DX LISTENING DIGEST 6-123, August 15, 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 AIRING OF WORLD OF RADIO 1325: Wed 0930 WWCR1 9985 FIRST SHORTWAVE AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO EXTRA 70: Wed 2200 WBCQ 7415 Wed 2300 WBCQ 18910-CLSB Fri 2030 WWCR1 15825 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 DX/SWL/MEDIA PROGRAMS Aug 15: http://www.worldofradio.com/dxpgms.html ** ALBANIA. R. Tirana, *0145 English to NAm UT Sun Aug 13, loud and clear on both 6115 and 7450 but opening announcement still said 6115 and 7455. Also need to start using UT instead of local time (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALGERIA [non]. As per discussion in 6-122, I did hear the relays again of Algeria, but more faint than a few weeks ago. On 9540 at 0426 12 Aug in Arabic, // 7260 faint (Liz Cameron, MI, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RTA relays via UK: Auf 11810 KHz ist Radio Algerien mit SINPO 33333 1900 UTC-Zeit und dem Kor`anprogramm zu hören. Empfänger GRUNDIG Satellit 500 mit Teleskopantenne und JRC NRD 545 DSP mit 21 m Draht und Balun. Gruß (aus NMS Dieter Kraus, Aug 12 via Wolfgang Büschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) NMS? Still on air via U.K., 11810 S=55555 powerhouse at 1940 UT, also 9765 // S=3-4. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Aug 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RTA via VT-U.K. still on service, as of Aug 13: signal ratings at Stuttgart Germany. 0400-0600 on 7260 RMP 500 kW / 190 deg to NoAf Arabic S=3 0400-0600 on 9540 WOF 300 kW / 160 deg to NoAf Arabic S=5+ 1900-2000 on 9765 RMP 500 kW / 190 deg to NoAf Arabic S=3 1900-2000 on 11810 WOF 300 kW / 160 deg to NoAf Arabic S=5+ 2000-2100 on 9765 RMP 500 kW / 190 deg to NoAf Arabic S=3 2000-2100 on 12025 WOF 300 kW / 160 deg to NoAf Arabic S=5+ 2100-2300 on 7150 RMP 500 kW / 190 deg to NoAf Arabic S=5+ 2100-2300 on 9710 WOF 300 kW / 160 deg to NoAf Arabic S=5+ 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Thanks Wolfy for today`s posting on RTA via U.K.; I took my chance to check at 2250 and heard fair signal on 9710 but // 7150 RMP altho with 200 kW more than WOF, besides distant T-storms and poor propagation, was terribly noisy and I wonder if there`s any DRM testing at this time. Anyone know something? (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, Aug 14, dxldyg via DXLD) ** ASIA [non]. Radio Free Asia updated sked: this time under USA [non] ** AUSTRALIA. 11880, RA, Aug 12, 0740-0820, ABC live sports coverage of the AFL game, Kangaroo vs. West Coast, poor. Assume the same coverage as on 720 Perth (this per their website). 6080, RA, Aug 12, 0903-0911, ABC sports program about the AFL game, Port Adelaide vs. Western Bulldogs, fair. Assume same coverage as on 105.7 Darwin & 78.3 Alice Springs (this per their website) (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, RX340, with T2FD antenna, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 78.3? What website? I assume this a typo, but WRTH 2006 does not list any ABC FM in Alice Springs on page 111 (gh, DXLD) 11880: Hi Glenn, I have just read your request in Wolfgang's "Top News" and today ABC Darwin via Shepparton is on the air during our local daylight. I have been listening to it for the last two hours. I guess others have given you the same message, but in case no-one has! Regards, (Barry Hartley, Auckland Operations Manager, Radio New Zealand, Aug 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. Reception has been improving from Radio Australia in the 16 mb as this season is in progress after 2200 on 17785 and with almost same near fair signal // 17795 but sometimes receiving splatter from Radio Taiwan Int. in Spanish via Okeechobee on adjacent 17805 (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, Aug 14, dxldyg via DXLD) Hard for me to believe that conditions are so poor in the higher frequencies that at 0300 Wed. 16 Aug., I`m not getting anything from RA on 15515, 15415, 15240, 13670, and not even the best of them all here 12080. NT 11880 is out too. Has anyone noted the same? (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, ibid.) Solar-terrestrial indices for 15 August follow. Solar flux 86 and mid- latitude A-index 2. The mid-latitude K-index at 0300 UTC on 16 August was 1 (05 nT). No space weather storms were observed for the past 24 hours. No space weather storms are expected for the next 24 hours (SEC via DXLD) So that does not explain it. Propagation ought to be good and improving (gh, DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. 4900.8, Radio San Miguel, Riberalta, 1000 on 11 August with good signal. Most reliable Bolivian 60 meter band signal. 4796.5, Radio Mallkú, Uyuni, 6 through 13 August, 1000 to 1015+ with good signal. Reliable CP signal. 5952.2, R. Pío XII, Siglo XX seems to have a sign-on at 1100 (Robert Wilkner, Pompano Beach, Florida, Sony 2010, R7, NRD 535D, Hard-Core-DX mailing list via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. 4876.3, Radio Difusora Roraima, Boa Vista, 0900 to 1130; silent 6 through 13 August, _not noted_ 0000 to 0200. Gone? (Robert Wilkner, Pompano Beach, Florida, Sony 2010, R7, NRD 535D, Hard-Core-DX mailing list via DXLD) ** CANADA. RCI was missing for the first hour of the morning show [Sunday Edition] this Sunday 13 at 1300 on 13655, which was [not] on the air till I checked back at 1400. // 17800 was strong and 9515 barely audible starting at 1300 (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I usually start out on 9515 and move up to 13655 only if necessary. I never have time to listen straight thru for 2 hours; clicking the % symbol on Monitoring Reminders Calendar, I see that they are not availablizing any of it ondemand in summer, tho they do selected segments elsewhen. Claude Jardin`s harmonica performance on RCI was breaking up during its brief minutes, Aug 13, and also Aug 14 at 1330 and 1405 on 13655. I notified Bill Westenhaver and they apparently fixed it; Aug 15 at 1330 there was something other than Badinerie, with harp accompaniment. Unfortunately there were bigger problems with loss of CBC network feed at 1338 during The Contrarians on whether Canadians are funny. Open carrier for a while, then other music fill. No news at 1400, back to Badinerie at 1401, then part of the news, and more network trouble. I switched to CBW webcast from Winnipeg and they too had lost network, but some others on different timezones, CBE and CBK were OK. CBW got back on at 1431 just in time for Contrarians (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA [non]. Even after R. Martí and DentroCuban jamming are finished with 6030 for the morning, Aug 14 at 1312 I was hearing Firedrake mixing with something. Per S. Aoki listings the target would be Ming Hui Radio from Taiwan, 100 kW at 325 degrees, with CNR1 Beijing also scheduled all day long with 50 kW ND. So that ruins CFVP`s window to be heard here, and no better at 14-15 since VOA Tibetan via Thailand is scheduled then (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. CJML 580 in Winnipeg is back on the air. All 99 watts of them. They are doing nostalgia programming again; Hours 07:00 to 22:00 CDST [12-03 UT] Aug 10 to 30. 73 and Best of DX (Shawn Axelrod, VE4DX1SMA, REMEMBER ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN HEAR FOREVER, MB, Aug 12, amfmtvdx at qth.net via DXLD) ** CANADA. 1350-CKDO has now pulled the plug After a few hours of religion and infomercials this morning, 1350-CKDO came out of the 10:00 a.m. [1400 UT] news with an announcement about the frequency shift to 1580. The announcer suggested listeners set a new memory at 1580 on their clock radios for tomorrow morning. Then he played a "final" song, which was The Beatles' "Hello Goodbye". The plug was pulled about 3 seconds into the next song, as CKDO will spend the rest of the day flying solo on FM 107.7. I wonder how well 1580 will do here in the daytime. I'm close enough to 1610-CHHA (Radio Voces Latinas) to get splatter down to 1570 in the day. 73 (Niel Wolfish, Toronto, Aug 13, IRCA via DXLD) I wouldn't call it especially "fat" - but I have an open carrier here in Rochester on 1580 at 2224 EDT. I'll be rolling at 6 AM to hear the sign-on, and may even get up to hear it live (Scott Fybush, ibid.) They're running oldies now, but their ID just before 2300 still had "107.7 FM and 1350 AM". They're about 10 dB weaker than WWKB and WQEW here, but that still qualifies as HUGE (Barry McLarnon, Ottawa, ibid.) I'm pretty certain that they're not running ND, then. I can hear them here in Rochester with the oldies, but the signal's easily nullable. Here's my best guess as to what's been happening in the last couple of days: When CKDO went ND on 1350, they probably disconnected the old 1350 phasor and the antenna tuning units at the towers that weren't being used. That bought them a few days to retune those towers for 1580 and to begin connecting the new 1580 phasor. Once 1350's ND signal left the air this morning, that would have been the time to retune that remaining tower for 1580. What we're hearing now, first with dead carrier and now with audio, must be the tuning-up process for the new 1580 signal. There's been no simulcast on 1350 and 1580 because there's just one set of transmission lines from the transmitter building to each tower, and no point spending the $$$ on the combiners and filters they'd need to install to send both 1350 and 1580 down that same set of lines. I'd bet a pretty large chunk of CKDO's audience is over on the FM by now anyway, and will never even realize the AM has moved. The banner on their website just changed from a countdown to midnight to "It's Here!" And the signal just got MUCH stronger here in Rochester (2312 EDT)... s (Scott Fybush, NY, Aug 13, IRCA via DXLD) 1580, CKDO ON, Oshawa. Heard ID by male announcer at 8/13 2302 [EDT = 0302 UT 8/13] in between music numbers "You are listening to Oshawa Radio CKDO" and a mention of 107.7. Severe interference from assumed WLIM. Never heard them on 1350. http://philcobill.com/sounds/01580-20060813-2302-CKDO.mp3 (Bill Harms, Elkridge, Maryland, R8B, K9AY, 300 foot longwire, Quantum Phaser, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. Some frequency changes for China Radio International: 1000-1057 Chinese NF 9890 XIA 500 kW / 354 deg, ex 9740 1030-1127 Indonesian NF 17605 KUN 500 kW / 177 deg, ex 11700 1100-1157 Russian NF 9890 XIA 500 kW / 354 deg, ex 9740 1400-1457 Russian NF 9525 SZG 500 kW / 037 deg, ex 9450 to avoid VOR in DRM 1500-1557 English NF 9800 JIN 500 kW / 264 deg, ex 9785 1500-1557 Hausa on 7170 BKO 100 kW / non-dir, ex 0800-0857 on same 1500-1557 Persian NF 9570 KUN 500 kW / 270 deg, ex 6165 1600-1657 Arabic NF 17735 BKO 100 kW / 020 deg, ex 17880 1600-1757 Arabic on 13790 KAS 500 kW / 269 deg, addit., co-ch DW in DRM 1630-1727 Hausa on 9620 KAS 500 kW / 269 deg, ex 1830-1857 on same 1630-1727 Hausa NF 9655 KUN 500 kW / 283 deg, ex 1830-1857 on 11730 1900-1957 Czech NF 9760 XIA 500 kW / 317 deg, ex 7150 1900-1957 Romanian NF 6090 BEI 500 kW / 322 deg, ex 6145 to avoid KBS French 1900-1957 Russian NF 7245 XIA 500 kW / 317 deg, ex 6100 (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Aug 15 via DXLD) ** CHINA. 6150, 1031-1040 Aug 14. Noted steady Chinese Music - probably Firedrake - covering this frequency. Suspect that it's intended to block Taiwan which has a sched here too. Signal of Firedrake was fair. 6175, Central People's Broadcasting Station, 1050-1105 Aug 14. Noted a man and woman in Chinese comments. At 1057 promos over music. On the hour, news presented with bridge type music between segments. Signal was fair via southern path (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston, Florida, NRD545, DX LISTENING DIGEST) How can you tell? Seems would be grayline (gh to Chuck, via DXLD) Glenn, What do you think about my idea that the signals of the Firedrake and Taiwan were coming to my QTH via the southern route? I set my computer's time to what it was this morning, and the dark path from Beijing passes thru Australia, then the South Pole and up thru Argentina and South America. China bears about 340 degrees from me via the great circle path. I think that bearing goes thru daylight passing over the North Pole. Of course it is very difficult to say for sure without Direction Finding capabilities? (Chuck Bolland, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Chuck, Could be. I haven`t had a chance to look at the terminator line in question. Not convenient, as I don`t have geoclock installed. Of course at 340 degrees the path does not actually go over the North Pole for you. If it would be along the grayline it could be either way (Glenn to Chuck, ibid.) ** CHINA. 14260, "Firedrake" (Sound Of Hope jammer); 1046-1300* 13 August, 2006. Continuous ChiCom traditional instrumental/percussion loop. Clear, starting weak but rapidly stronger post-1100, abruptly off at 1300. No trace of 18180 parallel (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) // could be on one of 3 or 4 frequencies in the 17.3-17.4 or 18.1-18.2 MHz range. Firedrake against Sound of Hope was not to be heard Aug 14 at 1320 check on the 14, 17 and 18 MHz bands. Also checked 15265 and 15285 where there was something in Chinese but no jamming, maybe CNR1 on this occasion. But Aug 15 at 1324 it had a good signal on 14260 // 9780, and again at 1358 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COLOMBIA. ``MARCONI`` NOTICIAS DE LA RADIO COLOMBIANA - AGOSTO 2006 Hola ! Hector Arboleda di Medellín ha realizzato un altro bellissimo numero di ``Marconi`` dedicato alle emittenti AM-FM Colombiane, relativo al mese di agosto 2006. Potete visionarlo con i precedenti sulla WEB di PLAYDX http://www.playdx.com/files/medellin81.doc Notevoli le foto dei Dj e le foto degli studi. Hector Arboleda de Medellín ha realizado otro lindo número electrónico de ``Marconi``, noticias del Agosto 2006. Se puedes visionar y también los precedentes números, en la WEB de PLAYDX http://www.playdx.com/files/medellin81.doc Muy preciosas las fotos de los DJ y fotos de los estudios de diferentes emisoras del pujante panorama radiofónico colombiano. Hector Arboleda has produced another electronic bulletin ``Marconi`` N 81 of August 2006, with news and very good photos of DJ and studios of the top stations operating in Colombia in FM & AM. You may look at it visiting the WEB of PLAYDX http://www.playdx.com/files/medellin81.doc (Dario Monferini, Aug 12, playdx yg via DXLD) Very little on AM (gh) ** COSTA RICA. 3350, REE, Aug 10, 0233-0248, Spanish program with classical music, weak, // 6055 (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, RX340, with T2FD antenna, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) i.e. Nuestro Sello ** CROATIA [non]. Unless the same transmission is coming from two different sites with a slight delay, I don`t believe having both signals arriving from different paths. This is referring to this Wed. 16 Spanish service from Radio Croatia 9925 at 0230, with some echo all along the half hour. When I rechecked after 0300, echo effect have disappeared. Any explanation? (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, UT Aug 16, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, these are two different sites in Germany, and we discussed this at length a few weeks ago (gh, DXLD) ** CUBA. 590, Radio Musical Nacional, CMBF; noted running all night, usual talk, opera and classical, xlnt 0740+ 13 August, 2006. It's been a long time since I checked overnight, but in the past they often closed around midnight local and came back up at 6 a.m., or occasionally relayed other national networks overnight on this transmitter. 1620, presume the 60 cycle buzz here is indeed meant for WDHP's relay of Radio Martí local Saturday evenings and, like on shortwave, the Cuban ops don't know when to turn it off. Sporadically strong, 0804+ 13 August, 2006 (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [non]. Radio Cuba Libre is now 0700-0900 UT Monday through Saturday on 9955. Radio República is now 0500-0700 UT daily (7 days), 1000-1400 UT Monday-Friday, 1600-2100 UT daily, and 0200-0400 UT Sunday and Monday. La Voz de la Fundación will be returning to shortwave as of UT September 3 at 0100-0200 UT Sundays. I think we will see some more major expansions of Cuban exile programming soon (Jeff White, 2055 UT Aug 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also U S A Glenn: Peering into my crystal ball with an eye toward October, I would say that Radio República will be about where it is now. Radio Prague will stay the same until Dec. 31st; after that it depends on funding for 2007. La Voz de la Fundación will begin again with that weekly one-hour program I told you about, but don't be surprised if it makes a major expansion by October. I have indications that at least a few other Cuban organizations in Miami will begin regular programs between now and then -- perhaps weekly shows. Beyond that, it's anyone's guess. The Cuban exile broadcasting scene will depend a great deal on the political developments that occur in the near future. The amount of this broadcasting has gone up and down many times over the past 15 years or so, and right now we are definitely seeing a peak in activity (Jeff White, Aug 15, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [non]. 6030, R. Martí, Aug 11, 1020 again heard completely in the clear, with no jamming (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, RX340, with T2FD antenna, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) See CANADA [non] ** CYPRUS. Cyprus Broadcasting Corp., 9760 at 2230-2245 s-off 13 Aug. Greek music. Intermittent DRM QRM. //s (6180 and 7105) inaudible; on air?? Usually all three frequencies heard (Liz Cameron, MI, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** DJIBOUTI. No other African station with more power than those 50 kW listed for Radiodiffusion Television de Djibouti can be heard here in Tiquicia at 0300 [4780]. Fair to good signal but with usual static or distant T-storms of the season. Fading takes place after 0400. I have noted before that no stations on the West African coast with double that power, put the same signal here in their morning hours (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, UT Aug 16, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR. HCJB is STILL announcing the wrong frequency in Spanish, more than two months after I told Allen Graham about it: it`s the same automated ``Albert Einstein`` ID at 1359 UT August 15 on 9745, claiming they are on this and ``11760``, really occupied by Habana. HCJB is supposedly on 11690 at that time tho reception too poor lately with RTTY to be sure (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA [non]. GERMANY: V. of the Democratic Path of Ethiopian Unity, 15565 at 1945-1959 s-off 12 Aug in Amharic. This is the only non-AWR transmission from T-Systems I can hear. Sked thanks to WWDXC and Ivan Ivanov. Moderate at best (Liz Cameron, MI, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GABON. 4777, R. Gabon, Aug 11, 0524-0540, French programming, fair (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, RX340, with T2FD antenna, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Rdf TV Gabonaise, 4777 at 0534 12 Aug in French. Good signal but QRN (Liz Cameron, MI, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY [and non]. VT COMMUNICATIONS AWARDED GERMAN BROADCASTING CONTRACT VT Communications, part of the support services and shipbuilding company VT Group, has been awarded a contract to broadcast a significant number of analogue and digital shortwave programmes for the German public broadcaster, Deutsche Welle. VT Communications will broadcast an initial 90 hours per day of Deutsche Welle programmes, in 14 languages, from its network of UK and global transmission sites, targeting more than 108 countries in Europe, Africa, Asia and South America. The new arrangements will start from January 1 next year. The five-year contract, which provides Deutsche Welle with a highly flexible and cost effective service, includes a significant potential increase in programme hours from May 2007. Doug Umbers, Managing Director, VT Communications said: "We are delighted to be given the opportunity to play such a critical role in broadcasting a significant proportion of Deutsche Welle's worldwide programmes. We are proud to be associated with such an internationally respected broadcaster and look forward to developing the partnership over the coming years". "We were able to respond to Deutsche Welle's requirements in a technical and commercially creative way based on our extensive experience and understanding of the industry, and through our unique technical knowledge and capability." VT Communications, which already owns and operates short wave and medium wave transmitter sites worldwide, will make a multi-million pound investment in its sites in the UK and its partner site in Austria to facilitate Deutsche Welle's analogue and digital broadcasts. This will involve creating a newly re-engineered infrastructure to support the services required, including new transmitters, antennas and support infrastructure, demonstrating VT Communications' commitment to providing state-of-the-art solutions for broadcasters in analogue and digital. (Press release 14/8, photo of masts at Woofferton was attached) (via Mike Barraclough, dxldyg via DXLD) The Wertachtal station at present runs about 115 frequency hours per day for Deutsche Welle (AM only), Nauen something around 33 hours, so both together around 150 hours. I would say going from 90 to 150 hours certainly would be a ´´potential significant increase´´ . . . Remember also that Pro-Funk Gesellschaft zur Rundfunkförderung im In- und Ausland mbH will reportedly install two further transmitters at Sines [PORTUGAL]. Looks like T-Systems could loose Deutsche Welle as customer for shortwave transmission entirely. History repeating at Wertachtal and Nauen, same game than a decade ago at Jülich it seems (Kai Ludwig, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. DTK T-Systems changes: Pan American Broadcasting (PAB) from August 5: 1400-1415 15205 NAU 250 kW / 095 deg Sat to ME in English, new txion CVC International from August 21: 1200-1500 13830 JUL 100 kW / 060 deg to EaEu in English, cancelled 1500-1700 13800 JUL 100 kW / 060 deg to EaEu in English, cancelled (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Aug 15 via DXLD) ** GUINEA. 7125, Radio Conakry, 11/08/2006, 0739, Música africana, noticias, comentarios, SIO/252 (a pesar de que según su esquema acaba las emisiones a las 0800, pude escucharla hasta más allá de las 0820) (Ignacio Sotomayor, Sevilla, Spain, Noticias DX via DXLD) ** INDIA. INDIA CELEBRATES 59 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE There will be special programming on 15 August 2006 with coverage of India's 59th Independence Day celebrations. Sound broadcasting started in India in 1927 with the proliferation of private radio clubs. The operations of All India Radio began formally in 1936, as a government organisation, with clear objectives to inform, educate and entertain the masses. When India attained Independence in 1947, AIR had a network of six stations and a complement of 18 transmitters. The coverage was 2.5% of the area and just 11% of the population. Rapid expansion of the network took place post Independence. AIR today has a network of 223 broadcasting centres with 143 medium frequency (MW), 54 high frequency (SW) and 161 FM transmitters. The coverage is 91.42% of the area , serving 99.13% of the people in the largest democracy of the world. AIR covers 24 Languages and 146 dialects in home services. In External services, it covers 27 languages; 17 national and 10 foreign languages. Listeners are requested to send Reception Report and Comments on the programmes to the Director of External Services, All India Radio, Post Box No. 500, New Delhi- 110001 (India). Reception reports on technical quality of the programmes are welcome and may be sent to the Director (Spectrum Management), All India Radio, Room No. 204, Akashvani Bhavan, New Delhi-110 001 (India). Telefax 91-11-23421062, 91-11-23421145. E-mail-spectrum-manager @ air.org.in http://www.allindiaradio.gov.in/about1.html (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) On the yg well in advance 8/13 (gh) Special broadcasts on 15 August 2006, India's Independence Day Dear Friends, On the occasion of the 59th Independence Day celebrations of India, All India Radio will broadcast the running commentary of the flag hoisting ceremony at Red Fort, New Delhi on 15 August 2006 as follows at 0135-0240 UT: Hindi: 6030, 6155 & 15135 Kingsway, 9595 & 11620 Khampur. English: 4860 & 11830 Kingsway, 9950 Aligarh, 13630 Bangalore, 15050 Khampur. (Note: Kingsway 50 kW, & Khampur 250 kW are separate Transmitter locations in New Delhi. Aligarh is 250 kW and Bangalore 500 kW). The Regional SW stations will change over to their daytime frequencies about 1 hour earlier than usual as follows on that day providing interesting reception opportunities: 0130 UT: 7115 Port Blair,7140 Chennai, 7150 Imphal, 7160 Chennai, 7180 Bhopal, 7210 Kolkata, 7290 Thiruvanathapuram. 0025-0400 UT: 6020 Shimla Reception Reports may be sent to AIR at: http://www.allindiaradio.gov.in/recepfdk.html or to spectrum-manager @ air.org.in All India Radio would also relay President Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam’s Address to the Nation on the eve of Independence Day i.e. 14th August 2006 at 1400-1430 UT which will be relayed by all stations of AIR (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, Hyderabad, Aug 12, dx_india via dxldyg via DXLD) ** INDONESIA. 9526, VOI, completely off the air on Aug 11 and 12, during random checking from 0830 to 1400. [still off Aug 15 -- -gh] 15149.8, VOI, Aug 11 and 12, 0833-0900, in English, usual canned ID, news, songs/ballads, ``news in brief``, 0859 usual announcement for the end of their segment in English, poor-fair. The reception here cannot compare to the past good reception on 9525/26 (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, RX340, with T2FD antenna, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) [and non]. See IRAN; then: Re: RRI / VOIRI 15150 --- Raul, I'm undecided. My first thought was a daylight path from the east but Terry's log at sunrise makes me wonder. He would have virtually a total daylight path from the east and from the west it would be virtually all dark. But he couldn't hear them from either direction. But 3 or 4 hours later and from about a 1000 miles west I had a fair signal. From the west (short path) my path would be mixed (probably about 50/50 daylight/darkness). At that same time (1530-1630z) a fully daylight path from Ascension on 15400 was poor. Indonesia from the east would have a similar path as Ascension but would be about twice as far. After all this I'm still on the fence but leaning toward a short path from the west. I wonder if there is a good test that could be applied to make us certain? (Jerry Lenamon, Waco, Texas, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Jerry, in no way I consider that arriving from RRI is from the West. Services from 1600 on note Arabic at 1600, then Spanish at 1700, German at 1800 and finally French at 1900. So they are pointing to Central Europe and the Middle East as WRTH confirms. It is clear that propagation is not at its best but I can’t imagine having any signal from the Pacific on 19m close to noon, when I too have heard that Spanish Service from Jakarta. Even my older daughter was surprised on Saturday, April 1st when she heard the announcer saying ``La Voz de Indonesia``, she went ``Jueee...!``. Till this day, I’ve never got another incredible S4 as it was then. BTW, RRI is dominant on 15150 with mostly poor to fair signals and I have never tuned VOIRI on this channel. Most of the time BBCWS 17830 Ascension is a regular here even around noon, when propagation tends to decrease. Of course some days more noisy and fadey than others (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, ibid.) Some bands are borderline, capable of propagating over both night and day paths. Of course where the border is, is always fluxuating. Everyone should have a rotatable log-periodic antenna, unidirexional! Like Don Moman and Mick Delmage but both of them are in Alberta. 73, (Glenn, ibid.) ** INDONESIA. Surprise to hear VOI 4 for the first time in English after 1000 this Sunday 13 with Rebecca promoting Asia Calling giving some addresses to subscribe, but next a song called ``Cacao`` or something like that, invited me to turn off and get back to sleep. How disgusting it is that the rap crap music (?) --- a plain offense to human intelligence --- has invaded all four corners of the globe, most of all in the case of Indonesia, having they one of the finest repertoire one can listen to on SW (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Raúl, Glad to see someone other than myself finally report on this English program that is aired Sunday and Wednesday. Today I also enjoyed their program (please see my log below). I fully understand about your comments about the music played, but we must understand that this program is directed primarily towards young Indonesian students who are studying English. Kang Guru Radio English has to appeal to their current interests to get their attention. At least the rap/rock/pop songs that are played are mostly by Asian singers. To learn more about KGRE, see their website http://www.kangguru.org/ 9680, RRI Jakarta, Aug 13 (Sun.), 1000-1020, Kevin and Caroline present KGRE program #5202, same program heard July 12 (Wed.) and July 16 (Sun.); ``KGRE Newsroom``, with Fiona commenting about TV in Indonesia; Rebecca from "Asia Calling" (a news program in English), asking listeners to "send in a SMS text message to 0811178026" if they want it aired on their local radio station and gives website http://asiacalling.kbr68h.com/ followed by Malaysian singer (Adam) with ``Tak Tahu``(Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, Etón E5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. FCC SEEKING MORE DATA FROM XM RADIO From Bloomberg News August 12, 2006 http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-briefs12.1aug12,1,6433966.story?coll=la-headlines-business The Federal Communications Commission stepped up its inquiry into radios sold by XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc., the largest pay-radio provider. XM said in a regulatory filing that the commission asked the company this week to detail how and why its products strayed from FCC rules. The Washington-based company said it would respond promptly. The FCC's move is a setback for XM in its efforts to get radios back on store shelves after the commission said some of the devices' wireless signals were too strong. The company has twice lowered its subscriber forecast because of product shortages (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) ** IRAN [and non]. 15150, VoIRI, Sirjan; 1115-1133 13 August, 2006. Arabic service, M, Farsi vocals. VoIRI chimes 1130, into Arabic M newscast. Fair, with het from presumed V of Indonesia-15149.81 (virtually no audio). (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Terry, Regarding VOIRI, the het was still there at 1535z until tune out at 1635z on Sunday 8/13/06. I definitely had Indonesia on top with some music, some Kor`an and some talking (female and male). I heard no audio from Iran but the het was persistent. I had pegged Indonesia on 19m at this time as a long path from the east with a mostly daylight path but your log makes me think otherwise. If I'm correct in assuming it is near sunrise in Florida at 1130z and that my reception at 1535z was almost 4 hours after sunrise then it seems to make sense that the path was from the west. I think??? Anyway, I'm surprised that 19m will support such a long, dark path with sunspot numbers as low as they are. But then long, daylight paths aren't working very well either. For example, BBC from Ascension on 13m isn't available here most days (is it still on?) and 16m is so noisy and weak that it's an irritation. Oh well, only 5 or 6 years till nirvana (Jerry Lenamon, Waco Texas, Drake R8B with sloper, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) If you mean 21470 BBC Ascension, yes, I still sometimes hear bits of it (gh, DXLD) ** JAPAN. NHK TO ELIMINATE SW TO EUROPE AND NORTH AMERICA ENTIRELY Perhaps you will remember that I considered the first reports about the Radio Japan cuts as ambiguous, wondering if English and Japanese to Europe and North America will be reduced or eliminated altogether. Today the German service covered the matter, and in the enclosed message they are quoted as saying that indeed the shortwave transmissions to Eu and NAm will be canceled entirely. They also said that they plan to double the airtime for their mailbag show in two weeks. Seems they expect a big load of letters (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Aug 13, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: -----Original Message----- Date: Sun, 13 Aug 2006 13:27:51 +0200 Subject: [A-DX] Einsparungen bei NHK From: Lutz Andreas To: "A-DX, Liste" Hallo, im deutschen Programm wurden gerade die offiziellen Pläne von NHK verlesen. Demnach soll das englischsprachige Auslands-TV gestärkt werden und ab Oktober 2007 die KW-Austrahlungen nach Nordamerika und Westeuropa eingestellt. Die Sprachdienste Schwedisch, Italienisch, Malay und Deutsch verschwinden zu diesem Zeitpunkt. Das Vorhaben war ja aus anderen Quellen zu vernehmen, nun ist es amtlich. 73s, (Lutz Andreas, Aug 13, A-DX via Kai Ludwig, DXLD) Yeah, everyone in international broadcasting business knows that it's dangerous to mess with German SW listeners. I remember visiting R. Sofia in the summer of 1992. A local newspaper just published an article calling for shutting down of international radio service from Bulgaria. Everyone at R. Sofia seemed to be worried except for the German department people. Their offices walls were plastered with post cards, stickers and photos of their listeners. At that time they spoke perfect Russian at every language service of R. Sofia. So the German service people told me, "Oh, we aren't worried. Our listeners won't let them shut us down." I've had a chance to visit quite a few of international broadcasters in Europe and the Americas. I can say that the German service at every station seemed to have enjoyed the most support from their audience. The German SW listeners are the best in the world when it comes to keeping in touch with all those broadcasters. Everyone else in the SWL/DX community is way too lazy even to drop a short email... And then those people get upset when their favorite station is gone. Go figure! Question. NHK people want to shut down the German service completely? Or it will be internet-only? (Sergei Sosedkin, IL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, I understand that NHK will stop producing programming in German, Italian, Swedish and Malay entirely (Kai Ludwig, ibid.) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. Shiokaze-2, 9485, Monday Aug 14 at 1315 check was in Japanese, and Tuesday Aug 14 at 1319 in Korean, both with good signals. I have yet to hear them in Chinese (Mandarin?) and wonder if English be only on Fridays. I should point out that Shiokaze-2 was in English two consecutive Fridays, Aug 4 & 11, so is a pattern emerging? For the 1300-1330 broadcast via Taiwan on 9485. I would not hazard a guess what other day of the week may appear in English, and just wait --- the third Friday Aug 18 will probably break the progression (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. VOICE OF HOPE [not the name of a station] Kim Seong-min has stopped hiding. Eight months after his Free North Korea Radio station went live on shortwave, the 44-year-old says he no longer worries about assassins being sent from Pyongyang to eliminate him. Nor does he fear the left-wing students and union activists who have assaulted him in the past over his broadcasts. He does worry, however, about reprisals against the family he left behind in North Korea when he chose to defect. "When I first arrived in Seoul, I was terrified, but I realized that worrying changes nothing. Anyway, I don't think the North Koreans would send a team over to kill me because it would be too expensive for just one man. "My parents were both dead by the time I left, but I'm not sure if my five older sisters have been punished for my defection," he said, looking down at the table. "I'm not in contact with them." Mr Kim and a handful of others work from a basement studio in the South Korean capital, broadcasting interviews with other defectors as well as news and analysis in dialects spoken north of the border. His story is similar to thousands who fled life in the North for better prospects in South Korea, waiting for a day when the country shakes off the shackles of Kim Jong-il's regime. The latest flood disaster, in which an estimated 10,000 people have perished, underscores their fears for friends and relatives. Kim Seong-min endured years of famine in the North during a life spent partly in hiding in China after his first escape. That effort ended in arrest and torture before his second escape. Now, seven years after arriving in South Korea, he finds himself criticized by people who he says are wrong to be cosying up to a regime he knows first- hand. But it's the same government that he believes will one day collapse. "When I was born, my father had just been 'revolutionized'," he said. "He had been a poet and wrote a book of poetry called Land of Gold, but it was criticized by the government for being revisionist and they sent him to work as a labourer in a factory in the far north, near the Chinese border," Mr Kim said. The family was allowed to return to Pyongyang two years later. From a poor family and not eligible to go to university straight away, Mr Kim went into the military when he was 17 and made rapid progress through the ranks, eventually becoming a captain in the long- range artillery division. When he was stationed near border areas, he could tune in to South Korean television and listen to Radio Free Asia. Propaganda leaflets from the South also gave him a glimpse into the world beyond North Korea's closed borders. "People there don't believe a lot of what they hear from outside, but slowly, if they ask friends who have relatives abroad or they hear the rumours enough, they begin to get suspicious of what they're being told by the government," he said. "I only began to believe reports about North Korea's nuclear programme at Yongbyong after hearing about it from several people." After leaving the army, Mr Kim went to a teacher training college, but decided to defect when Kim Il-sung died in July 1994. "I can't say too much about how I escaped because it might make the journey more difficult for other people," he said. "I chose a stretch of the Tumen River that is not so deep and I waded across early in the morning. I had to avoid the military patrols, which are stationed about 100 metres apart, and the water was chest deep. I brought a bag of books and a toothbrush and toothpaste with me. The guards shoot at people often, but I thought they were only blanks. Now, I've been told that they use live rounds." Once over the border into China, he found work in a brick factory and then in a Korean church, but he was caught by the Chinese police after four years and sent back over the border. "The North Korean border security officials tortured me, breaking both my little fingers and beating me for hours on end over 10 days," he said. "My body was covered in blood from the beatings and I thought I was going to die. Then they put me on a train with two guards for the journey to Pyongyang. Because I was a former army officer, I would have been publicly executed, so I jumped off the train after telling my guards I needed to go to the toilet. "It took three days to get my handcuffs off, as the swelling in my arms from the beatings went down, and nine days to walk and hitch back to the Chinese border," he said. "I got over the river again and when I took my first shower in a month I found 28 ticks beneath my skin. I hadn't even noticed. It was then that I broke down crying." This time, Mr Kim did not linger in China. Relatives in South Korea helped him get a fake passport and he flew from Dalian to Seoul in February 1999. Immigration officials immediately realized the passport was fake, but that was of little consequence as it only needed to be good enough to get past the Chinese. He was taken away by South Korean intelligence and questioned for seven months. Defectors are usually only held for two months, but Mr Kim's expertise in long- range artillery meant he was of added interest. He was also questioned by US officials. After his release, Mr Kim worked briefly for his relatives before reading literature at graduate school. He then worked for a defectors' association as he planned the radio station. Free North Korea started with web radio broadcasts on 20 April 2003, but shortwave programming now goes out on 5880 kHz twice a day for 30 minutes. That frequency will have to change, Mr Kim says, because the North Koreans keep jamming it. The programmes go via a British company, VT Communications, and are rebroadcast via Mongolia, Vietnam [! gh] and Russia. "We know that the people over there are hearing us," Mr Kim said. "Twelve per cent of the defectors from North Korea told a local Christian aid organization in Seoul that they listened to us before they made their mind up to go." The survey, conducted in May, involved more than 1,000 refugees. "Church groups and non-governmental organizations are trying to send radios over the border, as well as other aid, while the South Korean government used to send shortwave radios into the North attached to small hot-air balloons," he said. "When I was in the army, we used to get dozens of balloons coming over with things like watches, ballpoint pens, cigarettes and instant noodles hanging beneath them." And while the previous South Korean government used to bring pressure to bear on the North, the present administration's "sunshine policy" is a mistake, Mr Kim believes. "I used my savings and the money I received from the South Korean government as a defector, 150 million won [158,400 US dollars] to set up the station," he said. "The South Korean government should be doing this, but they're more interested in trying to befriend Pyongyang. "Believe me, North Korean people want more food, but they want psychological help and mental 'food' much more. I want the government to change and for the Grand National Party to come in so we can correct our policies towards the North. But there are many people here who protest against what I'm trying to do. "Students and left-wing groups have protested against us and I've been threatened countless times. I've been knocked unconscious and now there are two plain-clothes police on the street outside around the clock. We have had to change our offices three times and I used to carry a gas gun." Mr Kim met US President George W. Bush in April during "North Korea Freedom Week", and after their brief conversation, Mr Bush announced the US was opening its borders to allow more North Korean defectors to live there. Mr Kim lives in the Yang Chun Gu district of Seoul with his wife, Moon Myung-ok, 39, and their nine-year-old daughter - who does not know that her father is a defector from the North. He met his wife in China and they escaped separately to South Korea. Of the 8,000 people who have managed to leave the North and settle in the South, 3,000 live in the neighbourhood. Many refuse to tell outsiders their home addresses and have suffered discrimination because employers don't know if they can trust them. But Mr Kim is firm in his belief that change is coming. "I think that as soon as Kim Jong-il dies, North and South will be reunited as his successor will have to open the country up," he said. "But we must also continue the pressure on the regime there." (South China Morning Post [Hong Kong], Aug 11, via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** KOREA SOUTH. Re 1566 kHz, 6-122: Nick: I've heard a fair bit of EE on HLAZ in the last year or so. Sorry I didn't write down the times, but I have a recording or two that will tell me the times when I dig them out. The format seems to be a few sentences (or a bit more) of EE followed by what seems to be the same thing in another language (Chuck Hutton, WA, Aug 12, IRCA via DXLD) I have heard them do just that numerous times in Chinese, Korean, and Japanese. They broadcast programs like this to capitalize on people's desire to learn English so they can "preach the gospel" at the same time (Bill Harms, ibid.) I heard similar programming on Family Radio Taiwan 1557 last season. In this case it was EE/Chinese, and I have to assume it was done for the reasons mentioned by Bill.. The English phrases were spoken considerably slower than VOA's Special English. I found it rather painful listening, but Chinese listeners were probably grateful for it (assuming they were trying to learn English). (Bruce Portzer, WA, ibid.) I have noticed HLAZ with English in its broadcasts. April 2. 2006 at Grayland HLAZ was heard at 1039 UT with English religious program (Dennis Vroom, Vancouver, WA, ibid.) Mystery solved - http://jfebc.febc.net/2004new/broadcasting/broadcasting.html HLAZ broadcasts a program from 1030 to 1130 M-Sa called English Bible Fellowship, which according to their program schedule in Korean is produced in Seoul as part of their Chinese language schedule. Bruce, maybe the fact that HLAZ has bi-lingual programs can be included in the Asian-Pacific Log so that DXers in the future can avoid confusion (Bill Harms, ibid.) [later:] Oops, I am off by a couple of hours. The program schedule is 1030-1100 with English Bible Fellowship in KOREAN (not Chinese). The start Chinese at 1100. I am not sure about the broadcast at the time Nick was listening as I don't read Chinese http://www.febcchinese.org/ I will keep looking for a while to see if I can find something. Note their schedule was posted in 2004, so there maybe some recent changes (Bill Harms, ibid.) HLAZ was in Russian after 1300, but I did not note it earlier (Patrick Martin, OR, Aug 13, IRCA via DXLD) That's a schedule change for HLAZ then, Patrick, as they've been Japanese from 1230 to 1345 UT for many years. Will have to listen further for this (Nick Hall-Patch, BC, ibid.) This is the schedule for HLAZ taken from their website at http://jfebc.febc.net/2004new/broadcasting/broadcasting.htm Note the year 2004 in the URL. Based on what I see on their web site there is no way to determine if they have changed their schedule and neglected to update their website. 1900-1100 Korean 1100-1230 Chinese 1230-1345 Japanese 1345-1730 Chinese 1730-1800 Russian 1800-1900 Off? That is exactly the same schedule I heard at their sign/off announcement a couple of years and which appears in the Pacific- Asian Log Online Radio Station Guide. Russian after 1300 would be news (Bill Harms, ibid.) I wonder if HLAZ does Russian on Sundays at a different time than during the week? I generally don't may much attention to them, other than look for India. Bill, It is also possible they were running some Russian "filler" or had a special program. Since I rarely listen to HLAZ, I don't follow their schedule. I generally am on 1566 when I am looking for Nagpur. I will try to catch them tomorrow and see if they are in Russian again. 73, (Patrick Martin, OR, ibid.) Re 4-100, July 1, 2004: ``KOREA SOUTH. The following is the schedule for HLAZ-1566. I got this from their sign off announcement in Korean on 26 March at 1100. Chinese 1100-1230, Japanese 1230-1345, Chinese 1345-1730, Russian 1730-1800, Korean 1900-1100 (Bill Harms, Maryland, IRCA Soft DX Monitor July 3 via DXLD) How or whence did you hear it?`` Glenn: I believe I did not answer your question originally. I heard this from their internet audio stream. I was unable to find a live broadcast on their site this morning, plus they appear to have made some changes to their schedule according to their Korean language pages (Bill Harms, Elkridge, Maryland, Aug 13, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LIBYA [non]. African music jammer was on 17690, Aug 14 at 1403 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALAYSIA. Re: Meanwhile I see that http://www.publicradiofan.com has added Malaysia, but only the TV streams; maybe the radio is too commercial?: http://www.publicradiofan.com/cgi-bin/statsearch.pl?country=Malaysia No, actually I had entered all of them, but on the radio streams I accidentally left one of the database fields blank that caused those stations to not display. Thanks for noticing -- fixed now, 12 stations on the page linked above. (Kevin Kelly, Bedford, Massachusetts, USA http://www.publicradiofan.com/ Aug 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. XEOI, R. Mil, 6010, fair signal, which means much better than usual, at 1345 (full daylight path), Aug 13 with ID in passing, temp as 14 degrees, I think they said; that cold? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGER. Poor signal for what I heard at 2240, and honestly I can`t tell if it was Arabic or French. But today it didn`t happen as I was expecting when AIR signs on at 2245, which showed a weaker signal this time. I made some additional checking near TOH to confirm if it was La Voix du Sahel, caught my attention a children choral singing with seemed to be the NA at 2300 (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, Aug 14, dxldyg via DXLD) 9705 ** NIGER [non]. Re 6-117, Rumen Pankov`s remark that Taiwan probably refurbished the Sahel 9705 transmitter : no, it was the next country Taiwan was reported aiding, BURKINA FASO, as in 6-076 (gh, DXLD) ** NIGERIA. Things seems to be back to normal with the Voice of Nigeria, heard yesterday and confirmed this Sunday 13, in the sense they are closing transmission in English at 2100 on 15120, crossing to 7255 with French and Hausa till 2300. Fair to poor signals and obviously more static noise in the 41 mb due to the present rainy season, something slightly perceptible in the 19 mb. Lately I have not been lucky with the English transmissions from Abuja on 7275, heard with strong signal a couple of months ago around 0600 (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, Aug 13, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA. I've been looking around but I can't seem to find any info about Radio Nigeria, Enugu closing down, though from what I can see it has. Just curious, as that would put another NASWA country off the list: Biafra. Any idea when it may have shut down? It's no longer on the BDXC Africa list (Steve Lare, Holland, MI, USA, Aug 15, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. Persecution of Atheists: see TIPS FOR RATIONAL LIVING ** PERU. 4746.80, Radio Huanta Dos Mil, 1012-1034 Aug 13. Noted a person in Spanish comments. At 1013, canned promos presented followed with more live comments. At 1018, music then comments again. Heard ID, "...Huanta Dos..." after music at 1027. More promos at 1031. Signal was poor (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston, Florida, nrd545, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 4835.5, Radio Marañón, Jaen off the air for three out of five mornings 1000 to 1130 including 12 and 13 August (Robert Wilkner, Pompano Beach, Florida, Sony 2010, R7, NRD 535D, Hard-Core-DX mailing list via DXLD) ** PERU. R. Victoria, 6019.8 at 0544 12 Aug in Spanish under heterodyne. Weak (Liz Cameron, MI, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SCOTLAND. Orkney - The Superstation testing / The Communicator / Wireless Museum [Moderator: See also BDXC Communication July issue p. 36 and August issue p. 15 for recent photos of the MV Communicator taken by Colin Wright on a visit to Orkney in May.] There is currently much of interest for radio anoraks in the Orkney Islands. I am currently listening to tests from the The Superstation via http://www.thesuperstation.co.uk/ The website states "4th August - we are currently providing intermittent test transmissions on line that are liable to interruption. To listen, click the links above!" "The Superstation will be a community-focussed station devoted to the people of Orkney. It will aim to provide news, views and information as well as music, to all Orcadians. Licensed: 08 September 2005" http://www.commedia.org.uk/about-community-media/community-radio/ They have a superb jingle package and varied test playlist. I assume The Communicator in Kirkwall will or is being used although the ship needs some repair according to some reports. There are pictures of The Communicator in Orkney on the The DX Archive at http://193.63.162.100/offshore_orkney.htm Surprisingly I can find no press reports on the websites of the two local papers. There are webcams of Orkney, including Kirkwall, at http://www.visitorkney.com/webcams.asp Also in Orkney the Orkney Wireless Museum Amateur Radio Station will be in operation as GB2OWM from Kiln Corner, Kirkwall between 31 August and 6 September 2006 during the 16th Orkney Science Festival. Activity will be primarily on HF SSB. This news from http://www.rsgb.org/news/gb2rs.htm (Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) ** SLOVAKIA. DE VISITA A RADIO ESLOVAQUIA INTERNACIONAL Saludos cordiales desde las maravillosas tierras de Eslovaquia; los dias 13 y 14 de Agosto estuve de visita en la redacción de Radio Eslovaquia Int. Allí pude conocer y conversar con Ladislava, también con José Mas y José Portuondo. El encuentro fue muy especial y emotivo. Tras conversar largamente, me ensenyaron todo el edificio de la pirámide invertida, las diferentes redacciones, así como los estudios de grabación, donde fui objeto de un abordaje y no tuve más remedio que ponerme delante del micrófono y leer el tema del día; así pues si quieren escuchar mi voz, pueden bajarse el espacio Tema del Día correspondiente al 14 de Agosto. La situación en las redacciones internacionales de RSI es dramática; en estos momentos la redacción eslovaca ha desaparecido completamente, las redacciones alemana, rusa, inglesa y francesa cuentan con dos redactores y una programación de treinta minutos. La redacción espanyola cuenta con una redactora a tiempo completo y dos redactores a tiempo parcial; la programación se limita a las noticias y el tema del día. La figura de jefe de redacción ha sido eliminado; ahora tan solo existe una jefa de la sección internacional. Han sido despedidos los asesores musicales y tan solo cuentan con dos técnicos de sonido, aunque ahora hay uno de vacaciones y tan solo hay una técnica de sonido para todas las redacciones. A poco más de un mes de estar emitiendo por intranet y satélite, ya se está pensando eliminar las transmisiones via satélite y buscar convenios con emisoras por FM. La posibilidad de regresar a la onda corta aun existe, pero es remota y todo depende de la voluntad política.Bueno, a mi regreso ya ampliaré un poco más la información. (Jose Miguel Romero, Aug 15, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOUTH AFRICA. CVC Christian Voice Communications --- This is a relatively new voice on SW in Southern Africa heard during the day. They announce that their website is: http://www.cvc.tv A difficult website to get a real idea of this radio station's content on SW. Using: 9555, 0515-1545 daily via Meyerton South Africa (David Pringle- Wood, Zimbabwe, Aug 15, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Stealth evangelism (gh) ** SUDAN [non]. Mystery station --- Glenn: Haven't caught any mention of 9905 at 0400! Some days there is a 5 min summary of African relief news, before they lapse into (I assume) Swahili. There was a good ID of frequencies & East Africa. I did catch that they do this 5 minutes in English on 3 or 4 days a week. Didn't have the tape recorder near, and I couldn't tell what they were saying as Radio M?.....? Later tries have been frustrated by some neighboring AC noise. You probably know this mini-broadcast, but just in case. Keep cool as possible! (Howard Box, Oak Ridge TN, Aug 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Last reported in 6-076, and I just heard it too; scheduled Sat thru Tue only: R. Nile, via Madagascar, 12060 // 9905 with hilife to cut off abruptly with no closing announcement at 0457* Aug 13 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAIWAN. RTI testing new frequency --- RTI has received reports of poor reception on 9610 in Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines and the Eastern part of Indonesia. As a result, we will begin test broadcasts on 11715 for a period of five days starting Aug. 19 (Taipei Time) to Aug. 25, from 0800 to 0900 UT. We invite listeners in these areas to tune in and offer us feedback so that we may better serve you! (RTI Website via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, Aug 15, dxldyg via DXLD) In English Additional frequency for Radio Taiwan International in Chinese: 1400- 1500 on 7520 (45444) (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Aug 15 via DXLD) ** U K. BBC CORRESPONDENTS ABROAD 'TOO WHITE' --- The corporation's new diversity tsar wants to establish 'cultural accuracy' among staff Rob Sharp, arts and media correspondent, Sunday August 13, 2006, Observer The BBC's team of foreign correspondents should come from the same ethnic background as the country they are reporting from, according to the corporation's new diversity tsar. Speaking in her first interview in the newly-created role, BBC 'editorial executive of diversity', Mary Fitzpatrick, who is consulted on all decisions about television content at the BBC, said the 'cultural accuracy' among reporting staff was on her hitlist. She said there were too many white reporters reporting from non-white nations, particularly in Africa. . . http://observer.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,329552055-102285,00.html (via Dan Say, DXLD) [Re: cutting services as under Japan] But apparently not everybody thinks that it would hurt them in any way. First example here is the BBC WS who obviously believed that shutting down the German service would do no harm to their reputation in Germany. Probably not so; I just heard an opinion from a Berlin journalist who said that she no longer listens to BBC WS since it's in her opinion not worth the trouble to deal with a foreign language. By the way, if I recall correctly, also Mark Byford himself appeared on the farewell programme of the German service. A side aspect: What do native speakers of other languages think about the BBC's practice to use speakers with heavy accents for voice-over translations? To a German ear this sounds ridiculous, even having a smell of racial discrimination (Kai Ludwig, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) To me this practice does not seem particularly appalling. I think it just shows that English can be spoken correctly by people in many parts of the world. On the other hand, and this has to do with the NHK, I dislike the monologues of certain NHK services, at least those in Swedish and Italian, where one can hardly distinguish the interviewee´s quotations from the editorial text. In the French, German and Spanish services there are usually two speakers available, one to read the main text, and another one to take care of the translated quotations (Henrik Klemetz, Sweden, ibid.) It was foolish of BBC to leave the major radio market in Europe. Around that time BBC also lost a sizable loyal audience in Finland after dropping its Finnish service. I believe both language services could have easily become self-sustaining. BBCWS is great for improving one's English skills. But most people in continental Europe aren't that desperate for news to listen to listen to a foreign-language radio. It's a very strong tradition in the Anglo-American media. I personally don't find it helpful and we don't have anything similar in Russia. But I guess that's what the English-speaking people expect. If it's a Chekhov's play produced by a Chicago theater group, everyone in the cast has to speak with a "Russian" accent. Often, the actors spend more effort on faking their accents than on anything else. Again, a very strange concept from the Russian point of view, even though it does sound a bit like a Stanislavsky method. (Sergei Sosedkin, IL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ORKNEY: see also SCOTLAND ** U S A [non]. Updated summer A-06 of Radio Free Asia (RFA): BURMESE 0030-0130 13820 13865 17835 1230-1330 9315 9455 13675 CANTONESE 1400-1500 9780 11595 2200-2300 9355 11785 13865 KHMER 1230-1330 13645 15525 2230-2330 7520 13740 KOREAN 1500-1700 7210 9385 13625 2100-2300 7460 9385 9770 12075 LAOTIAN 0000-0100 12015 15545 1100-1200 9355 15560 MANDARIN 0300-0600 11705 13670 13760 15130 15685 17615 17880 21690 0600-0700 11705 13670 13760 15165 15685 17615 17880 1500-1600 9455 9905 11765 12025 13675 13725 15495 1600-1700 9455 9905 11795 12025 13675 13715 15530 1700-1800 7280 9355 9455 9530 9540 9905 11795 13625 13715 1800-1900 7280 7355 9355 9455 9540 9865 11700 13625 15510 1900-2000 1098 7260 7355 9355 9455 9850 9865 9905 11700 11785 13625 15510 2000-2100 1098 7260 7355 9355 9455 9850 9905 11700 11740 11785 13625 2100-2200 1098 7105 7355 9850 9910 11740 11935 13625 2300-2400 7540 11760 13670 13775 15430 15585 TIBETAN 0100-0300 9365 11695 11975 15225 17730 0600-0700 17510 17780 21500 21690 1100-1200 7470 13830 15510 17855 1200-1400 7470 11590 13625 13830 15510 1500-1600 11550 11705 11795 13825 2300-2400 7470 7500 9805 9875 UIGHUR 0100-0200 9350 11895 11945 17640 17695 1600-1700 9350 9370 9555 11750 VIETNAMESE 1400-1500 5855 9310 9455 9715 11605 13680 13775 2330-0030 7525 11580 11605 11670 13740 15535 15560 (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Aug 15 via DXLD) ** U S A. Glenn: I am doing the schedule right now. At the moment, I have WOR at 1230 UT Saturday on 9955, 1430 UT Saturday on 7385, 0800 UT Sunday on 9955, and I have a new temporary airing at 1530 UT Sunday on 7385. I still have La Rosa de Tokio at 0700 UT Sunday on 9955 (but not Saturday). (Jeff White, 2055 UT Aug 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also CUBA [non] Checked webcast Sunday Aug 13; before 1530 some gospel huxter had replaced Wavescan, and did not give name of show or contact info at closing. WOR confirmed at 1530 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENIING DIGEST) Wavescan, at the moment we've got it at 1330 UT Saturday on 9955, 0830 Sunday on 9955 (Jeff White, WRMI, Aug 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Checked again on Aug 15, a month after it originally aired, KTVT`s erroneous story on WRNO being on the air is still available on their website http://cbs11tv.com/topstories/local_story_197233011.html They never replied to our message trying to set them straight. Do not rely on this station for accurate local news (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [and non]. QSLing AFRTS --- I think some DXers have made this discovery, but here is the official announcement. Please emphasize DXers need to be polite and respectful, especially those sending follow up reports (Russ Lay, Aug 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: Mr. Lay, The POC information for the QSL cards is as follows: Email: qsl @ dodmedia.osd.mil Address: Naval Media Center Detachment, Defense Media Center 23755 Z Street, BLDG 2730 Riverside, CA 92518 ATT: Officer In Charge V/R MCCS(SW/AW) Robert Winkler (via Russ Lay, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Navy MARS net, 7391.5 SSB I ran across, Mon Aug 14 at 1425, with NNN0AYB as NCS at least part of the time, other NNN0 calls contacted including -HHO [Joseph, TX], -ZLC Jack, -HBK, -FWM [Timothy, TX], -ADF at varying strengths and not all of them could hear each other. They appeared to be in TX or other SW states. Google found this list of 172 ALE participants, giving only region, name, state and call but included only those bracketed above http://navymars.org/national/ale/ALEByRegionN-MC.xls (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Last night, WHKY, 1290 Hickory, NC, dominated the frequency all night. Hard to believe that they weren't on their 50,000 watt day rig. They have a westbound pattern on their day coverage; should make it well inland if not to the west coast if in fact they are, ahem, "forgetting" to switch pattern/power. 73 (Chris K4CME, Upstate South Carolina, Aug 12, NRC-AM via DXLD) 1290 KKAR and 1620 KOZN "The Zone" were both off the air from 2000 CDT to at least 2130 + received station WHKY 1290 Hickory, NC with KKAR off air (William Snyder, Omaha NE, IRCA via DXLD) Bill, That was a helluva catch in Omaha. Sounds like that Ford radio is hot (Kevin Redding, ibid.) And WHKY often has problems with the device that changes power and pattern (Powell E. Way, III, SC, ibid.) Radio Locator shows them WHKY as 50,000 day and just 1,000 watts at night. My reception of them was near sunset here at Omaha, NE so it should be dark in N.C. Perhaps they just forgot to drop power to the 1,000. 50,000 watts will be heard a LOT farther than any 1,000 watter, and the pattern looked okay towards the west. A catch I will likely never repeat (Bill 'Oldphones" Snyder, Omaha, NE, IRCA via DXLD ** U S A. 1690, GEORGIA, WMLB, Avondale Estates; 0812- 13 August, 2006. Nonstop opera (Italian W) and classical chamber music, very strong on peaks over second station with talk format. Canned promo by M at 0816, "... dawn in Atlanta... AM 1690, The Voice of the Arts." Judging by their URL, this looks like a pretty eclectic station, one that probably won't survive long. We can't have that (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WLIB vs WWRL, Air America in NYC: see PROPAGATION ** U S A. Making waves --- The people at Chicago Public Radio want to put you on the air. Their radical plan to reinvent radio could fail—or it just might revolutionize broadcast media. . . By Margaret Lyons http://www.timeout.com/chicago/Details.do?page=1&xyurl=xyl://TOCWebArticles2/76/features/making_waves.xml (via Ken Kopp, dxldyg via DXLD) ** U S A. Philadelphia 106.1 WJJZ Format Change --- The change actually took place on this past Thursday at 12 Noon [EDT = 1600 UT], with WJJZ changing to the format known as "Rhythmic Adult Contemporary" as "Philly's 106-1". (I actually am a board-op at WJJZ.) No new calls have been announced yet. WSNI "Sunny 104.5" also signed off at the same time, and is currently simulcasting 106.1. 104.5 is expected to be running a new format sometime early this coming week. A sad time for Smooth Jazz fans (and Smooth Jazz is so easy to ID in an E-Skip opening!). (Nick Langan, Florence, NJ, Aug 13, WTFDA via DXLD) ** U S A. 1610 [no call known], WA, Cape Disappointment, new TIS here operated by the CG with repeated message "This is United States Coast Guard Air Station, Cape Disappointment, broadcasting for future bar warning broadcasting information...." At 1545 EDT 8/12. Over/under local TIS at Hammond. Drake R8, WNW EWE, Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, IRCA via DXLD) = 1945 UT. I guess they refer to sandbars at low tide? Or taverns for mariners to avoid (gh, DXLD) ** VENEZUELA [non?]. 6180, Radio Nacional de Venezuela ID in Spanish with sign off at 1200 on August 13, 2006 (Joe VA3EOJ Karthaus, Toronto Canada, HCDX via DXLD) Previously unknown relay via Cuba, or a Castro birthday special? (gh) Thanks for the update. I caught the last 10 min or so and it was a historical look at the Middle East, in Spanish, no mention of Cuba or Birthday. 73 (Joe Karthaus, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Well, RN de Venezuela never mentions that Cuba does its transmitting (gh, DXLD) Just as a follow up --- Nothing heard August 14 of Radio Nacional de Venezuela on 6180 between 1130 and 1200. Interestingly enough DW reported at 1214 on 15620 August 14, 2006 [in German] that Chávez was the only foreign visitor that had been received Sunday 73 (Joe Karthaus, ibid.) ** VIRGIN ISLANDS US. 1620, WDHP, Frederiksted; 0804-0810 13 August, 2006. Popping through the buzzmitter with BBC World Service news relay (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see CUBA ** ZIMBABWE [non]. Glenn, re your message. I have checked 11705 today (Sat. Aug. 12) and the RFE/RL North Caucasus Service made a crash start on the hour at 1700. It is also heard less strongly via // 15255 - also listed via Morocco. Will check for the Zimbabwe service next week. 73 (Noel R. Green, UK, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 1550 het in western PA --- Hi all -- as I commute my daily 30 miles between SW PA and northern WV (Morgantown), during 0800-0900 & 1830-1930 EDT, I like to monitor open channels, just to see what wanders in. 1550 is interesting locally, because Pittsburgh's WURP is uncommonly weak for 1kw (50-60 miles distant), so occasionally WKBA (near Roanoke, VA) & WMRE (Charles Town, WVA) rise above the noise. The day-to-day variations in propagation fascinate me, especially in winter. Now I'm hearing a faint-to-strong ~300 Hz het on 1550, pretty consistently, apparently beating against WURP. The het is absent at lunchtime & is occasionally audible at night. I assume it is a badly detuned TIS somewhere. The FCC database shows only four TISs on 1550, all in NC & TN, all 10-watters. The distance from each of these TISs to my home is approx 260, 300, 350, and 440 miles. I'm guessing all are too distant for me to get a het from them, especially at my commuting times. Can highway departments set up temporary TISs that do not appear in the database? Anyone have any thoughts? Thanks! (Fred Schroyer, Waynesburg, PA 15370, (40 air miles S of Pittsburgh - 20 N of Morgantown, WV), Aug 12, NRC-AM via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. Anyone out there noted a new German schedule at 1300 on 9955? Intrigued me to find a strong signal overriding WRMI with all that Cuban jammer and I presumed it had to be WEWN as one of the closest possibilities, consulting Eibi or WRTH. When I rechecked at 1400 WEWN was there in English with the same strong signal I got in German (Raul Saavedra, Costa Rica, Aug 13, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) WEWN? No German from them. Possibly WRMI with a feed mixup from WRN?? Was it religious German? Possibly a DW relay punching up wrong frequency? (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Glenn: I think what he was hearing was the program "Creciendo en Gracia," which had a segment of a sermon, I believe, in Spanish (faintly underneath) which was being translated into German -- why, I don't know. But I think they occasionally do that (Jeff White, WRMI, Aug 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) No fellas, altho I don't speak German --- some phonetic becomes familiar --- I'm sure that's what I heard in a religious program, mentioning "Aba Patter (?)" after 1300. I repeat WRMI was in the background with some political program and the Cuban jammer, but both were overridden by that strong signal, that at first hearing I thought of WEWN but they no have programs in that language. As Glenn pointed out, a feed mixup from WRN seems more probable, as well as no broadcaster with religion in German is scheduled for that hour. And no translation, Jeff, I stayed there for several minutes but not the full hour and when I rechecked WEWN was in its regular English. Yep, very strange (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I just pulled up the audio file for that 1300-1400 UT hour last Sunday, and I can confirm that it definitely WAS "Creciendo en Gracia" in German. There was an ID as Creciendo en Gracia in German at the beginning of the hour, and during the hour there was a preacher in Spanish faintly underneath with a simultaneous German translation on top. They have done this before, and will probably do it again occasionally (Jeff White, WRMI, Aug 15, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Glenn, your list is just wonderful, and I cannot understand how you manage to do it. If there were a Nobel Prize for DX editors you would get it. /73 (Johan Berglund, Trollhättan, Sweden) BTW, I took the liberty last week to add a link to your home page on the wikipedia shortwave page :) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shortwave 73 (Joe Karthaus, DX LISTENING DIGEST) LANGUAGE LESSONS ++++++++++++++++ ¿CÓMO SE PRONUNCIA “R” Y “RR” EN CASTELLANO? This is really off-topic, but reading DXLD you learn a lot, and those who are 100 % in Spanish will certainly correct me. Do that. Hace unos quince años estuve en Jerez de la Frontera. En una bodega tuve más jerez de varias calidades y edades que debía haber tomado. Me recuerdo muy bién un tipo con quien hablé (él como yo empleado en líneas aéreas regionales en nuestros países respectivos). Es un mundo pequeño. Aquí algo que me enseñó : El perro de San Roque no tiene rabo. ¿Por qué ? Porque Ramón de Ramírez lo ha cortado. ¿Algo de la escuela elementar....? Initial r and double r are indeed different from final r and inside r, but I had not given the r in ¿Por qué? a thought. When listening to Radio Okapi, they are 100% in French, so it`s of course with the stress on the last syllable, and no accent is needed. This strange and endangered animal is normally pronounced with the stress on the a, as far as I know. Someone wrote in your list that there should be an accent, Radio Okapí, but I feel that it`s not so. These thoughts were jotted down some months ago, but were not submitted to any list. /73 (Johan Berglund, Trollhättan, Sweden, DX LISTENING DIGEST) As for the R you ask about, I find that I cannot help but trill it a bit in that position (Guillermo Glenn Hauser) PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ DATABASES Glenn, If you'll indulge me, I'll append my recent diatribe about paying attention to the regulatory process before complaining about it: The FCC (and ITU) databases are the record of the officially domestically applied/authorized and internationally notified/approved frequency and power assignments (and allotments). They exist so that governmental and private spectrum planners can make new and changed assignment and allotments that are consistent with the domestic rules and international agreements. They are not to show "operation" but to show what's protected and what interference levels have to be used in calculations. That's their only purpose. They get changed or modified according to pretty rigorous bureaucratic rules, so that they are as accurate as possible for frequency planning purposes so that changes are consistent with the domestic and international rules (and sometimes policies and interpretations), or at the very least reflect attempts to see if the neighboring governments will acquiesce to changes when a proposal pushes the envelope. They aren't always perfect, either. We sometimes find mistakes in them, but that's because the data is entered by actual people. "Old" data records are often maintained even if not in operation because governments consider them to be national resources, and bureaucrats don't want to have whining sniveling sociopathic politicians (sorry for the redundancy) beating them up about losing them. The databases maintained by the hobbyist community are designed to show their fellow hobbyists what's out there and what's actually in operation. They also can be very useful to frequency planning professionals, if we are worried about "real interference" in parts of the world where local governments don't adhere to the ITU radio regs very consistently. They can be useful even in more "orderly" places like North America just to see what might be happening to the official data in future time. They are never perfect, because the world changes and there is always time lag in real data gathering. So people like me are delighted with the work of Bruce Portzer and Herman Boel (and others like them). Those are totally different functions. Each of these types of resources is useful and valuable, but quite different and distinguishable. Thanks (Ben Dawson, WA, Aug 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re WestList in PDF: ``Unless you're a history buff for defunct moved- to-FMers, the Canadian listings need some updating and weeding of stations that haven't been on the air for years. It still lists CJFT- 530 Fort Erie, ON, CJSB-540 Ottawa --- and I didn't even get past 540! (Mike Brooker, Ont., IRCA via DXLD)`` That's because the Canadian regulators don't ever purge these listings. That's how they maintain their hold on the spectrum space and allocations under various broadcast treaties. Since Craig's program simply downloads the FCC data, and xconverts it, while the FCC data contains whatever Canada lists (Russ Edmunds, Blue Bell, PA, ibid.) One could download the Canadian List (as I have done) from the Industry Canada website (look for Broadcasting Datebase) and look at the Status field in the database. Currently operating stations are coded OP in this field; stations with a CP are coded AU (for Authorized) 73, (Deane McIntyre, VE6BPO, ibid.) Craig, I suspect the comments about Canada apply to all countries. Most countries probably report new stations when they come on the air, but if the station goes dark it's not reported (as a way of protecting the allocation in case someone else wants it). In that respect, the list probably has every station that ever existed (after a certain date), rather than ones that currently exist. I notice, for example, St. Lucia has a half dozen stations listed, but only one (660) was still around when I was there in December 2000, and that one may be dark by now. I have to agree, this list would be a good starting point if someone wanted to create a Latin American log. Except for Mexico and Brazil, Latin America is the only part of the world not currently covered by a hobbyist-maintained on-line station list, so it would fill a nice niche. I have soft copies of the Arctic Radio Club's LA station news column, plus DX Worldwide II columns. If anyone's interested in tackling such a project, they'd be useful sources of information. Also, the FCC counterparts for several Latin American countries have posted AM station lists on their websites. I don't know if the lists are kept up to date in all cases. Most were probably accurate when they were posted. Even if they're 4 or 5 years old, they're probably somewhat close to reality (Bruce Portzer, IRCA via DXLD) THE TINY TRAP +++++++++++++ 0102 UT Aug 15: Animal Planet refers to Costa Rica as a ``tiny country`` while showing a map of Central America (gh, DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING DRM: see also ALGERIA; CHINA; CYPRUS ++++++++++++++++++++ The DRM-QRM seems to have left 1593 kHz since it appeared on 1575. Last few nights I've been able to hear Kuwait & Romania again on 1593. (Wouldn't German DRM completely ruin reception in Romania?) Meanwhile 1575 kHz is unusable at night because of DRM. The current DRM graveyard is: 693 Germany 729 Germany 855 Germany 1296 UK 1440 Luxembourg 1485 Germany 1530 Vatican 1575 Germany 1611 Vatican 73 (Steve Whitt, UK, Aug 12, MWC via DXLD) No sooner than I'd spoken and it was back! Heard at 0340 UT 13/8 on 1593 kHz (Steve, ibid.) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ John Lawson, president of Association of Public TV Stations, was guest on this week`s C-SPAN show, ``The Communicators``. Saturday 2230 UT on C-SPAN(1). It repeats UT Tue 0000-0030 on C-SPAN2. Among other things, he displayed the ``new rabbit ears``, which looks like a log periodic, with elements alternating left and right rather than aligned, a horizontal V-design, but quite small, obviously for UHF only, apparently to go with the gigadollar-subsidized STBs. But what about OTA DTV on VHF??? And what if you do need an outside antenna even for UHF, as he admitted the ``rabbit ears`` would not work in all households? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) This is made by Terk and sold under that name and Zenith Silver Sensor. I tried one. It has a little amplifier with it. My review: It`s a useless piece of shit (Kevin Redding, WTFDA via DXLD) It's always good to know when an item is unmitigated sewage plant fodder (Craig Healy, Providence, RI, ibid.) Why is it that Terk thinks it can turn antenna design on its head? They have consistently created some of the strangest, poorly performing indoor antennas known to man. The only product that I own of theirs that does work for radio is the "AM Advantage" loop antenna. When HD was first marketed, they had an antenna costing around $400 that resembled my snow shovel riddled with buckshot and probably did not work as well as the shovel (Bill Mitchell, Columbus, OH, ibid.) POWERLINE COMMUNICATIONS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ LATEST AUSTRALIAN BPL EMISSION REPORT RELEASED The third round of measurements have just been released from the Tasmanian BPL trial from the Mt Nelson, Tolmans Hill, North Hobart and Mount Stuart trial areas. There is also a new area within the Suburb of West Hobart that we have detected emissions from. The VK7BPL Watch pages also contains a second round of measurements taken in Burnie on the North West coast of Tasmania. The website address is: http://reast.asn.au/vk7bplwatch.php#emissionmeasurements The methodology behind the measurements is one of measuring the background noise outside the trial area and comparing this to the measurements taken within the trial areas using the latest version of Owen Duffy's FSM software (v.1.11). http://www.vk1od.net/fsm/ The conclusion reached in the report in the Hobart trial areas shows that there is continuing to be a degradation of the noise floor in the trial areas. Source: Wireless Institute of Australia via http://www.southgatearc.org/news/august2006/latest_bpl_report.htm (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ SUNSPOTS - HAS NEW CYCLE 24 BEGUN? [illustrated!] August 15, 2006 http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2006/15aug_backwards.htm?list26478 On July 31st, a tiny sunspot was born. It popped up from the sun's interior, floated around a bit, and vanished again in a few hours. On the sun this sort of thing happens all the time and, ordinarily, it wouldn't be worth mentioning. But this sunspot was special: It was backward. "We've been waiting for this," says David Hathaway, a solar physicist at the Marshall Space Flight in Huntsville, Alabama. "A backward sunspot is a sign that the next solar cycle is beginning." "Backward" means magnetically backward. Hathaway explains: Sunspots are planet-sized magnets created by the sun's inner magnetic dynamo. Like all magnets in the Universe, sunspots have north (N) and south (S) magnetic poles. The sunspot of July 31st popped up at solar longitude 65o W, latitude 13o S. Sunspots in that area are normally oriented N-S. The newcomer, however, was S-N, opposite the norm. (snip) It sounds exciting, but Hathaway is cautious on several fronts: First, the sunspot lasted only three hours. Typically, sunspots last days, weeks or even months. Three hours is fleeting in the extreme. "It came and went so fast, it was not given an official sunspot number," says Hathaway. The astronomers who number sunspots didn't think it worthy! Second, the latitude of the spot is suspicious. New-cycle sunspots almost always pop up at mid-latitudes, around 30o N or 30o S. The backward sunspot popped up at 13o S. "That's strange." These odd-isms stop Hathaway short of declaring the onset of a new solar cycle. "But it looks promising," he says. Even if Cycle 24 has truly begun, "don't expect any great storms right away." Solar cycles last 11 years and take time to build up to fever pitch. For a while, perhaps one or two years, Cycle 23 and Cycle 24 will actually share the sun, making it a hodgepodge of backward and forward spots. Eventually, Cycle 24 will take over completely; then the fireworks will really begin. Meanwhile, Hathaway plans to keep an eye out for more backward sunspots. http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2006/15aug_backwards.htm (via David Ross; Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) The geomagnetic field was at quiet to severe storm levels. Solar wind speed ranged from a high of about 650 km/s late on 07 August to a low of 310 km/s late on 13 August. Other than a 12-hour period beginning at 07/0000 UTC, the Bz component of the IMF did not vary much beyond +/- 3 nT for the entire period. As a result, the geomagnetic field was mostly quiet to unsettled for most of the period. Early on 07 August, wind speed and temperature began a slow increase, all due to a solar sector boundary crossing in advance of a recurrent coronal hole wind stream. Solar wind speed at ACE increased to a maximum of 650 km/s late on 07 August before beginning a slow decline. The IMF Bz fluctuated between +11 and – 15 nT, and as a result, minor to severe storm conditions were observed from 07/0900 – 07/1800 UTC at high latitudes while active to minor storm conditions were observed at middle latitudes. On 08 August, active to major storm periods were observed at high latitudes with quiet to active conditions at middle latitudes. After mid-day on 09 August, conditions decreased to quiet to unsettled and remained so until the end of the summary period. FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 16 AUGUST - 11 SEPT 2006 Solar activity is expected to be at very low to low levels with a slight chance of isolated M-flares from Region 904 until it rotates off the visible disk on 21 August. No greater than 10 MeV proton events are expected. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to be at high levels on 04 – 11 September. The geomagnetic field is expected to be mostly quiet to unsettled for the majority of the forecast period. Recurrent coronal hole high speed wind streams are expected to rotate into geoeffective positions on 24 August, 28 August, and again on 03 – 04 September. Active to minor storm periods are possible on 24 August. Unsettled to active periods are possible on 28 August. Active to major storm conditions are possible on 03-04 September. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2006 Aug 15 2153 UTC # Prepared by the US Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, Space Environment Center # Product description and SEC contact on the Web # http://www.sec.noaa.gov/wwire.html # # 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table # Issued 2006 Aug 15 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2006 Aug 16 86 5 2 2006 Aug 17 86 5 2 2006 Aug 18 90 5 2 2006 Aug 19 90 5 2 2006 Aug 20 90 5 2 2006 Aug 21 90 5 2 2006 Aug 22 80 5 2 2006 Aug 23 75 8 3 2006 Aug 24 75 25 5 2006 Aug 25 75 5 2 2006 Aug 26 75 8 3 2006 Aug 27 75 10 3 2006 Aug 28 75 15 3 2006 Aug 29 75 10 3 2006 Aug 30 75 8 3 2006 Aug 31 75 5 2 2006 Sep 01 75 5 2 2006 Sep 02 75 10 3 2006 Sep 03 75 30 5 2006 Sep 04 80 12 3 2006 Sep 05 85 10 3 2006 Sep 06 85 8 3 2006 Sep 07 85 8 3 2006 Sep 08 85 5 2 2006 Sep 09 85 5 2 2006 Sep 10 85 5 2 2006 Sep 11 85 5 2 (http://www.sec.noaa.gov/radio via DXLD) US SATELLITE PLAN 'WILL KNOCK OUT PACIFIC RADIO LINKS 4.00 pm Monday August 14, 2006 By Kent Atkinson http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10396164 Pacific Island nations -- and airline pilots around the globe -- could lose high frequency radio links for up to a week if the US goes ahead with a plan to protect its satellite network, Otago University researchers said today. They warned the Americans plan to protect its satellites from both natural radiation and "airbursts" of nuclear weapons posed a global communications threat. The US Air Force and the US Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) have proposed using very low frequency radio waves to flush particles from radiation "belts" above Earth and dump them into the upper atmosphere over either one or several days. This deluge of dumped charged particles would temporarily change the ionosphere from a "mirror" that bounced high frequency radio waves around the planet to a "sponge" that soaked them up, Dr Craig Rodger of Otago University's physics department, said today. The ionosphere is one of the highest layers of the Earth's atmosphere, starting at about 70km and continuing out to about 640km, and contains ions created when solar radiation tears electrons off atoms in the atmosphere. It is important for reflection of some radio waves. Dr Rodger, lead researcher on a multinational study also involving scientists from Finland and Britain, said plane pilots and ships would lose radio contact and some Pacific Island nations could be isolated for up to a week, depending on the system's design and how it was operated. He said GPS services would also likely suffer large-scale disruptions, if signals between ground users and satellites were scrambled in the ionosphere. The US "radiation belt remediation" was intended to protect hundreds of low earth-orbiting satellites from having their onboard electronics ruined by charged particles in unusually intense radiation belts "pumped up" by powerful solar storms -- or small nuclear weapons deliberately exploded in the atmosphere to disrupt communications. "Earth's upper atmosphere would be dramatically affected by such a system, causing unusually intense high-frequency (radio) blackouts around most of the world," Dr Rodger said. The researchers, whose work is published work in August edition of the international journal Annales Geophysicae, called for policymakers to carefully consider the implications of the US scheme. "If the intense radiation belts resulted from a rogue state detonating a nuclear-tipped missile in the upper atmosphere, using such remediation technology would probably be acceptable to the international community," they said. But the case for using the system to mitigate the lesser risk to satellites from charged particles injected by naturally-occurring solar storms needed to be considered more closely and weighed against the impact of the disruption to global communications. Many developed countries use HF radio for communicating with aircraft and ships, international broadcasting, amateur radio, and fixed long-distance communications, and developing countries use it for domestic links - national broadcasters and both mobile and fixed point-to-point communications. The researchers also considered whether the changes to atmospheric chemistry would harm the ozone layer, but found that ozone depletion would be short-lived. - NZPA (via Ken Kopp - KKØHF, http://732u.com/ dxldyg via DXLD) MW GROUNDWAVE COVERAGE VS FREQUENCY [Re: Discussion of Air America moving from 1190 to 1600 in NYC] I just returned home after being away more than a week. As a result, I am just catching up on my e-mail. However, given Rene' Tetro's high level of credibility both within the group and with the world in general, I feel compelled to correct some serious errors with his posting of August 3 on this topic. If somebody else has beaten me to the punch on this, I apologize. Rene' is definitely CORRECT that a station's groundwave coverage (distance NOT area) is related to wavelength and that the wavelength at the bottom of the AM band is roughly three times that at the top of the band. HOWEVER, everywhere but over a perfect ground (and even salt water is not perfect), the signal strength drops off more rapidly than the reciprocal of the number of wavelengths traversed. The rate of drop-off (measured in wavelengths) depends on the soil conductivity but the equation takes the form of e = 1/(N^P), where e is signal strength (usually measured in mV/m), N is number of wavelengths, and P is a power that would be 1 if the ground conductivity were infinite but, in practice, is always higher than 1. P is rarely an integer. I don't know the approximate value of P for really poor conductivities (for example the 0.5 mS/m found in southern Long Island or the almost certainly lower values in the concrete canyons of Manhattan), but I think a very VERY rough approximation for a typical soil conductivity (whatever that is) would be a P value in the neighborhood of 2. If you use 2, you find that the signal strength drops off not as the inverse of the number of wavelengths traversed but as the inverse of the number of wavelenths SQUARED. That means that the area covered within a given signal-strength contour is proportional to the inverse of the number of wavelengths to the fourth power!!! To another very VERY rough approximation, the population a station covers is proportional to the area it covers. So, if you use a P value of 2 and everything else is equal, a station at 1600 covers roughly 1/81 of the population covered by a station at 540!!! (3^4 ~ 81.) Of course, everything else is hardly every equal. For example, the efficiency of MW transmitting antennas of a given height is much higher at the top of the band than at the bottom -- enough so that the effect can be equivalent to using an antenna input power almost 2.5 times as great at the higher frequency. If you do the math, however, you will soon realize that the factor of 2.5 effective power increase at the top of the dial doesn't come even close to cancelling out the other effects I described earlier in this message. For starters, remember that the signal strength increases in proportion to the square root of the antenna-input power, so 2.5 times the power produces only about 1.6 times the signal strength. At night, the area an AM station covers depends on the co-channel and first-adjacent channel interference, as reflected in the NIF (nighttime interference-free) contour value. By day, WWRL, which runs 25 kW days, may compete reasonably well with WLIB, which runs 10 kw days, although I suspect that WLIB covers more territory by day than WWRL does. At night, though, I would expect WLIB to win even more handily. WLIB runs 30 kW at night, whereas WWRL runs only 5 kW. The NIF part of the contest may work out to a draw, however. WLIB's NIF is determined almost completely by the powered-down WOWO, which surprisingly still delivers a significant 10% skywave to New York. WWRL's NIF, OTOH, is the result of a large number of interfering signals. For intelligibility of talk programming, an NIF that results from many signals is preferable to an NIF that results entirely or primarily from a single dominant signal. Anyhow, I wish AirAmerica luck on 1600 in New York. The likely competition will be WLIB. If Randy Michaels LMAs the 1190 signal, he is reported to be planning a lineup of more moderate -- albeit still left of center -- talkers. The centerpiece of his lineup would be Ed Schultz who, though not syndicated by AAR, currently appears -- and will continue to do so -- on many AAR affiliates in markets outside of New York. Crosstown PM-drive competition between Schultz and AAR's Randi Rhodes would emerge in New York. Rhodes has made no secret of her intense dislike for Schultz. The pro-gun (and anti-choice) Schultz may be circumspect in what he says on the air but, based on past performance, expect Rhodes to open up on him with both rhetorical barrels (Dan Strassberg, AC 707, Aug 12, NRC-AM via DXLD) Dan is correct in what he is saying. When I posted my message, as is usually the case on the DX lists, I tend to try and simplify the theory as much as possible to make it meaningful for everyone. Perhaps I oversimplified in my attempts to make things clear. If so, I apologize. I hope I didn't mislead anyone in their understanding of the phenomenon. On note, however: I did mention in my message that my example is all theoretical, in that the conditions for both low band and high band stations in my example were theoretically the same (same ground conductivity, power outputs, tower electrical heights and efficiency, etc.). As they same in commercials: "Actual results may vary." :-) 73, (Rene F. Tetro, Chief Engineer, Salem Communications Philadelphia, ibid.) TIPS FOR RATIONAL LIVING ++++++++++++++++++++++++ ATHEISTS FILE CIVIL RIGHTS SUIT IN "OKLAHOMA OUTRAGE" - SMALKOWSKI PRAYER BULLYING CASE Web Posted: August 12, 2006 American Atheists filed suit in federal court Friday in a case involving charges of "prayer bullying" and conspiracy to violate the civil rights of an Atheist family. . . . http://www.atheists.org/flash.line/smalko3.htm [See also the previous two stories on this linked at the right dated 7/8 and 6/26, or change the 3 in the URL above to 2 and 1] (American Atheists Newsletter Aug 13 via DXLD) ###