him about books he had read this year, and he unsurprisingly named the bestselling Stupid White Men, in which portly self-promoter Michael Moore suggests that George W. Bush was in cahoots with Osama bin Laden, and 9/11: The Big Lie by Thierry Meyssan, which argues that the CIA was responsible for the terrorist attacks. As you might guess, Eric's views on international relations were less than nuanced. A few weeks before that meeting, at a dinner in Los Angeles, I found myself seated across from a lawyer in her early 30s named Krista. She mentioned something about the burgeoning trade in prescription drugs imported from Canada, and I asked her if she had read an interesting story that had appeared that day on the front page of the Los Angeles Times. "No, I don't follow the liberal media any more," she said, explaining that she had given up in disgust on the city's only major newspaper (which, like The Globe and Mail, is denounced as having a left-wing bias or a right-wing bias by roughly equal numbers of people), along with Time, Newsweek, CNN and the major TV-network news shows. Krista, like millions of other Americans, had gone off the news grid and now breathed the very different atmosphere of Planet Right.. . http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPPrint/LAC/20031206/FCDOUG06/TPFocus/ (via Gerald Pollard, DXLD) ** U S A. GUN LOBBY LOOKING TO BUY MEDIA OUTLET By SHARON THEIMER, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - Hoping to spend as much as it wants on next year's elections, the National Rifle Association is looking to buy a television or radio station and declare that it should be treated as a news organization, exempt from spending limits in the campaign finance law. "We're looking at bringing a court case that we're as legitimate a media outlet as Disney or Viacom or Time-Warner," the NRA's executive vice president, Wayne LaPierre, told The Associated Press... http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20031206/ap_on_el_ge/nra_media_1 If the NRA gets into the media business, which other lobby group will be next? 73- (Bill Westenhaver, QC, Dec 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Vermont Public Radio refuses to carry Democracy Now: http://www.vpr.net/about_vpr/democracynow.shtml (via Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. New calls for Wild 96.5 --- As of December 1, Wild 96.5 in Philadelphia, which I reported in previous DXLD's, has a new callsign: WLDW (ex-WPTP). Still airing hip-hop tunes with commercial breaks every hour or so, and "Rocco the Janitor" promos (yet Rocco himself does come on live in the studio from time to time), but on-air DJ's won't appear until after the New Year (Joe Hanlon in NJ, Dec 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Coalition of Immokalee Workers LPFM - WCTI-FM From today's Ft. Myers News-Press: http://www.news-press.com/news/local_state/031206immokalee.html Obviously erroneous "100 megawatt" power.....also not a "low frequency" station either. Link to the Prometheus Radio Project: http://www.prometheusradio.org/ In the schedule of activities for the December 5-7th "raising", one activity listed was a film on Zapatista Radio. Interesting site. Frequency is 107.9 per Radio Locator site with 100 watts. Also CP expires on the 11th. FARMWORKERS START RADIO STATION FIRST BROADCAST OF IMMOKALEE GROUP IS SUNDAY By PEDRO MORALES, pmorales@news-press.com Published by news-press.com on December 6, 2003 The voice that has carried the pride and struggles of a people once silent just got louder. The Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a nonprofit organization that aims to give farmworkers a better quality of life, on Sunday will broadcast its first programs and local news on its low-power FM radio station, an accomplishment three years in the making. The men and women who work the fields will choose and produce its music, talk, entertainment and news shows. ``This is so the community can have their own space,`` said Gerardo Reyes, 27, a farmworker and volunteer at the coalition. ``It`ll be for everything from cultural and history lessons to just talking about the daily life experiences of a farmworker.`` The coalition was formed in 1996 to alert people of the low wages earned by farmworkers on the east coast. The coalition is pushing for a nationwide boycott of Taco Bell --- one of the nation¹s biggest buyers of tomatoes. ``The radio station is going to be a tool that will let the coalition educate more workers of their human rights,`` Reyes said. ``Many workers don¹t have a chance to attend our Wednesday meetings. Now they can listen to it.`` But, he said, because it is run by the community and not by the coalition, it will not use the airwaves as a means to organize marches or boycotts. More than 100 volunteers from across the nation --- and even one from as far as Europe --- met in Immokalee this week to train the coalition on how to run a radio station. Leading this effort is Prometheus Radio Project, a Philadelphia-based nonprofit. Immokalee¹s radio station is the fifth low-power FM radio station that Prometheus helped build after the federal government in 2000 offered - -- for a brief period of time --- low-power radio licenses to community groups. The large majority of applicants lost that opportunity after the Radio Broadcasting Preservation Act of 2000 was passed, said Prometheus program director Hannah Sassaman. But some who applied, including the Immokalee group, have slowly started their radio stations. ``They`re unique radio stations that produce local, diverse unique content that stands in sharp contrast to the rest of commercial media,`` Sassaman said (via Terry Krueger, DXLD) So a quick search on recnet.com (linked on my page, BTW) confirms... Good reading catch, Cmdte. David. Crack out the green magic marker and check off the next box on your PC monitor. BNPL-20010615ALG 663261 BNPL RELIGIOUS LEADERS CONCERNED, INC. 1107 NEW MARKET RD. IMMOKALEE FL 34142 9418679160 Latitude 26.417 --- Longitude 81.418 --- Channel 300 Call NEW --- Status C --- Type L http://www.recnet.com/cgi-bin/lpfm/aspen.cgi?mode=status&facid=133832 (via Krueger, DXLD) Thanks fellas, I`ll try and drive up that way. I was back in Miami yesterday, 530 is on. Also heard about 9 or 10 pirates while cruising for a Krispy Kreme in North Miami. Details to follow as soon as I have time (Hans Johnson, FL, Dec 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) STATION AIMS TO GIVE VOICE TO MIGRANT WORKERS The full article will be available on the Web for a limited time: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/state/7432527.htm Migrant workers in Immokalee prepare to launch a community radio station that would carry news shows in indigenous languages such as Zapotec and Quiche. BY RICHARD BRAND Posted on Sun, Dec. 07, 2003 GETTING READY: Luz Aida Ruiz teaches Cruz Almicar, in white T-shirt, how to conduct a radio interview. NURI VALLBONA/HERALD STAFF [illo] IMMOKALEE In an effort to give a voice to migrant workers, dozens of radio techies from around the country descended on the farming town of Immokalee over the weekend to build a community radio station. The radio ''barn-raising'' will probably further raise the profile of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a group founded in 1996 that has received national attention in recent years for demanding better working conditions for its members, leading a boycott against Taco Bell and exposing slavery conditions on some of Florida's farms. Riding on the edge of the radio dial -- at 107.9 FM -- the 100-watt WCTI, if all goes as planned, will hit the air for the first time tonight, bringing news and information in Spanish, Creole and indigenous languages such as Zapotec and Quiché. ''We will be able to reach our people with news from home, with what's going on in our community,'' said Lucas Benitez, one of three coalition members who received the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award last month at a ceremony in Washington, D.C. The volunteers -- led by a national group called the Prometheus Radio Project, whose slogan is ''How many times have we fought corporate radio today?'' -- crisscross the country building low-power community radio stations. Based in Philadelphia, they've already launched stations for fishermen in Chesapeake Bay and poor blacks in Louisiana. And for the first time they're coming to Florida. ''Some of the greatest people in the small world of community radio are coming,'' said Pete Tridish, technical director for Prometheus, reached by phone Wednesday in Immokalee where he was preparing for the weekend. ``We'll be constructing the whole thing. By Sunday, at around 7 or 8 we should be on the air.'' `ON-AIR PARTY' They have not decided what the first broadcast words will be, but Tridish said the show would be an ''on-air party'' with speeches from community leaders and ``lots of noise from everybody there.'' Indeed, the weekend promises to be jam-packed with activities. The group will install the electronics, pad a sound recording booth, erect a radio tower. WCTI, whose call letters spell out the coalition's name in Spanish, will be housed at the coalition's headquarters in Immokalee's small downtown. RUNNING STATION Thirty seminars also are planned to provide migrant farmers a crash course in how to run a radio station. They include lessons on digital editing, field reporting, station governance and fundraising. The station will initially have a three- to five-mile range, which will be extended to about seven miles once zoning boards approve a taller tower, Tridish said. Programming plans are still vague, but would include news segments, some music and organizing drives. With the help of Prometheus, the coalition was able to snag a rare federal license to launch a community radio station. Their application, submitted in 2000, was recently approved, Tridish said. ''These guys happened to get in on a very rare opportunity that may never happen again,'' Tridish said. Community radio stations are nonprofit entities licensed by the Federal Communications Commission that usually run on low power. Often they are run by colleges, environmental groups, labor unions or religious groups. Many volunteers were already en route Wednesday and Thursday, coming by car, bus and plane. Steve Pierce, an adjunct professor of radio and ethics at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, is coming from Troy, N.Y. He said he was inspired by the coalition's success in bringing attention to the plight of farm workers and wanted to help. ''I was really struck by the story they have, organizing themselves for a better life. How hard they work to survive,'' said Pierce, a former NPR freelancer. ``Up north, we really don't know much about the agricultural economy, how food gets here. There's a lack of awareness of the conditions and the lives of the people who produce our food.'' PUBLIC SERVICE For the Immokalee workers, the radio station would provide a platform to reach migrant workers who don't attend the group's regular meetings. ''This will be ours,'' Benitez said. ``We will use it as a public service with some shows hosted in our original languages. Our own members will have their own programs. There are no other radio stations for workers like us here.'' (via Bob Wilkner via Terry Krueger, DXLD) ** U S A. SPORTS STATION WBHE CHARLOTTE NC BEGINS ON 1660 KHZ Sports fans in North Carolina and DXers all over the world have a new station to listen to. WBHE in Charlotte began broadcasting on 1660 kHz mediumwave on December 1. Part of the time the station is relaying WFNZ Charlotte NC on 610 kHz, but partly programming is separate. The station has been heard identifying as WBHE, but according to Operations Manager Donald Stout, call letters will be changed as early as next week. "We are very excited to be able to give our listeners a chance to hear us throughout the metro area. It is amazing what we have been able to do with 610 AM and the additional frequency will only enhance that success," Stout says on the station website. John Rieger in Wisconsin has already received an email verification from Stout. Reception reports can also be sent by snail mail to WFNZ, 1520 South Boulevard, Suite 300, Charlotte, NC 28203-3701, U.S.A., and the station can also be contacted by telephone +1-704-319-9369 (DXing.info Dec 5 via DXLD) ** VANUATU. R. Vanuatu, 7260, full-date ``Tam-tam`` card with a long handwritten card, somewhat amorous, and a personal photo in 39 months. This arrived 3 months after a follow-up letter to the verie-signer with whom I did a live New Year`s interview on my radio station WILM in Delaware. This was for $2.00 [return postage] (Alan? Loudell, DE, QSL Report, Dec NASWA Journal via DXLD) ** VENEZUELA [non]. Checking ``Aló, Presidente``, Sunday Dec 7, via Cuba: at 1530, 17750 was playing music; 1540 it and \\ 13750, 11875, 11670 had Spanish audio breaking up, presumably Hugo, and a bit later 17750 seemed off the air, but back after 1600 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VIETNAM. 5925, V. of Vietnam-3, 1011-1024, Dec. 6, Vietnamese, 2 OM with talks, YL at 1015 with presumed ID, back to OM. Fair/poor over QRN (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, MLB-1, RS longwire with RBA balun, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Jamming: see SWEDEN ** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. CLANDESTINE, 7460, R. Nac. Saharaui 2258- 2400* 12/4. ID, followed by mostly music over the next hour, with blocks of Spanish ballads followed by regional vocals, sounding a lot like what one hears on Mauritanian R. There was a short news bulletin at 2328; closedown with presumed anthem at 2359. All in Spanish; several ID's throughout the hour as "Radio Nacional Saharaui". Good signal. Do these folks QSL? (John Wilkins, CO, Cumbre DX via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. Hi all list fans, I have an UNID this morning, which I hope you can help me with: On 6826.4 kHz Dec 6th at 0730-0830 playing nonstop music (of the easy listening type, soul etc). I think I heard some words at 0753, saying "Good evening"! Possibly a pirate, but maybe also some wellknown station that I am not aware of. Please help! Best wishes from the very stormy island of Gotland and (Björn Fransson, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I have heard this too on 6824.4 between approx. 0800-1500 on Saturdays and Sundays only, for the last 3 weeks or so, playing a mix of nonstop music. So far no IDs heard, its a bit of a mystery. Anyone have any ideas? (Dave Kenny, UK, ibid.) Just monitored 6824 and it's still there but very weak down in my corner (East) of Kent. I think, although I cannot definitely confirm, that this is possibly an unofficial relay of Radio Caroline. However modulation level is so low that identification is very difficult. Hope this is of some use (Alby, hard-core-dx via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. I was listening on 13810.00 kHz 1010 to 1105 UT, the programme consisted of Chinese sounding music, just like in a test transmission, no ID heard on the 1/2 or on the hour. The signal was very good, strong and steady; I was wondering could this be China Radio Int, testing to move into this band. Cheers, (John Kecskes, Melbourne, Australia, Dec 7, ripple via DXLD) Sounds like a Firedrake from China -- jammer of unwelcome service such as Radio Free Asia. It appears China has also been testing some new transmitters, but with western classical music -- see discussion [above under CHINA; previously UNIDENTIFIED] in DX LISTENING DIGEST. 73, (Glenn Hauser, ripple via DXLD) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES +++++++++++++++++++++++++ PRESENTATION ON BAIRD'S 30-LINE TV ON WEDNESDAY EVENING A reminder that Ralph Barrett, G2FQS, will be commemorating the 75th anniversary of John Logie Baird's first transmission of pictures from London to New York, with a presentation at the Institute of Physics on Wednesday the 10th of December. Ralph Barrett will be describing Baird's development of television and there will be a live demonstration by G4JNU, G3SDQ and G3GMZ. The Institute of Physics is at 76 Portland Place, London, close to the Oxford Circus and Regents Park underground stations and the presentation, which is open to non- members of the Institute, starts at 6.30pm. There is no charge. Refreshments will be served at 6.00 pm and there will be a buffet afterwards (RSGB via Mike Terry, BDXC-UK via DXLD) DRM +++ Re gh`s unIDs on 6015, 6145: Are we at the point where there is so much DRM that no one can keep track of it? I don`t think it was jamming (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, The answer, sadly, is yes. The DRM standard is an open standard. Anyone can use it, whether a member of the DRM consortium or not. So, yes, there may be transmissions by non-DRM members who have not notified anyone :-( 73, (Andy Sennitt, Dec 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ SUNSPOT NUMBERS The maximum sunspot number R=150.7 of this solar cycle 23/24 was observed in September 2001. Now the sunspot number decreases, next minimum will be in April 2007 with a predicted value of 9.1. Here are the predicted values by the IPS Radio & Space Services, Sydney, Australia, for 2004: Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec 57.5 54.7 53.2 51.8 50.9 48.4 46.0 43.9 41.7 39.6 37.8 35.9 (IPS website via Dr Juergen Kubiak, updated Nov 30 2003, Dec WWDXC via Michael Bethge, DXLD) ###