DX LISTENING DIGEST 4-044, March 9, 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 1222: Wed 1030 on WWCR 9475 Mon 0430 on WSUI 910, webcast http://wsui.uiowa.edu 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 1222 (high version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1222h.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1222h.rm (summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1222.html WORLD OF RADIO 1222 (low version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1222.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1222.rm FIRST AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1223: Wed 2300 on WBCQ 7415, 17495-CUSB Thu 2130 on WWCR 15825 ON DEMAND from early UT Thu: change 1222 above to 1223 ** AUSTRALIA. 5049.9 ARDS, Humpty Doo. Poor and mixed with the Chinese 1010 3/3 but better but mixed with Tanzania 4/3 at 1930, Aboriginal talk show, with phone-in so I would say a time delayed programme not live. Appears to give better reception in our early mornings (Johno Wright, NSW, Australian DX News via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. MHFCS: MODERNISED HF COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM RIVERINA NODE VHK LYNDOCH The new HF facilities for the Department of Defence are finally becoming a reality The Riverina transmitting site, Lyndoch, is to the west of Wagga Wagga, adjacent to the road that runs between Collinguille on the Sturt Highway and Lockhart. The actual site is 21.3 km northwest of The Rock. Those familiar with the area will recognize it as an ideal site for a HF station. By the look of the facilities, test transmissions could be taking place already. The receiving site is about 50 km in a westerly direction at a point adjacent to the Morundah to Boree Creek road some 15.7 km southeast of Morundah. Some 76 frequencies are licensed for VHK so far, most of them shared with other defence stations (referred to as nodes) at Humpty Doo, Exmouth and Townsville. Lyndoch does not appear on any maps seen so far, could well be the name of the property resumed for the site (March Australian DX News via DXLD) ** BOTSWANA. 4820, R. Botswana, Gaberone. Lively mixture of Western and Afro music. Announcements in Vernacular. Good strength signal still audible at 2036 retune, 1949 22/2 (Charles Jones, Castle Hill NSW, Icom R75 with 75m. longwire, Australian DX News via DXLD) Reactivated? -cs (Craig Seager, ADXN ed., ibid.) ** BULGARIA. R. Bulgaria, March 7, 2004, 5800 kHz, *2200-2230. News, "From Sunday to Sunday" (review of the week), "Views Behind the News" and "Song of the Week". SIO 454. The rapid fire statistics given on "From Sunday to Sunday" remind me of the R. Sofia days (in other words boring). (Kraig Krist, Annandale, VA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. The new station, CFAV on 1570 kHz. in Laval, Québec is now broadcasting with regular programming. Their official launch was this morning at 11 AM Eastern time. Their signal seems to be stronger here in Montréal, so it appears that they may have finally got their transmitter up to full power at 10,000 watts. I will try to get confirmation of this. Again, the station is in French, and they are IDing in French as "AM quinze-soixante-dix, Radio Nostalgie" (translated "AM 15-70, Nostalgia Radio"). I have not heard them include the call letters in the IDs so far this morning. The music is a mix of English and French standards from the 40s, 50's, 60s. I have also heard them mention the city of "Laval" in their on-air announcements (Sheldon Harvey, Greenfield Park, Quebec, March 9, NRC- AM via DXLD) ** CONGO. Brazzaville 5985 --- Glenn: "Louie, this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship." And so the larcenous traitor, Capitaine Louis Renault of the Casablanca police, and the noble but disreputable hero Rick (of the "American Cafe"), slayer of the pompous Nazi authority Major Strasser, lock arms and stroll leisurely off the foggy, rain-soaked airfield toward "a Free French garrison over at Brazzaville" (then in French Equatorial Africa, now the Republic of Congo.) I couldn't help thinking about this, the closing scene of the 1942 Bogart film "Casablanca", whilst listening to my first hearing in many months of R. Congo from Brazzaville, received in amazing grayline reception clarity and strength after 0447 (on 03/09/04) and continuing all the way up to the unwelcome sign-on, successively, of R. Liberty in Arabic at 0459, and WYFR in Mandarin at 0501, burying R. Congo in a wavery, fluttery RF mess in the background. But it was fun while it lasted! The wakeup program, in French, was a lively affair with very bouncy and sophisticated sounding music, tinged by French pop style, American rock and rap, and African percussive color. The program host had so much energy that one can't imagine tuning into this program, just before 6 AM local time, and staying groggy with sleep. Best, (Steve Waldee, retired radio CE, San Jose, CA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [non]. RADIO MARTI ACTUAL CRISIS IS NOT A CASUAL NEITHER A CIRCUMSTANCIAL OCCURRENCE BUT A CRITICAL, SENSITIVE AND CRUCIAL PROBLEM TO THE NATIONAL SECURITY [original Spanish in 4-042; this is a rather rough translation -- gh] FROM "LA NUEVA CUBA" MARCH 5, 2004 By Ares Spinoza, Washington The Bush Administration count on Radio Marti as one of the most sensitive tools in the USA policy towards the political transition in Cuba, which sooner or later will face a political, social and human process of the biggest transcendence. But in Radio Martí the orders given by the supervisors are being nullified by lower level employees; the new profile of "all news" is entrusted to a reporter and somebody with a track record of failures once and again in his/her responsibility is promoted while at the same time department heads and supervisors are impeded of even fulfilling their duties. The President Commission for the Transition has its own vision of the utmost sensitive and important role that both Marti stations should fulfill during that whole process. But that Presidential agenda is being sabotaged and hampered within that same institution by a minuscule group of officers and employees with a long association to the "demolition team" of the Clinton-Gore agenda for Cuba. Thus key positions in the newsroom will be once again given to those who during the Clinton years were responsible for the dramatic descending of the levels of audience and bigger responsibilities will be also given to those that retained the news about Elian's kidnapping for four hours. That is bigger responsibilities in the newsroom will be given to those who have not been capable of keeping even a modestly updating of a regular Internet page, a fact that has been denounced many, many times in this newspaper by several of its columnists, among them the one who is writing this article. But those decisions, made to keep political or personal compromises will not be without any punishment because they would not be able to surpass any investigation by GAO, the independent investigative congressional instrument. Nor we are going to be silent. We will call things by its proper name. The responsible ones have faces. As it happened with Dr. Salvador Lew, the first politically named Republican, Mr. Pedro Roig, actual Director for Transmission Services seems to be held hostage by the tiny group already mentioned. Once again the "plumbers" have been able to make Radio Martí ungovernable. Perhaps it is time that the White House put an end to a situation not only unacceptable but that also puts in danger the policies for Cuba of the Administration in an election year. We are talking about a problem that already constitutes a national security problem and of the ones responsible of what already is known: the perennial ungovernance of the Martis, who consciously or unconsciously, moved by political agendas or for a task of enemy intelligence, or of collaboration with it, or by merely personal reasons are in the position of making ineffective a tool of being able to reach Cuban audiences and to guide our brothers in the Island in what could be weeks or months of unrest, uncertainty and agony. The White House cannot allow right now a crisis of these proportions in the Martis. If Mr. Roig, an appointed Republican, cannot stop listening to his Democrat friends, who already sunk the historical audience of the radio station in the recent past, perhaps he should consider resigning from the radio station and thus give the Bush Administration the freedom to name somebody that would represent the interests and the emphasis of the President in his vision of searching for a democratic change in the Island. Both Mel Martinez, surely a candidate to the Senate for the state of Florida and our federal incumbent congressman/woman not only are aware of that delicate function but they will not be indifferent before a situation that might make Radio Marti ineffective in a crux moment for the changing processes in Cuba. Anyway, those in Washington in this Administration that worry on the Cuban topics will not keep themselves idle and impassible before a totally unacceptable situation due to the sensitive importance that the Martis have for the national security. 73's (via Oscar de Céspedes, DXLD) ** CZECH REPUBLIC [and non]. R. Prague, March 7, 2004, 7345 kHz, *2230-2257*. News, "Mailbag", "ABCs of Czech" and "Czech Books". "Mailbag" presenter complained about only having 5 minutes for the program. However, I like the short R. Prague features; not every feature is as quick as 5 minutes. The short features keep the broadcast fresh and me interested. SIO 444. QRM from UnID on 7340. I listened with another receiver to 7340 during the R. Prague broadcast and until 2325 without hearing an ID. Description matches DXLD 4-042 of Bible Voice Broadcasting Network. The broadcast consisted of religious talk in English directed to the Iraqi people. 7340 SIO 333 (Kraig Krist, Annandale, VA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. infoRadio, Berlin --- Glenn: Just as I was bemoaning the poor reception from Europe here on the west coast in California, I picked up a good quality transmission of infoRadio, Berlin at 7265 (03-09-04, 0240-0245), broadcasting the news in German complete with handovers from male to female newsreaders, stingers, etc. News items heard were about Iraq's incipient democracy, the Shi'ites, the constitution, etc. If the ILGRadio data are correct, the power is only 10 kW, so this is the lowest powered European broadcast I've received in many a year. Had to dodge SSB hams, using narrow filter, ECSS mode, and passband tuning; but otherwise reception was quite steady with good intelligibility and clarity. Rx: Icom R75; antennas 22M dipole, 40d angle, NE-SW, and 107M dipole, NW-SE. Less ham with former; better signal with latter (Steve Waldee - retired broadcast station CE, San Jose, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WRTH 2004 says 7265 is 20 kW at Rohrdorf (gh) ** GUYANA. Tentative March 8, 2004, 3291 kHz, 0758-0803. "The World Today", promo for religion service on the BBCWS, BBCWS ID, time pips for 8 UT, News headlines. I gave tentative to log as I didn't hear Guyana mentioned or V. of Guyana ID. SIO 453. Moderate QRN. 73, (Kraig Krist, Annandale, VA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HAWAII. Re Hans Johnson`s question, as I tuned across 9930 sometime between 1400 and 1500 I noticed KWHR was in Vietnamese, not Mandarin, tho I can`t say what program it was (Glenn Hauser, OK, March 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HAWAII. 790, KKON, HI, Kealakekua-Hilo, 3/3 1457 EST noted airing ESPN radio via KHLO-850 instead of Jones Radio's satellite oldies format. Per station spokesman, KKON returned to the air relaying KHLO on 9/15/03. 850, KHLO, HI, Hilo, 3/1 per station spokesman, KHLO flipped from Jones Radio's "Cruisin' Oldies" format to sports featuring ESPN radio. They already broadcast Univ. of Hawaii-Hilo basketball & baseball, plus high school sports, and will air ESPN play-by-play of NBA and major league baseball games. KHLO plans to keep the "Hairy Hispster Show" of eclectic music and the Sunday night Filipino program. 1610, WPZH377, HI, Honolulu, 2/23 2237 EST, new TIS noted with loop tape of woman saying "W-P-zed-H-3-7-7 Honolulu, HI. The Hawaii Convention Center Information Broadcast Service. This is a test," somewhat overmodulated. Per convention center manager in phone call 2/26, station signed on Monday morning with 10 watts and will be used for traffic advisories during events such as the auto show in April. This is the second non-temporary TIS on MW in Hawaii, joining the one at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park (Dale Park, Honolulu HI, IRCA Soft DX Monitor March 10 via DXLD) ** INDIA. THE NEW TUNES OF COMPETITION IN RADIO MARKETING FINANCIAL EXPRESS Mona Mehta MUMBAI Competition seems to be hotting up in the radio marketing segment, in 2004. This will mainly be on the back of two factors: One, companies planning to strongly focus at the rural market in order to promote their radios. And, secondly, through the frequency modular (FM) boom. http://www.agencyfaqs.com/news/stories/2004/03/09/8541.html (via Kim Elliott, DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL WATERS. RADIO CAROLINE IS 40 YEARS OLD THIS MONTH On March 27, 1964, the offshore station Radio Caroline started its transmissions from the former MV Fredericia... Extract from http://www.radiocaroline.co.uk/news.htm In the early 1960s young Ronan O'Rahilly packed off to London to seek his fortune settled into Soho and London's club land. Ray Charles was his hero. Soon Ronan was operating his own Rhythm & Blues Club. He bought the Rolling Stones their first set of stage equipment and briefly managed them together with his friend, Georgiou Gomalski, before entrepreneur Andrew Oldham snapped them up, but he still had the blues singer Alexis Korner and northerner Georgie Fame as his protégés. He was influential in the early days of Eric Burdon and the Animals even suggesting the name for the band. Live gigs at small venues were a slow way to achieve popularity, but nobody would record his artists. O'Rahilly created his own record label and paid for his own acetates When presenting these to the BBC he learned that the Corporation only played music by established artists which begged the obvious question 'how to get established'. At Radio Luxembourg he fared worse, station bosses laughed heartily showing him the programme schedules block booked by the major labels. Independents had no chance of air play at all. The answer ? give up his artists and hope they could be signed by a major label. 'Well,' O'Rahilly told the Luxembourg directors 'If after managing my own artists I have to create my own record label because nobody will record them and if I then find that no radio station will play their music, it seems that the only thing now is to have my own radio station'. Radio Luxembourg thought this hugely funny and showed him the door. Soon after, at a party, a girl told Ronan about the station Voice of America which was operating at sea from the official USA vessel the MV Courier. He gleaned information about this operation from the US Embassy and also travelled to visit Jack Kotschack, the owner of the marine station, Radio Nord and the owners of Radio Veronica an efficiently run Dutch offshore radio station. Radio law in the Netherlands was as restrictive as in the UK. In Holland as in Britain the law of the land only extended as far as territorial waters extended, namely three miles out from the coast. Beyond that lay international waters where there was no law other than that defined by the flag states of ships. A ship registered say to Panamá recognised whilst in international waters, Panamanian law. If the law of the flag state had no objection to international marine broadcasting then the ship could make broadcasts which were not illegal and could not be stopped. Even Veronica was using precedent created by earlier marine broadcasts made off the Danish and Swedish coasts. The UK however with the young population created by the post war baby boom and with burgeoning youth culture and a new pop industry had untapped potential. This was the break through O'Rahilly needed and he had certain advantages to build from. He was now mixing in the clubs and coffee bars of Soho and Chelsea with the young sons of very wealthy people. With his upbringing, large sums of money did not faze him and his family wholly owned the Irish port of Greenore, an ideal place to quietly convert a ship into a floating radio station. He soon became aware that quite separately an Australian businessman Alan Crawford had also identified the potential of marine broadcasting to the UK. Ronan befriended him. Crawford was later to allege that O'Rahilly used Crawfords feasibility studies to further his own plans. Ronan states this is absolutely not the case and the Caroline project was well advanced before he even became aware of Crawford and his parallel business intentions. He also insists Crawford's 'Project Atlanta' ran out of funding and was rescued by his own company. On a fund raising trip to the USA he was captivated by a photograph showing president John F Kennedy's daughter Caroline playing in the Oval Office of the White House and disrupting the serious business of government. This was exactly the image he wanted for his station. The name had to be Radio Caroline. With finance in place the ex ferry Fredericia was purchased and taken to Greenore for conversion. Crawford also accepted the offer to take his virtually complete radio ship Mi Amigo to the same port for final preparation. Whilst ostensibly helping Crawford prepare, Ronans men took every opportunity to hamper their rivals and inevitably the Fredericia, now renamed MV Caroline sailed first. Radio studios had been built on the upper decks behind the ships bridge, in the hold were A.C generators connected to two 10KW medium wave ( AM ) broadcast transmitters. The combined power from these was fed to a tall aerial tower near the bow of the ship. To ensure reasonable co-operation between the two projects it was agreed Radio Caroline was to anchor in the Irish sea, broadcasting to Ireland, Scotland and the North of England. Radio Atlanta from the MV Mi Amigo was to head for the British coast off Essex, there to cover London and the South East. In a move that Crawford described as 'the ultimate treachery', Ronan sent his own ship south. On Easter Sunday 1964 with their words having been pre taped since they were too nervous to broadcast live Chris Moore and the then unknown actor Simon Dee announced ' This is Radio Caroline on 199, your all day music station'. Then a Rolling Stones record was played, dedicated to Ronan O'Rahilly. Caroline was on the air, the monopolies of the BBC and Luxembourg were shattered and UK radio was changed forever. Everyone with Sky satellite equipment can now listen to Radio Caroline. The station survives to today .... see the tuning details at http://www.radiocaroline.co.uk/news.htm (via Mike Terry, March 7, DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL WATERS. Hi Glenn, The "Boss Radio" format was also used by the offshore station Swinging Radio England in 1966. The DJ's called themselves "boss jocks" (which sounds to me like brand of underwear) and one jingle I remember had the words "The boss jocks play more music, pow". Most of the DJ's were American, and the station's sound was too radically different to be a big success in the UK market. The listening audience was around 2 million, compared with up to 12 million for stations like Radio London and Radio Caroline. It was no surprise when Swinging Radio England closed down to be replaced by a Dutch station, though its easy listening sister station Britain Radio did continue until the closure of all the offshore stations in August 1967. 73, (Andy Sennitt, March 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) {Re: 4-043, USA: KHJ} ** MEXICO. RADIO HUAYACOCOTLA: LA VOZ DE LOS CAMPESINOS --- THE JESUIT-RUN VOICE FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE FOR THE INDIANS OF THE SIERRA MADRE IN VERACRUZ STATE Huayacocotla, Veracruz, Feb 29 (CRU) --- XEJN La Voz de los Campesinos is a Jesuit-run tropical band station in the heart of the Mexican jungles in the poverty stricken southern part of this colorful land, and for decades it has been a voice for social justice and a thorn in the side of various national administrations. A letter from a Jesuit priest, Padre Edgar Chávez, first tipped Catholic Radio Update about the station (#238, August 4, 2003), urging us to visit its webpage http://www.sjsocial.org/Radio/huarad.html Radio Huayacocotla is located in the small community of that name in the state of Veracruz in the Mexican Republic. ``In the high Oriental (Eastern) Sierra Madres, Radio Huayacocotla is at the service of the Indian communities of the Nahua Otomí and Tepehua,`` explains its webpage. The station is ``the voice of the those without a voice. Music, news, programs on health and for women are broadcast to keep alive the roots of these cultures and, within the frame of these values, to make its voice heard and to hear the voices of the dominant culture that has impressed them so much.`` You can also hear some selections of the music they plan on the programming page http://www.sjsocial.org/Radio/rh_prog.html The two buttons on the left are the Mexican National Anthem sung in Tepehua and Otomí; the two on the right are station jingles; listen closely and you will hear the name of the station (Radio ``Why-ah-ko- KO-tla``). Although XEJN Radio Huayacocotla was founded by the Jesuits and operates under their aegis, the station is not religious in programming, as one can see by looking over the program schedule. The station runs what is known as a split schedule, once very common in the tropical latitudes, particularly in small communities. Such stations sign on early, sometimes before dawn, broadcast a range of informative and musical programs, and then sign off at mid-morning while the campesinos are in the fields. They return in mid- or late afternoon and operate until a few hours after sunset because the campesinos retire early to rise early. XEJN Radio Huayacocotla does the same, except that it goes off at 7 p.m. [Here the schedule is converted by gh to UT during CST by adding 6 hours and reformatted from grid; daily means Mon-Sat; silent on local Sundays. Of course, DX listeners are only likely to hear it no more than an hour after sign-on, before sign-off, best in winter] 1300 Daily AMANECER HUASTECO 1305 Daily AVISOS 1315 Daily MAÑANITAS 1320 Mon, Wed, Thu TRIOS HUASTECOS Tue, Fri MÚSICA INFANTIL Sat MÚSICA VARIADA 1330 Mon NOTICIERO OTOMI Tue, Thu NOTICIERO ESPAÑOL Wed NOTICIERO NAHUATL Fri NOTICIERO TEPEHUA Sat SON LOS HECHOS 1400 Mon, Fri EL CHIQUIHUITE Tue, Thu HUAPANGUERA Wed, Sat CANTARES 1500 Daily AVISOS 1510 M-F NOVELA Sat LA VACA HOSCA 1530 Mon RAIZ VIVA Tue, Thu ALER CEDEP Wed DERECHOS HUMANOS Fri LA MUJER Sat MUSICA VARIADA 1600 Mon, Thu TAROLA Y TROMBÓN Tue, Fri CANTA MI SIERRA Wed FIESTA TROPICAL Sat MANITAS JUNTAS 1640 Daily AVISOS 1655 Daily HASTA LA TARDE – then silent 2100 Daily BUENAS TARDES 2105 Mon, Thu DESATANDO HUARACHE Tue ARRIBA CORAZONES Wed, Sat CANTA MI SIERRA Fri MÚSICA RANCHERA 2200 Daily AVISOS 2215 M-F RADIO NOVELA Sat ALER CEDEP 2230 Daily BARRA MUSICAL 2300 Daily AVISOS 2315 NOTICIEROS see 1330 2330 Mon LA VACA HOSCA Tue, Sat ALER CEDEP Wed LA MUJER Thu RAIZ VIVA Fri DERECHOS HUMANOS [UT days strictly follow] 0000 Tue-Sun AVISOS 0015 Tue, Fri HUAPANGUERA Wed, Sat TAROLA Y TROMBÓN [the local band show often heard] Thu EL CHIQUIHUITE Sun FIESTA TROPICAL 0055 Tue-Sun HASTA MAÑANA The station signs on at 7 a.m. with ``Huasteco Dawn,`` followed by community notices, various features, including ten minutes of children`s music, the news rotating daily in various Indian languages and Spanish for a half-hour at 7:30. There are novelas, soap operas, at 9:30 and 4:15. Various programs, including music, follow until sign-off at 10:55 in the morning. The station returns to the air at 3 p.m. with music, community bulletins at 4:00, a novela, an hour and a half of music at 4:30, more bulletins and the news in alternating Indian languages and Spanish. The remaining programs until 7 p.m. sign-off deal with agriculture (The Hosca Cow), women`s interests (``La Mujer``), and human rights. In short, the station is completely functional in purpose and programming. Radio Huaya, as the people nickname it, has a long history. It started off as one of the ``school by radio`` stations that popped up throughout Latin America in 1965, some of which did not survive. ``In 1974 it changed to being a cultural radio station that has little by little situated itself among the community and has continued in the service of just causes of the indigenous people of this region of Mexico.`` ``Radio Huaya is the smallest station in the country. Although on various occasions it has applied to the Mexican government for a permit to broadcast on a frequency in the AM band, we have always gotten a negative response. What`s more, in spite of being the smallest radio station in the country, it was closed in 1995 --- see the news release in English at the website at http://www.sjsocial.org/Radio/rhi_0407.html --- supposedly because of coded messages in favor of the fight being waged by the Zapatista Indians in the state of Chiapas. Because of strong national and international protests against this arbitrary suspension, and with more than 3,000 signatures of indigenous friends who showed their unhappiness and antagonism for this censure, the station was opened three months later.`` --- see the news release in English, http://www.sjsocial.org/Radio/rhi_0714.html RADIO HUAYA: 39 YEARS OF COMMUNITY SERVICE Huayacocotla (XEJN, translated from its website) --- Huayacocotla is a small town of 3,000 inhabitants, more or less, and is the municipal capital of 26 community and 25 ranches. It forms part of the Chicontepec micro-region, which includes, among other municipalities, Zacualpan, Ilamatlán, Tlachichilco, Zontecomatlán, and Texcatepec. In Ilamatlán and Texcatepec are found the Nahua and Otomí Indians, and in Tlachichilco there are Nahuas and Tepehuas. These municipalities, which form the primary listening of area of Radio Huaya, have some 8,000 inhabitants. Huayacocotla in Nahuatl means ``The big ocotal.`` The countryside has beautiful landscapes, with forests, small rivers, and mountains. The fruits produced in most of the communities are plums, apples, and pears. There is a veil of fog most of the year, and it is that that characterizes the region. The most important fiestas in the communities of the region are All Saints in November, Carnival in the month of February, celebrations of the holy patron saints, and holy week. The music that the people listen to is the Huasteco sound, which is interpreted with violin, jarana, and Huapanguen guitar. In the Indian communities there are also many bands of wind instruments. Huayacocotla has the services of telephone, telegraph, mail; official offices of the Secretary of Agriculture, Livestock and Rural Development; the Agrarian Procuraduría; the National Institute of the Indigenous People; the Secretary of Social Development; the Secretary of the Environment and Natural Resources; and a terminal for busses and minibusses. But the Indian communities lack almost all services. Some got electric light and power only in the last two years, others still do not have power and light, nor highway, nor any public service. To take care of all their proceedings with the government in Huayacocotla, the Indians have to travel up to 8 hours from their communities. One of the regional problems is alcoholism (which dates back to the time of the haciendas, when the peon was paid for his labor partly in money and partly in aguardiente), a custom which many still follow today. Another problem even greater and more common in the communities is caciquismo [rule by the head man, or chief, cacique; their power is nigh absolute --editor] and in it lie the concentration of economic and political power in isolated areas such as this. The cacique is the de facto government of the region, and it thus achieves control of the land by confiscation and robbery, using violence as an efficacious medium of control. The bad administration of justice on the part of government authorities, which favors the rich, is another of the problems, because when all is said and done, they come out the winners. The impunity of the caciques is a clear sign that the government allows them to act this way in the region. The Radio Station Radio Huayacocotla is situated in this region, this atmosphere --- ``The Voice of the Campesinos,`` XEJN-OC [OC indicates onda corta, shortwave; used by some shortwave stations as part of the call letters, as we use -FM and -TV in the United States. ---editor], 2390 kHz and 500 watts of power. At first it operated as radio school from the years 1964 to 1973, that is to say, in this period it broadcasts classes to adults. There were special radios and trained people in the communities, who were furnished material. Program content included literacy, health, improvement in housing and food; the programs were accompanied by posters and self-help books. In 1973 the association SER (Servicios de Escuelas Radiofónicas) saw the necessity of ending the service that they had been offering in basic education. The primary school system had penetrated the communities, offering classes at least up to the third grade. The mission of the station had ended. As a consequence, this left many people at the halfway point and without more preparation, and many opted to leave to work in the cities. Faced with this situation, SER of México asked the Iberoamerican University [the Jesuit Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City; see an article on its own radio station, XHUIA, in Catholic Radio Update #218, March 17, 2003, and #230, June 9, 2003 ---editor] and the Fomento Cultural y Educativo [Agency for the Promotion of Culture and Education] that they take charge of the educational work of the station. Fomento Cultural Educativo AC, which was formed in 1970, wanted to look at other forms of education that offered opportunities to the most unprotected sectors of the country. Thus, in 1975 it began its plan of investigation and action, choosing only the municipalities of Huayacocotla and Zacualpan because of their proximity to the station. In this plan of investigation they sought to find out if the station Ÿ had a good image in the communities, Ÿ would be permitted to reach a good number of people with few personnel, Ÿ was a good medium to inform the people who lived at a distance and if this could be the motivation of a common effort, and Ÿ In itself was cold if it did not seek a closer relationship with the people. In 1976, the agency Fomento Cultural y Educativa began its work with these objectives: Ÿ To create activities that help the people to express themselves Ÿ To create activities that help the people reflect over their concrete situation Ÿ To create work in which the groups can relate with each other and organize Ÿ To help productive activities that improved the mode of living of the campesinos in the region. In 1977, with greater knowledge of the region, the programming was changed. The literacy programs were abandoned, now that the people were asking for specific knowledge that would help them in their daily lives. From that point on, programs have been created and broadcast that fulfill the objective of Radio Huaya: to create a radio station with the participation of the people. A Station in Which Everybody Takes Part Today there are various activities of community involvement inside the station, and so that you have an idea of them, we are going to describe them. 1. Musical Programming: The musical programs are divided into genres: rancheras, tropical, romantic, huapangos, etc. Here [are programs in which] you can take a greater part and send in your letters asking your preferred song: ``Destando Huarache,`` ``Arriba Corazones,`` ``Música de la Sierra,`` ``Mano a Mano Musical,`` Música de Bandas,`` and ``Complacencias Musicales.`` Preference is given to bands; ranchera, Huasteca and norteña music, which is what people in the communities like best, but also we play modern songs that the young people like, particularly in Huayacocotla. Latin American music has not been successful because the rhythm is very different from that of regional music, but nevertheless we continue broadcasting it in order to give a distinct content, and so that radio listeners are motivated to reflect on it. The program ``De La Música de la Sierra`` has been broadcast live for three years [this was 1999—ed.] and it has much success; we now invite trios or bands so that we go on renewing our repertory of regional music by means of interpreters from the same region. [The program} ``Desatando Huarache`` is a musical program that for four years has been broadcast every Monday. This program receives a mountain of letters from the different communities, who chiefly ask for ranchera songs. 2. Informational programs: ``Noticiero del Campo`` is the oldest program on the station. Many people listen to it, even those for whom it is bad news. Principally it emphasizes local news and interviews sent in by our correspondents in the regional capital and from the different communities in the Sierra. This newscast offers state, national, and international news, accompanied by a daily commentary. ``Son Los Hechos`` [These Are the Facts] is also one of the oldest programs on the station; previously it was called ``Comentando La Noticia`` [Commenting on the News]l. In it, a fact or important facts of the weeks that happen at the local, regional, national, or international levels are analyzed critically and commented upon, with the purpose of forming an opinion on what is going on. ``Los Derechos de Mi Pueblo`` [The Rights of My People] is a program that for four years has been the responsibility of the Committee of Human Rights of the Northern Sierra in Veracruz. This program informs and forms a critical opinion on the violations of human rights that are committed daily in the poorest towns and of the achievements that they continue having in the question of lands and the most elemental rights of the Indians and campesinos. ``El Programa de la Mujer`` is a program that discusses many themes, such as education of children, popular health, abuse of women, illnesses of women, and so on. The program includes music tied in with the topic, letters that that the communities send it, and at other times it offers a recipe to improve nourishment in the families. The program is broadcast for a half-hour on Saturdays and Thursdays. ``La YA Que Le Canta`` is indeed a musical time period different from others. It is also informative because the song offers commentary and is tied in with what is happening and what has happened in the community. This, of course, gives us the opportunity to form a more critical opinion on reality. 3. Programs with Participation of People from Organizations. 4. Children`s Programs: ``Manitas Juntas`` [Little Hands Together] is a live program where the children from the different neighborhoods of Huayacocotla and the community take part, offering in their own words stories, songs, riddles, games, and tongue twisters. This program is more than six years old [now 11 ---ed.] and is broadcast every Saturdays for an hour. In it one can hear contemporary topics adapted for the children so that they get to know and have an idea of the world in which we live. It plays children`s music that the children ask for by means of letters or by actually showing up in the station to offer a dedication. 5. Special programs: These are done on special occasions or dates, such as the anniversary of the assassination of Zapata, of Bishop Romero, on Mothers` Day, on human rights, on Chiapas, on Samuel Ruiz, etc. 6. Novelas: Radio Huayacocotla has obtained the collaboration of different institutions that offer novelas on Mexican topics related with farming and that make one reflect on the Mexican reality. Programs that are broadcast have been ``Las Tierras Flacas`` [The Bad Lands] of Agustín Yáñez; ``Balám,`` ``Carmen,`` ``El Monedero,`` among others. There have also been various series produced by SERPAL (Servicio Radiofónico para América Latina) and ECOE (Equipo de Comunicación Educativa [Educational Communications Team]): ``Jurado Nx 13,`` ``El Padre Vicente,`` ``Los Hijos de Laura Torres,`` :``500 Años,`` ``Granja Latina [Latin Agriculture],`` ``Chismes sobre La Salud`` [Jokes on Health], ``La Sangre por el Pueblo`` [Blood from the People], etc. 7. Jingles and Public Service Announcements: These are broadcast throughout programming to identify the station, and in them the people of the various communities and the children take part. There are also short spot announcements on children`s rights, the region`s history, health, etc. In addition, informative spots sent by ALER (Asociación Latinoamericana de Educación Radiofónica [Latin American Association of Educational Radio Broadcasting]): ``La Media Naranja`` [The Orange Sock], ``Pueblo a Pueblo`` [People to People], ``Ciudad Malapinta`` [Malapinta City]. How Does Radio Huayacocotla operate? When one thinks about a radio station in the hands of the people, there come doubts about the technical aspects, because in order to produce programs one needs a certain training. It is then that we say, ``Practice makes the master.`` Here in the station we have seen the necessity of being trained in order to produce the programs and operate some equipment. Our companions who have been at the station for some time give this training, and thus they pass on to the rest the little that they know. In addition, training materials from ALER and AMARC are also used. What kind of installation does it have? The installation of the station is simple. In the facilities of Radio Huayacocotla are found a transmitter, a control room, another control room for recording programs, and a studio where live broadcasts are done. There is also a library of discs, cassettes, tapes, and other materials necessary for radio production. What can be said about those who work in the station? We who work here are ordinary, everyday people; there are no supermen or superwomen. We are simply people who little by little have been learning the work of radio broadcasting in order to serve the people better each day. We are small team of people, but there is a lot of help in this work from people in the communities; we would like there to be more every day. Radio Huayacocotla has always wanted to be on the side of truth and to fight alongside the people in search of a just society, with similar opportunities for all. We also have a regular team of popular correspondents who are those in charge of sending information about their communities to ``Noticiero del Campo.`` There are about 60, spread out in the municipalities of Texcatepec, Tlachichilco, and Huayacocotla, but we want to increase this number of correspondents. To achieve this, we have had to make visits to the communities to continue with preparing our compañeros, training them in other aspects, and we need to keep doing this at least once a month, because to reach some communities one has to travel for at least eight hours, and that`s if we encounter no problems. What do we hope for the future? We will continue fighting that this station remains in the hands of the people. This implies doing a more creative and better work, inasmuch in visits to the communities, as in the people who are doing the work, the correspondents, new announcers, children. One task that we have been doing for 10 years is that of continuing legal activities before the Secretary of Communications for an AM frequency, which would permit them to hear us on any radio receiver. In reality, the fact that the license is for the frequency of 2390 kHz is a form of technical censure. To break this censure is a constant goal of the future. With this we are little by little removing the octopus arms of power that have forever crushed the people. Editor`s Note: A review of the AM authorizations for the Mexican State of Veracruz shows that, even in this time of a new federal administration by a new party in Mexico, a license for an AM frequency has still not been given Radio Huayacocotla http://www.sct.gob.mx/satelital/am/am_ver.html They continue to labor on an obscure tropical band, on which few stations in Latin America still operate because it is next to impossible for the public to find transistor radios that carry that band (Mike Dorner, Catholic Radio Update March 8 via DXLD) ** MONACO [non non]. Hello Glenn, About MC One in Monaco. Regular broadcasts from March 17th at 1900 UT on 98.2 MHz and on the web: http://www.one.mc Maybe no more on 1467 kHz. About the location of the transmitter site: yes, Col de la Madone and Fontbonne are on the French soil (city of Peille) but the ground soil BELONGS to Monaco. Two years ago the Government of the Principality bought all these places. So we can say that Col de la Madone is Monaco... Best 73's (Christian Ghibaudo, Nice, France, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Ownership of property does not necessarily mean extra-territorial sovereignty (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEW ZEALAND. RADIO NZ MAILBOX PROGRAM 55TH ANNIVERSARY DOCUMENTARY Radio New Zealand will broadcast a Spectrum documentary celebrating 55 years of the shortwave listener Mailbox program on Sunday, March 21 at 12.33 pm NZT (0033 UT) on National Radio. This is usually repeated at 8.06 pm NZT (0806 UT) on the following Thursday, March 25. (NZ reverts to Standard Time at 1400 UT on March 21) Hosted by radio historian Jack Perkins, the documentary includes reminiscences of Ulrich Williams (the original RNZ station manager in 1948), Christine Cole-Catley (original host of Mailbox) and a number of other shortwave station technical and production personalities of the time. Rare recordings of original program themes and the RNZ interval signal with the tui make this a fascinating visit down memory lane for listeners worldwide. With some of those involved now in their mid- 90's, this historic gathering in Wellington earlier in March is probably the very last time the founders of RNZ's shortwave service will be together. The Listener magazine will feature a special article with interviews and photos of the old timers at their 55th reunion, organised by Adrian Sainsbury of RNZI who carry Spectrum during their National Radio relays. The newly established Radio Heritage Foundation was represented at the event by David Ricquish (David Ricquish, Radio Heritage Foundation, Wellington, New Zealand, March 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) So is the special also carried on SW RNZI itself, and if so, when? (gh, DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA. 1520, KOMA Oklahoma City. 0915. Great signal & over the top of 2QN. A lot of talk and not the usual music. 3/3 (David Onley – Home in Myrtleford, NE Victoria. Drake SPR4. Antennas: KAZ & 120m longwire, Australian DX News via DXLD) There is no ``usual music`` -- changed a year ago to news/talk (gh, Enid) ** SWITZERLAND. SWISS RADIO INTERNATIONAL LEAVES SW IN OCTOBER - 500 KW TRANSMITTER FOR SALE! This item is taken from the March newsletter of the National Association of Shortwave Broadcasters: SRI's Ulrich Wegmüller explained at the closing plenary session of HFCC in Dubai that his station will be ending its shortwave broadcasts at the end of October 2004. At that time, SRI's programs will be transmitted only via Internet. As a result of SRI's move to end shortwave broadcasts for the time being [so a ray of hope? -- gh], the station's only remaining transmitter in Switzerland (in Sottens) will be idle, and its owner - Swisscom - is willing to sell the transmitter whole or as spare parts. It's an ABB 500-kilowatt, type SK55 C3-P, operating from 5.9 to 26.1 MHz with a PSM modulator and Dynamic Carrier Control (DCC). The unit was built in 1989. Anyone seriously interested should contact Media Network at Radio Netherlands via media@rnw.nl who will pass on the enquiry. # posted by Andy @ 22:21 UT March 9 (Media Network blog via Mike Terry, DXLD) ** U S A. VOA GETS A CASE OF LARYNGITIS 2004 is shaping up to be a bad year for the Voice of America. Its English language transmitter hours will be reduced by roughly 2/3 at the end of March, making it potentially tougher to hear VOA even in areas where its English is a priority. I don`t have details of which frequencies are slated to be shut down. Also, the last remaining two-hour English release to the Americas (0000-0200 Tue-Sat) will also be eliminated. Cuts are also anticipated in VOA English services targeting Africa and Asia. Editorial commentary: Those who control US government-sponsored international broadcasting seem to be enamored with ill-conceived services (Radio Martí, Radio Sawa) that suck resources out of the best-recognized brand name left in international broadcasting --- now that RFE/RL is irrelevant. I will admit that it`s necessary to spend resources on broadcasting to the Middle East as the USA seeks to craft a new image there, but it would seem to me that dollars would be better spent on Arabic and Farsi services of the VOA more so than on services that don`t need to adhere to the VOA`s broadcasting standards (Richard Cuff, Easy Listening, March NASWA Journal via DXLD) ** U S A. 5770 WBOH. Presumed this station from HFCC list. English religious talk about Bankers and war! Different programming from WBOH 5920. Heard at 0910, 2/2 (Dennis Allen, Milperra NSW, Icom R75, longwire, Australian DX News via DXLD) Hmmm, HFCC B-03 does have WBOH on 5770 24 hours, 50 kW, 170 degrees, and not on 5920 where it has actually always been; it has only one transmitter so can`t be on both; don`t you believe the HFCC. 5770 is in fact WWCR-4, Brother Scare service, for several months now, as mentioned several times in DXLD. Also, Charles Jones, NSW reported WWCR 5070, at 0915 and WHRI 5745 at 0920 as long-path. This is surely short-path, total darkness across the Pacific. Just because the nominal azimuth is in the other direction does not prevent significant wattage from going out in other, including opposite directions, especially with rhombic antenna, far more likely propagationally than longpath over the daylit side of the earth trough the blazing noon of East Africa (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) He also reports: 5810, Family Radio, Okeechobee. Service to S America in Spanish. Good strength signal badly degraded by atmospherics presumably because of Polar routing, 0925 22/2 (Charles Jones, Castle Hill NSW, Icom R75 with 75m. longwire, Australian DX News via DXLD) Do you think the WYFR signal, over the pole, somehow attracts and brings along with it the atmospherics (lightning crashes) you hear? First of all, the WYFR signal is no doubt arriving close to great- circle from FL, across the equatorial Pacific, whatever the primary beam heading. Secondly, the atmospherics could be coming from anywhere on the nightside, likely closer to you in the tropics (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WHRI was inaudible and apparently off the air from 9840 around 1400 UT March 9; WWCR was inbooming on 9985 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WBCQ (non) Where is she now? Randi Steele, formerly Operations Manager of WBCQ, is currently involved with Listeners and Staff for Progressive Elections at WBAI. For an interesting bio, as well as her opinions about radio, visit http://www.list-prog.org/randi.htm [illustrated] (Dan Srebnick via DXLD) Viz.: Randi Steele [caption] Hi, I'm Randi Steele. I'm 49; I live in Woodstock, NY. I lived in Queens for 30 years, but the high cost of living forced me out in 2000. I'm legally blind and a lesbian of transgender experience. I'm a lifelong radio activist and constant WBAI listener. I'm running to represent listeners who depend on WBAI for alternative information and news. I am a self taught radio broadcaster, building my own studio in 11th grade and putting on my first two unlicensed Low Power FM stations in Queens and Brooklyn soon after. I worked in operations and production at WPLU, ABC Radio and WNBC-AM. I co-founded Radio Newyork International (RNI), a shipboard AM/FM/SW station that the FCC shut down in only five days. My last experience was as operations/techncial director for a shortwave station in 1999. I reluctantly resigned on principle, returning to New York and became active in the Listeners movement to save Pacifica. In this internet-driven world, those of us without access to computers because of disability or finances are shut out from many endeavors. WBAI is vital to us, yet there is a creeping tendency to limit access to resources or functions to those who are on the net. THIS IS WRONG. If elected, I will fight for the full participation for all. WBAI is a RADIO STATION, not a webcaster. To lose sight of this fact is inherently discriminatory. Discussion of WBAI affairs should not be limited to chat rooms, but should be periodically addressed on the air. WBAI news is a vital service and should not be subverted, as it has been, by rushing into digital production demonstrated to be unreliable and sloppy. FSRN's broadcast has been disrupted too many times. Sacrificing the printed portfolio while investing in multiple internet audio feeds is not a public service; it is geek self indulgence. Requiring prior registration online to attend a WBAI-promoted event is reprehensible and offensive. WBAI's focused outreach to a few communities in Manhattan or Brooklyn is self-limiting and wasteful. Listeners in the outlying signal areas are under-represented, as are those whose activism is anything other than faith-based. WBAI should de-emphasize its embrace of the gospel- oriented religion of the oppressor and fulfill its long-stated commitment to free thought. Outreach should include a $5 donation "promopak" (a bumper sticker and button advertising the station). If mailing a folio to each listener is too financially burdensome, perhaps a $10 change to those who need or prefer a printed folio is an idea. With costs rising, paid staff should return to being mostly volunteer, as it has historically been. If the Wall Street rent continues to spiral, a contingency plan should be developed to move the station to a much less expensive but equally accessible location in downtown Brooklyn or Long Island City. WBAI needs to be more receptive to innovative ideas to increase its subscriber base, reduce cost and improve outreach. I endorse the candidacies of Miguel Maldonado, Patty Heffley, Carolyn Birden, Chris Farrell and other LIST-PROG folks. RANDI STEELE ANSWERS QUESTIONS ABOUT HER CANDIDACY FOR THE LOCAL STATION BOARD http://www.list-prog.org/randi_q&a.htm 1. Why do you want to be on the Local Station Board? My candidacy is by listener request. As a low-vision person, WBAI is my primary alternative news and information source. I want to help preserve and strengthen this unique and important resource. 2. How do you envision the station board working with Pacifica, the station, and the community? An elected local board is a tool to make Pacifica, WBAI and its outreach more responsive to the needs of its listeners and communities. The new local boards can work to change the culture of factionalism, marginalization and cliqueishness that have plagued the station and network for decades. 3. How could the station better serve its listeners? There is a certain disfunctionality in subscriber service that shouldn't exist in the first place. The new LSBs should be a clearing house for new ideas to streamline operations, improve service efficiencies and solve structural problems and barriers as well as giving serious consideration to new ideas for programming and services from and for the community. 4. Describe some actions you would take to increase the influence of the station in under-represented communities (linguistic, ethnic, cultural, etc) and to increase the diversity of the listening audience? The outreach director should develop strategies to get information and promotional material to schools, libraries, religious and community organizations throughout the service area. These materials should be language and culturally aimed at the communities they're distributed to, informing each population of the specific programs and services to them on WBAI. 5. What are your feelings concerning Pacifica accepting corporate donations outside of traditional employee funds' programs? Corporate foundation donations have subverted and diluted public radio to the point of irrelevance that is only mitigated by NPR's network reach. WBAI should not seek or accept any donation from corporations or create programs that give even an impression of impropriety, such as giving a program to those with a business or personal relationship with station staff or management. Any such existing situation should be top priority for review and correction by the new LSB. 6. Please state briefly the skills and experiences you would bring to the Pacifica network as a member of the Local Station Board. Radio is my life. I have a lifelong history of radio experience, both commercial and community. I have broadcast technical production, on- air talk, DJ, writing and concept execution. I have been a Pacifica activist since the 90s, when WBAI was still in the church on 62 Street. (See 7b and 7c.) 7. The following background information may be provided, but is optional: a. Educational Background I am self-taught. In the 11th grade, I found myself with 3+ daily study hall periods due to "schedule problems." I stopped going to high school and built my first radio studio. A truant officer visited my home. When I showed him my studio and asked him why I was denied access to shop class, he said it was because of my low vision. He offered me social promotion and graduation if I just showed up, and I wouldn't even have to do school work. Hearing that, my father threw the truant officer out of the house. I am glad I was not subjected to further mind-numbing protocols of the N.Y. education system. b. Occupation, Organizational Affiliations, Areas of Community Service. c. Areas of Interest/Expertise Within a year of leaving school, I put my first two 50-watt LPFMs in Queens and Brooklyn on the air. By 1973, they had gained such community notoriety that Alex Bennett hired me to produce his late night talk show on WPLU. Alex was fired for being too leftist for ABC in 1976. I stayed on as public affairs producer at WPLU and worked with Bill Ayres of World Hunger Year and former WBAI alumni Bob Ortiz and Caryl Ratner, among others. In '78, I was hired as Nighttime Operations Supervisor for ABC Radio Networks, but my transgender traits were not appreciated by ABC brass at that time. In '79 I left and became a technical and information clearing house for over two dozen micro and LPFMs in N.Y. and Long Island. It was the early birth of the micropower movement. In 1987, I co-founded and was OM/PD of Radio Newyork Int'l (RNI), the ship-board AM/FM/SW station anchored 4 miles south of Long Island. The FCC shot that down in only five days. After that publicity died down, I was hired as producer of The Time Machine on the late WBNC-AM, an oldies and radio-nostalgia format that lasted until GE sold off its radio division -- an early victim of radio deregulation and consolidation. In 1990 RNI returned as a seven-day a week time buyer on short wave. On Saturdays, the RNI show was broadcast on R.F.P.I. in Costa Rica, the temporarily silenced Pacifica SW affiliate which broadcasts Democracy Now! and FSRN around the globe. RNI exposed the truth about the first Gulf War to the world. In 1997, the FCC granted my former RNI partner a SW license. He hired me as Operations Manager and Technical Director. It was supposed to be the station of "love, peace and understanding," but it quickly became loaded with KKK members from South Carolina, Neo-Nazis from Staten Island and New Jersey and religious bigots preaching death to LGBTs and abortion providers. After much dissent, I resigned because of the hurt this programming caused between the time of Mathew Shepard and Columbine. In '99, I returned to New York and was active in the listeners' Save Pacifica movement and then against the Christmas Coup. At the PNB January '02 meeting, I was the "Fire Daughtry girl" who addressed the board as to that license necessity (WBAI website via DXLD) ** U S A. Attack the rap --- Sick of being called ho's and bitches, a group of young women in Boston has set up a new radio station to fight rap's misogyny. By Diane Taylor Sunday March 07 2004 The Observer In the poor Boston neighbourhood where 18-year-old Stephanie Alves grew up, words such as bitch and ho are part of everyday male conversation. This slang is not used to pass judgment on a woman engaged in a particular activity but to describe any female. Rap has been criticised for its negative portrayal of women right from the start. Artists such as Snoop Doggy Dogg and Ja Rule have attracted particular criticism - both were charged for use of indecent language back in 2001 at the SunFest festival in Jamaica. Lyrics such as "Game is the topic/ And what's between your legs is the product/ Use it properly/ And you'll make dollars bitch," from Ja Rule's Bitch Betta Have My Money, continue to incense women. As Alves puts it, some rap music has tapped into feelings of male powerlessness as a result of poverty, racism and fractured families and made it not only fashionable but also empowering for young men to demean women in this way. "At school guys go around saying things like, 'She gave it up to me in two weeks, she's a ho'," says Alves. "They disrespect women; all that matters to them are the guns and sex and money that feature in so much rap music." Scantily clad 24/7 sexual availability is the gold standard for womanhood. And yet this is the same quality that earns women the derogatory labels, viewed at worst as lowlife sluts and at best as fashion accessories. "Things got so bad that even the girls were going around calling each other bitch and ho," says Alves. So Alves got together with a group of like-minded girls and young women in Dorchester, a Boston suburb with high levels of crime and deprivation, with the idea of setting up the first radio station dedicated to countering the negative way women are portrayed in rap. They approached a local headteacher, Larry Mayes, who recalls, "They came to me and said: 'We have a serious problem, we're tired of being referred to as bitches and ho's and we want to do something about it." "The criticism of the way rap music portrays women is nothing new," says Alves. But instead of just talking about the problem we decided to take positive action." The mayor of Boston loved the idea. "When we went to him he jumped out of his chair he was so enthusiastic," says Mayes. "He promised to get the most powerful women working in media in Boston to be advisers to the girls - and he did." Private funding was secured and a couple of weeks ago, broadcasting from a women's centre in Dorchester, the radio station hit the airwaves. A sign pinned to the studio door reads: "Only positive attitudes beyond this point." For now, the station, called Radio Log, is on air on weekday afternoons in the Dorchester area but Alves hopes that both the amount of time the station is on air and the area it covers will expand. Eight teenage girls between the ages of 13 and 18 are involved. Over the next few months more will be recruited and trained. The girls are African-American and Hispanic and they hope to get white and Asian girls involved too. To promote an alternative, positive image of young American womanhood, they play a range of carefully vetted music - rap, hip-hop, reggae, soul and country - along with interviews and phone-ins open to both sexes to discuss music, relationships and burning issues of the day. "We don't ban particular artists but select music on the basis of the lyrics," says Alves. "For example someone like Ashanti has some music that reflects women positively and some that reflects women negatively. We don't play the negative stuff." Artists who have so far made it on to the playlist include Mary Mary, Alicia Keyes, Faith Evans, Usher, Boyz-II-Men and B2K. Banned are certain songs by artists including Snoop Doggy Dogg, Lil Kim, Juvenile and Tupac Shakur. Choosing which music is on the playlist and which is off can lead to animated discussions. "There are lots of grey areas," says Alves. "We like to play love songs but so many of them have derogatory references to women when sex is mentioned so we have to be careful." Female African-American rapper Ife Oshun is sympathetic to their cause. "What sort of personal values do little girls in our hip-hop nation develop when they are constantly bombarded with images of their future selves as little more than rump shakers? What do our little boys learn when a disproportionate number of rap videos portray their sisters, mothers, future wives and future daughters as little more than eye candy?" says Oshun. In the UK, young women are feeling just as bruised by the fantasy world of their male peers and are now looking to emulate their American peers. Gemma Gibson, 22, from west London, is trying to get funding to set up a similar radio station here. She is involved with Yes Studios, a music charity that gives socially-excluded young people hands-on experience in all aspects of music production. "I've always loved singing and I think it's time to show young people there is another perspective out there. Gun culture in London is so big at the moment and I'm tired of guys calling us just a piece of ass. Music is so influential and it's made this stuff very fashionable, but now it's time for a different fashion." Back in Boston, Radio Log has so far received nothing but praise. "I haven't had any negative comments from guys about it but they know better than to speak in a disrespectful way around me," says Alves. While there are no plans to take on the offensive male rappers directly, Alves hopes that word will reach them via the radio station of the errors of their ways. She is optimistic that the rap that has led popular culture for the past 25 years is going to change. "We've been hearing about sex and drugs and money for so long. How much more is there to say? Surely now is the time for something new and positive to take over." Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited (via Bill Westenhaver, DXLD) WTFK??? Radio Log previously reported as 540 kHz, very low power (gh) ** U S A. Glenn, The LAX airport ("Los Angeles World Airport") has been granted a waiver by the FCC to increase the power of WNHV, 530 kHz, to 100 watts. That is believed to be the highest power operation on 530 kHz in the US. see: https://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsEntry/attachments/attachmentView.jsp?attachmentKey=17914466&affn=0179144669279813494152759 (Ben Dawson, WA, March 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Actually WNHV296 per the file above, which is actually pdf tho appearing nowhere in the URL. Rationale is to handle traffic better in the event of a terrorist emergency at the nation`s busiest airport. Seems to me even 100 watts isn`t enough (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. 950, MD, WCTN, Potomac --- Cabin John is now 24/7 Korean language Christian. Their slogan is "Washington Kidokkyo Pangsong" (Washington Christian Broadcasting). First heard with new format on 03/04 with sermon by male preacher in Korean followed by hymns in Korean 0925-0955 EST. At 0955-1000 I heard a string of ads in Korean. At 1000 heard ID in Korean by a male as "AM Kubaek-oship. Washington Kidokkyo Bangsong-imnida. WCTN." This was followed by a sounder and music, and then a full legal AM with a chorus singing "WCTN Potomac- Cabin John." After the TOH ID, I heard news by a female followed by an announcement in Korean that the station will now be broadcasting 24/7 in Korean with re-broadcasts from FEBC (Kukdong Bangsong) and the Korean Christian Broadcasting System (Kidokkyo Pangsongkuk) in Korea. They will also broadcast locally produced programs (Bill Harms, Elkridge MD, IRCA Soft DX Monitor via DXLD) {Any Mormon programs? Bill was a missionary in Korea years ago} ** U S A. RADIO FREE BRATTLEBORO WINS LOCAL AUTHORITY 'RIGHT TO BROADCAST' Monday 8th March 2004 Vermont: A local ballot initiative asking town voters to grant 'authority to broadcast' in lieu of a licence from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) won nearly two thirds of the votes in last Tuesday's election. The open-access Radio Free Brattleboro (RFB) began broadcasting in July 1998 as an independent, all-volunteer, non- commercial community radio station. The vote is an important milestone for RFB, which utilizes 10 watts of power to cover an area with a radius about 2 miles from its broadcast location, all within the confines of the town of Brattleboro in Vermont. Station spokesman Larry Bloch said: "I hope that communities across the country will be inspired by the endorsement that RFB has received from voters here." The ballot question asked: "Shall the voters of Brattleboro give to Radio Free Brattleboro authority to broadcast until such a time that a Low-Power FM licence is issued to Radio Free Brattleboro or to another non-profit, locally based community group which is prepared to offer to the town of Brattleboro diverse, all-access, non- commercial, community radio?" RFB has been threatened with shutdown by the FCC since June 2003, when they demanded that the station show either a licence or 'authority to broadcast'. In order to document its 'authority to broadcast', RFB spent the summer months of 2003 collecting over 2,000 petition signatures from town residents who support RFB and uphold the station's right to broadcast. In early January 2004, attorneys acting for the station received a letter from the US attorney in Burlington, Vermont who demanded, on behalf of the FCC, that RFB cease broadcasting. RFB's attorney replied with a letter to the US Attorney seeking a common sense solution that would ensure the continuance of community radio in Brattleboro. Some weeks later, acting for the FCC, the US Attorney flatly refused any and all ideas and went on to threaten the station with imminent legal action. In February, a complaint was filed on behalf of RFB, asking the US District Court to prevent the FCC from seizing the station's equipment. A few days later, the U.S. Attorney filed a complaint on behalf of the FCC asking the court to order RFB to cease and desist broadcasting. The government's argument is that RFB's broadcasting causes irreparable harm to the United States. RFB's argument is that the loss of this vital community service will cause irreparable harm to the people of Brattleboro. Their attorney said, "RFB does not desire to spend its time litigating; it wants approval from the FCC for its local broadcasting-broadcasting that interferes with no other broadcaster and serves local needs. The FCC has permitted a rapid consolidation of mega-corporations who want to occupy the entire broadcast spectrum for profit, endangering free speech and inhibiting local access. It is outrageous that while the FCC aids and abets corporate greed, it spends taxpayer money to threaten and squash community radio. Who is in charge here? We need a change." Radio Free Brattleboro has trained hundreds of local citizens in the art of radio broadcasting and the rights and responsibilities inherent to freedom of speech. RFB remains committed to fostering an informed and engaged public by offering access to a diverse group of local residents, artists, community groups, and pubic officials. (Radiowaves) More at http://www.rfb.fm/ (via Mike Terry, DXLD) ** U S A. RADIO STATIONS BROADCAST WITH LOW POWER, HIGH HOPES 03/08/04 SU-JIN YIM At first glance, Brooke Snavely, a former TV newscaster from Bend with a second home in Sunriver, doesn't have much in common with Pete Tridish, a self-described anarchist from Philadelphia with a long, bushy beard. Ditto for Debra Croswell of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Pendleton. Or Dardo Salas, an Argentine architect in Hood River who moved to Oregon 15 years ago. But while the tie that binds the four might be invisible, it's certainly audible. With the help of Tridish, who travels the nation helping groups set up stations, the three Oregonians can hear their messages stream across the FM dial from stations such as KZAS, beamed from Salas' two-car garage, and KCUW, broadcast from an administrative building on the reservation. "On our local radio stations here, you're not going to hear tribal powwow music or even music from contemporary native bands," says Croswell, the reservation's communications director. "But we provide that almost around the clock on our station." Low-power radio stations across Oregon, and more than 200 others nationwide, open the airwaves to people who are left out of mainstream media because of who they are or where they live. Hundreds more could join them if Congress decides to make more channels available, as a Federal Communications Commission report released last month suggested, Tridish says. Low-power stations broadcast between 10 and 100 watts and are owned by nonprofit organizations and community groups. Radio Tierra, run by Salas and friends, plans to alternate broadcasting in English and Spanish to "integrate the two cultures and finally to understand we are all part of the planet," Salas says. Snavely is working to set up a public service system for Sunriver, a development of 3,400 homeowners and even more visitors. Low-power stations emerged in small towns and rural areas nationwide after the FCC decided in 2000 to open up tiny slices of the airwaves to communities. The decision set off a footrace among nonprofit church groups, schools, immigrant groups and others to apply for the free radio licenses. In Oregon nearly 100 groups applied, with Portland quickly becoming a key information center. Low-power FM radio tends to be different from commercial radio not just in format but also in philosophy, Tridish says. He is a co- founder of the Prometheus Radio Project, a collective of low-power FM activists. "It's incredible what the (corporations) can do," he says. "They do focus groups. They figure out if they play the No. 7 song by 'N Sync at 5:22 p.m. during rush hour, you'll get the major market of 14- to 17-year-old girls that are going to buy jeans or whatever. It's kind of crazy how good they are at figuring that stuff out. "Low-power radio is the exact opposite of that." Instead, the grand prize in community radio is reflection, a mirror image of local interests and desires. Sometimes, Tridish admits, that means unpredictable programming. "You lose some of the efficiency, but what you get in exchange is sort of a real, genuine diversity," Tridish says. But low-power groups also face challenges, from limited staff to powerful media lobbyists who aim to decrease available licenses. Corporate radio spends millions. Even KBOO, Portland's full-power community radio station, functions on a $600,000 annual budget. By contrast, the Umatilla tribes penciled out a $45,000 start-up budget. "Even though we're up and running, our start-up budget is spent out," Croswell says. "We're just kind of winging it." Community radio also depends heavily on volunteers. Salas and the other founders of Radio Tierra all work paying jobs but spend spare time building the studio and shopping for low-cost equipment. The Umatilla station, which reaches parts of Pendleton, hopes to involve young people by someday offering them course credit to volunteer there. Still, there are signs that low-power stations may multiply. The recent FCC report prompted Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., to pledge that he would introduce legislation to add more channels. More choice means a more varied future, Tridish says. "If all anyone hears is Britney Spears, what's the next generation of music going to sound like?" Tridish asks. "If you do have a (low- power) station somewhere on the dial that has the Yugoslavian hour and the techno hour, that's where the Yugoslavian techno is going to come from." (from http://www.oregonlive.com via Bruce MacGibbon, OR, March 8, DXLD) ** U S A. SLOWLY, RADIO STATIONS SHIFT TO DIGITAL BROADCASTS By Jube Shiver Jr., Times Staff Writer March 8 2004 WASHINGTON — Three decades ago, Jim Watkins counted himself among radio's pioneers when he helped convert urban contemporary station WHUR-FM to stereo. --- The complete article can be viewed at: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hdradio8mar08,1,2741024.story?coll=la-home-business {subscription required} (via Jim Moats, DXLD) ** U S A. NEW AD TACTICS ADD TO PRIMETIME CLUTTER PhaseOne Communications Finds Broadcast Networks Looking to Program Content As a New Opportunity for Promotion LOS ANGELES, March 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Television networks and advertisers have begun to use a variety of new tactics that blur the lines between programming and promotion, according to a recent study by research-based consultancy PhaseOne Communications, Inc. The study found that there are now promotional messages vying for viewers' attention during programming itself. Devices such as promotional text and logos appearing on-screen while a show is underway have never been noted in any of the previous PhaseOne Advertising Environment Studies. Each of the four major networks used at least one method of promotion during primetime programming, including on-screen text ("pop-up") promos, program hosts or actors promoting an advertiser and the presence of sponsors' corporate logos on-screen or within the show. "For the first time since our initial study in 1991, we are seeing ads and promos during actual programming," says Terry Villines, Director of Analysis, PhaseOne Communications. "It's clear that as the world becomes more cluttered with traditional advertising, marketers are becoming increasingly creative in an attempt to stand out among the pack." Among other findings, PhaseOne's Advertising Environment Study identified a record amount of traditional advertising, including an average of over 45 commercials and promos each hour. "In an environment where viewers are inundated with ads, advertisers and networks seem to be exploring other ways to reach their intended audience," states Villines. Fearing viewers' tendency to tune out during commercial breaks, especially when facilitated with digital video recorders such as TiVo, it appears that marketers are now exploring new ways to get their names in front of viewers. Although the study revealed that these new devices do not account for much time when compared to traditional advertising, they are noted for their encroachment on programming. The four networks aired an average of 6 promotions for a total of 31 seconds during programming in three hours of primetime television. "Viewers have come to expect a certain amount of advertising during commercial breaks. However, we would caution the use of promotion during programming for fear of irritating and ultimately alienating viewers," says Villines. Each network had its own version of advertising during programming. NBC used an average of 9 on-screen "pop-ups" to promote other NBC programs. Although CBS did not use any on-screen promos, it used a program's host to verbally promote other CBS shows an average of 3 times during primetime. These findings conclude the first part of PhaseOne's Advertising Environment Study, the fourth in a series that the company has conducted. Insights from the second stage of the study, due this year, will explore trends in the content of the commercials and promotions, while the third stage will identify the drivers of successful advertising. For more information about the Advertising Environment Study, contact PhaseOne at (310) 337-0100 or lauramisdom @ phaseone.net About PhaseOne Communications PhaseOne is a research-based consultancy that has been helping corporations make smarter communications decisions for over two decades. Backed by the longest-running systematic R&D program of its kind, PhaseOne utilizes a proprietary methodology that is continually validated by the advertising and marketing community. Visit http://www.phaseone.net for more information. SOURCE PhaseOne Communications, Inc. -0- 03/01/2004 /CONTACT: Laura Misdom of PhaseOne Communications, Inc., +1-908-604- 0030, /Web site: http://www.phaseone.net / (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** U S A. LESSONS IN DEALING WITH IBOC'S AM "HASH" (SEE "KMXE" - CGC #616) When WOR on 710 kHz fired up its IBOC system, the resulting hash impacted the listenable signal radius of a suburban NYC AM station which we represent. WOR did have some problems, but by working with them and Ibiquity, they cleaned up the system somewhat. Still, hash remains on the adjacent channels. The WOR effort taught us several things: 1) transmitter tuning and antenna system bandwidth are critical in getting the side band hash down as much as possible, 2) a system that is running well within Ibiquity specs may still impact the service areas of 2nd and 3rd adjacent channel stations, depending upon their relative signal strengths, 3) if you see a problem, report it to the station and also to Ibiquity, whom we found to be particularly helpful, and 4) the FCC is interested in the real world situation and expects that the IBOC and impacted stations work together. Any lack of resolution should be analyzed and succinctly documented for submission to the Media Bureau. We have come to understand that there may be some loss of analog service during the transition period; that can be a very hard pill to swallow (Clarence Beverage, CGC Communicaor via Fred Vobbe, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** U S A. Although the swap of WPTR AM and WDCD FM has been made in Albany, it seems that the parent company isn't too swift on getting the word out through their webpage! Check out http://www.crawfordbroadcasting.com/albany.htm where the change hasn't been made (Sheldon Harvey, QC, March 9, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** U S A. FCC Amateur Radio Enforcement Letters for the Period Ending Mar 6, 2004 February 24, 2004 Mr. Vernon C. Jackson 2109 Ebert Lane Wentzville, MO 63385-4607 RE: Amateur license WA0RCR Dear Mr. Jackson: We note that you operate the ``Gateway 160 Meter Net`` on 1.860 MHz. That program is transmitted over your Amateur station on from 1 PM Saturdays until 2 AM Sundays Central Time. Section 308(b) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, gives the Commission the authority to obtain information from applicants and licensees about the operation of their station. Accordingly, you are requested to describe what methods of station control are utilized during this 13-hour period, and furnish the names and addresses of all control operators during the period. Enclosures: (2) CC: FCC South Central Regional Director [Signed by FCC Special Counsel for Amateur Radio Enforcement Riley Hollingsworth] (ARRL March 9 via John Norfolk, DXLD) I checked wa0rcr.com but was unable to bring it up; site appears to be down, at least on Tuesday afternoon. Even so, I would not expect to see anything about this there, as that site hasn`t been updated in a loooooooooooooong time (John Norfolk, DXLD) ** URUGUAY. Radio Universo: correction. I miswrote the frequency, sorry. I realized that when reading GH latest DXLD. Let's put it clear: 6055 (Future Plan) Radio Universo, Castillos 6155 Banda Oriental, Sarandí del Yi (apparently inactive nowadays) (Horacio A. Nigro, Montevideo - Uruguay, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VIRGIN ISLANDS US. OK, between the powerline noise, lack of spending time on the dials, etc. I must confess to having never logged WDHP, 1620, St. Croix, Virgin Islands X-bander until a moment ago (while checking up on the newly-moved "WKQV" S. FL pirate -- ex-1610). GMT 2254-2322 March 9, fairly decent signal at tune-in with a watered- down reggae song, followed by an old Pete Fountain clarinet instrumental from 2355. Then at 2357, a Caribe-accented woman with an uncopiable commercial ("778" phone prefix), followed by another spot for a trucking company. At 2359, a Caribe woman with, "You are listening to 1620 A-M, WDHP in the United States Virgin Islands..." followed by (interestingly) time sounders and BBC World Service news, parallel 5975 shortwave, then local a local male jock with soca music and patter (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 4499.97, 0053-0055 March 10. Noted only Classical music it seemed. Signal was worse than threshold and under QRM (Chuck Bolland, heard on an NRD545 in Clewiston Florida with a big dipole, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Smacks of an harmonic; who has classical on 1500? UNIDENTIFIED. Thanks to a tip from Tony Rogers via DXLD (first one was in December 2003 I guess). I've been checking 4750 almost daily during UT afternoons/evenings for this Radio Peace. Today, 9 Mar I again checked 4750 at 1558. Quinghai BS from China signed off at 1600 and then there was only heard the roaring carrier with bits of audio of CNR //4800. But at 1612, slowly rising, program in English by female voice. At 1618 switched to vernacular language, sounds African and later heard those English ID's which really sound like Radio Peace. Recheck at 1655 shows again only weak signal here. At the same time TWR Swaziland was booming in on 4760 (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ POWERLINE COMMUNICATIONS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ NORTH CAROLINA HAMS EXPERIENCE CLOSE BPL ENCOUNTER WITH FCC CHAIRMAN NEWINGTON, CT, Mar 9, 2004 --- A Broadband over Power Line (BPL) home demonstration in the Raleigh, North Carolina, area March 5 provided an ideal opportunity for area amateurs to take their concerns to FCC Chairman Michael Powell face to face. While ARRL Public Information Officer Gary Pearce, KN4AQ, doesn`t believe the brief encounter between the FCC head and longer discussions with Commission and electric utility staffers will stop or slow the seeming BPL juggernaut, they were valuable nonetheless. ``We consider the day successful in the context that we were able to speak directly with several high-level FCC officials, key Progress Energy officials and the CEO of Amperion --- a BPL provider,`` Pearce said. ``Long-term success will be measured by how much of a problem BPL poses to Amateur Radio, or how much of a problem is avoided.`` While Pearce says he spent all of about 30 seconds with Powell, he did manage to tell the chairman that amateurs believe BPL`s interference potential is being understated and would be more difficult to resolve than the FCC suggested in its BPL Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM). ``What I didn`t know when I talked to him,`` he added, ``was that a question that we had sent to the local newspaper had been posed earlier in the day at a press conference about interference, and he had already answered that question, so he was somewhat tuned into the idea.`` As the Raleigh News & Observer http://www.news-observer.com/ reported, Powell responded to the question by saying the FCC would not let BPL interfere with critical services. ``The question is whether it does, and to what extent, and what limits can be placed to make sure it doesn`t,`` Powell said. ``We`ve been fully committed to only allowing things with the range of what we`re convinced won`t create impermissible interference.`` But Powell went on to say that if BPL can provide broadband access anywhere there`s a power outlet, ``We`re not going to be easily dissuaded from doing something that has that much potential.`` Electric utility Progress Energy and BPL partner Amperion now are operating three field test sites in Wake County south of Raleigh. Acting on a tip, Pearce and several other area amateurs --- ARRL Technical Specialist Frank Lynch, W4FAL, among them --- showed up at the prearranged BPL demonstration at a private residence in Fuquay- Varina. ``They were kind of worried that we were going to sit in front of the demonstration with a high-powered mobile and disrupt it,`` Pearce said of the FCC and industry officials. ``We didn`t do that, but certainly hams have talked about doing things like that.`` His approach to getting Amateur Radio`s side heard has entailed being respectful and behaving like adults, Pearce said. But he also acknowledged that many amateurs are upset and angry, and more than a few would prefer a more aggressive stance. While Pearce witnessed the demo inside, other members of the amateur delegation, among them Wake County ARRL Emergency Coordinator Tom Brown, N4TAB --- an engineer --- chatted with Powell Senior Legal Advisor Chris Libertelli. ``He was informative and courteous and openly sought our views,`` Brown said. ``He received them in kind.`` He said Libertelli told the group that the Raleigh area had caught Washington`s attention and seemed to be the only place in the country where there was any real cooperation between hams and utilities promoting BPL. Brown said the ``outside`` delegation again raised the amateurs` belief that BPL industry claims are misstated and wrong. ``The point was made,`` he said. ``Overall I think we were successful in illuminating a few issues and opening more doors instead of closing them.`` For his part, Pearce said, the event reinforced his opinion that BPL is ``a serious, big business-government venture in which Amateur Radio is, for now, a minor annoyance. ``Everyone is relying on the vendors` claims that their technology can solve all the problems,`` he said. A few hams --- most a half-mile or so away from the field test sites --- already have identified some weak interference from BPL on 10 and 12 meters, Pearce told ARRL. ``There are hams who live in the vicinity who hear the [BPL] signals, and if they chose to operate on the bands where this stuff is, then they`d have to be listening to it.`` Pearce said he was unsuccessful in getting FCC Chief of Policy Development Bob Pepper or Powell to take a quick spin in his mobile radio-equipped vehicle to show him what BPL sounded like ``from our perspective.`` The FCC officials declined, due to time constraints but suggested instead that the amateurs arrange a similar demonstration in Washington. From what he and his amateur cohorts have observed, Pearce predicted that BPL could blanket a full one-mile diameter area with interference to the average home amateur station. ``It would be very irritating,`` he said. Pearce and Brown agree that BPL is not technologically mature enough to ensure the sort of ``interference mitigation`` the FCC envisions in its NPRM. Brown says his engineering instincts are raising a lot of red flags. ``It`s being portrayed as being an easy, on-the-fly, `hey, we just push a button, and it happens` kind of thing. I don`t believe that`s the case,`` Brown said. ``The Achilles` heel of this whole thing is mitigation, obviously --- it`s enforcement.`` Brown believes human intervention will be inevitable to resolve interference complaints. ``It`s not anywhere near as adaptive as they would lead you to believe it is or want you to --- by absence of further information --- allow you to delude yourself,`` he said. ``It`s not there yet.`` Pearce said he was happy to get just a few seconds with Powell and to be able to put ``a human face`` on Amateur Radio`s side of the issue. ``We know they heard us and that we made a good impression,`` he said. ``We hope it was a deep one as well.`` Brown was more guarded, characterizing the encounter as ``one of those things that mattered but didn`t make a difference.`` ``This thing is on a downhill track, it`s got a lot of energy behind it, it`s got a lot of mass behind it, and it`s got a low-friction rail,`` he said. ``And we`re not going to stop it. It`s going to happen.`` Copyright © 2004, American Radio Relay League, Inc. All Rights Reserved (via John Norfolk, DX LISTENING DIGEST) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ GEOMAGNETIC INDICES Phil Bytheway - Seattle WA - phil_tekno@yahoo.com Geomagnetic Summary February 18 2004 through March 9 2004 Tabulated from daily email status Date Flux A K SA Forecast GM Forecast Aurora Index 2/18 102 4 1 no storms no storms 6 19 98 8 3 no storms no storms 5 20 96 8 2 no storms no storms 7 21 95 6 2 no storms no storms 6 22 98 6 2 no storms no storms 8 23 104 11 3 no storms no storms 7 24 x x x x x x 25 106 11 2 no storms no storms 7 26 119 7 2 no storms no storms 8 27 121 4 1 strong minor 4 28 122 13 4 moderate moderate 5 2/29 116 20 3 minor moderate 6 3/ 1 110 21 4 minor minor 9 2 102 18 3 no storms no storms 8 3 99 20 3 no storms no storms 6 4 90 12 3 minor no storms 7 5 x x x x x x 6 x x x x x x 7 x x x x x x 8 106 8 3 no storms minor 3 3/ 9 108 9 2 no storms minor 5 (IRCA Soft DX Monitor via DXLD) SIDC WEEKLY BULLETIN :Issued: 2004 Mar 09 0914 UTC :Product: documentation at http://sidc.oma.be/products/bul #--------------------------------------------------------------------# # SIDC Weekly bulletin on Solar and Geomagnetic activity # #--------------------------------------------------------------------# WEEK 166 from 2004 Mar 01 SOLAR ACTIVITY: --------------- The solar activity was mostly very low to low from March 1 to March 5. There was only one medium-sized active region Catania#71 (NOAA 10567), which produced a few C flares. Then, on March 5, a new active region, Catania#75 (NOAA10570), haboring a big sunspot in a Beta-gamma magnetic configuration, appeared at the South-East limb. In addition to several C flares, it produced an M1.3 flare on March 6, at 12:17 UTC. Thereafter, it became much quieter and evolved to a Beta configuration. The activity was again very low, without even a C flare on March 7. Still, this active region may produce further C flares and possibly an M flare during its disc transit, over the coming days. GEOMAGNETISM: ------------- The week started under the influence of a high-speed solar wind stream, then at its peak. This stream was associated with a low- latitude coronal hole, which had started to influence the Earth magnetosphere 2 days earlier. From March 1 to March 3, the solar wind speed ranged from 650 to 700km/s and the geomagnetic field was unsettled to active, with temporary minor storms at high latitudes. Thereafter and for the rest of the week, the solar wind speed steadily decayed, to finally stabilize at 340km/s on March 7. During those last 4 days of the week, the geomagnetic field was largely quiet with unsettled spells. Those quiet conditions are expected to last only until March 10 or 11, when the influence of a new coronal hole will trigger again geomagnetic disturbances. Around March 10, active region Catania#75 will also be passing the central meridian. If it remains active, it may trigger an Earth-directed CME around that time. One of the few CMEs observed lately by EIT and LASCO, on March 3, was probably associated with this active region, as it emerged from behind the SE limb. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- DAILY INDICES DATE RC 10CM Ak BKG M X 2004 Mar 01 081 102 024 B1.5 0 0 2004 Mar 02 042 99 028 B1.5 0 0 2004 Mar 03 /// 90 014 B1.3 0 0 2004 Mar 04 029 98 008 B1.8 0 0 2004 Mar 05 059 107 006 B3.2 0 0 2004 Mar 06 /// 105 003 B3.1 1 0 2004 Mar 07 /// 106 005 B2.5 0 0 # RC : Sunspot index from Catania Observatory (Italy) # 10cm: 10.7 cm radioflux (DRAO, Canada) # Ak : Ak Index Wingst (Germany) # BKG : Background GOES X-ray level (NOAA, USA) # M,X : Number of X-ray flares in M and X class, see below (NOAA, USA) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTICEABLE EVENTS DAY BEGIN MAX END LOC XRAY OP 10CM TYPE Cat NOAA NOTE 06 1208 1217 1241 S15E81 M1.3 48 75 0570 #--------------------------------------------------------------------# # Solar Influences Data analysis Center - RWC Belgium # # Royal Observatory of Belgium # # Fax : 32 (0) 2 373 0 224 # # Tel.: 32 (0) 2 373 0 491 # # For more info, see http://sidc.oma.be (via Jim Moats, DXLD) The geomagnetic field ranged from quiet to minor storm levels. Mostly quiet to active levels, with one isolated period of minor storming mid-day on 03 March, were observed during the period 01 - 03 March. This activity was due to a coronal hole driven high-speed solar wind stream. Quiet to unsettled levels occurred during the remainder of the summary period. FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 10 MARCH - 05 APRIL 2004 Solar activity is expected to be at low to moderate levels through 18 March. From 19 – 31 March, predominantly very low to low levels are expected due to Region 570 rotating off the west limb. By 01 April, old Region 570 is due to return and as a result, low to moderate level activity is expected through the end of the forecast period. Greater than 10 MeV proton events are possible with significant flare activity from Region 570. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to reach high levels on 10 – 17 March, 22 – 23 March and again on 29 – 31 March due to recurrent coronal holes. Geomagnetic activity is expected to range from quiet to minor storm levels. A large, recurrent coronal hole high-speed stream is due to return on 09 – 14 March and is expected to produce active to minor storm conditions. A weak coronal hole high-speed stream is due to return on 19 – 20 March and is expected to produce quiet to active conditions. From 26 – 27 March, activity levels are expected to increase to active to minor storm levels as another small coronal hole high-speed stream rotates into geoeffective position. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2004 Mar 09 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 Mar 09 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2004 Mar 10 115 25 5 2004 Mar 11 120 20 4 2004 Mar 12 125 20 4 2004 Mar 13 125 15 3 2004 Mar 14 125 10 3 2004 Mar 15 120 8 3 2004 Mar 16 120 8 3 2004 Mar 17 120 5 2 2004 Mar 18 115 5 2 2004 Mar 19 110 15 3 2004 Mar 20 105 12 3 2004 Mar 21 100 10 3 2004 Mar 22 105 12 3 2004 Mar 23 105 10 3 2004 Mar 24 105 8 3 2004 Mar 25 105 10 3 2004 Mar 26 105 20 4 2004 Mar 27 100 20 4 2004 Mar 28 95 15 3 2004 Mar 29 90 12 3 2004 Mar 30 90 10 3 2004 Mar 31 100 8 3 2004 Apr 01 105 5 2 2004 Apr 02 110 5 2 2004 Apr 03 115 5 2 2004 Apr 04 110 5 2 2004 Apr 05 110 15 3 (http://www.sec.noaa.gov/radio via WORLD OF RADIO 1223, DXLD) ###