DX LISTENING DIGEST 5-184, October 25, 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 For latest updates see our Anomaly Alert page: http://www.worldofradio.com/anomaly.html NEXT AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1290: Days and times here are strictly UT. Tue 2330 WOR WBCQ 7415 [usually but temporary] Wed 0000 WOR CJOY INTERNET RADIO plug-in required 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 [NOTE: From Oct 30, most times shift one UT hour later, and some frequencies change. Watch for updated edition.] 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 or http://wor.worldofradio.org WORLD OF RADIO 1290 (high version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1290h.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1290h.rm WORLD OF RADIO 1290 (low version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1290.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor12909.rm (summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1290.html WORLD OF RADIO 1290 in true SW sound of Alex`s mp3: (stream) http://www.dxprograms.net/worldofradio_10-19-05.m3u (download) http://www.dxprograms.net/worldofradio_10-19-05.mp3 WORLD OF RADIO 1290 downloads in studio-quality mp3: (high) http://www.obriensweb.com/wor1290h.mp3 (low) http://www.obriensweb.com/wor1290.mp3 WORLD OF RADIO PODCAST: www.obriensweb.com/wor.xml (currently: 1285, 1286, 1287, 1288, Extra 61, 1289, Extra 62, 1290) FIRST AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1291: Wed 2200 on WBCQ 7415 Wed 2300 on WBCA 17495 Thu 2030 on WWCR 15825 ON DEMAND: from early UT Thursday, change 1290 above to 1291 DX/SWL/MEDIA PROGRAMS Oct 25: http://www.worldofradio.com/dxpgms.html ** ABKHAZIA. GEORGIA. Abkhaz Radio & TV via Soxum SW heard on 9494.76[S=1-2] and 9534.75[S=1] kHz today, low modulation. I guess condition path from Georgia into Western Europe will be increase in coming four months. Carrier still on at 0400 UT, but Chorus opening started around 0415 UT. Signal increased around 0435 UT. At 0444 UT male Russian announcer identified. At 0447 UT more Russian Chorus songs. At 0510 and 0615 UT female and male announcers and Russian commentator noted. Co-channel 9535 REE Noblejas-E in Spanish til 0500 UT, but Soxum could be easily separated using 2.7 kHz Collins filter on lower flank. 9495 is totally free channel, adjacent fair signals Plovdiv-BUL on 9500 in German, Hörby-SWE on 9490 in Swedish (Wolfgang Büschel, Germjany, Oct 24, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALBANIA. Hello, I woke up around 0400 UT today. And subsequently checked the odd services of Abkhazia-Georgia and Albania. Heard ALB on upper flank 1395.20 kHz, 338 degrees. So tx#2 (1457.99) is on upper side, when re-tuned to VOA Serbian 1395 kHz morning service. Today 24th noted Fllaka on 1395.20 VOA Croatian, 0430-0500 UT, close-down 05.00:15 UT. 1214.85 VOA Albanian, 0500-0530 UT. 1214.85 DW Albanian, 0543-0600 UT. 1214.85 CRI English, 0600-0800 UT. 1214.85 RTirana, Alb 0801-0900 UT. 1457.99 VOA Serbian, 0530-0600 UT. 1457.99 RTirana, Alb 0630-0800 UT. (Wolfgang Büschel, Stuttgart, Germany, Oct 21-24, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALBANIA. Updated on Oct. 21 B-05 schedule of Radio Tirana: Albanian Daily 0000-0130 6215, 7455*to NoAm * additional freq 0730-0900 1458, 7105 to WeEu 0900-1000 1395, 7105 to WeEu 1500-1630 1458 to Eu English Mon-Sat 1945-2000 7465* 7530 to WeEu * ex 6225 2230-2300 7110 to WeEu English Tue-Sun 0245-0300 6115, 7455 to NoAm 0330-0400 6115, 7455 to NoAm German Mon-Sat 2030-2100 7465*to WeEu * ex 1900-1930 on 6280 Greek Mon-Sat 1645-1700 1458 to Eu French Mon-Sat 2000-2030 7465*to WeEu * ex 6215 Italian Mon-Sat 2000-2030 7240 to WeEu Serbian Mon-Sat 2115-2130 1458, 5995 to Eu Turkish Mon-Sat 1630-1645 1458 to Eu (Observer, Bulgaria, Oct 25 via DXLD) ** ARGENTINA. 6460 kHz, Radio Bosques ha anunciado que comenzara a transmitir desde el pasado 19 Octubre en esta nueva frecuencia. Agradecerán reportes a: radio_bosques @ yahoo.com.ar (Alejandro García, op. de Radio Bosques, Conexión Digital via DXLD) ** BELARUS. 6010 - 16 Oct, 0748 Belarussian Radio, 24411. Talks and music. WRTH says it's Brest, 5 kW. We were able to hear Belarus on all parallel channels in the 49 mb: 6040 (weak, 14411), 6070 (33433), 6080 (with considerable splash by DRM transmitter near Munich, 6085 kHz), 6115 and 6190. The latter was subject to co-channel QRM by Deutschlandradio in German (Dmitry Mezin and Alexey Kulinchenko, Kazan, Russia, mini DXpedition KAD05, Signal via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. Amigos, Rádio Nacional da Amazônia, em 49 metros, voltou aos 6180 (Lucio Haeser, Brasília, Oct 24, radioescutas via DXLD) Amigos da lista. A mudança da frequencia da Nacional da Amazônia, foi devido o sinal de uma radio evangélica americana que transmitia em cima de sua atual frequencia, e os ouvintes da Amazônia reclamaram a interferencia, no horário das 5 da manhã. SDS: jaime de bh (Jaime Soares, Oct 24, radioescutas via DXLD) Sez RNA moved, [from 6180 to 6185] to avoid a US evangelical station at 0700 UT. What could that be? EiBi reminds us that VOA in English via Morocco is on 6180 at 05-07 (and it is often listenable here), but nothing else anywhere listed after 0700 in EiBi, NDXC nor HFCC. WYFR is (was) on 6175 after 0900 (gh, DXLD) ** BRAZIL. BRASIL – Faz alguns dias que a Rádio Educação Rural, de Campo Grande (MS), não está sendo sintonizada em 4755 kHz. A constatação é do Leandro Renato, em Paulínia (SP). Da mesma forma, ele não tem ouvido mais a Rádio Canção Nova, de Cachoeira Paulista (Sp), pela freqüência de 4825 kHz. A Rádio Voz do Coração Imaculado, de Anápolis (GO), foi captada, em São Bernardo do Campo (SP), pelo Rudolf Grimm, na freqüência de 4885 kHz, em 22 de outubro, às 2336. Na ocasião, ele ouviu um programa religioso (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX via DXLD) ** CANADA. RCI on 13655 and 17800 but missing from 9515 at 1436 Oct 24, but at 1437 encountered it on 9755 instead, which is supposed to be the evening frequency. This continued until 1459* Earlier, shortly after 1400 I noticed the CRI relay was missing from 15220, not on pre- 1400 15260 either, but 15220 had come on by recheck at 1437. One wonders how this can keep happening at Sackville. Don`t they have an explicit schedule showing which frequency, which transmitter, which antenna, which program feed line, to run at which times? Is all this dependent on a human doing the proper switching every hour or half hour? Fortunately, 9755 was not interfering with anything detectable. Unlike the day before, Oct 25 at 1323 check, RCI was back on 9515 instead of the mistaken 9755 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. RCI Splattering all over 9 MHz 10/21/05 I just scanned the DXLD archives and didn't notice this already posted, so I hope it's not repetitive. At 0000 UT 10/21/05 I was listening to RN on 9845 kHz and noticed some strong interference, consisting of what sounded like distorted nearby strong-signal splattering. But tuning nearby did not reveal a close-in-frequency station, but the splatter continued. Finally identified it as RCI on 9755 kHz and the splatter was heard roughly 9400 - 10000 kHz. I have not noticed this repeated since that night, though. Anybody else hear it then or at other times? 73, (Will Martin, MO, Oct 24, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Glenn, I was commenting some weeks ago the tremendous signal I was receiving from CBC Northern Service on 9625 at night, during the just finished extensive lockout, which gave me the impression they were using another transmitter with its azimuth pointing in a more Southerly (?) direction. Well, this beautiful signal was maintained even for last Sat. Oct. 22 Saturday Night Blues Special while host Holger Petersen was interviewing the late British bluesman Long John Baldry. (So, let's make not too much noise, otherwise engineers at CBC be aware and change the azimuth back to normal). The quality of signal was very good to excellent with occasional splatter from REE on adjacent 9620. All was going so nice to be true and suddenly there was DW interval signal for English service near 0400, clashing on the same frequency. And so, the dream began to fade till the next time. Let's hope this condition changes for B-05 (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, Oct 24, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. I heard Bernie Lucht (Executive Producer, Ideas) speak last week and he talked of the 40th anniversary celebrations for the show. One of them is a book, being published now and called IDEAS: Brilliant Speakers Speak Their Minds. It's published by Goose Lane Editions. Have not seen it yet to leaf through it, but BL mentioned that the items were selected for ease of reading, rather than being good shows that did not suit the book format... ef (Eric Flodén, BC, Oct 25, Swprograms mailing list via DXLD) CBC Radio One's Roundup is winding up. Host Tetsuro Shigematsu announced on Monday's program that something called Freestyle will begin on Nov. 7. I wonder if other rumoured changes to CBC Radio One's programming -- including an earlier start for local afternoon shows and the introduction of a new major national newscast at 4 and 5 p.m. -- will also begin that day (Ricky Leong, Calgary, Alta., DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 6060 - 16 Oct, 1245 Chinese station: according to DBS-7, it's The Voice of the Golden Bridge (Life, Travel, and City Service). Comes from Chengdu, Sichuan province. Strangely misses in the ILGRadio database. SINPO 43443; raised to 54433 by 1258, when we tried to note station's ending procedure. But, contrary to WRTH/DBS info, broadcast extended beyond 1300 (Dmitry Mezin and Alexey Kulinchenko, Kazan, Russia, mini DXpedition KAD05, Signal via DXLD) ** CUBA. RHC, 11760 and 9550, final morning newscast at 1453 Oct 24 said they would have a special ``Mesa Redonda Informativa`` at 6:30 pm local (2230 UT) on 11875 and 6000 about hurricanes Wilma and Alpha. Then the so-called ``news`` spent about 3 minutes quoting what Pres. Chávez had said the day before condemning capitalism. Closing transmission at 1456 saying the evening broadcast would start at 7 pm (2300 UT) on 15230, 11705, 11760, 9550 and 6000. Are they really on 11705 then? Or ever? I think this is a very old tape or script they have not bothered to update for a few years. 11705 does not appear for Cuba at any hour whatsoever in EiBi, NDXC or HFCC A-05. Before 1500, 11805 and 12000 were also on, and before 1400 also audible on 6000, so apparently RHC facilities survived Wilma OK. Later: Listened with half an ear to 11875 which stayed on until about 2400*. In the mornings I am hearing a voice sounding like Arnie Coro, over the phone, on RHC 9550, such as 1321 Oct 25 talking about restoring water and electric service following H. Wilma, and how it is being done more quickly than after previous storms (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EUROPE. Hello Glenn, First a big thanks for the email. Transmission was a huge success as I think we did get around 55 reports by electronic way, and I guess a lot of snailmail will follow. For sure that we will be more active the upcoming months on 15070 and start than often around 1400 UT or so. Anyway, we have a lot of mail to answer which we do with love as we like the reaction during the transmissions. Also a lot of listeners came in the SW pirates chat at http://www.alfalima.net/chatroom which made it extra fun chatting with listeners. So you see, it was a great day; we hope to do the same soon again, maybe next weekend? Hehe, bye and thanks. Greetings from (Alfred Zoer (Alfa Lima Int), Oct 24, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREECE. Olympia Radio SVO4 8424 kHz, SVO43 8734 kHz, SVO5 12603.5 kHz, SVO54 13134 kHz, SVO55 13170 kHz, SVO6 16830.5 kHz, SVO67 17326 kHz, SVO69 17359 kHz, SVO7 22387.5 kHz, QSL in 24 days, v/s G.Panagiotakis, Sub. Manager of Olympia Radio. QTH: 37 36' 11,7" N / 21 29' 11" E. Address: Olympia Radio/SVO 153 42 Aghia Paraskevi, Athens, Greece. Tx: model Marconi, power 8 kW. Antenna ND TCI 540-2-04 (Sergey Kolesov, Kiev, Ukraine, Signal via DXLD) ** GREENLAND. Re 5-183: Glenn, Greenland is in ITU Region II, and Denmark for Greenland (because it's Danish territory) is signatory to the Region II medium wave agreement, the "Rio" agreement. The Greenland high power allotment was on 700 for some time prior to the Rio Agreement, the largest (theoretically, anyway, if you believe the politically adopted skywave calculation methods) source of interference to WLW (Ben Dawson, WA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) All the current 5 are heard in Cappahayden NF but a couple are quite rare even there. 720 comes in most afternoons starting about a couple hours prior to sunset. 720 is also a daytimer up in northern NF, ie St. Anthony area. If CHTN has really fixed their night pattern, perhaps 720 has a shot in New England. I know of no one who, in the continental 48 states, who's logged any of those 5 Greenlandic stations, at least in the nearly 40 years I've been DXing. Re: 1425.. Mark Connelly heard BB games there a couple times from the Cape, and I had an Xmas Carol from Narragansett RI off the back end of my unterm 1/4 mile SSW Bev back around 1980. 73 KAZ Barrington IL (Neil Kazaross, NRC-AM via DXLD) Greenland strong now on 3815 USB in // 650 kHz weak, maybe another good dx-night. 73's (John Vinther Nielsen, Herning, Denmark, JRC NRD 535, KAZ antenner west and North west, 2042 UT Oct 23, MWC via DXLD) Greenland on MW last night --- I looked through my automated 518 kHz Navtex radioteletype log from last night and found this one... 03:40:17 | ZCZC Z94 03:40:20 | 03:40:21 | 03:40:21 | GREENLAND 051024 07 0 UTC 03:40:26 | 03:40:26 | 03:40:27 | NO MESSAGE ON HAND 03:40:30 | Time above is local. so would be 0740Z. The ID letter in the ZCZC message is missing (should be WZ94 I believe - with the W indicating Greenland). Anyway, the Greenland Navtex from the Kook Islands is scheduled at 0740Z. So, Bingo. http://home.cogeco.ca/~dxinfo/navtex.htm Could tonight be a good night to try for Greenland AM stations from here? I have had some Greenland beacons in the past - UP 399 Upernavik is the best target. With Iceland being the strongest LW last night, and the beacon at Rankin Inlet, Nunavut in strong (RT 284 kHz), some good Arctic MW DX conditions may be possible. LW/AM Receivers: 1 - JRC NRD-535D 2 - Grundig Sat 800 Antenna: Longwire AM Receiver: 3 - JVC R-X330V (modified) Antenna: Original Loop (shielded lead-in) The Greenland beacons use A1A rather than A2A i.e.- pure CW rather than toned CW. So ID would be right on the carrier. Their other unique characteristic is that the ID is only sent once every 30 seconds, so tough to catch. I've heard 3 of these --- KU 298 kHz Kook Islands; GN 306 Godhavn; UP 399 Upernavik (William Hepburn, WTFDA, Grimsby, ON, CAN, Oct 24, WTFDA-AM via DXLD) During the last many days/evenings KNR on 650 kHz has been heard at the DX 183, the antenna park at Wilhelm Herbst's place in northern Jutland. These loggings are to be seen on http://mediumwave.info/loggings/loggings.php 73s (Ydun Ritz, Denmark, Oct 25, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. VOI open carrier again loud and clear, except for some hum, on 9525 at 1430 Oct 24; 9680 RRI was not so good but at least it was modulating, with Qur`an at 1454. Unlike the day before, VOI open carrier missing from 9525 at 1320 check October 25 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN. VOIRI en español B-05 -- Voz de la República Islámica de Irán 2030-2130 ESPAÑA 7300 KHZ 9650 KHZ 0030-0130 AMÉRICA CENTRAL Y AMÉRICA DEL SUR 9655 KHZ 9905 KHZ 0230-0330 AMÉRICA DEL SUR 9905 KHZ 0130-0230 AMÉRICA DEL SUR 9905 KHZ 9655 KHZ 0530-0630 EUROPA 15530 KHZ 17785 KHZ (via José Miguel Romero, Spain, dxldyg via DXLD) Unclear why these times are not in order; hope not jumbled due to formatting (gh, DXLD) ** ISRAEL. Reshet Beth presents a wide variety of music. Oct 24 at 1407 there were barbership harmonies in Hebrew on 17535 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Looking at the Reshet Bet schedule, you were listening to a special program, "Likrat Hachag" - "For (or - In preparation for) the Holiday." In case you're asking, "Which holiday?" Sukkot - the 7 day Festival of Booths, has finished [Israel time] and Shmini Atzeret/ Simchat Torah - the Eighth Day of Assembly/Rejoicing with the Torah, has begun. The Hebrew schedule, I referred to: http://bet.iba.org.il/radioshidurim/files/week1-bet.pdf (Doni Rosenzweig, ibid.) And I wonder what barbershop singing has to do with that. Or in Hebrew does this kind of music have any association with barbershops, and what is it called? (Glenn, ibid.) ** LATVIA [and non]. Propagation and equipment --- Hi Glenn and all, 945 kHz is one of the frequencies here in Europe where I can find half a dozen stations, depending on the time of the day and how I use my K9AY. I tuned my AOR AR703 to 945 kHz at 1230 UT on Oct 23, and let it stay there for the rest of the day. Times UT. At 1230 Just background noise. At 1245 Radio Nord, Ulbroka, Latvia, getting stronger. They had a "Schlagerparade" with hits in German from the 50s. At 1300 An unID, man talking in Chinese was heard under Radio Nord, and with a change from "east" to "north" on the K9AY, the Chinese became readable - as far as you understand Chinese, which I don't. At 1315 Radio România Actualitate shot up and drowned Latvia and the unid Chinese station. But just momentarily. At 1320 Going southwest, France Info, Toulouse wanted to join the show. At 1330 Going west, two UK locals, fading in and out. At least one ID: "Classic Gold". And so it went on here for the rest of the local afternoon and into the evening, until my head was reeling and there was a strong feeling of emptiness in my stomach. Now writing this on Oct 24 at 1140 Radio Nord is there, but only with a weak and instable groundwave. 73 / (Johan Berglund, outside Trollhättan, Sweden with an AOR AR7030 and a K9AY, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 945 - 16 Oct, 1307 UNID Chinese station, weak, O = 1...2. (Dmitry Mezin and Alexey Kulinchenko, Kazan, Russia, mini DXpedition KAD05, Signal via DXLD) ** MEXICO. Radio Tapachula, 6120, 0348 GMT, Spanish, 333, Oct 18, OM with comments and Latin Music (Stewart H. MacKenzie, WDX6AA, CA "World Friendship Through Shortwave Radio Where Culture and Language Come Alive!", shortwavebasics yg et al. via DXLD) That would be great news, but I would want a definite ID, especially since 0300 is the single hour per day when R. Rebelde, Cuba is on 6120, per PWBR ``2005``, with 100 kW (WRTH says 10 kW; who knows?). PWBR did show Tapachula as ``projected`` at a guessed schedule of 12- 06. The station has really been off the air for decades. I just checked UT Oct 25, exactly one week later at the same time and could not hear Cuba or anything on 6120; their operations are certainly irregular (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, I suspected it to be Mexico due to the fact it DID NOT sound like the normal Cuban music that I hear and I also suspected that stations in Cuba and Florida were off the air due to the hurricane passing through the areas (Stewart MacKenzie, Oct 25, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS [and non]. On the A-05 RN transmission schedule at http://www2.rnw.nl/rnw/en/features/media/schedule050327.html?view=Standard the 2300-2400 from Sweden on 1179 is shown at an azimuth of 600 degrees, which means a spiraling signal going around in a circle before it comes out at 240 degrees? (600 - 360 = 240). No, actually the 600 kW power is in the wrong column and the transmission is really ND = non-direxional! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RADIO NETHERLANDS WINTER FREQUENCY SCHEDULE NOW ONLINE The B05 shortwave frequency schedule of Radio Netherlands is now online. For our listeners in New Zealand, the broadcast time of our English transmission has changed to 0500-0600 UT, which is 1800-1900 New Zealand summer time, for propagation reasons. Also new this season is a two hour transmission in Dutch to Europe at 2100-2300 UT from Dhabbaya in the UAE. Low sunspot numbers require creative solutions! Radio Netherlands winter frequency schedule http://www2.rnw.nl/rnw/en/features/media/practical/schedule051030.html?view=Standard # posted by Andy @ 15:45 UT Oct 25 (Media Network blog via DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS. Alfa Lima International: everyone thinx it`s here, but in keeping with continentalizaton of pirates, see EUROPE. Then why is R. Bosques under ARGENTINA instead of SOUTH AMERICA? (gh, DXLD) ** PERU. Re reported bust of Huancabamba stations: Sobre Radio La Poderosa, es la misma RD Huancabamba, Radio San Miguel, etc. Esta emisora la escuché durante el fin de semana pasado con una larga proclama política de Federico Ibáñez (propietario) contra la llegada de una multiNacional a explotar una mina; y en lanze en ristre contra los políticos de la Región de Piura; les recuerdo que se lanzó como candidato a la alcaldía de Huancabamba en las últimas elecciones pero fue derrotado e igualmente en esa oportunidad no dejaba títere con cabeza a través de la emisora. El se "apoya" en el movimiento de ronderos. Yo creo que LV de las Huarinjas pagó por los platos rotos de otro. Radio Centinela operaba en FM alguna vez también; Federico Ibáñez hizo referencia a esta emisora a la cual daba por "vendida" a los intereses de los poderosos (Rafael Rodríguez R., desde la capital de Colombia, Conexión Digital via DXLD) ** PERU. Quito, 22:19 24/10/2005. 5949.717 kHz, 0230 UT: I think this is a reactivation of Radio Bethel, Arequipa (Perú), at least I myself have not noted the station for some years. Same type of "hard" preaching without any IDs - it´s very difficult to ID this station (Björn Malm, Quito, Ecuador http://www.malm-ecuador.com DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, I confirmed R. Bethel, 5949.8 kHz on 1st Sep 2005. In Japan, this station is hardly not heard recently because of bad condx. I could hear some folklore until 1100 UT, then started religious, preaching program with opening announcement by OM. 73 & FB DXing! -- (Kenji Takasaki in Mie pref, JAPAN w/JRC NRD-545/535D/525/515, HCDX via DXLD) ** PERU. De punta a punta del dial desde Lima, Peru: [daytime bandscan; the hyphen before a frequency may mean origin unknown, as in the notes below? Some may be mixing products] 540 Radio Inca 560 Radio La Voz (no menciona ID) txn religiosa 580 Radio María 590 RPP (señal fuerte, en doble frecuencia. Ésta parece ser su nueva frecuencia de om en Lima?)[cf 730] 600 Radio Cora (programa religioso por algunas horas a.m. y p.m.) 620 Radio Ovación 660 Radio La Inolvidable 700 R-700 La Grande 730 R.P.P. 760 Radio Mar Plus 780 Radio Victoria -780 Radio Inca -800 La Inolvidable 820 Radio Libertad (nuevamente activa, señal baja, escuchada el 12 de set. 2005 ) 850 Radio Nacional 880 Radio Unión 900 Radio La Mega (en duplex con 94 MHz 300 kHz FM ) 930 Radio Moderna "Radio Papa" 960 Radio Panamericana 990 Radio Latina 1010 Radio América "la voz del nuevo mundo" 1040 ODX4O ID "1040 AM" nueva!!! escuchada el 12 de setiembre 2005 1060 Radio Éxito (QRM de Radio Panamericana) -1060 Radio Panamericana -1070 Radio América 1080 Radio La Luz (leve QRM de Radio Inca) -1080 Radio Inca (señal debilísima) -1090 Radio América -1090 Radio Moderna, Radio Papa (señal debil) 1110 Radio Sonora (Radio Antarqui) inactivo el 23 de set.; posteriormente activo, confirmado 7 de oct. actividad -1110 Radio Panamericana (señal debilísima) 1130 OAX4N Radio Bacan Sat (en huanta 99.1fm satelital mencionan) 1160 1160 Radio Noticias -1180 Radio Kebuena (señal debilísima ) 1200 Radio Cadena -1210 C.P.N. Radio (señal débil) -1240 Radio Imperial 2 (se escucha ruidosa y débil) 1250 Radio Victoria (la misma transmisión de 780 khz continuo 24 hrs) -1270 Radio Inca (señal débil), se escucha tambien a RPP en simultáneo compartiendo canal, con ferrita [could be 540 + 730 mix --- gh] -1280 CPN Radio (señal débil) -1290 RPP (señal débil) -1290 Radio América 1300 Radio Comas 1320 Radio La Crónica (Radio Nacional) 1340 Radio La Luz (señal fuerte) 1380 Radio Nuevo Tiempo 1400 Callao Supe[r?] Radio (retransmisión de varias emisoras internacionales como NHK, RFI, etc.) 1420 Radio San Isidro 1440 Radio Imperial 2 ( frecuencia principal) 1470 C.P.N. Radio 1500 Radio Santa Rosa -1540 Callao Supe[r?] Radio 1550 Radio Independencia (debilísima aun de día, retransmisión programa religioso tipo Radio Victoria ) 1590 OAZ4-Z, Radio Agricultura "la peruanísima". Lista "Todo Lo Que se Escucha" del 23 setiembre 2005 Lista de sintonia de onda media del area local de Lima. (en las cercanías del mediodía). En este chequeo están todas las señales escuchadas, tanto de estaciones de frecuencias conocidas y otras de origen desconocido (- od). Agrego una interesante Referencia del magazine Sonidos. En los albores de las transmisiones radiales en AM, la gente escuchaba "Muy Felizmente" sus radio que ofrecían "Una Recepción Confiable Durante el Día "hasta distancias de 500 Millas (804.6 km) desde el transmisor (Fuente: Sonidos 1982, Audio CBS Publications) [that is HIGHLY variable depending on terrain, ground conductivity, etc. – gh] En la verificación se usaron la radiograbadora national Panasonic receptor 5030 f y Sony Icf-Sw 7600 G con su ferrita. Para algunas escuchas se utilizó la antena ewe, para establecer la otra emisora (cuando habían 2 señales en un mismo canal). Esto es todo lo que se puede escuchar en OM entre señales débiles y fuertes (Héctor Álvaro Gutiérrez, desde Lima, Perú, Conexión Digital Oct 23 via DXLD) ** PORTUGAL. RDPi - B05 different format. Hello all! Maybe the format I compiled for the WRTH is of some use. 73, Carlos. 1 0000-0300 .twtf.. NAm 9715 lis 2 0000-0300 .twtf.. NAm 9410 lis 3 0000-0300 .twtf.. VEN 13700 lis 4 0000-0300 .twtf.. B 11980 lis 5 0000-0300 .twtf.. B 13770 lis 6 0600-0855 mtwtf.. Eur 9755 lis 7 0600-1300 mtwtf.. Eur 9815 lis 8 0745-0900 mtwtf.. Eur 11660 sin 9 0800-1055 .....ss B+WAfr 17710 lis 10 0800-1455 .....ss Eur 11875 lis 11 0800-1455 .....ss Eur 15575 lis 12 0800-1655 .....ss Afr 21830 lis 13 0900-1055 mtwtf.. Eur 11875 lis 14 0930-1100 .....ss Eur 9815 sin 15 1100-1300 mtwtf.. Eur 15140 lis 16 1100-1300 mtwtf.. Afr 21830 lis 17 1100-1300 mtwtf.. B+WAfr 21655 lis 18 1100-2100 .....ss B+WAfr 21655 lis 19 1300-1700 mtwtf.. NAm 15575 lis * 20 1300-1700 .....ss NAm 15575 lis 21 1300-1800 .....ss VEZ 17745 lis 22 1400-1600 mtwtf.. IND+ME 15690 lis 23 1500-1800 .....ss Eur 11960 lis 24 1500-1755 .....ss Eur 11635 lis 25 1700-1900 mtwtf.. NAm 17825 lis * 26 1700-1900 .....ss NAm 17825 lis 27 1700-2000 mtwtf.. Eur 11630 lis 28 1700-2000 mtwtf.. Afr 17680 lis 29 1700-2000 mtwtf.. B+WAfr 21655 lis 30 1700-2100 .....ss Afr 17680 lis 31 1800-2100 .....ss Eur 11630 lis 32 1800-2100 .....ss Eur 11740 lis 33 1800-2100 mtwtf.. VEN 15535 lis * 34 1800-2100 .....ss VEZ 15535 lis 35 1900-2400 mtwtf.. NAm 15540 lis * 36 1900-2400 .....ss NAm 15540 lis ** 37 2000-2400 daily Eur 9795 lis * 38 2000-2400 daily Eur 9460 lis * 39 2000-2400 daily Afr 11825 lis 40 2000-2400 mtwt.. B+WAfr 15555 lis 41 2100-2400 daily VEZ 11635 lis 42 43 *) extra or special broadcasts 44 **) broadcast may extend until 2400 UT. 45 46 [LIS] São Gabriel: 5 x 100, 4 x 300 kW 47 Also uses Pro-Funk GmbH, Sines [all only in Portuguese] (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, Oct 24, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAUDI ARABIA. Holy Qur`an, with pauses almost as long as the verses. Dead air is clearly not a concern here. Is the muezzin resting from the effort of singing each passage? Leaving time for listeners to repeat or insert their own prayerful thoughts? At 1504 Oct 24, very good on 15315, which per HFCC is 500 kW, 295 degrees from Riyadh at 1500-1800; // 15435, 320 degrees at 1500-1800 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SENEGAL [non]. Hi Glenn, just read your note re WADR - coming home from the countryside I just got a QSL or whatever from them with a message as below. 73 Torre (Tor-Henrik Ekblom, Oct 24, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ----- Original Message ----- From: wadr@wadr.org To: "Torre Ekblom" Sent: Tuesday, October 18, 2005 6:32 PM Subject: Thank you Dear Torre, My name is Abdou LÔ and I am the Bilingual (French- English) Researcher of WADR. We are very happy to know that you listened to our Test transmission programmes and contacted us. I would like to extend our thanks on behalf of all the WADR staff. In addition, I will also send you as soon as possible our programme schedule and any other information that may help you to know more about us. I also would like to tell you that our test transmission ended last week. We might start broadcasting very soon. In any case I will keep you informed. Best regards, Abdou ------------------- The West African Democratic Radio P. O. Box 16650 Dakar, Senegal Dear Sirs, RECEPTION REPORT on your shortwave broadcast from Senegal via transmitter in Rampisham, UK Undersigned had the great pleasure to listen to one of your broadcasts. Having a hobby to listen to radiostations from all around the world since 1952 its always nice to hear a new one. For your information I can tell you that I am a Finn, retired and have worked with Finnair, the Finnish Airlines and with the Finnish Tourist Board. I am 68 years old, living in the second biggest city in Finland named Esbo, just some 15 kms west of the capital Helsinki. I am using an English communications receiver AOR7030 and an active antenna outdoor. You might be interested in to know how the reception was here in Finland and I can inform you following: on the 7th of October 2005, at 08.15 to 08.59 UTC on 17555 kHz the reception was: QSA5 signal strength excellent and QRK4 readability good. Interference from fading, atmospheric noise. Listening place 260 km northeast of Helsinki, in the Finnish lake district near the town of Mikkeli (St. Michel). Please find below some details from the programme heard in UTC time: in English 08.15: Programme in English Interviews with important people (President election?) - Billy Mofad 08.27 : Station ID: "You are listening to West African Democratic Radio from Dakar, Senegal - phone nrs: 221 869 1569, fax: 221864 7090 email wadr@wadr.org. 08.30 : Programme in French language, female and male informing about the address and the West African Cooperation Senegal, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Gambia, Radio Gambia, newspapers, BBC, SABC = One world Thank you very much for your transmission; it was really interesting to listen in. If above mentioned programme details correspond with your station log, would your official VERIFICATION (confirmation that your station was heard) be very much appreciated as a memory of this broadcast. Thank you in advance and hope to hear from you soon again, until best regards from Finland Sincerely Yours, Mr. Tor-Henrik Ekblom torre.ekblom @ pp.inet.fi Daggbergsgranden 4 C 44, FI-02360 Esbo, Finland (via THE, DXLD) ** SWEDEN [and non]. Made another check of the delay between R. Sweden direct on 15735 and via Sackville 15240, in English at 1350 October 24: 15735 was running about 68 seconds behind 15240. R. Sweden announced its B-05 English schedule at 1342 UT Oct 25 on 15240 via Canada, which had a continuous low crackle in the background, obvious during pauses: Eu/Af/ME, 1330 & 1430 on 11550; 2030 on 65065; 2230 on 1179, 6065; daily except Sunday also on 1179 at 1830, 2030. As/Pac, via Madagascar 0130 11550, 2030 7420; direct from Sweden at 1330 on 7420, 11550; 1430 on 11550. NAm, via RCI [sic], 0230 & 0330 on 6010; 1400 [sic, should be 1430] on 15240; direct at 1330 on 15240 So I go to the website http://www.sr.se/rs/english/index.htm and pull together three separate pages of the same info but with more detail, and I hope, more accuracy: Schedule from October 30, 2005 North America 0230-0300 6010 (268 ) via Sackville 0330-0400 6010 (277 ) via Sackville 1330-1400 15240 (305 ) 1430-1500 15240 (272 ) via Sackville Europe and Africa/Middle East: 1330-1400 11550 (85 ) 1430-1500 11550 (70 ) 1730-1800 Mondays-Friday 1830-1900 6065 (140 -240 ) + MW 1179 Mondays-Saturdays 2000-2030 MW 1179 Mondays-Saturdays 2030-2100 6065 (140 -240 ) 2230-2300 6065 (140 -240 ) + MW 1179 Asia and the Pacific 0130-0200 11550 (50 ) via Madagascar 1330-1400 7420 (40 ) and 11550 (85 ) 1430-1500 11550 (70 ) 2030-2100 7420 (125 ) via Madagascar (to Australia) (via Glenn Hauser, DXLD) Beware of degree symbols in parentheses which often get garbled That last one is interesting. Maybe it`s not new, but I don`t recall Mad using such an azimuth before, toward the SE, and skirting the southern auroral zone, where Australia would be the only possible target. Will be interesting to see how well that works. Did they have to build a new antenna? No, it just so happens that 125 degrees is the reverse of an existing 305 degree antenna aimed across Africa (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also NETHERLANDS In their current A05 they use this one at 2130. 73, (Erik Køie in Copenhagen, dxldyg via DXLD) Not on the RN A-05 transmission schedule http://www2.rnw.nl/rnw/en/features/media/schedule050327.html?view=Stan dard so from some other site? Right, Andy? No, EiBi A-05 shows two 7420 for Sweden via Madagascar: 7420 2100-2130 S Radio Sweden SWE Oc /MDG 7420 2130-2200 S Radio Sweden E As /MDG Whilst 7420 at various times in the 17-19 period Sat/Sun/Mon is direct from Sweden with several odd languages from the domestic service (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, yes, this 125 deg +0deg slew had been registered for A-05 in March 2005 already. But for coming B-05 season entry changed to 125 +15deg slew, --- that means 140 deg via southern Indian Ocean zone to AUS/NZ/PAC. Sydney is in direction of approx. 127 degrees, 10300 km; NZ 145 degrees, 11700 km. R Sweden B-05 program leaflet arrived yesterday Oct 24th. Shows Swedish P1 program via Madagascar 13580 000degr on Mon-Fri 0430- 0530 UT, like --- 13580 0430-0530 27,28,29E,38-40,47,48 MDC 250 000 .23456. SWE P1 S RSW TER instead of registered: 9490 0430-0500 27,28,29E,38-40,47,48 HB 500 140 15 .23456. SWE P1 S RSW TER see 500 kW entry English at 2030-2100 UT. 7420 2000-2100 41-45,49-51,54-56,58-60 MDC 250 125 15 ....... SWE S RSW TER 7420 2030-2100 41-45,49-51,54-56,58-60 MDC 500 125 15 ....... ENG S RSW TER 11550 0100-0200 39S,40-43,49 MDC 250 50 25 ....... SWE/ENG S RSW TER (Wolfgang Büschel, Oct 25, BCDX, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKEY. Utility [sic]. 7250, Oct 23 230 IST-300 IST, India: Voice of Turkey, Ankara. Voice of Turkey (English) on SW-41m band at 7.25 MHz; between 2:30 am and 3:00 am (Indian std. time); Clear signal, no interference, even when it was a continuous, heavily pouring rain throughout night, but there were no thunderstorms or lightning; programme was about the recent earthquake in Pakistan. The news presenter identified the station as Voice of Turkey at Ankara. Rcvr: Sony, ICF-SW10, telescopic antenna (Explorer, HCDX Online log via DXLD) Whoever that is. 0230-0300 IST = 2100-2130 UT. VOT English at 2030- 2120v is supposedly only on 7170, as per EiBi, not 7250: 2030 2120 TUR Voice of Turkey E As 7170 AUS 7170 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UKRAINE. Radio Ukraine International. B05 (30.10.05 - 26.03.06) Time UTC Freq Txer Azi Target 0100-0600 5830 Kharkov 055 Russia 0600-0900 7420 Kharkov 290 W. Europe 0900-1400 9925 Kharkov 277 W. Europe 1400-1800 5830 Kharkov 055 Russia 1800-0100 5840 Kharkov 290 W. Europe 0000-0500 5910 Nikolayev 314 NE America Power of transmitter in Kharkov 100 kW, in Nikolayev - 500 kW. Transmission schedules in various languages are as follows: GERMAN (1 hour): 1800, 2100 and 0000 on 5840 kHz ENGLISH (1 hour): 2200 on 5840 kHz; 0100 and 0400 on 5910 kHz; 1200 on 9925 kHz UKRAINIAN programmes are transmitted on all frequencies and at all times except for the time reserved for English and German programmes, as shown above. ROMANIAN (half-hour): 1800, 2030, 2200 on 657 kHz (Chernovtsy, 25 kW). Timetable is subject to change. On the changes you can learn on the site of radio-company http://www.nrcu.gov.ua (Alexander Yegorov, Kyiv, Ukraine via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I'm troubled that there continues to be a continuation of Russian spelling for the transmitter sites for Ukrainian radio. Kharkov should be spelled Kharkiv, and Nikolayev, Mikolayiv. I checked the NRCU website, and at least the Ukrainian site is completely in Ukrainian. I couldn't find any transmitter sites on their English website, though. It's 14 years since independence, and let's accept the proper spellings! Remember, Beijing was once Peking and Peiping! While I "vent", another thing that burns me is the continued use of "CIS" in DX circles. This is a totally moribund organization and an attempt by Russia to resurrect the USSR. Why bother using the term anymore. These countries are all independent and separate DX countries. Using the term CIS is confusing and nonsensical in my opinion. Thanks for the bandwidth! (Volodya Salmaniw, Victoria BC, HCDX via DXLD) R. Ukraine International B-05 Schedule English 0100-0200 NAM 5910 0400-0500 NAM 5910 1200-1300 EU 9925 2200-2300 EU 5840 German 0000-0100 EU 5840 1800-1900 EU 5840 2100-2200 EU 5840 Romanian 1800-1830 EU 657 2030-2100 EU 657 2200-2230 EU 657 Ukrainian 0000-0100 NAM 5910 0100-0600 Russia 5830 0200-0400 NAM 5910 0600-0900 EU 7420 0900-1200 EU 9925 1300-1400 EU 9925 1400-1800 Russia 5830 1900-2100 EU 5840 2300-2400 EU 5840 All freqs via Kharkiv (100 kW), except: 5910 is via Mykolaiv (500 kW) and 657 is via Chernivtsi, (25 kW) (Alexander Yegorov, Ukraine, via Alokesh Gupta in dxldyg mail list, re-arranged by Alan Roe/with correction by Wolfgang Bueschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I note in the below: Kharkiv and Chernivtsi are spelled right in Ukrainian writing style. 73 wolfgang ----- Original Message ----- From: "Alexander Yegorov" To: "WWDXCtopnews" Sent: Tuesday, October 25, 2005 Subject: Changes in the Ukrainian MW Txs Hello, WWDXC Topnews! UKRAINE Presumably from October 26, two Txs to be reactivated on MW band in Ukraine with UR-2 "Radio Promin'" channel: 837 kHz 150 kW Taranivka (Kharkiv); 1242 kHz 40 kW Dokuchaevsk (Donetsk). Also "Radio Promin'": Power 150 kW of Tx in Mykolaiv on 549 kHz will be changed to 500 kW. UR-3 "Radio Kul'tura" channel now will be broadcast on 657 kHz via Tx of 25 kW in Chernivtsi 19 hours a day with including as a rule of three RUI's Romanian language 1/2 h-r transmissions (Alexander Yegorov, Ukraine, via wwdxc BC-DX Oct 25 via DXLD) Is Alex really Russian? ** U K. Happened across BBCWS Oct 25 at 1328 as Newshour was reading listener reaxion to the Joan Rivers affair of the other day. (Isn`t there enough NEWS to fill an hour on BBC any more?), on 17640. Now this frequency is suffering from audio dropouts a few times a minute, depriving us of certain syllables or even entire words. The same problem occurred a few months ago on French Guiana 15190, as I recall, and went on for weeks. But now BBC can`t even get a clear feed to Skelton or Woofferton?! (Both are scheduled at this time per EiBi A- 05). Still the case at 1403 during newscast about BBCWS dropping ten non-essential languages by next March in order to afford Arabic TV 12 hours per day (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) BBC World Service is to launch a television service in the Arabic language for the Middle East as part of a wide-ranging restructure of the international broadcaster, it was announced today. In a speech given to staff this morning, BBC World Service Director Nigel Chapman outlined plans to launch the publicly funded international television service in Arabic, as well as increasing investment in new media and funding more FM radio distribution globally. As part of the reprioritisation, the World Service has announced it will close 10 language services: BBC broadcasts in Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Greek, Hungarian, Kazakh, Polish, Slovak, Slovene and Thai languages will cease by March 2006. The services closing cover either European countries that are current EU members or are actively in discussions about membership; or services with little local impact. All the countries will continue to be served by other BBC Global News division services such as BBC World Service radio in English, BBC World television, and BBC News Online. The changes follow a root and branch strategic review of BBC World Service (BBC WorldService.com) Speech in full http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/2010/docs/051025_fullspeech.pdf BBC World Service 2010 Questions and Answers http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/faq/news/story/2005/10/051024_2010faq1.shtml BBC News report with union reaction http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4374130.stm (via Mike Barraclough, UK, Oct 25, dxldyg via DXLD) BBC WORLD SERVICE ANNOUNCES "BIGGEST TRANSFORMATION IN 70 YEARS" | Text of press release by BBC World Service on 25 October, announcing plans for an Arabic-language TV service and the closure of ten, mainly European, language services BBC World Service is to launch a television news and information service in the Arabic language for the Middle East as part of a wide ranging restructure of the international broadcaster, it was announced today (Tuesday 25 October). It will be the first publicly funded international television service launched by the BBC. It marks a fundamental change for BBC World Service which has led the world with its international radio broadcasting for over 70 years; and latterly developed as a key online news provider. BBC World Service is currently the best-known and most respected voice in international radio broadcasting with 149 million weekly listeners and over 20 million monthly unique online users. The new Arabic language television service is part of a wide-ranging package of proposals aimed at maintaining and enhancing BBC World Service's pre-eminent position and impact in an emerging multi-media age. The proposals include: - increased investment in developing New Media in the area of interactivity and video news reporting; initially concentrating in markets such as South America, Russia, South Asia and the Middle East - increased funding for more FM radio distribution globally - extra marketing to maximise new investment - plans to modernise overseas bureaux in the top priority markets - exploring further television services on a partnership basis. The planned investments add up to 30m pounds by 2008. The funding for the new initiatives will come through reprioritising BBC World Service's existing grant-in-aid funding from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (the grant for 2005/6 is 239m pounds) and a vigorous programme of efficiencies. As part of the reprioritisation, the World Service has announced it will close 10 language services. BBC broadcasts in Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Greek, Hungarian, Kazakh, Polish, Slovak, Slovene and Thai languages will cease by March 2006. The services closing cover either European countries that are current EU members or are actively in discussions about membership; or services with little local impact. All the countries will continue to be served by other BBC Global News division services such as BBC World Service radio in English, BBC World television, and BBC News Online (bbcnews.com). The changes follow a ''root and branch' strategic review of BBC World Service. BBC World Service Director Nigel Chapman said: "The changes add up to the biggest transformation of BBC World Service that has been undertaken - and one of the most far-reaching - since the BBC began international broadcasting more than 70 years ago. "Whilst the mix of services has to evolve as the world changes, the overall core aims of the BBC World Service will remain the same: to provide quality news and information that people trust, which stands out for its independence, authority and objectivity; and to be an open forum for global debate. "Our new services on television and in new media will be judged by those values just as their distinguished predecessors have been. "BBC World Service is already the most successful, trusted and respected voice in the Middle East with more than 60 years experience of broadcasting in the Arabic language on radio, and more recently and successfully, online. "The BBC Arabic Television Service will build on this legacy by offering trusted and accurate news with an international agenda. "It would mean the BBC will be the only major broadcaster who will provide a tri-media service in Arabic to the Middle East - using TV, radio and online for sharing views and perspectives across the region and the wider world. "Our research suggests there is strong demand for an Arabic Television service from the BBC in the Middle East." Speaking about closing the 10 BBC language services and their distinguished history, Nigel Chapman said: "Many of the European services being closed had their roots in the Second World War and have served their audiences well right through the Cold War years. "But Europe has changed, fundamentally, since the early Nineties. Now the countries to which these languages are broadcast are members of the EU, or are likely to join soon. "There has been a huge change in the media scene with many new services opening up which subscribe to similar values as the BBC. BBC audiences are declining in many markets as they discover these new national and local services. "The contribution of all staff in the BBC language services in these areas has been immense. "It is acknowledged that their presence has contributed to the building of freedoms now enjoyed by their citizens. We believe this will be a lasting legacy." Summing up, Nigel Chapman said: "We believe the proposed changes will enable BBC World Service to maintain and build on its pre-eminent position as the world's leading international broadcaster in the multi-media age for years to come." The changes have been approved by the BBC Board of Governors. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Jack Straw, has also given his approval as he is required to do under the terms of BBC World Service's agreement with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. They have also arisen after extensive discussions inside the BBC World Service. More than 250 staff have taken part in strategy sessions to help formulate them over the spring and summer of 2005. Source: BBC World Service press release, London, in English 25 Oct 05 (via BBCM via DXLD (BBC) WORLD SERVICE CONFIRMS ARABIC TV http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4374130.stm The BBC World Service is to launch an Arabic television news channel in 2007, the corporation has confirmed. The channel will initially broadcast 12 hours a day and will be the BBC's first publicly funded global TV service. It is part of a £30m restructuring of the World Service and is being funded by the closure of 10 foreign language services - with the loss of 218 jobs. The NUJ and Bectu unions have condemned news of the closures and job losses as a "bitter" and "devastating" blow. The World Service provides news in English and 42 other languages and is funded by a Foreign Office grant. The 2005/2006 grant is £239m and the Arabic service is expected to cost £19m a year in operating costs. The World Service said broadcasts in Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Greek, Hungarian, Kazakh, Polish, Slovak, Slovene and Thai languages would end by March 2006. BBC World Service Director Nigel Chapman said many of those services resulted from the Second World War. "It is acknowledged that their presence has contributed to the building of freedoms now enjoyed by their citizens. We believe this will be a lasting legacy." But he said many national and local services "which subscribe to similar values as the BBC" had since been started in Europe. Broadcasting union Bectu said: "While we would normally welcome the BBC's expansion into Arabic TV without hesitation, we cannot ignore the potential threat of hundreds of compulsory redundancies." It said the decision to move funding from European services to Arabic TV appeared to be political, warning: "The decision will create a perception abroad that the BBC World Service is working to a government agenda." But Mr Chapman denied this, saying: "We have no political motive. Our job is to be a broadcaster." Ahead of the confirmation of job losses, National Union of Journalists (NUJ) general secretary Jeremy Dear also condemned the cuts. "It would be a bitter blow to BBC World Service staff and a step which has the potential to cause massive damage to Britain's influence in a significant part of New Europe," he said. Meanwhile, Mr Chapman said research had shown there was a strong demand for an Arabic TV service in the Middle East. "BBC World Service is already the most successful, trusted and respected voice in the Middle East with more than 60 years experience of broadcasting in the Arabic language on radio, and more recently and successfully, online," he said. "The changes add up to the biggest transformation of BBC World Service that has been undertaken - and one of the most far-reaching - since the BBC began international broadcasting more than 70 years ago." It is estimated that 148 jobs will be created by the new Arabic channel. Overall, 236 positions will be closed as a result of overall restructuring and 201 will be created through new investment. Arabic competition The changes to the service follow the government's review of the BBC's Charter in March 2004. "We believe the proposed changes will enable BBC World Service to maintain and build on its pre-eminent position as the world's leading international broadcaster in the multi-media age for years to come," Nigel Chapman said. The World Service has 149 million weekly listeners and over 20 million monthly unique online users. The BBC has previously entered the Arabic television market, in conjunction with the Saudi-owned company Orbit, but it foundered in 1996 following issues of editorial control. That same year al-Jazeera launched, based in Qatar, and recruited a number of former BBC Arabic staff members. Al-Jazeera is launching a new 24-hour English-language channel - al-Jazeera International - next spring. Best 73s, (via Dave Harries (aka. "DXDave"), Bristol, England, DX LISTENING DIGEST) BBC ANUNCIA CIERRE DE SERVICIOS http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/spanish/who_we_are/newsid_4374000/4374388.stm (José Miguel Romero, Spain, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) BOSNIA: AGENCY SAYS BBC WORLD SERVICE "SUFFERS PRESSURE" FROM FOREIGN OFFICE | Text of report by Bosnia-Hercegovina Federation News Agency FENA London, 25 October: The British BBC network will abolish 10 foreign language services, mostly those covering east Europe, in order to secure funds for setting up a new Arabic TV channel. Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Jack Straw today officially announced this decision. It seems that the Foreign Office, which funds World Service, had requested that BBC secure 25m pounds (45m dollars) for setting up an Arabic channel. Almost 10 years ago, BBC tried to set up a pre-pay Arabic channel, but this initiative was not successful. It was closed in 1996 following a dispute with the Saudi commercial partner the Mawarid group over editorial policy. Many of 150 journalists who lost their jobs contributed to increasing popularity of the Al-Jazeera network. BBC intends to compete with this network, as well as with Al-Arabiya and about 100 other Arabic channels. BBC intends to increase its rating in the Islamic countries because its reputation had been diminished owing to biased reporting about the Iraq war, the IRNA agency reports. There is also speculation that this could be a carefully planned move by the Foreign Office in order to present in a better light liberal democracy and the British and European politics towards the Middle East. The decision on establishing an Arabic TV channel has been made in the time when the World Service, a cultural extension of Britain's foreign policy, is dealing with the worst crisis in its history. Nevertheless, British envoys have already reacted negatively to the plan to abolish services in foreign languages as not all of them are in the EU countries. Some are in EU candidate states, among them in Croatia and Bulgaria, as well as in Kazakhstan and Thailand. Although the World Service claims that its editorial policy is independent, it sometimes suffers pressure from the British Foreign Office which earmarks 239m pounds per year for its funds. Source: Federation News Agency, Sarajevo, in Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian 1207 gmt 25 Oct 05 (via BBCM via DXLD) BBC WORLD SERVICE CLOSING SLOVENE SECTION AFTER 64 "SUCCESSFUL" YEARS - daily | Excerpt from report by J.Z./STA entitled "BBC closing Slovene section after 64 years", posted on the Slovene newspaper Delo website on 25 October; subheadings as published London: After more than 64 years of successful work, the BBC World Service will close the Slovene BBC section in London. The leadership of the BBC World Service made this decision after adopting a long-term strategy, as part of which the BBC will launch a TV channel in Arabic for the Middle East and increase investments into new media. The Slovene BBC studio, which started broadcasting on 22 April 1941, will stop broadcasting by the end of March 2006 at the latest, the Slovene BBC section has announced. The members of staff of the Slovene section were informed about the BBC World Service's biggest transformation in 70 years since its establishment by the director of the BBC World Service, Nigel Chapman, this morning. The costs of the transformation are expected to amount to approximately 30m pounds by 2008. A change in priorities also led to the decision to close 10 language sections. Besides the Slovene section, the BBC will also close the Bulgarian, Czech, Greek, Croatian, Kazakh, Hungarian, Polish, Slovak and Thai sections. Six members of staff, seven hours of programme The Slovene section comprises six members of staff who prepare over seven hours of radio programmes per week. The Slovene section's 13 programmes, are broadcast by 24 radio stations in Slovenia, one in Austria and one in Switzerland. During last year's survey of BBC programmes' audiences, the Slovene section actually mustered 8.64-per-cent share of radio listeners, so that success is not a reason for closing the section, according to the head of the section, Brane Kastelic. After last year's EU enlargement, it was to be expected that the BBC World Service would consider a new strategy and with it, a change in priorities. Therefore the section tried to find a new role for itself in light of the new circumstances. They introduced into their reports more foreign, British, European and international views on events in Slovenia and dedicated more space to informing Slovenes about the British standpoints on the EU and other events and issues, and about the British way of life. The Slovene BBC contributed to building democracy in Slovenia [Passage omitted on background] The Slovene BBC section has played an important role in bringing Europe, as well as Britain, closer to the Slovenes since the start of independent Slovenia's efforts to join the EU in the early 1990s. This is what BBC World Service Director Chapman wrote in a letter to the section in which he also acknowledged its contribution to building democracy in Slovenia. Source: Delo website, Ljubljana, in Slovene 25 Oct 05 (via BBCM via DXLD) POLAND: "SORROW AND BITTERNESS" AS BBC POLISH SERVICE TO CLOSE | Text of report in English by Polish news agency PAP Warsaw, 25 October: The BBC World Service management decided to liquidate the Polish section of the BBC as a move aimed at the company's restructuring. The section will stop broadcasting in March 2006, head of the BBC Polish Section Marek Cajzner told PAP Tuesday [25 October]. "This means that both the section's office in London and its Warsaw branch will close down," Cajzner added. The BBC Polish Section obtained the licence to Polish broadcast programmes from Warsaw last August. According to Cajzner the staff of the Polish section received the news with "calm and dignity" but also sorrow and bitterness at the closure of the section after 66 years. The first programme in Polish was broadcast from London on 7 September 1939. BBC radio at that time was a link between London, where the Polish government and the Polish army command had their headquarters, with Nazi-occupied Poland. After the war BBC Polish Radio broadcast news from the free world to communist Poland. The BBC World Service management announced Tuesday it will cut radio broadcast service in 10 languages: Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Greek, Hungarian, Kazakh, Polish, Slovak, Slovene and Thai. Source: PAP news agency, Warsaw, in English 1430 gmt 25 Oct 05 (via BBCM via DXLD) BBC'S CLOSURE OF POLISH SECTION TERMED "HISTORIC TRANSFORMATION" | Text of report by Polish radio on 25 October [Announcer] It will be a historic transformation - BBC World Service has announced the closure of 10 of its 43 language sections, including Polish. The money saved through this is to be used to create an Arabic TV in competition with Al-Jazeera. According to Wojciech Zurawski of the Reuters agency, the BBC plans are a sign of the times. [Zurawski] It's not Poles that are planting bombs on the Underground, while the Arab countries, those communities are somewhat more dangerous from the point of view of the British authorities - and let's remember that the BBC is a state institution. [Announcer] As well as the Polish section, the Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Greek, Hungarian, Kazakh, Slovak, Slovene and Thai sections will also be closed down. BBC World Service is financed by the British foreign affairs ministry and reaches 149 million listeners. Source: Polish Radio 1, Warsaw, in Polish 1300 gmt 25 Oct 05 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** U S A. Not surprisingly, WYFR appears to be off the air, in a quick check of some of its usual frequencies at 1530 UT October 24. WRMI 7385 was also unheard as expected about a sesquihour earlier (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [and non]. Looked around the Family Radio website, http://www.familyradio.com and could find nothing about WYFR being totally off the air due to H. Wilma! Is this not as ``important`` an announcement as the changes on AM and FM in San Francisco? Nor anything on the RTI Taiwan website, tho something about this may be buried somewhere (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Hurricane Wilma Update 12:00 pm Monday ET --- To all interested parties: Hurricane Wilma has just passed through Miami. It was worse than expected -- Category 3. Very high winds, lots of damage. The worst hurricane here since Andrew. Power is out in most of South Florida, including our transmitter site, and it could be out for hours or days. We had gusts of over 100 miles per hour. I'm worried about possible antenna damage at the transmitter site, but it will probably be at least this evening before we can even get out there to inspect damage. So far we still have telephone service, but it tends to go out after the storm, so we'll see what happens. We'll update you as soon as we can. All the best (Jeff White, WRMI, Oct 24, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Further update just received: "Florida Power and Light says there was major damage to the power grid. Over 6 million people without power, and it may take WEEKS to repair everything." (via Andy Sennitt, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Friends and Colleagues: Thanks to many of you who have sent messages. This is a brief message, as I am working with a laptop and little battery left. Hurricane Wilma hit Florida as a category three storm. There has been major damage here in Miami. Trees and power lines are down everywhere. Almost nowhere in Miami has electricity. We have no power at our transmitter site, office, home, etc. Most phone lines, including cellular, are down. We still have working lines at our office, but no power. Florida Power and Light is saying it could take up to 4 weeks to restore power everywhere; hopefully it will be much less. In any case, WRMI will be off the air for, it would appear, at least several days, depending greatly on when the power comes back on. We also have some antenna damage to the antenna covering North America. We will keep you updated as we have new information. We will try to get things back to normal as soon as possible. Thanks for your understanding in the meantime. Jeff (Jeff White, General Manager, WRMI Radio Miami International 175 Fontainebleau Blvd., Suite 1N4 Miami, Florida 33172 USA Tel +1-305-559-9764 Cell +1-786-942-4205 Fax +1-305-559-8186 E-mail: radiomiami9@cs.com http://www.wrmi.net 1844 UT Oct 25, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WWCR B-05 FINAL TRANSMITTER SCHEDULE This has still not been posted on their website, but WWCR mailed me a copy, dated 14 July as notified to the FCC International Branch by George McClintock. I reformat it to make it a bit more convenient: Tx kHz UT Nov & March UT Dec-Jan-Feb 1 9985 10-11 10-11 15825 11-22 11-21 7465 22-24 21-23 3210 00-10 23-10 2 13845 13-01 14-24 [University Network exclusively] 5935 01-13 00-14 [University Network exclusively] 3 9985 13-15 13-16 12160 15-23 16-22 5070 23-13 22-13 4 7465 13-15 14-16 9985 15-19 16-19 9975 19-22 19-22 9985 22-24 22-24 7465 00-02 00-02 5765 02-13 02-14 First column dates are actually 30 Oct to 30 Nov & 1 Mar to 1 Apr. Since two of the frequencies are used by more than one transmitter, here is a breakdown of those: 7465 13-15 4 14-16 4 22-24 1 21-23 1 00-02 4 00-02 4 9985 10-11 1 10-11 1 13-15 3 13-16 3 15-19 4 16-19 4 22-24 4 22-24 4 Note that in Dec-Jan-Feb, there will be a one hour break in 7465 at 23, which, barring interference from any other stations, should be good for Polisario`s Spanish hour on 7460. Assuming present WORLD OF RADIO and MUNDO RADIAL times continue as timeshifted, which has not been reconfirmed, the B-05 schedule will be: WOR Thu 2130 15825 Thu 2130 7465 MR Fri 2215 7465 Fri 2215 7465 WOR Sun 0330 5070 Sun 0330 5070 WOR Sun 0730 3210 Sun 0730 3210 MR Mon 2215 7465 Mon 2215 7465 WOR Wed 1030 9985 Wed 1030 9985 (Glenn Hauser, OK, Oct 24, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Finally posted October 25 at http://www.wwcr.com/wwcr_transmitter/wwcr_transmitter_schedules.html However, the program schedule has yet to be updated (John Norfolk, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Bill Lauterbach tells me that he has ceased production of DX Radio School in order to devote more time to his studies, and because WWCR has not broadcast the latest ones produced. Some reruns may still be appearing at the formerly scheduled times: Thu 0930 9985, Sun 0330 5070 [and after timeshift:], Sun 2200 7465. Please confirm whether or not it still appear (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WBCQ on 5110 appeared to be on all night long 10/24/05. I happened to leave the radio on 5110 when I noticed it was still on the air long after the regular signoff sometime in the 0530 UT range when I fell asleep, and then it was still on the air with Good Friends Radio at 0800 UT when I woke up briefly. Not sure when it went off- air. Propagation must have been unusually good, since here in St. Louis, MO 5110 (formerly 5105) is usually inaudible before 7415 signs off. Is Allan testing his proposed late-night-progressive programming this way, even though he said he wanted that on 7415? Or has Hembree bought all-night service now? 73, (Will Martin, MO, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Allan told me last week that 5110 is now running Good Friends from 7PM until 6AM eastern (2300 to 1000) 7 days a week. The sole exception to this is the Lost Discs Radio Show which is Friday from 0200 to 0300 \\ 7415. I'm not a great fan of Rod's broadcasts but I have noticed that 5110 has been much less bothered with than 5105 ever was. I also noticed that they've been playing repeats of the most recent Allan Weiner Worldwide on some of Rabbi Spivak's Jewish Radio Network time slots as the Rabbi is off for the holiday, most recently Tuesday 10/25 at 0000 on 7415. I also heard the AWW Sunday at 1900 on 7415, which is odd bacause they normally don't fire up with filler programming. While I'm at it, here's another schedule change. Undercover Radio has departed Sunday at 0000 on 7415. The Church of the Subgenius Hour of Slack moved here, effective Sunday, October 23. Hour of Slack was Sunday at 2100 on 7415. This schedule slot is now available for purchase; I noticed that a repeat of This Week In Amateur Radio International, which premires Saturday at 2000, is back here until this slot is filled. Eventually I'll get a moment to update the online schedule reflecting these changes. We are planning to do a bit of live after-hours programming on 7415 late Halloween night, starting around 0430 on November 1, immediately following Herald of Trvth. Regards, (Larry Will, Oct 25, dxldyg via DXLD) Subgenius, more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subgenius (via RFMA via DXLD) ** U S A [non]. Re V. of Joy, 2000 on 9530 via Sackville: not exactly the only one, Glenn. I was just coming back home last Sat. 22 and while cooking I remembered about your posting on VOJ, so I turned on my 7600GR at 2050 and there they were playing this choral music on 9530 with a fair to poor signal, and a female voice ending transmission at 2059. I'll have to pay more attention next time, I really wasn't. And of course, I crossed my wires with that CST appreciation (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. VOA ENGINEER ANNA L. CASE DIES By Yvonne Shinhoster Lamb Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, October 24, 2005; B04 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/23/AR2005102301223_pf.html Anna L. Case, 86, a frequency engineer with a 50-year career in international shortwave radio communication, died Oct. 16 of complications of leukemia at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington. She was a resident of Falls Church. Mrs. Case was chief of the radio frequency division of Voice of America when she retired in 1984. At the time of her retirement, she was one of the highest-ranking female engineers in the federal government. At VOA, she was part of the original design of the agency's worldwide network of shortwave and medium-wave facilities and helped to modernize the network. She also directed and managed the operation of the network, which consisted of more than 100 transmitters at 14 stations around the world. After retiring, Mrs. Case used her extensive knowledge of shortwave and medium-wave broadcasting as a consultant for George Jacobs and Associates of Silver Spring until about two years ago. She was born Anna Long in Vicksburg, Miss., and received an associate's degree from Whitworth College in Spokane, Wash., in 1937. She graduated in 1939 from Louisiana State University, where she was a member of the Beta Gamma Sigma honor society. She began her career working for the Louisiana Department of Agriculture in Baton Rouge and in 1940 moved to Washington. She was in the War Department's code center until she joined the Women's Army Corps in 1943. After training at Fort Oglethorpe, Ga., she was commissioned a second lieutenant. She returned to Washington as a supervisor in the Signal Corps' cryptography division. Following the end of hostilities in the European theater, she joined the Foreign Service and was assigned to the U.S. Embassy in London, where she began her career in shortwave radio communication. After returning from London in 1948, she met her future husband, and they married in 1950. While living in Smithtown, N.Y., she worked in international communications for VOA and Radio Free Europe in New York City until 1957. She also served the dually important role of minister's wife of the First Presbyterian Church of Smithtown for 12 years, teaching Sunday school and serving as adult adviser to the Westminster Fellowship. In 1962, Mrs. Case moved back to the Washington area, settling in Falls Church and rejoining VOA. In 1967, she received the U.S. Information Agency award for meritorious service from its director, Edward R. Murrow. She organized the first international frequency coordination committee of major international broadcasting organizations and participated in International Telecommunications Union conferences. She drafted the United States' position for the World Administrative Radio Conference in Geneva in 1979 and for the Regional Administrative Broadcasting Conference in Rio de Janeiro in 1981. Active in Christian education and Presbyterian women's groups, she was a deacon, an elder and treasurer of Idylwood Presbyterian Church in Falls Church. She also was an enthusiastic golfer. Her husband, Raymond H. Case, died in 1975. Survivors include two sons, R. Edward Case of Vienna and Louis N. Case II of Raleigh; a brother; and five grandchildren. (c) 2005 The Washington Post Company (via Mike Cooper, GA, Matt Francis, DC, DXLD) Here`s the George Jacobs page about her, and other staff: http://www.gjainc.com/gjaback.htm#Anne (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. VOA Korean service, Mon Oct 24 at 1442 had language lessons using Katrina recovery vocabulary, such as ``300 pounds of venison``. In a couple months, no doubt, this will move on to Wilma. A few minutes later found // 7235, but it was at least one second behind 11740. Per EiBi, sites are: 11740 Philippines, 7235 Marianas, and also on 7215 Marianas, which I did not notice. But per HFCC A-05, 11740 is Tinang at 21 degrees, 7235 is Tinang at 325 degrees, which does not make sense for Korea, and must have changed in the meantime. The more up-to-date NDXC schedule shows 7235 as Tinian at 321 degrees (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. On the Media: about URBONO From On the Media's Oct. 21 edition: "Up from the Wreckage" When hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf coast, radio stations throughout the region were devastated along with everything else. But an unprecedented collaboration emerged from the wreckage. Within hours of the storm, rival radio conglomerates Clear Channel and Entercom had formed United Radio Broadcasters of New Orleans, 75 miles away in Baton Rouge. It's been going 24/7 ever since. KERA's Bill Zeeble reports. http://www.onthemedia.org/ [AUDIO:] http://www.onthemedia.org/stream/ram.py?file=otm/otm102105d.mp3 (Ricky Leong, AB, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ever mention SW relay? (gh) ** U S A [and non]. WLS 890 Chicago is off again this morning (24 October), noted earlier in the evening with what seemed to be a weaker signal than normal. Hearing the Cuban, Radio Progresso at 0530, and a het on 891 from the presumed Algerian. I went back to bed at 0720 and then suddenly the bedside radio which was still tuned to 890 came alive with ESPN sports which was in parallel with 1000. WLS must've been using the WMVP feed for testing purposes (Steve Lare, Holland, MI, USA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) WMVP AM 1000 silent at 0150 CDT. --- Very quiet frequency, some residual stuff in Spanish and English that can't be readily identified (Curtis Sadowski, Paxton, Illinois, Oct 24, WTFDA-AM via DXLD) An accomplished VHF/UHF DXer asked, ``what does a het sound like?``. Yes, you don`t run into those much with FM audio! In case anyone else is wondering, het is short for heterodyne, and it is simply an audio frequency produced by two AM carriers a few kHz apart. The pitch depends directly on the separation. Trans-Atlantic MW DXers tend to misuse ``het``, when they really mean ``carrier``. You may be able to hear a carrier on e.g. 585 kHz without any heterodyning whatsoever with selectivity narrow enough to get rid of the signals on 580 and 590. If the TA carrier is less than 5 kHz from a 10-kHz multiple, then the pitch will be lower and the separation more difficult. For example the 1521 Saudi against OKC or Buffalo on 1520 is only 1 kHz away, or 1000 Hz. After a while, you should be able to recognize 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 kHz hets. Of course, the SW DXer hears 5 kHz all the time just tuning across a band with stations normally separated by 5 kHz rather than 10 --- unless using a receiver capable of or set to narrower bandwidth. Some even use `het` to refer to detecting carriers with BFO on, slightly offset from the 9-kHz spacing. You can`t really have a het with only one frequency/carrier, since by definition it requires two of them beating against each other (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Speaking of the FCC and its processes, the past week brought a lot of attention to the plight of WAVM (91.7 Maynard), which is fighting for its life after losing its latest bid to upgrade from its present 10-watt class D status. Over the last few days, the story's been covered everywhere from the Maynard Beacon Villager to the Boston Herald to MSNBC's "Countdown," where Keith Olbermann (currently our favorite cable-TV news anchor, at least outside the "fake news" arena) even named the California religious broadcaster that won out over WAVM as one of his "Worst People in the World" for the night. Of course, it was no surprise at all to find that much of that coverage didn't accurately reflect the facts of this complicated and long-running story, so with that in mind we offer a refresher on what exactly is at stake here: What's the problem? The problem, just as with other high-profile "endangered" high school FMs in recent years (WHHS in Pennsylvania, KMIH in Seattle and so on), stems from the FCC's decision in the late seventies to stop licensing new class D FMs and to leave any remaining class Ds unprotected from interference. At first, that wasn't such a big deal - the FM dial in 1980 was still relatively empty, after all, and there weren't many broadcasters clamoring for space on the noncommercial end of the band. It must not have seemed like a big deal in 1982 when WAVM allowed a construction permit that would have upgraded the station to protected class A status to expire unbuilt - and indeed, in 1982 it wasn't a very big deal. Nor is it true, as many of the media reports have claimed, that WAVM somehow sealed its own fate by applying for a new class A upgrade a few years ago. That upgrade application did end up as part of a "mutually exclusive" group with three applications for new signals on 91.7 (CSN International, in Lexington; UMass Boston, in Stow; and the eventual winner, Living Proof, in Lunenburg) - but it's important to note that because of WAVM's unprotected class D status, those applications could have been (and no doubt would have been) filed regardless of whether WAVM had also filed for an upgrade. So how did the Lunenburg Living Proof application end up winning the "tentative preference" to be granted over the others? It's here that we run up against the unusual way in which the FCC has more or less been backed into dealing with such contested situations. At one time, the FCC would have held comparative hearings to determine which application would best have served the public interest, and there's little doubt that the WAVM application, with its enormous base of community support, would have been an easy winner. With the coming of deregulation in the eighties and nineties, the FCC wanted out of the comparative-hearing business, and today commercial stations are granted through an auction system. The FCC would have been more than happy to auction off the noncommercial spectrum, too, but after many years of legal battles it was forced to adopt a different procedure - albeit one with no happier an ending for WAVM. The system the FCC uses now is based on the "hands-off" approach the Commission takes to pretty much all programming issues. By avoiding any consideration of programming, treating any noncommercial service as equal to any other, the FCC can look strictly at signal reach, and that's what happened here. Of the four proposals that were mutually exclusive, only Living Proof's Lunenburg application promised to bring a city-grade noncommercial signal to any listeners who didn't currently receive one, and thus it was that application that received an almost automatic "tentative preference." (Alert regulatory minds will note at this point that the FCC's system all but guarantees that an application for a relatively sparsely populated area like Lunenburg will win out over a dense area like Maynard, which is likely to already be blanketed by multiple noncommercial signals.) What happens to WAVM now? It's not correct, as some of our journalistic colleagues have implied, to suggest that the grant of the Living Proof construction permit will mean the immediate silencing of WAVM. In fact, it's not immediately obvious to us that the new Lunenburg signal, with 630 watts and a very directional antenna, would suffer enough interference from WAVM to force WAVM off the air at all. Even if the conclusion is that a class D WAVM can't coexist with the new Lunenburg station, it's not out of the question that WAVM could find a new frequency somewhere else on the dial. The FCC has shown a willingness in recent years (especially in the WHHS case) to show the remaining class D signals some leniency when it comes to interference waivers that allow them to squeeze into what few niches remain on the ever-more-crowded FM dial, and we're hopeful that the bigger guns in the New England broadcasting community would be willing to grant the needed waivers to keep WAVM alive elsewhere on the FM band. And it's important to point out that the grant to Living Proof is, so far, only a "tentative preference," subject to further review by the Commission. While there don't appear to be any valid technical grounds on which WAVM could appeal the decision (and we'd note here that we're not lawyers), the FCC is a political body, too, and it's clear that WAVM is mustering the PR and political support that most stations in a situation like this can only dream of. It's not hard to imagine any number of ways in which the formal grant to Living Proof could be delayed for several years as WAVM makes its political case, buying some time for the station to regroup, if nothing else. It's also not at all out of the question that the legislative maneuvers aimed at protecting the remaining class D FMs (spearheaded by Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington and our own local Congresswoman Louise Slaughter of New York) will bear fruit in the meantime, requiring the FCC to give additional protection to stations like WAVM. Whatever happens, we'll be following the story closely, just as we've been doing since it first began developing way back in 2000. A NERW Mini-Rant: If you'll allow us to step on the editorial soapbox for a minute here as well, we'd point out that WAVM is indeed a special station. Take a quick visit to their website (wavm.org) and you'll see that this isn't just a handful of misfit kids playing Nine Inch Nails for a couple of hours after school each weekday (when they don't have something better to do.) For more than 30 years, WAVM has provided a serious training program in both radio and television. It's also the only local broadcast medium for Maynard, a city of some 10,000 people that sits among some of the wealthiest suburbs in America. Maynard is most emphatically not one of "those" suburbs, though - it's an old mill town that's still something of a blue collar island in a sea of McMansions. Ironically, if the FCC were considering proposals for a new commercial class A allocation, Maynard would win out over Lunenburg, hands down - Lunenburg has only about 1700 people, and it could arguably be considered part of the larger Fitchburg urban area, which is already well served by local broadcasters. In any practical sense, there's really no point considering "service" to Lunenburg from the Living Proof application, anyway; if it's granted, there would be at most a sham of a "local studio," with programming originating from Living Proof's headquarters way across the country in Bishop, California. (And having lived in the Bishop area some years ago, we can say with great certainty that even if Living Proof's programming somehow reflected the local concerns of Bishop, which it doesn't, there are probably no two parts of the country less similar in any respect than Lunenburg, Massachusetts and Bishop, California.) Yes, rules are rules, especially where the FCC is concerned, and nobody can claim that Living Proof (or CSN, or UMass) has failed to play by the rules in filing these applications. What's unfortunate, though, is that the narrowness of the standard being applied here by the FCC - looking purely at numbers of population and the numbers of stations servicing them with signal - manages, in the end, to work against what should be the greater public good of continuing to provide the 10,000-plus people of Maynard with the only broadcast service they've had. The solution, it seems to us, is not all that complicated: it's time for the remaining class D signals, few as they are, to get at least minimal protection for the service they've offered their communities, in some cases for half a century or more. That need not be the full protection that a class A signal would have had, especially in the many cases where a class D signal voluntarily passed up the chance to become a class A back when such a move would have been simple. It should, however, at the very least include priority over translators, priority over new LPFMs and, I would argue, a presumptive preference over new entrants in a mutually-exclusive case like WAVM's. With any luck, the political pressure that the FCC's been receiving from several directions on the class D issue will lead to such a solution (Scott Fybush, NE Radio Watch Oct 24 via DXLD) ** U S A. IS INFINITY READY TO JACK HOWARD STERN OFF MORE STATIONS? October 24, 2005 Another round of Jack-FM stations could be installed by Infinity Broadcasting tomorrow morning at 8 a.m., according to a statement made by Howard Stern on his syndicated morning program today. "Tomorrow morning at 8 a.m., during our show, there will be a few small markets that we are presently on that will switch to the Jack-FM format and take us off the air," said Stern, who was not pleased with the prospect. "I guess it's the F.U. to Howard," he added. . . http://www.fmqb.com/Article.asp?id=137056 (via Bruce MacGibbon, DXLD) ** VENEZUELA. "A charming provocateur" --- That is how Robin Lustig describes the Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. For those of you who did not hear the BBC Talking Point interview with Chávez on Sunday Oct 23, there is a video to be downloaded at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4359924.stm Chávez says no one should fear him. He holds that Jesus Christ was the first socialist and Judas the first capitalist, and that Victor Hugo´s Les Misérables is a reading must. Just a few examples of views he is holding. Not reflected on the show was the fact that he has ordered the NTM missionaries to be expelled from Venezuela. According to the Agencia Bolivariana de Noticias, Oct 24, the NTM "is part of a project designed by the US military industry in order to study the strategic reserves of the countries in South America". To the Venezuelan president the US is "a terrorist state", a proof thereof being Pat Robertson´s wishing Chávez dead. There is a transcript of the interview somewhere on the BBC home page, but about half of the interview has been left unaccounted for. So it is worth the while to go for the whole program. The BBC video is dubbed in English (Henrik Klemetz, Sweden, Oct 25, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZIMBABWE. Hi Glenn, This article from Business Day newspaper published in South Africa, SAPA, South African Associated Press. You may want to include it in DXLD? Not mentioned if these transmitters are for SW or FM radio or TV, but probably Shortwave ones as the Chinese provided jamming transmitters to Zimbabwe earlier this year (David Pringle-Wood, Zimbabwe, Oct 25, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: HARARE SWINGS CHINESE DEAL --- Business Day, South Africa HARARE - A Chinese firm is expected to provide transmitters worth $63m to Zimbabwe's state broadcaster, a newspaper reported yesterday. The debt will be offset through proceeds from a joint Chinese and Zimbabwean mining venture, according to the state-controlled Sunday Mail. China is believed to be interested in obtaining chrome and nickel from Zimbabwe, the paper said. The deputy governor of the China Development Bank, Zhao Jianping, arrived in Zimbabwe on Saturday to oversee the deal to provide transmitters, the report said. Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, facing increasing isolation from the west over his government's human rights abuses, has called for closer business ties with Asian countries to replace traditional western markets. Sapa-DPA (via Pringle-Wood, DXLD) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Glenn, I should have done this years ago, but anyway here it comes: Your DXLD is the best source of shortwave DXing info available at the moment (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland) PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ NEW, FREE, ONLINE SHORTWAVE BOOK AVAILABLE Hi Glenn, I just thought I would write to let you know that I have completed an introductory radio book on Shortwave and Satellite radio listening. It also includes some other forms of listening. The book entitled Shortwave to Satellites: An Introduction to the Radio Listening Hobby is available on-line, and free of charge at http://www.radiopastpresentfuture.com/sw2satbook.html You can also get to it via the main page, where I hope to be adding some stuff in the future --- including links to past radio info --- and possibly a newsletter. Anyway, after looking at the price of self-publishing packages, I thought to myself, why not just put a large portion of the book on the internet, maybe someone will read it who is actually interested in shortwave and satellites. Whereas, if I went the self-publishing option, no one would have it, except for family and friends --- who really just do not care very much about radio. I thought your readers and listeners might be interested in a place where they could steer friends to know more about our hobby. Thanks, (Jason R. Gardner http://www.radiopastpresentfuture.com Oct 24, DX LISTENING DIGEST) INTRODUCTION AUX ONDES COURTES Por Norbert Fouquet Pagina web en Frances e Ingles (José Miguel Romero, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Not sure this has been updated for a few years (gh) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ SW IN MAINSTREAM US MEDIA Another sighting of a Grundig/Eton S350, this one in a wildly inappropriate context. In the new series "E-Ring", based on mythical Pentagon special operations, an S350 was seen sitting on a table of supposedly high-end communications gear the characters were using to monitor the radio traffic of an event half the world away. What makes this silly is that these people would be using Watkins- Johnson or other stratospheric-priced gear for any HF or SW operational purpose. An S350 might be seen sitting on somebody's desk for them to use to listen to a local Wash, DC rock station, but NOT as a mission tool! Reminds me of the way old Hollywood B-movies would use a Hallicrafters to represent some exotic alien or futuristic hardware! Maybe the S350 is now the prop-master's latest quasi-techno toy of choice. 73, (Will Martin, MO, Oct 24, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 21 KILOWATTS Scott Fybush wrote that WMVP's CE told him that WMVP's STA to diplex with WLS may come through for 21 kW. I'm beginning to get the impression that the FCC sees some magic in 21 kW on AM. When WWLG got its original CP to build a day site on the shores of Chesapeake Bay northeast of Baltimore, the authorized power was 21 kW. I heard that WWLG was installing a 50 kW Transmitter because M-10s (the owner's) intent was to apply for an increase to 50 kW as soon as the new six- tower almost-in-line array had been proofed. I figured that maybe 21 kW was the lowest power the FCC would authorize for a station that used a 50-kW Tx. And indeed, WWLG now runs 50 kW days. Then WPEN applied for 21 kW-N when it built its new night facility at the WWDB site in E Norriton. But WPEN does not have a 50-kW Tx at the site; they have two 25 kW units that are alternate-main Txs, but the two units' outputs cannot be combined to produce 50 kW -- at least not without the installation of a combining network. So can somebody explain the magic of 21 kW -- or is this all just coincidence? (Dan Strassberg, NRC-AM via DXLD) I strongly suspect it's just coincidence, but --- Broadcast transmitters must be "type accepted" - measurements must be taken to show spurious emissions, distortion, harmonics, etc. are within FCC specs. These measurements are made at particular power levels, and a given model transmitter may well not be clean enough (and thus, cannot be type accepted) at lower powers. It is my understanding that many Class D stations with very low night powers operate their transmitters at full power at night, but dump most of that power into a dummy load. Because those transmitters are not type accepted at the lower night power. So maybe WPEN, WWLG, and WMVP-STA all use the same model of 50kw transmitter, and that transmitter is not type-accepted for powers of less than 21 kW? But I do think it's just coincidence. – (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66, http://www.w9wi.com ibid.) It amazes me that a radio station would still run a transmitter at full power into a dummy load and tap off of it to get a very low nite power when they can buy a separate LPB transmitter that would do the job. Would pay for it self in maintenance and electricity charges in short order (Paul Smith, Sarasota, FL, ibid.) I too have never understood the attitude of doing things the least expensive way even though in the long run it will most likely cost more. In the sixties when my hometown daytime only station put up two additional towers to operate at night and converted the one kW transmitter to run 500 watts I couldn't believe that the way they reduced power was to put two big resisters in the plate lead of the 833A tubes (Tom Dimeo, ibid.) Actually, it still amazes me that some stations are still using transmitters with tubes --- they must like supporting the power company, unless they trade out their power bill (Paul Smith, Sarasota, FL, NRC-AM via DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ MORE LONG-HAUL TRANS-EQUATORIAL FM DX, CARIBBEAN TO SOUTHERN BRASIL [tho frequencies are first, this is in chrono order; unclear why even- MHz frequencies are shown to two decimal places; with ITU country abbrs., SINPO ratings; also unclear why he uses a 17-m longwire for VHF] 97.3, 20/10 2350 LCA R. Santa Lúcia, Castries, OM, nxs, creole 43343 94.00, 20/10 2353 MRT Rádio Martinica, Trinité, YL, px humorístico, muitas risadas, FF // 94.3 MHz 45344 96.5, 20/10 2354 DOM Metro FM, Santo Domingo, mx pop EE, EE 45344 91.9, 20/10 2355 ATG Hitz FM, QTH??, YL/OM, mx, jingle: ``Hitz FM``, EE 45444 106.6, 20/10 0004 GDL RCI Guadeloupe, Point à Pitre, OM, nxs, FF 43343 106.2, 20/10 0005 MRT Radio AS, QTH??, mx pop variada, jingle, FF 43343 95.7, 20/10 0009 ?? Unid, OM, nxs, EE 43343 103.8, 20/10 0010 HTI R. Lakansyèl, Port au Prince, OM, nxs, FF 43343 91.1, 20/10 0011 ATG Observer FM, St. John’s, bonita mx caribenha, EE 44344 97.00, 20/10 0018 GDL RFO Guadeloupe, OM/OM, talks, FF 43343 91.1, 21/10 2331 ATG Observer FM, St John’s, OM/OM, talks, EE 33333 91.9, 21/10 2337 ATG Hitz FM, QTH??, mx caribenha, EE 34333 106.2, 21/10 2348 MRT Radio AS, QTH??, mx pop EE, FF 24232 (RUBENS FERRAZ PEDROSO, BANDEIRANTES-PR, BRASIL, RECEPTOR: SONY ICF SW 7600GR E 7600G. ANTENA: LW DE 17 M + INDUTOR, @tividade DX via DXLD) The geomagnetic field ranged from quiet to active levels with minor storm periods at high latitudes. Solar wind speed ranged from a high of about 450 km/s on 17 October to a low of 300 km/s on 21 October. Minor storm periods were observed at high latitudes on 17 October. Conditions calmed to quiet to active periods on 18 and 19 October. Heightened activity at high latitudes was due to prolonged periods of southward Bz. Through late on 21 October, the Bz component of the IMF was weak, not varying much beyond +/- 5 nT. Late on 21 October, a solar sector boundary crossing was detected in the ACE SWEPAM data. The IMF Bz briefly rotated through +/- 10 nT for about six hours, and wind speed increased from about 300 km/s to near 400 km/s. Middle latitudes responded with a brief active period early on 22 October. The period ended with wind speed around 360 km/s. FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 26 OCTOBER - 21 NOVEMBER Solar activity is expected to be very low to low. No greater than 10 MeV proton events are expected. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to be at high levels on 29 October – 02 November, 05 – 11 November, and 16 – 17 November. The geomagnetic field is expected to range from quiet to minor storm levels. Unsettled to minor storm levels are possible on 04 November due to a recurrent coronal hole high speed wind stream. Otherwise, expect quiet to unsettled conditions. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2005 Oct 25 1924 UTC # Prepared by the US Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, Space Environment Center # Product description and SEC contact on the Web # http://www.sec.noaa.gov/wwire.html # # 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table # Issued 2005 Oct 25 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2005 Oct 26 75 10 3 2005 Oct 27 80 8 3 2005 Oct 28 80 8 3 2005 Oct 29 80 8 3 2005 Oct 30 80 5 2 2005 Oct 31 80 5 2 2005 Nov 01 80 5 2 2005 Nov 02 80 5 2 2005 Nov 03 80 10 3 2005 Nov 04 80 20 4 2005 Nov 05 80 10 3 2005 Nov 06 80 10 3 2005 Nov 07 80 5 2 2005 Nov 08 80 5 2 2005 Nov 09 80 5 2 2005 Nov 10 75 5 2 2005 Nov 11 75 5 2 2005 Nov 12 75 10 3 2005 Nov 13 75 10 3 2005 Nov 14 75 10 3 2005 Nov 15 75 8 3 2005 Nov 16 75 8 3 2005 Nov 17 75 5 2 2005 Nov 18 75 5 2 2005 Nov 19 75 5 2 2005 Nov 20 75 5 2 2005 Nov 21 75 10 3 (http://www.sec.noaa.gov/radio via WORLD OF RADIO 1291, DXLD) ###