DX LISTENING DIGEST 5-072, May 2, 2005 Incorporating REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING edited by Glenn Hauser, http://www.worldofradio.com Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only if full credit be maintained at all stages and we be provided exchange copies. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without permission. Materials taken from Arctic or originating from Olle Alm and not having a commercial copyright are exempt from all restrictions of noncommercial, noncopyrighted reusage except for full credits For restrixions and searchable 2005 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn NEXT AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1272: 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 Mon 0330 WOR WSUI Iowa City IA 910 MORE info including audio links: http://worldofradio.com/radioskd.html WRN ON DEMAND: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO [also for CONTINENT OF MEDIA, MUNDO RADIAL] 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: (stream) http://www.dxprograms.net/worldofradio_04-27-05.m3u (download) http://www.dxprograms.net/worldofradio_04-27-05.mp3 DX/SWL/MEDIA PROGRAMS May 3: http://worldofradio.com/dxpgms.html ** ALAND ISLANDS. Åland 603 kHz --- It´s obvious the test period of "Åland 603" is over. Around 1630 May 2 UTC I heard Mike Spenser playing oldies like Little Richard. He called the station simply "Rock´n Roll Radio". Signal strength usual S8-9 here in SW of Finland. 73´s (Jouko Huuskonen, Turku FINLAND, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANTARCTICA [and non]. Dear Glenn, I read your doubt on the just published 'DX LISTENING DIGEST 5-071, May 1, 2005' about Altas Ondas on demand. Thanks to Renato Uliana, you can listen to 'Altas Ondas' through an MP3 record on his site: http://www.amantesdoradio.com.br/audios/aovc050429.mp3 Warm regards, (Huelbe García, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Tnx; I listened to the first part of the April 29 show, where this topic is covered roughly between minutes 05 and 19 into the file. Edson Bruno continues to make excuses about how the collision happened --- since LRA-36 was not coördinated at HFCC, VC was not aware it was on 15476, indeed not even aware the station existed. (Have they never looked at a PWBR or a WRTH, or a DX bulletin?) Says VC has been in direct contact with LRA-36 by phone, but the person in charge of LRA- 36 is on medical leave, so there is no one there to make an official reply about the collision. He made a big deal about 15476 being an abnormal frequency. So what? Would the situation be any better if it were on 15475.0? Look, however it came about, the problem is obvious, and the solution even more obvious. So why keep beating around the bush? HFCC is a very useful entity, but it is not and cannot be 100% successful, when not everyone participates, for whatever reason. So instead of trying to pass the buck or delay the resolution, just acknowledge that in this case there was a slip-up, and get on with fixing it by moving VC off 15475 during those 3 hours (add two more from 1600 if they knew what`s good for them; Gabon collision not even mentioned). (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANTARCTICA. ANTARCTICA NEWS. The WAP (Worldwide Antarctic Program) is in regular contact with Bhagwati, VU3BPZ, the Communication Officer at the India`s Maitri Base (WAP IND-03) in Antarctica. Actually, a team of 8 people will be there at the base during their winter. Bhagwati, VU3BPZ, is very active on HF bands, particularly on 15/20 meters SSB. Check on 21250 or 14150 kHz at any time. It was mentioned that if a DXer needs a particular sked, they can send an E- mail to Bhagwati, VU3BPZ, and he will be more than happy to answer you. His E-maill address is: maitri @ ncaor.amosconnect.com The WAP Antarctic Gallery is available at the following two Web sites. You will find one of the most complete Antarctic Galleries with more than 680 photos and QSL cards available and divided by the following segments: Ancient QSL, Antarctic QSL, Maritime Mobile Photos, Polar Ship Gallery etc ... Also, regular information about activities from the Antarctica are available at WAP and Dynamic DX Charterhouse Web sites at: http://www.ddxc.net/wap http://www.ddxc.net (KB8NW\OPDX May 2\BARF-80 posted May 1 at http://www.papays.com/opdx708.html via John Norfolk, dxldyg via DXLD) ** ARMENIA. SHIPCOM OPENS NEW STATION: This organization which controls WLO, Mobile Radio and KLB, Seattle Radio has a new station in an area quite distant from the parent stations. EKA Yerevan (Armenia) came on air last month using two channels within the standard maritime bands. NBDP (Pactor & FEC) on 12604.5, QSX 12502, USB on 13092, QSX 12245. Channel marker signal on NBDP is EKA in CW plus a data burst every 70 seconds. Traffic lists using FEC are broadcast on the hour using 12604.5. Further channels are to be added pending ITU Registration. This may already have happened, as Day Watson in the U.K, has recently logged EKA with traffic lists on FEC using 16818.5 at 1600. At first thought, Yerevan could be considered a strange location for a maritime station; however, apart from the Black Sea, the site will also cover the eastern Mediterranean, Red Sea, The Gulf and Arabian Sea, etc. (Robert Maskill, WUN Nautical Notes Editor & Day Watson WUN Digital Editor via May Australian DX News via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. 5050 ARDS, Humpty Doo. Very big signal, Koori music, then lengthy ID and details. Tanzania weak under it, then ARDS faded out and Tanzania in as the day got lighter 2010 13/4 (Jem Cullen, Australia, May Australian DX News via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. RA blocked by DRM QRM: see DRM section at bottom ** BHUTAN. BBS changed its transmitting policy for radio in 1999. So by the end of 2006 the whole country will be served by FM transmitters and the short wave transmitter will be phased out (Wilfried Solbach, Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development, excerpt from ``In the land of the thunder dragon``, AIB Channel, March 2005, via DXLD) ** BIAFRA [and non]. GOVERNMENT CRACKS DOWN ON BIAFRA SECESSIONIST MOVEMENT LAGOS, 19 April (IRIN) - Fifty-three people who participated in an unusual soccer tournament last year in Nigeria's main city, Lagos, are now fighting for dear life. State prosecutors say the tournament, held in the name of a secessionist group, the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), amounted to treason. They have demanded the death penalty. Article originally posted at: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/a498a5bed9ce289cdb6e6b4c73270fd4.htm (Reuters AlertNet Apr 19 via Grace-USA via CRW via DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. Radio Virgen de Remedios in Tupiza, Potosí heard at 0015 April 20th on 9221 parallel to WEWN but about half a second behind; seemed to break away from WEWN just before 0100 with some music of its own. Fair strength, slightly drifting, OK in AM but distorted in SSB. Still on at 0125 (Hans Johnson, Florida, Jihad DX via World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** CANADA. Hi Glenn, just dropping a note say that CJML is NOT on air yet; they were supposed to start today for 2 weeks (Sean Traverse, May 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) How close are you to Winnipeg? It turned out to be very low power, not 50 kW (gh to Sean) South end of Winnipeg, just off Pembina highway (Sean Traverse, May 2, ibid.) 580, CJML, MB Winnipeg, 5-2 1130-1205 EDT, good with music of 1937-39 sponsored by "Peak of the Market". Good but not as strong as other Winnipeg stations. Said still tweaking transmitter. Will be on for two weeks in celebration of Victory in Europe Day. Tuned in on vintage Zenith Trans-Oceanic and Hallicrafters S-38 receivers (Morris Sorensen, MB, May 2, ABDX via DXLD)) CJML is on air at 99 watts on 580 am (Sean Traverse, MB, 0113 UT May 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. I miss the RCI programming [previews] I think Richard used to provide for the list. The powers that be at RCI have changed their times and frequencies so much recently that I have lost track of some of my favorite shows on shortwave. The same for the BBC. I like them on Sirius, but appreciate a break from straight news every once in awhile (Donna Ring, swprograms via DXLD) Donna, When this list first began many years ago, I posted advance CBC Radio program details for programs which were also carried by RCI. Over the years the number of CBC programs which I find interesting has declined. Is it me or is it CBC? "As It Happens" is a shadow of its former self in my opinion and it is available on my local FM station every evening at 1830 local. CBC carried pretty funny comedy shows at one time. Who can forget the coal powered transmitter up there in Newfoundland? I still like "Quirks and Quarks". You can already get "Quirks and Quarks" via Sirius and soon you may get the entire CBC Radio 1 and 2 streams via the same source. With the advent of internet radio I can also now listen to CBC Radio 1 in each of 4 time zones and CBC Radio 2 from Toronto. I initially hoped that by posting the CBC program details for shows carried by RCI that I could jog RCI into posting similar advance program details for their entire schedule. I copied a person at RCI who had been recommended to me by a Canadian friend as the person who could make that happen. Alas, after about 6 months I got an e-mail from that person requesting that I stop sending her my advance program details. So I, like you, have lost interest in tracking RCI's evening programming to North Amercia. Reception here has been mostly lousy since last year when they dropped early evening beams to North America. I still listen now and then in the local mornings on 9515, 13655, and 17800 when I am in Florida or the Caribbean without access to the internet. I find the "Sounds Like Canada" program to dwell on narrow local Canadian interests and mostly find the topics discussed not worthy of what little time I have left. Similarly, I find "Sunday Edition" very spotty with only occasional topics of interest. Is it me or CBC? I find no compelling reason to listen in the evening when reception is poor and the only evening program of any interest to me is on my local FM station. My general interest in RCI has waned ever since they refused to take the bait on posting advance program details. Now maybe you understand why I no longer take the time to post CBC program info to this reflector with the possible exception of the occasional Quirks and Quarks show. ~*-.,_,.-*~'^'~*-.,_,.-*~'^'~*-., (Joe Buch, DE, Swprograms mailing list via DXLD) -*~'^'~*-.,_,.-*~'^'~*-.,_,.-*~'^ ** CHINA. Connor Walsh worked for CRI for a year from October 2003. He wrote an article for the April 2005 Shortwave Magazine. In it he says that he became a shortwave listener at the age of 12, got a BA in Chinese and joined CRI when he was 23. For the first three months he was a polisher, that means a Chinese member of staff would write a story and Connor checked the quality of the English. 10 to 15 foreigners work for CRI English. News is the mainstay of the international output. It comes from The Associated Press providing international news copy and audio by satellite, Xinhua, the state news service, and CRI news bureaus around the world. After three months Connor began reading news features at the weekends and in early 2004 became the presenter of Reports From Developing Countries, mainly using material from UN Radio. He then joined the features team and produced Voices From Other Lands, an interview show that meets non- nationals who come to China. This was a one man operation, Connor researched and did the interviews and produced and edited the show. Reporters and producers at CRI use a Sony Mini Disc recorder and a Sony LS26 microphone. CRI provides them with a car and driver but the subway is also used. CRI is right at an underground station in Western Beijing, visitors to Beijing can take Line One all the way out to the fourth last stop, climb the steps and the station is right there. Connor says he left CRI because he "wanted to learn about radio in an open, balanced and creative environment. China can't really provide these... CRI's English service exists as much to serve English learners in China as listeners overseas. All this means CRI is subject to the same censorship restrictions as China National Radio and the local radio stations." Connor further reported to DX Listening Digest on recent programming changes at the station which might benefit the overseas audience: [snipped] In his ShortWave Magazine article Connor also confirms that the shortwave frequency information on CRI's website and in The Messenger is often incomplete due to a "somewhat strangled internal communications system" Connor's 4 page article including 8 colour photographs was in the April 2005 ShortWave Magazine obtainable as a back issue for £5 including postage and packing from PW Publishing Ltd., Post Sales Department, Arrowsmith Court, Station Approach, Broadstone, Dorset BH18 8PW with details of credit card or a cheque or postal order made payable to PW Publishing Ltd. Cheques with overseas orders must be drawn on a London clearing bank. Credit card orders are also welcome by telephone on 0870 224 7830 (Mike Barraclough, World DX Club Congtact via DXLD) ** CUBA. Dear Glen[n]: Radio Reloj, in Havana, broadcasts news 24/7, and what you hear is the tick of the seconds and they announce the hour every single minute of the day. At 00:00 [presumably local time = 0400 UT; or do you mean every hour on the hour?], they spend one minute letting you know the time in different capital cities around the world, until it strikes 00:01 when they introduce themselves once more and start reading the headlines. And, you may find this amusing, they do have people, actual people reading news at all times, and that station is manned every day and at all times. And, needless to say, they are the most accurate (time-related) station in the world, and also unique. They don`t broadcast music or anything like that, just news. Oh, and nowadays they’re also streaming live on the internet. You can find them at http://www.radioreloj.cu Take care, (Tony Mendez, DX LISTENING DIGEST) with tagline: "Virtue and graces in themselves speak what no words can utter" W. Shakespeare ** ECUADOR. 4560.06, Radio La Voz de Naranjal, Naranjal, 0000 UT. This is a harmonic from MW 1520.02 kHz and I hear the station both morning and evening. Perhaps you remember Ecos de Narnjito, Naranjito (Ecuador) 1470 kHz, has been logged in several European countries. Both Naranjal and Naranjito are small "cantónes" in the province of "Guayas" (capital Guayaquil). Comments, photos and recordings at: http://www.malm-ecuador.com 73s (Björn Malm, Quito, Ecuador, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ERITREA. DX Target: VOBME - Voice of the Broad Masses of Eritrea (Dimtsi Hafash) By Richard A. D'Angelo Mass media can be a powerful, influential tool in a revolutionary movement. The Eritrean struggle for freedom illustrates this classic example when the Voice of the Broad Masses of Eritrea (Dimtsi Hafash) was established. Dimtsi Hafash played a central role in accelerating the pace of Eritrean independence. Radio Voice of the Broad Masses ("VOBME") of Eritrea helped lead the people in their struggle against Ethiopia. VOBME was the prime mover in the country's liberation movement. While a clandestine operation, constant jamming needed to be overcome since they were using transmitters only capable of between 200 and 750 watts output. Eventually, this clandestine radio operation became the legitimate state-run broadcaster that serves the independent country of Eritrea today. At present, the VOBME continues to operate on the shortwave bands making this DX Target an exciting way to log and verify the radio country of Eritrea. In the Horn of Africa oral traditions are strong. The spoken word, rather than the written word, has a remarkable influence upon people in this region. Therefore, radio can be a very powerful media tool in the hands of governments keen to rally public support. With our shortwave radios, we have an excellent opportunity to monitor what is going on in the Horn of Africa region. Background Eritrea was part of the first Ethiopian kingdom of Aksum until its decline in the 8th century. It came under the control of the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century, and later of the Egyptians. Italy captured the coastal areas in 1885, and the Treaty of Uccialli in May 2, 1889 gave the Italians sovereignty over part of Eritrea. The Italians named their colony after the Roman name for the Red Sea, Mare Erythraeum, and ruled it up until World War II. The British captured Eritrea in 1941 and later administered it as a United Nations ("UN") Trust Territory until it became federated with Ethiopia on 15 September 1952. It was made an Ethiopian province on 14 November 1962. A civil war broke out against the Ethiopian government, led by rebel groups who opposed the union and wanted independence for Eritrea. The 30-year struggle for independence ended in 1991 with the Eritrean rebels defeating Ethiopian governmental forces. Independence was overwhelmingly approved in a 1993 referendum. A two-and-a-half-year border war with Ethiopia that erupted in 1998 ended under UN auspices on 12 December 2000. Eritrea currently hosts a UN peacekeeping operation that is monitoring a 25 kilometer-wide Temporary Security Zone along its the border with Ethiopia. An international commission, organized to resolve the border dispute, posted its findings in 2002 but final demarcation is on hold due to Ethiopian objections. Meanwhile, the United Nation's Peacekeeping Mission to Ethiopia and Eritrea, UNMEE, continues to monitor the 25 kilometer-wide Temporary Security Zone in Eritrea. Location and Geography Eritrea was formerly the northernmost province of Ethiopia and is about the size of Indiana. Much of the country is mountainous. Its narrow Red Sea coastal plain is one of the hottest and driest places in Africa. The cooler central highlands have fertile valleys that support agriculture. Eritrea is located in Eastern Africa, bordering the Red Sea on the north and east, between Djibouti (109 kilometers) and Ethiopia (912 kilometers) on the south and Sudan (605 kilometers) on the north and west. The country is dominated by an extension of the Ethiopian north- south trending highlands, descending to the east to a coastal desert plain. The northwest is hilly terrain and the southwest is a flat-to- rolling plains The climate is hot, dry desert strip along the Red Sea coast and cooler and wetter in the central highlands with up to 61 centimeters of rainfall annually. Semiarid in the western hills and lowlands. Rainfall is heaviest during June through September except in the coastal desert. The country is 46,842 square miles, or 121,320 square kilometers with a population of about 4.5 million inhabitants. Its capital and largest city is Asmara with about 900 thousand inhabitants. The official languages of Eritrea are: Afar, Bilen, Kunama, Nara, Arabic, Tobedawi, Saho, Tigre, and Tigrinya. English is rapidly becoming the language of business and is the medium of instruction at secondary schools and at the university. The Economy The main problems affecting the Eritrean economy are an inadequate and war-ravaged infrastructure, a lack of hard currency to pay for imports, a weak tax collection system and the predominance of unproductive subsistence agriculture. Since independence from Ethiopia on 24 May 1993, Eritrea has faced the economic problems of a small, desperately poor country. Like the economies of many African nations, the economy is largely based on subsistence agriculture, with 80% of the population involved in farming and herding. The Ethiopian-Eritrea war in 1998-2000 severely hurt Eritrea's economy. Economic growth fell to zero in 1999 and to - 12.1% in 2000. The May 2000 Ethiopian offensive into northern Eritrea caused some $600 million in property damage and loss, including losses of $225 million in livestock and 55,000 homes. The attack prevented planting of crops in Eritrea's most productive region, causing food production to drop by 62%. However during the war, Eritrea managed to develop its transportation infrastructure, paving new roads, improving its ports, and repairing war damaged roads and bridges. Since the war ended, the government has maintained a firm grip on the economy, expanding the use of the military and party-owned businesses to complete Eritrea's development agenda. Unfortunately, erratic rainfall and the delayed demobilization of farmers from the military kept grain production well below normal, holding down growth in recent years. Eritrea's economic future depends upon its ability to master social problems such as illiteracy, unemployment, and low skills. The Station Voice of the Broad Masses of Eritrea, the official national broadcaster in Eritrea, used to broadcast on behalf of the Eritrean People's Liberation Front ("EPLF"), the victorious liberation movement. In 1980, the EPLF, fighting for the independence from Ethiopia, started the clandestine station Voice of the Broad Masses of Eritrea that also hosted the programs of other opposition forces in Ethiopia. When the Mengistu regime was overthrown by a coalition of opposition movements, the Voice of the Broad Masses became the national broadcaster in the Eritrean province. Upon Eritrean independence the station, Dimtsi Hafash, became the licensed government international broadcast station. Eritrea is the only African country to have no privately owned news media. There are no private radio or TV stations in Eritrea. The state-run FM network is Radio Zara. The state run Voice of the Broad Masses of Eritrea broadcasts in nine ethnic national languages on two different channels. The first channel is 945 kHz medium wave and 7100 kHz shortwave with a morning transmission from 6:30 AM to 11:00 AM local time, or 0330 to 0900 UT, and again from 5:00 PM to 9:30 PM local time, or 1400 to 1830 UT. These transmissions use five different languages. The second channel is 837 kHz medium wave and 7175 kHz shortwave with broadcasts in the remaining four national ethnic languages. The transmission times are 6:30 AM to 10:00 AM local time, or 0330 to 0700 UT. A second evening broadcast can be heard from 4:00 PM to 9:00 PM Eritrean time, or 1300 to 1800 UT. The 100-kilowatt transmitters are located 15 kilometers south of Asmara. The station does verify listener reception reports on a sporadic basis, usually requiring above average patience. Berhane Gerzgiher, Director of Radio Engineering, replied on behalf of the station noting "We are surprised by your letter. Really appreciate you because we didn't expect our broadcast reach such distance." The letter closed asking to keep in touch with VOBME and "Thank you very much for your great devotion on us." English language reception reports with return postage of US$1.00 or two International Reply Coupons can be sent to the station at the following address: Voice of the Broad Masses of Eritrea Ministry of Information Radio Department, Radio Engineering Division P. O. Box 242 Asmara, Eritrea Remember to send in those rare Voice of the Broad Masses of Eritrea logs Edwin Southwell for the Shortwave Log. Of course, QSL verifications should be sent to Mark Hattam for inclusion in the QSL Report column. Good luck with this DX Target (World DX Club Contact Magazine, March 2005 via DXLD) ** GAMBIA [non]. GAMBIAN PROGRAM SET TO BROADCAST By Nick Grace April 30, 2005 News of last week's short test transmissions to the Gambia spread rapidly among exiles, who fired e-mails into their homeland and made a flurry of phone calls to alert their friends, families and neighbors about the broadcasts. With independent media under intense pressure from the ruling junta the response was immediate and mixed with conflicted emotion - jubilation and caution. Save the Gambian Democracy Project (STDGP), a U.S.-based and non- partisan pro-democracy organization, is calling the test a success, Clandestine Radio Watch (CRW) has learned, and is preparing the next step to launch formal broadcasts within a month. The program is tentatively named Voices from the Diaspora (Wollof: Baati Haleyi) and will air for thirty minutes once a week on short wave in English, Wollof and Mandinka. A schedule has not yet been established. Reports poured in instantaneously, according to STGDP spokeswoman Sigga Jagne, from listeners who checked in via Internet cafes and mobile phones. The signal, she said, blanketed Banjul city. The group is waiting for word from the interior of the Gambia, where communication is less stable, but anticipates a similar response. While most of the listeners reacted with joy that local news will soon be available from a source outside of the regime's reach some voiced concern that it will drive the government into depseration. "The junta knows that its terror against the people of Gambia will no longer go unnoticed and unreported," Jagne said, "because we will report it. We are empowering the public with information and the assurances that they are not alone." Voices from the Diaspora will serve as an outlet for the entire opposition movement to promote democracy inside the Gambia and, in addition to STGDP, will contain programming from the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy in the Gambia - United Kingdom (MRDG-UK), MRDG-New York, and a number of grassroots organizations based in Europe. Developing... (Matt ---- er, Nick Grace, CRW May 2 via DXLD) QTH?? 9430, Save The Gambia Democracy Project test broadcast, Sounded like the signal came on the air at 1957. Test programming, already in progress, began April 28 at exactly 2000:27 with live discussion by men and woman (more like long dissertations) in local dialect. Many mentions of Gambia, democracy, and Africa, 1994, Senegal. Went into some great local lively string music at 2014 and program end at 2014:30. Signal gone at exactly 2015. Fair signal and quite readable. Did have to deal with some local QRM for the first 6 or 7 minutes (Dave Valko, PA, Jihad-DX via CRW via DXLD) Re : STGDP URL http://www.sunugambia.com/ There is not much there. Most of the info is at: http://www.sunugambia.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2 There is this address for donations: STGDP, P. O. Box 48321, Doraville, GA 30362. E-mail address is STGDP @ sunugambia.com I see that Bible Voice via DTK-Jülich & Nauen uses 9430 at various times before 2000 on some days, so maybe this is via DTK (Jerry Berg-USA Apr 26, 2005 in DXplorer-ML via CRW via DXLD) ** GREECE. HE LEFT A GREAT LEGACY BEHIND - PANOS GERAMANIS PASSED AWAY 01 May 2005 13:33:00 (Last updated: 02 May 2005 12:44:12) By Despina Hristopoulou Sources: NET --- ANA A beloved colleague who paid tribute to the journalistic profession, Panos Geramanis, died unexpectedly a little after midnight in the village Agia of Parga, of heart attack, at the age of 59. Panos Geramanis, who worked for the Greek newspaper Ta Nea, as well as radio station ERA, where he hosted the programme "Laiki Vardi" (Popular Folk Singers), has left behind a great legacy, especially because of his contribution to Greek folk music and rembetika. He was born in Vasiliko, Chalkida in December 1945. In 1964, he started publishing the local newspaper Agrotiki Foni tis Chalkidas (Rural Voice of Chalkida), while he then worked as a sports journalist for the newspaper Fos ton Sport. He worked as a reporter and chief editor for some of the country`s biggest newspapers. He started his career in radio in 1989, when he worked for the radio station 902 Left FM, while he worked for Hellenic Radio since 1990. Contribution to Folk Music He was a close friend of the legendary singer Stelios Kazantzidis since 1963. As Panos Geramanis had once said, "Through this friendship, this long and close friendship, and because of my discreetness, I took 56 interviews and dozens of tapes, which bring to life Kazantzidis` most powerful and amazing moments, concerning his life and Greek folk songs, which, we can say, were born along with him, when he first appeared on stage in 1951, and died with him." Panos Geramanis, who received many awards for his 32-year contribution to journalism and his historical research and study of Greek folk music and sports, through 1,500 programmes on national radio, will remain forever alive in the memories of the Greek people, as he combined his immense knowledge to his love for Greek music. On 1 April 2004, when ERT honored the reporter on the 15-year anniversary of the programme "Laiki Vardi", the great Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis said, "Panos Geramanis should be glad, because with his writings and voice he contributed to the spreading and understanding of a type of music that had been cast to the sidelines." KKE`s General Secretary Aleka Papariga conveyed her condolences to the family of the reporter. Mrs Papariga said, "He was one of the few who studied folk music in depth and brought out its connection to the fights and desires of our people." Translated by Vicky Ghionis (VIA JOHN BABBIS, SILVER SPRING, MD, DXLD) ** INDIA. Now Mr Rajeesh describes what he knows best - his homeland. Kerala is a narrow strip of land on the South-west corner of India. It represents only 1.18 percent of the total area, but 3.43% of the total population of the country. The highlands of Kerala are known as Western Ghats where evergreen forests with exotic flora and fauna are found. It is one of the biological hotspots in the world. The midlands lying between the mountains and the lowlands is made up of undulating hills and valleys. This is an area of intensive cultivation and crops like coconut, banana, rice, ginger, pepper, vegetables etc are grown. The lowlands or coastal area which is made up of river deltas, backwaters and the shore of Arabian Sea, is essentially a land of coconuts and rice. Kerala is a land of rivers and backwaters. Forty four rivers (41 west and 3 east flowing) cut across Kerala with their innumerable tributaries and branches, but the rivers are comparatively smaller, and being entirely monsoon fed, practically turn into rivulets in the summer especially in upper areas. Kerala is also known for its rich cultural, literal and sociological standards of life. The world famous artforms Kathakali, Mohiniyattam, Kalaripayattu, etc., are typical to this State. It is the leader of Human Development Index in India, with 92% literacy, the low birth rate and death rate and achieved high standards of life. It is also one of the first places where the Communist Party came to power through popular votes. Considering all its achievements tourists call Kerala as "God`s own Country". RADIO BROADCASTING Radio Broadcasting has a long history in Kerala. Before Independence, Kerala comprised of the Princely States, Travancore, Cochin and British Malabar. It was in 1956 the Malayalam speaking areas of India jointly formed to be known as Kerala. Radio broadcasting has its early root in the Princely State of Travancore. During the Colonial rule, the erstwhile Travancore State set up the first radio station with the aid of All India Radio. His Highness the Maharaja of Travancore showed great interest in broadcasting and formed a committee of top officials to evaluate the possibility of installing a transmitter at the Capital, Trivandrum (now Thiruvananthapuram). All India Radio provided advice and an engineer from Travancore was subsequently trained to carry out the onerous task. A 5 kW medium wave transmitter was finally installed on March 12, 1943. His Highness Sri. Chitira Tirunal Balarama Varma inaugurated the Travancore State Broadcasting Station on the same day. The transmitter was located at Kulathur near Trivandrum and the studios were at Old MLA quarters. In the beginning the station aired a weekly 2 hour broadcast on Friday evenings; later it increased to four day broadcasts per week. After Independence, when Princely State Travancore joined Indian Union, the Travancore State Radio merged with All India Radio network on April 1, 1950. In 1952, AIR Trivandrum moved to its present premises at Bhaktivilas Palace. The 5 kW transmitter of Travancore Radio was upgraded to 10 kw later. A 100 kW medium wave relay station at Alapuzha was commissioned on July 17, 1971 for relaying the programmes from Trivandrum to the people living in Central Kerala. The relay station was upgraded to 200 kW on April 15, 1999. The entertainment and commercial channel of All India radio, Vividh Bharati started broadcasting from Trivandrum on March 6, 1966 using a 1 kW MW transmitter. Now a 10 kW FM transmitter carries Vividh Bharati broadcasts for Trivandrum and neighbouring districts. WORLD BAND OPERATIONS All India Radio Trivandrum (now Thiruvananthapuram) never provided good signals beyond South and Central Kerala. Further, large migrant communities from Kerala work in the Southern as well as the Northern States in India and also in the Middle East. So, a 50 kW World Band [sic] transmitter was installed at Thiruvanantha-Puram. It was commissioned into service on November 6, 1994. As a result of the world band operations, the station started providing good signals throughout South Asia and the Middle East. The 50 kW world band transmitter operates from 0020-0215 and 1115-1735 UT on 5010 kHz. During favourable conditions the station is heard throughout the world, as evidenced by the reception reports from all corners of the globe. BROADCAST FREQUENCIES . Medium wave 1161 kHz (20Kw) . FM (Vividh Bharati) 101.9 MHz (10kW) . Shortwave 5010 & 7290 kHz (50 kW) VERIFICATIONS Unlike many other All India Radio Station, AIR Thiruvananthapuram can be a good verifier. Most of the reception reports are QSLed via New Delhi. Occasionally the station verifies directly using its letterhead. Return postage is not required while writing to AIR stations. Reports should be mailed to: The Station Engineer All India Radio Thiruvananthapuram Bhaktivilas, Vazhuthalaud Thiruvananthapuram - 695014, Kerala, INDIA e-mail: airtvpm @ sancharnet.in (T. R. Rajeesh, India, May World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** INDONESIA. For the first time ever, VOI Jakarta uses both frequencies 9525 a n d 15150 kHz as summer frequencies since April 21. Never happened before. VOI outlets noted so far in past days: 1600-2100 9525 and 15150 kHz. German 1800-1900, English 2000-2100 UT, 0800-1400 15150 kHz to NE Asia. English at 0800-0900 UT. and also RRI Jakarta 0000-1600 11860 (fade-in in EUR around 1330 UT til 1600 UT). All according to schedule in WRTH 2005. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, May 2, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN [non]. Voice of Iran has reactivated and is now scheduled via Sofia 1530-1730 on 11575 (Observer, Bulgaria, Finn Krone via Wolfgang Bueschel, via World DX Club Contacct via DXLD) Heard April 7th 1528 with singing chorus, 1530 sign on with identification by man mentioning their website, Hotbird feed and a mention of ``kilohertz``. Fairly good signal via DX Tuner Europe, no jamming on this and subsequent checks (Hans Johnson, Jihad DX via World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** IRAN [non]. 'IRAN LIBERTY WALK' SETS 209-MILE ROUTE --- April 29, 2005 Article originally posted at: http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=44032 Hundreds, including lawmakers, to promote democratic change --- WorldnetDaily.com Organizers of the "Iran Liberty Walk" to promote peaceful, democratic change in Tehran announced today the 209-mile route that will take hundreds of Americans, including lawmakers, through towns and cities between Philadelphia and the nation's capital. The two-week event, led by Jerome Corsi, founder of the Iran Freedom Foundation, will begin May 16 at the Liberty Bell and culminate with a large demonstration on the Capitol Mall. Corsi, author of the newly released "Atomic Iran," said reports from the walk will be broadcast to Iran via radio, television and the Internet, including live interviews with participants such as Rep. Peter King, R-Iowa. Along with sending a signal for peaceful change, the IFF is calling for civil disobedience from Iranian citizens. Corsi and the IFF urge Iranians to flood the streets June 17, the date of the presidential vote, and vote "no" in the "sham elections the mullahs are planning." Along the way, Corsi plans to talk to Americans at churches, town halls, schools and other civic centers about life in Iran. With many Iranians able to follow the event through foreign broadcasts, he hopes to provide them with "some background about the real America, not the fiction trumped up by the Islamic Republic's propaganda machine." Corsi many native Iranians from across the nation will participate. "The purpose is to show solidarity with the Iranian people, the vast majority of whom -- as many as 90 percent or higher -- want the regime out," he said. The event will be filmed by Timothy Watkins, producer of the documentary film "In the Face of Evil," which recounts the courage of Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II and their resolve to stand up to communism. The planned route is as follows: STAGE ONE: Philadelphia to Lancaster, Pa. (76 miles) The walk will follow roughly along Route 30, with stops in and around: * Philadelphia to Springfield: 9 miles * Springfield to Ridley Creek State Park: 8 miles * Ridley Creek State Park to Exton: 14 miles * Exton to Coatesville (via Downingtown): 13 miles * Coatesville to Gap: 13 miles * Gap to Ronks: 9 miles * Ronks to Lancaster: 10 miles STAGE TWO: Lancaster, Pa., to York, Pa. (28 miles) * Lancaster to Columbia: 13 miles * Columbia to York: 15 miles STAGE THREE: York, Pa., to Baltimore, Md. (62 miles) Route 83 and 45 * York to Potosi: 13 miles * Potosi to New Freedom: 8 miles * New Freedom to Wiseburg (Gun Powder Falls State Park): 11 miles * Wiseburg to Cockeysville: 12 miles * Cockeysville to Woodbrook: 9 miles * Woodbrook to Baltimore: 9 miles STAGE FOUR: Baltimore, Md., to Washington, D.C. (43 miles) * Baltimore to Elkridge: 10 miles * Elkridge to Laurel: 11 miles * Laurel to College Park: 10 miles * College Park to Washington, D.C.: 12 miles (WND.com Apr 29 via Grace-USA, CRW via DXLD) ** ISRAEL. Kol Israel is using new 11590 for the 1900-1925 English broadcast replacing 11605 which was also used by Radio Sweden. 15615 and 15640 are heard in parallel (Edwin Southwell, UK, World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** ISRAEL. The Jerusalem Post "Billboard" entertainment section writes, that the Kol Israel English radio news is also available on channel 312 on digital cable TV. Also, the Jerusalem Post mentions that METV rebroadcasts the IBA's English and Arabic TV news. The IBA English TV news, is rebroadcast at 7:30 PM and the Arabic TV news is rebroadcast at 9:00 PM most days of the week. The complete schedule is available at: http://www.metv.org/index.cfm?fa=monthlyCalendar METV = "Middle East TV", a Christian TV station, broadcasting from Cyprus. It had formerly broadcast from the Lebanon/Israel boarder. It is receivable on Israeli cable TV (Doni Rosenzweig, May 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ISRAEL. IBA DIRECTOR GENERAL FIRED FOR VIOLATING RULES OF CONDUCT The Israeli government today decided to dismiss the director of the Israel Broadcasting Authority, Yosef Barel. Israel Radio said thirteen ministers, including Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, voted in favor, three objected and three abstained. The Attorney-General, Menahem Mazuz, had recommended the dismissal of Barel following a State Comptroller report that found Barel guilty of violating rules of conduct. Among other things, Barel appointed his confidantes and employed workers without going through a tender as required. (Source: Jerusalem Post) # posted by Andy @ 13:43 UT May 2 (Media Network blog via DXLD) ** JAPAN. CAN JAPAN`S MEDIA BE TRUSTED? A recently-published book on Japan`s media claims that the country`s news media is [sic] among the least independent and the least trustworthy in the democratic world. Adam Gamble and Takesato Watanabe, co-authors of the book ``A Public Betrayed: An Inside Look at Japanese Media Atrocities and their Warnings to the West``, say that Japan`s media has [sic] not been reformed since World War II. The authors cite Japan`s system of so- called press clubs, where reporters work closely with PR officers and tend to publish information fed to them without checking the facts or using a two-source rule. They receive exclusive access to sources and, it is claimed, substantial perks and subsidies. In exchange, journalists police themselves --- any journalist caught straying from the approved line is punished by colleagues and can be blackballed (Global Briefing, AIB Channel, March, via DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH. New Summer schedule Voice of Korea, Pyongyang, P.R. of Korea, from Tuesday May 3rd, 2005. Neuer Sommersendeplan der Stimme Koreas, Pyongyang, Nordkorea Die STIMME KOREAS aus PYONGYANG, NORDKOREA, wird den neuen Sommersendeplan ab Dienstag, den 03. Mai 2005 einführen. Nachfolgend das Wichtigste für Europa vorab. Den kompletten Sendeplan werde ich bald als Word-Anhang verschicken, wenn alle Details bekannt sind. Ich bitte um weite Verbreitung, bitte unter Angabe der Quelle! Gruß in die Runde von OM Arnulf Piontek (via A-DX May 2) Berlin - Germany UTC Frequenz (kHz) Target German 1600 9325 12015 West-Europa 1800 9325 12015 West-Europa 1900 9325 12015 West-Europa English 1300 13760 15245 West-Europa 1500 13760 15245 West-Europa 1800 13760 15245 West-Europa 2100 13760 15245 West-Europa French 1400 13760 15245 West-Europa 1600 13760 15245 West-Europa 2000 13760 15245 West-Europa Spanish 1900 13760 15245 West-Europa 2200 13760 15245 West-Europa Die Anschrift: Stimme Koreas Deutsche Redaktion Pyongyang Koreanische Demokratische Volksrepublik (Arnulf Piontek-D, via A-DX May 2 via Wolfgang Büschel, DXLD) ** MEXICO. R. Insurgente: Either they are very low power or 6.0 MHz is a ruse. Most Central American stations will make it to South Florida. Never heard anything (R. Wilkner, FL, Apr 25, 2005 in DXplorer-ML via CRW via DXLD) ** MEXICO. Re: XERMX-OC, Radio México Internacional reseña sobre su desmantelamiento en los últimos meses Estimado Edgardo: He quedado consternado después de ver las imágenes en la página de Yahoo... ¿Qué podemos hacer hoy ante semejante acto de salvajismo?. Creo que nada. Las fotos son el cruel reflejo del exterminio en manos de irresponsables, funcionarios de turno seguramente apañados por intereses espurios... ¿Qué puede hacer el pueblo mejicano ante tanta barbarie?... Un capital del Estado implícitamente propiedad de cada mejicano que paga impuestos, destruido como quien "mata a sueldo" no tiene perdón ni condena aplicable más que el repudio de todos aquellos que solamente podemos manifestar nuestros derechos a la información. Seguramente ningún funcionario irá preso lo que convierte mayor nuestra indignación e impotencia. Me resta honrar a quienes dejaron su vida laboral en XERMX y que han visto morir mucho más de cerca a esa querida Radio México Internacional de mis años de juventud y esperanza. La radio mejicana sigue viva en nuestro recuerdo. Saludos Edgardo (Rubén G. Margenet, May 2, condiglist via DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS ANTILLES. Will Martin wrote: "But Andy, if you're reading this, please use RN's internal communications to let the Bonaire people know that there IS a serious problem. Something got away from them and is causing this wideband noise." I have done so, but this is a bit of a hit-and-miss way of getting our attention. I cannot guarantee always to read every word of what is published in DXLD and other media sources. It would be a good idea to send a copy of anything relevant to media @ rnw.nl to make sure it doesn't escape my attention. Clearly there is something wrong, and my colleagues will look into it as matter of urgency. Further to my first reply, I see Will did send us a message to letters @ rnw.nl which I just checked. This is the general address for the English service. I prefer technical questions and comments to be sent to media @ rnw.nl but no matter - it is being investigated. First indications are that there was nothing out of the ordinary. I've seen the bandscan for last made in Bonaire, where the signal on 15315 is very strong. Our engineers point out that RCI on 15325 is not beamed to North America, so is likely to be relatively weak. However, to be sure, special attention will be paid to this transmission this evening by our colleagues in Bonaire (Andy Sennitt, RN, Holland, May 2, dxldyg via DXLD) As I have pointed out here before, RCI Sackville frequencies aimed at Europe also put in very good signals here off the back. When I checked around 2140 UT May 2, 15315 was not splattering, but if it were it would certainly be a problem. 15325 may also be affected by Cuban jammers on 15330 even when R. Martí is not using it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEW ZEALAND. AUCKLAND AM CHANGES --- As I had speculated in a recent posting, LPFM station Apna FM has indeed reappeared on the airwaves as Apna 990, using the AM 990 frequency recently acquired from Chinese-language Ace Broadcasting. Following last year's policing of the LPFM rules restricting the establishment of intra-city relays of a single LPFM broadcaster, Indian businessman Sahil Shah had tried to secure a full FM radio licence to bring his Apna Indian community station to an Auckland wide audience. However he pulled out of the government's auction of FM radio spectrum covering the Auckland region when the bidding passed $5 million (TRN and Canwest MediaWorks were successful bidders and we now have Coast FM 105.4 and Radio Live 100.6 to show for their efforts). My assumption is that the 990 AM frequency came at a much lower price- tab than a full-time FM licence! After 2-3 years on LPFM those broadcasts appeared to cease last month (though they were simulcast on Sky - not sure of the status of that) in the run-up to commencing the AM operation. Apna 990 began broadcasting last Friday 29 April and the opening ceremonies were held Sunday afternoon 1 May at the Henderson studios in West Auckland. Amongst dignitaries I heard interviewed were MPs Ashad Chowdray and Richard Worth, a representative from the Pakistan Association of NZ. There is quite a lot of English in Apna 990's format and a regular identification announcement in English is carried - "Music for all people, all the time, your Apna station, Apna 990". I queried an Indian colleague at work as to the differences between Apna and longtime Radio Tarana (1386 AM). I was told that Apna has its strength in links with FBIs (Fijian-born Indians) whereas Tarana's roots are with migrants ex India. Noting that I had heard some Qur`an on Sunday [?!], my informant said this reflected Mr Shah wanting to reflect his Moslem Indian identity. Meanwhile Apna is making a play on being a 24 hour station whilst Tarana is emphasising its expanding news services, going to an hourly news bulletin to complement existing news feeds from the BBC Hindi and Urdu services. I haven't heard news on Apna in its old FM or new AM guises as yet. A recent Greyline report mentioned 1179 AM in Auckland was now carrying Samoan programmes. I heard a Ruia Mai identification the other morning so clearly Samoan is not full-time. Will keep listening and see if I can sort out the schedule (Bryan Clark, NZ, May 2, greylinedx via DXLD) ** NORTH AMERICA. Hola Glenn, Saludos desde Catia La Mar, VENEZUELA. - Recibí el pasado 27/04, la QSL de la pirata estadounidense The Crystal Ship. Confirma mi informe del 7 de marzo, en la frecuencia de 6857 kHz, a las 0207 UT. QSL #B-46. El reporte fue enviado vía correo-e y la tarjeta se demoró 43 días en llegar. Adjunto, un banderín de la estación y una hoja informativa; es mi séptima pirata estadounidense confirmada. 73s y buen DX (Adán González, Catia La Mar, VENEZUELA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. Bill Moyers is back on PBS! This time anchoring the already extant series Wide Angle (not to be confused with a radio show of the same name on RN). PBS http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/ says it premièred on Tue April 26 at ``9 pm``. But NO SIGN OF IT ON OETA`s SCHEDULE! I sent them this note: Why aren`t you carrying Wide Angle?? Because Bill Moyers is on it now????? Come on! Must be one of the best PBS shows. Don`t tell me that`s the only time you have for Gallery (gh to OETA, via DXLD) ** PERU. RADIO REINA DE LA SELVA - CHACHAPOYAS - 5487 kHz. Programa de opinión sobre la regionalización, anuncios varios, ID por OM, 1630 UT abril 24 (César Pérez Dioses, Chimbote, Perú, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. Radio station Tikhy Okean is alive again. Regular broadcasts go on the air since 17 April, 0835-0900 on 810 kHz local and 12065 kHz to the maritime area. (open_dx - Igor Ashikhmin and Roman Nazarov, both from Primorskiy Kray, Russia) You may listen to the audioclip of Tikhy Okean, recorded by Igor Ashikhmin, on my True Sounds page: http://dxsignal.info/listen_eng.htm Direct address: http://dxsignal.info/audio/Tikhiy_Okean_200405.mp3 Size is 448 kB. (Ed.) (Signal via DXLD) Reports from Irkutsk showed that revived station Tikhy Okean come with O=3 there. I tried to monitor 12065 kHz at 0835 here in Kazan, but no joy. Only some carrier was there, without any distinctive audio. (Dmitry Mezin, Kazan, Russia, ibid.) QRM Complaint: see DRM below ** SINGAPORE. BBC Far Eastern station at Kranji verified with a full data card showing the BBC antenna towers at Turut. Who said BBC QSLs are not obtainable even though Bush House neglects reception reports (T.R. Rajeesh, India, World DX Club Contact via DXLD) Address is VT Merlin Communications, 51 Turut Track, Singapore 718930 per PWBR 2005 (Mike Barraclough, ibid.) ** TOGO. Re: Government-run Radio Lomé available live on the web --- Hi Glenn, I put this one in my database, but I haven't gotten it to play either (Kevin Kelly, Arlington, Massachusetts, May 1, http://www.publicradiofan.com/ DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, It's working now and I did receive a confirmation that they received my email. 73s, (Artie Bigley, OH, May 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Dear Sir, I live in the USA and would like to listen to your station on the web. I noticed that your web radio is not working. Are you going to fix it?? Thank You, (Artie Bigley to radiolome @ radiolome.tg April 29 via DXLD) Message bien reçu --- Message reçu, merci pour l'interêt que vous portez à RadioLomé (reply via Artie, DXLD) Yes, heard at 0000 UT May 3 in lo-fi 10 kbps, headlines in French (gh, DXLD) ** U A E. SITE REPORT --- New High Power Sound from the Persian Gulf. The Desert goes high-tech with powerful new MW Station. [MW means 1170 and 1575 kHz units, I guess. –wb] Emirates Media Inc. (EMI), the foremost news and information media organisation in the United Arab Emirates, awarded Thales and its local partner Bin Jabr TRS Est in June 2004 a contract for the supply of an additional new medium wave radio broadcasting center in Abu Dhabi. The multi-million dollar turnkey broadcasting solution for the Dabiyah II station included the supply of an 800 kW MW transmitter type S7HP, a two-tower directional antenna system, auxiliary equipment and new transmitter building, access and service roads, generator building, mains supply, fresh water supply, etc. The contract award for the new station followed the successful completion of the Dabiyah I turnkey project in June 2003, where Thales and Bin Jabr, working hand in hand together with the EMI client team, handed over all equipment in recordbreaking time. Nothing is impossible According contract, the partners had only 8 months to complete the new turnkey station and put all equipment on air. Based on the outstanding teamwork during the execution of the Dabiyah I station, where the team handed over all systems in less than six months following date of order, Thales and its local partners were confident that they could meet this new challenging deadline. Challenges met by the Teams Due to the fact that the station is located in the desert, the antenna and building foundations must be built on piles. Whereas the average depth of the subsoil in that area is around 10 m, the teams working at Dabiyah II encountered subsoils as deep as 18 m. Piling became a major issue. The close proximity to the high power short wave broadcasting center only one kilometer away was an additional challenge to the local team. To avoid mutual interference, Thales had to place the new MW antenna system in a suitable distance to the existing short wave antennas. This called for the construction of an additional 1.8 km access road. The new two-tower lambda/2 directional medium wave antenna system at Dabiyah II is the third Thales high power MW antenna in Abu Dhabi. Partnership built up over Years Beginning in 1984 with the first high power medium wave station at Dabiyah, Thales has been supplying Abu Dhabi with state-of-the-art short wave and medium wave radio broadcasting solutions. Dabiyah I and II are each equipped with an 800 kW S7HP transmitter, the Thales solution for high-power medium wave broadcasting. The S7HP family has proven its outstanding digital AM capability most recently in field trials in Macedonia end of 2004 (see THALES Radio News, Winter 2005 Issue). In the meantime, Abu Dhabi is broadcasting a total of 3600 kW of medium wave power and 4 x 500 kW short wave power using Thales radio broadcasting systems. http://www.thales-bm.com THALES SUISSE SA Broadcast & Multimedia Spinnereistrasse 5 CH-5300 Turgi Switzerland Tel: +41 [0] 56 299 22 10 Fax: +41 [0] 56 288 11 25 sales @ thales-bm.ch THALES 1, Rue de l'Hautil F-78702 Conflans Ste. Honorine France Tel. +33 (1) 34 90 31 00 Fax: +33 (1) 34 90 30 00 info @ thales-bm.com THALES BROADCAST & MULTIMEDIA GmbH Ohmweg 11-15 D-68199 Mannheim Germany Tel. +49 [0] 621 81 01 327 Fax. +49 [0] 621 81 01 290 info @ thales-bm.de (SPRING 2005 - Published by Thales Broadcast & Multimedia - Issue 19 via OCR via Wolfgang Büschel, DXLD) ** U S A. VOA on 160 meters?? "Robert Wilson, AL7KK, wrote to say he worked for Voice of America and planned medium-wave AM broadcasts that were around the 160-meter wavelength. He said that in 1989 he was using some propagation software that worked fine on 160 outside of the auroral zone. I've asked him to give us more detail, as the propagation programs I've used don't work below 3 MHz. I hope to have more information soon." http://www-stlg.remote.arrl.org/news/stories/2005/04/29/2/?nc=1 (via Andy Sennitt, dxldyg via DXLD) ** U S A. THE NWU-DC PROTESTS THE OFFSHORING OF JOBS TO CHINA Dateline: Washington, 05/02/05. The Washington, D.C. Chapter of the National Writers Union sent a letter to VOA Director, David Jackson, protesting the offshoring of the VOA English news writer jobs to communist China. The letter was also sent to two Senators and two Representatives. According to the letter: ``This decision is appalling enough on its face. The irony of spreading a message of freedom while removing employment protections, dismantling jobs, and offshoring them to a venue renowned for press repression and serial human rights abuse is cruel and contrary to Americans' best interest.`` AFGE Local 1812 thanks our brothers and sisters of the NWU for their help and support (AFGE Local 1812 May 2 via DXLD) China Syndrome --- The Agency announced on Thursday, April 7, 2005, that they were going to shut down the overnight shift of the Central Newsroom and move those duties to Hong Kong, China. The Agency at first presented this scheme as a cost-saving issue. Claiming it would save the agency $250,000 although there was nothing to back this figure up. They also denied that it was outsourcing and claimed that it was hard to fill overnight positions. The Agency then backed away from its earlier claims that it was a cost-saving effort and re-labeled the scheme as an expansion. Oh, and by the way, this expansion had the potential of saving the Agency $300,000 although again there were never any facts to back this up. The Agency started out by saying they would hire "whomever they could get" in Hong Kong for these positions and that these people would be contractors. Then in an article in GOVEXEC.com of April 13, 2005, Ted Iliff stated that the Agency would hire ten new reporters in Hong Kong and that five of those would be VOA employees and the other five would be contractors. Iliff apparently stopped talking after that. Then David Jackson stepped in. On NPR's April 16th [All Things Considered] he claimed that the move was an expansion and that it would put more people on the ground. Of course, this could be done by hiring more stringers. It does not explain a need for English News Writers being moved to Hong Kong. He was asked about security issues, specifically the danger of the Chinese government interfering with the operation in Hong Kong. Jackson stated that there had been no problems in the past and that the VOA had had an operation in Hong Kong for years. When it was pointed out to him that Hong Kong had formerly been governed by the British, Jackson remarked, "Sure but it hasn't changed." SURE BUT IT HASN'T CHANGED!!! From British role to communist Chinese role is not a change? This is the Director of the Voice of America? In the meantime, the Agency sent to a local Representative's Office a statement, which claimed in the first paragraph: VOA will hire a half dozen or so new writers in Hong Kong... In the second paragraph: The move will also include adding Internet staff in Hong Kong... In the third paragraph: Three editors and five writers will be hired as contractors in Hong Kong. So, how many positions is it? Will they all be contractors or not? The Agency just can't keep its story straight. So, let's review the Agency's scheme: 1. This is a cost-cutting move that will save anywhere between $250,000 to $300,000. There is nothing to base this on and besides should the Agency be saving money by taking jobs that are funded using United States taxpayers' money and available to any United States citizen and shipping them to communist China. 2. These overnight jobs are too hard to fill. Let's advertise them widely throughout the United States and see if any United States citizens are willing to apply. We feel confident that they can be filled. 3. This is an expansion of VOA operations to get more people on the ground in Asia. Why wouldn't more stringers do the trick? And does it make sense to have people in Hong Kong writing the news which is used by all 44 language services located in Washington, D.C.? 4. There is no security issue. If the Chinese government were to get upset with the VOA, it could shut down the Hong Kong Bureau and thus stifle all the Central News output for an entire shift. This move doesn't make sense even as a cost-saving measure. The Agency should drop this plan like a hot potato. [Much more:] http://www.afge1812.org/index.cfm?PageToWork=Content_Page_2 (News & Views, Spring 2005, AFGE Local 1812 via DXLD) ** U S A [and non]. HEARTS, MINDS, AND DOLLARS --- April 23, 2005 In an Unseen Front in the War on Terrorism, America is Spending Millions...To Change the Very Face of Islam --- By David E. Kaplan US News and World Report --- [Long] Article originally posted at: http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/050425/25roots.htm (Via CRW via DXLD) ** U S A [and non]. Glenn Hauser on WoR mentioned the new logo of RFE/RL; here's the article on the RFE/RL website about their new logo TORCH LIGHTS UP NEW ERA AT RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) enters a new era with a new symbol on 30 March, when a Torch Aflame takes over from the Freedom Bell as RFE/RL's company trademark. RFE/RL President Thomas A. Dine says the silver torch with its burnt-orange flame is universal. "Our torch is neither Christian nor Muslim, right-wing or left-wing. It is universal, forward-looking, modern and, above all, the RFE/RL torch is light and illumination, it has youth and energy," he said. The new company slogan or signature line is "Illuminate Your World," conveying that the news and information RFE/RL brings daily to millions of people around the world helps them understand their environment and gives them the information tools for the political and economic engagement needed to shape their societies. The torch replaces the Freedom Bell, which was RFE/RL's logo for more than half a century. It now enters the history books along with the radios of the Cold War days that it symbolized. That history -- in truckloads of tapes and documents -- was donated to the Hoover Institution archives at Stanford University, California, and is being processed as a record of the ideological fight against Communism in the second half of the 20th century. It starts with an account of how Radio Free Europe (RFE) came to take the bell as its symbol. It was not, as some people mistakenly believe, America's famously cracked Liberty Bell. The origins of RFE's logo are a 10-ton bell especially made in the British foundry Gillett and Johnston an decorated with a frieze of five figures representing the five races [sic] of mankind passing the torch of freedom. It arrived in New York in 1949 and traveled to 21 cities in the United States as part of the "Crusade for Freedom" drive to raise money to found and promote Radio Free Europe. More than 16 million Americans responded with contributions and RFE and its bell logo were born. Instead of the five figures, the RFE bell logo had a vertical divide into a darker and lighter side, generally interpreted as the divide between the democratic West and the communist East. But for many years now, Europe has been whole and almost free and both the dividing line and the bell have lost their meaning. The original Freedom Bell was permanently installed in West Berlin in 1950. Few people today know where it is, why it is there, and what it represents. RFE/RL itself bears little resemblance to the radios headquartered in Munich that beamed truth and hope across the Iron Curtain to the Soviet Union and its five European satellite states. Since the move to Prague in 1995, RFE/RL has been going through a dynamic process of transformation and modernization that is creating an entirely new organization. The company has broadened every aspect of its operations -- it no longer fights communism, it fights tyranny; its broadcasts are no longer confined to the former Soviet bloc, but stretch across continents to Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Broadcasting is no longer restricted to shortwave frequencies but is heard on a multitude of other, more popular frequencies in rebroadcasts by local AM and FM stations. And RFE/RL itself is no longer limited to radio broadcasting. It is venturing into television partnerships and has a vibrant, thriving, multilingual Internet site accessed by millions of users all over the world. The latest and perhaps most exciting chapter in RFE/RL's development is "Convergence," a process of internal restructuring and training to integrate a multiple media approach, attracting new audiences and viewers with tailored information. The easiest way to communicate these profound changes is to change the company symbol; but it is not a simple task to illustrate the new aspects of RFE/RL while showing its essence has remained the same. The essence of RFE/RL today is freedom, as it was 55 years ago, only the technology and geography have changed. RFE/RL's supervisory Broadcasting Board of Governors chose Chermayeff and Geismar, a leading New York-based design firm, to design the new logo. Their creation, launched first on RFE/RL's Internet sites, meets all expectations. The silver torch is a modern representation of the torch of freedom etched on the old bell and a link to RFE/RL's tradition. And the orange flame, in the words of RFE/RL President Dine, "denotes warmth and energy," illuminating understanding to promote the values of democracy (via Alan Roe, May World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** U S A. For what it's worth, twice in the last 3 weeks, the scheduled repeat of Allan Weiner Worldwide during the hour after the weekly live transmission, the airing listed on 5105 kHz from 0100-0200 UT Saturday (Friday night local), hasn't been on. Instead, the programming of "Radio Six International" that is on that frequency before 0100 UT has continued during that hour. This happened on 4/16 and 4/30; on 4/23 there WAS an old AWWW repeat there --- that was the day that there was no live AWWW but instead TimTron continued his show through the 0000 UT hour on 7415 because Allan was on the road. 73, (Will Martin, MO, May 2, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WWRB noted on new 15250 April 29th carrying Bible readings at 1930. With this and new 11920, both daytime frequencies are new replacing 9320 and 12172. This being a Friday the channels were on. WWRB is typically active only on Fridays and Sundays during the day. (Hans Johnson, Florida, Jihad DX, via World DX Club Contact via DXLD) However, I happened to hear one of those extremely noisy and lo-fi WWRB IDs at 2201 UT May 2 on 9320 as it was mixing with presumed WINB on same frequency with so-called Radio Weather missionary show. Then WWRB went off at 2202:45 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Greetings, fellow listees: I am new to the list, having returned to SWLing after a 20 year hiatus. I don't usually spend any effort on domestic s/w broadcasters, concentrating instead on (1) European, and (2) Latin American ones. However, I heard a station yesterday afternoon that intrigued me. I stumbled on it at 1810Z, 1 May 05, on 15385. A man and a woman were reading in English from, ostensibly, Psalms 109 and 29. It went like this: The Man: "The Voice of Yahweh is strong." Followed by: The Woman: "The Voice of Yahweh is strong." The Man: "The Voice of Yahweh is powerful." The Woman: "The Voice of Yahweh is powerful." The Man: "The Voice of Yahweh is (...choose any word you want...) Followed by The Woman: etc And on and on like this for at least twenty minutes. After five minutes, the thing was repeated. I listened closely but did not hear an ID. The signal was weak but intelligible. At 1835 Z I clearly heard a female vocal "Ave Maria" that sounded like Karen Carpenter (Oh how I miss that girl). I had to run an errand at 1900, and got back at 1920, hearing a female duet on a religious song in Spanish, and still hadn't hadn't heard an ID. I am consciously trying to avoid "list logging". I knew that Daniel Sampson's Primetime Shortwave shows KJES in English on that frequency, but still had no firm information on the weak signal I heard. Suddenly, at 1930, a very YL boomed out "Kah Jota Eh Esse", at least five times louder and stronger than anything that preceded it. Equipment: Kenwood R1000 and 80 foot long wire (Bill Wildes, Homewood, Alabama, HCDX via DXLD) ** U S A. KOA Radio, 25950, verified with a no data personal letter in 44 days from v/s Jan Chadwell, PE, W7KKD, Chief Engineer. The letter provided historical information about the AM operation including a brief station history and antenna information. The v/s notes ``KOA is one of the most frequently reported stations world wide. The only region we don`t regularly hear from is the area around the Indian Ocean.`` The background of the letter showed what the transmitter site looked like in 1932. Unfortunately, no mention of the shortwave link (Rich D`Angelo, PA, May Australian DX News via DXLD) ** U S A. WNAR-AM 1620 GOLDEN AGE RECREATION RADIO Recently changed to 1620 AM and changed webstream server. Old Time Radio ReCreation Station WNAR-AM EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN! OLD AND NEW RADIOS ARE HUNGRY FOR OLD RADIO PROGRAMS! Please provide a link to our not-for-profit historic old time community radio Re-Creation station: http://www.wnar-am.com Great Hollywood stars, stories, drama, adventure, plays, music, mystery, history. Theatre of the imagination. Descriptive narration is especially useful for the visually impaired. Any cross promotion would be appreciated. Contact information is on our website. Listen for FREE and please spread the word! Thanks, (Rich Franklin wnarradio @ yahoo.com Website and streaming audio: http://www.wnar-am.com May 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Estimado Glenn: Aquí te envío una colaboración de emisoras de USA que escuché por la Onda Media, para tu lista. Station KFSG 1690 Sacramento, California : charla religiosa en español, a las 0430 UT música evangélica e ID por OM. Abril 28 Station KCJJ 1630 Iowa City. Música pop y baladas en inglés, noticias y anuncios de real estate, precios en miles de dólares, ID con jingle musical por YL a las 0450 UT. Atentamente (CESAR PEREZ DIOSES, CHIMBOTE – PERU, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. HATE RADIO "TARGETS ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICANS" On 1 May 2005, Asian Media Watch denounced what it called the racist propaganda broadcast by the hosts of radio station New Jersey 101.5 FM, and their attempts to undermine the rights of Asian Pacific Americans to participate in the democratic and political process of the nation. Read the story in the dossier Counteracting Hate Radio http://www2.rnw.nl/rnw/en/features/media/dossiers/hateradioamerica.htm l # posted by Andy @ 11:38 UT May 2 (Media Network blog via DXLD) ** U S A. ACTION AT THE FCC OPENS WAY TO KUNM EXPANSION REPORT TO THE KUNM COMMUNITY by Richard S. Towne, KUNM General Manager April was a significant month for KUNM in the arena of decisions by the FCC to grant several applications to increase our capacity to serve New Mexico. Significant recognition goes to KUNM Chief Engineer Kevin Rogers for realizing and actualizing opportunities for expanded coverage of KUNM programming. The FCC has approved a power increase of about 15% for KUNM’s main transmitter at Sandia Crest. This will increase our output power to the maximum allowed at the Crest. Two years ago, you helped fund the replacement of our aging transmitter. The new transmitter is capable of increased output, now the FCC has approved our request. This should improve coverage in areas that are now somewhat difficult for reception (canyons, hillsides, fringe areas near the limits of current coverage). Our timetable for increasing the power rests on completion of a final environmental study but we hope to proceed by summer time. The FCC also gave non-commercial radio stations provisional authority to begin digital multi-casting. As public and community radio stations begin to add digital transmission, we can now seek FCC permission to broadcast two simultaneous program streams from the digital transmitter and antenna. Of course, you will need a new digital radio receiver which won’t be on the market place until just in time for Christmas. FCC approval of the technical tests to allow multicasting is a significant advancement in the path toward multiple digital program streams. KUNM’s programming will always continue on your current radios --- we will expand into the new world of digital terrestrial radio this year by adding a digital transmitter and antenna at our main studio [sic] on Sandia Crest. The FCC also ruled on several competitive proposals for service in Socorro. While we are not completely through the process at the FCC, it looks like we will be able to build a more powerful station to serve Socorro and surrounding communities. If all turns out as planned, we will move our programs to a new frequency with much higher power in Socorro over the next year or two. This should greatly improve service along the I-40 [sic; must mean I-25] highway drive toward Las Cruces and to the very rural populations around Socorro County. Lastly, the FCC has approved KUNM’s proposal in the settlement of another competitive application. This time, it’s for a new full-power station in Española. Construction time frames for our new station in Española extend out to 2008 but by the time we are done, we should add a tremendous new radius of service in Española that will fill in problem listening areas north of Santa Fe and in Los Alamos County. The signal will extend north to near the Colorado border and will provide first public radio service to about 75,000 people in the region. These expansions in KUNM’s service to New Mexicans have been in the pipeline for many years. A massive nationwide backlog of competing applications, predominantly caused by religious broadcasters seeking to exploit loopholes in FCC technical rules, caused long delays in processing of applications at the FCC. Settlement procedures adopted by the FCC were challenged in the courts by religious broadcasters, causing additional delays in awarding applications like KUNM’s to provide new noncommercial radio services. As the backlog continues to be cleared by the FCC, KUNM will look to expanding our current service in the Angel Fire and Cimarrón areas and will continue to explore new ways to improve and expand our signal’s reach. As a KUNM contributor, please accept our thanks for your investment in our work. By contributing to KUNM you are allowing us to invest in the ``R&D`` and in the delivery of new public radio services to new communities in and around New Mexico (May Zounds via DXLD) ** U S A. A very happy 50th anniversary to New England's first public TV station. WGBH-TV (Channel 2) signed on May 2, 1955 from studios at 84 Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge and a transmitter atop Great Blue Hill; half a century later, it's one of the most significant TV production facilities in the nation and is getting ready to move to new studios in Allston. While it doesn't appear that WGBH has much planned in the way of on-air celebrations, you can make up for it with a visit to http://www.wgbhalumni.org where veterans of the station's early days have posted numerous photos and reminiscences of the dawn of noncommercial TV and radio in Boston (Scott Fybush, NE Radio Watch May 2 via DXLD) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Having just heard that World Space is to be totally encrypted as of 10th April, and having been once again coheast [coerced?] to write to Short Wave Magazine, I am also writing to our club as well; my question is as follows with a statement. Having lost Astra's Free to Air analogue service when they went digital some years ago I obtained a World Space receiver, you may all laugh, but I went the whole nine yards and also got the yagi antenna; unfortunately my WS receiver is the SANYO single band type, others having VHF and even MW, there's not a complete waste of cash, mine being so. My question therefore is "How do I continue listening in good quality to Glenn Hauser's World of Radio"? Is it back to short wave with its lack of power house Lo-Fi signals, or the much weaker outlets, no big problem unless there is a S.I.D. or total drop out of propagation, which is not improving! I have tried to get the set top box Free View people interested in doing a relay via one of there radio channels but have had no response; some might very well say and why should they do this, good comment, but worth a try, if not to bring others into the hobby via a local station down here, still no comment, even after standing a sample of Glenn's media show, was it too American in content! Not being fully conversant with all the outlets of Glenn Hauser's distributions I wonder if the club could print just what that distribution is, in time-days and frequencies; most importantly what can be heard at my location here in East Anglia, I am quite certain that no domestic service is doing any relays of his show, as in the USA. Spectrum Radio has or had an over night service of WRN with or without his show I am not certain, never getting much of a signal here of 558 kHz. Is his show included? If it is I'll make a MW loop with pre-amp - D.M.A to try and pull them in. Apart from listening via the WWW to his show it would seem its back to good old free to air analogue short wave radio, unless someone can come up with a print-out that can be included in the club magazine. (An American source maybe ?) Is my next move to buy a second hand via Ebay a PURE EVOKE radio, or the like, only to find that this will be encrypted in the future? Beware of any digital system --- they have means of encrypting and charging you. Thank you for your time and trouble I am sure I am not alone with this problem, not just regarding World Space and it charge of £60.00 a year, Yes six zero pounds, and have you seen the stations in the Gold Package! If I have gone of the rails, please feel free to correct me. Kind Regards to all members (MIKE EVANS, M3EMB, Suffolk on 7th April 2005, World DX Club Contact via DXLD) Try the SW broadcasts via WWCR, WBCQ, WRMI, altho the ones providing best reception in East Anglia may well be in the middle of the night. See http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) POWERLINE COMMUNICATIONS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ PLEASE SUPPORT HR 230 ON BPL To: russ.carnahan @ mail.house.gov Dear Congressman Carnahan: I have just read of a new House Resolution 230 that calls on the FCC to review and reconsider their support of and promulgation of BPL - Broadband over Power Lines. This is a newly-developed technology for transmitting high-speed computer data over ordinary AC power transmission lines. Unfortunately, it has the side effect of creating vast amounts of Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) that interferes with the reception of radio signals. This has caused concern among a wide variety of users of the radio spectrum, including public safety agencies, amateur radio operators, and people like myself; I am a shortwave radio listener who spends a great deal of my time listening to international broadcasts from all around the world. I live in the City of St. Louis in your district and can cope with the general amount of interference that one always finds in a metropolitan area, but I fear that an implementation of BPL in my neighborhood will destroy any chance I have of receiving the weak signals that have travelled thousands of miles to reach me. For some strange reason that is not apparent to many of those of us who share this concern, the FCC seems to have pushed BPL and approved it regardless of the demonstrated destructive interference it has been shown to produce. This House Resolution 230 calls on that agency to step back and review their approval of this and maybe correct their mistake before it gets implemented and causes problems all over the nation. I hope that you can help in this. Thank you. (William G. Martin, St. Louis, MO 63111-2133, cc to DXLD) CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES +++++++++++++++++++++++++ HAM COM 2005 Tom Anderson, WW5L, announced that the DX programs and DX Luncheon is now set for Ham Com 2005, June 3-5th, in Arlington, TX, sponsored by the Lone Star DX Association. The DX Luncheon speaker will be Charles Harpole, K4VUD, who is the spark that made the VU4 operation possible. Come hear a fascinating story of DX and emergency operations coming together. This year's DX programs will bring you up-to-date on many things going on in the world of DX. After each day's activities, join everyone at the Wingate Hotel for a hospitality suite sponsored by the North Texas Contest Club. For a complete schedule and a PDF Ham Com Flyer that lists all the DX activities and Ham Com events, visit the following Web sites at: http://www.hamcom.org and http://www.dxer.org/lsdxa (KB8NW/OPDX/BARF80 via Dave Raycroft, ODXA via DXLD) SWL FEST MICHAEL MURRAY back from the States presents what he has threatened to do for numerous years - that is to give his impressions on the annual radio enthusiasts get-together at Kulpsville, PA, USA. The 18th Annual Winter SWL FEST was held at the Best Western hotel in Kulpsville, Pennsylvania and attracted in the region of 140 people during the two day event. Over the 18 years the programme has been set in stone and follows a familiar pattern for those regulars of which there are many, including a number of World DX Club members and ex-members. During the majority of the two days there were two demonstrations, one covering the reception of DRM broadcasts hosted by Kim Andrew Elliott from the Voice of America, and Satellite Television and Radio reception, hosted by Tracy Wood. On the second day, DRM reception was almost impossible due to poor radio propagation, even from the Radio Canada relay site in Sackville, New Brunswick. The first morning contained two lectures covering Scanner developments and Pirate and Clandestine broadcasting. The afternoon session started with a lecture on the Continuing Decline and the Future of the Voice of America given by Dan Robinson, who is the VOA correspondent from Capitol Hill. This followed on from the 2004 lecture by Alan Heil, the former deputy director at the Voice of America. This interesting talk continued with the impression that Congress still misunderstands the role of the VOA. It is seen as television with radio, rather than the reverse. One of the problems seems to be that the directors are political appointees! Hearings took place on April 1 regarding the 2006 budget request from the Broadcasting Board of Governors(BBG), and US members where asked to write to various members of Congress and committees, raising questions that could be put to BBG members about the future of the VOA and VOA English. In an related item, Graham Mytton, formerly of the BBC World Service Audience Research department, speaking at the CIBAR Conference in London, in November 2004 said in summing up "Shortwave remains the main way in which most people continue to listen to international radio broadcasting. It will remain the case unless the major broadcasters continue their false assumptions about the decline and make its decline come true by their actions." Mr Mytton continued, "John Tusa once said that if the technology of shortwave were to have been invented or discovered today, people would be amazed and bowled over by what it could do. It can reach anywhere from anywhere, without the need for phone lines, local permission, local regulation, expensive equipment or subscriptions. But it is old, invented and its properties discovered by Marconi 100 years ago. Therefore it must be past its sell by date, this is utter nonsense as we all know, but it is time for the big broadcasters to wake up before it is too late and they find their core listeners have deserted them, not because they don't want the product, but because they can no longer reliably find it." Quotes taken from an article in Listening In published by the Ontario DX Association. The next lecture was an update from 2004 with Joe Buch talking about the problem of Broadband over Power Lines (BPL) controversy, and the Art of Noise Reduction. The problem remains that the Federal Communications Commission does not see the shortwave listener as a concern. There is, therefore, no shortwave protection in the United States and BPL could become a reality. The final lecture of the afternoon session was a well produced presentation looking at Finding, Fixing and Enjoying Classic Receivers. On the second morning the day began with a lecture by Harold Cones entitled "If Your Erection Lasts Longer Than Four Hours... You Must Be A Dxer!" This was an interesting and humorous talk about a DX-pedition to the Outer Banks of North Carolina using an adapted motor van for listening. Putting out 200 foot, for SW, and 1000 foot, for MW, beverage antennas and using 12 volt batteries for power. Some of the results were amazing. Another lecture was given by A J Janitschek, of Radio Free Asia, who cover Asia in 9 languages for 36 hours a day and verify with a full QSL card. The after lunch session was a joint lecture by Ian McFarland, formerly of Radio Canada International and Radio Japan, and Bob Zanotti, formerly of Swiss Radio International. They spoke about their careers, during which both had two of the best DX programmes on shortwave radio. Bob Zanotti now has a web site entitled "Switzerland in Sound" at www. At the evening Banquet, the quest speaker was, a frequent visitor to the FEST, Frans Vossen of Radio Vlaanderen International(RVI). Frans spoke about his work at RVI and the upcoming demise of the station on shortwave. (Since the FEST, the station has indeed closed down on SW and Frans last DX programme covered a report from the FEST) Once again, it was another very successful event hosted by Richard Cuff and John Figliozzi and numerous other helpers. Mark your diaries, the dates of the 2006 FEST are March 3 and 4. All are welcome (Michael Murray, May World DX Club Contact via DXLD) RADIO PHILATELY +++++++++++++++ Really interesting to note Rich D'Angelo's comment about exchanging IRC's at post office. Few months ago I went to Head Post Office at my town for buying some IRC's. After going to various sections the postal assistant finally obtained a set of fresh IRC's. Incidentally he postmarked on the right side instead of left. I refused to accept the erroneously marked IRC's and demanded for IRC's postmarked on left side. The postal assistant finally gave me some correctly marked coupons, indicating that he may get an explanation for mishandling of coupons. I felt really sorry for the postal assistant and decided not to contact any post office for IRC's. (I am bargaining with DXers for obtaining IRC's nowadays; it is economical and easier method !) (T. R. Rajeesh, India, May World DX Club Contact via DXLD) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ NEW ANTENNA DEVELOPMENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND Glenn - I thought perhaps you might find this interesting. The links to the test data and the Fisher's Island site are especially informative. Thanks for all the great work - http://www.uri.edu/news/releases/?id=3126 (Jim Garman, Assistant Professor, Archaeology, Cultural and Historic Preservation Program, Salve Regina University, 100 Ochre Point Avenue Newport, RI 02840, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: NAVY GIVES URI’S SMALL ANTENNA BIG RESULTS Media Contact: Jan Wenzel, 401-874-2116 KINGSTON, R.I. -- APRIL 28, 2005 -- The news last June that Rob Vincent, an employee in the Physics Department at the University of Rhode Island, had shrunk the antenna size without shrinking its effectiveness, produced a large group of Doubting Thomases worldwide. Prove it, they demanded. Vincent and URI, with the help of the Naval Undersea Warfare Center and its antenna test range on Fishers Island, N. Y., have done just that. On March 31, 14 versions of Vincent’s Distributed Load Monopole (DLM) antennas were put through a battery of validation tests. The results exceeded Vincent’s and URI’s expectations. Smaller is better. The Navy center responds to a wide variety of military and commercial requests for testing antennas at its Fishers Island over water range, the only such range of its kind in the world. Water provides a better path for transmission and reception than land. The site is located on a low-lying, remote coastal area, free of local interference. The Fishers Island range is a far-field ground wave antenna test range capable of measuring the performance of antennas ranging in frequency from 2 to 30 megahertz. Gain measurements are done relative to an ideal quarter wave monopole antenna. The URI antennas were tested using the same methods and instrumentation as those used to test and certify Navy antenna systems. Industry regards such testing as dependable as science permits and often includes the center’s data with products to assure customers of its performance specifications. Vincent’s Plano Spiral Top Hat antenna at 7 megahertz is half the size of a normal quarter-wave antenna operating at that frequency. The URI antenna gain matched the performance of the ideal quarter-wave antenna, and its bandwidth was nearly twice as wide. This type of antenna has multiple uses, including military, marine, amateur radio communications and AM broadcasting. In addition, the gain of Vincent’s capacity Top Hat DLM antenna, which incorporates a helix, a load coil, a capacitive top hat utilizing radial spokes at the top of the antenna and a horizontal plane was nearly identical to the ideal quarter wave antenna. Its bandwidth was greater than 5 percent of the operating frequency and the antenna is more than 70 percent shorter than an ideal quarter wave antenna. Vincent’s standard DLM antennas with a standard helix and load coil were also tested at various frequencies. All exhibited gains nearly equal to the ideal antenna with bandwidths of 3 to 10 percent. The antennas were 33 to 40 percent shorter. More than 200 businesses, companies, and government agencies have contacted URI seeking information for automotive, marine, and military applications, among others, since the antenna announcement last year. A patent is pending on Vincent's technology. The inventor has made the University of Rhode Island and its Physics Department partners that will benefit from any revenue his invention earns. URI is close to securing several license agreements. In addition, prototypes have been developed for numerous applications. View the test data on URI’s antenna technology online http://www.uri.edu/news/vincent/report05/ Visit the U.S. Navy`s testing facility online for more information. http://www.npt.nuwc.navy.mil/Antennas/html/index.htm [or flash:] http://www.npt.nuwc.navy.mil/Antennas/flash/34portalj_content.html#facilitiesFrame (via Jim Garman, RI, DXLD) DRM +++ Hereunder an e-mail sent to Radio Australia drawing attention to severe QRM by adjacent DRM Moscow, R Russia in the afternoons. Reception of 9475 kHz Radio Australia is nigh impossible with Russian DRM at 9480 khz (confirmed on DRM internet site). Really this darned DRM is getting out of hand. With a transmitted block of 'noise' 10 kHz wide it naturally bleeds into 5 x 10 kHz adjacent channels. Put 4 or 5 of them in a band and they effectively occupy 4 x 20 or 50 x 20 kHz of available space. There is now NO frequency planning it seems. Also for a year or more I have been hearing a very wide frequency transmission (over the horizon Radar ?) that often occupies 7 right up to over 22 MHz, especially 13-16 MHz. Its a rapid 'clacking' pulse noise, about 5 pulses a second. I've also heard it on holidays in S.E. Spain. It sounds like rapid Tac-Tac-Tac-Tac in the background of signal, not very strong but very wide in frequency spread. I can't say what direction its from. Perhaps other listeners could listen for it (and comment). Best wishes. "ATTENTION ENGINEERING DIVISION RADIO AUSTRALIA, I've been a keen listener of R Australia for many years and enjoy your interesting excellent programmes on short wave. Your afternoon (here in Ireland) programmes are usually well received on 9475 kHz but in the last few days there has been considerable adjacent channel interference from 9480 DRM (Digital Radio Mondiale) broadcasts, probably emanating from Radio Russia (Moscow) for a number of hours as at 1700 UT ordinary AM identifies as Moscow in Finnish. DRM and conventional AM are NOT compatible on adjacent frequencies as DRM transmitters radiate plus and minus 5 kHz either side with a solid rectangle of multi-carriers so must be at LEAST 10 kHz away from a standard AM signal. Even with a selective receiver tuned one or two kHz lower, i.e. 9473/9474 kHz the strong DRM broadcasts appear as noise on your signals. Please try to identify who is this 9480 kHz DRM transmitter and get them to move. There are plenty of unused channels within the broadcast shortwave bands and in fact DRM should be given a sub allocation in each band. For instance the regular 4 or 5 DRM transmissions in the 49m band in Europe are causing havoc with conventional AM broadcasters but no one is calling STOP. Looking forward to many more years of RADIO AUSTRALIA programmes. Thanks. DES WALSH, etc, etc," (DES WALSH, May World DX Club Contact via DXLD) There is one thing listeners can do - that is to write to the Chief Engineer at any station that suffers from adjacent DRM in your area. It may not pay immediate dividends but a frequency change might follow later. If enough complain then stations will insist that they have clear channels when frequencies are decided upon, even to the point that Des made that they should be shunted into their own sub band where the could interfere with each other, nice thought (Arthur Ward, WDXC editor, ibid.) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ PRIMEIRO CONTACTO ENTRE O BRASIL E BARBADOS, 2 METROS, T-E Prezados AMIGOS. Foi com grande satisfação que li na CQ Radioamateur (versão espanhola) um excelente artigo de Flavio-PY2ZX descrevendo, inclusive com fotos, o primeiro QSO por TEP – Propagação Trans Equatorial com Barbados. Como sabem esse acontecimento ocorreu na Ilha Comprida entre 20 e 26 Janeiro de 2005 com contactos realizados em FM nas frequências de 146,910 MHz ( freq. de repetidor situado em Barbados)e também em directo em 146,450 MHz com 8P6JB e 8P6RF. Uma dos factores que levou a este primeiro contacto em FM foi os reportes de radioescutas do DXCB de estações comerciais entre os 88 e 108 MHz do Caribe. Outro factor foram as escuta do Samuel Casio em Ubatuba publicadas periodicamente aqui na Lista.. Tudo isto levou a uma Expedição Dx realizada por Luis Tresso-PY2OC e por Flavio-PY2ZX á Ilha Comprida com um " arsenal" de antenas direccionais de VHF e UHF tanto montadas em polarização horizontal como em vertical. De salientar que o primeiro contacto foi realizado a 24 de Janeiro via repetidor com Ron-8P6JB em móvel estando o Flavio- PY2OC com 50 W em FM e uma direccional tipo yagi de 12 elementos a 3 metros de altura em polarização horizontal. Posteriormente, dia 25 ás 02H00 foi estabelecido o primeiro contacto directo em 146,450 MHz entre Luis- PY2ZX e Ron-8P6JB. Assim fica demonstrado mais uma vez a grande utilidade da Lista do DXCB como factor de agregação de radioescutas do Brasil e quanto são importantes os reportes de todos e das suas escutas. No dia 24 e 25 de Janeiro de 2005 fez-se história e essa história foi possível também graças ao DXCB e aos radioescutas. PARABENS a todos e é um prazer fazer parte desta importante Lista patrocinada pelo DXCB (João Costa, CT1FBF, radioescutas via DXLD) FIRST 2-METER TRANS-EQUATORIAL CONTACT, CARIBBEAN/SOUTHERN BRAZIL http://geocities.yahoo.com.br/py2xz/tep.htm (via radioescutas via DXLD) ###