DX LISTENING DIGEST 3-234, December 30, 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 LAST AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1213: Wed 1030 on WWCR 9475 Mon 0430 on WSUI 910, webcast FIRST AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1214: Wed 2300 on WBCQ 7415, webcast, 17495-CUSB Thu 2130 on WWCR 9475 WRN ONDEMAND [from Fri]: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO [also for CONTINENT OF MEDIA, MUNDO RADIAL]: Check http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html WORLD OF RADIO 1214 (high version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1214h.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1214h.rm (summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1214.html [from Wed?] (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1214.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1214.rm CONTINENT OF MEDIA 03-06: new edition produced December 29, 2003 cannot be aired yet on Radio for Peace International On SIUE Webradio: UT Tue 0430 from Jan 13 alternating with MUNDO RADIAL; On Demand from December 30: (stream) http://www.dxing.com/com/com0306.ram (download) http://www.dxing.com/com/com0306.rm (summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/com0306.html [from Wed?] UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS Many thanks for your continued DX/SWL program updates. It`s wonderful to be kept so Up-To-Date! Those other sources of available data are very helpful as well. I wish you a very Happy and Joyous New Year. Sincerely yours, Stephen E. Foisey (to John Norfolk) Hi Glenn; Thanks for your time and dedication to this interesting and dynamic medium. The format of DX Listening Digest is ideal, and I find it to be a valuable resource for my listening. I especially like the coverage of 60 meter stations, a favorite band along with 25 meters. I listen to World of Radio exclusively on WRN1 on Telstar 5. I used to listen to WoR 50/50 on WRN1 and RFPI before the latter was bullied off of the air. Have a happy Winter-2004 listening season (Steve Zimmerman, with a PayPal donation) Here's my two cents --- Glenn has been instrumental in the radio hobby ever since I got back into the DXING part of the hobby back in 1978 (stopped in 1969 because of college and other loftier pursuits., i.e beers and wimmin !!). I recall his columns in various magazines and club newsletters over the years --- and his Internet newsletter is first rate --- every week, free of charge --- he is MR RADIO --- MR. DX to me --- and I feel he needs to get more Kudos from people --- he certainly gets mine !!!! We need more folks like Glenn Hauser is this hobby, and less cry babies who have an axe to grind! So Glenn, keep up the good work! And thanx for all the past efforts you have done (Tom Messer, River Falls WI, swl at qth.net) Now Glenn knows that I do not take him seriously, nor does he take me seriously. If I really had something truly negative to say, it would be direct to him, not showing up here. He knows that I do not take offense at his comments. We enjoy throwing fun darts at each other now and then for amusement, it keeps us both sharp. (bad pun!) If somebody did not needle him a little he would get lax and not be motivated to do the fine job he does with the World Of Radio. (I actually got a complaint from somebody at Clear Channel management for using the call sign "WOR" out of context! Gee, do they need to get a life or just something to do with the one they have?) The World Of Radio is a well done program and Glenn deserves credit for a nice job of production. I have done radio/TV for over thirty years in the area of PR, commercials and promotions and I know a well done show when I see or hear one. Carry on Glenn --- Maybe somebody should call the Chamber of Commerce (if Enid has one) and find out if there is any truth to the name being spelled backwards historically (Duane Fischer, W8DBF, swl at qth.net) Saludo por año nuevo --- Hola Don Glenn, Reciba usted y su familia el deseo para que en el nuevo año la prosperidad y la felicidad colme su hogar. Solo unas cortas líneas para darle el merecido reconocimiento que usted hace por el Diexismo. Lamentablemente durante este año que termina, por razones de trabajo, estuve alejado del DX, pero a través del DXLD que llega a la lista de Conexión me enteré de muchas que de otra forma habrían sido pasadas por alto. Además su voz inconfundible a través de la radio ha sido guía de lo poco que realicé este año en DX. A pesar de las diferencias que se han tenido, confío, que el nuevo año las cosas sean mejores (Rafael Rodríguez, Bogotá, Colombia, Dec. 30) ** ANGOLA [non]. 7205, SOUTH AFRICA, R. Ecclesia, 12-27 1940-2000* Portuguese M&W, 1955 announcements, 2 IDs. Heard on Icom. Drake wouldn't even pick it up (Sheryl Paszkiewicz, WI, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) Rarely reported from North America; now`s the time (Glenn Hauser, World of Radio 1214) ** AUSTRALIA. NEW YEARS DAY NOTE: At last word, RA was planning no special programming to bring in the New Year in Australia. That time in Melbourne will be 1300 UT on Wednesday December 31. Expect a brief mention just prior to the hourly newscast (John Figliozzi, Dec 29, swprograms via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. 12/05, 15390 at 1405 GMT, HCJB (Electronic QSL included a photo of the antenna array). HCJB has not been audible every day. I hear them maybe 1 time out of 10 tries (Jerry Lenamon, Waco TX, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. The following item is from 'The Australian' newspaper of Dec. 29. Radio Adelaide is a community radio station on 101.5 mHz FM, formerly known as 5UV which used to broadcast on 531 AM. RADIO CONNECTS ANXIOUS EXPATS By Michael McGuire and Ashleigh Wilson The weekly Persian radio show on Radio Adelaide took on a new urgency yesterday. The voice of the 4000-strong Iranian community in Adelaide discarded its usual pre-recorded format to tell the expatriates the latest from the Bam tragedy and to appeal for funds to ease the suffering. Broadcasting in Persian, they asked listeners to donate through a specially created BankSA account or send in cheques and money orders as they struggled to comprehend the size of the disaster in their homeland. The language was unfamiliar to Australian ears but the emotion in the voices was easy to understand. Iranian Association of South Australia president Mohammad Amirghiasvand, who fled Iran as a 17-year-old after the revolution in 1983, appealed to Australians to help his country and ignore the common perception of it as a member of US President George W. Bush's "axis of evil". "The image that people have in their head of Iran is not fair," he said yesterday. "The image they have of Iran in the West is biased and unfair. When people are pigeon-holed like that, it does not help; nothing is black or white. But I think things like this (the Bam earthquake) go beyond boundaries, political or otherwise, and bring humans together." As the show progressed, the Radio Adelaide switchboard glowed a constant red as listeners contributed $100 here and $50 there. An Iranian woman in Brisbane was nervously awaiting news yesterday of relatives who live near the scene of the earthquake. She was preparing last night to travel to the Kerman region in Iran after attempts to make contact with her family failed. Her brother lives in Bam, and her extended family about 90minutes' drive north. "We don't have any idea what has happened," her husband aid. "We are worried, we don't know whether they are still alive. Nobody knows." Brisbane Mayor Tim Quinn last night agreed to a request from the city's Iranian community for a fundraising concert at City Hall. "We would support it in any way we could because it's a great opportunity for all the citizens of Brisbane to work with the Iranian community to do something practical to assist with the tragedy in Iran," Mr Quinn said. (ends) (via Matt Francis, presently in Canberra, Australia, DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. Radio Uncía, in the town of the same name, is on 1260, 105.3 and since mid-December also testing on the 60 meter band with a 5 kW transmitter assembled in Bolivia and run at slightly reduced power to a dipole antenna. The shortwave transmitter is on the air 4 hours in the morning, starting at 6 AM local time, and 5 hours in the afternoon and evening, though not usually much later than 6 or 7 PM local time. In Uncía the shortwave transmitter is believed to operate somewhere between 4700 and 4760 kHz. As several listeners have indicated, it is actually more like 4723 kHz. Radio Uncía is at Plaza 6 de Agosto y calle Villazón, not as previously thought in the building of the Defensoría de la Niñez y Adolescencia (Ombudsman for Youth and Adolescence) whose street address is Plaza Alonso de Ibáñez s/n (s/n means ``sin número``, unnumbered). --- The Ombudsman´s office is engaged in preventing children from working in the mines. (From a phone call to the Municipality of Uncía, Dec. 29). (Henrik Klemetz, Sweden, WORLD OF RADIO 1214, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. 4901.80, Radio San Miguel, Riberalta 1030-1040 30 Dec with IDs by OM. 4716v, Radio Yura, Yura usual weak signal, but no sign of 4722 Radio Uncía, Uncía (Robert Wilkner, NRD 535D, Pómpano Beach, Florida, "Una nueva provincia del Perú", DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 5993.23, Radio Senado, Presumed, 1104-1125 Dec 30. Noted some Portuguese comments from a man but mainly MOR Brazil music. Lots of splatter here and difficult to hear. At tune in, signal was good, but faded to poor by 1125. Notice the frequency of 5993. Radio Senado is listed on 5990 kHz where I have heard it before. They probably moved up to get away from the interference (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston, Florida, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5993.11 BRAZIL * R Senado, Brasilia [*0754-1203/2102-0203*] (90.00-93.11) Nov 03 Cumbre (drifts) *0854 (Current Logs, LA-DX of Mark Mohrmann via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. 4845.23, R. Cultura Ondas Tropicais, good with ZY anthem at 1005 s/on, then 1007 MA ID and into talk, new for me. 73s gd dx de (Sam Dellit, VK4ZSS, QTH : Tamborine, 50km S of Brisbane, Australia Rxs : Icom IC746, 2xIC-R71E; Drake R8B, SPR4 x 3 Ants : Single Wire Terminated Remote Beverages x 5 (lengths 130m - 250m) (heights 3-5m) all fed by 100m RG11 into 75/500 ohm matching transformers, ARDXC via DXLD) ** CANADA. CBC RADIO ONE & CBC RADIO TWO SCHEDULE CHANGES http://www3.cbc.ca/sections/newsitem_redux.asp?ID=3228 CBC Radio One and CBC Radio Two will see a number of changes and additions to their schedules, starting in January 2004. Please note the following: Effective Saturday, January 3: CBC Radio One: The Irrelevant Show, a nine-week series, debuts at 11:30 a.m. (12:00 NT), replacing What a Week. The Irrelevant Show is a half-hour of songs and sketches about pop culture, trends and everyday life, all recorded in front of a live audience. [via WORLD OF RADIO 1214] Effective January 5, 2004: CBC Radio One: The Mystery Project moves from its Saturday 6:30 p.m. slot, but will continue to run as a regular feature within Richardson's Roundup Fridays at 2 p.m. (2:30 NT). Dispatches will now air Saturday evenings at 6:30 (7 NT) in addition to its regular Wednesday 7:30 p.m. (8 NT) timeslot. CBC Radio Two: Madly Off In All Directions will now air on Saturdays from 9:30 to 10:00 a.m. (10 - 10:30 NT). Global Village will have an extra slot on Radio Two at 6:30 p.m. (7 NT) on Saturday (via Ricky Leong, DXLD) ** CANADA. Hi Glenn, Here are some recent logs from here in Waco using a Grundig Satellite 800 with an end fed wire antenna about 40 feet long and mounted about 20 feet above ground. (I'm saving to put up an Alpha Delta DX Ultra. It will have to be about 50 feet above ground to clear trees that surround my house). [see also AUSTRALIA, OKLAHOMA] 12/29, 6030 at 1330 GMT, CFVP Calgary, AB with news about mad cow + weather and music. 12/08, 6070 at 2250 GMT, CFRX Toronto, ON with local news about a fire on Yonge Street. The following stations were audible at the same time on the same channel. There was a slight audio delay on one of the stations. Perhaps one is fed via fiber while the other is fed via satellite. CKZN's local announcer was a female. CKZU's local announcer was male. The signal strength was a little better from BC and I think (but not certain) that BC lagged Nfld during the network news. 12/26, 6160 at 0100 GMT, CKZN St Johns, Nfld with CBC-1 News, then into local weather. (FA) 12/26, 6160 at 0100 GMT, CKZU Vancouver, BC with CBC-1 News then into local weather. (MA) (Jerry Lenamon, Waco TX, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. CHWO / AM740 THIRD ANNIVERSARY QSL January 8th, 2004 will mark the third anniversary of CHWO / AM 740. Once again this year we will be offering a special QSL for the day. -------------------------------------------------------------------- As always, we will need the following information: *Date you heard CHWO - AM 740; (please specify this is for the January 8th special QSL) *Time you heard the transmission (local or UT); *Program Material (at least 10 minutes of specific program material heard: i.e., name of announcer, commercials heard, news items etc.); *Signal/Sound Report, (a general overview of how well you heard the signal at your location and the sound quality of the program). *Mention of the type of equipment and antenna you were using to hear the signal is helpful information as well. Please send your reception report to: Special AM 740 QSL c/o Ontario DX Association P. O. Box 161, Station A, Willowdale, Ontario Canada M2N 5S8 I should also add that reports can also be emailed to am740@rogers.com as well as via the post office. Thank and have a great DX season in 2004. Brian Smith AM 740 - http://www.am740.ca AM 740 Groups - htttp://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/AM740 AM 740 QSL Reports - http://www.odxa.on.ca/chwo.html (Dec 28 ODXA, NRC via WORLD OF RADIO 1214, DXLD) ** CANADA. Station testing with low power on 1570 kHz on Dec. 23; music selection is so varied, it's not classifiable; disappeared as quickly as it came; nothing heard since. Two new towers had gone up in Ste. Dorothée in Laval: Michel Mathieu (CKUT International Radio Report, Dec 28, notes by Ricky Leong, via DXLD) I note the I-C database now (as of Dec. 9th) lists call letters for this station - but they list them as CFAV [Industry Canada]. In general, DXers should be VERY CAREFUL about trusting any foreign listings in the FCC database. For a number of reasons they aren't very accurate. For Canadians you can visit http://spectrum.ic.gc.ca/infoback/dgse/english/baserade.html and download the data in a collection of .ZIPped .DBF files. (Excel will open these) (conversely, don't put too much faith in the listings of U.S. stations in the Canadian file either!) (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66, ibid.) ** CHINA. C.R.I. LAUNCHES NEW WEBSITE IN 39 LANGUAGES Excerpt from CRI in English, December 28, "News and Reports": Presenter: All 39 language services of China Radio international have now opened their websites to listeners and netsurfers around the world. CRI announced the launch of its new multi-language internet web, http://www.chinabroadcast.cn on Sunday and promised to be a better source of information with better service. Sheng Ting reports. Sheng Ting: This new move has turned CRI Online into a website with the most text languages and with the second most audio languages on the internet. For listeners abroad, each language website offered by CRI is a relatively independent window showing China and the world. Apart from news, views and infomation, CRI Online also introduces cultures, ethnic groups and religions to its many visitors. CRI first went online in 1998 in Chinese, English, German and Spanish. By June this year 16 language services had their own webpages. But launching a website for each of the 39 language services is no easy job. Staff members from some language departments had to consult experts in their target countries to find suitable word processors. For some it was almost mission impossible as no such system or software existed. So they had to use pictographs and photographic versions of written scripts. So quantity is something but not everything. CRI President Li Dan (phonetic) thinks there remains a lot to do for the further development of CRI's webpage. CRI President: Launching additional websites in all its foreign languages is only the first step in CRI's work programme. In the future CRI Online will certainly endeavour to highlight its features, enrich its contents, improve promotion, offer better service and speed up updates, all in hopes of building a new channel of international communications. (end of excerpt) Note: The new English webpage can be accessed direct at http://cri.english.com.cn CRI says it currently broadcasts in 43 languages (Roger Tidy, UK, Dec 29, DX LISTENING DIGTEST) But, but, can we trust CRI to be objective in 39 languages? (gh, DXLD) ** CHINA [and non]. This group might wish to take a stab at a comment from Roger Chambers regarding CRI in Glenn's DXLD: "Open comment for discussion: Now that CRI programs are audible almost around the clock on various relays, and their programming has become increasingly open and often similar to and mistaken for the VOA, BBC, or RCI until an ID is heard, one has to wonder, just what is their ``agenda?`` (Roger Chambers, Utica, NY, DX LISTENING DIGEST)" In terms of quality and variety of programming, political agenda aside, I'd agree with Roger -- CRI has made great strides (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA, swprograms via DXLD) First of all, every station has (or should have!) an "agenda". If the intent in using this term to describe CRI efforts was meant to suggest something pejorative, I don't agree. Second, while I agree that CRI can sound very "western" at times, it's sound and style are still pretty distinctive -- at least to my ear. That adopted "western" style to the extent it exists can be seen to reflect changes within China in recent years -- especially with respect to economics, but also politically -- as well as an attempt to make CRI's programming more appealing to its audience(s). Third, it seems obvious that CRI has decided, at least in the short term, to take an approach toward "public diplomacy" that is entirely different from that of many other prominent international broadcasters. If anything, it is greatly expanding its services. It doesn't seem ashamed of using shortwave -- even to service post- industrial nations. Nor does it seem to be shy about freely embracing other delivery platforms, such as the internet, WRN and local placement. Furthermore, it appears to have an expanding policy of assisting third world nations in developing their own national broadcasting systems. In looking at all this, one can draw a number of tentative conclusions: 1. CRI wishes to increase its audience; and, thus, its influence -- especially in areas of the world it considers vital. This obviously includes the US. 2. CRI, as an instrument of Chinese public diplomacy, wishes to support and safeguard Chinese economic expansion. 3. By assisting third world nations in developing their own broadcasting systems, especially in Africa, CRI seeks to lessen BBC/BBG/EU influence on the continent or at least increase China's profile there. In this regard, CRI objectives and efforts don't appear to be much different than those of the BBC, the BBG (or Radio Moscow in the past, for that matter). The difference today, I think, is that CRI, uniquely among today's class of international broadcasters, appears to have a clear idea about its objectives and the methods it is going to use to achieve them. One looks at other international broadcasters and wonders where they have lost their way to varying degrees. The contrast with the BBG is especially stark -- the latter, with its dismantling of the VOA and balkanized regional efforts as apparent replacements evincing a wholesale lack of ability to articulate any coordinated policy toward public diplomacy through use of international broadcasting. Kudos to CRI (John Figliozzi, NY, ibid.) Well, this is one thing I wanted to take a 24 hour think on and the following is just my opinion and observations. Roger Chambers and John F. have made some insightful comments and thus here is my observations on things, just based on my previous experiences that Rich Cuff has made mention of. Open programming as it relates to CRI doesn't necessarily mean _open and free discussion of issues._ For example, walk into CRI and ask if you could discuss Falun Gong or journalists rights and I would guarantee you that would be two programs that would never see the light of day. I recall an incident this summer in Prague at the IOC meeting where Wang Wei (Beijing Olympic Committee head) and his gang were scheduled for a press conference one afternoon. They kept postponing, rescheduling, then after several hours of this malarkey, it was cancelled outright all together --- no reason given (and the scuttlebutt was that the Prague organisers weren't too happy.) I "innocently" asked the Czech receptionist in the work room if she knew anything and she was just as baffled as a lot of folks were. Bottom line, is one night when Wang Wei saw me walk into the hotel, the look on his face said it all (and Marie Lamb and I have a standing joke that goes something like "WW probably won't want to see *my* face again!" --- they didn't want to be held to the "promises" they made to me two years ago in Moscow and that a lot of human rights orgs. also said that they would hold them to in the aftermath of that day in Moscow. He *knew* that the past two years weren't all kosher on his end and he sure didn't want to have to justify it in a room full of journalists (and one guy that was in Moscow two years ago who was in Prague said to me that he "was just waiting" for WW and I to lock horns again --- LOL) You can paint yourself as being open, say the "right" things and "do" the right things, but it is your _actions on a consistent basis_ that will have people believing your message. Do I believe CRI's --- hell no I don't. Until their journalists can work in a free and *unrestricted* environment, that is _free from government interference_, then all the so-called "open programming" in the world that they are currently putting out is just window dressing, to hide more deeper societal problems, of which the mainland government still does not allow open and free discussion of. It would be interesting to have Jim (who represents CRI on this list) to see what *his* comments are and to interject in this discussion. Respectfully, (Maryanne Kehoe, GA, ibid.) Hmmm. Good points all. I would just make two observations: 1. Ask VOA journalists if they feel *they* are working in a "free and unrestricted environment, that is _free from government interference_", as Maryanne puts it. Alan Heil's recent book on the VOA gives many instances where US government officials "interfered" and attempted to influence VOA reporting (and sometimes, sadly, succeeded), much to the chagrin of committed journalists there. 2. Such interference is not restricted to the public sector. Ask Bill Maher if he thinks his ABC program on late night TV was cancelled due to opinions he expressed about 9/11. And, of course, we have the many examples of the "free and unrestricted environment" journalists worked in during the early months of the Iraq war, right? (And I'm not referring to those reporting from the front; I'm referring to those who dared to ask probing and even critical questions of our government officials.) My reason for pointing out these examples is not to claim that the Chinese and American situations are necessarily the same quantitatively. My point is that there is no "purity" here. While I heartily agree with the principles enunciated by Maryanne, I'm not so sure we (Americans) hold enough of the moral high ground to allow us to criticize another's shortcomings without calling attention to our own (John Figliozzi, NY, ibid.) I guess the trap here is that editorial independence is graded somewhat differently from program quality. And that is the disconnect I wanted to expose in the discussion. We could kill a slew of ASCIIs on the debate of editorial independence. John points out instances where agendas distort independence at a number of broadcasters. We will not settle that debate here. The point for everyone to contemplate is that any broadcaster, commercial or public, has a de facto "agenda" that should be considered in parallel when one is listening to a broadcaster. Even a so-called "agenda-free" broadcaster such as Radio Netherlands chooses stories to reflect a view of "Dutch perspective", and to select subject matter that a listener would find compelling. Pre-Berlin Wall / pre-perestroika, the agenda for most international broadcasters was a lot plainer. Nowadays an agenda may be harder to discern. I would argue the agenda of any broadcaster is to live to broadcast another day. We all benefit when we can hear of firsthand examples of compromised reporting, whether at the VOA or at CRI (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA, Dec 30, ibid.) To John F. and Maryanne's comments, I'll add a couple more... Journalists at VOA and individuals like Bill Maher have two significant options most at CRI do not: a. They won't go to prison for discussing subjects their employers don't like (e.g. Falun Gong) b. Generally, they can simply go work for another roughly equivalent outlet at their (or their employer's) pleasure. Whether the policies of the US government occupy the moral high ground is a matter we can debate but I seriously doubt there would be much serious discussion over whether our media has the freedom to discuss such fundamental issues (Rob de Santos, ibid.) But John's comments suggest that, in the case of our beloved international broadcaster (VOA), the journalists in VOA itself don't always have that editorial freedom. For the Internet-connected world this is not a problem, because there are many, many US voices. However, this issue remains -- if we USA taxpayers don't like how the VOA is managed, what practical recourse do we have? Would our local congress representative care? Might this be worth raising as an issue, say, in September 2004 -- as Election Season kicks into high gear? (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA, ibid.) There really is no debate here, IMHO. It is only a matter of degree, I think. As I said at the outset of my comments to your query, all stations *should* have an agenda -- otherwise, why exist at all? No broadcaster (save, perhaps, a "one-person" operation such as a ham) provides carte-blanche independence to those working for it. Some are tighter about this than others; but the core point is not debatable (again IMHO). (Perhaps what sets some like the VOA and BBC apart is that at least these organizations have a significant constituency within them -- the journalists--that can and will agitate for greater purity of principle. Others (CRI?) may not (yet?) be as fortunate.) It's much more important to know what each broadcaster's "agenda" is, or at least be aware that it has one. Such awareness is essential if the listener is going to have any reasonable chance of evaluating what he or she is hearing and better form intelligent conclusions (John Figliozzi, ibid.) CHINA - Donde florece la Amistad é o nome do periódico do Departamento de Espanhol da Rádio Internacional da China. Contém corônicas dos jornalistas da emissora, reportagens, cartas de ouvintes, divulgação de direções postais para troca de amizade e até mesmo algumas receitas da cozinha chinesa. Peça seu exemplar por e-mail. É grátis. Escreva para: spa @ cri.com.cn (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX Dec 29 via DXLD) ** CHINA. [DX] BC Station on 7.040 Today (22/12) there were reports on "DX Summit" of a strong BC station which various sources thought could be in Western Europe. I myself heard it in Jamaica, between 0100-0200 at 59+20. A mail to Victor Goonetilleke, one of the best known Short Wave listeners and professional BC analysts around, resulted in the following comments. Quote: The BC Station on 7040: This BC station was first noted on the 2nd or 3rd of December playing western classical music on the international broadcasting bands. Direction finding from Europe thought it could be in Europe going by the strong signals and top quality modulation. However, Direction finding here in Colombo, Sri Lanka put the direction between 355-005 degrees and our own knowledge of strength and propagation made the obvious deduction that it was from China. The station is located in South West China according to Wolfgang Bueschel doing research on our findings Unquote: I noticed a station in Columbia [which Columbia??? -- gh] estimated the heading to be 052 and another in Wisconsin put it at 042. I hope this guy moves off as it is very strong and sits in the middle of our ham band! 73, Ron, 6Y5/4S7RO (dx at qth.net via Larry Van Horn, DXLD) ** COLOMBIA. 3300.20, Emisora Ideal, Planeta Rica, 1020-1110 30 Dec, mentions de Colombia y Ideal (Robert Wilkner, NRD 535D, Pómpano Beach, Florida, "Una nueva provincia del Perú", DX LISTENING DIGEST) 3 x 1100 ** CONGO (Rep. of). RTV Congolaise, 5985, 0437-0455 Dec 29. (Presumed) Discussion between OM announcer and another OM, very excited, mostly in vernacular. "Congo" mentioned several times. African and Afro pop music at 0449, with "echo" style announcements between songs. Obliterated by WFYR sign-on at 0455. Fair signal, fair copy(Jeffrey Heller, Naperville IL, Drake R8B, 45' dipole, 67' coil loaded sloper, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** CYPRUS [non]. 5775, English, "The World This Week" program, R. Napa, Cyprus, via 250 kW IRRS transmitter, location unknown (apparently not Italy), poor at 2030 Dec 24; basically a news program, with an item on Hans Blixt and WMD. Ended with Bing Crosby's "White Christmas." This is scheduled to be on Sundays at 2100-2130 UT [2200- 2230 CET], though announcer said this was live, since he said they would be back in "7 days" it was most likely a recording of the Sunday program (Jerry Berg, MA, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ** CZECH REPUBLIC. December 31st: "Radio Radio Prague" I was browsing the Radio Prague website, and came across this tease for December 31st programming: "December 31st it's Jan Velinger's "Radio Radio Prague" - we go up to depth (sic?) to broadcast our pirate signal - parodies of many of our programmes that will incl(ude) the News, Current Affairs, Spotlight, Stepping Out, and Economics Report - just a little bit different." This will also likely air on the 1/1 releases at 0100, 0200, 0400 (targeting NA) and 0430 (targeting the Middle East and SW Asia). This might be worth a listen...not sure how / if it will be archived for on-demand listening; live English webcasts are sprinkled throughout the day and can be found at http://www.radio.cz/en/live. (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA, swprograms via DXLD) Don`t forget the 1400 UT broadcast on 21745, usually excellent here, so on 12/31? (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1214, DXLD) ** DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. OBITUARIO RADIAL DOMINICANO DEL 2003 Último día del año y me lleno de nostalgia y emoción al recordar a los nuestros que se fueron este año 2003. *El jueves 10 de Abril falleció en Santo Domingo el famoso radiodifusor Don Pepe Justiniano Polanco, fundador de la muy conocida Radio Mil. *Martes, 30 de Septiembre fallece en Jacagua, Santiago, mi Padre Rolando Bloise Mera, la HI3NRB mejor conocido en la banda de los 11 metros como" Super Radio 33". *El Jueves 2 de Octubre muere uno de los pioneros de la radiodifusión y radioaficionado Dominicano Don Felipe Moscoso Cordero con las conocidas siglas HI3FM, fundador de Radio Santiago. *El Viernes 24 de Octubre muere en Santiago otro pionero de la radiodifusión Dominicana; Don Juan B. Sánchez Correa, fundador de La Voz de la Hispaniola y famoso dirigente deportista. Así pasó el 2003, llevándose varios de los nuestros, todos muy queridos. PAZ A SUS RESTOS!!! (Dino Bloise, Hollywood, FL USA, Dec 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA. Radio Ethiopia in English is a regular catch now in Europe on 9560 from 1600-1700 (Thorsten Hallmann, Münster, Germany, Dec 29, http://africa.coolfreepage.com/africalist/ DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FINLAND. NEW MEDIUMWAVE STATION TO BE LAUNCHED IN FINLAND http://www.dxing.info/news/index.dx#shortwave [sic] Just in case anyone missed this a few days ago --- and confirming its not an offshore station --- A new mediumwave station is planned to go on the air in Finland in spring 2004. Swedish salesman and radio enthusiast Roy Sandgren has received permission to launch a radio station in the Åland Islands, an autonomous region in Southwestern Finland. The station doesn't have a name yet, Sandgren says to DXing.info, but it will be on the air "in spring, I hope," using the frequency of 603 kHz and a power of 2.5 kW. Unlike initially told, Sandgren says that the station will not be offshore, instead, he is planning to set up the transmitter "on a pier or on shore" in Western Åland. He is planning to broadcast in AM stereo and says that he would be targeting also audiences in Sweden and mainland Finland, as the population of the Åland Islands is only 26,000. On December 17 Åland's government and administrative board approved Sandgren's application to set up a news and tourism station on condition that local workforce will be used as much as possible and that the station will broadcast in Swedish, the official language of the Åland Islands. According to official records, spotted by Vesa Hienonen, the license is valid until the end of 2008. Previously Sandgren has announced that he plans to set up a non-commercial offshore station near his hometown Malmö, using a 500- watt transmitter on board radio ship St. Paul (DXing.info, December 23, 2003 via Mike Terry, DXLD) Updates version in 3-230 ** GERMANY. 15225, Missionswerk Friedensstimme, Russian-language religious program, *1100-1130* Dec 27 via DTK. Trumpets at start, opening announcement by man; program mainly talk by man, several female vocals including "We Three Kings," prayer by woman at 1125. Closing by man gave Gummersbach address, which, per Wolfgang Bueschel, is Postfach 100638, D-51606 Gummersbach, Germany. Signal so-so at start, but built nicely. Apparent sked is Saturdays at 1100-1130 on 15225 for Siberia, 1500-1530 on 9635 for Europe. Per Biener-Germany (in BCDX), this organization "is historically connected with the plight of non-registered Baptists in the former USSR. Some non- registered Baptists of German descent had managed to remigrate to Germany and had founded their own congregations." (Biener-Germany, BCDX) (NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) Credit for actual log missing, but it sounds like Jerry Berg. Amusing to see DXers get so excited about yet another gospel huxter program as if it were a new `station`. But maybe it will QSL directly, making it all worthwhile (gh, DXLD) ** ICELAND [and non]. Re: Registered both on same place Keflavik, both 10 kW usb, and 7590 non-dir, but 13855 with 180 degrees!! (Wolfgang Büschel, BC-DX Dec 25 via DXLD) Actually, it is ILG which *lists" them as "Keflavík" with 10 kW/USB and ND on 7590, and 180 degrees on 13855, but both QRGs are HFCC *registered* as "Reykjavík" with 30 kW and 200 degrees beam. The location for both remains the Naval Radio Transmitting Facility (NRTF) in *Grindavík*; neither HFCC nor ILG has the physical power to move the transmitters away from their present location :) A short description of the facility in Grindavík can be found at: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/grindavik.htm This is a utility site, used for various purposes. The SW transmissions of AFRTS-AFN are a utility operation (feeds for Navy vessels in the Atlantic Ocean for rebroadcasting in the closed radio circuits onboard the ships) and are not connected with the operation of the local AFN station that is serving the US Naval Base in Keflavík with its transmitters on the base ("Thunder 1530 AM" & "K 104.1"). A suitable name that would correctly characterize the SW transmissions would be "AFRTS-AFN Feed, Grindavík" (this also concerns the other AFRTS-AFN feeds from Hawaii, Guam, Puerto Rico etc). (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, Dec 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. New Year programs, Cricket, Languages --- Dear Friends, 1) The following 4 new languages have been added to the offical languages list by The Government of India on 22 Dec 2003. Bodo, Dogri, Santhali & Maithili. The total number of official languages of India is now 22. More details on Indian langauges can be viewed at: http://allindiaradio.org/language.html 2) Most stations of AIR will have special extended broadcasts on December 31, 2003 to welcome the new year. So look out AIR stations on MW and on 90 & 60 meters etc. The latest AIR frequency list is available at http://www.geocities.com/bcdxnet/sw/ Please note that 0000 Indian Standard Time is 1830 UT. Vividh Bharathi on 10330 kHz via Bangalore 500 kW is expected to be on air till 1900 UT (instead of normal sign off at 1740 UT) Also lookout on 6085, 7140, 9575, 9425, 9470, 9835 etc. [via WORLD OF RADIO 1214] 3) Most stations of All India Radio will broadcast live running commentary alternatively in Hindi and English of the Triangular Cricket Series of One Day International matches to be played in Australia between India, Australia and Zimbabwe from 9th January, 2004 to 10th February, 2004. The schedule of commentary is as follows: 9 Jan 2004 0300-1130 UT 11 Jan 2004 0300-1130 14 Jan 2004 2330-0800 16 Jan 2004 2330-0800 18 Jan 2004 0300-130 [sic] 20 Jan 2004 0300-1130 22 Jan 2004 0300-1130 24 Jan 2004 0300-1130 26 Jan 2004 0300-1130 (might clash with Republic Day commentry!) 29 Jan 2004 0300-1130 1 Jan 2004 0230-1100 3 Jan 2004 0530-1330 6 Jan 2004 0300-1130 8 Jan 2004 0300-1130 10 Jan 2004 0300-1130 So look out for extended broadcasts on MW & SW as noted above. 4) For the record the following AIR stations were noted with extended broadcasts (at around 1830 UT/ Midnight IST)for Christmas (Live Church Mass etc.) on the night of December 24, 2004 which continued to early hours of 25th. 576 Alappuzha 630 Thrissur 666 & 3365 New Delhi 936 Tiruchirapalli 1161 & 5010 Thiruvanthapuram New Year Wishes to all DX_India members, readers and well wishers! (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, National Institute of Amateur Radio, Raj Bhavan Road, Hyderabad 500082, India, dx_india Dec 29 via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL. Papers on International Broadcasting Happy New Year! While surfing around the internet this afternoon, I came across this compilation of papers dealing with international broadcasting issues. I thought you might find this of interest and, perhaps, of some assistance in your work. http://newmedia.leeds.ac.uk/papers/vf01.cfm?folder=141&outfit=pmt Best regards! (John Figliozzi, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. XM FIDELITY -- OR LACK OF! While waiting for my client, the sales manager of a local Chevy dealer in Baltimore, I was playing with their XM display. I was shocked at the wide variance of audio quality! On the 70's channel, the song had that "watery" quality you get with a bad Realaudio feed. On the 50's channel, it was downright appalling, with the tune sounding like a very bad .wav file --- the high end was gritty and artificially boosted to a ridiculous level, it sounded like out-of-adjustment tape heads, and was really unlistenable. If anyone's AM station sounded that bad, they'd be ashamed! Other channels sounded OK, but again, sort of had the "Realaudio sound" to them. I'm surprised they haven't gotten kinks like this ironed out by now! And IMHO, FWIW, I think XM will never replace mass appeal radio. Everyone I've read about on this list is using it to get formats that are not commercially viable in their market, be it "Worldmusic", Celtic, or other "super-niche" formats. And this is where I believe the majority of long-term subscribers will come from --- people who aren't served by a certain format in their market. In smaller markets, that could mean formats like jazz, classical, contemporary Christian, etc. that are viable in bigger markets, as well as the "super-niche" formats. I don't think my urban station, the country or AC stations, have anything to worry about --- people won't pay for what they can get for free. I'll pay for Direct TV so I can get Animal Planet and other channels that aren't available over the air, just like the above scenarios for XM and Sirius. I think XM will make it simply because they got the head start, and some of the major radio groups (Radio One for one) have money in it. They'll either swallow Sirius or it will go away eventually, like Primestar TV. 73, (Bruce WB3HVV, York, PA, NRC- AM via DXLD) I didn't listen to XM from December 23 until today, but one of the DJs on my favorite channel ("Sixties on Six") apologized today for technical problems they were having. I've had XM since this past June, and have never experienced the problems you describe. I have XM in my car and also the Delphi "boombox" in my office, and the sound is midway between FM radio and an audio CD, namely a noticeable improvement over terrestrial FM. I agree XM and other satellite services will never replace "free" radio, much like cable TV has not replaced broadcast TV. But it will be a significant competitor to terrestrial radio (along with new services like metropolitan area wireless networks) and, IMO, will be a big factor in finally clearing the AM band of marginal stations. I also think XM and Sirius are why IBOC is DOA despite the IBOC hypemasters' absurd claims. Anything that increases the choices available to consumers --- whether cable TV, Wal-Mart, book superstores like Borders and Barnes & Noble, etc. --- has turned out to be a marketplace winner, and satellite radio follows in those footsteps (Harry Helms W7HLH, Las Vegas, NV DM26, Dec 29, ibid.) ** IRELAND [non]. 6155, ENGLAND, RTE via Rampisham, 0135-0159* Dec 24, woman announcer in English with loop announcement saying goodbye to shortwave effective January 1st replacing it with satellite and World Space radio. Claimed to be realigning distribution platforms (anyone smell the usual consulting advisors?). She said there were 200 responses to survey but taped announcement clearly indicated all decisions were made before survey took place. High level of US listeners will have expanded output on World Radio Network (30 minutes expanded to 2 hours). Most African listeners were missionaries and/or volunteers so they will be given a free World Space radio if they ask for them. Full "technical bulletin" available online at http://www.RTE.ie/radio Good signal but that is irrelevant now (Rich D`Angelo, PA, NASWA Flashsheet via WORLD OF RADIO 1214, DXLD) ** ISRAEL. Kol Israel, 6280, 0508 Dec 29. News in English by YL. Included discussion of the cost to the local police of a drug raid, and Iran refusing Israeli assistance in earthquake relief. Good copy overall (Jeffrey Heller, Naperville IL, Drake R8B, 45' dipole, 67' coil loaded sloper, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** ISRAEL. AIR TIME, JAIL TIME http://www.jta.org/brknews.asp?id=90028 Four producers of Israel's Arutz-7 radio station received jail sentences for making pirate radio broadcasts. Jerusalem Magistrate's Court on Monday found he four guilty of broadcasting without a license from a ship off Israel's coast, as well as from stations in the West Bank. The defendants, who also have to pay fines, may have their three- to six-month jail terms commuted to community service. Arutz-7 suspended broadcasts in October, but its producers say the state has refused to license the station because of its right-wing tendencies. Meanwhile, the government is proposing that stations like Arutz-7 be granted operating licenses (via Mike Terry, WORLD OF RADIO 1214, DXLD) ** ISRAEL. FOUR ARUTZ SHEVA MANAGERS HANDED JAIL SENTENCES, FINES Last Update: 29/12/2003 16:29 By Yuval Yoaz, Haaretz Correspondent and Haaretz Service http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/377298.html The Jerusalem Magistrate's Court handed down jail sentences ranging from three to six months to four former managers of the pirate Arutz Sheva radio station on Monday. In addition, the four were handed fines of several thousand shekels each. Several hundred demonstrators congregated outside the Jerusalem courtroom and condemned the sentences. Labor MK Eitan Cabel said he was pleased that the court determined that Arutz Sheva was illegal once and for all, and that even settlers, with their strong lobby, are not above the law. Yaakov Katz, one of the station's top managers, who was also convicted of perjury, was handed a six-month prison sentence, a six-month suspended sentence and was fined NIS 50,000. Katz submitted two false affidavits to the High Court of Justice, including one that claimed the station was not broadcasting from a land-based studio, even though some of the station's broadcasts emanated from the West Bank settlement of Beit El. Yoel Tzur, one of the station's directors, was handed a three-month sentence, plus a six-month suspended sentence, as well as a NIS 30,000 fine. Rabbi Zalman Melamed, another station director, was handed a four- month suspended sentence and NIS 25,000 fine. His wife Shulamit Melamed, the programming manager, received a three-months sentence, along with a six-months extended sentence and NIS 25,000 fine. Ya'ir Meir, who provided technical services to the station, received three months in prison, a six-month suspended sentence and a NIS 30,000 fine. Head of the station's news desk, Haggai Segal, received a six months suspended sentence and NIS 30,000 fine. Upon leaving the court, Segal said that "there would be no need for this trial had the authorities allowed anyone to broadcast, and did not hand out permits according to political standings." Broadcaster Adir Zik received a four-month suspended sentence and a NIS 20,000 fine. Another broadcaster, Gideon Sharon, was handed a four-months suspended sentence and a NIS 20,000 fine. The Probation Service will be asked to recommend in February whether the custodial sentences can be commuted to community service. Defense attorneys argued that the station's managers had "good and legitimate" intentions even if they broke the law. "The punishment should be proportionate," they said. "They didn't want to do any harm, and weren't motivated by profits, and even paid royalties." The defense team had also asked the court to take into consideration what it termed "selective enforcement" against Arutz Sheva. According to this argument, the authorities only began to clamp down on pirate broadcasts after Abie Natan's Voice of Peace radio station stopped broadcasting in 1993 (via Mike Terry, DXLD) ARUTZ SHEVA SENIOR PERSONNEL SENTENCED Dec. 29, 2003 From the Jerusalem Post website http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull%26cid=1072671047737 Four senior managers of the Arutz Sheva pirate radio station were sentenced Monday by the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court to three to six months in prison, and fined tens of thousands of shekels each for broadcasting illegally, with the defendants allowed to do community service instead of the prison time. The four were part of a group of 10 station managers, directors, and employees found guilty in the same court two months ago for transmitting from a ship within Israeli territorial waters and from the West Bank from 1995 to 1998 without the required permits. Though the prosecution requested prison time as well as stiff fines for the four, the court ruled that the defendants may carry out community service instead. The defendants had faced up to three years in prison. While defense attorneys voiced their happiness over the "satisfactory punishment" meted out by the court, the State Attorney's Office said Monday that it was considering an appeal in the case, and the Justice Ministry asking the court to temporarily stay the sentencing, pending their decision. The sentencing came just one day after the government approved a bill that could legalize the station in the future. The station, which served as the voice of the ideological Right for 15 years, went off the air hours after the October 20 court conviction, although it continues to operate its Hebrew and English Web sites. Ya'acov Katz, one of the station's top managers, who was also convicted of perjury, was given a six-month prison sentence, a six- month suspended sentence, and was fined NIS 50,000. Katz had submitted two false affidavits to the High Court of Justice, in which he said the station broadcast from a ship outside Israel's territorial waters, even though some of the station's broadcasts came from the West Bank settlement of Beit El. Yoel Tzur, one of the station's directors, was given a three-month sentence, plus a six-month suspended sentence, and a NIS 30,000 fine. Rabbi Zalman Melamed, another station director, was given a four-month suspended sentence and a NIS 25,000 fine. His wife, Shulamit Melamed, the programming manager, received a three-month sentence, along with a six-month extended sentence and a NIS 25,000 fine. Yair Meir, who provided technical services to the station, received three months in prison, a six-month suspended sentence, and a NIS 30,000 fine. As the sentences were being handed down, several hundred protesters held a demonstration outside the courtroom, singing and waving placards that read "Let Arutz Sheva speak." At the beginning of the hearing, Justice Yoram Noam asked that the window in the packed courtroom be closed so that the sentencing could be read without disruption from the protesters. Also sentenced Monday was the head of the station's news desk, Haggai Segal, who received a six-month suspended sentence and a NIS 30,000 fine. Upon leaving the court, Segal said that "there would be no need for this trial had the authorities allowed anyone to broadcast, and did not hand out permits according to political standings." The court also sentenced three station broadcasters each to four-month suspended sentences, and gave two of them fines of NIS 20,000 to NIS 25,000. Shaul Avni, the captain of the boat from which transmissions were made, was given a three-month suspended sentence, and fined NIS 20,000. Defense attorneys argued that the station's managers had "good and legitimate" intentions even if they broke the law. The defense team had also asked the court to take into consideration what it termed "selective enforcement" against Arutz Sheva, noting that the authorities only began to clamp down on pirate broadcasts after Abie Nathan's Voice of Peace radio station stopped broadcasting in 1993. The government-approved bill, which, if realized, could legalize the pirate settler station, states that the government will establish three new radio stations that will cater to specialized sectors of society, such as new immigrants and haredim. The proposal stipulates that one of the three stations would be given to the 230,000 Israelis living in the West Bank and Gaza; Arutz Sheva would be allowed to participate in such a tender. "What is important is that we renew our radio broadcasts," said one of the convicted broadcasters, Adir Zik, after the sentencing, while Melamed said it was "unacceptable" for a media outlet to be "silenced." Labor MK Eitan Cabel, who filed the complaint against the station, said despite the relatively light sentence, he was pleased that the court determined that Arutz Sheva was illegal, which, he said, proved that "even the settlers are not above the law." About 100 pirate stations operate in Israel, with the government and police recently embarking on a crackdown, because some of them interfere with control-tower communications at Ben-Gurion Airport. In October, the cabinet approved a bill that would make it illegal to advertise on pirate radio stations (via Mike Peraaho, DXLD) ** JAPAN [non]. Radio Japan Sri Lanka relay resumes normal services Radio Japan has announced that the problems at its relay station in Sri Lanka have been rectified, and the following services, which had to be suspended or provided via alternative facilities, are now back in operation from Sri Lanka: Persian 0230-0300 UT on 17780 kHz Japanese 0300-0400 UT on 17780 kHz Arabic 0400-0430 UT on 17780 kHz English 1400-1500 UT on 17755 kHz # posted by Andy @ 11:32 UT Dec 29 (Media Network blog via DXLD) 1400 had been on 17820 via UK, clashing even here with RCI; I was still hearing that on Dec 29 or 30 (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1214, DXLD) ** KASHMIR [non]. Re 3-227: Voice of Kashmir 6100 0230-0330, 1500- 1600. 9890 0730-0830 all via Dushanbe Orzu, Tajikistan (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Dec 21, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I don't know what is Wolfgang's source, but one doubt whether his source is correct about the transmitter site. There is a database on the web [which one??? --- gh] which is distributing the site "Dushanbe Orzu" with 100 kW ND for these transmissions. The same database claims that the Voice of South Azerbaijan 9375 is originating from "Dushanbe Orzu" with 100 kW ND while the station itself is referring to the Azerbaijani communications ministry and is saying that it is broadcasting from Azerbaijan and not Tajikistan. The database claims a site called "Dushanbe Orzu" which is misleading: there are two separate, large SW sites - one in the capital Dushanbe (in the suburb Yangiyul) and one in Orzu in the southwest of the country. The Voice of Kashmir is one of the most "mysterious" clandestine programs. One may have doubts that a transmitting centre or the station itself would reveal the location with all technical details, if such a contact would exist. The Voice of Kashmir (Radio Sedaye Kashmir) has been widely discussed during spring 2003, and there have been strong indications that these programs might actually be produced in India (possibly a "black" clandestine program) and aired via transmitters located in India (the monitored 6135 below was replaced by the present 6100). Some quotes from DX mailing lists: CLANDESTINE from ? to SOUTH ASIA 9890 Sadaye Kashmir. I have listened to the sign on sequence twice more and it sure doesn't seem like it is from a CIS site to me. Transmitter has come on at 0203 [Feb 6] and 0208 [Feb 7] and it might go off once or twice. After about 5 or 7 minutes one hears a het that is caused by spurs on 9889 and 9891. I don't hear the tones that one hears during a CIS transmitter warm up that go off and on. Programming starts at 0230. Noel Green, would Pakistan have an open transmitter to put this on? Can anyone understand Urdu and tell us what they are saying? (Johnson, Cumbre DX, 7 Feb 2003) Dear friends, Last few holidays I had opportunity to listen to this station. Understand little bit Urdu. The programme contents are not anti-India. Only Urdu songs and easy discussions between OM+YL. Everyday at 0300 UT there is a commentary mostly about the Pakistani affairs. Initially I presumed it is originating from Pakistan itself but surprised when heard a commentary on nuclear weapons of both India and Pakistan on last Sunday. It was mentioned in the commentary that in Pakistan, nuclear weapons may go to the hand of Islamic fundamentalist while in India there is a democratic government. It caused more confusion. Any latest news regarding this unidentified station??? 73s (Swopan Chakroborty, Kolkata, India, Cumbre DX, 12 Feb 2003) Dear Friends, Today on 6135 at 0230-0330, Radio Sadayee Kashmir's programs were noted mixing with that of Urdu Service of AIR. At the same time on 6155, the regular Channel of AIR was also noted with the same type of mixed signals. At 0330 when Radio Sadayee Kashmir's transmissions ended, normal program (without any mix up) noted on 6155. Also yesterday (Saturday) after Radio Sadayee Kashmir's program was over at 0330, for a very short time a Hindi program (of AIR type) in progress was noted. So it looks like an AIR transmitter after all! (Jose Jacob, Hyderabad, India, dx_india, 2 Mar 2003) (all via Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, with his comments, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LAOS. 6130, Lao National Radio, 26 Dec 1159; bells at 1159:45, Laotian announcements, short opening music theme, into further announcements, news by YL at 1201; fair signal (Jerry Strawman, Des Moines, IA, 41.64 N, 93.66 W, R8B+ R7 + 6790/GM + Inverted L, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** LIBERIA. 4759.97, ELWA, 15-note IS being repeated at 0556 Dec 28, choral vocal 0559, ID with frequencies 0600, but couldn't understand much of the talking after that as voice audio very low (Jerry Berg, MA, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ** MALI. RTM was heard here very well on Dec. 28th. at 1750-1759* on 9635 with extensive frequency announcements in French and typical RTM tune. 4835 signed on 20 seconds after closedown on 9635, but signal remained rather weak (Thorsten Hallmann, Münster, Germany, Dec 29, http://africa.coolfreepage.com/africalist/ DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MYANMAR. Mr. Victor Goonetilleke of Sri Lanka informs that the station I am hearing on 5770 is the Burmese Defense Ministry which was on 6570 earlier and was off the air for some time. It is noted sign on in our local mornings at 0130 UT. In the evening they are heard at 1330-1630. With New Year wishes, (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, Hyderabad 500082, India, WORLD OF RADIO 1214, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS [and non]. A sense of values Today in the Media Network Weblog we published the sad story of Swiss NGO Media Action International, which is winding up its operations because nobody wants to fund its administration. Now, we're not talking about the sort of NGO that flies its executives around the world in First Class. MAI has been run by two full time staff and a lot of volunteers from the media industry. At the same time, we read that the Dutch are spending 50 million euro this year on fireworks to celebrate the New Year. The Dutch have a fascination with fireworks bordering on the obsessive. Despite attempts to regulate the sale and use of fireworks, the first bangs started in my area in the third week of November, and have been heard on a daily basis ever since. If past experience is anything to go by, the last bangs will die out around the 7th or 8th of January. Pity people with bad nerves or a pet cat. Unfortunately nobody seems to care about each other any more. These two things - collectively wasting 50 million euro on things that are at best useless and at worst downright annoying (and dangerous), and being unwilling to fund an organisation that does humanitarian work through the media in areas of real crisis - suggests to me that we have our sense of values all wrong. I don't make New Year's resolutions, but I will make a wish: that people start to think more seriously about helping others and a little less about their own pleasure. The Dutch are some of the most generous people in the world when it comes to giving to charity, so nobody begrudges them a bit of pleasure, however hedonistic. But there are limits. The 50 million euro the Dutch spend on fireworks would solve Radio Netherlands' funding problems for quite a few years. It saddens me to see so much hard-earned cash literally go up in smoke! (Andy Sennitt`s blog, Dec 30 via DXLD) ** NIGERIA. Voice of Nigeria remained completely unheard Dec. 24th afternoon until now, Dec. 29th morning. Mostly clear channels 7255, 11770, 17800, 15120, checked every day at +/- 0800, 1500, 1700, 2100, but not a trace after Dec. 24 morning transmissions (Thorsten Hallmann, Münster, Germany, Dec 29, http://africa.coolfreepage.com/africalist/ WORLD OF RADIO 1214, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. Anyone hearing KMMZ 1640? I`ve been keeping an eye out for reports of our new X-bander in OK, since it began continuous operation on December 18, but have seen hardly any. It should be easy to spot by its unique all-comedy format (plus lots of ads). Maybe it`s too early to be showing up in print, but not mentioned much online. There have been big X-band TA openings in Europe, but KMMZ is not included. This could well be because of its direxional pattern 160/340 degrees, which presumably means nulls very roughly toward Baltimore and Tucson, bad for Europe and Australia/New Zealand too. The lobe toward OKC also favors Latin America, but WTNI Biloxi is in the way (and I wonder if WTNI is experiencing increased QRM in its coverage area). My page about this et al.: http://www.worldofradio.com/enid.html 73, (Glenn Hauser, to MW lists, via DXLD) Glenn, I have tried a few times recently when able to DX and there is only Disney, the MS talk station, and a TIS from PA. I suspect from what you say that the null may hinder reception in Ontario. I know my best bet will be SSS and SRS, which is when I have been able to log 1650 AR, 1680 LA, 1660 KS. Thanks for your post (Saul Chernos, Ont., DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, Nothing heard of KMMZ here in Auckland that I'm aware of although this is not a great site for AM DXing. KDIA dominates at this location although Biloxi well heard from Tiwai (near Invercargill) by a number of Dxers last Easter. Will let you know if I hear anything. Thanks for your efforts throughout the year (David Norrie, Bucklands Beach, Auckland, New Zealand, Dec 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 1640, KMMZ, OK, Enid 12/20 1800 [EST] ID "KMMZ Enid-Oklahoma City is All Comedy Radio," several ads (Bill Nittler, Mancos CO, IRCA via DXLD) 1640, KMMZ, Enid, Oklahoma, 1333 Dec 22. Fair, mixing with Utah's Radio Unica. "All Comedy Radio" network feed with no local programming noted during 1333-1356 monitoring period. No ID heard so presumed (John Wilkins, CO, DXplorer via Henrik Klemetz, DXLD) Yes it is mixed with WTNI and Disney here in Barrington IL at night. What is their day pattern? 73 KAZ (Neil Kazaross, NRC-AM via DXLD) Same as night, AFAIK: narrow figure-8 160/340 degrees (gh) Here in South-East Jersey, the only thing WPVN442 on 1640 let through both last night and tonight was/is WKSH. I'm assuming the station sounds similar to the ill-fated ComedyWorld stations? (Jason Koralja, Surf City, NJ, Sony ICF-SW7600GR, NRC-AM via DXLD) I'm still looking for Biloxi here. It'll probably take a massive power outage for the 3 PA Turnpike HAR's within 10 miles of here (Russ Edmunds, Blue Bell, PA (15 mi NNW Philadelphia), ibid.) They are pretty regular here in the Denver area at night, Glenn. I am about 465 miles from them on a heading of 304 . I QSLed them during their initial test period so I haven't reported them any further (Patrick Griffith, NØNNK, Westminster, CO, ibid.) Daytime logging of your hometown expanded band. About 350 miles: 12/27 1640 at 1700 GMT, Enid OK. For comparison, at the same time I had no signal at all from 1520 or 1170 but a decent signal from 640 in OKC. Also: 12/27, 1650 at 1705 GMT, Ft Smith AR [OK transmitter] Daytime expanded band. About 300 miles (Jerry Lenamon, Waco TX, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I have been trying for a number of days, whole of December so far, both in the early morning and late afternoon, during both sunrise and sunset enhancement, for a signal from KMMZ. on 1640. The problem with my location is that KBJA Sandy Utah is on the same bearing. With this station being the dominant one there is very little chance, even with a directional loop. On the western bearing (off the side of the Loop), I have both KDZR and KDIA making their appearance at various times. So unless KBJA goes off the air, there is a very little chance for me hearing them (which I would like to for another x-bander heard or verified). On a footnote, did finally manage to log KHPY on 1670, dispite the very dominant KNRO ESPN Radio on the same frequency. So I guess persistence monitoring might possibly pay off (Edward Kusalik, VE6EFK, Coaldale, Alberta, DX'er since 1965, Dec 29, ODXA via DXLD) Glenn, It's not really terribly difficult DX from this location, but I've been hearing KMMZ here perhaps one night in four, hearing the legal ID for the first time on 24 Dec at 0700 UTC (0200 EST). As you say, the format is readily recognizable, so it's pretty easy to determine if it's coming in (Nigel Pimblett, Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada, Dec 29, IRCA via DXLD) ** PERU. Re 3-229, 4260.41, Radio Ilucán, 1020-1105, ex-5678?? Glenn, This is Radio Ilucán`s 3rd harmonic (3 x 1420), also logged on 2840 (2 x 1240) in April 2003. Take care & 73's de (Mark Mohrmann, Coventry, VT, USA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 6173.88, R. Tawantinsuyo, Cusco, 1040 30 Dec, music, OM IDs, mentions de Cusco, very good signal in last fortnight. 3172.61, Radio Municipal, Panao, presumed, 1057-1110 30 Dec, OA music and OM (Robert Wilkner, NRD 535D, Pómpano Beach, Florida, "Una nueva provincia del Perú", DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PHILIPPINES. Glenn, Please point out to your correspondents that the HF antennas at Poro have all been dismantled, and the medium wave site is about to be moved further out on the tip of Poro Point to the site of the former Wallace Air Station. The RFP for the replacement antenna towers was advertised in the FedBiz webpage last month. Poro was unusual in that all of the HF antennas were rhombics. It is the only HF site I have personally seen which didn't have at least some curtain antennas. And it is, of course, the site of the last remaining Continental 1 MW 105B, in service on 1170 kHz (Benj. F. Dawson III, P.E., Hatfield & Dawson Consulting Engineers, LLC, Seattle, WA, Dec 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** POLAND [non]. According to on-air announcements Radio Maryja will leave shortwave as on January 1, 2004. Best Regards, (Wojtek Zaremba, Legionowo, Poland, Dec 29, WORLD OF RADIO 1214, DX LISTENING DIGEST) was via RUSSIA ** RUSSIA. 6245, Radio Studio, 2159-2201* Dec 27, tuned in to note a man and woman with close down announcements. Poor to fair (Rich D`Angelo, PA, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) 6245, Radio Studio, 2136; low audio with pop-style music to 2201*; Fair to poor (Jerry Strawman, Des Moines, IA, 41.64 N, 93.66 W, R8B+ R7 + 6790/GM + Inverted L, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Only active thru Dec 31, then off for another 3 months (gh) ** RUSSIA [non]. VOICE OF RUSSIA BROADCASTING IN GERMAN BEGINS IN BERLIN MOSCOW, DECEMBER 29. /RIA NOVOSTI / -- The Voice of Russia radio station has begun broadcasting in German [sic] the radio station in a press release, which has come to hand at RIA Novosti on Monday. "The Voice of Russia programmes in German are available in 97.2 FM frequency in Berlin", reads the press release. "It is a popular frequency in the German capital, used by over a million listeners. The local channels Open Access, Radio Russki and Blue Radio work in 97.2 FM", notes the press release. Voice of Russia has come on air in Berlin thanks to the World Broadcasting Network partnership. Among its 97.2 FM partners are Radio Vatican, Radio of Sweden, Radio of Prague, International Radio China, Radio Israel. In the beginning of next year, Voice of Russia, monitoring Berlin listeners' responses, is planning to broaden its 97.2 FM broadcasts. Now Moscow programmes in the FM band can be heard on Monday through Friday at 23:30 until midnight, Berlin time, says the press release http://en.rian.ru/rian/index.cfm?prd_id=160&msg_id=3755734&startrow=1&date=2003-12-29&do_alert=0 (via Mike Terry, DXLD) ** SPAIN. A partir de janeiro, os ouvintes perdem espaço na programação da Rádio Exterior de Espanha. O programa Con Respuesta, levado ao ar, nos sábados, terá a duração de 25 minutos. Anteriormente, era irradiado em 50 minutos. Con Respuesta lê, no ar, todas as cartas e mensagens enviadas à emissora. A apresentação é de Wenceslav Perez Gómez (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX via DXLD) ** SUDAN [non]. Sudan Radio Service on 15530 starting at 1500 UT in English. They are making announcements of expanded 4 hours of service starting December 30th. 73's (Bruce, Valrico, FL, Dec 29, swl at qth.net via WORLD OF RADIO 1214, DXLD) B-03 had some other unheard scheduled transmissions: WORLD OF RADIO #1205, produced October 29, 2003 by Glenn Hauser: *Sudan Radio Service on 15530, English news at 1515; scheduled by Merlin under different name, Educational Development COuncil, for East Africa via Wooferton, UK, 03-05 on 9760, 15-17 on 15530, 17-18 on 15275, 18-19 on 12015. Must have SOME English (Steve Lare, MI, ibid., WORLD OF RADIO 1214, DXLD) At 1550 I have them about SINPO 34323 with modest flutter fading. At the top of the hour they gave a station ID in several languages including English. I didn't catch the entire address, just the Post Office Box number. I wonder where their transmitters are located or if they're using a relay from one of the large sites such as Meyerton etc. 73 from the "Beaconeers Lair". (Phil, KO6BB, Atchley, ibid.) UK ** SURINAME. Glenn, I re-recorded Radio Apintie this morning and replaced the cut I had on my web page. The recording from this morning was better because the station was peaking at that time 1014 UT. Anyway, the cut is a minute long and I think they are presenting either ads or promos. To be honest, I didn't catch any IDs on this station. I don't understand Dutch, and I have a feeling they don't give the ID too often anyway. I listened from 0940 to 1020. Today the station's signal peaked to armchair quality from 1006 to 1015, then it started to fade out. http://www.orchidcitysoftware.com/IMAGE2.HTML The cut was recorded at 1014 on 4990 kHz. This cut was in the middle of a news program presented by a man. It sounded like Sports News. You'll hear by the recording, that the signal was really good. Thanks (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston, Florida, Dec 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Brief excerpt on WOR 1214, with static crashes ** U K. HEADS MAY ROLL OVER HUTTON, BBC ADMITS [Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1113876,00.html [Inevitable that some of this will affect the World Service. -- Say] Matt Wells, media correspondent Tuesday December 30, 2003 The Guardian Senior BBC executives may be forced to resign when the Hutton inquiry reports, a corporation director admitted in an unusually candid radio interview last night. Caroline Thomson, the BBC's director of policy and legal affairs, said the Today programme report that led to Lord Hutton's judicial investigation fell short of the "truth and accuracy" that are the "gold standard of the BBC". She said the concessions made by the BBC during the inquiry had been "spectacular". Her comments were noticeably less bullish than an interview given by the director general, Greg Dyke, last week, when he all but ruled out high-level resignations. Ms Thomson conceded that the BBC's regulatory structure, in which the organisation's editorial impartiality is upheld by its board of governors, was "out of kilter with modern fashions of regulation". Over the past few weeks, the BBC has been preparing the ground for the Hutton report by making a number of changes to structures and editorial procedures in response to the expected criticism. Mr Dyke has appointed a deputy to oversee the complaints and compliance procedures, and the corporation is shortly due to announce tighter controls over the breaking of controversial stories. Ms Thomson, speaking on Radio 4's PM programme, said Andrew Gilligan's original Today story, in which he reported concerns about the September 2002 dossier that made the case for war on Iraq, was not up to scratch. "Truth and accuracy are the gold standard ... but you don't always achieve it and we rather spectacularly had to admit that we hadn't got the entire details of the Hutton story, the Gilligan story right." Gilligan reported claims that Downing Street had "sexed up" the dossier, prompting an incendiary row with Alastair Campbell, then director of communications at No 10. A government weapons expert, David Kelly, was revealed as Gilligan's source; he later apparently committed suicide, leading to the inquiry by Lord Hutton. Ms Thomson said the inquiry's fall-out would not prevent the BBC from breaking stories. There was a "proper tradition of investigative reporting" in the BBC, which would continue. She indicated that the fate of executives depended on the strength of criticism in Lord Hutton's report, due for publication next month. "The BBC will see what Hutton says and then decide what is the appropriate course of action to take on it," Ms Thomson said. Pressed by interviewer Eddie Mair on whether the BBC would consider resignations, she said: "It does not rule them in or out." Ms Thomson said she "completely accepted" that the governors had two competing roles in upholding the BBC's independence from government, and ensuring complaints were properly investigated. But she said: "The governors behaved very well in balancing out their two roles when we had the Hutton story. What they did was, they asked the tough questions in private and defended in public - which is what they are required to do in the way they are currently set up." There are concerns that this process is opaque. Jocelyn Hay, chairman of Voice of the Listener and Viewer pressure group, expressed a hope that the process of renewing the BBC's royal charter would result in an improved set-up. "We hope that governance and decision making will be more transparent," she told PM. Special reports [links to over 300 previous Guardian stories in 2003y about this!] (via Dan Say, DXLD) ** U S A. More on the renewed Urdu service of VOA from the website http://www.voanews.com/urdu Please note the correct spelling of this service; various misspellings have been circulating in the DX press and in DX logs on the last weeks (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, Cumbre DX via DXLD) -------- THERE'S AN ENTIRELY NEW STYLE OF RADIO PROGRAMMING HERE ON THE VOA URDU WEB PAGE! When you click on any of the three Real Audio links to the right on this page, you'll hear the totally new sound of RADIO AAP KI DUNYAA, in all three broadcast hours: 0100 UTC, 1330 UTC, and 1700 UTC. Radio Aap Ki Dunyaa is a special mix of news, features, and hit music for you to enjoy. You will hear 10-minute news updates at the beginning of each program, and again after 30 minutes. You will also hear specially produced features at 15 and 45 minutes after the beginning of the program. And you will hear your favorite Pakistani and American hit songs. Please listen, then let us know by e-mail or by letter what you think of the new sound of Radio Aap Ki Dunyaa, which was designed just for you. Email: urdu @ voanews.com Radio Aap Ki Dunyaa Urdu Service Room 1458, VOA 330 Independence Ave. SW Washington, DC 20237 Pakistan: VOICE OF AMERICA URDU SERVICE, POST BOX 1353, ISLAMBAD, PAKISTAN India: VOICE OF AMERICA URDU SERVICE, POST BOX 5437, NEW DELHI, INDIA Bangladesh: VOICE OF AMERICA URDU SERVICE, MOTI JHIL COMMERCIAL AREA, DHAKA 2, BANGLADESH (via Trutenau, Cumbredx mailing list, via DXLD) Well, the spellings without the double-A at the end came from Hindi speakers, to whom perhaps it is not quite so clearly required. I guess it signifies the stress is final, as we have already learnt, but it may depend on exactly how Urdu is transliterated. We`ll certainly go with VOA`s version (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. VOICE OF AMERICA ENGLISH BROADCASTS TO THE MIDDLE EAST, NORTH AFRICA, EUROPE Morning Transmission 0400-0700 UTC Sunday 7170 15205: 0400 News and Interviews 0423 Sports 0430 News Headlines 0433 Main Street 0455 Editorial 792 7170 9700 11825 15205: 0500 News and Interviews 0523 Sports 7170 9700 11825 15205: 0530 News Headlines 0533 Issues in the News 792 1197 5995 7170 11825 11930 15205: 0600 News and Interviews 0623 Sports 792 5995 7170 11825 11930 15205: 0630 News Headlines 0633 Main Street Monday though Friday 7170 15205: 0400 News and Interviews 0415 Focus 0423 Sports 0430 News Headlines 0433 Coast to Coast 792 7170 9700 11825 15205: 0500 News and Interviews 0523 Sports 7170 9700 11825 15205: 0530 News Headlines 0533 Business News 0544 Opinion Roundup 0547 Dateline 0555 Editorial 792 1197 5995 7170 11825 11930 15205: 0600 News and Reports 0615 World Business Report 792 5995 7170 11825 11930 15205: 0630 News Headlines 0633 Coast to Coast Saturday 7170 15205: 0400 News and Interviews 0418 Point of View 0423 Sports 0430 News Headlines 0433 Main Street 792 7170 9700 11825 15205: 0500 News and Interviews 0523 Sports 7170 9700 11825 15205: 0530 News Headlines 0533 On the Line 0555 Editorial 792 1197 5995 7170 11825 11930 15205: 0600 News and Interviews 0618 Point of View 0623 Sports 792 5995 7170 11825 11930 15205: 0630 News Headlines 0633 Main Street 0655 Editorial Evening Transmission 1200-2200 UTC Daily 1200-1400: See East Asia schedule for programs 1197 Daily 1400-1500: See East Asia schedule for programs 1197 15205 Sunday 1197 9575 15205: 1500 News and Interviews 1523 Sports 1530 News Headlines 1533 Encounter 9575 15205: 1600 News and Interviews 1623 Sports 1197 9575 15205: 1630 News Headlines 1633 Main Street 1655 Editorial 6040 9760 15205: 1700 News and Interviews 1718 Point of View 1723 Sports 1730 News Headlines 1733 Issues in the News 1197 6040 9760 9885: 1800 News and Reports 1823 Sports 1830 News Headlines 1833 On The Line 1855 Editorial 1197 9690 9760: 1900 News and Interviews 1923 Sports 9690 9760: 1930 News Headlines 1933 Issues in the News 1197 1593 6095 9690 9760: 2000 News and Interviews 2023 Sports 1593 6095 9690 9760: 2030 News Headlines 2033 Encounter 1197 6040 6095 9595 9760: 2100 News 2106 Jazz America Monday though Friday 1197 9575 15205: 1500 News and Reports 1515 Mon: New American Voices 1523 Sports 1530 News Headlines 1533 Business News 1544 Opinion Roundup 1547 Dateline 1555 Editorial 9575 15205: 1600 News and Reports 1615 Focus 1623 Sports 1197 9575 15205: 1630 News Headlines 1633 Coast to Coast 6040 9760 15205: 1700 News 1706 Talk To America 1755 Mon, Fri: Editorial Tues-Thurs: Opinion Roundup 1197 6040 9760 9885: 1800 News and Interviews 1815 New American Voices 1823 Sports 1830 News Headlines 1833 Business News 1844 Opinion Roundup 1847 Dateline 1855 Editorial 1197 9690 9760: 1900 News 1906 Border Crossings 9690 9760: 1933 Fri: VOA News Review 1197 1593 6095 9690 9760: 2000 News and Reports 2015 Focus 2023 Sports 1593 6095 9690 9760: 2030 News Headlines 2033 Business News 2044 Opinion Roundup 2047 Dateline 2055 Editorial 1197 6040 6095 9595 9760: 2100 News 2106 Mon: American Gold Tues: Roots & Branches Wed: Classic Rock Thurs: Top 20 Fri: Country Hits Saturday 1197 9575 15205: 1500 News and Interviews 1523 Sports 1530 News Headlines 1533 On the Line 1555 Editorial 9575 15205: 1600 News and Interviews 1618 Point of View 1623 Sports 1197 9575 15205: 1630 News Headlines 1633 Main Street 6040 9760 15205: 1700 News and Interviews 1723 Sports 1730 News Headlines 1733 Press Conference USA 1197 6040 9760 9885: 1800 News and Reports 1823 Sports 1830 News Headlines 1833 On The Line 1855 Editorial 1197 9690 9760: 1900 News and Interviews 1923 Sports 9690 9760: 1930 News Headlines 1933 Press Conference USA 1197 1593 6095 9690 9760: 2000 News and Interviews 2018 Point of View 2023 Sports 1593 6095 9690 9760: 2030 News Headlines 2033 On the Line 2055 Editorial 1197 6040 6095 9595 9760: 2100 News 2106 Jazz America 2330-0030 and 0100-0200: See East Asia schedule for programs To Persian Gulf region: 1593 Medium wave: 792 kHz to southeastern Europe, 1197 kHz to central Europe, 1593 kHz to the Persian Gulf region. Some VOA News Now shortwave frequencies to Africa and South Asia may be audible. VOA News Now and Music Mix are available 24 hours in Kuwait on 96.9 MHz FM. VOA News Now is available on Eutelsat Hotbird 3, 13 E, 12.226 GHz, FEC ¾, symbol rate 12.8 MS/s; see http://www.voa.gov/afl/pdf/hotbird.pdf (VOA via Kim Elliott, Dec 9, edited and rearranged by Glenn Hauser for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. How WWCR can operate both 5770 and 5935 overnight without a mixing product problem: one is using a (rhombic) antenna physically separated from the others by some distance (George McClintock, WWCR, Dec 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Ragam, the new Tamil music show, is all set to start this Sunday, January 4, 1300-1500 on 12160. The first show is already on hand (Adam Lock, ibid.) ** U S A. Time for another Capitol Steps comedy special on public radio, this a year in review lasting an hour but with some new material, since the Hallowe`en show. Really funny stuff there. List of stations carrying, with times on a few of them; some already ran it as early as Dec 26, and we`ve already heard it; most air it Dec 31 or Jan 1. http://www.capsteps.com/radio (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 1650, KBIV, TX, El Paso, received a very friendly letter and QSL form with a photo of the KBIV transmitter site in 7 days for SASE. V/S: James Lotspeich, CE. Mentioned they are operating with 8.5 kW day and .85 kW nights co-located with 1150. The tower used is 70.1 meters in height. 73s, (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, Dec 29, IRCA via WORLD OF RADIO 1214, DXLD) ** U S A. Re: 1030 WBZ-HD | Then WBZ must be running IBOC in exceptionally low power levels. Then the 64-cent question becomes, "why?" Surely the Boston (Herald / Globe, I believe) have radio/TV commentators who keep track of media developments like this. What are THEY saying about IBOC? Are listeners commenting or complaining to THEM about this? (or does radio of any sort fall below their level of concern?) And, if their analog sound is worse than before, how many DXers have commented to them (the papers OR the station) about it? Just a thought (Bob Foxworth, FL, Dec 28, NRC-AM via DXLD) WBZ IBOC very bad in Illinois Conditions are average tonight (which means much better than they've commonly been for a couple months, but boring compared to Sept/Oct) Anyhow, I was checking out WBZ's IBOC disaster (Times EST) at 1745 by phasing out local and cheating WNVR's Polish crud. WBZ then came in very very strong as usual and the IBOC sideband garbage was strong enough to basically cover up most of much closer KDKA and also to make sure that I had no trace of NJ/PQ on 1040 (WHO is rather well phase nulled when I phase WNVR). A few minutes after 1800 I noted that WBZ's IBOC had gone off and that awful white noise over a strong KDKA was gone. I don't know if this is the same IBOC tech that WSAI was using, but it certainly has worse sideband QRM (WSAI was bad, but WBZ is worse). 73 KAZ 35 miles NW of Chicago (Neil Kazaross, IL, Dec 28, NRC-AM via DXLD) Yep this is the same ol technology that WSAI was testing a while back. Nice stuff eh? The IBOC hash is something always dreaded here (Bob Carter, Operations/Engineering--Max Media Radio Group/NC Division WGAI-NewsRadio 560 AM Stereo, NRC-AM via DXLD) I've now heard it [IBOC] on 5 different AM stations and it's all the same. If you have a strong local, like WOR-710 here, figure on losing a total of about 70-80 kHz. That's 3 1/2 adjacents on EACH side. When WOR runs full IBOC power, it hits 680 thru 750 and I'm 22 miles from the towers. If you are further away or the station is lower power, you will lose the first adjacents and maybe the 2nd adjacents, too. The bigger question is FM. The IBOC power that's being used seems to be limited BUT that also means limited coverage which I believe broadcasters will not be satisfied with. If this thing ever gets going on FM, expect much stronger IBOC sidebands IMHO (Joe Fela, NJ, Dec 29, amfmtvdx at qth.net via DXLD) ** U S A. WNEW-FM New York --- Prior to the holidays, this station, known as Blink FM, dropped their format and went to all Christmas music for the season. There was speculation that the station would return with a new format. Well, it has happened and they are now the New Mix in New York. While surfing for info about this, I came across a very interesting and useful site for anyone with an interest in the New York City and area radio scene. It is called the New York Radio Guide --- http://www.nyradioguide.com/ I will be including this in my next edition of the Radio HF Internet Newsletter (Sheldon Harvey, QC, Dec 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [and non]. NORTHEAST RADIO WATCH YEAR IN REVIEW 2003: http://www.fybush.com/nerw-yir2003.html (via gh, DXLD) ** U S A. RADIO FREE BRATTLEBORO SEEKS VOTERS' SUPPORT AT TOWN MEETING http://www.benningtonbanner.com/Stories/0,1413,104~8678~1858507,00.html (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) ** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. If you want to get a good clear ID off the Polisario station on 1550, 2300 is the time. At this time there is a full ID "Radio Nacional Saharaui voz del pueblo Saha" and frequencies, hours and two slogans announced in Spanish. The following hour is in Spanish and there are numerous IDs. Sign-off is at 2400 with a brief anthem. No mention of 700 (Steve Whitt, mwc via IRCA Soft DX Monitor via DXLD) ** ZAMBIA. 4910, Radio One, past 1700, with afro pops. Good signal (the best on band) on Dec 27 (4965 was also quite clear [Christian Voice, Zambia]) 4910 at 1651 Dec 30 is with S9, 34333. Did they put a new transmitter? (Zacharias Liangas, Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 1630 mystery in W PA - N WV area Here's another little piece of the puzzle: I arrived at work in Morgantown, WV at 9:30 EST this sunny morning, listening to very strong skywave from the Augusta, GA station on 1630 (440 miles south of this QTH), with our mystery tone quite strong right along with it - - the first time I have heard it during daylight. This points to skywave reception of the tone, meaning that its source must be south and within the skywave footprint at the time, however large that might be. This fits with observations from others. Can anyone in the southland take a listen and report on strength & direction? We're starting to locate this thing. Thanks, all for your input! (Fred Schroyer, Waynesburg, PA 15370, VM: 724-627-8844, Dec 29, NRC-AM via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. I am hearing an unID station on 5770 as follows: 0130 sign on after test tone 1330 sign on after test tone - 1630 sign off. Any Burmese station? With new year wishes, (Jose Jacob, India, Dec 29, WORLD OF RADIO 1214, DX LISTENING DIGEST) later: See MYANMAR above ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DRM +++ DRM RECEIVER FROM SANGEAN RECEPTORES – Dica do Adalberto Marques de Azevedo, de Barbacena (MG): a empresa Sangean lançou um modelo de receptor para o modo DRM – Digital Radio Mundiale. Você ser conferido em: http://www.rigpix.com/dabdrm/sangean_ddr3.htm (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX Dec 29 via DXLD) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ GRUNDIG DISTRIBUTION IN CANADA, OR LACK OF SAME! Just prior to Christmas, I had a request from a few clients for Grundig radios which they were looking for as Christmas gifts. I did not have any radios in stock at the time but figured, as in the past, that I could easily get stock shipped overnight from the Canadian Grundig distributor, LCM Marketing, in the Toronto area. I e-mailed them several times and also tried reaching them by telephone. All efforts met with no response. I decided to contact Radio World, the major amateur radio/shortwave/scanner retail outlet in the Toronto area, knowing that they also dealt with LCM Marketing for their Grundig equipment. They indicated that they had also not been able to contact LCM Marketing for the last several weeks. They had contacted Eton/Grundig in the US to find out what was happening with distribution in Canada. They were told that LCM Marketing was no longer the Canadian distributor for Grundig and that a replacement distributor had yet to be named. Eton/Grundig indicated that they would be contacting retailers when a new distributor had been chosen. I had not received any notice of this directly from Eton/Grundig in the US. I immediately sent e-mails to both their customer service and sales departments requesting further information on the situation. I have yet to receive any response from them. It has now been almost two weeks. So, at least at this point in time, Canada is without a distributor for Grundig radios. As a footnote, I obviously was unable to meet the requests of my clients for radios. One client got back to me indicating that he was able to find stock of Grundig radios at several local Radio Shack stores here in the Montreal area. I am not sure if Radio Shack in Canada was having to deal with the same Canadian distributor, or if they had access to the U.S. stock through Radio Shack North American contracts with Grundig. More on this when I know more. Sheldon Harvey Radio H.F. - Canada's specialist in radio communications http://www3.sympatico.ca/radiohf President-Canadian International DX Club Canada's national radio monitoring club since 1962 http://www.anarc.org/cidx/ (via DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ QST DE W1AW PROPAGATION FORECAST BULLETIN 54 ARLP054 From Tad Cook, K7RA Seattle, WA December 29, 2003 To all radio amateurs This is the last Propagation Forecast bulletin for 2003. At the end are the numbers which were not included in last weeks bulletin since it was sent early because of the holiday. During the reporting week of December 18-24, average solar flux and sunspot numbers were quite a bit higher than the previous seven-day period. Geomagnetic indices showed more stable conditions, with the average planetary A index about half the previous average. Geomagnetic indices have remained stable since December 24th, and sunspot numbers have been dropping along with solar flux. Geomagnetic conditions should remain stable until Wednesday, December 31, when recurring solar activity is expected to manifest as a rise in A indices. The predicted planetary A index for December 29 to January 11 is 10, 10, 15, 30, 20, 15, 15, 30, 35, 35, 35, 35, 20 and 15. Solar flux is expected to decline over the next few days, dipping below 100 after January 1 and for the following 10 days or so. Henry Platt, W3UI, wrote to comment on the statement in last week`s bulletin concerning quiet geomagnetic conditions on December 24-25. With K indices at 1 or 2, from his home in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania using 100 watts and a half sized dipole on 80 meters he was able to work on the first attempt nearly every European call heard. He contrasted this to rough conditions over the past year on the same band with the same gear. The key seemed to be long winter nights with quiet geomagnetic conditions. This week Straight Key Night is a popular operating activity beginning early New Year`s Eve, North American time. It runs the entire 24 hours from 0000-2400z on January 1, and is a fun and relaxed event. The author of this bulletin plans to participate if he can only find his old J-38. For information and rules, see http://www.arrl.org/contests/rules/2004/skn.html For more information about propagation and an explanation of the numbers used in this bulletin see the Propagation page on the ARRL Web site at http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/propagation.html Sunspot numbers for December 18 through 24 were 114, 113, 104, 105, 152, 144 and 100 with a mean of 118.9. 10.7 cm flux was 123, 122.5, 130.1, 133.4, 137.6, 142 and 138.9, with a mean of 132.5. Estimated planetary A indices were 8, 7, 16, 21, 15, 9 and 8, with a mean of 12. Copyright © 2003, American Radio Relay League, Inc. All Rights Reserved (via John Norfolk, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The geomagnetic field ranged from quiet to active levels. Isolated active periods were observed on 22 December and again on 27 December. FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 31 December 2003 - 26 January 2004 Solar activity is expected to be at very low to low levels. A slight chance of moderate level activity is possible from Region 528 for the first two days of the period. Expect mostly very low to low activity levels for the remainder of the period. No greater than 10 MeV proton events at geosynchronous orbit are expected during the period. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to reach high levels on 02 – 03 January and again on 06 – 14 January due to recurrent coronal holes. Geomagnetic activity is expected to range from quiet major storm levels. Unsettled to minor storm periods are expected on 01 – 02 January due to a small coronal hole high speed stream. A large transequatorial coronal hole is expected to return 04 –10 January and major storm periods are expected. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2003 Dec 30 2211 UTC # Prepared by the US Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, Space Environment Center # Product description and SEC contact on the Web # http://www.sec.noaa.gov/wwire.html # # 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table # Issued 2003 Dec 30 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2003 Dec 31 100 15 3 2004 Jan 01 95 25 5 2004 Jan 02 95 20 4 2004 Jan 03 90 10 3 2004 Jan 04 90 35 6 2004 Jan 05 90 30 5 2004 Jan 06 90 30 5 2004 Jan 07 85 35 6 2004 Jan 08 85 25 5 2004 Jan 09 90 25 5 2004 Jan 10 90 25 5 2004 Jan 11 100 25 5 2004 Jan 12 105 20 4 2004 Jan 13 115 10 3 2004 Jan 14 120 10 3 2004 Jan 15 125 10 3 2004 Jan 16 125 15 3 2004 Jan 17 130 20 4 2004 Jan 18 130 15 3 2004 Jan 19 135 10 3 2004 Jan 20 135 10 3 2004 Jan 21 135 5 2 2004 Jan 22 130 10 3 2004 Jan 23 125 10 3 2004 Jan 24 120 10 3 2004 Jan 25 115 5 2 2004 Jan 26 110 10 3 (from http://www.sec.noaa.gov/radio via WORLD OF RADIO 1214, DXLD) GOOD MF/HF PROPAGATION CONDX TONIGHT Just an FYI, I was checking space weather indices earlier and saw the following values. Solar flux is down to 108, the Kp index is bouncing between 1 and 3, background solar flux has been in the low B range and there have been no solar flares in the past 72 hours. This should allow for some pretty good propagation conditions tonight on the MF AM broadcast band, as well as 160, 120, 90, 80, 60, 49, 41 and 40 meter bands. However not quite as good as between 12/10-14/2003 when the background flux was in the A range. 73 & Happy New Year, (Thomas F. Giella, KN4LF, Dec 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WHAT`S HAPPENING TO OUR MAGNETIC FIELD? NASA Science News for December 29, 2003 Earth's magnetic north pole is racing away from North America. Compass needles in Africa are drifting about 1 degree per decade. Globally the magnetic field has weakened 10% since the 19th century. What's happening to our planet's magnetic field? Researchers are seeking the answer. In this story we see what they've learned in recent years. FULL STORY at http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2003/29dec_magneticfield.htm?list458954 (via Russ Edmunds, NRC-AM via DXLD) ###