DX LISTENING DIGEST 4-010, January 16, 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 1216: Sat 0900 on WRN1 to Europe, Africa, Asia, Australasia, webcast Sat 0955 on WNQM, Nashville, 1300 Sat 1130 on WWCR 5070 Sat 1900 on IBC Radio webcast Sat 1930 on WPKN Bridgeport, 89.5, webcast Sat 2130 on WWCR 12160 Sun 0130 on WBCQ 9330-CLSB Sun 0330 on WWCR 5070 Sun 0730 on WWCR 3210 Sun 0845 on Ozone Radio, Ireland, 6201v, time variable Sun 1100 on WRN1 to North America, webcast; also KSFC 91.9 Spokane WA, webcast and WDWN 89.1 Auburn NY Sun 1600 on IBC Radio, webcast Sun 2000 on Studio X, Momigno, 1584 Mon 0430 on WSUI, Iowa City, 910, webcast [last week`s 1215] Mon 0515 on WBCQ 7415, webcast, 5105 Tue 0400 on SIUE Web Radio Wed 1030 on WWCR 9475 WRN ONDEMAND: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO [also for CONTINENT OF MEDIA, MUNDO RADIAL]: Check http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html WORLD OF RADIO 1216 (high version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1216h.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1216h.rm (summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1216.html WORLD OF RADIO 1216 (low version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1216.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1216.rm ** ALASKA. Re HAWAII, 4-009: KZND-LP AK Glenn, The TV station operating as a radio station in AK is KZND-LP, owned by the legendary Jeremy Lansman (a friend and former employer of mine). Jeremy's long history of amazing broadcasting is too long to mention here. Jeremy owns KYES-TV, a full power commercial station in Anchorage. A good link for KZND is: http://www.kyes.com/engineering/linklist/kznddocs/kznd.html Jeremy always has asserted that KZND's peculiar frequency and siting situation means that it cannot offer much in the way of ordinary TV service, but is satisfactory for aural service. I do not know the current status of the station. Best regards (Benn Kobb, Jan 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANDAMAN & NICOBAR ISLANDS. See INDIA ** ANGOLA. FIRST NATIONAL PRIVATE RADIO STATION IN ANGOLA An Italian group of volunteers based in Treviglio (North Italy), together with a local Rotary Club, is working to start the first real national private radio in Angola on FM. People from Treviglio gave technical material and will prepare the personnel. The name of this radio is Radio Despertar (Radio Awakening). The Communication minister of Angola, Adalberto Costa, was in Treviglio to meet the mayor of the city. (tnx G. Bernardini) (Roberto Scaglione http://www.bclnews.it http://www.corad.net Jan 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WTFK? ** AUSTRALIA. 5049.95, 0905-1000, ARDS (Australian Resource Development Service) Jan 11. I was intrigued with Walt Salmaniw's DXpedition logging of this last October, so I was anxious to try for ARDS this trip, despite disappointing news in the hobby press that the ARDS planned to switch to a '1/2 wavelength dipole set 1/8 wavelength above earth plane' on Dec. 1 to provide better local reception (per John Wright, ARDXC). At 0905 tune-in, a weak het was heard on the Western Beverage, right on 5049.95, as displayed with both the AR7030 and R75 (Walt reported 5049.94). Would the het break into audio? Despite regular checks, the het never rose above moderate strength, with no indication of any audio. The Chinese station signed on at 1000 and ended my wishful thinking. Unfortunately, it may take phenomenal DU conditions to bring ARDS in again, if their new antenna is indeed working as ARDS hoped (Guy Atkins, DXing at Ocean City State Park, WA, R75 / AR7030 / Kiwa MAP / ERGO / SW & W Beverages at 750 ft., hard- core-dx via DXLD) ARDS, 5050, UT Jan 15 at 2020 with English interview, presumed, since this was over Tanzania. Previously in aboriginal language, could not be sure which one I was hearing (Chris Hambly, Victoria, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRIA. Hola Glenn, A continuación te reenvío una comunicación de Manuel Aletrino, referente a mi extraña escucha del 23/07/2003, cuando capté a Radio Austria en español, a pesar de que el servicio en español había sido descontinuado el 30/06 de ese mismo año. 73's y buen DX (Adán González, Catia La Mar, VENEZUELA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: Estimado Adán: Gracias por tu misiva. Lo que escuchaste el 23 de julio fue un programa tentativos, o sea experimental, para comprobar si se podía escuchar en Latinoamérica. Como nuestra redacción no existía a la sazón, no podemos enviarte una QSL en español. No sabemos por el momento si seguiremos enviando tales tarjetas. Nos falta simplemente el personal. Cordiales saludos, y gracias también por la escucha (M. Aletrino, ORF via González, DXLD) ** AZERBAIJAN. "RADIO FREE AZERBAIJAN" REPORTED ON MEDIUMWAVE Since early December 2003, Finnish radio hobbyist Mauno Ritola has regularly observed a station with Azeri programming identifying itself as "Radio Free Azerbaijan" [Azad Azerbaijan Radyosu] on 1530.7 kHz at 1700-1800 gmt. This frequency is observed carrying Radio Liberty at other times. The current edition of World Radio TV Handbook lists a 7 kW transmitter on 1530 kHz in Baku. Source: BBC Monitoring research in English 16 Jan 04 (via DXLD) ** CANADA [and non]. IBOC and Canada...whoa! I know we're all looking for reasons to be suspicious of IBOC, and that's understandable. But I think we may be getting a little carried away on this thread, and I suspect that in the long run, US IBOC operations will be less of a threat to Canadian analog operations (or at least, less of an actionable threat) than we all think. First off, the only Canadian stations with blanket protection from US interference are those operating on Canadian clear channels - 690, 730, 740, 800, 860, 900, 940, 990, 1070, 1570, 1580. So any Canadians on other channels probably don't have much, if any, of an international case if - and it's a big if - they receive significant new interference from US IBOC operations. Second, several of those Canadian clear channels are adjacent to US regional channels, on which overall power levels (and thus the much lower IBOC sidebands) are lower than on the US clears. So 790, for instance, won't be a huge threat to any Canadian 800s, likewise 910 to 900, 930 and 950 to 940, 980 to 990 and so on. Third, in order for a US IBOC sideband to create noticeable interference to a Canadian analog service, it has to overcome the often enormous field strength that many Canadian AMs throw over their cities of license. Bear with me as we descend into engineering-land, won't you? Those of you who have spent much time visiting Canadian transmitter sites (a small group, I know) realize that Canadian AM engineering practice differs somewhat from US engineering practice, especially in crowded areas such as Ontario, Quebec and coastal BC. It is not at all uncommon in Canada to find nearly every AM station in a major market running 50 kW - and in order to do so while still protecting the US border and other co-channel Canadians, it is not at all uncommon to find directional arrays of six or more towers. In southern Ontario, there are many eight-tower arrays, several nine- tower arrays (1090 Kitchener, 1220 St. Catharines, 590 Toronto) and even a 12-tower array at 710 Niagara Falls (though, IIRC, they're not all used at once.) When you have a directional array with that many towers, and 50 kW input power, the result is a very tight directional pattern that throws an immensely strong field into its major lobe. A few examples: 680 Toronto, with 8 towers at night, pumps a 6378 mV/m signal at 1 km out in its major lobe toward Toronto (which happens to be in Lake Ontario at that point, but that's beside the point.) That's more than six VOLTS per meter at 1 km from the towers. CHML 900 puts 7939 mV/m at 1 km in its major night lobe toward Hamilton. CFRB 1010 does 6860 mV/m at 1 km in its major lobe - and that's on LAND, right about at the Mississauga/Toronto city line on the QEW and just a few miles shy of downtown Toronto. CKKW 1090 Kitchener, with only 10 kW into its nine night towers, still puts 3812 mV/m toward its city of license at 1 km. (By contrast, 1190 Dallas, one of the most directional AM signals in the US, gets "only" 2642 mV/m at 1 km out of its 5 kW toward Dallas.) The point here is this: these are absolutely immense field strengths, and there's every reason to think that at Saul Chernos' downtown Toronto home, for instance, measured signal strengths from 680 or 1010 would be in the neighborhood of 50 or 60 mV/m, if not higher. That's a strong, strong signal, and no matter how much IBOC sideband KDKA or WSCR is pumping out, it will not be even slightly audible under CFTR or CFRB; likewise, there's no way WTIC or WTAM is going to break through the CKKW signal in Kitchener. Even the two cases that (I think) could be a problem - KNBR vs. CBU and WSB vs. CHWO - don't hold up all that well under careful analysis. In Vancouver, you'd have to believe that the IBOC sideband of KNBR, which is supposed to be (if I'm remembering right) at least 26 dB down from KNBR's 680 kHz carrier - will somehow be strong enough to get past the signal that CBU throws north to Vancouver over a seawater path from its site south of the city in Richmond, BC. (CBU is no slouch, either, when it comes to field strength - 4047 mV/m at 1 km in its major lobe.) In Toronto, CHWO's signal is much weaker toward its city of license than most Canadian AMs, since it's both nondirectional and operating from a considerably greater distance from the downtown core than most Canadian signals. CHWO sends "only" 2634 mV/m to listeners 1 km away in any direction, and it's a good 40 km from its tower to downtown. Even so, WSB is hardly a barn-burning signal up this way most nights (I can barely get it to S9+10 on my R8A this evening), and 26 dB down from that for the IBOC sidebands means it's putting a vanishingly small signal up against 740 in Toronto. The streetcar tracks on Queen and King Streets are a much greater threat to 740's signal than WSB's IBOC could ever be. Now, this analysis applies only to local listeners in the markets intended to be served by these Canadian signals. The tradeoff to these incredibly huge signals within the main directional lobes of the multi-tower AMs is that there are a lot of nulls where little to no signal is received from these stations. CKKW sounds great in Kitchener, but you can't hear it in Toronto to save your life. Will DXers in Toronto trying to hear CKKW experience occasional IBOC problems from WTIC or WTAM? Probably --- but that's life in the age of IBOC. (And in any case, WBAL will interfere with CKKW far more than the WTIC or WTAM sidebands ever will!) And the funny thing is, with the kind of signal strength that most remaining Canadian AMs put over their primary markets and the relative absence of nearby first-adjacent AMs in most of Canada, I suspect Canada would actually be a BETTER place, engineering-wise, for AM IBOC than the US. But we all know it's not really about the engineering anyway... s (Scott Fybush, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** CANADA. CBC LETS RADIO HOST ACT IN STEAMY FILM By GAYLE MacDONALD From Thursday's Globe and Mail http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20040115.wusook15/BNStory/Entertainment/ Radio host Sook-Yin Lee was given the thumbs-up yesterday from her bosses at the CBC to strip and star in what is destined to be a steamy, controversial film by U.S. director John Cameron Mitchell. After several weeks of fence-sitting, the public broadcaster finally gave Ms. Lee the nod to appear in Short Bus, an independent movie that Mr. Mitchell promised yesterday from New York will raise the bar for explicit sex in film. Ms. Lee, host of CBC's Saturday afternoon radio show Definitely Not The Opera, said yesterday she is relieved and ecstatic to be given the go-ahead to accept the role in the movie to be made by her long-time pal Mr. Mitchell. With a healthy dose of nudity, the film will be about a pan-sexual community of New Yorkers grappling with relationships, sexuality and their identities. "I'm super happy," enthused Ms. Lee, who is in her early 30s. "I'm so relieved that I can keep doing the movie and also that I can keep doing my job and that the two worlds can be part of one." Ms. Lee acknowledged that the project, though not in production yet, already is causing a stir. She added she is grateful "that the government [the CBC is a public corporation] is essentially behind us. It is a very good thing," said the former MuchMusic VJ, actor and musician. "We are still very repressed as a society. With Short Bus we are just trying to make sex a bigger part of our dialogue, to show people we mustn't be ashamed about it. But many people are really freaked out about our sexuality and our bodies. This can be groundbreaking." Initially, Ms. Lee and her radio bosses did not see eye to eye on the art-house project. Before Christmas, CBC radio executive Jane Chalmers strongly recommended that Ms. Lee turn down the role, warning it could hurt her credibility and that of the CBC. That stand angered Ms. Lee and supporters in the arts community, who launched an e-mail campaign soliciting support for the radio host. Letters poured in from a veritable who's who of the North American arts elite, including Moby, Bruce Cockburn, Douglas Coupland, Atom Egoyan, David Cronenberg, Francis Ford Coppola, Yoko Ono, Gus Van Sant and Julianne Moore, all of whom argued for the artist's right to free expression. Yesterday, CBC spokeswoman Ruth Ellen Soles said censorship was not the point. "Did we bow to pressure? No." She added that the CBC's hesitation to rubber-stamp Ms. Lee's involvement stemmed from the amount of time the radio host would be absent while filming. "Once we received further information about the film project, including the amount of time away from DNTO, she has been given the go-ahead to continue to participate in the feature film. Freedom of expression was certainly not the issue. The issue was a matter of the format and process of the production of the film, and mostly her time commitment away from CBC." (via Eric Flodén, BC, DXLD) ** CHINA. GUANGDONG ENTERS A NEW ERA IN RADIO AND TELEVISION http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=6481 Southern China's first broadcasting group will soon begin operations as Guangdong weans its media outlets off state funding and prepares them for a new era of nationwide competition and, eventually, a stock- market listing South China Morning Post Thursday, January 15, 2004 -- By Sidney Luk Southern China's first broadcasting group will soon begin operations as Guangdong weans its media outlets off state funding and prepares them for a new era of nationwide competition and, eventually, a stock- market listing. The formation of the Southern Broadcasting Media Group (SBMG) is scheduled to be announced on Sunday. It will encompass six channels run by Southern Television Guangdong, four terrestrial channels operated by Guangdong Television, Guangdong People's Radio Station, Guangdong Cable Network, a satellite broadcaster, and other media-related businesses including advertising and home video companies. The group will be operated by Guangdong Administration of Radio, Film and Television and is headed by Wang Keman. "It will be run as an enterprise and will not receive any government subsidy," a spokeswoman for the administration said. Another source said the new media group would ensure that the radio and television stations would be available on provincial and city networks throughout the province. "In the past, all the broadcasting companies operated individually and reported to the administration. From now on, they will no longer compete with each other but operate under the leadership of the administration," the source said. SBMG would need to enhance its competitiveness through continuous restructuring and produce clear profit-and-loss records, the source said. It might also accept outside investment to finance its operations. "This is the first step to take Guangdong media to face a nationwide market," the source said. "An [initial public offering] in either China or Hong Kong is a definite way to go eventually." The group's establishment follows a "strength in numbers" strategy formulated by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, which united the media companies so they could compete with foreign broadcasters in the Pearl River delta. The area is the only one in China where foreign satellite broadcasters have received permission to beam their signals directly to residents' homes. Guangdong's television advertising market was estimated to be worth three gigayuan last year, a 15 to 20 per cent increase from 2002. However, just over half of the market is taken by Television Broadcasts and Asia Television, whose signals extend into the Pearl River delta. The formation of SBMG will be followed by the establishment of similar groupings at the city level in Shenzhen and Guangzhou. Now, just Beijing and Shanghai have media conglomerates operating in the same manner envisaged for Guangdong. They are the Beijing Media Group and Shanghai Media Group. Industry watchers expected SBMG would soon catch up with its Shanghai counterpart, which owns the city's two major broadcasters - Shanghai Television Station and Shanghai Oriental Television. Founded in August 2001, Shanghai Media Group has assets of more than 18 billion yuan and recorded sales of 2.27 billion yuan in 2002. "Shanghai has only three million cable viewers while Guangdong has more than seven million," one source said, adding Guangdong viewers were more ready to accept new programming because of their exposure to foreign content offered by international broadcasters such as Star TV. "With such a strong audience base, the new group ... will soon have enough strength to compete with Shanghai Media Group." (via Horacio Nigro, Uruguay, Jan 15, DXLD) ** CUBA. FURTHER BANS ON FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION Amnesty International today expresses concern FROM "LA NUEVA CUBA" JANUARY 13, 2004. AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL PRESS RELEASE La Nueva Cuba January 13, 2004 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Amnesty International today expressed concern at the impact on freedom of expression and information of Cuba's new law restricting internet access. "The new measures, which limit and impede unofficial internet use, constitute yet another attempt to cut off Cubans' access to alternative views and a space for discussing them," said Amnesty International as a new law came into force on Saturday. "This step, coming on top of last year's prosecution of 75 activists for peacefully expressing their views, gives the authorities another mechanism for repressing dissent and punishing critics." The new law, which came into effect on 10 January, limits internet access to those, such as officially recognised businesses and government offices, with special telephone accounts payable in US dollars. This prevents ordinary Cuban people from accessing the service. "Amnesty International fears that the new measures are intended to prevent human rights monitoring by restricting the flow of information out of Cuba," the organisation said. "The Cuban authorities must do away with illegitimate curbs on freedom of expression and information, and must bring their legislation into line with international human rights standards once and for all," Amnesty International concluded. Background Information The vast majority of Cuba's media are state-owned and -controlled. Cubans' access to foreign media is limited. However, Cuban government sources have reportedly indicated that they believe up to 40,000 Cubans have unofficial access to the internet. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in its article 19, guarantees the right to freedom of opinion and _expression, including the freedom to "seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers". These rights have been further codified and protected in standards such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the UN Siracusa Principles on the Limitation and Derogation of Provisions in the ICCPR (1985) and the Johannesburg Principles on National Security, Freedom of Expression and Access to Information (1996). Amnesty International is currently campaigning for the immediate and unconditional release of 84 prisoners of conscience in Cuba, incarcerated for the peaceful exercise of fundamental freedoms. 73's (via Oscar de Céspedes, DXLD) ** CUBA [non]. Re R. Martí on 1700: ``Even stranger, as I recall, this is during the weekly silent period of R. Martí, UT Monday 0400-1000. - - gh`` Every time I've listened after this is reported, only the usual Spanish religion is heard from WJCC. The timing might be an important clue. I'll try listening at this time next Monday (Bruce Conti, Nashua NH, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** DENMARK. SHORTWAVE RADIO DENMARK - GOODBYE! Last week here in ``Wavescan``, we presented the story of ``Early Radio Broadcasting in Denmark``. On this occasion, we continue with the story of ``Radio Broadcasting in Denmark``, and specifically, in the shortwave arena. The first radio broadcast in Denmark took place on October 29, 1922, when a ship transmitter broadcast a dedicated music program to a specific audience in a lecture hall in downtown Copenhagen. In the following year, two transmitters were used in the broadcast of regular radio programming, and in 1925, the government took over all radio broadcasting throughout Denmark. It was in the year 1928 that the first experimental broadcasts in Denmark were launched on shortwave. Two different stations were involved; 7MK in Skamlebaek and 7RL in Copenhagen, though the experimental 7MK callsign was changed to the international callsign OZF (OWE ZED EFF) some five years later. The Danish government took up the matter of international radio broadcasting in earnest in the era just before World War 2 and a 6 kW transmitter was installed at Skamlebaek in the early part of the fateful year 1939. Test broadcasts from this new facility were noted in Australia around September under the callsigns OZH & OZF, and quite quickly a regular international broadcasting schedule was established. Station OZH/OZF continued in service until it was silenced at the time of the German occupation on April 9, 1940. However, a few days later, the shortwave station returned to the air. A few months later again, programming for Radio Denmark shortwave was under the control of the Ministry of Education and the technical facilities were under the control of the Department of Public Works. An entry in an Australian radio magazine for June 1941 reports a very strong signal from Radio Denmark shortwave and the question could be asked: Was this a clandestine usage of the Danish shortwave station at Skamlebaek? A few months later, however, OZU shortwave left the air for the remainder of the occupation era. In February 1946, Radio Denmark shortwave was re-activated with the same 6 kW transmitter, a unit that had been manufactured locally under the designation K7. At this stage, three callsigns were in use, one for each frequency, OZF, OZH & OZU. Around the same era, a new shortwave facility was under construction at Herstedvester where a new 50 kW transmitter, manufactured jointly in Italy & Denmark was inaugurated on October 1, 1948 under multiple callsigns in the OZ series. Programming throughout the years has been mostly in Danish, though at times English & Spanish were heard. Over the years, proposals were made for a big new shortwave station in Denmark with two transmitters at 500 kW. However, instead a new 100 kW BBC transmitter was installed at Herstedvester and this was inaugurated at half power in May 1982. When the Herstedvester facility got old, it was closed and in its place a relay was taken out from Radio Norway beginning on February 12, 1990. Three different sites have been in use, Frederikstad, Sveio & Kvitsøy. But, the end has come, and Radio Denmark shortwave left the air forever on the last day of the old year. The old QSL cards bearing the callsigns OXQ, OZF & OZH, together with the Radio Denmark QSL cards showing the map of Denmark, and the pictures of their station, and the painting representing their national anthem, are now treasured historic items for the dedicated collector. ``Shortwave Radio Denmark - Goodbye!``. International Radio Broadcasting from Denmark Chronology [AMP`s notes] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1922 Oct 29 1st broadcast in Denmark ship to lecture hall Copenhagen 1923 Broadcast transmitter constructed, operated by club 1923 Military transmitter used also for broadcasting 1923 Broadcasting of concerts started in Denmark 1925 Danish radio founded Postage stamp 1925 Apr 1 Government took over radio broadcasting 1928 Nov 13 Inauguration D7MK SW at Skamlebaek relay MW 1928 ED7RL SW 42.12 half hour Sun Mon Wed 1928 ED7RL SW 42.12 2 hour picture Tue & Sat 1929 Mar Lyngby (Skamlebaek) began relay on SW 1933 SW callsign changed from D7MK to OZF 1939 6 kW SW before WW2 1939 Sep Experimental tests OZH2 15320 (5 kW) Skamlebaek 1939 Sep Regular schedule OZF 9520 6 kW 1940 Apr 9 Denmark invaded and surrendered to German occupation 1940 Apr Off air after invasion, re-activated a few days later 1940 Aug 8 Programming now under Ministry of Education 1940 Aug 8 Technical remains under Ministry of Public Works 1941 May R Danemark 9710 0530 UTC opens strong signal Australia 1941 May Strong signal in Australia, clandestine usage of Skamlebaek? 1942 Feb Usage of OZU SW terminated 1845 May 5 German occupation surrendered to Allied forces 1946 Feb SW re-activated; OZU 7260, OZF 9529, OZH 15320 1946 OZF 6 kW 9520 & OZU 5 kW 7260 Skamlebaek 1946 Herstedvester under construction 1947 Construction proceeding, planned opening 1947 1947 Reportedly OZU 7260 & OZF 9520 on air 1948 New transmitter due on air soon 1948 Oct 1 50 kW transmitter Standard Electric, curtain 1948 Oct 1 New transmitter at 50 kW 1948 Oct 1 Radio Denmark began at Herstedvester -- Erik Koie 1948 Oct 1 Radio Denmark began, 25 kM W Copenhagen 1949 New 50 kW in use 1949 Herstedvester OZF OZG OZH OZH2 OZU 1949 Skamlebaek OXY OXY2 OXY3 1949 Skamlebaek OZF OZG OZG2 OZG3 1949 Skamlebaek OZH OZH 2 OZH3 OZI OZI2 OZI3 1949 Skamlebaek OZU OZX OZX2 1950 3 callsigns different channels 1 transmitter OZF OZH OZU 1950 Photo of new Radiohouse 1950 Photo of new Radiohouse [nothing happened for 18 years??? --- gh] 1968 Oct 1 20th anniversary celebrations, new QSL card 1969 Apr 1 Announced date to drop English programming 1969 Dec 31 English programming dropped 1970 Apr Announced date to drop English & Spanish 1970 Proposal for 2 @ 500 kW, unable to find site 1975 Feb 15 Antennas deteriorating, now on 15165 E & W 1976 Rotatable log periodic installed 1982 May New 100 kW BBC @ 50 kW began 1982 Jun 7 Old 50 kW re-activated till Jun 17, 15165 kHz only 1983 Consideration for 2 @ 500 kW new location 1989 Jul 1 Intended beginning from RNI, not implemented 1990 Jan mid Denmark transmitter retired 1990 Feb Old Herstedvester 50 kW closed 1990 Feb 12 RNI relay commenced 1330 UT 1990 Feb 12 RNI relay commenced 1990 Begins relay from Radio Norway 1991 Call to re-activate old transmitter at Herstedvester 2003 Dec 31 Closure of Radio Denmark shortwave ====================================================================== (Adrian Michael Peterson, AWR Wavescan Jan 18 via DXLD) ** DEUTSCHES REICH. NAZI PROPAGANDA TO ENGLAND See Osterloog pictures of past-WW II era under http://www.pust-norden.de/index_gb.htm Worth mentioning is perhaps the story of the radio station at Osterloog. In the 1930's it was built as short-wave [sic, also the high power mediumwave station erected there, wb.] station "Bremen," and broadcast propaganda in English during WWII to England. After the war it was put in short-wave service for the British Liberation Army. And see http://www.henningullrich.de/ and click "NorddeichRadio 1927 - 1947 and click "Norddeichradio während des 2. Weltkrieges (1939 - 1945)" page 1 and page 2 page 3...11 (unfortunately in German language only.) And to Kai Ludwig, klick einige DDR Erinnerungen: http://www.webring.de/cgi-bin/webring/navigate.pl?knopf=Alle&nextn=5%A0&page=86243 http://www.hochseefischer.de.vu/ http://www.dsr-seefahrer.de/family.html My Time at Norddeich Radio This Site is organized for a better overview: Receiving Station Utlandshörn Transmitting Station Osterloog Transmitting Station Norddeich From December 6, 1971 to December 12, 1995 I worked in radio service for Norddeich Radio, only broken by a three month assignment in Hamburg. The origin and history of this coastal radio station in detail is too wide an effort for here, moreover there are many good publications on the Internet, for example by Sylvester Föcking, Rolf Marschner, Henning Ullrich, Heinrich Busch and Fritz Deiters. A visit to their Sites will be rewarding. For pictures I have used exclusive private Fotos. I know that today there are many "Fans" of this coastal station, and agree that they may be used as long as there is no commercial purpose or use. The publishing of the 4 photo-galleries was not possible without the assistance of Mr. Hans-Heinrich de Joung, DL3QW, who kindly made many photos to disposal for the web site. These photos are rare and partly never published. Hans-Heinrich de Joung has been the technical staff manager of the transmitting station Osterloog in the years 1964 - 1993. Certainly if any visitor to this Site has a question about Norddeich Radio, I will gladly reply. Please E-Mail to: Hans-Jörg Pust at hans-j@pust-norden.de or for technical questions about transmitters and antennas mail to Hans-Heinrich de Joung at h.h.de.joung@t-online.de 73 wolfy (Wolfgang Büschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** DIEGO GARCIA. Hello Steve and the rest of the list. Hearing the 13 MHz Diego utility station is not a good propagation indicator to use for reception of the two AFN broadcast frequencies. The 4 MHz freq is used during local darkness hours at Diego and we are in daylight during that time. Result - no path. The 12 MHz (and yes, I know it is on a marine MIS freq) is used during their daylight hours and our best shot to hear that would be in the evening hours short path or a long path during the early morning EST. Given the current state of solar conditions, reception would be difficult at best. Also please keep in mind that these are not true broadcasters like the old days when AFRTS used VOA transmitters. These are feeder broadcast and there is no guarantee on schedule or that they will be broadcasting at any given hour. In my talks with Navy broadcast officials over the last few years, the overseas broadcast transmitters are much more spotty in their scheduling than the CONUS and near CONUS broadcasters. They really didn't explain why. They left me with the impression that due to the workloads on their transmitter farms sometimes they take the lower priority AFN transmissions off the air. To use a quote "Operational Tempo." Hope that explains things a bit. 73 and good hunting to all, Larry Van Horn -- N5FPW WUN Club Military/Goverment Monitoring Columnist Grove Enterprises Technical Support Department Monitoring Times Assistant Editor/Milcom Columnist Telephone: V-828-837-9200/F-828-837-2216/800-438-8155 (hard-core-dx via DXLD) ** ECUADOR. R. Centinela del Sur, 4773.59, Jan 9 and 10, 1115-1145+ Spanish talk with brief breaks of HC music. Apparently a news program. Some ads and jingles. Good signal but very weak by 1115 (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ERITREA. Broad Masses of Eritrea, 7100, Jan 10 *0355-0500+ sign-on with IS, 0400 talk in vernacular, local horn of Africa music; good (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FRANCE. 11-metre outlets: see PROPAGATION below ** FRANCE. "LES JEUDIS DE L'EUROPE" SUR FRANCE INFO PARIS (AP) -- Le 1er mai 2004, dix nouveaux pays entreront dans l'Union européenne (Pologne, Hongrie, République Tcheque, Malte, Chypre, Estonie, Lettonie, Lituanie, Slovaquie, Slovenie). France Info s'installe chaque jeudi dans l'un de ces pays et devoile le quotidien de ses habitants dans son nouveau rendez-vous (7-9h, 12- 14h, 18-20h). [0600-0800, 1100-1300, 1700-1900 UT] En direct du centre culturel français dans chaque capitale, la radio reçoit des acteurs économiques, politiques et culturels et propose de nombreux reportages ainsi qu'une revue de presse locale. Les prochains rendez-vous: - 15 janvier: Hongrie, en direct de Budapest - 22 janvier: Estonie, en direct de Tallinn - 29 janvier: la Slovaquie, en direct de Bratislava - 5 fevrier: Lettonie, en direct de Riga - 12 fevrier: Chypre, en direct de Nicosie. AP secom (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** GUATEMALA. 4780, Radio Cultural Coatán, Jan 15, 2335-0005. Noted a weak carrier at tune, but by the hour signal was up to poor. At 0001, noted a canned ID as, "Radio Cultural Coatán ... Guatemala", by a man. After the hour a woman in Spanish comments and music. Over all signal was threshold to poor (Bolland, Chuck, FL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) That is: Radio Cultural Coatán. Transmitting from San Sebastián Coatán in Huehuetenango, Guatemala. (West of Guatemala City, near the Mexican border). Is a religious broadcast network, transmitting on 4780 KHz SW; here in the city the reception is poor with lot of digital interference type. Regards, (Juan Carlos Muñoz, TG9AJR, Guatemala City, Guatemala, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HUNGARY [and non]. This month's topic deals with reception reports and the importance of listeners providing feedback to radio stations, courtesy of David Crystal in Israel. I received a letter from David about his experiences with Radio Budapest, which he calls a "good example of close monitoring and quick action paying off." On Dec. 3, David says he was listening to Radio Budapest on 9835 kHz at 0200-0300 UT "with very good reception, and I had heard this transmission also earlier in this winter season with just as good reception. "On 4 December, I found a bad loud tone until 0215, and then All India Radio signed on. All this co-channel on 9835 kHz. All India Radio was plenty strong. I did not know the language, but I did know the interval signal of All India Radio. I did not want to lose Radio Budapest. I though, 'maybe if I got word to the frequency manager, quickly, something could be done about it.' "I phoned toll-free my long-distance telephone provider and was informed a call to Budapest would cost me about 50 cents Canadian per minute. I decided to invest the money. I did not phone Radio Budapest. I don't trust them to take proper action. I studied my Passport to World Band Radio 2004 and I decided to phone the Transmission Authority. They start work at 9 a.m. local time, and that is late by Israeli standards. They have UT+1 in Hungary and we have UT+2 in Israel. So I phoned at 10:30 a.m. local time in Israel. "Of course I was answered in Hungarian, but I just said, "English please" and had no further language trouble. Using the information in Passport, I was put through to the office of the Frequency Manager. He was out but his secretary was there. I left a simple message --- simple to a person in the shortwave radio field. I was asked who I was and I said I was David Crystal and I was in Israel. I was not asked anything more. I think the secretary knew my name. I have not reported to Radio Budapest for a long time, but my name is on the masthead of Passport. "The following morning, 5 December 2003, I tuned in to Radio Budapest on 9835 kHz at 0200-0230. There was no bad tone. At 0215, All-India Radio did sign on, but AIR was quite weak. I guess they were using a different azimuth. Anyhow, I did enjoy the whole broadcast of Radio Budapest. The Frequency Manager must have taken fruitful action." David's letter reminds me of my experience with the Iranian station, the Voice of Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (wish they had a shorter name!). As I reported in an earlier column, they were planning to drop their shortwave service but after I (and I presume other listeners, if I had that much clout on my own, I'd be over trying to straighten out the Middle East's political problems) emailed them back with a "don't do it" and listed the reasons why, they sent me a letter saying they were hanging on to their foreign shortwave service. The point is, as David's letter well illustrates, listener feedback is important --- and radio stations do respond. In many cases these stations are government funded, and listener responses give the stations support when they're looking for more money. Enjoy the rest of the winter. 73s, (Sue Hickey, CIDX Forum, Jan Messenger via Sheldon Harvey, DXLD) ** INDIA. Dear Glenn, The missing email addresses of AIR are : 1) AIR Port Blair (Station Engineer) ks_venkateswarlu @ hotmail.com 2) AIR HQ for reception reports spectrum-manager @ air.org.in Hope it comes out there clearly this time. Sincerely, (Jose Jacob, India, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Thanks, but I should point out to everyone using yahoo or topica groups: e-mail addresses in postings are always truncated to protect them from spambots, etc. That is why I have been separating the at symbol, or using the word at instead, in DXLD. This preserves the entire address while protecting it, altho it will no longer be a hotlink. I urge others to do the same (gh) see also HUNGARY above ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM [and non]. WRN's English language networks From: WRN English Newsletter No. 71 09 January 2004 15:41 World Radio Network WRN-English-Newsletter @ wrn.org WRN's English language networks can be heard via the following outlets: North and Central America: Telstar 5 satellite at 97º West, Transponder 27 12.177 GHz Vertical Polarisation, Symbol Rate 23,000 Msym/s FEC 2/3, DVB MPEG2 Choose Audio Channel: WRN1 (English) Audio-PID: 49 / Service-ID: 14 Stream 115 on Sirius Satellite Radio: http://www.siriusradio.com Many local cable TV services and AM/FM stations: http://www.wrn.org/namerica.html South America: Telstar 12 satellite at 15º West 11.974 GHz, Vertical-Pol, MPEG2 DVB, Symbol Rate 3400 FEC ¾, Channel VPID 6690, Channel APID 4112. Africa/Middle East: Intelsat 707 satellite at 1º West MPEG2 Digital at 3.9115 MHz, right-hand circular polarisation, Symbol rate 8.022 Mbaud, FEC 1/2, audio stream WRN (left-channel audio) MultiChoice DStv across Africa WorldSpace AfriStar satellite service. SAfm 104-107 across South Africa (Sun+Mon midnight to 5am, Tue-Sat 1am to 5am), in Cape Town on Bush Radio 89.5 FM (various times) and in Mayfair, Johannesburg on Al Saut/The Voice 94.5FM (various times). Across Malawi, listen on fm 101 POWER (midnight to 6am). In Windhoek, Namibia on UNAM Radio (8pm to 8am). In Lusaka, Zambia via Radio Choice 107.8FM (midnight to 5am) Asia Pacific AsiaSat 2 satellite at 100.5º East, European TV Bouquet free-to-air digital service MPEG2 DVB Digital at 4000 MHz Vertical polarity, Symbol Rate 28.125 Msym/s FEC ¾, WRN English left-audio channel WorldSpace AsiaStar satellite service. Radio Adelaide on 101.5 FM (1am to 6am) KLFM 96.5 FM Bendigo and 106.3FM Castlemaine (midnight - 6am). Jukebox Radio 99.1FM (formerly Bream Bay Community Radio 100.7FM), Waipu, Northland, NZ (7pm - 7am). Japan Usen 440 Cable: Channel E24 CAN Cable: Main Channel D23 Kanto Channel E24 Chubu Channel E23 Kansai Channel E24 Kyushu Channel E23 New Zealand Far North Cable: Channel 11 Europe SKYdigital channel 872 (Astra 2A satellite at 28.2 degrees East). Eutelsat HOT BIRD 6 satellite at 13º East, Transponder 94, 12.597 GHz. Vertical, Symbol Rate 27.500 Mbaud, FEC 3/4, MPEG2 DVB audio stream. Select WRN English from audio menu. The Service Identity Number (S-ID) is 8216 Spectrum Radio 558 AM in London and the South East of England from 1 am each night. Radio Horizon 92.9 FM, Eindhoven, the Netherlands from 11pm each night. Stockholm International 89.6FM/DAB throughout Sweden (various times) In Helsinki on Capital FM 103.7 FM/107.3 FM via cable (various times) Radio Aurora in Turku 96.7 FM (various times) Radio Kuopio in Lahti on 88.1 FM (various times) Across Denmark on Nyhedsradioen 24-7 from 10pm each night: Copenhagen (90.4 MHz), Roskilde (106.6 MHz), Nordsjælland (96.1 MHz), Dragør FM (105.6 MHz), Østjylland (106.2 MHz), the ON Cable service from Tele Danmarks, the Thor II satellite and the Internet at http://www.nyhedsradioen24-7.dk. Cable Austria: Graz: Telekabel/UPC (106.4 FM) Vienna: Telekabel/UPC (106.6 FM) Belgium: Antwerp: Integan (91.3 FM) Brussels: Wolu TV (88.1 FM) Brussels: UPC Belgium (88.1 FM) Essen: VEM (91.3FM) Czech Rep.: Prague: UPC Germany: Berlin: Kabel Deutschland (93.85FM) Ireland: Dublin: ntl (102.7FM) Waterford: ntl (88.6FM) Netherlands: Amsterdam: UPC (97FM) Bussum, Huizen, Laren: Casema (94.5FM) Hilversum: UPC (94.5FM) Laren: Multikabel (94.5FM) Loenen: CAI Loenen (97FM) Waterland: Casema (97FM) Wormerland: Multikabel (97FM) Switzerland: Nationwide: SwissFun* Geneva canton: Télégenève Digicable * UK: Nationwide: Telewest Activedigital * Bath, Bristol, Cheltenham, Gloucester, Trowbridge: Telewest (103.8FM) Bedford, Bedfordshire, North Hertfordshire: ntl (106.1FM) Birmingham/Solihull: Telewest (100.5FM) Edinburgh, Dundee, + some W Scotland (ex Glasgow): Telewest (100.8FM) Leeds: ntl (90.4FM) London (South): Richmond - South Norwood: Telewest (104FM) Newcastle/Tyneside: Telewest (90.4FM) Swindon: ntl South Central (88.6FM) Thames Valley & Reading: ntl South Central (105FM) * = digital cable services (via Mike Terry, DXLD) This does not include North America; WRN has a separate listing of outlets here http://www.wrn.org/namerica.html including some broadcast stations. Suddenly developing a renewed interest in those, I found most do not have websites, at least not obviously URLed, and those who do are not really carrying WRN any more. Some, I think, use it only as filler when student DJs don`t show up, on weekends, or vacation periods (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN. 7190, Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran, 1545 Jan 16, English identification followed by News and Views with an interview with an American about the similarities and differences between Christianity and Islam. Fair level on clear channel until Radio Liberty signed on 1600. Parallel 9610 was weaker and spoilt by some local noise. This 1530-1630 service and the 1030-1130 one on 15480 15550 are the only English from Iran now heard here (Mike Barraclough, Letchworth Garden City, UK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAQ. NEW RADIO BROADCASTS IN IRAQ SINCE 24 NOVEMBER 2003 The media in post-war Iraq --- 13 January 2004: BBC Monitoring has just published a report covering the media scene in Iraq as observed since the end of November 2003. The following is an except, reproduced by permission . . . http://www.rnw.nl/realradio/features/html/media020715.html (via Media Network via DXLD) This is more or less how we would have excerpted the same for DXLD, had not much of it already appeared here (gh, DXLD) ** IRAQ. THE OTHER MEDIA NETWORK The Harris Corporation, a US technology company which builds transmitters, is going to be responsible for the Arabic language programmes on Iraqi domestic radio. At least, that's the impression you would have had if you read the 14 Jan edition of the Washington Post, which a lot of Americans - including those in high places - did. As the Coalition begins another attempt at rebuilding the Iraqi media, is there any evidence that lessons have been learned in the last 9 months? http://www.rnw.nl/realradio/features/html/iraq-analysis040115.html (Media Network newsletter Jan 15 via DXLD) ** ITALY. The English Service from RAI Rome is noted on 11880 at about 2028 UT with the opening announcement, ``This is RAI, the Italian Radio and Television Service``. The following broadcast began with a bulletin of news, and it is directed to the Near East (Livinus Torty, Chad, AWR Wavescan Jan 18 via DXLD) ** JAPAN. To Japanese radio watchers! KDXC released frequency and address lists of Japanese radio stations including FM. Please visit, http://www10.plala.or.jp/azwave/ (Kanto DX Circle, Japan Premium via DXLD) And it`s in English! Very nicely done, with station logos, links, QSL gallery too (gh, DXLD) ** LESOTHO. 4800, 1711-1713, LNBS Jan 11. Presumed, with African choral music; fair level, but in background of strong swisher interference. Much better on Jan. 12 with very good signal of African choral music overpowering the swisher QRM (Guy Atkins, DXing at Ocean City State Park, WA, R75 / AR7030 / Kiwa MAP / ERGO / SW & W Beverages at 750 ft., hard-core-dx via DXLD) ** MALAYSIA. Radio 4, 7295, Jan 10 1100-1115+ English programming with Radio 4 ID at 1100 and into news; pop music. Poor with ham QRM. Audio always poor and muffled making it difficult to understand (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. R. México Internacional, 9704.97, Jan 9 0320-0420+, still here producing a nice clean signal, although not very strong. Local romantic ballads, occasional Spanish announcement, ID. Not heard the next night (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. (presumed), 4810 (LSB), XERTA (Presumed), 0043 UT Jan 17. Noted country music initially but off the air at 0048 after a woman comments in Spanish. Then music comes back after a second or two with woman talking. Seems like they are testing here. The woman is talking to someone. I can't hear the far end of the link. The signal is AM. Signal when on the air is good in LSB. Check my site at http://www.orchidcitysoftware.com?IMAGE2.HTML later for a sound bite. It will take a few to get it uploaded (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston, Florida, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. This morning around 0630 MST on 700 kHz I was hearing a station that I thought sounded a lot loke XEETCH with the slow talking announcers, fiddle music, etc. Then I heard the ID -- it *was* XEETCH. I heard several IDs -- the slow, clearly enunciated X-E-E-T-C-H every few minutes. Apparently XEETCH has moved from 1130. My online logbooks are at http://www.gentoo.net/dxlogbook/main.mv?account=mikew -- (Mike Westfall, N6KUY, WDX6O, Los Alamos, New Mexico (DM65uv), Jan 14, Corazón DX via DXLD) Thanks to Mike Westfall's tip, heard XEETCH on 700 kHz this morning with usual format, i.e. anthem at 1303 UT, then sign-on in Spanish and 2 Indian languages, then indigenous flute and fiddle music. Think they are still 5000 watts, per announcement, broadcasting mornings only. Fair signal and improving, but bothered throughout by splatter from local KNUS-710. 1130 was by far the better frequency at this QTH, with a good, clear signal most mornings. XE #203 here (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge CO, Drake R-8, 4-foot box loop., ibid.) XEETCH, 1130, 5d, La Voz de los Tres Rios, Etchojoa, Sonora, 1200-2000 (WRTH 2004 via DXLD) ** MEXICO [and non]. 560 BCN situation: see USA, BROADCAST BAND UPDATE ** MYANMAR. 5770, Defence Forces Broadcast Station presumed the one here 1610 January 15th only just above threshold level with chanting, better but still poor level 1623 recheck, Western style romantic song, announcement by lady, brief piece of Asian instrumental music on keyboards and apparent off 1630. Best on USB as intermittent utility interference from a station slightly lower in frequency (Mike Barraclough, Letchworth Garden City, UK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) BTW, Wyomissing PA was patterned after Letchworth G.C., and strangely enough Mike`s colleague in the World DX Club, Rich D`Angelo lives there (gh) 5770, 1605-1618, Burmese Defense Ministry Jan 12. Tentative. Talk or commentary by male announcer in SE lang.; Asian pop music in possible Thai or Burmese 1611. Brief talk by female announcer, short boogie- woogie piano and guitar music, and back to female announcer 1617. Poor signal (Guy Atkins, DXing at Ocean City State Park, WA, R75 / AR7030 / Kiwa MAP / ERGO / SW & W Beverages at 750 ft., hard-core-dx via DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS. Re: Welcome to the thehappystation group Andy, In case you haven`t heard about this --- any comments? Any idea who`s behind it? (Glenn to Andy Sennitt, via DXLD) Hi Glenn, Well, it`s nothing to do with Radio Netherlands, but it could it be the following: ``TAIWAN Radio Vancouver International (RVI) Per emails from this new program to Sheldon Harvey published in DXLD via Hauser: RVI is on Live 365 and on shortwave via Radio Taipei International. Keith Perron is the point of contact- rvi@mybc.com - email (604) 974-0991 ext. 3749 voicemail/fax. RVI is via CHMB 1320 AM in Vancouver, BC, Canada. The owner wanted to use short-wave to reach Tawian and Hong Kong. At the moment we are doing some tests via http://www.live365.com where we are going to be taking advertising to pay for the rental time of the RTI transmitters. Programs include a show called the Happy Station, which is no longer on the air at RN and whose name was never under copywrite. RVI has special QSL cards and the broadcasts are in SSB. (Harvey DXLD via Hauser Feb 16 2001) or this one: http://cinaea.diaryland.com/ or Apintie (The Happy Station) 97.1 FM/920 AM/4990 in Surinam BTW, while Googling I just came across http://www.sheldonbrown.com/radio.html which lists us as Radio Nederland - The Happy Station with a link to a long redundant audio page for Media Network at townhall.org :-) I just noticed they've spelt Tom's name wrong (it's Meyer, not Meyers) which rules out any possibility that Tom himself is behind it :-) It also suggests that whoever it is didn't listen to the show very often, or very carefully! 73, (Andy Sennitt, Holland, Jan 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) NEW HAPPY STATION CHAT GROUP ON YAHOO! GROUPS Glenn Hauser contacted me to ask if I knew anything about a new Yahoo! group that has just been set up. It's at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/thehappystation/ and the description reads: "a new chat group for people who remember the good old days of the happy station presented by tom meyers [sic] every sunday on radio nederlands [sic]" Needless to say, this group isn't anything to do with Radio Netherlands, but from time to time we still get letters and E-mails from people who used to be regular listeners. For that reason, I mention it here. # posted by Andy @ 19:49 UT Jan 16 (Media Network blog via DXLD) Apparently you can be subscribed to a yahoogroup with direct permission unless you disallow this in your preferences. I have heard from some others who went thru this (gh, DXLD) ** NIGERIA. 4770, 1703-1707, V. of Nigeria Jan 12. Lagos and Nigerian news items in English read by man to V. of Nigeria ID at 1705. Good level (Guy Atkins, DXing at Ocean City State Park, WA, R75 / AR7030 / Kiwa MAP / ERGO / SW & W Beverages at 750 ft., hard-core-dx via DXLD) ** NIGERIA. V. of Nigeria, 15120, Jan 9 1945-1958* English. Tune-in to Nigerian pop music program, ID. Good until 1955 when hit by co-channel QRM from Cuba at their *1955. Nigeria was smart to sign-off at this time and move to 17800: V. of Nigeria, 17800, Jan 9 *1959-2100+, sign-on with anthem. 2000 English news, program about epilepsy. Very strong but distorted, over- modulated audio. Surprised audio was so good on 15120 and so bad on 17800 (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIUE. RESCUE RADIO: NIUE DEVASTATION REPORTED BY HAM RADIO From the rescue radio file, word that radio amateurs became a lifeline when tropical cyclone Heta ripped through the tiny island republic of Niue two weeks ago. The storm left the tropical paradise with no regular means of communicating with the outside world and summoning much needed relief aid. Enter ham radio. According to news reports, a radio operator on the island put out a call for help which was answered by Steve McCully, W7TZ/ZF2CQ, in the California community of Oak Hills. In fact, it was McCully who phoned the New Zealand Consul General in Los Angeles and provided that government with its first notification that Niue had been ravaged by 186 mile per hour winds. More is on-line at http://www.vvdailypress.com/cgi-bin/newspro/viewnews.cgi?newsid1073499379,43275 http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/SYD184348.htm and http://www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations/pacific/niue/ (CGC, WA6MCL via ARNewsline January 16 via John Norfolk, DXLD) ** PAKISTAN. PBC Quetta on 5027.2 kHz NOW. Right now (0221 UT Jan 16) I'm listening to what I am CERTAIN is PBC Quetta Pakistan on 5027, SINPO 23332, Lower sideband ONLY audible (QRM on UPPER). Grab it now as they will be in full daylight pretty quickly! If any of you want to try for this low power (10 kW) station here are some suggestions. Frequency is 5027.2 (here Lower Sideband only was audible). You will almost certainly need a fully dark (night time) path between ye and them. They came into daylight at approximately 0235 UT at which time they very quickly faded into oblivion. As their useful broadcast times (to be heard stateside) are 0045-0345 UT, look for them from when your area is fully dark (maybe even twilight) until about 0235. Program language is Urdu and I heard a lot of Pakistani/Indian style music. Don't expect them to be very strong! This is a "home service" broadcast, not meant as a transcontinental one. Using the distance feature of GeoClock showed them to be about 7750 Miles from me, not "Antipodal (South Indian Ocean) but still a good haul for a 10 kW broadcaster. 73 from the "Beaconeers Lair". (Phil, KO6BB, Atchley, DX begins at the noise floor! Merced, Central California, swl at qth.net via DXLD) Go get `em. At 0145 UT they're coming in much better than last night. Somewhat different music this time though (Sounds almost like Arabic Kor`an chant). Lower sideband ONLY here as G. Scott on 5029 is wiping out the USB. 73 from the "Beaconeers Lair". (Phil, KO6BB, Atchley, Merced, Central California, UT Jan 17, ibid.) ** PERU. R. Ilucán, 5677.99, Jan 10 0225-0241* Spanish talk, pops, 0240 sign-off announcements with IDs and off; fair-good (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 5620v kHz, Radio Cielo, Chiclayo 16/Ene/2004 1030 UT. SWB MICROINFORMATIVO! Quito 16/Ene/2004 10:34 hora local This Peruvian pirate is coming in with better signal on higher frequencies, so this is your chance to hear them! Drifting from 5619 up to 5622 kHz. 73s (Björn Malm, Quito, Ecuador, SWB América Latina, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SINGAPORE. 3915, 1729-1731, BBC Kranji, Jan 11. Sportcast of soccer game, with announcers in English. BBC ID at 1730. Excellent signal (Guy Atkins, DXing at Ocean City State Park, WA, R75 / AR7030 / Kiwa MAP / ERGO / SW & W Beverages at 750 ft., hard-core-dx via DXLD) ** SOLOMON ISLANDS. 5019.9, 0959-1008 [sic], SIBC, Jan 12. Near-local quality signal with male announcer giving IDs and promos in English ('SIBC... your window on the world', etc.) at 0959. Local Solomon Islands news items read by woman, including trade news, Honiara city council elections, AIDS report, and political office openings. ID at 0707 [sic --- means 1007?]: 'This news is coming to you from the SIBC, Radio Hapi Isles, Honiara'. String of ads at 1026, including 'Hubba Bubba' bubble gum, and job opening announcements (Guy Atkins, DXing at Ocean City State Park, WA, R75 / AR7030 / Kiwa MAP / ERGO / SW & W Beverages at 750 ft., hard-core-dx via DXLD) ** SUDAN [non]. V. of New Sudan, 6985, presumed, Jan 10 0400-0500. Tune-in to local vocals, 0406 Big Ben chimes and talk in language; irregular. Very good (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKEY. 6900, Voice of Meteorology, 1535 Jan 16. Had been noticing something at threshold levels January 14th and 15th, better signal today, still only poor level but steady signal on clear channel, presumably this one with continuous Turkish music, still going at 1629 recheck but not there at 1640. WRTH04 has them as reported inactive (Mike Barraclough, Letchworth Garden City, UK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Mike. 6900, Meteorolojinin Sesi Radyosu can be heard at my QTH most days during UT afternoon with Turkish pop music. I'll log this one myself as (p), as for last several months the only thing I hear here is music. Would appreciate very much if someone could give specific times for some spoken weather reports. Best 73 (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, ibid.) ** U K. The Americanization of BBCWS continues. I just heard a program promo after the 1430 UT John Peel program promoting a show airing at "9 am Eastern Time" on Sunday. Is this being inserted at the SW transmitter site? After all, I thought the BBC didn't broadcast on shortwave towards North America. Are all Americas streams being told about programs using a time in zone of a country the BBCWS refuses to service by shortwave or in-the-clear satellite broadcast? What's next? Weather in major U.S. cities? Features from the Top 20 U.S. markets where people have never heard BBCWS because it's only on for an hour a week in the middle of the night? And they treat us with such disdain. They shift their program schedule to keep up with time zone changes here, but don't change their shortwave schedule. So, we get Europe Today at 6 pm European local time, but only half the year. Where is the logic in that? Uh, oh, time for the main points of the news, again, just after the :45-past-the-hour time pips (Mike Cooper, Jan 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) On 15190, I`ve been noticing program promos given in Eastern time all year now. What about Central and Mountain??? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. BBC Website / Scheduling information Although I realize this may not help the majority of your readers, for those who have recently indicated that they find the BBCWS website schedule useless or difficult, there is a really nice program for Mac OS X users called "Steam", produced by FliXton Software. Find it at: http://members.cox.net/flixtonsoftware/Steam/index.html Not only does it download and parse many BBC schedules into a much more readable form, it automatically converts times to the local zone of the user and has links to both streaming and archived audio. It's also integrated with PublicRadioFan.Com for those who want to see the whole list of stations that might play a certain program (Johnathan Grant, Jan 15, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. BBCWS' VIEW OF ITS ROLE --- Here's a link to an interesting address by Phillip Harding, Director of English Networks and News, BBC World Service, delivered at the Western Public Radio Conference in November 2003 and excerpted on the PRI web site. http://www.pri.org/PublicSite/listeners/text_bbc_feature.html (via John Figliozzi and Richard Cuff, swprograms via DXLD) ** U K. DELIBERATE SILENCE ON BBC RADIO 3 LONDON (AP) --- Do not adjust your set. The sound of silence on BBC airwaves Friday is art --- a rare broadcast of John Cage`s inaudible masterpiece 4`33, which consists of four minutes and 33 seconds of silence. BBC radio scheduled the piece as part of a BBC Symphony Orchestra concert devoted to the avant-garde American composer. Roger Wright, controller of the BBC`s classical station, Radio 3, said the work is an American classic that is ``more talked about than performed.`` The BBC said Friday`s performance from London`s Barbican Centre would be the first broadcast of the piece in Britain. It was to air on BBC TV later Friday. Broadcasting the piece required shutting off an emergency backup system designed to kick in to cover dead air. Wright said the orchestra had been rehearsing the piece with conductor Lawrence Foster, and that listeners could expect the unexpected. ``It may not last four minutes and 33 seconds, the whole thing, if they take a break between the three sections,`` Wright told BBC radio. ``It may last a little longer.`` BBC Symphony general manager Paul Hughes told BBC radio that the orchestra would tune up before the performance, then turn pages of the score after each of the three movements specified by Cage, who died in 1992 at the age of 79. Cage`s piece sparked a mass walkout when it was first performed in 1952, and it has divided audiences for more than half a century. The courts, at least, have recognized its worth. In 2002 Cage`s publishers launched a plagiarism suit against British musician Mike Batt, who had included a one-minute silence on an album by his rock group, The Planets. Batt agreed to pay an undisclosed six-figure sum to the John Cage Trust (via Ricky Leong, DXLD) See also http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/3401901.stm including web visitors views about the question: "What do you think of the sounds of silence? Is this a genuine artistic endeavour or the music world gone mad?" (via Horacio Nigro, Uruguay, Jan 16, DXLD) ** U K [non]. Dear friends, You are correct in noting that "AWR Wavescan is back at 0200 on 7230 on Sundays via Moosbrunn, Austria to S. Asia. For some weeks Urdu was broadcast at this time." This is part of a substantial schedule change which took place on January 1, 2004. Due to budget constraints and the increasing cost of airtime our schedule has been reduced and this is reflected in the above change. No languages have been cut but some duplicate broadcasts have been reduced. The full new schedule is available at http://www.awr.org/listener-services.html We are disappointed to have to reduce air time but hope that you are still able to enjoy our programmes in your area. Yours sincerely, Victor Hulbert Director. English Language & Listener Services. Adventist World Radio, 39 Brendon Street, London, W1H 5HD, England. Tel +44 1344 401401 Fax +44 1344 401419 victor @ awr.org http://english.awr.org (via bcdxnet via Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** U S A. WWCR ASKS FOR SOME MONITORING ASSISTANCE. For propagational reasons, is considering moving WWCR-3 from 12160 to 9985 at 1300-1600 UT. 9985 will be tested as follows: Sun Jan 18 1300-1500 (during the Tamil Ragam show), Mon Jan 19 1300-1400. Based on results, may continue Tuesday and onwards as late as 1600. Since WWCR-4 will be operating on 9475 at the same time, there is a possibility of mixing products between the two on 8965 and 10495. Although theoretically at least 80 dB down, sensitive receivers may be able to pick them up. WWCR wants to know if you can hear WWCR on either of these possible mixing products. Please note if they are interfering with anything, supply details of your receiver and antenna, location, etc. If you would like a 2004 calendar/planner booklet as a token of appreciation, while supplies last, include your P-mail address. Reports on this should go to gh, woradio at yahoo.com who will forward them to WWCR. If you check on Sunday, don`t hold those results until Monday (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. FIRST TEST CARD FOR MIDDLE EAST TV NETWORK OBSERVED ON NILESAT Tarek Zeidan in Cairo reports that the transponder on Nilesat that had been carrying the Iraqi Media Network prior to the latter's appearance on Arabsat, is now carrying a test card of Alhurra TV (literally in English: Free TV). This is the on air name of the new US-sponsored Middle East TV Network. Technical characteristics: Nilesat 7 degrees W 11804 GHz Pol H Symbol rate 27500 FEC 3/4 Update 1750 UT: "Alhurra TV" test card is not on the Frequency of 11804H but is at present (18:50 CET, 15.1.04) on 11823V ('Neil' in a comment to this item). The Web domain http://alhurra.com has been registered by Middle East Television Network, Inc, 330 Independence Ave, S.W. Washington, DC 20237. As yet, there is no Web site online. (Thanks to Nick Grace of Clandestine Radio Watch for help with research). # posted by Andy @ 16:48 UT Jan 15 (Media Network blog via DXLD) AL HURRA TV NOW ALSO TESTING ON ARABSAT Tarek Zeidan reports the latest observations on the new US television channel Al Hurra TV which is gearing up for launch on Nilesat: "For a while now they started having music with the test card screen and it was a surprise to hear them playing the audio of Radio Sawa - the Egypt stream // 990 not the Iraq stream which is different. Update 1240 UT: Now on Arabsat as well on 11662 V 27500 3/4 still with a test card. # posted by Andy @ 12:24 UT Jan 16 (Media Network blog via DXLD) ** U S A. WE STILL NEED HELP, NPR TELLS ITS LISTENERS --- Tommy Nguyen Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor 01/16/2004 Los Angeles resident Oliver Kendall admits that he hasn't renewed his subscription to his local National Public Radio affiliate, KCRW. Although the medical student cites financial difficulties as an excuse for not contributing, the fact that he tuned out KCRW during its 10- day pledge drive last summer certainly didn't help. "I resent KCRW pledge drives and I avoid them at all cost," says Mr. Kendall. So one can imagine the rejoicing of Kendall and other KCRW listeners when their hometown newspaper, the Los Angeles Times, declared that the "days when National Public Radio is forced to ask member stations to hold fundraising drives just so it can stay on the air are over." In that Nov. 7 front-page article, the Times reported on the more than $200 million gift NPR would receive from the estate of the late Joan Kroc, widow of Ray Kroc, the founder of the McDonald's fast-food empire. But at least one public radio listener, KCRW's general manager Ruth Seymour, reacted differently. "I just about flipped," says Ms. Seymour, who remembers standing on a busy street corner in Manhattan when she read the Times story. "I was screaming into the telephone: 'You have to get me through to the editor!' " The truth is that the Kroc gift will have no effect on the financial needs or the fundraising efforts of NPR's 750 member stations. Instead of receiving financial support from NPR, these stations have to pay for NPR programming... Click here to read this story online: http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0116/p13s01-wmgn.html (via Jim Moats, DXLD) ** U S A. Friday, Jan. 16 --- HBO`s Real Time with Bill Maher is back for a second season and yeah, it`s just like his old ABC show, Politically Incorrect. But HBO is booking booking booking, and the guests are allowed to curse on cable. And considering the political atmosphere in this country, Mr. Maher can remember how to enjoy himself, and he does seem to care about the issues he talks about. He`s kind of like Bill Moyers crossed with Bart Simpson. "John Kerry`s problem is that he not only speaks softly, he is a big stick," he said recently. Yeah --- he is a big stick! Har-har-har! Tonight, Mr. Maher invites General Wesley Clark, Ron Silver and Representative Darrell Issa to duke it out between guffaws [HBO, 32, 8 p.m.] (Joe Hagan, NY Observer via DXLD) That`s on the main HBO-East feed, UT Sat 0100 repeated at his former first live airing of Sat 0430, also Mon 0445, Wed 0500, Thu 0400, and no doubt at various other times on other HBO sub-networks. I imagine the Friday night times will stick for the current run, but the other repeats will vary (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. WHUR COMMENCES IBOC OPERATIONS --- Washington - Jan 16, 2004 - WHUR-FM (96.3), the Howard University-owned and operated radio station, will begin IBOC broadcasting on Jan. 21 at 11 a.m. [EST] The station will hold a press conference at the station's transmitter site to commemorate the event. WHUR will be the first commercial radio station in the Washington market to begin IBOC transmissions (Radio Currents Online via DXLD) ** U S A [and non]. BROADCAST BAND UPDATE Jan 15, by Greg Hardison LET`S GET THIS STRAIGHT: Correspondent and Official Historian Jim Hilliker checks in from Clear Channel in Monterey with an important correction. A sad duty last month was to tell you about the death of KFI/Airwatch`s Ed Berger, from pancreatic cancer at the age of 43. Ed was chief of the Broadcasting instructional program at Fullerton Junior College, not CSUF as reported. No question, he is sorely missed by many folks both in and out of the Biz. THE NEWS OF TALK: In case you`ve been hibernating, KNX/1070 has added 16 hours of weekend Talk programming. Noted Program Director David G. Hall did go for the best, raiding his ex-shop at KFI/640 for Melinda Lee`s Food News Show, and Jeff Levy`s very entertaining Computer-fest. The shows are mixed nicely with local News and traffic updates from traditional KNX-voices; of course, the News purists are a bit peeved at the development. My own jury`s out; I wish nothing but the best for Melinda (formerly at KNX under the Bob Sims regime, mid- `90s) and Jeff, but it is a bit strange trying to develop a KFWB-habit --- which leads to the strategy of the whole move. I`m sure DGH foresees a siphoning of the 1070 audience over to KFWB/980; the problem comes with `WB`s air-obligations to the Dodgers (including pre-season games), and Westwood One`s NFL offerings. This makes SF`s KCBS/740 California`s only truly ALL-news outlet. COLIN POWELL`S IDIOT SON: The latest from FCC Head Mikey has him clocking in, right on time, in response to U2`s Bono f-word spewings during the `03 Golden Globes (when was that, 3 months ago?). Mikey calls for a tenfold increase in obscenity fines levied against broadcasters; as a parent, I can`t totally disagree. Michael Powell earns the title of this section by way of his ringing endorsement of IBOC, the ill-conceived U.S.-``in band on frequency`` digital broadcast technology. Best example of impending failure is Univision`s KTNQ/1020 in L.A., which is ``testing`` IBOC during daylight hours (as are many others around the Country). On a standard analog receiver, 10-Q`s audio sounds like an old-timey Network feed, with plenty of ``line loss``, rolling off high-end audio response into limbo. One notes a loud ``hash``, completely covering 1010 and 1030, as is standard with IBOC. No, it`s not the engineer`s fault --- 10-Q`s Chief Engineer Tom Koza is known as one of the most competent wrench- jockeys around. WHITHER GEORGE?: Putnam, that is. AM 830 in SoCal is now Spanish- talker KMXE, flagship of the fledgling RadioVisa network. Fellow traveler Chip Stevens was the first to alert me that the venerable broadcaster is heading back to Salem`s KRLA/870. So far, that`s merely a rumour, though a viable one. Whether one agrees with George Putnam`s Conservatism or not, he is certainly a hoot to know, jam-packed with energy and a rapid-fire mind as he approaches age 90. Yes, George does claim to have once slept with 1920`s heartthrob Clara Bow, among a few others. WHAT A RUSH!: The formerly-rotund, pill-popping Conservative mouthpiece has won an unlikely ally in his battle to keep his Florida medical records sealed. Who else but the American Civil Liberties Union would come to his potential rescue, agreeing with Limbaugh`s forces that those records should be kept secret. Rush`s chief attorney, of course, lauds the move. The ACLU`s Florida chief, Howard Simon, included the following in his explanation: ``...we have always said that the ACLU`s real client is the Bill of Rights and we will continue to safeguard the values of equality, fairness and privacy for everyone, regardless of race, economic status or political point of view.`` Obviously --- Since then, the 4th District Court of Appeals has ordered State prosecutors to surrender those records, where they`ll be held by the Court pending further review. SWING TO THE LEFT: The superb AllAccess site informs of Al Franken`s signed contract, to host a three hour show on the fledgling Central Air Liberally-inclined Network, which will go up against Rush`s three- hour daily politics-fest. What we now will see, is whether any stations actually carry this stuff. I`d hope so, just for the sake of balance. Robert Feder of ``The Chicago Sun-Times`` informs that the Net will be heard on WNTD/950 in the Windy City, a Radio Única outlet being sold to Multicultural Broadcasting Co. Central Air has claimed access to outlets in NYC, L.A., S.F. Philly and Boston. Let`s see, here: WWRU/1660 in NYC, KBLA/1580 in L.A. and KIQI/1010 in S.F. If there`s any pattern stemming from this Chi-town move, then that`s where we`ll be hearing Liberal-talk, in a matter of weeks (although MB`s WPAT/930 would make much more sense for NYC). The all-knowing Feder also reports Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will do a Central show focusing on various corporate hijinks affecting our daily lives. AllAccess also tell us about UK Prime Minister Tony Blair`s fill-in stint as a Talkshow host on London`s LBC-FM. Reviews weren`t too bad, either; perhaps TB`s opened up a post-Government career path? Up in Fargo, ND, KFGO/790 Liberal talker Ed Schultz has gone syndicated, airing 3-6 PM CST. Problem is, his own station doesn`t even carry the National offering; his ``local`` show does air on five other State outlets. Speculation has been offered that KFGO-owner Clear Channel has come up with this arrangement in order to ensure the effort fails. Hmmm... A BETTER MOUSETRAP: Congrats go to the Clear Channel`s KFI/640, for coming in at a solid #2 in the Los Angeles Fall 2003 Arbitron survey. This marks the best AM performance in L.A. since the halcyon days of KABC/790 around 20 years ago. Further thrust in Disney`s face comes this memo sent to NYC`s WABC/770 by an apparent CC corporate type: ``January 9, 2004 TO: Phil Boyce Program Director, WABC RE: URGENT MESSAGE -- CEASE and DESIST Dear Mr. Boyce: We would like to inform you that WABC has lost its bragging rights for ``America`s most listened to news talk station.`` Those bragging rights now belong to KFI in Los Angeles. Attached is a press release with additional details for your information. Kindly cease and desist from referring to WABC as America`s most listened to news talk station. Thank you. Please call with any questions. Sincerely, Mary Brennan Stich, Corporate Counsel PS: Robin Bertolucci sends her best regards`` --Robin is, of course, KFI`s Program Director. Good for her, and her crew of hard-working Hosts and Producers. And so you know, WABC/770 HAS ceased and desisted from its earlier claim. BIG APPLE LOSSES: Three noted of significance. Veteran broadcaster John A. Gambling has died at the age of 73, of heart failure in Florida. His father, John B. Gambling, started a morning show known as ``Rambling With Gambling``, in 1925 over WOR/710. The late John A. took it over in 1959, holding court until 1991 --- when Generation-3 John R. Gambling took the reigns. ``R`` was bounced by WOR in 2000, and moved his show up the dial/down the street to WABC/770, where the legacy continues today. Out on the Island of Long, long-term Rocker WLIR/92.7 FM is no more. Univisióon`s purchase of the facility has led to a simulcast of co- owned Spanish WCAA/105.9. Old `LIR owners Jarad Broadcasting retains three FMers on the East end of Long Island; the WLIR call letters and legendary alternative-rock format have landed on 107.1 out in the Hamptons. The 92.7 stick, though rather low-powered, sits on the border of Queens and Nassau County, thus assuring a good signal toward Manhattan as far as the East River; it also now gives Univisión a radio presence in southern Connecticut. Another loss is suffered by WXRK/92.3`s Howard Stern, who now drops to #2 Mornings in the NYC Fall ARB survey. The top morning spot now goes to Luís Jiménez and Moonshadow, on Spanish WSKQ/97.9. The survey notes that Howard and WINS/1010 (all News) have larger audiences in raw bodies, but `SKQ`s devotees listen for longer periods. BY THE TIME I GOT TO PHOENIX: The Smith Barney Citigroup Media Conference there, just after the year`s flip saw Clear Channel honcho Randall Mays declare that the broadcast giant was done focusing on acquisitions, in favor of fine-tuning its currently-owned outlets. Should drive the price of stations down, somewhat. Disney headpoobah Michael Eisner touted his firm`s seemingly-amazing recovery of revenues, post 9/11 --- but left the Broadcast operations out of the parade, saying only that ABC-TV ad revenues are ``not deteriorating``. Ousted Board members Roy Disney and Stanley Gold continue their war of words against Eisner. While in Phoenix, we note the Arbitron Fall survey shows both News/Talk leaders, KFYI/550 and KTAR/620 tanking, with KTAR dropping more than one full percentage point. Rocker KUPD/97.9 FM, Country KNIX/102.5, and Adult Contermporary KESZ/99.9 are each up significantly --- the latter two, over one full point apiece. Seems, Phoenicians are tiring of world events, while escaping into musical bliss. CORPORATE SUPPORT: Seems Disney`s WLS/890 Afternoon star Garry Meier has been locked out of his Chicago workplace, pending ``contract negotiations``. Meier expressed some surprise at the move, noting that both sides were eager to reach an agreement --- to his knowledge, anyway. Air partner Roe Conn took Monday (1/12) off, but remains as a solo act for the time being. Meier`s WLS numbers have been good; he built quite a rep in the 80s, working with Steve (``don`t call me Roald!``) Dahl, on WLUP. PATROLLING THE BORDER: The Mexican radio pest in Tecate at 560 AM has changed call letters, to XEPE. And, I do believe they`ve reduced the power a bit. Their signal is notably weaker in the San Fernando Valley (nights) and in Orange County (days), since about January 8 or so. This is perhaps in response to (or in ignorance of) a joint- interference complaint filed by Clear Channel`s KFYI/550 (Phoenix) and KBLU/560 (Yuma, a scant 120 miles away). Also getting in on that complaint were Buck Owens` KUZZ/550 in Bakersfield, and Disney`s KSFO/560 in San Francisco. Certainly the two 560s have the most legitimate complaints; the others are laboring from Sour Grapes, in my opinion. Not too far away, rumour has it that two new XE`s are being built in Rosarito, near Tijuana. One supposedly is set to air at 780/AM, the other at 920. Both seem unlikely to me, as 780 would be shortspaced to Tijuana`s XESPN/800. The 920 deal seems downright impossible, as a fulltime licensed station operates in Ensenada --- less than 50 air miles away! Mexico has in the past issued many ``ghost`` permits for stations never built, primarily to protect broadcast allocations from encroaching U.S. stations. 780 could possibly host such a low-powered U.S. facility in Northern San Diego County; considering anything similar on 920 would be downright ludicrous, given not only Ensenada, but San Diego`s own KECR, firmly placed at 910 AM with Family Radio fare. AND ON THIS SIDE: The Country-radio wars are heating up in San Diego, with the birth of ``U.S. Country 95.7``, KUSS (don`t ya` love those call letters?). Proud parents: Clear Channel. The Oldies mix previously heard there has moved up to the former ``Bob``, XHCR/99.3, leased from its Tijuana owners by CC. Heritage SD-Country KSON/97.3 loses its morning hosts Tony `n` Kris to the new KUSS --- as they try to establish a North County audience with the recently acquired KSOQ/92.1 in Escondido. Heading North, the Pig has found a new Poke. KPIG/107.5 in Monterey, arguably the most listened to ``Americana`` station around, has eaten up the Otter, KOTR/94.9 in Cambria-San Luis Obispo. The Otter has spent the past 20-odd years providing alternative music programming to California`s beautiful Central Coast area; station execs are optimistic that the audience will embrace the Pig as their own. LOOKING UP: XM Satellite Radio has signed deals with The Weather Channel and with Mobility Technologies, to provide localized traffic and weather reports for 21 metro areas, including L.A., San Francisco, Phoenix and Chicago, among others. The goal is to have all up and running by year`s end, with 15 markets on board in March. Of course this has raised the ire of the National Association of Broadcasters, who have run in fear of emerging technologies --- when their fears should be directed toward crappy local (and lack thereof) programming! NAB chief Eddie Fritts notes in his statement, among other points: ``XM SATELLITE RADIO`s announcement today to provide weather and traffic reports to select major markets represents an appalling back- door attempt to bypass the FCC`s intent to limit satellite radio to a national service only. The announcement also violates the spirit of a terrestrial repeater agreement NAB recently negotiated with XM barring XM from local programming delivery. NAB will explore the legality of XM offering this program service. But there is no doubt the 175 million daily listeners of local radio stations know that the best and most reliable source for news, school closings, and weather and traffic alerts continues to be their local broadcasters.`` That is to say, Eddie, when and IF those services are provided! Both contractors are known as progressive, innovative firms. Methinks we can expect a superb product here. XM has also signed pacts with JetBlue and AirTran, to be offered as additional in-flight listening options. Meanwhile, both XM and competitor Sirius Satellite are developing technology that would allow delivery of Video product to subscribers, especially targeting automobiles. (Might be a good time to remind all, keep your eyes on the ROAD!) The FCC is examining whether Sirius is ``allowed`` to do such under its license; a similar review can be expected for XM. The main tech obstacle is bandwidth restriction, but in this highly-digital age, I would expect their corporate eggheads to succeed at meeting and beating the challenge. Year`s end saw XM at more than 1.3 million subscribers, with more than 260,000 now signed on to Sirius. By the way, XM goes completely Commercial-Free in February, on their music streamers. SO HOW WERE YOUR HOLIDAYS?: Spent a fun-couple of hours with KNX/1070 on Christmas afternoon, taking in their re-creation of the 1969 Apollo 11 Moon Landing, replete with play-by-play from Walter Cronkite, and color provided by Astronaut Wally Schirra. Hopefully this will start a trend of retrospective-feature programming, during such slow-News days. My traditional New Years` Eve scan-across-the-band was a bit disappointing, filled with cookie-cutter National/satellite fed schmutz, instead of the local observances that have been so entertaining in years past. I used to tune into localized countdowns, starting with WBAP/820 in Dallas and WOAI-1200 in San Antonio, then working West to a choice of burgs `n` signals from the Mountain zone (faves were KOA/850 in Denver, or KSL/1160 in Salt Lake). Didn`t bother with any West Coasters at Midnight, although KGO/810 in SF usually did something entertaining for the yearly flip-over. They may have this time around as well; guess I missed it. KILLER RADIO: It seems a Timberlake, NC man was killed in a January 4 traffic mishap, in which his small pickup left a local roadway at 60 MPH, striking a driveway culvert and going airborne, then landing on its wheels in an appropriate front yard. Local gendarmes say Rodney Cates was done in by his dashboard radio ---which flew out of its nest during impact, striking him in the head; they also tell us there was an alcohol-factor in the crash. Until the next, peace and prosperity (GREG HARDISON, Jan 15, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UZBEKISTAN. Re: OVERVIEW OF THE MEDIA IN UZBEKISTAN The FM dial in Tashkent 83. 6 and 83.7 FM - These frequencies broadcast what appears to be the new Uzbek TV Sports Channel in the evenings. At other times Radio Terra is audible with variable reception (Radio Terra's primary FM frequency is 105.0 - see below) 85.8 FM - (Very poor reception) Same as 107.2 - Radio Poytakht-Inform (see below) Source: BBC Monitoring research in English 13 Dec 03 (via DXLD) It makes me wonder a bit what BBCM considers "the FM dial". Uzbekistan uses FM transmitters on two bands: 65-74 MHz (the old "OIRT" band) and 87.6-108 MHz (the new "CCIR band"). These are the authorized FM bands, the only bands where FM stations are licensed and the only bands that are available on FM receivers legally sold in the country. Any signal outside of these bands is not an FM station or not intended for the public and cannot be received on regular FM receivers. As for "83.6/83.7": this is the sound carrier of TV channel R3 (exact frequency is 83.75 MHz) in Tashkent. As for the noted reception below 86 MHz of Radio Terra and Poytaxt-Inform (that's the correct spelling in the official Latin Uzbek alphabet), these are likely spurious emissions from the transmitters, a widespread phenomenon (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZAMBIA. 4910, 1648-, ZNBC, Jan 11. Excellent signal of lively, dance hall Soukous music; even better signal than earlier shortpath reception [around 0400]. Male announcer in lang. 1655 with mention of 'Zambia National Trade Union' and 'National Assembly'. 3 time pips at 1700 and time check by male as '19 hours' followed by ID. Parallel 6165, good level. 4910 still going strong at 1725 recheck, 1-1/2 hours past local SR (Guy Atkins, DXing at Ocean City State Park, WA, R75 / AR7030 / Kiwa MAP / ERGO / SW & W Beverages at 750 ft., hard-core-dx via DXLD) ** ZAMBIA. 4965, 1702-, R. Christian Voice, Jan 11. Tuned in just in time to catch full ID and promo: 'You're listening to Radio Christian Voice, bringing you Good News and a good message all day long... Radio Christian Voice, the radio for Africa'. Into a cappella vocals by male. Good signal (Guy Atkins, DXing at Ocean City State Park, WA, R75 / AR7030 / Kiwa MAP / ERGO / SW & W Beverages at 750 ft., hard-core-dx via DXLD) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ COMMENTARY ++++++++++ THE FUTURE OF SWLing, MY OPINIONS --- by Phil Atchley, KO6BB http://www.w9wze.org/SWL/Skeds.php?PathNom=Skeds/skeds.txt (via DXLD) QSLs on E-BAY Re Joe Miller's comments on QSLs being sold on Ebay. While I found this trend dismaying, one has to acknowledge that this has opened up a new area of interest after decades of QSL collecting by SWLs and Amateur Radio Operators. There are still many collections out there that unfortunately are subject to being thrown away due to ignorance on the part of families of deceased hobbyists. This means that many classic cards, including some real works of art, can be lost forever. In recent months, some collections have been auctioned off from UK and Scandinavian sellers, as well as one well-known DX'er in New Zealand. I would never personally auction any of mine off, but have purchased some of what I consider to be classic cards in part out of a desire to make sure they are preserved. These include regional Angolan stations put off the air by the civil war there, old Mozambique cards, as well as cards from the Azores, Iceland, and Monaco (Dan Robinson, DC, Jan 15, DX LISTENING DIGEST) PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ INTERNATIONAL DX ASSOCIATION Sir, Plz, visit our web site and publish our club name and address on your magazine and web site linking. We are publish your club name and address and full details on our magazine (DX TIMES) and our web address. Thanks, No more today Bedanta Das. Our web address is:- http://kolkata.sancharnet.in/b_das/idxa Our E-mail address is :- b_das @ sancharnet.in (Jan 16 via DXLD) Has a DX news page with a lot of stuff from DXLD and others; another DX news page quite out of date with RFPI still on 21815, e.g. (gh) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ RFID'S AND PRIVACY [insiders pronounce it Arfids] Recently on KQED`s Forum Fri, January 16, 2004 -- 9:00am Forum discusses the growing use of electronic interactive product ID tags, and concerns about consumer privacy. [13.56 MHz] Host: Angie Coiro Guests: Chris Boone, program manager for the IDC technology research firm Katherine Albrecht, founder and executive director of CASPIAN (Consumers against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering) Look for audio link in archive: http://www.kqed.org/programs/program-archive.jsp?progID=RD19&ResultStart=1&ResultCount=10&type=radio (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ THE 11 METRE BAND - WHAT FUTURE? The Radio France International transmission on 25.820 MHz is the only remaining regular broadcast signal to be found in the 11 metre band. The peak years of the current sun spot cycle, the 23rd since the start of accurate solar observations, saw only four international broadcasters choosing to operate here. Consistent users were RFI who are still going and Deutsche Welle, now gone. Shorter term users were Radio Budapest and Radio for Peace International who both held out for one northern winter. 11 years earlier, sun spot cycle 22 showed 19 broadcasters occupying 24 frequencies in the 11m band. My pessimistic guess is that, for the next cycle, none of the main internationals will want to use 11m for traditional broadcasting. Witnessing the big boys abandoning the scene, some of the Europeans working on the DRM project are suggesting that the 11m band be used for local, low power, DRM mono and stereo transmissions. The world's first DRM receiver, the Mayah DRM 2010, an AM FM DRM portable covering LW MW SW and FM bands is said to be "entering production". There's already apparent proof that low power 26 MHz DRM can get across the Atlantic. What I'd now like to see is a DRM capable communications receiver suitable for DXing. Slightly better Back in September, the last time I wrote for 25 +, it was to comment on prolonged non reception on Short Wave frequencies above 25 MHz. Since then, there's been a so-so improvement in propagation. First indications came on two days in late September with surprisingly good reception of RFI on 25.820 MHz. I reckoned that the audio quality heard on those two days was the best that this signal achieved in the entire sunspot cycle. Then came the start of a series of solar storms which played havoc with long range propagation. Similar disruptions have continued, on and off, up to the present. I didn't use a radio once during the first three weeks of October, but later, towards the end of the month, found that RFI on 25.820 MHz was again giving nice audio - on selected days. The established pattern seems to be occasional bursts of brilliant reception in the midst of days of silence. This signal, when it gets through, fades-in sometime after sunrise. For me, its programme of African news has become a welcome, if irregular, part of breakfast-time listening. Today, 24th Dec, its audio was strong and clear. However, in North America, this is one for the early birds, as the station goes into its sign off routine at 1255 and shuts down at about 1258 UTC. When conditions are very good, three lower powered signals, all from France, can be heard. There's a presumed digital transmission, in DRM mode, centred on 25.765 MHz which has given enough white noise here to be logged on 8 days since October, including 24th Dec. I'm assuming this to come from tests being run in Rennes in NW France. These same tests sometimes involve an AM mode signal on 25.775 MHz of which my only recent hearing was on 4th Dec, when it was relaying audio from a local FM station. The third signal, nothing to do with the above tests, comes from the town of La Rochelle, on France's west coast. This one is in narrow FM mode, out of a one Watt transmitter, on 25.928 MHz, and presents historical information in French for tourists who like that sort of thing. Last heard on 24th Dec. Good reception to all in MMIV (Alan Roberts, St.-Lambert QC, 25 PLUS, Jan CIDX Messenger via Sheldon Harvey, DXLD) EXCLUSIVE AND NOT COPYRIGHTED HF PLUS LOW BAND VHF PROPAGATION UPDATE AND FORECAST Let's start with VHF ionospheric propagation, as chances are extremely low for those openings to happen during the next two to three days. HF propagation conditions will likely take a downward turn as the solar coronal hole continues to send the stream of charged particles towards the Earth's magnetosphere. The sunspot number was 77 on Monday and the solar flux will be moving up, reaching as high as 150 by the end of the week, and the A index will also move up as the geomagnetic disturbance develops. Good chances for low band DXing must be vanishing later today !!! (Arnie Coro A., CO2KK, RHC DXers Unlimited Jan 13 via DXLD) THE K7RA SOLAR UPDATE SEATTLE, WA (Jan 16, 2004): Both average daily sunspot numbers and solar flux were up just a few points this week over last. The average daily planetary A index, a measure of geomagnetic stability, dropped from 23.4 to 15.9. HF radio operators prefer conditions when the A index is low and the solar flux and sunspot numbers are high. Solar flux has been around 118-120, but is expected to rise over the next few days. Solar flux for Friday through Sunday, January 16-18 is predicted at 125, 130 and 135. Solar flux values should peak around 140 from January 19-21 before dropping back. As expected during the solar cycle decline, sunspot counts have been low. When this bulletin was written, there were only two sunspot groups visible, and helioseismic imaging showed only a small sunspot group on the sun`s far side. When the daily sunspot number reached 118 on January 8, it was the first time the number rose above 100 since December 23, and it hasn`t been above 100 since. Earth is moving into a solar wind stream from a coronal hole, and geomagnetic conditions could become active. The predicted planetary A index for January 16-19 is 18, 25, 18 and 15. Conditions on Saturday may be similar to January 10, except the day will be slightly longer (7 minutes longer in Dallas, for instance, and 13 minutes longer in Seattle) and the solar flux and sunspot count should be slightly higher. Here is a link we haven`t referenced in some time. Look at the Solar Terrestrial Dispatch at http://www.spacew.com/ Note the Ham Radio link on the left and the various resources there, such as MUF maps. Another interesting link is to Michigan Tech`s site devoted to auroras at http://www.geo.mtu.edu/weather/aurora/ A new service used by the author is Spaceweather Phone. Unlike all other resources referenced in this bulletin, this one is not free. Subscribers can set thresholds for various events such as geomagnetic planetary K index above a certain value, or X class solar flares, just to name two. Once the customized threshold is passed, Spaceweather Phone automatically calls you and delivers a message about the event in progress. See it at http://spaceweatherphone.com/ For more information about propagation and an explanation of the numbers used in this bulletin see the Propagation page on the ARRL Web site at http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/propagation.html Sunspot numbers for January 8 through 14 were 118, 88, 66, 53, 77, 53 and 58 with a mean of 73.3. 10.7 cm flux was 120.1, 118.4, 119.2, 118.5, 118.3, 117.9 and 121.1, with a mean of 119.1. Estimated planetary A indices were 9, 21, 24, 17, 10, 18 and 12, with a mean of 15.9. Copyright © 2004, American Radio Relay League, Inc. All Rights Reserved (via John Norfolk, DX LISTENING DIGEST) PROPAGATION OUTLOOK FROM OTTAWA 27 - Day Magnetic Activity Forecast Jan 15-Feb 10: http://www.spaceweather.gc.ca/forecast27days_e.shtml (via gh, DXLD) ###