DX LISTENING DIGEST 5-200, November 20, 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 Latest edition of this schedule version, with hotlinks to station sites and audio, is at: http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html NEXT AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1294: Mon 0515 WOR WBCQ 7415 Mon 1900 WOR RFPI [repeated 4-hourly thru Tue 1500] Wed 0030 WOR WBCQ 7415 [usually but temporary] Wed 0100 WOR CJOY INTERNET RADIO plug-in required Wed 1030 WOR WWCR 9985 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 [from early UT Thursday] WORLD OF RADIO 1294 (high version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1294h.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1294h.rm WORLD OF RADIO 1294 (low version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1294.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1294.rm (summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1294.html [not yet] WORLD OF RADIO 1294 downloads in studio-quality mp3: (high) http://www.obriensweb.com/wor1294h.mp3 (low) http://www.obriensweb.com/wor1294.mp3 WORLD OF RADIO PODCAST: www.obriensweb.com/wor.xml (currently: 1288, Extra 61, 1289, Extra 62, 1290, 1291, 1292, 1293, soon 1294) ** ARMENIA. 9965, Voice of Armenia Nov. 17 at 1930 UT in English absolutely fantastic signal, English program, news and weather read by YL (Bill Bergadano, NJ, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) See TANZANIA [non] ** AUSTRIA. I caught a few minutes of some very odd vocal music until 1459* Nov 20 on 17610. Per EiBi B-05 that would be AWR in Afar at 1430. Must listen again earlier. EiBi in time order at http://www.susi-und-strolch.de/eibi/bc-b05.txt per http://www.eibi.de.vu/ is now 85% complete, and I guess he won`t do the frequency sort until the time sort is finished? URL for that will presumably be: http://www.susi-und-strolch.de/eibi/dx/freq-b05.txt (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BELARUS. ========= Belorusskoe Radio. B05. [note powers!] ------------------------------------------------------------ Foreign Service To West Europa [sic; supposed to be to NAm] 0200-0400 5970 kHz (250 kW) 6155 kHz (150 kW) 7210 kHz ( 75 kW) To West Europa 2000-2300 7340 kHz ( 75 kW) 7125 kHz (250 kW) 7440 kHz (150 kW) Belorusskoe Radio-1 ------------------------------ 0400-2300 daily. The circular aerial 6115 kHz ( 75 kW) 0500-0700 daily. To Russia. 7170 kHz (250 kW). Ë÷Ô) 1000-1100 daily. To Russia. 11960 kHz (250 kW) 1600-1800 daily. To Russia. 7255 kHz (250 kW) (1600-1640 Local programme oblast TRK) (Rus DX Nov 20 via DXLD) A few years ago the following line-up was reported for the 1600-1640 slot within the 1600-1800 on 7255 transmission: Mon Homiel/Gomiel, Tue Viciebsk/Vitebsk, Wed Mahiliou/Mogilyov, Thu Brest, Fri Hrodna/Grodno. The 75 kW outlets are likely run with 15 combined 5 kW transmitters (ex-jammers). (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Nov 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL [non]. As rádios BBC Brasil e França Internacional estão na mira do jornalista brasileiro Rui Martins. Ele irá denunciar as duas emissoras à Organização Mundial do Comércio pela prática de dumping. Segundo ele, tanto BBC Brasil como Rádio França despejam boletins gratuitos para emissoras comerciais brasileiras que poderiam pagar pelo trabalho de um correspondente no exterior. O próprio Rui foi vítima do esquema: a Rádio CBN, da qual era correspondente, optou por economizar seu salário passando a utilizar os boletins da BBC Brasil. Dumping é um ato empresarial que consiste em despejar produtos no mercado de um país alheio, com preço abaixo do praticado no mercado. Rui Martins está radicado há mais de 30 anos na Europa, tendo atuado na antiga Rádio Suíça Internacional e na Rádio Nederland. Sua base atual é Genebra (Célio Romais, Brasil, Panorama, @tividade DX via DXLD) ** CAMEROON [non]. ?? 12130, R F S C at 1800?? with music, political talks by a woman mentioning "divine, sovereignty, Jesus Christ; Cameroon mentioned very many times, ID "Radio Free Southern Cameroon" at 1810, mentions about India, ship leaders, arrest of Difayamba, preservation of identity, brainwashing. At 1814 with a local song and another at 1819. Signal 45444 S9+10. Using R75 and an overloaded 1025 from the 16 m horizontal antenna which could not 100% phase out the powerline QRN of S9. I wonder if it is the transmitter used for other broadcasts on 12130 (Guam?). At 1929 there is a muffled transmission on 12128 with French programming and S8, 30% with local QRN (Zacharias Liangas, Greece, Sun Nov 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Why would they use far-away Guam. Already reported to be Krasnodar, Russia (gh, DXLD) ** CUBA. Saludos cordiales, queridos colegas diexistas. Espero se encuentren todos muy bien. Actualmente, a las 1330 UT no puedo escuchar a Radio Habana Cuba en los 11760, 11805 y 15230 kHz; lo extraño es que tampoco puede abrir su pagina en internet. Estará pasando algo con la electricidad en la querida isla? Pregunta: alguien la puede sintonizar? (Atte: José Elías, Venezuela, Nov 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) En el aire a las 1425, comenzando tarde el programa venezolano en 11670, 11875, 13750. Y propio en 9550, 11760, 11805, 12000, más temprano en la hora de 14. 73, (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Muchas gracias amigo Glenn. Me alegra saber que la radio está en el aire y que la has escuchado, me extrañó bastante no oirla esta mañana en OC y tampoco ver su pagina, ya que no abría (José Elías, ibid.) Website inaccessible is not at all unusual, but maybe this had something to do with H. Gamma? see also VENEZUELA (gh) ** CUBA. 860, R. Reloj, Baracoa, NOV 14 0328 - Not a new station for us, but unusual because instead of the normal "RR" in code, there were chimes instead. All the other Reloj outlets heard used code (Jim Renfrew, NF DX-pedition via DXLD) Jim, I believe Reloj uses chimes instead of code on Sundays. What can we read into that?? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) R. Reloj Cuba replaces the code with chimes on Sundays into Monday mornings (Bruce Conti - National Radio Club, IRCA via DXLD) Hi again Glenn, Re your comment to Jim Renfrew: not quite...on the evening of 13 Nov (Eastern Time) we noted Reloj with the chimes on 860 and 790 kHz, but 850 and 870 kHz had the familiar "RR" code (Jean Burnell, NS, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Crew, This RR network has a history. During the entry on the scene of Fidel Castro until the Escambray Mountain battle all the way to abdication by Juan Batista, and during the Cuban Missile Crisis, this network has not skipped a pip or a tock or an "RR." Just keeps going. [Later:] It was FULGENCIO Batista that abdicated, and I don't remember if he departed Cuba or was shot and/or hanged, or what. I do know that RR reported it as their clock ticked on. 73 (Charles A & Leonor L Taylor, Greenville, North Carolina, IRCA via DXLD) And it is the oldest all news station in the world. Dates to 1948 (David Gleason, ibid.) Didn't Estimado Batista move to Miami? Believe family still there. Croaked some time ago? Ironic, he freed Fido from prison, Fido repaid kindness in typical fashion. Re: Reloj - en Jefe's answer to Engergizer Bunny. First heard forty years ago in Nassau. Twelve years, several hurricanes, winter storms, truthful Reloj always there. 950 never off, along with 850 & 790. Hardened site? Like good servant, it anticipates. =Z.= (Paul Zecchino, Manasota Key, FL, ibid.) Batista died in 1973 in exile in Spain. A friend of mine, Frank Freyre, just wrote a 2 volume biography of him (Dave Hochfelder, Highland Park, NJ, ibid.) ** CUBA. I am hearing Cuba on 682 kHz (No this is not a typo. The frequency is six eight two) with Fidel giving a speech. This seems to be a special occasion because the program is // on several frequencies. They are ruining a clear reception of my local WCBM on 680. 0220z 11/18. This is so strong it should be widely heard across the continent (Bill Harms, Elkridge MD, IRCA via DXLD) Bill, I not sure that this is strange or special. Fidel is known for his "in deepth" talks. Usually in the early evenings, so the people will have his voice to eat supper by. How charming!!! Listen closely and some of his "talks" are old, that is they are taped from the past. Sometimes they are live, but not as often as they use to be in the 70's and 80's. If his government was so great, the state of Florida would be empty and in Cuba. Anyhow, Cuba on 680 is a real pest here in Tennessee. Check 640, 570, 590 and 600. Many carry his talks in // with 680. I would rather hear WPTF in North Carolina. 73's (Willis Monk, Old Fort, ibid.) Just Fido being Fido. Slide off freq, create hets, annoy Yanqui running dogs of imperialismo. Sound broadcast policy. Gassing off, or rather his tapes are? Maybe especial event 'proving' to world he's in great shape. Reports on therealcuba.com, newsmax, u.s.w., tell another story - Parkinson's several years advanced. CIA on money, cautions 'bad craziness' - to employ trademark phrase of late Dr. H. S. Thompson - may mark progression of disease, making for fun Fido watching. - Z. - (Paul Vincent Zecchino, Manabasalganglionicdegeneration Key, FL BT, ibid.) Fidel has not used split frequencies as an ongoing part of his blocking efforts. Generally, blocking is achieved by putting one or more stations with domestic, local programming on any frequency that has content which is deemed antirevolutionary [sic]. Stations off Western Hemisphere channels are usually technical deficiencies, and not of long duration. The closest to an intentional off channel jammer to exist since 1970 was the slightly off-frequency 1140 station which transmitted warbling tones. In general, after the VOA ceased to lease time on some of the 1-A clears, intentional blockage has been limited to 1140, 1180 and 710. 670 and 1210 and 1550 have been blocked by several local assignments that coincidentally impeded WWFE, WRHC and the former WCMQ making landfall on day facilities. There is no US Spanish station on 680 the regime would wish to interfere with, so this one is likely a malfunction, not a plot. (David Gleason, CA, ibid.) Thanks for the tip, Bill. It is putting a fairly big signal into N.E. MN (Paul LaFreniere, Grand Marais, MN 0354 UT Nov 18, ibid.) Logged & DF'ed several intermittent off freq Fido stations over decades. Will at once notify well-practiced individuals who corroborate findings of undersigned scurvy scribe to disregard same, based upon most appreciated - and timely - heads-up alert. Apparently, all our RDF's & receivers are defective, yielding flawed freqs & LOBS. What about 690 spoof emitter, qth. Anguilla Keys ca.'96, audible eastern & upper Gulf? A confabulation as well? Should we dismiss confirmed three-transmitter split-hets used to interfere on/about one freq, ca. '93 - 98? Should Michael Hayden be notified? -Z.- (Paul Vincent Zecchino, Manasplitfreqs Key, FL, BT, ibid.) Loud and clear here in Tulsa 2140 CST 17 NOV 05 overriding 680 splatter at times (Bruce Winkelman AA5CO, Tulsa, OK, R8, Quantum Phaser, 2 - 130 ft +/- wires, ibid.) ** CUBA [non]. [Note: this report has been modified from its original version posted on the dxld yg, as often happens] Sunday Nov 20 at 1425 I noticed R. Martí with a music program, despite the reformatting some months ago to Martí-noticias, a guajiro song at the moment, best on 13820, also on 15330, 11930 with heavy jamming. I would like to add such music shows to my Monitoring Reminders Calendar. So I look up this week`s program schedule at http://www.martinoticias.com/media/Schedules/rm_sch_spa.html But this presents a few problems. Altho RM does provide a weekly program schedule grid, showing specific dates, such as Sun Nov 20, it appears to bear little connexion to reality. First of all, the timezone is not specified. Surely it is Cuban, UT -4, rather than gusano, UT-5 --- but the program title which could allude to music is ``Con Voz Propia``, which is daily from ``9 to 10`` am, which would be EST rather than Bolivarian time. At 10 am they are supposed to be running ``La Noticia por Dentro``. I recheck 17670 at 1625 UT and they are promoting an upcoming concert by Willy Chirino. This was scheduled only Saturday evening at 8-11 pm (lacking stupid ballgames this week). But at 1630 the ``live`` concert starts up, instead of the scheduled Noticias Médicas at 11 am, Presidio Político at 11:30 am, Noticias Latinoamericans at noon, or Deports y Más at 12:30. Take your pick: NOT what is actually on the air. It looks as if RM is programmed off-the-cuff, seat-of-pants, maybe whatever the op on duty feels like playing. So why bother to publish a specific but wrong daily schedule?? Could be a last-minute decision to counter-program against Aló Presidente? Certainly much more entertaining. Concert still going, preëmpting everything in its way, past 1800 UT and finally at 1900 = 3/2 pm outgoing credits from the Knight Center in Miami, wrapping it up and 1902 into news, 1908 into what sounded like Desde la Esquina, two comedians in a routine about pan, I suspect with political overtones, scheduled for ``2 pm`` so the grid would be in UT -5, unless the concert pre-emption is still pushing programs around. Esquina had no explicit opening titles, but was promoted just before the news. Rechecked around 2100, the concert was playing AGAIN! I guess it is a really big deal. Was Willy a recent acquisition? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Here`s the background CONCIERTO EN VIVO A CUBA VIA RADIO Y TV MARTÍ: El popular cantante Willy Chirino celebrará los 35 años de su carrera artística con un concierto en Miami que será trasmitido simultáneamente hacia Cuba a través de Radio y TV Martí. ''Este es el primer paso de un largo sueño de cantar en una Cuba libre'', afirmó ayer el artista, cuyas canciones circulan clandestinamente dentro de la isla y son incluso bailadas y coreadas en actividades callejeras. ``Es por ahora lo que me puede aproximar a ese pueblo que está hambriento de noticias y entretenimiento''. El concierto de Chirino se realizará el próximo sábado 19 de noviembre en el Centro James L. Knight, entre 8 y 11 p.m., y será también emitido en vivo por tres emisoras locales. Aunque históricamente Cuba ha bloqueado las transmisiones de Radio y TV Martí, existen evidencias de que las señales de ambas emisoras están entrando con mayor facilidad en el territorio nacional en el último año gracias al uso de un avión militar C-130 con tales fines. [which has NOT been used for weeks; was it up on Nov 19???] El acceso de los cubanos a las producciones de Radio y TV Martí se ha visto incrementado también mediante la proliferación de videos grabados en el mercado negro y las conexiones clandestinas a la internet. Cuba anunció que demandará el cese de esas emisiones ante la Cumbre Mundial de la Sociedad de la Información, que sesionará en Túnez la próxima semana. ''La información que recibimos por llamadas telefónicas y correos electrónicos nos da la certeza de que el pueblo cubano puede escucharnos y vernos todos los días'', consideró Alberto Mascaró, gerente de la Oficina de Transmisiones a Cuba (OCB). Chirino dijo que la OCB hará ese día un ''esfuerzo especial'' para tratar de hacer llegar sus señales a la isla. Junto a Chirino se encontraba ayer la congresista cubanoamericana Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, firme defensora de las transmisiones hacia Cuba, financiadas por Estados Unidos. ''Vamos a hacer historia con este concierto que podrán escucharse y verse por nuestra gente dentro de Cuba'', dijo Ros-Lehtinen. ``Willy representa lo mejor del espíritu cubano''. A la velada asistirá el poeta disidente Raúl Rivero, recién exiliado en España y de visita en Estados Unidos. ''Chirino es de los artistas exiliados que es seguido dentro de Cuba por varias generaciones de compatriotas que lo consideran su ídolo'', comentó Rivero, quien escribió las palabras de presentación del concierto. El cantante, una leyenda del ''sonido Miami'', llegó de Cuba a los 13 años durante la llamada Operación Pedro Pan (1960-62). Su más reciente álbum, Cubanísimo, reúne canciones clásicas y números de reciente creación, con fuertes alusiones anticastristas. (Via: Oscar de Céspedes / EEUU, Conexión Digital Nov 20 via DXLD) ** ECUADOR. Haven`t heard the HCJB DRM on 15370 the last few days. The HFCC B-05 DRM schedule confirms this transmission was to end on Nov 12 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EGYPT. I have been nothing Radio Egypt English broadcast 1215-1300 on 17835. Signals are not broadcast (ABID Hussain Sajid, Mailsi (Pakistan), Nov 21, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FINLAND. Nuntii Latini confirmed starting at 1453 UT Sunday Nov 20 on YLE Radio Finland, 15400, which was much weaker than usual; falling winter MUF, I guess (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FRANCE. TDF B05 TENTATIVE schedule as of 23-Sep-2005 FREQ STRT STOP CIRAF ZONES LOC POWR AZIMUTH SLW ANT DAYS FDATE TDATE MOD LANGUAGE --- Dates are 301005-260306 u.o.s. Days are 1234567 u.o.s. Station is RFI u.o.s. D = analog; N = digital! LBJ = relay of Libya. ISS = Issoudun, France (main site) 3965 0400 0500 37,38W ISS 500 180 0 145 D French 3965 0500 0600 27 ISS 1 0 0 925 260206 260306 N Various 3965 0500 0530 37,38W ISS 500 180 0 145 301005 260206 D Arabic 3965 0530 0600 37,38W ISS 500 180 0 145 301005 260206 D French 3965 0600 1800 27 ISS 1 0 0 925 N Various 3965 1800 1900 27N ISS 250 345 0 145 D English NEW 3965 1900 2000 27 ISS 1 0 0 925 N Various 3965 2000 2100 28S ISS 250 98 0 145 D Serbian 3965 2100 2200 37,38W ISS 500 180 0 145 D French 3965 2200 2300 27N ISS 250 345 0 145 D Chinese NEW 3965 2300 0400 27 ISS 1 0 0 925 N Various 4890 0400 0600 46SE,47SW,52N GAB 250 0 0 930 D French GAB 5905 1900 2000 18S,28N,29N ISS 500 55 0 215 D Russian 5910 1700 1800 18S,28N,29W ISS 250 60 0 211 D Polish 5915 2200 2300 18S,28N,29N ISS 250 60 0 210 D Polish 5925 0500 0530 37,38W,46N ISS 500 180 0 145 D Arabic 5925 0530 0600 37,38W,46N ISS 500 180 0 145 D French 5925 0600 0700 37,38W,46N ISS 500 180 0 145 301005 260206 D French 5945 0300 0400 38W,47,52,53W,57N ISS 500 155 0 215 301005 260206 D French 5990 0400 0430 18S,28,29N ISS 500 55 0 215 D Russian 5990 0530 0545 18S,28,29N ISS 250 55 0 210 D French 5990 0545 0600 18S,28,29N ISS 250 55 0 210 D Polish 5995 0100 0130 7S,8S,10,11S,12N GU500 280 0 156 301005 260206 D Spanish 5995 0130 0200 7S,8S,10,11S,12N GU500 280 0 156 301005 260206 D French 6045 0400 0430 18S,28,29 ISS 500 070 0 210 D Russian 6090 1600 1700 49,50W KUN 150 163 0 206 D French CHN 6090 2000 2100 28S,29S ISS 250 98 0 210 D Serbian 6120 1400 1500 44S,49,50,54 YAM 300 235 0 208 D Vietnamese J 6175 0600 0630 28S,29S ISS 250 98 0 146 D Serbian 6175 0700 1100 27 ISS 35 0 0 930 N Various 6175 1100 1200 27 ISS 500 270 0 146 D French 6175 1200 1700 27 ISS 35 0 0 930 N Various 6175 1900 2200 37,38W,46N ISS 500 190 0 145 D French 6175 2200 0600 27 ISS 35 0 0 930 N Various 6185 2100 2200 28S,29S ISS 250 85 0 215 D Romanian 7135 0300 0500 38W,47,52,53W,57N ISS 500 155 0 216 D French 7135 0300 0400 48S,52,53,57 MEY 250 19 0 216 D French AFS 7135 0500 0600 37,38W,46E,47W ISS 500 170 0 216 301005 260206 D French 7135 0500 0530 37,38W,46N ISS 500 180 0 146 260206 260306 D Arabic 7135 0530 0600 37,38W,46N ISS 500 180 0 146 260206 260306 D French 7135 0600 0700 36E,37W,46 ISS 500 200 0 216 301005 260206 D French 7135 0600 0700 37,38W,46N ISS 500 180 0 146 260206 260306 D French 7135 0600 0700 37E,38W,47N ISS 500 155 0 151 301005 260206 D French 7135 0700 0800 37,38W ISS 500 180 0 146 301005 260206 D French 7135 0800 1700 27 ISS 35 0 0 930 N Various NEW 7135 1700 1800 28,29 ISS 500 75 0 215 D Russian NEW 7135 1900 2000 28S,29S ISS 500 80 0 216 D Russian 7135 2100 2200 28,29S,39N ISS 250 085 0 211 D Romanian 7140 1030 1200 33S,43E,44 YAM 300 290 0 146 D French J 7140 1200 1300 33S,43E,44 YAM 300 290 0 146 D Mandarin J 7160 1900 2200 38,47,48W,52N MEY 250 328 0 211 D French AFS 7180 1400 1500 40S,41,43S XIA 150 255 0 216 301005 260206 D English CHN 7205 1900 2200 37,38W,46N ISS 500 185 0 216 D Arabic LBJ 7280 0400 0430 28,29S,39N ISS 500 80 0 216 D Russian 7305 2100 2200 46 ISS 500 190 0 216 D French NEW 7310 0800 1800 27 ISS 35 0 0 930 N Various 7315 0300 0400 28S,29S,39,40 ISS 500 095 0 216 260206 260306 D French 7315 0400 0430 48S,52E,53,57E GAB 250 127 0 151 D English GAB 7315 0400 0500 28S,29S,39,40 ISS 500 095 0 216 301005 260206 D French 7315 0600 0630 28S ISS 250 98 0 216 D Serbian 7315 0700 0730 28,29S,39N ISS 250 95 0 206 301005 260206 D Albanian 7315 1800 1900 36E,37,38W,46N ISS 500 180 0 146 260206 260306 D French 7315 1800 1900 37,46 ISS 500 200 0 206 301005 260206 D French 7315 1800 1900 37E,38 ISS 500 155 0 151 301005 260206 D French 7315 1900 2000 37E,38 ISS 500 155 0 151 301005 260206 D French 7315 1900 2000 36E,37,38W,46N ISS 500 180 0 146 260206 260306 D French 7315 1900 2000 36E,37,38W,46N ISS 500 200 0 206 301005 260206 D French 7315 2000 2200 37W,46W ISS 500 200 0 216 D French 7315 2000 2200 37E,38 ISS 500 155 0 151 D French 7320 2200 0400 37,38W,46N ISS 500 185 0 216 D Arabic LBJ 7325 1600 1700 37,38 ISS 500 190 0 146 301005 260206 D Arabic 7325 1700 1800 37,38 ISS 500 190 0 146 D Arabic 9365 2100 2200 46 ISS 500 190 0 216 D French NEW 9485 2000 2200 37,46 ISS 500 185 0 217 D French 9555 0400 0500 38,47E,48,52E,53,57E ISS 500 135 0 216 301005 260206 D English/Fr 9555 0500 0600 29S,39,40 ISS 500 95 0 216 301005 260206 D French 9580 0500 2300 47,48,52 GAB 250 350 0 146 D Various GAB NEW 9580 1400 1500 40S,41,43S XIA 150 255 0 216 260206 260306 D English CHN 9590 1700 1900 37,38W,46N ISS 500 185 0 216 D Arabic LBJ 9655 0930 1030 33S,43E,44 YAM 300 290 0 146 D Mandarin J 9730 1600 1700 52,53,57N MEY 100 005 0 803 D English AFS 9790 0400 0500 37E,38W,46E,47,52,57N ISS 500 155 0 216 260206 260306 D French 9790 0400 0500 37E,38W,46E,47,52,57N ISS 500 155 0 216 D French 9790 0500 0600 37,46 ISS 500 185 0 217 D French 9790 0500 0600 37,38,46E,47 ISS 500 170 0 216 260206 260306 D French 9790 0500 0600 37E,38W,46E,47,52,57N ISS 500 155 0 216 301005 260206 D French 9790 0600 0700 37,46 ISS 500 185 0 216 301005 260206 D French 9790 0600 0700 37E,38 ISS 500 155 0 151 260206 260306 D French 9790 0600 0700 37W,46W ISS 500 200 0 216 260206 260306 D French 9790 0700 0800 37,38 ISS 500 180 0 146 260206 260306 D French 9790 0700 0800 37E,38 ISS 500 155 0 151 301005 260206 D French 9790 0700 0800 37W,46W ISS 500 204 0 216 301005 260206 D French 9790 1600 1630 37,38W,46N ISS 500 180 0 146 D Arabic 9790 1630 1700 37,38W,46N ISS 500 180 0 146 D French 9790 1700 1800 37,38W,46N ISS 500 180 0 146 D Arabic 9790 1800 1900 37W,46SW ISS 500 204 0 206 D French 9790 1800 1900 37E,38W,46E,47,52,57N ISS 500 155 0 216 301005 260206 D French 9790 1800 1900 37E,38W,46N ISS 500 155 0 151 260206 260306 D French 9790 1900 2000 37W,46SW ISS 500 204 0 206 260206 260306 D French 9790 1900 2000 37,46 ISS 500 185 0 217 301005 260206 D French 9790 1900 2200 37E,38W,47,52,57 ISS 500 155 0 216 D French 9790 2000 2200 37S,46,47S GAB 250 307 0 151 D French GAB 9800 0100 0130 7S,8S,10,11S,12N GU500 280 0 156 260206 260306 D Spanish 9800 0130 0200 7S,8S,10,11S,12N GU500 280 0 156 260206 260306 D French 9805 0700 0730 28S,29S ISS 250 98 0 206 D Albanian 9805 1500 1600 28S,29S ISS 250 98 0 206 D Serbian 9805 1600 1700 28S,29S ISS 250 85 0 211 D Romanian 9830 1030 1200 44S,49,50,54 YAM 300 235 0 208 D French J 11600 1100 1200 44S,49,54W XIA 150 195 0 147 D French CHN 11600 1200 1300 49,50,54 XIA 150 195 0 147 D Cambodian CHN 11615 1600 1730 28S,38E,39,40 ISS 500 110 0 227 D English 11615 1600 1700 37E,38W,47N ISS 500 145 0 147 D English 11635 1800 2000 37E,38W,47,52,53E ISS 500 153 -9 196 D Arabic LBJ 11665 1400 1430 18S,28,29 ISS 250 55 0 217 D Russian 11670 0700 0730 28,29S,39N ISS 250 95 0 206 260206 260306 D Albanian 11670 1100 1200 7S,8S,10,11,12N GU250 295 0 217 D French 11670 1500 1600 28,29S,39 ISS 250 98 0 207 D Serbian 11685 0500 0600 28S,29S,39,40 ISS 500 095 0 226 260206 260306 D French 11700 0500 0600 37E,38W,47,52,57N ISS 500 155 0 217 D French 11700 0600 0700 37,46 ISS 500 185 0 216 D French 11700 0600 0700 37E,38W,47,52,57N ISS 500 155 0 217 301005 260206 D French 11700 0700 0800 37,46 ISS 500 200 0 216 D French 11700 0700 0800 37E,38 ISS 250 155 0 156 D French 11705 1800 2200 37E,38W,47,52,57 ISS 500 162 0 217 D French 11715 1800 2030 38E,47E,48,53 ISS 500 140 0 216 D Arabic LBJ 11725 0700 0800 37S,46,47S GAB 250 307 0 151 D English GAB 11845 0800 1600 37,38W ISS 500 180 0 157 D French 11850 0500 0530 48S,52E,53,57E GAB 250 127 0 151 D English GAB 11850 1700 1800 46E,47,52,53W,57 ISS 500 160 0 227 D Various NEW 11860 1700 1800 37W,46 ISS 500 204 0 218 D Arabic LBJ 11860 1800 1900 37,46 ISS 500 185 0 196 D Arabic LBJ 11890 2300 2400 44S,49,50,54 YAM 300 235 0 206 D French J 11965 1700 1800 37W,46W ISS 500 204 0 217 301005 260206 D French 11965 1800 2000 37,46 ISS 500 185 0 217 D French 11965 2000 2100 47S,52,57 ISS 500 160 0 217 D Portuguese 11970 0100 0200 40E,41,42S,43SW KUN 500 283 0 216 301005 260206 D French CHN 11995 0400 0500 38E,47E,48,53,68 ISS 500 135 0 226 260206 260306 D English/Fr 11995 0500 0600 38,47E,48,52E,53,57E ISS 500 135 0 227 301005 260206 D English/Fr 11995 1700 1800 37W,46W ISS 500 215 0 196 301005 260206 D Portuguese 11995 1800 2000 37S,46,47S GAB 250 307 0 151 D French GAB 12015 1700 1800 52E,53,57E GAB 250 125 -20 216 D Portuguese GAB 12025 1600 1700 37,38W,46N ISS 500 180 0 146 260206 260306 D Arabic/Fr 13640 1100 1200 4,7-9,10E,11W ISS 500 295 0 227 D French 13680 0600 0700 37,46 ISS 500 185 0 216 260206 260306 D French 13690 0100 0200 40E,41,42S,43SW KUN 500 283 0 216 260206 260306 D French CHN 13720 2000 2200 37,46 ISS 500 185 0 217 260206 260306 D French 15155 0500 0600 38,47E,48,52E,53,57E ISS 500 135 0 227 260206 260306 D English/Fr 15155 0600 0630 38,47E,48,52E,53,57E,68 ISS 500 135 0 227 D English 15160 1600 1700 37S,46,47W,52N MEY 250 328 0 216 D English AFS 15170 0700 0800 46SE,47SW,52 MEY 250 328 0 216 D French AFS 15220 1600 1700 37W,46 ISS 500 204 0 218 D Arabic LBJ 15220 1700 1800 37E,38W,47,52,53E ISS 500 153 -9 196 D Arabic LBJ 15300 0500 0600 37E,38W,47,52,57 ISS 500 155 0 227 260206 260306 D French 15300 0600 0800 37E,38W,47,52,57 ISS 500 155 0 227 D French 15300 0700 0800 37W,46W ISS 500 204 0 217 260206 260306 D French 15300 0800 1700 37W,46W ISS 500 204 0 218 D French 15300 0800 1000 37E,38,46N ISS 250 155 0 147 D French 15300 1100 1400 37,38W,46N ISS 500 155 0 147 D French 15300 1600 1800 37E,38W,47,52,57 ISS 500 155 0 226 D French 15300 1700 1800 37,46 ISS 500 185 0 217 301005 260206 D French 15300 1700 1800 37W,46W ISS 500 204 0 218 260206 260306 D French 15300 1800 1900 37E,38W,47,52,57 ISS 500 155 0 226 260206 260306 D French 15315 0700 1000 37,46 ISS 500 185 0 196 D French 15365 1600 1700 38W,46E,47,52,57N ISS 500 162 0 227 301005 260206 D English 15475 1600 1900 37,46 GAB 250 305 0 158 D Various GAB NEW 15515 1130 1200 4,7-9,10E,11W ISS 500 295 0 227 D French 15515 1200 1230 7S,8S,10,11S,12N GU250 300 0 217 D Spanish 15515 1230 1300 7S,8S,10,11S,12N GU250 300 0 217 D French 15515 1400 1430 28,29,30S,39N,40N ISS 250 80 0 211 D Russian 15530 1700 1800 37W,46W ISS 500 215 0 196 260206 260306 D Portuguese 15605 1400 1430 20,28E,29,30 ISS 250 65 0 217 D Russian 15605 1500 1600 37,46 ISS 500 185 0 156 D French 15605 1600 1730 38E,47E,48,53,68 ISS 500 140 0 227 D English 15615 1700 1800 37,46 ISS 500 185 0 196 D Arabic LBJ 15660 1700 1800 38E,47E,48,53 ISS 500 140 0 227 D Arabic LBJ 15790 0600 1700 37E,38 ISS 50 145 0 218 N Various NEW 17515 1400 1500 28S,29S,39,40 ISS 500 100 0 217 D English 17610 1130 1200 7S,8S,10E,11,12N ISS 500 270 0 227 D French 17620 0700 0800 37,46 ISS 500 185 0 217 260206 260306 D French 17620 0800 1700 37,46 ISS 500 185 0 217 D French 17620 1700 1800 37,46 ISS 500 185 0 217 260206 260306 D French 17630 0700 1500 37,46 GAB 250 307 0 151 D Various GAB NEW 17630 1800 1830 7S,8S,10,11S,12N GU500 295 0 151 D Spanish 17630 2100 2130 7S,8S,10,11,12N GU500 295 0 156 D Spanish 17670 1100 1230 37W,46 ISS 500 204 0 218 D Arabic LBJ 17710 0000 0030 44S,49,50,54 YAM 300 235 0 206 D French J 17800 0600 0700 38E,47E,48,52E,53,57E,68 ISS 500 135 0 227 D English/Fr 17840 1600 1700 37,46 ISS 500 185 0 196 D Arabic LBJ 17850 0600 0700 37E,38W,47,52,53,57 ISS 500 155 0 227 260206 260306 D French 17850 0700 0800 37E,38W,47,52,53,57 ISS 500 155 0 227 D French 17850 1000 1100 37E,38W,47,52,53,57 ISS 500 155 0 227 D French 17850 1100 1200 52,53 MEY 250 355 0 218 D French AFS 17850 1200 1400 46SE,47SW,52 MEY 250 328 0 216 D French AFS 17850 1500 1600 37E,38W,47,52,53,57 ISS 500 155 0 227 D French 17850 1600 1700 38W,46E,47,52,57N ISS 500 162 0 227 260206 260306 D English 17860 1300 1400 7S,8S,10,11S,12N GU500 295 0 156 D French 17860 1600 1630 7S,8S,10,11S,12N GU500 300 0 151 D Spanish 17870 1600 1700 37E,38W,47,52,53E ISS 500 153 -9 196 D Arabic LBJ 17875 1100 2100 7S,8S GU30 168 0 227 N Various NEW 21485 1100 1230 37,46 ISS 500 185 0 196 D Arabic LBJ 21580 0800 1600 47,48,52,53,57 ISS 500 155 0 218 D French 21620 1200 1300 38E,47E,48,53,68 ISS 500 130 0 218 D English/Fr 21645 1130 1200 7S,8S,10,11S,12N ISS 500 270 0 227 D French 21645 1300 2100 7S,8S,10,11S,12N GU30 295 0 216 N French NEW 21675 1100 1500 37E,38W,47,52,53E ISS 500 153 -9 196 D Arabic LBJ 21685 1000 1500 37,46 ISS 500 185 0 156 D French 21695 1000 1400 38E,47E,48,53 ISS 500 140 0 217 D Arabic LBJ 21760 1230 1300 46,47S,52N MEY 250 328 0 218 D French AFS 25775 0000 2400 27 ISS 1 0 0 976 N French NEW (via Sean Gilbert, WRTH, DXLD) ** GERMANY. RIP Nauen (East Germany)? I just noticed that Deutsche- Welle's B05 schedule, that includes transmitter sites, that Nauen is not mentioned. Does anybody know when this took effect? Has the site been decommissioned? If it has then we have lost another radio country --- East Germany (Mark Coady, ODXA via DXLD) What kind of schedule? There is indeed no English from Deutsche Welle via Nauen anymore, but a technical schedule sent out in advance still shows German and other languages from there. The original B05 schedule for other customers of T-Systems includes Nauen transmissions by some religious broadcasters and also Radio Taiwan International (Spanish 2100-2200 on 6120). The current facilities at or rather near Nauen (ALLISS antenna units with Telefunken S4105 transmitters) were inaugurated not before 1997, and I have an impression that they are to some degree a political artifact. For this reason it would be quite a surprise to me if they have been really decommissioned (not that a shut-down of so recently installed equipment would be a big surprise in itself today). I will try to find out more (Kai Ludwig, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GRENADA. 535: I have not seen this for many years, but when I did, it was a 5 kW European rig (can not remember the manufacturer. just that it was not American) and the tower looked in the 300 foot (barely quarter wave) height range. Considering the power, they do not get out very well, even in the Caribbean (David Gleason, IRCA via DXLD) Power? 10 kw. Transmitter? Gates. Tower? Probably 3 or 4 1/4-Wave based loaded and phased about 175 feet high (Colin Newell in Victoria, BC, ibid.) Hmm. Interesting. Does that mean they replaced a newer 5 kW transmitter with an old (Gates has not made a transmitter since they became Harris in the early 70's) rig they would have bought used? When I was there in the early 80's, it had a monopole antenna, single stick, not 1/8 wave directional. 175 feet at 535 is under an 1/8th wave electrically. They would be enormously inefficient, and have an impedance of, maybe, 5 or 6 ohms. I also cannot see whey they would be directional. The last directional I remember in the West Indies was Jumbo in Dominica, in French for Martinique, with 50 kW into two towers. That had a reason --- Martinique at the time had no commercial radio, and had to be served from another island. Now, every island has dozens, it seems, of FM private stations. They have lost the mast several times in hurricanes (David Gleason, CA, ibid.) I verified Radio Grenada, 535 in 1991 and received a nice letter from the chief engineer, Allan Palmer. In his letter he states that they broadcasting with 10 kW into 2 300 ft masts "arranged to give some gain in a northerly direction, since the transmitter facility is located at the extreme south of our primary target area". (Dave Pyatt. Burlington, ON, ibid.) I will admit: I guessed at the transmitter. Should have known it was a Harris. Interesting to see the different heights and configuration of the antennas though (Colin Newell in Victoria, BC, (actually holds a broadcast technicians certification for broadcast transmitters <50 kw in Canada -- never used), ibid.) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. I was listening to Tom & Darryl on WBCQ, 7415, Nov 20 around 0630 when they were talking about the late Gary Bourgois and a website where a tribute to his Friday Night Live shows could be heard: http://ziggydog.libsyn.com/ The Nov 18 edition is the tribute, but many of the previous files refer to him; and there is a portrait of a guy with a beard, I guess Gary (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** JAPAN. JAPÃO – A Equipe Brasileira da Rádio Japão conta com a opinião do ouvinte para mudar o nome do programa em que são respondidas as cartas, críticas e sugestões. Após receber várias reclamações dando conta que o nome atual, Linha Direta, lembra um programa que dissemina a violência em um canal de televisão brasileiro, a direção da emissora pede que os ouvintes enviem sugestões de outros nomes. O prazo para as respostas é o dia 20 de dezembro. Entre primeiro e 31 de janeiro, as cinco melhores sugestões de nomes serão submetidas aos ouvintes. O mais votado será adotado pela emissora, a partir de 19 de fevereiro. A emissora não promete brindes. O ouvinte vencedor será lembrado para sempre como o `padrinho` do novo nome do programa. Sugestões para: Rádio Japão, Caixa Postal 11580, Agência Lapa, CEP: 05049-970, São Paulo (SP). E- mail: rj-port @ intl.nhk.or.jp (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX Nov 20 via DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH. Sublime Frequencies latest release Hi Glenn, An interesting review of "Radio Pyongyang", by Seattle based Sublime Frequencies. DXLD already mentioned this intriguing label and its CD compilations of selected shortwave broadcasts. As I realized googling "sublime frequencies+DXLD" after I had initially thought it "news"... Not news but a funny idea, anyway. http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewWeb&articleId=10653 (Andrea Lawendel, Italy, Nov 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz. An excerpt: . . .As he put together Radio Pyongyang, Virant, a Beijing-based composer and disc jockey, was inspired by that isolation, and by the strangeness of what he heard on the shortwave radio emanating from North Korea. There were ``spy numbers,`` broadcasts of women reading series of coded numerals, which he describes in his liner notes as a ``sound equal parts haunting and fascinating,`` and grandly banal musical production numbers that he refers to as ``revolutionary pomp.`` Yet the aural document he has fashioned from snippets of North Korean media, field recordings, performances, and shortwave-radio intercepts does more than catalog the isolation of the country. It also points out how inexorably the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) is being pulled slowly into the larger orbit of global culture and undermining the hermetic nature of the regime. There are, of course, moments of sheer juche on Radio Pyongyang -- snippets of English- language praise for the Dear Leader (``modeling the entire army on the juche ideal``) that fade into opera sung by massed socialist choirs that bear an eerie resemblance to Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians. But listen more closely. It is the cultural collisions on these recordings that really astound the listener. At a number of moments, the outside world is reprocessed by North Korean media and shot back out onto the airwaves: synthesizer-driven pop music stolen from Hong Kong is made more tinny and shrill; twee electronica swiped from Japan is utterly transmogrified and shorn of its Hello Kittyish charm; bits of Italian and Mexican pop are squeezed into electrified and dainty Korean folk. The inferior quality of the cultural recycling and diminution on Radio Pyongyang is almost beside the point. What the record proves is that global influences do penetrate Fortress North Korea. Someone in the DPRK is listening to the radio signals that are riding the world`s airwaves. In their own way, they are also trying to imitate it. . . (Richard Byrne, American Prospect via DXLD) I was just enjoying some rev pomp in the 15 UT hour Nov 20 on 9665 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS. Re Erik Køie: No reply? This was one of the letters featured in the new listener contact slot on Saturday Connection. The letter was answered personally by Radio Netherlands' Head of Programme Distribution. Script is on the website at http://tinyurl.com/7kmaa I regret that we are not able to send personal replies to everyone who writes to us, we just don't have the staff to so that anymore. But to suggest that we are "keen or interested in answering letters from listeners any more" is nonsense. We are a public broadcaster! (Andy Sennitt, Radio Netherlands, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA. 1026 kHz, R. Jigawa, Dutse, English and Hausa, sign off with Nigerian NA at 2203; F 2130 17/11. Full credits and thanks go to Luca Botto Flora, who tentatively reported this station a week ago from Rapallo, Northern Thirrenian sea, and to Salvo Micciché who later on recorded Jigawa with a superb signal from Ragusa, inland from the Southeastern Sicily coast. A stunning recording of Jigawa's ending portion with National Anthem can be found in a clip made by Salvo on http://www.radioascolto.org/html/index.php (Giampaolo Galassi, Italy, Icom R75 K9AY, MWC via DXLD) ** OMAN. I've been noting Radio Oman's English broadcast the last few days with a good signal at 1400 on 15140. Arabic follows at 1500 (Steve Lare, Holland, MI, USA, Nov 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I listened Radio Oman English Service Last night 20-11-05. But reception condition is bad. Signal is 222. Time UT 1400-1500 and frequency 15140 kHz (Abid Hussain Sajid, Pakistan, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 7120, Wantok Radio Light. Received another reply from the station in the form of full data QSL Card, Information letter about the station and the technical equipment, for a follow-up sent back in August. Reply this time in 80 days. They have a e-mail address as: info @ wantokradio.net Their phone number is 321-3399 FAX 321-5565 v/s Sarah Good. Footnote: Friends of ours, their son (Jim) and his wife, just returned from Papua New Guinea. Jim's wife was there on an archaeology study in/near the Town of Madang. Jim mentioned to me that he did get my e- mail message on the day they were leaving Madang (three weeks after I sent it). The high cost of Internet services makes it quite limited to access, as well as, there is only dial-up in Madang (which at times is down). There are Internet cafes, but they are more like a bar then a cafe, as Jim indicated to me (Edward Kusalik, Alberta, Canada, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PUERTO RICO. Puerto Rico stations were always allowed to ID in whichever language they preferred. Since most stations (today only 2 are in English) are in Spanish, the IDs are in Spanish. When I ran WDOY-FM licensed to Fajardo, but serving San Juan, I did the ID in English to keep from confusing listeners as to who we were (Y-96) and not WDOY. IDing in Spanish in PR goes back to 1922. Today, Spanish, which accounts for 10% of all listening hours in the US and 99.7% in Puerto Rico, is used to ID many Spanish stations (David Eduardo Gleason, Oct 29, IRCA via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. (Asiatic) 5960, Radiostansiya Tikhiy Okean via Vladivostok Nov. 19 *0935-1000* Sign-on with chime IS, with clear IDs for 'Radiostantsiya Tikhiy Okean'. This was followed with a program about the consumption of alcohol in Russia, followed with a feature about taking a holiday on cruise lines ship (such as the Mayak). 0958 YL speaker with closing comments, telephone numbers given, followed with a closing melody till sign-off. Best heard on the western trap-sloper (Edward Kusalik, Alberta, Canada, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. Foreign Policy magazine's website has an interesting piece about Russia's attempts to improve its international image, particularly through the development of a new English-language TV channel, Russia Today, and the Novosti news agency. http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=3311 (Matt Francis, Washington, DC, Nov 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz. Just one bit from this: . . .Russia Today is still waiting for licenses to broadcast globally, so it’s too early to make a definitive judgment of its quality or success. But already, it has become something of a joke among Moscow correspondents (to whom the channel is, after all, a recrimination). The Kremlin has spent $30 million setting it up and has attracted foreign journalists to Moscow with salaries starting at $60,000 a year. But the imported journalists are, in many cases, fresh out of journalism school, know not a word of Russian, and lack basic knowledge of Russian politics or history. For many of them, the experience is a bit of a laugh, a gap year at the Kremlin’s expense. There is already some tension between them and the Russian employees, who know 10 times as much about Russia, and are paid salaries half as big. . . (via gh, DXLD) ** RUSSIA [non]. Surprised to hear VOR in English still going at 0625 Nov 20 with an historical talk about Koklchak (?), an anti-Bolshevik, on 7350. That frequency via Vatican is scheduled to end at 0458 per the exhaustive VOR B05 schedule recently published. Did someone in the See forget to turn off the transmitter? According to that, during this hour there are not supposed to be any SW frequencies for Eu or NAm, and only two for elsewhere (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA [non]. Moscow ------------ Special Radio. Actual music from Russia. B05. 5850 kHz. 1900 (Thursday). Transmitter: QTH - Tashkent (Uzbekistan) 100 kW Azimut 311 (Alexander Usoltsev, Special Radio via Rus-DX Nov 20 via DXLD) Note new Tashkent site for Spezialnoye Radio (during B05 somewhat vague information pointed at Samara). (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Nov 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SYRIA. SÍRIA – A equipe da programação em espanhol da Rádio Damasco é constituída pelo sírio Riad Sharaf Al-Din, como supervisor, e pelas locutoras Patrícia Flores, Amélia Puga e Marian Galindo. Patrícia é natural de Lima, no Peru. Amélia Puga veio de Galícia, na Espanha. Já Marian é espanhola de Santander. As informações são de Sandra Fernandes, de Belo Horizonte (MG), que recebeu foto e informações remetidas por Galindo (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX Nov 20 via DXLD) ** TANZANIA [non]. Re DXLD 5-199 item: ``Is 1377 kHz, R. Free Africa, Mwanza, which I phased against co-channel France on 17 Nov at 1921- 1945 (but audible until much later), rated 24432, relaying TWR?`` Gavar, Armenia with 600 kW is relaying TWR on 1377. 73, (Jari Savolainen, Finland, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I was thinking there was something like that, but the WRTH 2005 frequency list shows no such transmitter, nor anything on 1377 under ARMENIA, so I guess it be new. To find the TWR schedule, you have to look under, where else, AUSTRIA (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UKRAINE. Radio Dniprovskaya Hvylya (Zaporozhje) will replace former frequency 11980 on 5830. Time of an announcement 0700-1000 Sat / Sun. An azimuth of radiation of the aerial 340 Hailstones [sic]. Capacity of the transmitter 250 Watt [sic]. (Alexander Egor [sic], Kiev, Ukraine / "open_dx" via Rus-DX Nov 20 via DXLD) ** U S A. This Saturday night on WWCR: WOR started late again at 0336 on 5070 --- what is causing this? I haven`t been listening earlier in the hour. Anyhow, full show played until 0405, then ending DX Block, and Worldwide Country. However, unlike last UT Sunday, this time Cyberline was on at least in the 0500 and 0600 hours I checked. Meanwhile over at WBCQ --- Gary Bourgois. See INTERNATIONAL VACUUM (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [and non]. Has anyone heard any of the AFRTS usb relays on SW recently? There is still a schedule at http://myafn.dodmedia.osd.mil/radio/shortwave/ Puerto Rico is no longer listed, but are any of the others still on air? None audible here in UK when I've checked here since the start of B05. Just poor conditions, or have they all gone? (Dave Kenny, England, Nov 20, dxldyg via DXLD) I just did a quick check at 1255 and the only one audible here was 6350 via Hawaii. 5765 via Guam audible here as well at 1300 (Steve Lare, Holland, MI, USA, ibid.) Heard 7590, probably Iceland, yesterday - but not right now at 1305 UT. 73, (Erik Køie, Denmark, ibid.) Haven't heard AFRTS in weeks (N8YI, Tim McGraw, ibid.) Note something just above threshold on 5765 kHz around 1610 UT in Germany. Might be an AFRTS Guam transmission. Power is 3 kW only. Distinguish only music and talk, thiny signal. btw. AFN Stuttgart FM 102.3 is just 1.2 km away from my location (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, ibid.) ** U S A. In an idle moment Nov 20 I rechecked the pages I bookmarked showing the now defunct WWL/URBONO schedule via WHRI. The page is still up at the WWL site: http://www.wwl.com/Article.asp?id=114239 But not at the WHRI site http://www.whri.com/index.cfm/fa/wwl In fact the site http://www.whri.com itself is unfound. This was set up for some reason apparently just to hold the temp URBONO schedule, apart from the usual http://www.whr.org Of course, this really came to an end Oct 9 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Re 5-199: Sorry for misreading my own notes, Glenn and others. KJUL is on 104.7 not 104.1. Curiously, I was listening to 105.1 La Tricolor, with trancasos, when I saw the letters-in-the-sky promo! Apparently, the original KJUL's great music format was moved to country music as KCYE a month before I arrived in Vegas. As per the following story on Radio and Records Web site on http://www.radioandrecords.com/Newsroom/2005_11_08/kjulreturns.asp the original call letters "have been picked up by Summit-American's KWLY/Moapa Valley, NV. The independently owned Class C FM, located about 60 miles north of the Vegas strip, this week flipped from Country to Adult Standards to fill a format hole left open when Beasley in October flipped the original KJUL to Country as KCYE (Coyote Country). The new KJUL, located at 104.7 MHz, also inks longtime Las Vegas Adult Standards radio personality Duke Morgan for afternoons." Which I presume also explain the need for such a spectacular advertising. Cheers, (Andy Lawendel, Italy, Nov 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VENEZUELA. He puesto en mi sitio web música recia de los llanos de Venezuela con Luis Lozada "El Cubiro"; la primera vez que lo oí fue por los años 70 a través de la onda corta de Radio Lara 4800 kHz. Hoy lo recuerdo con cariño y le rindo homenaje. http://spaces.msn.com/members/sintoniadx/ Atte: (José Elías Díaz Gómez, Noticias DX via DXLD) ** VENEZUELA [non]. Aló Presidente got a late start Nov 20; checking at 1422, nothing on 11875; at 1427, 13750 was playing the Cuban NA, apparently just signing on, and opening with Mundo 7, but overshadowed by squealy Cuban transmitter on 13740 relaying China. By 1430, 11875 was on, and at 1445 check 11670, which had the best signal (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ STILL SETTING THE STANDARD Hello Glen[n], I got out of the shortwave hobby for a few years but now I have a new receiver and renewed interest. Now that I am active again I of course started listening to World of Radio again. It is good to hear that you have not changed, that you still have all that hot DX news presented in your own unique style. In my opinion you continue to set the standard for other DX news programs. Best Wishes (Ed Rausch, New Jersey, Nov 20) DIGITAL BROADCASTING ++++++++++++++++++++ ANOTHER ENLIGHTENING BUT NOT TOO CONTENTIOUS IBOC/HD THREAD, FROM IRCA Latest Radio World courageously features letters from broadcasters annoyed by the Smegmatic Electro-Putrescence formerly known as IBOC. One describes '57 taped-off-air concert with studio quality audio vs. I-Schlock's fulminating chancroid insolence. Good to see this grift take a final header. =Z.= PVZ MNSVT KY, FL BT (Paul Vincent Zecchino, Nov 8, IRCA via DXLD) I'll try to remember how upset we broadcasters are supposed to be when we fire up IBOC on WAQI and WQBA next year. But that is tough when you have never heard your station sound so good (David Eduardo Gleason, ibid.) Enticement offered broadcasters: limited decodable range is offset by far greater range of rude interference destructive to competitors. Jamming to destruction is the closet bennie. According to reported Ibiquity 'study', 'half all stations could go dark and not be missed." Audience won't miss favorite stations? Owners and talent callously dismissed by this scheme will accept economic and personal ruin as necessary for 'Our Inevitable Digital Future"? Ibiquity & Cronies have yet to learn that arrogance and avarice are their own inexorable undoing, and although Americans are big hearted and forgiving, they brook no quarter to grifters. Can't wait to read "Buy Pepsi Now" on HD radio while listening to Pepsi ads! Oh boy! HD audio unremarkable, mediocre, lifeless. R-390's & -388's not worried. Re: churlish brags about WAQI and WQBA, en Jefe's new syncro- Rebeldes made short ribs out of their analog sigs. Demolishing digital mess easy as mopping bile splats in a cirhhosis ward. =Z.= (Paul Vincent Zecchino, Manaparenchyma Key, FL, BT, ibid.) Of course, that does not explain why WAQI has been, generally, in the top 3 to 4 stations in the Miami market for the last 15 years, while WQBA is the only area AM with consistent ratings growth over the last 5 years. One of the reasons to go HD is to keep them there (Gleason, ibid.) David, Serious question. Who besides radio station personnel would be able to hear these good sounding stations? (Bill Harms, Elkridge, Maryland, ibid.) The JVC KD-SHX900 HD Radio I bought sounds reasonably good on WHJJ and WBZ. I'll ignore the 8 second difference in the WBZ audio between analog and digital. However, the coverage is abysmal. WBZ at 30 miles is unlistenable in digital. Decodes maybe half the time at best. WHJJ is maybe 15 miles, if that (Craig Healy, ibid.) Sounds like a bad radio. Our experience at KTNQ has been that the usable digital signal is greater than the usable analog signal (Gleason, ibid.) Craig, please describe what happens when you experience the 8 second time difference. Does the JVC pop back and forth between the out-of- sync IBOC-vs-analog audio or does it just die out when the IBOC signal isn't strong enough? So all on-the-hour time pips are 8 seconds late on IBOC? Thanks (Pete Taylor, Tacoma, WA, ibid.) The delay is to allow a buffer on the digital signal. What happens is if the digital signal is lost for more than the buffer can replace, it falls back to analog, and the switching, other than the audio quality, is seamless. There are literally several hundred radio models coming at about the time of the CES next year. Nobody wanted to produce in quantity until there was software for the hardware to use. Look for logs [lots?] of HD-2 starts soon, too (Gleason, ibid.) Only if the engineering staff has set it up properly. I had a conversation with the WHJJ fellow, and he described what he did to accomplish that (Craig Healy, Providence, RI, ibid.) On WBZ the digital audio is a full 8 seconds behind the analog, which is real time. The analog audio is supposed to be delayed so there is a time sync between the two. However, WBZ relies heavily on off-air cues for traffic and field reporters so it has been impossible for them to do this. They are looking at a different feed and receiver system to fix this for their talent. My guess is that they are banking on there being so few receivers out there that nobody notices. Or, they feel that they have enough signal that it will be digital all the time. On point 1 they may be correct. On point 2 they are wrong. Bridges and local interference are enough to shunt it back to analog, with the expected garble of continuity. I've noticed the ignition interference in my truck causes a coverage hit, and that truck has been modified to be pretty quiet. Even some noisy traffic light controllers cause problems. If the JVC is left in "auto", it jumps back and forth. In locked digital, it simply dies out. In analog it's just another radio. WHJJ has the audio synchronized properly. On FM, WZLX has the 8 second difference, while WMJX is correct. Yes, there is a delay. I believe Tom Ray said he has advanced the WOR- 710 TOH time pip so theirs is correct. I can't tell as the WOR IBOC signal stubbornly refuses to decode, even after dark here. Despite loops, despite longwires, amps and tuners. Nada. Odd, really. At sunset WOR is really strong in Providence (Craig Healy, Providence, RI, ibid.) How dare we so rudely impugn our beloved IBOC? Why without HD, how will we arrive at our 'Inevitable Digital Future"? Don't we need traffic texting to distract soccer moms who then plow into pedestrians? Don't we wish to be spellbound by "Buy Pepsi Now!" - 'bold' plan of one 'consultant' - flashing on screen to accompany Pepsi ads? Terrific! Soporific! Fecalithic! And doomed to fail. How did we survive radio's decades without this sleazy monopolistic scam, whose promoters - like the proverbial snake - mouth all the lines but honest ones? Of course it's the radio's fault! Second set produces identical dreary dissonant results, consistent with a this contrivance of avaricious dullards? Simply blame that radio as well. And the third. And the fourth....u.s.w. Standard grift insigniae: Never answer on the level, always make it the fault of another. =Z.= (Paul Vincent Zecchino, Manasyncrodelay Key, FL, BT, ibid.) To be honest, if David had better results at KTNQ, then it's logical to suggest the radio I have might be bad. I have been amazed at the poor coverage of HD with the JVC. I will be meeting with the WHJJ engineer sometime soon to try to compare notes, and to see who else in his organization has an IBOC radio. I'll also call the WBSM engineer who has a Panasonic. I want to get his thoughts on this. Neither are DXers, BTW (Craig Healy, Providence, RI, ibid.) AM IBOC has only enough texting bandwidth for simple things like identifying a song or similar. In other words, like the texting ability of RDS, which AM does not have now and is a much requested feature by listeners. AM talk stations can scroll who the current guest is, sports scores, etc. All are in demand. All are possible with HD. How did we survive without HD? How did we survive without interstate highways, automatic transmissions, TV, fax machines, pagers, cell phones, iPods, DVDs, CDs, VHS, and such? We don't need any of them. We just find them better than what came before. HD offers very improved audio on AM, and better audio as well as a second channel of additional programming on FM, opening the free radio programming choices by double! The reason it is all being done is that AM is a technology from the earliest part of the last century, over 90 years old. And FM is going on 70 years old! HD simply sounds a lot better, and is competitive with other digital audio distribution systems. Our tests are consistent with those of Tom Ray in NYC and others --- in high noise environments, the HD signal will be usable to or beyond the listenable contour of the analog signal. I'd love to know what you find on your end, whether it is a receiver issue or one at the transmission side. Are there other HD stations in the market, ones that you can compare with? (David Gleason, ibid.) When KSL went to HD, there was a lot of unhappiness in SLC because the "Nauvoo Bell" in Temple Square (which has been broadcast hourly by KSL for decades) was 8 seconds incorrect, and apparently this was widely noticed out there. My understanding of this is that KSL eliminated the buffering so that the HD would be broadcast in real-time, and the bell chime stay on time. This would mean that the analog fallbacks would be discontinuous. An article predating this is at "Upgrade by KSL changes for whom the bell tolls", Lynn Arave, Deseret Morning news, 17 June 2005 http://deseretnews.com/dn/print/1,1442,600142015,00.html Anyone else have something more on this? (Bob Foxworth, FL, ibid.) If I were designing a $500 radio I'd make it a $510 dollar radio and include some sort of wideband test point in the RF chain so that a scope could be put on, to look for signal distortion effects that would make decoding not happen. It can be as simple as a buffer amp feeding a BNC-type jack behind a small panel on the chassis. I'd be very interested to know if such exists in the receivers now being sold. This should be part of the shake-down design process. These are the first wide-scale deployments of receivers in the field, not under the direct control of those, such as iBiquity, who have a vested interest in the outcome of the testing. There is the potential to gather a lot of useful data on night HD that is probably being ignored, because non-technical managers are ignoring it. There must be a reason that Craig can't get a decode of WOR in Providence when the analog is so good. Is there some sort of time separation of two different hops, arriving slightly out of phase, maybe by just a few data bits' separation, causing some cancellation effects that would not be audible in analog? Is there a way to look at the RF envelope and test for this? More importantly, do the designers of HD even anticipate this, have they determined that this is a non-issue for testing, or do they know of it and write it off as something not worthy of thought? If it is shown that WOR can't decode reliably in an area as close as Providence, when WOR has high power, a low dial position (presumably a more stable E-layer hop) and relatively high d/u signal ratio, what will happen when trying to decode a 5 or 10 kw at the top of the band, with much more background chatter and a more variable E-layer hop which could cause selective fading inside the digital sidebands? And how much into the primary area coverage will this occur? The FCC rulemaking seems to allow for a binary choice of day/night mode, but the diurnal transition can make all this problematic. Another question is whether there are differences in implementation at various stations, such as sideband level, that affect how the receivers do the decode. The scope envelope output could help test for this. I would have thought the HD designers would be anxious for feedback from the field on these questions, as it is just now becoming available. Sad to think that it is very unlikely any of them will ever even read this. I realize that the WOR management would be expected to say that they are not interested in this market, however I feel that it is necessary to do the research, and that there will be other implementors that ARE interested (Bob Foxworth, FL, 1033 EST Nov 10, ibid.) It could be a design issue generic to all JVC's. It is well worth while to do some side-by-side comparisons of different models, in marginal conditions. I would think that this has been nearly impossible so far, due to the non-availability of different receiver types. Again as I just posted, I would have thought that the designers of the HD technology would be anxious to learn of real-world field experience from people who have more sophistication of radio receiver behavior than the average listener (who cares only about --- oooh excusez-moi, CONTENT --- there, I s-s-said it) and who can analyze technical issues as they are listenable. If I ran this operation, I would have offered a rebate through the mfr's to get feedback from the end-user, of just this kind of issue. But instead, must assume that the HD designers see no value in doing this. Can they seriously believe that their own testing has uncovered all these issues? Or are they afraid to even let the world know that there may be problems, and by asking for feedback from end-users, implicitly acknowledge it? I gather that the JVC behaves reasonably well on AM in analog mode, so it is not an antenna/front-end issue. It then must be an issue specific to the behavior of HD. I have heard a JVC once in HD mode on WFLA while listening during mid- day while near Riverview, but only for a half minute and no chance to try to test the limits of coverage, nor to compare different models. The set was in the truck of a CE of a local FM chain operation, and it was installed as work-related, not just for entertainment. And as I posted previously, there is a difference in sound, but not a value proposition for me to spent $350 + install, and the content is unchanged. That's a lot of money for me to be able to hear Rush thump the golden EIB microphone, in stereo (Bob Foxworth, ibid.) Craig, If you pull the radio it would be interesting to see if it works in an unfriendly environment such as an office building or TV shop with lots of RF crap generators & a steel framed building. If it does it would be a big plus for IBAC. Another real life test would be IF say WRKO had it could I get it here at nite? There is always enuf signal but WINR / WCBM / WPTF / CFTR & unID SS station beat it up badly. Also CINF on 690 with its murderous signal splattering. I have yet to see such real life tests. What does happen when IBAC has + 30 signals on one or both adjacents??? 73 (Tom Jones, Mason N.H., ibid.) Interesting Story about HD Radio http://www.radiomarketingnexus.com/2005/11/exploding_the_m.html (via Kevin Redding, ibid.) How did we survive without HD? I don't know if HD is good or not. There are no radios that are being sold other than a few terribly overpriced car units. That said, questions like this one, are just downright silly. We just find them better than what came before. HD offers very improved audio on AM, and better audio as well as a second channel of additional programming on FM, opening the free radio programming choices by double! I have never heard HD. I know you [Gleason] are a corporate person who toes the line as a VP of a radio conglomerate. I have to take your comments with a grain of salt, nonetheless, I do believe that IBOC has the potential to be better for a local listener than analog. The problem that I see is that in the beginning, David is that you said that the difference would be improved by the additional bandwidth used for the signal. Now you have changed your tune to say that the difference is that there can be more signals per channel. This is a question out of ignorance but a little knowledge. If you split the bandwidth, won't that take the audio quality to FM quality, negating any perceived improvement in sound? What will this do about the programming? HD simply sounds a lot better, and is competitive with other digital audio distribution systems. If there are any radios sold within my lifetime, and I am 50 and I might have 30 years to go, my life could actually end before any radios, other than the incredibly expensive ones used for cars might ever be released, I plan to buy one to find out if they ever decide to sell them. However, while waiting for a decade of being told that IBOC radios were coming out, I bought an XM receiver that I am intensely pleased with. I am making the assumption that I am not the only one who has done this. It leads me to believe that IBOC / HD has missed the train leaving the station. All of this should have been done a long time ago and on a different band. Whether HD / IBOC is great or not, HD appears to be a day late and a dollar short (Kevin Redding, AZ, ibid.) And inconsistent with iBiquity's own test reports, where the IBOC contour was graphed in detail. The IBOC contour never came close to the analog contour. To see their results, go to the NRSC pages on the NAB site (Chuck Hutton, ibid.) There is a difference between the contour and the usable signal; in many larger cities, the AM usable contour is the 10 mv/m. In fact, studies have been made showing how little listening is given to AMs outside these very strong signal contours. The HD goes beyond such contours with a listenable signal per tests made on several stations. Of course, we have to see if the mass production receivers duplicate the experience with the early pre-production models intended mostly for purchase by radio station staff (Gleason, ibid.) On the bandwidth, the FM HD signal is capable, with today's algorithm, of supporting two full fidelity audio streams in "better than CD quality" stereo plus quite a bit of messaging and text capacity. There is no degradation of the digital stream that parallels the analog signal. Just a second channel that can be used for a separate format if desired. On the receiver end, the unified design specs were just released about 60 days ago, with a half dozen of the major Chinese fabs reported to have signed agreements to go into production. Add this to already announced radios in all the price points except the sub-$50 range, and we have a start. It needs to be remembered that other innovations such as CDs and DVD players and VHS devices started out very pricey until there was software and demand. My first VHS cost over $900, and my first CD player over $1400! This is not a short term project. a comparison would be to satellite radio, which has taken over 4 years to get to 8 million units installed, against nearly 1 billion "regular" radios. Satellite will still be losing money 3 to 4 years from now if they can sustain the current growth rate. To put it in perspective, at any given time of the day, less than 0.3% of the US radio listeners are using satellite. The real issue is that the satellite technology and infrastructure is very expensive. and things like the next generations of broadband may totally change the distribution of radio in the future. I see a handheld that is a "radio" with on-demand content, phone, messaging, mail, and camera all in one neat package. Such devices, in early stages, are already appearing in Asia. Humorously, when I first typed "bandwidth" above, it came out "badwidth." I hope that is not the truth of the matter! (Gleason, ibid.) Tom Ray had / has a graphic showing where the digital fails as you head down toward NJ and PA. At that point the analog is still there for some many miles. And no one has tested IBOC in a Tornadic Supercell that's a prolific lightning generator, something that's too often a happening in the area known as tornado alley. I expect so many drop outs as to be a danger. The IBOC on WCOS 1400 Columbia doesn't even cover HALF the analog. Engineer's radio is the Panasonic (Powell E. Way III, SC, ibid.) I spent a fair bit of time just now out in the truck trying to get WOR IBOC. Best I could do is a few short bursts of audio much like meteor scatter reception. And that is better than I've ever had before. WBZ would also not decode at 30 miles. +/-. On analog the JVC is a very good radio, maybe 90-95% of the Blaupunkt. The WOR analog signal (Bob Grant) was really very good. Close to 6 pm there started to be other signals under it, so I quit. I did compare notes with another engineer today. He's based in New Bedford, maybe 30 miles east of Providence. He can't get WHJJ-920 IBOC until he's well west of Fall River. That's worse than my reception. He gets maybe ten miles radius with his Panasonic radio while I get about fifteen. I'm still waiting to hear back from the other engineer with the Kenwood. However, an earlier conversation showed his reception experience wasn't markedly different than mine or Frank's. I have found noise of any kind kills the decoding. Power line, ignition, anything. Some traffic lights are especially bad. The ones with the LED lights make a racket. Other AM IBOC stations are 580, 920, 1030, 1260 and 1430. Of those, only 920 and 1030 have ever produced audio. From a purely engineering POV, I wish it was possible to DX this medium. Always up for a new challenge. At the moment, I don't have a lot of hope. I'll give a more complete report once I can compare some further notes. I also want to ask some of the other local Clear Channel people what their luck has been, assuming more than just the local engineer have these radios. JVC: I first had it working in the house off a variety of loops and wires. It's really a pretty decent radio in analog. Probably can hear about anything the Blaupunkt can, and a very high percentage of what the Drake R8B hears. I don't find fault with the receiver per se. I do hope to do a parking lot test against a Kenwood owned by the Clear Channel engineer. Perhaps I can arrange a side-by-side with the Citadel tech as well. I'll certainly write up what I find. If the JVC does have a problem, then it'll go back on eBay (Craig Healy, Providence, RI, ibid.) Since this is still on the thread I started, let me add a comment regarding the spectrum scans I originally referenced as relates to the digital sideband strength. When I ran spectrum scans on the local IBOC AMers, I was at first confused how at times the digital sidebands were equal to or higher in strength than the analog signal and at other times they were much lower in strength. IBOC was on in both instances, the hissing was just less intense at times. What I eventually realized was the differences resulted from me arbitrarily switching from time to time, between two different active verticals, one with slightly higher gain figures. While there was no particular difference in the strength of the analog signals, one antenna to the other, the digital sidebands dropped dramatically. It would seem the digital sidebands drop off much more rapidly, even for stations 10 to 15 miles distant, than does the analog signal. That rapid loss of signal would not seem to support the notion the digital signal is going to get out better than the analog. Unfortunately I have no HD-ready radio with which to offer reception details, but looking at the signals, it does seem to show a substantial advantage for analog (W. Curt Deegan, Boca Raton, (Southeast) Florida, [Ten-Tec RX-320D receiver, LF Engineering H-800 & M-601 active verticals] http://ScooterHound.com/WWWR/radio/sefliboc.html Nov 10, ibid.) Dave: Take a look at the iBiquity test data in http://www.nrscstandards.org/DRB/NRSC%20eval%20iBiquityAM/amibocevaluationreport04062002.pdf You'll see on page 43 a map that contradicts what you say. On p. 45 they are very clear that at night, digital coverage is reduced relative to the analog coverage (Chuck Hutton, ibid.) The issue is not the reach of the analog vs. the digital signal. Analog signals are hearable with very weak signal strengths. However, listeners do no use such signals due to the noise and interference. In most cases, in markets like the Miami MSA, AMs get no listenrship of consequence outside the 10 to 12 mv/m countours. In other words, there is a lesser signal available in some areas, but essentially "nobody" listens there. On the other hand, the HD signal appears, on the few receivers out so far, to be "usable" at least as far as the usable analog signal is, and in some cases, farther (David Gleason, ibid.) Everything you say may be true, but I don't think it addresses the point I was making. Just a slight reduction in antenna gain resulted in a substantial reduction in digital signal strength while producing little effect on the analog signal. Maybe someday when digital takes over the full power of the existing carrier, the signal will propagate as far as analog, at a listenable level. But it just doesn't look like that is what is happening now with the hybrid signals. But my point was to relate the results of the scans I had made. I'll leave the range receivers can reach, to those who have them and can independently evaluate in actual circumstances, which is what it is really all about, not statistics and projections (W. Curt Deegan, Boca Raton, (Southeast) Florida, ibid.) Again, it is about usable signal, not signal coverage. In the size markets where we will first see HD, the usable analog signal has to be very strong to be usable, generally over 10 mv/m. extensive analysis of Arbitron diaries shows and proves this. The HD signal seems to be usable beyond the 10 mv/m contour, as it is less subject to interference and the noise that ruins all but the strongest AM signals (Gleason, ibid.) To quote directly from the document I referenced: "At night, digital coverage fell short of the predicted nighttime interference-free (NIF) contours and the system had blended to analog before reaching this contour." In other words, the system totally gave up on trying to use the IBOC digital signal and reverted to analog before reaching the NIF contour. Any way you slice that, the digital signal was worse than poor and could not be used at all. The analog (by virtue of being inside the NIF zone) would be commercially - usable audio (Chuck Hutton, ibid.) What Dave has to say about IBOC is truthful and relevant if you make the effort to remember that he speaks from the viewpoint of a person who is interested in market share, enhanced *local* markets coverage and so forth. Radio is a business, people, we'd do well to remember and acknowledge that fact. CC and others gotta pay the bills too. It *is* unfortunate from our hobbyist viewpoint that IBOC doesn't lend itself well to the hobby, but we'll get used to it. (Myself, I just wish iBiquity's death-grip on the code were loosened enough that they'd permit people to produce PC-based decoders a la DRM! That'd be nice to play with.) For the truly hardcore, I can foresee a time when people will run analyses on IBOC signals at the bit level and see if they can ID a station (that can't be received well enough for audio) that way! (Lee Reynolds, ibid.) I would imagine that the people who hold the "death-grip on the code" (and I don't doubt for a minute that's how they treat it) would not take kindly to independent efforts to analyze the inner workings of the process. What will probably happen is that they treat it as a violation of DMCA. This would make it quite difficult for those doing the analysis to exchange information in public forums such as this. DMCA is becoming a catch-all to aid those kinds of business interests in their efforts to stop independent research. They don't care _why_ you do it. The reason you cite above is innocuous enough. It doesn't matter. You can be whacked with a DMCA charge by a court that doesn't care about or understand something as off-the-wall as looking at a bit- level data stream to identify the station you are hearing. It "can't" be that simple. You "must" be up to no good. It could bankrupt you trying to defend against that. Similar case with Diebold voting machines. Also, check out the current news about the "Sony DRM rootkit" hidden on Sony-BMG music CDs you play on your PC. The idea that the FCC is in bed with these people is amazing. Well, that's MY one rupee's worth of thought (Bob Foxworth, FL, ibid.) Truthfulness and one individual's remarks aside, Lee, the issue is that not everyone thinks in terms of just DXing. What has been discussed here lately is simple reception. I *listen* to radio too, and it seems to me there is a basic problem with how much choice a listener will have if they can only hear stations 10 or 15 miles away, and 2/3rds of the AM channels blocked by digital noise. I think you are too quick to accept the finality of the situation. There are other ways for the business of AM radio to prosper besides just IBOC. I think many here are as adamant about saving the local AM broadcaster as they are the DXing opportunity. It isn't DXers against the real world, it is the real world against IBOC, and in preference of something less damaging (W. Curt Deegan, Boca Ratón, (Southeast) Florida, ibid.) The WHJJ-920 day IBOC signal doesn't cover the whole Providence market either. If my experience, and that of the other engineer I've spoken with is correct, then Fall River, MA does not get effective HD Radio signal coverage. Fall River, MA is an important part of the Bristol County, MA ADI and well represented in the Arbitron diary distribution. I cannot see them simply writing off that much territory, especially since they do sell advertising from that city and the further east New Bedford area. The night signal from WHJJ is deficient through Fall River and much of the west bay area of RI such as Warwick. IBOC might be good in the Providence city limits, but that is not where the bulk of the rated market population lives. Big problem (Craig Healy, Providence, RI, ibid.) Local stations here doing just fine without IBOC, no plans whatsoever to go HD. At their request, won't divulge calls, given propensity of IBOC shills to employ heavy handed tactics against those who don't wish to 'take the chocoloate'. =Z.= (Paul Vincent Zecchino, Manashillzone Key, FL, BT, ibid.) "They took the chocolate, now it's time to take the cheese." - Mason Verger, "Hannibal", c. 2001, Thomas Harris (PVZ tagline) Undersigned useless utopian is not by any means a DX'er. As with many others, I love radio and rely on it. I will not stand idly by while a claque of monopolistic gelatinous thugs in mid-price suits jam their competitors to ruin so as to cheat the free market. The false tales told by HD's promoters and as well the actionable comments by which some of their minions portray as 'at odds with the government' any and all who dare question this scheme, well serve to illustrate the troubling mindset behind this scheme. =Z.= (Paul Vincent Zecchino, Manaslandersuit Key, FL, BT, ibid.) Keep those false analogies coming! Can't shovel it fast enough. Why that ol' farmer, he jes' took another load away. Inane argumentiveness is no substitute for truth. And paper is an old technology as well. Still admissible. Funny thing 'bout that. =Z.= (Paul Vincent Zecchino, Manaboredtosobs Key, FL, BT, ibid.) IBOC on late on 1190 obliterating WHAM At 1020 pm Eastern, IBOC on 1190 is obliterating 1180 WHAM Rochester NY and also CFGO Ottawa ON 1200. I am directly across the lake (Ontario) from Rochester NY, probably less than 100 miles. Interesting to see what IBOC will do at night to a clear channel powerhouse. Scott, am I within its primary coverage? I am not sure if the 1190 in question is WOWO or WLIB. Conditions very good east and west; Cuba strong on many channels. CHRB 1140 AB, is doing good with East Indian program (Saul Chernos, Burnt River ON, Nov 12, ibid.) It is clearly audible here in Providence. Of the two frequencies, 1200 is better off than 1180. 1190 has a mix of two signals. Wonder if WOWO didn't go to night pattern/power? Usually they are hard to get here since WLIB bought 'em out and trashed their night signal. It will be equally "interesting" to see what the night-time IBOC signal from a station like WPHT-1210 will do to 166w WRIB-1220 at night. Especially since the potential IBOC from WRIB will fall on 1210 and 1230, both heavily jammed frequencies. I can easily see WRIB reduced to an interference free contour roughly that of the guy wire radius. I really am anxiously waiting the first lawsuit to stop IBOC signals from interfering with an adjacent frequency. It's bound to happen, and the sooner the better (Craig Healy, RI, ibid.) Excellent article, thank you. Several weeks ago, undersigned choleric cretin noted HD is a post-nineties kluge, half a twin-headed hydra contrived to deny citizens free access to information. Other half is BPL, a ludicrously absurd klunk disingenously billed as 'brigding the last mile' so that "everyone must have access". Unstated purpose of these twin Hertzian flatulators: flood RF spectrum with noise pollution so, deny citizens free media access and drive them into controlled subscriber channels. As article notes, technology since advanced beyond HD and BPL noise stink-bombs, of little value save for jamming competition to bankruptcy. Regardless of high-minded rationales for HD, its essence - what it does - is jam. One HD station is bad enough, as many broadcasters note with increasing concern. As posters note, imagine the spectral pollution when many more IBOC trashmitters key up. If the public could 'see' noise pollution created by this kleptocratic scam, they would equate it with dumping PCB's into pristine mountain streams and scream with outrage. They can't, but no matter. As more experience noise-trash blocking their stations and have their concerns smarmily dismissed by smooth- talking HD shills, they'll make their opinion known by voting with their feet. As one friend replied when HD's noisy destruction is deemed - by shills - as 'necessary for our digital future': "Bullshale". Old term, no techno-sizzle to it. Succint, enduring, incontrovertible. =Z.= (Paul Vincent Zecchino, Manasmarmy Key, FL BT, 'IBOC delenda est.' - Scipio Africanus Minor, ca. 256 B.C.E., ibid.) IBOC obliterating WHAM? Not to worry. Just IBOC doing as it should. Spectral pollution, citizen denial of media access, ruination to existing analog stations all wonderful, necessary for "Our Inevitable Digital Future." HD turkey carries within its putrid fulminating carcass the noisy faetorous seeds of its own richly deserved end. Citizens will not tolerate wanton destruction of their media. =Z.= (Paul Vincent Zecchino, Manasalmonella Key, FL, BT, ibid.) I went out to the truck to see if the HD Radio icon would light up. Nada. However, I did get a good WOWO ID out of it. At times it was over the Rusty Humphries program on WLIB. Anyone hearing WOWO that is west of Ft. Wayne? (Craig Healy, Providence, RI, ibid.) Wonder what WHAM would think? They are listenable here most nights. Many clears appreciate distant listeners, such as those with teletalk programs that have toll-free numbers. WOWO S-9+10 db here in MN, no interference. WHAM in the clear S-9+. CFGO atop on 1200 (George Sherman, 0419 UT Nov 13, ibid.) Yep... guy on WPHT phone-in just mentioned that they are heard in 38 states. They are going to have to revise that number downwards rather drastically when some of their 1200/1220 neighbors fire up IBOC (or, as some are aptly calling it, IBUZ) at night (Barry McLarnon VE3JF, Ottawa, ON, ibid.) I had wondered if I was the only one thinking about how HD-IBOC on MW & FM & BPL on SW might increase demand for subscription radio. I hear those satellite services advertising over 100 channels for about $13 a month & thought about how I could already listen to over 100 stations (MW/FM/SW), so why pay a monthly fee? I hope I can sell all my radios before they can't receive anything (George Sherman, MN, ibid.) WOWO-1190 heard with Coast to Coast here in Tulsa this evening (2230 CST), uncommon to hear them. I'm hearing the presumed IBOC "wisp" on 1200 in WOAI phase null as well as on 1180 (Bruce Winkelman AA5CO, Tulsa, OK, R8, Quantum Phaser, 2 - 130 ft +/- wires, ibid.) WHAM has no primary - or rather, protected - coverage on Canadian soil. That said, I suspect the boys in Cincinnati and San Antonio will be interested to hear about this... s, in WOWO-land all week (Scott Fybush, ibid.) No they won't. EVERY 50,000-watt AM station is heard in "38 states." If they're north of the Mason-Dixon line, federal law requires them to add "...and half of Canada." Actual coverage has nothing to do with this particular promotional claim. No station has ever claimed, in my experience, to serve "37" states, or "39." "38" is the Heinz 57 of clear-channel promotional lore. Unsupportable by fact, yet omnipresent in promos. Undersigned suddenly writing like certain logorrheic Florida-dwelling list member. Must stop for night before losing ability to use articles in sentences in future. Possibility of multisyllabic pomposity and inscrutable verbosity on rise as well. Most disturbing. ~F~ (Scott Fybush, ibid.) It's a mild virus. Take two aspirin and call Merriam Webster in the morning (David Gleason, ibid.) F- Multisyllabic pomposity? Inscrutable verbosity? That's it? Oh, come now. Where's the fun in that? What about flatulent oratorio? Pious ramblings? Bizarre blattings? Sanctimonious sermonizing? Gaseous pontificating? Those who well know me will emphatically tell you: churlish, boorish, cretinous cacklings, redundant remonstrations, and all time fave, "dented doodlings of a demented dingbat". Flattery is the sincerest form of imitation but about this 'logorrheic' condition. Merck Manual silent. Congenital? Age-onset? What age? Viral? Trauma-induced? Idiopathic? Lone psychiatrist who still accepts my calls stated early this morning, 'logorrhea' easily cured by taking nice hot Sitz bath while friend throws hollow state receiver into tub. Suggested I do so immediately. Kindly doctor, great sense of humor... Other cures? Do we smell a telethon here? Film rights? "I Was a Middle Aged Morbidly Obese Jaundicedly Juvenile Verbally Verbose Languid Logorrheic? Re: not using articles- half baked means by which verbose, juvenile, aimless gibberings are made to seem pithy, terse, to the point. Elegant albeit faux, sophisticated yet crass. Look at it like dis heahr: articles - though mandatory to good grammar - communicate little information, much like my excrementally erudite writings. They've been said before, why use them? For next time: The Subjunctive Swat Team in action! =Z.= (Paul Vincent Zecchino, Manaconjunctiveye Key, Fl, BT, ibid.) Yes, but some majestic, non-dictionaric words are coming out of Florida these days. I'm particularly impressed with "fecalithic." Best writing since 1968 NRC April Fool's issue when Randy Kane penned the immortal words: "Can't complain; will anyway." \Q, the K/ KA9SPA (Self-Proclaimed Authority) (John Callarman, Krum TX, ibid.) Thank you. Thank you most kindly for appreciative thoughts. Used in context recently, 'oleaginous fecalithic greaseballs'. Fitting, needed saying, given subject under discussion. Non-dictionaric words - elegant term - most important in today's cultural toxic sump in which people create words at will, misuse them as they please, and take umbrage when others are bewildered. Of course, my circumstances different. One of several psychotherapists some years ago encouraged more writing by undersigned worthless wordsmith. Impressed by vivid verbal imagery, they noted writing required one labor at home, rather than swanning about Manasoviet Key, yelling at passing motorists, unsettling to sandcrabs. =Z.= (Paul Vincent Zecchino, Manascreaming Key, FL, BT, ibid.) I know I'm not actually 'protected'; If it weren't for an arbitrary geo-political border I would be within WHAM's primary coverage area. IBOC in this case was able to destroy reception of a 50K clear less than 100 miles from its xmtr. The FCC should insist on night-time tests before stations spend any further time and money on this technology (Saul Chernos, Ont., ibid.) There are two issues here. First, the owners of most of the big, former 1-A, clear channels are the biggest supporters of HD Radio. They have looked at where the revenue comes from, and it does not come from skywave. It does not come from coverage of areas outside the metro area the station is in. So they are, in effect, saying, "we only care about metro groundwave coverage and HD is fine for this." Second, the HD sidebands may affect stations that are very tightly spaced, or are "shoehorn" grants that have agreed to accept huge interference at night in exchange for being able to operate. In addition, remember that neither AM nor FM have anywhere near the listening at night that they do in daytime. Night listening is less than a third of the morning listening, and most is in the 7 to 9 PM frame. Stations have a hard time selling night listening, no matter what kind of share they have as advertisers do not generally specify nights in ad buys (David Gleason, ibid.) Clearly, that's where the management of WOR and some of the other clears are coming from, but they don't speak for everyone. Where's the results of polling ALL of the Class A stations to see whether they agree that they're ready to write off their skywave coverage plus non- metro groundwave coverage? WGN, for example, filed comments to the FCC against nighttime AM IBOC operation. How about the Class A's in neighboring countries - anybody ask them if they're willing to accept a loss in coverage, with no upside? And Class A's are just the tip of the iceburg --- most of the much more numerous Class B stations will take a hit in groundwave coverage, and they don't all serve large metro areas. This may serve the corporate bottom line of the big broadcast groups that are also iBiquity investors, but it does not serve the public interest. This is not what they bargained for. IBOC allows stations to generate adjacent channel interference that is far in excess of that which existed before. You seem to be saying that the interference problems are limited to two cases: Class A stations, plus some others that were "shoehorned" into the band. This vastly understates the extent of the problems. That being the case, it should not have much impact on the bottom lines of the AM IBOCers if they continue to refrain from putting the digital on at night. It's all for the greater good, you see (Barry McLarnon VE3JF, Ottawa, ON, ibid.) That's what they've been told. It's likely only partly true for the daytime. At night, some of the 1A's will lose at LEAST half of the groundwave coverage, maybe more. I don't expect WLAC will have very good night coverage at ALL with IBOC. I expect they will lose WELL more than half or even more of the coverage? Why? WCKY on 1530 does a TERRIBLE number on the INSIDE THE NASHVILLE CITY LIMITS when they ran IBOC until sunset Bakersfield. That was when they were WSAI. And with lots of stations running IBOC at night, decoding will become a real NIGHTmare. And in some directions, some of these stations will lose most of their night coverage --- period aka WBT in Charlotte. So? That means you can make night listening untenable for everyone not in direct sight of the tower, and some of those folks won't have reception also (Powell E. Way III, SC, ibid.) Nope. Some posters commented upon my disuse of articles. Concern expressed, may be presenting symptom of idiopathic condition, "logorrheia", dread manifestation of Chronic Verbal Dysentery. Interesting re latin, should have known. One could trace Rome's downfall to increasing use of articles, ultimately leading to Italian language, known more for melodic reveries than combat readiness and extreme watchfulness. Latin spoken, precise, language of combat, victory, order. Much better, known as Primary Analog Language, never digital. Limbaugh glomming my name again? Why? Discriminating individuals generally prefer not to be associated with undersigned trite tiddler. Ah well, it's his reputation. Personally, I'd never read anything written under my name. Insult to writing. Disgraceful. =Z.= (Paul Vincent Zecchino, Manamissingarticles Key, Fl, BT, ibid.) WHAM IBOC is destroying the reception of my local on 1190 WBIS and according to their coverage map, I am right at the edge of their primary coverage area. It is currently 1530 EST. I can null some of the interference down enough to understand the programming, but it is annoying to listen. No one on earth can tell me that IBOC will not create interference within a stations primary coverage area. If I were driving around and were listening on my car radio, I would simply tune away from WBIS. I suspect that they may have lost listeners due to this problem. Most listeners won't complain, they will just tune off the station to another station that comes in better. Or they turn it off and try something else besides radio. The bottom-line is that stations will just lose ratings, silently (Bill Harms, Elkridge, Maryland, Nov 16, ibid.) Bill, That is true. I just wonder how many stations have decent rating on AM now. Probably not a whole lot. But I do know stations like KGO, KFI, KNX, etc., get lots of comments. So maybe several will still call to alert the GM or CE, but I would think they would already know. 73, (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, ibid.) When this is an issue is in winter months, especially at northern latitudes, when it is night half way into morning drive (6-10 AM) and PM Drive (3 to 7 PM) which is where the bulk of the ad dollars go. Imagine a directional AM in Milwaukee or Minneapolis or Seattle or Boston getting chewed up by HD if it is allowed in current form during night hours! (David Gleason, ibid.) Another victory for IBOC thugs. Jam legitimate broadcasters into ruin. Fine example of HD closet strategy succeeding, short range decodable HD signal yokes listeners to local stations, long range undecodable interference destroys competitors. The more HD grifter/promoters talk, the more precisely they reveal true intent. Description of HD workings dizzying. Complexity is the seed of failure. Like spider frenetically reacting to slightest tug on web's fringe, IBOC shills will unleash more smooth answers and ad hominem attacks. It's what they do. Yes, superhighways and cars are an improvement over horse trodden pig- paths. But an Edsel remains an Edsel. =Z.= (Paul Vincent Zecchino, Manasuperhighways Key, Fl BT, ibid.) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ THE ALPHA MONOCEROTIDS METEOR SHOWER NOV 21 PEAK The debris field of the comet van Gent-Peltier-Daimaca pays Earth a visit this weekend, in the form of a meteor shower, The Alpha Monocerotids. Although weak annual activity may be present during the period of November 13 to December 2, strong activity of perhaps 100 meteors per hour may return every 10 years on the indicated date of maximum. The last ten year peak was in 1995, so be on the lookout this coming Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, as this meteor shower has a tendency to overlap for a day either side of the peak date. The peak is November 21st. Alpha Monocerotieds Activity duration: November 13-December 2 Peak date: November 21 Average pings per hour: 5 Swarms (outbursts) possible: 100 per hour* Position in sky: 97 degrees Antenna bearing: east or west*** Best DX window: 0500-1200 local time Meteor velocity: 62 km/s *An interesting side note: In 1925 and 1935, the Alpha Monocerotids experienced storms that peaked at 2000 meteors per hour. Those two years went into the history books as the the two richest meteor showers in the 20th century, following closely behind the record showing of the October Draconids. ***Denotes positioning your yagi directional to the northeast or southwest, whichever direction is OPTIMAL as your receiving direction (mrradiohead, WTFDA via DXLD) ###