DX LISTENING DIGEST 4-021, February 3, 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 1218: 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 1218 (high version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1218h.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1218h.rm (summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1218.html WORLD OF RADIO 1218 (low version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1218.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1218.rm FIRST AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1219: Wed 2300 on WBCQ 7415, 17495-CUSB Thu 2130 on WWCR 9475 WORLD OF RADIO on KTRU 91.7 HOUSTON: add another station which carries WRN overnight on weekends: WOR confirmed at 5 am CST Sunday (George Thurman, TX) This week, maybe, but we can`t depend on it. Tom Z must not have made it in for his 4-7 am jazz show. Also webcasts real and wm. From http://noise.ktru.org/schedule.shtml -- ``sometimes a dj can't make a shift or a sub. on those rare occassions [sic], ktru will air programming from the World Radio Network.`` (gh) ** BULGARIA. RADIO FREE EUROPE CONTINUES BROADCASTING TO BULGARIA UNDER NEW NAME The US-financed Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty is to continue broadcasting to Bulgaria even though it was expected to end on 1 February, Georgi Stoychev, director of the Bulgarian section, has announced. At the end of November 2003 it was announced that Radio Free Europe would stop broadcasting to Bulgaria and six other former Communist countries - Croatia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Slovakia - by the end of the year. The Bulgarian government, together with the Radio Free Europe Foundation, currently finances the broadcasts in Bulgarian, and the financing has been extended by a month. The foundation is registered in Bulgaria and holds a broadcasting licence until 2010. The station will not change its frequencies, but will be succeeded by Radio New Europe, as under Bulgarian legislation the company is not allowed to sell the licence, but is allowed to change its name (Source: Novinite.com) # posted by Andy @ 11:28 UT Feb 3 (Media Network blog via DXLD) ** CANADA. RADIO-CANADA INTERNATIONAL TAKES A NEW TURN Montreal, February 2, 2004 — Radio Canada International (RCI), CBC/Radio-Canada’s international radio service, is repositioning its programming to provide listeners with a unique North American perspective that embraces the world, with an eye to better meeting the expectations of foreign audiences. This new direction reflects the role RCI intends to play on the international broadcasting scene and is based on an analysis of global trends. Starting in March, for instance, RCI’s lineup will include new Portuguese programming specially tailored to Brazilian audiences. Portuguese is the fifth most spoken language in the world and the eighth most prevalent language on the Internet. This will bring RCI’s number of broadcasting languages to nine, along with English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Russian, Ukrainian, Mandarin, Cantonese and Portuguese. RCI will target its audiences and strengthen lines of communication with them, helping it adapt and enrich programming produced for these markets. For example, specific programs will be aired for French- speaking listeners in North and sub-Saharan Africa, and for English- speakers in sub-Saharan Africa and India. RCI will also expand its rebroadcast agreements with local partner stations in target countries, while continuing to consolidate existing partnerships. RCI is already carried in more than 75 countries by some 300 public, private, community and university radio stations. In addition to original productions, RCI offers a selection of CBC and Radio-Canada Radio programs most likely to interest foreign listeners— The Sunday Edition, Sounds Like Canada, Dimanche magazine and Indicatif présent, to name but a few. ``RCI`s repositioning represents a major milestone in the history of our international radio service. At a time when audiences face a proliferation of news and information sources, the Canadian point of view is still valued and appreciated,`` said Sylvain Lafrance, CBC/Radio-Canada`s Vice-President, French Radio, in charge of RCI. RCI is available almost anywhere on the planet via state-of-the-art transmission technologies: by satellite in Europe, North Africa and Middle East; over digital and analog short-wave; and on the Internet at http://www.rcinet.ca - 30 - Information: Denis Pellerin Director, International Communications, Radio-Canada (514) 597-4204 denis_pellerin @ radio-canada.ca (RCI website via DXLD) MAJOR PROGRAMMING CHANGES COMING AT RADIO CANADA INTERNATIONAL Major changes will be introduced into the programming of Radio Canada International from the start of the new broadcasting season on 28 March 2004. Abandoning the principle of multi-target or generic broadcasts in English and French – adopted as a necessary evil after the massive cuts of 1991 – RCI will again produce broadcasts specifically targeted for the region to which they are beamed. The best of CBC/Radio-Canada programming will be beamed to the Americas, where it is already known and popular, allowing RCI to concentrate its own production resources in English on Europe, Africa and India and in French on Europe, North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa. RCI will also begin a new weekly programme in Brazilian Portuguese (bringing to nine the number of RCI’s broadcast languages) and an evening daily programme to India in English. Since RCI`s integration into the structure of Radio-Canada/CBC, the station has been conducting a programme development process in all languages, and has been gradually transforming traditional daily formats of news/ current affairs/ magazine into a seamless mix of news, field reporting, analysis, dialogues, and opinion. The process is due to be completed by April 2005. RCI says the repositioning announced for March 2004 adds momentum to the process, moving further away from old recipes towards context oriented flexible formats, combining attractive radio with innovative Web content, and providing foreign audiences with lively, appealing and relevant programming. In the fall of 2003, RCI launched three 24-hour satellite channels covering Europe, North Africa and the Middle East to reach the 30- million estimated satellite dish owners in the area. RCI-1, an English language channel carries a mix of CBC and RCI produced programming, RCI-2 offers Radio-Canada and RCI in French and RCI-3 provides a multilingual service in all RCI broadcast languages. The three satellite channels are also transmitted as simultaneous live streams on RCI’s website. Further development of partnerships with other international broadcasters and also with local stations in the various target areas has become a priority for RCI, as it will result in better distribution through rebroadcasting and placement agreements, and in more exciting and relevant programming through regular co-productions in all languages. For details, visit RCI's Website at http://www.rcinet.ca (Source: Radio Canada International) # posted by Andy @ 09:12 UT Feb 3 (Media Network blog via DXLD) ** CHINA [non]. / CANADA: Radio Internacional de China viene siendo reportada en 13700 de 2200 a 2257 UT en idioma español, en paralelo a sus habituales frecuencias de 6020, 7120 y 9640. Se estima que esta frecuencia se trata de una emisión de prueba via Sackville, Canada, ya que al finalizar la transmisión se puede escuchar la ID musical del centro emisor canadiense (Marcelo A. Cornachioni, Argentina, Feb 3, Conexión Digital via DXLD) ¿Según el informe mío anterior? (gh) ** CHINA. HARRIS COMPLETES MEDIUMWAVE DRM DEMONSTRATIONS IN CHINA Text of press release by Florida-based Harris Corporation on 2 February Harris Corporation recently completed the fourth in a series of DRM (Digital Radio Mondiale) digital radio demonstrations over the mediumwave broadcast band for officials at Guang Dong Radio, Zhu Hai, China. Guang Dong Radio runs 80 radio stations, and serves more than 60 million listeners in southern China. An existing Harris DX 10 mediumwave AM radio transmitter was converted to DRM for the nine-day digital broadcast demonstration at the Zhu Hai transmission site. According to Don Spragg, director of high-power radio and programs for Harris Corporation's Broadcast Communications Division, Harris' DX series AM transmitters can be prepared for DRM transmission in an easy, one-hour upgrade session. This ease of upgrade is a result of the DX transmitter's original engineering design that includes: inherent wideband in the AF and RF domain; low group delay; superior signal-to-noise ratio; and an exceptionally wide range output matching network. Harris successfully conducted China's first over-the-air DRM demonstration on the mediumwave broadcast band for Beijing Radio, and has since held DRM demonstrations at SARFT [State Administration for Radio, Film and Television], Beijing and Cheng Sheng Broadcasting Corporation in Taipei, Taiwan. Attendees at these demonstrations were able to listen to the DRM transmissions on digital radio receivers from Fraunhofer and Coding Technologies. The officials at these four organizations are actively evaluating potential digital formats, including DRM, for their broadcast facilities. Harris has the largest installed base of DRM-ready, AM transmitters with more than 1,000 DX series, solid-state mediumwave AM radio transmitters installed worldwide. DRM field-testing has been completed on DX transmitters from power levels of 10-kilowatts to 200-kilowatts. Harris' Broadcast Communications Division is the leader in end-to-end transmission solutions for digital television (ATSC and DVB-T) and Digital Radio (DAB-Eureka 147 and IBOC). Harris is now developing a DRM exciter and transmitter upgrade kit that will be introduced before the commercial launch of DRM receivers in 2005. A founding member of the DRM Consortium, Harris serves as an active member of the steering board as well as various technical subcommittees. Source: Harris Corporation, Florida, in English 2 Feb 04 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** DENMARK. Dear Rudolf Heinz, Thank you very much for your kind e- mail and for your enthusiasm for WMR. Unfortunately several things have been delayed here over and over again. Latest news is that the transmitters - which we were promised would be ready by January 15th - have been delayed again for a couple of weeks. I do, however, hope that the transmitters will arrive here sometime during February and so the first transmissions would take place late February or early March. On the good side is it that our studio was completed a couple of days ago and only needs a few minor changes. Regarding the transmitter site - actually we may change to a different location quite close to you. We are at the moment considering using a site near Höjer (north of Tönder) - but final decisions haven't been taken yet. Kind regards, Stig Hartvig Nielsen, WMR (Posted by Rudolf Heinz in the German A-DX mailing list, 2 Feb 2004 via Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** DJIBOUTI. On 3 Feb at 2130 on 1431 the dominating station is Radio Sawa. I checked some R Sawa frequencies on SW and MW but didn't find any parallel stream. Possibly this is the new Djibouti station (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I live in south Italy, in good condition for African stations, I have no signal from new Djibouti transmitter. Radio Sawa on MW not // SW it's very strange, I know there are only one service for Radio Sawa. I listen shortwave in // with satellite (Roberto Scaglione, Sicily, Cumbre DX via DXLD) On the contrary, there are several different Radio Sawa services, so not surprising if they don`t match (gh, DXLD) ** FRANCE. RADIO FRANCE STRIKE ENTERS SECOND WEEK | Excerpt from report by French news agency AFP The strike by journalists at Radio France (France Info, France Inter, France Bleu and Le Mouv'), which began on 27 January, entered its second week on Tuesday [3 February], with a meeting with management planned for later in the afternoon "to help in moving towards a solution". The inter-union committee (representing the SNJ, FO, CGT, CFDT, CFTC and CGC) said that the percentage of strikers, both in Paris and the provinces, was unchanged since last Friday. According to the unions, the number of staff on strike at France Info on Tuesday was still 90 per cent, while the figure for France Inter was 70 per cent and for France Bleu 60 per cent. At Le Mouv', which has around a dozen journalists, three-quarters were on strike. Trade union delegates are scheduled to meet the chairman and managing director of Radio France, Jean-Marie Cavada, at 1730 [1630 gmt]. [passage omitted] Source: AFP news agency, Paris, in French 1224 gmt 3 Feb 04 (via BBCm via DXLD) ** INDIA [non]. INDIA/USA: IMAGINASIA TV TO LAUNCH IN US IN AUGUST 2004 | Excerpt of report by Indian broadcast industry web site Indiantelevision.com on 2 February A new TV channel - ImaginAsian TV (iaTV) is all set to launch in August 2004 as the first national, 24-hour Asian-American television network, announced ImaginAsian Entertainment Inc's CEO Michael Hong. The TV channel will provide cross-platform entertainment targeting the more than 14 million Asian-Americans residing in the US. ImaginAsian Entertainment Inc is a newly formed multi-media entertainment company with headquarters in New York. The fully advertiser supported iaTV will offer American premieres of the best programs that Asia has to offer as well as original productions developed and produced by the network. The schedule will consist of feature films, drama series, sitcoms, news, variety and game shows, animation, children's programs, music videos, sports, documentaries and more. All in-language programs will be subtitled by ImaginAsian TV's in-house translators and during prime-time, English-speaking hosts will introduce and provide commentary about the programs being shown. iaTV has already reached its first major distribution agreement a full seven months prior to its launch later this year and is in later-stage negotiations with major MSOs in the US. iaTV's affiliation agreement with Equity Broadcasting Corporation - one of the largest broadcast station groups in the country - signals a landmark shift in the way Asian media is distributed in this country. Remarked Hong, "The time has come to reassess the platform in which Asian media is traditionally placed. While it may have been acceptable 10 years ago to relegate Asian media to premium tiers, it is our belief that in most major markets today, a channel of this quality and reach should be available as a basic service." Through its initial agreement with Equity Broadcasting Corp, iaTV has gained access to more than 1.6 million households. The network's initial carriage line-up includes KTVY (Channel 7) in Las Vegas, Nevada, KIMG (Channel 23) in Ventura, California and KKTU-DT in Denver, Colorado. Also discussions are ongoing for several additional major markets. [passage omitted] Source: Indiantelevision.com web site, Mumbai, in English 1510 gmt 2 Feb 04 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** IRAQ. INA'S AL-MUSTAQBAL RADIO - PROGRAMMING OBSERVATIONS AND BACKGROUND Al-Mustaqbal (The Future) Radio, the Voice of the Iraqi National Accord (INA), has been observed since 3rd October 2003 on 1305 kHz. The station currently broadcasts from 0700-1400 gmt, signing on and off without playing the Iraqi national anthem. The sign-on announcement at 0700 gmt identifies the radio as Al- Mustaqbal Radio from Baghdad, the Voice of the Iraqi National Accord (idha'at al-mustaqbal min baghdad, sawt al-wifaq al-watani al-iraqi). It describes itself as "the mirror of the Iraqis and a national voice for a new era". Programming The radio's programming consists mostly of songs, entertainment, cultural features and sports news. The radio carries only one daily "news programme" at 0900 gmt lasting for about 20 minutes. However, the Friday news programme on 30 January consisted of a five-minute newscast. The 0900 gmt news programme on 31 January lasted 18 minutes in total and contained: A. News: 1. Governing Council's Adnan Pachachi says there are alternatives to elections in Iraq. 2. Governing Council delegation arrives in Lebanon and meets Lebanese parliament speaker Birri. 3. Foreign Minister Zebari says elections will be held in March 2005. News conference in Turkey cited. 4. Coalition forces discover oil slicks in the Tigris river. Coalition spokesman cited. 5. ICRC says coalition forces released four Lebanese detained in Iraq. Detained people arrived in Beirut. 6. Coalition authority says 540m dollars earmarked to rehabilitate the new Iraqi army camps. B. "Report on the news": IMF to finance Iraqi reconstruction plans. IMF envoy to Iraq cited on funds earmarked for Iraq reconstruction. (Three minutes) C. Economic news. (Four minutes) D. "Review of today's press." Headlines of the following Iraqi newspapers: Baghdad, Al-Zaman, Al-Sabah and Al-Nahdah. (Two and a half minutes) The 0900 gmt news on 30 January consisted of a five-minute programme as follows: 1. First batch of Iraqi police graduated in Jordan. 2. Zebari confirms Saddam Husayn's bribes to Arab and world figures as published recently. 3. Syria renews support for restoring sovereignty to Iraqis. Syrian leaders meet Iraqi IGC members. Syria 4. Jordan to open an investigation into Jordanian figures who received money from Saddam regime. 5. Repeat headlines. INA newspaper promotes radio station The newspaper Baghdad, published by the Iraqi National Accord, on 29 January published the following announcement: "Every day, on mediumwave 1305 kHz, listen to Al-Mustaqbal Radio, Voice of the Iraqi National Accord. It provides you with entertainment, truthful reports and fine music. Listen to us from 1000 to 1700 [0700 to 1400 gmt]." Web site The Iraqi National Accord has a web site at http://www.wifaq.com which was last updated on 19 January. The site is in Arabic and English, and includes historical background on Al-Mustaqbal Radio with a list of programmes that were heard years ago. Historical note The Iraqi National Accord was established in 1996 as an anti-Saddam Husayn organization, which was first based in Amman and then London. Al-Mustaqbal Radio began broadcasting on 21 April 1996, using a mediumwave transmitter in Kuwait. Initially it broadcast on 1008 kHz and later on various frequencies between 1530 and 1584 kHz before the fall of the Iraqi regime. Source: BBC Monitoring research 31 Jan 04 (via DXLD) ** KUWAIT. Radio Kuwait's English Service is missing on 15110 from 0500. On some days Arabic is noted (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, Hyderabad 500082, India, Feb 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MADAGASCAR [and non]. CYCLONE ELITA FORCES RNW MADAGSCAR OFF THE AIR The Radio Netherlands Madagascar relay station is off the air since 1100 UT due to Cyclone Elita which is currently battering the island. Contact with our colleagues is difficult. All power is off and they are unable to enter the building. It's too early to say whether there is any material damage. Flevo has taken over some of the transmissions as of 1300: 1300-1357 UTC 17815 and 21480 kHz Dutch 1400-1557 UTC 15595 kHz English Maybe 11655 kHz in the evening, depending on damage reports. Latest weather reports indicate that the cyclone is downgraded to a tropical storm, and the windspeed over land is decreasing. More follows. # posted by Andy @ 12:56 UT Feb 3 (Media Network blog via DXLD) [Later the above was replaced by the following, as found at 0306 UT Feb 4, altho still timed at 12:56!] CYCLONE ELITA PUTS RNW MADAGASCAR OFF THE AIR FOR A FEW HOURS The Radio Netherlands Madagascar relay station was off the air between 1100 and 1600 UTC today due to Cyclone Elita, which fortunately passed over the island at a sufficient distance to avoid any material damage. Our colleagues say that if it had passed 200 km further north, the story might have been very different! During the break, as many as possible of the higher frequency transmissions were covered by Flevo. # posted by Andy @ 12:56 UT Feb 3 (Media Network blog via DXLD) ** MALDIVES. Noted all through out the night for some time now on 1449 kHz. It seems they operate round the clock now. Tuning signal heard just before 0030 UT (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, Hyderabad 500082, India, Feb 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. RDS en la Ciudad de México (II) --- He notado que el 90.5 XEDA-FM, Radio Imagen también muestra la hora local y que el 98.5 XHDL, Radioactivo ha suspendido sus transmisiones en RDS. -------- __@ ----- _`\<,_ ---- (*)/ (*) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (Héctor García Bojorge, Feb 3, Conexión Digital via DXLD) ** MONGOLIA. 4895, R. Ulaanbataar, 2220 Feb 3, Mongolian commentaries followed by almost half an hour of local instrumental music (mostly strings), good, stable signal but typically poor audio especially with voice, news-like announcements from 2257 (Alexander Koutamanis, THE NETHERLANDS, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** NEPAL. Radio Nepal is missing on 5005 kHz for several days now. It`s heard as usual on MW frequencies (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, Hyderabad 500082, India, Feb 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 5470.78, Radio San Nicolás, 1107-1120 Feb 3. Noted Spanish comments from a man. At 1108 canned ID given as "...Radio San Nicolás..." a couple of times. Afterwards Huaynos music presented with the usual intros. Signal was poor. Note: There's a sound bite of the above mentioned ID on my web page at: http://www.orchidcitysoftware.com/IMAGE2.HTML It is number 17 at the bottom of the page (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston, Florida, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** POLAND [and non]. I am hearing regular daytime interference from Poland on 198 currently. In quiet periods, chatter can easily be heard in the background [of BBC Radio 4]. The signal strength of the Droitwich station doesn`t seem as strong as it used to be. I assume the Polish sender is still Raczyn [Warsaw?]. The other on 225 usually peaks at only about S5 here, so maybe their 198 signal is somehow being "enhanced" by the BBC signal? (Noel R. Green, UK, BC-DX Jan 27) 198 in Raszyn (Warsaw) is omnidirectional; 225 in Solec Kujawski (near Bydgoszcz) is optimized for a coverage of Poland and its former eastern territories (now in Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania), with a main beam to the SE and a reduction towards the West (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, BC-DX Jan 28) Thanks for this information concerning Poland's two LWers. I didn`t realise that transmission on 225 was "optimized" in the way described, and have wondered why the signal is not stronger than it usually is. I'm sure you are aware that 225 is allocated to the UK, and it was originally intended that the two Scottish LW transmitters should utilise it. But it was found unsuitable - I guess due to the strength of the Polish signal at that time. The UK can only use a maximum of 50 kW on this freq [Raczyn 200 kW on 198!!!] so I think the transmitter would need to be sited close to the intended target in the UK to succeed without objectionable QRM (Noel R. Green, UK, BC-DX Jan 29 via DXLD) ** SLOVAKIA. PROGRAMA DIEXISTA EN RADIO ESLOVAQUIA INTERNACIONAL En el programa "Las Cartas de los Oyentes" emitido por Radio Eslovaquia Internacional el pasado domingo 1 de febrero de 2004, la locutora respondió a una de las preguntas enviadas por el oyente español Juan Antonio Morales relacionada con la posibilidad de incluir en la programación diaria un espacio destinado al diexismo. Afortunadamente he podido grabar el contenido de la respuesta que considero de gran interés para todos aquellos que todavía deseamos difundir nuestra actividad a través de las emisoras internacionales por onda corta. Parte del mismo es reproducido textualmente a continuación: "De España, desde la ciudad de Córdova, nos escribe Juan Antonio Morales: 'Estimados amigos de Radio Eslovaquia, agradezco ante todo a Mónica el envío de la QSL que -todo sea dicho- es de un diseño muy acertado y bello ... el contenido de los programas es muy completo y abarcando amplios contenidos, me gustó mucho el espacio sobre los radioaficionados eslovacos que tuvo dos entregas ... Creo que en la actual programación falta algún espacio fijo sobre el hobby de la radioescucha ¿Se hará en el futuro?'. Querido Juan te agradezco en nombre de todas nosotras de tus cumplidos; para mí no fue una grande satisfacción porque, hasta hoy, nadie reaccionó a mi entrevista con el Secretario de la Asociación Eslovaca de los Radioaficionados y, en consecuencia, no me dediqué más a este tema, pues ahora me has motivado para regresar en el ambiente diexista. Por el momento, no te prometo nada, sigue escuchándonos y vas a ver, saludos a la ciudad de Córdova" Si la continuidad de las emisoras internacionales por onda corta, más que nunca, está dependiendo de los oyentes, la inclusión y permanencia de programas dedicados a radioescuchas y diexistas, obviamente ¡También! Este es un nuevo anuncio que es necesario tomar en cuenta para respaldar la iniciativa de Radio Eslovaquia Internacional de utilizar un servicio en idioma español por onda corta desde el 30 de marzo de 2003 y, ahora, con la intención de introducir un programa diexista. ¿Vamos a dejar pasar la oportunidad?... Saludos! (Rubén Guillermo Margenet, Feb 3, Conexión Digital via DXLD) ** SOMALIA [non]. I made a mistake when reading the site from Wolfgang Bueschel's original item on this service, corrected log below. `Mustaqbal` programme on 17565 to Somalia via Meyerton noted here 2nd February 1205 with local music and two female announcers. Closing announcements 1230 included one in English mentioning the Education Development Council, off 1233. Poor strength with fading and at times below my local noise level (Mike Barraclough, Letchworth Garden City, UK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SRI LANKA. SLBC Middle East Service in Sinhala noted on 11775 from sign on just before 1615 with anthem etc. Earlier they use to start before 1545 UT (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, Hyderabad 500082, India, Feb 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SURINAM. Radio Apintie introduced the usage of a new 1 kW shortwave transmitter on December 12. The antenna is a six element log periodic beamed south at half power, 500 watts. Bob states that he QSLed the old transmitter on two different channels, 4850 & 4996 kHz. The new channel is 4900 kHz (Bob Padula, AWR Wavescan Feb 8 via John Norfolk, DXLD) As usual, no credits; I think the bit about the 6-element log periodic came from only one reporter, as previously published and credited in DXLD. Don`t you believe 4900 --- it`s 4990, tho I have not seen any reports of it lately. Is it still being heard? (gh, DXLD) ** U K. WALKER'S WORLD: HOW THE BBC WILL PAY By Martin Walker UPI Editor Published 2/2/2004 6:30 AM http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20040201-103707-7680r WASHINGTON, Feb. 2 (UPI) -- The BBC is not just a British icon, it is an international institution, and for most of its 77-year history it has been the most respected news-gathering operation in the world. And now, because of two incautious statements by a reporter awoken at 6 a.m. to go live on air by telephone, its future is in serious jeopardy, despite the revealing fact that three times more people tell British opinion polls they trust the BBC than the handful who say they trust Tony Blair's government. The BBC's future as an institution is in trouble because it is not fully independent. It depends on the government continuing to support the system by which the BBC is financed. Every TV set in Britain pays a poll tax [sic] of $180 a year -- whether it is tuned to the BBC or not -- known as the BBC license fee. This brings in some $3 billion a year, and it funds the main BBC-TV channels, its radio networks national and local, its news and current affairs programs, its internationally celebrated drama and comedy shows and all that has made the BBC famous and respected. But that money also pays for the fact that the BBC as a network competes with private corporations, from Rupert Murdoch's Sky channels to Granada and Independent Television and CNN and Disney and all the other hordes of broadcasters who fill the airwaves. And to compete, to grab as many viewer eyeballs as possible, the BBC produces and buys a great deal of garbage, from second-rate Hollywood movies to the third- rate American sitcoms and fourth-rate Australian soap operas. The BBC, frankly, has far too much air time to fill, and far too much of it is filled with junk. This is important because the BBC's charter comes up for renewal in 2007, which means that the jostling and negotiations over its future have already begun. And it now unfolds in an atmosphere poisoned by Lord Hutton's report that cleared Tony Blair of the BCC allegation that his government had "sexed up" the intelligence on Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction in order to justify the war on Iraq. The chairman of the BBC's board of governors has resigned. So has the director general, Greg Dyke, and so has the offending reporter on the flagship "Today" radio program, Andrew Gilligan. Hundreds of BBC staff members have demonstrated in defense of their institution. Some of the BBC's star journalists have paid for a full-page ad in newspapers that condemns the "one-sided" verdict of Lord Hutton, the eminent judge whose report cleared Blair and condemned the BBC. And now the search is on for a new chairman and director general who must restore the BBC's battered reputation and morale while also fighting of the vengeance of Tony Blair and the very strong likelihood that the new BBC charter will be facing a very different financing structure. The BBC license fee is not cheap, and not popular. Prosecutions for evading the license fee regularly fill the British magistrates' courts. The argument that justified the license fee when the BBC was the sole national broadcasting institution, as it was until the 1950s, is not easy to make when there are hundreds of free and pay-per-view competitors on the airwaves. And why should the BBC alone be spared the need to take paid advertising to finance its product? Politicians have long wanted to clip the wings of the BBC. Conservative and Labor governments alike have complained that the BBC is biased against them. So far, they have not dared to take an ax to the national icon. Now Blair has the opportunity, and the motive -- and a strong argument -- to do so. Dismantling the BBC altogether would be a terrible idea, leaving its carcass to be picked over by a scavenging Rupert Murdoch and other big private broadcasters. Forcing the BBC to try to maintain its present output through paid advertising would also be problematic, transforming the British advertising industry, cutting back the finite ad funds available for everybody -- newspapers included. But there is still no reason why old-age pensioners on limited budgets should have to find $180 a year to help finance the pulp and punk TV hat fills so much of the BBC's entertainment output. The sensible answer would be to keep what is good about the BBC -- its news and current affairs, its drama and sports, and its role as the national forum, and drop the rest. Cut BBC-TV and radio down to one channel each, plus the magnificent BBC World Service, and pay for it all through a much-reduced license fee. Simple, but probably too simple for the angry BBC reporters and bureaucrats and a Tony Blair looking for revenge. But there is time for heads to cool, and much to play for. The next step to watch will be the person chosen (by Blair) to be the new BBC chairman. If he picks a respected broadcaster like David Dimbleby, one of the candidates whose name is already being discussed, the BBC will probably survive in roughly its current shape. If he picks a politician, then change is more likely. The name currently being discussed in Downing Street is Chris Patten, former chairman of the Conservative Party, former governor of Hong Kong, chancellor of Oxford University and conveniently just about to step down as one of Britain's two commissioners at the European Union. A safe figure who would reassure the establishment and much of the BBC, he could be counted for a sensible compromise that would keep the core of the BBC while cutting much of the dross. The one constituency Patten would offend would be those Americans who see him as the archetypal euro-wimp, an outspoken critic of the Bush administration's "unilateralism." But that is an attitude that fits right in with the prevailing liberal biases of the BBC -- the very attitude that let Andrew Gilligan's incautious reporting get the BBC into such trouble in the first place (via Kim Elliott, DXLD) ** U S A. STATEMENT FROM VOA DIRECTOR ON FEB 3 With a mixture of sadness and pride, I am announcing today that VOA will end regularly scheduled programs in Bulgarian, Estonian, Czech, Hungarian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, Romanian, Slovak, and Slovenian, along with many of our broadcast feeds to affiliate stations in Central and Southeastern Europe. This action, which will take effect on Friday, February 27, 2004, is in accordance with the recently passed FY 2004 federal budget, which endorsed the Administration's proposal to close these services. The sadness comes from the fact that we will be saying goodbye to many loyal friends and colleagues in these services. The pride reflects the job that they have done, both those who are with us today and the many men and women who have served with such distinction over the past sixty years. Their professionalism and dedication to freedom and truth have played an important role in the spread of democracy we're seeing today among their audiences. As the world changes, however, our priorities at VOA also must change. Just as we have done throughout our history, we have to shift our focus to new audiences and new priorities. This inevitably means difficult decisions. Other changes will affect our Ukrainian radio service, which will reduce its daily broadcast from 2 hours to one hour per day, beginning March 1, 2004. VOA Ukrainian will retool its programming and expand its multimedia capabilities. Together with an improved Ukrainian language "Window on America" TV program, the service will be well positioned to provide full multimedia coverage of this year's presidential elections, both in the United States and Ukraine this coming November. Finally, VOA's Armenian language broadcast staff will be reduced to two positions. A review of the Service is underway to determine how best to use its remaining resources to maximize its impact in the target region. I know I speak for all of us at the Voice of America in thanking all of our colleagues who have been broadcasting to Central and Eastern Europe. Your contributions will always be remembered and honored (via Dan Robinson, VOA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WPFW PACIFICA TURMOIL --- The Washington Post has an opinion piece today that might be of interest to radio fans. Written by Metro Section columnist Marc Fisher. AT WPFW, A CHOICE OF JAZZ OR JABBER "At question is whether WPFW will remain true to the mission it assigned itself when it signed on in 1977: "Jazz, a major American art form which grows from the African-American experience, will be the major music programming. WPFW will act as archivist, educator, and entertainer on behalf of this under-served national cultural resource." Ever since the D.C. control board forced the University of the District of Columbia to sell off its radio station in 1997, removing the region's only all-jazz voice and handing it over to the policy wonks of C-SPAN, WPFW has been our sole source of this country's native classical music. But the station has been busy cutting back its jazz offerings over the past couple of years. And now, most of the candidates to serve on the station's board are determined to hijack the station, silence the jazz and turn the station into an outlet for political whining and grousing of the most one-sided and ill-informed sort." ... http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A7282-2004Feb2.html (via Joe Buch, DE, Mike Cooper, GA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. TO THE LEFT ON YOUR RADIO DIAL Illustrations by Joe Bluhm By Rachel Donadio Published 1/29/04 Orlando Weekly News: Story [illustration: caricature of Lizz] http://www.orlandoweekly.com/news/story.asp?ID=4252 Lizz Winstead was having brunch in Manhattan's Noho Star on Jan. 4, wearing a Huesker Due T-shirt. Slight and fierce, with a tinge of gray at the roots of her curly, brownish-blond hair, Winstead was talking about her career in comedy and the prospects for Central Air, the soon-to-debut, left-wing talk-radio network for which she's directing the entertainment programming. The course of both topics, it seems, have been altered by the specter of a certain sex act. "Clinton's blow job was the worst thing to happen to political comedy ever," Winstead says emphatically. "Because it just became a blow job joke. It didn't become satire; it wasn't about his policies. There was a lot to mock the right about that the left didn't get the opportunity to do." The other fateful fellatio-related incident is the reason Winstead left "The Daily Show," which she co-created for Comedy Central with Madeline Smithberg in 1995. The show was the crowning achievement of a career that had started in the grueling trenches of stand-up comedy. While Winstead served as one of the show's chief writers, there was growing friction with the then-host, Craig Kilborn. The final straw for Winstead was an interview Kilborn gave to Esquire magazine for the January 1998 issue. "There are a lot of bitches on the staff, and, hey, they're emotional people. You can print that!" he said. "You know how women are -- they overreact. It's not really a big deal. And to be honest, Lizz does find me very attractive. If I wanted her to blow me, she would." Kilborn, who declined through a spokesman to comment for this article, was suspended for a week. If Kilborn's blow job line -- he later said he meant it "as a joke" -- impelled Winstead to leave her beloved "Daily Show," it also freed her up to find other ways to resuscitate left-leaning political comedy. Enter Central Air, scheduled to hit the airwaves as early as March. Its masterminds say it will be tailored to appeal to people with http://www.MoveOn.org politics who crave Rush Limbaugh-style bite. Less earnest than National Public Radio and not as strident or suffused with the victim/oppressor paradigm as Pacifica, it will bring a populist, late-night-television sensibility to radio. Winstead has a lot on the line: Not only will she mastermind the network's entertainment element, she will host her own three-hour show, which will air Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to noon. She will have a co-host, whom she has not yet chosen. The show will be a mixture of her own riffs, co-host banter and reported pieces. "It won't be completely scripted," Winstead says. Each show, she explains, will have "universal comedy and then branding elements," like the Top 10 List on "The Late Show with David Letterman." "We'll do legitimate newscasts, really diving into the day's news, and we may have a recap that's more satirical." Left-wing conspiracy Most programming will be produced in the network's midtown Manhattan studio, which they've been occupying since December. The New York-generated content will be supplemented by material out of studios in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. While the network has yet to finalize its staff, this much is set: When it launches in March or April, it will broadcast 14 to 18 hours a day, seven days a week, on stations it is buying -- or whose airtime it will lease -- in major cities like New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Miami, Pittsburgh and Boston, says Mark Walsh, the chief executive officer of Progress Media, which he co-founded and which is the parent company of Central Air. "In division, there's a media opportunity," Mr. Walsh continues. "In a divided nation, at least there are opinions, information which takes a side." A former AOL executive, onetime news anchor and HBO executive, Walsh was named in 2002 as the first-ever technology adviser to the Democratic National Committee. The network, however, will not be formally affiliated with the D.N.C. Nor is it the same fledgling liberal-media project that Vice President Gore was working on. Progress Media has "no official business relationship" with Mr. Gore, Mr. Walsh says. "I love how the right seems to drop that this is a vast left-wing conspiracy," he adds. Walsh wouldn't say which stations they were buying, but says they expect to sign the paperwork by next month. "They're full-power stations with good to very good broadcast footprints," he says. The main investor is Evan Cohen, a New York-based venture capitalist who's worked in radio and advertising in the Pacific Rim. Walsh is also an investor. A host has not yet been chosen for the all-important morning slot, from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m., Eastern Standard Time. Central Air recently signed with Al Franken, whom they are hoping will take the mike from noon to 3 p.m. -- meaning he'll go head-to-head with Rush Limbaugh. After that comes a show hosted by A. Whitney Brown, who collaborated with Winstead on "The Daily Show" in the mid-'90s. Talks are also going on with Janeane Garofalo for a late-night show. Martin Kaplan, an academic and former screenwriter and Mondale speechwriter, will discuss the media from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. Every host will have a partner, Winstead says: "No monologues. We feel people should be kept in check all the time." They haven't locked in any co-hosts yet, but "if this plays out the way we think, there will be a woman on every show" as one of the hosts, Winstead says. "That's important." Progress will also have a lot of women running the show, chief among them Shelley Lewis, a former executive producer of CNN's "American Morning," who will oversee the network's news division. As for the short, satirical features that, in Winstead's vision, will make Central Air more akin to late-night TV than to any existing radio network, details are still sketchy. A weekly 90-second feature called "The Red and the Blue States," "on each state and how it became what it is today," is planned, as are satirical profiles of "people in the news," according to Winstead. "The Daily Show" looms large over the enterprise. Jon Stewart is a success because, Walsh says, "he does both sides of the fence. His whole point is making fun of stupidity." While Winstead says they'd like to share the "Daily Show" audience, she hopes they will weigh in more forcefully on issues than Stewart does. "'The Daily Show' is a specific genre: comedy wall-to-wall," she says. Central Air will be a news network, with satire interspersed throughout its coverage. "We're taking a stand and having an opinion," Winstead says. "I don't think I feel comfortable sucking up to Henry Kissinger or promoting his book" -- a dig at Stewart. "Someone else on the network may," she adds. Popular populism Progress Media will have a decidedly populist take. "Absolutely!" says Winstead, who says she turns off NPR "when there's a presupposition that I know more than I know, and then I feel like I'm not in the club." She turns off Pacifica when they drone on with stories on topics like Charles Taylor. "That's relevant, and we will talk about those things," she says. But they really want to appeal to the guy "who's figuring out why his paycheck is so little and he can't make ends meet and he's working 50 hours a week and still has to get government assistance," she says. "I don't think those people are really being serviced." While liberal, the network's target audience is "everybody that's upset or bored or tired of what is available on radio today," Walsh says. "The business answer is, we want an audience that advertisers care about," he adds. "We want to have shareholder value and create a profitable, sustainable, long-term company." The company's business plan "has us making no money for many, many months from launch," Walsh says. "We're expecting a slow trial." Ms. Winstead will oversee and edit a stable of 10 writers, most of whom have worked with her before. A handful came from "The Daily Show," others from "Court TV," where Winstead developed "Snap Judgment," a satire of the legal system. Others come from network TV or from the Oxygen network, where Winstead developed "O2B," a spoof of women's talk shows that was pulled after one season in spite of good reviews. "I have basically hired people who are funnier than me and smarter than me, and who understand me," she says. News whore Asking Winstead about her political views elicits somewhat predictable lefty boilerplate. She is vehemently opposed to President Bush, tax cuts for the rich, school vouchers and the war in Iraq, not to mention Wal-Mart, "the No. 1 destroyer of American main streets." Yet she is more often than not riotously funny on specifics. The New York Times, she says, acts "like a celebrity who gets pregnant -- expounding on things everyone already knows as if they were the first to discover them." On Madeleine Albright: "What's up with that brooch? Can't she tone it down? Is she getting Dish TV on that? It's out of control." "Lizz is a news and information whore," says comedian Sarah Silverman, Winstead's best friend. "She's like a beautiful flower that blossoms in election years. "The Daily Show" was her dream show, and now this radio project is. The programming of this network has been living, burrowing in her brain for years." Winstead and Silverman often talk politics. "We agree on almost everything," Silverman jokes. "Except that I think that the Holocaust happened." Silverman also confirms that her friend is narcoleptic. "Did she tell you that?" Silverman asks. "She has no problem taking pills to make her stay awake. Otherwise, she's out by 9." Winstead's condition was diagnosed about 15 years ago. Medication, she says, makes her nearly normal. "Before, I just thought I was tired all the time," she says. Winstead is 42 and wears a lot of rings, none a wedding ring. "I reject traditional marriage. I'll never get married; I don't want kids," she says. "Having a dog is a big enough thing for me." Besides, she adds, "I can't imagine doing this and having a family." The youngest of five kids, Winstead grew up poor in Minneapolis. Her dad, a Mississippi native, sold carpeting, and her mom stayed home and volunteered at their Catholic church. She was sent to Catholic school and lobbied for girls to be allowed as altar boys. Her parents, now in their early 80s, are "the funniest conservatives out there," she says. "Everyone was a liberal around me, except for my parents." Her family would argue about the Vietnam War. "Someone was always having a conversation with my parents and storming from the table -- someone with beads and some sort of fringed outfit." (Her brother is the Republican mayor of Bloomington, Minn.) It was the land of Paul Wellstone and Walter Mondale and Hubert Humphrey. She calls the late Senator Wellstone one of her heroes. "My politics are liberal from being from Minnesota. I went back last fall and there were signs up on people's lawns in Minneapolis that said, 'We will pay more taxes for a better Minnesota.' That's the kind of state it is. It's a state that I just firmly believe is always looking out for people who are disadvantaged and need some help." When she was 16, Winstead got pregnant. An ad on a bus for free pregnancy testing led her to the Lambs of Christ. There, a woman in a white lab coat whom Ms. Winstead assumed was a doctor -- "until I realized you could work at the Lancme counter and wear a lab coat" -- told her it was "mommy or murder." She opted for Planned Parenthood. "Someone said to me, 'What do you want for your future? Do you feel like you're ready to be a mom?' 'Well, no, I don't.'" She had an abortion. It was 1979, and "Roe v. Wade was six years young. My mom still prays for me, God bless her." At the University of Minnesota, she was studying to be a history professor, but 18 credits shy of graduation she left to do stand-up. She drove around the Midwest doing one-night gigs. That was 1983. "It was the Reagan era, big-time," she says. "It was 'Mourning in America,' I must sayNthat's an O, U, mourning." The experience was like comedy basic training: "Half the time people like you, and half the time people hated you," she says. "It was fun to see the pulse of America. Traveling that much, I have a pretty good idea what it's like." She took her act to Los Angeles, but "what I was offering was not what anyone was asking for," she continues. "In 1987, no one wanted to hear political comedy in L.A. It was not a money-maker." Eventually, she landed a job as the head writer on a Comedy Central show called "Women Aloud." This led to a job as a segment producer on Jon Stewart's syndicated show. Then, in 1995, came "The Daily Show," with Craig Kilborn as host. Stewart didn't take over until 1999. After leaving "The Daily Show," Winstead moved back to Los Angeles, started a production company with her friend Brian Unger and produced shows for MTV, Oxygen and others. When Progress Media called in August, she leapt at the chance to move back to New York. "Aside from my stand-up, it's the first time in my career I can hone a muscle I think I'm best at, which is political satire," she says. Everybody likes beer For all Ms. Winstead's enthusiasm and talent, the challenges she faces are considerable. Can the network find the right tone and sustain it, 18 hours a day? Will they need to aim to the far left to get listeners, yet aim to the center to get ad dollars? How will the TV-honed skills of both Ms. Winstead and Ms. Lewis, the news producer with the CNN background, make the transition to radio? It depends on whether Winstead's dream audience -- semi-well-informed liberal populists with a sense of humor -- tunes in. "They do want to be strident and appeal to the angry left, because that's how you build a legitimate base and build out. That's how conservative talk radio started," says Brian Lehrer, host of a weekday morning call-in show on WNYC. Lehrer says he wasn't concerned about losing listeners to Central Air. Still, "they shouldn't sound like NPR if they know what's good for them. NPR is about context and depth and nuance and things like that. They want their network to be like liberal Rush Limbaugh." Yet here's one reason why that might be difficult. Consider this statement of Walsh's: "The Republicans see everything as binary, black or white. We think the world is a little more analog: There's some gray in between the binary stances." His statement -- reductive at best and arguably false -- might just also explain why conservative radio tends to draw more listeners than liberal radio. After all, militant open-mindedness doesn't have the same pull as a visceral argument. Democrats, Walsh acknowledges, are "reasonably criticized" for striking an "eat your vegetables" tone. "We definitely can find ourselves sinking into a lecturing, hectoring mode." Central Air will "nuggetize" news and opinions into entertaining programming. "The way that if you have a dog, you crush up the vitamin pill into the dog food." To Winstead, Dennis Miller stopped being funny when he became conservative. "I would definitely say the right is not in any way funnier than the left because the right, especially now, is spending way too much time deteriorating the civil liberties of human beings and inserting God into all walks of our lives -- so that if liberals don't seem funny, maybe they're too busy being pissed off." As for Ms. Winstead's own show, just who listens to the radio from 9 a.m. to noon anyway? People who don't work, or who work from home? "I don't even know, actually," Winstead says. "That's a good question." Doesn't the network need to have a clearer idea of its demographics to sell ads? "Radio advertising is mostly local," Ms. Winstead says. "We have a president who did not get elected by a popular vote. Those numbers haven't dramatically changed. If 50 percent of the electorate didn't vote for him and feels disenfranchised, those people still buy soap, and they buy toilet paper, and they go to the local auto-parts store," she says. Besides, she adds hopefully, wrinkling her brow in an expression that is at once intensely focused and endearingly warm, "everybody likes beer!" (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** U S A. JANET & JUSTIN AT THE SUPERBOWL --- The more I hear about this incident, the more I think it qualifies as a storm in a teacup, much ado about nothing, and all the rest of those sayings we Brits know to describe something which is not worth the fuss being made of it. Clearly something happened which resulted in Janet exposing more than she had planned to do. However, to say that it is worth fining CBS 27500 dollars *per station* is absolutely outrageous. I have even heard speculation that this incident could affect sales of Janet's next album, due out in a couple of months. I am sure that is total nonsense. My simple message to the Superbowl sponsors, the NFL, and Mr Powell at the FCC would be "Get a life!" (PAUL DAVID, Wembley Park, United Kingdom, Feb 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. UNWELCOME EXPOSURE By ERIC DEGGANS, Times TV/Media Critic Published February 3, 2004 They were probably shooting for a Madonna/Britney-style controversy; a cheeky, in-your-face moment that would snag front page headlines and dominate water cooler talk for a day or two between the Super Bowl and the next Democratic primaries. Instead, halftime performers Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson have stepped into the biggest controversy roiling the broadcast industry these days: where to draw the line on explicit TV content... http://www.sptimes.com/2004/02/03/Columns/Unwelcome_exposure.shtml (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) ** U S A. FULL EXPOSURE By Joanne Ostrow, Denver Post TV/Radio Critic As Janet Jackson, CBS and MTV apologize for the breast shot aired 'round the world, the FCC vows to uncover who's responsible and Congress plans a hearing on indecency... http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~78~1931655,00.html (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) ** U S A. NAKED AMBITION: Incident gives singer PR money couldn't buy FCC inquiry, uproar over Super Bowl halftime peepshow Tim Goodman Tuesday, February 3, 2004 ©2004 San Francisco Chronicle http://www.sfgate.com/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/02/03/MNGH84NN631.DTL (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) ** U S A. AMERICA CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF JANET JACKSON'S RIGHT BREAST! XXXX DRUDGE RETORT XXXX 10:51:18 UTC FEB 02 2004 XXXX http://www.drudgeretort.com/2004/20040202.htm In the past 12 hours, the Drudge Retort has received 100 times as much traffic as usual because of Internet users seeking a peek at Janet Jackson's exposed right breast. Jackson's metal-encrusted mammary was displayed unexpectedly by Justin Timberlake at the close of the MTV-produced halftime show during the Super Bowl. Serious newsman Matt Drudge was outraged by the stunt, taking great offense at the notion that CBS would expose millions of people to a momentary glimpse of female frontal nudity during the "dinner hour." To demonstrate his concern, Drudge is exposing millions of people to detailed glimpses of female frontal nudity. The photos: Janet and Justin photo 1 Extreme close-up lovingly digitized by Matt Drudge Janet and Justin photo 2 Shame on you, CBS! [To save an image permanently, right-click it, then choose your browser's Save As command.] © DRUDGE RETORT 2004 (via DXLD) ** U S A. NFL EXPOSED FOR WHAT IT IS By Sally Jenkins Tuesday, February 3, 2004; Page D01 We have two new federal investigations in this country: One into weapons of mass destruction, and, now, thanks to the Super Bowl halftime show, one into weapons of mass distraction. I'm so glad to hear the Federal Communications Commission is launching an inquiry into the halftime show. No doubt FCC Chairman Michael K. Powell is determined to follow the facts wherever they lead, but it's going to take a lot of legwork and subpoenas and hearings if we're going to delve into the hidden and scandalous truth that the NFL is a -- television program. The blame game has begun. CBS, MTV and a slew of spokespeople are pointing fingers at each other over Justin Timberlake's ripping away of Janet Jackson's bodice on national TV to reveal that she has, in fact, a breast. (Lord knows what might have happened if the world discovered she has two of them.) No doubt most of the fingers will be aimed at Timberlake and Jackson for further eroding our society. It's that dangerous rap music that makes kids behave this way, right? But I'd rather point my own finger directly at the league. If the Super Bowl halftime show was offensive and unsuitable for family viewing, I blame Paul Tagliabue and his fellow marketing executives at the NFL. It was their show, start to finish. Maybe now we'll finally grasp the fact that the league is just another mass entertainment company, the Viacom of sports. For years NFL marketers have preyed on the sensibilities of the nation to sell their sponsors' products. They have appropriated sex, patriotism, war and even the tragedy of Sept. 11 as commercial vehicles, and used them all to peddle more Coors and cars. You can always count on the NFL, during any legitimate national outpouring of sincerity, to seize on the topic of the day and bend it as a selling tool, along with breasty cheerleaders, Britney Spears and faux- militarism, in search of higher ratings and ad revenues. A 30-second Super Bowl spot now costs $2.3 million. So for the league to be suddenly shocked and indignant at the behavior of a bunch of MTV entertainers it hired in partnership with CBS to boost its cool points and halftime ratings is utterly disingenuous, and craven. Exactly what did the league expect when it rented the MTV culture? What happened during the halftime show was that a bunch of leering, irreverent scream-voiced rock stars decided to make the NFL pay for its pretensions and profit-seeking. Let there be no dispute about one thing: of course Timberlake meant to do it, and of course it was part of the act, otherwise why was she wearing a piece of jewelry that looked like a silver sunburst on her nipple? What do they take us for? But whether you were offended by Kid Rock's shredded American flag shirt, or Nelly grabbing his crotch at every opportunity, or Timberlake's bump and grind with Jackson, the point was obvious: Let's commandeer the audience of a hundred million for ourselves. And let's exploit their fun-for-whole-family-and while-you're-at-it-buy-a-Ford- or-Cadillac sensibility. And you know what? The league had it coming. Timberlake's ripping of Jackson's bustier was the equivalent of mooning the teacher. It's juvenile -- but it works. It was also straight out of the Spears playbook: Give Madonna a kiss with an open mouth and everyone will talk about you. Never mind that we're in a primary season, that a kid got shot to death at Ballou High and we have a trillion dollar budget deficit. Let's talk about Janet Jackson's breast. The NFL knows full well that MTV was the network responsible for Madonna and Spears. Just a few days after her Madonna interlude, Spears appeared on the NFL's Kickoff Day festivities. The league didn't suddenly develop amnesia about MTV. Timberlake and Jackson merely sent the lumber downstream, gave the NFL and its network partners what they were asking for -- only they gave them too much of it. On days like this, I miss Howard Cosell. I miss his cold appraisals and scathing judgments, and I can't help wondering what he would have made of the halftime show. Instead, we had CBS announcer Greg Gumble's silence, broken by one sniggering attempt to cute-ify what had just happened on stage. I suspect that if Cosell were there, he'd have said that while the Super Bowl halftime was a piece of soft porn theater, it was perhaps no more or less offensive than, say, trivializing the Columbia catastrophe with a song and a dance and a phony astronaut planting a flag on a fake moon. Cosell was arguably the last legitimate journalist in sports broadcasting, and he spent the final years of his life railing against the "unholy alliances" between the major professional leagues and the networks. In his view, the networks had become solely concerned with event programming and protecting the leagues, rather than covering them and reporting the news. It was all an entertainment package, he claimed. "They want shills," he barked. Then, he was labeled a crank. Now he seems prescient. The NFL tried to use MTV, and got used back. The league wanted it both ways, was willing to borrow some edgy, sexy entertainers from the music network, but wanted them to water down their performances and material to suit the league's image and mainstream network audience. The league sells sex as subtext, in the form of cheerleaders, or halftime shows with scantily clad girl singers, or in suggestive beer commercials. But it doesn't want breasts on center stage. That way it can claim the Super Bowl is safe viewing for the kids. Good for Jackson and Timberlake for putting a breast smack in the middle of things: The NFL finally got a little payback for its manipulations. That's what the FCC investigation, and your own common sense, should conclude (source? Via Brock Whaley, DXLD) ** U S A. FCC GOES AFTER ALLEGED 10-METER SCOFFLAWS NEWINGTON, CT, Feb 2, 2004 --- The FCC is working on at least two Fronts to eliminate unlicensed operation from the 10-meter band. Earlier this month [sic; this obviously was written in late January], FCC Special Counsel Riley Hollingsworth sent warning notices to two shipping companies regarding reports to the Commission that some of the companies` vehicles may be the source of illegal radio transmissions on the amateur band. One of the companies, UPS, has offered its full cooperation. ``Many truckers use CB radio, which does not require a license,`` Hollingsworth pointed out in letters earlier this month to UPS offices in Ohio and Indiana and to R&L Transfer Inc of Ohio. ``However, any person using a radio transmitter on the Amateur Radio bands must possess a station and operator license.`` Hollingsworth asked the over-the-road shippers to advise their drivers that such radio operation could subject them to heavy fines and seizure of their radio equipment. UPS Attorney Daniel N. Tenfelde last week assured Hollingsworth that his company was taking its Warning Notice seriously and has launched a full investigation. ``We discovered that some employees had obtained CB radios that contained a mechanism allowing them to switch frequencies into the 10- meter Amateur Radio band,`` he said in a January 28 letter. ``It is not UPS policy to allow equipment such as this to be used in our vehicles.`` He said UPS` contract with the Teamsters Union allows only for CB radios. Tenfelde said UPS is working with its transportation and labor groups to let drivers know that such unlicensed operation violates both UPS policy and FCC regulations. In a parallel development, the FCC issued a Citation to Jonathan Edward Stone, doing business as Omnitronics/Pacetronics for alleged violation of §302(b) of the Communications Act and §2.803(a)(1) of the Commission`s rules. An investigation by the FCC`s Dallas field office led the Commission to allege that Omnitronics/Pacetronics was offering more than two dozen uncertificated ``Citizens Band`` transceivers via its Web site. The FCC says Omnitronics/Pacetronics was marketing the units as Amateur Radio equipment, which does not require FCC certification (formerly known as ``type acceptance``), and a check of the company`s Web site generally confirmed that assertion. ``The Commission has evaluated radio frequency devices similar to those listed and concluded that the devices at issue are not only amateur radios but can easily be altered for use as Citizens Band devices as well,`` said the FCC Citation from FCC Dallas District Director James D. Wells. The FCC said it concluded that the devices fall within the definition of CB transmitters and therefore ``cannot legally be imported or marketed in the United States.`` That would include so-called ``export`` models, the Citation said, pointing to a 2000 revision of §2.1204(a)(5) of its rules. Citing §95.655(a) of the FCC`s rules, Wells noted that ``dual-use CB and Amateur Radio of the kind at issue here may not be certificated under the Commission`s rules.`` He said the clarification was added to Part 95 -- which governs the Citizens Band -- ``to explicitly foreclose the possibility of certification of dual-use CB and amateur radios and thereby deter use by CB operators of frequencies allocated for Amateur Radio use.`` The FCC Citation also warned Unitronics/Pacetronics regarding the requirement of FCC certification of external RF amplifiers or amplifier kits capable of operating below 144 MHz as well as the prohibition against marketing RF amplifiers or amplifier kits capable of operating between 24 and 35 MHz. Most of the transceivers in question carry brand names unfamiliar within the amateur community -- such as Connex, Galaxy, General and Superstar. Radios being marketed as amateur gear are shown on the Unitronics/Pacetronics Web site displaying 27.185 MHz on the dial --- CB channel 19. Some of the purported amateur transceivers have only a channel readout display, not a frequency display, and only operate on AM or FM modes. For an additional charge, Omnitronics/Pacetronics offers such accessories as roger beeps, ``turbo echo`` and what it calls ``basic`` and ``professional`` alignment. The only recognized amateur manufacturer on the list in the FCC`s Citation is Ranger. The FCC Citation singled out the Ranger models RCI-2950DX --- a 10-meter transceiver --- and RCI-2970DX --- a dual- band 10/12-meter unit. Both are shown on the Omnitronics/Pacetronics Web site displaying 27.185 MHz, and the ad copy notes, ``you can use this radio in the roughest environments. (Yes, even a Mack.)`` The February QST 1992 review of the Ranger RCI-2950 made note of its CB heritage and features --- such as a ``roger beep`` and a public- address speaker jack. The ARRL Lab said it may be possible to modify the `2950 for operation outside the amateur bands. The RCI-2970DX was reviewed in QST for October 2001. The ARRL Lab said that using then- available information, it was unable to modify the `2970DX it tested for operation on non-amateur frequencies. In an unrelated development, Omnitronics recently petitioned the FCC to amend its Part 95 rules to provide for the use of wireless ``hands- free`` microphones in the Citizens Radio Service. Copyright © 2004, American Radio Relay League, Inc. All Rights Reserved (via John Norfolk, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. A DYING BREED, CB RADIO GROUP SIGNS OFF Cell phone 'convoy' to blame? 'That's a 10-4, good buddy' By DAN RICHMAN SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER Monday, February 2 http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/158970_cbradio02.html Do you remember the heyday of citizens band radio in the mid-1970s, when that communications craze had much of the country talking in a Southern drawl, using 10 codes (as in "10-4" to mean "affirmative" or "OK") and adopting a "handle" to use on the air? Do you even know what CB radio is? Paul Joseph Brown / P-I [Caption:] Randy Fraser, who helped found the Evergreen chapter of REACT in 1975, fields a call on his citizens band radio from his home in Lake Stevens. Neither do a lot of other people. That's one reason the Evergreen chapter of REACT, a 25-year-old group of volunteers that answered distress calls over once-popular CB radios, disbanded last week in Everett. Modern technology has eliminated the group's principal reason for being. "Darn those cell phones," said Marilyn Goodenough of Lynnwood, who with her husband Don, 69, had been an Evergreen REACT member for 23 years. "They're so reasonable that they sort of wiped out the need for CBs." The six members present at the final meeting -- four of them from the same family -- lamented the indifference they'd encountered when urging friends and co-workers to use REACT's services. One of them cried quietly as they voted the group out of existence. "I told so many people about REACT at work and at church, for months," said Marcia Goodenough, Don and Marilyn's adult daughter, whose son, Jim, was also at the meeting. "They seemed interested. But not one of them has ever come to a meeting. We've talked to fire departments about providing emergency communications services. They also paid attention, but nothing ever happened." REACT, which stands for Radio Emergency Associated Communications Teams, exists across the country for two primary purposes: to monitor citizens band Channel 9 for emergencies, and to provide communications services during emergencies and for local events. Evergreen REACT members cited two big challenges to carrying on. Very few people in this area use CB radios anymore, though they may remain popular elsewhere. And most people can afford newer radios available everywhere, so fewer volunteers are needed. It wasn't always like that. CB radio was hot when Evergreen REACT was founded in 1975. The next year, the song "Convoy" was first on the Billboard pop-and-country charts: We was headin' for bear on I-one-oh 'Bout a mile outta Shaky Town. I says, "Pig Pen, this here's the Rubber Duck And I'm about to put the hammer down." In an era long before cell phones, REACT's promotion of using CB Channel 9 to call for help was innovative, and catching those calls was exciting. Evergreen REACT fielded scores of emergency calls per week, standing watches to monitor the frequency and alerting the sheriff's office to the location of stranded, lost or injured motorists, recalled Randy Fraser, 56, a Lake Stevens resident who helped found Evergreen REACT. In the last year, the group's president, Bothell resident Richard Tufteland, took only 16 such calls from near his home. "Emergency services are being handled by governments that don't want citizens involved," Fraser noted. Using CB radios, the group used to provide help in emergencies, such as a flood in 1975. For years it used those radios to help coordinate the Silver Lake Triathlon in Everett. It also did social-service projects, such as offering free coffee to motorists at rest stops on Interstate 5, cleaning up campgrounds and organizing a food and clothing drive during the Mount St. Helens eruption. But now, "to volunteer, you need to convince someone they need your help," Fraser said. "It used to be they needed help and we were there to help them." CB radios, the center of REACT's universe, aren't even sold anymore in stores such as Circuit City and Best Buy. Instead, tiny, feature- packed radios using both the FRS (Family Radio Service) and GMRS (General Mobile Radio Service) frequencies sell for as little as $40 each. Evergreen REACT experimented briefly with those, as well as MURS (Multi-Use Radio Service). But with no money for repeaters -- automated transceivers near high antennas, which can relay signals and thus extend the range of weaker radios -- they weren't effective. Cobra Electronic Inc., the nation's largest maker of CB radios, said the units remain "a steady performer for the company" but declined to provide sales figures. The Consumer Electronics Association, which represents makers of those products, said it has never tracked CB radio sales. "There are only one or two makers, and they don't tend to bring those radios to the (annual Consumer Electronics) show," said association spokesman Matt Swanston. "You can draw your own conclusions about that." At the same time, sales of cell phones have shot from 25,000, at an average price of $2,000, in 1984 to 70.5 million, at an average price of $130, last year, according to the association. Cell phones aren't necessarily replacements for CB radios, though, which Cobra said remain especially popular among long-distance truckers. "Once CB radio saved my life," recalled Swanston. "A trucker warned people to avoid a broken-down car in the left lane. I wouldn't have been able to miss it if he hadn't warned me." He said nothing has come along to replace the inexpensive, long-range, license-free CB radio. Washington state had 27 REACT teams in the mid-1980s. Today, two active teams remain, according to Tufteland. The Evergreen team's membership declined from a peak of 76 dues-paying members in the mid-1970s to six in late January. Members have aged and died or dropped out, and young people have been slow to join. Nationwide, between 275 and 300 teams still exist, down from 2,000 25 years ago, said Chuck Thompson, president of parent organization REACT International Inc. Despite those national trends, some REACT chapters are flourishing. "We raise good sums of money to be solvent and to upgrade our three $5,000 repeaters," said Ed Greany, president of Crest REACT in Corona, Calif., which has 70 members. "It doesn't have to involve CB. People join REACT to have a way to express their feelings toward their radios and their enjoyment of radio, and to do something for community. But every REACT team has to find its own purpose." In Dallas, hometown to REACT International's president, the REACT team has declined to 65 members from a mid-1970s peak of 400. But Thompson said REACT remains a viable concept. "It still has a reason to exist: to provide community service," he said. "But as with anything else, our philosophy is this is not a national organization with chains of command. Each individual team finds its own mission. In some areas they succeed at that. In some they don't." Evergreen REACT once had a mission. Now, most of its members believe it no longer does, though some on the team still hope it will somehow be resurrected. "We had a wonderful, dedicated group," said Marilyn Goodenough, her voice quavering. "We reclaimed a park full of garbage on Highway 2, turned it into rest area, and lit it with Christmas lights during the holiday season. "Those lights were the same warmth our team gave." ©1996-2004 Seattle Post-Intelligencer (via Kim Elliott, DXLD) ** U S A. LEAGUE FILES ``A PLAN FOR THE NEXT DECADE`` WITH FCC NEWINGTON, CT, Jan 28, 2004 --- The ARRL has filed a Petition for Rule Making asking the FCC to amend its Part 97 rules to complete the Amateur Service restructuring the Commission began in 1999 but left unfinished. The League wants the FCC to create a new entry-level license, reduce the number of actual license classes to three and drop the Morse code testing requirement for all classes except for Amateur Extra (see ``ARRL to Propose New Entry-Level License, Code-Free HF Access`` [DX LISTENING DIGEST 4-012]). The ARRL says its petition follows in the footsteps of changes in Article 25 of the international Radio Regulations adopted at World Radiocommunication Conference 2003. Among those changes, WRC-03 deleted the Morse testing requirement for amateur applicants seeking HF privileges and left it up to individual countries to determine whether or not they want to mandate Morse testing. While several countries --- including Germany, the UK and Australia --- already have dropped their Morse testing requirements, the ARRL emphasized in its petition that Morse code is not the primary issue at hand. ``Changes in Morse telegraphy are one aspect of the proposal, and it would be insufficient for the Commission to address those issues in a vacuum,`` the League said, calling its licensing proposal ``a plan for the next decade.`` The ARRL said that plan`s overall intention is ``to encourage newcomers to the Amateur Service and to encourage those who enter its ranks to proceed further on a course of technical self- training and exposure to all aspects of the avocation.`` Last fall various parties filed a total of 14 Morse-related petitions with the FCC. Several called on the Commission to drop the Morse requirement altogether, while others proposed to keep and even expand the requirement or put forth various license restructuring schemes of their own. The petitions, RM-10781-10787 and RM-10805-10811, attracted thousands of comments from the amateur community. Beyond the Morse question, the ARRL says, the time is right --- now that WRC-03 has finished its work --- to follow through on the restructuring process the FCC began with its 1999 restructuring Report and Order (WT 98-143) http://www.arrl.org/announce/regulatory/wt98-143ro.pdf Among other things, that landmark Order, which became effective April 15, 2000, reduced the number of Morse code test elements from three to a single 5 WPM requirement for all license classes offering HF privileges. Although the US has revised amateur licensing requirements several times since 1917, the ARRL pointed out, ``there has not been a comprehensive restructuring of both licensing requirement and corresponding operating privileges in many years.`` The League said the FCC declined to address operating privileges in its 1999 Report and Order but put off the job for a later date because it was still constrained by the Morse requirement in the Radio Regulations. The ARRL said, however, that the FCC in 1999 ``issued an invitation to the amateur community`` to complete the work it had begun. While just dropping the Element 1 (5 WPM) Morse requirement may seem to be a ``simple plan,`` the ARRL said, it fails to address the critical need for an entry-level ticket other than the Technician. The Technician license, the League said, ``is for too many a `dead end` to what might otherwise be an active, progressive interest in Amateur Radio, technical self-training and incentive-based educational progress in the many facets of the avocation.`` The ARRL said its proposed entry-level license --- being called ``Novice`` for now --- would establish ``a portfolio of operating privileges consistent with an examination that would not include material that is inappropriate or irrelevant at the entry level.`` It would require passing a 25-question written examination --- but no code test --- and offer limited HF phone, image, CW and data privileges. ``This structure provides a true, entry-level license with HF and other operating privileges which will both promote growth in the Amateur Service and integrate newcomers into the mainstream of Amateur Radio,`` the ARRL told the FCC. ``It will better introduce newcomers to more seasoned licensees who will assist them.`` The League proposal also would consolidate current Technician and General licensees into General class without further examination. Future General applicants would not have to pass a Morse code test, but the written exam would remain the same. Current Advanced licensees would be merged into Amateur Extra class without further testing, and the Extra exam would remain intact. Advanced licensees already have passed the now-deleted 13 WPM Morse examination. The ARRL proposal would retain the Element 1 Morse exam for Extra class applicants. It also would provide Element 1 credit for anyone who had ever passed at least a 5 WPM Morse test, whether or not they`re now licensed. ``The differences between the [Advanced and Extra] license classes are so minimal as to amply justify the one-time upward merger,`` the League said. While it agreed with the FCC`s 1999 assertion that ability to demonstrate increased Morse proficiency ``is not necessarily indicative of that individual`s ability to contribute to the advancement of the radio art,`` the League contended that retaining an ``extremely minimal`` and ``rudimentary`` 5 WPM Morse requirement for Amateur Radio`s top license class is appropriate. The ARRL said its overall plan dovetails with the FCC philosophy and goals stated in the 1999 Report and Order --- to simplify the license structure and streamline the licensing process. The League said its plan would implement licensing requirements and privileges that are in harmony with each other and is designed to attract and retain ``technically inclined persons, particularly the youth of our country`` and encourage them to advance in areas ``where the United States needs expertise.`` ``Now, the issue is not merely whether there should or should not be Morse telegraphy as an examination requirement,`` the ARRL said, ``but rather what is the best overall approach for positioning the Amateur Service for future growth and incentive-based self-training.`` A copy of the ARRL`s Petition for Rule Making is available on the ARRL Web site http://www.arrl.org/news/restructuring2/restrux2-petition.pdf The FCC has requested that individuals refrain from contacting or attempting to comment to the FCC on the ARRL`s restructuring proposal before the FCC issues a Rule Making (RM) number for the ARRL petition and invites public comments on it. Until that happens, it is premature to comment to the FCC. Copyright © 2004, American Radio Relay League, Inc. All Rights Reserved (via John Norfolk, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. COMMUNITY RADIO 1650 AM DECATUR, ILLINOIS http://www.allserviceradio.com I found this one on an Illinois broadcasting message board. Apparently it gets out pretty good; one of the messages mentioned it could be heard as far off as Monticello, which is about 20 miles out from Decatur (Curtis Sadowski, Jan 30, WTFDA-AM via DXLD) Section IV Equipment List a. Decatur Community Radio uses various amounts of equipment to create a professional broadcast both online and on the air waves. The radio transmitters that are used are unaltered AM1000 Rangemasters by Hamilton PCB Design (FCC Certified). The entire transmitter system is set up according to manufacturer instructions as it was certified by the FCC. No modifications have been made to the unit. No linears, or other power boosters are used. Also webcast; reception advice includes: Microwave ovens can actually improve signal reception. Try locating your radio on or near your microwave and see if reception does indeed improve (via gh, DXLD) ** U S A. I'm not sure how the Radio Única saga is playing out, but here's what I think I know. Radio Única apparently did its last programming from its Miami operation, ending at -5 UT on Saturday, Jan. 31 (midnight Eastern.) For now, though, most stations I know of are still Radio Única, but not from a Miami network. (I'm not sure where the programming originates.) KBLA-1580 in Santa Monica/L.A. appears to be running separate programming from L.A., also called Radio Única. Interestingly enough, XEBBC-1470 in Tijuana was running the non-Miami Única at least an hour before Phoenix and L.A. switched to it. Or at least I think they were. After 04 UT, they were running talk programming, calling it "La Frecuencia Informativa," and I thought I heard a 619 phone number, leading me to think they were running local programming aimed at San Diego. But when Miami ended programming, 1470 was running the same programming as 740 in Phoenix. By the way, the Radio Única sign-off from Miami was the most emotional sign-off I've ever heard, with at least two, maybe more staffers crying as they said their goodbyes. And it wasn't just mild, choke- back-the-tears crying, either (Rick Lewis, Feb 3, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** U S A. Finally I got a QSL card from World Harvest Radio, for my report of 27th of September 2002, on 11730 kHz [WHRA, actually]. Verie from the WHRI Engineering was not clear but beared a stamp, if undelivered return to DPGML, P O Box 13550, Ikeja Lagos. Don`t know if this is a local address or what? (Emmanuel Ezeani, Sokoto, Nigeria, Feb 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Maybe bulk remail service ** VIETNAM [non]. CANADA: Luego de varios intentos de sintonizar a Radio La Voz de Vietnam en español (via Sakville, Canada) por los 6175 kHz de 0300 a 0330 UT, vanos fueron los esfuerzos por tratar de escuchar esta emisora. Realmente opera aqui ??? En lugar de La Voz de Vietnam en ese horario se puede escuchar baladas y música pop en inglés. Que paso con dicha transmision ??? (Marcelo A. Cornachioni, Argentina, Feb 3, Conexión Digital via DXLD) Probable filler faltando la línea desde Hanoi (gh) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ FM IMAGES From DXLD 4020 you said: "On FM, nearby stations may not be assigned 10.6 or 10.8 MHz apart because of the standard FM receiver IF of 10.7 MHz, not its double. It took the CBC guy months to figure out what was happening???" You are as usual correct. But the 10.7 MHz IF frequency was chosen by the industry because, with the FM band only 20 MHz wide (88-108), there is no way two FM stations could ever be 21.4 MHz apart and thus present the image problem that exists in the AM band where a station on 1600 kHz can also be heard on 690 kHz (2x455 kHz apart). So it seems some engineer back in the dark ages of FM development did the right thing. 73, ~*-.,_,.-*~'^'~*-.,_,.-*~'^'~*-., (Joe Buch, DE, Feb 3,DX LISTENING DIGEST) -*~'^'~*-.,_,.-*~'^'~*-.,_,.-*~'^ Instead, at least on FM receivers with poor image rejection and poor AM rejection, we get aeronautical communications which are really 21.4 MHz higher (gh, DXLD) POWERLINE COMMUNICATIONS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ ``IT SEEMS TO US...`` BPL UPDATE By David Sumner, K1ZZ, ARRL Chief Executive Officer February 1, 2004 Editor`s note: Typically, only ARRL members get to read the ``It Seems to Us ...`` editorials that run each month in QST. We`re posting this editorial that appears in the February 2004 issue of QST in the hope that both ARRL members and nonmembers might appreciate it and find it informative. http://www2.arrl.org/news/features/2004/02/01/1/?nc=1 Broadband over Power Lines (BPL) has been a recurring topic on this page. In the October 2002 issue we first raised the specter of ``radio smog`` that would result from the introduction of RF onto unbalanced, unshielded conductors. In June 2003 we lamented FCC Chairman Powell`s opting to be a cheerleader for questionable technology instead of an impartial regulator looking out for the public interest. In October we used BPL proponents` own words to show that they seem to populate a parallel universe in which the laws of physics do not apply. The following month we questioned whose interests were served by BPL, since the claimed benefits did not stand up to even cursory scrutiny. Quite a lot has happened since then, both good and bad. One of the most positive developments is reported in ``Happenings`` this month (page 84). After giving the matter careful study, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which is now part of the Department of Homeland Security, concluded that BPL could not be implemented in the HF radio spectrum without significant detriment to national security and emergency preparedness requirements. FEMA has advised the FCC accordingly, in comments filed in response to the Notice of Inquiry in ET Docket 03-104. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), which already has expressed concerns about potential BPL interference to the FCC, has taken measurements at BPL test sites and is expected to issue a report sometime early in 2004. While the FCC is rumored to be working on a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on BPL, surely it`s better for that to await publication of the NTIA`s results. Another encouraging turn was the clarification by FCC Commissioner Abernathy`s Senior Legal Adviser, reported in January ``Happenings,`` of earlier remarks the Commissioner had made that appeared to be an uncritical endorsement of BPL. In fact, we and others were assured, ``Ensuring that BPL and all new technologies avoid causing harmful interference to licensed RF users is a bedrock position for Commissioner Abernathy.`` She did not intend to suggest, we were told, that BPL ``necessarily will emerge as a viable platform or that it does not present interference issues.`` On November 7 the National Association of Broadcasters hosted an ARRL- sponsored meeting of 25 representatives of organizations that are concerned about BPL. During the meeting, representatives from the shortwave broadcasting, public safety, aeronautical and scientific communities joined amateur, amateur-satellite, and industry representatives to discuss the threat of BPL and possible avenues to combat its interference potential to licensed HF and low-VHF spectrum users. Military and consumer electronics representatives participated as observers. Even the power industry has been expressing doubts about the viability of BPL. In a November 12 article in EPRI Journal online, the Electric Power Research Institute reports the publication of a study that analyzes ``five very sobering influences on BPL``: money, performance, utility motivation, competition, and the timing of its introduction into the market alongside other more mature technologies. ``The elusive `silver bullet` (commercially proven, long-distance high-speed PLC [power line communications]) remains, at this point, a target and not an accomplishment,`` the article concludes. In a separate development, Progress Energy, a power utility in North Carolina, has shown its willingness to work with amateurs to assess interference issues. Also surfacing since the November editorial was put to bed was news from Corridor Systems of Santa Rosa, California, that it had successfully demonstrated 216 Mbps capacity by using a 1/4 mile segment of power line as a microwave transmission line. Members who recall the description of ``G-line`` single-wire UHF transmission line in 1960s ARRL publications will recognize the concept; Corridor`s ``E- line`` is said to be a variation on the theme. In any case, as long as Corridor avoids using HF to link from the medium-voltage power line to individual customers, their system deserves to be distinguished from the spectrum polluters whose systems operate below 80 MHz. On the other hand, distressing evidence that BPL is a growing problem worldwide news arrived from Zaragoza, Spain, where PLC (the European term for BPL) has been documented to be causing extremely serious interference. In-depth information in Spanish, including an 18 page technical report prepared by the Zaragoza branch of Unión de Radioaficionados Españoles, is available at http://www.ure.es/plc/. This and other reports put the lie to the oft-repeated but utterly false claim by BPL proponents that their technology ``has not caused harmful interference.`` Why they persist in denying plain facts --- and why they think they can get away with it--is one of the mysteries of the whole BPL scenario. Apparently, we are about to see a similar situation arise in Manassas, Virginia, where a very small-scale pilot program is about to be extended to four subdivisions of 2100 residences. Fortunately, in this country the regulations are clear: BPL is not allowed to cause harmful interference to over-the-air radio-communication services, including the amateur service. To quote from §15.5 of the FCC Rules, ``The operator of a radio frequency device shall be required to cease operating the device upon notification by a Commission representative that the device is causing harmful interference. Operation shall not resume until the condition causing the harmful interference has been corrected.`` Manassas is just down the road from the FCC`s Washington headquarters. We`ll make sure that Commission enforcement personnel know what`s going on in Manassas if we have to drive them there ourselves. Copyright © 2003, American Radio Relay League, Inc. All Rights Reserved (via John Norfolk, DX LISTENING DIGEST) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ The geomagnetic field ranged from quiet to minor storm levels. Quiet to unsettled conditions with high latitude active periods were observed on 26 and 27 January. A high speed solar wind stream began on the 28th and created a weak disturbance with occasional minor storm periods at all latitudes. As the high speed stream subsided, the geomagnetic field returned to mostly quiet to unsettled levels. Solar wind speed increased to near 700 km/s on the 30th and produced brief periods of active to minor storm conditions. Conditions for the remainder of the period were generally quiet to unsettled with isolated active periods. FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 04 FEBRUARY - 01 MARCH 2004 Solar activity is expected to be at very low to low levels with a small chance of an M-class flare. A series of old active regions are due to return on 8 – 10 February, which will likely boost the activity levels. Late February will likely see a return to low and even very low conditions as the active longitude rotate out of view No greater than 10 MeV proton event are expected during the period. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to reach high levels on 04 - 07 February, 12 – 18 February, and again on 24 February – 1 March, due to recurrent coronal holes. Geomagnetic activity is expected to range from quiet to minor storm levels with a chance of isolated major storm levels. The current coronal hole high speed stream will persist for the first few days of the period and produce occasional active conditions. Recurrent coronal hole high speed streams are expected in mid and late February and will likely produce occasional active to minor storm periods. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2004 Feb 03 2211 UTC # Prepared by the US Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, Space Environment Center # Product description and SEC contact on the Web # http://www.sec.noaa.gov/wwire.html # # 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table # Issued 2004 Feb 03 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2004 Feb 04 105 20 4 2004 Feb 05 105 15 3 2004 Feb 06 105 15 3 2004 Feb 07 105 10 3 2004 Feb 08 110 10 3 2004 Feb 09 110 10 3 2004 Feb 10 115 10 3 2004 Feb 11 120 12 3 2004 Feb 12 120 12 3 2004 Feb 13 120 15 3 2004 Feb 14 120 15 3 2004 Feb 15 130 10 3 2004 Feb 16 130 8 3 2004 Feb 17 130 15 3 2004 Feb 18 125 20 4 2004 Feb 19 115 20 4 2004 Feb 20 110 12 3 2004 Feb 21 100 8 3 2004 Feb 22 100 8 3 2004 Feb 23 95 15 3 2004 Feb 24 90 20 4 2004 Feb 25 85 15 3 2004 Feb 26 95 15 3 2004 Feb 27 95 20 4 2004 Feb 28 95 20 4 2004 Feb 29 100 20 4 2004 Mar 01 105 25 5 (http://www.sec.noaa.gov/radio via WORLD OF RADIO 1219, DXLD) ###