DX LISTENING DIGEST 4-007, January 12, 2004 edited by Glenn Hauser, http://www.worldofradio.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 For restrixions and searchable 2004 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 1215: Tue 0400 on SIUE Web Radio Wed 1030 on WWCR 9475 Mon 0430 on WSUI 910, webcast WRN ONDEMAND: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO [also for CONTINENT OF MEDIA, MUNDO RADIAL]: Check http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html WORLD OF RADIO 1215 (high version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1215h.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1215h.rm (summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1215.html WORLD OF RADIO 1215 (low version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1215.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1215.rm WORLD OF RADIO ON KSFC: Is indeed carrying WRN and as I am listening to the feed they are indeed carrying WOR (Ray T. Mahorney, WA4WGA, 1102 UT Sun Jan 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) FIRST AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1216: Wed 2300 on WBCQ 7415, 17495-CUSB Thu 2130 on WWCR 9475 On Demand: change 1215 to 1216 above ** ALASKA [non]. This message came from KNLS today: "Dear Mr. Fransson: The KNLS program has been rescheduled for this coming Sunday morning, January 18, at 1330 UT. Frequency: 9785 kHz. We would appreciate your comments and signal strength report (Dale R. Ward, Executive Producer, World Christian Broadcasting, Franklin, TN, via Björn Fransson, Sweden, Jan 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) That would be the Radio NASB program really in DRM via UK. Are you receiving DRM, Björn? Does this mean that the original NASB schedule thru March provided by Jeff White is all out of whack and/or that what`s in analog on WRMI no longer matches what`s on UK in DRM the same weekend? I heard the KNLS show on WRMI 7385 a few weeks ago, typical magazine with brief secular features alternating with gospel- huxtering (gh, DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. 5025, presumed VL8K, Katherine, surprisingly decent signal at 1245 Jan 7, talk by M&W in what seemed like Aussie English, through ToH with no particular ID [because it`s the BoH in NT --- gh]. SIBS-5019.9 decent at 1300 with BBC WS news, NBC-4890 also in. One day only (Jerry Berg, MA, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) Because it`s supposed to be on 120m overnight. But it`s not too unusual for the VL8 stations not to make the 5/2 MHz switch for some reason (gh, DXLD) ** BAHAMAS [non]. Response to Ken Zichi's Bandscan Info in DXLD 4-006 I found Ken Zichi's log of stations, especially the MW bandscan, heard on Grand Bahama Island quite interesting (DXLD 4-006). It brought back memories of my time in south Florida back in the early 1960s. I recalled that the original licensee of 540 kHz used 10 kW daytime only from Haines City FL and used call WGTO to indicate its Gulf to ocean coverage. The 710 frequency in Miami was licensed to George B. Storer, using call WGBS with 50 kW 24hrs but with different patterns day and night. This station provided much good music with an excellent signal and AM sound. WVCG in Coral Gables was originally on 1070 and also provided an excellent signal with classical music offered. It's amazing how the times and the cultures have changed since I came into this world in Atlanta GA back in 1941. Nevertheless, I still consider my northern European heritage and what it has provided for the United States through so very many people, far superior to any other (Richard Howard, Burnsville, North Carolina, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, this is politically incorrect, and not the start of a new OT thread (gh) ** CANADA. Radio Canada International seems to be having problems yet again with the transmitter on 9515. Throwing spurious modulation products up and down 31 meters from that frequency. Noted at 1445. 10 January 2004 (Steve Lare, Holland, MI, Drake R7, R8 and R8B, swl at qth.net via DXLD) Can`t say about Jan 10, but my observations of UT Jan 11: see MEXICO (gh, DXLD) ** CANADA. The new 1570 station in Laval, Quebec is on the air right now (3:50 PM EST) with mix of English and French 50s through 80s music. No announcements or station IDs being heard at this time [Later:] Just heard an announcement, in French, at 4:00 PM EST. Basically says that this is Radio Nostalgia (Nostalgie, in French), testing on 1570 kHz. If you are receiving noise or interference, please contact our engineers at 514-497-1350. There are no call letters being given. The ID in French is ``Radio Nostalgie, AM quinze-soixante-dix-sept`` (Radio Nostalgia, AM 15-70). The station just shut down as I was typing this, at 4:06 PM (Sheldon Harvey, QC, Jan 12, NRC-AM via DXLD) Wouldn`t that be just ``quinze-soixante-dix``? (gh, DXLD) I called the phone number and spoke with the engineer, who is English by the way! He said the station has two towers up and was just running another preliminary test today, awaiting approval from Industry Canada on full fledged testing. He didn't even know that the guys back at the studio had included his cellphone number in the ID tape! The station has two transmitters, both second hand and will be running 10,000 watts. They are now anticipating going on the air full-time, hopefully, by the end of January or early February. The transmitter site doesn't have Hydro power hookup yet. He was running the station off a small generator today. He was most interested in hearing about DXers, radio clubs, etc. and was somewhat surprised that anyone heard them as he feels that people just aren't interested in AM anymore. He is not an employee of the station, but is just under contract to help get them on the air. I unfortunately forgot to ask him about call letters, but I did tell him that I managed to find their webpage, which he also didn't know anything about, at http://www.nostalgie1570.com (Sheldon Harvey, ibid.) ** CANADA. AND FROM OUT OF NOWHERE, HERE'S AUGUSTA LaPAIX Augusta LaPaix (of CBC Radio fame, ex-host of Brave New Waves and local Montreal drive-program Home Run) is now the proud owner of a B&B that caters to women only. See http://tinyurl.com/yuze9 (Montreal Gazette business section feature) Cheers, (Ricky Leong, QC, Jan 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Tiny URL must be getting more business, as it has expanded from 4 to 5-character links (gh, DXLD) ** CHINA. Monitoring of China National Radio daytime transmissions in the 11 MHz reveals very poor technical operational management. Inter- modulation problems within the transmission infrastructure are causing CNR1 programming to be superimposed on CNR2 on several channels. In the period 0000-0200, affected channels included 11720, 11760, and 11750. There are enormous numbers of frequencies noted carrying CNR1/CNR2 programming during the Chinese daytime period on 11 MHz, and I am starting to believe that some of these are high-level spurious radiations. This has occurred since the introduction of the new high- powered transmitter centre in western China. Effective frequency coordination for other Asian broadcasters is now being disturbed by the incredibly high number of 11 MHz channels carrying CNR programming. Some of these are also interfering with the domestic transmissions from CBS/Radio Taiwan International. Examination of the 11 MHz band on January 10, between 0000 and 0200, showed these channels carrying CNR programming: 11610 CNR2 11620 CNR5 (Taiwan Network)(co-channel Delhi) 11660 CNR2 11670 CNR2 11710 CNR1 11720 CNR1 11750 CNR1 11760 CNR1 (co-channel Udorn) 11800 CNR2 11810 CNR8 (minority language network) 11835 CNR2 11845 CNR2 11915 CNR2 11925 CNR1 11935 CNR5 (Taiwan Network) 11940 CNR1 11960 CNR1 Some of these are mixtures of CNR1/CNR2 at various times - others may be spurious transmissions. Good listening to China! (Bob Padula, Mont Albert, Vic, Australia, via Büschel, DXLD, to which he replies:) Bob, I do not understand your commentary on this matter. I'm not convinced of your statement. China is a large country, they have a lot different central and domestic programs, they have customers on their fishery and merchant fleet in the Chinese Sea and on the Indian and Pacific Ocean, at 3000 up to 6000 kilometers distance. They use an extensive 11 MHz service from daylight to night/twilight areas in western China at this portion around 0100-0200 UT up to a distance of 3000 kilometers from Xian to far west of China, or 3900 kilometers from Beijing to Western China. Or 2000 kilometers straight NorthEast distance to the Chinese/Russian border. 11610 CNR2 Beijing 270 deg 11620 CNR5 Amoy sce (Taiwan Network)(co-channel Delhi) 11660 CNR2 Xian 11670 CNR2 Beijing bi-directional 70/220 deg 11710 CNR1 285 towards NorthWest 11720 CNR1 Shijiazuhang 11750 CNR1 Shijiazuhang bi-directional 37/217 deg 11760 CNR1 Xian to West China (co-channel Udorn) 11800 CNR2 Beijing 180 deg to South China/Pac 11810 CNR8 (minority language network) Uighur/Kazakh 11835 CNR2 Xian to W China 11845 CNR2 was CNR1 Xian to W China 11915 CNR2 Xian to W China 11925 CNR1 Lingshi to WeChina 11935 CNR5 Amoy service (Taiwan Network) 11940 CNR1 jamming function 11960 CNR1 Northern 37 degrees Despite that, there are numerous CNR program channels which are used as jamming function against western propaganda stations around the clock. In Prime time there are much, much more IBB-service-variations and BBC program hours on air to whole Asia, than from China. | Some of these are also interfering with the domestic transmissions from CBS/Radio Taiwan International. | That is "wanted" as purpose of the service! Chinese Aim is Mainland re-unification with Taiwan. [Like happened in Germany and Vietnam; and is desirable in Korea now...] 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hello Wolfgang, Of course there are many jamming transmissions from the Mainland, where content may include CNR1 and CNR programming. A "bad" one is on 11710, 0000-0200, carrying CNR1, apparently for Taipei co-channel. Interestingly, other Taipei domestic network services on 11 MHz are not subject to mainland jamming! There are indeed prime time HF services from various international broadcasters to China for local morning reception there but very few are subject to jamming. The main culprit is the repetitive Chinese music garbage, directed to some RFA services. Regards! Bob Padula (via Büschel, DXLD) ** CHINA [non]. 9930, Dafa Hao (Falun Gung) (via Javoradio OZ) (Tentative) a real mess, heavily jammed with Firedrake music at 1500. Dafa Hao programming was talk, but it was really blocked. Via KWHR (Hans Johnson, Naples, FL, Cumbredx mailing list Jan 11 via DXLD) ** COLOMBIA. Reactivada Radio Melodía, Colombia, el 11/01, a las 0104 UT, en los 6139.79 kHz. SINPO 4/3. Presentaba el segmento "Las Últimas Noticias". Anteriormente, un tema del cantante venezolano Franco de Vita (Adán González, Catia La Mar, VENEZUELA, Jan 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COLOMBIA. I too heard the Barranquilla outlet of Colombia's RCN Network on 760 last night. That brought back fond memories of the four years I spent at the American Embassy in Bogotá as the embassy's press attaché. It was my job then to interact with the local media people including the people at RCN which stands for "Radio Cadena Nacional". Bogotá is high in the mountains but the transmitter site for the RCN outlet in Ibagué is in a tropical valley and I recall that the station maintained a swimming pool and cabana at that site for honorable visitors such as myself who went down there to warm our bones now and then. In the early days of computers (I was posted in Bogotá from 1980 to 1984) RCN had a mainframe in its headquarters to tabulate the results of the national elections. Their reporters around the country would feed regional results directly to RCN headquarters. RCN was not allowed to broadcast the results of their computations, being required to carry only the official results as put out by the government election headquarters, but those of us invited to RCN for the evening were able to detect trends before they were released officially. Since I am fluent in Spanish I favor DXing the Latin American stations when doing BCB DXing. Now that there is this venue for reporting the results I will try to get more serious about doing so. Regards, (Fred Laun, Temple Hills, MD, Jan 12, WTFDA-AM via DXLD) ** COSTA RICA. I `DXed` Sunday`s AER webcast as previewed in previous issue. The half-hour documentary on the history of REE mentioned among many other things, that R. Nacional de Costa Rica had the capability of broadcasting via the REE Cariari site (evidently as part of the agreement), but in my ``reception`` report to AER, for which a nice pdf `Virtual QSL` has already arrived, I mentioned that this has never really happened, ¿verdad? (Glenn Hauser, Jan 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hola, Cuando hace unos años me pasé por el centro emisor de REE en Costa Rica, los técnicos (todos ellos muy jovenes) me dijeron que sí, que debería salir al aire la RN del país, pero que lo veían dificil. Quizá la desidia local y la prepotencia española nos hayan dejado sin oir la RN de Costa Rica. Un saludo (Pedro Sedano, Madrid, España, AER, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COSTA RICA. 6105, R. Universidad (tentative), 1425 Jan 8, with men talking in Spanish. Not strong, but nothing sounding like an ID before I tuned out at 1432. I checked again at 1515, but the signal seems to have faded into the noise by that time. Nothing but local noise on Jan 9 and Jan 11 (Hans Johnson, Naples, FL, Cumbredx mailing list Jan 11 via DXLD) ** COSTA RICA. 5054.57, 4.1 0132, Faro del Caribe with rather lousy audio but strong signal. 3 CB (Christer Brunström, Sweden, SW Bulletin Jan 11, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. I listened to Arnie Coro's show on Saturday afternoon on the broadcast to Europe. Wanted to clarify something I heard and tried to catch it later in the evening on the North American Service and they weren't there. Both 6000 and 9820 were off the air when I checked at 0130 and 0330 (John H. Carver Jr., Mid-North Indiana, Jan 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. Identifying R. Progreso, and 880 --- Go to http://www.radioprogreso.cu and select programación for a schedule and list of stations. I have heard rock documentaries on R. Progreso, nothing like an oldies format of various artists though, instead typically focusing on a particular artist or group. I recall documentaries heard on R. Progreso featuring The Who, Elton John, and John Lennon among others. Common slogans used include "Noticiero (or noticias) RP" and "la onda de la alegría" or "la onda de la alegría ritmo." Theme music in the canned top of the hour ID is the same as used in the "Jack the Stargazer" segments on PBS - I don't know the name of the song, but it's very distinctive. [``Snowflakes are Dancing`` --- gh]. The "Nocturno" and "Ritmo" programs often include US urban contemporary / disco dance music. Typically on 880 kHz, I'll receive either R. Progreso or R. Venezuela with WCBS nulled out. R. Venezuela has sports and tropical music. I have heard oldies under WCBS before, but nothing identifiable. The only definite ID of CHQT here was when WCBS was off. As someone else mentioned, to confirm reception of R. Progreso, check for parallels, the most commonly received being at 640, 890, or 900 kHz (Bruce Conti, Nashua NH, NRC-AM via DXLD) Isao Tomita's version of Debussy's Arabesque No. 1, on Snowflakes Are Dancing, is used as the theme of Stargazer, Jack Horkheimer's weekly astronomy show on PBS (Juan Gualda, Fort Pierce, FL, ibid.) ** CUBA [non]. 1700, Radio Martí heard once again with man in Spanish and several Radio Martí IDs at 0430 EST 1/12, while looking for WJCC. I wonder if we will ever fiqure this out. Fair over/under KBGG [Iowa]. Drake R8, 1500' Eastern beverage (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, NRC-AM via DXLD) Even stranger, as I recall, this is during the weekly silent period of R. Martí, UT Monday 0400-1000. If you looked for SW parallels [which you always should], there should not have been any, and I think 1180 would also have been off (The online IBB frequency schedule is not accessible at the moment to confirm). (Glenn Hauser, OK, ibid.) Glenn; Again I did not hear WJCC, so I wonder if WJCC was running the Radio Martí programming. I never hear them both at the same time. Several people have logged this Radio Martí station, transmission, etc. I called WJCC last time. They claimed after switching me around from person to person that it wasn't them. But it did not sound legit. I was told WJCC is in the same building with Radio Martí there in So. Florida. But I can't find out what is going on. No one will admit to anything. But in the early days of Radio Swan, it was the same way. Also my first reception of AFRTS-Thule Greenland (1425 khz). I got a letter back stating they could not verify I heard them. Then a year later, apparently after a policy change, they sent me a QSL. With the government, who knows? It was a Radio Martí program again. No doubt about that. I am getting used to the Radio Martí fanfare and all. It is getting so common these days on 1700. I still suspect WJCC if they admit it or not (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, IRCA via DXLD) Pat: At 0520 EST 1/12 I am hearing a man in Spanish, assumed usual WJCC mixing with a gospel station, assumed WEUV. Perhaps you had WJCC with a Radio Martí program or a program that had mentions of Radio Martí (Bill Harms, Elkridge, MD, IRCA via DXLD) As for the two domestic [SW] transmitters, Greenville and Delano, it's more like Martí owns them and VOA also uses them, considering the number of hours per transmitter. This 1700 thing keeps showing up and I think someone, somewhere, at some time in times long past, figgered it as being the sum/mix of two SW frequencies out of Delano. Not being radiated at all by Delano, but locally generated in a radio near you. 1700 isn't a bad idea to broadcast into Cuba. It'd last a while until Cuba noted its existence and moved a bunch of MWs up there to jam it. BTW some VOA program or another, Ventana a Cuba (Window On Cuba), rates jamming from Cuba and SW jammers quickly QSY from Martí frequencies to jam this hour-long program, and QSY back at its end. Something that VOA can be proud of, a program that means enough to displease Cuba so much. Does anyone anywhere remember the math on the 1700 spur? 73 de (Charlie Retired Transmitter Troll Taylor, NC, ibid.) As I already explained the last time this showed up, the math works for 1710 being an image of 6030, but not for 1700 (gh, DXLD) Glenn, I'm happy to exchange with you again. This Martí silent period of 2300 Sun to 0500 Mon {EST] is a strange thing. It follows the Marathon-1180 weekly transmitter and antenna maintenance schedule. Most IBB transmitter stuff gets a weekly cleaning and maintenance. There's only one antenna system at Marathon, so if they're going to do a weekly safely, transmitters have to come down too. But Greenville and Delano SW frequencies all follow the same silent period even though there are substitute transmitters and antennas to use. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense except the usual gov'mint master principle of inertia. So the 1700 kHz is likely someone else's idea, and I wouldn't put it past the Cuban-American Miami/Dade exile community to take on itself to run a 1700 pirate somewhere down there --- and get away with it too. They'd tell the FCC that it's sanctioned by Martí and the FCC likely wouldn't have any more of a clue about that than it does about a lot of stuff. And if they figgered out that 1700 is a pirate, the Cuban-American Community would have the political influence to get away with it. SO WHY DON'T WE DO A LITTLE D/Fing ON THE SIDE, IRCAers? (Charlie Retarded Transmitter Troll Taylor, ibid.) Charlie; I still lean towards WJCC running Radio Martí programming. It just fits, by their attitude when I called plus I never hear WJCC at the same time. Conditions have to be fairly auroral and a lobe towards the SE. Oh yes, I heard Gospel in there too. It must have been AL. I don't remember (without checking), what morning I heard it before, but it is always around 3-4 EST (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, ibid.) A lot of times the people in the Army at Fort Huachuca in AZ will test transmitters as well as the people at A-51. They will use VOA, AFRTS or Martí to modulate the transmitters during tests prior to shipment overseas for propaganda broadcasts. Perhaps this is the answer to Pat's catch. I have heard it before on several different radios. It does exist. I fully understand that this may not be the answer but it is one possibility. There is no doubt from talking to people who work at Martí, that they are not directly the group transmitting on 1700 (Kevin Redding, Mesa, Arizona, ibid.) ** ECUADOR. 2299.84 (Harmonic), LV de Riobamba (presumed), 1047, 11 Jan, Definitely a signal here with some LA-sounding music weakly. Didn't stick with it (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 15190/7190, Radio East Africa and Radio Africa. I haven't had any luck in hearing 15190 in ages nor have I seen any reports. Does anyone know if these services are still on? (Hans Johnson, Naples, FL, Jan 8, Cumbredx mailing list Jan 11 via DXLD) Used to be off-frequency between 15185 and 15190, and stuck out sorethumbly when active. One might ask Pan American Broadcasting in Cupertino (gh, DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA. 6210, R. Fana, 0406-0432, Jan. 6, Vernacular, talks, interviews and occasional musical bits, Solid IDs (3X) with music at 0431. Fair, // 6940 weak with "data" QRM (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, MLB-1, RS longwire with RBA balun, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA. 9562.02, R. Ethiopia, 1405, 11 Jan. Heard way off on this split frequency at this time. M in presumed news. Pretty good and readable signal (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA [non]. GERMANY, 11840, Rainbow Radio (via Javoradio Europe) Listed as *1900 Fri but I couldn't hear anything trying a few Javoradios in Europe (Hans Johnson, Naples, FL, Jan 9, Cumbredx mailing list Jan 11 via DXLD) No connexion with INTERNATIONAL WATERS ** EUROPE. CUPID RADIO: 21895.4 AM Jan/04/2004 1446-1509 UT. Signal Fair to Good with Nice Signal Peaks. Pop Music at tune in 1446. More Pop Music with Piano and Male Singing 1449-1453. Male DJ spoke at 1453. Gave Address as PO Box 9, 8096 ZG Oldebroek, Netherlands. Spelled address phonetically. Gave Email address as cupid radio@h.... More Pop music 1454-1458. Song "Everytime I think of You". More Pop Music 1458-1500. Male DJ spoke at 1500. More Pop Music by a Female at 1500-1504. Male DJ Spoke at 1504. More Pop Music 1505-1509 (David Ross, ON, Free Radio Weekly via DXLD) See previous; next, Jan 18 ** GERMANY. Berlin 97.2 / WRN --- As an amendment re. Berlin 97.2: Andreas Erbe meanwhile filed an enquiry and was told that this frequency is indeed operated with an ERP of a mere 100 watts. So the WRN statement at http://www.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=61 about more than one million inhabitants of Berlin being able to receive the transmissions should be quite true, contrary to an English version about "the more than one million inhabitants of Berlin" I seem to recall (my English is far from being perfect, but I think this is the very same difference as in German). At present WRN asks for reception reports about 97.2; excerpt from a newsletter of WRN Deutsch as quoted in a posting at http://forum.myphorum.de/read.php?f=8773&i=91225&t=91225 : ****** Gewinnspiel ****** Für alle Hörer im Großraum Berlin besteht diese Woche die Möglichkeit, an unserem Gewinnspiel teilzunehmen. Alles, was Sie tun müssen ist einfach mal bei WRN auf der Berliner UKW-Frequenz 97,2 MHz reinzuhören und uns einen kleinen Empfangsbericht zu schicken. Dieser sollte beinhalten, wo in Berlin Sie WRN auf 97,2 MHz empfangen können, wie die Empfangsqualität bei Ihnen so ist sowie ein kurzes Meinungsbild zu den angeboten Programmen. Unter allen Empfangsberichten loben wir wieder tolle Preise aus. --- Sie können WRN Deutsch in Berlin zu folgenden Zeiten empfangen: Täglich zwischen 02.00 und 07.00 Uhr, montags bis Donnerstag bereits ab 23.00 Uhr. Richten Sie Ihre Rückmeldungen und Empfangsberichte bitte bis zum 14. Januar 2004 mit dem Betreff ``UKW Berlin`` an mail @ wrn.org . Vielen Dank und toitoitoi (via Ludwig, DXLD) 100 watts? All alone it might reach a densely packed megaperson, but in any much smaller American city, e.g. OKC, it would get lost in the RF overload of dozens of 100 kW FM frequencies from one end of the band to the other. Not the case in Berlin? (gh, DXLD) ** GUYANA. 3291, V. of Guyana, 0919-0935, Jan. 9, English, birthday wishes, Hindi-style (!) ballad, program promo followed by gospel music. "This is the Voice of Guyana" ID at 0934 and phone number, Religious program "Answers to Life's Questions". Good (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, MLB-1, RS longwire with RBA balun, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HAWAII. Is WWVH on Maui or Kauai? Different sources disagree (gist of Larry Fields` question, swl at qth.net via DXLD) Larry, WWVH moved from Maui to Kauai *many* years ago. WRTH 2004 does not give the address other than Kekaha. I remember seeing the site, from a distance, as I was driving around Kauai in 1970 (Glenn to Larry, ibid.) Thanks Glenn, Klingenfuess book has `em listed as Maui and a web site listed em as Kauai, so it was like throwing darts (Larry, m/m, now on my way to Hawaii, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The NIST website http://www.boulder.nist.gov/timefreq/stations/wwvh.htm lists the current antenna locations as "Island of Kauai, Hawaii on a 12 hectare (30 acre) site near Kekaha at Kokole Point": actual coordinates: --------------------------- Freq (MHz) Latitude Longitude ------------ --------------- --------------------- 2.5 21 59' 20.9" N 159 45' 52.4" W 5 21 59' 10.8" N 159 45' 44.8" W 10 21 59' 18.2" N 159 45' 51.3" W 15 21 59' 15.3" N 159 45' 50.0" W 73, (Frank ---, swl at qth.net via DXLD) Since my only visit to Kauai was in November of 1970 on the way back from my USAF tour of duty in Thailand, the facility I saw must not have been WWVH, if the history page at NIST http://www.boulder.nist.gov/timefreq/stations/wwvhhistory.htm is correct: ``WWVH began operation on November 22, 1948 at Kihei on the island of Maui, in the then territory of Hawaii (Hawaii was not granted statehood until 1959). The original station broadcast a low power signal on 5, 10, and 15 MHz. As it does today, the program schedule of WWVH closely follows the format of WWV. However, voice announcements of time were not added to the WWVH broadcast until July 1964. The original WWVH station site was constantly threatened by an eroding shoreline, and much of the station’s equipment and property had been damaged. It was estimated that 75 feet of shoreline were lost in the period from 1949 to 1967. By 1965, the ocean was within a few meters of both the main building and the 10 MHz antenna, and it was obviously necessary to move WWVH to a new location. In July 1971, the station moved to its current location, a 30 acre (12 hectare) site near Kekaha on the Island of Kauai, Hawaii.`` So WWVH had not quite moved to Kauai at this time. I think the site I saw down on the coast from the Waimea Canyon drive was Barking Sands, a military comms facility. That would be the NW corner of the island, while Kekaha is near the SW corner. Remarkable, anyway, that Klingenfuss is 32+ years out of date on this. 73, (Glenn Hauser, OK, swl at qth.net via DXLD) Glenn, Fascinating tale, thank you for sharing that with us. Items like this really make things come to life and take on a different perspective. Nothing like hearing about it from somebody who has been there and done that. Any idea why WWVH uses a female to do the time announcements? I wonder if there is some not so obvious story behind this? Thanks again Glenn (Duane W8DBF Fischer, ibid.) I always thought it was the obvious, to differentiate from WWV. Aloha (gh, DXLD) Check out my article about visiting the WWVH site at Kauai, which appears on the Chicago Area DX Club's web site [illustrated]: http://www.mindspring.com/~ttmdoc/WWVH.htm (Christos Rigas, Wood Dale, Illinois, swl at qth.net via DXLD) Viz.: ...After passing the Barking Sands Airfield, I have seen more radio antennas in the distance. Once we got near the antennas (few miles before Kekaha), a road sign pointing towards the antennas said US Navy Facility. However in smaller letters underneath it also said Radio Station WWVH. I wanted to get close to the WWVH building in order to take some pictures. However, when we got to the entrance of the Naval facility, the guard there informed us that after 3:30 PM there is nobody at the station to show us around. After explaining to him (actually my wife did all the talking), that we listened to the station back in Chicago, and that we only wanted to take a picture, he gave us a pass for half an hour. Finally, we reached the WWVH site, which is a small building next to the ocean, with several antenna towers in different configuration... (Christos Rigas, as above, DXLD) ** HONDURAS. 3340, HRMI, 0332-0424+, 11 Jan. Canned full ID with Comayagüela address, long talk segment, deadair 0400-0402, then nonstop soft religious music. Not really strong. Clear at this time, but was QRMed by Spanish SSB traffic QRM right on top earlier at 0150 (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) 3340, HRMI, 0435-0449, Jan. 6, Spanish, Pop music, ballads, "live" music at 0440 through tune-out, quick "Radio Misiones" ID at 0444. Fair/poor (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, MLB-1, RS longwire with RBA balun, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HUNGARY. SPECIAL EVENT. Chris, HA5X, informs OPDX that on May 1, 2004, the Republic of Hungary becomes a full member of the European Union (EU). The EU which currently consists of 15 member states will become a union of 25 European countries. Throughout the year of this accession, members of MOM Radioclub will be using the special amateur radio callsign, HA2004EU. Their aim is to make the year 2004 a remarkable event for ham radio operators world wide, whether or not they live in or outside the EU, which is carrying out its biggest ever enlargement. They would like to make as many amateur radio contacts as possible using different amateur radio equipment and various operating techniques. They are looking forward to a year full of interesting experiments and amateur radio ventures. One of the principles of the EU is the easy travel within the Union. To symbolize what that freedom of movement means for amateur radio operators, they plan to visit several current and new members states of the EU, and make amateur radio contacts from all the countries they visit. Beside the operation of the special callsign from Hungary and other member states, the MOM Radioclub also plans to issue an award to those amateur radio operators of the world who can fulfill its requirements. For more information, expedition announcements and stories, please visit the following Web page at http://ha2004.eu/ (KB8NW/OPDX January 12/BARF-80 via John Norfolk, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ICELAND. 7590U, Armed Forces Network (via Javoradio Europe) 1300 Jan 10 with NPR news, but persistent ute. Weak signal (Hans Johnson, Naples, FL, Cumbredx mailing list Jan 11 via DXLD) ** INDIA. On 11 Jan at 1630 I noticed (presumably) AIR Delhi on strange 3335. Signal was weakish (with local noise on the frequency). Later they had opera-kind of music, passing 1700 UT TOH without announcement. Rechecking, the sign-off was at 1836. The usual, strong AIR Delhi 3365 wasn't heard at all. Punch-up error, back-up transmitter or what? (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL INTERNET. AWARDS SHOW MON. NIGHT, WITH LIVE WEBCAST Dear friend of Bush in 30 Seconds, The winning ads in our Bush in 30 Seconds ad contest will be announced tonight, live from the awards show at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City. The awards show is going to be hosted by Jeanine Garofalo and will feature performances and presentations by Margaret Cho, Chuck D, Al Franken, Moby, Michael Moore, John Sayles, Julia Stiles, and Rufus Wainwright. It should be a really fun night -- music, comedy, and lots of incredible 30-second ads. If you'd like to tune in, the event will be webcast live, beginning at 8p EST/5p PST [what about CST and MST???!!! Or UT? 0100 Tue --- gh] We'll be announcing the winners around 10:45 pm EST. To tune in to the webcast and view the winning ads after they're announced, just go to: http://www.bushin30seconds.org/ Already, the Bush in 30 Seconds contest has brought tens of thousands of new people into MoveOn, generated millions of dollars' worth of free publicity, and put us in touch with some tremendously talented people. Please join us for the grand finale tonight on the Bush in 30 Seconds website. Sincerely, --Adam, Carrie, Eli, James, Joan, Noah, Peter, Wes, and Zack, The MoveOn.org Team, January 12th, 2003 P.S. In case you'd like to tune in, ABC's Good Morning America will also be doing a live interview with the winner and me, Eli Pariser, tomorrow morning between 7 and 9 am. P.P.S. Here are excerpts from two great articles on the contest -- one from the L.A. Times and one from the Associated Press -- that were published in the last few days: TV AD CONTEST TARGETS PRESIDENT By John M. Glionna, Times Staff Writer http://www.moveon.org/r?478 MOVEON.ORG BECOMES ANTI-BUSH ONLINE POWERHOUSE by Beth Fouhy, Associated Press http://www.moveon.org/r?479 (via Clara Listensprechen, DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL WATERS. RADIO RAINBOW, THE VOICE OF PEACE Do you want peace? Do you want to do something for peace? Do you want to transmit for peace? Radio rainbow is going to transmit for peace. Talk to people. Directly.Talk to their conscience. Talk about starting conversations. Talk about making a difference. Talk about more colors than black and white. Talk about the Rainbow. And good music. Nice programs. Creating a brotherhood of peaceloving people. By reading their e mails. Hearing their thoughts. Bouncing across the earth. We do not only want to talk to good people. Also to bad people. We are going to transmit. From sea. The North Sea. From a ship. I know, thats exiting. We are not rich. We are idealists. Like you. We do have a ship. We do have the people. We do have in this stage a low power transmitter on shortwave 75 meter band, and medium wave. So you can hear us. In the Netherlands. United kingdom. Belgium. Germany. Thats it. But the world is bigger. And your transmitters may be better. If you own a free radio station, please relay this signal, so more people can get Loving Awareness. Why should this be done by free independant radio stations? Because nations are doing politics, are involved in conflicts. People are making peace. Individual. If we should have one listener, he or she could make a difference. Save a life. Thinking Big. Because of free independant global transmissions by several free stations from several parts of the world. Because of this , Radio Rainbow don't want to be related to a country. Thats why we will be transmitting from a ship in international waters. The begintune will be She's a Rainbow by the Rolling Stones. Transmissions will start soon. Please, please reply. Please take our transmission for you, at wednesday evenings at 10 o'clock U.T.C. (g.m.t.) and forward them. Save lives. Bring peace. By transmitting one hour a week for Peace.This message is sent to you. Please sent this mail to all of your international radio friends. Please reply on this mail. Let us know what you can do. We will let you know when the first transmission will start on which frequency's. Thank you! Karel van Raan, press agent Radio Rainbow project. Be with us. Give us your thoughts. radiorainbow@hotmail.com [All sic] (Richard Michels, rec.radio.shortwave January 12 4:39 pm CST via John Norfolk, DXLD) ** IRAN. Rumours of VOIRI being off shortwave since December 22 except for Arabic (as reported in Communication Jan/04 - BDXC) seem to be unfounded. I made a brief check this afternoon January 12. Tuned in after 2100 to hear Spanish on 7130 and 9750; off at 2130. Also Farsi on 7350 with a strong signal; off at about 2133. Sign on in Bosnian at 2130 on 7235 and 9710; off at 2230. All as per schedules. Nothing in English at 2130 (which I have never logged) on 9780 and 11740 or French at 1830 on 6180 and 9755 which I did log back in early December. Arabic however on 9935 has been on all afternoon from tune in after 1800 and still on after 2200. I assume that it is Iran as I heard no recognizable IDs. So it appears that Iran is still on shortwave but somewhat spotty, or is reception really that bad at present (Bernie O'Shea, Ottawa, Ontario, Jan 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN [non]. SITE? 7580, KRSI, (via Javoradio England) good signal at 1805 Jan 8, but bubble jamming was coming in just as good. Farsi talk, taking phone calls. Usual theme music and off at 1830 (Hans Johnson, Naples, FL, Cumbredx mailing list Jan 11 via DXLD) ** IRAQ. U.S. FIRM TO RUN IRAQI TV HARRIS CORP. ALSO TO OPERATE NATIONAL NEWSPAPER By Walter Pincus Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, January 12, 2004; Page A13 http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A8313-2004Jan11?language=printer The Pentagon has awarded a $96 million contract to a U.S. communications equipment maker to run Saddam Hussein's old television and radio network, now called al-Iraqiya, for the next 12 months, the chairman of the company said last week. Harris Corp., based in Melbourne, Fla., will operate the national newspaper formerly run by Hussein's son Uday, in addition to running the broadcast network, said Howard L. Lance, chairman of the company. When Hussein's government fell in April, the state-run broadcast stations and newspaper were seized. In the months since, they have been run by a U.S. defense contractor, Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC). Under SAIC direction, the stations have not drawn viewers and listeners because their content was considered too pro-United States. In addition, there has been turnover in the non-Iraqi management and turmoil within the Iraqi staff, many of whom were holdovers from the previous dispensation. The day before Hussein was captured last month, 30 Iraqi reporters and producers were fired, and al-Iraqiya did not get the news of his arrest on the air for almost 24 hours. Lance said last week he and two partners hope soon "to have up and running a high-quality news and entertainment network." The partners are the Lebanese Broadcasting Corp. (LBC) and a Kuwaiti publishing and telecommunications company, Al-Fawares. Harris will manage the project and supply the equipment. LBC will be the source of the electronic programming and will conduct training. Running the newspaper and training its journalists will be handled by Al-Fawares, which publishes a newspaper in Kuwait and prints Newsweek in Arabic. Although the Pentagon contract runs for a year, there is some question about what will happen to the newspaper and stations -- collectively known as the Iraq Media Network (IMN) -- when the Coalition Provisional Authority turns over sovereignty to a new Iraq government, scheduled for July 1. Lance said last week he did not know what was going to happen, but he pledged to make the network a "high-quality" organization, whether it becomes state-run or remains under Pentagon control after July. Sen. Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.), chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, recently voiced concern about the U.S. media program in Iraq and specifically about the IMN. He has told the White House he expects the State Department to take responsibility for supervising the IMN after July 1. "We don't want U.S. taxpayers paying $100 million for some new Iraqi government over there to take over," Mark Helmke, a senior aide to Lugar on the committee, said last week. "The chairman wants to make sure that the new contract leads to an independent, free press." Dorrance Smith, a former ABC News producer and an adviser to President Bush and President George H.W. Bush, works in Baghdad as a senior media adviser to the coalition authority. He recently added the IMN to his responsibilities, according to Washington and Baghdad government sources. Smith's first job in Iraq was to create a 24-hour television feed for local U.S. television stations, bypassing the networks, which U.S. officials complained were emphasizing negative news from Iraq. The former Hussein network is not the only Iraq media project being run by the U.S. government. The authorities, using money generated by Iraqi oil sales, are working to set up an FM radio station south of Baghdad within 30 days to compete with local religious broadcasters. It is the latest move in the broader, sometimes faltering, effort to present the viewpoints of the United States and the provisional authority. The U.S. regional coordinator for south-central Iraq is looking for a contractor to build the station, to be housed in a religious university at Al Hillah. The FM outlet will provide "a means of promoting CPA aims and coalition information," along with "democratic education, vocational education . . . [and] public service broadcasting services," according to a request for proposals published recently. The CPA would "identify Iraqi personnel for training" at the station, the request said. The proposed Al Hillah university station has drawn bids from companies in Cyprus, Sweden, Germany and the United States. It is not the only one planned in the region, which one official described as "a hotbed of Shia religious activity." There has been talk of possibly placing another one in the local women's center to give women a voice, a CPA official said Meanwhile, the U.S. board that runs the Voice of America and Radio Sawa, an Arabic-language entertainment and news channel, is moving to set up land-based television broadcast stations in Baghdad and Basra. They will carry the programming of its new Middle East satellite channel, which is set to begin operating next month. In its recent contract proposal, the Broadcasting Board of Governors said it is "particularly noteworthy that the urgent establishment of BBG TV broadcasting systems in Iraq is a top U.S. government priority." The board said it wants the Baghdad station running by the end of next month and the Basra station operating by March 22. (c) 2004 The Washington Post Company (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** ISRAEL. Re Hillel transmitters closing, 4-003, 4-006. According to MV-Eko the 1200 kW transmitter started operations on 7 November 1972 after a few months at 600 kW. Tel Aviv also received 4x100 kW Thomson MW transmitters around 1959-1961 according to CFTH advertisements in the WRTH. According to History of International Broadcasting, Vol. 2, the 500 kW Telefunken transmitter came on the air in 1986 and is of the S4005 model (Olle Alm, Sweden, Jan 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) [and non]. The closure of the Hillel site or rather the earlier ban against continued use of the 1200 kW transmitter there means that IBA no longer has a high power mediumwave outlet for the Arabic service. All that remains alongside FM are two 50 kW frequencies and of course 5915 shortwave. A while ago I wondered if any other 300 kW Philips shortwave transmitters than the ones at Talata Volondry and Bonaire exist. Yes, four such rigs are installed at the Yavne site, so at least eight of them were produced. But what about the spare parts supply, who takes care? It appears that Philips has left the broadcast equipment business altogether; the product line of the former BTS branch (where also the German Fernseh GmbH finally ended up after belonging to Bosch) is now continued by Thomson (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Jan 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** JAPAN. 3373.5, 30.12 1250, JKM20, Mihara with relay of NHK2, Osaka. USB. Closedown 1259. 1-2. SA 3607.5, 30.12 1245, JKI20, Shobu with relay of NHK1, Tokyo. Mostly talk, call "Nippon Hoso Kyokai". Closedown 1300. 2+ SA. 3970.0, 30.12 1250, JKD20, Nabeta with relay of NHK1, Nagoya, // with 3607.5. Seldom Heard here at my location. 1-2 SA (Stig Adolfsson, Sweden, SW Bulletin Jan 11, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KASHMIR [non]. CLANDESTINE, 6100, R. Sedaye Kashmir (presumed) Jan 11, *1430-1445. 1000-hertz tone to 1430, then one minute of opening sub-continental music. This was followed by 2 minutes of a man and a woman with light-hearted chit-chat, not the strident tone that one would expect from a clandestine. Nothing resembling an ID, either, at least not "Sedaye Kashmir" or even "Kashmir". More sub-continental vocal music followed to 1440, then the music continued with M&W voice- overs. Don't know who else this could be. Good signal at tune-in but deteriorating; minor QRM from a background station, probably Malaysia (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado, Drake R-8, 100-foot RW, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** LESOTHO. 4800, R. Lesotho, 0353-0411, Jan. 11, Sesotho, Choral music and presumed prayers. Brief Lesiba tones at 0359 followed by YL talks, choral music resumes at 0403 with more prayer-like talks at 0407. Fair/poor with "sweeper' QRM (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, MLB-1, RS longwire with RBA balun, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LIBERIA. We are up at half power on the shortwave in Liberia. And an engineering crew is going there on the 28th to tune the transmitter. Reflective power is knocking it off so it is only stable at half power. This is the High Adventure transmitter that was in the Lebanon/Israel demilitarized zone. We moved it to Liberia when the Israelis pulled out. So this transmitter has always been in a war zone (Morgan Freeman, WJIE, Jan 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Last reported on 11515v, but off the air as of last July; see 3-126. ID was V. of Liberty. So what is the actual power now, the current frequency, and schedule?? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LIBYA. Heard Libyan broadcast to Iraq at 1800-1900 on 11890 on a couple of occasions recently, always in USB. More likely to be direct from Libya; doubt hired French transmitters would broadcast in USB (Dave Kenny, England, DX News, Jan BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** MALI. RTV Mali, 4835, 1913 6 Dec, English news bulletin, Bob Marley record, SIO 342 (Nick Rank, Derbyshire, Tropical Bands Logbook, Jan BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) That was a Saturday ** MEXICO. Blobmitter report! XERMX had been behaving itself recently on 9705, sometimes even a decent signal, but UT Jan 11 at 0540 found an extremely distorted carrier-less blob centered about 9510, and audible between 9465 and 9540 at least, continuous jam session with guitar, harmonica, occasional Spanish singing, styles ranging from metal to blues. Would have enjoyed hearing this in lo-fi, let alone hi-fi, but no such luck. Quickly scanned 6 to 11 MHz bands for possible parallels and found none, nothing on 11770, and if anything on 9705 it was obscured by WYFR 9715 splash. Suspected it was XERMX; only the very briefest of announcements at 0557, which I could not copy, and into Mexican anthem, and off 0559*. Rechecked at 1437, same situation on 9510, but separable from RCI 9515, and after 1500, from NHK on 9505. Suspect the report from the day before under CANADA was really XERMX, with RCI the victim, rather than the source, if the blob was then centered on 9515. No blob noted the morning of Jan 12 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEW ZEALAND. Re DXLD 4-002: 3935, The Radio Reading Service tells Cumbre DX that their shortwave transmitter is on the air (Hans Johnson, Jan 9, Cumbredx mailing list Jan 11 via DXLD) Hi Hans, Can hear them sometimes 1000-1100 but never enough for detailed log (Bob Wilkner, FL, ibid.) They are frequently heard from Grayland, and sometimes from Oregon. At times they are parallel with RNZ (Don Nelson, Oregon, ibid.) RNZI? ** PERU. 4427.98, R. Bambamarca, 1049-1101, 11 Jan. Nice nonstop OA Harp Huayno music. Once song mentioned Bambamarca. 1101 another song started and stopped, then beautiful canned full ID by M over music, followed by live studio M with announcements, and then back to music at 1103. Not that bad of a signal but weather and radar sweeper QRM. Slowly drifted up over 4428 by tune-out (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. Re: 7200, R. Respublik Sakha, I asked Bernd Trutenau about this one; here is his reply: That's the "usual" station, the regional, state-owned NVS "Sakha" (which is the official name). Website: http://www.nbcsakha.ru Both QRGs are listed in WRTH2004 for this service. The website also has the full regional radio schedule: http://www.nbcsakha.ru/radio.htm At other times these frequencies relay Radio Rossii (Hans Johnson, Naples, FL, Cumbredx mailing list Jan 11 via DXLD) ** SAUDI ARABIA [non]. UNITED KINGDOM, MIRA. This group had been broadcasting to Saudi Arabia on shortwave. Their new website of http://www.islah.tv seems to indicate that they have resumed their satellite broadcasts but I couldn't find anything indicating that they have resumed on shortwave. They also have a live Internet stream, but I couldn't get it to work (Hans Johnson, Naples, FL, Jan 8, Cumbredx mailing list Jan 11 via DXLD) ** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. 9955, Overcomer Ministry via WRMI at 1100 was jammed by the Cubans for a few days who didn't realize that the schedule had changed. No jamming detected today though (Hans Johnson, Naples, FL, Jan 8, Cumbredx mailing list Jan 11 via DXLD) ** SPAIN. REE: After seeing a report in Conexión Digital NL from Caio Fernandes Lopes in Brazil that he had received a full-data QSL via an RNE program, "Españoles en la Mar," with a return address of Apartado 1233, 38080 Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Is. (he did not say if he sent his report to Madrid or the Canaries, but I assume the latter), I located the program on 15385 at 1510 Jan 10, after the news, with a pretty good albeit a little fadey signal. At around 1525 there was a mailbag segment where they acknowledged letters from liteners in Brazil (including Lopes' own letter), Chile, Venezuela and Ecuador, and invited letters to the above Canary Is. P.O. Box. The program is apparently produced in the Canaries, which are mentioned occasionally during the program. Interestingly, the postal code announced on the air was 38001, which, per Martin Schoech's QIP [QSL Info pages] http://www.schoechi.de/af-cnr.html/#RNE%20Tenerife appears to be for RNE's street address on Tenerife, while 38080 goes with the box number; the announcer may have gotten them confused. If I am reading the REE on-line sked correctly http://www.rtve.es/me/ree/ProgramasDV/Espanoles_Mar.htm and http://www.rtve.es/me/ree/dx1.html this program is on Mon-Sat at 1510, 15585 & 21610 on Mon-Fri, 15385 & 17755 on Sat; Mon-Fri at 2105 on 11625; and Sat at 2205 on 7270 & 11625. It was on at 2205 Jan 10 as well, on both 11625 (poor) and 7270 (better but QRMed). REE announced that they were no longer QSLing from Madrid, so this looks like an interesting back-door way to still QSL them (Jerry Berg, MA, NASWA Flashsheet Jan 11 via DXLD) I believe we reported years ago in DXLD that this program originates in Canarias. Also, today Sunday Jan 11, I caught the tail end of ``Aquí España`` the weekly show for contact with military in Iraq, until 1500 on 21700 (best), 21610, 21570. Since it`s a joint produxion with R. Cinco domestic net, maybe that`s another possibility for desperate back-door QSLers. See also COSTA RICA (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SRI LANKA. 9770, SLBC, *1229-1244, Jan. 11, English, Drums, pips (4+1), barely audible sign-on announcement, Frank Sinatra, "My Way", other ballads including "Butterfly Kisses". Poor/weak (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, MLB-1, RS longwire with RBA balun, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN [non]. 12060, MADAGASCAR, R. V. of Hope, 0440-0457*, Jan. 10, English, re "control of small arms in Rwanda and Sudan", more talks of development, security and mentions of neighboring countries; Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, brief Afropops between items. Quick ID at s/off. Fair at tune-in, choppy by sign-off, No // noted (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, MLB-1, RS longwire with RBA balun, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN [non]. ERITREA? 8000, Voice of Sudan (via Javoradio OZ) 1532 Jan 8 with talk in Arabic, weak signal. Plenty of mentions of "the Sudanese people" but hard to follow because of ute interference. ID at 1544 (Hans Johnson, Naples, FL, Cumbredx mailing list Jan 11 via DXLD) ** UGANDA. UGANDA THREATENS RADIO STATIONS -- News 24, South Africa Kampala - More than 30 radio private radio stations in Uganda are threatened with closure for failure to remit their licence fees to the state broadcasting ... more at http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/News/0,,2-11-1447_1467896,00.html (via Horacio Nigro, Uruguay, Jan 11, DXLD) ** UKRAINE. Glenn, RUI QRM is present again 0000 UT 5905 January 11, 2004. I can eliminate the QRM using ECSS LSB. So, the QRM is in the upper sideband. 73, (Kraig Krist, Annandale, VA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Regarding the WBCQ schedule. Don't know it it's any more recent but if you send a blank email to schedule@wbcq.us a supposedly current schedule will come back to you via email [just tried it and still doesn`t show WOR UT Sun 0130 on 9330, which I just reconfirmed Jan 11, tho signal is rather weak; sked not current, dated Jan 7 --- gh] As for the Piss and Moan Show. This is an outgrowth of the Piss and Moan Net that TimTron used to run on ham radio. He has, in the past while at home, run the net realtime on the ham bands and then simulcast it over WBCQ over I assume a phone patch. Ninety-nine percent of the time though, the show originates at the WBCQ studios. It is an open forum, open phone line show where people can complain (piss and moan) about any non radio related topic they want to. Tim says it does people good to vent about things instead of keeping it all bottled up. The only real problem is that fully three quarters of the callers want to talk about a radio topic, be it receivers, dealers, propagation, antennas etc. Tim has to keep reminding them that they're not supposed to talk about radio. If there are few or no callers, Tim fills the time with music or humorous anecdotes. Of course, with Tim doing it, some of the stories are a little mean spirited. One he told a while back goes like this. I was in the local IGA getting some groceries. There weren't many people in the store and the ones that were, were standing in the corner having a discussion. I was walking out of the store with my sacks in my arms when I saw a cop standing behind the car writing a ticket. I said come on man, give me a break. The cop promptly wrote out another ticket and said this one is for having bald tires. I said don't be a jerk man, and he wrote out another ticket. I said don't be a geek, man and he wrote another ticket. The more I talked to him, the more tickets he wrote. Shifting the sacks in my arms I said, well, I've got to get going. Have a nice day man and I walked around the corner to my car and went home. Since RFPI went off the air I find that I'm listening to WBCQ a lot more, when I can get them. The propagation gods haven't been too kind to them lately. Just happened to be listening to them on New Year's eve and heard most of the TimTron Worldwide marathon. Gave up after three hours of listening and went to bed. Tim is away from the station for an extended period of time and they chopped up the marathon into one hour segments and have been running it in the regular Saturday evening timeslot. The Real Amateur Radio Show this week was done via a phone patch and Tim said he was several hundred miles away from the station. Tom, the guy that usually runs the station during the day has left for a paying job in California. Tim is gone for a couple of months so that leaves Alan and Jennifer. Alan has been running the station by himself during the day and Jennifer comes in at night. I would have to second the recommendation made in a recent DXLD regarding the Secular Bible Study on WBCQ. Have been listening to this show for about four weeks now, ever since I stumbled across it. The guy that is running it is not afraid to say that certain books of the bible are just outright fiction. It's an hour long program with the first half devoted to the old testament and second part to the new testament. He reads the bible verse by verse, word by word, using at least twenty sources. He reads a verse from the King James then explains how the other versions differ on a word or phrase and then pronounces sentence as to whether or not there's any truth to it. In the short time I've listened to it I've heard him proclaim that the Book of Exodus is total fiction, the story of Abraham is total fiction, the gospels weren't written by the apostles and a few other gems. Also while I was off I listened to a lot of Alex Jones on whatever Dave Franz's station is called now [WWRB]. Was a real hoot the day that Alex Jones had Rabbi Spivak on for a debate. Talk about a loaded deck. The poor rabbi didn't have a chance (John H. Carver Jr., Mid- North Indiana, Jan 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Hello, this is Morgan Freeman from WJIE. We are up and operating on the 7.490. My engineer is saying 13.595 is up. Can you hear it? I can`t (Morgan Freeman, KY, WJIE, Jan 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. NEW AWR ENGLISH SCHEDULE I have seen various reports of cuts in AWR's schedule effective 1st January and this is confirmed by a new pdf schedule on the AWR website effective 1 January to 28 March 04. This is the full English schedule extracted from the schedule: 0200-0230 As 7230-au 0830-0900 Eu 9660-au 1000-1030 As 11705-gm 11900-gm 1030-1100 As 11900-gm 1200-1230 As 15135-ab 1330-1400 As 11980-gm 15660-gm 1530-1600 As 15225-ab 1600-1700 As 15495-gm 1630-1700 As 11980-gm 1730-1800 ME 11560-gm 1800-1830 Af 5960-me 7265-me 1800-1900 Af 11985-me 1830-1900 ME 11865-au 1930-2000 Af 11845-ju 2000-2030 Af 15295-me 2030-2100 Af 15295-me 2100-2130 Af 9660-au 2130-2200 Af 9660-au 2130-2200 As 11980-gm 12010-gm ab=Abu Dhabi, UAE au= Moosbrunn, Austria gm= KSDA, Guam ju=Juelich, Germany me=Meyerton, S Africa The Wavescan DX programme is broadcast on Sundays. Prior to January it was heard during the half-hour broadcasts from all sites except Meyerton and in first half of the one-hour broadcasts from all sites except Meyerton. From Meyerton it was only carried during the second half of the one-hour broadcasts. I presume this is still the case but have not re-confirmed it for the revised schedule (Dave Kenny 12 Jan 04, BDXC-UK via DXLD) ** U S A. 17705, new frequency for R. Martí --- well, for one minute, anyway. Jan 11 I was listening in the car to V. of Greece relay on 17705 playing some songs in English! Including ``Moonglow``, to usual abrupt cutoff at 2159. I had not retuned, when at 2201 R. Martí news in Spanish suddenly appeared, but then it vanished a minute later. Here`s what must have happened: the transmitter for VOG on 17705 is the same as for R. Martí on 15330, Delano-1. The switch of audio sources input to the transmitter was a bit late, and the switch of frequencies even later. All this needs to be coördinated: 1) Turn off 17705; 2) change audio input and antenna output; 3) retune and turn on 15330 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 1700: see CUBA [non] ** U S A. 1660, Pirate, GA, Norcross? 1/8 1308 EST - Haitian(?) pirate noted with nice program of light music, IDs "Radio Citadelle, ____"; the number after "Citadelle" seemed to be a frequency but I don't think it was 1660 (I think it ended in 40). Only noted on car radio middays from Norcross, so I assume it's located fairly close (Tim Hall, DXing from Norcross, GA, Delco car radio, amfmtvdx at qth.net via DXLD) ** U S A. KTNN was logged with ASU basketball and an ID (of all things) here on 1/8/04. Randy Stewart, in Missouri, has reported them several times to this list in the past week. Have they stopped switching patterns? Can anyone further west provide any insight on this remarkable opportunity to log KTNN? [660 Window Rock AZ] For a while last fall, they were clearly not switching patterns on the weekends. I believe it was Kaz who noticed and reported the trend at the time. Or is this a most miraculous reception, hearing them somehow off the back of the main lobe? Comments welcome (Gerry Bishop, Niceville, FL, NRC-AM via DXLD) I believe they are on day facilities quite often at night. In the past, I've heard them on likely night facilities and all I get is occasional bits and pieces mixed with Mexicans/CFFR when WFAN is phased out. To even get a peep on night pattern requires outstanding conditions. 73 KAZ near Chicago (Neil Kazaross, IL, ibid.) KTNN puts a huge signal in here every night. The adjacent channel slop from KLTT / 670 doesn't bother them at all even though KLTT is only 10 miles away and aimed right at me. I am 368 miles NE of KTNN. I also usually have an UNID SS under them on a due south heading. KTNN had ASU basketball again tonight with the post game ending at 2313 EST and then into C&W (Patrick Griffith, NØNNK, Westminster, CO, UT Jan 11, ibid.) I was checking out KTNN / 660 tonight due to the recent reports of it being heard well east of here. Prior to 2259 EST they were blasting in here in Denver at S+25 with Native American (Navajo) chants. The deepest null I could put on them was S+10 which is a whopper of a signal at 368 miles with the Rockies between us. This was 3 1/2 hours after FCC local sunset at their transmitter. By comparison, KTWO / 1030 is only 214 miles from me with virtually the same power and pattern as KTNN. However, the KTWO night pattern includes the Denver area while the KTNN night pattern does not. KTWO is also S+25 here at night. At 2259 they announced "Now CNN news on KTNN, 6-60, Window Rock." This was followed by an obvious decrease in signal strength to S+10 and then 5 minutes of dead air as the CNN feed didn't come up. At 2304 the Native chants resumed at the lower signal strength. So it would appear that the KTNN change to night pattern occurred at 2259 tonight (Patrick Griffith, NØNNK, Westminster, CO, UT Jan 12, ibid.) ** U S A. WXYT, 1270, Detroit MI, CP for U4 50000/50000 is now on from nine new towers. Both patterns throw an awful lot of power to the NNE. But since the site is well SSW of the city, Motown is covered well (Bill Hale, AM Switch, NRC DX News Jan 12 via DXLD) ** U S A. KTBK, 1700, Sherman TX, has applied to change the city of license to Richardson. This amendment also includes adding a second site with the day transmitter remaining where it is, adding a second transmitter for night operations hear Richardson, and raising the night power to adequately cover the city of license. Would be U1 10000/1000 (Bill Hale, AM Switch, NRC DX News Jan 12 via DXLD) Whaddya know? Sherman has not yet been gobbled up by The Metroplex, but Richardson has (Glenn Hauser, Alto Tejas, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WBIT, Adel GA, 1470, Dec 15 at 2245 EST --- now that the 1690 station is moving over 200 miles away, the 1470 is back on (isn`t this slightly abusing the rules for expanded band operation?) runing onstop ads for Wild Adventures theme park (Tim R. Hall, GA, Domestic DX Digest-East, NRC DX News Jan 12 via DXLD) ** U S A. IBOC on KCBS-740 --- IBOC has arrived in the San Francisco Bay Area. KCBS-740 was noted at 1345 PST 01/12/04 with that hissing sound beginning at 722 kHz. On the high side it is audible up to 756 kHz where it begins to mix with the slop from KCBC-770. I checked the KCBS signal with an oscilloscope connected to my receiver's IF output. The modulation of their AM signal appears to be 50 percent at most. (Albert Lehr - Livermore, CA, Allied A-2515 receiver, Homebrew external sync detector, frequency measurement system, Two 35 ft. Ewe antennas at 218 and 293 degrees, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** UZBEKISTAN. Radio Tashkent survey Dear our listener, Please complete the form. What is your name? Where do you live? How old are you? What is your job? (occupation) When did you first tune in to our Radio Tashkent programmes? How often do you listen to our programmes and which days and time do you manage to? What series of our broadcast do you find particularly interesting and would you like us to include to our programme something more? How do you find our announcers and their diction? Which way do you prefer to get information: by listening to our broadcasts on the radio by our internet version We would like to express our happiness over the close interest you have shown in our radio station and broadcast. It is our hope that this togetherness will continue for many years to come. Our deadline is 1 July, 2004. Radio Tashkent International. Via snail mail from R Tashkent (Swopan Chakroborty, Kolkata, INDIA, Jan 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UZBEKISTAN. 6025, R. Tashkent, 1200-1227*, Jan. 11, English, ID and schedule, news re Tashkent airport, Uzbek and Japanese scientists, art expo in California, local music and "Profitable Co-operation" program re Uzbek and Japanese relations. Clear frequency tho "muddy' audio (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, MLB-1, RS longwire with RBA balun, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VENEZUELA. Hola Glenn, Saludos desde Catia La Mar, VENEZUELA. Para mi sorpresa, el pasado 09/01, a las 2108 UT, en los 4830 kHz, capté una fuerte señal la cual asumí era Radio Táchira, erróneamente. En realidad era Ecos del Torbes, con la emisión del noticiero "El Mundo al Día", con menciones de la famosa Feria Internacional de San Cristóbal. SINPO 5/5. Ya fuera del aire a las 2219. Por lo visto sólo transmiten el noticiero. Al parecer estamos ante un caso inédito en el ámbito de la radiodifusión en onda corta criolla. Según anteriores captaciones de tan fuerte señal, presumo que todas las tardes se saca al aire el noticiero (Adán González, Catia La Mar, VENEZUELA, Jan 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The two stations are at the same place, and not the first time one has been heard on the other`s frequency (gh, DXLD) ** VENEZUELA [non]. He estado monitoreando las frecuencias de Radio Habana Cuba y he notado que las frecuencias anunciadas para transmitir "Aló Presidente", no están todas al aire, o al menos no las sintonizo. 11670..........no se escucha el programa 13680..........no se escucha el programa 13750..........no se escucha el programa 17750..........no se escucha el programa La única frecuencia que está llegando muy bien es 11875 kHz, aunque a veces se escucha en la misma cierta interferencia que parecen tonos telefónicos. Atte: (José Elías Díaz Gómez, Venezuela, Jan 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) De acuerdo. Buscaba el programa hoy también, encontrándolo sólo en 11875, ahora a las 1730, muy fuerte sin interferencia, tanto como alrededor de las 15. Algunos transmisores habañeros están fuera de servicio; véase CUBA en ésta y otras. 73, (Glenn to JEDG, via DXLD) ** VIETNAM [non]. 9930, Radio Free Vietnam (California) new sked listed on KWHR website as Tue-Thu 1600-1700 (Hans Johnson, Naples, FL, Jan 8, Cumbredx mailing list Jan 11 via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. Re: Mark Mohrman unID 1819.93 kHz --- Hello Mark! This morning 1030 UT I heard a LA station on the same split as you 1819.93 kHz. I checked 909.97 kHz but nothing there. Male DJ and mixed music among others Tex-Mex. I know it is a UT -5 station so perhaps Colombia? (Björn Malm, Quito, Ecuador, Jan 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Extraña emisión de estación que emitía rancheras y baladas en español. Frecuencia: 3235.04 kHz, 0701 UT. SINPO 2/1. Voz masculina demasiado opaca para poder obtener ID. Cortes comerciales cada 15 minutos, aproximadamente. ¿Armónico? ¿Será mexicana? Por la gran cantidad de rancheras radiadas, presumo que sea azteca. (10/01). 73's y buen DX (Adán González, Catia La Mar, VENEZUELA, Jan 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I doubt it`s Mexican, or harmonic. Were the announcements in Spanish? If not sure, I point out that last August we had a number of reports on 3235 of Brazil`s R. Clube de Marília, as it was overtaken by R. Guarujá Paulista (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 3256.000, 31.12 2340, unID in French with a professional program. Close down 0004 after a French news cast. What is this?? Not heard later. 2 SA (Stig Adolfsson, Sweden, SW Bulletin Jan 11, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 5770, 1358-1410 1/11. Soft-voiced YL in language; 1400 instrumental orchestra music. Mostly music after 1400 but signal was undermodulated and hard to copy anything. Probably the reactivated Myanmar Defence Forces BC Station, but could not determine language, or any other characteristics that would give a clue as to ID (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado, Drake R-8, 100-foot RW, Cumbre DX via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 5800.1, 9.1 0030 unID Spanish LA, maybe the harmonic mentioned by Malm. I have been a leech on the frequency to see if it is possible to dig out something and this night there was in fact a weak signal here. Sounds like an HC-program, but no 100% ID. 0-2 RÅ (Roland Åkesson, Sweden, SW Bulletin Jan 11, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) i.e. ECUADOR 5800.14, Radio Calidad, Riobamba (gh) UNIDENTIFIED. Was looking thru my QSL albums, and noticed a 1968 one from NPM, US Naval Communications (Lualualei, Hawaii) for 15389 asserting that at US military stations ``except for the standard broadcast, television, and amateur bands, Freqs may be used from DC to infinity,`` signed by RMCM Don Pittman, W7BQI-W4FBN-KKP5049. So Jan 11 around 1500 I tuned around in this area, and --- guess what --- heard some SSB military-sounding 2-way. Trouble is, the transmissions were so brief and occasional (only 2 or 3 in a half hour), that I had a hard time tuning it in and measuring the frequency. But I think it was around 15383 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ HARD-CORE-DX RELEASES THE HCDX ONLINE LOG 1.0 ---------------------------------------------------- PRESS RELEASE: HCDX Online Log 1.0 released For immediate release Hard-Core-DX is very pleased to announce the first production release of the HCDX Online Log. The HCDX Online Log is a web based application to manage DXers` logs online and real-time. The objective of the HCDX Online Log is to collect DXers' logs into one location where they can be viewed, sorted and searched without a need to go over individual logs in email lists, various web sites or magazines. With the Online Log you will be able to: 1. add logs to the database through the web 2. view logs from the database, e.g.. see instantly what others have been logged 3. make advanced queries of the past logs with the parameters of your choice (frequency, min. freq, max. freq, country, listener, date heard, date added, time heard, category, band, station name, etc.). The HCDX Online Log is an open system and anybody can have access to it. You will be able to register your account and within few minutes you will be able start entering your logs and see what others have been submitted. The URL to access the HCDX Online Log is: http://log.hard-core-dx.com/ The development of the HCDX Online Log will continue, and new beta versions will be released regularly in http://log-beta.hard-core-dx.com/ This is the first official release of the HCDX Online Log and we're now starting the era of the real-time online log management. As such, there's a lot of improvements and changes coming up to make it serve you even better. If you have any comments, questions or suggestions please feel free to email to online-log@hard-core-dx.com. We'd love to get your email! Looking forward to seeing your logs soon! 73! (Risto Kotalampi, HCDX Staff, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ONLINE DX LOGBOOK This led me to wonder whatever happened to Graham Powell`s Online DX Logbook, http://www.shortwave.org.uk --- haven`t heard anything from him for some months. The 21 MHz section http://www.21mhz.com/ has not been updated for over a year! Tho years are missing from the dates, the other shortwave and tropical logs appear to be from the last three months, the great majority of them from GP himself in Wales (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) AM QSLS - 2001 TO PRESENT I finally got around to adding my 2003 AM QSL cards to my web page. You can view the 2001 to 2003 QSLs at the attached link. Or you can go to the AM-DXer web link in my signature line and select from the menu to see my earlier QSLs and other listings. Due to the limitations of WebTV I can normally only scan postcard size or smaller. So QSL letters are not included here. Enjoy! http://community.webtv.net/N0NNK/ http://community.webtv.net/AM-DXer/ http://community.webtv.net/AM-DXer/AMQSLs2001topresent (Patrick Griffith, NØNNK, Westminster, CO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) LANGUAGE LESSONS ++++++++++++++++ PRONOUNCING LETTERS IN SPANISH [Re MEXICO, 4-005:] Nice catch, this XELL. However it is not so unusual for Mexicans to announce the call sign as mentioned for XELL. On the neighbouring frequency of 1420 XEXX frequently uses X-E-doble- X, XEAAA on 880 uses X-E-triple A, etc., and there are several other examples (Jan-Erik Österholm (JEÖ), Porvoo, Finland, dxing.info via DXLD) It may not be "so unusual", but the standard rule is everywhere to pronounce each letter individually in the call sign. No collateral damage is likely to occur in "triple" calls (but you are welcome to find out how www. is being pronounced in the different parts of the Spanish speaking world). The problem for a DXer seems to be limited to "doble", especially when you might suspect "doble" to be part of the letter W, which is pronounced as "dobleú" or "doblevé"/"doblebé", all according to the general usage of each country. I repeat, the usage of "doble" plus a following letter, for instance "dobleí" for II, is non-standard usage in Latin America. In Spain there is no call sign frenzy as it used to be some 40 years ago, but if a Spanish DXer would have to mention a Latin American call sign he would probably follow his own standard usage, which is to throw in the actual letter first, viz. "a doble" for AA, instead of "dobleá" as in Mexico. I could give you any number of actual examples where twin letters in call signs are pronounced individually, BB in Panamá, CC in Colombia, JJ in Venezuela, SS, or even SSS, in San Salvador etc. Sometimes, however, "doble" is called for, out of sheer necessity, as it were, as in the case with Colombian HJKK (840). This station has no name, or slogan, if you wish, only its call sign to rely upon. What do they do? Well, in order not to make fools out of themselves they will have to say "doble ca", because the standard usage, "ca ca", pronounced identically whether written in one word or two, would be interpreted as "shit"! I do not want to resume the survey on how the letter W is being pronounced in Spanish. This topic, discussed on a Spanish language internet list a couple of years ago, caused general disagreement and so the moderator chose to call the whole thing off. No wonder. In Spanish, B and V tend to be pronounced identically, and so in Latin America - but not in Spain! - the two letters will have to be distinguished by additions such as "chica", little, or "larga", big, (be -or ve- chica for V; be -or ve- larga for B). But in call signs, no one cares, ye ese be be could be any of the following: YSBB, YSVV, YSVB, YSBV. The letter W is completely alien to Spanish, only slightly more useful than an Ö or an Ä or an Å. And so, in the Americas, dobleú and doblevé (or doblebé, if you wish) do not mean UU nor BB nor VV, but rather W, whereas in Spain they cleverly avoid the issue altogether by pronouncing it UVE DOBLE, and that is because the Spaniards spell V as "uve", whereas B is pronounced as "be" (or "ve"). We thought, both Martin and I, that we were hearing a "dobleú" on his clip, followed by a consonant, either lateral or bilabial. It turned out to be "doble ele", which, if pronounced according to the book, will sound like "doblele". When I come to think of it, this would be a rather good starting point for another discussion to determine and delimitate another usage, quite as important as the way Z is being pronounced in the various English speaking countries, and that is in which countries the letter Y in Spanish is being pronounced as I GRIEGA and in which others it`s pronounced YE (Henrik Klemetz, Sweden, ibid.) CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES +++++++++++++++++++++++++ 17th ANNUAL WINTER SWL FESTIVAL, KULPSVILLE PA, MARCH 12-13, 2004 http://www.swlfest.com/ (via Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) FIJI TO HOST COMMONWEALTH BROADCASTING CONFERENCE 16-19 FEBRUARY | Text of report by Fijilive web site on 12 January, sourced to Radio Fiji Delegates from Commonwealth countries will gather in Nadi next month [16-19 February] for the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association's [CBA] 25th general conference. CBA's local chairperson and Fiji TV chief executive Ken Clark says the conference is significant in terms of the business it will generate for the country. Clark says the conference would be a useful opportunity to showcase Fiji and to meet influential overseas broadcasters. "It's a privilege for it to come to Fiji, to have all these people come here, my understanding is that it's the first time, it has come to a Pacific island nation," says Clark. "I think people find Fiji an attractive location and the registration list is showing that and it's probably time that it came to the pacific after so many years." "It is a privilege to be able to make a contribution back to the Commonwealth in this way and to showcase Fiji in its activities." Source: Fijilive web site, Suva, in English 12 Jan 04 (via BBCM via DXLD) DRM +++ DRM and DAB 1.) DRM -- Re. DXLD 4-006: ``´A question about DRM, inspired by the discussion in DXLD 4-004 under UKRAINE discussing digitally-recording a DRM signal: Can one record the DRM audio you receive on a regular analog SW receiver using ordinary analog audio recording, like a traditional tape recorder, and then later play back that audio into a DRM- interpreting software/hardware package and have it output the analog audio that the DRM signal encoded?`` No. The usual way to decode a DRM signal with the help of a PC is to mix down the received frequency to 12 kHz and to feed this signal through the soundcard into the PC. So the audio output of an AM receiver is of no use. It should indeed work to record this 12 kHz baseband signal for later decoding in full PCM (of course not in MPEG or any other compressed format); at least such files fly around somewhere in the internet as tools for setting up DRM decoding software. ´´I can see that DIGITAL recording techniques, like MP3, that have sampling and compression aspects, would not record the original digitalized audio correctly; I believe that is what that DXLD item was saying, if I understood it right.´´ Well, here the point was that it makes not much sense to analyze the posted recording of Radio Ukraine on 5905, because most of the audio was already stripped out by encoding it into a 16 kbit/s MPEG file. I strongly assume that the terrific noises there indeed originate from a utility transmitter, running some kind of high speed RTTY. And I assume that with DRM simply nothing at all could be heard, because the interference would be too strong. By the way, the distorted voice audio would be new for Radio Ukraine to me, usually their transmissions are clean but sound quite muffled due to lacking upper mids. 2.) DAB: The experiences with DAB reported from Canada are quite similar to the ones some friends made in Berlin with this UK made rig, here on display at last year's IFA fair: http://kailudwig.bei.t-online.de/Perstel.jpg I find it especially interesting that audio quality seems to be of a high priority in Canada. This differs noticeably from the English approach to squeeze as many programs into one bouquet as possible by using hardly more than 128 kbit/s. Here is an interesting webpage on this matter: http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/digital_radio_samples.htm The degraded quality of the 128 kbit/s transmissions compared with FM is obvious. In other words: If you like to have a good audio quality, the medium of choice in the UK is FM if available, but not DAB! Not to speak about the BBC WS sample at all, it is just awful what the codec makes out of the white noise in the studio audio. But there is another column in the table: Freeview. This is nothing else than DVB-T, and in the UK also radio programs are transmitted via DVB-T, unlike in Germany where this is tabu. Interestingly the BBC uses more appropriate bitrates for their radio programs via DVB-T, so this would be really interesting for stationary use. And to speak also about Germany: Most common bitrate for DAB transmissions is 192 kbit/s, but in some cases only 160 kbit/s are in use. And SWR Cont.Ra is transmit with a mere 40 kbit/s, providing nothing else than some variety of AM quality. So this supposed "digital" program can be listened simply via mediumwave as well. Another question is of course the quality of the studio signals. The feeds of the Radio Eins and Fritz programs of RBB for DAB are the same ones than for satellite, bypassing the Optimod's and herewith providing fine studio quality. But many other stations transmit just the same signals than on FM. Here is an example of a state-wide commercial station, Landeswelle Thüringen: http://kailudwig.bei.t-online.de/lawesound.mp3 Just to make sure: This is the actual quality of the studio output. (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Jan 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) PROPAGATION ++++++++++++ KN4LF DAILY MF RADIO PROPAGATION OUTLOOK #2004-002 http://www.kn4lf.com/kn4lf5.htm http://www.hard-core-dx.com/index.php?topic=Propagation Date Format is MM/DD/YYYY Published Saturday 01/10/2004 At 2200 UTC Sorry for the five day delay in publishing the next outlook as I caught my first influenza of the season. GLOBAL MF 300-3000 KC PROPAGATION CONDITIONS EXPECTED WITH AN EMPHASIS ON THE MF AM BROADCAST BAND, 160 METERS AND 120 METERS FOR 01/11- 13/2004- I expect to see quiet to active geomagnetic conditions (Kp-2-4) on 01/11/04, with isolated periods off minor geomagnetic storming (Kp-5) through 01/13/04. The geomagnetic activity will be in association with the high velocity solar stream associated with geoeffective (Earth facing) Coronal Hole #075 and any incoming partially geoeffective Coronal Mass Ejections (CME). -Expect fair to good "Northern Hemisphere" domestic propagation conditions on east-west paths. *Expect poor to fair domestic conditions on north "TO" south paths in the "Northern Hemisphere" out to approximately 1100 miles. +Expect good to fair domestic conditions on south "TO" north paths in the "Northern Hemisphere" out to approximately 1100 miles. -Expect fair "Southern Hemisphere" domestic propagation conditions on east-west paths. +Expect fair domestic conditions on north "TO" south paths in the "Southern Hemisphere" out to approximately 1100 miles. *Expect poor conditions on south "TO" north paths in the "Southern Hemisphere" out to approximately 1100 miles. Equatorial region domestic propagation conditions out to approximately 1100 miles should be fair to good. ----- "High latitude" Northern Hemisphere (TA) Trans Atlantic, (TI) Trans Indian, (TP) Trans Pacific and cross equatorial propagation conditions in excess of approximately 3200 miles should be poor to fair. "High latitude" Southern Hemisphere (TA) Trans Atlantic, (TI) Trans Indian, (TP) Trans Pacific and cross equatorial propagation conditions in excess of approximately 3200 miles should be poor. ----- "Mid latitude" Northern Hemisphere (TA) Trans Atlantic, (TI) Trans Indian, (TP) Trans Pacific and cross equatorial propagation conditions in excess of approximately 3200 miles should be good then becoming fair to good. "Mid latitude" Southern Hemisphere (TA) Trans Atlantic, (TI) Trans Indian, (TP) Trans Pacific and cross equatorial propagation conditions in excess of approximately 3200 miles should be fair then becoming fair. ----- "Low latitude" Northern Hemisphere (TA) Trans Atlantic, (TI) Trans Indian, (TP) Trans Pacific propagation conditions in excess of approximately 3200 miles should be good. "Low latitude" Southern Hemisphere (TA) Trans Atlantic, (TI) Trans Indian, (TP) Trans Pacific propagation conditions in excess of approximately 3200 miles should be fair. ----- Equatorial region to Northern Hemisphere "mid latitude" propagation conditions in excess of approximately 3200 miles should be fair to good. Equatorial region to Southern Hemisphere "mid latitude" propagation conditions in excess of 3200 miles should be poor to fair. Equatorial region to Northern Hemisphere "high latitude" propagation conditions in excess of approximately 3200 miles should be fair to good. Equatorial region to Southern Hemisphere "high latitude" propagation conditions in excess of 3200 miles should be poor to fair. Propagation Forecast Scales- Excellent- +1 db Over S9 Or better Good- S7-9 Fair- S4-6 Poor- S1-3 GLOBAL NOISE (QRN) OUTLOOK- U.S. LIGHTNING STRIKE DATA (See Where Your QRN Is Coming From) Sorry but global views of near real time lightning strikes are no longer available. http://www.lightningstorm.com/tux/jsp/gpg/lex1/mapdisplay_free.jsp;jsessionid=70301187101071113657379 During the 72 hour outlook period there will be "moderate lightning induced QRN levels in low latitude areas of the Northern Hemisphere due to the proximity of the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) and tropical cyclones. Northern hemisphere mid latitude regions can expect "low to moderate" lightning induced QRN tied to winter season thunderstorms, cold/warm/occluded fronts and associated extra-tropical cold core low pressure systems. Northern hemisphere high latitude regions can expect "very low to low" lightning induced QRN tied to winter season thunderstorms, cold/warm/occluded fronts and associated extra-tropical cold core low pressure systems. During the outlook period there will be "high" lightning induced QRN levels in low latitude areas of the Southern Hemisphere due to the proximity of the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) and tropical cyclones. Southern hemisphere mid latitude regions can expect "high" lightning induced QRN, tied to summer season thunderstorms and tropical cyclones. Southern hemisphere high latitude regions can expect "moderate" lightning induced QRN tied to summer season thunderstorms, cold/warm/occluded fronts and associated extra-tropical cold core low pressure systems. SOLAR, SPACE WEATHER AND GEOMAGNETIC INDICES FOR 01/02-09/2004- Sunspot Groups- #10536 at S12W28 currently contains a beta-gamma-delta twisted magnetic field capable of producing large M class and isolated huge X class solar flares. #10537 at N05E37 currently contains a beta-gamma-delta twisted magnetic field capable of producing large M class and isolated huge X class solar flares. Fortunately both groups are currently in a weakening phase. Unfortunately though even small C class solar flares can impact MF propagation conditions in a negative manner. Solar Flux Readings- 116 to 125 SEC Sunspot Number- 51 to 118 X-Ray Solar Flares- C-29 M-8 X-0 Averaged Background X-Ray Flux- B2.3 to C1.4 Elevated Energetic Protons greater than 10 MeV (10+o)- None Geo or partially geoeffective (Earth Facing) Coronal Mass Ejections- 4 Recurrent Coronal Hole #074 which became geoeffective beginning on 01/01/04, finally lost its negative impact on Earth's magnetic field on UTC 01/06/04. The Ap index has been at quiet to major storm levels, with a range of 5 to 59. The Kp index has been at quiet to minor storm levels, with a range of 1 to 5. The solar wind speed has ranged between 442 and 890. Here are some "general" guidelines concerning correlation of propagation indices to actual expected MF propagation conditions. 1.) Dropping indices numbers are better. 2.) For medium frequencies a solar flux under 150, under 100 better, 70 is best for E layer multi hop. Keep in mind though that the 10.7 cm (2800 MHz) solar flux index is not a "reliable" gauge of ionization in our atmosphere, as the energy of photons at this frequency is too low on the order of one million times. However most are used to solar flux and sunspot number and it's a hard habit to break. A better indicator is the background x-ray flux. See #7. 3.) Solar flux of at least 100 for E valley-F layer ducting mechanism. 4.) Previous 24 hour Ap index under 10, under 7 for several days consecutively is best. 5.) Previous 3 hour Kp index under 3 for mid latitude paths, under 2 for high latitude paths, 0-1 for several days consecutively is best. 6.) Energetic protons no greater then 10 MeV (10+0) for 160/120 meters and no greater then (10-1) on MF broadcast band. 7.) Background x-ray flux levels less than C1 for several days consecutively for 160/120 meters and less then B9 for MF broadcast band but A9 or less is best. 8.) No current STRATWARM alert. 9.) IMF Bz with a (+) sign, indicates a lesser chance of high latitude path auroral absorption/unpredictable refraction or scattering of MF RF signals, when the Kp is above 3. TODAY'S PROPAGATION LESSON - 3.) Coronal Mass Ejection (CME)- A Coronal Mass Ejection is the name given to an ejection of a large amount of matter from the Sun's outer atmosphere or corona. These ejections typically comprise millions of tons of material in the form of charged particles, and can be seen because the material reflects sunlight. When one of these ejections is directed towards the Earth (or conversely, directly away from the Earth), it looks like a roughly circular "halo" surrounding the Sun. The "Halo CME's" then are those CME's which are more likely to impact the Earth than those which are shot out at right angles to the Earth- Sun line. Energetic protons emitted during CME's play a major role in increased day time and night-time D-layer absorption of medium frequencies. Coronal Mass Ejections were once thought to be completely initiated by solar flares. However it is now known that many (CME's) are not associated with Solar Flares. If a (CME) collides with the Earth, it can excite a Geomagnetic Storm if the polarity of the IMF has a negative sign. We must be vigilant in watching for geo-effective (CME's), in order to not be caught by surprise with a seemingly sudden and unexpected Geomagnetic Storm. Space Weather Scales- Kp Indices- G5 = Extreme Storm - Kp = 9 G4 = Severe Storm - Kp = 8 G3 = Strong Storm - Kp = 7 G2 = Moderate Storm - Kp = 6 G1 = Minor Storm - Kp = 5 Active - Kp = 4 Unsettled - Kp = 3 Ap Indices- Ap 100-400 Severe Storm Ap 50-99 Major Storm Ap 30-49 Minor Storm Ap 16-29 Active Ap 8-15 Unsettled Ap 0-7 Quiet Correlation Of Kp To Ap Indices- K- 0= A- 0 K- 1= A- 3 K- 2= A- 7 K- 3= A- 15 K- 4= A- 27 K- 5= A- 48 K- 6= A- 80 K- 7= A- 140 K- 8= A- 240 K- 9= A- 400 Standard Disclaimer- Note! I use "RAW" public domain data from the NOAA Space Environment Center, as well as other U.S. government organizations, to produce my "not for profit" propagation forecast outlooks. This data is gathered and made public by the U.S. Government using taxpayer $$$. However the forecast outlooks that I produce from the "RAW" public domain data, is my personal intellectual property. Therefore the propagation outlooks contained herein is copyrighted © 1988-2003 by Thomas F. Giella and the Florida Space and Atmospheric Weather Institute, all rights reserved. Reproduction of information herein is allowed as long as proper credit is given. Also space weather forecasting is still an inexact science. The discussions, forecasts and outlooks are not official but for educational purposes only and are subject to human error and acts of God, therefore no guarantee or warranty implied. Yaesu FT-840 & PSK31 Digital Mode E Group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/yaesu_ft840 160-10 Meter Amateur Radio Resources & More http://www.kn4lf.com/kn4lf.htm Daily Solar Space Weather & Geomagnetic Data Archive http://www.kn4lf.com/kn4lf5.htm MF Radio Propagation Theory Notes http://www.kn4lf.com/kn4lf8.htm Florida Space & Atmospheric Weather Institute http://www.kn4lf.com/fsawi.htm Florida Daily Weather Discussion http://www.kn4lf.com/sub/fmci17.htm Friend Website Design Studio http://www.kn4lf.com 73, (Thomas F. Giella, KN4LF, Plant City, FL, USA, EL87WX, DX LISTENING DIGEST) LARGE SPORADIC-E FM OPENING FROM CENTRAL AMERICA TO SOUTH TEXAS Dec 29 Times are CST 12/29/2003 This was, without a doubt, my BEST EVER Es session to CAm! I was receiving many low powered stations from GUATEMALA, many of which I am still trying to identify! abbrs: M=Man W=Woman SP=Spanish anmts=announcements cmntry=commentary ancr=announcer 88.7 1758 "Radio Globo" slogan, SP M with amnts 88.7 GUATEMALA? 1758 SP W with Christian talk, testimonios 89.3 EL SALVADOR, San Salvador, "Cool FM"; 1701 US/UK hot dance music, hip-hop, "Vamos Salvadoreños con Libertad", ad "BANCO CUSCATLAN" 89.7 EL SALVADOR, San Salvador, Bautista-FM; 1703 SP M preaching 89.7 GUATEMALA, Guatemala City, Emisoras Unidas; 1753 SP 2 M with political commentary, SP W with political talk, mention of "14 Enero, Elección de la Justicia", //89.9, remote broadcast with M in SP talking politics http://site.supercadena.com/supercadena/portada.cfm 89.9 GUATEMALA, Emisoras Unidas; 1755 //89.7 SP political talk and commentary 89.9 MEXICO Chiapas XHCTN, Comitan de Domínguez; 1659 lots of slogans "89.9", SP rock & hip/hop, reggae and lots of Caribbean style music, SP M ancr with mention of "El Puerto Libre", slogan "La estación que (hazita?) mueve", mention of "El Governador del estado de Chiapas" 90.3 1801 SP M pharmacy ad "Farmacia OTI" 90.5 BELIZE Belize City, Radio 2000; 1708 M in EG with anmts, "72 degrees Fahrenheit for tonite", mention of Belize 90.5 GUATEMALA Guatemala City, "Periodisimo Cadena Radio Punto": 1712 SP W ancr, slogan "90.5", "Radio Punto en todo el País" 90.7 GUATEMALA, Radio Amistad, San Pedro la Laguna; 1704 lite SP Christian vocal music; M in SP performing a healing service 92.1 GUATEMALA, Radio Universidad de San Carlos; SP M ancr with mention of GUATEMALA, SP anmts and cmntry [time?] 92.3 HONDURAS San Pedro Sula, Rock'n Pop; 1809 SP M ancr "Rock 'n pop", US/Euro rock music 93.3 1721 lite SP pop/vocal music 93.5 1810 SP M ancr, mention of game show, and giving away bicycles!, taking calls from listeners 93.7 1804 SP ads, promo, "Radio Mia 93-7", light SP pop/vocal music 94.1 GUATEMALA Guatemala City, "94 Su FM", 1812 US/Euro classic rock 94.3 GUATEMALA Emisoras Unidas; 1822 SP M ancr, "La Súper Cadena Emisoras Unidas", SP M with mention of Guatemala 94.7 HONDURAS R. América; 1815 música romántica 94.9 GUATEMALA Guatemala City, FM-95; 1824 Pepsi ad, SP M ancr, "FM- 95, Your Super Station", slogan in EG and then in SP 96.5 1816 SP M ancr "Retro Sounds", promo, Beatles music 100.7 GUATEMALA? 1739 SP religious vocal music 102.7 GUATEMALA 1736 marimba music then talk by M in indigenous language 103.5 HONDURAS? 1735 light SP pop/rock/música romántica 103.5 GUATEMALA. Cobán: TGTZ Radio Tezulutlán, 1738 religious SP music 104.5 HONDURAS, Cortés, La Voz del Atlántico; 1730 SP M talking to callers about "fútbol", saying to each caller "Buenas Noches", and mention of "Zona Oriental", also mention of neighboring country El Salvador. 104.7 GUATEMALA, Chichicastenango, Radio Maranatha ; 1740 SP M reading bible 104.7 1740 Cumbia music, salsa (en el ritmo punto), M SP ancr with saludos, Mexican regional pop music. 105.1 GUATEMALA, El Quiché, Radio Juda; 1724 SP Christian preacher 105.3 1740 SP W anmts, SP M preaching the gospel 106.1 EL SALVADOR? 1733 SP M talking on phone, remote broadcast 106.9 EL SALVADOR? 1733 SP cumbia music (Steven Wiseblood, Boca Chica Beach TX, Jan 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) How much can be accomplished in less than a sesquihour, 2259-2424 (gh) TIP FOR RATIONAL LIVING +++++++++++++++++++++++ SCOTT SIMON ESSAY: AMERICAN ATHEISTS from Weekend Edition - Saturday, Saturday, January 10, 2004. NPR's Scott Simon reflects on the fact that atheists are Americans too. http://www.npr.org/rundowns/segment.php?wfId=1592243 (via gh, DXLD) ###