DX LISTENING DIGEST 5-225, December 29, 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 1299: Days and times here strictly UT Fri 0200 WOR ACBRadio Mainstream [repeated 2-hourly thru 2400] Fri 2000 WOR World FM, Tawa, Wellington, New Zealand 88.2 Fri 2100 WOR RFPI [repeated 4-hourly thru Sat 1700] Sat 0500 WOR VoiceCorps Reading Service, WOSU-FM subcarrier, cable Sat 0900 WOR WRN to Eu, Au, NZ, WorldSpace AfriStar, AsiaStar Sat 0955 WOR WNQM Nashville TN 1300 Sat 1100 WOR WPKN Bridgeport CT 89.5 & WPKM Montauk LINY 88.7 Sat 1530 WOR R. Veronica 106.5 Sat 1830 WOR WRN to North America [including Sirius Satellite Radio channel 140] Sun 0000 WOR Radio Studio X 1584 http://www.radiostudiox.it/ Sun 0330 WOR WWCR 5070 Sun 0400 WOR WBCQ 9330-CLSB Sun 0600 WOR World FM, Tawa, Wellington, New Zealand 88.2 Sun 0730 WOR WWCR 3215 Sun 0930 WOR WRN to North America, also WLIO-TV Lima OH SAP [including Sirius Satellite Radio channel 140] Sun 0930 WOR KSFC Spokane WA 91.9 Sun 0930 WOR WXPR Rhinelander WI 91.7 91.9 100.9 Sun 0930 WOR WDWN Auburn NY 89.1 [unconfirmed] Sun 0930 WOR KTRU Houston TX 91.7 [occasional] Sun 1400 WOR WRMI 7385 Sun 1400 WOR KRFP-LP Moscow ID 92.5 Sun 1830 WOR WRN1 to North America [including Sirius Satellite Radio channel 140] Sun 2000 WOR RNI Sun 2230 WOR WRMI 7385 [temporarily] Mon 0400 WOR WBCQ 9330-CLSB Mon 0430 WOR WSUI Iowa City IA 910 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 [from Fri]: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO [also CONTINENT OF MEDIA, MUNDO RADIAL]: [from late UT Wednesday] http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html or http://wor.worldofradio.org WORLD OF RADIO 1299 (real high): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1299h.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1299h.rm WORLD OF RADIO 1299 (real low): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1299.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1299.rm [NOTE: the mp3 high and low files were missing as of Thu afternoon] WORLD OF RADIO 1299 (mp3 high): (download) http://www.obriensweb.com/wor1299h.mp3 WORLD OF RADIO 1299 (mp3 low): (download) http://www.obriensweb.com/wor1299.mp3 (lower download) http://www.piratedxer.com/worldofradio_12-28-05.mp3 (lower stream) http://www.piratedxer.com/worldofradio_12-28-05.m3u WOR 1299 summary: http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1299.html [not yet] WORLD OF RADIO PODCASTS: www.obriensweb.com/wor.xml DX/SWL/MEDIA PROGRAMS Dec 27: http://www.worldofradio.com/dxpgms.html ** AUSTRALIA. About a week ago, I had ABC 2310 kHz melting the aerial at 1545 hrs at s9+30 on the R75. A lot stronger than I've heard in the past. Anything to do with NT service transmitter upgrades? (Edwin Lowe, Australia, Dec 29, ARDXC via DXLD) ** BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA. THE VOICE OF RATKO MLADIC Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) has gathered some historical audio of Bosnian Serb General Ratko Mladic from the time of the 1993- 95 Bosnian war. The audio was taken from radio intercepts and videotapes shot during the war and form part of the evidence against Mladic that led to his indictment for war crimes by the Hague-based International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). International authorities have been seeking Mladic for 10 years. Audio clips with English translations: http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2005/12/9AE60B00-A506-4C47-9454-CDFD05AE9C69.html # posted by Andy @ 17:20 UT Dec 29 (Media Network blog via DXLD) ** CANADA [and non]. I was pleased to encounter RCI`s harmonica fill music not in less-than-one-minute fragments, but for a good quarter hour straight, on 11845, Dec 29 from 2139 tune-in. This is supposed to be the RCI French service via Sackville, which apparently lost its feed, tho two separate English programs were funxioning normally on 9770 and 15180. At 2155 it cut off, immediately replaced by DRM, leading me to suppose that was from the same transmitter, but no DRM is scheduled from Sackville on 11845, just RN via Bonaire from 2200, and DRM did continue after 2200 with the usual spread thru adjacent frequencies. I did not know the parallels for RCI French at 2100 until I looked them up, so wonder if they too lost feed: Skelton 7235 and Moosbrunn 9805 --- the latter would have been obliterated here anyway by Sackville DRM on 9800 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. CBC: Protesting "Freestyle" --- In today's Toronto Star, embedded in an article about Sirius satellite radio, was this item: "Elsewhere, a storm of protest is looming over programming changes made in November at CBC Radio One, with the abolition of the popular and longstanding post-lunchtime music program Round Up, and its replacement by Freestyle. The show is hosted by the chatty team of Kelly Ryan and Cameron Phillips and is billed as "water-cooler fodder at its finest." Its not-necessarily-Canadian, pop-lite tone and fizzy music play list, and its insubstantial, gossip-friendly information content have offended many public radio supporters, who see the hour-long program as yet another attempt to dumb down the CBC with non-original, ad-hoc programming in an effort to make it more hip and competitive in an age of shortened attention spans and abundant entertainment choices. They've mounted a national Internet petition at http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/stopcbcpop See http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1135723812679&call_pageid=968867495754&col=969483191630 or http://www.shorl.com/godryjatravyve (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA, Dec 28, Swprograms list via DXLD) It's two hours, replacing the Roundup program, and there are numerous blogs about Freestyle too. Running from 1 pm to 3 local it leads into a longer (earlier start) regional driving home programme. Many people on hiatus during a Christmas break are getting a first fill of the New CBC daytime after the long CBC lockout. The TV will start a new season on second week of January http://teamakers.blogspot.com/2005/12/new-look-for-newsworld.html and already there are a few changes bruited about for radio as series end, but nothing so far about Freestyle. They've mounted a national Internet petition at http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/stopcbcpop See also A VOICE AGAINST THE COMMERCIALIZATION OF THE CBC URL: http://www.stopcbcpop.ca/ Planet CBC http://peterjanes.homeip.net/cbc/ and its right rail. Otherwise it is an attempt at tracking the CBC- related (weakly) blog entries. Quote: "This site is an automated digest of all known CBC employee weblogs that publish syndicated feeds (aka Live Bookmarks or Web Feeds). The original list was retrieved from CBCunplugged.com but has been updated and modified since then. You can subscribe to the complete set of feeds (Atom, RSS) or choose some from the list at right." And on the French side, there are similar things but French CBC (SRC) is largely ignored for more populist radio. Back to the new invigorated by Sirius RCI and its language spectrum on air. Things sound so much better in Portuguese (Dan Say, BC, ibid.) ** CANADA. NEW YEAR'S EVE AND NEW YEAR'S DAY CBC HIGHLIGHTS SATURDAY DECEMBER 31, 2005 Radio One - 88.5 FM in Montreal DEFINITELY NOT THE OPERA: This week on DNTO, comedian John Wing, Jr. offers his pop culture predictions for 2006, Margaret Atwood plays Would You Rather with Sook-Yin Lee, and DNTO music geek Mark Rheaume connects Elvis Presley to Bjork in 6 Degrees of Musical Separation. Plus Canadian chanteuse Feist, caught live in concert. That's on Definitely Not the Opera Saturday after the 1 p.m. news. RANDY BACHMAN'S VINYL TAP: Well, if your Christmas tree is still up you will be rockin' around it. If it's not, roll up the rug and clear a dance floor because this week, Randy Bachman rings in the New Year with some of the biggest and best hits of past years. Randy adds a special twist... for every international act he plays he will match that tune with a Canadian artist and you can be sure the Canucks will more than hold their own. Randy's Vinyl Tap rocks out for New Year's Eve. Randy Bachman's Vinyl Tap, Saturday evening at 7 p.m. THE NATIONAL PLAYLIST COUNTDOWN: New Year's Eve is the time for Countdowns, and The National Playlist is no exception. Tonight, host Jian Ghomeshi will go through the list so far, and recall great moments from the past weeks of debating and voting. The National Playlist Countdown, Saturday at 9 p.m. SIMPLY NEW YEAR'S WITH SEAN CULLEN: ***pre-empts A Propos & Saturday Night Blues**** Join comedian Seán Cullen as he spends a solitary New Year's Eve at the CBC Building in Toronto. He'll play some of his favourite songs from 2005, a few special guests will drop by, and he'll count down to the New Year with his own special radio version of the Times Square dropping ball. You'll have to hear it to believe it! Simply New Year's With Sean Cullen, New Year's Eve at 10:05 p.m. -- RADIO TWO - 93.5 FM in Montreal THE VINYL CAFE: Head for the Vinyl Cafe this weekend. Host Stuart McLean has a show titled "These Are a Few of our Favourite Things..." He'll share some of his favourite moments of the year 2005. That's this week at the Vinyl Cafe, Saturday morning at 10:00 [10:05] SOUND ADVICE: This week on Sound Advice, Rick Phillips looks at the very best of 2005, some of the CDs that rated the coveted five-star rating, including plenty of recordings by Canadian artists and ensembles. That's Sound Advice, Saturday after the Noon news. SUNDAY JANUARY 1, 2006 --- Radio One - 88.5 FM in Montreal ZERO TO TWELVE IN 150 MINUTES: Start your New Year with Zero to Twelve in 150 Minutes - a musical and whimsical guide to what you need to jot (or not) on your calendar for 2006. Your host is Ivan Emke: Professor of Anthropology and Sociology, Sir Wilfred Grenfell College in Corner Brook. And oh... World Musicologist and jug band player. The professor will take you on a musical journey around the world... from A for Arcadie to Z for Zubot and Dawson ...musing, perhaps even waxing poetic on obscure celebrations, observations and revelations. Zero to Twelve in 150 Minutes, New Year's morning at 6 a.m. GOVERNOR-GENERAL'S MESSAGE: Tune in to CBC Radio One New Year's morning for the annual message from Her Excellency the Governor- General of Canada. This will be Michaëlle Jean's first New Year's Message, and it should be worth hearing. The Governor-General's New Year's Day Message, New Year's morning at 8:50. VINYL CAFE: [as above], Sunday after the noon news. SOUND ADVICE: [as above], Sunday at 6:30 p.m. JAZZBEAT: This week on Jazz Beat... in Hour One... There's nothing like Brazilian music to chase the cold-weather gremlins. Jazz Beat serves up an all-star Montreal jazz Tribute to Jobim, with some of that city's most gifted musicians playing Jobim's timeless music straight from the heart. Welcome in the New Year with some great bossa nova jazz. Later, the "Doctor Feelgood" of jazz organ pays a house- call: Dr. Lonnie Smith led his trio in concert at Vancouver's Jazz Festival in the summer of 2005, and added local saxophonist Cory Weeds for good measure. That's Jazz Beat, with host Katie Malloch, Sunday night at 11 p.m. --- RADIO TWO 93.5 FM in Montreal SKYLARKING: Andre Alexis is in a reflective mood for New Year's Day, fantasizing about hope balanced between the thunder of a big band and the lone voice of a poet. Hear what he has to say - and play - on Skylarking, Sunday at 4:00 p.m. PEARLS OF WISDOM: This week on Pearls of Wisdom, host David Wisdom kicks off the New Year with a snappy selection of songs of celebration including the worlds most remarkable version of Auld Lang Syne and a list of Spike Milligan's most unwanted Christmas presents. That's Pearls of Wisdom, Sunday at 6:30 p.m. JAZZ BEAT: See above on Radio One for details. Sunday at 8:00 p.m. (via Sheldon Harvey, CIDX yg via DXLD) Times EST = UT -5 and presumably apply to other CBC cities with appropriate timeshifts; however evening weekends, CBC shows air at the same absolute time in the ET and AT zones (gh, DXLD) ** CHINA. 6060, Voice of Golden Bridge, Dec 29, 1045-1102, mostly just conversation in Chinese, at 1045 & 1100 clear ID in English: ``This is the Voice of Golden Bridge.`` Assume this is from Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, in southwest China. Fair-poor. Still noted here with fair reception at 1226, with nice Chinese music (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, RX340 + T2FD antenna, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) SC1 listing at top of right column of page 182 of WRTH 2006 refers to this only as the ``Life, Travel and City Service``; 15 kW (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. It seems CRI is putting even more new transmitters on the air. Today I came across CRI English at good level on 7135 around 1015. I had not noticed this one before, and it seems to be new, maybe even the first day of operation. The same programme with identical delay was heard on 13590. Both are listed as Beijing 500 kW. An educated guess is that these are again French imports. At the same time CRI Russian was very strong on (new?) 6020, which is unlisted and went off at 1100. At 1300-1400 CRI Mongolian was heard very good on new 7285 and 6100 with identical delay. These are also listed as Beijing 500 kW. The old lower power Beijing transmitters that were used for Mongolian have been off the air for about a year (Olle Alm, Sweden, Dec 28, WORLD OF RADIO 1299, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi dear Olle, see enclosed HFCC registrations of Dec 7: 5910 1500 1600 49,54W BEI 500 215 216 CHN CRI RTC 5910 2000 2100 27-29,37 BEI 500 322 218 CHN CRI RTC 5910 2200 2400 37NW BEI 500 322 218 CHN CRI RTC 5915 2100 2200 37NW BEI 500 322 218 CHN CRI RTC 5955 1100 1500 44NE,45N BEI 500 95 206 CHN CRI RTC 5965 1500 1600 33SE,34 BEI 500 55 206 CHN CRI RTC 5980 1500 1600 45N BEI 500 95 206 CHN CRI RTC 5985 1000 1100 31,32 BEI 500 322 218 CHN CRI RTC 5985 1600 1800 48SW,53NW BEI 500 257 218 CHN CRI RTC 5985 1900 2100 37NW BEI 500 257 218 CHN CRI RTC 5995 1600 1700 27-31,37,38NE,46EBEI 500 318 218 CHN CRI RTC 6010 1800 1900 27-31,37,38NE,46EBEI 500 318 218 CHN CRI RTC 6060 1100 1200 50 BEI 500 165 206 CHN CRI RTC 6090 1900 2000 37NW BEI 500 322 218 CHN CRI RTC 6100 1200 1300 33SE,34 BEI 500 55 206 CHN CRI RTC 6100 1300 1400 32S,33SW BEI 500 318 218 CHN CRI RTC 6100 2300 0100 13 BEI 500 318 218 CHN CRI RTC 6135 1900 2000 27-31,37,38NE BEI 500 318 218 CHN CRI RTC 6135 2000 2100 28N BEI 500 318 218 CHN CRI RTC 6135 2100 2200 27-29,37-40 BEI 500 318 218 CHN CRI RTC 6180 1500 1600 29-32 BEI 500 322 218 CHN CRI RTC 7115 2200 2300 45N BEI 500 95 206 CHN CRI RTC 7120 1800 1900 28NE BEI 500 322 216 CHN CRI RTC 7135 1000 1100 31,32 BEI 500 318 218 CHN CRI RTC 7140 1700 1800 41,53,57 BEI 500 257 216 CHN CRI RTC 7150 1500 1600 44NE,45N BEI 500 95 206 CHN CRI RTC 7150 1800 1900 28SW BEI 500 318 218 CHN CRI RTC 7160 1900 2000 28SE BEI 500 318 218 CHN CRI RTC 7170 2000 2100 28N BEI 500 318 218 CHN CRI RTC 7170 2100 2200 27-29,37 BEI 500 318 218 CHN CRI RTC 7180 1400 1500 49,54W BEI 500 215 216 CHN CRI RTC 7190 0900 1500 45N BEI 500 95 206 CHN CRI RTC 7215 1900 2000 39N BEI 500 288 218 CHN CRI RTC 7225 1800 1900 39N BEI 500 288 218 CHN CRI RTC 7235 2300 0200 12-14 BEI 500 318 216 CHN CRI RTC 7245 1500 1600 27-29,37 BEI 500 318 218 CHN CRI RTC 7245 1600 1700 53 BEI 500 257 216 CHN CRI RTC 7245 2000 2100 37-40 BEI 500 288 218 CHN CRI RTC 7285 1300 1400 32S,33SW BEI 500 318 218 CHN CRI RTC 7295 1800 1900 40 BEI 500 288 218 CHN CRI RTC 7325 1400 1500 50 BEI 500 165 218 CHN CRI RTC 7325 1500 1600 49,54 BEI 500 193 218 CHN CRI RTC 7325 2000 2200 53,57 BEI 500 257 218 CHN CRI RTC 7335 1700 1800 28N BEI 500 322 218 CHN CRI RTC 7350 1600 1700 27-29,37 BEI 500 322 218 CHN CRI RTC 7360 1600 1700 49E BEI 500 193 218 CHN CRI RTC 9410 1300 1400 49,54W BEI 500 215 216 CHN CRI RTC 9415 2300 2400 49E BEI 500 193 218 CHN CRI RTC 9440 1300 1400 49 BEI 500 165 216 CHN CRI RTC 9450 1200 1400 55,59,60 BEI 500 142 218 CHN CRI RTC 9460 0300 0500 44NE,45N BEI 500 95 206 CHN CRI RTC 9460 2300 2400 50 BEI 500 165 218 CHN CRI RTC 9490 2200 2300 12-14 BEI 500 318 218 CHN CRI RTC 9540 1000 1200 55,59,60 BEI 500 142 218 CHN CRI RTC 9550 1100 1600 49E BEI 500 193 218 CHN CRI RTC 9645 1100 1300 49,54W BEI 500 215 216 CHN CRI RTC 9655 1400 1500 49,54W BEI 500 215 216 CHN CRI RTC 9695 2300 2400 45N BEI 500 95 206 CHN CRI RTC 9730 1200 1400 49,54 BEI 500 193 218 CHN CRI RTC 9870 1200 1300 49,54W BEI 500 215 216 CHN CRI RTC 11620 1000 1200 55,59,60 BEI 500 142 218 CHN CRI RTC 11640 0700 0900 45N BEI 500 95 206 CHN CRI RTC 11650 0000 0200 49,54W BEI 500 215 216 CHN CRI RTC 11695 0200 0300 13 BEI 500 322 218 CHN CRI RTC 11770 0000 0100 49E BEI 500 193 218 CHN CRI RTC 11780 0000 0100 45N BEI 500 95 206 CHN CRI RTC 11875 0000 0100 32S,33SW BEI 500 318 218 CHN CRI RTC 11945 2300 2400 49,54W BEI 500 193 218 CHN CRI RTC 13580 0000 0200 49,54W BEI 500 215 216 CHN CRI RTC 13590 1000 1200 49,54 BEI 500 193 218 CHN CRI RTC 13850 0900 1100 49,54W BEI 500 193 218 CHN CRI RTC 15120 0300 0700 31,32 BEI 500 322 218 CHN CRI RTC 15160 0100 0500 45N BEI 500 95 206 CHN CRI RTC 15170 0500 0700 45N BEI 500 95 206 CHN CRI RTC 17485 0300 0400 29S,30S,31S,32S BEI 500 288 218 CHN CRI RTC 17495 0000 0100 49,54W BEI 500 193 218 CHN CRI RTC 17495 0100 0300 49,54W BEI 500 193 218 CHN CRI RTC 17540 0300 0400 41 BEI 500 257 218 CHN CRI RTC 17710 0400 0500 49,54W BEI 500 193 218 CHN CRI RTC 17710 0600 0800 49,54W BEI 500 193 218 CHN CRI RTC 17855 0400 0600 29S,30S,31S BEI 500 288 218 CHN CRI RTC (Dec 7, 2005) (via Wolfgang Büschel, WORLD OF RADIO 1299, DXLD) ** CUBA [non]. Since R. República was missing early UT Dec 28 at 0200, I made a point of pausing in World of Radio 1299 produxion Dec 28 at 2200 to see if it would show up on 6135. Yes, it did, but much weaker than before, further evidence that it is from Europe rather than North America, and subject to considerable propagation variation (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1299, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Saludos amigos radioescuchas, de nuevo Radio República que ha comenzado sus emisiones a las 2200 UT por los 6135 kHz. Comienza con el programa "Despierta Cuba" y he podido detectar una fuerte interferencia al estilo de R. Martí. Pueden escuchar la grabación realizada en estos momentos en mi página web http://telefonica.net/web2/radioescuchadx/ sección "AUDIOS" y "Radio República 28-12-05". Por la calidad de la señal se diría que están transmitiendo desde Europa, ¿sería posible?. Receptor: JRC NRD-535 Antena PBX-100 Lugar: Casco urbano. Saludos y buenos DX's 73 (José Bueno - Córdoba - España, HCDX via DXLD) Yes, rather poor with usual bubble jamming. On his clip, went on to play ``Imagine`` by Lennon, perhaps in atonement for all the God stuff they broadcast the other day. I did not hear the jamming but did not keep listening after I was sure RR was on. I did not check for 5965 tonight, but from the below they have a new frequency for the 0000-0200 period, 6010, tough luck R. Mil, and Voz de tu Conciencia; apparently there were no major broadcasters on 6010 during this bihour, making it too tempting. But are we sure 6010 replaces 5965, or in addition to it? And is 7110 still on after 0200, or has that changed too? Checked around 0300 UT Dec 29, and heavy jamming was on 7110 --- Cuban and American hamband! How is CO2KK going to explain this? With traces of audio which may still be RR (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Radio República en 6010 --- Saludos cordiales amigos radioescuchas, en estos momentos 0030 TU 29-12-05, estoy escuchando a Radio República en los 6010 kHz. ¿Alguien puede comprobar? Esta frecuencia no está en su página web: http://www.radiorepublica.org/ José Bueno - Córdoba - España, HCDX via DXLD) [Poco después]: Confirmado, está transmitiendo por los 6010 kHz con el programa "Barrio Adentro"; anuncian sus frecuencias en OC: 5965, 6135 y 7110 kHz. 73 (José Bueno - Córdoba - España, ibid.) Looks like their schedule is changing faster than they can keep up with either on the website or in announcements (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR [non]. Checked the so-called HCJB Arabic Service via Sackville, 12025, Dec 29 at 2141 and they were playing some Arab music with a steady beat, not sounding at all Christian, but then I could not comprehend the lyrix; perhaps some entertainment amongst the stealth evangelism. Very good signal, and may be worth monitoring for the music in this case (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA [non]. 7590, V. of Ethiopian People, Dec 24 *1700-1710, 33433-35433-35333, Amharic, 1700 sign on with IS, ID, Opening music, Opening announce, Talk, Frequency change ex-7380 kHz (Kouji Hashimoto, Japan, Japan Premium via DXLD) ** EUROPE. Alfa Lima International doing several test upcoming days, also right now on the air --- Program announcement, Alfa Lima on 31 Dec trying to be on air whole day (maybe have to close down if we create interference in the area); also today we will be testing the antenna several times as we did have a lot of trouble with it, till now seems working okay. Also now in the air. E-mail us at info @ alfalima.net or hop to webpage http://www.alfalima.net where is also access to the SW pirates chat room and an easy way to the most popular irc chats. Frequencie will be 15074 and maybe in the 48 mb again between 6200 and 6350, all in AM (ALI, 1005 UT Dec 29, HCDX via DXLD) [different version, 12 hours later:] Program announcement, Alfa Lima on 30 and 31 Dec, 15074, trying to be on air whole day (maybe have to close down if we create interference in the area), starts around 1500 UT till 1900?? Also maybe we will be on early around 0700 UT if the band is open on 15074. E-mail us at info @ alfalima.net or hop to the webpage http://www.alfalima.net where is also access to the SW pirates chat room and an easy way to the most popular irc chats. Frequencie will be 15074 and maybe // in the 48 mb again between 6200 and 6350 or 21860 all in AM (Alfred Zoer, ALI, 2102 UT Dec 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EUROPE. Hello all Radio Freaks. Radio FOX 48 will be active from time to time on 48 met band, between 6205-6330 kHz, testing the new Tube, doing some test Thursday evening, (Late) and sporadic Friday. Hope to be on air from about 2200 Saturday and all night on Sunday. NEW: HOTLINE SMS PHONE 0047 97 15 73 72. We will NOT answer any call when we transmit, ONLY SMS. Yours, (MIKE, swpirates yg Dec 29 via Joe Talbot, DXLD) ** GERMANY. Dear Radio Colleague, For those who would like to obtain a QSL card from AWR verifying an additional transmitter site, here is an excellent opportunity. AWR is now on the air daily from 2000 - 2030 UTC on 7110 kHz at 250 kW with programming in Farsi beamed to Iran. The transmitter site is Wertachtal in Germany. A few years ago, AWR programming was on the air occasionally from Wertachtal as a fill-in when needed for Julich. However, this new program relay from Wertachtal is now on the air on a regular daily basis. (Not audible in Indianapolis.) (Dr Adrian Peterson, DX Editor, Adventist World Radio, Dec 28, WORLD OF RADIO 1299, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY [non]. DW back on MW in Moscow: see RUSSIA ** INDIA. Dear Glenn, The AIR station mentioned in DX Listening Digest 5-224 on 4990 is Itanagar (Not Chennai) and they start at 0020 UT. It`s an old Chennai frequency, maybe some old lists were referred. The latest AIR SW sked is available in my site at: http://www.qsl.net/vu2jos/sw/freq.htm With new year wishes, (Jose Jacob, India, Dec 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN [non]. 4375.4V, V. of Iranian Revolution, Dec 24 *1425-1436, 35232, Kurdish, 1425 sign on with IS, ID, Opening music, Talk. 4375.4, V. of Communist Party of Iran, Dec 24 *1627-1633, 45333-32432, Farsi, 1627 sign on with IS, ID, 1630 opening music, Opening announce, Talk (Kouji Hashimoto, Japan, Japan Premium via DXLD) ** IRAQ. War News Radio: see U S A [non] ** KUWAIT. Larry Fields asked for R. Kuwait addresses (gh) Larry, WRTH 2005 says: P O Box 193, Safat, 13002 Kuwait radiokuwait @ radiokuwait.org (Glenn Hauser, swl at qth.net via DXLD) Hello Glenn, I emailed radio Kuwait and it bounced so will try the [P-] address. Just wanted to pass it on (Larry Fields, n6hpx/mm, Singapore, Dec 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Same info in 2006 ** MALI. I should be so enthralled to express "Bingo!" on this occasion. What must be a common issue for many DXers with top of the line tabletop receivers and specialized antennas, I just got it with this sort of toy, ICF 7600 GR. What really makes it remarkable is my first time receiving an African signal on the 25 mb after 1530 But there it was this morning Dec. 29, RTM Bamako on 11960, closing a local musical segment at 1540. For the next 20 minutes this female announcer went on to the mike dealing with many topics from football (the real one) to several "boîte postal" addresses. Of course, all in French. More local pop music at exactly 1600 till nearly fading after 1630. SINPO 25232. RTM is listed with just 50 kW in the Africalist. I guess that made my day for the remaining of this ´05 (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, Dec 29, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NICARAGUA. Dear Glenn, I am glad to send you the news on Radio Miskut. According to a personal letter from Lic. Evaristo M. Pérez, dated Dec. 12, 2005, Radio Miskut has been off the air on shortwave [5770] due to a serious problem in transmitter. John Freeman brought it back to US for repair, but no news has been heard for more than a year. They are now transmitting only on FM with limited coverage. He hopes to resume shortwave service in 2006 (on the condition that the transmitter is available.). Have a happy new year! (Tetsuya Hirahara, Japan, Dec 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NORTH AMERICA. Voice of the Islands, via Box 293, Merlin [Ont.]. The next test from Voice of the Islands will be at 15Z-17Z on 13888 kHz on Dec 31 & Jan 1. Thank-you for your support (via Jerry Coatsworth, Dec 28, ODXA via DXLD) ** PHILIPPINES. 9582, Radio ng Bayan, Dec. 22 at 2338-0010. SINPO 23332. Phone interview program in Pilipino till 2357, then weather forecast and program guide. ID at 0000 as "Radio ng Bayan, Network, Network (bagidan),... Philippine Broadcasting Service...", followed by news (Iwao Nagatani, Japan, Japan Premium via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. Re Carl Yegorov (Watts): I always think of Radio Station Peace and Progress when I see the name Carl Yegorov. When I worked at BBC Monitoring in 1974-78, we of course monitored P&P, as it was known for short. I remember that Carl Yegorov always announced his name when he read the news, and as far as I recall was the only P&P announcer who did. He was also on Radio Moscow, where the announcers did give their names, but on P&P they generally didn't. Carl was the one exception, and I always thought he had a warm voice, which made some of the stuff he read out sound all the more bizarre (Andy Sennitt, Dec 29, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. According to a news item on Deutsche Welle in German at 1900 on 29 Dec the relays of DW in German and Russian in Moscow have now been restored after a week's silence (Olle Alm, Sweden, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Moscow 693 (DW) again on air --- Since today Deutsche Welle is again on air in Moscow, i.e. on 693 (Oktyabrskoye polye transmitter), after Russian communications secretary Leonid Reiman ordered that the transmissions may continue for the time being until the legal matters will be sorted out. No word about BBC on 1260 and RFI on 1440 in this press release (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Dec 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: -----Original Message----- Date: Thu, 29 Dec 2005 18:53:21 +0100 Subject: Pressemitteilung Nr. 304/05: Deutsche Welle: In Moskau wieder auf Mittelwelle präsent Liebe Kolleginnen und Kollegen, anbei erhalten Sie die Pressemitteilung Nr. 304/05: Deutsche Welle: In Moskau wieder auf Mittelwelle präsent Russisches Programm und Deutsches Programm von DW-RADIO seit Donnerstag wieder zu empfangen. Mit freundlichen Grüßen, Michael Münz, Deutsche Welle, Kommunikation, Kurt-Schumacher-Straße 3 53113 Bonn Tel. 0228.429.2053 Fax 0228.429.2050 Mehr zur DW: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,1839563,00.html (via Kai Ludwig, DXLD) ** RUSSIA. UK/RUSSIA: BBC WORLD SERVICE REMAINS UNHEARD IN MOSCOW Observations made by BBC Monitoring on 29 December confirm that the frequency of 1260 kHz, used to relay programmes by BBC World Service in Russian and English, remained off the air between 0940-1040 gmt. Source: BBC Monitoring research 29 Dec 05 (via DXLD) ** SCOTLAND [non]. Exciting news for listeners in Latvia, and adjacent countries. From Friday, January 6, 2006, we'll be heard every weekend on 945 kHz (317m) Medium Wave. The transmitter in Riga will radiate Radio Six International programmes on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays between 2000 GMT (22:00 Local Time) and 2100 GMT (23:00 Local Time). Radio Six International, PO Box 600, Glasgow, G41 5SH, Scotland. (from http://www.radiosix.com/ via Steve Whitt, MWC via DXLD) ** SOMALIA. A STATE OF UTTER FAILURE --- A FEW GLIMMERS OF HOPE THAT SOMALIA MAY ONE DAY BE RE-INVENTED Dec 14th 2005 | GAROWE AND JOWHAR --- TO MOVE cash the few score miles between Mogadishu, Somalia's lawless official capital, and Jowhar, the seat of its transitional government, a local money-vendor has to pay $6,000. For that he gets an armoured lorry, 30 gunmen and three ``technicals`` --- jeeps with heavy machineguns. What he doesn't get is insurance or any recourse to a state authority if his gunmen are killed, for state authority does not exist. But the money vendor still moves the cash, if the amount is big enough, and still makes a profit. Somalia is resilient. Consider its amazing currency, the Somali shilling, which has operated for 14 years without a central bank or reserves of any kind, save the will of ordinary Somalis. Though the country has lacked a government, it has never quite ceased to exist. But for all that, Somalia remains Africa's most utterly failed state, as it has been since 1991, when it fell to pieces after tribal militias toppled a dictator, Mohamed Siad Barre, then turned on each other. Since then, the place has been torn apart by rival warlords, leaving at least 300,000 dead. The outside world virtually gave up on the country after a disastrous American-led UN intervention ended with the deaths of 18 American troops and perhaps 1,000 Somalis after a ferocious battle in Mogadishu in 1993. . . http://www.economist.com/world/africa/PrinterFriendly.cfm?story_id=5313559 (Economist via DXLD) Not about broadcasting but a good backgrounder. BTW, Economist is easy to ``read`` on the RRSR6 webcast; was just listening to it last night UT Thu 0530-0630; see MR Calendar. The reader even has a British accent, but doesn`t mention authors (gh) ** SYRIA [and non]. Dec 29 at 2150 the het was worse than usual against WBCQ 9330 CLSB. This must be Syria as scheduled, but I could never make out any audio from them despite the substantial carrier, which was about 200 Hz above WBCQ, and warbling slightly. Switched to sync detexion USB only and lost audio from WBCQ but did not gain any from Damascus. Anyhow, it was only Rod Hembree at 2200 getting hetted (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** THAILAND [and non]. Dear Glenn, I have been avidly reading your Australasian Scene TV-DX archive, and am interested in your descriptions of early Thai TV. I am a regular visitor to Thailand. Did Thailand start TV on the American standard (525-line System M) and then gradually switch to System B (625-line)? The earliest listings I have for Thailand (WRTH 1985 or so) show System B stations only. I am fascinated by one comment in your text: a new Thai TV station (presumably the one now called MCOT-3) is to start on Channel E3, "Channel 2 on black and white sets". This is presumably because E3 = A2, but (given above) these black and white sets were 525-line. How could they resolve a 625-line picture? Or were they modified? I am particularly fascinated by this as I grew up in a situation where two systems co-existed (405-line and 625-line) but they were kept apart by broadcasting them on separate wavebands. Sadly, this meant that when the 405-line services closed in 1985, the VHF bands were lost to television, and we are now facing the prospect of converting 1000+ UHF relay transmitters to digital. http://www.ukradio.com for radio news http://www.ukonair.com for radio jobs and discussion - join us today! Sawatdee bpee mai! (Andrew Rogers, Worcester, England, Dec 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Andrew, Glad to hear my old reports from Thailand [1969-1970y] are still of interest. That was a long time ago, but yes, as I recall, Thailand was initially NTSC. To view a 625 line picture on an NTSC set you could just adjust the vertical hold (remember that?), altho the picture would not quite be in proper proportions. No doubt the color info would be lost, tho I did not have a color set to play with. I got some DX on E channels from quite a distance, such as India. 73, (Glenn to Andrew via DXLD) ** THAILAND. RADIO THAILAND CLAIMING FREQUENCIES, LAUNCHING THAI- LANGUAGE NEWS CHANNEL | Excerpt from report in English by Thai newspaper The Nation website on 29 December The Public Relations Department (PRD) will reclaim all FM radio frequencies from private concessionaires as part of a plan to turn the department into a Service Delivery Unit. Chantima Cheoysanguan, the director of the PRD's Radio Thailand, said it would take back all five FM radio frequencies in Bangkok from the concessionaires whose contacts terminate on Friday. The five frequencies are FM 88, 93.5, 97, 95.5 and 105 MHz. Of those, FM 105 would be completely managed by Radio Thailand and changed from an English-language station to a 24- hour news channel presented in the Thai language. [Passage omitted.] Source: The Nation website, Bangkok, in English 29 Dec 05 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** U K. BBC R4 feature on Radio Wanno --- Following the MWN feature on Radio Wanno, BBC Radio 4 went to Wandsworth prison to record a feature on this unusual radio station. It is still available on the BBC listen again service for a few more days. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/youandyours/items/02/2005_51_thu.shtml 73 (Steve Whitt, Dec 28, MWC via DXLD) Less than 8 minutes long; WTFK? Just before 7 minutes into it I think an aircheck says 909 AM (gh) ** U K. Glenn, Ref 5-224 on closure of BBC in Greek. The headline THE HELLENIC SECTION OF THE BBC WORLD SERVICE CEASES BROADCASTS ON SHORT WAVE is misleading as - so far as I know - it gave up SW a while back. The bbcgreek.com site just mentions FM relays, including via ERA. I believe that of the 10 BBC language services that are closing, or have just closed, only two (Kazakh and Thai) were still on SW. All the eight services to Europe were just transmitted via FM (or perhaps mediumwave in some cases) within the target countries. Regards, (Chris (Caversham, UK), Greenway, Dec 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) However, I think the BBC Greek got relayed on SW via ERT, whether BBC wanted that or not (gh, DXLD) see also RUSSIA ** U K. BBCWS PREVIEWS: PLAY OF THE WEEK Dec 31: Nothing Sacred by George Walker George Walker`s dramatisation of Turgenev’s novel Fathers and Sons - Nothing Sacred – is broadcast on Saturday 31 December. The protagonist Bazarov is a nihilist, a haughty, self-styled rebel who believes in the destruction of all established order and convinces his peers to participate. This adaptation is written by Brian Wright. NOTE: 90 minutes long --- Play of the Week: Saturday 31 December [European stream & webcast:] Sat 1830, Sun 0201 [American stream & webcast:] Sat 2201, Sun 0201, Mon 0601 Listen online http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/programmes/index.shtml (BBCWS Press via Rich Cuff, via Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K [non]. My Word! --- I was listening to All Things Considered via KPBX in Central California, via the Public Radio Fan website, in the period prior to 0230 UT on 28 December. Come the half-hour, that station left NPR, and instead played this very ancient BBC programme "My Word", complete with Chairman Jack Longland, Anne Scott-James, Dennis Norden, Dilys Powell and Frank Muir. Those of us within the UK with long enough memories, and plenty of grey hair, will doubtless recall this word quiz, which always ended with Frank and Dennis telling most unlikely stories about the origins of phrases. As I was listening to the programme I could not help thinking: "Just how ancient is this programme?" The answer was that it was probably very, ancient. However, the opening and closing announcements had been doctored, as they simply indicated that the programme was "from the BBC", and were probably added in many years later. We all remember that the programme in fact came from pre-Pebble Mill Birmingham. At the very end of the programme came an announcement with a very posh English accent indicating that the programme had come via the WFMT Fine Arts Network, whatever that is! That was followed by a short rendition of Scarborough Fair, before KPBX went into their next programme at 0300, and I logged off the stream (PAUL DAVID, Wembley Park, United Kingdom, Dec 27, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) WMFT Fine Arts Network is a syndicator of a lot of excellent programming, old and new, out of Chicago. Yes, I love My Word! too. The shows are timeless evergreens, and hold up well; if something dated did appear, we would be forgiving as the programmme is so entertaining. Here`s the PRF page listing all the current known webcasts: http://www.publicradiofan.com/cgi-bin/program.pl?programid=934 It shows there are now 12 airings per week, all but one of them, ABC- RN, from the US. It`s paired with the equally excellent My Music! Which also has 12 airings. So you can`t hear these at all in Britain now from any of the BBC networks, even the digital one full of olde programmes? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) To give you an idea of the date of the show, Dennis Norden referred to Jack Longland driving back to Derbyshire along the motorways after the show, as well as it being around the show's 10th anniversary, and one of them, I think it was Frank, mentioned UDI, probably in the wake of Ian Smith's shenanigans. I think the only chance we have these days to hear this programme on the Beeb is if BBC7 dig it out of the vaults, which they may already have done during their life (PAUL DAVID, Wembley Park, United Kingdom, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. UNITED RADIO BROADCASTERS OF NEW ORLEANS/WWL HURRICANE QSL CARDS NOW AVAILABLE The International radio Club of America (IRCA) has been granted permission to act as the QSL Bureau for stations that participated in United Radio Broadcasters of New Orleans (URBONO) effort headed by WWL Radio following hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Listeners from around the world are invited to submit their reception reports to receive the special QSL card that has been printed to commemorate this unique response by broadcasters to the disaster. Stations that participated in URBONO network were: WWL-AM, New Orleans, LA, 870 kHz WSMB-AM, New Orleans, LA, 1350 kHz WLMG-FM, New Orleans, LA, 101.9 mHz WNOE-FM, New Orleans, LA, 101.1 mHz WTKL-FM, New Orleans, LA, 105.3 mHz WODT-AM, New Orleans, LA, 1280 kHz WRNO-FM, New Orleans, LA, 99.5 mHz WYLD-AM, New Orleans, LA, 940 kHz WYLD-FM, New Orleans, LA, 98.5 mHz WQUE-FM, New Orleans, LA, 93.3 mHz KHEV-FM, New Orleans, LA, 104.1 mHz WYNK-AM, Baton Rouge, LA, 1380 kHz WJBO-AM, Baton Rouge, LA, 1150 kHz WFMF-FM, Baton Rouge, LA, 102.5 mHz KRVE-FM, Baton Rouge, LA, 96.1 mHz WSKR-AM, Baton Rouge, LA, 1210 kHz KLCL-AM, Lake Charles, LA, 1470 kHz KJEF-AM, Jennings, LA, 1290 kHz WHRI-SW, Cypress Creek, SC Listeners who wish to receive a QSL card should send a standard reception report including the station they heard, date, time, frequency and as much program detail as possible up to 15 minutes. An individual QSL card will be issued for each station heard and verified. Be sure to include return postage in the form of mint U.S. stamps for either domestic or international rates (remember, postage rates go up after the first of the year), U.S. currency (US$1 should be sufficient for most international replies) or International Reply Coupon(s). Please adjust the amount of funds or postage sent if reports for several stations are included. Please mail reports to: URBONO QSL P. O. Box 3777 Memphis, TN 38173-0777 USA (Jim Pogue, TN, Dec 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Have a look at a gif of the QSL in the dxld yg photo files; well done (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. Wrong Show Sunday Night --- John, How come something other than Messiah Remix was on Sunday night at 11? I guess I can still listen to that on demand, but it would be nice if the broadcasts match the publicity on the website (Glenn Hauser, to WNYC FM via DXLD) Dear Mr. Hauser, We still don't know why the New Sounds Live featuring the group One Ring Zero aired instead of the Messiah Remix show, but I just thought to give you a heads-up that the Messiah Remix show will air tonight instead. Please accept our apologies for the wire- crossing, and we hope for your understanding during the short-staffed holiday season. Thanks for listening, (Caryn Havlik, New Sounds All- Purpose Assistant, Music Programming, WNYC Radio, Dec 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) i.e. UT Fri Dec 30 at 0400-0500 (gh) ** U S A. RADIO TOO NATIONAL FOR DETROIT PUBLIC NPR station's patrons file suit over cutbacks of local programming By Tim Jones, Tribune national correspondent, December 28, 2005 Hell hath no fury like that of a scorned National Public Radio fan-- especially in Detroit, where listeners angry over recent programming changes have gone to court, charging the city's NPR station with fraud. . . http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0512280225dec28,1,675987.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed (via Artie Bigley, OH, DXLD) I note the item in the latest Media Network Newsletter relating to complaints about new programming on WDET Detroit, and I must say I should not have been surprised at what I read. I happened to be listening to the Morning Edition programme via WDET on 28 December, during which I heard the station announce that it would be carrying the World Have Your Say programme from BBC WS at 1:00 local time. My immediate reaction was, "Why?" Surely there are enough telephone call-in shows originating within the United States without having to go out and pick up somebody else's from around the world. Then on checking Public Radiofan on 29 December I note there are quite a few stations which carry this phone-in at 1800 UT. I think there would be some people reading this (including the writer) who would wonder what the purpose of this programme is anyway for BBC WS, let alone why any other local station would want to relay it (PAUL DAVID, Wembley Park, United Kingdom, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. A reminder that lots of yearchange specials are coming up on webcasting public radio stations, whose holiday pages are still linked at http://www.worldofradio.com/calendar.html#holiday (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. A ruling on the fate of KALW-FM in San Francisco is expected later this month, reports the East Bay Express. Station execs are accused of misrepresenting the state of their public file. [Details of the FCC accusation in 2004 FCC document, in Word format: Commission orders hearing on whether KALW lied.] posted at 11:12 AM EST Dec 9 (Current via DXLD) Viz.: KAFKA WAS HERE --- KALW STAFFERS FEELING A BIT TESTY AS THE FCC TAKES AIM AT THEIR LICENSE --- By Will Harper Published: Wed, Dec 7, 2005 http://www.eastbayexpress.com/Issues/2005-12-07/news/bottomfeeder.html It's a given that the cover-up is often worse than the crime, and if you believe lawyers for the Federal Communications Commission, public- radio station KALW should lose its license not because it violated FCC guidelines, but because station execs lied and claimed it hadn't. An administrative law judge is set to decide the case later this month; a ruling in the FCC's favor would be an insane conclusion to a Kafkaesque investigation that began eight long years ago. For Feeders unfamiliar with KALW, the station airs lots of local programs as well as National Public Radio shows like Fresh Air, Car Talk, and The Tavis Smiley Show. KALW (91.7 FM) began broadcasting way back in 1941, well before its larger public-radio cousin KQED (88.5). The current troubles began when a group of disaffected KALW employees, calling themselves Golden Gate Public Radio, filed an FCC challenge to the station's license in 1997. The bureaucratic process has taken so long that the group no longer exists, but its central complaint alleged -- accurately -- that the station's "public inspection file" was incomplete. Every broadcast station is supposed to keep such a file documenting all the touchy-feely public-affairs programs it airs, and identifying the station's owners. You can see how this might be necessary for, say, a 100,000-watt Clear Channel station that exiles its lone public-affairs show to the 4 a.m. Sunday slot. But public affairs are KALW's bread and butter, and its ownership is hardly secret: KALW is owned by the San Francisco Unified School District, which is run by a publicly elected board of directors. Last year, two Democratic commissioners questioned why the FCC was going after a tiny public radio station while letting corporate radio giants guilty of the same offenses off the hook. Even the FCC witch-hunters had to concede in their October legal brief, which urged that KALW's license be revoked, that the station has provided "meritorious service" to the community. But the FCC's case ultimately comes down to whether station execs lied. The commish seizes on the fact that former general manager Jeff Ramirez falsely claimed way back when that the public inspection file was complete when it really wasn't. The station's lawyers insists Ramirez made an innocent mistake, one which he quickly admitted. The October brief accuses Ramírez's successor, Nicole Sawaya, of continuing the cover-up, and of falsely downplaying her role in crafting an inaccurate response to the FCC in 2001 during her first weeks on the job. As evidence, the commission has produced a March 2001 memo Sawaya wrote to former KALW lawyer Ernest Sánchez. Here's the hitch: Sawaya's memo accurately reflected the shortcomings of the public file at the time. But for whatever reason, that info didn't make into the letter Sánchez sent to the FCC. The school district and Sánchez have since parted ways, and the station's new lawyers blame him for botching things up. In an interview, Sawaya said that during her deposition she simply had forgotten about the memo, which after all had been written years earlier. She suggested that KALW listeners not take too much stock in the latest FCC allegations: "I think it's the prosecutor's role to throw the book at whoever they go after," she said. "I think they're throwing everything to see what sticks." Judging from Sawaya's anxiety level, though, FCC prosecutors have already managed to get something stuck in her craw. Following a cordial-enough interview, Feeder e-mailed Sawaya asking for a photo to help illustrate the story, but this benign request freaked her out about how she would be portrayed. Radiophiles may recall that before coming to KALW, Sawaya endured a stormy tenure at KPFA and, well, she feared that more ink would make her look like a "lightning rod" for controversy. "I do not want my photo in the East Bay Express, and this goddamn story is not about me," she seethed in a voicemail, adding, "Are you gonna balance the story, or is it all about me and how wherever I go, some shit happens?" Balance? I'm on your side on this thing, lady! Sheesh (via Current via DXLD) Includes a drawing of Sawaya ** U S A. SPANISH RADIO STATION COULD BE SILENCED OVER SEGMENT Web Posted: 12/26/2005 12:00 AM CST Hernán Rozemberg, Express-News Immigration Writer San Antonio's leading Spanish-language radio station could be forced off the air or face fines over a quirky controversy juxtaposing immigrants and green limes. A recurring segment started five years ago by KROM-Radio "Estéreo Latino" involves people calling in to report sightings of immigration agents in the city. The station's disc jockeys then alert listeners, particularly undocumented immigrants, to steer clear of the named locations. No actual mention of federal agents is made --- DJs speak of limones verdes, or "green limes," a euphemistic reference to Border Patrol agents, who traditionally don olive-green uniforms and drive green- lined SUVs. Curiously enough, the Border Patrol — which maintains an eight-agent office in San Antonio — never complained. There was no public outcry to end the tongue-in-cheek segment. In fact, the reports quickly gained popularity and were even copied by at least one other station. But since Aug. 1, KROM (92.9 FM) has been operating with an expired license from the Federal Communications Commission. Its license renewal application has been held up, because of the years-long effort of a retired Houston lawyer who, upon learning about the limones verdes report, launched a campaign to get the station off the air. . . http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA122605.1B.limonesverdes.7f3ccab.html (via radiointel.com via DXLD) ** U S A. Re 5-224: FCC ban silences illegal radio station in Miramar. This presumably is the 101.9 station (listed as Ft. Lauderdale on my page, to be corrected shortly). And WSRF (1580) is now silent, right? Why can't a "professional" reporter document all the facts? (Terry Krueger, FL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. HAM RADIO TO BE FEATURED ON TALK SHOW Emery W McClendon (KB9IBW) on December 19, 2005 On Jan. 8, 2006 Amateur Radio will be featured on the National talk show called Talking With Heroes. The show is hosted on Stardust Radio, and is heard around the world. The guest will be Emery McClendon / KB9IBW of Amateur Radio Military Appreciation Day. KB9IBW will discuss Amateur Radio, and the role it plays in helping to support our troops, and veteran's with live events, and passing traffic. Please visit http://www.armad.net [beware: sounds launches auto] and click on the link to Talking With Heroes to learn more about how to listen in. They are looking for a good Amateur Radio audience during the show, and have expressed a desire in learning more about the hobby to help the public get involved. Please join in on Jan. 8, 2006 for a program to promote our hobby. Thank you (from http://www.eham.net/articles/12765 via radiointel.com via DXLD) They don`t make it easy to find out how to listen. At http://talkingwithheroes.com/product_info.php?cPath=28&products_id=49 we see that it is on the air UT Monday [Jan 9] at 0100; and webcast via http://www.stardustent.com/talkingwithheroes.htm as well as this station, location unknown: http://stations.swcast.net/mix102 There also appears to be an audio archive of TWH shows with a link to be included at the =49 page above once it airs. ARMAD is listed as the second of three topics in the show, of one hour? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. BOB GRANT OUT AT WOR --- By JOHN MAINELLI December 14, 2005 -- LEGENDARY talk-radio titan Bob Grant is leaving WOR next month by what is said to be a "mutual agreement," The Post has learned. In a move sure to shock fans who made him New York's top- rated afternoon gabber for decades, Grant will do his last show of the year today, then take three weeks vacation and return for a final seven shows beginning Jan. 5. The station had planned to announce his departure after his vacation. WOR (710 AM) will replace Grant with chef Rocco DiSpirito, who was the central figure in NBC's star-crossed reality show, "The Restaurant... http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/58722.htm (via radiointel.com via DXLD) registration required to read more ** U S A [and non]. WAR NEWS RADIO --- Students at Swarthmore College and pubradio veteran Marty Goldensohn are producing War News Radio http://www.warnewsradio.org/show/ a show about Iraq reported entirely from stateside. "We thought we were at a disadvantage not being on the ground in Iraq," a student tells The New Yorker "But when you hear from reporters there that they can't even leave their hotels you start to think." . . . http://www.newyorker.com/talk/content/articles/051226ta_talk_mcgrath Latest mp3 is 24:20 long: http://audio.warnewsradio.org/shows/WarNewsRadio051215-2.mp3 (via Current Dec 19 via DXLD) ** VENEZUELA. MUERE DON ADOLFO MARTÍNEZ ALCALÁ (Gran Locutor Venezolano) http://www.unionradio.com.ve/Noticias/Noticia.aspx?noticiaid=155511 Jueves, 29 de Diciembre de 2005 UNIÓN RADIO Unión Radio lamenta el fallecimiento de Don Adolfo Martínez Alcalá Este jueves falleció cristianamente el conocido locutor, Don Adolfo Martínez Alcalá, personaje legendario en la historia de la radio y la televisión venezolana. Martínez Alcalá nace en Barcelona, estado Anzoátegui el 12 de Agosto de 1927. A los 21 años obtiene el certificado de locución y a partir de ese momento no hubo faceta en la cual no se desempeñara. Dirigió el departamento de prensa de Radio Capital, desde donde se proyectó a la opinión pública a través de su "media cuartilla editorial". También condujo el programa "Esta tierra mía", espacio que dedicó a la difusión de la cultura musical venezolana y a realzar el sentimiento nacional. Desde el Centro de Noticias Unión Radio lamentamos la muerte de un inspirador del gremio periodístico y enviamos nuestras más profundas condolencias a sus familiares y amigos. Uno de los destacados anclas de Unión Radio, Napoleón Bravo, quien compartió el espacio "Dos Generaciones" junto a Don Adolfo, manifestó que "ha sido un golpe muy duro". "Dos Generaciones" fue galardonado con el premio nacional de periodismo en varias oportunidades. Napoleón Bravo destacó que Martínez Alcalá era un hombre muy bondadoso, trabajador, "al punto que murió en su oficina", muy cariñoso y siempre dispuesto a ayudar y aconsejar. También aplaudió su labor en Radio Continente en la cual se inició como narrador de noticias y culminó después de varías décadas como director del noticiero, como también su labor en la televisión como actor y guionista. Expresó que Don Adolfo "siempre se mantuvo joven, siempre disfrutó de las novedades de la música, y siempre disfrutó de lo bueno que tienen todas las generaciones. El país ha perdido un gran trabajador y un gran ser humano". Esta noche a las 8 serán velados los restos del difunto, en la capilla 3 del Cementerio del Este, y mañana serán cremados a la 1 de la tarde. "Paz a sus restos" (via Jorge García Rangel, Venezuela, Dec 29, DXLD) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Glenn, Thank you for World of Radio and all the effort you put into DX Listening Digest. Your work is greatly appreciated. With best regards (Larry and Jane Will, Mount Airy, Maryland, with a PayPal transfer) PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ PODCASTS ON THE DX HOBBY Hello folks, I was wondering if anyone knows if there are any podcasts devoted to the DX-ing hobby? I'm of course particularly interested in AM. Thanks in advance and God bless (Lino Morales and Louie Lab, Dec 28, NRC-AM via DXLD) Hi Lino, There are none (yet) devoted to the DXing hobby specifically. Below, though, are a few that have something to do with DX --- First the DX Audio Service, from the NRC, is now being released as an MP3 on the Club's web site http://www.e-dxn.com In a few days that site will be subscription only, at $15 per year. The DXAS is two files of about 45 minutes each, released once per month. You may find the ratio of actual DX content is disappointing, though. Most of the DXAS is devoted to bandscans, marketscopes, programming/format, call letter changes, and member comments. It's all interesting, but not much related to DXing - particularly international DXing. It is very North American-centric. There is the occasional gem, which is worth the price of admission, like when Mark Durenberger does Beverage antenna demonstrations. But if you were looking for interesting loggings, DX stories, sound clips of distant DX, antenna discussions, propagation information, etc., you'll be disappointed. You'll also likely never see it made available for aggregators to capture. The NRC has decided to swim against the stream when it comes to technology, so you'll have to check the site each day, log in, look for DXAS update, and download both files manually when you can find them. Second, there is Glenn Hauser's World of Radio. It's a podcast of his regular radio show --- focused mainly on SWLing, and on program listening. Not much BCB DX there either, I'm afraid. Hauser's stuff is made available for aggregator download at http://www.obriensweb.com/wor.xml There is lots of international content here, but most of it is SW-related. There are other podcasts related to pirate radio, amateur radio, etc., but they may hold little interest for DX listeners. This Week in Amateur Radio is found at: http://www.twiar.org/twiarpodcast.xml Pirates Week is found here: http://piratesweek.tripod.com/Blog/rss.xml I'm a very active podcast user and contributor. I would love to see a real BCB DXing podcast started by someone. I don't have time or the equipment to do one all by myself, but I would be happy to contribute products to one if it were ever done. If you find any out there, let me know! 73 (Brent Taylor, VE1JH, Doaktown, NB, Canada, ibid.) RADIO PHILATELY +++++++++++++++ RADIO STATION EKKO STAMP IMAGES Folks, DXer and former IRCA member Jon E. Pearkins of Edmonton contacted the IRCA web site, letting me know about his collection of Radio Station EKKO stamp images at http://members.shaw.ca/ekko/ I will be putting a link on the IRCA site for this, but I found it interesting and thought I'd pass it along! check it out and enjoy! (Lynn Hollerman, Lafayette, LA, IRCA via DXLD) Links to huge 20 MB file of all images. Most of them are the standard bald-eagle-amid-crackling-towers design, or the one with a globe instead, but there are also many unique designs scattered thruout; fascinating. It`s a lot bigger than necessary, since to cover each station in alfabetical order, entire album pages are repeated time after time for each station. A few QSLs are mixed in, and other artifacts, such as a pressure seal from WGY. At the top is 2BL Australia, then 3XN, an experimental Bell Labs station in Whippany NJ, 6KW a Cuban, quite a few Canadians, and at the bottom five Mexicans, all with 3-letter calls (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) MUSEA +++++ KRVN PHOTOS I recently had the opportunity to visit the Dawson County Historical Museum in Lexington, NE. The museum contains a small but interesting exhibit of some of the studio equipment used by KRVN in the days prior to their move from 1010 to 880 kHz. Does anyone know when that move occurred? I have posted some of my photos from this visit on my /N0NNK web site (see link below) for your enjoyment. Please look for the KRVN MUSEUM EXHIBIT link at that web site. (Patrick Griffith, Westminster, CO http://community.webtv.net/N0NNK/ http://community.webtv.net/AM-DXer/ IRCA via DXLD) Patrick, The switch occurred on 6 March 1972 at 0500 CLT. Caught their s/on, called the station and spoke with Dave Fischer who confirmed my reception as the first to report the switch. I was living in Modesto, CA, at the time (Mike Hardester, NC, ibid.) Nice work Patrick! One thought: The RCA turntable in the KRVN museum picture: The square arm on the right was the 3-mil pickup for 78's and transcriptions; it fed a switch so you could selected between vertical ("hill-and dale") and lateral playback. (That was the knob on the left, IIRC). That square arm had a cartridge that was wired in. I seem to recall in order to change stylii, you had to unsolder/replace the cartridge itself. The other arm would have been for music. There's no record-cutting capability on the table as shown. Happy New Year, eh? (Mark Durenberger, CO, NRC-AM via DXLD) Thanks for the correction, Mark. That was the info the museum curator gave me and I couldn't really get close enough to the machine to verify it. It sounded believable to me. She obviously had some information that was above what I would expect the average citizen to know about disc transcription. I wonder if they had another transcription machine that wasn't in the display and she was blending the technology? She seemed pretty certain that the large disc on the console desk had been cut at the station. She explained that this was how they made recordings prior to the common availability of tape machines. I'll make the corrections on my web page (Patrick Griffith, Westminster, CO, ibid.) That KRVN turntable was a production model RCA. I HAVE seen cutters that swing down to fit over some turntables, but don't recall ever seeing it on this model. You're right, Patrick; most stations did cut their own discs, but it's likely they used separate cutter systems. One of the more popular was the Presto 6N; take a look: http://www.scottymoore.net/studio_sun.html (Mark Durenberger, ibid.) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ HOW ROCKWELL COLLINS LANDED IN THE FRONT LINES OF THE WAR ON TERROR A most interesting article if you ever wondered what ever happened to the great Collins radio company. [read the Forbes article] Dec 23: . . .Arthur Collins, a 22-year-old ham radio junkie, launched the Collins Radio Co. in 1931 in the basement of his Cedar Rapids home. His radios carried signals over greater distances, offered more channels and could withstand punishing heat, cold, dust, moisture and vibration. South Pole explorer Admiral Richard Byrd used the company's shortwave in 1933 to communicate from just off the Chilean coast to CBS Radio in New York City. The U.S. military loaded up on Collins' radios and tracking devices during World War II to hunt enemy submarines. NASA picked the company to engineer and build communications gear for the Apollo, Gemini and Mercury space programs. (The Rockwell name was picked up in a series of mergers that combined North American Aviation, Collins and Rockwell International; a spinoff left Rockwell Collins as a freestanding avionics company beginning in June 2001.) But by the early 1990s Rockwell Collins had blunted its technological edge. Its cockpit electronics were a messy hodgepodge of separate navigation, guidance, autopilot and weather systems--five or ten years behind the times. Then Boeing, which had for decades relied on Rockwell to build its avionics, picked Honeywell to outfit its new wide-body 777 and 737 jetliners with integrated systems on LCDs. That was just before Jones shifted over from Rockwell International in 1995 to become head of the air-transport business. "Rockwell Collins had stopped listening to its customers," he recalls. . . http://www.forbes.com/free_forbes/2006/0109/098.html (via Radiointel.com via DXLD) DEVICE MAKES IT POSSIBLE TO VIEW LOCAL TV ANYWHERE --- New technology makes local TV available anywhere there's an internet connection. December 26th, 2005 11:48am http://www.ksl.com/?nid=172&sid=143514 (KSL News) -- New technology makes local t-v available anywhere there's an internet connection. Slingbox connects your laptop to your local channels, no matter where you are in the world. An onscreen remote lets you channel surf your local stations -- or local stations from anywhere across the globe. So far, the system has lots of fans -- it's making all sorts of high tech ten lists. Conrad Hyler, Best Buy: "If you're in San Diego and you have Cox cable you can be in Pittsburgh and watch Cox cable. You can be in Mexico and watch a padre's game." The system costs 250 dollars for the Slingbox. Once you've got it, there are no monthly fees (via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) Nielsen Media Research, which is HQ'ed near here in Oldsmar FL is using these devices here to watch the NYC and other local TV in real time. Since their job is to watch TV and collect ratings on programming, these are nice to have (Bob Foxworth, Tampa, ibid.) CABLE À LA CARTE: CHOICE, CENSORSHIP, DIVERSITY & RELIGION To supporters, it is idea long overdue in an era of HDTV, the prospect of 500-station cable or satellite menus, and the continued synergy of media like television, the internet and even our phones. Cable "à la carte" -- allowing cable television subscribers to order and pay for only the channels they want -- is becoming all the rage. The Federal Communications Commission has been taking the initiative to promote the new pricing plan. In late November, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin told the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee that the agency would release a detail report concluding that offering viewers their choice of TV programs "à la carte" would be economically feasible. That contradicts a November, 2004 FCC analysis released under the tenure of then-Chairman Michael Powell, cautioning that the proposed "à la carte" and "tier" models like so-called "family friendly" categories would boost already high cable prices. Cable providers, meanwhile, have argued that "bundling" a variety of different channels makes sense financially, and gives consumers more variety when they turn on their televisions. The industry has also maintained that the "à la carte" option is a billing and technological nightmare that would result in higher prices for its customers. Nearly everybody seems to love the idea of "à la carte" pricing, however. The feds are praising the scheme as representing the ultimate in consumer choice. Messages on blogs, discussion groups and other forums seem to endorse the plan. Why pay for the Golf Channel or Food Network if you don't watch their programs? And what about the barrage of religious programming? How do you feel about having to subsidize the networks which carry "The 700 Club" or around-the-clock content from Trinity Broadcasting Network? There are disturbing indications, though, that the "à la carte" programming scheme, regardless of how it may play out in respect to cost to customers, is not so much about "choice" as an attempt to narrow the scope of programming coming into homes, and a part of wider campaign to eliminate sexual and other controversial content. Many of the organizations singing the praise of the new pricing system have long histories of protesting "indecent," salacious or violent content not just on television but in movies, radio programming, and even video games. Along with a complex rating system and parental controls, religious groups and others preaching "family values" see the new pricing arrangement as a crucial step in a broader campaign to ban such material altogether. * Many of those endorsing "à la carte" argue that salacious material is pouring into American living rooms despite the ability of consumers to ignore or even lock-out such programming, and that government needs to intervene on behalf of salvaging moral values. * "People who don't want to take and pay for raunchy programming don't have to," L. Brent Bozell of the Parents Television Council told Associated Press. "People who want it can take it." The classical libertarian notion of allowing people to "choose" what programming they want may not be what Bozell and others on the religious right really have in mind, though. PTC has been denouncing the "wave of filth" allegedly inundating the film industry for years. At one time or another, Bozell has skewed just about every personality and facet of the popular entertainment industry including teen genre films (always a compelling object of concern for political and religious angst) to whatever viewers may be watching even in the privacy of their homes. This suggests that arguments for "a la carte" insulating children from adult materials are transparent at best. Bozell, the American Family Association, Citizens for Community Values and other groups have worked to restrict voluntary adult access by encouraging heightened FCC policing of public airwaves, and even trying to prevent private hotel chains from offering adult- entertainment on their room menus. CCV, for instance, states on its web site that it "exists to promote Judeo-Christian moral values and reduce destructive behaviors contrary to those values..." "We strive to be a leader in the restoration of those Judeo-Christian moral values upon which this country was founded in hopes of leaving a lasting legacy of citizens endeavoring to foster and maintain healthy, wholesome, safe and happy communities.' * "À la carte" pricing, however, could well back-fire on those social and religious conservatives who have embarked on a huge public relations campaign in Congress and are presenting the plan as a way to rein-in "raunchy" television. The stark fact is that in the entertainment marketplace, even with channel "bundling" where cable companies offer packages of somewhat diverse programming, adult content is a much-preferred choice. When all pay-per-view entertainment in the U.S. is considered, sexually-charged programs -- anything from soft-core to racier adult movies -- comes in second, well ahead of concerts and sporting events. Only first-run movies attract a wider audience. According to industry analyst David McAlpine, the "buy rate" for in- home adult pay-per-view average around 5-10% of the market. More explicit programming attracts up to 20% of viewers. The rate skyrockets, though, to as much as 50% with hotel chains that offer adult content as part of their in-room fare. Hotels receive a percentage of all pay-per-view purchases when they sign on with major providers like LodgeNet or On Command. So, many of the group lining up to support "choice" through the proposed a la carte pricing plan are unlikely to limit their aggressive efforts to ban and further restrict adult-oriented material. * To some extent, "à la carte" may be a response to a more diffuse angst over even mainstream, prime-time programming. Religious groups in particular complain about what they say is a rising rate of offensive behavior, sexually-charged situation and even "promotion of homosexuality" in the wake of successful shows like "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy." The new plan which could offer a "family tier" of stations including blocks with religious programming may well filter out much more than provocative adult content. Would PBS and the Discovery Channel (which air documentaries on subjects like evolution) get the axe along with anything with a hint of multi-culturalism? Would "family content" be weighted in favor of religious programming, tame commentary shows and bland re-runs? And what about those tens of millions of households that might not want the "family tier" and go instead with Showtime, HBO, Spice and more adult-oriented fare? It is doubtful that the religious conservatives cheering on the "à la carte" pricing structure will simply abandon their efforts to sanitize the content offered by cable, satellite and internet providers. If the religious right war to bully hotels and other lodging venues from offering their customers voluntary adult fare on the room movie menu is any indication, "à la carte" may not be about "choice" but a back door to government censorship (American Atheists Newsletter Dec 28 via DXLD) THE 700 MHZ REALLOCATION DEBATE CONTINUES The 700-800 MHz range is perhaps the hottest "real estate" market in the United States, with all sorts of new RF/wireless technoogies vying for use of that space. Here's a summary of those new potential users and how that range might be reallocated. Posted on December 27, 2005 http://www.dailywireless.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=5049 (Harry Helms, futureofradio blog via DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING ++++++++++++++++++++ RESISTING THE HARD SELL - PERSUADING THE PUBLIC TO GO DIGITAL One of the things I learned when I went into the book publishing industry 27 years ago was that "content is king". If you have something people really need, and they can't get it anywhere else, you are on to a winner. But if you think that people are going to spend their hard-earned cash on poor content, or content which is already available elsewhere, purely because of the technology used to deliver it, you'll be in for a disappointment. . . http://www2.rnw.nl/rnw/en/features/media/dig051229.html?view=Standard (Andy Sennitt, Media Network newsletter Dec 29 via DXLD) HD RADIOS The $70 unit I bought off of EBay was sold by iBiquity, the people that bring you IBOC. It is an HD1 ONLY radio (which is fine for me as I will use it as a transmitter monitor). All of the newer HD Radios are Multicast capable which means that they can receive HD2 and HD3 as well. I think I got this radio for so cheap as the general public has no idea what HD Radio is yet, that and it is an HD1 radio only. Talking to the guy from iBiqity they said that they will be putting more radios on Ebay. I am not sure where they are getting them, and frankly I dont care if I can get radios for under $100. But now that I let the cat out of the bag I am sure I will be fighting for the units with you guys. ACCURATE List of FMs multicasting?? The list on http://www.hdradio.com is FAIRLY accurate. We are testing with WKKV HD2 at this point and hope to be fully up and running early January. I talked to the guy from iBiqity that controls the list. He is trying to stay on top of who is HD2 or not. But many stations are too busy getting the the technical end up and running to stay in contact with these people. I might be able to pull a list together of whom I have seen on the air with HD. I am getting my HD2 receiver later next week and can add to it (Kent Winrich, K9EZ, Director of Engineering, Clear Channel Milwaukee, Dec 27, ABDX via DXLD) An interesting IBOC thread over on rec.radio.shortwave http://groups.google.com/group/rec.radio.shortwave/browse_frm/thread/bfc541db976c9ca5/67f99954fc23bea7#67f99954fc23bea7 fyi (Russ Johnson, IRCA via DXLD) DON'T HAMMER CONSUMERS WITH FEDERAL TELEVISION TAX WITHOUT A CONVERTER, MANY SETS WILL GO BLACK IN 2009 The Detroit News / [editorial] http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051226/OPINION01/512260302/1007/METRO Congress has passed a $2 billion television tax -- and consumers who can't afford to pay their share may find their TV won't work in 2009. Lawmakers need to revise the plan, which burdens consumers with paying for technology upgrades they don't want. It amounts to a hidden tax to continue watching over-the-air TV. The problem stems from plans to upgrade U.S. television from analog to digital signals. Digital takes up less of the airwaves and delivers sharper pictures. Subscribers to cable and satellite won't have to worry. Their programs will be converted before they reach the home. But that leaves 73 million other TV sets that will need a converter, which will cost about $60. Congress has allocated $1.5 billion to compensate consumers for forced costs. But it's not enough. In fact, its $2 billion short, according to the Consumers Union, a watchdog group in Washington, D.C. "We think this is unfair, unworkable and unacceptable. It virtually ensures that on Feb. 18, 2009, tens of millions of televisions go black," says Jeannine Kenney, senior policy analyst with the union, which publishes Consumer Reports. Another rub: After the changeover, Congress expects to make at least $10 billion by selling the abandoned TV spectrum to cell phone and other wireless companies eager to expand services. That $10 billion would be a perfect pot to use to help all homeowners completely through the conversion process. The current plan is good for everybody but consumers. Commercial companies will get the bandwidth they need to make money. Congress gets a $10 billion windfall. Cable and satellite companies will no doubt do a booming business from people whose signal suddenly disappeared. But the viewer who gets TV over an outdoor antenna or rabbit ears is going to have to shell out money to get his or her favorite show. In effect, the process picks consumers' pockets for the benefit of government and business. The new law is pretty much a done deal. But Congress can go back and make sure that all TV owners are made whole on the conversion they neither asked for nor needed (via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) DTV VS ANALOG COVERAGE & RANGE I can't help but wonder if I DID have an antenna and a DTV receiver, would I be able to pick up the DTV signals from Salt Lake City. On analog you really can't get any of the main signals. However, maybe with digital?? (Michael n Wyo Richard, ABDX via DXLD) Michael, While I can`t speak for the specifics of the SLC DTV situation, I think in theory you are LESS likely to get a usable signal at your distance directly off the air from SLC with DTV than with analog. Most of the DTV channels are UHF rather than VHF for starters, with inferior range. DTV itself has inferior range compared to analog, everything else being equal. The early DTV transmissions are not running full power they will eventually supposedly have to replace analog to maintain more or less the previous coverage area. But, who really cares, with translators, cable and satellite TV? 73, (Glenn Hauser, OK, ibid.) Glenn, I have two DTVs at home. I have found that it is easier to get a superior signal via DTV than via analog. I get the Tucson stations in analog quite grainy but useable on the VHF channels and very, very rarely the Tucson UHF stations. I get all the Tucson DTVs 95% + of the time in DTV and believe that DTV will be far superior for groundwave and trop reception to analog. I don't think that Es will be much usable for a propagational mode of reception. I have the Santan and Catalina Mountains between me and the Tucson transmitters on Mt. Bigelow and Mt. Lemmon 130 miles away and the reception is very good. I was very surprised to find this was the case. What is more amazing is that these stations are running rather low power. The antenna I use is quite small, a VU-75XR. I want to buy a big UHF antenna to see if I can do any better and catch the Flagstaff station on channel 22 (Kevin Redding, Gilbert AZ, ibid.) OK, your experience obviously trumps theory, especially since I have no experience myself with DTV reception, except as QRM (Glenn) Thanks Glenn. And you're absolutely right --- who cares with translator, cable, and satellite. Which brings me to another observation. Here in rural areas we have translators for TV. If I understand all of this correctly, all these translators are going to be absolutely useless in a couple of years when things go all digital. The only way they'd work is if the TV station was transmitting their digital signal on the original analog channel they had because that is what the translator was picking up and re-transmitting. Wonder what all of this is going to do to all the translators? Sounds to me like a new kind of DTV translator is going to have to be invented if it hasn't already and THAT is what will have to be used. And I just don't see it happening with all the organizations that put up translators. Good example is KCWC-TV 4 in Riverton, WY. This is our PBS station for the whole state and they have a whole huge statewide network of translators. How many millions would it cost to change all of these over the digital translators? I'm not even sure if KCWC TV is broadcasting in DTV yet. You can see the list of translators and stations at http://www.wyoptv.org That's LOT of stations --- a LOT of translators that are all going to be deemed useless. UNLESS these translators can be re-tuned to pick up the DTV signal and they'll be rebroadcasting it. Hmmmmm.... (Michael n Wyo Richard, ABDX via DXLD) Since translators are Old Technology, anyway, I wonder if it would be feasible for them to pick up the DTV signal, convert it, and then transmit it in analog on the same channel as before. Of course, many translators will be bumped off the air anyway by the new digital channels, and have to find a new channel if they want to continue service (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, I am very interested to see if Danny Oglethorpe has similar reception to me. The towers on Mt. Lemmon and Mt. Bigelow [AZ] are over 8000 feet. Danny is in Shreveport. His situation may be totally different than mine. I am sure there are no 8000 foot mountains near Shreveport. ``Since translators are Old Technology, anyway, I wonder if it would be feasible for them to pick up the DTV signal, convert it, and then transmit it in analog on the same channel as before.`` I am sure it could be done but will the FCC let it be done? I sure did come out against DTV and HD radio when the FCC asked for comments. I would hope they would allow this since many people will still have analog TVs. I am amazed that analog TVs are still being sold. That is a travesty being foisted on a lot of people. What gets me is that they are trying to put HD radio on MW. I don't know how it will work out but I can't say a lot for it (Kevin Redding, AZ, ABDX via DXLD) Re: DTV from SLC, Tucson, Riverton Glenn and Kevin both make good points about DTV reception. Kevin obviously does better with DTV reception than I. My experience is somewhere between Glenn's theory and Kevin's experience. I think terrain and height make a lot of difference. Local Shreveport full-power DTVs do decode easily. The reduced power DTVs (the PBS and NBC stations) will decode consistently only with the antenna aimed directly at them. It is worth remembering, however, that full power for an UHF analog is 5,000 kW, whereas full power for an UHF DTV is only 1,000 kW! Houston is roughly 200 miles from here, and Houston TV and DTV stations are received with watchable signals often. Most of the DTVs there are full-power. While it is possible to watch a snowy picture, it is not possible to watch weak DTV signals. The Houston UHF analogs are often watchable for a long time before the DTVs begin to decode. And the analogs remain for a good while after the DTVs are gone. However, the analogs don't have to be completely snow-free in order for their DTV outlets to decode. The channel 22 DTV signal from KLRU-18 Austin (PBS), on the other hand, often decodes long before the analog becomes clear. CCI is a major problem with DTV reception here. For example, if the analog KLTV-7 Tyler TX from my west is especially strong, KNOE-DT-7 Monroe from my east will not likely decode -- even with my directional antenna. DTV is amazing, because DTVs do indeed decode when their higher- powered analog counterparts look snowy. I fully expect Kevin and Glenn to decode DTV signals via Es in the future. When the analogs leave the low-band, DTV via Es will be easier (Danny Oglethorpe, Shreveport, LA, ibid.) The band plan is channels 7 through 51. The stations on the low end may NOT be allowed to stay (Powell E. Way, ibid.) The band plan, at least for now, is 2-51. For all the talk about vacating the low band, the FCC's given no indication that it's taking any of the ideas seriously, and at least a few stations (WPVI in Philadelphia on 6, for instance) have been allowed to select low-band channels as their permanent DTV assignments. s (Scott Fybush, NY, ibid.) I have heard a few of the channel 2 and 3 HDTV allocations may go away by the stations' request. Some of the channel 2's whined about E skip and the blue screen their viewers were getting locally. Oh well... ]:) The thought was the low band allocations would go away and no more new ones. E skip hammers the lower allocations and some whined about it. Yeah, the FCC can't make E-skip go away. I can't remember what person told me this, but he was laughing at the greedyness of those stations, thinking they'd have a leg up on everybody else (Powell E. Way III, ibid.) POWERLINE COMMUNICATIONS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ BPL ON 30-50 MHZ? I was just reading on Harry Helm's Future of radio Blog that the ARRL is optimistic about BPL deployment using 30-50 MHz. I suppose 30-50 might be as good a place as anywhere to put it. There's not very much there anymore to DX (except the 48-49 MHz area where [TV channels] E1/R1 are located), but there are still a bunch of fire frequencies down at 30 MHz and some police around 42 MHz, plus electric utilities around 46, if I remember. What I was wondering was if this BPL would interfere with somebody's ability to respond to a fire call. Would it cause interference with his scanner at home? Is 30-50 MHz finished? -- (Mike Bugaj, Enfield, CT USA, WTFDA via DXLD) This is a complex question, Mike. There are two questions here in one: first, whether low-VHF is a good place for the technology, and, second, whether BPL is to survive at all. As to the 30-50 issue --- it simply comes down to where else are you going to put it? Initially, as you know, it was going to be an HF thing. But, after a handful of roll-outs, hams (primarily) and others had become major pains-in-the-butt to purveyors of BPL. As licensed operators, we have the right (yes, right) to be uninterfered with. And, we knew it. Despite promises to the contrary, BPL on HF frequencies did cause hams noise. Big time. And, the scenario often went the same -- roll out came, complaints followed, climaxing with a formal petition for shut down. None of those petitions were ever ruled on, as the operators, wishing to avoid bad precedent, turned it off voluntarily claiming that the experimental period was over. Yeah, right. Sure, the FCC has been unwilling or impotent for the most part to protect hams, but the purveyors of BPL knew two things: Part 15 rules are clear, despite the smoke and mirrors, and, somebody will eventually take it to federal court, where the FCC would be off its home turf. Lawyer/Hams... a big problem. So, better not to tick off the hams, if possible. So, VHF-lo, which is largely unused now, is much easier to work around. Just "notch" what little is being used, which is less and less every day. As to BPL generally --- I am dubious whether BPL is going to ever be a big thing nationally. Despite the square-peg-in-round-hole issue of sending RF through an unbalanced, unshielded power line (which, essentially becomes an antenna), commercial pressures will limit BPL's expansion, and may kill it all together. Most communities now have two or three conduits for broadband. And, more are coming on. BPL is just the newest addition, and costs as much or more (usually much more) to turn on. And, where tried, BPL purveyors have been underwhelmed with the response. And to maintain a system? A nightmare. Bucks talk louder than any of us can. So, don't expect BPL to be a big issue, at least not right now. But, one things for sure, BPL better stay the heck off the ham bands in Memphis. I know where federal court is, and I have a license to annoy (Peter Baskind, J.D., LL.M., N4LI, Germantown, TN/EM55, WTFDA via DXLD) ARRL CAUTIOUSLY OPTIMISTIC ABOUT TEXAS BPL DEPLOYMENT ANNOUNCEMENT http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2005/12/28/100/?nc=1 NEWINGTON, CT, December 28, 2005 --- The ARRL is viewing cautiously the recent announcement of a commercial broadband over power line (BPL) deployment by the largest electric power utility in Texas. TXU Electric Delivery and BPL manufacturer Current Communications Group have partnered to establish ``the nation`s first broadband-enabled Smart Grid`` that will cover most of TXU`s service area. That includes some two million homes and businesses in the Dallas-Forth Worth area as well as other Texas communities. ``If TXU is going to install a BPL system, the ARRL is glad that TXU has chosen Current`s system --- which avoids using spectrum allocated to the Amateur Radio Service --- in preference to one that has proven to be problematic,`` commented ARRL CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ. It was another story altogether when TXU operated a pilot BPL project in Irving, Texas, in 2004 and early 2005 using Amperion hardware. The system generated such interference on Amateur Radio frequencies that the League filed a formal complaint with the FCC in support of a Texas radio amateur seeking the system`s shutdown and fines for the operator. Within two weeks of the League`s filing, TXU dismantled the BPL trial, and the ARRL withdrew its complaint. Sumner says the League is not expecting history to repeat itself when TXU and Current begin installing their ``Smart Grid`` BPL system in 2006. As he pointed out in his ``It Seems to Us...`` editorial in August 2005 QST, Cinergy Corp`s deployment of the nation`s largest BPL system in the country in the Cincinnati, Ohio, area so far ``has proceeded without major interference problems.`` The Cinergy system also uses Current Technologies equipment. ``Current has avoided putting high-frequency energy on the medium- voltage lines by using low-band VHF (30-50 MHz) instead,`` Sumner wrote. Additionally, he noted, Current`s system uses Homeplug modems, which avoid all ham bands except 60 meters, to connect individual customers. Limited testing of the Cinergy BPL deployment suggested its interference potential is minimal relative to Amateur Radio facilities. While Sumner won`t rule out some occurrences of RF interference in the TXU rollout, he says the League anticipates a low-enough probability to deal with it on a case-by-case basis. ARRL Laboratory Manager Ed Hare, W1RFI, has been in regular communications with engineers at Current Technologies. Hare summarized those conversations: ``I have shared with Current Technologies just what those case-by-case interference problems would be. While they are taking the position that they will wait until problems actually occur, then determine what is needed to fix them, their open dialogue with ARRL will be an important part of the process. The opportunity for dialogue exists for all of the BPL companies, although not all of them want to work on solutions to the interference problems that have plagued this industry.`` In October, the ARRL petitioned the FCC to issue a Further Notice of Proposed Rule Making modifying the Part 15 BPL rules it adopted a year earlier and sharply reduce BPL`s potential to cause interference. In exchange, the League said it would withdraw its still-pending Petition for Reconsideration in the BPL proceeding, ET Docket 04-37. ``It is no longer the case that all BPL systems inherently radiate high levels of RF energy on amateur allocations on overhead medium- voltage power lines,`` the ARRL said in its petition. ``Thus, not all BPL architectures have similar potential for harmful interference to the Amateur Radio Service (and to other licensed services).`` The League`s petition cited BPL systems by Current Technologies, IBEC and Corridor Systems as being among those that meet the additional requirements it`s proposed. The ARRL also has cooperated with Motorola in testing the interference potential of that company`s Powerline LV BPL system. Results so far have been very encouraging. According to a TXU news release, Current Technologies will design, build and operate the BPL network for TXU. In TXU`s announcement, BPL`s ability to provide broadband service to individual customers and businesses seemed to take a back seat to its potential to monitor the utility`s power grid, preventing and detecting problems and outages and enabling automated meter reading. The agreement between TXU and Current Technologies calls on the utility to pay approximately $150 million to Current to procure services over 10 years to utilize the BPL system`s capabilities. ``When the agreements become effective, TXU Corp will become an equity holder in Current,`` the announcement said. Cinergy, Google and Goldman Sachs are among Current`s other shareholders. Page last modified: 10:58 AM, 28 Dec 2005 ET Copyright © 2005, American Radio Relay League, Inc. All Rights Reserved (via John Norfolk, dxldyg via DXLD) PLC IN PORTUGAL CLOSED DOWN AFTER HAM COMPLAINT Estimados amigos, Antes de mais, votos de umas felizes festas para todos, e que o ano de 2006 seja a realização dos vossos sonhos, com muita saude, paz e amor. É com muita satisfação que escrevo este mail. Tal satisfação deve-se ao facto de uma companhia que está a tentar implementar o uso de PLC em Portugal, ter saido da pequena celula experimental que tinha em Lisboa, e colocado em serviço no Cacem, perto de Lisboa, alguns PLCs. Tal empresa foi alvo de uma queixa por interferencias, por parte da estação de amador CT4LA, à ANACOM, organismo que em Portugal regula as telecomunicações, e que fiscaliza o cumprimento das normas no que toca à proteção do espectro. Esta, (ANACOM) imediatamente se colocou em campo, e depois de confirmar a origem das interferencias, determinou o encerramento do sistema de PLC que interferia potencialmente nas radiocomunicações, demonstrando desta forma, que não cedeu a pressões, e que prevaleceu a lei e os interesses dos utentes autorizados do espectro radioeléctrico. Desta forma aqui presto a minha homenagem à ANACOM e à sua exemplar actuação, que devia de servir de modelo às outras autoridades de varios países que regulamentam e fiscalizam o espectro radioelectrico. 73 de (Carlos Mourato, CT4RK, Sines, Portugal, Dec 28, radioescutas via DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ SURPRIZED BY MW TA DX ON PORTABLE I was surprized by MW TA DX on my portable Sony ICF7600GR and the internal antenna, in NJ about 30 miles west of my home QTH. Usually I use a desk-top receiver with longwires. TRANS-ATLANTIC: 684, SPAIN, DEC 26, 0527 UT, woman in Spanish then Spanish music. 1314, NORWAY, Kvitsoy DEC 26 0500 UT, Gong after popular music, followed by man with news followed by more music & YL talk (Wells Perkins, nw NJ, DX LISTENING DIGEST) MAN-MADE SCATTER OPPORTUNITY - JANUARY 15 I just saw the article below on Yahoo News reporting that the Stardust NASA probe will return to Earth January 15. It will take a path over the Western USA to a landing site in Utah. There might be an opportunity for some "Probe Scatter" for those in the Rockies and points west. http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20051226/sc_space/nasaprobetolighttheskiesonjan15reentry Sorry for the long URL - you might need to paste the two halves together if it gets broken. Or use this link instead: http://tinyurl.com/7orfk (Mike Hawk, Omaha, NE, Dec 26, WTFDA via DXLD) TIPS FOR RATIONAL LIVING ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Semicolons; forever (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###