DX LISTENING DIGEST 5-040, March 5, 2005 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 2005 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 Extra 54: Sun 0730 WOR WWCR 3210 Sun 0930 WOR WRN1 to North America, also WLIO-TV Lima OH SAP Sun 0930 WOR KSFC Spokane WA 91.9 Sun 0930 WOR WXPN Rhinelander WI 91.7 91.9 100.9 Sun 0930 WOR WDWN Auburn NY 89.1 [unconfirmed] Sun 0930 WOR KTRU Houston TX 91.7 [occasional] Sun 1030 WOR WRMI 9955 Sun 1100 WOR R. Lavalamp Sun 1400 WOR KRFP-LP Moscow ID 92.5 Sun 1500 WOR R. Lavalamp Sun 2000 WOR Studio X, Momigno, Italy 1584 87.35 96.55 105.55 Sun 2100 WOR RNI Mon 0330 WOR WRMI 7385 Mon 0400 WOR WBCQ 9330-CLSB Mon 0430 WOR WSUI Iowa City IA 910 [1265] Mon 0530 WOR WBCQ 7415 Mon 0900 WOR R. Lavalamp Mon 1700 WOR WBCQ after hours Tue 0700 WOR WPKN Bridgeport CT 89.5 Tue 1000 WOR WRMI 9955 Tue 1700 WOR WBCQ after hours Wed 1030 WOR WWCR 9985 Wed 1700 WOR WBCQ after hours MORE info including audio links: http://worldofradio.com/radioskd.html 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 Extra 54 (high version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/worx54h.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/worx54h.rm WORLD OF RADIO Extra 54 (low version, same as COM 04-09): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/com0409.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/com0409.rm (summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/com0409.html WORLD OF RADIO Extra 54 in the true shortwave sound of mp3: keep checking http://www.piratearchive.com/dxprograms.htm ** ALASKA. Adrian Peterson advises that a circular letter from the KNLS head office in Franklin, TN states that their new facility near Anchor Point, Alaska will go into full service on March 28. Perhaps the new 100 kW transmitter and antenna for KNLS2 will be heard with test broadcasts prior to the implementation of the new transmission period at the end of March (Jerry Berg-USA, DXplorer Feb 25 via BCDX March 5 via DXLD) ** ALBANIA. Dear Listener, How are you? Have you been listened to our programs recently on medium wave 1215 KHz that we rent from Albania at local time 0800-1000 AM (UT 0700-0900)? Our technical department would like to know about the reception conditions of this new frequency in your area. We would be delighted if you could monitor it and give us some feedback as soon as possible. We're looking forward to hearing from you. Best wishes. Sincerely yours, (YingLian [collective name], English Service, China Radio International, http://en.chinabroadcast.cn/ (Feb 28 via Olli-Jukka Paloneva, via Wolfgang Büschel, DXLD) 1215v kHz CRI Albania relay log. I checked the 1215 kHz channel this morning (March 3rd). As always Fllake-Albania signal is odd freq of 1214.86 kHz, 500 kW, 335 degrees. This produces a terrible heterodyne tone of just approx. 140 Hertz tone against Virgin Radio signal. Here in southern Germany 1215 kHz channel is totally covered by VIRGIN AM Radio station from United Kingdom for whole 0700-0857 UT winter schedule[0600-0757 in summer]. Channel is also used by VOA Albanian at 0600-0630 UT. Transmitter off, then tx sign-on again around 0640...0643 UT. Midst in the sentence DW- Deutsche Welle Germany in Albanian starts at about 0643 UT til 0659:30 UT. Resumen: CRI 1215 kHz relay at this time span can only be heard about up to 500 kilometers/300 miles around the transmitter; look at the map, on an area up to Rome, Milano, Sicily Italy, all Slovenia, Zagreb Croatia, Belgrade Yugoslavia, Bucharest southern Romania, Sofia western Bulgaria, Athens Greece area, maybe in Tunis, northern Tunisia. But NEVER in Hungary, Slovak/Czech Republic, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, France, Spain and Portugal neither, due of VIRGIN Radio on very same channel (wb, wwdxc BC-DX Mar 3 via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. STATION NEWS: VKS737 --- The Australian National 4WD Clubs base stations are located at Adelaide SA, Alice Springs and Darwin NT, Cairns and Charters Towers QLD, Derby and Perth, Newcastle NSW, St Marys TAS & Swan Hill VIC replacing Sandstone WA which closed during 2004. All base stations can be remotely controlled from any other base station in the case of emergency. Selcal alerts available. The base station operators provide the following services to members: -Daily safety logging of members location and planned movements over the following days. -Message handling to and from family, friends etc -Medical advice and emergency aid arranged through RFDS bases at Broken Hill and Jandakot, as well as from the SA, Victoria and WA Police. -Road condition reports -Weather reports, Bushfire danger index warnings, and Cyclone warnings from the Bureau of Meteorology. -HF propagation warnings and information from IPS Radio & Space Services. Channel Frequency Remarks 1 5455 Second channel for skeds etc when conditions are such that reception of Ch2 is degraded. 2 8022 Main channel for all skeds, also used by members for private traffic outside of sked slots. 3 11612 Used for minor sked tfc, often subject to overseas interference. 4 14977 Used for minor sked traffic, often has very good reach during the middle part of day. 5 3995 No sked traffic - free for use by members. Quite good for short distance communication. Road Condition & Weather Information Non Daylight Saving Time Schedules UTC Base Frequency 2130-2230 Charters Towers 8022* 2230-2300 Alice Springs 8022, 5455 2330-2335 Derby 5455 2335-2345 Derby 8022 2345-0000 Perth 8022 11612 14977 0400-0500 Derby 8022 5455 0500-0530 Charters Towers 14977 0600-0630 Charters Towers 11612 0600-0630 Charters Towers 8022 0630-0800 Alice Springs 8022 0800-0830 Adelaide 8022 0830-0900 Alice Springs 5455 0830-0900 Adelaide 5455 8022 0900-0910 St Marys 5455 8022 1000-1030 Perth 5455 6022 [sic] -Finishing times may be extended subject to traffic demand. -Weather and road reports are available on request. *Summer schedule 2200-2230 UTC (Utility DX, March 2005 - Australian Radio DX Club via DXLD) ** BELGIUM. BELGIQUE --- La situation n'a quasiment pas changé en quelques mois. Les émissions en français et allemand disparaîtront au 26 mars. Pour l'anglais, deux bulletins d'information devraient être conservés à 08h56 et 19h56, heure locale, soit 0656 et 1756 TU, mais sur le satellite Astra uniquement. Le samedi 26 mars, date de la dernière diffusion en français, une émission spéciale sera transmise. On pense à une sorte de plateau mixte, avec quelques archives, souvenirs, bilan et adieux divers. On citera certainement la liste - qui n'est pas si courte - de tous ceux qui ont collaboré aux émissions depuis septembre 1986, date de l'ouverture des émissions en français. Il y aura également des interviews de certaines de ces personnes (RVi - 24 février 2005, informations issues de http://perso.wanadoo.fr/jm.aubier via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. 3400, Rádio Guarujá Paulista, Guarujá Paulista, SP, 0246- 0251, March 05, Portuguese, program conduced by male; the speaker talked with different listeners. Ann. & ID: "atencão, atenção..., na Guarujá..." & "na Guarujá, com a música preferida", 24432 // 5045 & 5930.4 Also at 0846-0851, March 05, Portuguese, TC: "faltam 15 para as 6".- Jingles. ID´s: " ...pra Radio Guarujá na 1550 kHz, ligue pra nosso Departamento Comercial... para tudo Brasil nas ondas curtas, médias e FM na Rádio Guarujá". Ann.: "...sintonice 1550 ....Show da Bola da Guarujá AM, a rádio da família", 44433 // 3235.1 // 5045 & 5930.4 (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, HCDX via DXLD) 3400 kHz (new frequency?) R. Guarujá Paulista, Guarujá SP, 26 Feb 2233-2314, int'l songs, TCs, slogan "Guarujá Paulista - A Rádio da Família!", oldies; 45332; \\ 5045 only (!) audible later, 2300 (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, Conexión Digital via DXLD) Since 3400 is on the boundary with the aero band, they might get some complaints. Per previous report they had supposedly settled on 3385 after some tests on 3400, ex-3235 (gh, DXLD) Re my latest contributions to your bulletin, which I thought was available y/day, 3rd March, this is the explanation on R. Guarujá Paulista's 3400 kHz outlet. 3400 kHz is just the temporary 90 mb channel of R. Guaruja Paulista before moving to the re-assigned frequency of 3385; the old frequency of 3235 was troublesome due to interference (Sarmento Campos via Samuel Cassio, both in B, via Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, wwdxc BC-DX Mar 4 via DXLD) UNID --- right now I have an UNID on 3400 kHz (i.e. around 0330) playing slow songs (like religion?) and YL & YM talking a couple of times. But EXTREMELY weak here. Can any of you guys check it? Language could be anything but I had a sense that it might be English? (Finn Krone, Denmark, wwdxc BC-DX Feb 28 via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. Radio Nacional Amazonia had moved down to former 6180 February 28th, heard at good strength 0750 UT with phone in programme of chat and music. This meant Radio Educación was again in the clear after Vatican went off 0745 UT, also good strength with a classical music programme (Noel Green-UK, WDXC-UK Contact Feb 28 via BC-DX via DXLD) Yeah, but to stay on 6180? (gh) Due of newly RFI-TDF DRM transmission on 6175 kHz no chance to hear something +/- 20 kHz here in Europe (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid., Mar 3) ** CANADA. ALBERTA CBC FIRES TALK SHOW HOST Sierra Club and others are organizing protests about the sudden dismissal of Don Hill, host of CBC's Wild Rose Forum phone-in show on Radio One. Here's an item from the Edmonton Sun gossip column. cheers, (Penney Kome, Caj-list via Rickey Leong, DXLD) Viz.: http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/Columnists/Edmonton/Graham_Hicks/2005/03/02/pf-946796.html WHAT HAPPENED TO DON HILL? Wed, March 2, Edmonton Sun By GRAHAM HICKS Doesn't sound right. The CBC rarely dispatches show hosts with no notice on the grounds of being "redundant," which was the official reason Don Hill was given earlier this week for his immediate termination as host of CBC radio's noon news/call-in Wild Rose Forum. Hmmm ... wouldn't have anything to do with the veteran journalist's persistent investigation into Enron and its relationship to Alberta's power grid during the province's "electricity-restructuring" period, would it? Or with Hill's ongoing series on gay rights, which has drawn serious fire from both sides of that particular debate? The CBC wouldn't fire program hosts because of political heat. Would it? (via Penney Kome, CAJ-list via Ricky Leong, DXLD) ** CANADA. CBC RADIO THREE'S LAUDED WEB MAG DIES --- But you still have time to see the last edition of the award-winning project, writes ALEXANDRA GILL, Saturday, March 5, 2005 - Page R5 VANCOUVER -- If you've never seen the CBC's award-winning arts and culture Web magazine at http://www.cbcradio3.com be sure to check out the current edition. It is the last one. After 100 issues and three prestigious Webby awards (among numerous other international design, art, communication and technical-engineering prizes), the on- line magazine has been killed off as the public broadcaster's innovative Web service tries to reinvent itself once again with a new mandate focusing squarely on music and more traditional radio programming. For the uninitiated, CBC Radio Three was launched in 2000 as an experimental Internet service for younger audiences after incoming president Robert Rabinovitch withdrew the CBC's application to the CRTC for a youth FM radio network. It's gone through several incarnations, but for the last two years has been heralded as one of the country's premier portals for independent music, arts and culture. The on-line magazine was launched in 2003 and updated weekly to present feature stories, photographic essays, poetry, interviews and profiles on artists of all genres that incorporate audio, video and text in a new form of integrated, multimedia storytelling. In addition to a weekly playlist of new Canadian music, the website acts as a hub for Radio Three's more comprehensive music sites --- http://newmusiccanada.com http://rootsmusiccanada.com and http://justconcerts.com along with producing two CBC Radio Two programs, the veteran underground music Brave New Waves and the weekend CBC Radio Three Redux program, both of which are broadcast in the wee hours of the morning on CBC Radio Two. When the cbcradio3.com website is relaunched at an unspecified date later this year, the on-line network's three music sites will be merged into a single URL at http://www.cbcradio3.com featuring an enhanced version of the tracks, concerts, playlists and original CBC jam sessions already available -- but without the magazine's editorial content. The overnight CBC Radio Three Redux program will continue to air throughout the transition, but its future is uncertain. If the CBC's application for a satellite radio-station licence is successful, it could re-emerge in a hugely expanded format that airs 24 hours a day, seven days a week. But the broadcaster is also looking at new ways of incorporating Radio Three's content into Radio One and Two. "We're not sure exactly what it will be," says Jane Chalmers, vice- president of CBC Radio. "Their work is outstanding and they've been doing a great job. But if you walk down the street in Vancouver or Toronto, unfortunately, most people don't know what it is. We want to increase the brand recognition and give these new musicians more exposure on conventional radio, as well as on the Web." In the meantime, all but four of the program's 25 Vancouver-based staff members have been let go and asked to reapply for 18 positions that will require conventional broadcast experience. The new unit will continue to be based out of Vancouver, but work with correspondents across the country. The Canadian Media Guild has condemned the move and taken the unusual step of asking other guild members to consider not applying for the posted jobs in hopes that the laid-off employees will be automatically reassigned. Chalmers, however, says these are new broadcasting jobs, not comparable to the Web focus of the old positions. The realignment, she adds, will not involve any budget cuts. Robert Ouimet is the former director of CBC Radio Three and one of its founders. He left last spring to work as a consultant in the private sector and wishes the CBC well, but says its goals are misguided. "Radio Three is intended to speak to a, quote, younger audience," he says, noting that in the five years he was at Radio Three, the CBC spent only $100,000 promoting it. "Younger audiences do not listen to CBC One or Two. They never have. I'm sure the new unit is going to make great items for traditional CBC audiences, but they're not going to be attracting a new audience. "And now you have this whole community of freelancers [at Radio Three] who were making really interesting art and stories and editorial positions on everything from Kyoto to new music and they will be gone. They'll be picked up by new-media companies and ad agencies and the whole vision will be lost." Ouimet, who is working on a Web- and cellphone-based youth voting initiative called Check Your Head, finds it even more ironic that the CBC is backing out of its new-media stronghold just as the private sector and Crown corporations such as Telefilm Canada are pumping money into such projects. "The private sector is totally into this stuff now and it makes me sad that the CBC doesn't realize the gem they developed. They could carry it so much further, but that would require a vision outside of their traditional fence." Bell Globemedia (c) Copyright 2005 Bell Globemedia Publishing Inc. All Rights Reserved (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** CANADA. [Canada NewsWire Group] MÉTIS RADIO STATION (on net) http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/March2005/01/c9923.html March 2, 2005 Attention News/Assignment Editors: Media Advisory - http://www.metisradio.fm Global Launch Scheduled for March 10th, 2005 in Toronto OTTAWA, March 1 /CNW Telbec/ - The Métis Nation of Ontario is proud to announce the Global Launch of http://www.metisradio.fm --- the first- ever web-based Métis Radio Station, at 8:00 p.m. EST on March 10, 2005. http://www.metisradio.fm will go live to the internet at a Gala Métis Jamboree in downtown Toronto. The location of the Gala Launch will be: The Berkeley Church (Corner of Queen St. East and Berkeley) 315 Queen Street East Toronto, Ontario doors open at 6:30 p.m. for cocktails and a Metis Artists Exhibit. The performance line-up includes CCMA Independent Male Artist of the Year John Landry, Clint Dutiaume winner of the first ever "Best Fiddle Album" award at the recent Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards, Métis Fiddle legend John Arcand; and co-hosts Tantoo Cardinal and Ray St. Germain, along with many more. Please visit http://www.metisradio.fm to get the latest information. The Gala Métis Jamboree is open to the public - $10.00 /person - tickets at the door. This event is brought to you with the support of the Government of Canada and these other proud sponsors: Métis Nation of Ontario, Government of Ontario and Collins Barrow Chartered Accountants. For further information: Beverley Newton, 1-613-798-1488, 1-800-263-4889; Katelin Peltier, 1-613-798-1488, 1-800-263-4889, cell: 1-613-859-7130 (via Dan Say, BC, DXLD) ** CANADA. INDUSTRY CANADA - CANADIAN FREQUENCY ASSIGNMENT LISTS This Canadian government site offers frequency lists for radio systems in Canada, including air, amateur, passive repeaters, PCS, ships, all by regions. There are also regional and national frequency lists. Information is supplied in compressed files. http://spectrum.ic.gc.ca/tafl/tafindxe.html (via Sheldon Harvey, Greenfield Park, Quebec, March Radio HF Internet Newsletter via DXLD) ** CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC [non]. Hirondelle - Radio Ndeke Luke in B- 04, but seems [extended] at 1730-1930 UT time span now: 11760 (x11785) 1830-1930 46E,47W RMP 500 160 G NEW MER or 11760 (x11785) 1830-1930 46E,47W WOF 250 152 G NEW MER The independent Radio Ndeke Luke, run by Hirondelle Foundation http://www.hirondelle.org continues to broadcast (Wolfgang Büschel, BCDX March 5 via DXLD) ** CHILE. ESTADOS UNIDOS VIA CHILE – Os testes, em ondas curtas digitais, com a programação em português para o Brasil, realizados pela Voz Cristã, foram úteis para a equipe técnica da emissora. Os engenheiros monitoraram as emissões. A equipe, no entanto, não recebeu informes dos ouvintes. Ficou a constatação de que é preciso esperar os preços dos atuais receptores aptos a sintonizar as ondas curtas digitais baixarem. "Estamos torcendo para que empresas chinesas passem a fabricar os receptores", avaliou o apresentador da emissora, Edson Bruno Zilse (Célio Romais, Panorama via Conexión Digital March 5 via DXLD) ** CHINA [non]. BBC`s China Week: See UK; relays to Europe: ALBANIA ** CHINA [non]. 11765, Radio Sonido de Esperanza, escuchada desde el pasado 20 de febrero a partir de las 1645 con comentarios alternados en chino mandarín. (Una interferencia deliberada de China con música orquestada continua había sobre la misma frecuencia, la que estaba en // a 9680 khz) con llamados por teléfono a las 1649. Notada luego con música pop. La transmisión de esta emisora finalizó a las 1700 y la interferencia finalizó a las 1701; en esta oportunidad, la señal estuvo sobre la interferencia. El día 27 febrero escuchada desde las 1635 con la versión china de los valses de Viena; el resto del programa consistió de música coral con trompetas y algunos pocos anuncios. A las 1659 breves comentarios por locutor con probable ID. La interferencia molestaba más la emisión (Edward Kusalik, Alberta, en Dxplorer via Gabriel Iván Barrera, Conexión Digital via DXLD) ** CROATIA. 3402 Harmonic. Auf 3402 kHz ist gelegentlich Hrvatski Radio mit 3 x 1134 kHz zu empfangen. So auch am MITTWOCH, 02.03.2005, zwischen 0500 und 0530 UTC mit O=2 gehoert (Herbert Meixner-AUT, A-DX Mar 2 via BC-DX via DXLD) ** ECUADOR. La Voz del Napo, 3279.54 kHz, 0530-0630 UT (fade-out at end of local dawn here). Singing, from 0549 apparently religious (or at least social-ideological) program in Spanish. At 0635 the audio had almost gone entirely, but the carrier was still detectable. 73, Eike – (Eike Bierwirth 04317 Leipzig, DL, March 5, dxldyg via DXLD) ** FRANCE. Yes, we now have another racket to contend with on 49 mb. DRM was audible on 6175 kHz at tune in today at 0800+. The signal was S9+15dB with lots of hash each side, and even audible on 6190. I could hear what probably were BRZ and/or MEX 6185, but could not copy for certain. And BTW - I was listening to 6185 on Thursday morning at 0755 and there were no DRM signals on 6175 then, so I assume TDF came on air later (Noel R. Green-UK, wwdxc BC-DX Mar 4 via DXLD) See BRAZIL ** FRANCE. RADIO FRANCE GOES ALL DIGITAL --- Thursday, 3 March 2005 http://www.ukradio.com/news/articles/B78057919CEA4DBE9CC00F8598A627D7.asp Radio France are to unveil plans for an all-digital distribution network, at the Digital Radio Mondiale TM (DRMTM) consortium's annual General Assembly meeting in Paris next week. Radio France, a DRM member since 2001, will transmit special preview DRM medium-wave/AM broadcasts of France Culture audio and multimedia content from March 7-11, to mark the announcement. The new Radio France distribution network will provide listeners with a range of digital broadcasting technologies including DRM. Radio France will host DRM's General Assembly, Steering Board and committee meetings at its headquarters, Maison de la Radio, from March 7-10. DRM members TDF and Thales are assisting with Radio France's special preview DRM broadcasts. TDF will transmit the Radio France broadcasts from its Villebon transmitting station, which is located approximately 20 kilometres southwest of Paris. TDF and Thales have modified an existing 300 kW medium wave solid state transmitter, from Thales' S7 family, for the DRM broadcasts. "France's upcoming migration to digital radio necessitated our investment in a new distribution network that will work seamlessly with any digital broadcasting system, such as DRM, DAB, DVB and wireless Internet," says Sylvain Anichini, Deputy General Manager of Radio France. "We have designed a flexible networking system that allows for a range of options, without the constraints of long-term technological choices. This will enable Radio France to move forward in line with digital broadcasting's evolution, including domains such as source coding and datacasting." Over the past few years, Radio France has digitalized its production and archive sectors, following the same principle of designing open systems. DRM Chairman Peter Senger heralded Radio France's news, saying, "The prospect of DRM broadcasts on Radio France is a significant development in the system's growth within Europe. I am delighted that DRM's members - who are broadcasters, network operators and manufacturers from around the globe - will have the opportunity to experience Radio France's DRM preview in Paris next week." (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) ** GERMANY. See DRM below ** GREECE. Obviously the curtain antennas at Avlis handle only up to a power of 100 kW? After Gloria collapse RFE Portugal donated 3 x 250 kW to the Greeks. Old 35 kW units at Thessaloniki ceased service in Jan 2001, and all relays via Avlis and/or Kavalla from A-01 season onwards (Wolfgang Büschel, BC-DX March 5 via DXLD) ** GUANTANAMO BAY [and non]. If you have over US$30 mega to spare, why don`t you buy a Gulfstream V turbojet. Order up a new one and you get Rolls Royce engines, satellite telephones, two lavatories, a galley, crew quarters and an interior customised to your requirements. When Premier Executive Transport Services ordered their new Gulfstream V in 1998 we can only guess at what interior fittings they specified because it seems that Premier, whose only address is a lawyer`s office in Dedham, MA, USA, aren`t in the business of shipping holidaymakers about. PETS are a CIA `front` company specialising in `rendition` flights. In this case, rendition refers to their practice of `rendering` terrorist suspects available for detention and interrogation in another location. Hence they need an aeroplane or two. In fact, PETS purchased another aircraft, a Boeing 737-700 in 2001. Their Gulfstream, delivered to them in November 1999 with the tail number N581GA, has now had several registration changes. In its most recent incarnation it exists as N44982. Known as the Guantánamo Bay Express, its 7300 mile range has seen it visit such diverse countries as Pakistan, Libya, Germany, India, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Dubai, Uzbekistan, Germany, Jordan and the USA. On 18 December 2001, masked Americans working with the Swedish security police loaded some terrorist suspects on board at Stockholm`s Bromma airport and flew them to Cairo where they were wanted by the authorities. No stranger to our region, this airplane made three visits to Shannon last year and was at Glasgow`s Prestwick airport on 25 June 2004 wearing one of its previous identifies, N8068V. In its current guise as N44982, it is authorised to land at any USA military airfield world-wide, which is some honour for what is officially a private jet. As people have become aware of the existence of the Guantánamo Bay Express, so the registration has changed and more recently has its ownership. Current owners are shown as Bayard Foreign Marketing LLC of 921 SW Washington Street, Portland, Oregon. Bayard`s owners are equally invisible as are the new owners of PETS 737-700, previously registered as N313P, but now known as N4476S and owned by Keele and Tate Management of 245 East Liberty Street SW, Reno, Nevada, another company whose officers only seem to exist on paper. Both aircraft are devoid of company markings or logos. The terrorists are fighting a very cruel, dirty war and they abide by no rules. The plain fact is that if our governments play a straight, fair game, then we are bound to lose. No question. So while I have no comment to make on the cargo of the two aircraft, it will be interesting to monitor their progress around the world on the HF and VHF air frequencies [WTFK?]. It`s a fair bet that callsigns will either consist of the tail numbers or perhaps an abbreviation of the owner`s name. Having said that, they may just use a `Reach` callsign denoting the Strategic Air Command. Interesting times for radio monitors. It seems that suspects transported in this way are stripped of clothing, given a suppository and placed in nappies and clothed in orange coveralls prior to being manacled to a customised transit board, thereby rendering them immobile for the entire flight. If, on your next Easyjet flight to Spain, you espy the captain donning the Marigolds, then may I suggest a week in Skeggy instead! (Ben Hogan, SSB Utilities, Short Wave Magazine [UK], March, via DXLD) ** GUIANA FRENCH. JAPÃO VIA GUIANA FRANCESA – Sistematicamente, as emissões, em português, da Rádio Japão, via relay na Guiana Francesa, vêm enfrentando problemas técnicos. Tal ocorre tanto entre 0230 e 0300, em 9660 kHz, quanto das 1030 às 1100, em 9530 kHz. Ou o sinal aparece quase na metade da emissão ou é cortado faltando alguns minutos para a transmissão encerrar. Exemplo disso ocorreu em 27 de fevereiro, nos dois horários. Não foi possível acompanhar o espaço Linha Direta, que é um bate-papo informal com base nas cartas e e- mails dos ouvintes, conduzido pelo jornalista mineiro Santiago Filho, que há décadas trabalha na emissora (Célio Romais, Panorama via Conexión Digital March 5 via DXLD) ** IRAN [non]. EGYPT [to IRAN], 11630.16 [x11625, x11660, x15650], R. Seda-ye Mellat-e Iran. Today noted moved up 5 kHz to 11630 to avoid Iranian jammers on Sat March 5th. Usual 1430-1500 UT transmission in Persian via Cairo. Also station ID heard twice. Accompanied by Iranian jammers, generator engine type jammer on 11630 and 11632.68 kHz, and a lonely 'forgotten' bubble jammer on 11624.00 kHz. 160 Hertz het accompanied by an UNID station underneath on exact 11630.00 kHz, seemingly the Chinese domestic station Lingshi CHN-8 in Kazakh language (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX Mar 5 via DXLD) ** KOREA SOUTH [non]. Now I know how KBS World Radio pronounces its new name in Spanish: caught the last few minutes of the Sackville 6045 relay March 5. ``KBS`` and ``Radio`` are pronounced as in Spanish, and ``World`` is pronounced as in English with a Spanish accent. I am reamazed at how and why Asian stations want to use this most Anglo- Saxon word difficult to pronounce properly in other languages including their own. At least it didn`t emerge as ``Warudo`` as it does on R. Japan, tho I have yet to hear how they say it in Korean. The announcer was chopped off at 0629 sharp for a one-second RCI ID and transmitter off. Someone at Sackville or Montreal should inform someone in Seoul that they need to wrap up their shows in less than 29:00 minutes. I`ll bet this is never fixed, however, since I may be the only person in the KBS World who cares (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LUXEMBOURG. The LUX [DRM] racket on 5990 was appalling today same time, and the hash clearly audible 20 kHz or more on the HF side - there was no 'gap' between this and the DW 5975 DRM so it was difficult to tell which signal was which on the LF side (Noel R. Green-UK, wwdxc BC-DX Mar 4 via DXLD) ** MEXICO. 6185 QRM: see BRAZIL ** MEXICO [and non]. For the past 3(?) days, XESS-620 has been simlucasting the banda format of XEPE-1700. "La tremenda 6-20/1700" slogan is now heard on both channels. No more WW1 NOS on 620. 73, (Tim Hall, Chula Vista, CA, Feb 26, Corazón DX via DXLD) The Tijuana stations pretending to be Tecate and Ensenada stations are at it again --- XESS-620 had been running //XEPE-1700 with banda for the last 5 or 6 days. (They even made all new promo announcements "La Tremenda 6-20, 1700" etc.). Last night they were running open carrier as I drove home from work around 1 am. Today they are running a program in Spanish that is not // 1030 or 1700. Here we go again (Tim Hall, March 2, ibid.) Update on our favorite knuckleheads in Tijuana: The banda format and "La Tremenda" slogans are now only on XESS-620. No more simulcast with XEPE-1700. That lasted all of about 5 or 6 days, pretty dumb considering they made up jingles with the dual frequencies and everything. XEPE-1700 is stunting, running the same song over and over again. Last night, it was a miserable "urban contemptible" dance mix thing, "sung" in Spanglish. Tonight, the song they're repeating is closer to Norteña. The phrase "more money than brains" comes to mind. 73, (Tim Hall, March 3, ibid.) Has The Mighty 1090 found a solution to their East County signal problem? Is the company also making a run to be a flagship station for football? the broadcast deal to operate these stations is slated for this week, most likely on Wednesday or Thursday, independent sources tell SDRadio. All the paperwork is in place. Quetzal Bilingual Communications, the license holder for KURS-AM 1040, has filed and been approved for cross-border permits. This step is necessary to export programming from the U.S. to Mexico or Canada. The stations identified include: Spanish language programming to XESDD-AM 1030, and XESS-AM 620. The stations are licensed to Puerto Nuevo, Baja California. XEKTT-AM 1700, English and/or Spanish language broadcasts. The station is licensed to Tijuana. Application applied for: XHBCE-FM 105.7 to deliver English or Spanish language programming. XHBCE-FM is licensed to Ensenada. XEKTT-AM and XHBCE-FM were recently named as the possible stations that Broadcast Group of the Americas will operate. BCA's main station is XEPRS-AM, The Mighty 1090. 1090's signal is heard better in Irvine than Alpine, and it is believed that if these two additional stations are operated by BCA, Padres baseball could be heard in East County on AM 1700. The high-end radio station is 10,000 watts day and night according to the FCC webpage. If the Union-Tribune's Jay Posner is correct (and he always is), we'll know by the first Padre spring training game on Friday. Initially, 105.7's programming would be in Spanish language until a permit is approved by the FCC. The Mighty 1090 has tapped KURS before as it used the station to broadcast Aztec sports during Padres baseball conflicts. Stay Tuned (SDRadio.net Feb 28 via DXLD) Rumor has it that XEPE-1700 is being leased by the folks at XEPRS-1090 so they will have a second frequency for their sports programming. XEPRS' directional signal is not very well received in eastern San Diego County despite their 50,000 watt power. XEPE was still stunting last time I tuned in. 73, (Tim Hall, CA, March 4, IRCA via DXLD) No official word from The Mighty 1090, and the expected addition of two Mexico-based stations will not happen today. It seems that cross- border applications and equipment are holding the first broadcasts for the time being. It is believed that AM 1700 would be a secondary home to the Padres, and 105.7 FM to be a music-based station. Today, Padres spring training baseball starts at The Mighty 1090. Meanwhile, the new Home of Rome, Xtra Sports 570 continues to baffle sports fans who want Jim Rome and Lee Hacksaw Hamilton static free on air. The 570 signal starts to loose its snap, and starts to crackly and pop south of Encinitas on the coast and Escondido inland -- and is unlistenable in East County. Is 5,000 watts enough? Perhaps for Los Angeles, fans of the station write SDRadio, but not for San Diego.... Stay (crackle) Tuned (SDRadio.net March 4 via DXLD) ** MONGOLIA. 12085, V. of Mongolia, Khankhor, observed on 24 Feb at 0906-1052 UT (very poor by 1000, but a lot better when observed this station on the south [antenna?], audible till later), Mo, C 0930, E 1000, Mo 1030; 55433, but the carrier is AC-type noise infested. I wonder if there isn't someone in the station itself who notices it, and cures the problem (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, wwdxc BC-DX Mar 2 via DXLD) ** NEW ZEALAND. Radio New Zealand International A05 27 Mar - 01 May UTC kHz Target Azimuth Days 0459-0705 11820 All Pacific, also heard in Eur, mid-west USA 0 Daily 0706-1059 9885 All Pacific, also heard mid-west USA 0 Daily 1100-1259 9885 NW Pacific, Bougainville, PNG, Timor, Asia 325 Daily 1300-1650 6095 All Pacific 0 Daily 1651-1850 6095 Fiji, Niue, Samoa, Cook Islands 35 Daily 1851-1950 9845 All Pacific, also heard in Europe 0 Daily 1951-2050 11725 All Pacific 0 Daily 2051-0458 15720 All Pacific 0 Daily (via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, March 5, dxldyg via DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA [and non]. The Honorable Gene Stipe --- According to this article http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/26/business/media/26radios.html It looks like the FCC may revoke the five McAlester licenses (KNED, KMCO, KESC, KTMC A/F) if the initial sale doesn't go through. While I can see the FCC's side in wanting to punish Mr. Stipe, I can also see the disservice it would do to Southeast Oklahoma. The only station really capable of serving the McAlester area in this case would be KTNT 102.5 in Eufaula, or some of the Ada stations. I would hope the FCC would at least auction the stations off before they just totally did away with the licenses (MediaMogul, Feb 28, Radio-Info Oklahoma board via DXLD) That was what I thought until I saw something similar firsthand. I live in central Missouri, and I was here (and working for a competitor) when Mike Rice lost his licenses in Columbia and Eldon and his CP in Huntsville (as well as his Indiana stations). I was very surprised when the FCC ordered KFMZ and KBMX off-the-air in October 2001. I figured they would do anything but what they did. I very strongly agree that convicted felons should not hold licenses, and I think most people do. After all, you can't be expected to operate in the public trust when you've violated it by committing a crime. However, I'm also against just stripping licenses and leaving them off for years, like the FCC has done in Rice's situation. It's been three and a half years, and all of his signals remain in limbo. It just seems to me like there's always a better way than just stripping licenses and forcing stations to go dark, and, if, for some reason, that's the only way to get a felon out of the ownership business, either new permits or interim permits should be awarded promptly. Certainly, it could be done more quickly than it has been done in the case of KFMZ and KBMX. After all, there was no shortage of applicants for interim permits for any one of Rice's old frequencies (Kent, ibid.) There once was a time when the FCC would look at the qualifications of an assignee and not punish them for the sins of the previous license holder. After all, if transferring a license to a responsible party cleaned up a bad situation, than the public benefited and a Commission headache went away. That basic philosophy is consistent with the current rules regarding public file contents and even the showing required in license renewal. The Commission holds you responsible for what happened on your watch. If the Stipe cluster has been sold to another party, let the Government attach the proceeds of the sale. Stipe would then be deprived of the benefit of the deal and the buyer would not be penalized, and the public would have their stations. Of course, that is the common sense approach. I have learned that expecting common sense from D.C. often leads to disappointment (101PecanRanch, ibid.) ** PERU. Amigo ghauser, para mi es un honor poder escribirte a una gran persona como lo eres que realmente está dedicado enteramente a lo que es diexismo. Mi nombre es Pablo Alfredo Albornoz Rojas; soy operador de Radio Municipal de Panao, en onda corta 3173 kHz, banda tropical de 90 metros. Gracias y doy por publicar sobre Radio Municipal de Panao en diferentes publicaciones tuyas. Me gustaría sinceramente compartir y me des tus enseñanzas; realmente estoy aprendiendo de amigos como tú. Estaré en espera de tu respuesta; me despido sin antes decearte 73 DX. Colecciono adhesivos y banderines de emisoras del mundo; me encantaría que por favor dieras a conocer en tus publicaciones mi nombre y dirección. Dirección: (Pablo Alfredo Albornoz Rojas, Jirón Tacna 385, Panao, Pachitea, Huánuco, Peru. Correo elec. Dalsmop1 @ hotmail.com March 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PHILIPPINES. Radio Veritas Asia A05 (From March 27, 2005) Lang. UTC Khz Bengali 0030-0057 11770 1400-1430 11875 Hindi 0030-0057 11790 1330-1400 11875 Hmong 1000-1027 11780 Indonesian 2300-2327 9505 2300-2327 11820 1200-1227 11795 Kachin 2330-2357 9625 1230-1257 15225 Karen 0000-0027 11795 1200-1230 15225 Mandarin 2100-2257 6110 1000-1157 9720 Burmese 2330-2357 9805 1130-1157 15450 Filipino 2300-2327 7180 Filipino 1500-1530 9695 Filipino (Wed, Fri & Sun Extension) 1530-1600 9695 Russian 0130-0230 17830 1500-1600 9570 Sinhala 0000-0127 11820 1330-1400 9565 Tamil 0030-0057 15520 1400-1430 9565 Telugu 0100-0127 15530 1430-1457 9565 Urdu 0100-0127 15300 0100-0127 17860 1430-1457 11875 Vietnamese 2330-2357 9670 0130-0230 15530 1030-1127 11850 1300-1327 11850 Zomi-Chin 0000-0027 11895 Transmitting Station : Palauig, Zambales Geographical Location : 119 .50 E; 15 .28 N Transmitters : 3x 250 KW Antenna Type : 3x HRS 4/4/0.3 4x HRS 4/4/0.5 8x HR 2/2/0.5 (via Ashik Eqbal Tokon, Rajshahi, Bangladesh, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PORTUGAL. Re: DXLD 5-039 --- According to info from Ms. Teresa Beatriz Abreu, RDPi Chief Engineer, the main transmitter site is referred to as Pegões. The transmitters at Sines are fed by way of satellite, which explains a delay of 2.5 seconds on their audio. [Per my own measurements, the delay is more than 2.5 seconds, perhaps in the order of 4]. Wrote Ms. Abreu in an email a couple of weeks ago: ``Quanto ao atraso do sinal em 11660 kHz, deve-se ao facto de ele ser efectuado a partir da estação emissora da Pro-Funk, em Sines (cerca de 150 Km ao sul de Lisboa), que recebe o sinal produzido nos nossos estúdios de Lisboa, através do satélite. Quanto às restantes transmissões elas são efectuadas a partir da nossa estação emissora de Pegões, sendo aí o sinal recebido por feixe hertziano. Deste modo, a transmissão em 11660 kHz é afectada pelo atraso no transporte do sinal via satélite, o qual rondará os 2,5s.`` This was in answer to an enquiry about the delay I noted on 11660 compared to 9755 and 9815, which carry the same programming in the morning at 0800 (Henrik Klemetz, Sweden, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I don`t have the exact figure handy, but I think a single satellite- hop to geostationary orbit and back causes a delay of about 300 ms, i.e. 3/10 of one second, right Wolfie? So a delay of 2.5 seconds would mean 8 hops or so, and 4 seconds, 13 hops! Surely something else is involved here, such as digital delays somewhere in the circuit, or a deliberate delay at the transmitter site in order to even out power consumption when more than one frequency is carrying the same program (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The reason why I wrote to RDPi in the first place was to ask if a transmitter site outside of Portugal was involved, Azores perhaps. My query was referred to the C.E. and the answer is what you have already seen. Perhaps Wolfgang could try the three frequencies already tomorrow morning to gauge the delay. 9815 is considerably weaker here than the two others (Henrik Klemetz, ibid.) I never checked the Pegões outlets against DW Sines site (delay) yet. Latter they use a different frequency on weekdays / Sat-Sun. Mo-Fr 0745-0900 11660 250 55 deg / SAT/SUN 0930-1100 9815 250 55 deg There is a log-periodic antenna in use, which result in a small lobe towards Central Europe. But I guess there is a satellite feed from RDP Lisbon broadcast house to Bonn-Cologne Germany main control room, and sent then again from Bonn-Cologne to Sines site via the three different language channel bundle. (when Sines started in 1968-1970, a special DW receiving station had been erected midst between Lisbon and Sines on the coast at Sesimbra. Transmitter site was fed by a microwave link via the Atlantic bay between Sesimbra and Sines site.) Juelich-Germany site fed DW Kigali and Sines installations by direct shortwave feeder broadcasts in those days, and some music request and letterbox programs were produced in advance on tape at DW Cologne broadcast house to be sent via airmail. Similar was done for VoA services between Greenville and Tatsfield- UK/Munich-GER, or between RCI Ottawa and Tatsfield to serve RCI Daventry relay. Otherwise maybe all transmissions at Sines are prepared now for new DRM mode transmissions, that's a combined AM/DRM/Simulcast control PC software procedure, for modulating the transmitter. That digitalizing PC procedure takes about 4 seconds - on even super fast PC systems -, on our DLF Deutschlandfunk mediumwave feed, for example on 756 kHz co-channel via Braunschweig and/or Ravensburg sites. So you will never hear an exact Time Signal pips transmission 'on the hour' anymore. 73 (Wolfgang Büschel, March 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOUTH CAROLINA. You probably know, but just heard last night on WBCQ that Bro. Stair beat the molestation charges. I didn't even know about all of this until reading your section in the new M.T. Got a kick out of hearing Stair recently, who always says The end is near, and This is the last generation, finally go the whole hog and say, "The end is here. It's over." Sounds like he really wants it to be (Eric Bryan, WA, March 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAIWAN [non]. RTI, 6170 kHz, ab Freitag wieder ueber Skelton. Liebe Hoererinnen und Hoerer von Radio Taiwan International, Herzlichen Dank fuer Ihre Beobachtungen und Empfangsberichte ueber die probeweise Ausstrahlung unseres Programmes auf der Frequenz 6170 kHz von 1900-2000 UT ueber die Relaisstation Al Dhabbaya, Abu Dhabi, Vereinigte Arabische Emirate durch VT-Communications (ehemals Merlin Communications) ab 26. Januar 2005. VT-Communications wird ab Freitag, den 25. Februar 2005, das Deutschprogramm von Radio Taiwan International auf der Frequenz 6170 kHz von 1900-2000 UT wieder von der Sendestation Skelton, GB, ausstrahlen Mit herzlichen Gruessen aus Taipei, Ihre RTI-Deutschredaktion Eva Triendl deutsch @ rti.ort.tw http://www.rti.org.tw/german/index.htm (via Volker Willschrey-D, Feb 25, wwdxc BC-DX March 9 via DXLD) ** U K. BBC NEWS | World | Asia-Pacific | BBC's China Week selections http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4318809.stm Last Updated: Friday, 4 March, 2005, 14:30 GMT From 7 to 13 March, BBC News is taking an especially close look at China, asking what the country's rapid change means for its own people, and for the rest of the world. Listed below are some of the programmes you can listen to or watch. More details are available from programme webpage listed on the right. All times are for UK audiences. CHINA WEEK TV AND RADIO --- A selection of China Week broadcasts Time Channel Programme Mon 7th 0600-0900 Radio Five Live Breakfast - Tour of Shanghai 0600-0930 BBC 1 Breakfast - Working Life 0645 onwards News 24/BBC World China Live 0900-1200 Radio Five Live Victoria Derbyshire - Education 1206 World Service Outlook - Beijing One Year On 1645 World Service Analysis - Democracy 1800 BBC 1 Six O'Clock News - Economy 1906 World Service China's World 2200 BBC 1 Ten O'Clock News - Economy 2230 BBC 2 Newsnight - Class Structure Tue 8th 0600-0900 Radio Five Live Breakfast - Beijing Olympics 0600-0930 BBC 1 Breakfast - Business With China 0900-1200 Radio Five Live Victoria Derbyshire - Shanghai 1206 World Service Outlook - Beijing's Students 1602 Radio 4 Nice Work - Working Life 1800 BBC 1 Six O'Clock News - Freedom/Rights 1906 World Service China's World 2200 BBC 1 Ten O'Clock News - Freedom/Rights 2230 BBC 2 Newsnight - Environment Wed 9th 0600-0930 BBC 1 Breakfast - Family Life 0645 onwards News 24/BBC World China Live 1206 World Service Outlook - Dating in Beijing 1800 BBC 1 Six O'Clock News - Three Gorges Dam 1906 World Service China's World 2200 BBC 1 Ten O'Clock News - Three Gorges Dam 2200 BBC 4 Beijing Boot Camp - military training 2230 BBC 2 Newsnight - Tianjin, China's Third City Thu 10th 0600-0930 BBC 1 Breakfast - Economic Impact on Daily Lives 1206 World Service Outlook - More from Beijing 1645 World Service Analysis - Quest for Raw Materials 1800 BBC 1 Six O'Clock News - Ethnic Minorities 1906 World Service China's World 2235 BBC 1 Question Time - From Shanghai Fri 11th 1206 World Service Outlook - More from Beijing 1645 World Service Analysis - China and Walmart 1906 World Service China's World 2200 Radio 4 The World Tonight - Panellists in Shanghai Sun 13th 1000-1155 Radio Five Live From Chongging 1406 BBC World/World Service Talking Point from Beijing (via Dan Say, DXLD) ?? I already heard something for China Week on BBCWS March 4 (gh, DXLD) ** U K. Another annoying classical station with programmes, but no programme schedule to be found, is Classic FM from the UK, http://www.classicfm.com I was trying to confirm that their movie music show is still running Sat 1806-2000 UT. Despite obscure links to a ``programme schedule``, none was to be found. But the movie music show did appear as ``currently playing`` and eventually a page about the presenter shows the time as 6-8 pm Saturdays. There is no sign of Stephen Fry among their presenters, so I suspect ``The Complete and Utter History of Classical Music``, Sundays 1500-1700 is long gone and should be deleted from MONITORING REMINDERS, but I really need to tune in then to be sure. And since it`s commercial, not included at http://www.publicradiofan.com (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. This week`s VOA Talk to America about international radio is audibly available by clicking on March 4 via http://www.voanews.com/english/NewsAnalysis/TTA-Archive-Page.cfm (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WBCQ Schedule Update, Saturday, March 5, 2005 WBCQ programming originating from Complex Variables Studio is on hiatus. This has initiated some schedule changes. Radio Timtron Worldwide replaces the Jean Shepard Show weekdays 2200-2300 on 9330. Tim's show has also been heard on 7415 Saturday at 0000 and Sunday at 0400 as well, in addition to the regular time of Sunday 0000 on 7415. Sunday 2200-2300, Tuesday 0000-0100, and Thursday 2300-2330 on 7415 are open schedule slots. Emmanuel Goldstein's Off The Wall is now running on Sundays at 0300 on 7415. The Overcomer Ministry has returned to WBCQ; now running weekdays from 1700 to 2000 and weekends from 1700 to 2100 on 7415. [see SOUTH CAROLINA] Some engineering work was done on the 5105 transmitter earlier this week to improve signal quality. There is a persistent co-channel utility on 5105 here, but over the past couple of days I've noticed that WBCQ 5105 sounds much stronger and is now dominant over the noise (Larry Will, WBCQ Annotated Program Guide and dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Dr. Gene Scott was a Los Angeleño through and through, but we can't let the news of the eccentric TV preacher's death pass without noting his ties to CONNECTICUT. That's where Scott owned WHCT (Channel 18) in Hartford. Through the seventies and early eighties, channel 18 was home to a non-stop diet of Scott's unusual style of TV religion, including his lengthy pipe-smoking diatribes against the FCC and lengthy shots of his thoroughbred horses at play. Scott lost his licenses in the early eighties, and there was a story making the rounds that alleged that he had WHCT's transmitter buried somewhere on the grounds of the Avon tower site to avoid losing it to creditors. If it were anyone else, we'd dismiss the story as apocryphal, but with Scott, you never know. Even without his TV stations (he owned KHOF-TV in Los Angeles and KVOF in San Francisco as well as WHCT), Scott's ministry continued to grow. In recent years, his programs were seen on 24-hour satellite feeds and heard on full-time shortwave broadcasts from WWCR in Nashville and the Caribbean Beacon on Anguilla (Scott Fybush, NE Radio Watch Feb 28 via DXLD) ** U S A. BOSTON - If the measure of a man is in the lives he touched, then the late David Brudnoy lived a full life indeed. On Sunday afternoon, Brudnoy's friends - and even his casual listeners on WBZ (1030) counted themselves as friends - lined up around the block to fill the Cutler Majestic Theater for a tribute to one of the most eclectic personalities ever to grace a microphone. For two and a half hours, the crowd - including Boston mayor Tom Menino and other local notables - heard from friends and family across the many facets of Brudnoy's life. "He did all things all the way," said Peter Meade, Brudnoy's close friend and former WBZ host, as he introduced the speakers. To judge from the stories Brudnoy's family shared, that was a trait that distinguished David as far back as his childhood in Minnesota. His cousin Rachel Brudnoy shared the tale of how a 12 year old Brudnoy worked the phones and persuaded a Minneapolis hotel, a car dealer and a luxury restaurant to prepare for the state visit of a fictional ``Grand Emir of Aden.`` Brudnoy's doctors spoke of the incredible strength that brought him back to life after the 1994 illness that left him all but dead. Several of his students at Boston University spoke of the energy, enthusiasm and wit he brought to the classroom, including his attack on the use of the word "like" in students' speech. In the last years of his life, Brudnoy was adopted by the Emerson College chapter of the Phi Alpha Tau fraternity, whose members were in turn adopted by "Brother Bruds," who brought them into the whirl of what student Roman Sturgis called "the Brudnoy-centric universe." Brudnoy's former producer, Kevin Myron, shared the nickname that the erudite, scholarly Brudnoy bestowed on him ("Yo"), saying Brudnoy's direction to him when planning the memorial service was, "Yo, make it something I'd like to be at." There's no question that Brudnoy ("whose favorite topic was David Brudnoy," as one speaker said) would have laughed and cried along with the crowd at the Majestic, especially as his longtime partner Ward Cromer closed out the afternoon with his stories of life and travel with Bruds. One of Brudnoy's few unfulfilled wishes in a life he lived with incredible fullness was to visit India and the Taj Mahal, a wish Cromer said he'll fulfill later this year when he travels there to sprinkle some of David's ashes at the site. And in thanking those who mattered most to David, it's worth noting that Cromer singled out the callers, the "vox populi" who carried on a dialogue that lasted for decades. Cromer spoke movingly of Brudnoy's final show on WBZ the night before his death, when Meade took calls from listeners while Brudnoy listened intently from his hospital bed at Mass General. Of one such call, from a listener named Keri who credited David for getting her started in radio (and that would be NERW reader Keri Rodrigues of WHJJ in Providence), Cromer said "callers such as Keri meant the world to David." David, in turn, meant the world to so many of us, who miss his voice every night on the radio and the joy of his presence, and you'll forgive your editor for the personal aside, I hope, in saying just how much it meant to be in the company of so many of those who loved David Brudnoy. *There's some good news out of WBZ to report: Paul Sullivan, heir to Brudnoy's evening hours, is recovering from his treatment for a brain tumor. Sully was greeted with hearty applause when he stepped on stage at the Brudnoy memorial, and he confirms that he'll be back in his 8- midnight slot Monday night, followed by the return of Steve LeVeille to his usual overnight slot after months of filling in in the evenings. With that, WBZ will finally have a "normal" nighttime talk schedule for the first time since Brudnoy's death, and we're sure PD Peter Casey (who deserves tremendous appreciation for the work he put into planning Sunday's memorial) is breathing a sigh of relief. Last week, the Umass Lowell (under the guidance of Lou DiNatale, the political scientist who's advising UMass on broadcasting) struck a deal with former WBUR (90.9 Boston) talk host Christopher Lydon to do a daily one-hour show on WUML (91.5). The show will be produced at the Boston studios of WGBH, at least for the next year or so (Scott Fybush, NE Radio Watch Feb 28 via DXLD) ** U S A. Is WWV`s Voice Dead? --- At the end of 2004, a sad story made the rounds of the ham radio press. Death, it was said, had taken the male voice of WWV, the National Institute of Standards and Technology standard time and frequency station in Fort Collins, Colorado. He had thus joined the late Jane Barbe, WWVH`s female voice, in electronic immortality, preserved forever like an auditory fly in amber by countless digitized voice clips. The only thing wrong with the story is that it`s not true. While Marty Edwards, the former Mutual Radio news anchor, did pass away last November 30, Edwards never had anything to do with WWV. Instead, his truly majestic announcing voice was used for the telephone ``Master Clock`` of the United States Naval Observatory in Washington, DC. It maintains the official time standards for the US military, including the Global Positioning System, but it hasn’t had any radio broadcasts in a very long time. While our sympathies go out to Edwards` family, we are happy to report that, at press time, the voice of WWV is very much alive – both of them. Most knowledgeable old-timers associate WWV with Don Elliott Heald, better known as just Don Elliott. He was recorded on an analog drum system, similar to the ones then in use at the phone company. When WWV converted to digital audio in 1991, the voice was done over by John Doyle. Both of these two highly regarded Atlanta broadcasters worked part-time for the same automatic voice announcement company that had employed Barbe. WWV`s amplitude-modulated (AM) broadcast is on 2500, 5000, 10000, 15000, and 20000 kHz. The Naval Observatory time tick is a DC local call, at (202) 762-1401 or (202) 762-1069. There`s also an Internet audio stream, though it seems to be down at press time (Hugh Stegman, HF Communications, Utility World, March Monitoring Times via DXLD) ** U S A. RUSH LIMBAUGH BACK ON SW? Transcript From RushLimbaugh.com: http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_030405/content/eib_love_line.guest.html CALLER: We do appreciate you and the only thing we regret is it's very hard to pick you up out on the water but as we are members of the 24/7, we will be able to catch up on that when we get back. RUSH: Well, thanks very much. You know, we used to have a shortwave affiliate out there in New Orleans. There was a shortwave affiliate in New Orleans. You remember that, Brian? That was before you were born. We had a shortwave affiliate out there, and I don't know what happened to these guys, maybe terrorists blew them up or what have you, but that was cool because you could broadcast during the day. You could hear this program on the cruise ship, for instance, if you took a little shortwave radio. We ought to look back into that and try to revive that, so it would help guys like this going out on their anniversaries on cruises and so forth, in remote parts, parts unknown, that don't have EIB affiliates (via Andy Sennitt, dxldyg via DXLD) Isn`t he still on AFRTS, which includes some USB SW outlets, whichever of them may still be active? Can he be unaware of this? Of course WRNO was not blown up by terrorists. It petered out thru mismanagement and the death of its original owner. Nobody tell Rush about WRNO`s imminent revival (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. KILLING OF JUDGE'S FAMILY FOCUSES ON N.J. RADIO HOST http://www.wnbc.com/news/4253379/detail.html POSTED: 9:04 am EST March 4, 2005 UPDATED: 1:25 pm EST March 4, 2005 NEWARK, N.J. -- As the host of a radio show that espoused hatred of gays, Jews, blacks and other minorities, Hal Turner came to view the regular visits by FBI agents to his northern New Jersey home as one of the costs of doing business. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Slideshow: Bodies Of Judge's Mother, Husband Found In Home Slideshow: Judge Lefkow Speaks Out Following Killings Slideshow: Judge Returns To Scene Of Slayings Slideshow: Traffic Up On Hate Sites ---------------------------------------------------------------------- When they visited him this week, it was anything but routine. Agents questioned Turner, 42, about his whereabouts on Monday, the day U.S. District Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow found her mother and husband shot to death in her home in Chicago. Lefkow had been targeted by a white supremacist who had objected to her ruling in a trademark dispute. That man is scheduled to be sentenced by another judge later this month. Though Turner said Thursday that he was in New Jersey Monday and had nothing to do with the killings, the attention from having his name appear in published reports has shone a spotlight on the former real estate agent who once ran for Congress out of Hudson County before finding a niche in the free-for-all atmosphere of short-wave radio. On Friday, he is scheduled to appear on "Dateline NBC" to discuss the killings, an act Turner said he condemns. He also felt they weren't the work of white supremacists. "I think that's terrible," he said. "I'm a guy who, if I have a problem with you, I take it up with you, not with your wife and kids. I personally don't think any pro-white person was involved in these killings. The weapon was a .22, and white supremacists carry assault weapons or .45s. They also tend to handle their difficulties one-on- one." He said federal authorities have focused on him because two years ago he said on the air that Lefkow "was worthy of being killed." On Thursday he defended his statements. "If I say some politician should be assassinated, that's an opinion. If I say, `Let's go kill so-and-so,' that's solicitation of murder," Turner said. "It's a very fine line, and sometimes people can't distinguish." From the summer of 2000 through last spring, Turner hosted his own show on WBCQ, a Maine-based station that transmits short-wave broadcasts that can be heard around the globe, according to station owner Allan Weiner. Weiner, who called Turner's show "extreme" and "hateful," said the station agonized over allowing Turner to buy air time, but finally agreed in the name of free speech. "A rabbi advised us that you really need to leave him on the air because people need to know that there are a lot of people out there with a lot of hate in their hearts," he said. According to Mark Potok, a spokesman for the Southern Poverty Law Center, an organization that monitors extremist groups, the Hal Turners of the world should not be muzzled. "We absolutely have to put up with people like Hal Turner on the air," he said. "We are not in favor of weakening the First Amendment. It's the price of democracy." Turner pulled his show off WBCQ last year after viewing the movie "The Passion of the Christ" and realizing that he "could no longer do business with Jews." Weiner confirmed that explanation, and said until that point he and Turner had gotten along fine. Since he discontinued the program, Turner has focused his efforts on a Web site that features his take on current events and is liberally sprinkled with derogatory references to gays, Jews, blacks and others. Not everyone is as accepting as Weiner and Potok on the subject of Turner's right to air his views. "People write to me posting bounties on my 10-year-old son," Turner said. "They write saying they're good shots and I won't even know the bullet's coming. There are times when I wonder why words generate such visceral hatred." (via Sheldon Harvey, DXLD) ** U S A. Subliminal messages on TV --- I suppose most of you have read of the apparent capture of the BTK serial killer in Wichita, Kansas. What has not received as much attention was the apparent use of subliminal techniques in an attempt to capture this criminal: http://www.kake.com/news/headlines/1249162.html I can't find anything in the FCC regulations that specifically bans subliminal broadcasts, though 47CFR73.4250 does refer stations to two 30-year-old FCC documents which I cannot find online. And "The Public and Broadcasting", a manual every station must have in its public inspection file, does say that subliminal broadcasts are intentionally deceptive and thus not in the public interest. What bothers me a bit about this story is that if the FCC has given permission for subliminal broadcasts in this case, have there been *other* cases that have not come to light? Some not quite so altruistic as an attempt to capture a serial killer? Admittedly, it appears this particular subliminal broadcast happened 30 years ago. On the other hand, it's a lot easier to do today -- and while I've my doubts the Nixon GOP would have tried that method to swing an election, I'm nowhere near as trusting of the current party (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66, Feb 28, WTFDA Soundoff via DXLD) ** U S A. COMPLAINT LEADS TV STATION TO LIMIT BLIND SERVICE BROADCAST Friday, March 4, 2005 3:00 AM http://www.wrgb.com/news/regional/regional.asp?selection=article_29864 (Buffalo, NY - AP) — The Niagara Frontier Radio Reading Service for the Blind finds itself cast in the broadcast indecency debate, alongside Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" and Howard Stern. Buffalo television station WKBW TV recently stopped broadcasting the reading service's audio signal about three weeks ago after a listener complained about an offensive word — apparently contained in the Tom Wolfe novel "I Am Charlotte Simmons." Reading service director Bob Sikorski attributes the television station's response to the indecency storm that has gathered steam since Jackson's overexposure during last year's Super Bowl halftime show. Last month, the House passed a bill authorizing unprecedented fines for indecency while a similar bill is pending in the Senate. The FCC has also stepped up its enforcement efforts. Sikorski says the television station has agreed to put the service back on the air, but fearing FCC wrath, it won't broadcast overnight when material containing adult content may be read. The service uses volunteers for its reading of newspapers, magazines, movie listings and books, reaching thousands of visually impaired listeners (via Sheldon Harvey, DXLD) ** U S A. DAN RATHER`S SAYING GOODBYE TO NETWORK RADIO NEXT WEEK. It's not just a sad sayonara to TV. Rather's afternoon radio commentary has run on CBS since he took over the Evening News anchor chair from Walter Cronkite. Some affiliates started dropping his feature last Fall when the controversy broke about the questionable Bush National Guard memos. CBS confirms (to the Daily News) that ``it was definitely Dan`s decision`` to lay aside the daily radio gig next Wednesday – ``[CBS] radio wanted him to continue.`` Presumably CBS News will offer a radio spot to his successor – or successors, depending on the new TV news format (Inside Radio via DXLD) ** U S A. RIVERSIDE MAN DIES IN FIRE --- DONALD E. ERICKSON The following is from the Press-Enterprise Tues. 3/1 You have to register: http://www.pe.com/localnews/riverside/stories/PE_News_Local_rfatal01.f045.html BLAZE: It was aided by stacks of magazines and newspapers in his home, an official says. 08:19 AM PST on Tuesday, March 1, 2005 Special to The Press-Enterprise A Riverside man who was a self-described "pack rat" was killed Monday afternoon when a fire tore through the newspaper-and-magazine-stuffed rooms of his Essex Street house. Neighbors identified the victim as Donald Erickson. Firefighters said the blaze began somewhere in the back of the house, in the area where Erickson's body was discovered. The cause of the fire has not been determined. Firefighters break the windows of a house on Essex Street in Riverside after a fire was reported by neighbors Monday. Riverside Fire Department Division Chief Tedd Laycock said the fire spread quickly, aided by ceiling-high stacks of newspapers, magazines and other items. "For some reason, he had all the windows boarded up," Laycock said. Even when firefighters broke through the boards, they were still blocked by dense stacks of boxes and papers. Rows of file boxes labeled "Magazines" could be seen through the windows from the street. Laycock said neighbors' calls to 911 came in at 12:52 p.m. Eight units responded. The fire was contained by 2 p.m., but brown smoke continued to pour out of the roof from a fire deep within the house. Thelma Cryst, who lived across the street from Erickson for decades, said he was friendly but reclusive. "He was a very quiet person. I didn't know him too well. We would chitchat, but it was never anything really personal," she said. "He always helped out with anything I needed," Cryst said, explaining that at Christmastime he would help move her furniture to make way for her tree. She said Erickson had a lot of medical problems. "I've been concerned about him a long time," Cryst said. "He hasn't been happy for, really, a long time," she said, walking out onto her driveway in socks and slippers. "When your lease is up, your lease is up." "He called himself a pack rat," said Josie Herrera, who lived nearby. But neighbors said they had no idea of the extent of his condition until today. "He was a nice guy," Herrera said, "but he was always locked in there. I got the impression that he didn't want nobody checking up on him." Whenever neighbors went to check on him, she said, "He would say, 'I'm OK. I'm OK.' He didn't want nobody worrying about him." By the time firefighters arrived, neighbors had already broken open a door and a window. "We didn't know what to do," Herrera said. "We wanted to help. But there was so much smoke. We couldn't." Cryst said Erickson had been teaching a computer class twice a week. She said he moved to the neighborhood in the 1970s (via Bill Harms, MD, DX LISTENING DIGEST) How terribly sad. I knew Don and so did many of us; he was publisher of the IRCA DX Monitor for a number of years in the mimeo era and did an excellent job of it. Had visited him once at his place dubbed, at least by others, ``Toyland``. A good bet a lot of his volatile papers were DXMs and other DX bulletins. He had not been active in the DX community for many years (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Really sorry to learn of DEE's demise. He put a lot of effort into the IRCA during the mimeo days (Bob Foxworth, NRC-AM via DXLD) Very sorry to hear about this. I was an IRCA editor from 1968 thru 1970 when Don was the publisher of DX Monitor. Big George Kelley and I visited him once at Toyland in 1971 - even way back then the house was filled with stacks of bulletins and magazines. Despite, or possibly because of, his quirky nature, Don was a very interesting guy who will be missed by the DX community. RIP old friend (Marc DeLorenzo, South Dennis, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, ibid.) When I lived in CA in the '80's, I got to know Don fairly well, and I'm shocked and saddened to hear of his passing this way. Don was a genuine character, and my favorite story about him is a comment he made about me: he called me the "most normal DX'er he had ever met". Little did he know ... Don indeed lived in Toyland, which eventually consumed him in more ways than one, as I really believe that his health problems were influenced by his close quarters in that house on Essex. He always seemed to come to life in the clean desert air when I transported him to the 29 Palms beverage site to DX at several beverage parties held there. His Century Publishing was more of a radio book sales operation, and I know he was disappointed that his sales were not really enough to support himself. But he still could not get rid of any outdated materials to clear the way in his house. He did drive some and owned a car, but it was isolated by a deep drop- off when the City of Riverside lowered the level of Essex Street and Don refused to allow them to slope his driveway to the street. I never did find out what happened to that car. His bidding at NRC convention auctions was legendary; when he was still working for the Wall Street Journal, he'd bid on everything and anything, taking endless photos with his little Rollei 35 all the while. And after the auction, he'd have to find extra boxes or suitcases to ship his purchases home, somehow. Don purchased his first "real" computer, a Commodore 64, from me when I was working part-time at the Riverside Montgomery Ward store, and became quite interested in computing and the Internet. He still DX'ed fairly regularly with his beloved FRG-7's in the 1980's, though, and I believe that DX'ing and radio always remained his first hobby interest. Don was indeed reclusive, more so after falling out with several individuals over unfortunate misunderstandings which were never really cleared up. As the newspaper article indicated, he did indeed reject offers of help from more than just his nearby neighbors. But that was just Don ... as I said, a genuine character, whom I miss greatly already -pls. (Paul Swearingen, KS, ibid.) I knew DEE for years and corresponded with him regularly. The last time I saw him was in 1984 or 85, prior to transferring from California to North Carolina. A friend, Dan Sheedy (whom some of you may recall), and I headed up to Riverside, from San Diego, to visit "Toyland." Like the article stated, there were stacks and stacks and stacks of radio-related magazines and DX Club bulletins going back YEARS. I won't swear by it, but he may have had a near complete collection of RADEX, POPCOM, DX Monitor, DX News, Newark News Radio Club, and many other magazines/club bulletins. He was happy that he had complete collections of MANY publications. When Dan and I visited Don, he gave us a tour, and either Dan or I mentioned something about the fire hazard. Don quipped back that he wasn't worried about a fire as much as a stack of magazines falling on him. He worked for a printing company, and later started his own. For a number of years he was the publisher of the DX Monitor, and I think another club. Really nice guy, always willing to help anyone. Don attended many DX Conventions and traveled there by bus - he never drove that I know of. He was routinely thrown into a motel swimming pool at least one DX convention each year. It became a standing joke. If anyone has Stewart MacKenzie's/ASWLC address, you might let him know so he can pass it along to members of the ASWLC (if they're still active) --- he used to help put their monthly bulletin together. RIP, DEE (Mike Hardester, ibid.) ``You have to register``: Not if you go to http://bugmenot.com you don't! I use this site often to bypass registrations for newspaper sites. Even though the registration is free, it's often a license to spam. I met Don Erickson at the 1988 ANARC convention in Irvine, CA. I think he also might have come to one of the conventions in Montreal back in the heyday of ANARC. 73 (Mike Brooker, Toronto, ON, ibid.) Yes, I was at that convention too (gh) ** U S A. Re 5-039 under UNIDENTIFIED: Yosemite Sam was located by me, K5MGR and WA5OIP as coming from the MATIC facility on the Laguna Indian Reservation in New Mexico just north of Interstate 40. As of February 16th, the interfering signal on 3700, 6500, and 10,500 is no more. It may be back -- who knows -- and it may reappear on some other frequency or frequencies, but for now it's gone. Do a Google search for Laguna Matic Army Communications or several variations of these four words to see any of several web sites about this interesting military contractor facility! (from a qrz.com forum via Jay Miller, WA5WHN, DXLD) This is the correct site. The MATIC facility is a US ARMY Contractor RF facility (Jay Miller, NM, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. I have noticed that MOST of the "full-blown" IBOC stations seem to have slightly stronger upper-sideband hash than lower. Another unusual thing I have noticed about IBOC stations is that if you are tuned to one in your car with even a regular mono analog radio, and you travel along a powerline or bridge that is oriented toward/away from the direction of the transmitter such that you get phase cancelation fading every 1/4 wavelength, you can hear the "whizzing" hash fade in and out quite clearly (like ocean surf on a gravel beach). This makes sense as the information on each sideband is different, and the radio takes that difference (like C-QuAM stereo) to decode the digital modulation out-of-phase by 180 --- that's why you technically SHOULDN'T hear the data in mono, but you can in certain instances of phase-changes during reception. If only one sideband carried the modulation, therefore, you would hear it along with the regular modulation. You can test this yourself by taking two analog radios, tuning both to the same IBOC sideband, and having your head in between them. Take one radio and tune it to the opposite sideband and you'll then hear "depth" on the digital hash as each is carrying the same information but are phased oppositely. If you Y'ed both outputs in parallel to a speaker, the hash would cancel out completely with the radios tuned to opposite sidebands, and would be loudest with both tuned to the same sideband. Now if someone came along and fed right channel audio modulation at - 45 to the lower sideband in place of the hash, and fed left-channel audio modulation at +45 phase to the upper sideband in place of that sideband's hash, you'd have C-QuAM stereo. Same modulation phase-angle "real-estate", different occupant (Darwin, Thousand Oaks, CA, ABDX via DXLD) You know I just had to toss in a few cents worth as well. Was listening to KOA 850 in Denver yesterday at 6 pm. I am roughly 300 miles from Denver and their IBOCrap was audible from 830 to 870. Anyways, listening right at the TOH at 6 pm. Heard the legal ID and then into local news and then WHAMO the IBOC shut off. Well of course with the delay, the newscast didn't make sense because the lady doing the newscast blipped in mid-sentence and we missed, oh, what, about 6 seconds of what she was saying because we went from delayed to non- delayed. Then again since it's all talk and chit-chat stations that are running it, I guess you're always gonna be interrupting somebody saying something when you switch off the IBOC at sunset. On a good note (if there could be any good notes about IBOC) when they switched off the IBOC you could definitely hear the frequency range change from 6 kHz to the full 10. I noticed that the other day that at night KOA is still running full spread, not limiting their audio to 5 kHz like other clearchannel stations that have decided to sound like something slightly greater than a telephone (Michael J. Richard, Evanston WY, ibid.) Is there anyone on the list who can explain the "IBOC lite" system used by KTRB? How is it different from the "big mutha" IBOC system that WOAI-1200 is now using? Intuitively, it would seem that putting more of the transmitter power into the analog channel and reducing the amount going into the IBOC sidebands would be self-defeating if the goal to promote or get the most out of IBOC. Or am I missing something? (Harry Helms, W5HLH, Wimberley, TX EM00, ibid.) From what I understand, "IBOC Lite" allows you to have a wider analog frequency response (8 kHz), a nicer sound on analog radios, as opposed to the 5 kHz analog of "full blown" IBOC, the drawback being that IBOC Radios may not "lock in" to the "Lite" signal as well, because they'd need both sidebands of the "Lite", whereas with full blown 5 kHz analog they only need one sideband of digital info to decode. Somehow I think I didn't explain it well, but I hope someone understood me --- If not, hit me in the head (Tony Simon/Miami, ibid.) Is there an HD FM receiver in your 2005 holiday wishlist? The latest issue of Radio World (the newspaper for radio managers and engineers) features some cover stories on the state of HD radio in the United States. I'm not going to post complete stories here, but a few excerpts with some general comments relating to dxing. You can access general information at http://www.rwonline.com but most of the stories are not complete on the website. You have to be a subscriber or have access to a current copy to be able to read the complete articles. In the lead article, "Radio Groups Speed Up Their Digital Conversion", the author comments that effective January 31st, there are approximately 2,500 FM radio stations committed to HD conversion, with about 500 of those already holding licenses with Ibiquity for conversion. The author mentions that ABC, Cumulus, Emmis, Entercom, Entravision, Greater Media, Infinity, Jefferson-Pilot, Journal, Liberman, NextMedia, Radio One, Regent, Saga, Sandusky, Susquehanna and Univisión have all signed with Ibíquity. Clear Channel has already been working on conversion for the past two years and claims they will have 1000 FM stations converted to HD by the end of 2005. In another note regarding HD radio, rather amusing is that the president of Ibiquity said that two auto manufacturers will begin offering HD radios as a standard option this fall, but declined to identify the manufacturers. Those two manufacturers were easily identified at the Ibiquity booth at CES: BMW and Toyota. Final note here from a related article in the same issue - Radio World has began an HD Radio Scoreboard. In each issue, they're going around the major markets, one at a time, listing which AMs & FMs have made the HD conversion. Maybe some DXers can verify the following list. In this issue, they did a rundown of Indianapolis. It goes like this: HD Radio In: Indianapolis (I list just the FMs) WICR 88.7 Univ. of Indianapolis WGRL 93.9 Susquehanna WFBQ 94.7 Clear Channel WFMS 95.5 Susquehanna WRDZ 98.3 ABC/Disney WRZX 103.3 Clear Channel WGLD 104.5 Susquehanna Finally, there is a full page guest commentary of the 'misrepresentation' of HD Radio - the author makes mention that HD radio is not in-band, "as it causes interference to adjacent channels with a hissing sound, thus causing reception to be degraded on those stations." The author sounds like he could be a DXer, although in reality he is an engineer. That article is probably the most interesting, from a DXer's point of view. Okay, that's enough for the snippets on those feature articles! Based on these articles, sounds like the big boys are finally starting to make a push for HD fm - seems there's still some concern if the concept is going to fly with AM radio. I'm not trying to start a new round of debate about HD radio here - just a brief update. So, maybe we might be thinking about DXing the HD breed of FM signal someday, kind of like the DTV arena. Here's a question for anyone in the know. If your RDS equipped analog FM tuner picks up an HD FM signal, will it be able to decode the RDS??? According to one of those articles, the various data stream services for HD radio will make RDS standard operating procedure (Jim Thomas, wdx0fbu, Milliken, Colorado, 40 mi N of Denver, 40.19.230'N 104.51.510'W, Yamaha TX-900/APS 13 @ 20'/RDS mgr., WTFDA via DXLD) Re Indianapolis: Per a phone conversation today with Entercom's corporate chief engineer, the two Entercom FMs there (99.5 and 107.9) now have the Beast With Two Sidebands as well. It's not going away any time soon (Scott Fybush, ibid.) ** U S A. NO IBOC on WLAC and WCKY --- It might be premature to call this good news, but it looks like WLAC and WCKY MAY HAVE turned off IBOC, at least for now. Barry of #mwdx stated last night he had heard that WCKY had turned IBOC off and a check of it this morning by myself and Brent of #mwdx revealed that they had not turned it on as of 0810 3/5. Brent also said that WLAC had not turned their IBOC on either. Let's monitor this and see what happens. Barry also indicated that many California stations may have turned IBOC off. I don't know what this means nor why they are turning it of, but it COULD BE a promising trend. On the downside, my locals WKDL 730 and WTOP 1500 still have IBOC turned on. Is WOR running IBOC right now? 1250 EST 3/6? Could someone in the NYC area please confirm if WOR is running IBOC or not? Here in Maryland, WOR appears to have shut off their IBOC. I don't hear the hash on 700 I normally hear and the hash on 720 is from my local WKDL 730. Additionally, I don't hear the telltale wobbling like sound on WOR`s carried when I tune in USB or LSB modes (Bill Harms, Elkridge, MD, March 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Bill, I think they may have it turned off. Here in SE PA I am not hearing the hash, either. I checked on the spectrum display of my ICOM 781 and I don't see the normal sideband activity on WOR, as well (Rene' Tetro, Philadelphia, via Bill Harms, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. NOT AFRAID OF THE DARK wrathofkahn.ORG WEEK SIX: MARCH 2, 2005 A REALLY WRATHFUL CHALLENGE TO THE OWNERS/USERS OF THE "OLD" IBOC SYSTEM In my very biased opinion, it is about time to issue a "put-up-or- shut-up" DOUBLE DOUBLE challenge to those huge broadcast groups that think they can bluff their way into realizing a share of the TRILLION DOLLAR (yes, thousand Billion dollar) receiver market they expect to create by obsoleting the almost billion working radios Americans own. Can you believe how naive they must be to expect the Public to allow that to happen and do they really expect the politicians to remain quiet while the voters start shouting? But before I issue the CHALLENGE, I need to answer those friends, and some "unfriends," who are urging me to tell them just how the Cam-DTM System works so as to satisfy skeptics, such as our competitor. They argue "Pat. Pending" will protect us and other such legal nonsense. They must think they can goad me into trying to do the impossible, convince my competitors to agree that Cam-D is the better system. That makes about as much sense as the Coca-ColaTM firm being goaded by its competitors into disclosing cokes 100-year-old secret formula. It is not how Cam-D works, but what it does that counts. Just listen to any station broadcasting with Cam-D. Nevertheless, when I was in knee pants you never double double dared anything you could not do yourself. So, you now know of 3 Cam-D stations that are on the air, KDYL, KRCM, and KOLE.. Tune them in ANYTIME, day or NIGHT for proof that Cam-D isn`t afraid of the dark. Also tune to their first adjacent channels, you have never heard it so clean, then get a Clear Channel IBOC investor station in town to use a spectrum analyzer to further see the clean spectrum and, if they know where to look, see the 10 channels of digital data.. And THEN get them to drive any one of the Cam-D stations, since Clear Channel probably thought of trying to buy them, considering the HUGE INCREASE IN COVERAGE --- and also the Cam-D FULL HIGH FIDELITY sound. Anyway, back to our CHALLENGE to those who threatened to bury me if I tried to compete with their ancient IB0C system. IRREFUTABLE PROOF THAT THE "OLD" AM IBOC SYSTEM VIOLATES FCC RULES There are two separate indisputable means for proving that the system championed by the owners of the old IBOC system, including all of the major broadcast groups who own equity in that system, Clear Channel, Viacom, and Susquehanna Radio, etc., which cannot meet FCC Rules: 1. There is not one single report on file at the FCC, after 13 years of intensive efforts by Bell Labs and other prestigious researchers, proving that their system can satisfy FCC Rules and Regulations. (Arguably, there has been more money spent (wasted) on developing this fatally flawed System than any other radio system, including FM Radio and all AM and FM Stereo Systems COMBINED!) 2. None of the stations now experimenting with the old AM IBOC System, (when I last looked there were some 18 stations) have operated at night, they KNOW their system is afraid of the dark. If they really believe the System will work at night, WHY DON'T THEY OPERATE AT MIDNIGHT, THE PROPER TIME TO CONDUCT ON-THE-AIR TESTS? They don't need any permission to experiment late at night, IF they do not create interference. All of our Cam-DTM test stations started initial tests after midnight to make certain that each of our test stations complied with all of the FCC Rules before they started FULL-TIME operations. Cam-D stations now have logged over 2500 hours of legal nighttime operation (over 5000 Full-time hours) compared with old IBOC`s ZERO nighttime hours!) The real bottom line is, the old IBOC system does not satisfy the basic rules of the FCC to guard against interference, and the Cam-D system does. If they did, they would be on full time, and no one would be so violently opposed to their system. ACCORDINGLY, I, LEONARD R. KAHN CHALLENGE ALL OLD AM IBOC DAYTIME STATION OPERATORS TO OPERATE FULL-TIME, FOR EVEN A SINGLE WEEK, JUST TRY IT --- I EVEN DOUBLE DARE YOU! And I, Leonard R. Kahn, truly believe that the above stated facts and opinions are accurate and are not meant to mislead. cc: iBiquity, Viacom, Clear Channel and Susquehanna Radio. Please note that the above-copied firms are hereby invited to submit their responses as long as the senior officer signs said response and uses the same affirmation statement that all wrathofkahn. ORG publications require (http://www.wrathofkahn.org/ via DXLD) ** U S A. BROADCASTERS MAY BE MULLING JOINT DIGITAL NETWORK March 1, 2005 --- Several U.S. radio companies could be considering forming a coöperative national network that would broadcast digital radio and compete with satellite radio, according to a Reuters report. The idea would allow broadcasters, who are moving to convert stations to HD digital radio, to offer additional formats not currently available on AM and FM stations at lower prices than satellite radio. Having HD digital radio will eventually free up bandwidth and enable broadcasters to air up to eight more channels over the same amount of spectrum. "I believe there is discussion going as to whether it makes sense to form a consortium to offer national services potentially in competition with satellite radio," Bob Struble, Chief Executive of iBiquity Digital Corp., told Reuters. Clear Channel and Infinity did not comment on the possibility, but Entercom has suggested that the radio industry is considering the move. Entercom chief David Field reportedly told analysts last week that rolling out national channels as a group effort could be done at an "extremely attractive incremental cost." He also said, "Envision a scenario in which a group of radio companies would form a consortium and roll out new channels on a collective national basis." If this were to happen, it would be at least a year away. HD radios would have to be more affordable and more readily available for cars. But Struble said that prices will likely come down once more products are available. This year, table radio products will be available for about $299, and some automotive products will sell as low as $499. By Christmas, a table radio should be available for under $200, said Reuters (http://www.fmqb.com via Brock Whaley, March 1, DXLD) ** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. 700/7460 RASD. The late afternoon / evening broadcast runs 1700-0000 in Arabic, except Spanish 2300-0000; I never bothered to check whether this is M-F only, but believe it's Sat+Sun too. The morning broadcast is 0600(?)-0800 [-0900 UT Fris] at least M- F but, like I said, possibly on Sats+Suns too. Current QRGs are 7460 (announced as 7470, at least in the only language I can understand, but assume they make the same mistake at the opening of the Arabic program) & 700 kHz. 1550 is off for some unknown reason, and I seriously doubt the same transmitter is used for 1550 or 700 as I've logged them using all 3 simultaneously (again, back in Oct '03). 700 may be some alternative outlet they activate whenever necessary, be it when 1550 is down or for extended coverage --- or yet some other reason. Location of the 700 kHz transmitter is probably elsewhere, viz. some inactive RTA site eastwards of Tindouf, and power is almost surely less than on 1550 which some say is 50 kW, others 100 kW. Under good propagation conditions and in the normal season for low frequencies, I can listen to the simultaneous sign-on on 1550 & 7460 during the evening whereas the 700 kHz signal fades in later, and fades out earlier than 1550 in the morning, of course. On 28 Feb, I observed 700 kHz fading in shortly after 1800, and it still was veru weak prior to 1900; in my Lisboa location, it gets more adjacent QRM than 1550 did, which is exclusively (and perfectly avoidable too) from London's 1548 kHz. On Sat. evening, 26 Feb, 700 kHz was observed on the SW coast putting an S9+20 dB or more while the \\ 7460 was clean, very strong & almost QRM-free, adjacent or co-channel (Carlos Goncalves, Portugal, wwdxc BC-DX Feb 28 via DXLD) Re: 700 kHz transmitter is probably elsewhere ... RTA - site eastwards of Tindouf --- 700 kHz BINGO !!! These were always my thoughts, when I read about your observation in past autumn: I had always an 'investigative' look into WRTH MW listing under Algeria. Reggane - the RTA site on 693 kHz, is more easterly location, but is the NEAREST RTA infrastructure station next to Tindouf-Rabuni. (Petroleum potential of the Reggane Basin, in southwest Algeria. Extending between the Eglab shield in the south and the Ougarta ranges in the north...) And for the Algerian technicians it is an easy task to re-tune the 693 kHz transmitter 7 kHz up to exact 700 kHz as RASD emergency backup. I guess the Reggane area can be targeted by an Algerian LW transmission in the meantime (Wolfgang Büschel, Feb 28, ibid.) 7460 Polisario Front, Rabuni, observed on 28 Feb at 1738-... UT, Arabic, local songs; 55444; \\ 700 kHz fade in at about 1805. This 41 m outlet gets a lot worse later in the evening due to QRM de RFAsia (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, wwdxc BC-DX Mar 2 via DXLD) Polisario Front's weekly schedule seems to be different on Friday. I had forgot Friday "works" as Sundays for the Muslims - and this perhaps why I heard sign-off today, Fri. 4 Mar, at 0900 instead of 0800. This time, 700 kHz (\\ 7460, which remained with the carrier on for a good 20 minutes) was observed fading out prior to 0830 (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, wwdxc BC-DX Mar 4 via DXLD) ** ZIMBABWE [non]. Re: SW Radio Africa on 1197 --- Glenn, I think you are exactly right in your suppositions. 1197 is almost certainly the old BBC transmitter in Lesotho, now used by WYFR (listening to it now at 0330 - same characteristics as WYFR in the evening) (John Plimmer, Montagu, Western Cape Province, South Africa, March 5, mwdx yg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) The mystery of the location of SW Radio Africa's MW transmission site continues. I presumed when I first heard SW Radio Africa on 1197 kHz at 0300 UT this past week, March 1st that it was a Sentech transmission from Meyerton. However you mention that Sentech, Meyerton no longer have MW facilities [I was not aware they EVER did -- gh]. Lesotho, Family radio, was mentioned as a possible site, but that is extremely far South of Zimbabwe`s borders. Are there any MW facilities in Swaziland that can use this frequency, TWR Swaziland, perhaps? I've monitored 1197 this week and it propagates until 0350 UT, so reckon that the transmitter site is still Meyerton or possibly TWR Swaziland? Not convinced on Lesotho as a site just yet. I'm in contact through a friend, with the station Director in London, Ms Gerry Jackson but it seems even they are not told exactly which facility the new MW transmission is relayed from, nor do they want to reveal it. 73's (David Pringle-Wood, Harare, Zimbabwe, March 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) That`s why I asked for a fix, i.e., at least two bearings from the area which could easily locate it or at least rule out Lesotho (gh) UNIDENTIFIED. Re 5-039, 1647: Heh, not common I guess. Unless they had been off the air for some time and resuming transmissions and having an error with the frequency. Another possibility is of course the mixing product. In Bishkek there is listed Kyrgyzstan station on 1287. With the usual math we get 1287-1467-1647. I believe these transmitters are co-located, so the mixing product is possible (Jari Savolainen, Finland, dxing.info via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. Hi, got up early this morning, and for the first time since long ago had some new signals on 90m. UNID station, 3276.21 kHz, 0528-0620* UT, playing lots of US American music, style something between country and brass folk music of Bavarian style, also some accordion song... the text of the songs was clearly Am. English, but there were no announcements in between. US pirate? Nothing listed on the Hackmohr list, nor in WRTH 2004. SINPO at maximum 32332. Sign-off between 0615 and 0620 (Eike Bierwirth 04317 Leipzig, DL, March 5, dxldyg via DXLD) Far more likely a Euro pirate, second harmonic. Look for whatever is on 1638.105 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DRM +++ I have noted all the speculation on the simulcasting mode used on 693 kHz. As the composite signal is contained within the 9 kHz channel, then the spectrum will look like the simulation below. The arrow indicates the DRM portion of the signal. The DRM portion will always be in the USB portion of the channel; otherwise, it just won`t work! I covered this in my January newsletter on digital radio technology available from http://www.radioeng.co.uk (Kevin Ryan, 10 Feb, Medium Wave Report, March BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) The illustration has the arrow pointing to about 694 kHz in a spread from 688 to 698+; Refers to VOR relay via Germany (gh, DXLD) see also CHILE, FRANCE, LUXEMBOURG THE TINY TRAP +++++++++++++ Ian Watson, Beirut, referred to Lebanon as ``this tiny country`` on NPR News at 1402 UT March 5. How long has he been there? Yes, it`s small, half the size of Israel (including Palestine) in area, somewhere between Connecticut and Rhode Island, but tiny? 5,333 and a third Monacos could fit into Lebanon (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###