DX LISTENING DIGEST 6-136, September 10, 2006 Incorporating REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING edited by Glenn Hauser, http://www.worldofradio.com Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only if full credit be maintained at all stages and we be provided exchange copies. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without permission. Materials taken from Arctic or originating from Olle Alm and not having a commercial copyright are exempt from all restrictions of noncommercial, noncopyrighted reusage except for full credits For restrixions and searchable 2006 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn NEXT SHORTWAVE AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1327: Days and times here are strictly UT. Mon 0300 WBCQ 9330-CLSB Mon 0415 WBCQ 7415 Wed 0930 WWCR1 9985 Latest edition of this schedule version, with hotlinks to station sites and audio, is at: http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html For updates see our Anomaly Alert page: http://www.worldofradio.com/anomaly.html WRN ON DEMAND: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO [also CONTINENT OF MEDIA, MUNDO RADIAL] http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html or http://wor.worldofradio.org WORLD OF RADIO PODCASTS: www.obriensweb.com/wor.xml ** AFGHANISTAN [non]. R. Solh, via UK, 17700, signal has built up to easy listening level with nice music during the 1330 semihour Sept 8. It was appropriate to listen at this time, following a semihour on CBC/RCI The Current about how opium production is bigger than ever in Afghanistan despite efforts to thwart it. I wonder if any of the song lyrix were about this, to persuade farmers to go straight and forego profits 10x what they would get with conventional crops (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Olá amigos radioescutas. Hoje por volta das 1500 UT, em 17700 (16 m), por acidente, fiz uma escuta da Radio Solh. Ouvi músicas locais e algumas vozes masculinas, a qualidade do sinal é regular. Nunca tinha ouvido falar da referida emissora, descobri que ela transmite em "Dari", desde a Inglaterra para o Afeganistão. Algum membro da lista sabe se esta emissora confirma escutas com cartão QSL? Procurei um endereço pra contato, mas nem sinal! Parece se tratar de uma emissora clandestina! Desde já agradeço a atenção de todos vocês, 73, (Fábio Mattos, Garopaba - SC, Surfin´the short waves! Sept 8, radioescutas yg via DXLD) ** ALGERIA [non]. TéléDiffusion d'Algérie - a new contract In June. VTC signed a one-year contract with TéléDiffusion d'Algérie (TDA), the Algerian state funded public broadcaster. VTC is providing 12 hours a day of short wave transmissions into the Sahel Region covering Mauritania, Mali, Niger and Chad (VT Communications Bulletin September/October 2006 via Mike Barraclough, Sept 9, DXLD) So far only via UK sites and with Kor`an service only, on schedule previously published; then not strictly an internal service back into Algeria (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** ANGOLA [and non]. La Rosa de Tokyo para este domingo --- El Grupo Radioescucha Argentino está colaborando con LA ROSA DE TOKIO, el programa de DX y comunicaciones que se irradia por LS11 Radio Provincia, La Plata, Argentina, con 56 kW en su horario habitual de 13 a 14 hora argentina (1600 a 1700 UT) y también en Internet, en: http://www.radioprovincia.gba.gov.ar Este domingo 10 de Setiembre se dedicará el programa a la radiodifusión en Angola, Portugal y demas colonias portuguesas: EN ESPECIAL: ANGOLA (LA EPOCA COLONIAL, EMISORAS COLONIALES PORTUGUESAS, LA INDEPENDENCIA, LA GUERRA CIVIL, EMISORAS GUERRILLERAS, LA PAZ) PORTUGAL (REMEMORACIÓN DE LA ACTUACION DE LA RADIO EN LA CONOCIDA "REVOLUCION DE LOS CLAVELES". UN PANORAMA DE LAS DIVERSAS COLONIAS PORTUGUESAS ALLA POR LA DECADA DEL 70) EL PROGRAMA CONSTITUYE UN COMPENDIO HISTORICO-DIEXISTA IMPERDIBLE POR LS11. Ahora tambien por WRMI, Radio Miami Internacional en los 9955 kHz cada domingo a las 0400 UT y en tiempo real desde su pagina: http://www.wrmi.net/ [should be 0700; see below] Además, a las 18 Hs. Argentina, 21 Hs. UT, la retransmisión se realizará en la siguiente dirección: http://www.frecuencia9.com.ar La temática que se desarrolla cada domingo consiste en la investigación y análisis de la situación radiofónica en un país. Se revisa su historia, su actualidad política y social y, por supuesto, se revisan y analizan sus emisoras de radio y TV más representativas. y para el resto de Sudamérica ahora también por: FM OXIGENO, SAN ANTONIO, CHILE, DOMINGO 22 HORA CHILENA; POR AM 1710 CIUDAD AUTONOMA DE BUENOS AIRES DOMINGOS 16 UTC Y PARA TODO EL MUNDO, CON SEGMENTOS POR FRECUENCIA RM (LA VOZ DE RUSIA) DIAS MARTES EN LA EMISION PARA ESPAÑA Y EN LA EMISION PARA LATINOAMERICA También pueden escuchar su grabación a cualquier hora, cualquier día desde Programas DX: http://es.geocities.com/programasdx/ En tiempo Real desde WRMI: http://www.wrmi.net/ No dejen de escucharlo! (Arnaldo Slaen & Omar Somma, Argentina, Noticias DX via DXLD) Buenos días estimado Glenn! Perdón por la demora en responderte. Ayer estuvimos reunidos con la gente de conducción del GRA y quería chequear la info antes de hacértela llegar. El horario correcto de difusión de La Rosa a través de WRMI es a las 07 UT (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, Sept 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARGENTINA [non]. La Rosa de Tokio: see ANGOLA [non] just above ** AUSTRALIA. Re 6-135, weather on 6507 USB: This is VMC Charleville. See http://www.bom.gov.au/marine/marine_weather_radio.shtml These both are nicely audible also here in Finland at times. 73, (Jari Savolainen, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BANGLADESH. Dhaka is now regular on 4750 [not 4880] with new transmitter (Jose Jacob, India, Sept 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL [and non]. With all those 250 kW of Radio Nacional de Amazonia, they are facing the obligation to move to 11783 --- I detuned to 11785 to get a more crispy audio --- trying to escape from that terrible splatter imposed with the same power by Radio Martí from Greenville 11775 with their eternal bla bla bla holding to what is left while there is life: hope --- Hope to throw away Fidel someday. See, if Fido has been there for more than four decades, including more than 40 years of American blockade, is it RM the final card to play? And is likely that RM will claim victory at the end, just because Castro’s demise is near. But there is any guarantee on this that communist regime has numbered its days? I don`t use to get involved that much in political issues and when one`s opinion is expressed this way, anyone may think I`m a communist. Well, I`m not. But thank God I live in a free country and I have the right to express myself with no fear, as well as I consider this site a global free speech community. For writing this, I feel is about to ``rain`` upon me. Anyway, is just my point of view and you can dream quietly, as this ain`t gonna change nothing. Thankfully, RM left at 0300 so RNA was coming clean with its usual repertoire of nice musical selections. But they ended at 0330 just in time to look for Israel [q.v.] (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, Sept 8, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Amigos, A Rádio Nacional de Brasília não só transmite o horário eleitoral gratuito como é a emissora geradora do DF. Se algum partido não manda a gravação, vai ao ar uma vinheta dizendo que o horário é destinado à propaganda eleitoral gratuita. Não sei o que se passa na Nacional da Amazônia que, a rigor, deveria transmitir a propaganda do DF também. Vou ouvir amanhã ou me informar com o pessoal (Lucio Haeser, Brasília, radioescutas yg via DXLD) Caro Lúcio, Aproveitando ... Ontem, por volta de 2230 UT, o sinal da Rádio Nacional da Amazônia literalmente encobria a Guaíba, em 11785 kHz. Algum problema com o transmissor? 73s, (Célio Romais, ibid.) Brazilian electoral programme airings times on radio Dear Glenn, what Alex Vranes, Jr., heard on 11783 last Thursday (DX LISTENING DIGEST 6-135, September 7, 2006) was the "Obligatory Electoral Advertising Program", controlled by the regional and federal Electoral Courts. Whenever Brazil has some kind of election, all radio and TV stations have to establish a regional or national network to air the electoral program. All parties and candidates have their share of time, depending on its party representation on our Congress (so, there are parties with 30 second programs and other with 15 minutes). In 2006 radio station are airing the electoral program on the following days and hours: From July 6 to Sep 28 2006, 1000-1050 and 1500-1550 UTC I think Alex heard Rádio Nacional da Amazônia, 11780 nominal frequency. The repeating message aired could be caused by two reasons: one of the parties/candidates missed sending their recording to the electoral program (so, the Electoral Court fills the space with some music or message) or as R N da Amazônia has such broad converage (several states), they prefer not to air the regional electoral program. On Oct 1st 2006, about 125 million electors will choose their state deputies, federal deputies, senator, state governor and president of Brazil. Regards, (Huelbe Garcia, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil, Sept 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Having not noticed this het till this Sunday 10, I have waited till 1600 for WHRI closing sked on 11785, and effectively that het produced by the now closer Radio Nacional de Amazônia on 11783 disappeared, but not at all. Trying to listen DX With Cumbre, I had to detune to 11787 but still was this splattering from Brasília. Sync detection in the ICF7600GR is not to trust completely, there is no narrow filter, so one has to go for USB but with no great results (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, Sept 10, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 11783, Radio Nacional da Amazônia, 0900-0909, 10-09, locutor, identificación: "Rádio Nacional da Amazônia, uma emissora de Radio Bras", locutora, canciones y comentarios. 23222 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, escuchas realizadas en Friol el día 10 de Septiembre, Sony ICF SW 7600 G antena interior cable 4 metros, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL [non]. Re 6-135, Portuguese on 650: Glenn: I am pretty convinced it is WSRO. I hear them here occasionally at Sunset before WSM fades in (Bill Harms, MD, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. AFAIK, RCI never plays the national anthem, and 24/7 SW stations like CFRX, CFVP, CKZN and CKZU are not likely to either, but the Northern Québec Service still does it, and it was a pleasure to run across ``O, Canada`` on 9625 Sept 8 at 0505 sign-off, followed by a few seconds of a strange tone before carrier off (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHILE. CVC altho strong, has turned too fadey lately at 0300 on 11655 while one of my favorites goes on the air with that warmth and friendly voice of host Norma Pinzón in ``Pildoritas y Reflecciones``. A quiet approach to Bible content without any shouting and condemnation. So is up to anyone to take or leave it, but not hammering upon your head with the Holy Scripture (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, Sept 8, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Pildorita == little pill, or piece of bad news (gh) CVC, La Voz, 17680, notable by its absence at 1329 Sept 10, but OK in Portuguese on 15525, which however had heavy co-channel interference. At 1405 recheck 17680 was back on in Spanish, altho unseemed as strong as usual. I guess the 15525 CCI was RFA in Khmer via Sri Lanka which was about to close (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 17680, CVC La Voz, 1403-1431, 10-09, programa "Vida Saludable", comentario sobre la depresión. "Escriba a nuestro programa, Vida Saludable, Apartado 2889, Miami, Florida 33144, USA o a nuestro correo electrónico vidasaludable @ cvclavoz.com ". 34333 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, escuchas realizadas en Friol el día 10 de Septiembre, Sony ICF SW 7600 G antena interior cable 4 metros, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [and non]. Firedrake also heard here on 14600, Sept 8 at 1333, but poor signal; nothing audible within the 20m band. Let`s hope Sound of Hope has decided to stay way out of the ham, and broadcast bands along with the consequent jamming. Hope the utes don`t mind so much! But who is really listening to this in China or even trying? Firedrake also on 9930 as I was expecting but had not yet confirmed, at 1412 check Sept 8 during scheduled Sound of Hope via KWHR, M-F 14- 17. So on Sat & Sun there should be no jamming there. Could not hear any signal under the FD (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6150, CHINA "Firedrake" jammer; 1036-1040 10 September, 2006. Very strong signal with usual looping ChiCom instrumental music. Very weak English male preacher underneath, maybe University Network Costa Rica (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida (earthquake capital of the world), USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, Sept 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Here`s why: 6150 0900-1400 TWN Radio Taiwan Int. M FE 6150 2200-2400 TWN Radio Taiwan Int. M FE (EiBi via gh, DXLD) ** CHINA. 7225, PBS Sichuan, Sept 9, 0953-1103, DJ with pop songs, 1000 5+1 pips (no program ID), ads, more music, many on-air phone conversations (used both ``Hello`` and ``Ni Hao``), 1030 transmitter suddenly off for about a minute, 1045 & 1100 program IDs: ``This is the Voice of Golden Bridge`` (Life, Travel and City Service program), // 6060. Noted 7225 had heavy splatter from 7220 sign-on at 1057, while 6060 began mixing with R. Nac. de Venezuela via Cuba at 1101. Fair-poor. (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, Etón E5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 7270.04v, PBS Nei Menggu, Sept 10, 1120-1201, conversation by M & W in assume Mongolian, into program of local music (chanting type of singing), some on-air phone calls, ToH 5+1 pips, fair. Noted // 7210 (weak), 9530 (QRM), 9750 (QRM/NHK) (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, RX340, with T2FD antenna, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. RHC is now using a new hi-gain antenna on 6000 at 0500-0700 UT to WNAm at 310 degrees, but with 250 kW it should also be heard well in C & ENAm (Arnie Coro, RHC DXers Unlimited Sept 9, notes by Glenn Hauser for DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6060, Radio Habana Cuba; 1434-1503* 10 September, 2006. Unlike last Sunday, 3 September, audio until 1503 was not parallel 11760 or any other traced RHC channel. Definite RHC-proper Spanish programming (not "Aló Presidente"). Very canned program praising José Martí and UN criminal/thug Kofi Annan. Long, nicely produced multi-language (all RHC broadcast languages) IDs seguéd at 1445, back to Spanish programming. Suspect this was some special in advance of the 11 September kickoff of the 14th Summit of Non-Aligned Nations taking place in Habana. No anthem at 1458 (unlike 3 September, which was followed by scheduled 1500* closing). Audio continued until abrupt 1503* this day. Not parallel any audible MW networks. And speaking of, thus far I am unable to trace the listed Arabic service, 2030-2100 on 11800, even though one of the above IDs was Arabic. 11760, Radio Habana Cuba; noted the Esperanto service last local Sunday, 1500-1530 GMT 3 September, 2006 on this channel. Listed as daily in the WRTH-2006, but Sundays only on the RHC website. Checked again on Saturday, 9 September just after 1500 and no trace of Esperanto or any RHC signal for that matter (however, see "USA" entry below). Rechecked Sunday, 10 September at 1434+: RHC Spanish in progress till 1458 orchestral anthem, then into Esperanto at 1500. So indeed, Esperanto appears to be Sundays only (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida (earthquake capital of the world), USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, Sept 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) As always (gh) ** CUBA. 6120, R. Rebelde, Sept 10, 0301-0325, good reception, Spanish programming, pop LA music, light/moderate QRM from unidentified station under them, // 5025 the whole time (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, Etón E5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9505, Radio Rebelde, 1035-1105, 10-09, canciones cubanas presentadas por locutora, identificación: "Radio Rebelde. 24322 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, escuchas realizadas en Friol el día 10 de Septiembre, Sony ICF SW 7600 G antena interior cable 4 metros, DX LISTENING DIGEST) R. Rebelde, 9505, Sunday Sept 10 at 1259 wrapping up a 3-hour Sunday program, as announced, ``Música de su Vida`` starting at 6 am = 1000 UT. This was close to 9505.0, not varied to 9506 as someone was wondering. Off at 1300* after ID (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. In brief, the Wobbler is not a station, it is an unexplained anomaly of some Cuban broadcast stations. When heard in its most vigorous mode it sounds like a sheet of metal being shaken or wobbled, hence the name I coined for the thing. At its most extreme it can be heard at night over powerhouse stations all across the country. As I mentioned, such an example on 1100 Radio Cadena Habana, from Havana Cuba, was heard in Hawaii. The northwest of the US has heard the Wobbler, but I don't think anyone from California has reported hearing any. There are a dozen or so Cuban stations which exhibit this unpredictable condition. There is no way to know when one or several might be heard, though in the past there have been periods where one sounded off for several days if not weeks at a time. Every day since I started tracking them -- well over a year now -- there has been at least one and usually a half dozen or so heard every day, but very much weaker than can be heard from beyond the near local south Florida vicinity. You can read about the suggested cause of the phenomenon -- generally believed to be attributable to malfunctioning old equipment and an unstable power system. You can also hear samples of it, and see spectrum traces of the signal. Plus, as I say, a lot more including my logs (W. Curt Deegan, Boca Ratón, (southeast) Florida http://ScooterHound.com/WWWR/wobbler Sept 8, IRCA via DXLD) see BRAZIL ** CUBA [and non]. 530, FLORIDA AIRSPACE, Radio Martí (airborne EC- 130J); 2302-2405 8 September, 2006. Radio Cadena Habana blowing in as usual, and no trace of what has become de facto *2300 Friday airborne broadcast. Or so I thought. Flipped from the dipole to the Scotka active loop at 2302, and Martí audio present though way in the mud under RadCadHab. Looped about 10-20 degrees east of RadCadHab's signal peak (Habana area), so the '130 must have been flying well east of Key West again. A quick check after 2300 on Saturday, 9 September did not produce any trace of Martí audio, so it appears they are still sticking to a once- a-week schedule on 530 kc/s, weather permitting (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida (earthquake capital of the world), USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, Sept 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also BRAZIL [and non] ** CZECH REPUBLIC [non]. R. Prague, 5990 via Canada, 0333 Sept 10 with ICE in English, but at 0358 recheck they were giving their transmission schedule in Czech! Which they used to do in English at the end of English semi-hours; cut off in progress sometime during the 0359 minute (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** DIEGO GARCIA. Diego Garcia swaps digits, by mistake? Hi Glenn, 12759.0, AFRTS, 1339-1457, (USB), ID at 1348 UT "American Forces Network" - AP Radio News at 1400 - Sign off at 1457. New frequency (ex 12579) or error of transmission? -08 September- Nice signal in France with SINPO: 34433. Rx: Icom IC-756pro3 with Vertical. Best 73's (Franck BASTE, F4LKC, St Bonnet de Rochefort, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Thanks for the tip, Franck. If it is a punch-up error, they did it again since I'm hearing them just barely audible on the same frequency again at 1423 on 9 Sept. [slightly later:] 12759, 1436-, AFRTS, Sep 9. Thanks for the tip via Franck Baste in France via DXLD, AFRTS is still heard on this new? frequency or a repeat punch-up error. Barely audible at tune-in at 1413 but at fair to good level at 1436. NPR programming. This would be a nice change if permanent since there's no ute interference as is always heard on 12579 (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria, BC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) AFN Diego Garcia heard here on newly reported 12759U in // with 7811U at 1300 with NPR programming. Very weak (Steve Lare, Holland, MI USA, Sept 10, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR [and non]. 21455 USB, 1435-1505, 10-09, español, religioso, programa para niños "Tu Historia Preferida", "Escriba a nuestro programa: Apartado 260, San José 2120, Costa Rica o Casilla 1423, Cochabamba, Bolivia". A las 1500 identificación: "Ésta es HCJB, la emisora ecuatoriana con compromiso de servicio, son las 10 horas en Quito, 9 horas en las islas encantadas". 34333 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, escuchas realizadas en Friol el día 10 de Septiembre, Sony ICF SW 7600 G antena interior cable 4 metros, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I sometimes hear this later in the day, but last few mornings BBC Ascension 21470 has been about all that makes it on 13m, sometimes quite listenable (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FIJI [and non]. I think Fiji 639 has upped their modulation a bit, plus DU conditions were also quite good this morning. Tahiti-738 was equally as good here. 639 was China for a while, then as it got after LSR, Fiji took over the channel with really nice Island music. 73, (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, Sept 8, IRCA via DXLD) Details presumably to follow, unless these logs were too common for him to bother! (gh) ** GABON. José Miguel Romero nos refirió recientemente que Sawt-Al- Amal se había estabilizado en l7640 a partir de las 1300 de este Sábado 9 Set. Supongo que eso fue lo que escuché esta mañana. Pero a las 1330 ya había desaparecido y noté en lugar de la habitual programación de Africa #1 en 17630, un programa en árabe que se prolongó hasta exactamente las 1400, cuando la característica música desde Gabón retomó su lugar. Ciertamente Africa # 1 estaba llegando muy débil antes de las 1330, pero no me dio la impresión de que se tratara de una emisora árabe borrando a Gabón por ese lapso de 30 minutos (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also LIBYA [non] 9580.0, GABON, Africa Number One, 2140-2210, Sep 8, French, M DJ spinning a medley of James Brown tunes, then time pips/ID at the top of the hour into news. Good signal (M. Schiefelbein, Springfield, MO USA - Sony 2010 & 70-foot longwire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. Deutsche Welle for its part just issued a press release about an extended presence in Turkey (in German, no English version on their website so far): http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2167056,00.html I think this explains why they decided to take Turkish off shortwave at yearend. But it does not prevent them from praising the to-be- abolished shortwave service in this release: ´´DW-RADIO/Türkisch ist über Satellit, Kurzwelle und Internet zu empfangen.´´ (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Sept 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also TURKEY ** GREECE. Glenn: At 1400 UT Sat Sept 9, nothing on 15630 or 9420. On their web site, VOG is playing nice Greek music at times, and talking about podosphero (futball). I guess Katerina is busy with the family business. http://tvradio.ert.gr/radio/liveradio/voiceofGreece.asp (John Babbis, MD, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hello John and Gle[n]n, I do have an ear infection and was not able to do the show. I hope the Greek music that was playing at least kept you company, Kat (Katerina Thanasoula, Journalist - ERT S.A., to John, via DXLD) Babis: Nothing from Avlis 3 on 9420; they must be doing work on it. Katerina: We were sorry to hear that your ear infection had kept you from doing Saturday's "Greeks Everywhere" show. Last night at 0200 UTC I dialed to 7475 kHz. and was listening to what I thought was a repeat of the 1400 UTC show, since it was playing a disc-jockey style of Greek music. At about 0223, on came George Fratzeskakis in English asking for e-mail correspondence. Then, I realized that I was listening to his "It's All Greek To Me" show. After that short announcement, it continued uninterrupted with the Greek music until about 0253 UTC, when George came on in English to bid us goodnight (John Babbis, Sept 10, via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUAM. 12130.0, KTWR/Trans World Radio (tentative), 2235-2300*, Sep 8, F with long talks in what sounded like Cantonese interspersed with piano music and a couple of hymns. Poor signal just above noise threshold, but surprising to get Guam at this time of day in this location - almost certainly would be a long-path reception. Not definitively ID'ed, but EiBi shows nothing else on 12130 at this time. EiBi also shows signoff at 2245 M-F and 2300 SaSu (as does TWR's online schedule), but perhaps this actually refers to the day in their target area - where it would have been Saturday morning (M. Schiefelbein, Springfield, MO USA - Sony 2010 & 70-foot longwire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. The 8th September edition of the Daily Telegraph had an interesting item about "Vande Mataram", India's national song, explaining the controversy it's currently arousing in that country. Meaning roughly "Hail to the Motherland!", originally a rallying cry against British colonial rule, this is the chorus that All India Radio plays when signing-on for the day, immediately following the interval signal. The article can be found at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/09/08/windia08.xml or if this link becomes outdated go to the home page and type "Vande Mataram" in the Search box. A recording of the song can be found on the India page of the Interval Signals Online website at http://www.intervalsignals.net Regards, (Dave Kernick, Sept 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. Re 6-135, Lucknow on 4900 instead of 4880: Dear Glenn, 4880 was found empty yesterday. Dhaka in now regular on 4750 with new transmitter. By the way, as expected, AIR Lucknow was noted back on their regular frequency of 4880 for today's morning transmission. So yesterday night it was some "punching error". Yours sincerely, (Jose Jacob, Hyderabad, India, Sept 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. 17810, AIR Panaji, 1114-1150, 10-09, programa en Tamil, inicio a las 1114, identificación: "All India Radio", canciones y comentarios en Tamil. A las 1140 programa DX Vanoli Ulagam (Radio World). Constantes interrupciones de la transmisión en 17810, así que el programa DX tuve que seguirlo por la frecuencia de 15050, Delhi, con peor señal. Hoy no se escuchaba en la frecuencia de 15770 Aligarh, que habitualmente es la que mejor entra. 43443 en 17810 y 24322 en 15050 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, escuchas realizadas en Friol el día 10 de Septiembre, Sony ICF SW 7600 G antena interior cable 4 metros, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA [and non]. VOI missing again from 9525, after more than a week of reliable activity, Sept 8 at 1305 and other checks during that hour (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I also noted VOI`s absence Sept 8, after checking between 0850 to 1120, but what I found curious was also the absence of RRI Jakarta on 9680, which has always been the most consistent of the Indonesians (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, Etón E5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn - Sept 9 & 10, both VOI (9525) and RRI Jakarta (9680) continue to be off the air. Checking for the KGRE program on Sept 10 (Sun.), at 1000-1020, on 9680, but found nothing (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, Etón E5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) And there is no trace of RRI on 11860 at 1400+ either. This one had started to put a decent signal into my location recently. I don't think lack of propagation can be blamed as Veritas Asia has been audible at fair to good strength on 11870 since 1330+ (Noel R. Green (NW England), Sept 10, ibid.) Suara Indonesia still missing from 9525 at 1327 check Sept 10 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn and Ron have been reporting the same thing I have noticed from 4 to 5 days back. No RRI 9525 at 1130 and not even the stronger VOI 9680, which kept coming till 1500 here. But I just noticed a barely audible service in Arabic after 1600 on 15150 that has to be RRI. Not a great expectation for Spanish at 1700; propagation has been poor lately (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, Sept 10, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) That Arabic could be IRAN --- remember that both are scheduled at that time, but when on, Indonesia is usually slightly low in frequency. EiBi says: 15150 1600-1700 INS Voice of Indonesia A ME 15150 0530-1630 IRN IRIB Teheran A ME sirjan 15150 0530-1630 IRN IRIB Teheran A NAf sirjan (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) ** INDONESIA. Dear Chakroborty, Thanks for your email. We do not have QSL card because we are not radio station. As requested we sent you a KGRE sticker to your address. Best wishes, Ogi Yutarini, Project Coordinator Kang Guru Radio English (KGRE) PO Box 3095 Denpasar 80030, Bali, Indonesia. (0361) 225243 Office; (0361) 263509 Fax; E-mail oyutarini @ ialf.edu Website http://www.kangguru.org KGRE is funded by AusAID - The Australian Government's Overseas Aid Program. KGRE is managed by the Indonesia Australia Language Foundation (IALF) and is broadcast on 100 RRI and selected private radio stations across Indonesia (via Swopan Chakroborty, India, DXLD) Dear Glenn, Do you have any news in which id I should send my reception report for Kang Guru radio broadcast? Their project coordinator has refused to issue any QSL card. But I noticed a news about Kang Guru QSL in your DXLD. Thanks, (Swopan Chakroborty, Kolkata, India, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Swopan, No, I have nothing to add. It seems to me their answer is reasonable, and the same one I may give when someone wants a QSL card for World of Radio. You don`t cite where in the vast archives of DXLD a QSL from Kang Guru was cited, but perhaps it is a matter of reaching a person, a particular v/s, who is willing to do it, at least after adequate pestering. Was a name mentioned? Or was it a prepared card? (Glenn to Swopan, via DXLD) By `id` I guess he means E-mail address ** INTERNATIONAL WATERS [and non]. EARTHQUAKE --- Heard what I presumed was mil jet activity well over the central Gulf while reading the paper on the porch (occasionally rattles the glass doors, usually only in the winter during very dry air). Timex watch noted it at 1057. Thought nothing of it, but happened to have 970 WFLA on around noon local, and they were getting lots of calls, asking what the... Reports now coming in from Lutz and points well east to Daytona, etc. WFLA reported some county emergency ops south of Tampa Bay were activating in case of tidal wave activity, though USGS says not a possibility, shut up sit down and get back to your third cup of coffee. Myself, a tsunami is hoped for to cleanse Pinellas beaches of tall condos and bloated yanqui swine tourists. ``Public Information Statement 1144 am EDT sun Sep 10 2006. Earthquake felt by many in northeast Florida this morning...no damage reported... The USGS reported an earthquake of 6.0 center 260 miles west southwest of Clearwater Florida. This occurred at 1056 am. [EDT = 1456 UT] Several reports of shaking and rattling noises were reported on the west side of Jacksonville. In Flagler Beach buildings have been reported to be shaking and rattling.`` (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, Sept 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN. See INDONESIA, both in Arabic at 1600-1630 on 15150 ** ISRAEL. Re: ``Kol Israel signed on 9345 at 1558 with a short carrier overlap with the now-to-keep Tashkent site which cut modulation (RNW English) in time at 1557. After interval signal at 1600 into Yiddish, presented with a remarkably slow delivery (about as slow as VOA Special English), not only by the announcer but also by somebody they interviewed via phone. Reception here in Central Europe, the very target area of this frequency, suffered seriously from stronger Firedrake on 9350. HFCC shows 9345 as using 50 kW only, certainly not helping in this situation. I understand that the separate Tel Aviv site has been closed down and Bezeq maintains only Yavne for shortwave transmission anymore? (Kai Ludwig, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)`` According to Moshe Oren, power on 9345 kHz is 100 kW and the antenna is a low-gain log-periodic. The old 50 kW transmitter at Yavne using a rhombic antenna dating back to 1954, although still in working order, was retired on December 31, 2004. One of the tubes was needed to keep an old domestic AM transmitter going! (Alan Holder, Cowes, Isle of Wight, U.K., Sept 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Kol Israel was heard for the first time this Friday 9/8, opening its 0330 English service on the new announced 11590 for a SINPO 35443. Hebrew service around 0200 to 0300, has a better presence on 9345, sometimes like a local here, but not to be so ``indulgent`` I`ll give them a 45554. Signals coming from that part of the globe at this time on 31 m behave the same way and that`s the case of Voice of Greece on 9420 (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, Sept 8, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 11590 is not the new frequency, it is an old frequency which along with 13720 was supposed to be replaced by 9345 and 7530 as of September 1 on the 0330 English broadcast as in http://israelradio.org/sw.htm so this confirms they have failed to make that change, so far (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Yep... I heard Reshet Bet on 9345 until 0326 UT last night, when the carrier dropped. Raul's monitoring confirms the suspicion that they're still on the pre-Sep 1 schedule. According to both IBA and israelradio.org schedules, since Sept 1, 9345 should've continued and 7530 should've been added for 0330. I heard nothing at 0330 - even on the 'old' frequencies from here in NY (Doni Rosenzweig, Sept 8, ibid.) As of now, Kol Israel still hasn't made all of the shortwave frequency changes which were supposed to change as of September 1. I haven't heard anything regarding any change of plans, as of yet (Doni Rosenzweig, Sept 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The announced schedule change for Kol Israel seemed to have taken place this UT Saturday Sep. 9 as I went to 11590 for its English Service and nothing was there. But great signal with that 15 minutes mostly news broadcast was going on 9345 presented by a female announcer by the name of Noemi (?). Nothing was heard on // 7530 (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH. 4450, 1112-1120, KCBS Sep 4 Passionate political- sounding speech in Korean by male, followed by dramatic vocals and orchestral music at 1117. Good level, and clearly parallel with 4557 (Haeju). 4450 was accompanied by a warbler jammer, but 4557 was in the clear. Likely KCBS on these frequencies, rather than the Anti- Imperialist National Democratic Front, as it's been reported elsewhere that the clandestines are not using these transmitters currently (Guy Atkins, Puyallup, WA USA, DXing from Conrad Meadows, WA, Eton E1 & Degen DE1103 portable receivers; PA0RDT Mini-Whip & Wellbrook ALA 100 antennas at 40-ft height, see DX-PEDITIONS, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. Sept 8 at 1305, Shiokaze audible again but poorly on 9485 via Taiwan, and it`s one more Friday in succession in English, with usual listing of Mr. or Mrs. kidnapping victim names with years of birth such as 1942, 1943 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, thanks for the tip about English on Friday. I also tuned in Sept 8, 1322-1330*, for the reading of names and years of birth, sign- off announcement for Shiokaze Two. Good reception, about the best I have had for this one (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, Etón E5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Shiokaze, 9485 via Taiwan, quick check Sunday Sept 10 at 1326 was in Japanese (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Regarding the reporting of Shiokaze (Sea Breeze): I never feel badly about reporting their latest activity, as their website is always up to date. When I reported their last frequency change of July 10, it was already up on their website at the time, so obviously N. Korea knows where to jam (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) cf ZIMBABWE [non] ** LAOS. 6130, Lao National Radio has recently extended its evening schedule on 567 kHz to sign off at 1600. I would guess this also applies to 6130. I haven't been able to confirm the shortwave schedule yet, as reception of 6130 is usually very difficult here so late in the evening (Alan Davies - Surabaya, Indonesia, via Ron Howard, dxldyg via DXLD) Last month Alan visited Kuching (Sarawak/Malaysia), hence some observations pertain to there, as well as what he has observed from Indonesia (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LIBYA [non]. V. of Africa, 17610 via France, still with big hum marring the Swahili transmission, Sept 10 at 1329. Arab music, loud and clear on 17645, Sept 10 at 1328, presumably the Libyan jammer, but nothing heard mixing with it. Gone at 1401 recheck, by when WHRA was also on 17650 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Apenas ayer mencioné una emisora en árabe --- Sawt-Al-Amal? --- sobre 17630 a las 1330 borrando a Africa #1 hasta las 1400. Hoy Domingo he recibido la emisora en árabe pero en 17645, que debe ser la misma porque cortaron justo a las 1400, dejando escuchar a la Voz de Rusia con servicio en inglés. Como Gabón se mantuvo hoy con buena señal desde las 1300, me da por sospechar si no habrá prestado su transmisor para dicha transmisión en árabe escuchada ayer, porque la habitual programación con pop africano no se percibía ni siquiera en el fondo (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, Sept 10, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also GABON ** LUXEMBOURG [and non]. Re RTL and 279, 567, 783, 1098: Indeed old news from last year, as already pointed out, and Clervaux is a village a few kilometres away from Marnach (who knows why they choose to dub that site). I'm not aware of any international coordination for these frequencies so far, and from a German point of view I also can't imagine that MDR would not object to its main mediumwave frequency being spoiled this way. (Back in last year I wrote this about RBB, too, but meanwhile RBB has done with 567 and mediumwave in general.) Does anybody take these attempts seriously at all? (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Sept 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALAYSIA. 6050, Sibu is still active, but with a reduced schedule: 2200-0100 relaying Wai FM Kuching in Iban, and 0400-0700 apparently with local programming from Sibu FM, probably also in Iban. I've been unable to trace an evening transmission from Sibu on 6050. Even in Kuching, the 0400-0700 transmission from Sibu is more or less unintelligible because of interference from the Kajang transmitter near Kuala Lumpur, which is currently on approx. 6049.64. The Kajang transmitter carries Info FM in Malay 0200-0500, Asyik FM in Malay and Orang Asli languages 0500-1500, and Suara Islam for listeners in Indonesia 1500-1700. 7270 (currently on approx. 7270.15), the Kuching schedule is as follows: 2200-0100 Wai FM Iban; 0100-0400 Wai FM Bidayuh; 0400-0700 relays Limbang FM in Lun Bawang; 0700-1000 Wai FM Kayan/Kenyah; 1000- 1600 Wai FM Iban. The same Wai FM programmes are on Kuching 548.92 kHz, except at 0400-0700 when 548.92 is off air. 5030 (currently approx. 5030.02), Sarawak FM is still heard 2200-1600 in Malay on 5030 and 7130 kHz, 24h on FM, and also 0000-0200 & 1000- 1200 on Kuching 729 kHz. Around 30 & 31 August, the Sarawak SW frequencies probably operated an extended schedule for coverage of Malaysian Independence Day celebrations on 31 August. 5965 (currently approx. 5964.94), from Kajang; the Nasional FM network from RTM Kuala Lumpur merged with Klasik FM on 12 August, and has been re-named "Klasik Nasional FM", with a format of news, info and Malay oldies presented in Malay. The network operates 24h. It's also transmitted on the former Nasional FM network, and additionally in Kuala Lumpur on the Klasik FM frequency, 93.9 MHz (Alan Davies - Surabaya, Indonesia via Ron Howard, dxldyg via DXLD) Last month Alan visited Kuching (Sarawak/Malaysia), hence some observations pertain to there, as well as what he has observed from Indonesia (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 4810.0, Radio Transcontinental/XERTA, 0435-0525, Sep 7, Spanish, contemporary religious songs with IDs in Spanish and one in English(!), mentions of website http://www.misionradio.com then into a long apparent sermon at 0500. Some sort of ute is also parked right on/near 4810, but the lower sideband is largely free of QRM and quite listenable. Fair to good signal (M. Schiefelbein, Springfield, MO USA - Sony 2010 & 70-foot longwire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MONGOLIA. 12085, Voice of Mongolia, 1212-1235, 10-09, programa en inglés, canciones en mongol, identificación por locutora: "Voice of Mongolia, our address: Voice of Mongolia, English Section, P. O. Box 365, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia". A las 1229 fin del programa en inglés y comienza el programa en mongol. 34333 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, escuchas realizadas en Friol el día 10 de Septiembre, Sony ICF SW 7600 G antena interior cable 4 metros, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEW ZEALAND. 3935, 1103-1106, ZLXA Levin Sep 4 Faint signal of male announcer with slow reading, possibly news items. Ham radio QRM at times. Tentative; it's been a long time since I've had a definite logging of ZLXA (Guy Atkins, Puyallup, WA USA, DXing from Conrad Meadows, WA, Eton E1 & Degen DE1103 portable receivers; PA0RDT Mini- Whip & Wellbrook ALA 100 antennas at 40-ft height, see DX-PEDITIONS, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NORTH AMERICA. The Crystal Ship: Fall/Winter 2006-7 info Hi Glenn, I logged The Crystal Ship on 2 September 2006 on 6875 kHz from 0110 to 0138 sign off, clear ID's heard. This morning, I received the e-mail below as well in relation to The Crystal Ship and forward it to you FYI... 73s, (Ed Insinger, Sept 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: Greetings, Pirate Radio Fans! The pirate radio station 'The Crystal Ship', ("The Official Radio Voice of The Blue States Republic"), whose first pirate radio career spanned the years 1982-1984 (see Andrew Yoder's books on "Pirate Radio stations" chapter on 'Political Pirates'), remains active again since September 2004, twenty years after their last activity... As of this posting on 9/7/06, we are active on 6875 kHz on selected Sunday evenings and random weeknights. Generally we are not able to broadcast on Friday/Saturday evenings, but may occasionally work that out too. Hours of operation are usually -2/+2 hours from local sunset in the Great Lakes region, currently anytime from 2230 to 0230 UT, on 43 meters. Our alternate 43 meter frequency is 6854 kHz, but that will only be used if 'the religious powerhouse' (WEWN?) again takes up residence on 6875 this winter. We also plan to use 90 meter frequencies extensively this winter 2006- 2007, most likely 3237 or 3275, +/- 1 kHz. Operations in that band, come winter, will run many hours well beyond local sunset in Eastern North America, possibly as late as 0400-0500 UT in December/January 07. Schedules in all bands will shift depending on the current hours of darkness. We often send Email notices about pending transmissions. If you would like to receive Emailed notices about transmissions and current frequencies, please ask to join our Email list. Requests to join our list should be Emailed to tcsshortwave @ gmail.com Our transmitters include two Johnson Viking Valiants with AM carrier power outputs of 150-170 watts, a Johnson Viking 2 with 100+ watts (all plate modulated), and a now mostly unused but majestic in its history Knight T-150A with 100+ watts screen-grid modulation, (same model we used in the '80s). Antennas currently in use are dipoles for 43 meters and 90 meters. We use a variety of MFJ antenna tuners to keep the SWR at transmitter close to 1.1:1, regardless of frequency used. QSL requests are honored via emailed reports at tcsshortwave @ yahoo.com Snail-mailed reports should be sent to: The Crystal Ship, P. O. Box 1, Belfast, NY 14711 Since 2004, we also have confirmed reports from Venezuela and an mp3 audio report from eastern France, so our reach on shortwave may extend beyond North America when conditions are favorable. Strictly for the sake of our "DX fans", we hope to make some transmissions on 1710 kHz AM this winter, if we get a suitable antenna erected before winter. To be notified of any such transmissions, you must be on our Email list (See above). 73s and FIGHT for FREE RADIO! (The Poet, aka John Poet, The Crystal Ship, tcsshortwave @ yahoo.com swpirates yg via Insinger, DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA [and non]. Re 6-134, the FManeuvering to get more FM stations in the air in NW Oklahoma. In trying to unravel all this from FCC records, I inadvertently confused two different entities. The new FM station granted on 107.1 in Alva is owned by Champlin Broadcasting in Enid. All the others referred to as Champlin are really Chisholm Trail Broadcasting, Enid. However, both are 100% owned by Hiram Champlin (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) So the corrected and expanded version should read: New FM Station Grants: Alva, 107.1, 25000 h,v; 100 m, Champlin Broadcasting, Inc., Auction 62 winner. Transmitter ESE Alva (Sept FMedia! via DXLD) Champlin Broadcasting is based in Enid, 100% owned by Hiram Champlin. He is also the 100% owner of Chisholm Trail Broadcasting, i.e. KNID 99.7 Alva-Enid. Plus KCRC-1390 Enid, KFXY-1640 Enid, KXLS-95.7 Lahoma- Enid; and spun off its original KNID 96.9 to OKC. The 107.1 Alva site will be at 36-46-50 N, 98-33-40 W, about 5 mi ESE of that town, which gives it a slight advantage for serving Enid, altho not so well as KNID 99.7 has done from roughly halfway between Enid and Alva. As implied by its calls, KNID has become the prime FM outlet of CTB for Enid, with Alva only a city of license. Checking into FCC actions, I found something quite interesting. A concern in Ashland KS filed to have KNID 99.7 Alva OK moved to 99.9, so Ashland could have its first local radio on 99.7 (I am replacing channel numbers with real MHz in this discussion). Then the FCC proposed instead that 104.5 be allocated to Ashland KS, so Alva 99.7 would not have to move to 99.9. Then Chisholm Trail Broadcasting [CTB hereafter] filed a counterproposal that Kinsley KS should get 105.5, Ashland get 99.7 as originally requested, but 99.7 Alva would be moved to Mustang OK, and instead of Alva shifting from 99.7 to 99.9, the latter would be allotted to Medford OK (north of Enid) as its first local radio service, which CTB would then apply for and construct, as well as the Kinsley and Mustang stations. Ashland KS is further west, and close to the OK border, while Kinsley is between Dodge City and Great Bend, close enough to rimshot those two markets, at least. This is accompanied by the usual BS about how wonderful these little towns are, how Mustang is distinct from Oklahoma City. But we know what is really going on here --- CTB sees an opportunity to move another of its small-market Enid stations into a much larger market, just as it did with 96.9 which was sold off for big bucks and is now a purely OKC station in programming, altho from its Crescent site it also covers Enid. If they really wanted to start a station for Mustang, it would be with just enough power, some hundreds of watts or less, to cover that town alone, and not Oklahoma City next door. And get two new stations in the process, three counting the 107.1 in Alva already granted. Presumably the new Medford 99.9 would become a defacto Enid station to replace KNID 99.7 Alva-Enid, probably even with those call letters ultimately transferred to it, mark my words. Why can`t a station called ``KNID`` actually BE in Enid?? Apparently the FCC has not yet ruled on this counterproposal. There was already a construxion permit to move the KNID 99.7 tower slightly from its location between Enid and Alva, near Helena OK, less than 2 minutes of latitude northwards for reasons unknown, but if not already done, that would become moot. Or I suppose the plan was to build a new tower rather than physically move the old one. KNID 99.7 (originally known as KXLS), had also been prevented from moving site closer to Enid or OKC by a 99.7 in southern OK at Tishomingo. The owner of that station, KTSH, was caught in some rules violation and that license has been cancelled upon CTB`s petition. And he has been banned from owning any broadcast properties in the future. Would you believe that Enidites are totally oblivious of all this maneuvering? The local paper never publishes any in-depth reporting on local broadcasting. The facts I have reported here all come from public FCC records (Glenn Hauser, Enid, Sept 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Having lived in Enid for several years, I appreciate getting reacquainted with the broadcasting scene down there. I'm trying to get my head around Ashland, KS or Medford, OK warranting anything more than an LPFM station each. Perhaps Pond Creek/Kremlin is next? :-) 73, de (Nate >> -- Wireless | Amateur Radio Station N0NB Bargmann, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, How history repeats itself. I remember when KGEO-5 was in Enid serving Enid and such towns as Arkansas City, Ponca City, etc. with ABC while Oklahoma City had KTVQ-25 with ABC. The same happened with channel 12 in Hutchinson, KS [KTVH to Wichita market as KWCH] and channel 8 in Muskogee [KTVX to Tulsa market as KTUL]. It's all money. No community service about it (Dave Pomeroy, Topeka KS, DX LISTENING DIGEST) KTVQ-25 was in the 50s when UHF was considered worthless; major network had to get a VHF. FCC had really screwed up in not allocating in the first place at least 3 commercial VHF channels to cities as large as OKC, Tulsa and Wichita, which then had to pull the third one in from helpless outlying towns. Same thing happened in many other markets (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA. I was in OKC Saturday Sept 9, so checked out the 107.1 pirate again. Still going strong, or as strong as before, which means it begins to lose out west of I-44 on the west side of the city, and losing coverage further as you go NW on Oklahoma 3. But it`s solid in the center of the city, still with Republic Broadcasting Network wacky conspiracy programming. Did not catch an ID on the hour, but last time it was R. Free Austin, presumably off their webcast. Why has the FCC done nothing about this in the past several months? Should be easy to DF with professional equipment and not very hard with consumer/hobby equipment if one cared to take the time and trouble. Perhaps it`s because it`s far-right rather than far-left, and as we know, the far right is not adequately represented on the legal OKC media. Yeah, sure. I also checked 101.1 where a more conventional OKC pirate had been reported (or two), but nothing heard there. I doubt that the upcoming Alva 107.1 will pose much of a problem for RFA/RBN/OKC except during extreme tropo conditions. Just to be sure that RBN does not now have a legal LPFM in OKC as claimed, I rechecked FCC FM Query Sept 10: no, the only OK stations on 107.1 listed are in Alva, Lone Grove (near Ardmore) and Perry (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. Checked KOKC-1520 to find out when Paul Harvey actually airs Saturday midday, since their schedule shows him during the entire 12-12:30 CT semihour. After hearing him start near the top of the hour on KRMG-740 Tulsa (which also puts a semi-local signal into OKC), I tuned over to 1520, and was treated to an adstring on and on and on, mixed with KOKC promos and a one-minute ABC feature here and there, but PH not really starting until 12:15 (1715 UT) (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 4960, 1234-1235, Catholic Radio Network Sep 3 Very faint signal of English talk by a female announcer; it seemed to be a religious devotion or prayer. Tentative. 7120, 1230-1233, R. Wantok Light Sep 3 It was great to hear this station loud and clear again; probably the best reception I've heard since logging their multi-hour inaugural day celebration broadcast in June, 2005. Noted female announcer with ID, ad into contemporary Christian music. Despite Wantok's 'NVIS' antenna, designed to restrict radiated power to the region, their signal clearly reaches far past Papua New Guinea! (Guy Atkins, Puyallup, WA USA, DXing from Conrad Meadows, WA, Eton E1 & Degen DE1103 portable receivers; PA0RDT Mini- Whip & Wellbrook ALA 100 antennas at 40-ft height, see DX-PEDITIONS, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 3235, 1020-1035, R. Luz Y Sonido Sep 4 Male announcer in Spanish, and campesino music to 1030 ID. Into sermon or religious talk at 1031. Fair (Guy Atkins, Puyallup, WA USA, DXing from Conrad Meadows, WA, Eton E1 & Degen DE1103 portable receivers; PA0RDT Mini- Whip & Wellbrook ALA 100 antennas at 40-ft height, see DX-PEDITIONS, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 5024.93, Radio Quillabamba; 1044-1050 10 September, 2006. Presumed the one, with Radio Rebelde off (they were up later in the morning). Spanish ballads, male announcer, mention of Perú. Fair (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida (earthquake capital of the world), USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, Sept 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. New 6000 from VOR in fall: see UNIDENTIFIED [non] ** SOLOMON ISLANDS. 5020, 0958-1003, SIBC Sep 4 A very good signal tonight from one of my personal favorites -- SIBC Honiara. Female announcer in English with 'nine o'clock' time check at 1000, SIBC ID, usual bamboo pipes interval signal, and into news items. At later re- tune, I caught the sign-off at 1159 with ID, announcements, and national anthem. Immediately after the anthem, SIBC began their BBC relay (Guy Atkins, Puyallup, WA USA, DXing from Conrad Meadows, WA, Eton E1 & Degen DE1103 portable receivers; PA0RDT Mini-Whip & Wellbrook ALA 100 antennas at 40-ft height, see DX-PEDITIONS, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOMALIA [non]. Tuned to 17550 via Germany, just in time to hear R. Waaberi ID in passing at 1353 Sept 8 during the Friday-only 1330 broadcast brokered by R. Miami International, followed by mentions of kHz and meter-band, and expressed in English, http://www.radiowaaberi.com --- the talk was rather lo-fi, but the bouncy music which followed was OK. No QRM at all, and continued until cutoff at 1359:30 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOUTH AFRICA. 3320.0, Radio Sonder Grense, 0215-0235, Sep 8, Afrikaans, a mix of easy listening/slow pop ballad type tunes in English and other languages, with chat from F announcer in Afrikaans. Good signal aside from the static (M. Schiefelbein, Springfield, MO USA - Sony 2010 & 70-foot longwire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKEY. UnID: 7230 at 0020z Sep 09 (local Friday Sep 08) --- It's probably not exotic but it's on right now with a very good signal. I don't see anything listed in HFCC or EiBi that seems right. Does anyone else recognize it (Jerry Lenamon, Waco, Texas, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) EiBi shows Voice of Turkey 2200-0100 in Turkish to Europe. And also to North America on the same freq., for that matter! (Steve Lare, Holland, MI, ibid.) I couldn't make heads or tails of the language but Turkey doesn't surprise me considering the music I heard although I still don't see it listed in the EiBi I downloaded on Aug 26. Another thing, 7230 wasn't in // to 7300 (Jerry Lenamon, ibid.) EiBi shows 7300 in use by Voice of Russia for Spanish to Latin America at 0000-0100, so I'm not surprised that it wasn't in // to 7230 (Steve Lare, ibid.) Turkey moved from 7300 to 7230 a few weeks ago. This was reported in DXLD. If there is something also on 7300 now, it must be something other than Turkey. Well, the EiBi online now (and better to check the current one than a previous download) at http://www.susi-und-strolch.de/eibi/dx/freq-a06.txt does show Turkey on 7230, and V of Russia in Spanish to LAm on 7300 at 00-02, which must be why Turkey moved (Glenn, ibid.) Got it bookmarked now. I didn't realize that EiBi was updated during the season. Although I couldn't understand the language I thought the programming (on 7230) sounded well done. Over the past few days I've heard music, news and discussion groups. I guess it's a relay of a domestic program. The serious style and presentation is surprising considering that the target area is after midnight (Jerry Lenamon, TX, ibid.) The Turkish service of Voice of Turkey is indeed a dedicated foreign service program, running 24/7 and distributed also via satellite, similar to Deutsche Welle (radio) in German, q.v. (Kai Ludwig, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re: ``Some of the Çakirlar transmitters suffer for many years from low modulation now. 9460 has rather weak audio and produces quite a lot of splatter, and the audio on 5980 (heard after 1800 Sept 4) is even fainter, close to being called just a trace of modulation. Years ago weak tubes were mentioned as cause of these problems, for what it's worth (Kai Ludwig, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST)`` Further to Kai Ludwig's comments, my correspondence with Sedef Somaltin of TRT concerning the bad modulation of Çakirlar frequencies goes back at least three years. I am constantly told that the engineers will try to correct the problem, but this never happens. Recently I was informed that a solution depends on "the available budget". I reckon the site will eventually be closed, with just the newer transmitters at Emirler left on the air. As of September 3, Turkish on 15350 kHz is now transmitted from Emirler 0700-1400 UT, with much improved reception, although with the familiar "squeal" of the maladjusted ABB transmitters, which I hope will be corrected soon. According to Sedef, 9460 kHz cannot be broadcast from Emirler, as the ABB units are only programmed to operate in the "official" broadcasting bands (Alan Holder, Cowes, Isle of Wight, U.K., Sept 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKMENISTAN. Turkmen Radio with audio, drifting around 1471.2 kHz, at 2230 UTC parallel 5015 kHz, probably Türkmenbasy, nominal 1476 kHz (Mauno Ritola, Finland, mwoffsets via NRC IDXD Sept 8 via DXLD) ** U K. Hi Glenn, I've just been reading the very interesting item MEMORIES OF MEASURING MF FREQUENCIES by Chris Greenway, UK of Sept 1 in DXLD 6-132 (yes, I'm just catching up on my reading!). I have little interest in listening to Virgin 1215 or Talk Sport 1053 & 1089 and so their networks are rarely visited. However I do listen to BBCR5 at various times, mostly during the daytime. Here in NW England "my" frequency is 909 on which I am supposed to hear the station via Moorside Edge (near the town of Huddersfield and about 50 miles distant). But also using 909 is a 1 kW transmitter at Whitehaven (west Cumbria), Lisnagarvey 10 kW (N. Ireland) and Westerglen 50 kW (Central Scotland) and so even using a portable receiver with ferrite rod antenna it is necessary at my coastal location to position the receiver carefully. At night-time there is no best position as I assume sky waves from elsewhere are received. 693 via Droitwich is okay in daytime but still affected from time to time by deep-ish fades due to the presence of the 1 kW transmitter at Barrow - a sea-path to my location from SW Cumbria. At night continental transmissions spoil this frequency. Unusual "things" have been heard to occur on 909 such as an 'echo' when the feed to one of the transmitters becomes out of sync with others. And another time I found the signal suffering from rapid and shallow 'fades'. When I'd had enough of it I called BBC Engineering and explained the problem and I was most surprised when someone called me back to ask again what I was hearing. Sounds like a transmitter is off frequency he told me. Imagine my surprise when I received yet another call later on from an engineer who had been sent to the Lisnagarvey site and he had called to ask what my reception was like now after making some adjustments. It was back to normal I told him, much to his relief apparently, or his next visit would have been to Westerglen! My impression therefore is that no one is now doing Chris's former work - but surely some monitoring of the networks has to be done, but maybe not daily? And it is known that many - most? - of the transmitting stations (radio and TV) now operate remotely without staff in attendance. I too wonder what happened to Chris's 'Heath Robinson' equipment! 73 (Noel Green, England, Sept 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. National Public Radio reports on its old acquaintance Kenneth Tomlinson. "Tomlinson made more than 400 calls from government phones and sent or received more than 1200 e-mails on his official account related to horseracing." NPR News, 8 September 2006. "Dodd, Berman and Lantos have all called upon President Bush to sack conservative stalwart Tomlinson. All before the accused has even seen the report on which the media hysterics are allegedly based." Human Events, dated 11 September 2006. "Wouldn't it be interesting if the New York Times would call upon Mr. Dodd, Mr. Berman and Mr. Lantos to 'honor the public's right to know' by agreeing to have done unto themselves as they have done to Mr. Tomlinson?" Fred J. Eckert, Washington Times, 10 September 2006. See previous posts about this subject on 3 September, 1 September, 31 August, and the first in this series, also 31 August. Posted: 10 Sep 2006 (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) q.v. for links to all 7 items ** U S A. 11760, USA, Radio Martí, Greenville, NC (spur or mixing product); 1501+ 9 September, 2006. Presumed Greenville site. Checking this local Saturday for RHC's apparently Sunday-only Esperanto service, noted a mediocre and very distorted/FMing Radio Martí. Not sure if this is a spur or transmitter site mixing product, but fairly sure not a receiver issue, as present on the main rig (NRD-535) as well as the DX-399 portable. Radio Martí strong (and of course, jammed) on 11845 and 11930. 11845 - 85 kHz = 11760, while + 85 kHz = 11930. Mixing issue, or a spur from 11845 where the top spur coincidentally appears on a legitimate Martí frequency? Not audible when RHC is active on 11760 (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida (earthquake capital of the world), USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, Sept 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Surely just a leapfrog mixing product at the transmitter site. Might be another one on 12015. 11760 and 12015 mixes could currently occur only between 14 and 17 UT when both 11845 and 11930 are on the air (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** U S A. Tuning across 9885, Sept 8 at 0518, I was surprised to hear some familiar martial music, which reminded me of some Latin American national anthems, but I think it was Cuban patriotic music, not including ``Viva La Revolución``! -- no, this was not RHC, but WEWN; then at 0522 they began talking about Cuba and Jesucristo, and a song ending with ``danos libertad``. Into Catholic choral music bed with really smooth announcer Pedrito taking brief phone calls, which sounded orchestrated, and reverently mixing in Rosary, Lord`s Prayer, plugs for Marianism, etc. Apparently the reason for the Cuban angle was this being the day of Cuba`s patron saint, La Virgen de Caridad de Cobre (?) – the Virgin of Copper Charity? Maybe I misunderstood or she loses something in translation. Consulting the program grid later at http://www.ewtn.com/wewn/spanish/wewnspan9.asp this show is ``Paz a la luz de la luna, En vivo desde Miami`` or Peace in the Moonlight, live from Miami, M-F at 04-06, the first hour on 13615 and 7540, the second on 9885 and 7540. However, the chances are less than 50-50 that at any given hour of the night there will not be any moonlight, so what do they call it then? The Moon has just passed full so there`s plenty of moonlight at the moment. One finds amazingly little by Googling ``Virgen de Caridad de Cobre`` --- Google even wonders if I meant to say ``Calidad``! --- but what little there is has a Cuban connexion. So I try another approach, Catholic Saints calendar --- bingo, one of the dozens for Sept. 8 is: Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre --- Also known as Cachita, Memorial 8 September Profile --- A statue of Our Lady with a miraculous origin. It stands about 16 inches high. The head is made of baked clay covered with a polished coat of fine white powder, possibly rice paste, and until recently was covered with several layers of paint. She stands on a moon that has silver clouds at either end and three golden-winged cherubs beneath it. She cradles the Christ Child in her left arm, and holds a gold crucifix in her right. The Child raises one hand in blessing, and in the other hand he holds a golden globe. The image's original robes were white, but as usual, the figure is covered by a heavy ornate cloak with gold and silver embroidery, including the Cuban national shield. It hides the body and gives the statue a triangular shape. . . http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/mary0006.htm So everything ties in --- Cuba, Miami, the Moon, Sept. 8. Reading on, El Cobre refers to a location near a copper mine involved in the myth of how the miraculous icon was discovered in 1608, not the substance of the statue. She is the patron saint of Cuba, as declared by various RC popes. Sort of the equivalent of the Mexican Virgen de Guadalupe. R. Martí also has an illustrated article about this: http://www.martinoticias.com/ocbstory.asp?MediaID=38389 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Stereophony Desired --- For a long time I have been disappointed that Austin`s classical music station, KMFA, does not stream in stereo, despite ``stereo`` being displayed on the player. This is especially a problem for their organ music show, where stereo adds so much presence. So I finally dropped them a note about it and got this reply (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, Thanks for your comments and suggestions concerning our online streaming. However, we currently are streaming our signal in stereo. I’m not sure why you are receiving it in mono. Please check your online media player and connection, perhaps something is not configured correctly. Do let us know if this problem persists. Thanks for listening to Classical 89.5 – your home for the classics! (Judy Watts, Development Associate | Webmaster, Classical 89.5, 512.476.5632 Sept 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Judy, This is very strange. I have default winamp to play both your versions, pls and m3u, and they both sound mono even tho `stereo` is indicated on the player. Furthermore, I am running it through a deck with modulation display and there is no difference between right and left. Then I chose Real Player instead, and once again it sounds and displays as mono, even tho stereo icon is displayed. I listen to numerous other webcasting stations on these and other players and they really do come through in stereo. Therefore I continue to suspect your input is somehow monophonic even tho the output may be configured for stereo. Could you please check further, and for instance listen to your webstream on headphones and see if you can detect any stereo separation? Thanks, (Glenn Hauser to Judy, via DXLD) Glenn, Thanks to your tip our audio engineer is looking into our online streaming. It appears there is indeed something wrong with it. It should be resolved shortly! Thanks again! (Judy Watts, Sept 7, ibid.) Checked it again UT Sept 8 at 0335 and now it is definitely in stereo, much better! I`m afraid this demonstrates how little attention most people pay to stereo, if I am the first to notice this and complain. BTW, KMFA has a number of archived shows on demand too, which I assume come thru in stereo and perhaps did when the live stream did not, including Pipeworks: http://www.kmfa.org/listen.htm# (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Re 6-135, What room number is your station? KLFJ 1550 Springfield MO: I’ve tried to field QSL requests/followups for DXers to these guys and I couldn’t even find them! (Ironically, I eventually discovered their contract engineer works here at the university!) They have been running their correct low power at night lately, but only in the last few months. It was painfully obvious they were running their full 1 kW fulltime and not powering down. ``Untarnished service?`` Yeah, their stupid Branson-show-commercials format really provides a wonderful public service. Okay, the Milton Crabapple comedy bits are fun, but they repeat those ad nauseam too (Randy Stewart, Springfield MO, NRC- AM via DXLD) Heh. So THAT'S why I was able to make the following recording on April 1st. I thought it was awfully strong for 28 watts at 725 miles... http://gentoo.net/mike/radio/mwdx/mp3/KLFJ-1550.mp3 (Mike Westfall, N6KUY, WDX6O Los Alamos, New Mexico (DM65uv), ibid.) ** U S A. Vince Marinello, a host on WWL AM 870, New Orleans, has been booked into jail in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, on a charge of 2nd- degree murder in the death of his wife. . . http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-6/1157696245239090.xml&coll=1 (via Alton Peltier, Jr., DXLD) ** U S A. Rush Limbaugh on the CBS Evening News?!?!?! Katie gave the *sshol* 2 minutes on the Sept 7 show, as part of a ``free speech`` segment, yes, promising all kinds of other opinions on programs to come. OK, that does it. I don`t care if she has on the most wonderful progressive next, this is unforgivable, and I`ve had it after three episodes of the revamped show. Actually, I taped but have not gotten around to watching her debut, and did not bother to watch the second one. Nor was I listening to this one, merely observing it on an aux monitor, and don`t know and don`t care what Limburger said. Isn`t it enough that he is on hundreds of radio stations, many of them the biggest in their markets? Not enough NEWS to fill 22 minutes???? Reviews indicate there`s lots of soft stuff in it, surprise2 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VENEZUELA [non]. 6180, CUBA, Radio Nacional de Venezuela (relay); 1055-1058* 10 September, 2006. Tail end of Spanish programming with female ID, address, into carrier at 1058 tune out. Good. 6060, CUBA, Radio Nacional de Venezuela (relay); 1127+ 10 September, 2006 excellent in passing, Spanish female talking about hospital health care (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida (earthquake capital of the world), USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, Sept 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also CUBA ** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. 7460, "ALGERIA/ W. SAHARA", (Tentative) RASD, 2205-2230+, Sept. 5, Arabic, Various Arabic musical selections with occasional OM talks. Tentative ID in passing at 2225. Fair (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, 200' Beverages, MLB-1, DTS-4, dxldyg via DXLD) Are they still signing off at 2400v, or 2300 as DX Mix News alleged? Look for a brief break in WWCR 7465 just before 2400 as they switch transmitters (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZIMBABWE [and non]. SW Radio Africa returns to SW. "Recently our medium wave transmissions were jammed and we returned to shortwave - but after a few weeks this has also been jammed. It would appear that our news bulletin is being specifically targeted." Association of Zimbabwean Journalists, 7 September 2006 http://www.zimbabwejournalists.com/story.php?art_id=955&cat=2 (via kimandrewelliott.com Sept 8, also Mike Barraclough, via DXLD) SW Radio Africa - the Independent Voice of Zimbabwe - is once again being jammed by government authorities. Recently our medium wave transmissions were jammed and we returned to shortwave - but after a few weeks this has also been jammed. It would appear that our news bulletin is being specifically targeted. This is clearly because a program of organised, peaceful resistance has begun in Zimbabwe and is also ahead of the advertised protests by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, scheduled to begin on 13th September. We deplore the fact that government believes it can hold on to power by blocking access to freedom of information and expression. If it put this much time, energy and money into something positive, Zimbabwe would once again be a wonderful place to live. Gerry Jackson Station Manager http://www.swradioafrica.com Tel: (44) (0) 2083871407 Mobile: (44) (0) 7789874019 (via David Pringle-Wood, Harare, DXLD) I can't find the shortwave frequency at the SW Radio Africa website http://www.swradioafrica.com/ This might make it difficult for Zimbabwean jammers to find the frequency of this London-based exile station. But it also makes its difficult for listeners to find the frequency. Shortwave has better immunity from jamming than medium wave, because of the tendency of distant shortwave broadcast transmitters to be heard with a stronger signal than closer jamming transmitters. Posted: 08 Sep 2006 (Kim Andrew Elliott, ibid.) The game is on again. Government has once again started localised jamming of our shortwave signal (so you can still hear us in some parts of Zimbabwe). We'll be doing everything we can to get around this problem and will be trying different frequencies, different times and other ways to counteract the jamming. We will be changing the times of some of our programs. You can of course listen to us at any time over the internet. Letter to the Jammers: Letter from SWRA to the Jammer Dear Mr. Jammer, You’ve started jamming our shortwave frequency again and we really don’t understand what you hope to gain from this. Surely you realise by now that we will get around this somehow? There’s no way that you can stop the flow of information into Zimbabwe, whatever you do. No way. It’s 2006 – there is the internet – there are mobile phones – there are ten thousand different ways to inform people. Wouldn’t it be amazing if you put all this time, energy and money into making life in Zimbabwe happier for everyone, instead of focusing all your energy on making everyone miserable. Don’t you want to be happy? Don’t you want to be proud to be Zimbabwean? Don’t you want your kids to grow up fit and healthy and happy, to stay in the land of their birth instead of taking the first opportunity to flee to the west? We know you’re jamming us now because you can see that a well co- ordinated campaign of resistance has begun on the ground, and this frightens you. So clearly you do know that you are on the losing side. Dear, poor, sad, lonely, unhappy Mr. Jammer. Try being one of the good guys. Listen to a bit of music. Enjoy our programs and get interested in changing our country for the better. You’ll sleep so much better at night. Keep listening. Because we are not going away. Wishing you complete failure in your jamming attempts – from everyone at SWRA (SWRA website Sept 8 via DXLD) Also refers to http://www.kubatana.net Now we may as well publish all the logs of SWRA on SW during the past few months, which we have voluntarily held up to thwart the jamming, at least until now. These are in reverse chrono order: 4880, SW Radio Africa, via Meyerton, *1700-1900*, excellent signal here, probably too strong to notice any jamming. 7120 (Voice of The People) is being jammed regularly and quite badly (Vashek Korinek, RSA DSWCI DX Window Sept 6 via DXLD) On Sep 04, SW Radio Africa first signed on late at *1740 after the spy station "Uniform Lima Xray" with a female reading coded messages in NATO alphabet ceased broadcasting; English interview about what to do in Zimbabwe, Afropop, ID, schedule, website, closed with a song, 45444. At *1803-1806* and *1830-1846* the lady returned with more messages and caused a hum on the frequency which was not a kind of jamming, as I heard it, but rather a low frequency heterodyne. I hope the spies enjoyed the nice African music in the background! At *1812- 1813* there were short bursts of noise, maybe digital messages to spies? (Anker Petersen, Denmark, ibid.) I have been hearing SW Radio Africa all week on 4880, presumably from South Africa, at 1830 to 1900 sign off. Reception fair to good, some interference from the numbers station but no sign of any jamming from the government (Colin Richardson, Northants, UK, Sept World DX Club Contact via DXLD) Which week? Observed here since 3rd August, transmission time is 1800-1857, suffers from co-channel utility interference a few times during the broadcast (Edwin Southwell, Basingstoke, ibid.) 4880, SW Radio Africa, via Meyerton, *1700-1857v*, Jul 25, Aug 06, 07, 08, 09, 11 and 13, starts at 1700 with singing "Africa, Africa...", announcement in English, 1730-1800 English pop songs, and since 1800 the programme "Hello Zimbabwe" in English with political phone interviews about the situation in Zimbabwe. Clear IDs announcing 4880 kHz were heard at 1825, 1835 and 1845. At times strong QRM in Europe from the supposed spy station "Uniform Lima Xray Two" on same frequency, 45344 - 32332 (Baste, Krone, Petersen, Savolainen, Schulze and Titarev in Dxplorer, via DSWCI DX Window Aug 22 via DXLD) UNID, 4880, Zimbabwe news items, women handing out flowers fined. 1805 to 1817 with woman reporter interviewed by reporter. "How can anybody lock up women for four days... Heroes day is 11th to 14th of August." News regarding southern Africa. "Property seized under the law" 1817. English accented news reporter - or correctly accented depending on your viewpoint :-)/ (A DXTuner, via Bob Wilkner, FL, Aug 14, HCDX via DXLD) This is UK-based SW Radio Africa, presumed via Meyerton. The SW broadcast is not publicised, and will not be listed on their website. SWRA doesn't have funding for shortwave, but some airtime has been provided gratis by transmitter operators, or possibly paid for through private donations by benefactors. SWRA keeps these SW broadcasts low key in the hope that they will not be jammed by the Zimbabwe authorities, which continue to jam the morning mediumwave transmission (Andy Sennitt, Radio Netherlands, ibid.) 4880, 1745-1802 15/8, SW Radio Africa, via Meyerton Sud Africa, talks, mx, EE, nx at 1800, QRM number station, good. RX: Degen 1103, al parco vicino casa. Si tratta di una radio "clandestina", o meglio non ufficiale che trasmette per lo Zimbabwe e si oppone alle forze attualmente al governo. Se a qualcuno interessa approfondire ecco il suo sito: http://www.swradioafrica.com/ Ciao (Giampiero Bernardini, Milano, Italy, playdx yg via DXLD) Now to hot tips: During the past hour (since 1715 UT), Aug 11, clandestine SW R Africa, probably via Meyerton, has been booming in here in Denmark on 4880 with still improving strength and a SINPO of 35344 right now at 1845! The usual spy station, reading letters, is also there on a slightly higher frequency, but on my AOR AR7030PLUS it can be totally eliminated by using LSB, so tonight nearly every word can be understood. At 1715-1730 there was instrumental string music, 1730-1800 English pop songs, and since 1800 the programme "Hello Zimbabwe" with political phone interviews about the situation in Zimbabwe. A clear ID was heard at 1825. Afropop from 1830. ID again at 1835 announcing 4880 kHz followed by a political comment about President Mugabe. 73, (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, SWRA has been on 4880 since around 25 July. 73, (Jari Savolainen, Finland, Aug 11, HCDX via DXLD) SOUTH AFRICA, 4880 kHz, unID weak station heard Aug 6 1858 with close at 1900* on 4880 kHz (on which frequency the Numbers "Uniform Lima Xray Two" station continued with strong signals). S. Africa here again (with SW Radio Africa or other program??)? Will try again tonight (Aug 9) (Finn Krone, Denmark, http://www.krone-web.dk DXplorer Aug 9 via BCDX via DXLD) Finn, this unID starts at 1700 with singing "Africa, Africa..." and M in English (as I heard it "SW ...") announcer is very likely SABC's. I think it's AFS. German Numbers utility fortunately on USB so using LSB leaves only AIR co-channel (I think they'll go off at 1740v so propagation to AFS would enhance in an hour - chances for clear ID at 18 would be much better). (Vlad Titarev, Ukraine, DXplorer Aug 9 via BCDX Aug 11 via DXLD) ZIMBABWE (non). Hi, Glenn. 4880, reactivation of SW Radio Africa (Anti Mugabe government). Nice signal in France at 1740 UT with music and ID at 1800 with news in English (SINPO 34333, 11 August). Yesterday sign off at 1900 UT - Relay via Meyerton (South Africa). Rx: JRC NRD 535 with 30m. Long Wire. Best 73's (Franck BASTE, F4LKC, 03800 St Bonnet de Rochefort, FRANCE, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn's censorship policy about SWRA loggings is interesting. Should we not log any clandestine stations to avoid them to be jammed? Or is SWRA just a special case, because they (I recall) asked info of their SW broadcasts not to be published. Well, I guess all intelligence/ security authorities of the clandestine target countries should monitor also internet DX-bulletins, but most of all monitor the radio spectrum. When Chinese delivered the jamming equipment to Zimbabwe, did they also deliver know-how about effective spectrum monitoring? In this SWRA 4880 case, I think one man with shortwave receiver should have spotted 4880 within, say 48 hours. And no doubt informers had reported these broadcasts very soon to the authorities. So why the delay of weeks in starting the jamming on 4880? Was it that the monitoring wasn`t there at all? Or the jamming equipment didn't somehow function. I guess instead of using some low power city jammers, one or two let's say military 2-10 kW transmitters could produce rather effective nationwide jamming. Or maybe airtime lease from Moyabi with music on 4880 during mornings and evenings ;-) (Jari Savolainen, Finland, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) This was a tough call for me, but I acquiesced since I was directly asked to hold up this info. Apparently no other DX editors were asked, and no others restricted the 4880 reports. I discussed it with some of them, and they rationalize doing so in that their bulletins may not be publicly accessible on the internet, like DXLD is. Indeed, DXLD often shows up in searches on keywords, where you might not even expect it. I believe one or two reports of the re-appearance of 4880 did appear in the dxldyg so our astute members were not unaware of it. I too have my doubts that keeping this info out of DXLD, when it was appearing everywhere else, could account for the delay in jamming starting up. Anyhow, it seems now they will start frequency-hopping again, so we will be faced with whether to reveal those. SWRA was relying on word of mouth in Zimbabwe to spread news about the availability of 4880. I assume your Moyabi idea is just hypothetical (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn does not have a 'censorship' policy. If you must use this ugly word, at the most it's "self censorship", which all good editors do anyway if they have standards and ethics. All Glenn is doing, for which I applaud him, is acceding to the request of Gerry Jackson, the Manager of SW Radio Africa, not to make her job more difficult than it already is by publishing information about SWRA that the station itself does not wish to publish. Drawing attention to the jamming is not the only reason that SRWA does not want too much attention to be focused on shortwave. There is also the question of funding - some of the shortwave transmissions are/were paid for by donors, or given free of charge by the transmission providers. The funding situation is very complicated, and the existence of temporary short-term transmissions, however welcome at the time, adds to the problem of explaining to potential major funding sources exactly what the station needs. There are times when Dxers/SWLs can be of help in a desperate situation. IMHO this is one of them. Of course, if you support the press censorship, human rights abuses and violence of the Robert Mugabe regime, you are perfectly entitled to give as much publicity as possible that will help the regime crush the voices of freedom. And to the argument that the mere publication of loggings will not aid the regime, I say "how can you be sure?" Just as, in a general election of the kind that we in the free world take for granted, every vote counts - it could just be *your* logging that is discovered by the person working for Robert Mugabe who runs the jamming operation. So why take the risk, however small? Because it's your "hobby" ? I know some people will not agree with this. But you probably haven't met journalists who have been tortured by the Mugabe regime. I have. So please excuse me for making the point strongly (Andy Sennitt, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Andy, thanks for your comments. I don't want to be a "bad fruit" among the DX community. I am not a Mugabe regime supporter. What I wanted to say, is that I doubt the loggings will trigger jamming, Of course there is a small chance that the jamming authorities will find such a logging and start jamming. But in the real world I bet they have efficient ways of monitoring bands. If not, they're useless workers. The situation of people may be desperate in many other parts of the world, too. But we keep publishing clandestine radio info although the frequencies are not published by the organizations producing these programs. As you say, some people will not agree what I'm trying to say. 73, (Jari Savolainen, Finland, ibid.) Hi Glenn, You also had a similar situation again with SW Radio Africa earlier this year, when their service provider had a fire at the transmitter site, so they lost MW and temporarily came back on SW. Ms Gerry Jackson (station founder and manager) requested that the news of their return to SW not be widely distributed. I applauded your decision not to publish the logs then (DXLD 6-070, May 4) and I do so again now. Back then, with the black-out in effect, there was no jamming of SW Radio Africa during the few months they returned to SW. Hard to say if things would have been different with your publication of the logs, but I like to think it helped them stay in the clear. It’s always an editor’s decision and I go along with whatever you decide (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Jari, Andy, Glenn and the group: Jari, in respect of what you have written that there was a small chance that the "useless workers" - of which you are correct in stating - could possibly have initiated the jamming of SW Radio Africa this past week, I am one who does actually listen to this radio station for daily factual news about the country I reside in. I made a request to Glenn awhile ago and again thank him for his honest integrity of editing DXLD. Andy, I also consider Shortwave listening a "hobby". It has been one of mine for 20 years but it also should be realised that when I do listen to SW Radio Africa it is for information and news about the country I live in. I have forwarded a audio file for the group to experience the jamming of SW Radio Africa, 4880 1805 UT Sept 6 2006 heard from within Zimbabwe. Oddly this is Chinese SW jamming at its next level - extremely severe. Enjoy-the car horns! Cycles within 5 seconds. A first to experience, pass it on please for comments, etc. 73 (David Pringle-Wood, Harare, Zimbabwe, Sept 10, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) That`s in the Station Sounds folder in files of the dxldyg (gh, DXLD) Jari, Thanks for understanding what I'm trying to say. I think the essential difference here is that, as Glenn says, DXLD has a higher visibility on the Web than most other SWL/DX sites. Most of the time, if you type a station name in Google, the first page of hits (apart from its own website) will be to items in DXLD. The people in Zimbabwe speak English, so finding and understanding info on the Web isn't difficult. My experience, having worked for a professional monitoring organisation, is that a lot more info from "DX sources" is used in day-to-day work than DXers themselves seem to imagine. I am not sure how "efficient" the Zimbabwe authorities are at radio monitoring. If it's of the same standard as their ability to feed the population, I'd suggest "not very." Your point about publishing other clandestine info is well taken. But in most of these cases, I doubt that the people producing these programmes, or their families, are taking personal risks on a daily basis in the way that those broadcasting to Zimbabwe are. True, SWRA are London-based, but they have a lot of stringers within Zimbabwe. Many of the other clandestines are long-established, unjammed, and publishing details about hearing them is unlikely to have any serious consequences. In that sense, SWRA is indeed a special case, and everyone I've spoken to who deals with Gerry Jackson speaks so highly of her, that agreeing to some self-censorship to help her is just the decent thing to do. Having said that, since the jamming has now started on 4880, there's no reason not to mention it. Indeed, I have done so in the Media Network Weblog - but only after they found it first :-) (Andy Sennitt, ibid.) Viz., part of it: Ms Jackson forwarded to Media Network a copy of a reception report from Harare that describes the jamming: ``4880 is jammed from 8 pm [1800 UT] with a `new` type of jammer. This jammer is extremely severe and takes the form of a siren/car horn sound. Cycles within 5 seconds and its the first time I’ve ever heard it. VOA has been jammed on MW 909 this evening within Harare and that jammer was still on that frequency when this one starts up, so it rules out that jammer. So there are two currently heard. ``At 8:30 pm [1830 UT] this jammer goes off and is replaced by the jammer that was on VOA MW`s 909, less effective but still there on 4880. It still wipes you out, it is a unmodulated signal jammer but effective. You will need confirming reports ASAP from around Zimbabwe on the level of jamming that this ‘new’ jammer is capable of. But I have the unhappy feeling that it is a reactivated SW Gweru one`` (Media Network blog Sept 9 via DXLD) For the record, we are not aware of any jamming of Studio 7 SHORTWAVE frequencies. We monitor them just about daily and have heard none on remote monitoring systems we have in the area. 909kHz IS jammed however and based on our monitoring, is probably very difficult to hear in most of Zimbabwe and nearly impossible in Harare (Bill Whitacre, IBB Monitoring, September 9th, 2006 at 14:55, Media Network blog via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. As the TP MW DX picks up with the approach of fall, I've been noticing an off-channel station on 701.9 kHz, as well as another trans-Pacific station right on 702 kHz. . . Will the real 701.9 kHz stand up? So, who is on 701.9 kHz, anyway? Very likely it's the KCBS Pyongyang station that's nominally on 702. The North Korean stations are notorious for their off-channel operation. . . http://sdr-1000.blogspot.com/2006/09/off-channel-trans-pacific-mw-station.html (Guy Atkins` blog, WA, via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED [non]. Glenn, Sorry but the info obtainable on these is a little fuzzy. 6000 between 1900 and 2100 Russian heard. Fair signal but suffering heavy QRM from Deutschland Radio Kultur - 6005. I checked the nearby Mezhdunarodnoye outlet on 5940. Not the same. I have in both cases checked usual sources particularly EiBi. Regards and 73 (Dan Goldfarb, Brentwood, England, Sept 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WRTH A-06 supplement shows VOR using 6000 from Samara during Sept & Oct: 18-19 Greek, 19-20 Bulgarian, 20-2130 Serbo-Croat. HFCC shows Warsaw at precisely 19-21 on 6000, but not in other schedules as in summer use (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Glenn, Thank you for fully solving one of the mysteries. Given the similarities between Russian and Bulgarian, plus the fact that I tuned in just after 1900, it is safe to assume that I was listening to the "secret" new frequency of VOR on 6000. Regards and 73's (Dan Goldfarb, Brentwood, England, Sept 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 7200, UnID and Jamming. 9/8/06, SINPO (station) 21331 (jammer) 33333, 1125 - 1227+. There was a station with a OM talking in an unID language under a very strong and effective "yelping" jammer from 1125 to 1135 or so. I had to leave the room to get my daughter up for school. When I returned at 1159, the station was gone, but the "yelping" jammer is still at it. Some poor hams are trying to operate near it (to their consternation I'm sure). This is not the Chinese Firedrake / Firedragon type jamming signal. It is much more like the Iranian jammers or some of the Zimbabwe jammers. I can only hear the signal in USB, but was very effective against the broadcast signal. The LSB part of the signal had so much noise of some sort that it was not readable either - for a jamming signal or anything else. From the resources I have (ILG, EiBi. Passport, DXLD for the past three months), I don't see what might be worth jamming at this time: Radio Bulgaria in Serbian 1100 - 1200, Radio Rossii (from Yaktusk), Radio Omdurman. Of the three, I've recently logged Bulgaria here. My thoughts would be Omdurman, but I'm not sure who would have the resources to run that effective a jamming operation against them. My only other thought is that it is something local. (I did get it on 3 receivers so I don't think it's an image.) Any one else hearing this & if so, any ideas? (Mark Taylor, Madison, WI, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) For several weeks on 12080 I have been picking up a very weak signal between approx 1300 and 1500, possibly in a Central Asian language?? Any ideas? (Dan Goldfarb, Brentwood, England, Sept 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Maybe a harmonic from something on 6040? Such as Xi`an, China, or Belarus which some listings show on the air at that time. Let me know if you find anything more definite about these. Or could be a leapfrog mix from 25 mb station (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) The barely readable signal on 12080 is sometimes impossible to hear. The primary source for a harmonic is silent at that time here in Europe on 6040. I am still mystified but maybe worth passing to the Digest to see whether a monitor further East has noticed a broadcaster filling the gap between 1200 (end of Radio Australia) and 1600 (start of VOA Africa). (Dan Goldfarb, Brentwood, England, Sept 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Regards to you Glenn and thanks for all your hard work for us shortwave enthusiasts (Alan Holder, Cowes, Isle of Wight, U.K., Sept 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also ZIMBABWE DX-PEDITIONS ++++++++++++ CONRAD MEADOWS, OKANOGAN-WENATCHEE NATIONAL FOREST, WA For the first time in many years, I traveled inland within Washington rather than to a coastal site for a DXpedition. My intent was to concentrate on tropical band DXing for a change, as trans-Pacific MW DX is the primary target from the WA coast DXpedition locations such as Grayland and Ocean City State Park. Conrad Meadows is a beautiful spot in the Mt. Rainier area, and is the starting point for hikers and packhorse trips heading into the Goat Rocks Wilderness. I set up camp in a nearby "dispersed camping" area, where you are free to set up camp in whatever spot looks inviting. . . http://sdr-1000.blogspot.com/2006/09/in-shadow-of-mt-rainier-dxing-with.html including logs, some of which are in this DXLD, and all are here: http://www.guyatkins.com/files/sdr/loggings_sep3-4.txt (via Guy Atkins, WA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES +++++++++++++++++++++++++ READING INTERNATIONAL RADIO GROUP [England] The next meeting will take place on Saturday September 16th in Room 3, Reading International Solidarity Centre, 35-39 London Street, Reading. The meeting programme will include talk and audio on broadcasting from the Soviet Union during the Cold War era, jamming of broadcasts then and now, a demonstration of soon to be legalised mini FM transmitters, a look at the start of BBC local radio and the 70th anniversary of Radio Prague. We will be in the Global Cafe/Bar from 1400 and move into the meeting room at 1430. The meetings last about two and a half hours including a refreshment break. The meeting rooms are at the back, the entrance is via a small passage just behind the RISC shop or ask for directions in the shop or cafe. For further information email mikewb @ dircon.co.uk or phone 01462 643899 (Mike Barraclough, Sept 8, worlddxclub via DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ 27 - DAY MAGNETIC ACTIVITY FORECAST Now`s the time to consult this, as a new edition starting Sept 7 is now up: http://www.spaceweather.gc.ca/forecast27days_e.php (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###