DX LISTENING DIGEST 5-057, April 1, 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 1269: Fri 2300 WOR Studio X, Momigno, Italy 1584 87.35 96.55 105.55 Sat 0000 WOR ACBRadio Mainstream Sat 0600 WOR SIUE WEB RADIO [suspended] Sat 0800 WOR WRN1 to Eu, Au, NZ, WorldSpace AfriStar, AsiaStar, Telstar 12 SAm Sat 0955 WOR WNQM Nashville TN 1300 Sat 1130 WOR WWCR 5070 Sat 1130 WOR World FM, Tawa, Wellington, New Zealand 88.2 Sat 2030 WOR R. Lavalamp Sun 0330 WOR WWCR 5070 Sun 0400 WOR WBCQ 9330-CLSB Sun 0430 WOR WRMI 7385 Sun 0730 WOR WWCR 3210 Sun 0830 WOR WRN1 to North America, also WLIO-TV Lima OH SAP Sun 0830 WOR KSFC Spokane WA 91.9 Sun 0830 WOR WXPR Rhinelander WI 91.7 91.9 100.9 Sun 0830 WOR WDWN Auburn NY 89.1 [unconfirmed] Sun 0830 WOR KTRU Houston TX 91.7 [occasional] Sun 1100 WOR R. Lavalamp [North American DST shifts start here:] Sun 1200 WOR WRMI 7385 Sun 1300 WOR KRFP-LP Moscow ID 92.5 Sun 1500 WOR R. Lavalamp Sun 1730 WOR WRMI 7385 [from WRN] Sun 1730 WOR WRN1 to North America Sun 1900 WOR Studio X, Momigno, Italy 1584 87.35 96.55 105.55 Sun 2000 WOR RNI Mon 0230 WOR WRMI 7385 Mon 0300 WOR WBCQ 9330-CLSB Mon 0330 WOR WSUI Iowa City IA 910 [1268] Mon 0430 WOR WBCQ 7415 Mon 0900 WOR R. Lavalamp Mon 0900 WOR WRMI 9955 Mon 1600 WOR WBCQ after hours Tue 0600 WOR WPKN Bridgeport CT 89.5 Tue 1600 WOR WBCQ after hours Wed 0930 WOR WWCR 9985 Wed 1600 WOR WBCQ after hours MORE info including audio links: http://worldofradio.com/radioskd.html [also with Week of Confusion and DST schedules] WRN ON DEMAND: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO [also for CONTINENT OF MEDIA, MUNDO RADIAL] [from early UT Thursday] WORLD OF RADIO 1269 (high version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1269h.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1269h.rm WORLD OF RADIO 1269 (low version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1269.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1269.rm (summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1269.html WORLD OF RADIO 1269 in true shortwave sound Alex`s mp3: (stream) http://www.piratearchive.com/media/worldofradio_03-30-05.m3u (d`load) http://www.piratearchive.com/media/worldofradio_03-30-05.mp3 WORLD OF RADIO ON SIUE WEBRADIO SUSPENDED Glenn, Web Radio at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville will be suspending further airings of World of Radio until further notice. We have been having problems with the computer used to dub World of Radio into MP3 format for airing. We apologize for any inconvenience (E. B. Stevenson, PSA/Technical Director, March 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) NETS TO YOU: new April edition by John Norfolk: http://www.w4uvh.net/nets2you.html ** AFGHANISTAN [non]. U.K.(non): Summer A-05 for Radio Solh/Radio Peace via VT Communications: 1200-1800 on 17700 RMP 500 kW / 085 deg to WeAs in Dari/Pashto U.K.(non): Summer A-05 for Internews / Salaam Watandar via VT Communications 0230-0400 on 15240 SAM 250 kW / 140 deg to WeAs in Dari/Pashto 1300-1430 on 15500 RMP 500 kW / 095 deg to WeAs in Dari/Pashto (Observer, Bulgaria, April 1 via DXLD) ** ALASKA. Re the recent two transmitter schedule for KNLS. I am hearing their signal via 11870 opening at 0800 in English - this transmission was heard via 11765 in B04. But I cannot hear anything currently on 11765 at 0800. So, either the second transmitter is not yet on air or it is not propagating to the NW of England. Their signal on 11870 varies from weak to fair, and is characterised by rapid fading, similar to that of Radio New Zealand. 73 (Noel R. Green, Blackpool, April 1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANTIGUA [non]. A news item --- Caribbean Relay station in Antigua, operated by the BBC and Deutsche Welle is now permanently off the air. Confirmed, March 31 during the BBC's English language Caribbean morning service on 15190 kHz. Nothing heard here on that frequency, so my guess is that this one was not re-allocated to another relay site like Sackville in Canada, or Kouru [sic] in French Guiana. Possible reason for mothballing the two [sic; I thought it was four --- gh] 250 kiloWatt transmitters and antennas. Again not confirmed, may be just another cost cutting measure, in favor of more TV satellite time by both stations (Arnie Coro, CO2KK, RHC DXers Unlimited April 2 via ODXA via DXLD) Actually, 15190 is Bonaire at 12-13 and Montsinéry at 13-14* as we have previously made clear here. On April 1, BBC WS was quite strong and clear on 17760 until 1400* Better than Guiana French on 15190. 17760 is, of course, still Thailand, aimed more or less at us tho only intended for E Asia, which can be very good when the nighttime MUF stays hi enough; but on other days it won`t propagate this far at all. HFCC A-05: 17760 1000 1400 43-45 NAK 250 25 1234567 270305 301005 D G BBC MER (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARGENTINA. Re RAE, 5-056: That's what I thought, but I did that once, and they made several changes for the next season. And by now, I'm not at all sure about azimuths and powers, so we really need a contact direct in the technical department who could give us a complete update and plans for future seasons (Jeff White, FL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ASIA [non]. RFA currently broadcasts at 1100-0700; there are no transmissions between 0700 and 1100. Daily programming includes Mandarin for 12 hours, Cantonese for two hours, Uyghur for two hours, and Tibetan for eight hours. RFA schedule in A-05, valid from March 28, til October 30th, 2005. M05=March/April. J05= May til Sept 4th. S05=from Sept 5th/26th, 2005. RFA uses IBB txs in IRA/I=Iranawila Sri Lanka, SAI/S=Saipan, TIN/T=Tinian NoMariana Isls. And relays in HBN/P=KHBN Palau Isl, IRK=Irkutsk-RUS, TWN/N=Taiwan, UAE=Al Dhabayya-UAE, VLD/V=Vladivostok-RUS, and WER=Wertachtal Germany. Additional tx sites have been researched but deleted from this list upon request of RFA to suppress this info, to avoid pressure from China upon the host countries. Are we to assume that China has no way to find out this sensitive info except through DX publications? [gh] RFA A-05 0000-0100 LAO 12015I 13830 15545T 0030-0130 BURMESE 11540-M05/S05 13680T 13820I 17525-J05 17835S 0100-0200 UYGHUR 9350 11520 11895UAE 11945UAE 17640T 17695T 0100-0300 TIBETAN 9365 11695UAE 11975WER 15225T 15695 17730 0300-0600 MANDARIN 13670T 13760T 15130T 15685T 17495 17525 17615S 17880S 21690T 0600-0700 MANDARIN 13670T 13760T 15165T 15685T 17495 17525 17615S 17880S 0600-0700 TIBETAN 17485 17510 17720 21500T 21690UAE break 1100-1200 LAO 9355S 9545T 15560I [?15635] 1100-1400 TIBETAN 7470 11590 13625T 13830-M05/S05 15510UAE 15695-J05 17855S-(from 1200) 1230-1330 CAMBODIAN 13645T 15525I 15670 1230-1330 BURMESE 9455I 11540-M05/S05 12030T 13795T 15680-J05 1400-1500 CANTONESE 9780T 11715S 13790T 1400-1500 VIETNAMESE 7380T 9455S 9635T [?11520] 11535-M05/S05 11605N 11680I 13775P 13685I 15705-J05 1500-1600 TIBETAN 7470 11510 11705T 11795UAE 13825 1500-1600 MANDARIN 7540-M05/S05 9455T 9905P 11765T 12025S 13675T 13725T 15495T 15680-J05 1500-1700 KOREAN 7210IRK 9385S 13625T 1600-1700 UYGHUR 7465 9350I 9370 9555UAE 11750I 11780T 1600-1700 MANDARIN 7540-M05/S05 9455S 9905P 11795T 12025S 13675T 13715T 15530T 15680-J05 1700-1800 MANDARIN 7280T 7540-M05/S05 9355S 9455S 9525T 9540T 9905P 11795T 13625T 13715T 15680-J05 1800-1900 MANDARIN 7280T 7530-M05/S05 7540-M05/S05 9355S 9455S 9540T 9865T 11520-J05 11700T 13625T 15510T 15680-J05 1900-2000 MANDARIN 7260T 7530-M05/S05 7540-M05/S05 9355S 9455S 9760T 9865T [?9905P] 11520-J05 11700T 13625T 15510T 15680-J05 2000-2100 MANDARIN 7260T 7530-M05/S05 7540-M05/S05 9355S 9455S 9850T 9905P 11520-J05 11740T 11785T 13625T 15680-J05 2100-2200 MANDARIN 7105T 7540-M05/S05 9850T 9910P 9920N 11740T 11935T 13625T 15680-J05 2100-2300 KOREAN 7460 9385S 9770T 12075T 2200-2300 CANTONESE 9355S 9955P 11785T 13675T 2230-2330 CAMBODIAN 9490I 9930P 13735T 2300-2359 MANDARIN 7540-M05/S05 9910P 11760T 13670T 13775S 15430T 15585T 15680-J05 2300-2359 TIBETAN 7470 7550-M05/S05 9365-J05 9395-M05/S05 9805UAE 9875T 15695-J05 2330-0029 VIETNAMESE 9975-M05/S05 11540-J05 [?11560] 11580 11605N 11670T 12110I 13735S 15535V 15560P (various sources, wwdxc BC-DX March 25th via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. For my money, the best substitute for the BBC (you remember, the BBC that used to be, with long, thoughtful programming instead of Pop fluff) is Radio Australia, which booms in here at 3 am (I think it's 9580 MHz at 0800 UT). I hear both 9580 and 9590 here, but 9580 is much stronger. Lots of thoughtful, interesting programming, commentaries, phone in discussion programs -- and at length, too. Radio New Zealand farther up the dial also very listenable. Unfortunately this late night listening is playing havoc with my already unconventional day schedule. Will have to use a tape recorder. It's not practical to listen online unless you have broadband – someone is always breaking my connection by placing a phone call (I usually feel impelled to answer it, even though I could ignore it). I still think radio is a lot easier to use. Apologize for the email instead of posting to your group, but posting to groups invites too much Spam (Ed Stone (New York), March 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. Last night (28 March) several weak carriers appeared simultaneously around 1815 (my local sunset was 1828), strengthening and broadening quite rapidly. Not much sign of doppler, maybe a slight shift of about +0.5 Hz, but mostly masked by spectral broadening. 1619.963 faded up 1830, peaking around 1910, gone around 1940 1619.972 faded up 1815, fairly steady to close down at 1902. This is probably the same as the one reported by Steve Whitt on 1619.975 closing at 1902. 1619.977 faded up 1815, faded away by 1840, maybe reappeared later as... 1619.977 faded up about 2125 fairly fuzzy, peaking slightly at 2146 then fading slowly, gone by 2220. I guess this is likely to be the Perth station as measured by Tony Mann. 1619.981 faded up 1818, peaking at 1821, then down and peaking again 1845, gone by 1910 1619.993 faded up 1814, peaking somewhat by 1840, then down again and peaking more prominently from 2004 to 2010, then fading out by 2015 with a shift of +1 Hz in the final 15 minutes. This may be the same one that I saw on 1619.997 two days earlier. I still wonder if this could be Japan rather than Australia. 1620.015 faint fuzzy carrier faded up around 1820, gone by 1910. This might be the station (eastern Australia?) reported by Tony Mann. No sign of anything interesting around 1620.002. I'm having problems uploading pictures at the moment, but can email Spelab plots if anyone is interested (Jack Weber, UK, MWC via DXLD) 1610.989 Margaret River R, WA 1611.13 UNID 1619.971 R Two, Melbourne Vic 1619.978 R Two, Perth WA 1619.992 R Two, Newcastle NSW? 1620.002 R Two, Geraldton WA 1620.006 R Two, Brisbane Qld 1620.015 UNID east 1620.65 R Two, Cairns Qld 1628.990 R Two, Bunbury WA 1637.995 R Lebanon, Sydney NSW 1647.05 NTC R, Canberra ACT 1683.24 R Club AM, Sydney NSW 1701.027 R Brisvaani, Brisbane Qld 1701.076 Vision Radio Network, Sydney NSW (Copied from mwoffsets Yahoo Group via Paul Crankshaw, UK, ibid.) ** BELGIUM [non]. CANADA RVi Relay, 15230, 1935 GMT, Dutch, 444, March 25, OM in conversation with an OM. Muslim mentioned often. Vocal music to 1945 then YL and OM with comments. Nederland mentioned often. More vocal music at 1950 and more comments by 1955. RCI IS and off the air by 1956 (Stewart WDX6AA MacKenzie, CA, shortwavebasics yg via DXLD) I can confirm that the 15230 mentioned was an RVi relay via Sackville. It was beamed, for B04, towards North Africa, so Mr. MacKenzie in CA would have been getting it off the back of the beam (Bill Westenhaver, RCI, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Was 1800-2000 per WRTH (gh, DXLD) Radio Vlaanderen Internationaal. Received a program schedule in the mail April 1 from RVI. It is all in Flemish (Dutch) but they are still on shortwave as follows. In Flemish to Southeast Europe on 13685 (from Moscow) from 0800 to 0900 and 1900 to 2000 Belgian Summer Time (UT+2). Flemish to Southwest Europe on 9590 (from Skelton) from 0900 to 1000 and 2000 to 2100 BST (UT+2). Heard them clearly April 1 at 1700 UT in Flemish on 13685. ID heard at about 1740. Not heard on 9590 at 1800 UT. Only noise and possibly France or Central African Republic underneath (Bernie O'Shea, Ottawa, Ontario, DX LISGTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. R. Difusora, 4815 kHz, 1016 March 27. Ballad style easy listening music, mostly non-stop. Short announcement by OM in Portuguese at 1036, eventually to an OM talker who started with a station IDs at 1045 & 1047. Overall fair signal and copy (Jeffrey Heller, Naperville, IL, Drake R8B, Timewave ANC-4, Par Z end-fed slopers (67' and 40') and Eavesdropper trap dipole, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ``R. Difusora`` would be an extremely generic name as all it means is ``radio station``. Surely Londrina is also part of their ID? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. R. Pioneira (presumed), 5015, 1055 March 27. I have seen a recent logging of R. Tropical here, and not any of Pioneira lately, but I am sure I heard a canned ID as "Radio Pioneira" between songs by OM fast-talking announcer at 1059. Fair to good signal at the start, fading rapidly and gone by 1118. Mostly local Brazilian-style music, not pop music (Jeffrey Heller, Naperville, IL, Drake R8B, Timewave ANC-4, Par Z end-fed slopers (67' and 40') and Eavesdropper trap dipole, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC [non]. Summer A-05 for Radio Ndeke Luka via VT Communications: 1730-1930 on 11760 DHA 250 kW / 245 deg to CeAf in French/Singo 1830-1930 on 15470 WOF 300 kW / 152 deg to CeAf in French/Singo (Observer, Bulgaria, April 1 via DXLD) ** CHINA [non]. CRI relay via Cuba at 1400-1600 finally switched to A- 05 scheduled frequency 13740, on March 30, ex-17730. Same lousy muffled modulation with whistles (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6100 has been used for CRI Beijing relay from Meyerton for the past 2 months or so, although I have not seen it reported anywhere yet, in fact CRI themselves seem to be totally confused about this broadcast. The schedule is 1500-1800 English and 1800-1900 Chinese. Excellent signal here, of course (Vashek Korinek, RSA, DXplorer Mar 30 via BC-DX via DXLD) ** COLOMBIA. Voz de tu Conciencia/"Marfil Estéreo", 5910 kHz, 0115- 0215 March 21. Fair to good signal and copy, low rumble QRM, ballads and Latin American music mixed with talk and an interview in Spanish, ID at 0215 as "Marfil Estereo". (Jeffrey Heller, Naperville, IL, Drake R8B, Timewave ANC-4, Par Z end-fed slopers (67' and 40') and Eavesdropper trap dipole, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COLOMBIA. I´ve been enjoying DX-ing and excellent TA-conditions. Last Wednesday morning 04 UT I heard Em. Mariana de Bogotá calling itself Radio Multicultural on 1400 kHz. 73´s and good DX! (Jouko Huuskonen, Finland, April 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CONGO DR. 6209.7, R. Kahuzi noted with poor signal on 25 March from 1545 tune-in to 1604* UT. The programme was mainly vernacular talks, with a couple of Afro songs. Local instrumental music just before sign-off. This one does not make it to Johannesburg very often (Vashek Korinek, RSA, DXplorer Mar 30 via BC-DX via DXLD) ** CONGO DR [non]. Summer A-05 for Radio Okapi via VT Communications: 0400-0600 on 11690 MEY 500 kW / 342 deg to Congo in French/Lingala (Observer, Bulgaria, April 1 via DXLD) ** CROATIA [non]. Came across V. of Croatia on 9925 (via Germany), March 31 at 2221, rapid-pace in American English, but the two or three announcers had clearly Croatian names, first about World Theatre Day, stingers, 2225 sports for a minute, with scores of NBA games in which Croatians participated!, 2226 weather, 2227 headlines, 2228 wrapping up Croatia Today, saying they would be back at 8 pm with a ``quick news update``, and at 12:15 and 4 am local time with Croatia Today again. Gave satellite and MW frequencies, and for SW only 7285 for Americas and 9470 for New Zealand, both outdated! No mention of the frequency I was listening to, 9925! And it was obviously already after 8 pm local time (1800 UT), so this was the 12:15 am repeat (2215 UT), with the next one to be at 0200 UT. Does this mean there are no further English segments after 0215? Different on weekends? At 2229:30 into Spanish, as RFA Khmay via Palau came on 9930 with adjacent interference, but VOC still listenable by tuning a bit lower. Here`s what the website http://www.hrt.hr/hr/glashrvatske/gh_eng.html says; they try to be helpful, giving only local times, oblivious of the fact that SAm, NAm and Australia have more than one timezone! Would it be too much trouble to give the schedule in UT, which everyone understands? ``The Voice of Croatia can also be heard in Europe on medium wave radio. It is available on the following frequencies 594, 774, 783, 1125 and 1134 kilohertz. It`s also available on short wave radio: - In South America between 7pm and 00am local time on 9925 kilohertz - On the east coast of North America between 7pm and 11pm local time on 9925 kilohertz - On the west coast of North America between 6pm and 10pm local time on 9925 kilohertz - In New Zealand between 4pm and 7pm local time on 13820 kilohertz - And in Australia between 4pm and 8pm local time on 13820 kilohertz`` My guesses as to the current UT: SAm 2200-2400, ENAm 0000-0400, WNAm 0200-0400, but these could be one hour off depending on whether they are already or ever taking DST into account. Damn sure they aren`t based on CT or MT --- we don`t count. NZ 0400-0700, Au 0600-1000 if they mean AET. And would it be too much trouble to publish here the exact times for English, in whatever timezones? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [non]. U.S. SPENDING $23 MILLION THIS YEAR TO SUPPORT ANTI- CASTRO MOVEMENT INSIDE CUBA BY GARY MARX Chicago Tribune Posted on Wed, Mar. 30, 2005 http://www.aberdeennews.com/mld/aberdeennews/news/nation/11265972.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp CORAL GABLES, Fla. - (KRT) - Far from the White House and Havana, in strip malls and nondescript buildings along South Florida's sunlit streets, a multimillion-dollar infusion from the U.S. government has rejuvenated Cuban-American non-profit groups providing assistance to Cuba's tiny opposition movement. The groups' ultimate goal, supported by the Bush administration, is to bring political change to Cuba and end the presidency of Fidel Castro, who has remained in power despite numerous assassination attempts and a four-decade U.S. trade embargo. Some of what the groups send to the island doesn't reach the dissidents they hope to help, and some of the groups' leaders acknowledge that the extra $14 million the administration is sending their way this year - on top of the nearly $9 million that was appropriated - is unlikely to bring down the Cuban government. But that hasn't dimmed their enthusiasm for aiding what they describe as courageous opposition figures in Cuba, whom they view as Castro's Achilles' heel. "We've sent medicines. We've sent clothing. We've sent cameras. We've sent office supplies," said Frank Hernandez Trujillo, 63, executive director of Grupo de Apoyo a la Democracia, a Coral Gables, Fla.-based group that since 2000 has received $4.7 million from the U.S. government's Cuba program. Hernandez said he began shipping supplies to Castro opponents in Cuba 10 years ago, working out of his living room with six friends. He financed the operation himself. But when U.S. funds became available in the mid-1990s, Hernandez began writing grant proposals and by 2003 had an annual budget of $1.3 million. Hernandez said Cubans who speak out against the government lose their jobs or are imprisoned, citing the 75 opposition figures incarcerated during the Cuban government's crackdown in 2003. "We are literally keeping many dissidents and their families alive by providing them with materials," he said. "The psychological impact is also important. They feel like they are not abandoned." In addition to providing dissidents everything from dried ramen soup to fax machines, Hernandez is producing books and CDs for underground distribution in Cuba. His latest project is "GAD-TV," a television interview program meant to counter the almost-uniformly negative Cuban government propaganda about the United States. The program is smuggled into Cuba on DVDs, though few Cubans have DVD players. "We see the Cuban government as a piece of furniture that has been eaten away by termites," he said. "If you put any kind of pressure on it, it will crumble. We are the termites." Five miles west of Hernandez's office on Miami's Calle Ocho is the single-room headquarters of Accion Democratica Cubana, another U.S.- financed group that provides mostly humanitarian assistance to Cuban dissidents. Juan Carlos Acosta, the organization's 46-year-old president, said he turned to the U.S. government for financing because he couldn't raise money in South Florida, where some Cuban-Americans do not believe supporting dissidents is the most effective way to bring change to Cuba. "We don't have the support of our own community," Acosta said. "We have powerful radio stations, and most of them have a hard-line vision based on the ideas of the 1950s and 1960s, namely that Cuba can only be free through arms." Acosta said he shared that view for years. A Mariel boat refugee in 1980, he said he trained in the Florida Everglades with Alpha 66, an exile commando group that prepared for an assault on the island. But Acosta said that by the mid-1980s he began hearing about a small group of opposition leaders inside Cuba and decided supporting them was the way to end "the tyranny." In the first three months of 2004, Accion Democratica Cubana reported sending 1,464 pounds of relief packages to Cuba, along with four shortwave radios, two tripods, six cameras, three portable hard drives and other items, according to U.S. government documents. In 2003, the group spent $113,116 on humanitarian aid and supplies out of nearly $350,000 in total expenses, according to its tax report. But Acosta spent about $220,000 on shipping, telephone, rent and contract services. Acosta said the only way to effectively communicate with dissidents in Cuba is by phone, which can cost in excess of several dollars a minute. He also pays professional smugglers between $12 and $15 a pound to carry supplies into Cuba. Other U.S.-funded groups face similar difficulties getting their product to the island. Rosa Berre, a former reporter for the Cuban Communist Party daily Granma, fled Cuba with her journalist husband in 1980 and later helped start the Coral Gables-based Web site CubaNet, which publishes articles by Cuban freelance writers critical of Castro. CubaNet has received about $1.7 million in U.S. funds since 1996. But its Web site is blocked in Cuba, so CubaNet articles are not available even for Cubans with access to the Internet. To get around the problem, Berre sends copies of CubaNet stories by e- mail to the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, the country's diplomatic seat absent full relations, where they are printed and distributed along with other pro-democracy material to thousands of visitors. In Cuba, many dissidents say the U.S. assistance is crucial yet complain that much of the help never reaches them. "The U.S. government needs a way to have accountability for the money that is given to the exile groups," said Manuel Vazquez Portal, a dissident journalist in Cuba. Adolfo Franco, an assistant administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development, said his agency closely monitors the program, which has spent about $36 million since its first grant in 1996. He described the effort - which also includes grants to universities and other organizations - as having an enormous impact in Cuba. "If this were insignificant and not a threat to the regime, the regime would not waste a great deal of time denouncing these individuals, the United States government and the entire movement," Franco said. But a USAID-commissioned audit in 2000 by PricewaterhouseCoopers cast doubt on the agency's ability to measure the effectiveness of the so- called pro-democracy efforts because of the closed nature of Cuban society. Even when the assistance arrives on the island it is difficult to ensure that it is going to the intended recipients. Resting on Joel Brito's desk in Miami is a color photograph taken in Cuba of two smiling middle-aged women. The woman in the foreground is Aleida Godinez Soler, a dissident labor leader and Brito's primary contact in Cuba. Behind Godinez stood Alicia Zamora Labrada, a dissident writer specializing in labor issues. As executive director of an exile labor group, Brito said he sent the two women about $9,000 in U.S. taxpayer money during a two-year period, along with medicines and other assistance. Then, in 2003, the two women revealed themselves as Cuban government spies. "I talked to Godinez every day," said Brito, 41. "I couldn't believe it." --- (c) 2005, Chicago Tribune (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** ECUADOR [non]. Summer A-05 for HCJB via VT Communications: 1600-1630 on 11760 RMP 500 kW / 061 deg to RUS in Russian 2100-2230 on 12025 SKN 250 kW / 165 deg to NoAf in Arabic (Observer, Bulgaria, April 1 via DXLD) Latter had been Sackville in B-04 (gh) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. American preacher pontificating at 1417 March 31 on 15190, in the clear with BBC out of the way; tape was snagging, but fortunately not a few minutes later when there was music. Is WWRB ever using this frequency any more? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ERITREA/ETHIOPIA [nons]. A-05 for UNMEE via VT Communications: 0900-1000 Sun on 15135 DHA 250 kW / 225 deg to EaAf in English/Tigrina/Amharic 1030-1130 Tue on 15135 DHA 250 kW / 225 deg to EaAf in English/Tigrina/Amharic (Observer, Bulgaria, April 1 via DXLD) DHA = UAE ** ETHIOPIA [non]. A-05 for Radio Mustaqbal via VT Communications: 0630-0700 Mon/Tue/Thu on 15530 DHA 250 kW / 225 deg to EaAf in Somali 1130-1200 Mon/Tue/Thu on 15530 DHA 250 kW / 225 deg to EaAf in Somali (Observer, Bulgaria, April 1 via DXLD) DHA = UAE ** ETHIOPIA [non]. 12120, 31/3. V. of Oromo [Liberation?], 1702-1730, vernacular, ID, presentación con segmento canto cor`ánico, comentarios con alusiones a Oromo y música local. SINPO 44444 (Jose Miguel Romero, Sacañet (Castellón), España, SANGEAN ATS 909, Antena siete metros de hilo. BRIGMTON BT-310, Antena telescopica, 73´s y buen DX, Noticias DX via DXLD) Ah, this time he put the acute on Castellón, if not José or other words, tnx. See SOMALIA [non] for what followed at 1730 10 kHz up, same transmitter?? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FINLAND. Bulletins in classical Latin air domestically on YLE Radio 1 and worldwide on YLE Radio Finland. Nuntii Latini is also available on the internet at http://www.yleradio1.fi/nuntii The broadcast has a long summer recess from mid-June until mid-August. Sundays at 0950 GMT/UT on 11755 and 6120 for Europe, at 1145 on 13710 for Asia, and at 1355 on 15400 for North America. The 0950 broadcast airs also on YLE satellite radio one, and the 1145 on satellite radio two. Inquiries about Nuntii Latini should sent to Nuntii Latini, YLE Radio 1, Box 60, 00024 Yleisradio, Finland Email: nuntii.latini @ yle.fi 73 (Paul Gager, Vienna, Austria March 30, BDXC-UK via DXLD) ** FRANCE [non]. RFI does seem to have added some Spanish transmissions to the Americas in the new schedule. According to their Web site: 1200-1230 15515 1600-1630 15515 1800-1830 17630 2100-2130 17630 0100-0130 9800 (Mike Cooper, GA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GABON. I note Africa No. 1 running a 15-minute French-language religious program before signing off 9580 at 2315 UT (Mike Cooper, GA, Apr 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. The Scheppau (Braunschweig/Königslutter) transmitter on 630 kHz is active with Voice of Russia programming now, probably since today, but I'am not sure whether it was yesterday or earlier when I checked the last time. Modulation characteristics are "DLF-like", I guess due to an EMT DX-377 limiter/compressor being in use. Exact schedule remains to be seen; right now (1530 UT) German is carried of course. Now, from 1700, 630 kHz carries Russian. So this is obviously the feed otherwise taken by the Zehlendorf transmitters (603/693 kHz). (Kai Ludwig, Germany, April 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREECE. Avlis still registered both power limits, 100/250 kW, but we discussed last autumn, that Athens Avlis uses only 3 x 100 kW of power. And Collins 35 kWs are still registered for Thessaloniki site! 4 years after dismantling action (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX Mar 22 via DXLD) It would be very interesting to know if Avlis is using one of the 250 kW senders that were "donated" to them by the IBB. As I think Wolfy suggested, it may have to be run at less power, if so, due to inadequate antennas at that site. It's difficult to tell when listening to VOG whether one of the frequencies is stronger than it used to be. All seem to go off air on Tuesday mornings - except the listed KAV outlets - so I assume that is due to the usual "wash & brush-up day" at Avlis (Noel R. Green-UK, wwdxc BC-DX Mar 23, via DXLD) ** GREECE [and non]. VOICE OF GREECE A05 schedule Re-arranged from VoG website http://www.voiceofgreece.gr/en/frequencies.asp Effective from : 27/03/05 to 29/10/05 (00:00)UTC LANGUAGE Greek u.o.s. EUROPE 0000-0600 *7475 9420 *5865 0600-0700 15630 9420 0700-1000 15630 9420 11645 1100-1300 9375 15630 1100-1200 15650 1300-1600 9420 15630 *9375 1600-1900 9420 15630 7475 1900-2100 9420 *15630 7475 *9375 2100-2300 9420 7475 2300-2400 9420 7475 5865 ATLANTIC OCEAN 0000-0600 9420 *7475 0600-1000 15630 9420 15650 1100-2100 *15630 1300-2100 9420 2100-2400 9420 7475 FOREIGN LANGUAGE TRANSMISSIONS 1300-1400 15650 Ar,D 1400-1900 12105 Rus,E,R,Tr,Sc,Bg,Al,F 0900-1700 792 1730-1800 792 2000-2130 792 2200-2300 792 TASKEND 1200-1300 *15650 M. EAST, INDIAN OCEAN 0000-0200 15650 0400-0600 *15650 0400-0700 *17520 0600-1000 21530 1200-1300 *15650 2100-2300 * 9375 2100-2400 *12105 0900-1400 1260 AFRICA 0000-0200 9375 0600-1000 15650 2300-2400 9375 JAPAN, PACIFIC OCEAN 0600-0800 15190 0600-0700 **15190 1200-1300 *15650 AUSTRALIA 0000-0200 15650 0400-0700 *17520 0400-0600 *15650 0600-1000 21530 1200-1300 *15650 2100-2300 *9375 2100-2400 *12105 NORTH AMERICA 0000-0400 9420 7475 1200-1500 9775 1200-1600 **9775 1600-2200 17705 SOUTH AMERICA, PANAMA ZONE, SW AFRICA 0000-0200 9375 2000-2200 17565 2300-2400 9375 Gr=Greek, Eng=English, Al=Albanian, Ar=Arabian, D=Deutsche, Bg=Bulgarian, F=French, E=Spanish, I=Italian, Pl=Polish, P=Portuguese, R=Romanian, Rus=Russian, S=Swedish, Sc=Servocroatian, Tr=Turkish (*)Transmission end 10 min earlier (**)On Saturday and Sunday UTC 1200-1600 (9775) for North America and UTC; 0600-0700 (15190) for Japan, Pacific Ocean (via Eike Bierwirth, Germany, dxldyg via DXLD) Portuguese? That would be new, but I don`t see it on the sked (gh) ** GUATEMALA. Un curiosità: Radio Buenas Nuevas, 4799.8 kHz, ascoltata l'altra notte nell'annuncio finale dava anche una frequenza in FM, che potrebbe essere nuova. Ci sono anche voci che la radio potrebbe lasciare le onde corte per le FM. Ecco l'id: "... Desde San Sebastian, Huehuetenango Guatemala, transmite Radio Buena Nuevas el la frequencia ... autorizada de 4800 kc banda de 60 metros y 102.1 frequencia modulada" Ciao (Giampiero Bernardini, Avvenire, Milano, Italy, March 30, playdx via DXLD) ** INDONESIA. AMATEUR RADIO LINKS EARTHQUAKE-STRICKEN ISLAND WITH OUTSIDE WORLD http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2005/03/30/101/?nc=1 NEWINGTON, CT, Mar 30, 2005 --- Working under harsh conditions, Indonesian Amateur Radio Emergency Service (IARES) volunteers have established VHF links between earthquake-stricken Nias Island and northern Sumatra. Organization of Amateur Radio for Indonesia (ORARI) headquarters in Jakarta this week called on all ORARI members to be ready to assist Nias Island --- hit March 28 by magnitude 8.2 and 8.7 earthquakes --- and to secure both VHF and HF frequencies for emergency traffic. An ORARI team now has set up at the Indonesian Public TV tower near Gunung Sitoli, the largest city on Nias Island, and now is in contact the ORARI District 6 command post in Medan in Sumatra. The ORARI team that helicoptered in March 29 already had experience supporting communication following the December 2004 tsunami that claimed an estimated 300,000 lives. In the earthquake`s immediate aftermath, IARES members reportedly were on duty with little or no food to eat, although they did have drinking water. At that point, many victims had not yet been evacuated, and some remained trapped in the debris. More than 1000 people are reported to have died as a result of the earthquakes. The tremors affected some of the same areas as the December earthquake and tsunami. Although officials and residents remained on alert for possible tsunamis this week, none have occurred. ORARI team members include Zulkarman Syafrin, YC6PLG, and Herman Rangkuti, YC6IQ. Syafrin reports that the earthquake damaged the power, telecommunication and transportation infrastructure or took them out altogether on Nias island. Buildings in Gunung Sitoli were reportedly flattened and roads severely damaged or impassable. The team has been using portable generators, but to conserve scarce fuel it`s been restricting contact off the island to every two hours. ORARI District 6/Northern Sumatra Chairman T. Awal Ali, YB6HA, has pledged to supply more logistical and radio equipment, while Ady Susanto, YB6VK, in Medan, is preparing a set of solar cells for use by the IARES team in Gunung Sitoli. The March 28 quakes --- and several smaller tremors --- shook Sumatra Island and many smaller islands surrounding it, including Nias --- the closest island to the epicenter. A magnitude 6.3 aftershock occurred in the same vicinity on March 30. --- Wyn Purwinto, AB2QV Copyright © 2005, American Radio Relay League, Inc. All Rights Reserved (via John Norfolk, dxldyg) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. I think this can be considered as promotion of Worldspace subscriptions by WRN. See http://www.wrn.org/listeners/stations/worldspace.html All the best, (Kai Ludwig, Germany, April 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Wonder how WRN REALLY feel about this; perhaps having no alternative they decided to spin it as positively as possible (gh, DXLD) ** IRAN [non]. New station in Farsi from March 28-Seda-ye Jambushi Iran e Farda, 1600-1645 on 7490 KCH [MOLDOVA] 500 kW / 116 deg to WeAs/ME (Observer, Bulgaria, April 1 via DXLD) Summer A-05 for Seda-ye Iran / Voice of Iran in Farsi: 1530-1730 on 11575 SOF 100 kW / 090 deg to WeAs/ME (Observer, Bulgaria, April 1 via DXLD) ** IRAN [non]. 6421.16, V. of Communist Party of Iran, Mar 27 *1625- 1637, 35232-33232, Farsi, 1625 sign on with IS, ID, Opening music, Talk, // 4375.94 (Kouji Hashimoto, Japan, Japan Premium April 1 via DXLD) ** IRAQ. SOLDIERS STAYS TUNED INTO [Black] HILLS By Laura Woodard, Journal Staff Writer http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2005/03/28/news/local/top/news01.txt About a month ago, there wasn't much to listen to on the radio in Iraq. But with some perseverance and technology, a Rapid City man has changed that. Now, more than 8,000 servicemen and women in Iraq are tuning into Alive Radio. "I am a part of something that is way bigger than myself that has a great and long-lasting positive impact on so many people," Staff Sgt. Scott Helmann said in an e-mail to The Rapid City Journal. Despite challenges, Helmann, a member of South Dakota Army National Guard, manages to broadcast 24 hours of Christian music from his living quarters at Balad Air Base, the largest base in Iraq, 42 miles north of Baghdad. Helmann rebroadcasts 88.3 The Point, a Christian radio station in Rapid City affiliated with KSLT, in addition to some of his own programming. Helmann, an avionics technician, leads a 12-person team that repairs and inspects aircraft, including the UH-60 Blackhawk and the CH-47 Chinook helicopters. He receives 88.3 The Point through internet streaming audio and rebroadcasts it using slightly more than 1 watt of power at 91.1 FM. Internet access was one of the challenges Helmann faced when he began the project. "Internet access is hard to find in a war-torn Third World country, so this required me to go from not knowing anything to learning all about satellite receivers/transmitters, and satellite internet," he said in the e-mail. "I have become adept at setting up transmitter/receiver dishes as there were no technicians left to perform this service as they had all left the country after one was killed some months ago." Helmann was also faced with other challenges: acquiring the equipment, getting FCC approval and designing and building a well-matched antenna for maximum signal radiation. The project, which uses several laptop computers, also requires knowledge of sound mixing equipment. All signals are digitally stored and processed, and playlists are created for later broadcast. Because Helmann works more than 12 hours a day, the station runs on an automated program. Helmann, who joined the Guard in 1979 while he was still in high school, has three stepchildren with his wife, Mary, a nurse at Rapid City Regional Hospital. His mother, Nancy, also lives in Rapid City. His journey to Alive Radio began about five years ago when he survived a snowmobile accident that should have killed him, he said. "It was obvious that God had something yet for me to do here on earth. Alive Radio is just another way I am being used to spread the life- filling happiness, wholeness and completeness that can't be found anywhere else except through the good news of a relationship with Jesus Christ," he said. Helmann was stationed at Fort McCoy in Wisconsin for a few months before traveling to Kuwait and Iraq. It was there that his desire for participating in outreach and ministry began, he said. "While there, I found there wasn't much for radio, and with my background with the worship team at our church and all my electronic experience and ability to think outside the box for solutions, the idea began to take shape," he said. "Then, once we were in Kuwait, there was nothing for English music or radio, so I started to do research on what it would take and if it was even possible to build a radio station." There was not much to listen to at Balad Air Base, either, Helmann said. The people in the service received only one station: Armed Forces Network. Sometimes, the station repeated the same program from the previous day, he said. The AFN station struggles with sound- quality problems that, through design and attention to detail, Alive Radio does not have. Alive Radio's signal may be a little weak, but the sound quality is progressing toward CD quality, Helmann said. Alive Radio is also known by another name. When AFN went off the air after a storm, people were searching their radio dials for something else and, "They started referring to us as 'that 911 station,'" he said. Joe Standish, program director at 88.3, said that Helmann is a friend of the Rapid City radio station. "I think it's just awesome. It's great to be able to reach people in Iraq and to provide comfort and encouragement from home," Standish said. Helmann has plans for Alive Radio's future. "It has been so popular that we are working to upgrade the broadcast power to 40 watts, which would allow us full coverage of the entire base of 23,000 service men and women as well as the surrounding area." For information on how to help Helmann obtain new equipment, including a high-power transmitter, a used lap-top computer and various other audio equipment and cables, write to Mark Gustaf, Word of Hope Wesleyan Church outreach director, Attn: Alive Radio Outreach, 1208 Copperfield Dr., Rapid City, S.D. 57703-4706. On the net: http://www.883thepoint.com and click on Iraq (via Sheldon Harvey, DXLD) ** IRELAND. When RTE ceased its shortwave transmissions they gave Worldspace radios free to Irish missionaries in Africa so that they could continue to hear their broadcasts. If they cannot get free to air broadcasts retained on Worldspace there may be a case for them to reconsider using shortwave to Africa (Mike Barraclough, UK, dxldyg via DXLD) ** ISRAEL. Israel moves to summer time at 0200 local (0000 GMT) on 1 April, at which time clocks will be moved forward one hour, making local time GMT+3. Summer time ends on 8 October. As all of Kol Israel's SW programs are relays of domestic services, this should push back [you mean forward] transmission times by one hour according to GM. (Chris (from contacts in Israel) Greenway, UK, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IVORY COAST. CÔTE D'IVOIRE: INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTS UNMONITORABLE IN ABIDJAN [well, except for SHORTWAVE!!! --- gh] On 31 March at approximately 0930 gmt, three of the four international radio stations that broadcast on FM frequencies in Abidjan (BBC, RFI and Africa Number One) could not be monitored. All three share the same transmitter. The fourth station, Voice of America, could still be monitored. In the past, the disappearance of international broadcasts on FM in Abidjan has coincided with civil unrest in Côte d'Ivoire. Source: BBC Monitoring research 31 Mar 05 (via DXLD) ** JAPAN [non]. Tuning around at 2208 UT March 31, encountered French and Japanese mixing at approximately equal strength on 11895! As there was no discernible SAH, I at first thought it must be Montsinéry with two feeds mixed into one transmitter, NHK and RFI. But I soon realised it was Creole (or Kriyol, or Kweyol), not French, so must be VOA, confirmed by ID at 2211. I seem to recall exactly the same thing happened during a previous Week of Confusion, last year? Apparently NHK and VOA did not learn their lesson, or simply do not care if there is a week of head-on clashing. The Creole broadcast makes a DST shift one week later to 2100, eliminating the collision as NHK stays at 2200. HFCC A-05 does not list NHK on this frequency at this time, just: 11895 2200 2230 11 DL 250 100 1234567 270305 291005 D USA IBB IBB It`s hard to find NHK`s Japanese A-05 schedule on their website, and bclnews.it omits Japanese language transmissions! But the NDXC frequency schedule for late B-04 does show: 11895 R. JAPAN 2200-2300 1234567 Japanese Montsinéry 500 295 GUF And voanews.com confirms VOA currently has Creole on this frequency: Creole 2200-2230 UTC 11895 13725 21555 So here we have Delano vs. Montsinéry with crossing beams, making both unlistenable even in OK, unless you can mentally tune out one language and concentrate on the other. It`s probably just as bad --- I was about to say ``even worse``, but that`s impossible --- in Haïti and Mexico or wherever is NHK`s target (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH. UNID, 6285, 1124-1145+ March 27. OM & YL in possible European language, classical music and talk, music bumpers between segments suggesting sophisticated broadcaster, fighting sweeper QRM, checked various sources but could not determine who was on this frequency at this time (Jeffrey Heller, Naperville, IL, Drake R8B, Timewave ANC-4, Par Z end-fed slopers (67' and 40') and Eavesdropper trap dipole, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KUWAIT. USA? 15090, VoA 1446 March 29 with news in Pashto , and several reports. Many refs to Afghanistan. Not clear ID at TOH. Signal S6 33433 (Zacharias Liangas, Thessaloniki Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LAOS. 7145, Lao National Radio. Mar. 30 at 1240-1300. SINPO 25332. Almost male talk in Khmer. French program followed at 1300. ID was heard at 1300. Thanks for Kageyama's tip on his website (Iwao Nagatani, Japan, Japan Premium April 1 via DXLD) ** MALAYSIA. 15295, VoM, 1645 March 25 with Arab programming, traditional Malay and Arab rock songs . 44434. Little overloaded. At 1700 with Malay program, news by Mrs Zakari(!) and deli songs. At 1800 again, with Malay rock ballads. 42443 at 1700. Same signal outdoor with fully open telescopic antenna (Zacharias Liangas, NEA MAKRI ATHENS, Degen 1103 and Tecsun PL200 reeled antenna of abt 2.5 m of length, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. XHFM-2 logo added to pages --- The XHFM-2 DX photograph is not very pretty, but if you want a quick comparison of the XHFM-2 Veracruz and XEFB-2 Monterrrey circle-2 logos take a look: http://www.geocities.com/doglethorpe/mexlogos.html (Danny (Shreveport, LA) Oglethorpe, Mexico/Latin America TV ID tips: http://www.geocities.com/doglethorpe WTFDA via DXLD) ** MEXICO. Mexican FM DX. Times are CST --- Hello, I just installed a 30' telescoping mast today, put the FM yagi on top and spent the afternoon pointing it down the gulf coast from Tampico to Veracruz (275 to 475 miles) 03/30/2005 tropo 1517 106.9 XHTVR Tuxpan, Veracruz; 335 "La Nueva azul"; "El Color del Amor //1150 AM"; musica popular 1812 105.5 XHTIO Tampico, Tamaulipas 270 "Radio Universidad" 1845 104.5 XEHU Martínez de la Torre, Veracruz; 400 "Shock FM" Woman in Spanish with announcements; música romántica, música popular 1853 100.1 XHJT Tampico, Tamaulipas 270 "Best-FM"; English light rock 1900 100.5 XHVE Veracruz, Veracruz 475 "La Mejor FM 100.5"; musica Mexicana regional/norteña/tejano/ranchera 1904 101.9 XHRIC Poza Rica, Veracruz; 360 "Exa FM 101.9"; Woman announcer in español, muchos saludos, música popular/rock, 1923 101.7 XHPR Veracruz, Veracruz 475 "Los 40 Principales"; música popular Mexicana/hip-hop/urban dance 1934 99.7 XHPB Veracruz, Veracruz; 475 "Mar FM"; noticias "Imagen Informativo" 1946 96.5 XHRN Veracruz, Veracruz 475 "La Nueva R-N"; ads, concert promo's, PSA's, "La Tropical", música tropical 1955 96.9 XHHF Tampico, Tamaulipas; 270 "Los 40 Principales en 96.9"; ads , promo's "XHHF-FM en Tampico, Tamaulipas con 8 mil watts de potencia" at 2001 2006 93.1 XHCRA Tuxpan, Veracruz; 335 "La Poderosa"; "Cañonazos musicales", concert promos en Hidalgo y Veracruz; música cumbia y tropical featuring local musical groups from the Mexican states of Veracruz and Hidalgo; ID @ 2031 "este es XHCRA ...con 40 mil watts de potencia" 73 and gud dx (Steve AB5GP Wiseblood, Boca Chica Beach, TX, Antenna- craft FM-6 yagi @ 35' CM #9537 antenna rotator, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MONACO [non]. See SOUTH CAROLINA [non] ** NEW ZEALAND [and non]. ``John Figliozzi, Clifton Park, NY`` & ``John Figliozzi, Halfmoon, NY`` John, I give up, are you commuting all the time between Clifton Park and Halfmoon, or what? 73, (Glenn to John via swprograms via DXLD) Ha! My mailing address is Clifton Park. I live in Halfmoon (by about 1/10th of a mile). Keep 'em guessing, I say! |g| jaf PS: RNZI is very good tonight in both Halfmoon and Clifton Park on 11820. To me, that is a true sign of spring (John Figliozzi, NY, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 17675 doing well in the afternoons and evenings here; sad to see 9870 gone in the mornings here, but 6095 quite good around 1330 April 1. It will be fading out earlier and earlier as the solstice approaches (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA. March 28 I was listening to R Nigeria from Kaduna starting their daily programming on 4770 at 0430 UT. First program was the Morning Prayer and reception very enjoyable. Kaduna is the only FRCN local station I can hear on regular basis. Sometimes even on 6090 kHz. Months ago I heard R Nigeria, Lagos on 3326 kHz, but not lately. 73´s (Jouko Huuskonen, Turku, FINLAND, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA. VON meanwhile (since Jan. 05) has settled as follows: English 0500-0700 on 15120 to E 1000-1500 on 15120 to E 1700-1900 on 15120 to E 1900-2100 on 7255 to WAf French 0700-0800 on 15120 to E 2100-2200 on 7255 to WAf Hausa 0800-0900, 2200-2300 on 7255 Fulfulde 0900-1000 on 7255 Arabic 1630-1700 on 11770 Kiswahili 1600-1630 on 9690 (ann: 1500 on 11770) Experiences --- considering the possibility that they want to reach listeners in Europe: During the winter season 1700-1800 was by far the best time to listen, but now the frequency is blocked. In the mornings I didn't listen, but the daytime segment in English is hardly bound to gain regular listeners in Europe: Signal is sometimes good, sometimes relatively weak, severe interference from RFE/RL at 1200-1230, 1300-1330, 1400- 1500. Today signal was relatively strong until 1300, but transmitter switch- on was late, at 1003, first break 1013-1020, next break 1142-1150, again at 1201 until ? and 1245-1250. They should a) register their frequencies, b) change them seasonally (Thorsten Hallmann, Münster, Germany, April 1, dxing.info via DXLD) ** NIGERIA [non]. From March 27 Voice Africa in English to WeAf and Nigeria: 1600-1800 on 13820 SOF 100 kW / 215 deg ||||| cancelled (Observer, Bulgaria, April 1 via DXLD) ** PAKISTAN. Here's the A-05 PBC internal schedule as received by post today. Note unusual frequency 6780. PBC Internal Shortwave Services:: Via Islamabad (Rewat) API-2 100 kW 0045-0200 6075 Haya Allal Falah 0200-0215 6075 Urdu News 0600-0604 7395 Urdu News 0604-0700 7395 Rawalpindi Pgm 0700-0703 7395 Urdu News 0703-0707 7395 Punjabi news 0707-0800 7395 Rawalpindi Pgm 0800-0810 7395 English news 0810-0900 7395 Rawalpindi Pgm 0900-0903 7395 Islamabad Pgm 0903-0907 7395 Pushto news 0907-1000 7395 Islamabad Pgm 1000-1005 7395 Urdu news 1005-1100 7395 Islamabad Pgm 1100-1104 7395 English news 1104-1115 7395 Islamabad Pgm 1230-1330 6780 Kashmiri Pgm 1350-1400 6780 Balti News 1420-1428 6780 Sheena News 1615-1700 6060 Islamabad Pgm (Aaina) via Islamabad (Rewat) API-4 100 kW 0200-0400 and 1300-1800 5080 Current Affairs [partly English?] via Islamabad (Rewat) API-8 100 kW 0045-0215 and 1445-1815 4790 Pindi III Pgm 0430-0515 6065 Balti Service 0530-0615 6065 Sheena Service 0900-1215 7265 Pindi III Pgm via Quetta 10 kW 0045-0404[Fri. 0345] and 1200-1805 5025 0600-1145[Fri. 0400-0820 and 1000-1145] 7155 via Peshawar 10 kW 1100-1400 7220 Chitrali service via Rawalpindi 10 kW 0230-0425 and 1335-1430 4790 Pindi III Pgm And to Glenn - I can confirm that the External Service chart - and a pamphlet - show offset frequencies 7374 (via API-1), 9324 (via API-2) and 17484 (via API-1). All are Rewat (Islamabad) 100 kW. None are propagating to me so I cannot confirm the exact frequencies. But as is known, their 100 kW transmitters do deviate at times. And incidentally, the Gujrati service at 0400-0430 using 11565 and 9340 is now sending via 147 degrees to South Asia and not to East Africa as previously, and so the remaining service to East Africa is now the News & Commentary at 1600-1615 via 15725 and 11850 both 233 degrees. 73s (Noel R. Green [NE England], UK, April 1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 4960, Catholic Radio Network, Mar. 29 at 1048- 1100. SINPO 25332. Prayer and hymn in English. IS of Vatican Radio was heard at 1052. ID at 1100 (Iwao Nagatani, Japan, Japan Premium April 1 via DXLD) ** PERU. R. Huanta, 4746.7, 0958-1019 Mar 27. Music at tune-in, OM announcer in Spanish with frequent mention of "Radio Huanta" and other talk between music selections. Fair to good signal and copy with static crashes (Jeffrey Heller, Naperville, IL, Drake R8B, Timewave ANC-4, Par Z end-fed slopers (67' and 40') and Eavesdropper trap dipole, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PHILIPPINES. 1170, endless test loop program with ID and music in between, heard on March 15th, 0020-0124* UT, S=9+10dB and deep fadings [screened to the South]; modulation of the old Continental was much stronger (Roland Schulze, Mangaldan, Philippines, wwdxc BC-DX Mar 26 via DXLD) ** PORTUGAL [and non]. I could hardly believe my ears around 1430 UT April 1, when on 15770 I heard not one, but two stations in Portuguese. The stronger was WYFR, and the weaker underneath, RDPI! But this collision is not a surprise to HFCC A-05: 15770 1200 1600 16 YFR 100 160 1234567 270305 301005 D USA YFR FCC 15770 1300 1500 39,41 LIS 100 82 23456 270305 301005 D PORTUGUESE And Lisbon did go off at 1500 as WYFR switched to English. WYFR is to Brasil, and Lisboa to Goa, apparently, so there is not supposed to be any problem in the respective target areas (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PUERTO RICO [non]. In a DirecTV ad aimed towards Hispanics, it referenced "WAPA America" as one of the channels. ¡Ay chihuahua! Does this mean that WAPA-4 is now the first Hispanic TV superstation within the USA, territories, and/or possessions? KKS Lansin(GM)ichigan (Get it yet?) (Keith K. Smith, March 29, WTFDA via DXLD) Kinda sorta. LIN Broadcasting, which owns the real WAPA-TV in San Juan, began "WAPA America" a year or so ago. It's operated out of LIN's control hub at WWLP in Springfield MA (also the master control for WTNH, WCTX, WPRI and WNAC in New England), and it carries WAPA's news and some of its entertainment programming, as well as alternate programming to replace some of the shows for which WAPA has the rights in Puerto Rico but not the rest of the country. It's on DirecTV and a very small handful of cable systems, from what I understand. It's probably about as close to WAPA-TV as WGN Superstation is to WGN-TV... s (Scott Fybush, NY, ibid.) ** SCOTLAND [non]. Radio Six program schedule: see USA WBCQ ** SOMALIA [non]. 12130, R. Horyaal, definitely them here now, ex- 12140. A bit delayed sign-on at 1732 UT on 27 March. Excellent signal here, obviously Johannesburg is "in the line of fire" (Vashek Korinek, RSA, DXplorer Mar 30 via BC-DX via DXLD) Samara 240 kW at 188 degrees booms into South Africa (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) 12130, 31/3. R. Horyaal, 1730-1800, vernacular, ID, presentación con canto cor`ánico, comentarios con alusiones a Somalia, noticias y entrevista. SINPO 55444 (José Miguel Romero, Sacañet (Castellón), España, SANGEAN ATS 909, Antena siete metros de hilo. BRIGMTON BT-310, Antena telescópica, 73´s y buen DX, Noticias DX via DXLD) See ETHIOPIA [non] for 12120 until 1730 (gh) ** SOUTH AFRICA. 7205 is a new frequency for southern Africa of Amateur Radio Mirror Int., replacing 9750 for the Sunday 0800-0900 broadcast. 17700 for the rest of Africa remains unchanged, and so does the Monday repeat 1900-2000 on 3215 (Vashek Korinek, RSA, DXplorer Mar 30 via BC-DX via DXLD) ** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. Hello, From Monaco: on 702 kHz. Vatican Radio & RMC info are no longer on the air, from Col de la Madone's transmitter site. But "The Overcomer Ministry" with Brother Stair, is on the air at 1900-2100 UT. Stay tuned! Best 73's (Christian Ghibaudo, France, March 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN. Checking the A-05 REE sked for the Sephardic weekly show, I found this sample of the language, accompanied by 15 mp3 files at http://www.rtve.es/rne/ree/pnsefar/sefardi.htm La Emision "SEFARAD" en lingua Djudeo-espanyola, es un programa aparejado por Matilda i Rajel Barnatan, ke destaka la fruchiguoza erensia ke guadraron los djudios de Espanya, i ke la grande parte se yevaron kon sí a las sivdades onde se aresentaron enturando el Mediterráneo, kontinuando kon este universo kultural. Aunados en Komunidades Sefaradis, arebivieron una kultura ispánika i djudia, en konsensiandose ke arebivían un trezoro uniko de memoria i rekreasion. Este legado valutozo es apresiado en muestros dias i despierta el ancho intereso de ispanistas, investigadores i presonas ke dezean konoser mas anchamente una kultura bazada en los uzos i kostumbre, folklore, tradisiones, ansi ke la gran diversidad del patrimonio muzikal sefaradi Los programas, de media ora de turasión semanal, se emiten los lunes para Medyo Oriente i Mediterráneo; ansi ke los martes para el Kontinente Amerikano, i konta kon el muevo espasio "Espanya Oy" Sic with some accents, but not everywhere they would go in Castellano. But SW schedule page http://www.rtve.es/rne/ree/OndaCorta/lextrj.htm is still dated for A-04!!! The UT Tue 0415-0445 broadcast has been on 9690, but some seasons has switched to 9650, and in fact there it is on 9650 at 0415 UT Tuesday March 29 check (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1269, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Judaeo-Español --- The other names for the language are Ladino or Judezmo. The people are Sephardic as opposed to Ashkenazic. http://www.jewfaq.org/ashkseph.htm http://www.alhambragroup.com/www_alhambra_cc_files/Alhambra.htm The Hebrew word for the area now called Spain was "S'pharad." Sephardim (pron. Seffar-DEEM) were the Jews who lived in Spain until 1492, when King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella ordered them expelled. Since then, Sephardim have lived outside Spain, but have maintained their cultural and religious traditions. The Sephardim in Muslim and, then, Christian, Spain achieved a very high level of sophistication and achievements in the arts, sciences, business and government. When Ferdinand and Isabella ordered the expulsion of the Jews in 1492, the majority of the Sephardim went east and settled along the Mediterranean basin, mostly in Turkey, Greece and Italy. Some settled further east in the Muslim countries of the Levant - Egypt, Syria, and Lebanon, while others settled in the Balkans. Their language was Ladino, or Judeo-Spanish, or Judezmo: Spanish with an admixture of words of Hebrew origin, analogous to Yiddish, which was Bavarian German with Hebrew added. As the Sephardim settled in their new homes, they incorporated words from their new host languages into Ladino (via Joel Rubin, NY, DXLD) ** SUDAN. [creative-radio] Radio jobs in Sudan EXPERIENCED RADIO STAFF NEEDED IN SUDAN http://www.hirondelle.org (French) http://www.hirondelle.org/hirondelle.nsf/ae38da31f7d9e228c125658b006bd2a4?OpenView (English) http://www.hirondelle.org/hirondelle.nsf/144c39f4cf926fdec125658b006bd1b8?OpenView (German) http://www.hirondelle.org/hirondelle.nsf/525125ad0c4e00a0c12564e500424876/4e609e5ae40f4a19c1256e01006c9493?OpenDocument (Italian) Jobs (in French) http://www.hirondelle.org/hirondelle.nsf/c0d4ea7a44b64faec12564e500421ff1/9ac780e26b1ca161c125681f00648a67?OpenDocument Bored by the news programme treadmill? Feel your work has little relevance to people's lives? Want to travel and play a key role in a humanitarian media project which could tilt the balance between war and peace? Enjoy working with people of different cultures and training them in your professional skills? If yes, read on!!! In partnership with the United Nations, Fondation Hirondelle is in the process of setting up a nationwide radio broadcasting service to assist the peace process in Sudan through providing accurate and credible news, and lively, relevant programmes to the Sudanese people. The two broadcasting centres are likely to be sited in Khartoum and Juba, with a satellite station in the Darfur region. Broadcasting delivery will be a combination of short and local FM transmissions. Transmitters will be housed in secure UN compounds in strategic locations throughout the country. One hundred Sudanese nationals will be recruited to staff this radio service. Fondation Hirondelle international staff will be expected to set up the broadcasting systems and establish a culture of excellence in news and programming, as well as provide leadership and training to the local staff. The positions are as follows: Editor in Chief (Khartoum): to set up the radio production centre and lead the news and programming team, as well as liaise with the UN Chief of Radio. Tasks will involve managing the international and senior national staff and playing a leading role in staff recruitment; playing a leading role in establishing the programming mix and the ``sound`` of the station and in scheduling, setting standards of journalism, language and programme making, as well as editorial responsibility for the broadcasting centre`s output. Fluent Arabic and English are required for this post. Deputy Editor in Chief (Juba): responsible for broadcasting to southern Sudan. Responsibilities mirror those of the Chief Editor. Arabic is not required for this post. News Editors (Khartoum and Juba): to establish UN radio in Sudan as the ``station of record`` which people will tune to in order to learn what is happening in the country. Take the lead in devising lively, accurate and impartial news programmes, and ensure national staff acquire the necessary reporting, sub-editing and presentation skills. Fluent Arabic as well as English is required for the Khartoum post. Senior Radio Producers (Khartoum, Juba and Darfur): leading the programme teams to produce a creative mix of informative, educational and entertaining programmes. Being responsive to the needs of the listeners in terms of style and content. Involving listeners in programming as far as practical through letters, phone calls and the website to assist in the process of them trusting and ``taking ownership`` of the station. Fluent Arabic is required for the Khartoum and Darfur posts. Trainers: four trainers are required to cover: journalism, programme making, music, presentation, digital audio editing. The trainers will be expected to conduct an intensive two month workshop, after which the national staff will be selected. It is expected the trainers will continue in post for a further ten months to give support to the national staff while ``on the job``. The trainers will have a key role in developing the professional capacity of the station. They will be based at Khartoum and Juba, and may have to travel between the two centres. The journalism trainer based in Khartoum will require fluent Arabic. Web master: access to news through the web is expected to grow fast in Sudan, and will be critical to the Sudanese diaspora living outside the country, as well as the international community who want to keep up to date with events inside the country. The website will provide an important channel for listener feedback to the radio programmes. The web master will set up the UN/ FH radio website in both English and Arabic, and train two national web editors to maintain it. Location: Khartoum and Juba. The post holder will require fluent Arabic. Duration for all posts: 1 year with possibility of extension. Hiring will take place in May and June. Salaries within the range of Swiss Francs 7,000 --- 10,500 per month (euros 4575 - euros 6860) Profiles: All candidates to have a substantial radio experience, preferably in a conflict or post-conflict situation. Fluent in English and for some positions in Arabic, candidates must have cross-cultural experience and sensitivity, and experience of living and working in developing countries. Natural authority, determination and flexibility are required for handling the work in a sensitive situation. The Editors in Chief candidates will have management experience and considerable diplomatic skills. Knowledge of the Sudanese context is highly desirable. Short-listed candidates will be invited to attend a final selection workshop lasting several days. The Hirondelle Foundation, Media for Peace and Human Dignity, is a non-profit Swiss organization of journalists established in 1995 which works crisis areas, transitional or post-conflict situations. Since it was established, the Hirondelle Foundation has created and managed Radio Agatashya in the Great Lakes region of Africa, STAR Radio in Liberia, the Hirondelle News Agency at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) at Arusha in Tanzania, Radio Blue Sky in Kosovo (in partnership with the UN), Radio Ndeke Luka in the Central African Republic, Moris Hamutuk (a radio program for refugees) in Timor, support to the Timor Radio-TV public service (RTTL), as well as Radio Okapi (in partnership with the MONUC) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. More information from http://www.hirondelle.org Please send a letter of application, along with your résumé before April 11th, to Fondation Hirondelle: info@hirondelle.org (via Gordon Adam, creative-radio list via Dr Hansjoerg Biener, DXLD) ** SUDAN [non]. CLAND (Sudan) as of March 28, SRS - Sudan Radio Service - will be heard on 2 frequencies in the morning and 1 in the evening, i.e. 11665 kHz 0300-0500 [tone {zone??} 37 RMP 500 kW 125 deg], 15325 kHz 0500-0600[WOF 300 126], and 17660 kHz 1500-1800 [-1900 WOF 300 140] (so yes, John Wilkins, you heard the new A-05 schedule ann'd) (SRS web via Finn Krone, Denmark, wwdxc BC-DX Mar 28 via DXLD) A-05 for Sudan Radio Service via VT Communications: 0300-0500 Mon-Fri 11665 RMP 500 kW / 125 deg EAf English/Arabic/Vary 0500-0600 Mon-Fri 15325 WOF 300 kW / 126 deg EAf English/Arabic/Vary 1500-1800 Mon-Fri 17660 WOF 300 kW / 140 deg EAf English/Arabic/Vary (Observer, Bulgaria, April 1 via DXLD) ** SUDAN [non]. 7999.35, V. of Sudan, Mar 27 *1529-1533, 24432-24431, 1529 sign on with IS, Music (Kouji Hashimoto, Japan, Japan Premium April 1 via DXLD) ** SYRIA [non]. 7470, Arab Radio, Mar 27 1517-1529*, 22332-32332, Arabic, Arabic music, ID at 1528 (Kouji Hashimoto, Japan, Japan Premium April 1 via DXLD) ** U K [and non]. So, what did my aging Frog think of the BBC's latest Americas cutbacks? After 30 or so years, the main tuning and MHz dial lamps on my FRG-7 failed. Makes me wonder if it isn't really true that there are no coincidences. My Frog is sad. For my money, the best substitute for the BBC (you remember, the BBC that used to be, with long, thoughtful programming instead of Pop fluff) is Radio Australia [q.v.] (Ed Stone (New York), March 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I wouldn't have believed that until some time ago, but it's true: from March 27, the BBC is not on the air to Europe from 0700 to 1500 gmt. "From March 27 2005 there will be adjustments to the BBC World Service short wave provisions across Western Europe to reflect global changes in audiences' use of short wave.The number of hours broadcast on short wave in English to Europe will be reduced to two blocks at peak times daily, in the early morning and evening." they say in their web site. Living in Southern Europe, I might in principle hear BBCWS on 17640/15485/15565/15575 but actually they're barely audible or fair at maximum on those frequencies, at least in this very moment. 73, (Stefano Valianti, Italy, BDXC-UK via DXLD) It is quite encouraging to hear how many people living abroad are now tuning to the BBC's domestic services via the Internet. I hear more and more mentions on Radio 2 for people living in distant lands and the BBC's figures confirm this success. Previously these listeners would have had to make do with the BBC World Service in English, but now prefer to listen to the same programmes as offered to UK listeners. At one time great effort was taken to prevent the BBC World Service from competing with local and national stations within the UK; now the door is open for anyone and everyone to listen to all BBC stations. This appears to obscure the division (and the different methods of funding) between domestic and overseas radio broadcasting. It will soon be apparent that the BBC's home and overseas services will be competing with each other for internet listeners on a worldwide basis. This would be a pointless exercise and could well explain the extensive cut-backs of the BBC's English language short wave broadcasts to developed countries. Overseas listeners on the Internet can check-out the BBC's entire repertoire rather than just one stream of the World Service (Andy Cadier, UK, ibid.) Perhaps the BBC's World Service programmes are too boring for overseas listeners, perhaps if more comedy and drama from Radio 4 was put out on the Short Wave from the masses of programme material 'Auntie' has, the listeners would return, instead there's too much news and not enough light entertainment; Much the same is the trouble with BBC World TV , whilst some news and documentary like 'Panorama' is good perhaps the segregation of content of BBC 'Prime' (a general entertainment TV station available on subscription only) and 'World (news and documentary free to air) should be less defined . If we are to make foreigners like us and our way of life and influence their way of life we need to make them laugh as well as cry. Regrettably, we are again with this argument for 'internet radio' output forgetting many of the people who could really benefit from listening to Radio 4 or 2 do not have the internet or p.c's , many live in much lower income communities and simply cannot afford it , please lets not forget them and just think of our complacent comfy world, I'm sure that's why the BBC are forgetting what real radio broadcasting over the air - not down wires, means (Rog Parsons (BDXC 782) Hinckley, Leics., ibid.) ** U K. Summer A-05 for Leading The Way via VT Communications: 1700-1730 Tue/Fri on 15495 RMP 500 kW / 095 deg to WeAs in Persian 1700-1730 Sat/Sun on 15495 RMP 500 kW / 061 deg to RUS in Russian (Observer, Bulgaria, April 1 via DXLD) ** U K. Summer A-05 for Eglise du Christ via VT Communications: 1800-1830 Thu on 11950 WOF 300 kW / 180 deg to NoAf in French (Observer, Bulgaria, April 1 via DXLD) ** U K [non]. A-05 for Bible Voice Broadcasting Network via VT Communications: 0015-0030 Daily on 9605 DHA 250 kW / 085 deg to SoAs in Hindi 0030-0045 Sat on 9605 DHA 250 kW / 100 deg to SoAs in Tamil 0030-0045 Sun/Mon on 7210 DHA 250 kW / 090 deg to SoAs in Bengali 0030-0100 Daily on 6010 DHA 250 kW / 085 deg to SoAs in English (Observer, Bulgaria, April 1 via DXLD) ** U K [non]. Summer A-05 for Gospel for Asia via VT Communications: 0000-0130 on 6145 DHA 250 kW / 085 deg to SoEaAs in SoEaAs langs 1230-1330 on 15590 DHA 250 kW / 085 deg to SoEaAs in SoEaAs langs 1600-1630 on 11845 DHA 250 kW / 085 deg to SoEaAs in SoEaAs langs 1400-1500 on 15215 DHA 250 kW / 100 deg to SoEaAs in SoEaAs langs 2300-2400 on 6040 DHA 250 kW / 085 deg to SoEaAs in SoEaAs langs (Observer, Bulgaria, April 1 via DXLD) ** U K [non]. New transmission for Voice International in English from March 27: 0515-1545 on 9555 MEY 100 kW / 005 deg to SoAf (Observer, Bulgaria, April 1 via DXLD) 9555 is used for Christian Voice/Your Voice http://www.cvc.tv 0515- 1545 via Meyerton. Started on 27 March 2005. Strange to compete for the listeners with Christian Voice with a completely different programming from Zambia on 9865 0700-1700 also putting out a very good signal here (Vashek Korinek, RSA, DXplorer Mar 30 via BC-DX via DXLD) ** U S A. An excerpt from an excellent and informative article titled "Pitch Imperfect" in Foreign Affairs quarterly by former VOA Director Sanford Unger (also earlier, of NPR's All Things Considered) on the increasingly dire status of the VOA (John Figliozzi, Halfmoon, NY, dxldyg via DXLD) ------------------------- "The Voice of America -- the United States' best tool of public diplomacy -- is being subjected to systematic cutbacks, even as the country's international image is suffering. Washington must reverse the trend or face even greater hostility abroad...." "...Unfortunately, the VOA is unlikely to get much support from anyone else in Washington. For all the admiration it enjoys overseas, the network has virtually no constituency inside the United States. The prohibition on its broadcasting at home has guaranteed that few, if any, members of Congress have ever heard a VOA program --- even though they are now available at http://www.voanews.com Most are unaware that VOA headquarters, complete with giant rooftop satellite dishes, sit a few blocks away from the principal office building of the House of Representatives. Votes on appropriations for the network are rarely noticed, let alone tracked, and they never affect a member of Congress' prospects for reelection. A few influential members of both houses have, in fact, made a particular effort to cut funding for the VOA, which they insist is an expensive relic of the Cold War. "Oblivious to irony, some prefer to bolster Radio Liberty (RL), Radio Free Europe (RFE), and Radio Free Asia (RFA), stations created to report domestic news in countries where, because of communism, no independent national broadcasters could. The distinction between these networks and the VOA may seem subtle to the casual observer, but it is real: whereas the VOA was intended as an international news source, RL and RFE were established by the CIA during the Cold War to counter communist propaganda in the Soviet Union and its satellite states, respectively, and RFA, the brainchild of Senator Joseph Biden (D- Del.), was launched in 1996 to do the same in Asia. (None of these networks receives funding from the intelligence budget today, and none is officially part of the U.S. government, allowing them greater flexibility than the VOA has in hiring and firing staff.) Capitol Hill has even greater affection for the anti-Fidel Castro stations Radio Martí and TV Martí, even though Radio Martí is believed to have fewer listeners in Cuba than the Spanish service of the VOA and TV Martí has almost no audience, except at the American Interests Section in Havana and on a few Latin American cable channels. The Office of Cuba Broadcasting, which coordinates programming for the two stations, is the rare recipient of "no-year money," federal funds it can hold over indefinitely, and it usually gets more such funding than it can spend. (The Bush administration's budget for fiscal year 2006 includes a request for $10 million to acquire and operate an airborne transmitter that could supposedly evade Cuban jamming of TV Martí's signal.) "Some might argue that as a government-funded network, the VOA should be expected always to portray U.S. policies as righteous and successful; they might even claim that, in the right hands, such propaganda could help defuse anti-Americanism abroad. But experience demonstrates that the VOA is most appreciated and effective when it functions as a model U.S.-style news organization that presents a balanced view of domestic and international events, setting an example for how independent journalism can strengthen democracy. After all, these are the values that the network's charter sought to enshrine, and they are no less important today than before. Many still believe that the VOA delivered its finest performances in the midst of severe crises such as the Watergate scandal and the impeachment proceedings against President Bill Clinton, when it gave full and balanced accounts of the news. "The network still has a critical role to play in introducing American values to the rest of the world. It is no coincidence that in recent years some of the VOA's largest audiences have been in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria, and Tanzania -- countries where the local media simply cannot be trusted to offer an accurate representation of what is happening domestically or around the world. It also is telling that, like the Soviets a few decades ago, the governments of Iran and North Korea now spend considerable effort trying to jam VOA broadcasts. Ironically, by taking English off some of the clearest shortwave frequencies, the BBG has rendered a certain amount of jamming unnecessary. "Some members of Congress have suggested that the VOA's job might best be left to the free market and cable services such as Fox and CNN, which have extensive networks of correspondents. But it is impossible to imagine these commercial operations mounting the effort and shouldering the expense necessary to provide, for both the radio and the Internet, in-depth international news in Burmese, Hausa, Macedonian, Swahili, or others of the 44 languages in which the VOA currently broadcasts. With an annual budget of approximately $150 million, almost 100 million listeners worldwide every week, and increasing penetration in difficult regions thanks to both fm signals and shortwave frequencies, the VOA is still an astonishing bargain for the U.S. taxpayer. When the U.S. government hopes to open up channels of information in countries facing political or social crises, such as Indonesia or Zimbabwe, it first turns to the VOA to add broadcast hours. If those programs succeed in breaking through domestic barriers to the free flow of information, it is because they carry the VOA label and greater credibility than political speeches or flat declarations of U.S. policy..." (via John Figliozzi, dxldyg via DXLD) ** U S A. WBCQ Programming Notes, March 30, 2005 Good Friends Radio Networks has dropped Mo-Fr 9-10p on 5105. You may hear occasional WBCQ promotional programming here at this time. The Spirit of Elijah is ending 9330 M-F 7-8 pm ET on March 31, according to the host. He said he will continue on 7415 Mondays 7-8 pm ET. Monitored at 7pm on Monday, March 28 on 7415\\9330. From Tony Currie, here an updated schedule for Radio Six International on WBCQ: As the clocks go forward for summer time, Radio Six International introduces a new schedule. Times shown here are EASTERN, and we're still in our usual slot on 5105 kHz - 7 to 9 pm Eastern Monday to Friday and 7 to 10 pm at the weekend. SATURDAYS 7.00 pm TARRY AWHILE: Tony Currie 8.00 pm NEWS 8.05 pm CUMMING BACK TO HOLLYWOOD: Don Cumming 9.00 pm RANDOM PLAY 10.00 pm Close SUNDAYS 7.00 pm SOUNDWAVE: John Cavanagh 8.00 pm NEWS 8.05 pm SOUNDS FROM THE LOST AND FOUND: Jeff Fiedler 9.00 pm SEQUENT SOUNDS 10.00 pm Close MONDAYS 7.00 pm RANDOM PLAY 8.00 pm NEWS 8.05 pm STAR TRAX: Thomasina Gibson 9.00 pm Close TUESDAYS 7.00 pm THE PIANO ROOM: Callum Kenmuir 8.00 pm NEWS 8.05 pm JOANNE DAVY 9.00 pm Close WEDNESDAYS 7.00 pm RANDOM PLAY 8.00 pm NEWS 8.05 pm PAUL SAWTELL'S JAZZ PROGRAMME 9.00 pm Close THURSDAYS 7.00 pm RANDOM PLAY 8.00 pm NEWS 8.05 pm JOHN CAVANAGH'S ALBUM SHOW 9.00 pm Close FRIDAYS 7.00 pm TONY CURRIE WIRELESS SHOW 8.00 pm NEWS 8.05 pm ALY'S EARS: Alyson Woodhouse 9.00 pm Close (Larry Will, the WBCQ Program Guide and wbcq.com, dxldyg via DXLD) ** U S A. Dear Glenn Hauser, when searching for summer schedules of religious broadcasters, I noted the absence of KTBN from the http://www.tbn.org website. I remember announcements that without adequate response Superpower KTBN would leave the air and I wonder whether the station indeed closed down. Can you please check for news. In a related query, I would like you to keep an eye on developments at other smaller short wave broadcasters like KVOH, WJIE and WRNO which are rarely reported on. Their (new) owners never responded to any of my enquiries during the last few years. Thank you very much, (Dr. Hansjoerg Biener, Nuernberg, Germany, http://www.biener-media.de April 1, to gh via DXLD) Hj, KTBN is still going, just checked at 1855 on 15590, TV audio channel // local KTBO-14 and in sync. I thought I heard that they had quit making the or-else threat on the air, but certainly could not monitor long enough to be sure of that. KVOH is on 17775 every day I check. Hard to miss. WJIE comes and goes, but I did notice it on 7490 this morning around 1400. Still no sign of WRNO. 73, (Glenn to Dr. Biener, ibid.) ** U S A [non]. Summer A-05 for WYFR via VT Communications: 0400-0500 on 3955 SKN 250 kW / 106 deg to WeEu in German 1400-1500 on 15520 DHA 250 kW / 085 deg to SoAs in Hindi 1500-1700 on 15520 DHA 250 kW / 085 deg to SoAs in English 1700-1800 on 13700 RMP 500 kW / 105 deg to ME in Arabic 1700-1800 on 21680 ASC 250 kW / 085 deg to SoAf in English 1800-1900 on 3955 SKN 250 kW / 106 deg to WeEu in English 1800-1900 on 13720 SKN 300 kW / 140 deg to ME in Arabic 1800-1900 on 13780 RMP 500 kW / 105 deg to ME in English 1900-2000 on 15165 RMP 500 kW / 105 deg to ME in Arabic 1900-2100 on 3230 MEY 100 kW / non-dir to SoAF in English 2000-2100 on 15195 ASC 250 kW / 065 deg to WeAf in English 2030-2130 on 11985 ASC 250 kW / 027 deg to WeAf in French (Observer, Bulgaria, April 1 via DXLD) ** U S A. Left of the Dial – HBO page showing all the scheduled times thru April for the docu about Air America; not very many on HBO-East, and some of the times conflict with Zap2it and/or TV Guide listings, confused by DST shift? http://www.hbo.com/apps/schedule/ScheduleServlet?ACTION_DETAIL=DETAIL&ID=109130 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Capitol Steps April Fool`s Special, some of the stations webcasting, strictly UT dates and times, including DST shifts from 4/3: UT Friday April 1: WFDD 2000 WMKY 2100 KHSU 2130 KWBU 2130 KUNM 2230 KUNI 2330 WUKY 2330 UT Saturday April 2: KNAU 0030 KGOU 0030 KWBU 0130 KSFR 0130 KALW 0330 KSFC 0530 WAER 1600 KWBU 2230 UT Sunday April 3: KSFC 0230 KAZU 0530 KGOU 1730 WUGA 2330 UT Monday April 4: WBUR 0230 Many other stations are listed, mostly without known times at http://www.capsteps.com/radio/ and audio on demand will be available, as are a couple previous shows, and a new skit is posted weekly. You can reach the webcasts conveniently by call letters at http://www.publicradiofan.com (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. TA logs include: 1660, WCNZ Marco Island FL; Now running AP rolling news F 0525 28/3 BD 1690, WPTX Lexington Park MD; CNN rolling news F 0528 28/3 BD 73's (Barry Davies, UK, March 28, MWC via DXLD) ** U S A. Ch. 19, Delta College, University Center MI; 3/20 12:37 am [EST] Antique Road-show repeat on both 19 & 28. TV-19's picture was stretched out in the horizontal direction by about 25%. Caused people to look unnaturally wide, and shifted some things off the edges of the screen. Checked back later during following show, and problem had been corrected. Did HDTV feed get routed to regular TV transmitter? (Larry Russell, MI, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) People looking unnaturally wide often comes with age -- APS, antique people syndrome (editor Harold Frodge, presumably, ibid.) Hmmmmm -- doubt it. The HD feed is a separate program. 'The PBS HD Channel' so far as I can see almost NEVER simulcasts what is on regular PBS, with the occasional exception of NOVA which is occasionally on both feeds, one in standard def, the other in 16:9 Hi Def. Ch 19 MAY have some sort of digital signal processor that 'converts' between 4:3 and 16:9 that got left in the wrong position after they were broadcasting a HD program on their standard channel however -- what was on immediately before the antiques show? Does CMU have a digital transmitter? I haven't seen it down here, but channel 25's DTV signal barely makes it and ch 5 is almost never seen. I wish more stations programmed something different on their 2nd, 3rd or 4th channel; t'would be nice to have some choices in on air TV (Ken Zichi's take on this, ibid.) ** URUGUAY. SODRE website URL has returned to: http://www.sodre.gub.uy/ after using www.mec.gub.uy/sodre/ for some time which now only redirects to the proper Institute's website. The site continues to provide info about pgm, but has added a link for online listening to CX6 (remember: carried on SW also via CXA6, 9620). But I have checked this link from two different machines in cybercafes and it doesn't work by now (Horacio Nigro, Montevideo, Uruguay, Mar 30, dxldyg via DXLD) ** URUGUAY. The CX-36 show mentioned in last issue was indeed heard, but 10 minutes late, starting at 0420 UT Friday; Gabriel Gómez was on the phone, plus a number of clips of Malvinas-war-era broadcasts, lo- fi but interesting (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** URUGUAY. 6045.2, Radio Libertad Sport, Montevideo, // 890 kHz, 1048-1100, March 31, Spanish. News program: "...treinta minutos de información nacional, internacional...". Headlines about local politics; short talk about the football match Uruguay vs Brazil. Ann. program: "Panorama Sport 890". 24332 Low and bad signal. QRM from Nei Menggu PBS, Hohhot (presumed) in the same frequency (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, HCDX via DXLD) ** VATICAN. Mid-afternoon Vatican Radio news program (heard through WRN) announced that Vatican Radio would begin hourly updates in English on the Pope's condition at :05 after every hour beginning midnight Friday night (2300 UT). (Mike Cooper, GA, Apr 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Arrivederci --- Ciao a tutti, tutte le attività di Bclnews, Corad e Shortwave sono interrotte al momento interrotte. Sono uno dei pochi che ha avuto l'onore di ricevere una benedizione personale dal Papa e di cui ho ed avrò un ricordo indelebile per tutta la vita, questo è il minimo che io possa fare. Ciao Giovanni Paolo (Roberto Scaglione, Sicilia, shortwave yg April 1 via DXLD) See also SOUTH CAROLINA [non] ** WALES [non]. A-05 Wales Radio International via VT Communications: 2030-2100 Fri on 5875 SKN 300 kW / 110 deg to WeEu in English 2030-2100 Fri on 7210 MOS 100 kW / 300 deg to WeEu in English 0200-0230 Sat on 9795 RMP 500 kW / 300 deg to NoAm in English 1230-1300 Sat on 17745 RMP 500 kW / 062 deg to AUS in English (Observer, Bulgaria, April 1 via DXLD) ** ZIMBABWE [non]. Re 5-056: Eric, 1800-1900 frequency was supposed to be 11770; is that what you checked? Maybe not if they actually said ``11700``. 11770 no good here due to Anguilla 11775 (Glenn to Eric Bryan, via DXLD) Glenn, I checked 11700, so now don't know if they were audible on 11770. It might have been a dyslexic attack that scrambled 11770 to 11700, tho' thought he said 11700. He said it as "Double one, seven, double zero," (or "Double one, double seven, zero"), and I was scrambling to write them down, and his way of giving the numbers may have thrown me off (Eric Bryan, WA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) U.K.(non): From March 27 SW Radio Africa in English to Zimbabwe: 1600-1800 NF 15145 RMP 500 kW / 168 deg, ex 11845 16-17 & 11705 17-18 1800-1900 NF 11770 RMP 500 kW / 168 deg, ex 11995 (Observer, Bulgaria, April 1 via DXLD) SW Radio Africa continues to be jammed, although during the 0400-0500 transmission, the jammer is barely audible here on 3230 and not at all on 1197 (Lesotho). On 25 March between 1600-1700, the programme was actually on 3300 and the jammer was going crazy on 3230. I often wondered, even when still listening to RFE/RL and others from behind the Iron Curtain, whether the jammers are always operated by total morons or whether some kind souls let the signals go through on purpose every now and then (Vashek Korinek, RSA, DXplorer Mar 30 via BC-DX via DXLD) SW Radio Africa good here on both 12145 and 15145 at 1645 March 31st with coverage of the Zimbabwe elections, "Get Up, Stand Up, Stand Up for Yours Rights" song noted at 1700, 15145 has jamming though not affecting reception here, no jamming heard on 12145 (Mike Barraclough, WDXC via DXLD) ZIMBABWE SW RADIO-JAMMERS FROM CHINA excerpts from: http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0330/p01s01-woaf.html China or its businesses have reportedly: • provided a radio-jamming device for a military base outside the capital, preventing independent stations from balancing state- controlled media during the election campaign; • begun to deliver 12 fighter jets and 100 trucks to Zimbabwe's Army amid a Western arms embargo; and • designed President Robert Mugabe's new 25-bedroom mansion, complete with helipad. The cobalt-blue tiles for its swooping roof, which echoes Beijing's Forbidden City, were a Chinese gift. Here in Zimbabwe, China also may be helping to support one of Africa's more oppressive regimes. The radio-jamming equipment that has prevented the independent Short Wave Radio Africa from broadcasting into the country is Chinese, according to the US-funded International Broadcast Bureau. Reporters Without Borders, a group dedicated to freedom of the press, based in Paris, had this to say about the jamming: "Thanks to support from China, which exports its repressive expertise, Robert Mugabe's government has yet again just proved itself to be one of the most active predators of press freedom." "I find it hard to believe the Chinese would push hard for free and fair elections - it's not the standard they're known for." A Chinese diplomat here insists the equipment didn't come from China. "The government says, 'The Chinese are coming, and they'll bring in billions of dollars in investment, and soon everything will be fully restored,' " (via anon., dxldyg via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. Kurdistani clandestine with S8-9/ 3-4 on 4028.04 kHz, 0305 UT April 1. 73´s and happy weekend! (Jouko Huuskonen, Finland, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Re 5-056, 9985: KHBN Palau is scheduled here: 9985 0700-1600 44-45 HBN 100 345 USA HBN FCC (Wolfgang Büschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ HFCC A05 In case you haven't seen it yet, HFCC A05 data is now up at: http://www.hfcc.org/data/index.html (Steve Lare, Holland, MI, March 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) SHORTWAVELOG.COM gh, A local scanner/shortwave net on VHF mentioned the free software program Shortwave Log http://www.shortwavelog.com which can import a variety of SW schedule databases (Prime Time, EiBi, ILGRadio, and others) to tell you quickly what's on the air. Tried it, and it's not bad (Ed Stone, DX LISTENING DIGEST) NEWARK NEWS RADIO CLUB "blog" Sir: Thought you and your readers might like my ``virtual club'' blog: http://newarknewsradioclub.blogspot.com 73, (Vinny WB2KQG/WDX4KAN, April 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) US HIGHWAYS This is slightly off topic but here is a website that lists all US Highways, ever. It may be of help with a MS UnID. It is a very cool site, at any rate. It lists decommissioned roads, also. Yes, it is a "roadgeek" page but I like it. http://www.us-highways.com/usbt.htm 73, (Dave in Indy, WTFDA via DXLD) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ MIXING PRODUCTS Mixes between two SW frequencies, when they actually exist outside the receiver, are more likely to be caused by transmitting antennas being too close to each other, than by the frequencies being too close to each other (George McClintock, WWCR, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WHEN IS RF NOT RF? When they are RFID's, says the government. An RFID tag is a microchip attached to an antenna, which transmits unique information to a reader device that can be anywhere from a few inches to several feet away. The technology, with its many names ("contactless chips" has been around for some time), is used in security access cards, E-ZPass automatic toll-paying devices and ski- lift tickets. .... "We'd prefer," said Joseph Broghamer, Homeland Security's director of authentication technologies, "that the terms 'RFID,' or even 'RF,' not be used at all (when referring to the RFID-tagged smartcards). Let's get 'RF' out of it altogether." The full article from Wired Magazine http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,67025,00.html (Pete Costello, NJ, dxldyg via DXLD) DRM +++ If DRM is really meant to revive SW broadcast, where are the affordable DRM receivers? Anyone who thinks the Internet can really replace radio should remember what happened on 9/11 or during the last blackout in your local area. Don't get me wrong, computers are great, and so is the Internet. But putting all one's eggs in one basket is just plain foolish, I think (Ed Stone (New York), March 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES +++++++++++++++++++++++++ DX MEETINGS 2005 Updated 1st of April 2005 (no April fools!). Here follows a listing of some shortwave and DX meetings to be held this year. Updates are welcome, the list is in no way comprehensive. It has been compiled by Risto Vahakainu. Your comments and questions are welcome. April 29-May 01 EDXC Conference, Prague, Czech Republic. http://www.edxc.org This annual conference of the European DX Council is expected to have around 40 participants this time. May 8-10 The annual meeting of the Czecho-Slovak DX Club to be held in a mountain hotel (excellent QTH for FM-DX). http://www.csdxc.cz Jun 10-12 The annual meeting of the Swedish DX Federation. http://www.sdxf.org Jun 17-19 The annual meeting of the Danish Short Wave Club International in Jutland, western Denmark. http://www.dswci.org Jul 15-17 DX Camp of the Short Wave Listeners Club Saar, Saarland, Germany. http://www.swlcs.com Jul 29-31 The annual Mexican DX Meeting will be held this weekend in Tampico. Aug 12-14 The annual summer meeting of the Finnish DX Association in Virrat, Finland. Organised jointly by the Scandinavian Weekend Radio and the FDXA. Includes a visit to SWR. http://www.sdxl.org Aug 20 The 12th Annual Madison-Milwaukee Get-together for DXers and Radio Enthusiasts will be held in Madison, Wisconsin USA. This is an all- band event for DX monitors. For more information please contact Bill Dvorak, e-mail dxerak @ aol.com. Best 73's (Risto Vahakainu, EDXC, HCDX via DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ NOAA INFO, DST INDEX Just to let you know that problems with the NOAA SEC server seem to be over after a week of extremely slow service. This means that you can once again get the latest propagation forecast (updated every three hours) on the front page of DXing.info http://www.dxing.info On the Propagation page you can get more detailed information, such as a 45-day A-index forecast and all necessary links related to propagation conditions. I would especially urge you to check out the DST index, which is listed under Web resources (Medium-term data). This DST index has occasionally corresponded pretty well with good east-west propagation on the AM band: the higher the index (preferably above zero), the better the conditions are - except for this morning which was pretty lousy. Don't ask me why, I'm not an expert on this... Anyone who knows more about the DST? (Mika Mäkeläinen, dxing.info via DXLD) SPORADIC E SKIP SEASON SEEMS TO BE HAVING A VERY EARLY START !!! Let's start with A VERY INTERESTING PROPAGATION ITEM: Si amigos, that's the headline, for the past several days during this week, reports of excellent sporadic E openings keep coming in, something that one should expect to be happening by mid May, and of course during the whole month of June, but not at the end of March and beginning of April !!! My perception is that several elements have combined to produce this unusually early sporadic E layer skip openings. First of all, the very low sunspot count, as there seems to be a correlation between the number of sunspots and the presence and duration of sporadic E openings, and in second place, it is highly probable that the Earth has passed trough an area of cosmic dust, something I must yet confirm with several of my astronomer friends. So, here is my advice, if you enjoy TV and FM band Dxing, or are a radio amateur with a rig that will operate on the six meter band, keep monitoring for more possible openings --- if they do happen during the next two weeks, then we may well be able to enjoy an excellent summer time sporadic E season !!! Item two: down to the AM broadcast band. The very low solar activity has produced enhanced propagation conditions that shows up shortly before local sunset and provides excellent reception of DX stations up to just after local sunrise. So, if you are an avid AM broadcast band Dxer, enjoy the last part of the equinoctial DX season before summer time static and ionospheric noise levels set up (Arnie Coro, CO2KK, first draft of DXers Unlimited for April 2, ODXA via DXLD) ###