DX LISTENING DIGEST 5-069, April 27, 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 AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1272: Wed 2200 WOR WBCQ 7415 17495-CUSB Thu 1600 WOR WBCQ after hours Thu 2030 WOR WWCR 15825 Fri 0000 WOR WTND-LP 106.3 Macomb IL Fri 0200 WOR ACBRadio Mainstream [repeated 2-hourly thru 2400] Fri 1030 WOR World FM, Tawa, Wellington, New Zealand 88.2 Fri 1600 WOR WBCQ after hours Fri 2300 WOR Studio X, Momigno, Italy 1584 87.35 96.55 105.55 Sat 0000 WOR ACBRadio Mainstream Sat 0800 WOR WRN1 to Eu, Au, NZ, WorldSpace AfriStar, AsiaStar, Telstar 12 SAm Sat 0855 WOR WNQM Nashville TN 1300 Sat 1030 WOR WWCR 5070 Sat 1130 WOR World FM, Tawa, Wellington, New Zealand 88.2 Sat 2030 WOR R. Lavalamp Sun 0230 WOR WWCR 5070 Sun 0300 WOR WBCQ 9330-CLSB Sun 0330 WOR WRMI 7385 Sun 0630 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 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 [1271] Mon 0430 WOR WBCQ 7415 Mon 0900 WOR R. Lavalamp Mon 1600 WOR WBCQ after hours Tue 0600 WOR WPKN Bridgeport CT 89.5, WPKM Montauk NY 88.7 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 WRN ON DEMAND [from Friday]: 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 1272 (high version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1272h.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1272h.rm WORLD OF RADIO 1272 (low version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1272.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1272.rm (summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1272.html WORLD OF RADIO 1272 in true shortwave sound of Alex`s mp3 [expected]: (stream) http://www.dxprograms.net/worldofradio_04-27-05.m3u (download) http://www.dxprograms.net/worldofradio_04-27-05.mp3 CONTINENT OF MEDIA 05-04 from DXing.com: (stream) http://www.dxing.com/com/com0504.ram (download) http://www.dxing.com/com/com0504.rm CONTINENT OF MEDIA 05-04 [low]: (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/com0504.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/com0504.rm (summary) http://worldofradio.com/com0504.html [from Thursday?] DX/SWL/MEDIA PROGRAMS April 27 edition: http://worldofradio.com/dxpgms.html DXLD YAHOOGROUP: Why wait for DXLD? A lot more info, not all of it appearing in DXLD later, is posted at our yg. Here`s where to sign up http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dxld/ ** AFGHANISTAN. Taleban Radio -- Voice of America editorial April 22, 2005 --- Remnants of the ousted Taleban regime in Afghanistan are launching a radio station to broadcast their extremist propaganda. According to news reports, the Voice of Shariat will be heard in Dari and Pashto, the main Afghan languages. But it has stiff competition... Article originally posted at: http://www.voanews.com/uspolicy/2005-04-22-voa2.cfm (via Nick Grace C., CRW via DXLD) FINDING TALEBAN RADIO UP TO US, PAKISTANI, AFGHAN INTELLIGENCE - Afghan paper | Text of editorial in English entitled: "The Taleban are reactivating Radio Shari'ah" by Afghan newspaper The Kabul Times on 26 April The Taleban have warned that they are reactivating Radio Shari'ah to foul mouth the Afghan government and the coalition forces in Afghanistan. The presidential spokesman, Jawid Ludin, has told newsmen that the government is not worried by this because all the people have suffered under the Taleban regime in one way or another during the six years of their reign of terror and they would not be beguiled by their baseless propaganda. On the other hand, the US-led commander of coalition forces, Gen [David] Barno, has declared that his troops would put out of action the Taleban radio transmitter wherever it may be. And the Taleban have retorted that they have more than one transmitter and would start broadcasting, weather-permitting. This repartee gives rise to a number of questions: 1. The venue where broadcasting would take place from. 2. The type of equipment they would be using. 3. The professional training of their radio engineers. 4. Their source of funding. As to the venue where they would broadcast from, there is no doubt that the coalition will locate it with the help of advanced eavesdropping devices. It can be also easily know out the Taleban transmitter by bombing. [Sentence as received] But it should be ascertained what type of equipment they intend to use, where they have obtained them from and at what price. No radio station can be run without the help and cooperation of professional engineers. The Taleban, being a bunch of mullahs, are completely ignorant about engineering and those who are engineers will never voluntarily turn into Taleban unless they are insane. Now where have they got their engineers from and who pays them? Since the US has frozen the Al-Qa'idah and other dubious accounts in various banks, who is financing the Taleban to run a radio station even from a derelict building? These are the issues to be dealt with by the CIA, the ISI [Pakistan's Intern-Intelligence Service] and the Afghan intelligence. The ISI must be in the know because it has been dealing with the Taleban since their inception. If they claim that the Taleban have been carrying out their clandestine operations from Wazirestan on the border with Afghanistan where Pakistan does not enjoy much influence, this may be true to some extent but surely the ISI has some informers to find answers to the above questions. There is no need to deploy further troops in the area for this purpose. President Musharraf has time and again declared his resolve to fight terrorism of which both Pakistan and Afghanistan are suffering while the Al-Qa'idah and its stooges, the Taleban, are the fountainhead of terrorism in the entire Middle East including Iraq and Saudi Arabia. And the ISI is expected to fall into line and find out, with the help of the CIA, the needful answers to the above questions and leave the rest to its Afghan and American colleagues. Source: The Kabul Times, Kabul, in English 26 Apr 05 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** ALASKA. I have kept trying to monitor KNLS. April 26, 9615 was audible with music until 1359* for a beam change, but tuned in too late to confirm language; back on at *1400 with repeated IS, ID in Chinese, but no legal ID in English heard. Only fair. The 2- transmitter schedule version shows KNLS also on 9795 at 1400, in English, but on that frequency I heard something in Vietnamese, which according to EiBi would be RFI via Japan. That and KNLS would seem to me mutually exclusive. Then on April 17 I was monitoring 9615 at *1200 and tho reception quickly deteriorated from poor to very poor, I`m pretty sure the hour was in Chinese, not English, following the IS (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) KNLS Website has now been updated to show new schedule effective from 1 May reflecting use of the second transmitter (frequencies the same as previously posted from the KNLS Chinese website - except for one frequency at 1300 in Mandarin) http://www.knls.org/English/ksched.htm KNLS Broadcast Schedule Starting May 1, 2005 0800-0900 11765 25 Mandarin 0800-0900 11870 25 English 0900-1000 11765 25 Mandarin 0900-1000 11870 25 Russian 1000-1100 9795 31 English 1000-1100 11765 25 Mandarin 1100-1200 9615 31 Mandarin 1100-1200 9655 31 Russian 1200-1300 9615 31 English 1200-1300 9780 31 English 1300-1400 9615 31 Mandarin 1300-1400 9780 31 Mandarin 1400-1500 9615 31 Mandarin 1400-1500 9795 31 English 1500-1600 9615 31 Mandarin 1500-1600 9795 31 Russian 1600-1700 9615 31 Mandarin 1600-1700 9795 31 Russian 1700-1800 7355 41 Russian 1700-1800 9615 31 Mandarin (Alan Roe, UK, April 27, dxldyg via DXLD) And this, illustrated at the WCBC site: http://worldchristian.org/index.pl/latestnews KNLS DOUBLES BROADCAST HOURS ON MAY 1ST --- By Dick Brackett May 1, 2005 marks the first transmission of KNLS from the new, second tower in Anchor Point, Alaska. This doubles the number of daily broadcasts from 10 to 20 hours. Anyone who has ever bought their child a toy for Christmas, then read the dreaded words on the box, `Some Assembly Required,` might have just a glimpse of what has happened in Anchor Point, Alaska. Kevin Chambers, Dave Dvorak and Charlie Perry received a giant Erector Set, from which they constructed a 360 foot tower, to hold a 300 foot by 300 foot antenna --- and they must do it in the snow --- in the middle of winter --- on a time table! The reason they had to do it in the wintertime is because that is the only time the ground is solid enough to drive heavy equipment on it. Any other time, the trucks become mired in the soggy ground. So, they donned the warmest clothing they had, put on the heaviest gloves they could wear and still feel the tools and parts, and stuck out over the snow and frozen earth to build a radio tower. By the time you read this, they will be finished with the project. They started construction in 2003. The tower is complete and the antenna has been strung between the new tower and one of the existing poles. This arrangement was a part of the original planning for the radio station when it was first started. In the future, a third antenna and transmitter can be added. The various parts and equipment, including untold thousands of nuts, bolts and washers, were delivered by two (Photo of truck) huge trucks in about two dozen large boxes. After careful inventory and comparison with the work order, the 45 tons of hardware were laid out and arranged for easy access. The tower itself is put up in 20 foot sections, 19 in all, which are hoisted into place, bolted together and secured by guy wires. The 56 concrete earth anchors for the guy wires were driven 30 feet into the ground during the winter of 2003, when the ground was soft enough to dig into. When you live and work in Alaska, you have to think of these things well in advance. Every step is planned according to the weather. One missed deadline, and you wait till next year! Once the tower itself was completed, the screen antenna, consisting of 4 tons of wire, was assembled on the ground, one piece at a time, and hoisted to the next level. A very effective system of cables and pulleys makes it possible for human effort to raise the antenna, which will be held up by 42,000 pounds of concrete counter weights. As of May 1st, KNLS is on the air with two antennas each for ten hours a day for a total of twenty hours of broadcast time in three languages. One system will be used exclusively for the Chinese language, and the other will broadcast both Russian and English programs. (Photo of all three towers) When World Christian Broadcasting began the campaign to raise the needed funds for erecting a second tower, we called it `Double the Dream Campaign.` Well, that dream is now complete, and we are all delighted that are able to reach more than twice the potential listening audience that we had before. With apologies to Nehemiah 4:6, `So built we the tower, and the top half was joined to the bottom half, because the people had a mind to work.` Next, on to Madagascar for a new dream of reaching the Muslim world in their own language, with the Gospel of Christ. May God help us fulfill this dream, as well (WCBC via Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** ANDORRA. Radio Andorra Internet website: http://membres.lycos.fr/f5nsl/andorre/histoire21g.html (Herbert Meixner-AUT, A-DX Apr 23 via BC-DX April 25 via DXLD) ** ANTARCTICA. Re 5-068: I was able to see a copy with parts of the extinct page of LRA 36 Radio Nacional Arcángel San Gabriel using the "WayBack Machine" service: http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.fcapital.com.ar/esperanza/pagina_otras.htm If it does not work, try opening http://web.archive.org and fill in the former address of LRA 36! Warm regards, (Huelbe García, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, saw one page anyway; some older archives are supposed to have six pages (gh, DXLD) ** ARMENIA. 9775, V. of Armenia, 1820-1845*, Apr. 25, German/English, End of GM service, IS/NA, English service with frequency schedule still listing 11640 (quick check revealed nothing), News and commentary re anniversary of Armenian genocide. Vocal ballad, ID/contact info at s/off. Fair (Scott Barbour, NH, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. HCJB [which cancelled its Japanese SW service a few years ago], will broadcast a special one-day-only, one-hour [sic] program on April 30 at 2230-2300 on 15525 via Australia. Reports to GPO Box 691, Melbourne, Victoria, 3001, with 1 IRC appreciated (JSWC Asian DX Report on DX Partyline April 23, notes by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. Noticed RA with news in English at 1400 April 26 on 9625, running a good second behind 9590; per EiBi, 9625 is Darwin, evidently fed by 3 or so satellite hops; something weak underneath may have been CBC NQ, which is rarely audible here any more (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA [and non]. The CBC NQ SW Service on its only frequency 9625, gets QRM from another SW station on the same continent. Per HFCC A-05: 9625 1045 0515 4,9 SAC 100 348 1234567 270305 301005 D Various But who else aims at CIRAF zones 4,9? That`s Canada east of 90 West. There is a two-hour overlap with WYFR until 1300: 9625 0800 1300 13 YFR 100 140 1234567 270305 301005 D USA YFR FCC But that`s to Brazil, so no problem, right? Wrong; WYFR puts out plenty of signal in the back-lobe, effectively covering CBC in CNAm, and I expect, with its southern/non-auroral advantage, WYFR is also a problem in Northern Quebec. Then, as I recently reported, RA via Darwin comes on 9625 for another two hours at 1400: 9625 1400 1600 49S,54 DRW 250 290 1234567 270305 301005 D English That`s beamed 290 degrees, WNW from Darwin. Couldn`t possibly be a collision in North America, right? Theoretically, until you turn on a radio and try to hear CBC NQ. 9625 is also used for briefer periods by at least four other stations, Finland, Romania, VOA and RVA Philippines, during the hours when CBCNQ is also on it. Anything else? Censored from HFCC are listings for Singapore, also on 9625 at 0900-1400, revealed in EiBi`s A-05 frequency list. Given the quirx of propagation, this is likely to be the second station audible in North America during the three-way overlap with WYFR and CBC at 1100-1300, and further trouble for CBC during the following hour before Darwin comes on. Of course, CBCNQ is definitely NOT intended for the USA, with its 348 degree beam and considerable programing in Inuktituk and Cree, not to mention French. Yet there was a time when we could hear it well enough to enjoy some CBC English programs not otherwise available on SW. The 90-degree side null would fall at 258 degrees, WSW from Sackville, which is about halfway between two major Sackville azimuths for us, 232 and 277 degrees. EiBi also provides the language breakdown for CBC NQ: 9625 0000-0300 Tu-Sa CAN R. Canada Nord-Quebec INU CAN 9625 0300-0507 Tu-Sa CAN R. Canada Nord-Quebec E CAN 9625 1100-1500 Mo-Fr CAN R. Canada Nord-Quebec INU CAN 9625 1100-1600 Su CAN R. Canada Nord-Quebec E CAN 9625 1100-1800 Sa CAN R. Canada Nord-Quebec E CAN 9625 1500-1530 Mo-Fr CAN R. Canada Nord-Quebec F CAN 9625 1530-2130 Mo-Fr CAN R. Canada Nord-Quebec INU CAN 9625 1600-1900 Su CAN R. Canada Nord-Quebec F CAN 9625 1800-2000 Sa CAN R. Canada Nord-Quebec INU CAN 9625 1900-2100 Su CAN R. Canada Nord-Quebec INU CAN 9625 2000-2100 Sa CAN R. Canada Nord-Quebec F CAN 9625 2100-2200 Sa CAN R. Canada Nord-Quebec E CAN 9625 2100-2200 Su CAN R. Canada Nord-Quebec F CAN 9625 2130-2400 Mo-Fr CAN R. Canada Nord-Quebec E CAN 9625 2200-2300 Sa CAN R. Canada Nord-Quebec F CAN 9625 2200-0507 Su CAN R. Canada Nord-Quebec E CAN 9625 2300-0507 Su CAN R. Canada Nord-Quebec E CAN (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Had not noticed RCI Sackville deliberately delaying parallel frequencies, to even out power consumption, but that may be because I am usually switching between frequencies on a single receiver where this is less obvious. April 27 at 1210, 17800 // 9515 were running a good two seconds ahead of 13655 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Glenn, The RCI Maple Leaf Mailbag solicited input from listeners during this weekend's program on the topic of whether they should increase the number of Mailbag programs per week to two different editions. They seemed to have such requests from correspondents affiliated with those Indian "listeners' clubs" or the like. So here's a copy of what I sent them: To the Maple Leaf Mailbag: Hi! In response to your query to the listeners about having multiple editions of the Mailbag every week. My personal response is that I'd rather you didn't. I do manage to catch the Mailbag just about every week, but there are so many other things going on in most people's lives that finding another half-hour to devote to listening to you each week is problematic. Right now, the main time I listen is locally mid-afternoon on Sundays, to your European transmission on 15325 kHz. Of course, doing this limits what else I can do on a Sunday afternoon. I gathered, from what you read, that it might be mainly your listeners in South Asia who want to hear more editions. Perhaps you could have an edition that is not transmitted from Sackville but instead only via your Asian relay transmitters, and which only has content directed to those audiences. You'd keep your existing program on the American & European transmissions, and have the letters content mainly from the listeners in those regions. The other alternative would be if you'd increase your transmissions to the Americas to add broadcasts that would give service aimed at Midwest and Western US audiences in the timeframe of 0400, 0500, 0600 UT depending on the season, and transmitted on frequencies that would propagate at those hours. There are far fewer media conflicts at those later times and that is what I've always felt are far better SW- listening times than the "prime time" mid- or early-evening in the target area many SW stations seem to think they should use. Then a couple-times-per-week mailbag program would fit in with the other programming you could transmit during those hours. (There are a lot of CBC entertainment programs that would be welcomed by listeners who don't have access to them otherwise.) As an aside, please pass on to your transmitting technicians that the service aimed at North America and the Caribbean at 0030 UT has these characteristics: 9755 kHz has a very bad hum on the audio but a good strong signal. 13710 kHz has much better audio and a reasonable signal. 11990 kHz is much fainter. This is in the Central US. Regards, (William Martin (Saint Louis, Missouri USA), cc to DXLD) ** COLOMBIA. 6139.8, Radio Lider, 0506-0600, Canciones en español y en inglés (Tom Jones), nuevos slogans de identificación: "No te muevas de Radio Lider, Radio Lider te hace feliz". "Radio Lider te invita a reunirte con tus recuerdos". "Radio Lider, Lider, Lider". Muy buena señal. Incluso luego de las 0600 lograba interferir y perturbar la potente señal de la Deutsche Welle con su programa habitual en inglés en 6140. 45444. (Abril 27). (Manuel Méndez, Spain, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. Here`s another collision, thanks to Habana, which recently started using 11800 --- but Rai, Italy has been there for years and at 2335 UT April 26 check the two were mixing about equally in Spanish and Italian with a few Hz SAH. Habana really doesn`t need a third 25m frequency at this hour, loud and clear on 11760 and 11875, whilst this is Rai`s only or primary frequency to the Americas (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [and non]. NOCTURNAL DISSIDENT LEAFLETS HAVANA YARDS U.S. tries new tactic in propaganda war against Castro regime By Gary Marx, Chicago Tribune, April 21, 2005 HAVANA -- When Minerva Álvarez [hereafter: Alvarez] gazed out of her window as dawn broke two weeks ago, she spotted something colorful lying on the bare concrete patio in her front yard. Stepping out of her low-slung house, Alvarez walked a few steps, leaned over and picked up two small pamphlets. She recoiled when she saw a photograph of President Bush on one of them. "I took it straight to my husband," she said. "I didn't want to read it." What Alvarez and scores of residents of her impoverished Havana neighborhood found at their doorstep was a pocket-size reprint of Bush's Jan. 20 inaugural address in which he vowed to free the world of tyranny. The speech and a second pamphlet containing the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights arrived anonymously in the dead of night and are part of an escalating U.S. government program to spur political change in this one-party state. For decades, the U.S. government's attempt to penetrate Cuba with information has had limited success. Cuban authorities routinely jam Radio and TV Martí, the anti-Castro broadcasts produced in Miami, and Internet access on the island is limited. The clandestine, door-to-door leafleting is the latest in the Bush administration's stepped up effort to reach citizens who have little access to public information outside Cuba's government-controlled media. . . Article originally posted at [registration required]: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0504210192apr21,1,2707616.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld- hed&ctrack=1&cset=true (via Nick Grace C., CRW via DXLD) ** CUBA [non]. About WPIK/Radio Martí --- Dear Glenn, I have read on your news about DX that Radio Martí is now on WPIK 102.5 FM... well, when I was in Cuba I used to listen to 'pickn 102.5'. Yes, I like country music! You can get it clear in Havana and the provinces around. Now I live in Belgium, as refugee, but that is another story. My question is, why they do not use instead WKWF AM 1600 with a power of 50 Kw? With just 500w WKWF is heard very loud and clear in all the northern provinces during day time, so with 50 kW --- it can even reach me here... I am kidding of course. I am sure Castro will set another FM on 102.5 over WPIK. So that is not a good solution for bringing Radio Martí to Cuba. I used to listen to a lot of radio stations from the Keys and Florida while I was living in Havana, and also shortwave and your programs in English and Spanish. By the way, where could I get the jingles of the old WFYN 92.5 Key West? That was my favorite radio station when I was in high school. Now it is WEOW. Thanks to WFYN I learn a lot of my English language. Best wishes (Hector Novoa de Armas, Ph.D., Laboratorium voor Analytische Chemie en Medicinale Fysicochemie Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Faculteit Farmaceutische Wetenschappen Van Evenstraat 4, 3000 Leuven, BELGIUM URL: http://www.farm.kuleuven.ac.be/anafar/index.htm April 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I suppose 1180 from Marathon with 50 (100?) kW is considered even better than 50 kW would be on 1600. WKWF was among several private US stations pressed into VOA service during the Missile Crisis (gh, DXLD) ** DESECHEO & NAVASSA. KP1-5 PROJECT NEWS (Update from Mike, NA5U). DX Organization Leadership: "I am writing to ask for your assistance in an important matter affecting the pastime of DXing. It has been over ten years since Navassa Island (KP1) and Desecheo Island (KP5) have been on the air. This is because the islands are national wildlife refuges under the control of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), which banned Amateur Radio from the islands in the early 1990s. Despite many requests for permits to visit the islands for Amateur Radio operations, the FWS has stated unequivocally that Amateur Radio is permanently banned from the islands. The FWS asserts that Desecheo is closed for safety reasons because of unexploded bombs, illegal aliens and drug smugglers on the island; Navassa is closed to protect sensitive habitat. Yet the review of over a thousand pages of internal FWS records and reports conducted by Brad Farrell, K4RT reveals that these claims are baseless. FWS records reveal that it considers Navassa a healthy and highly pristine habitat. Yet the agency turns a blind eye to the many Haitian fishermen who live there and start fires -- while refusing to issue permits to American Amateur Radio operators and other U.S. citizens for lawful use of the islands. In fact, the FWS recently considered encouraging more illegal alien fishermen to go to Navassa under a federal permit program! Since 1994 the FWS has relied on this charade to deny applications for special use permits for Amateur Radio on Desecheo or Navassa no fewer than sixteen times. To top it off, the FWS has wholly misrepresented the facts to several Congressmen who have inquired on behalf of Amateur Radio operators whose requests for permits for Desecheo and Navassa were turned down, and certainly did not disclose to these Congressmen the information they have kept hidden in their internal reports and records. This is alarming and just plain wrong, and it is why I am asking for your help. The KP1-5 Project, http://www.kp1-5.com was launched to right these wrongs and we need your help. As a result of the efforts of hams across the nation, H.R. 1183 has been introduced in Congress. H.R. 1183 would require the FWS to open Desecheo and Navassa to limited public use. It is not Ham-Radio specific. It is critical that legislators hear from their constituents telling them to support and cosponsor H.R. 1183. The KP1-5 Team met in Washington, DC on April 8th to present information to Congressional staff and other interested parties. The presentation was successful. We learned while we were there that this must be a 'grass-roots' effort. So, if the bill is going to pass, it is up to the DX community to make this happen. Here is how your organization can help: 1. At your next meeting, or as appropriate for your group, please share the content of this letter. 2. Encourage your membership to individually contact their Congressman asking them to support and cosponsor H.R. 1183. The details on how to do this can be found at http://www.kp1-5.com Urge them to follow up with phone calls! 3. Utilize your e-mail reflectors to get the word out to your members and other DXers. 4. As the leadership of your organization, write each Congressman whose constituents are members of your club urging them to support H.R. 1183. 5. Please consider a donation of any amount to the KP1-5 Project. The Lone Star DX Association has agreed to oversee this fund. Details on donations can be found on the website http://www.kp1-5.com/ Any donation will offset direct costs associated with moving this effort forward. None of the considerable personal expenses of the KP1- 5 Team will be reimbursed by these donations. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions." 73 es DX, Michael L. Thomas, NA5U KP1-5 Project Director (KB8NW/OPDX/BARF80 via Dave Raycroft, ODXA via DXLD) ** DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. Radio Amanecer, sintonizada el 24/04, a las 1927 UT, en los 6024.93 kHz, con locutor y charla religiosa. SINPO 25532 (Adán González, Catia La Mar, VENEZUELA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR. I listened to the audio file of this week`s Portuguese DX program, DX-HCJB, as mentioned in 5-068. Much like her previous letter published here, in the first segment, Eunice doesn`t pull any punches about how bad things were under Gutiérrez and how glad she (and apparently most Ecuadorians) are to see him go. The April 23 DX Partyline also has a brief report on this starting at 24:30, which is much more objective. Went on and listened to the entire half hour DX- HCJB, and noted again how chock-full of DX news and features it is contributed by several Brazilians, one after another, with no music fill (except a bit at the very end), and no gospel-huxtering interruptions. Including a segment in Spanish from Allen Graham`s travels. Why can`t HCJB do it like this in English? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EGYPT. Re 5-067, just noticed what must be a typo, ``18810``: 1115-1215 15810 19 THAI S. E. ASIA 1215-1315 18810 19 MALAY S. E. ASIA 1320-1450 15810 19 INDONESIAN S. ASIA Also, rechecked 11885, the new frequency for English to North America, April 26 at 2336; very low modulation but good signal. I could hardly believe my S-meter that it was about equal to Cuba on 11875, which if anything was overmodulated and much, much louder (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EGYPT [and non]. I was in Cairo last week where I was delighted to meet local DXer and regular DXLD contributor Tarek Zeidan. With Tarek in place there I hardly need to provide any DX news from the country, though I can note the following: The 2005 WRTH confirmed its reputation as the best edition of recent times. As far as I could tell, it has a high degree of accuracy for Egypt. I could hear all nine of ERTU's FM frequencies listed for Cairo, along with a number of other frequencies listed as being from ERTU relays in Alexandria, Ismailia and Mahalla. Also present were Nile FM in English (not Nile 1 FM as in WRTH) and its sister Arabic music channel, Nugoom FM (spelling as at http://www.nilefmonline.com - which also offers streaming audio of Nile FM). A VHF lift was in place for part of the time I was there, and various Israeli and Greek Cypriot stations were heard on FM. On MF, the only addition I noted to the WRTH was an unidentified strong station, definitely local, playing continuous music, late afternoons and evenings only, on 936 kHz. It was interesting to note that, of the four powerful mediumwave stations in Cyprus, the BBC Arabic Service on 639 and Radio Sawa on 990 were audible during the daytime on a portable set in noisy and crowded central Cairo, but Radio Monte Carlo on 1233 and BBC WS English on 1323 were not. They did become audible during the day when I took the radio up to the top of the 187-metre Cairo Tower, which also offered an excellent view of the ERTU's HQ, the distinctive so-called "Arab Television Building" (though it also houses radio studios). (Chris (now back in the UK) Greenway, April 26, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA [non]. 15660, Tensae-Ethiopia Voice of Unity, via Samara at *1458-1600* on Apr 24, repeated tones until 1500 when instrumental HoA theme tune and male giving ID in Amharic "Ye Tensa'e .. Radio Tayano" (could be Kayano or other, phonetic) repeated twice with theme tune in between. 1601 UT "Tensa'e Cristian meter band ... kilohertz ..." HoA instrumental into 1503 YM. Words recognized were programacion "cultural ..demokratik ... liberta". If he gave address, it was well hidden. Theme tune into male talking, mentioning "demokratik" at times. 1512 mentioned clearly Radio Tayanoo (Kayanoo) into HoA song and again talk about democracy. Same pattern throughout with occasional IDs. Close 1600 same tune. Fair on clear channel. On http://www.unitedethiopia.org/ you can read that "Tensae-Ethiopia Voice of Unity Radio will broadcast to listeners in Ethiopia, and the Middle East at 19 Meter Band on 15660 kHz (12:00- 1:00 Ethiopian time) starting April 17, 2005. This radio is run by concerned Ethiopians for fair and democratic election. The broadcast is to run for 1 hour on Sundays. It has no affiliation with any political party." 12120, Voice of ENUF, via Tbilisskaya, Russia at 1709-1759* on Apr 24, tuned in too late (and too bad!!) to final words of English speech. Short flute music (sole flute between items during the rest of the program). 1710 announcement "Ye Washington D.C. naa ..." (wish I know Amharic). Talk-flute-talk-flute. 1722 YM 'Ye ystokiyaa demokrasi ..'. Same pattern program, with Ethiopia mentioned a few times, until 1758 UT flute and YM '.. ye Ethiopia .. SW ... megahertz ... radio program ...' in midst of Amharic final announcement. Off without music (Finn Krone, Denmark, wwdxc BC-DX Apr 24 via DXLD) ** EUROPE. FRANCE/GERMANY. RFI, DEUTSCHE WELLE RADIOS TO BROADCAST JOINTLY TO MIDEAST, CIS COUNTRIES | Text of report by French news agency AFP Paris, 26 April: Radio France Internationale (RFI) - which broadcasts to French speakers abroad - and German radio Deutsche Welle are to join forces to broadcast programmes to the Arab world and to the countries of the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States, which took over from the former USSR), a joint statement said on Tuesday [26 April] The two radio stations have been co-operating since January 2003 to produce European programmes and assess potential FM frequencies to be operated jointly, in the Balkans in particular. RFI will help develop Deutsche Welle's programmes in Arabic. Through its Arab-language subsidiary RMC-Moyen-Orient [RMC-Middle East] (RMC- MO), RFI is able to broadcast to the Middle East on medium wave frequencies and in FM (ten radio relays). Both stations are studying the terms under which some of Deutsche Welle's programmes will be broadcast in Arabic on the audio-channels of RMC-MO, thereby gaining greater exposure. Deutsche Welle and RFI plan to operate jointly short-wave and medium wave frequencies in Moscow, Saint-Petersburg and in the CIS in order to allow RFI to broadcast - alongside Deutsche Welle programmes in Russian and German - its own programme in Russian and French. Through these symmetrical operations, the statement said, "the two radio stations will be taking a first step towards creating what could become an international European radio station, capable of broadcasting the opinion of European society throughout the world". Source: AFP news agency, Paris, in French 1640 gmt 26 Apr 05 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** FRANCE [and non]. See EUROPE ** GAMBIA [non]. Target: Gambia --- By Nick Grace April 26, 2005 The Gambia joins the growing list of tyrannies targeted by opposition radio broadcasts this week with the launch of a weekly fifteen-minute news program produced by Web savvy exiles in the United States. The program, which had not been named at press time, is the latest effort coordinated by Save the Gambia Democracy Project (STGDP) to promote press freedoms, democratic liberties, respect for human rights, the rule of law and good governance inside the West African nation. Test broadcasts, Clandestine Radio Watch (CRW) has learned, will be conducted on April 27, 28 and 29 between 2000 and 2015 GMT on 9430 kHz. The test broadcasts will contain excerpts of interviews in the Wollof, English and local languages for the purpose of testing reception inside Gambia and will not contain a station identification. Formal broadcasts will begin soon thereafter from an undisclosed transmitter location. STGDP is a relatively new movement that was formed on the Gambian Independence Day, February 18, in 2004 after months of intense online chatter among exiles throughout North America. It was formally launched on the campus of Morehouse College in Atlanta - Martin Luther King, Jr.'s alma mater, an irony not lost on its members. The group has sought to make a direct impact on the country's political scene and successfully brought the fragmented opposition together under the National Alliance for Democracy and Development (NADD). Its efforts, including the new radio program, are meant to send a signal to the regime of former Sergeant Yahya Jemmah that the upcoming elections in October 2006 will be no cakewalk. Since taking power in 1994, Jemmah's consolidation of power has proceeded against the winds of democratic change sweeping across the world - and inside Gambia. Attempts to pass severe restrictions on the press in 2002 led to mass outrage and, ultimately, a repeal of the legislation. More recent attempts to muzzle the press, however, have been more successful and even deadly. What began with arson attacks, intimidation and threats finally culminated in the murder of Deyda Hydara, editor and co-owner of a private weekly and stringer for Agence-France-Presse and Reporters San Frontières. The U.S. State Department considers such developments as "shortcomings," however, and in 2002 "determined a democratically elected government had assumed office" in Banjul and lifted sanctions, according to its 2005 human rights report. While engagement is touted as official policy, none of the U.S.-funded NGOs run democratization projects or maintain a presence in Gambia. The Gambian diaspora finds itself going alone. The radio program, sources within STGDP tell CRW, is a grassroots effort dependent upon the generosity of its supporters and should be considered a wake-up call to those in the regime that whether through print, radio or the Internet the pulse of freedom cannot be silenced. "We are going to be a force to open the people's eyes," STGDP Spokeswoman Sigga Jagne told CRW. "We are not bound by the same sanctions our domestic journalists face. Through our programs we will send a message of hope to our people inside the Gambia that those of us outside do care and are willing to do what it takes to bring change." Save the Gambian Democracy Project can be reached through its Web site at http://www.sunugambia.com (Nick Grace C., CRW April 26 via DXLD) ** GERMANY [and non]. See EUROPE; COLOMBIA ** GUATEMALA. 4052.5, Radio Verdad, 0331-0559, Religioso, español, programa "La historia del cristianismo". A las 0335 identificación en inglés "This is Radio Verdad, San Esteban, Chiquimula, Guatemala, Centroamérica. Radio Verdad, P.O. Box 5, Chiquimula, Guatemala". Identificación y programa en español "La estación educativa evangélica Radio Verdad les proporciona la hora correcta en todo el país, las 21 horas, 9 de la noche con 37 minutos". A las 0500 programa en inglés y cierre a las 0557. 24322 variando a 34333. (Abril 27). (Manuel Méndez, Spain, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUYANA. The Voice of Guyana, 3291v, no da aún señales de vida después de las inundaciones (Adán González, Catia La Mar, VENEZUELA, April 25, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HAWAII. STATE OKS KIPO FM TOWER ON TANTALUS --- By Curtis Lum Advertiser Staff Writer Posted on: Tuesday, April 26, 2005 Hawai'i Public Radio has won state approval to build a new transmitter for its KIPO FM operations that should give the station near- islandwide coverage. The state Board of Land and Natural Resources last week granted HPR's request to build a 140-foot tower on a Tantalus ridge. The 2,600-square-foot site is adjacent to a radio tower operated by Verizon. Construction on the $400,000 project could begin this fall and be completed in the first quarter of next year, said Michael Titterton, HPR president and general manager. The tower will allow KIPO 89.3 to operate at 100,000 watts, rather than its current 3,000 watts. . . http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2005/Apr/26/ln/ln12p.html/?print=on (via Brock Whaley, DXLD) ** HAWAII. 620, KIPA, Hilo, 4/16 1942 [EDT] noted back on the air with satellite-fed song by the Fifth Dimension, net ads, slogan "Timeless Classics on KIPA, Hawaii's memory station," local ads back to music. ID 1959 "Hawaii's memories, AM 6-20 KIPA Hilo," one minute of ABC news, Big Island weather, back to DJ Bob Lawrence. Last noted on 12/5/04 testing with relay of sister station KKOA-FM. Per phone call to the station manager, KIPA returned to air late night 4/15 and uses ABC's Stardust network of adult standards, oldies & big band music, plus a sprinkling of Hawaiian oldies. (5P-HI1) (Dale Park, HI, IRCA Soft DX Monitor via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM [and non]. AN IDEA FOR KAREN HUGHES FROM OUTER SPACE. "A single US government satellite TV channel ... no matter how interesting or well produced, will still be easily identified as US government propaganda and will thus be discounted, as all government- produced TV is in the developing world." So, instead, create C-Span like channels, one for every target country, building a separate satellite if necessary. Taylor Diner, The Space Review, 25 April 2005 http://www.thespacereview.com/article/360/1 Diner does not mention that 1) satellites are relatively easily jammed, 2) channels can be taken off transponders as a result of politico-commercial pressure, 3) satellite dishes are conspicuous and can be confiscated or prohibited, 4) if U.S. creates a separate satellite, would audiences point their dishes to it?, and 5) there may not be any orbital slots left for such new satellites (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) Other than that . . . ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM [and non]. RUSSIA: TV SATELLITE SPACEWAY F1 LAUNCHED FROM SEA LAUNCH PLATFORM | Text of report in English by Russian news agency Interfax-AVN web site Moscow, 26 April: A Zenit-3SL rocket took off from the Sea Launch floating platform in the Pacific Ocean at 11:31 a.m. Moscow time (0731 gmt) on Tuesday carrying the Spaceway F1 communication satellite, a Russian mission control spokesman told Interfax. The satellite, manufactured by US Boeing corporation, has a planned service life of 12 years. This was the third launch ordered by DIRECTV, and the satellite is one of four Boeing-made satellites operating in the Ka band. The DIRECTV satellite fleet should be complete by 2007, allowing it to offer clients access to 1,500 high-quality TV channels. Established in 1995, the Sea Launch consortium comprises Boeing (40 per cent), Russia's Energia Rocket and Space Corporation (25 per cent), Ukraine's Yuzhnoye design bureau and Yuzhmash production association (15 per cent) and the British-Norwegian Kvaerner Group (20 per cent). Source: Interfax-AVN military news agency web site, Moscow, in English 0840 gmt 26 Apr 05 (via BBCM via DXLD) Remind us exactly where this launching platform is in the rather untiny Pacific (gh) ** IRAN [non]. 11575, Voice of Iran via Sofia, Bulgaria (presumably) on Apr 22, from 1650 tune-in with phone-in program in Persian until heard going off at 1730. Seemingly, did not give an ID during that time. I looked at their web-site http://www.krsi.net/us-en/todaysprogram.asp but that just added to the confusion saying, quote "We have two different Frequency: 16 Meter Frequency 17510 KHz" (16m and 17510 kHz 2 different Frequency? hi - or did they forget 11575 kHz or is this just OLD news?). Strong (Finn Krone, Denmark, wwdxc BC-DX Apr 23 via BC-DX April 25 via DXLD) Formerly in past five years or so, on 17510 via Issoudun-France site (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) Summer A-05 for Seda-ye Iran / Voice of Iran in Persian: 1530-1730 on 11575 SOF 100 kW / 090 deg to WeAs/ME Ich habe mir gerade (1530-1550 UT) mal die persische Geheimstation(?) auf 11575 kHz angehoert [wollen!]. Den Bulgaren gelingt wegen Stoerungen der ISDN(?) Zufuehrung ueberhaupt keine Programmaussendung. Das laengste Stueck Programm waehrte 2 Minuten, sonst nur bruchstueckhafte 5-Sekunden Audio mit ueber-Sprazeln von einem Nebenkanal. So wird das Nichts mit dem Geldverdienen ueber die Kostinbrod Anlagen. Aehnliche Versuche mit Christian Programmen fuer West Afrika scheiterten auch vor kurzem. 73 (Wolfgang Büschel Apr 23 via BC-DX April 25 via DXLD) ** ITALY. Today (April 22) I note that RAI is using 6195 - heard at tune in 0706 after the BBC had gone off air. I assume it's still them as I type c0915, but now weak in noise at my location. On 9670 (where they should be) tone "tests" are taking place, and some nice "tunes" are played occasionally. But, I don't understand the logic of shifting the broadcast down to 6195 and conducting tests on 9670! (Noel R. Green-UK, wwdxc BC-DX Apr 22 via DXLD) New 6195 - RAI still on air at 1030 UT; 9670 is off. I guess, because of poor propagation they changed to 49 mb to reach their Italian army troops in ex-YUG. 0630-1300 UT. Due of 52 degrees azimuth, not strong here in SoGermany. Scheduled 0630-1300 UT (wb, Apr 22, ibid.) OK re RAI 6195. RAI 6195 was on air before 0700 again - nothing on 9670 today - so the move could be a permanent one. The BBC sched which came via you says that 6195 is active via RMP til 0700, but the HFCC says active til 0600. I can't remember which is correct, but if it is 0700 then QRM will occur. The RAI transmissions were via 11800 in B-04 and dropped to 9670 from A-05, so have they altered their target area? If 6195 is weak at you then it will not be serving very much of Northern or Eastern Europe (Noel R. Green-UK, Apr 23, ibid.) BBC RMP/SKN leaves 6195 at 0600 UT (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) See also CUBA ** KUWAIT. The project to install a fourth IBB SW transmitter here is proceeding. It will be one of the deactivated units moved from Biblis, Germany. It is hoped to refurbish an existing IBB antenna for tropical band use to Afghanistan; if not, present appropriations would not cover the $800,000 cost for a new one (Aaron Zawitzky, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. FM TROPO: Times are CDT; distances in miles, 4/26 0712 91.9 XHRLM Ciudad Mante, Tamaulipas 285 "EXA-FM 91.9", musica popular/rock/hip-hop U.S.& español 0851 102.7 XHPR Poza Rica, Veracruz; 374 "Los 40 principales" ; 0855 W dj w/"muchos saludos" música popular en español 0950 93.5 XHPP Pueblo Viejo/Panuco, Veracruz 280 "Extrema FM"; música popular en español; "FM Extrema 93.5" W dj in SP with "muchos saludos" 0958 93.1 XHCRA Tuxpan, Veracruz; 350 full ID at1000 "XHCRA 93.1MHz en Tuxpan, la poderosa del Tuxpan con 40 mil watts de potencia"; promo "Universidad Huasteca" en Alamo, Veracruz; political PSA "Partida Naranja, El nuevo color de democracia" (The Orange Party, aparently a new political party in Mexico); promo "Dia del niño 30 de Abril"; musica grupera, mexicana popular. 1002 93.9 XHTXA Tuxpan (Tihuatlan), Veracruz 350 "Calor 93.9", musica popular en español; full ID at 1005 1010 92.3 XHTU Tihuatlan (Tuxpan), Veracruz; 364 "92.3 Fiesta Mexicana"; ads "Bodega Gigante" with today`s specials in the supermarket; 1011 noticias 1025 104.5 XEHU Martínez de la Torre, Veracruz; 408 "Shock FM" música popular U.S./ SP 1300 107.7 XHXAL Xalapa, Veracruz; 445 "Radio Más es la radio de los Veracuzanos"; 1302 "Radio televisión de Veracruz presenta: Usted no está sólo" // canal 33 1308 103.7 XHCS Veracruz, Veracruz 472 "La Nueva Amor -103.7 todo música romántica", W dj in SP with saludos 73's and gud dx. (AB5GP Steven Wiseblood, Boca Chica Beach, Texas, TECHNICS SA-200 $Receiver, Antennacraft FM-6 yagi @ 40', CM #9537 antenna rotator, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. HDTV HEADING FOR MEXICO Harris Corporation has announced that TV Azteca, one of the two largest producers of Spanish language television programming in the world, has signed a purchase agreement for digital television transmitters and high-definition encoding equipment for HDTV. The equipment will bring HDTV to nine cities in México and will be launched in two phases through mid-2006. The new equipment places TV Azteca at the forefront of digital transmission capabilities in Latin America and will bring HDTV transmission to México City, Guadalajara and Monterrey by the third quarter of this year. The initial TV Azteca order includes six Harris DiamondCD DHD8P1 transmitters operating at 1.8 kW. DiamondCD transmitters have been among the most popular transmitters employed for the US digital TV rollout, with more than 300 deployed in the US at power levels from 1.8 kW to 35 kW. "Harris Corporation is pleased to continue its strategic relationship with TV Azteca as it starts deployment of digital television. Harris has established a broad base of content delivery solutions from its leadership position in U.S. digital television, and we are honoured to be selected to extend these market-proven solutions to México as TV Azteca commences its commercial deployment of digital television," said Dale Mowry, vice president and general manager of Television Broadcast Systems for Harris Broadcast Communications (AIB Newsletter April 15 via DXLD) ** MEXICO [and non]. WHEN AMERICANS LISTENED TO RADIO FROM MEXICO. Interview with Bill Crawford, author of Border Radio: Quacks, Yodelers, Pitchmen, Psychics, and Other Amazing Broadcasters of the American Airwaves. Fresh Air, 21 April 2005. [with audio link, 38:30 long] http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4609913 (via kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) ** MEXICO [and non]. SPANISH MEDIA GROUP TO OPERATE MEXICAN MEDIUMWAVE STATION The leading Spanish mass media group Prisa has paid US$ 28 million for the operation rights to a mediumwave Mexican radio station that broadcasts in Spanish in the area of Los Angeles and southern California. The station, XETRA 690 AM, currently belongs to the group Xetra Comunicaciones SA, operating from Rosarito in Mexico by virtue of an August 1986 treaty between the United States and Mexico concerning mediumwave frequencies. The operation, agreed with the Citicasters company, a subsiduary of US media giant Clear Channel, forms part of a project to develop a network of Hispanic stations in the US market, which counts more than 40 million registered Spanish-speakers, and a further 10 million who aspire to become residents. Prisa has been operating for several years in the North American radio market through the station Caracol in Miami, that in January received the green light from the FCC to increase its transmission power so it can be heard in the counties of southern Florida. In Spain, the group Prisa publishes several newspapers and controls Canal Plus España and the radio network Cadena SER. Across the Atlantic, Prisa controls radio stations in Colombia, Mexico, the United States, Chile, Costa Rica and Panama. Last November, Prisa bought two Argentine radio stations: Continental Radio LS4 and Radio Estéreo. # posted by Andy @ 12:46 UT April 26 (Media Network blog via DXLD) XETRA-AM's U.S. program and marketing rights were sold for $28 million. The buyer is Promotora de Informaciones SA, a Spain-based publishing company that has radio investments in Mexico. LA radio expert David Gleason said that the company has an operation in Miami at WSUA. In all, the company has 1,400 stations world-wide. It is expected that the station will change programming to Mexico-based talk in Spanish, with programming from XEW in Mexico City. The timetable could take six months (SDRadio.net April 27 via DXLD) ** NAVASSA. See DESECHEO ** NEW ZEALAND. Re 5-068, DRM: So unseems they will start the test schedule already May 1 as published (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The comment at the bottom was received from RNZI when I queried their DRM frequencies etc as listed in an earlier DXLD. (below) ``The A05 season goes through to the end of October 2005 so it was necessary to show our future intentions. It is possible we may be ready to test the new TX in October. We are also preparing a B05 schedule [Oct 05 - Mar 06] but expect to start the full service sometime in Jan 06.`` Regards (Mark Nicholls, Editor, NZ DX Times, April 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. Re 5-056, the megawatt radar KFOR-TV has been plugging relentlessly, I now see that KWTV-9, desperate to counter that with something, on the air has been pushing its MOAR (Mother Of All Radars), but is it really new? All I find on their website http://newsok.com/weather/moar_may9/ are some images made two years ago and it`s not clear who owned the unit in question (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OMAN. QSL: BBC Relay at A`Seela reply to a RR on 11760, 250 kW via: Resident Engineer, VT Merlin Communication, Partners LLC, BBC Relay Station, P. O. Box 40, Al Ashkarah 422, Sultanate of Oman - v/s Afrah Al Orimi, who verified with a full detailed letter (Torre Ekblom, Finland, April 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PARAGUAY. 9737, Radio Nacional de Paraguay, 0800-0840, Identificación en inglés a las 0800 "This is Radio Nacional de Paraguay, from Asunción, the Capital City of Paraguay". Canciones paraguayas. Comentarios en guaraní y luego español. Canciones dedicadas a los oyentes. "Las 4 de la mañana con 12 minutos, madrugamos con el folclore" 45444. (Abril 17). (Manuel Méndez, Spain, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PHILIPPINES. 9619, PBS: Bob Padula had asked me if I could determine if the PBS SW outlet on 9619 (alt. 9580) was still operating. This station transmits from Marulas Valenzuela (near Manila) some 600 km. NW of my location in northern Cebu and has an output power of only 250 watts. First let me confirm the station is operational on 9619. I cannot confirm operating hours, but must assume it is from 2200 to 1000 as indicated in PWBR 2005. At my location the station is normally blocked by a 150 kW CNR signal from the Beijing transmitter site during the entire 12 hour broadcast period of the Philippine station. However, on Weds the Chinese station is off the air from 0600 to 0900. On Wed, Apr 13, I was able to receive the low power PBS station on 9619 with a relatively good signal at 0610, 0715, 0800 and 0830, SIO generally around 434. Relays programs in Tagalog and "Taglish" from various Philippine AM and FM stations. Over the next few days I will check further and see if I can pick the PBS signal up over the CNR station on 9620 (T. C. Patterson, Philippines, edxp via DXplorer Apr 17 via BC-DX via DXLD) ** PHILIPPINES. Re the new 1170 facility at Poro: besides the arcing problem which prevents it from operating at quite a full megawatt, there is a serious commercial power problem, during air-conditioning season. In the evenings, voltage drops by up to 11 percent, which forces the transmitter to operate at reduced power (Aaron Zawitzky, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Tolerance for power under US domestic rules is +5%, -10%, so 950 kW is essentially full power operation, down only 0.22 dB). (25/4-2005) (mediumwave.info via DXLD) ** ROMANIA. LOS "CONCURSOS" DE RADIO RUMANIA INTERNACIONAL: he notado la tendencia de esta radio a otorgar premios que no son nada reconfortantes para nosotros, los oyentes de países en desarrollo, quienes tenemos otras prioridades en nuestros presupuestos personales. Perfecto, Radio Rumania Internacional le obsequia una estadía en ese hermoso país, pero "pequeño" detalle: usted debe costearse el boleto aéreo ida y vuelta a Rumania. ¿Qué tal? Pues, ni yo ni muchos de los radioescuchas o diexistas de esta América Latina estamos en capacidad de pagarnos un pasaje aéreo a Europa, que son más de 500 dólares, porque nuestros sueldos sencillamente no nos permiten esos "lujos". Ahora, ¿nos sirven de algo ese tipo de concursos? Yo creo que no. Tal vez para alguien que viva en España u otra nación de ese continente, ese tipo de "bromas pesadas" tengan un sentido y sean más "asequibles", pero en mi humilde opinión pienso que no pasan de ser un "chiste cruel" para muchos de los oyentes de Suramérica (para no decir "todos"). Confío en la buena intención de la emisora de obsequiar el mejor de los presentes a sus escuchas, pero me parece que están un poquito desinformados con respecto a la realidad económica latinoamericana. La sugerencia para Radio Rumania: el premio es COMPLETO señores, es decir, boleto aéreo y estadía. ¿Es mucho pedir? Estamos hablando de la radio estatal rumana, no de cualquiera cosa. No sé qué opinarán otros colegas. 73s y buen DX (Adán González, Catia La Mar, VENEZUELA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see TURKEY ** RUSSIA. 12070-fence: VOR in French to W Europe and - mostly - North Africa at 1600-1800 UT produces a like 'garden fence' signal in 11983 to 12190 kHz range, noted at 1600-1700 UT on 11983, 12002, 12021, 12040, 12058, 12077, 12094, 12115, 12135, 12153, 12172, and 12191 kHz. Center frequency is via Sherpukhov transmitter on 12070 kHz. Noted in Germany on various receivers. VOR \\ frequencies 9745 11510 12000 12020 12040 kHz (Wolfgang Büschel, April 17, BC-DX April 25 via DXLD) Dear Wolfgang, thank you for the information; this frequency of 12070 kHz isn't our frequency, but we have forwarded your information to our heads to check another SW transmitter in Moscow region. Best regards, Andrey Shaydurov, Taldom tx site, Moscow region, Russia (via wb, wwdxc BC-DX Apr 19, ibid.) We call it `picket-fencing`, but usually applied to FM signals fluttering on a car radio in motion (gh, DXLD) ** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. Overcomer`s SW website, inaccessible on several checks April 25, is back on April 26, but totally messed up and confusing http://www.overcomerministry.org/SW/ For starters, the AM/PM timezones are NOT specified. 15825 WWCR is shown on the air at 10-10:30 pm!! Is this supposed to be UT? Does it adjust according to my computer clock? But it also shows WWCR 9975 at 9 pm to 4 am, which does not make sense in EDT or UT. The thing is TOTALLY useless, set up by someone with a bit of computer savvy, but GIGO! Well, who really wants to listen to BS anyway? I was just trying to confirm what cutbacks have actually been made on WWCR-4, as noted the day before by actual monitoring. April 26 around 2345 on 9985, BS was talking about his cutbacks on WWCR; says there is no use protesting to WWCR since they have already signed contracts with other broadcasters to take over what had been his prime evening time on 7465 among others, and should be changed by next Monday. He doesn`t hold it against WWCR as he knows they have to make such a business decision. Tho he thinks the programming replacing his is inferior. He could still use 5070 late at night / early in the morning if he wants, but doubts the response justifies continuing on WWCR at all (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) About 0140 today I was doing some painting and listening to Br. Stair go on (and on and on ...) He announced that they have not been getting the financial response from WWCR listeners, and so most of the time on WWCR "has being taken from us." Br. Stair said there was some time on WWCR available for them in non - prime - time slots, but he wasn't sure if he was going to take it or not. Overcomer may be going off as soon as next Monday. The "last day prophet" is not as hot on shortwave as he used to be. I wonder what programming WWCR has contracted the transmitter time to broadcast (Mark Taylor, Madison, WI, UT April 27, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Dear Ladies and Gentlemen, Commencing from Wednesday, 27th April 2005 The Overcomer Ministry will use a new schedule to broadcast for Europe and ME. Please see the following data containing the new schedule: 14:00 - 15:59 UTC, 13810 kHz towards SEEUR and ME 14:59 - 15:59 UTC, 6110 kHz towards WEUR 15:59 - 17:59 UTC, 5980 kHz towards WEUR 15:59 - 17:59 UTC, 9845 kHz towards EUR, EEUR, NEUR, SEUR, Russia Based on this new schedule, we kindly request for reception reports of the new frequencies for The Overcomer Ministry transmissions on shortwave. Your future reception reports also would be highly appreciated. Please feel free to send them to us and we will forward them to our Customers, too. Yours sincerely (Walter Brodowsky, Account Manager for SW broadcast, T-Systems, April 26, via Kai Ludwig, DXLD) ** SPAIN. On 15385, station in French at 2330 UT April 26 must have been REE`s hour to Québec; propagating very well, but couldn`t stick around past 2400 to see if English was atop the usual interference which also starts at that hour (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN [non]. MADAGASCAR [Cland to Sudan] 15320 / 12060, Radio Nile/ IRIN at *0427-0457* on Apr 25, YL in Sudanese Arabic, then English station announcements: "This is Radio Nile broadcasting on 15320 kHz 19 meters and 12060 kHz on the 25 meter SW band. Radio Nile brings you ..." and schedule. At 0500 percussion/string instruments into 0500 "Hello and welcome to this program from IRIN radio. IRIN, the humanitarian news service of the United Nations." (Integrated Regional Information Network (UN-IRIN)). 0500 UT Program about maternity and early baby services in Southern Sudan for local women. "In this program, we talk to the women who make the maternity work." Women talking in local language plus translation into English. Longish beautiful song ended the IRIN Radio program, into male talking in English (now considerably worse technical quality and hard to understand) about "Quality of life in rural Sudan", with features divided by HoA songs. Then local language (Sudanese Arabic?), again lovely songs. Percussion / string instruments at close (Finn Krone, Denmark, wwdxc BC-DX Apr 25 via DXLD) 12060 0427-0457 47E,48,52E,53 MDC 250 325 15320 0427-0457 47E,48,52E,53 MDC 250 335 Sat-Tue only (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) ** SWEDEN. DRM-Sendung von Radio Schweden auf neuer QRG. --- Radio Schweden sendet sein Deutsches Programm von 1730-1800 UTC testweise in DRM auf 5870 kHz. Ab heute ist die Sendung auf 7430 kHz zu hoeren. Damit duerfte sich der Bereich der groessten Feldstaerke mehr Richtung Sueddeutschland verschieben. Empfangsberichte willkommen. Der Sender in Hoerby ist auch als "Mighty 1000" bekannt, weil er nur mit 1 kW sendet. Das hat bislang fuer einen stoerungsfreien Empfang in der Mitte Deutschlands voellig ausgereicht (Klaus Schneider-D, A-DX Apr 20 via BC-DX April 25 via DXLD) ** SWEDEN. Bill Westenhaver just read 'Swedish Radio considers cutting classical music' on The Local and thought you should see it: http://www.thelocal.se/article.php?ID=1338 The Local - Sweden's news in English To visit the site for the latest news click here: http://www.thelocal.se (via Bill Westenhaver, DXLD) ** TOGO. GOVERNMENT-RUN RADIO LOME AVAILABLE LIVE ON THE WEB BBC Monitoring observes live audio streaming of state-owned broadcaster Radio Lomé available from their French-language web site at http://www.radiolome.tg The web site also has a programme guide, which indicates the station is on the air round the clock. Programming is mainly in French and local vernaculars, with programmes in English scheduled for 0930-1000 gmt Monday-Friday and 1940-2000 gmt daily. Overnight output includes programming from international broadcasters such as Deutsche Welle and Radio France International. Radio Lomé (also known as Radio Togo and Radiodiffusion Togolaise) broadcasts on 99.5 MHz FM in the capital and on 1395 kHz mediumwave. Their shortwave transmitter previously operating on 5047 kHz has not been observed by BBC Monitoring for several months. Source: BBC Monitoring research in English 26 Apr 05 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** TURKEY. VOT`s 1230-1325 English broadcast to Europe on 15225 continues to be our first choice, not the North American services at 2200 or 0300; the signal carries on in the same direxion toward us with adequate strength, tho the modulation level could use some boosting. Wed April 27 during Letterbox at 1302 it was mentioned that because of some change in travel regulations, the new head of VOT would not be attending the EDXC Conference after all. They are also running another contest with a Turkey trip the prize, including airfare, unlike Romania, q.v. (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKS & CAICOS. The IBB MW project here on 1570 kHz is awaiting British government approval on acquiring the land, following agreement between the land owners and the local government. Broadcast Electronics will be supplying the transmitter (Aaron Zawitzky, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. THE WORLD MAKES MUSIC AT THE 111TH SEASON OF THE BBC PROMS For GH and others who enjoy the BBC Proms, extensive details have been published of the 2005 season. The full downloadable press pack is a 2 Mb PDF file, or you can download just the bits you're interested in. fshttp://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2005/04_april/27/proms.shtml (Andy Sennitt, April 27, dxldyg via DXLD) ** U K [and non]. WHRA`s new use of 15310 collides with BBC via Thailand, at least in Europe (gh): Nochmals: zone 41 Pakistan, India, Bangladesh 15310 1200-1500 27-29 HRA 250 60 USA HRA FCC 15310 0600-1800 41 NAK 250 290 G BBC MER (Apr 21) (via Wolfgang Büschel, BC-DX April 25 via DXLD) ** U S A. More on Brother Scare exiting WWCR: See SOUTH CAROLINA [non] ** U S A. WWRB and 15 MHz??? Hi Glenn: We are working with and consulting with various broadcasters using 15 MHz early / mid morning (USA TIME) to Europe and Africa. It's worth noting that using a FULL SIZE rhombic antenna pointed right at Africa using an Icom 706 II radio we cannot hear ANY signals from Africa till just after noon Eastern time? European based stations can be head MARGINALLY starting about 11:00 AM. Using the ITU Rec 53 propagation software indicates a good circuit exists to the above QTH's starting at or about 12:00 PM Eastern time running to about 5:00pm Eastern time. We are requesting input from DX'er's using the Rec 53 software and if DX'er's are noting the same 'on air' observations concerning 15 MHz. Please reply with observations to our web site http://www.wwrb.org E- mail contact button (David Frantz, TN, April 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. More late-night WBCQ --- Hi! Brought my notes this time! WBCQ had another late-night unscheduled transmission last night (0430 UT 4/27/05) on 7415 after the scheduled programming ended. This one was explicitly described as "another impromptu broadcast from an undisclosed location" and consisted of music and talk, with mentions of the plans to use the ship-based studio in the future for producing such programming. It ended at approximately 0530 and WBCQ signed off 7415 thereafter. So this is at least the second Tuesday night in a row (UT & Eastern Wednesday morning) they've done this. Would be worthwhile for interested listeners to tune in next week, I would guess. I don't know who was doing this; the voice was NOT Allan Weiner's but I don't recognize it. It probably is someone else I've heard during Allan Weiner WorldWide but I can't put a name to the voice. 73, (Will Martin, MO, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. (Using Collins R390 receiver), on 4/27/05 at UT 0718, frequency is 5455 Upper Sideband, receiving a broadcast of "Car Talk" ("Click and Clack the Tappet Brothers") which I believe is National Public Radio's, so this must be a pirate broadcast (?). Thought perhaps it would be of interest to you. Thanks, (Jennifer, ME, WBCQ, DX LISTENING DIGEST) That would be via AFRTS, Key West. See: http://myafn.dodmedia.osd.mil/radio/shortwave/ Or is it? Frequency listed as 5446.5. Did you mean 5445? (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. Re 5-068: Limit public access to NWS information? What will Senator Santorum think of next? Shutting down public libraries because the book store owners who contribute to his campaign fund don't like the competition? This is ridiculous and shameful (Jim Renfrew, NY, April 25, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Dear Loyal KISN Listener, We wanted to let you know about a transition that's going to take place today with KISN Radio. We're moving KISN back to its original home dial position on the AM band to the 910 frequency. In its place at 97.1 FM will be a brand new radio station debuting in Portland called 97-1 Charlie FM. We actually think Charlie may very well become one of your favorite stations right along with KISN. Charlie will play thousands of songs (not hundreds like most stations) that were top 40 hits in their day from the 70's, 80's, and 90's. At the same time, KISN is a very special station with a lot of heritage in our market, and we didn't want to lose that. We feel like we have the best of both worlds...the ability to launch an exciting new station with nothing like it in Portland, while keeping a great Oldies station on the air that we know you love. We'll also begin streaming KISN on the internet very soon, so you'll be able to listen anywhere when you're on the web as well. In addition, high definition digital technology for radio is here. As more and more "HD radios", as they'll be known, make their way to cars and homes, the quality of the AM frequency will take on an even better quality sound than what FM offers today. This evolution is going to make music stations relevant to the AM dial once again, and we wanted to be ahead of the curve by putting KISN back to its original dial position. The future for KISN remains bright and exciting. You'll still hear Tom Parker and John Williams anchoring mornings and afternoons, and they'll continue to be very involved with our valued listeners and in the community. To minimize confusion, we wanted to be sure and let you know about this exciting change. We value your loyalty as a KISN listener, and thank you for listening! Hopefully you'll help welcome KISN back home by tuning into 910 KISN AM! Sincerely, Erin Hubert, Vice President/General Manager, KISN Radio (via Bruce MacGibbon, April 26, DXLD) That would be what has been KOTK 910 Vancouver WA (gh, DXLD) 910, KOTK, OR, Portland, 4/22 0359 [EDT] with a format change. Moved the 97.1 oldies format to 910 with the slogan KISN, but still ID's on the hour as KOTK. Per web site, in the future to be IBOC too (Pat Martin, Seaside OR, IRCA Soft DX Monitor via DXLD) ** U S A. Radio News and Notes has this report:- WY Fox Farm KKWY 1630 becomes KRND The format is now SS pops (Barry Davies, April 23, MWC via DXLD) ** U S A. WGN, AM 720, Chicago is scheduled to be off the air this coming Saturday morning, April 30, between 1:00 - 5:00 a.m. CDT. [0600-1000 UT] That's according to their web site: http://wgnradio.com/guests/index.htm Scroll down to April 29, 2005 and note the "SCHEDULE CHANGE" notice (Christos Rigas, Wood Dale, Illinois, dxldyg via DXLD) There is a cryptic reference to a show at 11:05 PM on the 29th (just before the off air period) that mentions transmitter maintenance as well; might be worth tuning in to be sure. Thanks to Chris Rigas and the NRC AM E-mail list for this info. Go get those weak stations normally buried underneath, and be sure to join us in real time on the #mwdx chat room. 73, (Les Rayburn, N1LF IRCA-NRC Broadcast Test Coordinator, MWC via DXLD) I think that show normally runs to 2 am (gh) ** U S A. DAYLIGHT SAVING-TIME BILL TICKS AHEAD By Mary Beth Schneider April 25, 2005 http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050425/NEWS02/50425007/1006/NEWS01 A bill moving Indiana to daylight-saving [sic thruout] time squeaked out of the Senate Rules Committee on a 6-5 vote, clearing the way for a vote by the full Senate Tuesday on the controversial issue. The measure only escaped the rules committee because one opponent, Sen. Allen Paul, R-Richmond, voted "yes" in committee in order to let the bill go to the full Senate. Paul said he will vote against the bill on final passage. The Senate Rules Committee vote came after more than two hours of testimony, much of it from people who have testified for or against the bill at least three other times as the issue has moved through the legislative process. Urging its passage were business leaders and Secretary of Commerce Pat Miller, who said that adopting daylight-saving time would help Indiana keep and lure jobs to the state. Urging its defeat were theater owners and people such as Cathy Juntgen, whose family owns Indiana Beach amusement park in Monticello, who say the later summer sunset will hurt their businesses. Many of those opposed to daylight-saving time said they'd be for the bill if they could be assured that Indiana would be moved to the Central time zone. Sen. Marvin Riegsecker, R-Goshen, the bill's Senate sponsor, and Senate Minority Leader David Long, R-Fort Wayne, both said they have no idea whether the Senate will pass the bill or not. "I don't know. I really don't," Riegsecker said. "I assume it will be very close." The committee vote was emblematic of the path this bill has taken in the legislature -- close vote after close vote with the final outcome still uncertain. Long said he believes the vote will be similar to an earlier vote in the House, where Gov. Mitch Daniels had to get three representatives to switch their votes to let the bill continue in the process. "The governor was successful in changing some hearts and minds," Long said. "I guess it will be close. I always thought it would be." The House must vote on the bill again. Only if both the House and Senate approve it will it go to Daniels to be signed into law. All four Democrats on the Senate Rules Committee voted against the issue because of regional concerns by their constituents in northwestern and southern Indiana. Rep. Earline Rogers, D-Gary, said her constituents are concerned that if Senate Bill 127 becomes law, it could lead to a change in time zones. Five northwestern and five southwestern Indiana counties, including Lake, are in the Central Time Zone and observe daylight-saving time. The bill includes a provision requiring Gov. Mitch Daniels and the legislature to seek federal Department of Transportation hearings on where the time zone boundary between the Eastern and Central time zone should be in Indiana. While the bill says those hearings would exempt those 10 counties, as well as five counties in southeastern Indiana which are in the Eastern zone and illegally observe daylight-saving time from being considered for a time zone change, Rogers said she'd like a guarantee. Read tomorrow's Indianapolis Star for more details about this story. Copyright 2005 IndyStar.com. All rights reserved (via Steven Cline, Indianapolis, April 25, DXLD) ** U S A. STEPHANIE MILLER SHOW CLEARED IN NATION'S BIGGEST RADIO MARKET --- AM-1150 KTLK in Los Angeles a homecoming for veteran local host, replacing Air America --- Friday April 22, 2:07 pm ET WASHINGTON, April 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Progressive Talk superstar Stephanie Miller will bring her nationally-syndicated show to Los Angeles, starting May 2nd when KTLK AM-1150 begins broadcasting her daily program. From 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. local time, Angelinos [sic] will again be able to wake up and commute to work with The Stephanie Miller Show. KTLK will become the flagship station for Stephanie, who is well-known in L.A., having previously hosted shows on KABC, KFI... http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050422/dcf036.html?.v=6 (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) Replaces AA`s Morning Sedition. Now why is there room for ONLY ONE `progressive` talkshow at a time in The Nation`s Biggest Radio Market? (gh) ** U S A. AIR AMERICA`S YEAR OF DECLINE --- THE LIBERAL NETWORK SCORES ITS LOWEST-EVER RATINGS --- April 26, 2005, 4:33 p.m. http://www.nationalreview.com/script/printpage.asp?ref=/york/york200504261633.asp (via Brock Whaley DXLD) ** VATICAN. Vatican Radio morning broadcast frequency change from 1st May: (22 April 2005) In order to get good propagation, Vatican Radio effective 1st May is to replace 7335 with 12055 kHz // 9650 kHz at 0025-0200 UT in Indian languages (DXAsia via MD. AZIZUL ALAM AL-AMIN, BANGLADESH, DXLD) Less QRM for CHU and its put-upon users (gh, DXLD) ** VENEZUELA [non]. Aló Presidente, sintonizado el pasado 24/04, a las 1851 UT, en las siguientes frecuencias: 11670 (5/5), 11875 (4/3), 13750 (32232), 13680 (34332), 17750 kHz (54444). (Adán González, Catia La Mar, VENEZUELA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) April 26 at 2338 check, CRI via Canada in English was in the clear on 13680, no more collision with RNV via Cuba. Seems like RNV relays are disappearing little by little; not found on any other Habana frequency, such as 9820 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VENEZUELA. YVTO, 5000, ya lleva más de una semana fuera del aire (Adán González, Catia La Mar, VENEZUELA, April 25, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZIMBABWE. 6045 , R Zimbabwe, Gweru --- This is meant to be a 24 hour frequency programming in Ndebele & Shona local Vernaculars. Daytime reception here in Zimbabwe is irregular. Nighttime reception is extremely weak or off air. 3306, R Zimbabwe is inactive (David Pringle-Wood, Harare, April 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZIMBABWE [and non]. ZIMBABWE/UNITED KINGDOM: BROADCASTS OF SW RADIO AFRICA STILL DISRUPTED Further observations made by BBC Monitoring in the week commencing 18 April 2005, show continued but intermittent interference to the short wave broadcasts of Short Wave Radio Africa. SW Radio Africa describes itself as "the independent voice of Zimbabwe" and began broadcasting via short wave and the internet on 19 December 2001. On 11 March 2005, the SW Radio Africa web site http://www.swradioafrica.com reported "jamming" on the 4880 kHz frequency forcing the SW Radio Africa to use an alternative frequency. BBC Monitoring confirmed the deliberate interference of 16 March 2005 and periodic checks during March and April have shown the continued use of rotary type jammers against transmissions. BBC Monitoring observed what appears to be interference specifically targeted at both 15145 and 12145 kHz frequencies used by SW Radio Africa on 18, 19 and 20 April, although no jamming was audible on either 21 or 22 April. Typical of the results observed by BBCM were those of the 18 April, the 1630 gmt English transmission from SW Radio Africa was jammed from 1630 until 1644 gmt and then again from 1659 to 1714 gmt on 15145 kHz. On 12145 kHz jamming was observed from 1645 until 1659 gmt and also 1715 until 1729. The deliberate interference was again noted on 15145 kHz from 1729 until 1743 gmt and on 12145 kHz from 1744 to 1758 gmt. On the same day, no jamming was noted on the 11770 kHz frequency used by SW Radio Africa between 1830 and 1900 gmt. The 3230 kHz, 3300 kHz and 4880 kHz frequencies used for the early morning 0300 gmt transmission were checked daily 18 - 22 April, however they were noted as clear of jamming or inaudible at the time of the observations. In March 2005, Paris-based organization Reporters Sans Frontières reported, that the Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ), a Harare- based independent watchdog, said the jamming of SW Radio Africa's broadcasts is being carried out from Thornhill airbase - located outside the southwestern town of Gweru, between Harare and Bulawayo - where the government has a transmission station. According to the International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB), a US federal government entity, the equipment being used for the jamming comes from China, which has close trade links with Zimbabwe, especially in the telecommunications domain. Source: BBC Monitoring research 26 Apr 05 (via DXLD) ** ZIMBABWE [and non]. IPI NAMES SW RADIO AFRICA "FREE MEDIA PIONEER 2005" The International Press Institute (IPI) has announced its decision to honour SW Radio Africa with its 2005 Free Media Pioneer Award. Gerry Jackson, founder and station manager of SW Radio Africa, will receive the prize at an award ceremony on 24 May, during the forthcoming IPI World Congress in Nairobi, Kenya (21-24 May). In Zimbabwe, where President Robert Mugabe's autocratic regime controls both radio and television, and the only independent daily newspaper, the Daily News, has been shut down, the shortwave radio station SW Radio Africa remains a rare independent voice. Launched in December 2001, SW Radio Africa broadcasts not from Zimbabwe, but from a studio in northwest London and is run by a group of exiled reporters and DJs. The station's founder, Gerry Jackson, a veteran of 25 years broadcasting experience in Africa, was fired from the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) music station, Radio 3, for "insubordination" after airing live telephone calls from people on the scene during food riots in Harare in 1997. In 2000, Jackson fought and won a legal battle in the Zimbabwean Supreme Court to set up the country's first independent radio station, Capital FM. After only six days, it was raided by armed police officers, who confiscated broadcasting equipment, and used a presidential decree to shut down the station. Jackson went into hiding and - with presidential elections set for March 2002 - decided to broadcast from outside Zimbabwe, setting up a new radio station in London, where half a million Zimbabwean exiles live. Featuring a successful mix of music, news and interviews, SW Radio Africa's main aim is to give a "voice to the voiceless" by fostering a dialogue with its Zimbabwean audience, who call in - often at great risk - to air their opinions and give first-hand accounts of the deteriorating situation in the country. In the run-up to the March 2005 parliamentary elections, the government of Zimbabwe mounted a concerted campaign to prevent SW Radio Africa from being heard in the country, jamming their signals on several frequencies. The government campaign against the station continued unabated after the elections, which were widely condemned as fraudulent, with continued deliberate jamming of its broadcasts and plans to launch a new 24-hour shortwave radio station to counter SW Radio Africa's "negative propaganda." The annual Free Media Pioneer Award was established by IPI, the global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists, in 1996 to honour individuals or organisations that have fought against great odds to ensure freer and more independent media in their country or region. The Award is co-sponsored by the US-based Freedom Forum, a non-partisan, international foundation dedicated to free press and free speech. Previous winners of the Free Media Pioneer Award are CASCFEN - Central Asia and Southern Caucasian Freedom of Expression Network (2004); the Media Council of Tanzania (2003); the independent daily newspaper Danas, Serbia (2002); the independent on-line newspaper Malaysiakini.com (2001); IPYS - Press and Society Institute, Peru (2000); EFJA - Ethiopian Free Press Journalists' Association (1999); Radio B-92, Yugoslavia (1998); AJI - Alliance of Independent Journalists, Indonesia (1997); and NTV, Russia (1996). # posted by Andy @ 15:09 UT April 27 (Media Network blog via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. Hi ! on 1566 kHz it has been heard in Milano a very strong open carrier from 2345 UT the 26 April , still on at 0645 on 27 April and still on at 1145 on same day. No ideas who is testing a so powerful TX, but the signal is 9+40 db, strong as the one of RAI 1 on 900 kHz, so I guess is coming from RAI. May be starting soon the DRM tests announced in March but never started. 1566 kHz some years ago used to be from Switzerland. Anyone with more info? Thanks (Dario Monferini, RX: JRC 525 Loop 90 cm GG/ACA, http://www.playdx.com DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 3750 kHz, April 27th at 1200 UT heard tc for 6 am, ABC news and what sounded like "KOHF" or "KOHS" and Daybreak USA program. Has been here for several days, both evenings and mornings. 6 am tc would put it in my time zone - Mountain [Daylight UT -6]. Assuming it's 3 x 1250 but unheard there. Anybody with more info? (Don Moman, Lamont, Alberta CANADA 53 44N 112 50W Ant: 4-30 MHz rotatable HF log Periodic at 30m, assorted beverages Receivers: ICOM 756 PRO, Collins HF-2050, ICOM R8500, HCDX via DXLD) No call matches on 1250 in NRC-AM Log, nor on 100000watts.com; there is a KOHS FM 91.7 in Orem UT. Could also be 5 x 750; closest call there would be KOAL Price UT (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Thanks for that Glenn, the 5 x 750 makes more sense - the programming sounded more polished than I'd expect from most 1250 kHz low powered stations. Google does associate KOAL Price UT with Daybreak USA in one logging at least. Anybody in local groundwave coverage to confirm this? From their website they have a sister FM but it's not KOHS. I'd think this harmonic should cover a pretty wide area so if the static crashes would diminish a bit. Will also check 2250 kHz and other multiples. 73 (Don Moman, ibid.) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DRM +++ Two Views on DRM ``I became an SWL at the age of 14 ... I am now the ripe old age of 56 and would like to comment on Digital Radio Mondiale. ``I have bought the DRM software to listen to this new form of broadcasting on shortwave. So far every DRM broadcast has been well away from the others broadcasting DRM. I would like to see two broadcasting side by side within the 10 MHz scale to see how much interference they give each other. I would like to see two broadcasting on the same freq. and let’s see what happens. I think it is time to have a ground swell of SWL start sending letters to the FCC and all the governments involved with the broadcasting of DRM. I think it is time to tell them what we think and that this is not going to work but only to kill the hobby. ``With DRM we will no longer be able to listen to weak stations. DRM drops out when the signal is weak or it bounces, so what good is it? DRM signal is dropped more than it is [audible]. Gone will be the days of listening to faint signals. All that will be left will be the sound of coffee grinders, drowning out everything around them. I have listened to signals from Bonaire, Neth. Antilles, Canada’s worthless splatter Sackville (there should be a law ...), Kuwait, Luxembourg... As you can tell by now I do not believe that DRM is the savior of shortwave. ``Sorry, I believe just the opposite. DRM will be the end of shortwave as it is now. All you’re going to have is sporadic signals, and coffee grinder noise and interference on a scale as never before. I say, put DRM in its own band or set frequency and keep it there. And if they can live up to what they promise, then we can think about letting them move to other frequencies. Let’s face the facts: the only ones benefiting are the salesmen and companies selling the DRM equipment to broadcast this crap. Let’s also face the fact that a lot of the struggling and small watt stations low on money to change over to DRM will just give up and stop broadcasting. Has anyone stopped to think what does that do for shortwave? That means everyone loses.`` (Oscar Crary, Holmen, Wisconsin, Letters to the Editor, May MONITORING TIMES via DXLD) ``Thanks for a great publication! Several months ago you ran a series of articles on DRM and really got me interested in this new technol- ogy. I have been listening to DRM from the Canadian station in Sackville for several months now. Tonight I received the station from Wertachtal, Germany, on 3995 kHz. As you can see from the screen photo of the software program, I have all ‘Green Lights’ and am receiving the audio and data perfectly. The receiver is a Ten-Tec RX-320D and the antenna is a GAP Vertical Titan DX. I am sure a lot of amateur radio operators have been wondering what the `noise` was on 3995! I [also] enjoyed Glenn Hauser`s article on DRM in your February issue.`` (Glenn Farr N4AK, Travelers Rest, SC, IBID.) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ PHASE OUT IBOC? Please forgive me if this question and possible solution has been on the list before. WSB on 750 runs IBOC. Is the digital signal (that I hear as hash) on the adjacent frequencies of 740 and 760 the same in terms of data, amplitude, and phase? I ask, because I was wondering if the information on both sides of an IBOC am transmitter is exactly the same, then wouldn't it be possible to cancel them at a receiver by 180 degree phasing? For instance, if I have three coils on the same coil form, and I want to null out the WSB digital signal on 740 to hear Toronto on 740. One winding is for the antenna and ground One winding is tuned to 740 by a variable capacitor and fed to the receiver. One winding is tuned to 760 by a variable capacitor but is connected or wound 180 degrees out of phase with the 740 coil, and is also connected to the receiver, would this cancel the IBOC signal on 740? I know the above is very simplistic, and we use more sophisticated phasing methods these days. But it would only work, maybe, if the digital signals on each side of WSB (in this case) are exactly the same. If each IBOC sideband signal is different, then the simple solution of phasing would not work. In other words, I knew it was too easy. So can someone please tell me if IBOC signals on each side of an am carrier are the same. Thanks for reading this half-cocked theory, and any correct answer on the side carriers is appreciated. Regards to all, (Brock WH6SZ Whaley, Lilburn, GA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) MEDIA NETWORK RECEIVER SHOPPING LIST Michael C. McCarty in Ohio, USA asks: "What happened to your excellent Media Network section, especially the Radio Reviews of past and present? That was a wonderful resource and I still miss the program, as well." Well, Media Network is still very much alive on the website, and I'm responsible for it. We've taken on board all the complaints that things aren't easy to find, and we're working on a new design. As regards the Receiver Shopping List http://www2.rnw.nl/rnw/en/features/media/productreviews/rx_index.html?view=Standard I'm afraid that budgetary constraints mean we're not able to maintain it as an active service, though the more recent reviews are still available, and will remain online for the forseeable future (Andy Sennitt, RN Feedback via DXLD) Re: BELL & HOWELL RADIO $9.99 FROM HABAND.COM For what it's worth, that radio is now $8.99 from Carol Wright Gifts/Dr. Leonard, another mail-order-doohickey catalog firm. I've several times heard or read mention of these radios as gifts for foreigners to hear home-country news or as intros to SW listening for newbies. Actually, that is a terrible application. They work so poorly on SW that they will be a turn-OFF for any such recipients. They work OK on AM, and moderately OK on FM, but SW is a sea of noise and squawk. Here in St. Louis, I got just about nothing but roars of FM-squawk with now and then Brother Stair or Gene Scott at odd places on the dial (no relation to the actual frequencies on which the signals were transmitted). One of my senior-citizen ladies in the local group uses one for just listening to a strong local AM. I gave the one I had to a friend of mine as he left on a cross-country drive in order for him to test it out in areas far away from local transmitters, but his report of its performance was not encouraging. I wrote a mini-review for gh back when I first got one, and it is in an '03 DXLD somewhere. I used mine as a in-hospital radio back in '03 when I was in for surgery because it was something that wouldn't matter if it was lost, stolen, or smashed. It functioned OK then for local listening, but I switched back to a decent SW portable for listening as soon as I went into the recovery phase away from home. What this and the other really-cheap SW radios are good for is for us experienced SWLs/DXers to play with just to see how a minimal piece of equipment will function. If we get anything identifiable and listenable it is a triumph and an amusement. For a non-experienced person to use these is an exercise in frustration and annoyance. There's a Coby tiny digital-readout one that Big Lots sells for $8 (if you can find one) that is actually better. (It's the one that Passport reviewed and rated as "unacceptable" in the '05 edition.) Still lousy, but you can actually get a signal now and then on the displayed frequency. I have one other analog model that's a smidgen better than the Bell+Howell but has absolutely no name or model #; it uses D-cells so it is much fatter. It was from another of the mail-order catalog houses and in the same price range. But I think you have to go up to one of the Degen or Kaito models now coming in from China in the $20- $30 price range to get something that actually works on SW in a usable (if limited) fashion (Will Martin, MO, April 27, swprograms via DXLD) I think this is an excellent observation of something that has put the demise of HF on greased runners (Scott Royall, ibid.) It highlights the "disconnect" that I had with Graham Mytton's comment that "...shortwave is no different from regular radio..." -- if it weren't different, these cheapo radios would work fine. Sorry, but you do need to step up from a basic functionality to reliably listen to shortwave. My nomination for best inexpensive, fully functional radio nowadays is the Kaito 1101. Roughly $50-$55 at Universal and Radios4You.com (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA, ibid.) RADIO SHACK BRAND TO DISAPPEAR FROM CANADA Circuit City Stores, Inc. and InterTAN Canada Ltd. today announced that on or before June 30, 2005, all stores currently operated by InterTAN Canada Ltd. under license from RadioShack Corporation will be re-branded as THE SOURCE BY CIRCUIT CITY. The introduction of THE SOURCE BY CIRCUIT CITY stores begins today with the unveiling of the Toronto Eaton Centre location. "Ninety percent of all Canadians live within a 10-minute drive to one of our locations. By June 30, THE SOURCE BY CIRCUIT CITY will have the same national coverage," said Brian Levy, president and chief executive officer of InterTAN Canada Ltd. "Customers will continue to see quality, national and international electronics brands as well as an emphasis on personal and portable devices." A Texas court ruled in March that the RadioShack Corporation, based in Fort Worth Texas, was within its rights to terminate its license, merchandising and advertising agreements with InterTan, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Circuit City Stores Inc. InterTan, which is based in Barrie, Ontario, operates 980 company- owned and dealer stores in Canada and continued to license the RadioShack brand name and purchase private-label merchandise in Canada after the Tandy Corporation spun off its international operations on June 20th, 1986. According to the ruling, after June 30, 2005, Circuit City and InterTan must stop using the RadioShack brand name in store signage, packaging, products and advertising for company-owned and dealer stores in Canada. # posted by Andy @ 14:36 UT April 27 (Media Network blog via DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ The geomagnetic field ranged from quiet to major storm levels. The period started out with quiet to unsettled levels on 18 April. On 19 April, conditions were mostly quiet to unsettled with isolated active conditions. A solar sector boundary crossing occurred mid-day on the 19th followed by a geoeffective HSS on 20 April causing quiet to minor storm conditions with minor and major storm periods at high latitudes. Conditions settled down to quiet conditions on 21 and 23 April along with quiet to unsettled conditions on 22 April. The period ended at predominantly quiet to unsettled conditions with an isolated active period occurring on 23 April. FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 27 APRIL - 23 MAY 2005 Solar activity is expected be at very low to low levels with a slight chance for M-class activity from new Region 756 (S07, L=228, class/area, Dko/550 on 26 April). A greater than 10 MeV proton event is not expected. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to be at high levels on 27 - 29 April, 02 – 08 May, and 10 – 16 May. The geomagnetic field is expected to range from quiet to major storm levels. Recurrent coronal hole high speed wind streams are expected to produce unsettled to major storm levels on 01 – 03 May; and unsettled to minor storm levels on 09 – 11 May. Quiet to Active levels are expected on 17 – 18 and 20 – 22 May. Otherwise, expect quiet to unsettled conditions. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2005 Apr 26 2215 UTC # Prepared by the US Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, Space Environment Center # Product description and SEC contact on the Web # http://www.sec.noaa.gov/wwire.html # # 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table # Issued 2005 Apr 26 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2005 Apr 27 95 8 3 2005 Apr 28 95 5 2 2005 Apr 29 95 12 3 2005 Apr 30 95 8 3 2005 May 01 95 15 3 2005 May 02 95 30 5 2005 May 03 95 15 3 2005 May 04 95 8 3 2005 May 05 95 5 2 2005 May 06 95 8 3 2005 May 07 95 8 3 2005 May 08 90 8 3 2005 May 09 80 20 4 2005 May 10 80 25 5 2005 May 11 80 18 4 2005 May 12 80 12 3 2005 May 13 80 8 3 2005 May 14 85 8 3 2005 May 15 85 5 2 2005 May 16 85 5 2 2005 May 17 85 15 3 2005 May 18 85 10 3 2005 May 19 85 10 3 2005 May 20 85 10 3 2005 May 21 85 10 3 2005 May 22 90 10 3 2005 May 23 90 10 3 (http://www.sec.noaa.gov/radio via WORLD OF RADIO 1272, DXLD) ###