DX LISTENING DIGEST 3-235, December 31, 2003 edited by Glenn Hauser IMPORTANT NOTE: our hotmail accounts are being phased out. Please do not use them any further, but instead woradio at yahoo.com or wghauser at yahoo.com Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only if full credit be maintained at all stages and we be provided exchange copies. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without permission. Materials taken from Arctic or originating from Olle Alm and not having a commercial copyright are exempt from all restrictions of noncommercial, noncopyrighted reusage except for full credits HTML version of this issue will be posted later at http://www.w4uvh.net/dxldtd3k.html For restrixions and searchable 2003 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn NEXT AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1214: Thu 2130 on WWCR 9475 Sat 0000 on Studio X, Momigno, Italy, 1584, 1566 Sat 0900 on WRN to Europe, Africa, Asia, Australasia, webcast Sat 0955 on WNQM, Nashville, 1300 Sat 1130 on WWCR 5070 Sat 1900 on IBC Radio webcast Sat 1930 on WPKN Bridgeport, 89.5, webcast Sun 0130 on WBCQ 9330-CLSB Sun 0330 on WWCR 5070 Sun 0530 on WRN to Europe only, webcast Sun 0730 on WWCR 3210 Sun 0845 on Ozone Radio, Ireland, 6201v, time variable Sun 1500 on WRN to North America, webcast, WRMI 15725 Sun 1600 on IBC Radio, webcast Sun 2000 on Studio X, Momigno, 1566, 1584 Mon 0430 on WSUI, Iowa City, 910, webcast [last week`s 1213] Mon 0515 on WBCQ 7415, webcast, 5105 Wed 1030 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 (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 UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS Hello Glenn, I wish you all the best for the year 2004 and thanks for many interesting hours spent with reading of DX Listeners Digest. Best 73 (Ydun Ritz, Denmark, Dec 31) Quite a prolific year for you with 234 (or maybe 235?) DXLD's! Thanks for all your hard work. Happy 2004, (Kevin A. Kelly, Arlington, Massachusetts, USA, publicradiofan.com) Please accept this contribution to your efforts to inform and educate about the world of radio; you do good work, and it is well appreciated, as you know. Regards, your friend (Jim Wishner, Woodbury MN) Hello Glenn, I wish you a HAPPY NEW YEAR and thanks for all information you put together and distribute all year round and I hope for the coming year that you will keep up this excellent service. 73 from (Lennart Weirell, Västerås, Sweden) Hi Glenn, Thank you very much for your good work for all DX- enthusiasts during 2003. I am one of them, who hope that you will continue also during 2004! Best wishes for a Happy and Prosperous New Year! 73 from (Björn Fransson, Sweden) 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) And thanks to many others sending less personal greetings (gh) ** ARGENTINA. NUEVA AM "NO OFICIAL" EN ARGENTINA Estimados colegas: Hoy 31 de diciembre del casi viejo año 2003, estoy escuchando (1637 UT) a una nueva emisora no oficial en amplitud modulada, en los 1580 kHz identificándose a las 1630 y cada media hora: "Estás escuchando Planeta Radio AM 1580, en la ciudad de Rosario, Provincia de Santa Fe, República Argentina" con música latinoamericana y el slogan "Estás escuchando las voces y los sonidos de nuestro Planeta". Al parecer se trata de una emisión de prueba porque la intensidad de señal ocasionalmente varía abruptamente, predominando un SINFO=45454. No se ha emitido todavía ninguna información acerca del domicilio, dirección postal, e-mail, teléfono, nombre del dueño, etc, etc. Saludos y Feliz 2004! (Rubén Guillermo Margenet, Argentina, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BARBADOS. As the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) celebrated with a gala its 40 years capturing the news of a nation, both the companys general manager and Barbados Attorney-General acknowledged a new terrain to be charted as the broadcasting leader moved forward in an open market. . . http://www.barbadosadvocate.com/NewViewNewsleft.cfm?Record=15978 (via Jilly Dybka, KF4ZEO, TN, DXLD) ** BRAZIL. 5045 kHz, R. Guarujá Paulista, 2353 [sic] UT. Wanted to be prepared for the DX program at 2330 [Sat Dec 20]. Tuned into some EZL American pop music by The Carpenters and Stevie Wonder (I Just Called to Say I Love You). ID at 2333 by Male announcer then other announcements and jingles by female group. Announcer was very muffled at this time. Echo announcement at 2337. Did hear Pedro MC de Castro, president of DX Clube Do Brasil on this frequency with a slightly different English announcement than the one on Radio Aparecida in November (see remarks below). For instance, I heard him greeting listeners in the US, including "George Maroti from Mt. Kisco and John Sgrulletta from Mahopac, both in New York State". Also mentioned Rich D`Angelo and Glenn Hauser among others. Adjacent channel QRM and some QRN made signal poor. Radio Aparecida --- Received a CD with the DX Clube Do Brazil DX program on it from Pedro MC de Castro, president of the club that was aired Nov 1. During the program, which was too early to copy much of from Brazil at its airing at 2100 to 2200, Pedro greeted a number of DXers from the US in English. A number of Cumbre members were mentioned such as Hans Johnson, Ulis Fleming and George Maroti. The English portion lasted about 3 minutes of the hour broadcast and occurred from 2108-2111 UT (John Sgrulletta, NY, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** CANADA. New 1570: The station is located on the island of Laval, the large island to the north of the island of Montreal. The old CKLM was considered to be in Laval, with its city of license being Laval. I don't see why this station should be any different. The transmitter site is located in a section of Laval called Sainte Dorothée. The studios and offices will be located in the city of Laval as well. (Sheldon Harvey, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** CHINA. Heard China Radio International on Dec. 30 1930-1957 in Albanian on 7110 and new 7130 instead of 9965 (Silvain Domen, Belgium, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [non]. China, 6280, China Radio International, 1100-1200 Dec 31, English News and features. Noted ID as "...China Radio International, Beijing....". I don't know if this is a harmonic or what? Signal was poor with plenty of fading in and out (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston, Florida, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Seemingly mainland jamming [using available CRI program] against Taiwan CBS Taipei (CN) on 6280, scheduled 0900-1500 UT. Also: R Yunnan from Kunming on 6285, 11-15 UT. (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Tho CRI could certainly propagate directly, an unknown frequency for them. This would be yet another Sackville mixing product, CRI on 5960 with NHK on 6120 at 160 kHz intervals (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [and non]. CRI'S AGENDA --- Glenn wondered whether we can trust CRI to be "objective". I've often wondered the same thing myself about other radio stations --- especially the BBC --- and the answer I've always come up with is, "No, of course not". All radio stations have an agenda, which, in the case of big state-sponsored organisations like the BBC, VOA and CRI is broadly that of the dominant ideology in their society. Journalists brought up in the Western tradition have an irritating habit of attempting to deceive others --- and themselves --- that they are somehow "unbiased", "independent" and, yes, "objective" while dismissing their counterparts in countries with different political traditions as little more than propagandists. On the other hand, journalists educated in the Marxist tradition are (or were) taught that journalism is an instrument of class struggle and that "objectivity" is a fraud perpetrated by "bourgeois" media to disguise its inherent bias. I doubt that CRI journalists, under the new "socialist market economy", would nowadays cling wholeheartedly to the old Marxist position, but if they ever come to believe that they are merely impartial purveyors of facts and events, they would be as wrong-headed as their Western counterparts. I think CRI has deliberately set out to rival the big Western stations in both quantity and quality. Journalistically it has a long way to go. International reporting in its English "News and Reports" show for Europe is frequently many hours behind reporting on other international stations, due in part, I suspect, to the programme being pre-recorded, a cardinal sin for a news programme. As for CRI daring to tackle such issues as the Falun Gong or journalistic freedom, I wouldn't be at all surprised if they were to do so. After all, they recently broadcast a rather good feature on the controversial "one child" policy which is decried in the West as being a violation of human rights but lauded in China as a just and necessary policy designed to protect society from over-population. It's no use trying to impose Western values on China. Whatever we think, the Chinese will take what they consider to be useful and discard the rest, and they have every right to do so, hopefully in an international environment where one or two big powers do not take it upon themselves to inflict "regime changes" on countries with whom they disagree! Don't expect the BBC, VOA --- or CRI --- ever to be truly objective, but if China can find an effective journalistic voice to convey its policies and concerns to an international audience, then that is to be welcomed. The recent changes at CRI indicate to me that CRI is becoming increasingly adept at communicating with the world (Roger Tidy, UK, Dec 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COLOMBIA. ATENTADO CONTRA EL DUEÑO DE RADIO GALEÓN El diario bogotano El Tiempo relata en su edición del día 30 de diciembre que otro miembro más de la familia propietaria de la conocida emisora Radio Galeón, 890 kHz, ha sido víctima de un atentado. Relata Edinson Campo, el gerente de la emisora, que al dueño de la radio, José Luis Ahumada, quien es ciego y tiene 45 años de edad, le dispararon por la espalda cuando llegaba a su casa. Su esposa salió y lo protegió con su cuerpo y el asaltante huyó. José Luis se queda de momento en el hospital, recuperándose del susto y de la herida que le causó una bala que le rozó la cabeza, sin conseguir matarlo. Los miembros de la familia Ahumada, dueños de la popular emisora, han sido víctimas de múltiples atentados en el pasado. Al fundador de la radio, Rodrigo Ahumada, padre de José Luis, lo asesinaron en 1991 durante una campaña política que él prosiguió. En 1993, mataron al profesor Antonio Ahumada, tío de José Luis, y en el año 2000 fue asesinado Rodrigo Alonso Ahumada, gerente de la emisora y hermano de José Luis. José Luis dirige el noticiero ``Mi radioperiódico`` que lleva 28 años en el aire y se encarga también de un programa musical los domingos Short précis in English: To own a radio station in Colombia is a risky business. Recently, a gunman failed to kill José Luis Ahumada, 45, the present owner of Radio Galeón, in Santa Marta, Colombia, as his wife protected him with her body. In 1991, his father Rodrigo Ahumada, the founder of the station, was killed by gunmen, two years later an uncle, and three years ago his brother Rodrigo Alonso Ahumada was murdered (Henrik Klemetz, Sweden, Dec 31, dxing.info via DXLD) ** COSTA RICA. Developing News --- This Extra edition of Catholic Radio Update reports on the incredible course of events of Radio María de Guadalupe, its founder, Padre Mínor de Jesús Calvo, and his critic Don Parmenio Medina Pérez. But it is more than the story of a sensational murder. This is a story of alleged financial wheeling and dealing, sweetheart contracts, uncertain ownership, the extraordinary love and support from millions of listeners, vitriolic and investigative journalism, an independent-minded priest, a tired old archbishop, a wedge of high San José society determined not to lose a beloved Catholic radio station under any circumstances, a fascinated nation, and persistent police work. This is not the story of a murder incidental to a Catholic radio station; it is a murder because of a Catholic radio station. If this had been a movie script, it would have made one powerful study of corruption and deadly intent. But it is not a movie, it is real life. This is not the way to run a Catholic radio station. --- Editor. Costa Rica --- AN INCREDIBLE END TO AN INCREDIBLE STORY: PRIEST DIRECTOR OF RADIO MARIA DE GUADALUPE AND BUSINESSMAN ARRESTED ON CHARGE OF ORDERING MURDER OF RADIO JOURNALIST PARMENIO MEDINA San José, Dec 28 (CRU, based in part on the reports appearing in La Nación and in part from CRU archives) --- Police arrested Padre Mínor de Jesús Calvo Aguilar, the director and founder of the now defunct Radio María de Guadalupe, and its financial angel, businessman Omar Luis Chaves Mora, as suspects in the assassination of radio journalist Parmenio Medina in July 2001. They are charged with having paid third parties to murder Señor Medina, whose assassination provoked international headlines. In particular, according to his lawyer, Señor Chaves is accused of having financed the death of the journalist, and Padre Calvo of being "the intellectual author of the process." ... [introduction to a very long word document. If interested, contact Mike Dorner: miked509 at aol.com -- gh] (Catholic Radio Update Dec 31 via DXLD) ** CUBA [non]. Original Spanish of this was in 2-232: FROM "LA NUEVA CUBA" MONDAY DECEMBER 29TH, 2003. LA NUEVA CUBA The President of the United States recently emphasized the importance that the Internet has in breaking the information blockade of the Cuban regime in the island, but his words seem like they have fallen in the deaf ears of those who are responsible for the digital pages of Radio and TV Martí REASONS FOR THE GROWING DETERIORATION OF THE RADIO AND TV MARTÍ WEB SITE IN THE INTERNET CREATE QUESTIONS By Ares Spinoza, Washington, U.S.A Translation: Joaquín Sueiro Bonachea, La Nueva Cuba, December 23, 2003 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- When La Nueva Cuba recently published Alexis Molina`s article ``THE RADIO AND TV MARTÍ WEB SITE / CONSPIRACY OR FRAUD?``` ("EL SITIO WEB DE RADIO Y TV MARTI: ¿CONSPIRACION O FRAUDE?") http://www.lanuevacuba.com/nuevacuba/alexis-1.htm regarding the digital site of the Martís in the Internet, it did not cause us surprise, but, rather, worry, for two fundamental reasons: Firstly because Radio and TV Martí --- a theme over which we have been writing articles and columns for years --- is a vital tool of the United States` policy regarding Cuba, and secondly because for months I have been receiving alarming reports regarding the deterioration, the carelessness and the negligence with which a digital site, financed by the world`s number one power, and operated ``with the most competent and dedicated personnel`` is suffering, Among all of the difficulties with which Radio and TV Martí has had to deal with since those sad days of the Clinton agenda of demolition, now we were seeing that, right after President Bush had emphasized the importance of breaking the information blockade imposed on the Cuban people by the Havana regime, and had made particular mention of the Internet as one of the battlefronts where a battle would be fought for Cuban liberty, the Martís` digital site not only did not improve, but entered into a more noticeable and systematic process of decay than in previous months. How do you explain such a disappointment? What reasons could explain such a misfortune? How is it possible that the most exposed operational component of the Office for Cuban Broadcast (OCB) --- the Internet is, after all, a window open to the world --- could fail to accomplish its mission in such a flagrant manner? How could such an obvious disaster be explained? Who was responsible for months upon months of unrestricted wasted resources? Should no one be held accountable? Would the face of anybody in the transmission services in Washington turn red if the White House demands an immediate explanation of what is, symbolically, a slap to the face of President Bush? We decided to take on the task of dedicating many hours to surf the website of Radio and TV Martí, but only as one more user, that is to say, without sophistication. In other words, to visit the digital site of the Martís the same way any other web navigator desiring information, and who only expects to ``navigate`` does. When we accessed the website for Radio Martí this past Sunday, the first thing we noticed was that the information presented ended the previous Friday. Nobody updated the site during the weekend. It was interesting that, in the digital site of a radio and TV station, which transmit daily programming, no one has the responsibility of providing updates during the weekends. Today, Monday, in the principal Radio Martí Internet website (página principal de Radio Martí), http://www.martinoticias.com/radio.asp there was no news headline at all, and, if you accessed the section Additional Newscast http://www.martinoticias.com/radio2.asp?MODE=NEWS (which inside itself changes to Additional News ("Más Noticias") you will find the NEWSCAST OF 6 PM, Information Summary of Radio Martí, NEWSCAST OF 12 NOON, Information Summary of Radio Martí, NEWSCAST OF THE MORNING, Information Summary of Radio Martí, from the 22 of December to the beginning of the month. However, when one clicks on the icons not a single one takes the reader to a news item that can be read or heard, instead the reader is taken to a message, which indicates that the page is not found. We took the trouble to click the icon for every available day in December with the same result, and we simply abandoned the task without daring to visit November. We confess that we felt this was both unheard of and useless. Had no one in the Internet Department of the Martís noted this? Not even a supervisor or an employee of the stations? Not even the flagrant OCB Director of Internet, for which this position was especially created? Which leads us to ask: Was the director`s position open to competent applicants? When we entered the section Director`s Message ("Mensaje del Director") http://www.martinoticias.com/mensaje.asp we faced such a peculiar situation that, without paranoia and half in jest, we asked ourselves if the OCB Director and her digital effort were victims of a conspiracy, or of hackers-saboteurs. Firstly, the Message from Director Pedro Roig --- as announced in an English-only text --- is not a message from the Director, but, instead, a news brief from April 1, 2003, perhaps created by the International Bureau of Broadcasting (IBB), which announces that Pedro Roig has been named OCB Director, and ends by emphasizing that the announcement has not been confirmed yet -- of course, back then in April. When the icon inviting the reader to listen to the message --- which is not Roig`s but a news brief --- is depressed, the reader is taken to a site where one listens to an audio track that has nothing to do with the previous message, but Roig`s speech, in Spanish, which he delivered to Cuban listeners as part of the celebrations during the 20th of May of 2003. All of this ridicules and denigrates the investiture of the Director of OCB. When we went to the section containing 63 programs from Radio Martí, the icons of each one of those programs take you to a page where not a single item can be heard, displaying instead a ``Page Not Found`` message. It is incredible to have to state that not one of the icons takes you to a single program. In this case, and not withstanding a reader who wrote to the Mail Section of La Nueva Cuba trying to explain that the reasons behind such mistakes in the web page, as pointed out by Alexis Molina in his article, were due to Alexis` living in Ireland (?) and that Irish access to the Web is full of difficulties, we in Washington (the same as folks in California, Miami, and New York) could not gain a single successful access to text or audio of any of the more than 600 items in the Martís digital site. On Sunday, December 21, 2003, when we visited News Reports Section (La Seccion de Reportajes) http://www.martinoticias.com/radio2.asp?MODE=COR%22 we noticed that the section had not been updated since December 11, even though the links of that section were working, and the page said it was updated as of Monday, December 21. In the same principal page for Radio Martí, Today`s Report by José Luis Ramos takes you to a dead-end. However, you suffer a better fate with reports from American functionaries Asa Hutchinson, Frederick Scheck and James Cason. There are so many technical problems that we could not extend ourselves to analyze grammatical, syntax and editorial errors and the inconsistencies which appeared everywhere. When you chose the icon for access to Current Martí Information Center, a title that mocks itself, because there is nothing current there, you go to a page with a cryptic title similar to ominous religious graffiti: ``Message from the Director``, but the rest of the page is blank and the icon takes you nowhere. If one tries to access the extensive Menu, which should take you to pages about Cuba such as DEFENSE, GOVERNMENT, POLITICS, ECONOMY, SOCIETY, STATE SECURITY, etc. it only takes you to blank pages that show a message indicating ``Data Not Found``, with the exception of one page that takes you to a military map of Cuba without any additional pertaining information. It has been common practice in the Web over the past years to not place inoperable on-line menus, pages and icons in sites, since doing so is considered to be poor working ethics towards Web surfers. We confess that the TV Martí Web site is in better shape than Radio Martí`s, even though is also has innumerable frustrating problems. For instance: TELEMARTÍ WORLD CURRENT EVENTS` links work, but have not been updated since October 29; WILD AMERICA`s links work, but have not been updated since November 7; DOING BUSINESS` links work, but have not been updated since November 23; ¿Qué Pasa USA?`s links work, but have not been updated since October 22. It is almost something, which is never-ending. The task was really tiring and saddening, and we do not want to tire or depress our readers, in their vast majority free Cubans inside the island and across the world who suffer before the spectacle of such indolence, incompetence and waste of resources. To us, the deterioration of the Martí`s Websites is not only inexplicable, but also ominous and offensive to the intelligence, and we cannot evade our perplexity as we remember how, during the past 10th of October, President Bush made reference to the Internet in the battle to restore freedom to Cuba and to break the information embargo which the Castro tyranny maintains over the Cuban people in the island. During December 5 an act took place in Washington at the White House, an event of vital importance in the process to implement the policies of President Bush regarding Cuba: the first meeting of the Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba. The importance which it has to the Administration can be vouched by those appointed as co-chairmen: Collin Powell, the Secretary of State of the United States, and the Cuban-American of highest rank in President Bush`s Administration, Mel Martínez, Secretary of the Department of Housing. The commission is more than just a gesture of solidarity; it is a public expression of a promise on the part of the current Administration of strengthening its efforts to promote changes in Cuba. Inside that agenda, the Internet should play for the United States a vital and indispensable function before, during, and after any process of change in the island nation. It has such a vital role that it could save many lives if the situation inside the island explodes into a civil war. Within the agenda of the recently created Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba, http://www.lanuevacuba.com/nuevacuba/notic-03-12-2303 Radio Marti is a tool which inarguably has to be efficient, professional and credible. It not only consists of a promise of freedom to the Cubans, it is also a matter of national security to Washington. An unstable Cuba should receive precise, professional and opportune information, and the Cubans, for many more reasons, will look for guidance within those broadcasts during times of crises. The United States is a nation where responsibilities are demanded of its public servants; where there is no fear to repair what is wrong. The greatness of this country resides in the courage, the frankness, and the passion of the respect and tolerance for open debate in the exercise of governmental matters and for exposure of the system`s faults. This society does not fear those who would hide the truth (via Óscar de Céspedes, DXLD) ** DENMARK [non]. See NORWAY ** GABON. GABONESE GOVERNMENT "TEMPORARILY" SHUTS DOWN STATE BROADCASTING STATION | Text of report by Radio France Internationale on 30 December The government has decided at a cabinet meeting to temporarily close down RTG, the first public radio and television station. For several days now, RTG workers have been demanding payment of their allowance arrears. Correspondent Bernard Nageotte reports from Libreville. [Nageotte] Yes, what could be read in recent days on a workers' barricade is this: The camera is hungry. This is because RTG workers have not been paid their allowances for the past six months. Journalists and other workers of RTG 1 blocked Boulevard Leon Mba leading to their station several times, thereby imitating students, who set up roadblocks a few hundred meters away, and were also demanding the payment of their bursaries. The RTG workers union was a signatory to the celebrated 26 September social truce that prevents the staging of strikes for a period of three years. However, the social truce does not mean lack of respect of one's rights, a union official retorts. The communications minister had, in an address broadcast on this same TV station, expressed the president's disappointment over the attitude of the demonstrators, as well as the public's lack of interest in the station's programmes, preferring those of the private TV stations. This situation, he said, is very serious. The government has now decided to temporarily close down RTG 1 with the aim, according to it, of reflecting on the issue. To this end, a commission will be set up to study the status of the various members of staff. RTG 1's programmes will be retransmitted via the facilities of RTG 2, which is located within the premises of the presidency. Source: Radio France Internationale, Paris, in French 1230 gmt 30 Dec 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** GERMANY. Re ``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.`` Königs Wusterhausen came close to this, too. Station sketches show only a single curtain between 70 metre tall masts, aiming at North America. Otherwise there was a log-periodic aiming at Chile, nine rhombics (but probably some of them belonging to the utility rather than the broadcast transmitters) and various dipoles as well as double cones. Transmitters were four 100 kW Sneg units, each of them consisting of a pair of 50 kW transmitters, for my knowledge never operated independently, so 4 x 100 kW would be the proper transmitter figure. Meanwhile all antennas were razed to the ground; only a 210 metres tall mast carrying the longwave antenna still stands but could be blown up anytime, too. And so we now know that three of the Holzkirchen transmitters are to go to Tinang, provided that the press reports are correct, of course. And what about the fourth transmitter? Speaking about Holzkirchen: Now, shortly after 1200, there is something faint on 15185 that could be them with RFA Tibetan. [Later:] Enclosed an article published by Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper today. Right now I have very faint Radio Liberty on 11885, may still be Holzkirchen at its swan sung. And it is only now that I note how RFA Tibetan on 15185 was immediately followed by RL Turkmen from 1400, probably even without carrier break (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Dec 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: 31.12.2003 NIE MEHR UKRAINISCH AUS DER WASCHMASCHINE Der umstrittene US-Sender im oberbayerischen Valley stellt nach fünfzig Jahren seinen Betrieb ein --- Von Sebastian Beck Valley – Sprechende Dachrinnen, tönende Töpfe und flimmernde Fernseher – am Neujahrstag ist es endlich vorbei mit dem Spuk in der oberbayerischen Gemeinde Valley. Mehr als 50 Jahre lang hat vom Ortsrand aus ein US-Sender Kurz- und Mittelwellenprogramme nach Osteuropa ausgestrahlt. In der Neujahrsnacht wird er abgeschaltet. ``Ich bin sehr, sehr glücklich``, sagt Bürgermeister Josef Huber. Nicht nur er: Seit 1995 haben die Anwohner des Senders gegen den Betrieb der Anlage gekämpft. Eine Bürgerinitiative machte die elektromagnetische Strahlung der bis zu 100 Meter hohen Antennen für eine Reihe von Krankheiten verantwortlich. Anlieger klagten über diffuse Gesundheitsstörungen wie Mattigkeit, Schlaflosigkeit, Rheuma und Migräne. Sogar das gehäufte Auftreten von Krebs wurde mit der Anlage in Verbindung gebracht. Tatsächlich war die Leistung des amerikanischen Propaganda-Senders gewaltig: Bis zu einer Million Watt strahlte er auf Kurz- und Mittelwellen in Richtung Osten. Träger von Herzschrittmachern wurden deshalb auf Schildern vor dem Betreten des Betriebsgeländes gewarnt. In der Umgebung brachte der Sender empfindliche Elektrogeräte durcheinander und verwandelte Alltagsgegenstände in Rundfunkempfänger: ``Radio Free Europe`` tönte in Ukrainisch aus Heimorgeln, Steckdosen und Waschmaschinen. Lange Jahre hatte sich niemand daran gestört, dann aber schöpften die Bürger von Valley den Verdacht, die Strahlung könne womöglich doch nicht so harmlos sein, wie es die Betreiber vom International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB) glauben machen wollten. Die Bürgerinitiative ``Sender Freies Oberland`` forderte unterstützt von Politikern der großen Parteien die Einstellung des Sendebetriebs. Wissenschaftler waren freilich uneins, ob die Elektro-Strahlung tatsächlich gesundheitsgefährdend sei. Der Sender in Valley machte politische Karriere: Joschka Fischer beschäftigte sich damit ebenso wie der Bundestag und Ministerpräsident Edmund Stoiber, der das Thema 1999 bei seinem Besuch in den USA zur Sprache brachte. Der Pachtvertrag für das 70 Hektar große Gelände wäre zwar ohnehin 2005 ausgelaufen, die Amerikaner legten aber schon früher den Schalter um. Die Verhandlungen seien auf höchster politischer Ebene gelaufen, sagte Heinz Walker vom Bundesvermögensamt bei der Bekanntgabe der Senderschließung. US-Generalkonsul Matthew Rooney blieb dabei: Die Debatte um die Gesundheitsbelastung habe keine Rolle gespielt. Die Bürger von Valley freuen sich so oder so. An Silvester werden ein paar Sektkorken mehr knallen, ein Fest soll es zum Sommer hin geben, kündigt Bürgermeister Huber an. Auch die Antennen werden bald verschwinden, denn für das Betriebsgelände ist schon eine neue Nutzung gefunden worden: Dort soll schon bald ein Golfplatz angelegt werden. http://www.sueddeutsche.de/sz/bayern/red-artikel2348/ (but link may be broken soon) (via Kai Ludwig, Germany, Dec 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY [and non]. IBB Holzkirchen close-down changes, as of Dec 31, at 1100 UTC, 2003: replaced by 5980 0600 0700 RFE RL-7 UK HOL 03 059 12345 delete 6095 0100 0200 RFE RL-1 RU HOL 03 059 delete 6105 0300 0400 RFE RL-1 RU HOL 03 059 delete 6105 1800 2000 VOA D RUSS HOL 03 059 LAM 055 6105 2000 2300 RFE RL-1 RU HOL 03 059 LAM 055 6105 2300 2400 RFE RL-1 RU HOL 03 059 LAM 055 6135 0000 0100 RFE RL-7 KA HOL 03 059 delete 7145 0000 0100 RFE RL-7 KA HOL 04 059 delete 7220 0300 0400 RFE RL-1 RU HOL 02 059 delete 7220 1900 2000 VOA D RUSS HOL 01 059 LAM 055 7220 2300 2400 RFE RL-1 RU HOL 04 059 LAM 055 7255 0400 0500 RFE RL-8 TB HOL 03 059 delete 7270 0500 0600 RFE RL-1 RU HOL 03 059 delete 9505 1600 1700 RFE RL-8 TB HOL 04 059 KAV 026 9505 1700 1800 RFE RL-1 RU HOL 02 077 KAV 051 9505 1900 2000 VOA D RUSS HOL 02 057 delete 9575 0500 0515 RFE RL-3 RU HOL 02 077 delete 9575 0515 0530 RFE RL-3 AV HOL 02 077 delete 9575 0530 0545 RFE RL-3 CH HOL 02 077 delete 9575 0545 0600 RFE RL-3 CI HOL 02 077 delete 9635 0400 0500 RFE RL-8 TB HOL 02 059 delete 9665 1600 1700 RFE RL-3 AZ HOL 02 077 KAV 051 9670 0100 0300 RFA Tibetan HOL 077 ??? 9785 1800 1900 RFE RLIQ AB HOL 01 077 KAV 100 9845 2000 2100 RFE RL-1 RU HOL 04 059 BIB 065 9875 2300 2400 RFA Tibetan HOL 077 ??? 11865 1700 1800 RFE RL-2 AR HOL 03 077 delete 11885 0600 0900 RFE RL-1 RU HOL 04 077 delete 11885 1100 1200 RFE RL-1 RU HOL 04 077 LAM 055 11980 0400 0600 RFE RL-1 RU HOL 04 077 delete 15185 1200 1400 RFA Tibetan HOL 077 ??? 15185 1400 1500 RFE RL11 TU HOL 03 077 delete 17730 1100 1300 RFE RL-1 RU HOL 02 077 KAV 051 17730 1300 1400 RFE RL-1 RU HOL 02 077 delete (Wolfgang Büschel, BC-DX Dec 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUATEMALA. R. Maya, Barillas, 3324.8, Dec 27 0320-0330*, local religious programming with talk and local religious music. Abrupt sign-off. Poor-weak. Also heard 0923-1000+ with religious programming. 0931 ID, fair signal. R. K`ekchí, 4844.98, Dec 26 0255-0331* nice local ballads, 0300 ID, talk in local language, 0330 NA. Poor in noisy conditions; irregular (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HONDURAS. R. Luz y Vida, San Luis, 3250.06, Dec 26 0355-0404* Spanish talk, 0401 IDs, closing, NA; fair. HRMI, 3340, Dec 27 0400-0503* Spanish religious programming, ballads, IDs; irregular. Also heard Dec 19, but not on the air Dec 25 or 26; fair (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. AIR, Chennai, 4790, Dec 27 0100-0115* sub-continental music, talk in language. Fair level but poor reception due to swisher QRM (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL. Roundup of NYE observations, rather than under individual countries --- Hi Glenn, Doing my usual of listening to Papua New Guinea on 4890 prior to the New Year hitting there at 1400 and I thought I'd take the time to wish you a Happy New Year. Best Wishes for a very happy 2004! (Steve Lare, Holland, MI, Dec 31) Not tied to my receiver or computer! So I checked only sporadically for NYE events. Papua New Guinea 4890 would change the year at 1400 UT Dec 31, but not audible here above the noise level Over to R. Prague`s self-parody at 1400 on 21745 --- reception was somewhat disturbed, but still preferable over the evening frequencies. A good time, tho a more regular listener might have appreciated it more 1430, R. Sweden year in review on 18960, started off with the big story of the year, the murder of Anna Lind, foreign minister. Downer, had enough of that 10 minutes later before they presumably went on to other stories 1440 or so, R. Japan via Canada on 11705 in Japanese, usual excited NYE show in front of live audience, music and rapid talk, usually at least two people at once, double Japanese; a little hard to understand. Strangely, cut away from this at 1450 for an announcer in studio, news? 1500 cut back to live celebration but there was NO timesignal and no gongs! Was also checking 9505 and 9535 hoping for something in English. Nothing on 9505, but 9535 had RCI in Chinese before 1500; NHK did not come on at 1500 sharp, but a few minutes later heard Japanese C&W album tracks for almost the next half hour, no announcements heard. Was this intentional or fill? Anyhow, somewhat amusing to us Around 1830 looked for AIR on 10330, but not propagating. It does at many other times of day 2255, RN on 15315 in Dutch, national anthem, but off the air before local midnight at 2300 2255, DW in German on 13780, solemn talk by someone, perhaps the Chancellor; 2300 cut to two minutes of church bells, now from Berlin? rather than Kölner Dom? Low key NY greetings from announcer after that 2255, REE Spain on 9620 (should have used better 9540), more excitement, capped at 2300 by a jazzed up version of Joy to the World, which seemed just a bit out of place, out of time Mandatory listening as 0000 UT approaches is BBCWS; 12095 was fair, with more or less normal programming until 2358 Auld Lang Syne, a news headline or two before about 2359:40 when Big Ben began. The full strike marking the New Year in the only timezone that matters, which BBC normally cannot spare a minute for, began about one second after the official WWV beep I was monitoring on 10000 kHz via another receiver. Happy new year greeting, and into news of restaurant bombing in Baghdad. Back to the real world (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, CNR [China] changed the older way on 7935 at 1600 Dec 31. Heard the gongs at exact time. Music program till 1545. Talks before and after 1600. Short music interval at 1630 then again talks (Zacharias Liangas, Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL. AWR Wavescan`s brief year in review, or rather ``year end review``: http://english.awr.org/wavescan/scripts/ws469.htm (via Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1214, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL. ANALYSIS: THE WORLD, THE WAR AND THE MEDIA IN 2003 Text of editorial analysis by Peter Feuilherade of BBC Monitoring Media Services on 30 December 2003 The Coalition-led war to overthrow the regime of Saddam Husayn dominated the news in 2003. The campaign revolutionized the media in Iraq, putting an end to three decades of state control and censorship. The consequences continue to be felt in the region and internationally. In the view of Danny Schechter, "news dissector" at the New York-based web site MediaChannel.org, "the war you saw depended on where you lived. If you lived in Europe, there was some semblance of balance. If you were in the Middle East, the focus was on the casualties. If you lived in the land they call `one nation under television', the USA, it was boys with toys as unlimited time was devoted to weapons systems and coverage that looked and felt like the NFL [National Football League] goes to war." Pan-Arab satellite channels like Al-Jazeera, Lebanon's Al-Manar, Abu Dhabi TV and newcomer Al-Arabiya matched their Western rivals such as the BBC and CNN in providing instant pictures of the conflict. They contributed to making the Middle East satellite and cable TV market the world's fastest growing. MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA The US information war on Iraq began in December 2002, three months before the start of allied air attacks. The US psychological warfare effort operated on two fronts: broadcasts from Information Radio targeted Iraqi military and government officials, while leaflet drops told ordinary Iraqis to tune in for important news and information. Although allied air attacks targeted radio and TV transmitters, the Iraqis managed to continue broadcasting through a network of mobile studios and portable transmitters, including satellite uplinks. It was not until 8 April, the day before the toppling of Saddam Husayn's statue, that all of Iraq's state-run media outlets were finally silenced. In May the Iraqi Media Network (IMN) was established by the Coalition Provisional Authority to replace the defunct Information Ministry. It currently includes a TV channel, two radio stations and the newspaper Al-Sabah, and continues to dominate domestic broadcasting in Iraq. But it has been beset by organizational difficulties, poor funding and a lack of editorial independence. The spread of satellite dish ownership is also diluting its impact, as more Iraqis turn to pan-Arab satellite channels like Qatar's Al-Jazeera or Dubai-based Al-Arabiya. Media freedom and independence have yet to be enshrined in legal and regulatory reforms in post-war Iraq. Meanwhile, various Iraqi political factions have set up their own stations, in the absence of any licensing mechanisms, and hundreds of publications crowd the news stands. Elsewhere in the Middle East, Saudi state-run broadcasting and the state news agency came under new management as part of a government reshuffle in April, as Saudi commentators called for greater media openness. In Syria, after a brief period of increased press and political freedom following the death of President Hafiz al-Asad in 2000, efforts to consolidate media reform stalled, and the government and Ba'th Party continue to own and control most of the print and broadcast media. Tunisia opened up to private radio and TV in November when Radio Mosaique, the country's first private radio station, went on the air. The launch marked an end to the monopoly of the state-run broadcast media. In August Sudan lifted censorship of the press by the security service, following President Umar Hasan al-Bashir's pledge to increase political freedom in Africa's largest country. Ethiopia's government introduced a draft press law which the Vienna- based International Press Institute described as a "severe and unnecessary restriction on the right of journalists to practise their profession". The Zimbabwean government increased its intimidation of the independent press, and 2003 saw repeated efforts to close Zimbabwe's only independent newspaper, The Daily News. And it emerged as the year ended that the Al-Qa'idah second-in- command, Egyptian Ayman al-Zawahiri, had tried unsuccessfully to set up a satellite TV station broadcasting from the Netherlands. As Radio Netherlands reported, "the plan was to broadcast 10 hours a day to Muslims in Europe and the Middle East. He is said to have chosen the Netherlands because of the `liberal climate' here. Fortunately, the plans did not come to fruition, as Al-Zawahiri was constantly on the run from the Egyptian authorities." USA 2004 should see the launch of Al-Hurrah, a US government-run Arabic- language TV channel aimed at viewers in the Middle East. The US is hoping to repeat the success of Radio Sawa, a broadcaster that has notched up good audience ratings with a mixture of snappy news and Western and Arabic pop music. But critics of the USA's "broadcast diplomacy" in the Arab world say the US channels stand little chance of changing attitudes. In the words of the Syrian government-run newspaper Tishrin on 23 December, "the US media rhetoric directed at the region has not survived the credibility test, owing to the flawed US foreign policy, which is based on bias, double standards and slogans conflicting with practices." US international broadcasting came under the spotlight in July as a government review assessed various American international broadcasting projects launched in recent years, among them Radio Sawa in the Middle East, Radio Farda in Iran and the Afghanistan Radio Network. These new services, as well as all other US government and government- sponsored international broadcasting services, are the responsibility of the US Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG). The review praised the efforts of the BBG to increase the size of listening and viewing audiences in markets of US strategic interest. But with the number of language services rising nearly 20 per cent over the past 10 years, it questioned how many of these could effectively continue. And in October, the Bush-appointed United States Advisory Group on Public Diplomacy for the Arab and Muslim World panel stated in a report that "hostility towards America has reached shocking levels... What is required is not merely tactical adaptation but strategic, and radical, transformation." The panel spent several months examining US efforts to promote its views to the world's 1.5 billion Muslims. It found that the State Department spent about 600m dollars in 2002 on advocating US policy and 540m dollars more for the Voice of America and other external broadcasting. In contrast, it found that just 25m dollars was actually spent on practical outreach schemes in the entire Arab and Muslim world. The task of presenting America's view more coherently may well see recommendations followed which result in the granting of further funding for still better-targeted TV and radio initiatives. EUROPE In January 2003, as tension among the Western allies began to rise over US and British threats to invade Iraq, French President Jacques Chirac announced plans for a 24-hour global TV news channel to compete with CNN. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi faced growing calls to resolve what his critics perceive as a conflict of interest between his political power and his family's extensive business concerns, which include the Mediaset media empire and its three TV channels. A report on media ownership in Central and Eastern Europe issued in June 2003 by the European Federation of Journalists concluded that foreign takeovers of the national media had had negative consequences for local independent groups. The European Commission pledged almost two million dollars as part of its continuing support for public broadcasting in Bosnia, after authorities agreed to speed up reforms to boost cooperation between the three public radio-television stations. Turkey bolstered its case for beginning accession talks with the European Union in November when its media regulator said it would permit limited TV and radio broadcasts in Kurdish, reversing an 80- year ban. In the UK, one million TV viewers switched to digital services in the first half of 2003, and a majority of homes will have some form of digital TV by early 2004. The BBC is expected to focus on discussions with the government on the renewal of the BBC's charter, which is due at the end of 2006. And the corporation will be assessing its relationship with the new UK media regulator, Ofcom, which began work on 28 December. In the view of the weekly British magazine The New Statesman, Ofcom "will have more powers over BBC journalism than is generally understood, and the power will be felt more as Ofcom establishes itself." RUSSIA In June 2003 TVS, the last of Russia's nationwide independent television stations, was switched off on the orders of the Information Ministry, ostensibly because it had run out of money. The closure left Russians with only three national channels with news programmes, all controlled directly or indirectly by the state. Analysts saw the move as another instance of the Kremlin's meddling in Russia's television industry in the run-up to the December parliamentary elections and the 2004 presidential vote. The head of the Central Electoral Commission, Aleksandr Veshnyakov, admitted after the parliamentary election campaign that Russia's state-run mass media had "violated the principles of objectivity". In Azerbaijan, a media and political crackdown followed the October presidential election which produced a landslide of 77 per cent for Prime Minister Ilham Aliyev, son of the outgoing president. As for the five former Soviet republics of Central Asia - Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan - they are still at the very beginning of the path to a free media, according to speakers at a conference organized in Prague in April by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. ASIA-PACIFIC Cable TV system operators, satellite platform operators, equipment suppliers and content providers in Asia were all optimistic about business in 2003, according to the Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA). After up to a decade of investment, cable and satellite system operators and suppliers in Asia reported that subscriber numbers were on the increase. In Pakistan, President Musharraf's military rule, earlier marked by increased freedom for the print media, went on in 2003 to liberalize its policy on broadcasting and allowed the formation of private radio and TV stations. Pakistan enjoyed a television revolution, as the government awarded broadcasting licences to more than 66 private radio and TV companies. Ending the former monopoly of the state broadcaster forced it to be more innovative in the face of tough competition. In India, a radio policy committee urged the government in November to permit up to 26 per cent foreign investment in private FM stations, and suggested that these operators be allowed to broadcast news. Two private FM radio networks are currently run by leading Indian domestic media companies, while a third is promoted by Rupert Murdoch's STAR group. State-owned All India Radio (AIR) also operates two FM stations. 2003 was the year when China announced new commercial reforms to free up and trim down its bloated state media. Sweeping reforms to the press threatened to put hundreds of regional newspapers out of business, although observers said discord within the new Communist Party leadership could potentially stall the overhaul. The Chinese media expressed divided views on the issue - while some welcomed the shake-up of the country's unprofitable papers, others focused on the job losses that are likely to follow. In October, China gave a boost to promoting digital television by announcing plans to end analogue broadcasts in 33 major cities by the end of 2005 and start delivering 120 digital channels by satellite. JOURNALISTS UNDER FIRE Broadcasters and media activists from around the world gathered in Geneva in December for the World Electronic Media Forum (WEMF), where they debated ways to meet the challenges traditional media face in the Information Society. On the official level, leading radio and TV broadcasters conveyed to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan a declaration expressing their commitment to freedom of expression, access to information, media pluralism and cultural diversity. It was passed on to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), an event aimed at shrinking the technology gap between rich and poor nations, which took place alongside the WEMF. Meanwhile civil society organizations, complaining they had been excluded by governments from WSIS working groups, issued an alternative statement on "Building the Information Society". Among other things, they warned that "information and knowledge are being transformed into private resources which can be controlled, sold and bought, as if they were simple commodities and not the founding elements of societal organization and development." And they argued that the Internet cannot be governed effectively by any single organization or set of interests. The media death toll grew in 2003 to at least 83 journalists and media staff killed - 13 more than the previous year. The war in Iraq and continuing insurgencies in Colombia and the Philippines provided most casualties in a year marked by growing anger within media circles over targeting of journalists, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said in a report in December. "War, regional conflict, organized crime and government indifference are the greatest obstacles to justice for journalists and their safety," said Aidan White, IFJ general secretary. "We see journalists being targeted for their work in many parts of the world, but many governments simply don't care about what these tragedies mean for democracy and free expression." The IFJ has called for changes in international law to ensure that targeting of journalists and negligence in the protection of journalists are made war crimes. Source: BBC Monitoring research 30 Dec 03 (via DXLD) ** IRAN. 6120 kHz, IRIB Voice of Justice, 0208 UT Dec 15, tuned into female announcer talking about General Clark testifying in the Miloshevich trial. ID as "This is the Voice of Justice coming to you live from studios in Tehran." Other commentaries were on American airline pilots and their pay (AA, Delta, etc) and how many top US companies don't pay taxes. Finally, an accurate item from Iran! I have not heard this station in over 2 weeks on this frequency (John Sgrulletta, Dec 31, Cumbre DX via DXLD) You mean not heard since, right, or before then? (gh) ** IRELAND [non]. 6155, UNITED KINGDOM, RTE relay, 0132-0145, Dec. 31, English, As previously reported, YL with loop announcing cancellation of RTE's SW service, effective Jan. 1, 2004, results of listener survey, "realignment of distribution platforms" blah, blah, blah, another one bites the dust. Excellent signal tho now irrelevant. Can it be assumed that e-mail replies to surveys regarding the future of a broadcasters SW service only help to validate their beliefs in switching to Internet streaming? In other words, if listeners can e-mail, it's assumed they can listen via the Internet. Just a thought! (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., NH, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ISRAEL. No new news regarding January 1 shortwave changes. The Kol Israel English news has been announcing the domestic frequency change - so that will happen. From http://www.israelradio.org/ --- ``From January 1, 2004 the AM frequency for Reshet Alef (the First radio network) will change from 576 kHz to 531 kHz. So if you listen to the news at 7:00AM, 1:10PM and 8:00PM on AM you will have to move along the dial to where Reshet Gimel is at present. You may also receive Reshet Alef on the FM band: Jerusalem 98.4, Tel Aviv, Beer Sheva and Zefat 100.7, Haifa 97.2, Upper Galilee 102.8. And unchanged on the AM band at 1458 kHz in Jerusalem and Eilat`` Also, I don't know if I've mentioned this or not, but at 0500 UT, the English broadcast is also using 6280 kHz, which was listed as an "alternate frequency" on Bezeq's schedule (Doni Rosenzweig, Dec 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ITALY? R. Tre, Euro-pirate, 6310, Dec 25 0200-0415+ pops, multi- lingual IDs, poor with noisy conditions (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** JAPAN [non]. The NHK Warudo English broadcast at 1400 may be back on 17755 from Sri Lanka --- I could not tell, but the UK relay which replaced it on 17820 was STILL in use December 31, heavy CCI to RCI (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** JAPAN. 5006, JG2XA. Full data card with photo of Sugadaira Space Radio Observatory on front, f/d text on back in 23 days. V/S ? Tomizawa. Time Station #21 QSL'ed (John Wilkins, CO, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** LIBERIA. 4760, ELWA Radio, 2224-2232*, Dec. 30, English, Instrumental version of "First Noel", Handel's "Messiah" with full choir. Barely audible OM at 2230 followed by NA until 2232. Fair music audio, poor announcer audio (Scott Barbour, NH, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. While busy checking NYE events on other frequencies, noticed 9705.0 Dec 31 at 1501 in Spanish, presumably XERMX back where it belongs. Nothing audible on 11770, and no blobs found in quick scan between 9 and 11 MHz. Before 1500, 9705 had heavy co-channel interference (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NAMIBIA. THE Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) has purchased two state-of-the-art digital radio outside-broadcast (OB) vans that will take radio to all corners of the country . . . http://allafrica.com/stories/200312290436.html (via Jilly Dybka, KF4ZEO, TN, DXLD) ** NORWAY. FINAL SW BROADCASTS FROM NORWAY AND DENMARK Dear DX-friends, The Kvitsøy and Sveiø shortwave transmitters are supposed to make their final sign off at 2255 UT tonight. Again today I noticed that Merlin had replaced the NRK broadcasts at xx.00 - xx.29 by relays of the BBC World Service in English. However at 2000 an announcement in Norwegian was made, and 2000-2015 the New Year message from the Crown Prince Haakon was broadcast in Norwegian. The broadcasts in Danish continue at xx.30-xx.55 relaying the domestic newscasts. The final newscast was that of 1730 UT and the final broadcast from Denmark is now repeated as follows: 2030-2055 on 7490 Sveio and 9980 Kvitsoy. 2130-2155 on 7490 Sveio and 7560 Kvitsoy. 2230-2255 on 7465 Kvitsoy and 7560 Sveio. The final Danish broadcast consists of: xx.30 An advisory that SW broadcasts are closed tonight and can be replaced by a "free" newsservice on telephone 70 11 1830 (However this is only free, if people call from Denmark itself!). xx.31-xx.50 Repeat of domestic newscast from 1730 which includes: xx.32-xx.34 Extracts of Queen Margrethe's New Year's message. (However her greetings to Danes abroad were omitted !) xx.40-xx.43 Extracts from the feature by Preben Lund on the closure of the SW broadcasts which started with the inaugural message by King Frederik IX in 1948 (xx.40-xx41) xx51-xx52 announcement that "Due to New Year holidays, the usual Sports news are not broadcast, but will return on Jan 02." (Also wrong because the SW broadcasts cease tonight !) xx.53-xx.54 piano concert xx.54-xx.55 Interval signal: "Som en rejsenlysten flaade." That is all from Denmark! Best 73 and Happy New Year, (Anker Petersen, DSWCI, Denmark, Dec 31, hard-core-dx via DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA. KMMZ 1640: Logged this morning (12/30/2003) at 6:30 AM Mountain Time, with All-Comedy format and local ads (Mike Westfall, Los Alamos, NM, NRC-AM via DXLD) I'm receiving KMZZ loud and clear this afternoon at 1430 local time in all comedy format (John Reed, KA5QEP, Shawnee, OK, Dec 30, ibid.) ** PERU. R. Ancash, 4990.94, Dec 27 1030-1100+ mostly Spanish talk, short bits of OA folk music. Ad string, jingles, quick ID. Poor in noise with a somewhat distorted signal; Also heard Dec 19 with clean signal. R. Horizonte, 5019.93, Dec 27 0030-0133* Spanish talk, ID, OA folk music. 0100 religious recitations and music, 0133 off, no NA; fair (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PHILIPPINES. See GERMANY ** RWANDA. 6055, R. Rwanda, 2025-2100*, Dec. 30, Vernacular/ French/ English, 2 YLs with Vernacular talks of Uganda, Afropop jingle at 2031 with YL talk over, tentative ID with mention Rwanda, YL with interview of OM; several mentions of Congo and Rwanda, Afropop jingle at 2041. Music 2043-2055 included Traci Chapman's "Fast Car" in English and occasional YL talk over in French. NA at 2055, choral music at 2057. Good, clear signal though no discernible ID (Scott Barbour, NH, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I wonder if Turkey would have blocked for you just before 2025 --- their one-hour broadcasts usually last between 50 and 55 minutes (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** ST. KITTS. ZIZ Radio: 0200 Local (0700 UTC), 12-30-03, 555 kHz.: ZIZ Radio, St. Kitts & Nevis (10 kW), Lively Caribbean music with singing, bass riff and steel drums, into quick jingle then two male speakers at TOH "Gather your thoughts, take a position and let it be heard because Zed-Eye-Zed is now giving you an opportunity to air your POINT OF VIEW on ... anything that affects our community. Point of View. Twice daily. WHAT'S YOUR POINT OF VIEW? Point Of View, every Tuesday and Thursday at 8:00 AM and 5:30 PM here on Zed-Eye-Zed Radio." Brief music, then segué into a Ministry of Women's Affairs public service announcement given by a woman talking about the physical abuse of women in their own homes: ".... the Ministry of Women's Affairs is committed to serving all woman with the .... position that no one deserves to be beaten." Then into repetitious a cappella singing of "Zed-Eye-Zed, you're listening to Zed-Eye-Zed" with lots ooooh's and ohs. Reasonably clean signal, some splatter from adjacent channels. I've heard this one off and on but have not tried for a clean ID until the other night. As always, an .mp3 clip of this catch is available for the asking (244 seconds, 3.7 Mb). (Peter Jernakoff, Wilmington DE, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** SLOVAKIA [non]. RFE/RL's Slovak Service ended today with some appropriate tunes of goodbye and sadness.... http://www.rferl.org/ondemand/ch18/20031231-1630SL.ram Or click on 2000 UTC broadcast at .... http://www.rferl.org/ondemand/bd/sl/ 73 (Kim Elliott, DC, Dec 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOLOMON ISLANDS. It's just after 10 am but already the steam is rising off the ground and the sun glancing off the blue seas surrounding this remote island community which, like the rest of the Solomons, relies on radio for virtually all their information about what is going on in their country. (They do not have a television station.) http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3540394&thesection=news&thesubsection=world (via Jilly Dybka, KF4ZEO, TN, DXLD) ** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. Tuning around 2245 UT Dec 31, noted Brother Scare on 15725. He must be on WRMI now. Yes, the online schedule at http://www.wrmi.net/pages/714011/index.htm has been updated Dec 28, including World Radio Network but no details within that; and: (gh) The Overcomer Ministry 's schedule has been updated again. Now also via WRMI http://www.overcomerministry.com/SW.shtml as of December 30, 2003. 0400-0500 9770 Julich Everyday Australia - NZ 0400-1300 5770 WWCR Everyday US - World 0700-0900 5070 WWCR Everyday US - World 1100-1200 6100 Julich Everyday Italy, Albania 1100-1200 9485 Julich Everyday Scandinavia 1100-1200 9610 Julich Everyday Ukranine, Romania, Bulgaria 1100-1200 9955 WRMI Sun-Fri America, Cuba 1100-1200 11950 Julich Everyday Spain, Portugal, S.France 1100-1200 13820 Julich Everyday Russia, Poland 1100-1200 15235 Julich Everyday Israel, Saudi Arabia 1100-1200 15825 WWCR Everyday US - World 1100-1200 17482 (???) Julich Everyday Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda 1100-1200 17735 Julich Everyday Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Afgan. 1100-1200 21720 Julich Everyday Tunesia, Lybia, Kongo, Nigeria 1200-1400 5070 WWCR Everyday US - World 1300-1600 6110 Julich Everyday Europe 1400-1600 13810 Julich Everday Mid-East, Moscow 1400-1600 21590 Julich Everyday S. Am. 1400-2100 9475 WWCR Everyday US - World 1600-1700 6110 Julich Sat Europe 2100-0400 7465 WWCR Everyday US - World 2200-2300 5905 Julich Everyday NW Africa 2200-2300 5985 Julich Everyday W China 2200-2300 6055 Julich Everyday N. Amer - East 2200-2300 6175 Julich Everyday China, Mongolia 2200-2300 7105 Julich Everyday Central Am. 2200-2300 7145 Julich Everyday South Am. N 2200-2300 9480 Julich Everyday South Am. S 2200-2300 9490 Julich Everyday E Asia 2200-2300 9695 Julich Everyday West Africa 2200-2300 9730 Julich Everyday SE Asia 2200-2300 15725 WRMI Everyday N Amer NW, Can 2300-0030 9435 Julich Everyday S. Asia (via Silvain Domen, Belgium, DXLD) ** SUDAN. Re 15170: I reckon the file I had was Sudanese people talking about the Government and the ID was (Radio Sudan). If it was one of the clandestine stations it'd have been IDing itself as the rest of them do --- stuff like V. of Unity and Liberty, etc. One more thing --- do you think they'd be so dumb to broadcast from 1500 on 15170 which is the same time and frequency for R. Sawa in Arabic?? Guess not. All the best guys (Tarek Zeidan, Egypt, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I can`t make much out from your audio file, except that two stations seem to be clashing. Dumb? Maybe not. IBB has a way of moving onto inactive Arab frequencies --- Iraq 11785 and Bahrain 9745 being recent examples. The Sudanese frequency has been registered for a long time, and presumably they would be entitled to it once they can get it on the air. Maybe they have now, and IBB no longer needs to ``save`` it for them. Too, Sudan is probably much less frequency-agile than IBB, and may not be able to use any other 19mb frequency, should one be available other than this one they have `reserved` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SURINAME. Dear Chuck, I listened to your great sound sample of Radio Apintie, Surinam: it contains an announcement in Dutch by Ministry of Labour about employment contracts( where I think an ID was hidden by the static) and a commercial of a phone company. Have a good New Year's Eve! Regards, (Ehard Goddijn, Radio Netherlands (via Chuck Bolland, FL, DXLD) I guess it is still on Chuck`s webpage previously linked. I only used a part of it on WOR 1214, due to severe static crashes (gh, DXLD) ** U K. BBC WILL NOW PAY JOURNALISTS 'MARKET RATE' http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=industryNews&storyID=4028827 (via Jilly Dybka, KF4ZEO, TN, DXLD) ** U S A. VOICE OF AMERICA ENGLISH BROADCASTS TO SOUTH ASIA Morning Transmission 0100-0300 UTC Sunday 7200 7255 9850 11705 11820 15250 17740 17820: 0100 News and Reports 0123 Sports 0130 News Headlines 0133 Issues in the News 7200 7255 9850 11705 11820 15250 17740 17820: 0200 News 0206 Jazz America Monday though Friday 7200 7255 9850 11705 11820 15250 17740 17820: 0100 News and Reports 0123 Sports 0130 News Headlines 0133 Business News 0144 Dateline 0155 Editorial 7200 7255 9850 11705 11820 15250 17740 17820: 0200 News 0206 Mon: American Gold Tues: Roots & Branches Wed: Classic Rock Thurs: Top 20 Fri: Country Hits Saturday 7200 7255 9850 11705 11820 15250 17740 17820: 0100 News and Interviews 0123 Sports 0130 News Headlines 0133 Our World 0155 Editorial 7200 7255 9850 11705 11820 15250 17740 17820: 0200 News 0206 Jazz America Evening Transmission 1100-1800 UTC Sunday 6110 9645 9760 11705 11715 15425: 1200 News and Interviews 1218 Point of View 1223 Sports 1230 News Headlines 1233 Main Street 1255 Editorial 6110 9645 9760 11705: 1300 News and Interviews 1318 Point of View 1323 Sports 1330 News Headlines 1333 On the Line 1355 Editorial 6110 7125 9645 9760 11705 15425: 1400 News 1406 Jazz America 7125 9645 15395: 1500 News and Interviews 1523 Sports 1530 News Headlines 1533 Encounter 6110 7125 9645 9760 15395: 1600 News and Interviews 1623 Sports 1630 News Headlines 1633 Main Street 1655 Editorial 6110 7125 9645 15395: 1700 News and Interviews 1718 Point of View 1723 Sports 1730 News Headlines 1733 Issues in the News [1800: no transmission either] 1900 No Transmission Monday-Friday 6110 9645 9760 11705 11715 15425: 1200 News and Reports 1215 Focus 1223 Sports 1230 News Headlines 1233 Coast to Coast 1255 Opinion Roundup 6110 9645 9760 11705: 1300 News and Reports 1323 Sports 1330 News Headlines 1333 Business News 1344 Opinion Roundup 1347 Dateline 6110 7125 9645 9760 11705 15425: 1400 News and Reports 1415 Focus 1423 Sports 1430 News Headlines 1433 Mon: Encounter Tues: Press Conf USA Wed: Talk to America Again Thurs: Talking History Fri: Sports Talk 1455 Wed, Fri: Editorial 7125 9645 15395: 1500 News and Reports 1515 (Mon) New American Voices 1523 Sports 1530 News Headlines 1533 Business News 1544 Datelines 1555 Editorial 6110 7125 9645 9760 15395: 1600 News and Reports 1615 Focus 1623 Sports 1630 News Headlines 1633 Coast to Coast 6110 7125 9645 15395: Also Mon-Fri only 1575 5990 6045 9525 9795 11955 12005 15255: 1700 News 1706 Talk To America 1755 Mon, Fri: Editorial Tues-Thurs: Opinion Roundup [1800: no transmission] 5965 9840 11720 11970 11985 15205 15410: 1900 News 1906 Border Crossings Saturday 6110 9645 9760 11705 11715 15425: 1200 News and Interviews 1218 Point of View 1223 Sports 1230 News Headlines 1233 Main Street 6110 9645 9760 11705: 1300 News and Interviews 1323 Sports 1330 News Headlines 1333 On the Line 1355 Editorial 6110 7125 9645 9760 11705 15425: 1400 News 1406 Jazz America 7125 9645 15395: 1500 News and Interviews 1523 Sports 1530 News Headlines 1533 On the Line 1555 Editorial 6110 7125 9645 9760 15395: 1600 News and Interviews 1618 Point of View 1623 Sports 1630 News Headlines 1633 Main Street 6110 7125 9645 15395: 1700 News and Interviews 1723 Sports 1730 News Headlines 1733 Press Conference USA [1800: no transmission either] 1900 No Transmission Medium wave: 1575 kHz to Bangladesh and eastern India. All other frequencies are shortwave. Some VOA News Now shortwave frequencies to East Asia and the Middle East may be audible in South Asia; see schedules for those regions (VOA via Kim Elliott, Dec 9, edited and rearranged by Glenn Hauser for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WHRI, 4920, Dec 21 1020-1035+, poor, weak sub-harmonic of 9840, 0.5 x 9840, English religious programming (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. NEW GOLDEN AGE OF RADIO LURES YOUNG LISTENERS By Samuel G. Freedman http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20031229/5794529s.htm In these waning days of the year, critics and reviewers are churning out their annual lists of the best films, books, plays, concerts, CDs, TV shows, restaurants and probably shoeshines. Virtually all of these compilations, I can guarantee you, will overlook one of the most significant cultural developments of not only 2003, but the past decade. We are living in the golden age of radio documentary, and even if the cultural tastemakers often seem clueless, tens of millions of listeners to non-commercial radio savor a growing body of creative, perceptive and edifying work, most of it produced or distributed by National Public Radio, Public Radio International and Minnesota Public Radio. What makes this boom so notable -- besides the way media lazily dependent on the public-relations machinery of Manhattan and Hollywood have overlooked it -- is that radio was consigned a half-century ago to the dustbin of technological history. Instead, a generation of radio artists and listeners born into the age of television, to say nothing of the Internet, has vivified a supposedly obsolete medium. Public radio's audience, somewhere below 3 million in the mid-1970s, now stands at 27.2 million and growing. The heyday of radio supposedly occurred during the era of Franklin Roosevelt's fireside chats, Orson Welles' fake broadcast of a Martian landing and Edward R. Murrow's all-too-real reports of the Nazi blitz against London. Today, however, radio audiences are enjoying the fruits of such major talents as David Isay, Ira Glass and the Kitchen Sisters, as the producing team of Davia Nelson and Nikka Silva is known. It is always risky to lump the separate innovations into a conscious trend, yet the impressive body of radio documentaries sprang from some common inspirations and in shared revulsion at the dumbing-down of commercial broadcasting. These factors apply as much to Glass' intimate, memoir-oriented weekly show This American Life as to the epic undertakings of the Kitchen Sisters, who won a Peabody Award this year for their Sonic Memorial Project, an aural and oral history of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. To be sure, public radio has its detractors, particularly among political conservatives who routinely accuse it of liberal bias. Within public radio circles, independent producers, intent on stretching the form and length of documentaries, often clash with station executives. And the greater emphasis on news and information programs on NPR has partly come at the expense of its classical-music shows, offending at least one arts constituency. Still, the quality of the documentaries is self-evident. In the coming weeks alone, NPR will be presenting a retrospective on the 50th anniversary of the Brown vs. Board of Education case, a series about heroin use among the middle class, and a collection of the first-person testimonies gathered in New York's Grand Central Station by StoryCorps, the brainchild of Isay, winner of a MacArthur genius grant for his documentaries on social issues ranging from gay rights to the death penalty. At one level, this remarkable era of radio documentary represents a rebellion against the numbing conformity of commercial radio, whether the headline bytes of ''all-news'' stations, the bellyaching of political talk shows or the straitjacket formats of music programs. The elder figures of radio documentary, by whom I mean those in their 40s, grew up catching the last gasps of genuine personality on the commercial dial: the storytelling of Jean Shepherd, the sound collages of Ken Nordine and the urbane music and commentary of Jonathan Schwartz. The salient comparison is not just between radio past and radio present. Television news, with rare exceptions such as ABC's Nightline, BBC's Newsnight and PBS' NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, has given up on segments longer than two or three minutes. The pandering and sadism that passes for ''reality TV'' can only make one pray for fantasy. For younger radio practitioners, those who have no sentimental memories of substance in commercial broadcasting, the documentary genre has been enabled by the development of relatively inexpensive technology -- mini-disc recorders, editing software, downloadable units of sound. One of the most affecting radio documentaries of recent years, My So-Called Lungs, was the audio diary of a woman in her early 20s named Laura Rothenberg, who was in the process of dying from cystic fibrosis. Against all entertainment-industry logic, listeners in their teens, 20s and 30s have been drawn to such broadcasts. Fully 43% of NPR's listeners -- some 12.3 million people -- are 44 or younger. The show with perhaps the most passionate following among Generation X, This American Life, reaches a weekly audience of 1.5 million on 472 stations. ''These are the children of the baby-boom generation,'' says Dean Olsher, producer of the excellent weekly documentary show The Next Big Thing, which originates at NPR member station WNYC in New York. ''Growing up in the car listening to All Things Considered, they've never known anything else. ''As for the appeal of radio in the age of TV and the Internet,'' Olsher continues, ''I think that radio represents a natural reaction. TV and the Internet are numbing media. After hours in front of a screen, you feel your brain has been sucked out of your head. Radio, like reading a book, makes you feel energized.'' Put another way, what radio and writing do is challenge a consumer to imagine the picture that illustrates the words, and so create the sensation of an intimate, one-to-one relationship between producer and receiver. Maybe radio has persisted, even thrived, for the same reason that e-books have failed -- because the old-fashioned artifact, in gifted enough hands, just happens to be the best. Samuel G. Freedman, a professor of journalism at Columbia University, is a member of the USA TODAY board of contributors. (c) Copyright 2003 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc. (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** U S A. ADVERTISING: A NEW FORM OF RADIO MARKETING December 31, 2003 By NAT IVES FOR marketers, it may finally be paradise by the dashboard light. Big radio companies like Clear Channel Communications and Infinity Broadcasting are equipping some stations with technology that broadcasts not just commercials but text messages that appear on car radio displays. And advertisers like First Charter Bank in Charlotte, N.C., which will use the approach in a campaign beginning in late January, are signing on to see whether extra text can give their spots extra heft. The technology - called R.D.S., for radio data system - has long been common in Europe and available in the United States, where it is gaining as cars increasingly come ready for the technology and radio stations compete more fiercely for ad revenue against satellite radio and other media. But consumer advocates like Ralph Nader said the potential for driver distraction, not to mention irritation, could make dashboard advertising more boondoggle than boon. "Anything that keeps the eye off the road increases the risk of a crash," Mr. Nader said in a phone interview... http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/31/business/media/31adco.html?ex=1073902284&ei=1&en=72ad43a3f7eba506 (via Don Thornton, http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/31/business/media/31adco.html?pagewanted=print&position= (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** VATICAN. VR is one of the few SW station P-mailing lists I am still on. Received Dec 31, and the timing could not be better, its 2004 liturgical calendar on heavy coated stock, in case I wonder which saint is to be honored on April 27 (St. Zita of Lucca). Less well timed was the other enclosure, VR`s schedule folder, already more than two months in effect, but not mailed until Dec 16! Now if they would only use stamps instead of the postal meter. But I have accumulated quite a few covers bearing that, which includes the VR logo; strangely enough, the envelope itself has a different logo for RV (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZIMBABWE. Harare - Zimbabwe's state-controlled media has "blood on its hands" through inciting violence against President Robert Mugabe's critics, according to a report. . . http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/Zimbabwe/0,,2-11-259_1461741,00.html (via Jilly Dybka, KF4ZEO, TN, DXLD) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ TV GUIDE I would like to second your irritation with TV Guide. I was one of the correspondents who responded to their request for comments about the new format change a few months ago. They have not fixed my main complaint -- that insultingly worthless use of "Various programs" blocks in the weekday grid, slighting over-the-air stations when they DO give detailed day-by-day listings for cable channels in the same section. I think that there is something really messed up with their subscription-processing department. The hairdresser that Bev went to is our neighbor's sister and niece's shop. They were getting six copies of TV Guide every week for many months, each addressed identically, and they had NEVER bought any subscription at all! They were pitching them until I found out about it, and tried to be sure to pick them up and distribute them to the senior citizens who hung out at Jack-In-The-Box (the local senior center) in our neighborhood. That finally ran out late in the fall. Lord knows what glitch generated THAT waste! (Will Martin, MO, Dec 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) POWERLINE COMMUNICATIONS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ BPL SUBJECT TO HAM RF INTERFERENCE Ham radio transmissions could disrupt internet access under BPL (another reason BPL is a muy dumbamente idea): http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/36814 (Harry Helms W7HLH, Las Vegas, NV DM26, NRC-AM via DXLD) ORGANIZATIONS` COMMENTS AUGMENT ALARM OVER BPL NEWINGTON, CT, Dec 30, 2003--Two organizations have filed comments with the FCC that augment previously expressed worries about potential interference from and to Broadband over Power Line (BPL) systems. Picking up the ``grave concerns`` the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) expressed over BPL December 4, the nonprofit Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Response Association (DERA) http://www.disasters.org/ is calling on the FCC to require impartial BPL field testing as well as additional public comment and full and open public hearings. ``DERA concludes that serious interference to and disruption of critical emergency communications systems in several licensed services throughout North America would almost certainly result from BPL implementation as currently proposed,`` DERA`s comments said. Endorsing FEMA`s earlier remarks, DERA said proposed BPL systems don`t just pose a risk of interference, they`ve already been shown to ``actually cause harmful interference to licensed radio services.`` The Amateur Radio Research and Development Corporation (AMRAD) filed additional test data http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/retrieve.cgi?native_or_pdf=pdf&id_document=6515383154 with the FCC to support its preliminary comments http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/retrieve.cgi?native_or_pdf=pdf&id_document=6514683575 suggesting that BPL systems are susceptible to interference from even modest Amateur Radio HF signals. AMRAD said its data demonstrate that amateur operation in the test neighborhood could cause many homes to lose their Internet service. ``At least an area out to a radius of 0.51 miles from the transmitting station could have their Internet connection interrupted,`` AMRAD said. ``Closer-in homes would almost certainly have their Internet service interrupted.`` AMRAD conducted an RF susceptibility experiment at the Potomac BPL test site in early November. The site is part of a Potomac Electric Power Company (PEPCO) system test that uses a mid-1960s vintage home with unshielded electrical wiring. The test neighborhood has overhead power lines. AMRAD found that at a distance of just over one-half mile, data transfer ceased in the face of a 100-W signal on 3980 kHz from a mobile transmitter. Adjacent to the test property, AMRAD said data transfer ceased in all but one instance at a transmitter power of just 4 W in the BPL operating band of from 4 to 21 MHz. The ARRL hopes to complete an independent BPL engineering study by early 2004. Its will explore how BPL might affect HF and low-VHF amateur operation as well as how Amateur Radio operation could affect BPL systems. Additional information about BPL and Amateur Radio is on the ARRL Web site http://www2.arrl.org/tis/info/HTML/plc/ To support the League`s efforts in this area, visit the ARRL`s secure BPL Web site. Copyright © 2003, American Radio Relay League, Inc. All Rights Reserved (via John Norfolk, DX LISTENING DIGEST) A TALE OF TWO CITIES A Virginia community prepares to go forward with plans to deploy a city-owned BPL network, while a California city has decided against BPL for its own municipal broadband system. The city council in Lompoc, California --- a community of some 42,000 --- opted December 16 to go with a wireless and fiber optic cable- based broadband network, rejecting BPL and other possible options. ARRL Santa Barbara Section Technical Coordinator Paul Andreasen, K1JAN, said he and other members of the local Amateur Radio community lobbied hard to ensure that Lompoc would not pick BPL. After contacting Lompoc Mayor Dick DeWesse to spell out the downside of BPL, Andreasen said he subsequently received assurances from City Manager Gary Keefe that Lompoc`s consulting engineers would not entertain technology that would radiate in the HF/low-VHF spectrum. The report from McKibben Consulting http://www.cityoflompoc.com/councilagenda/staff_reports/031216staff_reports/final_report.pdf noted the ``ongoing controversy`` about BPL, a form of power line telecommunications (PLT), and cited a British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) study earlier this year that, McKibben said, ``made it clear that there is very good reason to be concerned about RF interference.`` http://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/pubs/whp/whp067.html The consultant concluded that BPL`s advantages failed to outweigh its disadvantages. Lompoc`s so-called ``Wireless Plus Base Model`` system would cost upward of $27 million, starting with the deployment of a wireless broadband network followed up with running fiber optic connections to every home and business in the city. Andreasen says at least one other locality has indicated it will follow Lompoc`s lead. The Washington, DC, suburb of Manassas, Virginia, meanwhile, indicates it will go ahead with plans to inaugurate BPL service in four subdivisions --- a total of some 2100 homes --- in January. Manassas --- with a population of nearly 35,000 --- hopes to be the first community in the US to deploy BPL citywide. It will charge residents $26.95 a month for the service, a cost only slightly higher than typical dial-up Internet service and substantially less than the cost of cable modem or DSL service. Amateurs in the Manassas vicinity have pointed to FEMA`s ``grave concerns`` that BPL could interfere with HF communications systems critical to national security and public safety. They`ve also cited Japan`s banning of BPL deployment in the wake of Amateur Radio pressure as well as the BBC study, where the BPL system used the same Main.net technology Manassas plans to employ. City officials seem unimpressed. ``Nobody has proven it`s a problem,`` City Councilman Ulysses X. White told Potomac News. ``If it is a problem, then we re-evaluate it. There`s no reason not to go forward with it.`` The same article quotes City Utilities Director Allen Todd, W4VUB, as saying that the city will monitor the system and rectify any problems that crop up. No field testing for RF interference took place during the system`s pilot program. Potomac News also quoted ARRL CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ, saying that the risk of disrupting worldwide and emergency communications for BPL is shortsighted and, as FEMA has noted, carries potential national security implications. Copyright © 2003, American Radio Relay League, Inc. All Rights Reserved (via John Norfolk, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ THE NRC IBOC DEBATE RESUMES As I mentioned before, on a wide-IF car radio, the WBZ digital sidebands cover 1010 and 1050 kHz locally. However, since I doubt any normal listeners are tuned into those frequencies in and around Boston, it really doesn't matter. However, the analog signal definitely seems weaker on the car radio, perhaps due to the combination of less analog bandwidth and background digital noise. On the Drake R8B, there's definite digital noise leaking into the analog signal when the IF is opened to 6 kHz. It's worse on the car radio with its IF likely around 10 kHz. The analog audio is definitely bassy, lacking in highs so that es's are no better than a cheap analog telephone, and music completely lacks any emphasis (sounds dull). Narrowing the IF to 2.3 kHz eliminates the noise on the center frequency, but what normal person would listen with such a narrow bandwidth? On the plus side for DXing, at least here, it should be easier to DX 1030 kHz and adjacents; no sideband splatter, and weaker audio on the center frequency. The digital sidebands are at least 6 dB lower in signal strength than the center, which is the way it's supposed to be, right? Eventually I'll get some time at the receiver to give it a shot, especially when 1030 is the challenge frequency. I can see how it might be a different story for DXers at a distance, as WBZ sideband splatter probably wasn't an issue, and now you have noise that wasn't there before. By the way, 710 WOR-HD hasn't been a problem either, as I can still DX 700 and 720 easily, so I still have yet to feel any real impact such as other DXers seem to be experiencing. It would've all been nothing but a big yawn if it weren't for the lively and sometimes heated discussions on this list (Bruce Conti - Nashua NH, NRC-AM via DXLD) As I noted on the list last year during KNXT-840's IBOC tests for the NAB show, my Toyota car radio would stop on 820, 830, and 850 in the "scan" mode when IBOC was on. As Scott Fybush said a few weeks ago, the real IBOC test --- for both DXers and the general public --- will be when you have IBOC stations operating on adjacent frequencies such as 1200, 1210, 1220, etc. This will be especially true if IBOC is authorized for night (as I expect it will be). (Harry Helms W7HLH, Las Vegas, NV DM26, ibid.) Bruce Conti wrote: ``at least here, it should be easier to DX 1030 kHz and adjacents; no sideband splatter, and weaker audio on the center frequency.`` This statement is contrary to the experience of anyone who has attempted to DX the adjacent channels while IBOC was in use on a local station. Either you are too far away from WBZ for this to occur or there is something else very different about what WBZ is doing, and from other observations at distance that doesn't seem likely. For most of us, the IBOC hash has been no easier to null than the splatter from the analog signal on the adjacents, and in some cases even more difficult. Before long now, one or more of us will have the dubious 'opportunity' to evaluate the condition where two IBOC stations on second adjacents pour out hash on their single common first adjacent. That should also be interesting, although I'm betting that it won't be positive (Russ Edmunds, Blue Bell PA (15 mi NNW Philadelphia), ibid.) That's for sure! IBOC puts most of its power on the "far side" of the first adjacent (from 10 to 15 kHz from the center frequency of the IBOC station). If you have just one IBOC first adjacent to deal with, you can use SSB mode with a narrow filter and receive only the sideband that is closest to the IBOC station. Because of the reduced analog audio bandwidth, there will be less splatter in this region than with the non-IBOC signal, but there will be a low level of digital noise that is always there. If the IBOC station is not overly strong, you can probably still have some success with DXing on the first adjacent using this technique. However, if the *other* first adjacent to your desired frequency also has an IBOC station, then you are royally screwed. It will put most of its digital power into the sideband that you're using to dodge the noise from the first IBOC station. If lots of stations are running IBOC, the band will become an impenetrable wall of noise, and all you'll hear are the strongest stations. This is what we have to look forward to (Barry McLarnon, VE3JF, Ottawa, ON, ibid.) Big question: does KDKA have a claim against WBZ based on interference with their night signal? Wouldn't this be the same as putting a new station on 1020 AM and beaming their pattern right at KDKA? (Rick Shaftan, NJ, ibid.) Whether KDKA does or not, don't expect to see that claim expressed – as KDKA and WBZ are co-owned. I suppose the big question is what will listeners do when they start noticing this interference on their favorite stations. Will they care enough to complain? (if they complain in great enough numbers, and complain to their representatives as well as the stations, then something could happen) Or will they just figure that, like the noise from their new computer, touch lamp, leaky powerline, etc., that it's just the way AM is? (in which case there will be no legislative action) My personal suspicion is that mostly, only Class A (dominant "clear- channel") stations will be able to afford to go IBOC. Only a handful of exceptionally-successful Class B stations like WTMJ, KFRC, and KFYR will be able to afford it. *Maybe* a literal handful of "graveyard" Class C stations will have the $$ for IBOC. I don't think we're going to have an entire AM band full of buzz, just some clear channels full. If the radios don't sell, expect to see IBOC go the way of AM stereo. The Class A stations will continue to reach their salable audience in their immediate metro market, though they'll lose their outlying skywave coverage. Likewise for the big Class B's. Most of the stations that'll get screwed will be the secondary Class B's and Class D's (daytimers) on clear channels; and a handful of Class B's on regional channels that are adjacent to the few B's that can swing IBOC (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View (Nashville), TN, ibid.) Doug, the normal listener has been conditioned to think that it`s nothing more than normal land noise, like you describe. Since the public does not know what we know about the reception issues, they just write it off as their radio's fault or the station having an issue. Not related to IBOC, but when Channels 35 DTV in South Bend IN and Cincy OH came on the air, I fielded a lot of phone calls from people about how WLIO had problems. Not one call suggested that they thought they were getting interference or that the viewer could have a problem. Perhaps someone should suggest that KDKA run some announcements, "If you're listening to KDKA, and you experience more than normal interference, please contact radio station WBZ and ask them to turn off their IBOC." (Fred Vobbe, Lima OH, ibid.) Yes, at least some sort of claim. There's a section in the FCC IBOC order about resolution of IBOC interference complaints. It does not say what defines "interference", but it does define a procedure (Chuck Hutton, ibid.) 1400 WJLD Fairfield AL claims to be the first regular-broadcast AM IBOC station. The chief engineer seems satisfied, reporting reception comparable to 15 kHz FM stereo. This per an iBiquity press release. (Look at the success stories on the iBiquity website.) I "suspect" that it will be far less expensive for graveyarders to implement IBOC than at any higher power directional facilities. A graveyarder is typically a stand-alone operation (not multiplexed) and non- directional (no antenna phasing). (Bruce Conti - Nashua NH, ibid.) It should also be mentioned that the equipment costs are likely to be $50,000 to $100,000 for the exciter and staff time. Some stations will additionally require a new transmitter if their existing transmitter doesn't have the needed linearity. Yes, the directional stations have an additional cost, but don't you think the baseline cost above will be much more of an impediment to a mom and pop graveyarder than to a Class A? Also, I wouldn't use WJLD as an example. They're just a little graveyarder and yet they were one of the first stations to sign on with iBiquity over a year ago. Hmmmmm...... Why would they do that, considering the cost, poor audio quality at the time, and interference issues? Either they are IBOC technophiles (and therefore a poor example) or iBiquity made them a special deal on equipment cost and installation for PR reasons. I think it's a more valid point to mention the extremely slow IBOC purchase rates by the other graveyarders (Chuck Hutton, WA, ibid.) It took a while, but I finally found a case where this might be a problem for IBOC reception here, and on the radio station under discussion to boot. I wonder if IBOC will work in southern New Hampshire when both 1030 WBZ Boston (50 kW) and 1010 WNTK Newport (10 kW) are running IBOC on 1020 kHz. Will the IBOC reception automatically default to one sideband of the desired station (WBZ upper sideband or WNTK lower sideband), and how will the IBOC receiver know to stay locked on one sideband rather than continuously switching between "half IBOC" and "full IBOC" as the digital signal comes in and out from the desired station? Or will this be one of those special cases where WBZ will be required to reduce the lower sideband by another 6 db, and WNTK upper sideband is reduced by another 6 dB? Will the FCC have the manpower to resolve these issues as they come up? This should be interesting. Locally, there's nothing on 1570 or 1610 that would hurt 1590 WSMN IBOC, nothing on 920 or 880 to hurt 900 WSNH, nothing on 1390 or 1350 to conflict with 1370 WFEA, etc., so maybe New Hampshire for the most part is going to be okay; we don't have many AMs anyway. There are more Boston stations that could have problems. Maybe there's a conflict between 1530 WVBF and 1510 WWZN with their 1520 IBOC signals for listeners south of Boston. Or maybe a problem with 690 IBOC signals from 680 WRKO and 700 WCAT. 1090 WILD and 1110 WCEC listenership doesn't overlap, so that shouldn't be a problem. However it's obvious that these conflicts are going to come up in various crowded markets like Boston. Just thought of a couple more local IBOC conflicts: 590 WEZE vs. 610 WGIR on 600 kHz north of Boston. 830 WCRN (50 kW) vs. 850 WEEI (50 kW) on 840 kHz - this is a good one. The markets for these two stations overlap considerably. The FCC probably wasn't thinking in terms of IBOC when they granted WCRN the power increase (Bruce Conti - Nashua NH, ibid.) ###