DX LISTENING DIGEST 5-110, July 5, 2005 Incorporating REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING edited by Glenn Hauser, http://www.worldofradio.com Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only if full credit be maintained at all stages and we be provided exchange copies. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without permission. Materials taken from Arctic or originating from Olle Alm and not having a commercial copyright are exempt from all restrictions of noncommercial, noncopyrighted reusage except for full credits For restrixions and searchable 2005 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn NEXT AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1279: Days and times here strictly UT. 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 1279 (high version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1279h.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1279h.rm WORLD OF RADIO 1279 (low version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1279.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1279.rm (summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1279.html WORLD OF RADIO 1279 in true shortwave sound of Alex`s mp3 (stream) http://www.dxprograms.net/worldofradio_06-29-05.m3u (download) http://www.dxprograms.net/worldofradio_06-29-05.mp3 NEW! WORLD OF RADIO 1279 downloads in studio-quality mp3: (high) http://www.obriensweb.com/wor1279.mp3 (low) http://www.obriensweb.com/wor1279l.mp3 WORLD OF RADIO PODCAST: www.obriensweb.com/wor.xml (currently available: 1277, Extra 57, 1278, 1279) FIRST AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1280: Wed 2200 on WBCQ 7415, 17495-CUSB Thu 2030 on WWCR 15825 ON DEMAND: by early UT Thursday, change 1279 above to 1280 ** ABKHAZIA [and non]. There was an interesting series of documentaries Holidays in the Danger Zone: Places that don`t exist originally on BBC4, repeated on BBC2, which included visits to Somaliland, Karabakh and Trans-Dniestr all of whom have a shortwave presence. Presenter Simon Reeve spoke to Abkhaz refugees in Georgia but Abkhazia was the only breakaway state, among several he covered, that he was unable to visit. More at http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/features/places-that-dont-exist.shtml (Mike Barraclough, July World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** ALASKA. Frequency change for KNLS New Life Station in English: 1400-1500 NF 9555, ex 9795 to avoid RFI Vietnamese via YAM 300 kW / 325 degrees (Observer, Bulgaria, July 5 via DXLD) Ever notice how a lot of items in Observer come a few days after the same info was in DXLD? I certainly understand mining DX info anywhere one can find it; what I don`t understand is why Observer never credits any source or tip, which they *may* have researched further. More galling, Observer is often quoted as the only source for an item in other bulletins, instead of, in cases where it applies, the original earlier news from DXLD. I would appreciate fellow editors giving credit where credit is due. BTW, at 1644 UT check July 5, KNLS still does not show 9555 instead of 9795 on its own website in English, Chinese or Russian (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALBANIA. QRM despite deal with transmitters: See CHINA ** AUSTRALIA [non]. Checking 9580 at 1330 July 4, RA was clear of any interference, contrary to what John Figliozzi found two mornings earlier. CRI via Cuba was on 9570 as usual, in English. July 5, however, 9570 was missing during this hour, and there may have been some very light QRM under RA 9580, but I could not tell what (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. Frequency change for HCJB Australia in English from July 10: 0100-0230 NF 15405 KNX 100 kW / 307 deg to SoAs, ex 0100-0300 on 15560 (Observer, Bulgaria, July 5 via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. Greetings ARDXC, I got an email from Ying Lian [collective name for English section] of China Radio International who said that CRI is available via FM to: Sydney Area on Monday - Friday 8:00 - 8:30 PM AEST 98.5 MHz. CRI would like to know how the reception is. Kind Regards from (Rob Wise in Hobart, Australia, ARDXC via DXLD) I.e. 1000-1030 UT. So what station would that be on 98.5? WRTH 2005 lists quite a few commercial Oz FM stations by frequency, if over 1 kW, but the only one in the entire country on 98.5 is in Victoria; a couple more ABC on 98.5 in Vic and Q (gh) ** BELGIUM [non]. Vlaams Belang heard on 15660 via DX Tuner United Kingdom [Sunday] July 3rd, 1047 pop song, 1048 identification as Zwart of Wit and slogan in English. ³the talk of the town.² Then telephone interview in presumed Flemish, 1056 end of interview, English voice clip ``you want my head to explode``, then talk by announcer. Polished programme, nice clear signal, dead air 1100 and off (Hans Johnson, Jihad DX via July World DX Club Contact via Mike Barraclough, DXLD) VT Communications was unwilling to carry the radio show Zwart of Wit /VB6015. The decision was based on the unease that we feel following the numerous links that have been made with an extreme political group in Belgium. It is essential that we keep to the moral high ground with all of our transmissions and we cannot therefore afford to take the risk of being associated with any such group, irrespective of whether the broadcast content appears to be acceptable. (Nick Gilboy, VT Communications Broadcast Sales Manager via Mike Barraclough, ibid.) ** BRAZIL. BRASIL – Em dois de julho, a Rádio Canção Nova, de Cachoeira Paulista (SP), comemorou três anos de emissões do espaço Além Fronteiras. O programa apresenta informações do mundo do rádio e das ondas curtas, com a participação do radioescuta e dexista Antônio Kosta Oliveira. Vai ao ar, nos sábados, entre 2200 e 2330, em 4825, 6105 e 9675 kHz. Contatos pelo endereço eletrônico: dx@cancaonova.com BRASIL – A Rádio Bandeirantes, de São Paulo (SP), foi captada, com sinal muito bom, na Costa Rica, por Raúl Saavedra, em primeiro de julho, por volta de 0300, em 11925 kHz, conforme informações do DX Listening Digest 5-108. Em mensagem à coluna, o gerente técnico da emissora Augusto Huertas informou que ``infelizmente a emissora está recebendo reclamações de várias parte do Brasil da recepção das nossas ondas curtas``. A emissora tem interesse em receber mensagens informando como está a sua sintonia em 6090, 9645 e 11925 kHz. Mensagens para: ahuertas @ band.com.br BRASIL – Algumas emissoras brasileiras são belos exemplos de fidelidade nas ondas curtas, sempre com suas freqüências no ar. Um caso clássico é a Rádio Brasil Central, de Goiânia (GO), que dia após dia pode ser captada em 4985 kHz, principalmente após às 0300. Outra é a Rádio Congonhas, de Congonhas (MG), em 4775 kHz, que é sintonizada antes das 0000. Em primeiro de julho, a emissora foi ouvida, em Porto Alegre (RS), às 2320, quando transmitia um jogo de futebol de salão entre as equipes do Kamikazi e Estrela do Oriente. O sinal era bom (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX July 3 via DXLD) ** BULGARIA. Pleased to note that R. Bulgaria was loud and clear, July 4 at 1335 on 15700 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BURMA [non]. Radio Free Asia with ID in English and a bit of native music on a loop, 12030, July 4 at 1327-1330* Looking it up later, this is supposed to be the Burmese service via Tinian from 1230 to 1330 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Hey, Bill, RCI is still playing that nice, if somewhat worn, still unidentified piano rag and waltz music as filler. Used to be for a few minutes after the CBC News at hourtop, but July 5 when checked on 13655, it was scarcely more than a minute each around 1304 and 1404. One hears it at many other times as well. Seems to join in the middle of a piece, so I wonder if it is running constantly and just brought up when fill is needed (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Re CANADA O --- Following up on DXLD 5-109, just about all you'd ever want to know about "O Canada" can be found at: http://www.canadianheritage.gc.ca/progs/cpsc-ccsp/sc-cs/anthem_e.cfm 73- (Bill Westenhaver, Canada, July 5, dxldyg via DXLD) Even more lyrics at http://www.craigmarlatt.com/canada/symbols_facts&lists/anthems.html Including: Oh Canada, 4 verses in English and French (the only time I have ever heard the second or other verses of O Canada performed is occasionally when TV Ontario signs off with a "We Are The World" type group sing which includes 2 English verses and 1 French); The Royal Anthem of Canada (God Save The Queen); The Vice Regal Salute; And 2 versions of "The Maple Leaf Forever" --- the original which was an unofficial anthem of sorts at one time, and the 1997 politically correct version which removes all references to Britain, Scotland, Ireland, the Queen, and British-Canadian victories in the War of 1812 (only 50 years in the past when it was written) and replaces them with an ode to rocks and trees and skies and ice. The latter version was the winner of a contest on CBC Toronto's Metro Morning (radio) show "when it ran a contest to replace the old lyrics, which were distasteful to some ears and merely comical to others." (Fred Waterer, ibid.) ** CANADA. A Seção Brasileira da Rádio Canadá Internacional deu mais uma semana de prazo para que os ouvintes passem a respeitar a utilização do telefone 0800 que a emissora disponibiliza para contatos com a audiência. Nos últimos meses, ao invés de recados sobre a programação ou sobre as relações entre Brasil e Canadá, o telefone tem recebido grosserias e cantorias de péssimo gosto. Levando em conta a educação brasileira, o colunista opina que o serviço será desativado (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX July 3 via DXLD) 0800 da Rádio Canadá vai acabar --- Meus amigos, é desagradável dar esta notícia, de que o 0800 que a Rádio Canadá havia disponibilizado aos ouvintes brasileiros para se comunicarem com o programa Canadá Direto e ter a chance de ouvir sua voz no ar com a mensagem, TEM SEUS DIAS CONTADOS. Dia 8-7-2005, sexta-feira próxima, foi o prazo dado pela direção do programa com uma condição:-- que os idiotas que ligam pra lá deixando mensagens cretinas gravadas, entupindo a caixa de mensagens com sandices diversas, parem de vez com esse procedimento. Isto já vem acontecendo há algum tempo. No último programa, dias 2 e 3 de julho pp, foram exibidas no ar as tolices gravadas. Pobreza de espírito gritante. Problema sério cultural que vem se agravando dia após dia. A inversão de valores se tornou fato corriqueiro nesse País. Lamentável!!! 73 a todos (Luiz Chaine Neto, PX2J0044, LIMEIRA -SP-, July 3, radioescutas yg via DXLD) RCI threatens to cut off its toll-free phone number in Brasil if abuse of it does not stop (gh, DXLD) ** CHINA. RSF SAYS CHINESE HAVE IMPROVED JAMMING CAPABILITIES In a press release to mark the 70th birthday of the Dalai Lama, international press freedom organisation Reporters Without Borders (RSF) notes that the passing years have brought no let-up in harsh curbs on press freedom in Tibet by the Chinese authorities. RSF notes that the US-based Radio Free Asia and Voice of America and the Indian-based Voice of Tibet, the main radio stations broadcasting Tibetan-language programming to Tibet, are systematically jammed. RSF says that, thanks to the acquisition of ALLISS antennae made by the French company Thalès, the Chinese authorities have improved their jamming capabilities. Installed above all in the far northwestern city of Kashi, they are used to jam international radio signals. Radio Free Asia broadcasts on 10 different frequencies in an attempt to get round the censorship, but they are all systematically jammed by diffuse noise or music. The authorities recently installed new jamming towers in Pemba (in the Chamdo region) and since then residents have been unable to get Voice of America. RSF says the authorities have distributed new radio sets to the population in the Kardze region on the grounds that they are of better quality than the old ones. But they are preset and blocked on to a fixed bandwidth and cannot be tuned into international stations. # posted by Andy @ 14:25 UT July 5 (Media Network blog via DXLD) Speaking of ``jamming``, see also INTERNATIONAL VACUUM; TIBET ** CHINA [and non]. CNR8 seems to have made some changes in its Beijing transmitter usage. Korean at 2100 is now heard on 6020 with loud and distorted modulation. No second frequency traced so far. Mongolian from 2200 is heard on 6020 and also on 7120 with the same kind of poor audio, obviously from the same site. Both frequencies have firedrake jammer music before program start. Mongolian noted again from 0300 to 0400 on 9610 and 11815 with the same poor modulation. Later in the morning and at various times during the day and evening, from 0500 to 1600 according to a split schedule, CNR8 via Beijing is on 15415 with no parallel frequency from Beijing traced so far but with the usual soft and clean audio. Traditionally this service has always been carried by two parallel Beijing transmitters. I have to add that the missing parallel frequency to 15415 was meant to be the other transmitter at the same location. The parallels from other sites (Lingshi) are there as usual. It seems that the old Beijing site traditionally used for these transmissions is on its way out and that a different, more distant site is being used in the morning. CNR2 on 17625, also from the old Beijing site, has been off for some time. CNR1 has moved from 15300 to 12045. Radio Tirana English on 7120 at 2130 is now covered almost 100% by CRI in Hungarian. It seems that there is a communication problem between Tirana and Beijing. It could also be another case of the HFCC logic that since the transmissions are targeting different zones they cannot be interfering with each other. The CRI transmission on 7120 has the same distorted audio as the following CNR8 transmission, but the transmitters are different as there is an overlap. 73 (Olle Alm, Sweden, July 4-5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also AUSTRALIA ** CHINA. Frequency changes for China Radio International: 2030-2057 Hungarian NF 7110, ex 9490 \\ 9585 2030-2057 Polish NF 9490, ex 7110 \\ 6145, 7150 (Observer, Bulgaria, July 5 via DXLD) ** COLOMBIA. Re Campaña Radio Mil [MEXICO] Con todo respeto, caballeros. Lo que se ve - o lo que se oye - no siempre es fiel reflejo de la realidad. Algo sé yo de este intríngulis. No es que el Pastor Stendal se haya metido en 6010 por desearlo él; no, no, yo sé que pidió otro canal de los que antes ocupaba alguna emisora colombiana cuando el ente regulador colombiano, el Ministerio de Comunicaciones, le instó a que dejara 6060, frecuencia que antes le habían asignado. Protestó, pero los del ministerio se hicieron los suecos. La frecuencia de 6060 no era muy ideal tampoco, eso es cierto, pues allí se las tenía que ver con Argentina, Cuba, Brasil, y Perú. No le gustó el cambió, pero el tema se convirtió en un tómalo o déjalo. No creo que al Ministerio se le haya ocurrido reflexionar en qué emisora tenía el derecho de la pernada. Sí tienen el WRTH, pero no creo que tengan el Passport con el cual, inmediatamente, verían qué emisoras comparten una frecuencia determinada. Si mal no recuerdo, en 6010, no sólo se encuentra Radio Mil sino también, desde hace algún tiempo, el transmisor de alta potencia de Sackville, Canadá, el cual retransmite (¿o ya no?) alguna emisión de Radio Suecia en DRM, con lo que causa una interferencia sin par. ¿Nadie se ha fijado en eso? Así que, a mi modo de ver, no es muy "católico" quejarse con el pastor Stendal. Antes habría que quejarse con Radio Parinacota, Radio Inconfidência, Radio Suecia y Radio Canadá aparte de la BBC, la RAI, y un largo etcétera, y por supuesto también al Ministerio de Comunicaciones de la República de Colombia. Con la CX42 parece que ya no es necesario quejarse, que ya dejaron la frecuencia. Correcto: Voz Cristiana se mudó de 15475. Pero con ello no sigue que La Voz de tu Conciencia desocupe 6010. El programa DX de Radio Mil puede ser muy estimable, pero si tanto interesa escucharlo allende las fronteras mexicanas, también podrían retransmitirlo por alguna otra emisora como por ejemplo Radio Educación, por internet, o incluso por La Voz de tu Conciencia. ¿Preguntaron al pastor? PD. ¿Viste, Rubén, que faltan dos nombres en la lista de ganadores del concurso de Radio Praga? Con ello también se ve que lo que se ve no siempre es fiel reflejo de lo que se oye, ah? Cordialmente, (Henrik Klemetz, July 4, condig list via DXLD) ** CUBA. New, 6060.0, 0045-0100 01-07, R Reloj (tentative), Bauta Spanish talk with many mentions of Cuba, tentative ID 0100. Same strength as RAI, Italy, 43444. AP-DNK (Anker Peterson, Denmark, @tividade DX via DXLD) That would be an unusual hour for Reloj programming; were there time checks every minute? If not, it was just R. Habana Cuba which has been on this frequency forever (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [non]. 11930, USA, Radio Martí; ID at 2000+ July 3, still promoting "WPIK, Summerland Key, 102 punto 5 MegaHertz." So, the FM relay continues. Listed at 50 kW. If not for the local 102.5, I'd have a shot at it, as 102.1 (Key Largo) sporadically makes it, and (before the Sarasota station occupied the channel), 107.9 relay of the Miami Spanish station also occasionally made it (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. 6025, Radio Amanecer; 2022-2030 June 3, very good with usual Spanish preacher (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR. Listened to HCJB closing announcement in English, July 4 until 1330* on 12005; referred us to 15115 to continue listening in Spanish. Trouble is, that frequency was last used in A-04. They never changed the announcement to say 9745! Standard remark about accuracy and belief. Also DRM noted again on 15370-15380, July 5 at 1352. Have any DRM monitors found this? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EGYPT. Radio Cairo Indonesian service 1320-1450 heard June 1st on 15890; my last log was 27th April on 15810, though announced as 15715 as listed in WRTH, but heard January/February on 15710! (Tony Ashar, Indonesia, July World DX Club Contact via Mike Barraclough, DXLD) ** ERITREA [non]. The US-based target radio program for Eritrea "Voice of Liberty" (transmitted via a TDP-leased transmitter in Russia on 15675) has been accommodated on the website of the Eritrean Democratic Party which produces this program: http://selfi-democracy.com/?p=8&l=e The station's email address is given as vol @ selfi-democracy.com The website includes an audio archive of "Voice of Liberty" broadcasts (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, July 5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA. GOVERNMENT TROOPS REPORTEDLY KILL LISTENERS TO BBC NEWS | Text of report by Ethiopian opposition Radio Freedom audio web site on 1 July On Wednesday, 29 June, colonial Ethiopian soldiers based in Shilabo town [southeastern Ethiopia] carried out a vicious massacre against civilians listening to the BBC news at a restaurant. Weyane [Ethiopian] soldiers took positions at the restaurant, where a large number of people had gathered to listen to the news on the BBC, especially the interview the corporation held with freedom fighter Dr Muhammad Sirad Dolal [Ogaden National Liberation Front, ONLF, foreign secretary], and indiscriminately opened fire on the crowd. Many people were martyred there, and the following are names of some of the dead we have managed to obtain: Hasan-Shugri Yusuf Isma'il, A'iye Adan Dhore, Hure Ali Garjeh, Haradid Abdi Ali, Hasan Faqid, and Rinji Ali Umar. A large number of people were also wounded in the attack, seven of them seriously. A woman named Jamilo Adan Dhire and one of the town's elders named Ina Umar Dhere were among the critically wounded people. Source: Radio Freedom web site, Addis Ababa, in Somali 1 Jul 05 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** FINLAND. Re 5-109: Hi Glenn, SWR had its transmission as always. I had my one week holiday now and so info of this transmission was not put all places where it normally used to be, sorry! I'll take opportunity to say that transmitters of SWR will be used TWICE during August 2005. First transmission will be 5-6th August and SPECIAL FDXA (Finnish DX-Association)- Summer Meeting Radio 12-13th August. So there will be good opportunities to tune us then. And welcome to this Summer Meeting all DXers and Broadcasters all over. It will be held in town of Virrat 12-14th August 2005. It would be nice to meet you all there. And there will be a good chance to visit our station and staff as well! More info (in Finnish language): http://www.swradio.net/eng/kesis.htm Best Greetings, (Alpo Heinonen, Scandinavian Weekend Radio, July 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. Peter Beck reports that from tonight Rohrdorf 666 will be switched off between 2100 and 0400. I can confirm that this time they indeed enforced this silence period; 666 is empty now, away from some weak signal I don't bother to identify by getting outside with the radio. At http://www.swr.de/contra/index.html only 576 and 1017 are mentioned for overnight service now, but 711 is still on as well. Recently SWR cont.ra developed a habit to hardly mention 711 in promos etc. anymore, provoking speculations that the two remaining transmitters on this frequency (Heilbronn and Ulm) could be shut down sooner or later as well (Kai Ludwig, Germany, July 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) [Later:] Updates from Germany --- Donebach 153 is again on maintenance. DLF announces that it will be switched off every day until Friday between 0700 and 1600. Some reports indicate that they take it off already before 0700 in the morning. In earlier years backup transmitters at Mainflingen and during the nineties even at Königs Wusterhausen were thrown in during such maintenance periods, but apparently the old longwave rigs at Mainflingen are no longer operational. It should be noted that still 153 is the most reliable source for DLF in various regions away from the mediumwave transmitters and with only spotty FM coverage by a rig-rag of low power transmitters. Unfortunately the modulation on 153 sounds quite muffled, apparently due to an insufficient bandwith of the antenna. Converting 153 to DRM could become a real challenge. Apparently a new TRAM transmitter for 549 became operational at Nordkirchen, replacing the original S4002. This morning DRM mode tests from this new transmitter were reported while Thurnau continued in AM of course. A reporter claims that Freiburg 828 (scheduled to go off overnight already for some time) stayed on air last night. However, perhaps he just confused it with co-channel NDR Hemmingen. Anyway I heard only Hemmingen when checking 828 last night. All the best, (Kai Ludwig, Germany, July 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUAM [and non]. KTWR in Bengali, 12130, July 5 at 1428 giving several addresses including one in Bangladesh, abruptly off in mid- word at 1430* Meanwhile there was QRM de: CODAR, which extended from 12115 to 12220 with pulses of exactly two per second; and from AFN 12133.5, avoided by tuning slightly below 12130 with selectivity left wide; fairly good sig from KTWR way over here anyway (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. AIR WAVES OUT OF REACH FOR INDIAN MISSIONS ABROAD Dipankar Chakraborty in New Delhi http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=2&theme=&usrsess=1&id=81853 July 3. — A ``Mission Report`` comprising a survey of India’s missions all over the world came out with a startling revelation some time back. None of the diplomats serving in foreign missions were aware of the existence of the External Services Division of the All India Radio, let alone its usefulness in India’s external affairs management. Nonetheless, historically speaking, even after more than 75 years of its existence, the very purpose for which AIR’s External Service Division was set up by the British colonial regime in India on 1 October 1939, as a medium for launching a propaganda blitzkrieg against the Axis powers during the second World War, has far from outlived its utility in modern day diplomacy. That external broadcasts by radio can be used as a potent weapon to unnerve and bamboozle opponents, especially in a theatre of war, was in recent times best exemplified by its extensive use by the USA a little ahead of its oust-Saddam Hussain campaign in 1993. Radio stations operating from American planes in the no-fly zones in Iraq would transmit messages five hours a night, dissuading the Iraqi military from supporting Saddam. It is a pity that today, in the scheme of affairs in the ministry of external affairs, the ESD of All India Radio does not fit in anywhere. ``Even till 1982, the MEA and AIR`s External Services Division used to hold regular review meetings to work out a joint plan of action for targeted audiences in neighbouring countries and other parts of the globe and to counter the electronic propaganda unleashed on us by other countries. The last review meeting was held in October 1982,`` a senior official in South Block told The Statesman. ``The problem basically lies in the mindset of the people in the corridors of power and it unfortunately has percolated so deep down their psyche that it has posed a serious question mark on the actual utility of the ESD,`` the official said. The irony is Voice of America radio broadcasts have been reaching Indian households for over four decades now (via Sakhti Vel, DXLD, and via Andy Sennitt, dxldyg via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL. BBC LIVE8 COVERAGE - EDITORIAL ISSUES A few thought from my Sunday Times column yesterday: Live 8, and the vast moral crusade associated with it, presents acute problems for the BBC. I do not mean just the technical challenges involved in the live relay from Hyde Park of the world's biggest-ever concert, and its allied gigs over two continents, at the start of an extraordinarily global week which will also see broadcasts from Scotland (G8), Singapore (Olympics decision), South Africa (an alternative G8), Accra (Ghanaian harmonies) and Serbia (the Exit festival, which celebrates music rather than euthanasia). No, I mean the editorial headache. Many in the corporation share the idealism, noble or naïve, of Bob Geldof and his cohorts. They are inspired and galvanised by his vision of ending extreme poverty. But, as Jenni Murray so pertinently pointed out in Radio 4's The Message nine days ago, the BBC has to be neutral when it comes to Live 8's political objectives. It can cover campaigns, but must not endorse them. On television, that distinction has already been somewhat muddied: one of Live 8's chief organisers, Richard Curtis, was commissioned to write a primetime drama about the cause for BBC1 - a work that was clearly propaganda, whether one approved of the message or not. On radio, it has been more rigorously maintained, through a simple and proper policy of allowing numerous points of view to be heard. Thus it is that 5 Live yesterday not only spoke to critics of Live 8, who think the concerts could do more harm than good, but advertised that in advance. Airtime has also been given to a Red Pepper writer who thinks it is absurd to expect rich nations to solve a problem they themselves have caused; to Mark Tully, who, unlike Live 8, emphasises Africa's spirituality today; to those who claim that poverty is often caused by the corruption, brutality and incompetence of African governments, citing Zimbabwe as the obvious example; and to Africans such as the Ugandan broadcaster Andrew Mwenda, who argues on the World Service's Analysis programme on Tuesday that "aid and debt relief are fostering a culture of irresponsibility by encouraging bad economic behaviour --- because our government has always been able to reply on donors for aid --- even the chairs in the parliament building are donated by Denmark --- it hasn't even bothered to establish a decent tax collection service." Just as there is more than one opinion to be heard, there is more than one perspective to be seen. There is more to Africa than bloodshed and starvation. Two linked seasons display this at present: The New Africa Season, which began yesterday on the BBC World Service, and Africa Lives On The BBC, which runs across the corporation. "They are designed to give people a more rounded portrayal of African life and culture than the one emphasising war, famine and disease", is how the World Service's director, Nigel Chapman, puts it. With programmes ranging from Africa's taste in books (tonight, Radio 3) to Nairobi's Congestina Achieng, the new women's world middleweight champion and the first African woman to hold an international boxing title (Tuesday's Everywoman), and from this week's local radio twinnings such as the link-up between Cornwall and Mozambique to a report on the first opera from the Sahara (Friday's Music Review), he and his domestic colleagues have been as good as their word (Paul Donovan, uk- radio-listeners group via Mike Barraclough, DXLD) Live8 in USA and Canada In the USA, the ability to watch the various feeds via the AOL website was essential because the MTV coverage was extremely poor. It appears that some "experts" at MTV USA have concluded that their audience can't handle more that three minutes of continuous music. MTV almost always interrupted songs around the 3 minute mark and faded them down, cutting away to their announcers who talked over the remainder of the song. Watching the UK feed it appears that many there were assuming they were being watched live in the USA, some made specific references to the USA audience. They did not know only about 20% of the UK concert made it to USA TV, hardly anything in its entirety. For example, Paul McCartney's set went out live, but only the first two songs the remainder were cut out, "Hey Jude" was broadcast --- but not live. For Pink Floyd, only "Money" was broadcast in the USA. For Coldplay "Fix You" was never broadcast. Most London acts never made it to USA TV. As for the Barrie concert, Neil Young did not get any airtime on USA TV. Of course, USA TV also had their usual puritanically based concern about language. Thus the USA audience missed Madonna's expletive laden encouragement to the Hyde Park crowd, and Greenday's swearing tirade in Berlin. Oh, I should note that in the USA only TWO HOURS of the concert was available on terrestrial TV, and that was just an edited highlights package on ABC TV. As far as I know, no terrestrial radio stations carried the concert in the USA. CBC did carry it and was well received here along the USA - Canada border. Thanks CBC! The Canadian national anthem, started by members of Barenaked Ladies and joined by Neil Young, Bruce Cockburn et al, was an interesting development. It is rare to see that kind of jingoism from Canadians. I wonder if it was a response associated with right-wing Canadian bashing that many media outlets in the USA conduct? (Andy K3UK O`Brien, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Well, I am just listening to the Dutch station Sky Radio, and their news bulletin reported that the BBC had four hundred complaints about Madonna's language - and then the newsreader went on to repeat exactly what she had said :-) I have lived here 17 years, but I still get surprised (not shocked though) by the way such things are done here. Having said that, I cannot believe that people would watch a live concert organised by Bob Geldof and then complain about the use of the f word. I mean, it's like complaining that the music's too loud (Andy Sennitt, Netherlands, July 4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Just as a followup, Live 8 appears to have been carried in its entirety across various XM channels so, the XM audience had a choice of feeds. I myself listened mainly on Deep Tracks XM40 (Ray T. Mahorney, WA4WGA, ibid.) I never heard any mention of any classical artists participating in Live8, so why should I have any interest in it? Do Geldof & Company think the classical crowd are of no importance whatsoever, or he can`t break out of his own little niche? (gh, DXLD) TV news largely ignores Live 8 --- Russian TV news bulletins gave the Live 8 and Make Poverty History events rather scant coverage. RTV's VESTI (1600 gmt) and NTV's SEGODNYA (1500 gmt) on 2 July carried reports low down on the running order on the anti-poverty march in Edinburgh. CH1's VREMYA (1700 gmt) featured the Live 8 event in Moscow, again towards the end of the bulletin. One of the Russian headline acts at the Moscow concert was shown saying that they were playing to combat poverty in Russia as well as Africa. Of the weekly analytical programmes on RTV, REN TV and CH1, only CH1's VREMYA (1700 gmt) on 3 July made a very brief mention of the Live 8 events. No remarks on global poverty were featured in state TV's coverage of the meeting of European leaders in Kaliningrad (BBC Monitoring July 5 via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. HONG KONG SATELLITE GROUP CONDEMNS INTERFERENCE BY FALUNGONG | Text of report in English by official Chinese news agency Xinhua (New China News Agency) Hong Kong, 4 July: APT Satellite Holdings Limited ("APT Group") on Monday [4 July] strongly condemned the acts of interference with its satellite operations. The company said part of the transponders of APSTAR VI had been jammed maliciously by Falungong signals Sunday evening, resulting in the interference and interruption of normal broadcasting of CCTV and certain provincial satellite TV channels of the Chinese mainland. Chen Zhaobin, executive director and president of APT Satellite Group, said at a press conference held on Monday afternoon that the "APT Group is a company listed both in Hong Kong and New York. All its satellites are used in civil and commercial telecommunication purposes". He said, "We have been providing telecommunication and broadcasting services under commercial contracts to our customers in the Asia Pacific Region. The illegal jamming of APSTAR VI by Falungong, which has publicly stamped on the international telecommunication conventions and internationally accepted practices, is a challenge to the international community. " Chen said it had also seriously upset the normal telecommunication procedures and caused damage to APT Group and affected its reputation, adding "in response to such malicious act of Falungong, we have reported the case to the police and the relevant authorities concerned of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and have requested the authorities concerned to seriously punish the criminals." He said, "We also appeal to the international community to strongly denounce such illegal act. We reserve all our rights to take appropriate legal actions." The company said the illegal jamming involved 12 counts of intentional interference against eight C-band transponders of APSTAR VI within one hour from 8:44 p.m. [local time] Sunday, resulting in interference and interruption of normal broadcasting of 13 CCTV channels and 12 provincial TV channels from nine provinces (a total of 25 TV channels). After taking immediate actions together with customers, all the interfered transponders and TV channels resumed normal operation. Such illegal jamming was stopped at 9:20 p.m. APSTAR VI is a high power satellite based on a SB-4100 C1 model supplied by Alcatel Space with 38 C-band transponders and 12 Ku-band transponders. Source: Xinhua news agency, Beijing, in English 1310 gmt 4 Jul 05 (via BBCM via DXLD) CHINA/HONG KONG: FALUN GONG DENY TAMPERING WITH CHINESE BROADCAST | Text of report in English by South African newspaper Mail & Guardian on 5 July China's state television broadcasts were interrupted for nearly 15 minutes by a video about the banned Falun Gong spiritual group, a spokesperson for a Hong Kong-based satellite company said Tuesday 5 July. Falun Gong, which China has labelled an "evil cult" and tried to suppress, denied tampering with the programming beamed across the country. The interference occurred on signals from the APSTAR 6 satellite on Sunday evening, and affected 25 channels, 13 belonging to state-run CCTV and 12 provincial or city channels, said spokesperson Brian Lo for Hong Kong-based APT Satellite Holdings, which operates the satellite. Lo declined to describe the inserted footage in detail, but said that whoever was responsible had tried to jam the satellite's signals for an hour but only managed to insert 14-and-a-half minutes of video, Lo said. He said the interrupted programming was beamed to the financial capital of Shanghai and the southern boomtown of Shenzhen. Other provinces and regions affected included Guangdong, Hunan and Yunnan in the south; Inner Mongolia and Ningxia in the north and Zhejiang on the east coast. Lo said his company hasn't been able to trace the jamming signal and had reported the matter to Hong Kong's police and telecommunications authority. Police did not immediately comment. Spokesperson Diana Fu of the Office of the Telecommunications Authority said the department will study whether there are anti- jamming measures it can recommend to APT. A Hong Kong-based spokesperson for Falun Gong, which mixes slow-motion exercise and Buddhist and Taoist teachings, denied the group was behind the satellite jamming, saying it doesn't have the resources to do it. "I don't think it's something ... [ellipses as published] we can do because we're just ordinary volunteers," Sophie Xiao said. She characterized the allegations as a smear campaign against the spiritual group. In the past, Falun Gong has been accused of interrupting satellite signals beamed to mainland China. The group remains legal in the Chinese territory of Hong Kong, a former British colony that is promised Western-style liberties such as freedom of expression. However, Beijing has arrested hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Falun Gong followers in its crackdown. The group has alleged that some have been tortured, though China has denied the allegations. Hong Kong and New York-listed APT's shareholders include China Telecommunications Broadcast Satellite, China Aerospace Science & Technology and CASIL Satellite Holdings, a wholly owned subsidiary of China Aerospace International Holdings. Source: Mail & Guardian, Johannesburg, in English 5 Jul 05 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** IRAN. 11860, IRIB; 2010-2022 July 3, killer, near local level signal with English man (US accent) hosting "Listener's Special" mailbag program. Rather funny, actually, as the announcer took cracks at some of the letters. Best was one from China, which he read verbatim. The writer said that he hoped his English was good, and the announcer basically said, 'well, not really dude.' Announced IRIB, PO Box 19395, 6767, English Service and local phone 216.2895. Off by 2025 recheck (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN. Summer A-05 schedule for Voice of Islamic Republic of Iran (VOIROI/IRIB) ALBANIAN 0630-0727 13810 15235 1830-1927 9545 9570 2030-2127 9535 11775 ARABIC 0230-0527 9935 13790 13800 0330-0427 9610 11875 = "Voice of Islamic Palestinian Revolution" 0530-1427 13790 13800 15150 1430-1627 15150 1630-1927 9935 1930-2027 9935 "Voice of Islamic Palestinian Revolution" 2030-0227 9935 ARMENIAN 0300-0327 12025 0930-0957 9695 15260 1630-1727 7230 9780 AZERI 0330-0527 13710 1430-1657 6200 BENGALI 0030-0127 9855 9890 0830-0927 11705 1430-1527 9810 9940 12090 BOSNIAN 0530-0627 15235 15340 1730-1827 7295 9860 2130-2227 9810 11875 CHINESE 1200-1257 15160 15190 17535 17545 2330-0027 11785 11975 13715 DARI 0300-0627 11910 13740 0830-1427 9930 13720 1430-1457 9930 ENGLISH 0130-0227 9495 11875 "Voice of Justice" 1030-1127 15600 17660 1530-1627 9635 11650 1930-2027 7205 9800 9925 11860 GERMAN 0730-0827 15085 15430 1730-1827 11855 15085 FRENCH 0630-0727 15430 17590 1830-1927 9905 13755 15085 HAUSA 0600-0657 17810 17870 1830-1927 11860 11930 HEBREW 0430-0457 9610 11875 1900-1927 3985 5970 HINDI 0230-0257 15165 17635 1430-1527 11695 13805 ITALIAN 0630-0727 15085 17560 1930-1957 7320 9610 JAPANESE 1300-1327 15555 17810 2100-2127 11990 12010 KAZAKH 0130-0227 11785 11935 1300-1357 11665 13615 KURDISH 0330-0427 7255 11920 Sorrani dialect 1330-1427 5990 Sorrani dialect 1430-1627 5990 Kirmanji dialect MALAY 1230-1327 15200 17555 2230-2327 7310 9820 PASHTO 0230-0327 7130 9605 0730-0827 11990 13770 1230-1327 6175 9790 11730 1430-1527 7270 1630-1727 6000 7195 RUSSIAN 0300-0327 9650 11925 0500-0527 11870 15215 17595 17655 1430-1527 7165 9580 9900 1700-1757 3985 7175 1800-1857 6205 7235 1930-2027 3985 7175 SPANISH 0030-0227 9655 9905 0230-0327 9905 0530-0627 15530 17785 2030-2127 7300 9650 SWAHILI 0330-0427 15265 15340 0830-0927 15240 17660 1730-1827 7165 9655 TAJIK 0100-0227 6185 7285 1600-1727 5945 5955 TURKISH 0430-0557 13640 15260 1600-1727 7165 9870 URDU 0130-0227 7205 9480 9845 1330-1427 6175 9665 11695 1530-1727 7270 1730-1757 7220 9530 UZBEK 0230-0257 9740 11945 1500-1557 5945 5955 (Observer, Bulgaria, July 5 via DXLD) What changed since last time? ** ITALY. Radio Maria heard in Blackpool on 26000 at 0700 June 30th, Italian talk and music, weak with deep fades (Noel Green, Jihad DX via July World DX Club Contact via Mike Barraclough, DXLD) Also heard at 1050 June 27th via DX Tuner Ireland with talk by man, poor with deep fades, instrumental inspirational tune at 1102, best in USB as noise in AM mode, identification by woman at 1206 (Hans Johnson, ibid) ** LATVIA. London`s legendary rock album station Alice's Restaurant returns to the air on August 14th on 9290 0900-1700 (Website via Mike Barraclough, July World DX Club Contact via DXLD) Sunday ** LIBYA [non]. VOICE OF AFRICA TEST TRANSMISSIONS OBSERVED A bilingual test transmission from Libyan radio Voice of Africa was observed at 1200-1400 gmt on 21675 kHz and 21695 kHz shortwave by BBC Monitoring on 4 July. Reception was fair to good. The first hour was in Swahili and included a news bulletin at 1230- 1235 gmt. This was followed at 1300-1400 gmt with a programme in English, identifying as "Voice of Africa from the Great Jamahiriyah", and announcing that this was an experimental transmission for east Africa on 21695 kHz, and for central, northern and southern Africa on 21675 kHz. There was a news bulletin at 1330-1340 gmt. Voice of Africa was further observed broadcasting in Arabic 1700-1900 gmt on the frequency of 11615 kHz. A transmission on 15660 kHz tentatively identified as Fulani was noted from tune-in at 1743 until 1800. According to a statement on the broadcaster's website the station launched experimental transmissions in two African languages on 1 July 2005, on the occasion of the fifth African Union Summit being held in the Libyan coastal town of Sirte. Voice of Africa is the external service of state broadcaster Libyan Jamahiriya Broadcasting Corporation, which has an Arabic/English/French website at http://www.ljbc.net Source: BBC Monitoring research 4 Jul 05 (via DXLD) Imagine that: a whole hour in English! I say ``[non]`` because these are very likely via the usual relay in France (gh, DXLD) ** LITHUANIA. LY90: Lenio Marobin, PY3DF (ILERA-General Secretary), and a team of European members of the International League of Esperantists Radioamateurs (ILERA) will activate the special events station, LY90E, from the 90th Esperanto World Conference in Vilnius July 23-30th. Suggested frequencies are: 7066, 14266, 21266 and 28766 kHz. QSL via LY2FN, direct (QRZ.com) or by the bureau (KB8NW/OPDX/BARF80 via Dave Raycroft, ODXA via DXLD) ** MEXICO. Campaign to get Conciencia off 6010: see COLOMBIA ** NEW ZEALAND. Re condolences for Ralda Cushen: Glenn, Gloria is Ralda's niece. Best 73 (Bryan Clark, NZ, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. I heard a pirate at 105.7 just after midnight near the State Capitol [OKC], and as far away as Mercy Hospital. It was a southern gospel format. Not a bad idea on where to hide a pirate these days. [Later:] Correction, it wasn't a pirate. KTTL in Alva has flipped to some non-commercial religious stuff. Listening to the 30 or so station IDs at the top of the hour is almost amusing. The audio is horribly low and the stereo pilot light was absent. Suffice it to say, I've heard several pirates with much better audio (FridayNiteintheBigTown, June 26, radio-info Oklahoma forum via DXLD) Yet another high power commercial station that has turned into nothing but a translator. I love the Lord with all my heart, but the radio demon in me just can't stand to see what is happening to the local stations that are selling out to K-Love, Jimmy Swaggart, others. Could they not find some way to serve the community with local programming? Are these the same people that have KALV 1430 AM? (MediaMogul, ibid.) I tuned right in at 2159 UT July 4, and heard the multi-station ID for the network, which finished by welcoming KTTL 105.7 in Alva, and referred to http://www.jsm.org i.e. Jimmy (``I have SINNED!!! Sob``) Swaggart Ministries, which is also on 1490 in Guthrie OK. Well, that ends KTTL as a commercial competitor to Enid stations, as a fair portion of its sales were to Enid-area businesses. Hiram Champlin must be pleased. But it is no less an obstacle to reception of *KROU out here under normal conditions. BTW, so-called Vance Radar serving Enid area, actually at the auxiliary Kegelman field, just east of Great Salt Plains State Park where you can`t miss the large white radome, has been missing since the storms on July 3 and still missing July 5, bad damage? http://www.srh.noaa.gov/radar/latest/DS.p19r0/si.kvnx.shtml Wichita radar indirectly linked here, http://www.emergencyemail.org/weatherget.asp?src=DS.p19r0/si.kict will have to do (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, July 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. Another radio tower blown down by high winds, not tornadic, but clocked at 102 mph, early UT July 4, in Blackwell, per TV news reports. Did they say which station? Of course not. Buckled tower briefly glimpsed, but it was pretty dinky, so maybe a 2-way one? No, KOKB-1580 missing from the air the next day, and the following day. July 5 at 1340 UT I tuned in its sister station KOKP-1020 in Perry. The ``Morning Scramble`` with two local gabbers, discussing tourist attraxions in Denver and vicinity as one of them was about to go rafting on the Arkansas; 1348 someone from Tulsa PAC (Performing Arts Center) on the current summer season of light opera, such as Mikado, Fiddler, etc. Also did a quiz, with a medley of seven TV theme songs, phone 1-866-229-1020. One caller from northern OK remarked that their ``1580 tower is down``, and the hosts were not even aware of that!! And proceeded to give a dual but illegal ID at hourtop for both KOKP-1020 and KOKB-1580 but not mentioning their cities of license! Meanwhile, KWOX-101.1 Woodward, ``K-101`` seemed to have been off the air since some tower of its went down a few days earlier --- I still don`t know which one; at least I couldn`t hear it in Enid where it usually has at least a marginal signal --- until July 5 at 1445 check, back to usual strength, or morning-tropo-assisted. Still no mention of either tower-down story as of July 5 in 100000watts.com (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. This is probably nothing new, as I have no reason at all to listen to it for content, but KFXY 1640 Enid seems to have become even more of an OKC station; July 5 at 1347 a break in Fox Sports was filled by OKC and even Norman traffic info; not a word about Enid. I wonder if this one too is now being run out of OKC by Citadel. This may have happened when in early April it converted from all-comedy KFNY (Glenn Hauser, Enid, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. Pegasys, Enid, loses NASA TV: see INTERNATIONAL VACUUM ** PAKISTAN [and non]. Re 5-108, USA, 2.75 Hz SAH to WEWN 11645, 1420: Glenn: the only station I know of on 11645 is Radio Pakistan. This was the message I received: || Frequencies 11585 & 11550 for Russian and Irani programmes have been replaced since June 13th with 11645 and 7310 KHz respectively. || Russian therefore is broadcast at 1415-1445 on new 11645 via API-1 313 degrees [ex 11585 where it was co-channel with AIR] // API-3 9340 313 degrees. Both 100 kW. Are you REALLY picking up something from that one at 1420! If so, from which direction? I have yet to hear a positive signal from WEWN on this frequency at this time! The Irani broadcast is at 1715-1800 now via API-3 7310 100 kW 260 degrees [ex 11550] // API-2 9320 same bearing. All I hear on 7310 is a buzzy rumble and voice in the background which might be from XJBS Urumqi co-channel. Unfortunately, there are several 'wooden' ERA registrations. This is one of them: 11645 1300-1530 18,27,28SE KAV 250 355 And they were oft repeated via the IBB/BBG frequency schedule when we used to be privileged to see that. 73s (Noel R. Green [NW England], July 4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Pak must be the source of the SAH; surprised you can`t hear any WEWN. Maybe sometime there will be enough signal from it to produce a similar SAH, or Pakistan probably varies from day to day? I have no way of telling from what direxion but I suppose longpath is possible (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** POLAND. On this page about the crashed 647 metres mast at Konstantynow (built by ABB Mannheim it seems, by the way) now three pictures of the site after the mast collapse have been added: http://jerzyjedrzejkiewicz.webpark.pl/str01/gabin-rcn.html All the best, (Kai Ludwig, Germany, July 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PORTUGAL. QSL RDP INTERNACIONAL: Recebido full data, 23 dias. Material recebido: 02 pins, adesivo, cartão QSL, grade de programação, brochura turistica contendo principais roteiros de Portugal e bela carta. Escuta realizada em 12/06/2005 1045 UT em 21655 kHz; QTH: Av Marechal Gomes da Costa, 37 - Lisboa - Portugal http://www.rtp.pt - V/S: Isabel Saraiva (isabelsaraiva@...). [truncated], Receptor Grundig S350, antena T2FD (Márcio Dias desde Divinópolis - MG, July 5, radioescutas yg via DXLD) Ao contrário veja SPAIN {held for 5-111} ** RUSSIA [non] TAJIKISTAN (non): Additional frequency for Voice of Russia WS in English from June 3: 1600-1700 on 12115 DB 100 kW / 140 deg to SoEaAs \\ 6070, 9405, 11640, 12055, 15540 (Observer, Bulgaria, July 5 via DXLD) ** SOUTH AFRICA. Frequency change of TWR AFrica via MEY 500 kW / 335 deg from July 1 1830-1900 Hausa and 1900-1915 Kanuri NF 9685, ex 9695 to avoid CRI in English (Observer, Bulgaria, July 5 via DXLD) ** SWEDEN. RE: [mwc] 17.2 kHz SAQ Sweden test. Heard 1315 UT final transmission on 3 July. Very weak, but could be because my K9AY & AOR7030 are not optimised for anything below 100 kHz. I downloaded & used CWget to decode the morse. 73 (Steve Whitt, UK, MWC via DXLD) ** SYRIA. Re 5-109: I heard only 100.5 MHz. Tried the other frequency but no luck. I think I was getting the one with southern-western coverage, so I could hear it loud in Alexandria. All the best my friend (Tarek Zeidan, Cairo, Egypt, July 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TIBET [and non]. Hello Wolfie, Many thanks for interesting article about radio in Tibet. Since I was a schoolboy (a long time ago!) I have been fascinated by that country. My interest was sparked when I first read a book entitled 'Captured in Tibet' by Robert Ford, who is mentioned in the message you sent. He had the amateur radio licence AC4RF and Fox I think was AC4YN. (This was before the AC prefix somehow got transferred to the USA!) In his book, Robert describes how he went to live in Chamdo in eastern Tibet providing radio communications for the local governor back to the government in Lhasa. He also relayed the broadcasts of Radio Lhasa. He starts the book by quoting a broadcast he heard from Radio Peking --- 'The tasks for the Chinese People's Liberation Army for 1950 are to liberate Taiwan, Hainan and Tibet'. Thus he knew that they were coming to get him. After occupying Hainan island, the CPLA turned their attention to 'liberating' Tibet and eventually crossed the border. The local governor and his entourage fled to the West and Robert went with them, but the CPLA captured them. Robert was taken to Chungking in China and was accused of being an American spy, the evidence being that he was using American radio equipment. In vain he pointed out that the CPLA also used American radios! You can imagine that when he had operated on the amateur bands from Chamdo, he was in great demand, AC4 being a rare country and also located in the sort-after Zone 23. Thus he had a large collection of QSL cards. These were also used as evidence against him, as his interrogators could not grasp the idea of amateur radio. He spent several years in prison being 're-educated' before eventually being handed over to the British in Hong Kong. Robert came from Burton on Trent near here and after his release he came and gave us a talk at the Derby radio club. I am sure his book is long out of print, but if you can track a copy down it is worth the effort. Thanks for reviving some memories! 73, (Richard G3VGW Buckby, via Wolfgang Büschel, DXLD) So being a ham could get you imprisoned in China . . . ** U K. Listening to BBC can get you killed: see ETHIOPIA ** U K. UNION AGREES BBC DEAL, JOB CUT TALKS TO BEGIN The BBC can begin plans to cut 4,000 jobs after a technical workers' union voted yesterday to accept a revised offer put forward by Director-General Mark Thompson. About 92 percent of members of the Broadcasting Entertainment Cinematograph and Theatre Union (BECTU) voted to accept a one-year guarantee of no compulsory redundancies while talks move forward on how to reduce staff by 20 percent. About 41 percent of BECTU members voted on the proposal. The other two BBC unions, the National Union of Journalists and Amicus, previously had agreed to the offer. Talks are now set to begin at a divisional level to seek redundancy volunteers, according to Luke Crawley, BECTU's top BBC official. The union said it has reserved the right to strike if too many people are offered such packages. "Managers with direct responsibility for day- to-day activities will be expected to explain how the BBC can continue to function properly with 20 percent fewer staff," BECTU said. In addition to delaying any compulsory redundancies for one year, the BBC agreed to put off the sale of its BBC Resources unit for at least two years. It had been scheduled to be sold much sooner. Staff at BBC Broadcast also were promised access to final salary pension scheme comparable to the BBC's and other assurances that terms will remain unchanged for at least three years. The unit is being sold to Australia's largest investment bank Macquarie Bank Ltd. and investment fund Macquarie Capital Alliance Group. The group agreed to a one-year moratorium on compulsory job cuts. The compromise deal came about after the unions had gone on strike for a day and had been planning more work stoppages. # posted by Andy @ 12:50 UT July 5 (Media Network blog via DXLD) ** U K. 10 year rights to free-lance work by BBC --- BBC ALLOWS RADIO COMPANIES TO OWN THEIR COPYRIGHT Julia Day, radio correspondent In a ground-breaking deal the BBC has handed independent radio production companies the copyright to their own programmes in new terms of trade. Until now the BBC has owned programmes commissioned from independents - such as Somethin' Else and Unique - outright. But in a reversal of its terms of trade the BBC will now licence programmes for 10 years. . . http://media.guardian.co.uk/radio/story/0,12636,1521894,00.html (Tuesday July 5, 2005 MediaGuardian.co.uk via Dan Say, DXLD) ** U S A [non]. I was misinformed in regard to the "closure" of the RFE/RL Serbian and Kosovo-Albanian services which I reported on 30 June: this only applies to the shortwave transmissions; these services continue for the time being via satellite and on-demand web audio (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, July 4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [and non]. US DEFENSE AGENCY COMMISSIONS SURVEY OF AFN RADIO OPERATIONS The US Defense Media Center in Riverside, CA is inviting competitive bids for a contract to analyze the effectiveness of existing AFN-BC radio operations and procedures, and review AFN-BC's relationship with its affiliated stations and the listening audience. The contractor will be required to provide recommendations in a final report that presents a strategy on how to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of AFN-BC radio operations, AFN network and affiliate operations, and programming in light of coming changes to audience size, location and composition; report observations on the desirability of AFN radio and other key services by conducting a worldwide audience survey. Full text of solicitation http://www.fbodaily.com/archive/2005/07-July/03-Jul-2005/FBO-00840539.htm # posted by Andy @ 08:34 July 5 (Media Network blog via DXLD) ** U S A. If you heard Allan Weiner Worldwide live last Friday, UT Sat July 2 at 0000 on 7415, it was apparently quite remarkable. I didn`t hear it, but have had reports from those who did, that he apparently lost his self-control in a rant with obscenities, talked about selling the station, etc. I doubt this one will be repeated, if it was saved by WBCQ at all; did anyone get it recorded? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. I am still hearing parasitic buzzes accompanying WWRB 9320, during Brother Scare, July 5 at 1430 check, matching around 9300 and 9340. This seems to relate to the background noise one hears on 9320 itself. If this were filtered out, preferably at the source, but if not, at the station, I expect the spurs would go away (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 'Don't you dare mess with Elmo' --- Happy 4th July to all my friends in the US! For a British view of the public broadcasting controversy in the US, see http://media.guardian.co.uk/mediaguardian/story/0,7558,1520459,00.html John Willis is the BBC's director of factual and learning. He was vice-president, national programs, WGBH Boston (2002-3). (Andy Sennitt, Netherlands, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WFIU AND THE CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING http://www.indiana.edu/~wfiu/artjul_2005.htm#9 Recently there have been reports and commentary concerning the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and its Chairman of the Board, Kenneth Y. Tomlinson. Coverage has centered on Tomlinson's concerns about bias in public broadcasting and his implementation of an office of two ombudsmen at the CPB to review content on both public television and public radio. I would like to address those concerns now. The CPB is a private, nonprofit corporation created by Congress in 1967. Its purpose is to fund public broadcasting by distributing an annual appropriation from Congress and to serve as a firewall to protect public broadcasting entities from political influence. WFIU receives approximately 10% of its funding from the CPB. That is a relatively small amount compared to other public broadcasting organizations, which receive about 15% of their annual budget from CPB funding. At WFIU, we believe our responsibility as a public broadcaster is to provide our listeners with a non-partisan, independent point-of-view. We strive to present a range of voices and opinions to accurately convey the views of all sides in any discussion, over the course of our programming, so that listeners may form their own informed opinion. The CPB recently commissioned two pollsters-The Tarrance Group, considered a Republican firm, and Lake Snell Perry & Associates, considered a Democratic firm-to survey Americans on their view of public broadcasting. Both pollsters concluded, "The majority of the U.S. adult population does not believe that the news and information programming on public broadcasting is biased." National Public Radio has registered its concerns about the CPB chairman's allegations of bias directly with the corporation. WFIU supports a resolution submitted by NPR member stations to the CPB, asking that the corporation return to its historical and statutory role as a firewall between partisan politics and public broadcasting. If you have comments concerning this issue, you may wish to register your views with the CPB. The CPB can be reached via its toll-free telephone line (800-272-2190), or by regular mail at Corporation for Public Broadcasting, 401 Ninth Street NW, Washington DC 20004. You can also contact the CPB Ombudsmen on the Web at: http://www.cpb.org/ombudsmen As always, we welcome your comments. You can reach us by e-mail at: wfiu @ indiana.edu telephone: 812-856-5352, or regular mail: Christina Kuzmych, Station Manager, WFIU, Radio-TV Building room 120, 1229 East 7th St., Bloomington, IN 47405 (via gh, DXLD) ** U S A. Elliott Forrest is out as host of A&E`s Breakfast with the Arts. Last I checked, as I was about to e-mail my complaint, he was still on the website, but now at http://www.aetv.com/breakfast/ it`s Karina Huber, no doubt the `new look` their reply was referring to: ``Twice-nominated for a daytime EMMY Award (Outstanding Special Class Series), A&E Television Networks BREAKFAST WITH THE ARTS covers the full range of current trends in music, film, theatre and the fine arts. The 2-hour program, featuring interviews with prominent performers, writers, directors, artists and musicians, celebrates the creative spirit in all areas of the arts. Email Karina Huber, host of Breakfast with the Arts.`` Give Elliott Forrest some credit for the vaunted Emmynoms! There is also a forum where the changes are discussed: http://boards.aetv.com/forum.jspa?forumID=357 Such as this already a sesquiyear ago, and many more of like mind follow: Re: lack of classical programing --- Posted: 14 Dec 2003 09:21 AM ``I would agree wholeheartedly with Mr. Thompson's observation of the apparent classical arts demise of A&E Breakfast with the Arts program. So much un-classical garbage, plastic "art", you now air, I suspect, in a foolish attempt to be politically correct. Are we supposed to believe this pop crap stuff you put on now are the same caliber of a major symphony orchestra or ballet company? Are we to look forward to "rap" next along with an interview with the "artist" who only speaks ebonics? Look, true classical art in all its forms has negligible air time on TV. Why pollute the 3 hours/per week that we used to have on A&E with all this new garbage programming? Maybe you could start a "Classical Breakfast with the Arts" program and keep true to its purpose. Classical art is fast disappearing in this country because outlets like yours won't stand up for it in favor of the ignorant mass demands. Ed Parise`` I didn`t see any replies to these comments from show`s own people, and they obviously ignored such complaints, but now there was this from Gina-BWTA about the new hostess: Our New Host Karina Huber and BWTA Summer Preview Posted: 30 Jun 2005 02:59 PM ``On June 19th "Breakfast with the Arts" was thrilled to welcome a new face to our Emmy-award nominated program. Karina Huber brings a wide range of experience to BWTA, hosting many top music programs in Toronto and Montreal and appearing in films and series for ABC, FOX and Showtime. Elliott Forrest moves to a new role as special correspondent and will be contributing to BWTA on a regular basis. Now in its thirteenth year, "Breakfast with the Arts" has evolved from an emphasis on classical music to a showcase for well known and emerging talent in all areas of the performing and fine arts. Planned upcoming segments will feature Faith Hill, Bryan Adams, the classical Colorado Music Festival on location in Aspen, Vail and Central City, Johnny Depp, Loggins & Messina, the St. Louis Jazz Festival in Senegal, West Africa, Broadway shows "Glengarry Glen Ross" and "The 25th Annual Putman County Spelling Bess", author Robert James Waller, and an exploration of the arts and crafts of St. Vincent and the Grenadines during their July carnival. It promises to be a great summer at BWTA and we hope you continue to be a part of it.`` Another forum post said ``tell wardrobe her breasts don`t need accentuating``. So there will still be some token Classical segments from three different (not all one) Colorado music festivals. And this thread, Bring Back Elliot Forrest, who has been demoted to a ``Special Correspondent``: http://boards.aetv.com/thread.jspa?threadID=500003348&tstart=0&start=-1 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. From the ridiculous to the sublime, er is it the other way round? SPACE GHOST COAST TO COAST is still/again on the Cartoon Network! Tho not on the online schedules, since he is apparently being used as filler after the 0430 UT Monday show in Adult Swim, TOM GOES TO THE MAYOR --- you know, the one with the characters animated, to put it charitably, as seventh-generation purple ditto copies. Two weeks in a row, SGC2C has filled the rest of the semihour, roughly 0444-0456 UT. Old eps, of course. This is being duly entered for the next update of MONITORING REMINDERS CALENDAR. Also of note for incomparably better computer animation, TRIPPIN` THE RIFT returns to Sci-Fi net with new (at least to us) episodes, from July 28, UT Thursdays at 0200-0230! Can`t wait. BTW, it`s produced in Montréal, thank you (Glenn Hauser, OK, July 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Pax TV is gone as of July 1, replaced by i If you go to http://www.paxtv.com it`s forwarded now to http://www.ionline.tv/ which says ``PAX TV IS CHANGING TO i We are excited to announce that PAX TV is changing its name to i. We will introduce the i brand name on PAX TV on July 1, 2005, and during the summer months, you will see on-screen identities featuring both the new and existing brands and on-air promotional spots informing you of the change. Many of your favorite PAX TV shows will continue to air on i, and we will be adding new programs to the schedule in the future. The i schedule will feature a mix of entertainment programs including dramas, comedies, movies, sports and news that appeal to a variety of interests. For more information, please visit our FAQ's.`` In case you are wondering, i (it sure is hard for MS Word not to capitalise that!) stands for Independent Television --- how original. Looking at the online sked for next two weeks, FAITH UNDER FIRE is gone, had been UT Sundays 0200-0300. Hosted by an ex-atheist who got religion, still has some thought-provoking discussion. Final show, which I taped but have not yet seen, was about whether Mormons are really Christians. FUF was the only show of any interest to me on the entire Pax network, so i looks even less appealing, so far. I assume i is what`s still on ch 62 in OKC, KOPX calls surely to change, tho I`ve yet to check them out in prime time. Stations which were merely affiliated, rather than owned outright by Pax, might well decide to go with something other than i (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Excerpts from their FAQ, http://www.ionline.tv/contact/faq.cfm --- Q: Why did you change the name of the network? We are changing the brand name of our primary television network to i as of July 1, 2005. There will be a transition period where both the new i brand and the existing PAX TV brand will appear on-screen, after which PAX TV will continue to be available over the air on one of our digital channels in those markets where we have commenced digital multicasting. We made this change to better align our brand identity with our new network programming strategy. As part of our new strategy, we are offering blocks of our network time to independent programmers and producers who want the kind of nationwide distribution for their programming that we can provide. Q: Where can I find i: Independent Television? The new "i" is on the same channel you used to watch PAX. For information on where to find "i" in your area, click here. If you would like to request "i" in your area, please click here. Q: What has happened to PAX TV? PAX TV will no longer be the brand name for our primary television network, however you will continue to see the PAX brand and many of its series on the new i during the transition period. After the transition period is complete, we will continue to air our PAX TV programming over the air on one of our digital channels in those markets where our stations have begun digital multicasting, and in select cable homes. You will need a digital receiver in order to view this programming (via Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** U S A. Live8 coverage: see INTERNATIONAL ** U S A. Champaign/Urbana IL 99.7 pirate on air again. I had them in from about 2:45 in the afternoon until I drove out of range at 11:30 yesterday evening [CDT = UT -5]. I was at Thomasboro (about 10 miles north of Urbana) when I first heard them with heavily distorted British independent media center internet radio coverage of the G8/Live8 doings in Scotland. This sounded like it was being picked up from an obsolete computer over a dial-up connection since it kept dropping out. Later in the evening they switched over to music (still heavily distorted), mostly instrumental stuff with lots of guitars, but they did have one song with lyrics that were pretty well obscene. No announcers this time, just internet anarchist propaganda and bad music. Towards evening WSHW (Shine 99) the 100 KW Hoosier blowtorch at Frankfort, Indiana boomed in, completely covering the pirate's signal at Urbana for a long while. That backed off after it started drizzling, and the distorted music was back. Driving back to Paxton from Urbana I lost their signal completely to Shine 99 about two miles south of Thomasboro (Curtis Sadowski, back home at Paxton, Illinois, July 5, WTFDA via DXLD) ** U S A. KFYI IBOC and a pirate in the Phoenix area Hi list. I just returned from a trip to visit my parents out in Phoenix, AZ. I naturally brought my Yacht Boy 400 PE with me on the trip. While there, I discovered some things that I thought others might find interesting. First, KFYI 550 AM has started running IBOC. Of course, the noise is pretty loud. I discovered that if I tilted the radio just right, I could null most of it. However, there was almost no margin for error. If I held the radio in that position, I could copy KBLU on 560 in Yuma, AZ early in the morning. Of course, this was wiped out as soon as the radio was moved a fraction of an inch, but I was actually surprised that I could copy them at all. It made me wonder if people in the Yuma area were getting interference from KFYI during the early morning and late evening. KFYI did shut their IBOC off at night without fail the whole time I was there. The second thing is that there is apparently a pirate on 1640 in the Phoenix area. It plays Blues, and runs liners calling itself "all blues, all the time. AM 1640, the Blues." I even heard them run one local add. I assume they were a pirate since I never heard call letters, and I am unaware of any X-band allocations in Phoenix. Does anybody else know anything about this 1640 station? (Adam Myrow, Memphis, TN, July 4, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** U S A. LOW POWER STATION SWITCHES ON IN BEND --- June 27, 2005 Posted by April Baer at June 27, 2005 09:16 AM http://www.opb.org/radio/archives/2005/06/low_power_stati.php#more The city of Bend has become the latest in Oregon to launch a low-power FM radio station. On Sunday KPOV -- the Point -- went on air, bringing music and local public affairs to an area just a few miles in diameter. The station's sign-on is the culmination of years of work for the coalition of community groups that lobbied the FCC to make the station possible. OPB's April Baer spoke with Board Chair Darcy McNamara about the launch. Hear the interview [mp3 link] Link to KPOV here http://www.getthepointradio.org/ viz.: KPOV HOOPLA! Bend Community Radio Set to Go Live at 1 pm June 26! After four years of planning, permitting, developing, fundraising and building, KPOV is set to Go Live on at 1 p.m. on Sunday, June 26. The entire community is invited to help celebrate from noon to 7 pm at the station on the corner of Bond and Idaho. The HOOPLA! event will include live music, condensed versions of new radio shows, guest appearances by talk show hosts and community members, food and beverage vendors, tours of the station, and of course, ... hoola hoops (cuz we jumped through so many hoops!) This event will also be one of the last chances to become a founding member of KPOV. Memberships are available starting at $25, but for contributions of $100 or more, you will have your name emblazoned for all time on The Point's donor wall — on permanent display at the station. KPOV, "The Point" will broadcast on 106.7 fm and host 34 locally produced shows featuring a wide range of music and talk not commonly heard on commercial radio stations in the area. KPOV will also feature syndicated programming from Pacifica Radio including Democracy Now and Free Speech Radio News. Other syndicated programming will air from Radio Netherlands including a science show, news and documentaries. Watch for an insert in the The Source Weekly on Wednesday June 22 for a program schedule. KPOV is located on the corner of Bond and Idaho at 501 NW Bond Street. The station is directly behind the Boys and Girls Club. Hope to see you all at the HOOPLA! for this historic event. For more information, call 322-0863, email info @ kpov.org or visit http://www.kpov.org Volunteers Needed! --- We are especially seeking office volunteers who can help us provide a regular schedule. If you can give us a few hours each week, let us know. Help is also being sought on construction beginning in May. KPOV Studio 322-0863 What's The Point? --- Bend Community Radio is a new non-commercial Low Power FM (LPFM) radio station that will serve Bend, Oregon beginning in summer 2005. The station's call sign is KPOV and the nickname of the station is "The Point." The station will have a broadcast range of 3.5 miles, approximately the city limits of Bend. The Point will be the only local, non-profit, non-commercial radio station in Bend. The station will focus on broadcasting local news and issues, community events, and music. Programming on KPOV will be produced and hosted by unpaid volunteers like you. The vision of The Point is to be a respected source of ideas, promoting an engaged thoughtful community and to educate, entertain and involve the community by giving voice to diverse cultures and viewpoints through high-quality, low-power radio (via gh, DXLD) ** U S A. ENFORCEMENT NEEDED: FLOATING FREEBAND REPEATER ON 27620 If you hear what sounds like a repeater outputting in the spectrum between the 11 meter class D citizens band and the 10 meter ham band, its not an illusion. Rather it appears to be the creation of some enterprising Freebanders who are operating this latest, unlicensed repeater. Henry Feinberg, K2SSQ, has more: -- According to several reports received by Newsline, and others posted to various Internet websites, the system in question outputs on 27.620 MHz F-M. It also seems to be located not far from Pennsylvania's eastern most border. But there is the interesting part. While its not yet been verified, the word on the street is that the input kind of floats around the low end of the 10 meter ham band. There is some speculation that the operators of this repeater monitor the input frequency and move it when ham radio operators running legal high power Morse come on the air on top of it. At least there have been reports of strange announcements which may be information to users as to where the input will next be found. One Internet post describes this machine as one of a new breed of Freeband roving repeater of the type first noticed in the St. Louis area about two years ago. That is, those who run these systems are physically moving the frequencies and the geographic location of the machine to avoid detection by ham radio T-Hunt squads and the FCC. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Henry Feinberg, K2SSQ. Source: Amateur Radio Newsline 1453 June 20 (via radiointel.com via DXLD) ** U S A. Received a nice letter QSL some years ago for logging the 420 kHz harmonic of WWVB [fundamental: 60 kHz]. The engineer said the station put out about 1 to 100w on this frequency, but had not recieved any QRM complaints. Seeing the recent ARRL application for a 500 kHz experimental license, I wonder if any of you have logged WWVB on the 480 kHz harmonic? At my location, my ICOM IC703 and AOR Window Loop with the 500M ferrite longwave loop picks up a lot of static, and just a few beacons. Will design a larger aircore passive loop to help this little ferrite item out. Hope to listen for the ARRL experiments. Any commercial maritime users still on 420-500 kHz, even if using data, rather than CW? 73 (KB7AQD Robert, July 1, LW Messageboard via DXLD) WWVB harmonics have been greatly reduced in recent years as a result of the new transmitters and new antenna tuning systems (John David, ibid.) ** VENEZUELA [and non]. Captaciones tempraneras con mi nueva hilo largo de 22 metros. Saludos cordiales queridos colegas diexistas. Espero se encuentren muy bien. He aqui algunas captaciones hechas en horas de la tarde luego de montar mi nueva antena hilo largo de 22 metros. Radio Nacional de Venezuela por las frecuencias de 11670, 11875 y 13680 kHz de Radio Habana Cuba entre las 1810 y las 1820 UT, estaban transmitiendo al programa Aló Presidente, Chávez decía que: "no estamos haciendo el trabajo en forma eficiente, ya que siempre a donde voy recibo una lluvia de papeles y papelitos donde la gente me dice que no tienen casa, que el rancho se les está cayendo, que no tiene trabajo etc etc., regañó a los diputados, concejales, gobernadores, jefes de misiones y alcaldes que estaban en el programa y les dijo que no debemos dormir, tenemos que trabajar por esa gente, ¿fin de semana libre?, quien dijo, a trabajar por la gente pobre, el trabajo no se hace en las oficinas en con ellos en el campo", seguidamente presentó a la hermana del presidente de Argentina, Sra Alicia Kitchner quien es la Ministra de Desarrollo Social en Argentina. Es de hacer notar que las tres frecuencias estaban llegando con un sinpo de 3 3 3 3 3, lo que equivale a una señal aceptable. [in 5-109 I noted that only 13680 was on the air as early as 1415 --- gh] Venezolana 1580 AM, captada a las 0001 UT, emisora de la ciudad de Calabozo, estado Guárico que debe estar presentando un problema en su transmisor, ya que la recepción fue hecha en la frecuencia de los 1574 kHz. La identificación de la radio decía: ¡Venezolana 1580! YVTO Observatorio Naval Cajigal, esta señal ha estado irregularmente en el aire, hoy en horas tempranas la estuve escuchando en los 5000 kHz, pero no la noté tan fuerte como antes, incluso me pareció haberla escuchado un poquito corrida de frecuencia. Hasta mas o menos las 0020 UT del dia de hoy la estuve escuchando, pero ya a las 0250 no está en el aire. Mi opinión es que están trabajndo en esta señal para ponerla a funcionar como debe ser. Pude escuchar igualmente en banda de 40 metros a muchos radioaficionados participando en el concurso Independencia de Venezuela, el cual se hace con motivo de celebrar nuestra independencia cada 05 de Julio. Atte: (José Elías Díaz Gómez, Venezuela, July 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VIETNAM [non]. Re Little Saigon Radio, 5-109: The typo was 11840. They tested on 7380 and 11540; 7380 was later replaced by 15110. See audio clips on the IBB RMS website: http://monitor.ibb.gov/rms/ (click on the Asia-map and then do a sound query for "LSR"). (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, July 4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ POWERLINE COMMUNICATIONS / DRM ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ BPL is a stillborn technology. I understand why shortwavers are squawking about it (and the ARRL is using it to make themselves look relevant), but it isn`t as long-term a threat as your neighbor`s blinking Christmas tree lights. Most attempts to piggyback a hi-tech internet service onto a primitive power-delivery system have proven problematic and costly, with large-scale deployment still a pipe dream. Add to the equation that there are now more forms of extant and nascent broadband wireless than there are flavors of LifeSavers, and you`ll realize that there is zero future for BPL. Incidentally, another technology I believe will come to naught is DRM. It`s an inefficient, unwieldy, and unnecessary mode of communication (I hesitate to use the words ``mass communication`` because all the DRM listeners in the world would probably fit comfortably in a high school gymnasium --- and there appears to be no consumer DRM explosion on the horizon). International broadcasters have been sold a bill of goods by the DRM consortium, whose ultimate goal is to make a bundle on licensing, not to serve listeners (Al Quaglieri, Albany NY, Musings, July NASWA Journal via DXLD) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ WORLDSPACE RECEIVER GIVEAWAYS FRANÇA – Periodicamente, a Rádio França Internacional sorteia, entre seus ouvintes, um receptor Worldspace®. Basta chegar até o sítio da emissora e responder a uma indagação ali publicada. Mais informações em: http://www.rfi.fr/Fichiers/Concours/concours.asp (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX July 3 via DXLD) LOCKER DX SHACK If you want to see my first try at a webpage: http://www.geocities.com/wdx9khy@sbcglobal.net/swl_dxing.html (from Greg WDX9KHY, July 2, NRC-AM via DXLD) Greg, I`ll bet you didn`t know that there are hotels inside you, but geocities thinks so in the accompanying advertising for Sparks. 73, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Hela Glenn, Yeah, I saw that too hi hi. Well it's fer free, I guess I can't expect too much. Long as I'm sending you an email, got to tell you, I remember a photo of you in your Air Force days in a long ago Popular Electronics mag with a receiver in your locker. I later set up a similar DX "shack" in my locker onboard USNS Mispillion TAO105. Remembered the idea from you. Kinda cramped but I heard all kinds of good stuff, especially underway. 73 (Greg WDX9KHY Harris, ibid.) CAR MAKERS TUNE IN TO iPOD CRAZE --- By RICHARD MULLINS Jul 5, 2005 TAMPA - Each workday morning, Joel López climbs into his silver Ford Taurus for an hour's commute from Wesley Chapel to Largo. His sole driving companion is an iPod digital music player. Attached to a small, $35 FM transmitter, his iPod can send music or audio books to his car stereo. ``I live on books on tape,'' said Lopez, a software entrepreneur. ``When I'm out selling on the road, I can be out driving the whole day. I just went through two full Michael Crichton books last month.'' Lopez is part of a small but growing segment of iPod loyalists who are helping Apple Computer Inc.'s wildly popular music technology make its mark in the automobile market. . . [more] http://www.tampatribune.com/News/MGBC3T6JRAE.html (via Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, July 5, DXLD) TIME PIPS ON DIGITAL RADIO --- Came across this at the National Maritime Museum/Royal Observatory website: http://www.nmm.ac.uk/server.php?show=ConWebDoc.19921&navId=00500300j007 The webpage also has a photo of Dent's eight-day regulator (No. 2016) used to generate the BBC six-pip time signal in 1924. The 'six pips' on digital radios BBC radio has been broadcasting the six-pip time signal since 1924, after setting up a joint venture with the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. The system connected Greenwich timekeeping technology with BBC broadcast technology. From the start, the pips have proved accurate, reliable and extremely popular with an increasingly-time-bound global audience. But a new technology being introduced to broadcast radio, digital audio broadcasting (DAB), has caused a problem with the accuracy of the time signal. BBC radio is now broadcast not only for conventional analogue receivers, but also for digital radios, digital televisions and the internet. However, anyone listening on a digital set will have discovered a delay --- of several seconds --- which means that, whilst the analogue pips remain correct, the digital version cannot be used as an accurate time signal. The broadcast delay on DAB, while substantial, is relatively predictable, meaning that a fix could be introduced at the transmitter end to broadcast 'early', causing the signal to be received 'on-time'. But a far bigger problem is an additional delay introduced by each radio receiver as it processes the signal. Unfortunately, that delay varies from model to model --- up to seven seconds in the worst case --- and it is this receiver delay variation which prevents the BBC from implementing a standard solution. Internet listeners have an even greater problem, with delays being particularly unpredictable on that medium. Technicians at the BBC have told us how they plan to address the issue. While the problem rests more with receivers than the transmitters, nevertheless they hope to introduce a solution which will fix the problem for 90% of sets (although no date has been given) which would yield pips accurate to about 0.2 seconds for those receivers. But those one-in-ten listeners with receivers outside the norm will not be able to use the pips as an accurate time signal. Where else can one get accurate time-of-day? An alternative service is the MSF radio signal, a coded message broadcast from Rugby which originates from the atomic clocks in the National Physical Laboratory, the UK's official timekeeper. Clocks and watches which set themselves right according to this radio signal are becoming cheaper and more common. Alternatively, the British telephone time service, the Accurist 'speaking clock', remains a popular and convenient option as it has done since its inception as 'TIM' in 1936. But listeners to BBC radio who time their lives according to the familiar pips should note that the signal heard on all conventional analogue radios is still as accurate as ever (via Mike Barraclough, DXLD) This reminds me of the 'Hancock's Half Hour' episode where 'tone and Bill Kerr become 'coppers' and during training Bill is instructed to play a person requesting the time off Constable Hancock - "At the third stamp of me boot it will be twelve thirty precisely" bump - bump - bump (Rog Parsons (BDXC 782) Hinckley, Leics., BDXC-UK via DXLD) Re 5-109: TV OFFSET INSIGHTS NEEDED Kaimbridge, Thanks for your reply, but I'm not sure how this relates to my question. My lay understanding is that two stations on the same offset show mild fluttering, stations z/+ or z/- give narrow lines, and stations +/- have wide lines, Am I right? (Jim Renfrew, NY, WTFDA via DXLD) This can be confusing, but I would describe 20 kHz apart (+/-) offsets as lots of fine bars, while 10 kHz apart (z/+ or z/-) present fewer but wider bars, seemingly the opposite of what is said below (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) In the nutshell, 0 KHz-"appears" to be "no lines" (but actually it's the same number of lines as the primary station, giving a perfect picture). "Airplane flutter" is actually a reflected signal "0 KHz" to itself, with the "flutter" (and speed of) being deviation from 0 KHz; 10 KHz-More narrow "lines" than 20 KHz offset; 20 KHz-Less, wider "lines" than 10 KHz offset. The reason for the technical explanation, is that if I just said "10 KHz has more, narrower bars than 20 KHz", some techie will probably try and correct me, saying "no, no, no, basic electronic theory says that 20 kHz offset has more bars than 10 kHz", and they are right (but what you are seeing with 0, 10, 20 KHz offset is really 15.75, 5.75 and 4.25 KHz offset, respectively). P=) (~Kaimbridge, KMA1DGT~, WTFDA via DXLD) ``A TV video signal's horizontal scan rate ("HSR") equals its "definition" (NTSC = 525 lines) times the frame rate (30 Hz): 30 * 525 = 15,750 Hz = 15.75 KHz (525 and 15,750 are approximate values)`` 525 is exact but 30 Hz is actually 29.97 and 15,750 Hz is actually 15,734.234-something. They were changed slightly when color was introduced, in order to maintain an integral relationship to the color subcarrier near 3.579545 MHz.) ``So, when you are watching a single video signal, what you are watching is the HSR that is "offset" from the carrier signal, 15.75 KHz. The misconception is that station "A"'s offset to station "B"'s is believed to be carrier to carrier, when, in fact, it is A's carrier to B's HSR (and vice versa).`` Um, if you were seeing the offset between A's carrier and B's horizontal sidebands, you would see horizontal bars even between stations on the *same* offset. But you don't. Consider CCI between WSMV (channel 4, plus offset) and KCNC. (channel 4, minus offset). A few (of many) of the components of these stations' signals: Component KCNC freq. WSMV freq. Beat freq. - carrier 67,240 KHz 67,260 KHz 20 KHz - 1st lower sideband 67,224 KHz 67,244 KHz 20 KHz - 1st upper sideband 67,256 KHz 67,276 KHz 20 KHz - 2nd upper sideband 67,271 KHz 67,291 KHz 20 KHz See the pattern? (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66, http://www.w9wi.com WTFDA via DXLD) But I don't think *you see* any sidebands, just the AM "video carrier"!?! I'm by no means a electronics techie, but like I said, I asked someone in a VUD column (I believe it was either Tom Yingling-- hi Tom, was it you??? -- or maybe Bill Fahber?) back in the early-mid 80's, and he gave a more techie credible explanation. (~Kaimbridge, KMA1DGT~, ibid.) CLEAR CHANNEL HOPES FOR IBOC While I was in my doctor's office last week I chanced to look at the June 20 issue of Business Week. By happenstance Tom Lowry has a detailed writeup of Clear Channel in that issue. Worth a read! Among other things, CC has already appointed a manager just to plan for the programming of the additional channels IBOC provides each station that uses it. They clearly are hoping this will be a significant additional income stream. Whether or not they are right remains to be seen. The article says they already realize that having a DJ thousands of miles away pretending to be local has not been the success they thought it would be. Regards (Fred Laun, Temple Hills, MD, July 4, WTFDA via DXLD) Q&A WITH IBIQUITY'S BOB STRUBLE http://www.billboardradiomonitor.com/radiomonitor/news/business/digital/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000971155 Bob Struble is CEO of Ibiquity, the company behind IBOC/HD radio, and this interview with him is enlightening, often in ways he may not have intended. I got a good laugh out of this quote: ``Right now we could probably make a portable HD radio but it would take a car battery to make it work.`` Struble also admits the original selling points for IBOC/HD --- improved audio and no interference --- are turning out to be non- starters with consumers. Posted on July 05, 2005 (Harry Helms, http://futureofradio.typepad.com/the_future_of_radio/2005/07/qa_with_ibiquit.html via DXLD) Comments --- You essentially are carrying around a laptop computer to hear the radio. Laptops run about 2 hours and are toast. My Superadio III will run 460 hours on a set of D cells. Which one will you choose? The Superadio III sounds pretty good also. I can't find an IBAC radio to listen to and see if it`s any good. Posted by: (kevin | July 5, 2005 09:44 AM ibid.) PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ UPDATED AFRICA ON SHORTWAVE SURVEYS FROM BDXC-UK Updated Africa on Shortwave surveys, compiled by Tony Rogers of the British DX Club, are now available on the BDXC-UK web site. Tony has updated both surveys as of July 2005. As usual there are two versions available: 1) Country order - this comprehensive list covers all known domestic and external short wave broadcasts from Africa as well as selected opposition/target broadcasts aimed at African countries. 2) Frequency order - this lists domestic stations in sub-Saharan Africa as well as most opposition/target broadcasts aimed at Africa. It also includes international broadcasts relayed from transmitters in Africa on the Tropical bands. These documents can be downloaded in pdf format from the Articles index on the BDXC-UK web site at: http://www.bdxc.org.uk (dxldyg via DXLD) MEDITERRANEO DX CLUB SWL Section Dear DXers, We are happy to announce the creation of the SWL Section in the Mediterraneo DX Club (MDXC). The goal of the Section is to group SWLs from all over the world, for a better information & skills exchange, and it's an opportunity for them to support DXPeditions. We should be active. The web site is now on line at http://www.mdxc.org/swl/index.htm All of you are invited to join us, to support us, for the best of our hobby, SWLing. Best 73's, Steven FE05-DX, MDXC#236 (SWL Section Creator), Achraf 3V4-002, MDXC#235 (Web design) (July 4, DX398 yg via DXLD) As far as I can tell this is ``SWL`` in the sense of non-hams who DX hams, not in its broader sense. Nice-looking site, tho (gh, DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ THIS IS THE STORY OF SKIP AND HIS FAMILY Skip is one elusive guy. He seems to never be around when I'd like to hook up with him. Most of the time, Skip will drop by unannounced. The other day Skip dropped in while I was mowing the yard. Somehow some of my friends that live in other states even knew he stopped by to see me!! Maybe it amuses him to stop in for ten or fifteen minutes and have me find out later he had been by for awhile. Sometimes Skip can really frustrate me! If you've got a minute friend, let me tell you about Skip and his family. Skip has a first name, but only uses the initial - E. Skip. He won't even tell me what it means. His brother does the same thing. His name starts with the letter F. Anyway, back to Skip. Skip has a wife, her name is Aurora. She seems to always be off doing her own thing. What I understand is that Aurora is a 'showgirl' and tends to work the venues up north. Most people say, that when she puts on a show, she's generally a crowd pleaser. I've had the privilege of catching one of her performances, many years ago. Skip and Aurora have a slew of kids - way too many to name here. They're the most undisciplined kids I've ever seen. They're here in a flash and gone, just like that. Forget about trying to get them to sit down for ten minutes. Talk about being a scattered bunch of youngsters! Most kids don't like to take baths, but Skip and Aurora's kids are always up for a shower. And you can tell when their kids have been around - sometimes they'll leave a trail. I could tell you a lot more about Skip, Aurora, and the kids, but in all honesty, that entire family has been one peculiarity with the science world and it seems a lot has already been written about them. I can tell you one thing about them. If all or any of them come to pay you a visit and you have at least a little time to spend with them, greet them with open arms, because I guarantee they probably won't stick around very long. And once they're gone, they'll have either left something new with you, or something you just can't quite identify. And that's the story of Skip (Jim Thomas, WTFDA via DXLD) LANGUAGE LESSONS ++++++++++++++++ Dual Income No Kids Yet ... DINKY Not In My Back Yard ... NIMBY Ok .. Yah ! (Mark Hattam, MWC via DXLD) Plenty of NIMBY's in the UK!! NIMBY = Not In My Back-Yard, i.e. people anti-development, etc. if it is close to home. 73 (Steve Whitt, ibid.) We also have BANANA's, Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything --- Sort of like NIMBYs only more so (Bruce Portzer, WA, ibid.) ###