DX LISTENING DIGEST 4-125, August 20, 2004 Incorporating REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING 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 1242: Fri 0200 on ACBRadio Mainstream repeated 2-hourly http://www.acbradio.org/mainstream.html Fri 2300 on Studio X, Momigno, Italy 1584 Sat 0800 on WRN1 to Europe, Africa, Asia, Pacific Sat 0855 on WNQM Nashville 1300 Sat 1030 on WWCR 5070 Sat 1830 on WPKN Bridgeport, 89.5, http://www.wpkn.org Sat 2000 on RFPI http://www.rfpi.org repeated 8-hourly [maybe] Sat 2030 on WWCR 12160 Sat 2030 on WBCQ 17495-CUSB Sat 2030 on R. Lavalamp http://www.radiolavalamp.org Sat 2300 on RFPI http://www.rfpi.org repeated 8-hourly [maybe] Sun 0230 on WWCR 5070 Sun 0300 on WBCQ 9330-CLSB Sun 0630 on WWCR 3210 Sun 1000 on WRN1 to North America, webcast; also KSFC 91.9 Spokane WA, and WDWN 89.1 Auburn NY; maybe KTRU 91.7 Houston TX, each with webcasts Sun 1100 on R. Lavalamp http://www.radiolavalamp.org Sun 1500 on R. Lavalamp http://www.radiolavalamp.org Sun 1900 on Studio X, Momigno, Italy 1584 Sun 2000 on RNI webcast, http://www.11L-rni.com Mon 0100 on WBCQ 9330-CLSB Mon 0230 on WRMI 6870 Mon 0330 on WSUI 910, webcast http://wsui.uiowa.edu [previous 1241] Mon 0430 on WBCQ 7415, webcast http://wbcq.us Mon 0900 on R. Lavalamp http://www.radiolavalamp.org Mon 1600 on WBCQ after-hours http://wbcq.com repeated weekdaily Wed 0930 on WWCR 9475 WRN ONDEMAND: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO [also for CONTINENT OF MEDIA, MUNDO RADIAL]: WORLD OF RADIO 1242 (high version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1242h.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1242h.rm (summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1242.html WORLD OF RADIO 1242 (low version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1242.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1242.rm WORLD OF RADIO 1242 in the true SW sound via mp3: keep checking http://www.piratearchive.com/dxprograms.htm NEW TIMES FOR WORLD OF RADIO, CONTINENT OF MEDIA AND MUNDO RADIAL ON SIUE WEB RADIO, effective the week of August 23, 2004: WORLD OF RADIO: Friday 7:00 p.m. CDT (UT Saturday Midnight) CONTINENT OF MEDIA: Alternating Friday 7:30 p.m. (UT Saturday 0030) MUNDO RADIAL: Alternating Friday 7:30 p.m. (UT Saturday 0030) UT will be one hour later beginning the last Monday in October, when Daylight Saving Time ends. The URL is http://webradio.siue.edu/ Note that after Mundo Radial on alternating Fridays, Web Radio will run its regular automation format of '80s hits until 8:00 p.m. 73 (E. B. Stevenson, Web Radio President, Aug 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALASKA. Re KICY 850, 4-123 and 4-124: All true --- and there's a bit more information, not to mention pictures (!) here: http://www.fybush.com/site-030501.html (No, I haven't been tower-hunting in Nome, though I did go as far as to research airfares; these came from an engineer buddy who was working up there...) s (Scott Fybush, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. HCJB AUSTRALIA A04 Revised Schedule Effective from 29 Aug 04 to 30 Oct 04 FREQ STRT STOP CIRAF ZONES LOC POWR AZI LANGUAGE 11750 0700 1100 51,55,56,59,60,62 KNX 50 120 ENGLISH 15390 1430 1800 40,41,49,54 KNX 100 307 ENGLISH 15405 1230 1330 41,49,54 KNX 100 307 OTHER 15405 1330 1430 40,41,49,54 KNX 100 307 OTHER 15425 1100 1230 49,54 KNX 100 307 ENGLISH 15525 2230 0100 44,50,54E KNX 100 340 ENGLISH 15560 0100 0230 40,41,49,54 KNX 100 307 ENGLISH 15560 0230 0300 40,41,49,54 KNX 100 307 URDU (via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, India, Aug 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. HMMMM Had a note in the letterbox this arvo --- Pirate, Tower Radio, on Sunday 22 August, 50 watts, 0700 UT, on 11412 kHz. Probably play Deep Purple again, and Clockwork Orange, etc. QSL cards available. Ask if I could leave these in my letter box one night and pirate will collect. Anyway, both sides of the Tasman should hear this (Johno Wright, Australia, Aug 19, ARDXC via DXLD) ** BANGLADESH. BANGLADESH BETER SPECIAL PROGRAM --- Dear DX-ers, Bangladesh Beter External Service going to broadcast a Special English and Bangla program on the occasion of the 28th death anniversary of National Poet of Bangladesh Kazi Nazrul Islam named ``Bethar Bina`` in Bangla and ``Kazi Nazrul Islam: A poet of Love and Humanity`` in English. Here are the details: Date : 27 August 2004 Bangla: UTC 1630~1730, 7185 kHz and 9550 kHz UTC 1915~2000, 7185 kHz and 9550 kHz. English: UTC 1815~1900, 7185 kHz and 9550 kHz UTC 1230 1300, 7185 kHz and 9550 kHz. Program details Bangla: Compiler: Md. Rashedul Islam; Narrator: Abdus Sabur Khan Chowdhury and Akhter Mohshina; Editor: Md. Abu Hanif; Producer: Monwar Hossain Khan. Program contains Discussion, Information, Poem recitation and Songs. Program Details English: 1. Intro: highlighting the life and notable literary activities of poet Kazi Nazrul Islam. 2. Song: AMEE JE DIN ROEBO NAGO (A Nazrul song with the thematic translation in English). Artist = Yakub Ali Khan 3. Talk: Kazi Nazrul Islam: A Poet of love and Humanity, by Prof. Monsur Musa, Director General, Bangla Academy. 4. Recitation: Poem SHAMMYABAD with the gist in English. W/by Kazi Nazrul Islam R/by Shafiqul Islam Bahar. 5. Songs: Selected Nazrul Songs with the thematic translation in English. a) Din Guli More: Artist: Sadia Afrin Mallik b) Janom Janom Dhore: Artist: Mohammad Hannan c) Moszider Pasee Amar Kabor diyo: Artist: Khalid Hossain. Program Compiler: Prof. Abu Taher Mojumder, Dept of English, Jahangir Nagar University. Program Narrators: Laily Mawla and Shahnawaz Ahmed Program Editor: Taher Mojumder (S.A) Producer: Md. Akramul Islam. Listen and send your comments to Bangladesh Beter. 73s from (Ashik Eqbal Tokon, Luxmipur Greater Road, GPO Box 56, Rajshahi 6000, Bangladesh, Aug 19, GRDXC via DXLD) ** CANADA. 6160, CKZU Vancouver, 1300-1314. Noted back on the air today 8/20 after a week's hiatus. World and Canadian news ("CBC National Radio News"), then back to Vancouver studios at 1312 with CBC Radio One programming and BC weather (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado, Drake R-8, RW, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** CANADA. AIH surprise --- A familiar, distinctive voice was on CBC co-hosting As It Happens with Barbara Budd. I waited until the 7 p.m. ET break to confirm my guess: It was the BBC's Lise Doucet (sp?). I'm sure someone with an analog receiver tuning past 5960 and 5975 about 2300 UT would have had trouble making sure what station they were listening to. 73, (Ricky Leong, Montreal, Aug 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Lyse Doucet --- Acadian, so the Grand Fête de l'Acadie may be another reason she was back. Good on the CBC to bring her back for a short while. I see that she is still doing the BBC World Service apposition style to inform the listeners who the characters are. In England, she does the BBC Newshour and has been on 'local' Radio 2 (?) this year Linkname: BBC Newshour URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/programmes/newshour/presenters/story/2004/02/040217_lysedoucet.shtml Lyse Doucet has been a foreign correspondent for the BBC for the past 20 years. Most recently she reported from Amman, Jordan and Iraq during the war of 2003. ...Born in New Brunswick, eastern Canada, Lyse has a Master's Degree in International Relations from the University of Toronto and a BA Honours Degree from Queen's University at Kingston. She also holds an honorary doctorate in Civil Law from King's University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. --------- Linkname: Save the BBC World Service in North America and the Pacific! - Interview Transcript http://www.savebbc.org/newshour-transcript.html and a comparison of Doucet and Banfield in the Air Canada flight magazine at: Linkname: enRoute URL: http://www.enroutemag.com/e/archives/september02/archives01.html or in Canada's other language and that of Montreal... Linkname: FRANGAIS http://www.enroutemag.com/f/archives/septembre02/archives01.html (Dan Say, Swprograms mailing list via DXLD) ** CONGO. RTV Congolaise, 5985, Aug 15 *0432-0455+, abrupt sign-on with French talk, ``Radio Congo`` ID. 0433 local folk music, French talk. Fair-good over a weak WYFR at 0432, WYFR off at 0445, but Congo completely covered by WYFR sign-on at 0455. WYFR always weak here at 0430 due to beam heading toward CAm. *0455 very strong here due to change of beam heading toward NAm. Best time to hear Congo in the clear is during the 0445-0455 window (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Ciao! R. Congo ascoltata su 4765 il 14/7 verso le 1830, ha risposto dopo 30gg con QSL card (conoscono il SINPO!!) + lettera personale. Non avevo inviato IRC ne $$. Télédiffusion du Congo, BP 2912 BRAZZAVILLE (Congo). V/s: Mr. Félix Lossombo. Buoni ascolti! Ciao (Paolo Albini, PAA, via Dario Monferini, Aug 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COSTA RICA. An E-note at RFPI --- Dear Friends, Since the launch of our new webcast earlier this year, timely radio programs like Amy Goodman’s Democracy Now and Free Speech Radio News covering issues like the mounting atrocities in Sudan, Iraqi prisoner abuse, and global climate change have been available to listeners world wide. We've also sent you VISTA updates regarding the efforts underway at Radio For Peace International. Today, I want to acknowledge and thank you for helping make this all possible. Because of your support, Radio For Peace International`s capacity to change the media landscape has grown leaps and bounds. Our website is just one testimony of that. You've been great about helping us out with our educational activities -- and now I am turning to you to ask that you do the same with our effective return to shortwave broadcasting and our Peace Journalism course. With global media consolidation well established and in the hands of so few, we’re hearing a lot about a progressive response -- people have been asking why not create a more responsible democratic media. Radio For Peace International started that task in 1987. Today it continues to expand its efforts to bring about a fair and just media. I invite you to support these efforts. It doesn't matter if your donation is $25, $50, $100, or $250. You know what you are capable of contributing. What matters is that together we will create a global media network that focuses on issues that matter: peace, social justice, and the protection of the environment. Please take a moment now and visit the RFPI website: http://www.rfpi.org to contribute. Or if you prefer, send your tax- deductible contribution to RFPI, PO Box 3165, Newberg, OR 97132-5165. With your support we can build the much-needed responsive media network to help move the planet from heading further down the dangerous path it's on. Our vision is of a future in which the Media informs and educates the nations of people -- working together to abolish war, protect our rights and freedoms, and solve the problems facing humanity. We can't put a price tag on this vision, but we can use the financial resources at our disposal to make it a reality. Let's do this together (James Latham, Station Manager, Aug 19, rfpi-announce via DXLD) ** CUBA. RHC must be back on, heard an ID in English, weakly at 2115 UT Aug 19 (Chris Hambly, Victoria, DX LISTENING DIGEST). Let`s call that tentative --- I tuned in a few minutes later and no trace of it nor on the other usual frequencies. STILL silent 1400 UT Aug 20 more than a week after the storm (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Also heard RHC in English at 0515 UT Aug 20 on 9655 (Chris Hambly, Victoria, ibid.) Maybe they cut on and off according to power inages and outages? I`ve yet to catch them back, but I suppose I wasn`t checking at that exact time; no Venezuela 1900+ Aug 20 on 13740 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The story on the RHC website mentioned that 13 high voltage electrical towers west of Havana have collapsed from Hurricane Charley, so given how much electricity shortwave transmitters draw I'm not surprised that RHC is off the air temporarily. According to the story, the province of Pinar del Rio was still without electricity today, so I'm sure that's the priority. 73 (Bob Chandler, VE3SRE, Aug 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: PRELIMINARY OFFICIAL ACCOUNT OF DAMAGES CAUSED BY HURRICANE CHARLEY http://www.radiohc.cu/homeing.htm Havana, August 19 (RHC) -- Hurricane Charley damaged nearly 16,000 houses and buildings in the western provinces of the City of Havana, Havana and Pinar del Río, according to preliminary figures. Released late Wednesday, the official report says that in the Havana provinces -- including the capital and surrounding area -- a total of 2916 homes and buildings were totally destroyed. In the province of Havana -- excluding the capital -- 9000 homes have been reported with damaged roofs. It was also noted that soon after the hurricane-force winds had died last Friday, August 13th, area residents, State, provincial and municipal workers, with support from the rest of the country, began repairing the destruction left by Charley. Strenuous efforts allowed power to be restored in several capital municipalities the day after the hurricane hit. Over the weekend, work crews with chainsaws and bulldozers began clearing the streets of fallen trees and downed powerlines. In the capital, 140 homes were completely destroyed and another 767 suffered partial damage. Schools, daycare centers and industrial sites were also damaged. In Havana province, there were 989 total and 1020 partial collapses, while nearly 9000 buildings suffered damaged roofs. In Pinar del Río, Hurricane Charley also destroyed homes, damaged schools and wreaked havoc on crops, but official figures of losses in the province have not yet been released. A total of four persons lost their lives in the province of Havana -- two died when houses collapsed, one drowned and another person was killed by a falling palm tree. In the capital, five people were hurt, one seriously and four with superficial injuries. Among the measures taken to safeguard the population, more than 215,000 persons were evacuated from areas prone to flooding and structural damage. Of these, 35,749 were given emergency shelter, while the rest took refuge in homes of relatives, neighbors and friends. The report shows that nearly 158,680 heads of cattle and poultry were moved to higher ground. The agricultural sector and the power grid suffered significant damage. Electrical service to the province of Pinar del Río was also severely affected. As of Thursday, area residents were still waiting to be connected to the national power grid, due to the collapse of 13 high- voltage towers near Mariel, located west of the Cuban capital (via DXLD) ** DENMARK. World Music Radio missing again from 5815 at 1830 UT Aug 20; nor 15810 (Chris Hambly, Victoria, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Is reception so reliable when they are on that you can be sure when they are off, that far away? (gh, DXLD) ** FRANCE [and non]. Michel gave an overview of the shortwave facilities of Télé-Diffusion de France (TDF). At Issoudun in France, they have thirteen 500 kw transmitters with rotatable antennas. They have coverage from there to most parts of the world except India and China. At Issoundun E in France, they have eight 500 kw transmitters with thirty-five fixed antennas serving South America, Eastern Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. Their site at Montsinery, French Guiana, has six 500 kw transmitters with twelve fixed antennas and two rotatable antennas. This provides service to Africa, North America, the Caribbean, South America, New Zealand, and Australia. They also operate a site in Finland with three 500 kw shortwave transmitters providing coverage of Europe and the Mediterranean areas. Their site in Monte Carlo has two 100 kw and one 500 kw shortwave transmitters with fixed curtains serving Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, and the Mediterranean areas (Michel Penneroux, TDF, Reports from the 2004 NASB Annual Meeting, Aug NASB Newsletter via DXLD) ** INDIA. 10330, All India Radio via Bangalore (site presumed) *1243- 1304 8/20. IS, s/on by YL in language, then sub-continental music past 1300 with no ToH break. VG signal (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado, Drake R-8, RW, Cumbre DX via DXLD) A reminder to look for this far out of band frequency From DXAsia http://www.dxasia.info: 20 August 2004 AIR will conduct test transmissions to SE Asia as follows: Date: 21 to 30 August 2004 Time: 0400-0500 UTC Frequencies: 17680 Bangalore 500 kW, 17730 Delhi 250 kW Program: FM Gold Reception reports are appreciated from listeners, especially in Indonesia and SE Asia. Reports may be sent to spectrum-manager @ air.org.in or by post to: Director (Spectrum Management All India Radio, Room No. 204, Akashvani Bhavan, New Delhi-110001, India. Telefax +91-11-23421062, +91-11-23421145. (Source: Jose Jacob, Hyderabad, India via Andy Sennitt, dxldyg via DXLD) ** INDONESIA. 9524.9, Voice of Indonesia, 1230-1400 Aug 19. Very strong, clear signal here today, but station seemed to have problems with audio. Strong, open carrier without any modulation at times, then audio back on. Sometimes audio off for as long as ten minutes. Mix of talk, pop tunes, in (presumed) Indonesian language. Good IDs and many mentions of "Indonesia". SIO 545 (Rick Barton, AZ, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL WATERS [non]. The International Lighthouse / Lightship Weekend takes place on 21 and 22 August and over 300 amateur stations from more than 40 countries around the world are expected to be operating from, or adjacent to, lighthouses and lightships. More details at http://www.rsgb.org/news/gb2rs.htm#ses (Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) See 4-124 ** INTERNATIONAL WATERS [non]. TILBURY: PIRATE RADIO SHIP MAKES WAVES http://www.thisisthurrock.co.uk/essex/thurrock/news/NEWS0.html Thursday August 19, 2004 --- The Radio Caroline pirate radio ship is moored up at Tilbury port. The station is broadcasting locally from the passenger ferry jetty on 1278 AM until September 3. The ship is open to visitors and will give them an idea of what life was like for those men and women who risked all and went to sea for weeks and months on end in order to bring "new" music to people all over the UK and Europe. At the weekend, DJs delved into a sea of nostalgia as they marked August 14 by playing songs from the 1960s and commemorating the passing of the Marine Offences Act, which saw the demise of all other pirate radio ships. The ship is open from 10 am to 6 pm [BST] and visitors are asked to give a donation of £5, which will go towards preserving the vessel. (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) Radio Caroline - the techie details (Roland Beaney just forwarded this to me, main details from Rob Olthof). For all you techies, here are the details of how it`s all been done. Don't think anyone's done a definitive rundown of how this has all gone together technically, and I've seen a few postings in the past that have been a little misguided, so here's as much as I know. The mixer in Studio 2 is the old 11 channel Stereo Dutch desk made by D&R. This had four new Penny and Giles (very good, very expensive) faders put in it when the Ross was in Southend. These faders have now been put in ch 1 (mic) and 10, 11 and 12 for the computer playout system. This, incidentally, is the one from Maidstone Studio 2, which now has 3 soundcards in it. The desk has also been spruced up visually, with the plastic laminate that was on the channels (and peeling) being removed and the metalwork resprayed a similar blue to the original colour. The case has also been resprayed satin black. Those old wavering VU's have made way to two broadcast spec PPM's. The remaining faders have also been replaced with less expensive, but still good, faders, and some of the preset gain pots have been changed as well. The mixer's stereo output is passively mono'd and fed into a distribution amplifier which becomes the studio 2 master audio feed. Two of the DA outputs go to a stereo PPM in the corner of the studio (under the right speaker) and show the mono output level all the time, as the desk's PPM's switch away with PFL. Another DA output comes up next door on the old Gates desk for op-out or studio change-over situations. The other DA output goes to what is known as the Doll's House (because it looks like one) under the right-hand worktop in Studio 1. This is a switcher that I believe was made at sea and can switch either studio to either of two outputs which used to feed the 558 and 963 transmitters downstairs. Alan Beech connected this bit up, but I think the AM is fed from the 558 output, and Maidstone is fed from 963's output. That feed comes back through the wall into Studio 2, into a balance/unbalance audio transformer and into a Drawmer compressor/limiter. The output of the Drawmer is pulled down to match the input of the streaming computer which feeds Maidstone using Shoutcast. Mike Brill supplied and set up this and studio 2's e-mail computers, and set up all the PC's aboard on a network. Ads can be made on the PC in Studio 1 and sent to the playout machine in St 2. Very strange to see this level of technology on the Ross! An ADSL line on-board gives us a phone, e-mail, web browsing, a webcam feed out, and audio to Maidstone. A very busy piece of wire! This feed is received on the e-mail PC in Maidstone. Its audio output now comes up on the second minidisc channel, but was originally on a spare Mic channel. With the mic channel and PC turned down enough to not overload there was a slight hum, but while Maidstone was still on- air we didn't have any spare high-level channels. Now it's on the Minidisc channel the hum's gone. The signal goes on out of the desk in the normal way before going through the 8282 digital Optimod and out to the world via the codec in the bay. The busiest man in the days before the broadcast was undoubtedly Alan Beech who did all sorts of stuff along with building the transmitter, all while fixing water problems on the Ross. He also built the antenna and I believe Trevor and Nick climbed the masts to raise it all aloft. The 558 feed from the Dolls House goes down to the TX hold and into the black AM Optimod. A wideband off-air receiver sends a audio feed back upstairs to both studios. In Studio 2 you can select Stereo, AM Off Air, or a hugely delayed Worldspace feed (you can check your links as you go!). I think that's just about it, and I think the huge amount of work has been worthwhile as the programming has definably had a lift from the atmosphere aboard. Lots of visitors and adverts can't be a bad thing either. Cheers All. Rob (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) ** MALDIVE ISLANDS [non!]. Hi Glenn, Here are the reports from the our Maldivian friends. The feedback from the radio specialists around the world was better --- I guess it may be due to better receiving equipment. The Maldivians are quite used to using SW generally. We are going to use a higher frequency and are going to have to use 250 kW. And we go on air fulltime, long term, next Wednesday evening. I`ll let you know the frequency as soon as I know. Thanks Glenn, and big thanks to all the radio specialists out there who have taken an interest! Great people. Best as ever, (Dave Hardingham, FOM, Aug 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Excerpts of some of the reports Minivan received: Feedback on test radio broadcast Minivan Radio, 19/08/04 -- Reception We're from Addu Hithadhoo. We`re pleased to inform you that we have heard your newly broadcast radio & it's "GOOD". I can confirm that I received Minivan Radio on 18th from 2200 up to 2230. Reception quality is not very good. More power would be appreciated. I heard the radio in Dhandhoo, Huvadhoo Atoll. It was quite clear The radio hearing was satisfactory to the island of GN. Fuvahmulah We are from Addu, the southernmost part in Maldives. We did hear your broadcasting. Reception during the 1st half was poor but 2nd half was satisfactory with background noise. We would be glad if you can increase the power using 500 kW transmitter for the benefit of the poor island nation. I received the reception from SW2 11.525 MHz. However, through out the reception was not very clear, with much concentration I could figure out what is said. There was a lot of interference of tvm and others. Out of the two halves what was better is the first half. i.e. 2130 – 2200 there are some I know who said they didn't receive at all. I would like to inform you that we were not able to receive the Minivan Radio. We have tried using a normal radio; I was wondering whether we need a world receiver? South 3 atoll had difficulty have because of your signal is v low We are located in India (east coast). We heard your Minivan Radio broadcast test transmission on 18th August 2004 from 2200-2300 hrs local time (GMT+5:30). I am very interested in the channel. I was listening to the programme last night but the reception was not very good. There was some kind of noises coming on and the sound strength was not stable. It was constantly changing. Sometimes it gets very strong and sometimes it gets very weak therefore to listen to what is said I had to be very careful. I think it should be better than this because then only we can manage to convince others to listen to the radio. We were listening from south Ari atoll.... received but interference was very high ... 2 sessions... not very clear. From South Male' Atoll the reception non -existent. Thanks Heard music (assume traditional to Maldives) from 9.30 to 10.00 pm reasonably clear (around 3-4dB on my meter) then all signal lost at 10 pm. Requests for internet version Could you please let us know whether it is possible to listen to Minivan Radio via internet, like the Radio Maldives? We need your radio connection to be available via internet as well, that all Maldivians who live overseas can hear that. We keep on observe and doing what ever we can to help your effort to democracy in our country. Other countries Spain, Finland, Germany, Australia, France, Belgium General responses Thanx and congratulations on your efforts. We appreciate your help and support. We appreciate your work and our full support with you. Keep pressing the government Any way thank you all for such great idea I would like to thank You people for your great effort you are doing to bring democracy to Maldives. Keep up the hard work. "with spirit, with Blood, we are with YOU". Thank you for your affort to liberate us. We will not forget you. Thanks 4 the work u r doing. Media is the main thing 2 bring down this dictator. We Appreciate your hard work for the nation, we would like you to know that we will always be on your side [end of responses forwarded by FOM] Do you plan to put audio files on your website? And will there be any English? (Glenn to Dave Hardingham, Aug 18) Glenn, The audio files are next. You have given us so much help I can`t thank you enough. The Maldivians are literally desperate for this radio. We can`t let them down. At present we are a one man band - -- Mr Honey Voice Ahmed Naseer, producer and presenter. For an hour programme every day!! (Dave, ibid.) Dear Glenn Hauser, Thanks for info. I could hear weak signals only on 11525 at 1630 UT yesterday. Yours sincerely, (Jose Jacob, Hyderabad, India, Aug 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The monitor closest to the Maldives we have heard from (gh, DXLD) Minivan Radio on 11525 heard on August 18th, 2004 at 1630 to 1730 off, talks in local language, songs, IDs mentioning Friends of Maldives and Human Rights Initiative, Amnesty international and background of percussion and bird call, an English poem "The Walk for Freedom" read by a lady was also heard four times. Fair to good on clear channel (SIO-343-333). Place of reception - Kolkata, India. Regular broadcast to operate from Aug 25. 73s, (Rajdeep Das, KOLKATA, INDIA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Perdona me si no tengo ni idea de lo que es un QSL --- es la primera vez que jugamos con la radio! Lo siguiente es una descripcion del broadcast de ayer. Thank you very much for your interest. We will be recording the next broadcast tomorrow afternoon in the UK. We have had lots of feedback about the broadcast. Most of this was positive; however, some islands in Maldives did have some trouble with the varying volume and clarity, and many people did not know how to tune in. We have been informed too that on the capital island, male', the radio was jammed in a very primitive way, and the government owned Voice of Maldives was heard over the top, with a song called Ilahee Mibin, government sponsored song about peace, which was played to label us as non peaceful. We also heard reports that the Voice of Maldives was calling Minivan radio a Christian attack on the Islamic values of Maldivians - whatever our own beliefs, this is not something we would ever attempt to do. The voice you heard, was Ahmed Naseer, a Maldivian himself. The language is Dhivehi, and the people are called Dhivehin. This language is an ancient language with influences from the Arabic traders, and Dutch and Portuguese travellers. It is originally Sanskrit according to many sources. It is a beautiful language and I only understand a very little. Unfortunately independent thought and literature such as that in the poem I read out are not welcomed in Maldives as they are considered to be anti-governmental. Thank you once more for your interest. We hope that Minivan radio will remain on air and independent for many years. Rebecca Cork (via Ignacio Sotomayor, Noticias DX; also via Jari Savolainen, Jose Jacob, DXLD; and Edward Kusalik, CumbreDX via DXLD) Obviously, they are sending out the same text to all inquires about their recent broadcast on 11525 (Edward Kusalik, AB, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) Interesting to note that the Voice of Maldives had no trouble getting a transmitter up on SW with their own programming, albeit at low power. This assumes that Ms. Cork's information is correct, of course. (Gerry Bishop, Niceville, FL, ibid.) THE WALK FOR FREEDOM ON MINIVAN RADIO Here is a posting on the Friends of Maldives Forum which carries the poem read by Rebecca Cork on the first Minivan Radio test transmission on Aug 18, 2004, 1630-1730 UT on 11525 kHz from an undisclosed transmitter site "in Eastern Europe". A sound clip where one can hear this poem is up on this week`s World of Radio broadcast for instance at http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1242h.ram The walk for Freedom --- A poem by Ismail We respect them, for they are superior That`s what they tell me They humiliate us, for we are weak Maybe that`s good for the country We entrust them with our wealth They spend it on our behalf We clothe them with our wealth And pray for their generosity We honor them with pride And hope for their smile They strip us of our pride And leave us to die They cast the ballots on our behalf They teach us what is right They buy our rights and sell our souls For they know what is best for us For years and years they oppressed Immorality being the tradition it seems The books be closed he suggests Let your hands raise he said Twenty-four gentlemen they stood Read the books they possessed Our rights we demand, they said And started the walk for freedom Source info: http://www.friendsofmaldives.co.uk/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=11 Thanks to Rebecca Cork for referring me to this site. (Henrik Klemetz, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, well, I tried almost everything my end here to get anything on 11525 KHz but in vain :( I also tried to check different receivers via http://www.dxtuners.com --- some in Sweden, Germany and UK but in vain as well. I'm really sorry, my friend. All the best (Tarek Zeidan, Cairo, Egypt, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Since the response from Maldives itself was rather mixed, we think Minivan Radio should experiment with a different and possibly better transmitter site next week before committing to Bulgaria, although they are very eager to get underway on a daily basis (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Minivan Radio has decided to go with T-Systems via Jülich, Germany, daily from next Wednesday Aug 25 if the frequency, probably 13 MHz, is approved by then, 1600-1700 or 1630-1730 UT, 115 degrees. Calculations show this will put a 50 dbU signal into the target area (Andy Sennitt & Jeff White, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALI. RTVM, 5995, Aug 15 2325-0002* Aug 16, French talk, local folk music, sign-off with NA. Fair. Heard weakly on \\ 4782.38, 4835 (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. REMARKS BY ANA CRISTINA DEL RAZO, EX-DIRECTOR OF RADIO MEXICO INTERNATIONAL Today we are celebrating 10 years of the annual meetings of the Mexican Radio Listening and DX Clubs -- the ideal place for a meeting, proposals, reflections and to share our great passion: radio. I am taking part in that happy celebration, unfortunately only through my voice, but what better way to do so than to offer all of you the best I have: my work, my dream and my reality. Ten years of getting together, of friends, of anecdotes. Today, along with the end of this cycle, another cycle also ends -- the existence of the most important shortwave station in Mexico, our beloved Radio Mexico International. So we also gather to share this historic moment, the end of transmissions of this station. We could reflect a lot on this terrible development, which without doubt will mark one more chapter in the annals of our radio broadcasting. I think we could do it in a sad and devastating manner, but we can also do it in a loving manner, returning a bit of what this station has given us and so many generations throughout more than three decades. Therefore, today I would like for you to accompany me in rendering a deserved and simple homage to this station that broadcast in a creative and consistent manner our culture, traditions, language, idiosyncrasies and the Mexican way of life to the world. I want to begin with a brief history of the beginning of this medium, of its development, splendor and also its death. The predecessor of Radio Mexico International began in the year 1935, when the Mexican government, through the Ministry of Foreign Relations, put on the air the shortwave station "XECR," whose principle objectives were to send the message of the homeland to its expatriates and to extend to the peoples of the world the fraternal greetings of Mexico. This first intent by our country to make itself known on a worldwide level ended in 1937 because of a lack of funds, but that same year another shortwave station came on the air: "XEXA," a governmental station sponsored by the Autonomous Department of Press and Publicity that rebroadcast the signal of radio station "XEDF." Unfortunately, that initiative was not successful either, and it was not until 1968 when a new attempt would come about. Nineteen sixty-eight was a year of great importance for our country. The violent unleashing of the student movement and the immediate realization of the Olympics created a strong contrast in the image that Mexico had abroad. In this context President Gustavo Díaz Ordaz, through his Minister of Government, Luis Echeverría Álvarez, took the first steps toward establishing a shortwave radio station in a serious and formal manner. The station was run by the same team that produced "The National Hour" program and it was an integral part of the news agency Notimex. "Radio México" (without the adjective International) made its first transmission on the first day of September, 1969, with the fifth presidential report of President Gustavo Díaz, and it had as its objective to be "the image of Mexico to the world." The programming, for the most part, was made up of Mexican music. The news or commentaries that were broadcast expressed the official policy, and the station was intended to be a link between the Mexican embassies located in different countries of the world. It also broadcast in various languages such as English, German, French, Japanese, Portuguese and Spanish. The original power of the station was 10,000 watts, and it was on the frequency of 11.720 on the 25-meter band. It also had four other transmitters which operated on four other frequencies: Band Frequency in kHz 19 meters 15125 31 meters 9745 49 meters 5895 16 meters 17765 [Correxions: I remember it well, perhaps before the author was involved in the station: 5895 is certainly an error for 5985, which conflicted with WYFR for many years, as did 9705 instead of 9745; the 25m frequency was 11770, 19m on 15430. Both 15430 and 17765 clashed for many years with AFRTS while it still existed as an SWBC station. I never ceased to be amazed at the lack of coördination between Mexico and USA on XERMX frequencies --- gh] The U.S. company "Rocke International," through its representative "Ingeniería Internacional de México" sold the equipment to the new station and was responsible for installing it and stipulating the required powers. The end of the decade of the 60's marked the beginning of the transmissions of Radio Mexico and its name was changed to "Radio Mexico International." The location of the station`s studios had to be moved due to a fire in the building on Insurgentes Avenue where they were located. In 1970 the Ministry of Radio Broadcasting was founded, and RMI was included within its Department of Radio and Recordings, which was part of the Directorate General of Production. Also created was the Technical Directorate which operated and maintained the transmitters. This was a great year for Radio Mexico International. The installation of its transmission system was completely finished, it was on the air permanently, and it received around 200 letters per day from an audience estimated at 3.5 million persons. The Directorate General for Radio, Television and Cinematography (RTC) was created in 1976 as an independent organ of the Ministry of Government. Radio Mexico International became part of this new institution and was moved to Estudios Churubusco, and later to the Telecommunications Tower in the Narvarte area of Mexico City. It would change its address four more times later on. In March of 1983, by presidential decree, the Mexican Radio Institute (IMER) was created, with the objective being to "contribute to the strengthening of national integration and the improvement of radio communications for the benefit of the population." It was here that Radio Mexico International found a stable location when it became part of this Institute located, until this day, at Mayorazgo No. 83, Third Floor, Colonia Xoco, in Mexico City. The broadcasts of Radio Mexico International covered the national territory and the American continent. In addition, the correspondence registry indicated regular reception of the signal in other continents as well. Broadcasting the national culture, informing about developments that occurred in the country, promoting tourism and in general creating a clear and profound presence for Mexico in the world were the principal objectives of Radio Mexico International. Today, with its recent closure, the only thing I can do is recognize each person who contributed to building and sustaining this station -- to each collaborator who offered his or her best efforts to create the foundation, the rows and the columns of this project. Birthplace of great voices, successful producers, musicologists, script writers and in general communicators, who learned from this school, this very particular way of doing radio via shortwave. This station allowed us to get to know the human side of radio, its utility, its great capacity for service, for uniting the peoples through culture. Today the transmitters have been turned off, dormant in the coldness of the building that housed them -- a transmitter plant through which the marvelous and unseen Hertzian waves no longer flow. Today, the switch has been turned off, the voices have stopped vibrating in the microphones, the consoles no longer serve as instruments of creativity, and hundreds of persons have only in our hearts and our memories this beloved building, our home. The superfluous and cold decisions of a small group of persons, who know little about radio broadcasting, are responsible for this atrocity. Short-sightedness, ignorance and the lack of vision brought about the closure of transmissions. But they can dismantle the infrastructure, throw away and sell the transmitters and antennas as junk, abandon the transmitter building, let dust gather on the hundreds of hours of recordings and music from all parts of the country now thrown into a corner and forgotten. But the question now is: How can they make us stop believing in radio -- in a useful radio station, warm, human, public, at the service of the people? The images, the memories, the satisfactions and especially the friendships forged thanks to this beautiful pretext cannot be erased. These things cannot be turned off with a switch. Now it only remains for us to demand to know why they give public unconvincing explanations about the motives that brought about this decision. We, the citizens, deserve an explanation, but not banal, not light. We deserve a logical explanation that convinces us, not consoles us. What will happen to the resources of all of the Mexican people who have invested in this public radio station? I think that is our responsibility -- to demand an accounting, explanations that make sense, when we have to tell our sons and daughters -- all of the little ones here at these meetings over the years -- what happened to the most dignified and the most important shortwave station in Mexico. I hope that when we get together again next year to celebrate the 11th anniversary of these meetings of radio listening and DX clubs, by then we will have these answers. I hope this reflection does not remain just an anecdote; I hope it provokes us to take action. Nevertheless, today is a day of happiness, and I join with it, saying cheers to Radio Mexico International, cheers to the beautiful Port of Veracruz, to each one of you, to each one of us. Thank you for letting me accompany you. Thanks to my great friends César, Rafael and their families for this opportunity and to each one of you present here and also those who are with us across the distance. I will always offer you my heart for your support, your solidarity, your kindness and your friendship. Always. (ANA CRISTINA DEL RAZO EZQUEDA, at the 10th Annual Mexican DX Meeting, via Aug NASB Newsletter via DXLD) ** NEW ZEALAND. Radio New Zealand reported missing last night in the US (Thursday) on 9615 from 0500 to 0550 UTC. They also plan to drop 9615 after September 4 using 11820 instead starting September 5. New schedule at http://www.rnzi.com/pages/listen.php (Mike Terry, UK, dxldyg via DXLD) Cf. previous confusion ** NIGERIA. V. of Nigeria, 15120, Aug 15 0609-0705+, Tune-in to English news, ID, TC, 0624 sports; good signal and good audio. Also 15120, Aug 14 at 2135-2259*, tune-in to English news program. 2200 time pips, ID, news summary. 2215 ``Weekend Magazine``, local pop music, review of upcoming programs. 2258 sign-off with NA. Good, clean audio but poor to fair signal due to adjacent channel splatter. Better after 2200 with less splatter. Next day Aug 15 heard on 17800 [instead?], 2005-2300* Tune-in to English talk but mostly unintelligible; local music, ID, 2245 English news. Sign-off with NA. Strong, but poor muddy audio; did improve after 2130 (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The "Listeners' Letters" program of Radio Voice of Nigeria was received in Sofia Sunday from 0805 to 0830 UT on 15120 kHz. The following address for reception reports was announced: Voice of Nigeria, Broadcasting House, Ikoyi, P.M.B. 40003, Falomo, Lagos, Nigeria (Rumen Pankov, R. Bulgaria DX program Aug 20 via John Norfolk, DXLD) NEW ACTING DIRECTOR-GENERAL AT VOICE OF NIGERIA The Nigerian federal government has appointed Alhaji Abubakar Jijiwa, previously Director of Administration and Finance at the Voice of Nigeria (VON)as acting Director-General following the retirement of Taiwo Alimi. Mr Jijiwa assumed his duties today. Mr Alimi was attacked by armed robbers in Ogun last week and is currently receiving medical attention at an undisclosed Lagos hospital. His official jeep, which was snatched by the robbers, has not been recovered. # posted by Andy @ 16:25 UT Aug 20 (Media Network blog via DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA. I was checking something in your TV database, and decided to look up Enid while I was at it, and surprised to find KXOK-LP 32 missing both from channel and state listings. I could swear I am still seeing it as usual. Wonder why you deleted it? (Glenn to Doug Smith, Aug 16, via DXLD) I'm hoping you'll find it reappears tomorrow. It's in my local copy right now, so it *should* be there when things get reprocessed early tomorrow morning. I never delete stations myself (at least not U.S. or Canadian stations; Mexicans *are* manually edited). If a station is in the government database, it will appear - and with the parameters that are in the database. Sometimes, those parameters are known to be at variance with reality! I do manually edit programming information. Should for some reason the programming record get removed completely, the station would disappear (when I'm unaware of a station's programming source, I create a *blank* programming record; that allows the station to show up with, you guessed it, a blank in the programming field...) My best guess is that the FCC was processing some kind of change and inadvertently deleted the record for KXOK from one of the necessary tables (facility or tv_eng_data, the station must be in facility, and must have at least one record in tv_eng_data, in order to appear. If they're making technical changes they may have more than one record in tv_eng_data). That does seem a bit strange though as KXOK only has one record in tv_eng_data. Which would imply their technical parameters haven't changed recently -- they usually leave old facilities in the database for awhile when a change is implemented. -- (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66 http://www.w9wi.com Aug 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) For some reason the FCC has marked KXOK as an "archive record". Usually that means the license (or in this case, construction permit) has expired. Whether that has in fact happened in this case I don't know... – (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66 http://www.w9wi.com Aug 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Still missing from listing, still on the air Aug 19 (Glenn Hauser, Enid, ibid.) ** PERU. 5019.90, Radio Horizonte, 1030-1046 Aug 19. Steady Huaynos music during period until 1044 when a man in Spanish comments, ID and TC. This followed with promos and canned ads. Cuba 5025 is off the air recently due to Charley, so 5019.90 is very good (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston, Florida, 545, dipole, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5020, R. Horizonte (presumed), Aug 14, 1124-1135, 24332, Spanish, Music program. I was able to hear this station, because SIBC on 5019.9 was off the air recently (TOKUSA Hiroshi, JAPAN, Japan Premium via DXLD) ** SUDAN. I've posted some photos of Radio Peace, New Site, New Sudan (4750 kHz) at http://www.DXing.info Africa forum (under title "QSL from 4750 R Peace, South Sudan"). Or click http://www.dxing.info/community/viewtopic.php?t=1506 (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, Aug 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Looks quite primitive, a shack out in the bush (gh) ** SYRIA [non]. DISSIDENTS' RADIO FREE SYRIA ADDS NEW "PEACE FORUM" PROGRAMME | Text of press release by US-based Reform Party of Syria on 20 August Washington DC, 20 August 2004: Exactly after two months of airing educational and entertainment programming by Radio Free Syria (RFS), the management, headed by Ali Hajj-Husayn, announced today that RFS will start a weekly one-hour programme on peace and co-existence in the Middle East to be called "Peace Forum". "Peace Forum" will invite guests from the region to discuss the hot issue of the week in the context of peace. RFS believes that the culture of violence in the Middle East, encouraged by the Ba'th Party in Syria, must be replaced with reasonable ideas promoted by reasonable people. RFS will announce weekly the guests ahead of time. "RFS growth and popularity is an indicator that the silent democratic majority in Syria will back a peaceful transition to a new government," said Farid Ghadry, the president of the Reform Party of Syria (RPS). "We want to make people think about the choices available to them. We want them to think about the erroneous ways of their governments. No society has ever prospered by waging long-term wars, which ultimately cost the nation and the people," said Ali Hajj- Husayn, the director- general of RFS. He added: "If people can see real hope, they will drop violence in a blink of an eye". Radio Free Syria airs Arabic-language programmes on shortwave 13650 kHz. It covers the whole Middle East in addition to significant parts of Europe and Asia. "Peace Forum" will air its first hour on Friday 3 September 2004 at 9 p.m. local Damascus time [1800 gmt]. For more information, contact Mr Oubai Shahbandar oubai@cox.net http://www.radiofreesyria.org (in English) and http://www.radiofreesyria.net (in Arabic) Source: Reform Party of Syria press release, Potomac (Maryland), in English 20 Aug 04 (via BBCM via DXLD) Jeff, was it ever decided who would handle QSLing Radio Free Syria? I don`t recall seeing any reported (gh to Jeff White, WRMI) I've sent out a few Radio Miami QSL's for the Syrian transmission. I don't know if anyone has gotten a QSL out of the Syrians yet or not. I asked them a few times about whether they were going to QSL reports, and never got a definite answer. Peace Forum is in addition to present Sunday broadcast at same time (Jeff White, FL, Aug 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U A E. R. Dubai, 15395, Aug 15 0320-0350+, ex-15400, \\ 13675, 12005. Still looking for English at 0330 but only hear continuous Arabic music. Good-strong. At 1330-1420+ on 15395 // 21605 no English, just constant Arabic music. Also at 1600-1625 Arabic music and talk on 15395 and 13675; no 21605 heard during this time (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. THE WORLD TODAY SOUND ART --- BBC - Press Office Category: World Service Date: 18.08.2004 http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2004/08_august/18/sound_art.shtml Artists and musicians around the world were asked to create sound art inspired by listening to the BBC World Service's The World Today. BBC World Service Arts Correspondent Lawrence Pollard asked critically acclaimed musician and sound art historian David Toop to explain what makes the art of noise. David says: "Noise is the raw material, if you believe like American musical innovator John Cage that there's little difference between listening to music, silence or noise, they're all points on the same range. Any aspect of that range is interesting material for a sound artist." The European Commission has asked UK sound artist Scanner to create a new anthem for Europe which is due to be unveiled next month. He used the names of the countries mentioned in one edition of The World Today programme and samples from the theme tune. He says: "The piece was created to capture the essence of what BBC World Service is about, that it is international, allowing you to travel the world while sitting on your bed at home." [sitting on my bed, I have found, tends to damage it --- gh] Described as a "master of the medium" by The New York Times, electronic musician Stephen Vitiello sampled The World Today's signature tune, altering it beyond recognition. "I wanted to draw the listener's attention to the bits of sound that we don't usually hear," he says. Award-winning South African artist James Webb placed microphones around his home city of Cape Town and recorded the sound of the city's historic cannon firing at midday from 12 points of historical, social and economic interest to create his piece. We also hear from Brisbane based sound artist Lawrence English - who interprets The World Today with a journey into the sea and the company of some rather noisy fish - Vietnamese Pop Idol judge Tri Minh and musician Paulo Vivacqua from Rio de Janeiro. Sound art will feature on The World Today from Monday 23 August 2004 (via Kim Elliott, DC, DXLD) ** U K. BBC FACES WORLDWIDE POSER --- Jane Martinson, media business editor, Thursday August 19, 2004 The Guardian It is a £1bn question that is taxing the best financial and competitive minds in the media sector: what exactly is going on at BBC Worldwide? Since the corporation announced a review of its commercial arm last month, there has been little indication of what it plans to do with the business. . . http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,4996679-103676,00.html (via Dan Say, DXLD) ** U K. "The world's smallest radio station" to return soon --- Radio Scilly - the world's smallest radio station- is back on air from August 20th until September 4th 2004! Click on Bishop Rock Lighthouse on the website http://www.radioscilly.co.uk/ to listen to Radio Scilly live on-air (20th Aug to Sept 4th only). You'll need Windows Media Player. Click on the button on the right on the web site to learn more about the world's smallest radio station (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) ** U K. Ofcom Community 27 MHz proposals --- Ofcom proposes to allow local religious and community organisations to operate within the UK Citizens' Band allocation. To begin with, a small number of such organisations will be licensed to transmit services in a limited number of pilot areas. These would be called Community Audio Distribution Systems (CADS). At present, some housebound religious congregation members, who wish to hear local religious community services, are unable to do so. Ofcom is proposing to allow CADS users to share spectrum with the Citizens' Band radio service in a way that will provide the flexibility required to transmit religious and community service material whilst protecting other spectrum users from harmful interference. Community Audio Distribution Systems would, in practice, constitute simple, short-range and inexpensive wireless public address systems. The evidence of demand for such arrangements has arisen primarily from within religious communities and this is therefore where Ofcom expects the majority of use to arise. However, other community groups could also use the arrangements for other similar purposes. To test these plans, Ofcom is proposing a closely monitored year-long pilot scheme in the areas where interest has been most widespread and sustained: Northern Ireland and West Yorkshire. Further information is available on the Ofcom website at http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consultations/current/cads/?a=87101 (RSGB via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) ** U S A. Annotated WBCQ Program Guide Anomalies and Recent Observations - Thursday, August 19, 2004 World of Radio moves to 2300 UTC Wednesdays on 17495. Wednesday 2200 UTC première on 7415 remains unchanged. Verified WOR 1242, August 18, at 2200 on 7415, but couldn't verify 17495 rebroadcast as we're in its skip zone most of the time here. The WOR move accommodates an additional rebroadcast of Jim and Eric Cedarstrom's Patriot Trading Group, now 1900 on 7415//9330//17495 with a rebroadcast at 2200 on 5105//9330//17495. Via Elayne and http://www.allamericangold.com (via Larry Will, dxldyahoogroups and the WBCQ Program Guide) ** U S A. Radio Disney thread proceeding from KMUS OKLAHOMA in a previous issue: I'm a man with NO shame; I've listened to Radio Disney. My facination was firstly, with Top 40 music on AM radio again. I was reared with AM Top 40 radio in the 60s and through the 70s. Sometimes from the geek angle I notice how the station's equipment handles all those Hilary Duff and Britney Spears' nasal shrieks (Ronald C. Gitschier, FL, NRC- AM via DXLD) At the risk of embarrassing myself, I kinda like Radio Disney. Like Ron said, it's really the last bastion of top 40 on AM - and it's programmed with a lot more personality and creativity than a lot of FM top 40s I can think of. Commercial load's pretty low, too (Scott Fybush, NY, ibid.) I can listen to RD a lot longer than I can any station which leans on rap as its staple for programming fare, although I can take any r&b and some hip-hop, at least for a few minutes. Rap is simply NOT music. I assume that RD is carefully filtered for lyric content, too - unlike most of urban outlets - which certainly makes RD a valid choice for parents to push off on their rugrats. When was the last time you heard Hilary Duff suggest that shooting an authority figure was a normal activity for teenagers? Granted, most artists on RD don't approach, say, Norah Jones, in quality, but then who does? RD is simply MoR for kids (Paul Swearingen, Topeka, ibid.) ** U S A. SPARED RADIO STATION IS A BEACON FOR THOSE STILL WITHOUT POWER --- After Hurricane Charley, a Punta Gorda radio station operating on a generator has become a lifeline for residents without power. BY AMY DRISCOLL PUNTA GORDA - With a temporary roof, a single cellphone and nothing but a generator to run the equipment, a country music station in hurricane-ravaged Southwest Florida has become a lifeline for residents still without power after a week. ''You're angels,'' one caller tells them. ``Charley's angels.'' Operating in a trashed building without a working phone line, the DJs – and general manager and news director and even a volunteer ham radio operator -- have been running a round-the-clock news operation patched together with ingenuity and sheer will. ''We're doing it 24/7 since Charley hit and we'll keep doing it as long as we need to,'' said Bob Alexander, news director for Kix Country, WIKX-FM (92.9), and four other ClearChannel stations in the area. ``There are a lot of people out there with no power. They can't watch TV. . . . A lot of them don't even have phones. All they have are their battery-operated radios.'' . . . http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/9447314.htm?1c (via Artie Bigley, DXLD and Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) ** U S A. E X T R A --- CATHOLIC RADIO UPDATE #297 August 19, 2004 ``Alack, the night comes on, and the high winds.`` Hurricane Charley --- Seven Catholic Radio Stations Lay In Its Path; Here`s How They Fared WUSV 98.5 FM San Carlos Park (Fort Myers) WMYR 1410 AM Fort Myers WBVM 90.5 FM St Petersburg-Tampa WOTS 1220 AM Orlando WQOP 1600 AM Jacksonville WQIZ 810 AM Charleston-Savannah WBPL-LP 92.7 FM Wilmington, N.C. ____________________________________________________________ No hurricane in history has crossed over or passed near as many Catholic radio stations as has Hurricane Charley this past weekend. Considering the utter magnitude of the storm in terms of wind velocity (145 mph), that less than 24 people have died (as of press time) is miraculous. The television images of the destruction easily lead to the comparison that it was like a 25-mile-wide tornado and not a hurricane. In addition to the dimension of its effects on the humanity in and near its path, there is the curious twist that no hurricane in history has crossed over or passed near as many Catholic radio stations as has Hurricane Charley. The reason, of course, is that the phenomenon of Catholic radio growth has come about only in the past six years. The storm suddenly veered off its predicted track towards the highly populated Tampa Bay area (2.2 million people), on the central west coast of Florida, and went inland over the Port Charlotte-Punta Gorda area. That was to the north of the Fort Myers metropolitan area (441,000 people) and two Catholic radio stations, one of which is on the air: WUSV 98.5 FM San Carlos Park (Fort Myers), owned by Ave Maria University, and the newly purchased WMYR 1410 AM Fort Myers. The sale has not been closed on that station and it is off the air. Ave Maria University`s campus was not damaged, Henry Root, operations manager of WDEO Ann Arbor and Ave Maria University, told Catholic Radio Update. Paul Roney, the Foundation present, flew down to Fort Myers on Monday, and reported back to the headquarters in Michigan. ``I did speak, again, with Laura [Mr. Roney`s secretary] yesterday afternoon after she had spoken with Paul Roney. She said no damage reported. So, if there is damage, it did not affect the air signal or was immediately visible.`` The university owns WUSV 98.5 FM in suburban San Carlos Park; the station has been broadcasting secular programming temporarily under a lease until the university is ready to program the station with Catholic programming. Starboard Media Foundation has not yet closed the purchase on WMYR 1410 AM Fort Myers, although the FCC has approved the sale. As of Wednesday evening, a promised report had not yet come through. Not so fortunate in terms of property, although their lives were spared, were Steve Wood and his daughter, Stephanie in Fort Myers. ``I just spoke with Steve Wood,`` Thom Price reported to Catholic Radio Update; ``his apostolate (Family Life Center) does two radio shows for us weekly (``Faith & Family,`` which Steve hosts, and ``The Wave Factor,`` which his daughter Stephanie hosts). They are based in Port Charlotte, and their studios were pretty much destroyed. They`re all ok, praise God. We`ll be airing encores till they`re back on their feet. Please keep the Wood family in your prayers.`` The storm then headed north-northeast towards the Orlando metropolitan area, which has 1,700,000 people. Orlando is most famous for Disney World as well as other attractions. The Catholic station there is Radio Paz Orlando, operated by the Diocese of Orlando for Hispanics over leased WOTS 1220 AM in nearby Kissimmee (Kiss-SIM-mee). The station was not audio streaming and was presumably not on the air until some time Wednesday. Yesterday afternoon, a notice appeared at their webpage: ``Dear friends of Radio Paz Orlando: Many thanks, dear friends, your help and understanding. Everyone knows about the damage that the passing of Hurricane Charley has caused in central Florida. Radio Paz Orlando also has suffered some problems of technical aspect. Thanks to God we have returned to the air, with small changes beyond our control. During the following days, we will sign on at 7 in the morning and continue until 6 in the afternoon, with special programming dedicated to solidarity. We appreciate your understanding and cooperation.`` What those problems were, it did not say. WDBO Newsradio 580 AM in Orlando reported on its website Wednesday morning that the power company said that large parts of Kissimmee remain with power because part of the electrical distribution system was damaged. According to the company, another five to seven days will be required before power could be completely restored to all customers. It may well be that the WOTS transmitter is in the area in which the distribution system was damaged; it could also be that the transmitter or tower were damaged or destroyed; or both. Attempts to find out the status of radio stations in the Orlando area have not been successful. Just west of Orlando is the Tampa Bay area, with a number of large cities: St Petersburg, Tampa, Clearwater, Sarasota, Bradenton, and dozens of smaller towns. Located in the Tampa Bay area is WBVM Spirit 90.5. (Its repeater station in the citrus country of upper west Florida, WLMS Lecanto, was far from the hurricane.) WBVM experienced no damage because the storm suddenly turned inland well south of the Bay area, but general manager John Morris tells a compelling story. ``WBVM in Tampa and WLMS Citrus County-Lecanto had a serious scare. In the 17 years I`ve been at the station, it is the first time we voluntarily signed off the air. Early in the week the storm was predicted to hit south of the bay area. On Thursday the prognosticators figured that it would strike the bay area. All weather models indicated this. Thursday afternoon we began broadcasting emergency information regarding shelters, evacuation routes and areas, and general storm preparation information. ``At 8 a.m. Friday, Charley was still on course for a direct hit. Following the 11a.m. update, which still had Charley on a direct line to strike as a Category 3 hurricane, I made the difficult decision to sign off the air. WBVM is in a low-lying area and flood zone. With the age of the building and our location, we felt it wise to evacuate with our computer software and mainframes and get to higher ground. Our transmitter and studios do not have generator power, and Florida Power was going to voluntarily shut down all the power in downtown and evacuation areas so that their equipment would not be harmed. ``Therefore, with that information, the decision to shut down was somewhat easier. We sandbagged the facility and left at noon, with the storm expected to hit hard in about 5 hours. That left us little time to take care of our family needs. At 2 p.m., the storm shifted and struck Charlotte Harbor/Punta Gorda as a Category 4 hurricane. We got a decent blow --- 25-35 mph winds and some rain --- but nothing more. We signed back on the air Friday night at 8 p.m. when we were confident that the storm would spare Tampa/Lecanto. ``Unfortunately for our neighbors to the east and south, the same cannot be said. There is, as you have seen, terrible destruction across as broad path of the state. We are in the process of organizing a collection for those in our listening area impacted by the storm. Our listening area covers Port Charlotte/Punta Gorda north, and portions of Polk, Hardee, and Desoto Counties where the storm was a force. ``Again, the Bay area was spared. As a broadcaster, it is somewhat of a `thrill` to be involved in an approaching hurricane. However, there comes a time when you have to measure the risk and the return. It`s simply not worth it to risk the lives of the staff to ride out a storm with the fury of Charley. Had we been on higher ground, had generators, and confident building and the storm been a Category 1 or 2, we may have been o.k., but with this type of storm, it`s just not worth it.`` Mr. Morris wrote that report just after midday on Sunday, and ended, ``As I understand it as of Sunday mid-day, there are still about half a million without power and thousands who are homeless and will be for a month or more. It is extremely sad. However the spirit and determination of the downtrodden is strong, and many say that it could have been worse. They also all thank God that they`re alive. May Our Lord Jesus bless and protect all who were involved in the storm and bring comfort to those who are in dire need at this time.`` He sent a postscript the following morning, Monday: ``We are doing a blood drive today, as many of the hospital patients were moved north to Tampa.`` Indeed. One hospital filled with patients and medical staff, directly in the path of Charley, experienced many broken windows and had part of its roof torn off. ``On Wednesday we are doing a major food/supply drive with two big trucks and the station van at locations in Tampa and St. Petersburg. This is in conjunction with Catholic Charities of the Diocese of St. Petersburg assisting the Diocese of Venice. Bishop Lynch talked to the Bishop of Venice, Bishop Nevins. He said that the early reports that he received from a couple of pastors was `all is lost.` Because communications are down, he didn`t know if he was speaking in broad terms, or from a parish standpoint.`` WQOP Queen of Peace Radio 1600 AM in Jacksonville, in extreme northeast Florida, on the Atlantic Coast and near the Georgia state line, was fortunate, too. ``We had no problems,`` Tom Moran, station manager, told Catholic Radio Update. ``We are only two blocks from the beach and I can tell you that you would not know there was a storm out there.`` ``Out there`` means out in the Atlantic, well offshore. Readers outside of the United States need to know that hurricanes are cyclones of incredible breadth and fury; here in the northern hemisphere, cyclonic winds move counter-clockwise, which means that the eastern half of a hurricane has the worst winds, rain showers, squalls, and even tornados. By the time the winds move around to the western side, they are usually less intense and the rainfall is considerably reduced or even eliminated. ``I have seen thunderstorms around here that are worse,`` added Mr. Moran. North of Jacksonville (1,100,000 people), the Atlantic coast line swings gently to the northeast, and Hurricane Charley came in much closer to the South Carolina coast than it did to the Georgian coast. North of Charleston is Mediatrix Radio`s WQIZ 810 AM. Its daytime signal covers the major city of Charleston (550,000 people) and the resort Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, and Savannah, Georgia (300,000 people). It puts a moderate signal into Columbia, the capital of South Carolina and dead center in the State (537,000 people). Efforts to reach a spokesman at Mediatrix were not successful, and it is not known if the station was damaged by Charley, or was off the air because of loss of power for some time. Just over the state line dividing South from North Carolina is the city of Wilmington (234,000 people), location of low-power WBPL-LP 92.7 FM, new on the air. An effort to reach the station was not successful. Apparently, Wilmington did not receive much damage from Charley, and it is likely that WBPL-LP experienced, at most, only a loss of power for some time, if that. It would seem calloused to say that Florida was lucky in the path that Hurricane Charley took, in the extraordinarily few deaths caused by the storm, and in the number of people injured. It would seem calloused to say this in view of the fact that some lost their lives and thousands more lost all they owned. For many of those, the loss was compounded by the fact that they are elderly citizens in retirement with incomes so low as to make it impossible to replace what they lost. Fortunately, Southerners are a generous lot and, together with generous government aid, almost all will be able to start life again. Fortunate, too, are the Catholic radio stations. It seems that all of them, with the exception of leased WOTS Orlando, fared much better than they should have been expected to have fared.. There is reason to be grateful to God in many ways, looking at Hurricane Charley in retrospect (Mike Dorner, Catholic Radio Update Extra Aug 19 via DXLD) ** ZIMBABWE [and non]. Hi Glenn, Sri, I`m a bit late with this report. Under the ideal conditions in Eastern Finland August 2 I heard ZBC Harare on 3306 kHz at 1815 UT. No signal on 4828 kHz. So this outlet was inactive? Another interesting African station noted was NBC Windhoek 6060 kHz 1825 UT. 73 (Jouko Huuskonen, Turku (W. Finland), Aug 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ NRC AM LOG 2004-2005 Our review copy of the new edition of this valuable annual publication arrived already in mid-August, well in time for the ``DX season``. It simply has no equal as a quick, handy, and affordable reference of AM stations in the US and Canada. Primary listing is in frequency order, then geographical, with cross-references by city and callsign. We already referred to it in 4-123 about KICY in Alaska. Here`s the accompanying press release: The National Radio Club announces publication of the NRC AM RADIO LOG for the 2004-2005 DX Season. This is the 25th edition of the Log and it has been updated through August 1, 2004. This annual edition contains 294 pages in an 8.5 x 11 inch, 3-hole punched, loose leaf format. There are over 5,200 AM Radio Station listings from the US and Canada. Each station listing consists of its location, frequency, call, format, network affiliation, address, slogan, day and night transmitter powers. A separate listing of stations known to broadcast in AM Stereo is also included. The non NRC Member prices, post paid for the AM Radio Log are: USA US$25.95 Canada, Western Europe (except Italy), Australia, New Zealand, and Japan US$27.95 All Others --- please contact us for post paid prices. The 2004 edition is being shipped at this time and orders may be placed by mail to our address below or Paypal cedit orders may be placed at our website http://www.nrcdxas.org Please mail all orders with payment to: National Radio Club Publications Center P O Box 164 Mannsville, NY 13661-0164 We appreciate your support of the National Radio Club, Inc., a non- profit 501C hobby organization. Sincerely, (Wayne Heinen N0POH, NRC AM Radio Lob Editor, Aug 12, via DX LISTENING DIGEST) CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES +++++++++++++++++++++++++ NASB PRESENT AT HFCC CONFERENCE IN HELSINKI Jeff LeCureux and George Ross of NASB member station KTWR in Guam will be officially representing the NASB for frequency coordination purposes at the HFCC (High Frequency Coordinating Conference) in Helsinki, Finland August 23-27. NASB member stations can get in touch with Jeff during the week of the conference jeff @ twrguam.com NASB Board member Dennis Dempsey of WEWN will also be present at the Helsinki meeting. A final decision will be made at the Helsinki HFCC Conference regarding the host of the next conference in February of 2005. Unofficially, it appears as though the NASB's proposal to host the conference in Mexico will be accepted by the HFCC/ASBU Steering Board, after a prior invitation from Egypt to host to event was withdrawn. The NASB has already obtained co-sponsorship commitments from Radio Educación and Radio Mil in Mexico City, plus NASB members KNLS-World Christian Broadcasting and EWTN Global Catholic Network. The meeting will most likely be held in Mexico City from February 7-11, 2005. More details will be available shortly. NASB's next annual meeting will be held at the RFA headquarters address Radio Free Asia, 2025 M Street, NW, Washington DC 20036 on Friday, May 6, 2005 (August NASB Newsletter via DXLD) MEXICAN NATIONAL DX MEETING Mexican Shortwave Listeners Celebrate 10 Years of National Meetings by Jeff White Ten years ago, seven shortwave club leaders from throughout Mexico got together in the city of Tepic, in Nayarit State (near Puerto Vallarta on the west coast of Mexico) for the first annual meeting of Mexican DX clubs and shortwave listeners. Over the years, these events were held in a different part of the country each year, with an increasing attendance each year. Several international shortwave stations gave the annual meeting some publicity on the air, and even started to attend it themselves to meet some of their Mexican listeners. As a result, a lot of casual shortwave listeners from throughout Mexico began to attend these events. Instead of seven people, the average attendance is more like 70, and sometimes larger. This year the group celebrated the 10th anniversary of national DX meetings with a gathering in the port city of Veracruz on the Gulf of Mexico from July 30 to August 1. Listeners showed up from all parts of Mexico, some of them travelling by bus for two or three days to get to Veracruz. Veracruz has a very Caribbean feel to it. With July and August temperatures reaching sometimes above 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and a high rate of humidity, it was somewhat challenging, even for those of us who are accustomed to Miami's climate. But it didn't stop dozens of people from enjoying their annual shortwave meeting and enjoying the camaraderie of fellow SWL's and DXers from throughout Mexico, and several from abroad as well. Four listeners came from New York, Virginia and California. One came all the way from Finland. There were two of us from Radio Miami International, plus Adrian Peterson of Adventist World Radio, Abner Mir of Radio Free Asia, and Cheryl Lai and Elena Chen of Radio Taiwan International. Many of the Mexican shortwave listeners who attend these gatherings bring their spouses, children and parents with them. The Maoleon family, from Oaxaca State, take their annual family vacation wherever the Mexican national DX meeting happens to be, and they bring three generations of the family along with them. And they are all shortwave listeners. The city of Veracruz was founded in 1519 by Hernán Cortés. There's a lot of history to see in the city, including the Fortress of Baluarte, built into a large wall that surrounded Veracruz. The "zócalo," or main square, has marimba, ranchera, harp and other Mexican musicians playing at the open-air restaurants until the early hours of the morning. Veracruz' new aquarium is state-of-the-art and features marine life from the Gulf of Mexico region. Some of the talks given at the Veracruz DX conference included "Experiences at the European DX Council Conference" by the meeting organizer, César Fernández; "The Origins of Radio" by Miguel Ángel Rocha from Chihuahua; "Radio Miami International and the USA DRM Group" by yours truly; and "DXing in the Arctic" by Risto Vahakainu of the Finnish DX Association. Meeting co-organizer Rafael Grajeda talked about his experiences trying to pick up DRM shortwave signals in Veracruz over the past year, which he has finally been able to do, even though the signals are so not directly specifically toward Mexico. Informal refreshments and meals were enjoyed by the group in a variety of locations in central Veracruz. Language was never a problem, as many of the foreigners in attendance spoke a little Spanish, and most of the Mexicans speak a fair amount of English. The two young women from Radio Taiwan International, Abner Mir from Radio Free Asia, and Dr. Adrian Peterson from Adventist World Radio each gave well-produced PowerPoint presentations about their respective institutions to the group, and Roger Chambers from New York showed slides of his recent visit to Radio Prague in the Czech Republic. Well-known DXer and singer-songwriter Pepe González from Xalapa (the capital of Veracruz State) talked about "The History of Shortwave in Mexico." Incidentally, his Spanish-language book, "Radiodifusión de Onda Corta en México," is an excellent and very complete 80-page compendium on the history of shortwave broadcasting in that country, with numerous photos of old QSL cards. It's available for 100 pesos -- about US$ 9 -- plus shipping, from: Pepe González González, Cuauhtémoc No. 17 centro, Xalapa, Veracruz CP 91000, México. Pepe can be contacted at: iyoco @ gorsa.net.mx A raffle was held on the Saturday afternoon of the event, with various items donated by shortwave stations and DX clubs. The "big prize" was a Freeplay Plus wind-up and solar-powered shortwave radio donated by the C. Crane Company http://www.ccradio.com of California. All attendees' names were placed in the raffle drawing, and the winner was Pepe González. Pepe, who is blind and was accompanied by his wife Lucha, joked that "I can't see it, and I can't believe it!" He said he often takes shortwave radios to the beach or the countryside, where a wind-up solar-powered radio that doesn't need batteries will be very handy. That evening, most of the attendees gathered at a "palapa" (a restaurant which is in a large grass hut) for a fish dinner directly on the beach near the Veracruz aquarium. Many people brought their shortwave receivers with them to see what interesting signals could be picked up there on the beach. I had a chance to talk to two attendees who had casually heard about the event on shortwave -- one from Radio Taiwan International and the other from the Mexican station Radio Educación -- and just decided to show up to see what DXing is all about. On Sunday morning, August 1, a speech written by Ana Cristina del Razo was read in absentia, since she was unable to attend in person. Ana Cristina was one of the last directors of the government-owned shortwave station Radio Mexico International, which was silenced on June 1 of this year. She lamented the "short-sightedness" of government officials for closing this station which had for decades been the voice of Mexico around the world. And the meeting ended with the Mexican DX clubs deciding that the past ten years of meetings had been very successful and deciding to continue these meetings on an annual basis in the future. [in full: see MEXICO] Next year's Mexican National DX Clubs and Shortwave Listeners Meeting will likely be held in the town of Ascensión, in Chihuahua State, near the U.S. border and not too far from El Paso, Texas. The hope is that more U.S. shortwave listeners may be able to attend. In 2006, the meeting may be held on the beach in Nayarit State, near the well-known tourist resort area of Puerto Vallarta. Shortwave listeners and broadcasters from all parts of the world are welcome to attend (Jeff White, August NASB Newsletter via DXLD) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ IS AM RADIO HARMFUL? By Stephen Leahy, Aug. 16, 2004 Korean scientists have found that regions near AM radio-broadcasting towers had 70 percent more leukemia deaths than those without. The study, to be published in an upcoming issue of the International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health, also found that cancer deaths were 29 percent higher near such transmitters. . Two years ago an Italian study found death rates from leukemia increased dramatically for residents living within two miles of Vatican Radio's powerful array of transmitters in Rome. The Koreans looked at the death rates in 10 regions with AM radio-transmitting towers broadcasting at more than 100 kilowatts and compared them with control areas without transmitters. The substantially higher cancer mortality in those who lived within two kilometers of the towers led researchers to conclude that more investigation was needed. However, they also said their study did not prove a direct link between cancer and the transmitters. "There have been many studies like these, and they aren't very convincing," said Mary McBride, an epidemiologist at the British Columbia Cancer Agency. Many other factors could have contributed to those cancer rates, said McBride, who has headed a number of similar studies and found no direct link. Equally important is that studies in the lab don't show how radio waves can produce cancers, she said. Debate continues over the health effects of radio waves from transmitters, both large and small, and other forms of electromagnetic fields, including power lines and microwaves. Sam Milham, a Seattle-based epidemiologist and a pioneer in electromagnetic-field research, is convinced there are health effects. "Lots of research papers from around the world show increased cancers near transmitters, although TV and FM transmitters are more often implicated." Moreover, many lab studies show low-frequency EMF disrupt living cells, Milham asserts. Critics like McBride say such results are often difficult to reproduce at other labs. Milham says that's because of differences in the Earth's magnetic field and stray EMF. In an attempt to settle some of this, California's Department of Health Services reviewed all the current studies of EMF risks from power lines, wiring and appliances in 2002. It found no conclusive evidence of harm. However, links to childhood leukemia, adult brain cancer and Lou Gehrig's disease could not be ruled out. "I'm convinced that politics and corporate interests are behind denials (that say) there are no health effects," said Milham. Meanwhile, the FDA and the World Health Organization are urging more studies, especially of radio waves from cell phones. http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,64579,00.html?tw=rss.TOP (See also related stories at the website). (via Mike Terry, Aug 16, dxldyg via DXLD and Brock Whaley, DXLD) I'd treat such research with considerable suspicion. In view of the fact that high-power LF / MF transmissions in densely populated areas have been widespread since at least the 1920's, you'd think that someone, somewhere would have discovered any health problem donkeys [?] years ago. In particular, one would expect the inhabitants of Droitwich, Rugby, Allouis or Junglinster to be dropping dead like flies. 73 (Mark G0OIW Palmer, BDXC-UK via DXLD) Good point, Mark, but compare to asbestos causing cancer where it can take 60 years to appear. I also often wonder what PCs are doing to us all staring at them all day; we may be in for a big health shock in the years to come! Also mobiles may ruin the brain. The consequences could be disastrous. Happy thoughts!! Cheers (Mike Terry, ibid.) HOTTEST CAR RADIO FOR AM ? I drove a Pontiac Grand Am on a business trip to Bristol-Johnson City, TN in 1987 or 1988. The front end on that baby was exceptionally sensitive. It sounded as though they were using a varactor circuit that tracked the frequency being tuned and that the Q of the input tank was almost on the verge of putting the front end into regeneration, sort of like a Kiwa Loop but using the car whip. Received bandwidth was tight as a result and sensitivity way up there. The ground conductivity in that hilly area is poor, but still 300+ mile reception of lower band groundwave signals occurred. This thing would have rocked at the seashore or out on the Nebraska plains. I suspect that this may very well be the same Delco model that's in Craig Healy's '88 Blazer. In the '70s when I first started seriously Dxpeditioning from the car ('74 Pinto at the time), the first thing I did was place a regenerative FET preamplifier between the car whip and the input to the car radio. At the time I was working at Teradyne in downtown Boston near South Station and my northerly homeward commute along the Central Artery (still the elevated structure in those pre-Big Dig days) was a really slow crawl at 5 p.m., much of the time not moving at all. In autumn and winter I had noticed that I could do a certain amount of DXing with the unaided car radio. Around sunset at the waterfront location, many of the common TA's could be heard. Dakar, Senegal on 764 and Morocco on 818 were two of the "biggies". When I started using the regenerative preselector, I could successfully slice away more usable TA audio on splits that were just hets against domestics on the normal car whip directly to radio set-up. If an opening was a real "screamer", I'd get off the Central Artery and park along Atlantic Avenue near the New England Aquarium, Waterfront Park, and Joseph's Aquarium Restaurant. After about an hour I'd have a good assemblage of DX notes in the logbook and I'd head home. Because traffic was lighter later on, the seaside stop didn't add as much time to the trip as you might think. When receivers other than the car radio (which, of course, was designed for the high-impedance whip input) were used, use of the preselector became absolutely necessary. In the '80s I did some in-car DXing with the Sony ICF-2001 and ICF-2010 fed by the car whip / regen FET preselector combo. Later on I used a Kenwood R600 before graduating to a Drake R8 (and later an R8A) in the '90s. Though I seldom DX while in motion any more, other than just to spot openings and size up conditions, I have used the Drake R8A and a broadband active whip clamped to the roof rack if I wanted to listen to BBC-5975 or other shortwave on a long ride. I now do most of my serious DXing from the car while parked, usually around local sunset at seashore sites in Rockport and Rowley, MA. Almost always this involves the use of the R8A receiver and two antennas with a phasing unit to create a cardioid pattern nulling to the west. Most cars are too noisy when running for serious down-in-the-mud MW DX. Your best bet is to use the car whip, the placement of which has been optimized for low noise. It is designed for operating into a high-Q high-impedance tank, so a tuned FET preselector is advised for any receiver other than the car radio itself. Even the car radio can benefit from the use of such a preselector, as noted above. In-window antennas are junk as far as I can tell. When the car is stopped, noise is usually not a problem (though, in these wonderful modern times, some cars have computerized alarm and other digital supervisory circuits that can generate strange signals even when the ignition is turned off). On the Taurus I have now, about every 30 minutes a low-level buzz noise will come on. You clear it by putting the key in the ignition momentarily if it hadn't been in it, or by removing it momentarily if it had been in. I call the buzz "the voice of da car", not to be confused with something from Senegal. It has been there on two different Taurus models I've had. I have no clue what causes it. It's one of those minor irritations on DXpeditions, like the mosquitoes and gnats at the Rowley salt-marsh. I think that all automotive receivers should have audio line-in jacks. The need is mostly justified by all the IPods and other MP3 players out there (including audio-loaded laptop PC's). A case for input jacks can also be made by "old-timers" who still want to be able to play cassettes from a Walkman through the car's speakers. I've tried the FM audio transfer scheme. Many of these devices drift badly and can barely put out enough signal to be consistently clear in urban areas where just about every channel has something on it, either a real station or a mixing spur. Line-in audio is definitely the way to go (Mark Connelly, WA1ION - Billerica, MA, USA Aug 3, NRC-AM via DXLD Even if your head unit doesn't have an audio input, there are a variety of companies that now make "auxiliary input converters" that work on quite a lot of factory radios. They generally consist of a cable and a black box that convert the CD changer input (on the back of most decent head units) to an aux input. I have one that I use in my '03 Honda Accord to audio from my XM satellite tuner into the sound system. I got mine from this place: http://www.logjamelectronics.com/auxinpconv.html (Damon Cassell, ibid.) The FM modulator sold for use with the XM radio is powerful. Installed in the car, it has a range if about 200 feet without any sort of antenna, just the car wiring. I can listen to XM in the house by leaving the accessory position on in my car, which powers the XM and FM modulator. Then I just tune any radio in the house to my chosen frequency of 107.7 and there it is. Again, useable range is 150-200 feet. I have never noticed any drift at all. It's always right on 107.7 every time. I even have the audio output of the XM receiver turned down abit, so total deviation is less the +/- 75 kHz. The modulator is only about $25 or so. Having said that, I would definitely opt for an AUX-in if I had one. The mod/demod process isn't perfect. It is Good Enough, though (Craig Healy, Providence, RI, ibid.) SORTING OUT FM INTERMODULATION I wouldn't rule out - at ALL - the possibility that it's coming from the transmitters. Any time you have a whole forest of FM transmitters in close proximity, as you do atop West Peak in Meriden, where Hartford's 90.5/92.5/93.7/95.7/102.9/104.1/105.9 all originate, you have not only the possibility but the distinct likelihood that one station's antenna will receive and reradiate the signal of another nearby transmitter. I have similar problems from my nearby (4300 feet away!) Pinnacle Hill site, where 91.5/94.1/96.5/97.9 all interact in ugly ways. (104.3, in particular, is nearly useless here as a result.) I know the engineering situation up there very well, and I know without a doubt that the lack of proper filtering on each of the separate transmitters is a major cause for problems up there. Consider this: in a modern master-antenna FM setup (think Empire State Building or the two Chicago skyscrapers), there's an enormous room of filters, called the "combiner", that sits between the individual stations' transmitters and the master antenna. Without the combiner, each transmitter's output signal would flow back into the other stations' transmitters and cause all sorts of spurs and images and whatnot (not to mention damaging the other transmitters!). If it were up to me, I'd mandate similar filtering when you have nearby separate antennas for stations - after all, how much signal from Rochester's 97.9 gets right back into the 96.5 antenna, a few feet away? It makes a huge, hashy mess of the FM dial here, even on the very best tuners. (Scott Fybush, NY, Aug 3, WTFDA via DXLD) I'm with you. Given what I'm hearing I sure wouldn't rule out the transmitter site! I've seen plenty a multi-station sites where no proofs were done and no consideration was given to intermod. If the stations are on a diplexed antenna system, then a complete proof has to be filed with the license application. As such, diplexed facilities tend to be clean. The ones you have to worry about are the ones who slap an antenna on the side of a tower along with all the other FM antennas on the same tower. I inherited two such "systems" here, but I'm happy to say they have both been fixed. As for the problem at hand, has anybody talked with the engineers at the stations that are involved? As a chief engineer I've always been responsive to such reports. I've been able to resolve every case of "real" intermod, no matter how strange the cause (Girard Westerberg, Lexington, KY, WTFDA via DXLD) ON THE SAME WAVELENGTH Aug 12th 2004 Governments and industries are bracing themselves for the possibility that radio interference will become a thing of the past MOST people do not worry much about physics or politics when, for example, they look at the colours of a rainbow. Nor do they pause much when they use a remote control for their TV set, talk on a mobile phone, listen to the radio, cook food in their microwave oven, open their car door from a distance, or surf the internet without wires. Yet these are all phenomena of electromagnetic radiation. How humans harness electromagnetic waves -- and specifically those in the radio-frequency part of the spectrum -- has become so important that old and new ways of thinking are now lining up for a tense confrontation that will affect numerous businesses and billions of consumers. The old mindset, supported by over a century of technological experience and 70 years of regulatory habit, views spectrum -- the range of frequencies, or wavelengths, at which electromagnetic waves vibrate -- as a scarce resource that must be allocated by governments or bought and sold like property. The new school, pointing to cutting- edge technologies, says that spectrum is by nature abundant and that allocating, buying or selling parts of it will one day seem as illogical as, say, apportioning or selling sound waves to people who would like to have a conversation. . . See this article with graphics and related items at http://www.economist.com/science/displayStory.cfm?story_id=3084475 (via John Figliozzi, DXLD) MUSEA +++++ SECRETS OF THE KGB / VINTAGE RADIO ON DISPLAY According to an item in the Travel section of the Globe on Saturday, a vintage SW receiver is on display at the KGB Museum in Moscow: Col. Ivanov expresses pride at a museum display of the gear Powers had with him when his U-2 plane was shot down in 1960, including an automatic pistol, a short-wave radio and a CIA-issued "suicide pin" inside a hollowed out silver dollar that Powers was later criticized for not using to avoid capture. It also notes: The museum has no sign or firm hours of operation, but visits can be arranged through a travel or tour operator with expertise in Russian itineraries. and this: Many of the displays dispel the myth of the superiority of Soviet technology. A lot of what was considered state-of-the-art in the Cold War is so laughably low-tech by today's standards that even Agent 86, the bumbling spy played by Don Adams in the 1970s TV series Get Smart, wouldn't be fooled. Would you believe they tried the old sword in a cane trick? And agents really hid in hollow logs. URL: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20040814/SPY14/TPTravel/TopStories ef (Eric Flodén, Vancouver, Swprograms mailing list via DXLD) ###