DX LISTENING DIGEST 6-113, July 30, 2006 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 2006 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn NEXT SHORTWAVE AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1323: Mon 0300 WBCQ 9330-CLSB Mon 0415 WBCQ 7415 Wed 0930 WWCR1 9985 Complete schedule including non-SW stations and audio links: http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html For updates see our Anomaly Alert page: http://www.worldofradio.com/anomaly.html WRN ON DEMAND: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO [also CONTINENT OF MEDIA, MUNDO RADIAL] http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html or http://wor.worldofradio.org WORLD OF RADIO PODCASTS: www.obriensweb.com/wor.xml ** AFGHANISTAN [and non]. Radio Solh --- Today I received Radio Solh at 1300 UT at 17700 kHz. If somebody has information about this station, please share with me. Thanks (Andy Martynyuk, Moscow, Russia, 1310 Sun Jul 30, dxing.info via DXLD) It`s a US-backed service for Afghanistan, I believe originating in Kabul, but transmitted back into the country from Rampisham, UK. Means Radio Peace. We sometimes hear it in Oklahoma as well, and enjoy the music. EiBi schedule for this frequency: 17700 1200-1800 AFG Radio Solh AFG AFG /G-r BTW, we are still awaiting the activation of Afghanistan`s own high- power SW transmitter, first expected many months ago. 73, (Glenn Hauser, Enid, ibid.) ** ALBANIA. Re 6-112: Did not check, myself, that evening, but 25 hours later same story at 0253 UT Sunday July 30: nothing on 7450, good signal with music on 6115. Ukraine audible on 7440. (Nothing but RTTY on 7455 either). It appears one of R. Tirana`s transmitters is down (Glenn Hauser, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, I just happened to be tuning around tonight at the same time, and also noticed the lack of Tirana on 7455 - not a peep, compared to the strong signal on 6115 here in southeast England (Stephen Howie, UK, July 30, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) OK, but it moved to 7450 recently so that is the frequency not heard rather than 7455 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARGENTINA. 8 JULIO, 0828 UT, 2540 KHZ (1270 x 2), R. Província de Buenos Aires. Castellano. Charla sobre las plantaciones de árboles, con fines de exportación a la industria papelera, y sobre los grandes peligros de la presencia de fábricas convertidoras papeleras. Calidad Superlativa (Adán Mur, Paraguay, Conexión Digital July 30 via DXLD) If it is superlative in nearby Paraguay, maybe there is a chance this harmonic could make it as far as NAm (gh, DXLD) ** ARMENIA [and non]. Re 6-112, FINLAND: I assume this applies also to Voice of Armenia: They just did not submit a schedule for B06, but this does not necessarily mean that they will stay on air until the last day of the A06 season. Regarding the fate of the Gavar shortwave transmitters: Would it make sense to shut them down and tell VOR, TWR and FEBA (to my knowledge the other shortwave customers at present) that airtime is no longer available? The Armenian transmitter operator will no doubt keep the Gavar plant for mediumwave anyway, so it is perhaps not such a millstone around their necks as the Tashkent shortwave site apparently is to RRTDK (the Uzbek transmitter operator). (Kai Ludwig, Germany, July 30, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BAHRAIN. 9745-USB, (Presumed), R. Bahrain, 2350-0001, July 25, Arabic, continuous Arabic music until wiped out by CRI via Bonaire 0001 sign-on. Fair. Also noted on July 27 and 28 around 2200, with a decent signal of more non-stop Arabic music, underneath co-channel HCJB (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, 200' Beverages, MLB- 1, DTS-4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BELARUS. 7210 at 0215z July 29 (Sat). R. Belarus in English // 5970. 41 meters much better signal, less noise and QRM. Female and male voices plus music. Audio quality was good, but subdued, considering the decent signal strength (S-7 to S-9). Their clocks work, though; English program ended at 0229:45z, immediately into another language following an anthem (or signature tune). (Jerry Lenamon, Waco, Texas, Drake R8B with sloper, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BELARUS [non]. Poland/Lithuania: Radio Racja schedule Radio Racja (Poland) is leasing airtime on the following MW transmitters to reach listeners in Belarus: 0600-0700 Vilnius (LTU) 612 kHz 100 kW, 1700-1900 Sitkunai (LTU) 666 kHz 500 kW (from 1 August), 1900-2100 Koszecin (POL) 1080 kHz 350 kW. All programs are in Belarusian (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, July 30, via Steve Whitt, MWC via DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. 6079.97, R. San Gabriel, 0857-1002 24 July, Canned announcements at tune-in, then talk in Aymara by usual M and W. On this morning fairly strong and in the clear with no sign of Australia until it suddenly appeared at 1001 with ABC news already in progress. Both stations about equal then. 6155.07, R. Fides, 0904-0932 24 July, Pleasant campesino and ranchera music with animated M host giving many many accurate UT -4 TCs. 0907 M briefly with roosters crowing in background. There was some sort of news program with sound-bits/reports by different M from 0911 to 0920. Mentions of Bolivia. Back to music at 0920. Long talk by M over music 0925-0935+. Break for time ticks at BoH, and continued talk. Caught mention of Santa Cruz at 0932. Would've been easy copy if not for the terrible slop QRM from 6150 [DGS Costa Rica?]. Fading after 0915. First time heard on this frequency in the morning in a long time, and also heard in the evening at 0100. Not heard in the mornings on subsequent checks when I was able (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, HCDX via DXLD) same two in next report, slightly different frequencies! (gh) 6079.87, Radio San Gabriel, La Paz, 1110-1120, July 30, Long talk by male in Aymara with a few words in Spanish, 22432 Strong QRM from Radio Novas de Paz, Curitiba, PR, Brazil on 6080. 6155.03, Radio Fides, La Paz, 1037-1050, July 27, Spanish, news program. Talk about the Evo Morales government and relations with the Catholic Church. Announcement and ID as: "...en la mañana de Fides"; TC as: "son las 6 y 45 minutos", report from Cobija. 33433 It's very difficult to hear this station in this frequency from Buenos Aires. At the moment, Radio Fides is off air on 31 meters 9625 kHz (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, HCDX via DXLD) 6155, 23/07 0155, Rádio Fides, La Paz, programa musical com seleção dos anos 70, incluindo Bee Gees, Village People, entre outros; "recordando los clásicos en la década de 70 ...", 45444 (Célio Romais, Sony ICF SW7600G; antena Degen DE-31, Escutas realizadas em Veranópolis (RS), radioescutas via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. 4845.2, Rádio Cultura Ondas Tropicais, Manáus, 2148-2202, 27-07, canciones brasileñas, locutor, comentarios. A las 2200 programa "A Voz do Brasil". Esta emisora sólo se escucha por aquí a esta hora cuando Radio Mauritania está fuera del aire, que ocurre de vez en cuando. 24222 (Manuel Méndez, Escuchas realizadas en Camping de Reinante, costa del Mar Cantábrico, 90 Km. N de Lugo, España, Grundig Satellit 500 y Sony ICF SW 7600 G, antena de cable, 10 metros, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BULGARIA. 9300 at 0205z July 24 (Mon). R. Varna with music and female announcer. WRTH indicates sign off at 0200 but the YL used "Varna" on several occasions (Jerry Lenamon, Waco, Texas, Drake R8B with T2FD, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Just out of curiosity, where exactly are CFRX's transmitters and antennas located? CFRX is almost always inaudible at my location in midtown Toronto, and when it is audible it is very weak. I reckon that I must be outside the area of its reliable groundwave coverage, and too close for skywave reception. So I'd like to know where they transmit from, so I can figure out my distance from it (Greg Shoom, ODXA via DXLD) Hi Greg. The transmitters are located in Clarkson which is part of Mississauga, Ontario. The transmitter for CFRB 1010, consists of 4 vertical masts, of 550 feet. The CFRX broadcasting at 6070 kHz is operated on the north end of the same site beside the main building. Transmitter Location: Longitude 43.51102 North, Latitude 79.63002 West On Royal Windsor Drive, formerly King's Highway 122, 200 meters west of the intersection of Lakeshore Road West (King's Highway 2) and Southdown Road, in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. Note: West of this intersection Lakeshore Road West becomes Royal Windsor Drive. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CFRB Map: http://snipurl.com/u42u (hope that works) (Brian Smith, Ont., ibid.) If you look at the map, you'll see a circular unmowed patch of grass in line with the main dark-roofed building. That patch of grass outlines the guy wires and the mast for the CFRX antenna. Given the impressive height of the MW antennas it's quite ironic that the lilliputian SW antenna is capable of transmitting to the world (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA, ibid.) ** CANADA. [continuing thread from USA, Sky King] Not sure what would happen in Canada in the event of a nuclear war. Presumably the CBC would have priority on the airwaves. The Diefenbunker (named after then Prime Minister John Diefenbaker) was to be government headquarters in the event of a nuclear attack. Within the bunker is a radio studio, and as I understand it, recordings are displayed there (it is now Canada's Cold War Museum) that would have been played in such a situation. "There are two main themes that the visitor may experience during a visit to the Diefenbunker, a designated National Historic Site and Canada' Cold War Museum. "Firstly there is the thrill of actually walking the corridors of the large, massive underground four story structure (about 100,000 sq feet of floor space) and that would have been the location of the 'thin thread' of government continuity in the event of an all-out nuclear attack on North America. Quite a few representative operational areas, offices, building equipment and personnel accommodation areas have been restored or reconstructed, including reconstructions of departmental and ministerial offices and the The Prime Ministerial 'suite'. You may also view the complete mini hospital, the telecommunications maintenance workshop, the Emergency Radios Room, the Emergency Government Situation Room, and the Bank of Canada Vault (where the nation's gold would have been stored). More such reconstructions are being put on display each month." http://www.diefenbunker.ca Also found this at CBC Archives online: Reporting Live from the Diefenbunker --- "They would have been known as the voices of Canada. CBC News reporters Norman DePoe, Larry McDonald and Tom Earle were given a very special assignment in the early 1960s — in the event of a nuclear war, they agreed to broadcast survival instructions to the rest of Canada from the top secret Diefenbunker. Entry inside the Diefenbunker, located outside Ottawa, was exclusive to approximately 500 government officials. CBC Radio talks to former employees about their unique jobs inside the government bunker." http://archives.cbc.ca/IDC-1-71-274-1468/conflict_war/cold_war/clip10 (Fred Waterer, Ont., July 24, ODXA via DXLD) ** CHINA. 6060, Sichuan PBS (presumed), July 30, 1132-1216, YL DJ in Chinese with pop songs/ballads, ToH 5 + 1 pips, assume ID, singing jingle and mention of ``FM``, fair-poor; re-checked at 1355, fair with pop songs. The past week has had decent reception (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, Etón E5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [and non]. Firedrake (Chinese Opera) 11560 kHz, 7/30/06, SINPO: 14433, 1150-1200. Could not hear anything under the firedrake until 1159:30 (by my clock) when I briefly heard a tonal language; the firedrake went off 1159:45 with a W voice continuing, ending 1200. A different W voice, much softer, was present at 1200. (Presumably this was WYFR signing on in Burmese from Hu Wei, TWN since it continued until past 1232.) I logged the same thing on 6/10/06. My ear for Chinese (any dialect) IDs is not good enough to tell if there was an ID during the last few seconds of the program today. Unfortunately I didn't have the presence of mind to record it. There is nothing listed as broadcasting during this frequency and time according to my usual sources: EiBi, ILG, WRTH summer 06, HFCC (public), last two months of DXLD. My logging from (Sat.) 6/10/06 indicated that I found an A 06 reference to a RFA schedule in Lao, but I can't find it now, and it is not in the current RFA schedule that I can find. It might have been a B05 schedule - I didn't check (Mark Taylor, Madison, WI, July 30, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I spent a while looking again for something else on 11560 before 1200 and still find nothing. SOH or some other clandestine? (gh, DXLD) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 15190, BATA, R. Africa 2, 1139-1200*, July 28 [Friday], English, Choral music then two OM "hillbillies" preaching the Gospel. YL at 1158 with ID and Cupertino, CA address then off. Poor, terrible modulation (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, 200' Beverages, MLB-1, DTS-4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 21 JULIO [viernes], 1040 UT, 15190 KHZ, Radio Africa, Guinea Ecuatorial (Bata). Inglés. Predicación evangélica. Buena Calidad (Adán Mur, Paraguay, Conexión Digital July 30 via DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA [non]. 15650, Voice of Oromia Independence, July 29, 06, *1500-1530* Opening with partial English ID, caught ... International" (for Radio Miami International??), then HoA opening melody, then partial ID or slogan as `adda ... Oromiyaa``. This was followed with a program of commentary talks, with selections of HoA music. At the close of the transmission, the announcer gave this slogan again, mentioned the frequency in kilohertz, and then signed off with closing HoA selection. The audio of this broadcast sure varied; the music came in at fair quality, whereas, the talks, very low keyed, and somewhat muffled at times (poor audio connection?). Otherwise, relatively good signal here. 11840, Voice of Ethiopian People via Samara (per TDP) July 29. *1700- 1730. Noted at 1650 with 800 hertz test tones, sign-on at 1700 with HoA fanfare, then opening ID, mention of frequency (kilohertz). Most of the program consisted of commentary talks; one in particular was the words Abdallah ... De-row (later found out that this minister was assassinated). The program was intermixed with HoA musical selections. Noted at 1722 the words 'Daily Feature' in English! (so I take it this segment was the last news). Noted to 1730. Signal was quite good, dispite the noise level. 15565, Voice of Ethiopian Unity via Juelich. July 30. *1900+. Noted at 1900 with sign-on with some sort of fanfare; unfortunately the signal was so distorted couldn't make much of the broadcast. It seemed as if the audio was chopped, muffled and almost completely un-intelligible. Will have to try again (Edward Kusalik, Alberta, Canada, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FINLAND. Re 6-112: ``Last we heard it would be at end of December 2006. Where does the March 2007 date come from? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD)`` A lot of the information coming out of Bulgaria seems to be extracted from internal working documents of HFCC. Since Finland is planning to stay on shortwave till the end of the year, they will have submitted a schedule for B06. So someone has presumably put 2 and 2 together and made 5 :-) (Andy Sennitt, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Well, in HFCC registrations, start AND end dates are specified, so YLE could have expired their requirements Dec 31, but may have actually shown them until Marchend, just in case. And what about the upcoming disparity in 2007y between North America and Europe on the start of DST, first vs last Sundays in March? How will the ISWBC HFCC community cope with this? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. Sometimes one finds shortwave broadcasting involved where one really did not expect it. I refer in particular to Welle West, a local station from Heinsberg, not far away from Jülich. See the notice under Germany here: http://www2.hard-core-dx.com/archive/1997/msg02158.html (Kai Ludwig, Germany, July 30, 2006, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: GERMANY. Welle West, a local radio station, will have a special 2-hour German broadcast of greetings to NAm, UT Dec 26 [1997y] at 0100 via DTK Juelich 100 kW 5905. QSL, more info on homepage http://www.wellewest.lokalradio.de (Frank Weiler, WW, WORLD OF RADIO 922) Once again 5905 was unusable Dec 18 at the same time during WCRI broadcast due to heavy fax QRM (Hauser) (Glenn Hauser`s SW/DX Report 97-26, Dec 18 1997, via HCDX via Kai Ludwig, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) So I decided to post this FM story here: Welle West will be on air for the last time tomorrow. Already back in 2003 the station just barely escaped its closure and survived only because it is since then run by Aachen 100,eins. The Heinsberg studios were reportedly closed down and all production/continuation moved to Aachen. Now Aachen 100,eins and the so-called organizers of the station (media laws at Nordrhein-Westfalen require a separation of commercial and editorial control over a private radio station) dissolved their cooperation, effectively eliminating the station. The media authority (Landesanstalt für Medien) wants to avoid under all circumstances a local station to go dark, and so from August 1 the two Welle West frequencies will carry Radio NRW, the anonymous "frame" program of the local stations in Nordrhein-Westfalen, exclusively. Radio NRW will prepare a special feed for the Erkelenz and Geilenkirchen transmitters from its Oberhausen studios, presumably including a morning show they did so far not produce because all local stations have own programming on air at this time (the Radio NRW feed contains only continuous music during these hours as a fall-back for situations like studio break-downs). At the same time Radio NRW declares itself unable to insert the citizen radio programs the local stations in Nordrhein-Westfalen are required to carry by law. Landesanstalt für Medien says that they will allow this illegal situation to persist for two months. However, nobody expects that any other solution will be found by October. Probably this could even become a precedence (Kai Ludwig, Germany, ibid.) ** HAWAII [and non]. Third-adjacent contour overlap --- KHCM-1180 and KZOO-1210 in Honolulu. Both are 1 kW U1; both are licensed on their frequencies (KHCM having recently moved from 1170); and they're 20.7 km (13 mi.) apart. I don't have the software to run a contour-overlap check. – (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66, http://www.w9wi.com NRC-AM via DXLD) Doug, Even though KZOO 1210 is listed as 1 KW, I believe they boosted to 5 KW some years back. 73, (Patrick Martin, OR, ibid.) A friend of mine has an AM Application in the Greater Honolulu area of Hawaii and when granted (notice I said when, not if) --- the station would be 30 kHz away from another station in the same market. However, as I understand it, there is some coverage exception concerning 80 percent of the market/COL due to some difference about Hawaii and the way its towns/counties are considered. Don't shoot me because I probably don't have the story entirely correct, but this is what I remember (Paul Walker, ND, July 28, http://www.theradiogod.com/blog.html ibid.) With a noise level in the Honolulu area, a 1 KWer does not do well as the local noise covers the signal, plus the tons of images and all. Most of the Honolulu stations are on sites with several other stations. DXing in metro Honolulu is a nightmare. 73, (Patrick Martin, OR, ibid.) Just a quick note. The island of Oahu is known as the county of Honolulu, but it does have some distinctive towns or neighborhoods that have been used as a city of license. For example, 940 in Waipahu in the middle of the island. There once was a station on 1130 licensed to Kailua on the windward side. In this case however, both 1180 and 1210 are licensed to the city of Honolulu proper (Brock Whaley, GA, ex-HI, ibid.) The KHCM application to move from 1170 to 1180 answers all these questions, and can be found here: http://svartifoss2.fcc.gov/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/getattachment_exh.cgi?exhibit_id=378214 Page 17 shows the 25 mV/m contours of 1180 and 1210, which don't come even vaguely close to overlapping. 1210's the far better central Honolulu signal. 1180 is at the 1370 site northwest of Pearl City. And on page 7 is the request for a waiver of the rule requiring 5 mV/m coverage of the city of license. Because 1180 is licensed to "Honolulu," and because the city and county are coterminous, covering all of Oahu, KHCM was able to demonstrate that its old 5 kW facility on 1170 didn't meet the 5 mV rule (it covered 25.1% of Oahu), and that the new 1 kW facility on 1180 doesn't meet it either (it covers 21.4%). The situation is sufficiently unusual that it's hard to imagine any other locality in which you could have third-adjacent AMs in the same COL. Maybe Jacksonville, if the AMs there had lined up differently. It's important to note the reason for the move from 1170 to 1180: KHCM is just a very small pawn in a much bigger game for Salem, which is the upgrade of its southern California AMs. Getting KHCM off 1170 clears away a major obstacle to a site change at KCBQ San Diego, which has been operating from a temporary antenna at the KLSD 1360 site. KZOO at one time had an app to move from 1210 to 1230, clearing the way for an upgrade of Salem's KPRZ 1210 San Marcos, but that was withdrawn at some point. And of course the move of KAIM from 870 to 880 makes an upgrade of KRLA Glendale much easier. s (Scott Fybush, ibid.) Scott, All true, and very well researched. But nonetheless, the precedent has been set. Overlap and protection not withstanding, there are other "towns" or "localities" that could have been assigned as 1180s city of license on Oahu. Look at all the official Oahu city of license locations in the FM Atlas. Also, 1180 is an awful choice for reception in the "Kalihi" neighborhood, and the dock and airport areas because of KSSK with 7.5 KW, on 590, from a shared, not dedicated tower. They have a very strong second harmonic on 1180. The former 1380, now 1370 (not the original KPOI 1380, different sites) was killed in town by the second harmonic from 10 KW 690. Nothing unusual in the land of diplexed spurs, and mixing products. Regards, (Brock Whaley, ibid.) If you were setting out to license a new signal on 1180 at that location, you probably wouldn't license it to "Honolulu," that's true. In this case, Salem had no choice, really. ANY change of city of license for an AM station (with the exception of involuntary changes, as when East Las Vegas, NV changed its legal name to "Whitney") is automatically considered a major change - and you can only file for a major change during the FCC's increasingly infrequent major change windows, the last one of which was in early 2004. You never want to do a major change when you can do a minor one, even when you need a waiver to do a minor change, and so Salem left the city of license as "Honolulu" and took the waiver. But this is in no way precedent-setting. The FCC still generally takes a hard line on waiving the COL coverage requirements, and the only circumstances where you MIGHT get a break are when municipal boundaries are too large for almost any station to cover - Jacksonville, for instance, or perhaps some of the Alaskan municipalities. Yup - another bit of evidence that KHCM is really an afterthought for Salem here. What they're after is the KCBQ upgrade on the mainland, and sacrificing Honolulu in the process. s (Scott Fybush, ibid.) Why are co-channel stations 2500 miles apart a QRM problem? (gh, DXLD) ** INDIA. 4800, AIR Hyderabad, 0054-0110, July 24, Vernacular, Hindi music at tune-in, ID at ToH followed by music and OM talk. Poor, hampered by "data" bursts. 5010, AIR Thiruvananthapuram, 0036-0050, July 24, English/Vernacular, YL with English news re Sri Lanka, Israeli and Lebanese conflict. AIR ID at 0040 followed by programming in language with Hindi music and various announcers. Good! (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, 200' Beverages, MLB-1, DTS-4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. TO JOIN EXCLUSIVE CLUB OF NATIONS WITH OVER 1000 FM STATIONS http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=135363 Even as the second round of FM radio rollout across the country is nearing closure, information and broadcasting (I&B) ministry is readying the blueprint for FM III that will offer over 700 frequencies – the largest offering ever put on the block – beginning mid-2007. Closure of FM III will place India in the very exclusive club of countries that have over 1,000 FM stations, just a tad behind the world's largest FM radio market, US, which has 1,424 private FM stations. The third phase is expected to generate over Rs 3,000 crore as one time entry fee to the government," an industry source said. The I&B ministry is likely to follow the same bidding process for FM III as it did for FM I and FM II, sources told FE. The government collected Rs 1,134 crore from 337 frequencies in FM II, of which letters of intent have been issued for 262 stations. With third phase being planned, a number of existing radio companies will benefit as it will reduce the average bidding price for smaller cities. "FM-III will also help in reducing the cost of constructing the common infrastructure in various cities as more players will get the licence for operation," sources pointed out. But the question before the industry is: How many FM stations can be accommodated in a single city? According to the Wireless Planning & Coordination Cell in department of telecommunications (DoT), 88-100 MHz and 103.8 to 108 MHz are specifically identified for private FM radio broadcast services in India. "For technical reasons, there has to be a separation of 800 kHz between two FM frequencies. In theory, between 88-100 MHz and 103.8 to 108 MHz, more than 25 FM stations can work in a single city," a source from FM industry explained. Under FM-I and II, not more than 4-6 stations were allocated in a single city. The third-phase is expected to involve the 90 cities, which were covered in FM-II as well and add another 55-65 new cities, the sources added (via Mukesh Kumar, MUZAFFARPUR, INDIA, DXLD) ** INDIA. The range of comments regarding the report of reception of the station from India on 1566 has been interesting. I'm curious if most DXers consider it possible or not? Personally, I think that sometimes things happen that we don't have a good explanation for. This may be one of those things (Jerry Lenamon, Waco TX, ABDX via DXLD) As for India on 1566 being possible, well the answer is YES. It has been done in the northeastern part of the U.S. The same as Australia has been received on channel 1 in the Midwest. BUT, these were done by people who were upstanding DXers, recorded the event and had it verified by others. Myself, I have heard several Asian stations on the BCB when I lived in Texas, with the simplest of receivers. But, that was more than 40 years ago, it was easier back then. 73's (Willis, K4APE, Monk, ibid.) Willis, As for India 1566 being possible at 3:30 PM CDT on the longest day of the year [sic] from 8000+ miles away and with all the path but the first hop from the transmitter being in broad daylight, the answer is a resounding NO. Such a reception 5 hours prior to sunset goes against 85+ years of radio listening and DXing history that states that darkness, or at least conditions close to dusk are needed for long distance propagation of BCB signals. Now if he claimed India on 1566 in the winter or fall when the path is in darkness it would be much more believable and also remotely possible in IL. 73 KAZ noting that he used to believe in Santa Claus but then he learned differently (Neil Kazaross, ibid.) DX puzzles and thinking through possibilities is fun. Unfortunately much confusion has resulted from this supposed logging since initially the date was not given as JUNE 21, and it was unclear if the time was GMT or CDT. But if you take another look at how much of the 8055 mile path is in full daylight at 3:30 PM CDT, you'll see what I mean. The bearing from Mendota to Nagpur is 12.3 degrees and the bearing from Nagpur to Mendota is 350.2 degrees. This reception would have to be transpolar. Early or even midday skip can happen even in the summer, but it is not observed on greatly distant several hop paths on AM. When Nagpur has been received in the North East, or in Newfoundland (when I was there), it has been during splendid high latitude TA conditions with lots of middle eastern stuff in well. So, what I am getting at is that if Nagpur was coming in, even briefly, there almost certainly would have been other high band signals from Euro/Asia noted, at least as hets. Is Nagpur possible in the fall/winter in IL? Remotely possible on very directive antennas at a quiet QTH. A QTH on Lake Michigan's shore, like I have in Wisconsin would help. But is Nagpur possible 5 hours prior to sunset in IL? Unfortunately not, and especially not on the longest day of the year. 73 KAZ who is done with this topic and feels that the DXer had either a shortwave spur or a pirate (noting many Indians live near Chicago and are spread throughout the burbs here) (Neil Kazaross, ibid.) Not that it makes much difference, but the latest word was that the date was July 21, not June 21 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Kaz, Thinking through puzzles like this is much more fun than a crossword don't you think. Of course who knows for sure what actually can (or did) happen. But it's still fun to surmise. On July 21 the sun should be overhead at about 17 degrees North of the equator. I'm figuring about one degree of transit for each four days (23 1/2 degrees transit in each 91 day quarter = 1/4 degree per day). 30 days since the solstice divided by four = 7 1/2 degrees to subtract from 23 1/2 = 17 degrees. All figures approximate. I'm just using a globe and a string. So, if the sun is overhead 3 hours west of Illinois it would illuminate over the pole and down to about the southern end of the Barents Sea. If the hops are of equal length I think the first two would be in darkness (1000 miles out and 3000 miles out). The third hop would be at about 5000 miles, perhaps only an hour into daylight and still in the Arctic region. Only the fourth hop would be in full daylight. I've personally experienced a summertime, full daylight (3 hours before sunset at transmitter) 800 mile single hop skywave path on 1520 kHz with a good signal (what a confusing sentence but I hope you get my drift). An unmistakable ID since I listened to the station for at least an hour and it was a station I was familiar with (KOMA in OKC). KOMA was so strong that I suspect they were audible several hundred miles past my location. Anyway, it doesn't seem impossible to me. Certainly not routine but possible (Jerry Lenamon, Waco TX, ibid.) ** INTERNATIONAL WATERS [non]. Offshore Radio Special - Sunday, August 27, 2006 Hi Glenn, During a google search to see on witch URL our Offshore Radio Special edit 2006 already was published I came through Your homepage. It seems that you have big interests into radio in general. Attached you'll find a word.doc with all the details made in 2 languages Dutch and English. The short way : After the huge success of the broadcast of the offshore radio special during 2005 .. there's an Offshore Radio Special coming up on Sunday, August 27, 2006 from 04:00 PM until 08:30 PM CET [1400-1830 UT] on webradio Enterprise103 The Netherlands. Enterprise103 is one of the most popular internetradio's at The Netherlands and has also lots of daily listeners from regions across the World. To login visit: http://www.enterprise103.com You can find also more details at my weblog at the station, because I did the edit and production of this Annualy special. Thanks for your support (Harry, weblog : http://harry.enterprise103.com July 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: Offshore Radio Special 3.0 Op zondag 27 augustus vanaf 16 uur tot 20u30 uur hoor je ze nog even nonstop terug … de tunes, jingels, commercials en hits uit de gloriedagen van de zeezenders. Een must voor elke fan van Offshore Radio ! Wij besteden aandacht aan volgende stations : Big L Radio London, Brittan Radio, Radio England, Swing 390, Radio Noordzee RNI, Radio Atlantis, Laser 558, Radio Veronica, Radio Caroline, Radio Mi Amigo, Elk uur is er een commercialbreak te horen met de best bekende reclame jingels van weleer. Noteer deze datum in je agenda en stem af op de Offshore Radio Special editie 2006! They are back nonstop --- the tunes, jingles, commercials and hits, the glory days of offshore radio on Sunday, August, 27 from 04:00 PM until 08:30 PM CET. For fans of Offshore Radio a day to remember! The following stations are into the show : Big L Radio London, Brittan [sic] Radio, Radio England, Swing 390, Radio Noordzee RNI, Radio Atlantis, Laser 558, Radio Veronica, Radio Caroline, Radio Mi Amigo, … Each hour is having also a commercialbreak --- like the old days --- listen and hear the commercials of Yesterday. Don`t forget this day and check out and listen to the Offshore Radio Show! Special thanks to Luke and Claire (New York USA) because they produced the Offshore Radio Special theme jingles --- Visit their website http://www.liquidfactor.net De Offshore Radio Special is samengesteld door Harry, voor info bezoek het weblog: The Offshore Radio Special is made by Harry; for details please visit the weblog: http://harry.enterprise103.com De special wordt uitgezonden via webradio Enterprise103 – Nederland The special gonna be transmitted on internetradio Enterprise103 – The Netherlands. Loggin to the stream : http://www.enterprise103.com Facultatieve informatie – Various details: Link naar het logo gemaakt naar aanleiding van deze Offshore Special http://users.pandora.be/meet_harry/offshore.gif Indien U het in bijlage fotobestand niet kunt uploaden naar Uw weblog, kunt U bovenstaande link (rood) inbrengen naar mijn webruimte waar het file opgeslagen is. If You`re not able to upload the logo file to Your webspace or weblog, please feel free to use the link (red) --- Link to this URL and the picture gonna appear on Your page. Met vriendelijke dank voor jullie support --- With My special thanks for Your support, Regards - Groetjes, dj MC harry - Belgium (via DXLD) ** IRAN [non]. LITHUANIA --- After a short break, the test transmissions of Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran (VOIRI) via a 100 kW transmitter in Sitkunai have resumed. The schedule: 0630-0730 Italian (to Eu) on 11555, 1430-1530 Russian (to RUS) on 9315, 1730-1830 German (to Eu) on 7540, 1830-1930 French (to Eu) on 7540, 1930-2030 English (to Eu) on 7540, 2030-2130 Spanish (to Eu) on 7540 (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, July 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ISRAEL. Como consecuencia de la grave crisis que afecta a la región del sur del Líbano, debido a la intervención armada del ejército israelí, vale la pena intentar la escucha de la emisora de las Fuerzas de Defensa de Israel "Galei Tzahal", la cual hasta antes de los combates operaba de acuerdo a este esquema, en idioma Hebreo: HORA UTC KHZ 1900-0400 6973 (10 Kw) 0400-1900 15785 (10 Kw) La frecuencia que mejor se reportaba en Sudamérica, era sin duda la de 6973 kHz, a veces activa a partir de las 1600 UT en adelante -(variable)-. En 19 metros resulta dificultosa su recepción y se desconoce si al presente esta frecuencia está activa. La emisora verifica con una "extraña" pero interesante tarjeta QSL, consistente en un militar leyendo noticias con una cabeza en forma de micrófono. Se identifica como: "Galei Tzahal, Shidure Tsva Hagana Le'Yisrael" QTH: Galei Zahal, Broadcasting Station of Israel Defence Forces, Military Post Office 1005, Zahal, Israel. E-mail: glz @ galatz.co.il Web: http://www.glz.co.il (Marcelo A. Cornachioni, Argentina, Conexión Digital July 30 via DXLD) Galei Zahal, 15785 kHz. I am guessing this is what I am hearing (July 29 and 30, around 1500+ GMT). Weak, some talk and uncopiable traces of music. Listed as the daytime channel. Anyone closer able to confirm? (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, July 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ISRAEL. HAIFA. 100.2, 98.5 y 95.7 MHz. Estas son las tres frecuencias seleccionadas en FM por el Ejército de Israel para "informar" a sus conciudadanos ortodoxos del desarrollo de la Segunda Guerra del Líbano durante la jornada de descanso del sabbat. Durante el sabbat, entre otras muchas cosas que tampoco deben hacer, los religiosos practicantes judíos no pueden escuchar la radio. En este caso, con el visto bueno de los rabinos, se hará una excepción. Las frecuencias seleccionadas por la radio del Ejército no ofrecerán más que silencio. Así, antes de que empezara en la tarde de ayer el sabbat, las familias ortodoxas que quisieron hacerlo, pusieron dicha radio silenciosa, silencio que sólo se romperá en momentos de alarma para informar de posibles peligros, daños, avisos de acudir a los refugios, etcétera. Así entonces, mientras siguen los enfrentamientos, la radio una vez más demuestra lo importante que es, aún en los momentos más difíciles para algunos ([via?] José Alba Z., México, Conexión Digital July 30 via DXLD) ** LITHUANIA. A posting from Klaus Spielvogel in the A-DX mailing list indicates that IRIB transmissions via Sitkunai resumed yesterday (July 29). (Kai Ludwig, Germany, July 30, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) See IRAN [non] ** NETHERLANDS [non]. See UZBEKISTAN ** NEW ZEALAND. RADIO NZ READIES INTERNET BROADCASTS http://www.pcwelt.de/news/englishnews/115000/ In two to three weeks' time, Radio New Zealand expects to start delivering a range of on-demand content and simulcast audio over the Internet. In two to three weeks` time, Radio New Zealand expects to start delivering a range of on-demand content and simulcast audio over the Internet. Radio NZ expects to webcast 60 hours every week and has deployed content servers in the Auckland, Wellington and Palmerston North Internet exchanges to transmit it around the New Zealand Internet. A server in California has also been deployed to serve content to New Zealanders abroad and to customers` national providers that do not peer at the exchanges for various reasons. All the servers will use a single consistent "anycast" IP address, like the DNS root servers, so as to ensure content is delivered to customers from the server closest to them. Radio NZ`s new media manager, Richard Hulse, says the standard service will run at 16K bps (bits per second), providing mono sound at roughly AM radio quality. The streaming bit rate for the standard service may be upped to 24K bps once Radio NZ knows how much bandwidth is needed. However, ISPs that peer at the various exchanges will have access to an enhanced service at higher bit rates. On-demand content will be available at 32K bps to 48K bps and live streams at 48K bps to 64K bps; the increased bandwidth for the latter will also make room for stereo sound. In both cases, the streams can be listened to with a software player such as Windows Media Player and Apple iTunes, or Nullsoft Winamp. Providers that do not peer --- such as the country`s largest ISPs, New Zealand Telecom and TelstraClear --- will get the content from the U.S., which is set to provide the standard service at 16K bps only, as it delivers content over expensive and less efficient international circuits. Some content limited to New Zealand for copyright reasons will not be available to ISPs that do not peer, as it would have to be served to those from the U.S. server. Queries from Computerworld New Zealand to Telecom and TelstraClear asking if they would peer with Radio NZ at the exchanges in order to provide national access to the streams so their customers would enjoy higher bit rates and stereo sound went unanswered yesterday. Hulse says Radio NZ wants to make it as easy as possible for the around 686,000 people who tune in to National Radio and Concert FM broadcasts each week to listen to the internet transmissions. This is the reason, rather than any philosophical argument over peering, that Radio NZ settled on using the internet exchanges, he says, as peering exchanges provide the cheapest and most efficient way to reach listeners. Radio NZ intends to install content servers at new peering exchanges around the country when they are deployed, as well as the MUSH networks outlined in the Government`s Digital Strategy document in, for example, hospitals, Hulse says. He expects the service to be very popular and recommends that providers peer directly with the anycast routers at all exchanges where they have connectivity for best performance (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) About time ** NIGERIA. 7275, R. Nigeria, Abuja, July 30, 0556-0614, pop African song, drums, ToH clear ID for ``Radio Nigeria``, news in English, weak (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, Etón E5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NORWAY. Chris Lobdell checks in this month with a real rarity. He heard Fox 48 on 6306 kHz at 2315 UT May 3. The operator says they are currently the *only* SW pirate station operating from Norway. They use a 300 watt transmitter, so DXers on the east coast of North America may wish to try for this one around sunset on weekends. The station is anxious to receive reception reports at radiofox48 @ hotmail.com (George Zeller, Outer Limits, August Monitoring Times via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. "Our Homeland" on VOR --- First opportunity I've had to listen to this program on Voice of Russia (0130 UT Sun. on 9665). Was rather surprised to hear the tone of the program which is reminiscent of Radio Moscow in the Cold War years. This putative history documentary gave a decidedly "pro- Soviet" perspective on matters ranging from 1968 Mideast war to the Camp David accords, the Prague Spring and other matters. One expects to hear a Russian perspective on Russian radio station's series about Russian history -- even a sympathetic one to some extent. But the uncritical analysis of Soviet-era politics and the general description of global history in the 60s and 70s characterized mostly by the continuous expression of strong anti-American and anti-western sentiments were almost jarring. One gets the sense that things are slipping back to the bad old days of East-West relations when one hears this program (John Figliozzi, NY, July 30, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Putin`s grip tightens; when does his term expire? (gh, DXLD) ** SAINT HELENA. RADIO ST HELENA DAY REVIVAL PROJECT UPDATE The month of June has been very successful. With the invaluable technical help of DJ0KM, Don Taylor, of Garant-Funk (see "CQ-DL", 7/2006, p. 475), we were able to conduct a full power transmission under the exact conditions waiting for us at R. St. Helena. We transmitted with 1000 Watts output in USB into a huge dummy load. The modulation was examined and found to be excellent. The entire shortwave broadcasting facility, with the one exception of the 3-element beam antenna, will [sic] be shipped to St. Helena via England at the beginning of July. After the antenna tower arrives on the island, the foundation for the tower will be built. After I arrive on the island, the entire facility will be put together and tested. Our plan is to REVIVE the world-famous "RSH Day" shortwave transmissions in USB on 11092.5 kHz on Saturday, 04. November, 2006 at the "usual" UT with broadcasts first to Europe and then to North America (just as in the 1990's). However, we also plan to broadcast on Sunday, 05. November, 2006 at about 0800 UT. We plan to first broadcast directly to Japan and then, immediately thereafter, to New Zealand. The exact times are not certain as yet. The exact beam directions (long or short path or both) are not certain as yet. These Sunday programs will be the usual complete programs and may be "one- time-only" programs. They will also be as a "Thank-you" to the Japan Short Wave Club for their tremendous help in making these "RSH Day Revival" broadcasts possible and to the New Zealand Radio DX League for their support over the years. The Project is absolutely on track to meeting all of our goals. The only big question mark still left is paying all the bills for the equipment and the transportation to St. Helena island. The project costs are about Euro 12000, and so far we have donations of equipment and money with a value of about Euro 3000. As you can easily see, we still need a lot of financial help, and I am asking you all to contribute. On our web page, http://www.sthelena.se/radioproject under "Donations" are listed our bank accounts in USA, UK, and EURO- Land. Thank-you one and all for your help and possible donations. With very best greetings, Robert Kipp, Project "Revive RSH Day" http://www.sthelena.se/radioproject/ (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) Radio Saint Helena returns to the airwaves! Dates: November 4th/5th. Time: 1800 - November 4th until 0100 - November 5th. Frequency 11092.5. USB mode See: http://www.sthelena.se/radioproject/ (via Bill Matthews via John Ekwall via Harold Sellers, ODXA via DXLD) Conflicting times ** SCOTLAND. OUTRAGE AS AXE LOOMS OVER BBC SCOTLAND'S FLAGSHIP PROGRAMMES http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1068602006 Thanks to Mike Terry via uk-radio-listeners for the following:- Scotland on Sunday 23 July 2006 Arthur MacMillan Flagship BBC Scotland television and radio programmes are at risk after corporation bosses ordered savage cuts of 25%, far worse than previously expected. Scotland on Sunday can reveal that the broadcaster's head of news and current affairs handed in his resignation earlier this month when he was told by London managers to make a second round of "efficiencies". Blair Jenkins, who expected the figure to be 10% lower, believed it was impossible to slash costs without damaging programme quality. Speculation was growing last night that programmes such as Reporting Scotland, Newsnight Scotland and Frontline Scotland were in the firing line for bureaucrats to find savings. The BBC has already been forced to cut 195 jobs as part of a reduction in posts across the country, about 42 of which were in news and current affairs, as part of a 15% reduction in staff. The prospect of strike action was being raised at the revelation that London bosses want further cuts from BBC Scotland's budget. There were also demands from politicians that the station's controller Ken MacQuarrie "come clean" about a second round of redundancies. Pete Murray, deputy leader of the National Union of Journalists at BBC Scotland, said: "This has confirmed our worst suspicions. Blair Jenkins said to us in the past 18 months that he would not accept or make cuts that would affect programme quality or force cuts in output. He always felt the crunch time would be if that started to happen. If there are plans to make further cuts then we want to see them. We have already been on strike once and this news will outrage staff." Jenkins, one of BBC Scotland's most senior executives, stunned colleagues by suddenly resigning from his £85,000-a-year post on July 12. Although he will remain in the post until next month, he quit despite not having another job to go to. A senior BBC source said: "It was a step too far. His first interest has always been in the journalism and he was concerned that programme quality and standards in Scotland. The level of cuts being suggested was going to have a massive impact." Last night BBC sources said slashing resources by a further 10% would lead to programmes being axed. One senior manager said: "There is a retraction in the BBC's view of devolved Scotland. They see themselves as a global player now and they are not interested in Scotland. They will have to cut programmes or farm them out to independent companies. At a total level of 25% you are talking about the best part of 60 people leaving news and current affairs alone. I just cannot see where these cuts will come from without closing some programmes." An insider added: "The new head of news and current affairs is going to have to come up with a plan to implement this but I honestly can't see how he can. This could be a back-down situation. Blair is the first manager to refuse these cuts and maybe London will now take notice. This is all coming from London and a lot of that is due to the cost of moving to the new building at Pacific Quay." David Hutchison, a media lecturer at Glasgow Caledonian University and former member of the General Advisory Council of the BBC, said fewer programmes were likely. He said: "There must come a point in all organisations where if you cut resources you either do less or you do less better. Inevitably, they are going to have to look at programming. Newsnight Scotland is a good programme but you can see that it does not have a big budget. It would be very difficult to cut its resources further and still do it. The danger is that viewers will get diluted content." Following the announcement of nearly 200 redundancies last year, BBC Scotland's controller Ken MacQuarrie gave undertakings to the Scottish Parliament's Enterprise and Culture Committee that staffing cuts would not impact on programme quality. Yesterday, Alex Neil, the Nationalist MSP and convener of that committee, said: "If this latest round of cuts is confirmed it is totally unacceptable. This is not anymore about the kidology of re- allocating funding for regional broadcasting. They are now cutting into the very bone of BBC Scotland and there is no way that quality can survive intact if this magnitude of cuts goes ahead. When you add the two rounds together you are talking about cuts of 25%." He added: "People will fail to understand why they are paying so much for their licence fee and why BBC bureaucrats have just awarded themselves film star salaries and bonuses at the same time as they are cutting frontline services. If more cuts are in the pipeline Ken MacQuarrie must come clean about them." At the time of his resignation, BBC managers claimed that Jenkins, 49, had not been removed from his post. One said: "He came to us to resign, he was not pushed." But yesterday, a BBC Scotland spokesman refused to rule out further cuts. He said: "This was a personal decision by Blair Jenkins and we won't be adding to that. We have given commitments to the parliament about programme quality and we intend to stand by those commitments." Jenkins refused to comment last night (via Paul David, England, dxldyg via DXLD) ** SOMALIA [and non]. En el actual conflicto que se vive en Somalia, Eritrea apoya con armamento a la Unión de Cortes Islámicas que actualmente controla la ciudad de Mogadishu, capital de Somalia, mientras que el actual gobierno de transición se encuentra basado en la ciudad de Baidoa y actualmente están apoyados por Etiopía, razón por la cual las milicias islámicas han amenazado con comenzar una "guerra santa" contra Etiopía. Todo esto lleva a que en el espectro de programas se utilicen las ondas de radio una vez más, en pro y en contra de determinadas situaciones (Gabriel Iván Barrera, Argentina, Conexión Digital July 30 via DXLD) ** SYRIA. 19 JULIO, 0002 UT, 9330 KHZ, Idhaa´al Jumhuriya al Arabiya as Suriya, Síria. Árabe. Comentario referente la destrucción del Líbano, según el perspectivo sirio, y sobre la complicidad indudable del Presidente Bush. Himno Nacional a las 0030. Buena Calidad. 19 JULIO, 2310 UT, 9330 KHZ, La Radiodifusión de la República Árabe Síria, Castellano. Comentario, representanto el perspectivo sírio: "A pesar que Israel teóricamente representa la fe judaíca, el país se ha convertido en un monstro". Calidad Variable (Adán Mur, Paraguay, Conexión Digital July 30 via DXLD) How was the modulation?? (gh) ** TIBET. 5 JULIO, 0830 UT, 11860 KHZ, Xizang Tibet Radio. Inglés/Mandarino. Programa: "Please Join Our English Class". Saludo Inicial: "Welcome to Our English Class." Lecciones 21 y 22. Buena Calidad (Adán Mur, Paraguay, Conexión Digital July 30 via DXLD) Don`t often see Tibet reported on 25 m. S. Aoki`s list shows these two are the highest frequencies from there (excluding harmonics!); note the regular English semi-hour and the siesta period on Tuesday afternoons; all coordinates 9059E / 2930[N]: 11860 PBS Xizang 0200-0600 1234567 Chinese 100 85 Lhasa CHN XZDT a06 11860 PBS Xizang 0600-0810 12.4567 Chinese 100 85 Lhasa CHN XZDT a06 11860 PBS Xizang 0810-0840 12.4567 English 100 85 Lhasa CHN XZDT a06 11860 PBS Xizang 0840-0900 12.4567 Tibetan 100 85 Lhasa CHN XZDT a06 11950 PBS Xizang 0600-0810 12.4567 Chinese 100 290 Lhasa CHN XZDT a06 11950 PBS Xizang 0810-0840 12.4567 English 100 290 Lhasa CHN XZDT a06 11950 PBS Xizang 0840-0900 12.4567 Tibetan 100 290 Lhasa CHN XZDT a06 11950 PBS Xizang 0900-1000 12.4567 Chinese 100 290 Lhasa CHN XZDT a06 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UGANDA. 5025 [sic], Jul 19 2215-2245, Radio Uganda. SINPO 22322, QRM Utility. 5026, Jul 1 2315-2330 Uganda: Radio Uganda. SINPO 33333 5026, Jul 1 2315-2330 Uganda: Radio Uganda. SINPO 33333 5026, Jul 29 2145-2300 Uganda: Radio Uganda. SINPO 22222 QRM Utility RX: WE-12M; 25m Longwire; selfmade Magnetic Balun; FRT-7700; Datong FL-1 Filter (Foxi, North-East Germany, HCDX Online log via DXLD) ?? Would not expect them on that late: times MESZ stead UT? (gh, DXLD) ** U S A [and non]. Blast From The Past - Picked Up "Sky King" Broadcast I picked up a "Sky King" broadcast today on 13200 USB at 1743 UT. The last time I heard one of these broadcasts was back in the cold war days. Things were "real interesting" back then radiowise - the good old days indeed! I didn't know they were still doing these, although it may be that I just never came across one, and I haven't been actively looking for them. Pretty much the same format: "Sky king, sky king, do not answer. Message authentification (??? couldn't make it out). Offutt out." Later on at 1756, on the same frequency, a YL came on with "NMFCXQ (in phonetics). Standby, message follows." This was repeated a couple of times. Then came a long string of letters and numbers given in phonetics, repeated a couple of times. Closed with "This is Andrews out." There was a significant amount of echo on this transmission due to receiving both the short and long paths at the same time. As I recall these were transmissions to the SAC bombers flying around outside the USSR waiting for something bad to happen. I think that this was one way that the bombers would receive their "go codes" to attack. Also as I recall one frequency they used to be on was around 15.0?? MHz. I can't remember exactly. I'm not sure why the US Air Force would be using them today. Anyone else been hearing these Sky King transmissions and can shed any more light on them? Now that I know they're still using them I'm going to keep my ears open for them more often. Cheers (John Hudak, VE3CXB, July 24, ODXA via DXLD) Wow! "Sky King" on the air again? The last time I heard the "Sky King" broadcasts was in the late '60s. I even recorded one (on my Panasonic cassette recorder) so I could replay it for one of my uncles who, at that time, was an Air Force Colonel stationed at McDill AFB in Tampa, FL. He worked in Intelligence at the time. Anyway, after hearing only 3-4 seconds of the tape, he got extremely agitated and told me to turn off the machine and never talk to anybody about what I had heard. I had never seen him so upset. He REALLY hit the roof when I showed him the Popular Electronics magazine that listed all of the frequencies used, plus the ground station identifiers. If I remember correctly, "Democrat" was the identifier used by Barksdale AFB in Bossier City, LA, which was only 2 miles from my house. The text I remember went something like this ... "Sky King, Sky King, this is Democrat. Do not answer - break break. Authentication KILO CHARLIE FOXTROT ALPHA - I repeat KILO CHARLIE FOXTROT ALPHA. Democrat out." The authentication codes consisted of 4 characters and came from the daily/hourly code lists. Their broadcasts were heard all up and down the shortwave spectrum. Now, where's my AM transistor radio with the CONELRAD frequency markers on it ??? :0) -- (Stephen Ponder N5WBI, Southeast TX DXer, Houston TX, http://setxdxer.blogspot.com/ ibid.) More Sky King Info --- Stephen, thanks for that interesting bit of info. I would have liked to have been there to see your uncle's reaction! CONELRAD markers indeed. Here's a bit more info I found after digging around. The "Sky King" messages are part of the USAF HF Global Network. The calling frequencies are: 4724, 6712, 6739, 8968, 8992, 11175, 13200, 15016, 17976 kHz, all USB "Mainsail" is the collective callsign. USAF airbase stations involved are Anderson(Guam), Andrews, Ascension, Croughton, Elmendorf, Hickam, Incirlik, Lajes, Puerto Rico (remoted to Andrews), McClellan, Offutt, Thule, and Yokota. MacDill airbase used to be part of this group but closed. During the cold war era, the Sky King broadcasts would carry the EAM's, Emergency Action Messages. I read once where if you could still hear these messages being broadcast then everything was OK. If everything goes silent then that was the time to head for the bomb shelter. Not sure if this was true or is just part of the nuclear era mythology. I wonder why Sky King is still around. For those members who are too young to remember or who were not around in those days I can assure you it was all very interesting, to say the least. Interesting and scary at times. Oh yeah, CONELRAD (COntrol of ELectromagnetic RADiation) was brought out in 1951 and the markers were two little 'triangles-in-a-circle' marks on your AM radio's dial. They marked out the two emergency frequencies, 640 and 1240 kHz, where you were to tune your radio for information in case of a nuclear attack. All other stations were to get off the air so the two CONELRAD frequencies would be the only ones carrying broadcasting. I can't remember if this was only in the US or if we were to do the same thing here in Canada. I remember our radio had these marks but all that may have meant was that our radio was built in the US. CONELRAD was replaced with the Emergency Broadcast System in 1963. There's your bit of history for today. If anyone else out there has any more info on Sky King, especially anecdotal, I'd be interested in hearing it. Cheers, (John Hudak, VE3CXB, ibid.) More at CANADA It seems Skyking is still around --- Searching the UDXF yg archives on ``Sky King`` and ``Skyking`` I got several hits in the 2700+ messages since the group started a few months ago, replacing WUN: 6761, "SKY KING - SKY KING any radio for a radio check" USB 142 (11 JUL 06) CC (Chris Corley, KI4JPG, West Central GA, UDXF via DXLD) EAMs and Radio Checks on 11175 --- I noticed at about 0430 Z there was an EAM from Andrews followed by a repeat by a female operator. There was then a skyking message and then a radio check by DM37 (presumably a maintenance test at Davis Monthan) I did not catch the female operator`s station though. Did anyone else hear it? (Steffen Hymel, Mission TX, July 10, UDXF via DXLD) 15016.0 usb, Andrews HF-GCS with a SKYKING -Foxtrot- 1838:34 UT (2006- 06-11) 11175.0 usb, OFFUTT with SKYKING foxtrot DF3 authentication RO 0055:22 UT (2006-05-22) (KNY2VS in Tonawanda, NY on IRCGlobal:#monitor, ibid.) 4724.0, AFA3: USAF Andrews Afb Md, 1004, J3e SKYKING DNA [FSU-04-VE] (2006-05-31) 11175.0, AFA3: USAF Andrews Afb Md, 1400 J3e SKYKING DNA [HSY00ER] (2006-05-28) Regards (Sam Wright, SE-UK 51.23N000.2, ibid.) 0258 29 May, 11175 / SKYKING SKYKING Do Not Answer H-E-J Authentication JZ (Douglas Snow, location unknown, ibid.,) 2157Z 9 May, 11175.0 Offutt HF-GCS with SKYKING broadcast DVU (Mark Cleary, Monitoring Milcom from Charleston, SC, ibid.) 6739.0, ANDREWS: USAF Andrews AFB, USA, 0500, SSB, Skyking message SZ6 time 00 authentication MF, 05-May-2006 (PSV) (Petros Kannivalos, Marathon, Greece, Icom R-71, long wire antenna, ibid.) ** U S A. While tuning by 860 the past few days, I have noticed that WBGR 860 is now running foreign language Family Radio programs. They may be running English too, but I have not heard English there in at least two weeks. Anyway, no longer // to 107.9 or 750 (Bill Harms, Elkridge, Maryland, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) FR has ever-increasing foreign languages via WYFR and relays, so might as well put some of them to use on domestic outlets too; which languages do you hear, exactly? Are they justified as to local minority populations? Where is WBGR, anyway? I have to look it up: Baltimore, 2500/66 watts (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn: Honestly, I don't think they have much of a listenership. I think they saw a couple of "cheap" transmitter sites on the block and decided to snatch them up without consideration of listenership. That is my view anyway. I have heard them in Russian, Chinese (right now) and a few other languages which I have not bothered IDing (Bill Harms, MD, 1552 UT Sunday July 30, dxldyg via DXLD) Glenn, Here is a clip of WBGR 860 Baltimore, Maryland heard less than thirty minutes ago. http://philcobill.com/sounds/00860-20060730-1500-WBGR.mp3 It is a bit choppy. Hope you enjoy it (Bill Harms, 1924 UT Sunday July 24, ibid.) Tnx, Bill. Goes from Russian, cut short for local English ID, then into Spanish (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. US RADIO STATION CELEBRATES FESSENDEN'S PIONEERING WORK US radio station 95.9 WATD-FM is broadcasting a series of programmes on Canadian radio pioneer Reginald Fessenden on 4-6 August. The programmes will mark the 100th anniversary of the world's first ever radio audio broadcast. This pioneering broadcast was transmitted by Fessenden on Christmas Eve 1906 from Brant Rock, Massachusetts. The broadcast featured Fessenden playing the song O Holy Night on the violin and reciting from the bible. It was received by a number of ships. The broadcast was not the only first achieved by Fessenden. He was also the first to accomplish a two-way CW transmission by radio, between Massachusetts and Machrihanish in Scotland, using synchronous rotary-spark transmitters and his barretter detectors. The WATD radio programme on Fessenden can be heard in the UK via the web. Visit http://www.959watd.com RSGB http://www.rsgb.org/news/gb2rs.htm Viz: 103 years ago, Professor Reginald Aubrey Fessenden, an educator, engineer, and inventor, began construction of a radio station in Brant Rock, Massachusetts. He designed that station to transmit voice communications and arranged to have special receivers installed on a number of ships. On Christmas Eve, 1906, he played phonograph records and performed on his violin in front of a microphone. The audience at sea was astonished. Fessenden was delighted. He had demonstrated the feasibility of a wireless telephone. Fessenden never pursued the concept of broadcasting and at the time probably never envisioned there could ever be such a thing. So the event we celebrate this year, the first broadcast of words and music actually received by a mass audience, is viewed by most historians as simply a spur in the history of communications technology. Today, in 2006, it seems automatic that the technical ability to transmit sound without wires must certainly lead to the practice we know as "broadcasting". But Fessenden did not found a broadcasting industry. His experiments with wireless voice communication did not even seem to stir imaginations in that direction. And, despite Helen Fessenden's diary entry about her husband's "broadcast", there is the possibility that Fessenden did not really mean to broadcast at all. That the multiplicity of receivers he had installed in ships were there, not to create an audience, but to ensure he could document at least one reception report. It fell to Lee DeForest, one of Fessenden's competitors, to demonstrate nearly a decade later that radio was, in fact, a magic carpet which would bring the world into everyone's home. Why did Fessenden miss the point so completely? Probably it was the scientific mindset at the time. The telephone was still a new device. A tidy little miracle which had transformed Bell and his engineers into legends. Communications was a point to point business and Fessenden's financiers naively set their sights on Bell's customers. But it was also the tenor of the times. There are people alive today who remember the early years of the twentieth century. Ask about mass communication at that time and they will tell you about newspapers. The concept of instantaneous broadcasting simply did not exist then. The idea that one could sit at home and leisurely peruse that world as songs and stories and news spewed from a speaker on the table was unknown. In fact, in 1906, the concept of leisure existed in only a limited number of homes. So in this centennial year we honor Fessenden and his first broadcast because of what he did, not because he became rich by doing it. The first astronaut on a distant planet may leave it without ever mining the gold. He may never even see the glimmer. And though others may find the fortunes, he will be secure in history as the one who went there first. History, at least the history of broadcasting, must certainly remember Professor Reginald Aubrey Fessenden. On Christmas Eve, 1906, he went there first. And proved it could be done. http://www.959watd.com/fessenden.asp (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) Rather vague as to exact schedule of broadcasts, except Saturday August 5 at 1600-2100 UT, a live remote from the Daniel Webster estate with pioneers of radio. http://www.959watd.com/fessenden/fessflyer.jpg (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Are the Reception Reports received by Fessenden from people aboard the ships available as graphic files to view on the web? (Horacio Nigro, Uruguay [radio historian], dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) FROM BRANT ROCK TOWER, RADIO AGE WAS SPARKED By Carolyn Y. Johnson, Boston Globe Staff, July 30, 2006, Marshfield A century ago, radio pioneer Reginald A. Fessenden used a massive 420 -foot radio tower that dwarfed Brant Rock to send voice and music to ships along the Atlantic coast, in what has become known as the world's first voice radio broadcast. This week, Marshfield will lay claim to its little-known radio heritage with a three-day extravaganza to celebrate the feat -- including pilgrimages to the base of the long-dismantled tower, a cocktail to be named the Fessenden Fizz, and a dramatic reenactment of the historic moment, called ``Miracle at Brant Rock." ``Fessenden deserves credit for being the first voice and music broadcaster, the first disc jockey, the first person to play live instrumental music and talk and recite poetry" by radio, said Scott Wheeler, a member of the Fessenden Centennial Committee, playfully abbreviated as the FCC. ``We're trying to hit it big in every way, so everyone knows this Canadian guy with a big white beard is the father of communication." The celebration, which begins Friday , has attracted the attention of local radio aficionados, as well as people from as far away as Australia. ``The main thing is to get the story out, and maybe encourage some people to do some inventing," said Dave Riley , a ham radio operator who plans to put up a 43-foot functional radio tower this fall next to the base of the original tower in Blackman's Point RV and Camping Park in Brant Rock. Most people associate radio with Guglielmo Marconi, who sent the first trans-Atlantic wireless messages, and was awarded the 1909 Nobel Prize in physics. But Fessenden's long-forgotten work and the technology he used -- called a ``spark gap transmitter" -- was a significant step toward modern-day radio. The year of historic milestones in radio began in January 1906, when the tower that once swayed 420 feet above the neighborhood began transmitting Morse code to its sister tower in Machrihanish, Scotland, and received a reply. On Christmas Eve that year, Fessenden broadcast the first radio program. Ships up and down the Atlantic seaboard heard him give a speech, followed by music, in place of the usual dots and dashes. ``It's a wonderful thing to picture people at sea sending and receiving Morse code, and suddenly they hear a man's voice and a recording of a Handel piece and playing `O, Holy Night' on the violin, and throwing off their headphones and saying, `Captain, you have to hear this!' " said Wheeler, who wrote the 15-minute play, ``Miracle at Brant Rock," that will be performed by the Massasoit Radio Players at the gala cocktail party and dinner being held at the Daniel Webster Estate on Saturday. The centennial events will be attended not just by radio historians and amateurs, but also by people discovering their radio heritage for the first time. Peter H. Glaubitz, of Eagles Mere, Pa., said that he decided to come in honor of his grandfather, Hugo Julius Glaubitz , who was Fessenden's mechanical engineer and designed and oversaw construction of the radio tower. Glaubitz said he only knew ``little snips" of the family lore until recently. ``I just started to take a better look at what separates fact from rumor, to find out exactly what his role was . . . in preparation for attending the festivities," he said. He plans to visit the tower base on his first trip to Marshfield and will bring a family photo album, an honorary degree that his grandfather received from the University of Pittsburgh for the work on the tower, and his family. The festivities will include commemorative events for radio enthusiasts and laymen alike. Ham radio operator demonstrations and a concert will fill the afternoon, beginning at 3 p.m. at the Isaac Winslow House on Friday . On Saturday , local radio station WATD will broadcast from the Daniel Webster Estate and will feature radio personalities recreating their favorite memories of the medium from noon to 5 p.m. From 6 to 10 p.m., the Daniel Webster Estate will host a gala, including the presentation of the first Reginald A. Fessenden Award in Broadcasting -- to Gary LaPierre of WBZ-AM, who is retiring after 42 years with the Boston- based station. There will also be dinner, dancing, and the presentation of judging for the Fessenden Fizz -- a project that committee member and self- proclaimed Fessenden activist Edward Perry says he has been training for over the past few weeks. ``Every time I go into a restaurant, I say, `Make me your most historical drink,' " he said. Next Sunday, also at the Daniel Webster Estate, the celebrations continue at noon, with a vintage car exhibit and period costumes from the turn of the century. Finally, a music fest featuring local bands - - some of whom are working up songs that will be tributes to Fessenden -- will perform. But the crowning moment may be something less subtle: the premiere showing of a cache of century-old glass negatives, discovered this year, that reveal more of Fessenden's contributions to radio history. ``It was -- ah! -- it was like Tut's tomb for us," said Wheeler. ``I've been involved in radio since I was a kid, and this was unbelievable -- my eyes really rolled back in my head. The opportunity to manifest Fessenden in any way we can is a real thrill." http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/07/30/from_brant_rock_tower_radio_age_was_sparked/?page=2 After breaking with the U.S. Weather Bureau in 1902, Reginald Fessenden had to look for new backing. He eventually helped form a new company, the National Electric Signaling Company, financed by two Pittsburgh millionaires, Hay Walker, Jr. and Thomas H. Given. Initially based in Washington, D.C., the company's center of operations moved to Brant Rock, Massachusetts in 1905, in order to try to set up a commercial transatlantic radiotelegraph service. But in December, 1906, the transatlantic effort came to an abrupt end, due to the collapse of the aerial at Machrihanish, Scotland, which was the eastern half of the link. In this extract, Helen Fessenden talks about climbing to the top of the 400 foot (125 meter) Brant Rock aerial with her son Ken, who was born in May, 1893, so would have been about thirteen years old when the climb took place. The color view of the Brant Rock tower is from a contemporary postcard, while the black-and-white photograph of the ill-fated Machrihanish station is from the 1909 edition of James Erskine-Murray's "A Handbook of Wireless Telegraphy"... Much more at http://earlyradiohistory.us/bldtmrw.htm (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) ** U S A. 1640, WPVY987, Clearfield PA (TIS), 2320 23 July, short road construction loop with ID by M. Found QTH on FCC web site. Never heard this before, but it`s only about 60 miles away (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, HCDX via DXLD) ** U S A. FLORIDA --- Tampa International Airport's TIS on 1610 kHz actually has a low-level music bed (ambient cocktail piano jazz -- why not just use the more appropriate "Music For Airports" album by Brian Eno?). Not sure when they introduced this. I noticed it on July 29th. Technically, at least in the old days, music was an FCC violation on TIS's, though not sure if that really included using it as a bed for voiceovers. FLORIDA --- Mode anomaly: I noticed that WTMP-FM, Dade City, 96.1 MHz is transmitting in mono mode, all glorious 1.7 kW. They've done this before, and in fact maybe have been mono all along, but I just (again) happened to notice on July 29th. GEORGIA --- I stumbled upon an reportedly Part 15 X-band station when reading a radio-info.com post recently. It is on Tybee Island (just off the coast of Savannah, GA), operating on 1700 kHz. Worth remembering, if anyone should be in that area. Direct reproduction of my FLPRS entry is: 1700 (LPR) "WTYB Tybee Island Community Radio" http://www.wtyb.com/ Georgia; a Part 15-compliant [legal] station on this wonderful little island that the editor has visited, but unfortunately did not know about when he was there a couple of years ago. From the station website: "Tybee Community Radio is, as the name implies, your radio station, so it's [sic] format and programming will evolve in the direction that our community steers it, while still at the same time maintaining itself as a useful companion to visitors who are vacationing on our charming island, or simply spending a day at the beach. An overview of the objective of WTYB is to establish the promotion of local musicians, organizational causes, political views, local commentaries... Local and national news, weather, tides, traffic, parking and other useful info will be presented four times an hour in condensed form, proving itself to be the most up-to-date information available which directly concerns the interest of Tybee Island." Contact listed is: rich @ tybeeisland.com 100.1 MHz (LPR) City of Stone Mountain, Georgia; per an anonymous source and friend of the editor: "This is the City of Stone Mountain Radio Communication Bulletin Board, operating on 100.1 FM, low-power radio." No call letters given and no indication of any FCC license. Signal radius is about five miles in all directions from transmitting antenna on an old telephone pole next to city police station. Audio is a loop of several announcements (often several weeks out of date) read by off-mike female, including promotion of events at local non-profit arts center Blocks reception of "Sunny 100.1 FM" licensed to Canton, approximately 30 miles away. The editor also received a report that this station is running about 10 watts, and was installed with help of a couple of local amateur radio club members. Though FLPRS rarely includes entries beyond southern Georgia, this one is too unusual not include (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, Visit my "Florida Low Power Radio Stations" at: http://home.earthlink.net/~tocobagadx/flortis.html or: http://www.geocities.com/geigertree/flortis.html July 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. FORMER WOI PERSONALITY TO DIRECT IOWA PUBLIC RADIO July 29, 2006 http://www.dmregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060729/BUSINESS04/607290332/1001/NEWS Former WOI Radio personality Todd Mundt will return to Iowa from Michigan next month to become director of content and media for Iowa Public Radio, which was created a year ago to oversee operations of the public radio stations in Ames, Cedar Falls and Iowa City. Mundt, 38, will be paid $85,000 a year. The Boone native was a producer and host of WOI Radio programs from 1994 to 1997. He then joined Michigan Public Media, where he hosted the nationally syndicated "Todd Mundt Show." (via DXLD) ** U S A. PUBLIC RADIO STATION MANAGER EARNS $179,815 AS COMPANY LOSES MONEY --- By Glen Warchol, The Salt Lake Tribune Community radio station KCPW reported an operating loss of $609,366 in 2005, while the nonprofit paid top manager Blair Feulner $179,815, according to the station's most recent tax filing. . . http://www.sltrib.com/utah/ci_4111082 (Salt Lake Tribune via DXLD) ** UZBEKISTAN. Re ARMENIA, 6-112: Glenn wrote: "Original item in 6-106 merely said leaving shortwave would be ``soon``. So will Gavar relays also go silent? Cf UZBEKISTAN which kept foreign relays going whilst abolishing R. Tashkent International (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)" As I work for one of the stations that uses Tashkent, I can tell you that it appears it will be closing down at the end of October. Radio Netherlands has been told that it will not be available for the winter period. This affects the transmissions at 1300-1400 in Dutch on 12065, and 1400-1600 English on 9345, so if you want to log Radio Netherlands via Tashkent you have three months left to do it :-) (Andy Sennitt, Radio Netherlands, July 30, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTITIFED. Re CXND 375 --- Específicamente la captación en 1650 kHz de USA, la radio escuchada en esta frequencia es WZUM Relevant Radio de Pittsburgh, es decir el estado de Pennsylvania. Escuchando el real audio de la estación, oí esta ID "This Is Relevant Radio" y no relevans (como me pareció oir); la he comparado con la grabación y es la misma. Pero aquí un detalle: WZUM Relevant Radio transmite en la frequencia 1590 (y no transmite en 1650); presumo que sea una emisora afiliada para su retransmisión via UNID. También debo agradecer por su amable colaboración con esta captación a Miguel Castellino (Héctor Álvaro Gutiérrez, desde Lima, Perú, RX : Sony Icf -Sw 7600 G, Ant. : Ewe + potenciometro, Marconi; Acs.: Selector de Antena, Conexión Digital July 30 via DXLD) As we pointed out before, there is no known Relevant Radio affiliate in the US on 1650, tho there is on 1660, in Florida. Could this 1650 actually be a relay somewhere in Caribbean or Latin America? (gh, DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 4993.43, Drifted down and found here at 1001 this morning 28 July but getting TV noise. Had to leave and couldn't leave the recorder run as storms in the area. W talk in lang., M at 1005. Still not strong enough. Heard on the HQ-129X as well. Seems to be on only 1000-1030. Not Apintie as it is presumably on 4990 (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, HCDX via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 5925.9, 0938-1000+ 30 July, Soft music, W in language at 0942. Into religious-sounding music. More music later, but horrible 5920 slop QRM too much when they were playing music which was most of the time. W back at 1000. Too weak, though. Definitely not // to any of the mega-powered broadcasters in the low end of 49 meters. Heard on the HQ-129X too (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, HCDX via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED [non]. FRENCH GUIANA?? 6110, BBC, Heard with Portuguese programming from as early as 0755 to past 1000 28 July. Plays a lot of ZY contemporary Pops and BBC promos. Heard mentions of Brasil, nacional and thought heard mentions of Mato Grosso which had me fooled into thinking this was a ZY station. Certainly sounds like one. Heard BBC IDs around the ToH. Looking at the BBC Web site shows that there are no longer any transmissions to Central and South America, and no mention of 6110 on the other transmissions, so what's going on here?? (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, HCDX via DXLD) Hi Dave, I`ll bet you were really hearing CVC A Sua Voz, Miami, via Chile, which per EiBi is scheduled here: 6110 0400-1200 CHL Voz Cristiana P SAm. ``CVC`` can sound a lot like ``BBC`` in Portuguese. 73, (Glenn Hauser, OK, HCDX via DXLD) Correction: My logging of BBC on 6110 from 0755-1000+ must have been CVC Chile as Noel Green was kind enough to point out. I guess the "BBC" IDs that I was hearing were actually "CVC". And of course it`s a regular on this frequency in Portuguese. Sorry for any confusion. 73 (Dave Valko, PA, HCDX via DXLD) I wonder if Dave gets mail from me? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES / DIGITAL BROADCASTING +++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++++++++++++++ [fhg-swr] REGISTRATION FOR IBC - FREE OF CHARGE TILL 21ST AUGUST Dear all, Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS would like to inform you about the possibility to register as visitor for the IBC in Amsterdam - free of charge! Please see http://www.ibc.org/cgi-bin/displaypage.cgi?pageref=500 If you register by 21 August you will be sent your badge in advance of the show. All registrations include free entry to top attractions including IBC Training Zone, added value sessions, Mobile Zone and the IBC Big Screen Experience, as well as a 5-day travel pass. You can also register for the conference or pick particular theme days at a discounted rate. Please come and see Digital Radio Mondiale DRM exhibits by Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS. We are looking forward to welcoming you in hall 8, at stand 8251 of TRANSRADIO SenderSysteme Berlin AG You will find the following professional equipment and developments: Fraunhofer DRM ContentServer(TM) R4 Professional DRM broadcast solution providing real-time audio encoding, multimedia data services, and all DRM signaling options like AFS and dynamic reconfigurations. DRM Test Equipment DT 230 A measuring system to develop and test transmitters and receivers. Playback and recording of DRM signals, channel simulation, receiver analysis, real-time modulation. Fraunhofer DRM Developer Solution The combination of Fraunhofer DRM ContentServer(TM) R4 'Developer Edition' and DRM Test Equipment DT 230 with Real-time Modulation Option O4 supports DRM receiver development, test and verification. DRM Monitoring Receiver DT 700 A professional, stand-alone receiver for DRM, AM and SSB signals. It features spectrum monitoring and various alarm functions. Input frequency range 100 kHz to 27.4 MHz. See you in Amsterdam. With kind regards, - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -------- Gerd Kilian email: kil @ iis.fhg.de FhG, Communications Department phone: +49 9131 776-6327 Am Wolfsmantel 33, FAX : +49 9131 776-6399 D-91058 Erlangen, Germany WWW : http://www.iis.fhg.de (July 28, via Bruce Atchison, AB, author of When a Man Loves a Rabbit. =:3 Please check out my book at: http://www.bookstream.biz/cgi-bin/bookstream/bookstore.cgi?overlord=Details&store_id=102 Information about my music is at http://gideon.www2.50megs.com/music/iprices.html DXLD) FESSENDEN CELEBRATION IN MASSACHUSETTS: See U S A POWERLINE COMMUNICATIONS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ BPL Interference article This article doesn't say much of anything new -- it's just being mentioned to show how the word is getting around: http://www.computingunplugged.com/issues/issue200607/00001813001.html Here are the last two paragraphs: "... It means the BPL system, any and all parts of it, can never interfere with any licensed radio service. These are services like low-band business radio, short wave radio broadcasting, amateur radio, government and military operations, and even CB legal operation. BPL can never cause harmful interference to these, or any other licensed radio services. If it does, it must immediately mitigate the interference, and if it can not, it must cease operation. Field studies have proven that BPL does, in fact, cause this interference to licensed services. Even the Vice President of a local BPL provider stated in print that his BPL system interferes with licensed radio operations, so there is no denying this interference occurs. As stated earlier, this interference is strictly forbidden by FCC Part 15 rules..." (via Doni Rosenzweig, dxldyg via DXLD) However: AUSTIN, TEXAS TO TEST BROADBAND OVER POWER LINES City wants to find out whether electrical grid can carry information. By Robert Elder, American-Statesman Staff, July 28, 2006 http://www.statesman.com/business/content/business/stories/other/07/28energy.html The Austin City Council on Thursday approved spending up to $317,500 to test an emerging technology that delivers broadband Internet service over conventional power lines. The technology, however, won't reach area homes anytime soon, if ever. Peter Collins, the city's chief information officer, said the project will test how well Austin Energy's power lines, transformers and other infrastructure are able to deliver broadband. "Everyone is saying how great this is," Collins said of broadband over power lines, which for years has been touted as a third high-speed Internet pipe into homes and businesses, competing with cable and the digital subscriber line service offered by phone companies. "All we want to know is, what does this really do? "I don't like to jump on a new technology just because everyone else is jumping on it," he said. "This is an education pilot program for us." Collins said the city is highly unlikely to compete with cable and DSL service. Instead, he said, city departments will be the first users of the system for functions such as remote metering of water and electricity use and to detect problems on power lines and other equipment. The council hired GTSI Corp. to oversee the design and construction of the network. GTSI, based in Chantilly, Va., will use Boise, Idaho- based PowerGrid Communications to build the network. Broadband over power lines, known as BPL, hasn't taken hold in the consumer or commercial markets as a viable competitor to cable and DSL. Users connect to BPL through a modem plugged into an electrical outlet. Getting data to that point, however, requires what the industry calls a smart grid. High-voltage lines carry too much power to allow data to move reliably on the line, so BPL uses low-voltage lines. The signal must be boosted along the line by devices called repeaters, which amplify the data and pass it along to the next repeater. The data also must be routed around bypass transformers, which reduce standard voltage enough for household use. Major utilities are keen on the technology. A unit of Dallas-based TXU Corp. paid $150 million for part ownership in Current Communications Group LLC, which is developing a BPL network on TXU's transmission system that could potentially serve 2 million customers. But TXU, like most utilities installing or testing BPL, is also looking at ways to install sophisticated monitoring devices to detect equipment problems in their early stages and cut repair costs. Collins said a hybrid form of BPL could be used by the city for remote reading of meters, for instance. Austin Energy would be able to read a meter from a close-by wireless connection. Some opposition to BPL has come from ham radio operators, who say the technology interferes with ham and short-wave radio transmissions. Collins said that he is working with local ham radio groups to monitor interference problems and that once the network is built, the city will test systemwide for such problems (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) CONGRESSMAN, ARRL APPEAL TO FCC TO ACCOMMODATE BPL INTERFERENCE CONCERNS --- http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2006/07/28/3/?nc=1 Newington, CT, July 28, 2006 --- US Rep Mike Ross, WD5DVR (D-AR), and the ARRL have appealed to the FCC to accommodate the interference concerns of Amateur Radio operators. Ross's letter to FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin and the League's plea to individual commissioners and a face-to-face meeting with one FCC member come in advance of the Commission's consideration of two significant Broadband Over Power Line (BPL)-related actions. "As you reconsider the BPL rules, please accommodate the very reasonable interests of Amateur Radio operators in avoiding interference in residential and mobile deployment," Ross asked Martin. "It is in the best interest of our emergency preparedness efforts to do so." The FCC will meet in open session Thursday, August 3, to consider the United Power Line Council's Petition for Declaratory Ruling (WC Docket 06-10) regarding the classification of BPL Internet access service as an "information service." The FCC also will consider a Memorandum Opinion and Order in response to petitions for reconsideration -- 17 in all, one from the ARRL -- of the rules that apply to BPL systems (ET 04-37). In letters to each FCC member on the League's behalf July 26, ARRL General Counsel Chris Imlay, W3KD, spelled out what he called "a win- win solution" to the BPL interference issue. "Fortunately, as the result of extensive field studies and measurements conducted by ARRL, the Commission has an opportunity now to fix the rules before BPL deployment becomes widespread," Imlay said, "and before interference becomes an impossible enforcement burden and a substantial threat to the public service, emergency and disaster relief communications provided by the Amateur Service." Imlay asserted the FCC does not have to choose between permitting BPL and protecting licensed radio services. The FCC only needs to do two things: Require that BPL providers only utilize frequencies above 30 MHz on overhead medium-voltage power lines, and make no use of Amateur Radio spectrum on underground lines and lines to customer premises. If the Commission does, Imlay said, any remaining interference issues "become manageable on a case-by-case basis." Imlay explained that BPL systems using DS2 chipsets or Main.net architecture have caused untenable instances of harmful interference to Amateur Radio operators. "Unfortunately, the Commission's Enforcement Bureau has been unresponsive in addressing a substantial number of BPL interference cases," he said. "By notable contrast," Imlay continued, BPL systems that don't make use of HF spectrum on overhead lines avoid interference problems. He pointed out that the Current Technologies BPL system, which uses spectrum above 30 MHz, "has proven relatively benign toward Amateur Radio." The Motorola BPL system makes no use of HF at all on medium voltage lines "and is completely benign toward Amateur Radio," Imlay said. In his letter, Ross noted that Amateur Radio was "instrumental in providing interoperability communications in the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma last year." Infrastructure-free long-distance communication is provided "on a volunteer basis and cannot be duplicated," the congressman told the FCC chairman. In their respective communications, Ross and Imlay emphasized that Amateur Radio operators are not opposed to BPL per se. They are opposed to interference and to the rules the FCC adopted in 2004 that "did not do anything to prevent inevitable, harmful interference from BPL systems" that employ HF spectrum on unshielded, overhead medium- voltage lines, Imlay said. "This is the crux of the problem, and it is a very substantial one," Imlay maintained. Earlier this week, Imlay was able to meet with FCC commissioner Robert McDowell and members of his staff to express Amateur Radio's concerns about interference problems the current Part 15 rules governing BPL fail to adequately address. "The Amateur Radio Service and ARRL -- the National Association for Amateur Radio needs your support in arriving at a solution that meets the needs of all interested parties," Imlay concluded (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ SNAP, CRACKLE, POP Want to know where lightning is occurring, or has occurred recently? Check out this site forwarded by Jacques d`Avignon VE3VIA: http://webflash.ess.washington.edu/ (Keith Carey, Below 500 kHz, August Monitoring Times via DXLD) The only conterminous US monitoring station is at LANL --- Los Álamos NM. I have this one bookmarked, but it doesn`t go into enough detail for me around my local area, just big red blobs: https://thunderstorm.vaisala.com/tux/jsp/explorer/explorer.jsp (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) SAMSUNG WORKING ON ATMOSPHERIC BROADCASTING Re 6-112: The reason to have more bandwidth and upper frequencies is to support more amount of data transfer as digital communication. But the challenge is how to produce this new stable reflection layer, and if is possible, how to make it in long term without effects on others services that does not require this technology but use the same electrical environment. The system theoretically works with a variation of temperature in the ionosphere. Seems like HAARP. Remember that the SAA produce important effects in the satellites that travel nearby, other iono regions are important also for GPS, all with natural causes, so we may argue how this possible system acts in (Flavio Archangelo, July 30th, 2006, Media Network blog via DXLD) The way this piece is written is frankly technological nonsense. ``launching UHF signals behind a 1 GHz carrier signal`` does not make sense. ``alter the behaviour of the ionosphere to create an alternating current`` is similarly just gobbledygook. Frequencies of the order of 1 GHz will and do penetrate the ionosphere and will not be receivable back on Earth (Ian Hickling July 30th, 2006 at 08:25 ibid.) Yep, it`s techno-trash journalism which sounds a lot more expensive than satellites. Now if they were working on putting DRM technology into phones --- but what sort of antenna would be needed? Coil of wire in the trousers? (Jonathan Marks July 30th, 2006 at 14:59 ibid.) PROPAGATION & THE AURORAL ZONE RE 6-107, USA, WBCQ: Thanks Glenn. That was a truly excellent and useful response! I am pleased to learn about the broadcasting direction of WBCQ even though it means I am technically outside the lines. On weekdays it is hard for me to listen before 9 PM local time (GMT-7 summer, GMT-8 winter). Also I will go read more about the auroral zone that you mention. I was wondering if any broadcasts were directed over the north pole, e.g. maybe it would make sense for India if propagation allowed. I'll look into morning reception in 41-meters sometime as well. Recently I have been picking out stations from the primetimeshortwave.com schedule, but I should spend more time scanning. shortwave weblog: http://cobaltpet.blogspot.com/ (Eric Weatherall, July 30, a dxing.info `newbie` via DXLD) Eric, I can`t think of any SW stations which deliberately broadcast across the north polar region. Altho signals sometimes get through when conditions are abnormal, often with ``auroral flutter``, it`s long been recognized that this is not a viable path. Some broadcasts from the Middle East or Eastern Europe come close for those of us in CNAm, and even more so for WNAm, but they are actually aimed around NW to NNW from the site rather than due N. It`s probably one reason why All India Radio has never broadcast to North America (tho it could easily be done with relay stations, or the auroral zone problem could be reduced by using sites in extreme western India for eastern North America, and extreme eastern India for western North America.) There are a number of broadcasts accidentally heading toward North America through the northern auroral zone, such as from the Sri Lanka sites, but they are intended only to reach close regions of Asia. The lamented Radio Tashkent, Uzbekistan, used to be heard with some regularity in North America during their 1200 or 1330 UT English broadcasts, but it was actually aimed the other way toward India. Any broadcasts reaching you in California from the Iran-Afghanistan- Pakistan area, and countries north of them, would be more or less trans-polar, but none are actually aimed at you. Regards, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) As for India to North America on MW, see INDIA in this and previous issues (gh) ###