DX LISTENING DIGEST 5-126, July 31, 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 1282: Mon 0230 WOR WRMI 7385 Mon 0300 WOR WBCQ 9330-CLSB Mon 0330 WOR WSUI Iowa City IA 910 Mon 0415 WOR WBCQ 7415 [usually closer to 0418-] Mon 1600 WOR WBCQ after hours Mon 1800 WOR RFPI [repeated 4-hourly thru 1400 Tue] Tue 1600 WOR WBCQ after hours Tue 2330 WOR WBCQ 7415 [occasional] Wed 0930 WOR WWCR 9985 Wed 1600 WOR WBCQ after hours Latest edition of this schedule version, with hotlinks to station sites and audio, is at: http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html WRN ON DEMAND: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO [also CONTINENT OF MEDIA, MUNDO RADIAL]: http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html WORLD OF RADIO 1282 (high version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1282h.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1282h.rm WORLD OF RADIO 1282 (low version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1282.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1282.rm (summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1282.html WORLD OF RADIO 1282 in true SW sound of Alex`s mp3: (stream) http://www.dxprograms.net/worldofradio_07-27-05.m3u (download) http://www.dxprograms.net/worldofradio_07-27-05.mp3 WORLD OF RADIO 1282 downloads in studio-quality mp3: (high) http://www.obriensweb.com/wor1282h.mp3 (low) http://www.obriensweb.com/wor1282.mp3 WORLD OF RADIO PODCAST: www.obriensweb.com/wor.xml (currently available: 1277, Extra 57, 1278, 1279, 1280, Extra 58, 1281, soon 1282) CONTINENT OF MEDIA 05-07 [available shortly]: (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/com0507.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/com0507.rm DX PROGRAMS, July 29 edition by John Norfolk: http://www.worldofradio.com/dxpgms.html NETS TO YOU, August 1 edition by John Norfolk: http://www.w4uvh.net/nets2you.html ** ANGOLA? Re 5-125: I'm receiving a very weak signal around 0400 on 7217 but doesn't seem to be Portuguese (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica) It's likely that it won't be Portuguese that you might hear here from Angola; as far as I know from sporadic logs, it's not the National Service on 7217/7245, but Radio N'Gola Yetu (vernaculars) + international service (Thorsten Hallmann, Münster, Germany, July 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. Hola amigos y colegas! El pasado fin de semana realizamos un DX Camp en la region de Cuyo, en el oeste de la Argentina. El lugar del encuentro fue El Challao, una pintoresca villa turistica enclavada a unos 7 kms al norte/oeste de la ciudad de Mendoza y a 1081 kms. al oeste de la Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires. Fuimos de la partida los siguientes colegas: Ruben Guillermo Margenet y Hugo Longhi, ambos de Rosario, provincia de Santa Fe; Miguel Castellino, de Godoy Cruz, provincia de Mendoza; Martin Gremoliche, de la provincia de San Juan y Marcelo Cornachioni & Arnaldo Slaen, ambos de Buenos Aires. Past weekend I was in the DX Camp Cuyo, make in El Challao, 7 km to north/west of Mendoza City and 1081 km west of Buenos Aires City, in the most important wine production region of Argentina. Six local DXers of different provinces were in the happening: Rubén Guillermo Margenet, Hugo Longhi, Miguel Castellino, Martin Gremoliche, Marcelo Cornachioni & Arnaldo Slaen [English version for HCDX] 5745.2, Radio Virgen de Remedios, Tupiza, 1110+, July 23, Spanish, Religious programme. Distorsionated signal, 44433 (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, Noticias DX via DXLD) That resolves Malm`s unID in 5-114. Virgen sure do get around. What exactly does Remedios mean in this sense? Random House dictionary suggests: remedy, emendation, protection, correction, help, refuge, not necessarily in that order. Perhaps refuge is closest (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 3338 kHz, 1046, R Virgen de los Remedios, Tupiza, Bolivia, retransmision de Radio Católica Mundial, ID de Ewtn en español, también escuchada de noche sobre las 0256 (Alfredo Locatelli, Uruguay, Conexión Digital July 30 via DXLD) Dates missing from his reports. It would be nice to know if it was on the same date they were reported above on 5745. Do they have two transmitters? (gh, DXLD) ** BRAZIL. A Rádio Baré Onda Tropical, de Manaus (AM), está no ar, entre 2000 e 1200, pela freqüência de 4895 kHz. A programação está a cargo da agência Proclip. O responsável pela emissora é Rosivaldo Ferreira. A direção postal da Rádio Baré Onda Tropical é a seguinte: Av. Tefé, 3025, Japiim, CEP: 69078-000, Manaus (AM). Na Internet: http://www.radiobare.com.br E-mail: sbomfin @ radiobare.com.br As informações são do biólogo Paulo Roberto e Souza, de Tefé (AM). BRASIL – Além Fronteiras é um espaço da Rádio Canção Nova, de Cachoeira Paulista (SP), que fala para os dexistas e radioescutas em geral. Vai ao ar, nos sábados, entre 2200 e 2330, em 4825, 6105 e 9675 kHz. O programa conta com um bloco de contestação às correspondências e informes de recepção recebidos de outros países, inclusive com locução em inglês e italiano. As informações são do sítio http://www.soradio.blogspot.com BRASIL – A Rádio Jornal A Crítica, de Manaus (AM), transmite, em 5055 kHz, entre 1200 e 1600 e das 1800 às 0200. As emissões em ondas tropicais estão a cargo de Getúlio Cetraro. A direção postal é: Rádio Jornal A Crítica, Av. André Araújo, 1924 A, Aleixo, CEP: 69060-001, Manaus (AM). E-mail: getulio @ acritica.com.br As informações são do biólogo Paulo Roberto e Souza, de Tefé (AM). BRASIL – O colunista tentou obter mais informações sobre as freqüências de 9550 e 11895 kHz da Rádio RGS, de Porto Alegre (RS). Foi feito um contato com Luciano Rolla, do Departamento de Jornalismo da emissora, que não soube informar se os canais estão ativos ou não. Já a freqüência de 6160 kHz permanece ativa, com alguns espaços sendo apresentados desde Porto Alegre e outros que são irradiados em rede com a Rádio Boa Vontade. Em 29 de julho, por volta de 0000, o colunista captou a emissora, em 6160 kHz, quando era transmitida a partida entre Grêmio e São Raimundo, desde Porto Alegre (RS). BRASIL – A Rádio Integração, de Cruzeiro do Sul (AC), voltará a ser captada, em 4765 kHz, provavelmente a partir de 10 de agosto. A previsão foi passada pela direção da emissora ao biólogo Paulo Roberto e Souza, de Tefé (AM). O contato na emissora é Albelia Bezerra da Cunha. A direção postal é a seguinte: Rua de Alagoas, 270, Bairro Escola Técnica, CEP: 69980-000, Cruzeiro do Sul (AC). E-mail: rtvi @ omegasul.com.br (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX July 31 via DXLD) ** CANADA. Programmes I Like Deep (# 6) "Deep Night"--CBC Radio One: Be afraid...be very afraid. Each summer, CBC Radio presents several programmes that are new, and are only aired during the summer months. "Deep Night" is one of them. "Deep Night" is a show featuring radio plays, and runs for about 35 minutes once a week. A new play is presented each week -- no series, or longer plays broken into several episodes, are presented. This is something that distinguishes this slot from "Sunday Showcase", also on CBC Radio One. As an introduction to each episode, an audio clip is aired right at the top, one which gives a taste of the mystery to come. A brief notice of the title and author follows. These plays all have themes that are linked by elements of horror, mystery, suspense, the macabre, and/or the occult. Topics with a magical or science fiction slant are featured as well. Sometimes there is a twist or unexpected ending, common to much mystery writing. The plays vary in quality, of course, depending on the writer. But all are light and inconsequential in nature. None have much of a deeper meaning or import. Rather, they are meant to be enjoyed while listening, and then forgotten. The listener will not be mulling over these plays days later. If a play is short and does not consume all of the allotted time slot, then an audio clip from an upcoming play is featured. Each edition ends with the usual credits. "Deep Night" might be a good way for a novice to get an introduction to audio plays, so-called theatre-of-the-air. The plays are short, and eventful, with numerous changes of scene and a limited cast of characters. They require little concentration. Website: http://www.cbc.ca/programguide/program/index.jsp?program=Deep+Night E-Mail: n/a (Peter Bowen, Canada?, July 30, Swprograms mailing list via DXLD) Fridays 10-10:40 pm local across Canada, so first airing in the AT/NT zone is 0105 UT Saturday, repeated 1, 2, 3 and 4 hours later (gh) ** CANADA. CHANGES TO AMATEUR RADIO REGULATIONS IN CANADA Gazette Notice DGRB-003-05 Department of Industry Radiocommunication Act Notice No. DGRB-003-05 – Revisions to Amateur Radio Operator Requirements Relating to Morse code Notice is hereby given that Industry Canada is revising the amateur radio operator requirements relating to Morse code. Morse code will no longer be the sole additional requirement by which Canadian radio amateurs will gain access to the HF bands, but it will remain as one valid criterion. . . http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/epic/internet/insmt-gst.nsf/en/sf08435e.html (via Sheldon Harvey, VE2SHW, DXLD) ** CHINA. 7280, Voice of Strait, 1045 Mandarin pop songs, Continuous M talking, 1100 time signal then songs again, no ID heard till 1110 July 21. And July 31 at 1057 Mandarin Pop songs, heard YL mentioning ID ``Haixia Zeshen``. At 1100 time signal at 1900 beginning time, continuous YL brief news with musical background, then long talking till 1120 (Liem Kwet Hian, Jakarta, HCDX via DXLD) ** CONGO DR [non]. Dem. Rep. /Rep. of SOUTH AFRICA. 11890, R Okapi, Kinshasa, via Meyerton, *1602-1700*, Jul 25, new evening program, talks in French and Afropop, the audio came on late and as a "compensation" it was cut off in mid talk at 1700, 32333 heavy QRM from R Liberty in Uzbek on 11885 heard // 9595, and R Liberty in Turkmen on 11895 heard // 15120 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window July 27 via DXLD) ** CUBA. DIAS DE RADIO CON MANOLO DE LA ROSA Hola, La AER, ofrece en el nº de AGOSTO de su boletín DX gratuito EL DIAL DIGITAL http://edd.aer-dx.org una entrevista en EXCLUSIVA con el conocido locutor y productor de la radio internacional MANOLO DE LA ROSA. Además del formato web usual, se ha incluido un folleto a todo color de 8 páginas en formato PDF con la entrevista que tod@s l@s visitantes de la web podrán bajarse gratuitamente. Esperamos que su lectura, en estos días de veraneo, sea del agrado de tod@s. Un saludo cordial, especialmente a los asistentes al Encuentro DX en Tampico, Méjico (Pedro Sedano, Madrid, España, COORDINADOR GENERAL, AER, http://www.aer-dx.org July 31, Noticias DX via DXLD) Viz.: http://www.aer-dx.org/eldiald/portada.htm (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. Radio cubana por Internet: Hola estimados radio escuchas!: Desde este Link: http://multimedia-radio.cubasi.cu/ Tendrán acceso a radio y televisión cubana. Emisoras como Radio Habana Cuba, Radio Rebelde y otras, así como la televisión cubana, están disponibles en este link. También otras cosas en audio y video. Algunas emisoras y sus características. Radio Reloj: Dando la hora minuto a minuto y noticias todo el día. Única emisora en el mundo de su tipo. Radio Habana Cuba: Conocida en el mundo entero pues es la emisora internacional de Cuba. Radio Rebelde: Una emisora que transmite programación variada y deportiva. Radio Taíno: Dirigida específicamente al sector turístico. Única emisora en Cuba que transmite anuncios comerciales. Radio Progreso: La emisora de la familia cubana. Transmite toda una programación variada, incluyendo programas seriados y dramáticos como radio novelas, cuentos, teatros ETC, Para mi, una de las mejores. ¡Qué las disfruten! (Alex Castillo, Foro AER yg via José Bueno, Noticias DX via DXLD) ** CUBA. CENTRO DE INFORMACION PARA LA PRENSA No trace of Musical Nacional on 590 (or the transmitter), daytime at least, for the past two days. Anybody really believe all these frequencies are or even recently were active for Musical Nacional? Note s/on time listed as 7 a.m. vs. occasionally observed 6 a.m. http://www.cip.cu/directorio/contenido/jsp/mostrador_entidad.jsp?id_entidad=3&id_categoria=13 Note that the Musical URL is dead (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, July 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Radio Rebelde, 590, unknown site; 0843+ GMT July 31, fair, parallel 600, 610, 1180 and mixing with WDIZ-Panama City. Later: no trace of it just before and post-sunrise (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, July 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CZECH REPUBLIC. ORCO TO BUILD RADIO FREE EUROPE HQ OUTSIDE PRAGUE CENTRE Property developer Orco Property Group will build new headquarters for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in Prague 10, RFE/RL spokeswoman Anna Rausova said. RFE/RL will leave the former parliament building near Prague's Wenceslas Square. The two sides signed a contract ensuring a 15-year lease with an option to extend every 10 years. RFE/RL managers estimate the process of construction and moving out of the city centre could take about 2.5 years. "Our target date is end- 2007," Rausova said. At that time, the radio station's lease contract at the former parliament building expires. The Czech government started to consider moving the radio station's headquarters out of the centre after the 9/11 terror attacks on the USA. Since that time, the building has been under police protection. For some time after the attacks, it was guarded by several armoured vehicles. (Source: CTK - Czech News Agency) # posted by Andy @ 15:50 UT July 28 (Media Network blog via DXLD) Accompanied by photo of a building, uncaptioned, but presumably the parliament building present HQ (gh) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA ECUATORIAL. 5005, Radio Nacional Guinea Ecuatorial, 2000-2030, 27-07, música africana, locutor, curiosa identificación a las 2003: "Radio Bata, la casa de la palabra del pueblo". 45444. Se escucha con fuerte señal todas las noches hasta su hora de cierre, a las 23 horas variable. En cambio al amanecer se escucha esporádicamente y con señal más débil (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, Escuchas realizadas en Reinante, costa del Mar Cantábrico, 90 Km. N. de Lugo. Grundig Satellit 500, Antena de cable, 10 metros, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 5005, R. Nacional, Bata, 2200-2230, Jul 16, Spanish short announcement, music, 2211 many station IDs, frequencies, names of the collaborators of the program; "avisos y comunicados oficiales" with 10 minutes of study possibilities and available grants, a.o. in Algeria and Morocco. This was followed by several station IDs and music. Nothing heard about the plane crash in Equatorial Guinea, earlier that evening. Very nice reception: 44444 (Max Van Arnhem, Netherlands, DSWCI DX Window July 27 via DXLD) ** FINLAND. 5980, 5990, 6170, 11690 and 11720, Scandinavian Weekend R, Virrat. The transmitters of SWR will be used TWICE during August 2005. First transmission will be Aug 05/06 and SPECIAL FDXA (Finnish DX- Association)- Summer Meeting R Aug 12/13. 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 Aug 12-14. 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 (Alpo Heinonen, Finland, DSWCI DX Window July 27 via DXLD) Here are my own observations of SWR reception here in Copenhagen on Sat Jul 01: I checked all five frequencies at 2155 (Fr), 0325, 0510, 0955, 1120, 1250, 1325 and 1625. But SWR was only audible at 1120, 1250 and 1325 on 11720. At 1120-1200 there were splashes from strong R Japan via Rampisham, UK on 11710 in Japanese (QSA 5), but it signed off at 1200. SWR heard with 23333. From 1200, 11720 was clear and SWR was heard with 25343 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window July 27 via DXLD) ** HUNGARY. SIXTY HA STATIONS TO APPEAR ON 6 METERS. Chris, HA5X, informs OPDX readers: "6m is not allocated for the amateur radio service in Hungary. Haros Radioclub (HA5HRK) has requested a 30 day experimental 6m licence at the National Communications Authority in Hungary for 25 stations. Aim of the experiment is to test whether interference with television broadcast is manageable, and if the band can be opened for amateur radio use before terrestrial TV broadcasting comes to an end. The authority has shown a very positive attitude and invited two other amateur radio organizations to take part in the experiment with their sets of stations. This means that a maximum of 60 licenced HA stations may appear on 50 MHz in the period 1-30 August. There will be no major mode restrictions (digi modes also allowed), but a limit of 5W ERP (0dB antennas). As the aim of the experiment is to finally get a permanent okay for 6m activities, and the authorities are watching the activity with their equipment, we hope that all stations will keep to the rules, ie. power restriction. No single QSO is worth the whole future of 6m in Hungary." (August 1 KB8NW/OPDX/BARF80, via Dave Raycroft, July 30, ODXA via DXLD) ** INDIA. Re vacating 90 m: AIR stations are still there, 3223, 3315, 3390 at least. So go for the QSLs. They might probably find the Sri Lanka vacated frequencies on 60 m.b. worth the picking! (Victor Goonetilleke, Sri Lanka, DSWCI DX Window July 27 via DXLD) ** INDONESIA. RRI Denpasar, Bali heard on 3945 at 1129 July 26 with Indonesian pop song and gamelan Bali then Hindu religious program by YL about Women in Hindu, 1200 ID then news from Jakarta up to 1218 "Padamu Negeri" chorus. (On calling the station at 62 361 223087 one of staff at studio confirm on repair at their transmitter site at Latu - about 16 km from Denpasar - 1 or 2 weeks ago). 1300 OM talk about the next local election, then music by request via phone. 1308 tune out then check at 1357 not heard anymore (Tony Ashar, Depok Indonesia, HCDX via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. ARISS --- The International Space Station is now under construction and is permanently manned by teams of astronauts, many of whom have amateur licenses. Amateurs from the ISS partner countries, in the USA, Russia, Japan, Europe and Canada, have set up ARISS (Amateur Radio on the International Space Station), a program to develop and put into operation the on-board amateur station. The following frequencies are currently used for ARISS general QSOs: Voice and Packet Downlink: 145.80 (Worldwide) Voice Uplink: 144.49 for Regions 2 and 3 (The Americas, and Pacific) Voice Uplink: 145.20 for Region 1 (Europe, Central Asia and Africa) Packet Uplink: 145.99 (Worldwide) Crossband FM repeater downlink: 145.80 MHz (Worldwide) Crossband FM repeater uplink: 437.80 MHz (Worldwide) All frequencies are subject to Doppler shifting. Full information can be found on various web sites, for instance: http://www.ariss-eu.org/ http://www.rac.ca/ariss/ http://www.arrl.org/ARISS/ http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/station/reference/radio/ [TNX Info Radio and I1PIK] (425 DX News via Dave Raycroft, ODXA via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. NORTH KOREA: Change of Satellite Frequency from August 3, 2005 Hello! According to announcements made in the programmes of the Voice of Korea, Pyongyang, DPR Korea (North Korea), the satellite frequency for the transmissions of the KOREAN CENTRAL TV STATION (KCTV) and VOICE OF KOREA will be changed effective August 3, 2005 from: old: 3424.5 MHz to new: 3674.6 MHz Unfortunately, no further information is given as to whether the satellite used will be changed etc. The relays were started on April 11, 2003 via THAICOM 3 at 78.5 E. You may find the current data valid until Aug. 3 on http://www.lyngsat.com/thai3.html I would appreciate a wide publicity of this information by stating me as the source. Best '73, (OM Arnulf Piontek, Berlin, Germany, July 30, HCDX via DXLD) ** IRAN. VOZ [de la República] ISLÁMICA DE IRÁN, 15530, 0600 UT, Lectura de cartas de los oyentes, de España, Argentina, comentarios y respuestas varias, Ide por OM, dirección postal, canciones iraníes. 26/7 (CÉSAR PÉREZ DIOSES, CHIMBOTE, PERÚ, RECEPTOR: GRUNDIG YB 400 / SONY 7600G, ANTENAS: DIPOLO DE 25 ETROS A 10 M ETROS DE ALTURA, LOOP DE CUADRO PARA MW, HULA LOOP–CASERA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN. From DX Editor of DX Program "Onde Radio". Hello to all, we wish to inform you that the DX program "Onde Radio" from VOIRI Tehran on 15085, 17560 kHz at 0630-0730 UT, publishes the update Newsletter in Italian. You can see the O.R. Newsletter online on the following address: http://www.radioascolto.it/08_newsletter%20onde_radio.htm In meantime, please have all my best thanks and regards (Alfredo Gallerati (VOIRI Dx Editor), July 31, HCDX via DXLD) Website reveals that the segment`s actual time is Tuesday at 0815 Italian time --- but that would be 0615 UT since surely Italy is on UT+2 this summer! Does he mean 0715 UT = 0915 in Italy? Anyhow, transcript shows it`s all about ham radio developments, no SWBC news (gh, DXLD) ** IVORY COAST. Re ``You will no longer be able to hear RFI in Côte d'Ivoire from tomorrow as part of the Canal Horizon satellite package. Radio France Internationale's programmes have been removed from the package at the request of the CNCA, the Ivorian broadcasting regulatory body. `` --- Not exactly true I would say. RFI was on air via a Canal Satellite mux on the NSS-7 satellite (transponder 13 on 11.491 GHz to be specific), but it was free to air and herewith not part of the Canal Satellite package. The same applies to TV5 which uses this way to reach a direct-to-home satellite audience in West Africa as well. I found some weak indications for Canal Satellite Horizons being rebroadcast in the Abidjan area. If so they probably kicked RFI off for not [?] endangering their cable or whatever distribution. But in case Canal Satellite Horizons is indeed only a satellite operation it would be just about selling subscriptions in Ivory Coast without interference from the authorities there. And so good-bye RFI, no matter what kind of contract they had (Kai Ludwig, Germany, July 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** JORDAN. JOB IREX - Jordan - : Chief of Party JOB ALERT sent out by DevNetJobs http://www.DevNetJobs.org POSITION DESCRIPTION: IREX is seeking a chief of party for a USAID- funded program supporting independent media development in Jordan. The incumbent will provide leadership, strategic planning, and overall management of a complex multi-year program. The position is full-time and requires residency in the country. http://216.197.119.113/jobman/publish/article_11272.shtml (via Dr Hansjoerg Biener, DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH. See INTERNATIONAL VACUUM ** KURDISTAN [non]. Some Kurdish websites in support of the former PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) - now "Kurdistan Freedom and Democracy Congress" (KADEK) - include a link to the audio streaming of "Radyo Roj" (Radio Roj), which has been observed irregularly and drifting around 6310-6315 kHz since the beginning of 2005 (nominally on 6310 according to the station's initial announcement). Example: http://www.kurdsites.com/radyoroj/ (note - the streaming requires, and asks, for an installation of the "Flatcast" player). Radio Roj is described as a 24h Kurdish online music station. The server for the audio streaming is located in Switzerland (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, July 31, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LIBERIA [non]. Star Radio, 9525 and 11965: By direction finding, both transmissions have been confirmed to come from the Ascension Island. This is also the tentative schedule for B-05 (Nov 2005-Mar 2006). (Anker Petersen, Denmark, ed., DSWCI DX Window July 27 via DXLD) Observer said the latter tentative B-05 would be on 11995 (gh) ** MEXICO. I had the great pleasure to meet Dr. Julián Santiago Díez at the two National Mexican DX Meetings, I have attended where he promoted the broadcasts of R Mil. He is a physician who also has studied at the University Hospital of Odense in Denmark and because of that he speaks good Danish and was able without preparation to translate my messages from the DSWCI to the many Mexican DX-ers directly from Danish to Spanish! If any of our members sends a reception report to R Mil, please forward my best regards! He will no doubt get a positive look at your reception report! (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window July 27 via DXLD) ** MEXICO. XERTA, RADIO TRANSCONTINETAL DE AMERICA, 4810, 0515 UT. Programa cultural hablando de las culturas aborígenes en Yucatán, Ide por OM, música ranchera, 26/7 (CÉSAR PÉREZ DIOSES, CHIMBOTE, PERÚ, RECEPTOR: GRUNDIG YB 400 / SONY 7600G, ANTENAS: DIPOLO DE 25 A 10 METROS DE ALTURA, LOOP DE CUADRO PARA MW, HULA LOOP–CASERA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4810, XERTA, Radio Transcontinental de América, 0507-0525, 30-07, locutor, comentarios religiosos. Señal muy débil y con fuerte ruído. Sólo audible en LSB. 14121 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, Escuchas realizadas en Reinanate, costa del Mar Cantábrico, 90 Km. N. de Lugo, Grundig Satellit 500, antena de cable, 10 metros, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 590, XEPH, México, Distrito Federal; 1057-1115 GMT July 31, this is the one I heard a few days ago [under USA] with the anthem at 1100. Tune-in to tropical vocal, man mentioning "corporación radiofónica" and tropical ballad, another mention of "radiofónica" by man. Choral anthem from 1101, then female canned "XEPH... Distrito Federal.... mil watts de potencia." Back to vocals. Per http://www.sabrosita590.net the slogan is "Sabrosita 590 A-M" (not "Tuya 590" as listed in the WRTH-2005). Format is tropical/romántica- type stuff, actually sounding more Cuban than anything you'd expect from Mexico. Local level for a few minutes, then dropping down with sunrise (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, July 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEW ZEALAND [non]. VANUATU GETS 2 NEW MW AND DRM CAPABLE TRANSMITTERS The New Zealand Government has given funds for 2 new MW transmitters, one for Vila area, the other for Santo area, and both will be installed by September 2005. Each will be DRM capable. In handing over funding, the NZ High Commissioner [Ambassador] said that FM and TV might be 'nice to have', but mediumwave 'is an essential part of a functioning democracy'. MW broadcasts in many parts of the Pacific are in danger of shut down from high power costs [usually diesel generators], lack of technical expertise, weather damage and old equipment. Currently, Radio Cook Islands 630, SBC Samoa 540 and SIBC Honiara 1035 are all running at half or reduced power because of power costs, Nauru 1323 is off air, KJAL American Samoa 580 is on reduced power after a cyclone, WVUV American Samoa 648 has been operating only at very low power awaiting an FCC frequency and tower change and part of Papua New Guinea's MW network is being rebuilt with Japanese aid. The comments from the New Zealand government reflect a real concern that neighbor island broadcasters are under severe pressure to survive. Both RNZI and Radio Australia now provide much of the technical and training expertise needed to keep stations on air as far away as the Marshall Islands and as close as Tonga and Niue. This 'aid' is expected to expand in the future. The model emerging is for island stations to get help buying new DRM capable MW transmitters so they can relay RNZI DRM [from later this year] and RA DRM [2006] broadcasts to local repeater FM stations whilst providing a stable MW signal for continued reception on analog radio sets. Recommended reading: 'Digital Radio Broadcasting' and 'Radio Happy Isles' from the Top 40 Radio Book List now available at The Radio Heritage Store (c) at http://www.radioheritage.net Warm regards (David Ricquish, Radio Heritage Foundation, July 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NICARAGUA. 600, Radio Ya, Managua; 1041-1045 GMT July 31, briefly up between the Mexican and Cuba with end of vocal, male "Radio Ya" ID, mentions of Managua. WRTH-2005 and the station's current URL list slogan as "La Nueva Ya" now, but they did not ID that way (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, July 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGER. Re 5-126: ``La Voix du Sahel, July 28 at 0400 with good signal on 9704 ... Must be Swahili, not French`` Very Unlikely that Niger is a) on as early as 0400, b) broadcasting Swahili or anything similar, c) audible on 9704 while Ethiopia isn't though regularly on the air at that time in east African languages. The Ethiopian transmitter is on 9704 rather then 9705, while the Niger transmitter (when last heard about 1 1/2 years ago) was likely to be on 9706 or so. I still believe this transmitter is inactive (Thorsten Hallmann, Münster, Germany, July 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA. Radio Nigeria [domestic] to go satellite Oct 1 - DG Jude Owuamanam, Monday, August 01 2005 The Director-General of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, Dr. Eddie Iroh, has said that Radio Nigeria will, by October 1, this year start satellite transmission of its programmes to every part of the country. Iroh said that to realise this dream, the radio station was in the final stages of installing a N94 million Very Small Aperture Transmitter (VSAT) technology, which would deliver clean, clear compact disc quality programming to every home. He also said that by the end of the year, about 30 of the planned FRCN stations in each of the 36 the states of the federation would have come into operation. The DG who spoke to Sunday Punch in an interview in Jos, said that by the end of September, the equipment for the VSAT technology would have been installed and "by October 1, we should be saying goodbye to problems militating against effective transmission of our programmes." The FRCN boss, who attributed the problem of inaudible programmes to antiquated short and medium wave transmitters, which are more than 35 years old, instead of the normal 15 years, said that the VSAT technology would address the poor reception of network news and other programmes. He said that the only relatively new transmitter which the station presently had is the one at Gwagwalada area of Abuja from where the station transmits network programmes, adding however that the transmitter had not been able to transit at the normal 100 Kilowatts radiating power because the area is notorious for epileptic power supply. Iroh said that, even though the station had had to depend on diesel to run its generator, the fuel was always had to come by. He said that even as the satellite technology goes into operation, the station would continue to lobby the National Assembly and The Presidency to appropriate money to replace the very old and antiquated short and medium wave transmitters with modern digital compliant technology, which is the way the world is going right now. The DG, who decried the politicization of the construction of FRCN stations by some state governments, said that at the end it was the Nigerian people that were being deprived of the right to know. SUNDAY PUNCH, July 31, 2005 http://www.punchng.com/main/article12 (via Dan Say, BC, DXLD) ** NIGERIA. Re 5-126: 7255 until 2300 is Hausa, not Arabic. The signal strength on 15120 and generally the audio quality is varying wildly, also regarding the pre-recorded broadcasts. Some days it's quite OK, others terrible. Don't ask why. However, transmissions are quite regular now (Thorsten Hallmann, Münster, Germany, July 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA [non]. 11885, 27 Jul [miércoles], Salama Radio, 2003-2030, inglés, locutor con comentarios de carácter religioso, música de coros, ID "Salama Radio International", programa en inglés para Nigeria, SINPO 55544 (José Miguel Romero, Sacañet (Castellón), España, SANGEAN ATS 909, Antena hilo de siete metros, bclnews.it via DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA. Glenn -- Over a year after your request, KFXY has been added to OKCRadio.net. Its extremely poor signal (even in north OKC) was always my reason not to rush and add it. I also gave your site a plug (Brian French http://www.okcradio.net/ July 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Brian, Glad to see you adding other OK markets [just Durant so far] -- - Enid sometime? (gh to Brian, via DXLD) As for Enid radio stations and other Oklahoma markets, it will be a slow process adding new markets. I just don't have enough "down time." Citadel is still operating 96.9 as an LMA from what I hear. Also, KFXY has nothing to do with Citadel. It is strictly a Champlin (or Chisholm Trail) venture. Have a great day! (Brian French, July 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. It`s confusing but exciting: OETA is looking forward to starting multi-channel broadcasting in October, 4 different services in DTV, one being an all-Oklahoma channel, another for kids, and adult learning. Boss says PBS now runs at prime live-feed times the censored versions of programs with language or obscenity problems, making available uncensored versions separately for stations that want them, instead of vice versa. Oops, he said ``edited``, not ``censored`` (OETA Oklahoma Forum, July 31, notes by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) Meanwhile KETA-DT 32 is blocked in Enid by KXOK`s freeze-frame absolute nonsense and waste (gh, Enid, DXLD) ** PALESTINE. "HAMAS USING OFFICIAL RADIO STATION TO INSTRUCT MISSILE- LAUNCH CREWS" Hamas has been using its official radio station in Gaza to broadcast instructions to terrorists in the field firing mortars and rockets at Gaza's Jewish communities, security sources have told WorldNetDaily. According to these security sources, for the past few months Voice of Al Aqsa has been relaying instructions to terrorists firing rockets and mortars at Gush Katif from Gaza City. The station, which broadcasts in Arabic, is available to the general Gaza public at 106.7 FM and on the Internet with programming that routinely incites violence against Israel. The station was bombed by the Israeli Defense Forces in May 2004, but was rebuilt quickly and resumed broadcasts shortly thereafter. Read the full story http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=45476 (Thanks to Nick Grace/Clandestine Radio Watch for the link) # posted by Andy @ 15:24 UT July 28 (Media Network blog via DXLD) Story is not full enough, since it does not explain how the coordinates are conveyed --- any encryption or in the clear? (gh) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 7120, Wantok Radio Light, 0955-1005, July 23, English! Christian songs, announcement by male at 1001 (I couldn`t hear the ID), short talk by male and more songs, 25422 (Arnaldo Slaen, Cuyo DX Camp, Argentina, Noticias DX via DXLD) see BOLIVIA for more about camp and colleagues (gh) ** PERU. Hi Glenn - I first heard Radio Victoria, Lima on 6020 kHz (always a shade off frequency) in the early 90s on a DXpedition with Vashek Korinek in Copperton, South Africa. Heard it many times since then but never with an ID. Then on 18 June at 0428 UT I heard a clear ID on a phone-in programme and this gave me the basis for a decent report. The QSL came in today: Reciba Usted un cordial saludo y la vez para decirle que recibimos su correspondencia, y nos alegramos saber que Radio Victoria llega a lugares muy lejanos como su país. La Radio presta servicios a la Iglesia Pentecostal Dios Es Amor en el programa La Voz de la Liberación que transmite una palabra de Fe para los corazones, anunciando a Cristo como el salvador del mundo. Me gustaría recibir más informaciones de su país, le dejo mi correo electrónico: silvioramos777 @ hotmail.com --- from Henrique Silvio Ramos - Administrador. Postal address I used was as per WRTH 2005. Worth the wait as always, especially nowadays with the QSL hit rate at such low levels (Graham Bell, London, England, July 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 6956.91, Radio La Voz de los Campesinos, 25 July, 0049-0141*, Lively campo music, same fast-paced M announcer as heard in the past with a little echo. Comunicados, greetings, TCs, song announcements. Mentions of "Perú Andina". Finally caught IDs at 0132 and 0137. Long canned closing echo ID by M over music ending with "...muy buenas noches en ?? (not Huarmaca)", and then off. No NA. Decent signal strength but audio not that strong (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, Jihad-DX via Aug NASWA Listeners Notebook via DXLD) ** PORTUGAL. Re 5-125: RDPi A05 --- Dear Glenn, Please note the following. For some odd, yet interesting, reasons, it seems both the RDPi and its antipodal station RNZI have their schedules repeated. Let me now correct a few details on R. Portugal's (=RDPi) A05 appearing in DXLD 5-125 of 29 JUL: Mon-Fri :: Eur 13770 kHz is 1600-1900 300 kW 45º 15555 kHz (ex-11905) is 1600-1900 100 kW 52º (this amendment is dated 16 May) NAm 1200-2300* 15560 kHz 100 kW 300º, not 294º 2300-0200 9715 100 300º, not 294º (this took effect on 03 May) Sat+Sun :: Eur 1400-2000 (ex- 1400-1800) 15555 kHz 100 52º (because 1800-2000 11700 kHz 100 kW 52º was deleted on 28 May) NAm 1200-2000 17615 kHz 100 kW is 300º, not 294º 2000-2300* 15560 kHz 100 kW is 300º, not 294º *) used for extra or special transmissions only - which are NOT necessarily filled with relays of major (typically) football match relays (parallel to RDP Antena 1) only: they may apply to other events, even political, e.g. elections, religious (...), e.g. reports on Fátima celebrations. Those amendments for Europe were partly (or entirely!) due to the removal of another old 100 kW transmitter, which leads to a present total of just 4 x 100 kW + 2 Thalès 300 kW. The 3rd & 4th Thalès 300 kW transmitters were delivered months ago, and by this time at least one is already operational or finishing tests, so the situation by Oct'05 will hopefully be 1 x 300 kW AEG, 3 x 300 kW Thalès and possibly still 4 x 100 kW old units. The 300º azimuth to NAm is via their new curtain array (the other is still via an old rhombic antenna): AHR 4/4/1.0 300º is the curtain data supplied by the RDPi frequency manager. Strangely enough, this season, the RDPi frequency manager - who always seems reluctant to disclose the schedules well in advance for distribution - sent me the tentative B05_0 dtd. 30 June on 6 July. frankly, I believe it would have been too premature to have it disclosed so early, and it still is, especially when one knows international broadcasters perform last minute changes, but I can send it, if of interest. Certain high frequencies thereof, e.g. 21655, 21830, 17680, serving WAfr+B and So+E Afr, are kept. In other cases, it's just the frequency within the same band that changes. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, July 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RDPi's B-05 schedule dated 30 JUN does not entirely coincide with what the HFCC apparently has: differences between the two do abound, mainly re the chosen frequencies. Apart from that, be aware the schedules registered with the HFCC indicate the "special broadcasts" as being normal, daily broadcasts , and that's certainly not the case; I've been asked how is that more than once: well, in practice, I suppose the official / international registration has to be in those terms, but the station only airs those special transmissions if needed, not daily, so in theory there can be weeks without such programs. Apart from their typical "menu" served at those special or extra broadcasts (call it what you want), I believe the forthcoming municipal elections in October will justify another "dish" for the RDPi extra transmissions (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, July 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi dear Carlos, HFCC table entry agreement is NOT a FIXED program schedule. Special program transmissions from RDP Lisbon can happen EVERY day of the week 'in theory'. To keep clear this frequency in a given direction azimuth needs an entry on all days of the week under '1234567' short term (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, ibid.) ** PUERTO RICO [and non]. Re WWV signal in SE US: There has been informal discussion within the government about the possibility of another 60 kHz transmission, from Puerto Rico, for WWV. Some sort of agreement with the Navy re their LF site there seems to be one alternative (Jim Ross, July 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Well, well, I just suggested PR since it`s quasi-American territory and has that tropical propagational advantage on SW. Or, as I was going to add to the previous item about a SW ``relay`` -- why not some place like Lanham, Maryland? And why has no SWBC relay site ever been located on PR? It should be an ideal site for covering North America. Look how well nearby Antigua worked for decades --- and still could (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Huh? 15 MHz is nearly always rock solid daytime, 5 MHz nights here in west-central Klaus Fluoride. Maybe owning a decent receiver is the issue? (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida USA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOMALIA [non]. 17550, (CLANDESTINE), R. Waaberi, originally unID, but IDed as this per Bernd Trutenau info. Heard Friday, Jul 29, at 1355. I was waiting for R. Solmal to come on at 1400, not realizing that it went to 1330-1400 on Jul 22 (per Bulgarian "Observer"). There was a station on frequency at tune-in, fadey signal but useable. Definite HoA music, then closing announcement by woman which I couldn't get until reading Bernd's item; now I can hear "Waaberi" at the start of the announcement. A bit more music, then off. In listening to the recording posted on their website I see that it opens with a "Jeff White RMI" announcement in English, so Jeff must be the broker for this one. Bernd advises that this one is via Jülich, Fridays 1330-1400, URL is http://www.radiowaaberi.org e-mail info @ radiowaaberi.org and that it is the same as earlier reported as "R. Solmal/Soomal" and "R. Nuateri/Muateri" (Jerry Berg, MA, NASWA Flashsheet July 31 via DXLD) ** SUDAN [non]. Radio Nile via Madagascar booms in here nightly at 0427 sign-on, on 12060. Excellent signal. Fair // 15320 via Madagascar. There is an ID at 0427 in unID language related to Arabic, followed by an English ID. There is a bit of English afterward but very little. Someone please tell me the language or languages used. I would love to think it's a Cushitic language, tho' sounds like Amharic (related). Perhaps when I wasn't listening, there was a Nilo-Saharan language, too. 73/ (Liz Cameron, MI, July 31, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Maybe ``Juba Arabic`` is one of them, as heard on SRS (gh, DXLD) ** U K. Does anyone know of web links to biographical information on BBC World Service newsreaders? I am aware that there are links for information on hosts and main presenters of their various programmes but I am interested in the people that just read the news. They only say their name once so it is often hard to catch the name. One person I am interested in is a woman whose quickly read name sounds like "Laila Goga". Anyone know the actual name? (Andy O`Brien, NY, K3UK, dxldyg via DXLD) Dear Andy, I hope the following link of BBC would be of useful for your query. http://news.bbc.co.uk/aboutbbcnews/hi/profiles/default.stm Regards, (Hari Madugula, Hyderabad, India, ibid.) Unfortunately incomplete and not including Laila Goga (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. MIAMI HERALD URGES 'NO PROPAGANDA WAR' AGAINST VENEZUELA The Miami Herald has come out strongly against the Congressional proposal for the US government to begin radio and TV broadcasts aimed at Venezuela. In an editorial, the newspaper says: "It is no secret that President Hugo Chávez would like to stifle independent news reporting in Venezuela. But that's no reason for the United States to get involved in a fruitless propaganda war with this Andean demagogue. Yet a proposal in the US Congress, introduced by Rep Connie Mack, a Florida Republican, would do just that by paying for official government broadcasts into that country in the manner of TV and Radio Martí, which are aimed at Cuba." The newspaper points out that "The Voice of America is there for those who want official US information broadcasts" and adds that "Rep Mack's proposal could do more harm than good, handing President Chávez one more propaganda victory. It doubtless would be seen elsewhere in Latin America as US meddling in the internal affairs of a sovereign country that still enjoys full diplomatic relations with the United States." # posted by Andy @ 15:16 UT July 28 (Media Network blog via DXLD) ** U S A. Howcum, still on UT July 31, searching C-SPAN for Tomlinson, I don`t get any hits from 2005? Anyhow, Kim has found the transcript of his appearance on July 20, also with video link, apparently not put up until July 24: http://www.q-and-a.org/Transcript/?ProgramID=1033 (gh, from kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) ** U S A. World Harvest Radio DX Programs Some changes to the WHR times of DXING WITH CUMBRE: The Saturday 0730 airing on both WHRI transmitters, the Saturday 0900 and Sunday 0500 airings on KWHR and the Friday 2100 airing on WHRA are no longer listed, the latter replaced with Lester Sumrall Teachings (I guess; one column says Monday-Thursday and the other Monday-Friday). Well, if Dr. Scott can preach from beyond the grave, why not Sumrall? One new time, apparently Sunday 0230 on WHRA 5850 (I say apparently as it says 0230 Sunday and Sunday local time; see below). As for RADIO WEATHER, some changes there as well. Here's an edited version of the alleged current schedule of both programs: UT time/date Local time/date (sort of)/Program/Freq kHz/Angel #... [but see revised version below] 0330 Su 1130 PM - 1200 AM Sunday Dxing with Cumbre 7315 1 0500 Sa 0100 AM - 0130 AM Saturday Dxing with Cumbre 7315 1 1530 Su 1130 AM - 1200 PM Sunday Dxing with Cumbre 15285 1 1930 Sa 0330 PM - 0400 PM Saturday Dxing with Cumbre 15285 1 0500 Sa 0100 AM - 0130 AM Saturday Dxing with Cumbre 7465 2 2030 Su 0430 PM - 0500 PM Sunday Dxing with Cumbre 15785 2 0330 Sa 1130 PM - 1200 AM Saturday Dxing with Cumbre 17510 3 1500 Su 1100 AM - 1130 AM Sunday Dxing with Cumbre 11555 3 0500 Su 0100 AM - 0130 AM Sunday Dxing with Cumbre 9510 4 0700 Sa 0300 AM - 0330 AM Saturday Dxing with Cumbre 9510 4 0230 Su 1030 PM - 1100 PM Sunday Dxing with Cumbre 5850 5 0230 Sa 1030 PM - 1100 PM Saturday Dxing with Cumbre 5850 5 [I can`t think of any less useful way to sort schedule info than by transmitter number, and then by time of day, and then by day of week - -- gh] 0030 Sa 0830 PM - 0900 PM Saturday Radio Weather 7315 1 2000 Su 0400 PM - 0430 PM Sunday Radio Weather 15285 1 0300 Su 1100 PM - 1130 PM Sunday Radio Weather 7465 2 0930 Su 0530 AM - 0600 AM Sunday Radio Weather 7520 2 1030 Sa 0630 AM - 0700 AM Saturday Radio Weather 7520 2 1230 Su 0830 AM - 0900 AM Sunday Radio Weather 9840 2 1730 Sa 0130 PM - 0200 PM Saturday Radio Weather 15785 2 2130 Mo 0530 PM - 0600 PM Monday Radio Weather 15785 2 2330 Sa 0730 PM - 0800 PM Saturday Radio Weather 15120 2 0330 Su 1130 PM - 1200 AM Sunday Radio Weather 17510 3 0500 Sa 0100 AM - 0130 AM Saturday Radio Weather 17510 3 0930 Sa 0530 AM - 0600 AM Saturday Radio Weather 9510 4 1230 Su 0830 AM - 0900 AM Sunday Radio Weather 15310 5 1230 Sa 0830 AM - 0900 AM Saturday Radio Weather 15310 5 2230 Su 0630 PM - 0700 PM Sunday Radio Weather 11765 5 (John Norfolk, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I am not familiar with "Radio Weather"... what is it about? (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA, swprograms via DXLD) At the outset, it was pretty decent IMHO. But as of late, it's more a religious program than having anything serious to do with radio. I now ignore it (John Figliozzi, ibid.) I believe that's the program where the host says "Digital Radio Mondiale" as "Digital Radio Mondale", as if DRM were named after a former US vice-president!!! (Saul Broudy, ibid.) Am scratching head over how an English Canadian would not know the first thing about pronouncing, if not speaking, French. Maybe he is really an American, as his dad apparently is in PA. Sure sounds like one. This is one of Rod Hembree`s stealth evangelism so-called ``DX`` shows. There`s a huge puff piece about his ministry, a.k.a. Good Friends Radio Network, which is now also a major player on WBCQ, and how he thinks SW is a wonderful medium, in the new August NASB Newsletter http://www.shortwave.org/news/NEWSLETTER_0508.PDF (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) From past observations it will be the local day which is correct on the WRH schedule, so that means a few of the UT days are be wrong. I have adjusted the schedule below to show what I think will probably be the correct schedule for the UT days. Changes are shown in capitals so UT Su is changed to MO on the first entry: This is based on previous observations for the British DX Club Guide to DX programmes which I compile - http://www.bdxc.org.uk (Articles index). It seems the WHR schedule search facility can't cope with changing the UTC day where it is still the previous day by local time. e.g. 1130- 1200 pm local time Sunday is actually 0330 UT Monday (not 0330 UT Sunday as shown on the WHR schedule). 73s UT time/date Local time/date (sort of)/Program/Freq kHz/Angel #... 0330 MO 1130 PM - 1200 AM Sunday Dxing with Cumbre 7315 1 0500 Sa 0100 AM - 0130 AM Saturday Dxing with Cumbre 7315 1 1530 Su 1130 AM - 1200 PM Sunday Dxing with Cumbre 15285 1 1930 Sa 0330 PM - 0400 PM Saturday Dxing with Cumbre 15285 1 0500 Sa 0100 AM - 0130 AM Saturday Dxing with Cumbre 7465 2 2030 Su 0430 PM - 0500 PM Sunday Dxing with Cumbre 15785 2 0330 SU 1130 PM - 1200 AM Saturday Dxing with Cumbre 17510 3 1500 Su 1100 AM - 1130 AM Sunday Dxing with Cumbre 11555 3 0500 Su 0100 AM - 0130 AM Sunday Dxing with Cumbre 9510 4 0700 Sa 0300 AM - 0330 AM Saturday Dxing with Cumbre 9510 4 0230 MO 1030 PM - 1100 PM Sunday Dxing with Cumbre 5850 5 0230 SU 1030 PM - 1100 PM Saturday Dxing with Cumbre 5850 5 0030 SU 0830 PM - 0900 PM Saturday Radio Weather 7315 1 2000 Su 0400 PM - 0430 PM Sunday Radio Weather 15285 1 0300 MO 1100 PM - 1130 PM Sunday Radio Weather 7465 2 0930 Su 0530 AM - 0600 AM Sunday Radio Weather 7520 2 1030 Sa 0630 AM - 0700 AM Saturday Radio Weather 7520 2 1230 Su 0830 AM - 0900 AM Sunday Radio Weather 9840 2 1730 Sa 0130 PM - 0200 PM Saturday Radio Weather 15785 2 2130 Mo 0530 PM - 0600 PM Monday Radio Weather 15785 2 2330 Sa 0730 PM - 0800 PM Saturday Radio Weather 15120 2 0330 MO 1130 PM - 1200 AM Sunday Radio Weather 17510 3 0500 SU 0100 AM - 0130 AM Saturday Radio Weather 17510 3 0930 Sa 0530 AM - 0600 AM Saturday Radio Weather 9510 4 1230 Su 0830 AM - 0900 AM Sunday Radio Weather 15310 5 1230 Sa 0830 AM - 0900 AM Saturday Radio Weather 15310 5 2230 Su 0630 PM - 0700 PM Sunday Radio Weather 11765 5 (Dave Kenny, UK, dxldyg via DXLD) There once was a time when they would give the days, both local and UT, correctly, but those days seem to be long gone. I do agree that it is probably the local days that are correct (John Norfolk, ibid.) ** U S A. STREAMING FAVORITES, ESPECIALLY COUNTRY & BLUEGRASS If you have a well planned format with at least decent announcers (and are locally programmed) you can draw a slew of listeners on the internet -- over and above what you have on your over the air station. I began listening on the internet 3 or 4 years ago. I settled on a half dozen stations. WSM-Nashville (I keep having problems with firewalls, etc., but I can connect currently -- crossing my fingers); KBON-Eunice LA with cajun, country & swamp pop + the great Paul Marx as owner, operator & announcer; WTKM-Hartford WI with great country & polka shows; KPIG-Freedom CA-Americana galore and the descendant of the notorious KFAT; WAMU-Washington DC a non-profit bluegrass 24/7 outlet & WDVX-Clinton TN with a full sked of bluegrass, country, americana, ethnic, gospel, rock & whatever. I have fully given up AM or FM except for DX. As the years went by KPIG & WTKM fell victim to the RIAA. The former charging $7 per month and the latter stopped streaming. So I divide up my time with the remaining 4. WSM mostly for the Grand Ole Opry, KBON when I'm in a cajun mood (love their commercials), WAMU for certain programs but most of the time I listen to WDVX. 3-4 years ago they were a non-profit station, operating from a small trailer on a hillside overlooking Knoxville but they had excellent volunteer announcers and just A-1 programming. Over the years, due largely to twice a year fund raisers they have built themselves up to one of the key stations in the Knoxville market, have expanded to studios in downtown K-ville, have live music on several times a week and greatly expanded their listener coverage. All with practically the same personnel as when I first tuned in a few years back. This unsolicited rave for WDVX comes because I enjoy their station & and am very happy to have seen it grow (Don Kaskey, San Francisco CA, ABDX via DXLD) Don, You can still get KPIG for free on Shoutcast. Being the cheap kinda guy I am, I went to the website, saw that they charge, and then kept looking until I found a reference to the free Shoutcast stream. I'm listening right now, and it's a really good station. Lots of variety, great music, and they definitely have a sense of humor about themselves. I'm really enjoying all of the pig references. 877-PIG- LARD, "hog calls", sound effects, etc. Clever. I imagine it'll get old eventually, but so far it's fun. http://www.shoutcast.com/directory/?s=kpig&numresult=25 (Brian Leyton, Valley Village, CA DX-398 / RS Loop, ibid.) 1510, CA, KPIG, Piedmont, relaying KPIG-FM Freedom. ID 1600 [PDT?] 7/29/05 as "KPIG-FM-Freedom, KPIG-AM Piedmont & KPYG-FM Cambria". This makes the eleventy umpteenth call change for this station (Don Kaskey, San Francisco CA, ibid.) ** U S A. Saul Levine = perpetually rotating formats ``In the past 2-3 months they've tried Classical, Rock Oldies, Nostalgia and now KPIG. Scott says Levine sold them to the KPIG owner so maybe that will bring some stability.`` Saul Levine has had a habit of playing "musical formats" on all his AM stations, and call letters just as often. He seems to leave his FM's alone at one format for a decade at a time --- i.e. 105.1 KKGO changed from jazz to classical KMZT (K-Mozart) in 1989 and has been ever since, as if FM is his real business; he seems to use his AM stations as his personal hobby to play around with. Here in S.CA, for Saul's AMs, we have seen : Show Tunes (as KSHO 540/ KGIL1260), Standards (as KSHO 540/KGIL 540), Classical (as KSHO 540/XEBACH 540/KGIL 540), All Traffic All-The-Time (new 1650 KTFK). Then while KSHO and the new XEBACH 540 were classical simulcasters, standards went to 1260 KGIL // 1650 KXGL. Then KSHO went dark in Hesparia permanently so XEJAZZ could up power, go stereo and play contemporary jazz (his best format), simulcasting with 1260 KJAZ. He then sold 1650 to a Korean broadcaster. 540 went classical as XEBACH again day after 9/11/2001, then became Standards again a month later, calling themselves XESURF. 1260 followed suit at that time, simulcasting and calling themselves KSURF. Then both changed to straght 50's/ 60's oldies last year, simulcasting each other. All that in a mere 6 years. What next?? I can't complain about Saul Levine (except that he pulled stereo on his AM's)- at least he hasn't tried a stupid talk syndicate format, and is trying to be creative with music on the air. We need more Saul Levines if radio is to continue to be interesting to people (Darwin Long, ABDX via DXLD) ** U S A. Re problems at KTOZ 1060, MO: Thanks to Eric and John for sending this in to the list -- I neglected to do so as I was trying to endure a herniated lumbar disc around the time the article appeared in our local paper! KTOZ has been off the air ever since that time. In addition, our local Branson-show-information station KLFJ-1550 has also been off the air for about two weeks now, which means I can DX that frequency again for the first time in about 20 years! (Randy Stewart, Battlefield (just SW of Springfield) MO, IRCA via DXLD) ** U S A. Re: Liberal Air America Radio stuck in cellar They diminish Christians so badly that even as a strong Democrat, I cannot listen to Air America Radio for more than 5 minutes. I know some Christians on the fence, they would be turned off instantly (Kevin Redding, AZ, ABDX via DXLD) I haven't found that Al Franken does that -- in fact, he has had ministers on his show on several occasions. But I think some of the younger hosts confuse evangelical right wing theocrats like James Dobson with Christianity as a whole, and that sort of extremism gets called "Christianity" and then becomes the fodder for criticism. I am not defending it -- I am just saying that the hosts probably don't see it as Christian-bashing. They think they are going after the handful of extremists that are trying to impose their views on everybody. BUT you are 100% correct -- not all Christians are extremists, and if the AAR folks are gonna critique the problems in our country today, they should not stereotype ALL Christians, just as I hate it when O'Reilly panders to people who don't like Jews. And Ed Schultz, who is more of a moderate, does not criticise anybody's religion -- but again, he is older and more experienced, so he knows such things are very unhelpful (and very wrong). I do think your point is well taken, but again, I am not sure how to advise AAR at this point, given that they don't seem to wanna listen to me! I tried to talk to several of their execs last week, but so far, my phone ain't ringing. As a consultant, I have to listen to both left and right wing shows. If something is well done, it's well done no matter which side it comes from. I don't like Limbaugh's views on most things, but he is very good at what he does. I think Ed Schultz is improving -- he had a learning curve about how to relate to a national audience (he ain't just in Fargo no more) but sounds more polished now. Being a talk host is harder than it looks -- anyone can get on the air and just spew hate, but that doesn't mean you are interesting or worth listening to. As listeners, we have every right to critique the way talk radio is being done. I for one think there is way too much name calling and hate on BOTH sides and it just makes me sad (Donna Halper, July 29, ABDX via DXLD) I think many programmers feel younger people prefer a more in-your- face style -- a radio smackdown, if you will. I'm more old-fashioned, as I don't really like talk show hosts using derisive names for people, or shock for shock value's sake. I got a chuckle a couple of years back when Michael Savage cautioned a TV panel not to rush to judgment about Gary Condit, although on his show his nickname for the man was Gary Condidit. I don't like that stuff coming from either side, but I think the left now feels if they don't do it, they won't capture younger people's attention, and they'll be perceived as wimps. I really feel there's a big need for less inflammatory discourse on all sides, just as I feel there's a major need for morning shows that are entertaining without being crude or long-winded. But those of us who feel this way are either in the minority, or radio just isn't catering to us. I hope it's the latter (Rick Lewis, AZ, ibid.) I am cross-posting something I sent to the Boston Radio Interest group, since you-all might find it interesting. I had the pleasure of hearing a very emotional and honest assessment of Air America and his own career as a radio talk host from Franken himself at a talk he gave last Saturday. The impression I got from him was that he sincerely believes that liberals have been mis-represented by the media, a charge conservatives also make about their ideology. Franken talked about his life, talked about how his love for his father influenced him (his father died several years ago and Franken had to pause as he tried to tell a joke about his dad's personality and foibles -- but he ended up in tears -- clearly he still misses his dad a lot -- it was a surprising and not scripted moment in an otherwise very well-prepared and often funny speech) and of course he talked about the use of political humour, and about his faith in the mission of liberal and progressive radio. He also told some jokes, using some of the character-voices he is known for. But everyone in the room -- and there were attendees from both sides of the talk show wars -- agreed that too much rhetoric and too many "verbal bombs" are being thrown. It makes good radio, perhaps, but it's not helping the country clarify issues or move forward. I'd prefer NOT to get into a discussion on this list of which side is right or wrong. And yes, the word "liar" is thrown around too much, like kids in a school yard fight. O'Reilly calls names and uses insults as much as anyone, and yes he does twist and distort facts. So do lots of talk show hosts, and that has not changed in several decades. Now, is Franken right to call O'Reilly (or anyone else on the right) a liar? He sincerely believes the right is manipulating facts to score political points, and by that definition, he feels that yes they are lying. That having been said, I don't find Franken especially amusing and never did. But I think he is sincere about his radio work and wants to be a solid alternative to the right-wing talk hosts. I don't think many of the hosts at AAR understand yet what it means to be entertaining -- there are some who are polemical (I hate Bush! I hate Bush!) but then, the right wing hosts often do the same thing (Bush is a genius! Bush is a genius!). The problem with that is: both sides seldom offer any (forgive the word) NUANCE. I too am a moderate -- very liberal on some issues and somewhat conservative on others. But in the talk radio universe, either you're with us or against us. The few hosts that have moderation -- Ed Schultz is one -- are rare. Both sides are very entrenched and while that is great for their own true believers, it doesn't help to clarify issues or create dialogue (Donna Halper, ibid.) See http://www.donnahalper.com/ for more by her (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. New TIS in Redmond, OR http://bend.com/news/ar_view.php?ar_id=22985 Bend.com news sources Posted: Saturday, July 30, 2005 8:32 PM Redmond has a new radio station, AM 1610. No, you won't have another option for listening to your favorite music or talk-radio program, but you will have access to educational messages aimed at Central Oregon listeners. The new station is operated by the OSU Extension Service, and it's referred to as "low power radio." That means the station has a limited range of about four or five miles, and the reception likely will be better in your car than in your home. The FCC licenses stations like this around the country as "Travelers Information" stations. If you live, work or drive within four miles of the Deschutes County fairgrounds, you should be able to access the station at 1610 on the AM band of your radio. You'll hear a series of 60-second recorded messages that cover a broad range of topics, such as gardening, family and youth issues, and information on central Oregon agriculture and natural resources. County Extension staff and researchers at the Central Oregon Agricultural Research Center near Madras, are the sources for the programs currently airing. The Redmond station and two others in Madras and Prineville are being evaluated for their effectiveness in getting information and education to Oregonians. Teresa Hogue, staff chair in OSU's Deschutes County Extension office, was a key player in getting the three stations for Central Oregon. "I saw this as an opportunity to reach out to local residents and travelers who might not interact with Extension in other ways," she said. The theme for this program is "InTuneWith: Central Oregon Living," and it includes a web site as well as the radio stations. The web site is available at http://www.InTuneWith.org and it includes links to additional information and/or educational programs on the topics being aired. "We can use this delivery system in a variety of ways, such as providing emergency information, or airing the 4-H schedule of activities during the fair," Hogue added. "We'll be open to exploring the potential for live broadcasts where appropriate, and we hope to make this a community resource." Hogue said the current programs airing on the station will repeat every 10 to 12 minutes, 24 hours a day. The goal is to have a fresh set of programs running on the station periodically. "We hope local residents and travelers in the area will bear with us while we experiment with various formats and content," Hogue said. She is encouraging listeners to provide feedback to help improve the value of the effort to Central Oregon listeners (via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) ** U S A. I'm sort of surprised that you haven't been sent these items on the passing of Joe O'Brien in an auto accident this weekend. Joe O'Brien was a legend in New York`s radio. His passenger, Ruth Meyer is another legend in the business herself. She was his former program director at WMCA during the good guy years. - - - - LENOX, Mass. A prominent radio D-J who spent more than 50 years on the airwaves has died in a two-car crash in Lenox. Joe O'Brien was 90. His radio career began in 1935, when he landed a job at W-M-C-A in New York. He remained at the station for 34 years, gaining fame in the 1960s as one of W-M-C-A's so-called "Good Guys." They were a team of D-Js who played top 40 hits, worked together at record hops and personal appearances, sang songs and even released an album. For a time in the late 1960s, O'Brien had the number one morning radio program in New York. He moved to W-N-B-C in 1970, but was replaced after two years by Don Imus. O'Brien finished his career at W-H-U-D, retiring in 1986. Police say O'Brien was driving a car that collided yesterday with another vehicle at the intersection of Old Stockbridge Road and Route Seven in Lenox. The driver of the other car was not hurt (AP via Steve Coletti, DXLD) - - - - - Police probe killer crash By Ellen G. Lahr, Berkshire Eagle Staff LENOX -- Lenox visitor Joseph O'Brien of Rhinebeck, N.Y., apparently was at fault when he pulled out of Old Stockbridge Road on Sunday afternoon into the path of a southbound car driven by a Lee woman, Lenox Police said yesterday. O'Brien, 90, who was traveling with passenger Ruth Meyers, 75, of Kansas City, Mo., died in an ambulance en route to Berkshire Medical Center after the noontime crash. Meyers was admitted to BMC after the accident and was listed yesterday in stable condition, a hospital spokesman said. Officer Timothy Sheehan said yesterday that police have requested a Spanish-language interpreter for an interview with Geane DaSilva, 33, of Lee, the driver of the southbound car, who had the right of way. DaSilva was not hurt in the crash, in which her car struck the driver's side of O'Brien's car as he pulled onto Route 7 attempting to turn north, Sheehan said. He said O'Brien was a well-known radio personality in the Westchester County area of New York. He and Meyers were friends, said Sheehan, and they had been visiting the area for a couple of days. Geoffrey O'Brien of New York City, O'Brien's son, said his father was a cautious, competent driver. "It was not his way to pull out recklessly," he said. He said his father had worked until just a few years ago as a radio disc jockey. The weekend trip was a sightseeing getaway, he said. "He knew the area well," he added. (via Steve Coletti, NY, DXLD) ** U S A. Free "Cable" over UHF channels? This is a bit old, but not too old to be outdated. I thought it was kind of interesting. I would hate to have it, though, considering how many channels would be lost. http://www.echopress.com/article.cfm?Article_ID=28828 (Alexandria is about 170 miles SW of here). Anybody have such a service in their region? (Jacob Norlund, July 30, WTFDA via DXLD) Viz.: Selective TV adds programs --- 11/17/2004 There are changes up and down at the dial for Selective TV, Inc., a local non-profit viewer supported UHF-TV system that provides unscrambled TV channels to the area. The first change is that KSAX-TV is no longer being re-broadcast on channel 67. It is now on channel 14. This improves the quality of the picture for viewers in and around the Alexandria area, according to Selective TV management. The system also added a viewers’ favorite channel — the Canadian Broadcast Channel [sic] (CBC). Selective TV lost the channel several years ago, but with a lot of investigating and work it was able to get it back, noted management. The CBC channel will go on channel 21. New programming has also been added to channel 44 — 3ABN, known as Three Angels, a Christian television network based out of Illinois. Selective TV has also added The Outdoor Channel. It can be seen on channel 67. The programming additions also bring expenses, which makes viewer support even more important, noted Selective TV officials. "Just because the signal is there doesn’t mean it doesn’t cost us anything to bring it to the viewers; we get charged just like the cable and satellite companies," noted Selective TV in a news release. Selective TV does not charge a monthly fee. Viewers voluntarily contribute a maintenance fee every year of $60 to keep the system operational. Partial payments are also accepted. Without any voluntary contributions, Selective TV would cease to exist and people would have only two free local channels to view — KSAX (ABC) on UHF channel 42 and KCCO (CBS) on VHF channel 7. Donations or questions can be directed to Selective TV, Inc., 2308 S. Broadway, Century Center, P.O. Box 665, Alexandria, MN 56308. Selective TV lineup (UHF) 14 — KSAX (ABC) 16 — TV Land 18 — KARE (NBC) 21 — Canadian (CBC) 26 — Independent (KLGT/KMWB) 30 — KWCM (PBS) 32 — Family Net 34 — KVRR (FOX) 38 — KMSP (FOX) 44 — 3 Angels (3ABN) 48 — WFTC (UPN) 50 — The Weather Channel 52 — The History Channel 55 — Great American Country Videos 58 — Discovery Channel 60 — MSNBC 62 — Hallmark 65 — C-SPAN 67 — The Outdoor Channel (Other locally broadcast channels include KSAX on UHF channel 42 and KCCO on VHF channel 7.) (via Norlund, ibid.) [WCCO?] How do you get FCC approval for this? I thought a license was for just a particular frequency and if you didn't use it you lost it. So I didn't think you could "bank" frequencies for use at a later date (Guy in Lockport, NY Falsetti, ibid.) ** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. 7460, 27 Jul, R. N. Saharaui, 2345-2359, español, canciones protesta en español, entrevista a invitada de la "Asociación Navarra de amigos del pueblo Saharaui", lectura de un poema "Paloma del desierto", SINPO 55454 (José Miguel Romero, Sacañet (Castellón), España, SANGEAN ATS 909, Antena hilo de siete metros, bclnews.it via DXLD) "1550" kHz (Tindouf, Algeria?) and ``7470" kHz (Rabuni site) are the wrong frequencies (stubbornly) being announced at the beginning of the 2300-2400 program in Castilian --- again, it remains to be ascertained whether the Arabic section also announces the same mistaken frequencies. The actual ones are 700 kHz and 7460 (back from a short- lived move to 7466 kHz) (rated 55444 [S9+35 dB and almost no QRN, so powerhouse-like] as I write this, 1830 UT). On occasions, a silent carrier on 1550.2 kHz is detected evenings: Polisario Front testing? It wouldn't surprise at all as they used to drift around 1550 kHz (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, July 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) During my holiday stay at Mallorca Island observed a whistle carrier near 1546 kHz daily, measured by Sony SYNC function right 'click into place raster': "A carrier whistle observed around 2145 UT and at 0620 UT on 1545.8 May 17th, and 1545.2 kHz at May 18-19 (wb-m, touring Baleares Isles, Spain May 17-19)" 73 wolfy (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) ** YEMEN. UPDATE --- The following was received from Vladimir Bykov, UA4WHX on 26 July: Hello everybody again! RE: Yemen Telecom Their last current problem is they need to pass a legislation and they do not know who and how may compose a draft of it (at the Ministry - no knowledge, no time). Otherwise: two months and they are ready to give permits. Can we find samples of legislation related to amateur radio, best from Arabic speaking countries? Or just from as many as it is possible. Anything goes. 73, VB, UA4WHX, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (via 425 DX News via Dave Raycroft, ODXA via DXLD) ** ZANZIBAR. RTZ 11735, schedule hasn't settled yet. Sign-on seems to vary between 1400 and 1630, or even later. Yesterday (29 July) already on before 1500, a few days before I monitored exactly 1600. 73 (Thorsten Hallmann, Münster, Germany, July 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ So glad you continue to put out the world's benchmark DX newsletter. Best regards (Graham Bell, London, England, July 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ TV GUIDE I was surprised to read Bill Hepburn's comments about changes to his TV Guide edition, as I thought that TV Guide in Canada was a completely independent operation from the U.S. version. Am I wrong? Will Canadians suffer the same slap in the face from their TV Guide this fall? At least in Canada, there are weekly alternatives (albeit in French) for comprehensive hour-by-hour listings, even using the alternating black- and-white listings the US TV Guide used for years (and used to explain when station call letters and cities were listed in the front). (Mike Cooper, GA, July 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) [Incomplete listings:] The reason I canceled my 30+ year subscription a few months ago. The local new rags provide a sufficient, though sloppy, guide to get by with in place of TVG (Terry Krueger, FL, ibid.) I should have said 10 cents a copy in 5-126, $5 for a year. Can`t get enough TV Guides? http://oldtvguides.com/ (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES +++++++++++++++++++++++++ INTERNATIONAL RADIO EXHIBITION BERLIN, 3RD SEPTEMBER This meeting and exhibition looks interesting, if you are near Berlin on 3rd September (Chris Brand, BDXC-UK via ARDXC via DXLD) Viz.: International Radio Exhibition Berlin: big meeting of shortwave listeners On Saturday, September 3rd 2005, there will be the traditional big shortwave listener meeting at the "International Radio Exhibition" in Berlin. It will begin at 1500 UT in the "Borussian House of Agriculture", Flatowallee 23, in Berlin-Charlottenburg (near the S- trainport station "Olympiastadion"). Mr. Wolfram Hess, a popular German shortwave hobbyist, also a former moderator of a shortwave magazine in the former radio station "RIAS Berlin" [or was it RBI? -- gh], will present his opening reference, where he will tell us much about new developments on the shortwave hobby. Between 1630 and 1730 UT many people can tell us something about the different aspects of shortwave listening (also for example utility stations). For further information, please ask Thomas Kubaczewski in Berlin dx-thomas @ rs2.de --- he already makes the shortwave meetings at the Berlin Radio Exhibitions for many years. Please forward this info also to other shortwave lists or forums, so that we'll really have an international great shortwave listener meeting. Most likely we'll see us in Berlin. Till then vy 73s and always best DX Jochen Kopf (via Paul Gager, Austria, ibid.) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM ++++++++++++++++++++++ THE INVENTION OF THE YAGI-UDA ANTENNA I was one of the last few students who studied at Dr. Uda's Antenna Laboratory, Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan. He retired due to his age when I graduated the school, many years ago. He was a friendly gentleman and pure researcher who told me his excitement of new invention and the implementation of his invention to TV aerial. He said he was so excited to see so many TV antennas at homes of hilly San Francisco from his boat when he revisited the US after many years of absence due to the War. He had never thought his invention was used by so many. Many of his friends thought he became a billionaire, but not. His invention was patented by his professor, Dr. Yagi due to the custom of old days. Dr. Yagi became a politician, elected congressman, but Dr. Uda stayed in the academic society for his life time (Toshi Ohtake, Kamakura, Japan, JSWC, DSWCI DX Window July 27 via DXLD) JINDALEE OPERATIONAL RADAR NETWORK [Re UNIDENTIFIED radar item in July 26 DXLD, supposedly NOT this] In German Ham Radio magazine "CQ-DL 8-2005" p. 530, band watch item covers the Australian OHR under headline "Interferes 'JINDALEE' the 40 m ham band?". Interfering rattle crackle signals observed by ham operators in Australia, New Zealand, and Hong Kong. [also reported to be heard on more SWBC bands in the Philippines by Roland Schulze in spring 2005, wb.]. Almost 30 years ago "JORN" - 'Jindalee Operational Radar Network' started that OHR. Directed towards North, to identify stealth bombers and even illegal boat people migrants. JORN radar also used on 20 Sept 1999, to identify all starts and landings on Díli airport in East Timor. JORN contains three independent radar systems, which can be combined together also. Radar #1 located at Longreach Queensland, #2 in Laverton, W Australia, and command center in Alice Springs, N Territory. JORN reception antennas are 100 kilometers away from the transmission antenna locations. Each receiving system has two arms, of enormous 3400 meters length each, and equips 960 single antennas each. In order to supervise and assess by ionospheric propagation condition, JORN uses data reported by 17 beacon stations, spread out on northern Australian coastline. (according to 'Jindalee Operational Radar Network' in Defence Systems Daily; see also 'Jindalee radar' websites, Google search shows 647 entries already: http://defence-data.com/features/fpage37.htm http://www.anao.gov.au/WebSite.nsf/Publications/4A256AE90015F69B4A25690A002479D2 http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread2882/pg1 http://cndyorks.gn.apc.org/yspace/articles/bmd/australia12.htm http://www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/jpaa/jorn/report/chapt2.pdf#search='jindalee%20radar' in CQ-DL magazine Aug 2005 (Wolfgang Büschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) PATRICK MARTIN`S ANTENNA FARM, OREGON COAST I live next to 400 acres of cow grazing land halfway between Seaside and Astoria on the Northern Oregon coast about a mile from the Pacific Ocean. I have lived out here since 1981. My 1500' Eastern beverage runs at about 75 degrees to the East. For years it was on top of an old rusted barbed wire fence on 12 inch PVC pipe. I installed that in 1984. Now the old fence is being taken down to replace it. I have had to raise the first part of it up about 12-15 feet to clear the area while the new fence will be installed and the old part taken out. The beverage runs from behind my house to the Skippanon River to the East where it is terminated to a series of ground rods in swampy soil. No resistor is used. It terminated better without one. The EWE antenna runs NE from the SW, runs about 20 X 100 X 20. It goes from one Spruce tree up over to a second one and down to another series of ground rods where I have a 5K pot for the null. It is set at about 900+- ohms. I have had that one since 1981. It has a really nice lobe from the NW to the SW and has been my TP/DU antenna since I moved out here. A real jewel for as little room as it takes. The 3rd antenna is a 45-50 feet vertical I have been playing around with. I have had it for some time for the Tropical bands on SW or phasing against the other antennas. But of late I have discovered since I have added radials to the NW/N/NE it is a pretty decent antenna for BC/Alberta, Sask, etc. and might work well for TA's in the future. The vertical goes right up another spruce tree behind my house to a pole hoseclamped to the top of the tree and insulated wire comes down from the top of the pole to the ground. I have installed thirty 10-15 foot radials running from the base of the tree out towards the field. I am trying to get them buried now as the neighbor who has the property cut the brush and went over the radials. Luckily did not do too much damage to them. I used to have a 2,000 [foot] NNW beverage which was taken out when part of the new fence was installed a couple years back. It kept being shorted. It had dropped from 2,000 to 800 and then to 400 feet as new roads were opened up off to the property. I can put part of it back if I wish, but another neighbor has a light dimmer and unfortunately the beginning on the NNW beverage was right behind his house and radiated back to the DX shack. So I decided to let that one go. At least for now. He might move. If he does I might put it back, or at least 500- 1000 feet of it if I can. All the antennas are fed with RG6 and run to homebrew matching transformers to isolate the antennas from the coax lead in. All of the RG6 runs about 75 feet under the house, except the last 10 feet that is buried. That is basically the system. But with the property sold a couple years back, I have had to start making some changes in the antennas. There is a possibility that the old Alder tree my EWE runs to since 1981 may be cut down and I will have to move that. It will no longer run SW to NE. It would run W to E, but when you don't own the property, you have to make do with what you have. 73, (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, July 27, NRC-AM via DXLD) I recently had to move the first part of my Eastern beverage off the fence to 10-12 feet high. The first 500 feet runs tree limb to tree limb. I have used #12 single (solid) insulated house wiring for the antenna as it is inexpensive and heavy duty. It lasts for years out here on the Oregon coast. Raising my antenna, I have a bit of a problem. Between two points there is a pretty long run, 100 feet of close to it. The #12 wiring is heavy. Is there a strong type of wire that is not quite as heavy and smaller I can use that can handle high winds and all? I need it insulated to protect it from the elements. The weight of #12 bothers me a lot. Any suggestions? Thanks. 73, (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, July 28, ibid.) Many DX-ers with long antennas in Sweden use COPPER CLAD STEEL, especially for permanent Beverages. It is 1 mm steel wire with copper on the surface, two such wires running parallel in plastic insulation (even good as transmission line with 180 ohm, if you need it). It is fabricated in 500 meters lengths. You can use all your strength to stretch it, it won't break. At first we used it double, with the two wires connected to each other at both ends. But we found that the radio signals were not clear, diffuse in some way (compared with single copper wire #14). Strange, and we don't understand why; according to antenna theory it should have been better. We disconnected the two wires, so only one was in use, and that was much better. Now we separate the two wires and use them single. The weak points are the joints, if the antennas break, is at the joints. We also use another wire (surplus from the army), 3 thin steel wires + 4 thin copper wires inside the plastic insulation. This is also double, two twisted ones. Also very strong and 1000 meters long. However, at our expedition QTH in the North, the wires are covered with 3 - 4 inches of ice and snow in Winter. So the wires drop to the ground anyhow, if the drops are long, sometimes up to 100 meters. So to prevent a drop of an antenna, we use supports (at least 5 meters high pine trees, which we cut and put in the ground under the antennas) or we put up a support wire between trees on both sides of the antenna to lift it. Otherwise we use wires only of copper. Patrick. I see that you use very thick wire. We don't use the same wire system here in Sweden, you have your #12, #14, etc. We use square millimetres (mm2) of the area. If I calculated correctly your #12 is 3.3 mm2. I use 1½ mm2. Others use .75 or .5 mm2, but I think that wires which are thinner than .75 are not good for long wires, the resistance is too high so you loose signal strength. I saw in your answer in another letter, that you cannot use rope as support wire, because of strong winds. It is not necessary to stretch the rope tight, let it drop, just to prevent the antenna to drop too much. And you can do as we do, use steel wire! These support wires are rather short, so I don't think that they influence the antenna. /Sig, (Andersson Sigvard, Norrköping, Sweden, ibid.) See if you can get some aerial drop wire from a phone person. Copper clad steel. You can tighten it up real good on long spans (Paul Smith, Sarasota, FL, ibid.) I'll add my support for copper-clad steel. My permanent Beverages in Georgia needed maintenance every month when I made them from normal 18AWG stranded insulated wire. I got real tired of that real quickly. Ex NRC'er Paul Hart rode to my rescue with 5000' of telephone aerial wire. Never another break at all. Never. It was a pain to install (ever try tossing a 1000' roll of that stuff over a tree limb?) so I had to pull it (and the snags) south about 2000' feet. A lot of work, but once done it was done (Chuck Hutton, ibid.) Hi everyone, First thanks for all of your advice. Someone told me about "The Wire Man" out of SC, so I called them about the copperclad stuff. The lady I talked to was very knowledgeable on what I needed. They sell #13 stranded copperclad insulated wire by the thousands of feet to Hams and DXers that need to run long spans without the support. The wire is pretty light, less than half of the #12 solid that I am using. The break strength of the #12 is 200 pounds and the #13 copper clad is rated at 500 pounds. The chances of this breaking period is very low. It is easy to solder and it fairly flexable to use. It is 18 cents a foot up to 500 feet. I ordered 400 feet and I should have it in a week or so. I will pass along how it goes. Unfortunately it only comes with black insulation. I wanted white as it would not show up much, but the gal told me, up in the air it can hardly be seen. So hopefully it will work out OK. 73, (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, ibid.) DIGITAL BROADCASTING ++++++++++++++++++++ iBIQUITY EXAGGERATES, er, make that LIES Medialine played an interview from several months ago with a spoxeman for iBiquity, Jeff Jury, CEO, claiming that tens of millions of Americans were already listening to HD Radio, and no one has complained of interference problems! Unfortunately, Henry did not challenge him. CEO also was not quite sure of the frequency ranges of the AM and FM bands. (But in 5-110 someone else was identified as CEO of this, Bob Struble, so I guess Jury is no longer atop, unless there was a confusion in titles.) Finally remembered to listen at 1930 UT Sat July 30 when Media Line is on IRRS and streamed. Tho it`s now OD too, Henry Brice says (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) DRM TRIAL KICKS OFF IN VIETNAM http://www.abu.org.my/public/dsp_page.cfm?articleid=1428&specialsection=ART_FULL&pageid=247&PSID=3372 The first trial of DRM (Digital Radio Mondiale) over medium frequency (MF) in Vietnam kicked off yesterday in Dong Hoi, the capital city of Quang Binh province. Organised and hosted by VOV-Vietnam with the ABU’s assistance, the trial featured a workshop on the first day where new digital radio technology was presented to technical experts from VOV and the Ministry of Science and Technology, as well as government advisors responsible for the country’s digital broadcast development plan. In opening the workshop, VOV’s Director-General Vu Van Hien outlined the radio broadcaster’s commitment to staying abreast of developments in technology in radio broadcasting. He added that VOV would use DRM to build on its successes in providing a wide range of radio programmes to not only the people of Vietnam but to the rest of the world through shortwave transmissions. Mr Hien expressed his gratitude for the support received from the DRM consortium and organisations that have actively worked with VOV in bringing the trial to reality. The workshop’s tutorial presentations were made by VOV’s senior staff and experts from the Harris Corporation and VT Communications who are in Dong Hoi to assist VOV with the trial. The trial will continue with a field strength measuring campaign to assess the digital radio performance throughout the Dong Hoi MF service area, and to better understand the differences in quality of the DRM signal in the station’s distant coverage areas. (29-July-2005) (Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union via gh, and MD. AZIZUL ALAM AL-AMIN, RAJSHAHI-6100, BANGLADESH, DXLD) POWERLINE COMMUNICATIONS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ POWER-LINE PLAY Google, Hearst and Goldman Sachs invest in technology that has yet to catch on. Google Inc. really wants you to have broadband. Current communications Group, a company with technology aimed at providing broadband internet access via electrical wires, has raised strategic investments from investment bankers Goldman Sachs, media company Hearst and Google. Current will use the money to fund work on developing broadband services over power lines to carry voice, video and data. Roughly two- thirds of the nation still doesn't have broadband, says Current chairman William Beckman, and many utilities would like funds to upgrade their networks. Power lines have had almost no impact on the broadband market yet. The FCC reported last week that, during 2004, high-speed lines serving residential, small business, larger business and other subscribers increased by 34 %, to 37.9 million. But 90% of that was cable or DSL. Fiber or power-line connections accounted for 2% of the total, less than 1 million lines. Broadband-over-power-lines technology uses the electric utility to provide Internet access. Modems plug into an electrical outlet and connect to the computer. Current's principal stakeholder is Liberty Associated Partners LP, an investment partnership between Liberty Media Corp. and the Beckman family. Other investors include energy VC firm Ener Tech Capital. TECHWEB (Information Week, July 11 2005 via Dave Penney, Shiloh IL, (St. Louis MO Metro East), July 30, DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ TOTAL FADEOUT ON SW An hour ago all it was almost regular, now the SW are nearly empty, in particular on 49 and 41 mb (LUCA BOTTO FIORA, Rapallo (Genova) Italy, 0746 UT July 30, HCDX via DXLD) India were not listen the SW frequencies --- Dear Hauser, I am Jaisakthivel from India. At present (0700 UTC * 30/07/2005) DXers in India were not listen the SW frequencies [including local All India Radio stations]. We are all confused. I think because of the sunspot were 130 to 140. Please clarify. Thanking You, Yours Sincerely, (Jaisakthivel, Chennai, July 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) This should explain it: (gh) X-Ray Event exceeded X1 Space Weather Message Code: SUMX01 Serial Number: 51 Issue Time: 2005 Jul 30 0704 UTC SUMMARY: X-ray Event exceeded X1 Begin Time: 2005 Jul 30 0617 UTC Maximum Time: 2005 Jul 30 0635 UTC End Time: 2005 Jul 30 0701 UTC X-ray Class: X1.3 Optical Class: 2b Location: N12E52 NOAA Scale: R3 - Strong NOAA Space Weather Scale descriptions can be found at http://www.sec.noaa.gov/NOAAscales Product: Geophysical Alert Message wwv.txt :Issued: 2005 Jul 30 0900 UTC # Prepared by the US Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, Space Environment Center # # Geophysical Alert Message # Solar-terrestrial indices for 29 July follow. Solar flux 104 and mid-latitude A-index 20. The mid-latitude K-index at 0900 UTC on 30 July was 5 (70 nT). Space weather for the past 24 hours has been strong. Solar radiation storms reaching the S1 level occurred. Radio blackouts reaching the R3 level occurred. Space weather for the next 24 hours is expected to be minor. Geomagnetic storms reaching the G1 level are expected. Solar radiation storms reaching the S1 level are expected. Radio blackouts reaching the R1 level are expected. Official Space Weather Advisory issued by NOAA Space Environment Center Boulder, Colorado, USA SPACE WEATHER ADVISORY BULLETIN #05- 5 2005 July 30 at 12:05 p.m. MDT (2005 July 30 1805 UTC) **** STRONG MAJOR FLARE OCCURS ON SUN **** A strong radio blackout (R3) occurred today at 30/0635 UTC (12:35 am MDT) due to a major flare on the Sun. The source of the flare was NOAA active sunspot Region 792, which is the return of old NOAA Region 786, as mentioned in the previous advisory bulletin #05-4. Due to the location of Region 792 on the Sun, the resulting radiation storm level is most likely to be minor (S1), although there is a slight possibility for moderate levels (S2). In addition there is only a slight chance for a minor geomagnetic storm (G1). However, additional activity is likely from Region 792 as it rotates across the Sun and additional major events could lead to higher levels of radiation storms and geomagnetic storms. Agencies impacted by solar flare radio blackouts, geomagnetic storms, and solar radiation storms should continue to closely monitor the space environment during the rotation of Region 792 across the Sun between now and its anticipated departure on 12 August. Data used to provide space weather services are contributed by NOAA, USAF, NASA, NSF, USGS, the International Space Environment Services and other observatories, universities, and institutions. More information is available at SEC's Web site http://sec.noaa.gov Thank you for using the SEC Product Subscription Service (SEC via DXLD) Glenn: I really appreciate your giving out the source of the NOAA geophysical activity, alert and forecast data in response to a member who had experienced a blackout. Up till now I have been limited to seeing the watered-down summaries of other SWLers which are "OK", but aren't nearly as useful as the Real and Direct source you gave out. I have subscribed to a couple of the newsletters/alerts and already they have been most helpful to me. Thanks (Steve Bass, Columbus, Ohio) You can subscribe directly here. http://www.sec.noaa.gov/Services/ The 3-hourly space weather reports are also useful for keeping track of my inbox in 3-hour segments (Glenn) HIGH NOON EFFECT Enjoyed phenom one occasion, 12 MAR '02, 1200-1300L. 650 WSM Nashville; 660 WLFJ Spartanburg, SC; 730 news station, possible GA; 750 Atlanta, GA; all heard with stellar clarity on mighty SR-III in backyard. Local weather, if at all relevant, high bright overcast, humid, lukewarm air. Now it's explained. Notably missing/overridden were Cubans on 660, 730, and 750. =Z.= (Paul Vincent Zecchino, Manasoviet Key, FL, BT IRCA via DXLD) This is an interesting thread. I have gotten an effect between 11 AM and 1 PM for years here on the OR coast where KGO-810 or KBOI-670 will get stronger and then drop off by mid afternoon. KDJQ 890 is doing that now. I have gotten a lot of mid day skip this Summer. More "fading" type stuff that generally is unusual for the Summer. As far North as I am, in the Winter skip all day is common with GYers heard into MT days. 73, (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, ibid,) I do have a vague recollection of this, Bob. I'll try to dig something out this weekend. Another source of information might Steve Johnston, Director of Engineering/Operations at Boise State Radio, who was the speaker at IRCA's Boise convention, and who mentioned the noon enhancement phenomenon during his talk. He joined IRCA at the time, and might be on the list, so may have something to contribute. After that talk, I ran some signal strength recordings during the hour or so around noon on various frequencies (540 is good one for example, that has yielded CBK within an hour of solar noon one July years ago). However, I was not able to find any enhancements. Best wishes, (Nick Hall-Patch, BC, IRCA via DXLD) It's happened to me only once: on December 14, 1996. I turned on the AM radio around 11:00 a.m., and tuned it to 1410 kHz, expecting to hear Taylorville, IL (then WTIM). I was surprised to receive WIZM LaCrosse, WI (345 miles to the north) on that channel! So, I went inside and checked the dial, and found WPAD (Paducah, KY, 155 miles SSE) coming in over KTUI (Sullivan, MO) on 1560, KMOZ (Rolla, MO, 95 miles SW) mixing with regular WAIK (Galesburg, IL, 155 miles N), and even WHA Madison, WI (300 miles NNE) coming in under semi-local WMAY Springfield, IL (80 miles NE). 73, (Eric (N0UIH) Bueneman, St Louis MO, IRCA mailing list via DXLD) But that was winter (gh) ###