DX LISTENING DIGEST 6-175, November 28, 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 FIRST SHORTWAVE AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1338 Wed 2300 on WBCQ 7415 Thu 0000 on WBCQ 18910-CLSB Fri 2130 on WWCR 7465 [ex-15825 for Dec thru Feb!] Latest edition of this schedule version, including AM, FM, satellite and webcasts 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 ** ALBANIA. In order to escape the collision with Russia on 6130 at 1945, effective today Nov. 27, R. Tirana is moving this English broadcast for Europe to 6170 and an hour earlier at 1845 UT. The quarter-hour broadcast remains at 1945 on its other frequency, 7465. And the half-hour English to Europe is still at 2100 on 7530. It`s difficult to find a totally clear frequency on 49m, and R. Tirana will no doubt be interested in reports on how 6170 is doing, which by the way is non-direxional. Write to Drita Çiço, ARTV-Head of Monitoring Center dcico @ abcom-al.com (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: All Shijak, 100 kW, until 250307 B06 ALR 27-Nov-2006 ALR Version:01 Total reqs: 14 Subversion:00 FREQ STRT STOP CIRAF ZONES AZIMUTH DAYS LANGUAGE 5910 1900 1915 28 0 234567 SER/CRO 6035 2001 2030 28 0 234567 ITALIAN 6110 2130 2300 28 300 1234567 ALBANIAN 6115 0245 0300 8 300 1 34567 ENGLISH 6115 0330 0400 8 300 1 34567 ENGLISH 6170 1845 1900 27,28 0 234567 ENGLISH ****** 7105 0730 1000 28 0 1234567 ALBANIAN 7425 0000 0130 8 310 1234567 ALBANIAN 7465 0245 0300 8 310 1 34567 ENGLISH 7465 0330 0400 8 310 1 34567 ENGLISH 7465 1945 2000 27 310 234567 ENGLISH 7465 2001 2030 27 310 234567 FRENCH 7465 2031 2059 28 0 234567 GERMAN 7530 2100 2130 27 300 234567 ENGLISH (R. Tirana via DXLD) Hello dear Drita, 6170 kHz as noted here in south-western Germany on Nov 27th, at 1843-1857 UT. Listen to the attached MP3 record, distorted sound most likely due to unusual strong signal from Croatia on the lower adjacent channel. But same distorted sound also observed on 7465 kHz during English and French outlets via 300-310 directional antenna tonight 1945-2015 UT. The 6170 kHz channel was interference free; no other station could be heard here. On 6175 kHz adjacent channel noted three low signal level stations like Skelton NHK, Armavir to Near East, and Kashi-China to Middle east too. The first part recorded with 4 kHz filter, the second part with very wide 7 kHz filter, and subsequently a whistle tone could be heard then. News noted from 1845 til 1857:43 UT, and RT interval signal noted again. Transmitter cut off at 1858:00 UT precise. Which antenna used today, a Zero-dB non-directional antenna, or the 310 degrees beam towards Great Britain and Ireland target?? 73 wolfy (Wolfgang Büschel, Stuttgart, to Drita, via DXLD) To Drita Çiço ARTV-Head of Monitoring Center --- Dear Sir or Madam! I received your broadcast in English language today (November 27, 2006) at 1855 UT on the new frequency 6170 kHz. Quality was good, strong signal and not much interference. Good usable reception at my location which is between Bremen and Hamburg in northern Germany. Radio was my amateurradio-gear, antenna was a dipole, 45m length. Greetings! (Kai- Uwe Hoefs, Visselhoevede, Germany, via Drita, DXLD) Hello Drita and Wolfgang, I heard new 6170 at 1845 UT last evening (Nov. 27) - the signal strength was mainly good but with some 'fading' to lower levels at times. There was moderate to strong sideband interference from Croatia using 6165, and their 100 kW transmitter was putting in a stronger signal than SHI at my location. Wolfy seemed to be experiencing less splash than I was. I didn't identify the two stations using 6175 but they were only fair signals, and not causing audible splash last night. In SINPO I would estimate 33532. If I used the upper-sideband only facility on my receiver then interference was less, but this facility is usually only available on more expensive (or table top) receivers. But the audio! What is the problem with the audio? As you can hear via Wolfy's recording it is TERRIBLE, and that's why I give an overall value of only 2 in the SINPO code. I had much difficulty in understanding what was being spoken. And I can tell you that I was also listening via the telephone to my friends receiver - he lives in Leeds (about 60 miles due east from my location) and he had very similar results to my own. And he also complained about the audio! I'll check again during this week and send you another report later. Greetings from (Noel Green, Blackpool UK, via Drita, DXLD) Hello Drita, After a tip from Glenn Hauser I listened in on Radio Tirana's new frequency 6170 kHz at 1845 UT. Not that good, I must confess. Maybe other listeners have got a better result. Here my report: 1842-1845 the IS, 1845 ID with frequencies and transmission time There after, I presume, news read by a woman. 1856 very short piece of music (anthem?). 1857 suddenly off SINPO was 2/3 3222, but poor modulation, as far as I could hear. My receiver is a Sangean 909 ATS with 6 m longwire antenna put around my pot plants in the living room :-) Good luck with this frequency and all the best (Ydun Ritz, Denmark, via Drita, DXLD) Hello again Drita: Now at 1945 UT I am hearing Radio Tirana booming in on 7465 kHz, enormous signal in Sweden, SINPO 55555 like a local station! And the best thing is that the audio is quite OK. News and Albania in a week. Wrong information about the times and frequencies was given - the new schedule had not been taken into account. Indeed the strength here is astonishing! Glad to give you such a report. Was listening on the loudspeaker and the Japan Radio Company's NRD535D and of course the 40 m L aerial. All Good Wishes and my greetings for the Albanian National Day tomorrow! "Rreth flamurit të përbashkuar, me një dëshirë me një qëllim...." (Ullmar in Sweden Qvick, ibid.) ** ALBANIA. 7210, China Radio International, 2222-2250 UT Nov 26, in Spanish with Asian flute music, talk, fighting it out with co-channel Cyprus; SINPO variable, mostly 22222, with 33233 after Cyprus off at 2245. All heard on a Grundig YB 400 PE with random long wire (Roger Chambers, Utica, NY, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALGERIA [non]. 9455 mess --- 1900 UT both 9825 and 11815 with poor S=1-2, skips over my head. But at 2000 a mess jam on 9455 kHz: RDP Lisbon in Brazilian Portuguese, live coverage of Brazilian football league, Sat/Sun only; and IBB Saipan RFA Mandarin 1600-2200 UT; and Chinese Firedrake, and poor RTA. 73 (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: UK [to Algeria and Africa] Radio Algerienne (Holy Koran Service in Arabic) via VT Communications for B-06: 0400-0500 on 6090-Rampisham 6125-Woofferton 0500-0600 on 6025-Woofferton 6090-Rampisham 1900-2000 on 9825-Woofferton 11815-Rampisham 2000-2100 on 9455-Woofferton 11815-Rampisham 2100-2300 on 6055-Woofferton 9850-Rampisham (Tony Rogers-UK, dxld Nov 20 via DXLD) ** ARMENIA. 4810, 25 Nov, 0422, Public Radio Armenia, in Armenian, march, at 0430 usual IS and Farsi programme, 43433 (Eike Bierwirth, Mainz, Germany, JRC NRD-525, 15m wire in the garden, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA [and non]. After info that Humpty Doo, 5050 kHz should have been heard in Finland, I have daily listened on the frequency for more than a week. All I can hear is Voice of Strait in China closing at 1700:03 with a time signal 3 seconds behind DCF 77. Anybody else having heard the 400 watt-station in Australia??? (Stig Adolfsson, Sweden, SW Bulletin Nov 26, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) See the tip from Jan Edh who also monitored the frequency without any luck to hear the station. We have to wait a little further to see if it is possible to log this one. Haven't heard if GN (Gert Nilsson) managed to log it in Sweden. /SWB-editor I worked for a long time with ARDS. I heard them but absolutely not enough for a report and hardly as a log... 5049.9, 15.11 1930, ARDS Radio (tent. I presume? /SWB-editor), Humpty Doo after a tip from GN (Gert Nilsson), but too weak (QSA 1-2) to catch anything. JE (Jan Edh, Sweden, SW Bulletin Nov 26, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST)) ** BELARUS. Updated B-06 schedule of Radio Belarus Minsk: 5970 MNS 250 kW / 250 deg 0200-0400 in Belarussian, co-ch Radio República in Spanish via DTK 6155 MNS 250 kW / 245 deg 0200-0400 in Belarussian 7170 MNS 150 kW / 075 deg 0500-0800 in Belarussian 7255 MNS 250 kW / 075 deg 1600-1800 in Belarussian 7360 MNS 075 kW / 270 deg 1700-1900 in Belarussian, totally blocked by CRI in English 1900-2000 in German 2000-2200 in English 2200-2300 in Russian 7390 MNS 150 kW / 260 deg 1700-1900 in Belarussian 1900-2000 in German 2000-2200 in English 2200-2300 in Russian 7420 MNS 250 kW / 255 deg 1800-1900 in Belarussian 1900-2000 in German 2000-2200 in English, co-ch Radio Sweden in Swedish/English till 2100 2200-2300 in Russian (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Nov 27 via DXLD) ** BELGIUM. Bill Wilkins, Springfield MO, forwards a program booklet just received in the P-mail from RTBF, dated Sept. 2006. It`s apparently designed for long-term validity, with this info about French broadcasts on SW, all on 9970, and times converted here from CET and CEST to UT: November-March April-October To SEu, 0700-1700 0500-2000 To CAf, 0400-0600 & 1700-2215 0300-0430 & 1900-2100 An accompanying map shows two major circular footprints, one centred W of Sardinia in the Mediterranean, and the other centred in eastern Congo DR. The European one has concentric larger but weaker circles out as far as Hadrian`s Wall. The African one has a much large but weaker circle which is not concentric with the smaller one over Congo DR, but tangential to it on the SE side, and extending as far as Carthage, so it`s centred somewhere east of what`s left of Lake Chad. I suspect these SW coverage areas are just general guesses, in contrast to the much more precise, altho uncalibrated, satellite footprints on the following pages. This geography does not make much sense for SW coverage as HFCC shows this entire timespan is just 100 kW at 167 degrees from Wavre, Belgium, and furthermore not for CAf at all, as CIRAF zones 27-28 are S Europe; 37-39 cover only the northern tier of African countries, and the Arabian peninsula. No mention of 52 for Congo DR: 9970 0300 2215 27,28,37-39 WAV 100 167 1234567 291006 250307 D BEL RTB Are they really making any antenna changes at the various start/stop times shown, or changing programming from European-orientated to African-orientated, and back? There is also a detailed program schedule, but I don`t see any such differentiation in it. Or do they really think propagation conditions will account for the start/stop times of European vs African coverage and that for only one hour in the summer will both be served at the same time? But the times do not exactly mesh. In Nov-Mar there is a one-hour break at 06-07, but no break at 17. In Apr-Oct there is a one-hour overlap at 19-20. Quite unusually, HFCC has no other station at any time on 9970, which RTBF apparently owns for 19+ hours a day if not 24 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. BRASIL – A Rádio Difusora, de Macapá (AP), foi captada, em Jequié (BA), pelo Cristiano Almeida, em 24 de novembro, às 0512, pela freqüência de 4915 kHz. Ele ouviu o segmento Madrugada 630 (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX Nov 26 via DXLD) ** BULGARIA. Somebody remembered to turn on the transmitter for the weekly broadcast of R. Varna, but not to turn on the modulation. Just strong open carrier on 7600 at several chex around 2320 UT Sunday Nov 26; supposed to run 2200-0400 into UT Monday (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I was tuned to 7600 from 2150, and after a carrier switch on there was some audio which disappeared again for some 15 seconds. After that, there were no problems monitored anymore besides from a slightly humming signal. Signal was quite strong here in Antwerp. Before 2200 there was pop music, Anthem at 2200 and news. Tuned to another qrg around 2220. 73, (Guido Schotmans, Belgium, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. What in the world is going on at RCI? Major changes apparently effective Monday morning Nov 27; it`s hard to believe they were unintentional. The 14-17 UT broadcast consisting of The Link 1 & 2, then Sounds like Canada from CBC, had been on 9515, 13655 and 17820. But now I found RCI on only one frequency, 9610, sounding like what was on 9515, undermodulated, at 1508 with RCI news, 1510 starting The Link. Quickly scanned the 6, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17 and 21 MHz bands and did not find any // frequency. I was hoping for a new frequency announcement around 1600 but instead Jim Craig`s This Day in History feature just kept running past hourtop – since the news earlier ran later than usual, the whole block may have started late. Closed The Link at 1603 plugging its next hour, so this was I, rather than the usual II during the 15 UT hour. But then at 1604 abruptly changed to Russian, with RCI+ ID for Sirius and into news in Russian, still in Russian at 1621. This is on the schedule for RCI Plus at 1100 EST, http://www.rcinet.ca/rci/PDF/B06_RCI_Plus.pdf and no changes have been made in the accompanying RCI B-06 schedules still showing 9515, 13655 and 17820 at 14-17 UT. Has RCI dumped its usual morning programming and just plugged the RCI+ feed into one Sackville transmitter rather than three, on a new announced frequency, without bothering to tell anyone what it is doing? Perhaps this new frequency was chosen for being available beyond the 3 hours 9515 was in use. After 1635, 9610 was still in Russian, but RCI, not a relay of R. France Internationale as on the pdf grid (why would RCI be relaying RFI on its Sirius channel, anyway?). Everything seems to run a few minutes late, still in Russian past 1700, wrapping that up at 1703, into French song; 1704 back to English, YL, with RCI+ ID on Sirius 188, RCI news by Terry Hayes, 1709 into The Link again. Had other things to do so did not keep monitoring, but 9610 seemed to be still on the air at 1822 recheck amid local noise sources (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Or perhaps some sort of major technical fault that impacted the ability to distribute programming from the appropriate satellite inputs to the appropriate transmitter outputs? (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA, Nov 27, ODXA via DXLD) No ---- A day late, Nov 28, RCI posted its revamped schedules effective Nov 27. There is now a continuous multilingual service on one frequency to USA (really duplicating RCI+ on Sirius), and starting at 4 minutes and 45 seconds past each hour (here rounded off to 5), 16 hours per day. Most notable is that ENGLISH HAS BEEN DRASTICALLY REDUCED. Furthermore, there is no longer anything on the schedule relayed from CBC. The afternoon broadcasts, including DNTO and Cross Country Checkup on weekends, are GONE! As are the Saturday and Sunday morning broadcasts which included Vinyl Café, Quirks & Quarks, and part of Sunday Edition. No As It Happens, No World At Six, no nothing. This is all that is left of RCI English on SW to USA: 0005-0205 Tu-Sa 9755 268 degrees (The Links) 0005-0105 Su/Mo 9755 268 degrees (Blink Sun, Maple Leaf Mailbag Mon) 1705-1905 Daily 9610 277 degrees (M-F The Links; Sat Blink; Sun MLM -- implying that the last two occupy both hours each day?!) However, the technical and program schedules disagree over what is on at 1505-1605: one says Spanish, the other English, and on Monday I did indeed hear English, not monitored Tuesday. Probably confusion from the original French on what E stands for, English or Espagnol. New 7310, which Bernie O`Shea discovered testing a few weeks ago, is now on the schedule, Sackville`s official entrée into the 40m band. Here is the full lineup of RCI+ relays, and whatever the language, they are aimed at the USA! Has RCI management lost its mind? 1205-1305 7310 277 NE USA Arabic 1305-1405 Spanish 1405-1505 9610 277 NE USA Chinese 1505-1605 Spanish (English!) 1605-1705 Russian (Ukrainian Sat/Sun 1635-1705) 1705-1905 English 1905-2005 French 2005-2105 Arabic 2105-2205 6100 268 NE USA French 2205-2305 Chinese 2305-2400 [sic] Spanish 0005-0205 9755 268 C USA English except: 0105-0135 Portuguese Sun & Mon 0135-0205 Ukrainian Sun & Mon 0205-0305 Chinese 0305-0405 Spanish RCI`s English and other language broadcasts to other worldparts seem about the same as before, including English hours to Africa at 18, Europe at 21, including some Sackville frequencies we can hear. Around 1355 Nov 28 I ran across Spanish on 7310, but did not realize it was RCI. And at 1405, RCI Mandarin starting on 9610. Also, Nov 27 observations of DRM in the mornings on 9800 are now explained as that is now running // 9610 between 1505 and 2004 according to the schedule. All this info was extracted from the new schedules in pdf: http://www.rcinet.ca/rci/PDF/RCI-TECH-B06-en.pdf http://www.rcinet.ca/rci/PDF/B06_SW.pdf (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) This seems consistent with the change in RCI's mandate. Since the goal is to reach current and prospective immigrants, the radio schedule is rejiggered to reach prospective Arabic-speaking immigrants, for example, who currently live within earshot of the North-American targeted SW broadcasts. Losing the domestic relays is a disappointment, but seems understandable given how other broadcasters are abandoning shortwave to reach [English-speaking] Americans. One wonders why this change wasn't made at the end of October. Those reading the NASWA Journal when it hits their mailboxes next week will have to ignore about 1/3 to 1/2 of the Easy Listening column I thought of something else... I don't think anyone else mentioned this, but this renders the printed schedule I received about 1 month ago totally useless. The printed schedule was already out of date when it arrived -- because it showed the programming as it used to be -- e.g. Canada Today, not The Link -- but the timings and frequencies were OK. Now even those are no longer valid. Given how RCI tries to conserve financial resources, one wonders if this most recent change was conceived in haste for one reason or another. It's unlike them to waste money on printing and mailing a schedule when they know changes are coming (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA, swprograms via DXLD) I think this can be understood only in the context of what CBC has done over the past year to make its content available throughout the continent via Sirius. The feeling in management circles must be that now that much more content than ever before is available to North American (and, consequently, USA) listeners, RCI's mission can be redirected. Certainly the availability of CBC1, CBC3, Première Chaîne (i.e.: Plus), Bandeapart and RCI Plus -- all 24/7 -- trumps anything they had been able to do previously via RCI on shortwave. Given its longstanding audibility problems on SW in my part of the US (northeast) and the arrival of CBC on Sirius, I can't say I will miss it. I haven't listened to RCI on SW much at all over the last year. It's a sad but true statement; but that's the way it is. As a consequence of all this, we are witnessing RCI attempting to find a new raison d'être. For now, it appears to be centering on new immigrants, actual and potential. I'm not at all certain that this is a winning formula. Perhaps we are seeing RCI (at least as we have come to know it over the decades) in its final hours? (John Figliozzi, Halfmoon, NY, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Given that stations of all stripes -- particularly those that have long been niche stations like RCI -- have had trouble scoping out a raison d'être since the early 1990s, I am more willing to give RCI the benefit of the doubt and allow the new service an opportunity to find its legs. What I still have trouble figuring out is how immigrant Canadians will find out about them; one thinks RCI would have to reach out to Canada's existing multilingual / "ethnic" - formatted radio stations and other mass media. It would be interesting to see a comparison of how immigrants in both Canada and the USA get their news -- does the Internet receive a greater proportion of first mentions for immigrants than for native English (and French) speakers? (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA, swprograms via DXLD) I'm also wondering whether some nutcase at CBC headquarters ordered this as a cost-recovery exercise: Why offer paid subscriptions on satellite when you're also giving away your programming free on shortwave? (Ricky Leong, Calgary, Swprograms mailing list, via DXLD) This stinks !! The Vinyl Cafe on Saturday mornings was a must listen for me. I planned my morning around that program. I was already pissed off about what they had done to the Sunday Edition. Fewer and fewer reasons to even have a shortwave radio anymore (Mike Wolfson, ibid.) The loss of domestic relays is disappointing especially for Canadians living abroad. I'm just thankful I have internet access which allows me to listen to the CBC when I want. In addition to Richard's comment about being consistent with RCI's new mandate, I wonder if part of the thinking is to force people to satellite radio who want to hear the domestic output of CBC. It would be nice to hear from someone in the know at RCI what is going on there! (Sandy Finlayson, ibid.) Deafening silence (gh) ** CANADA. Sackville leapfrogging spurs on 6280 and 5800, 1130-1145+ Nov 17. Good, strong 6280 spur of 5960 CRI in English; weak 5800 spur of 6120 R. Japan in English. 160 kHz separation (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Hi, CHU puzzled me with a new announcement which included the magic words "April 1, 2007 ...... change frequency" every 2 minutes. And indeed, looking for clues I found this on their website: "On April 1, 2007, CHU needs to stop operating, change frequencies, or re-licence. Contact radio.chu @ nrc.gc.ca or mail CHU Canada K1A 0R6," Read the full text at http://inms-ienm.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/time_services/shortwave_broadcasts_e.html I heard them on 3330, on Nov 25, 2006, at 0258 UTC, with SINPO 44344 (Eike Bierwirth, Mainz, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, they have been saying that for several weeks now as first reported in DXLD. Too bad they eliminate the pips during the messages; should overlay them (gh, DXLD) ** CHINA. A programação em espanhol da Rádio Internacional da China vai ao ar no seguinte esquema: das 0000 às 0100, em 5990, 9475 e 9745 kHz; das 0100 às 0300, em 9595 e 9710 kHz; entre 0200 e 0300, em 13685 kHz; das 0300 às 0400, em 9560 e 9665 kHz; das 0600 às 0800, em 15135 kHz; entre 2100 e 2300, em 6020 e 9640 kHz; das 2200 às 2300, em 9490 e 13700 kHz; das 2200 às 2400, em 6175, 7210 e 7250 kHz; entre 2300 e 0100, em 9590 e 9800 kHz. A CRI usa diversos retransmissores em tais emissões (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX Nov 26 via DXLD) ** CHINA. Strong signal from station in Vietnamese talk and music, Nov 26 at 2320 on 7220; must be from EAs, and better than anything on band from Eurafrica. Then found // 9415 which clinches this as CRI, one from Beijing, one from Xi`an as scheduled toward Vietnam, and continued past 2330. 7220 was a bit behind 9415 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. Firedrake also audible with fair signal on 9200 at 2328 Nov 26, presumably against Sound of Hope. Also at 1412 Nov 28, but gone when rechecked at 1435 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Now can be heard Firedrake on 684 kHz at 1645 UT. Heavy QRMed by NHK-1 JOAG , IBC-JODF and JOLO. First reception on MW bands (S. Hasegawa, NDXC-HQ controler: S. Hasegawa, Nov 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST) What could be the reason for that? Quick look at frequency sexion of WRTH 2006 shows there is a 1200 kW Chinese on frequency, plus 250 kW Pyongyang! And one low-power Taiwan outlet (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Pyongyang is QRT (Electric power shortage). V. of Shenzhou (CNR-6) is side beam. hi (S. Hasegawa, ibid.) ** CONGO DR. 6209.654, 22.11 1605, unID in French with cd at 1610 ought to be Kahuzi, Weak, QSA 1-2 SA (Stig Adolfsson, Sweden, SW Bulletin Nov 26, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6209.7, 15.11 1846, Radio Kahuzi with call in French. Overtime due to president election was counted. Reports from suburban country, Heavy disturbance from an (eastern?) station. QSA 2-3. JE (Jan Edh, ibid.) ** CUBA. Haven`t heard the third harmonic of DentroCuban Jamming Command 6030 transmitters against R. Martí lately on 18090, but check the frequency occasionally. Finally Nov 26 at 2259 there it was, light clicking. Also heavier jamming on 5970 against nothing, Nov 26 at 2315, Sunday a day off for R. República via Germany. And on about 17920 Nov 26 at 2332 pulsing of a different type, fading in and out. Does not work out as a likely harmonic or spur of anything, and possibly was not really from jamming (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. RHC leapfrogging spurs on 6300, 5940, 0050-0100+ Nov 18, mixing products of 6180, 6060 at 120 kHz separation. Both in at fair level with Spanish programming (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. Radio Havane Cuba back in Creole at 2245 UT on 5965 and 9505 kHz. Good reception in France on 5965. Regards (Jean-Michel Aubier, France, Nov 27, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re 6-174: French was airing instead in Creole blox recently (gh, DXLD) Jean-Michel, Is Creole similar enough to French that it can be understood by a typical French speaker? (Jerry Lenamon, Waco, Texas, ibid.) & vice versa (gh) ** CUBA [non]. 6185, ENGLAND to Cuba. Radio República, 0148­0230, 11/25/06 in Spanish. Commentary and talk by OM & YL. ID, address in Hialeah, FL, USA, slogans. On past expected 0200 switch to another frequency (Mark Taylor, Madison, WI, R-75, Sat 800, Sangean 909; 110' random wire, Eavesdropper, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) 7210, ENGLAND to Cuba. R. Repúblicia (Woofferton [or Rampisham]), 0231, 11/20/06, in Spanish. OM & YL reporting the news. Great signal (Brant Hunt, Aiken SC, Drake R8A, Par antenna, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) So by 11/25 as above had extended 6185 past 0230, to 0400? Instead of 7210? (gh) ** CUBA [and non]. 6855, CUBA and USA. V2a and WYFR co-channel, 2123- 2144, 11/25/06. V2a (``numbers`` station, Spanish, 5#, YL voice, station, believed to be Cuban) in progress, ending 2144 leaving WYFR in the clear with English hymns. V2a was dominating while on (Mark Taylor, Madison, WI, R-75, Sat 800, Sangean 909; 110' random wire, Eavesdropper, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ** CYPRUS. 7210, Cyprus BC, with talk in unidentified language, with music of Eastern Mediterranean, poor to fair, at times well above co- channel CRI [via Albania]. Off promptly at 2245 November 26. All heard on a Grundig YB 400 PE with random long wire (Roger Chambers, Utica, NY, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Fri-Sat-Sun only in Greek + 2 other frequencies, which let us hope are doing better (gh, DXLD) ** CZECH REPUBLIC [non]. REPÚBLICA CHECA – A Rádio Praga possui uma emissão, em espanhol, que vai ao ar, entre 0000 e 0027, pela freqüência de 11665 kHz. O detalhe é que usa retransmissor localizado na ilha de Ascensão, que possui potência de 250 kW. Assim, o sinal chega aqui na América do Sul como se fosse local. Vale conferir esta freqüência e acompanhar um programa como o Lunes Musicales, irradiado já na terça-feira universal, cuja produção e seleção de canções é de primeiríssima qualidade! (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX Nov 26 via DXLD) The R. Prague relay via Sackville on 15160, Nov 28 at 1500-1529* was very undermodulated. Last two minutes in Czech instead of English. I wonder if at least one Sackville transmitter is on its last legs, or are they not paying attention to the modulation level? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** DJIBOUTI. DJIBOUTI MEDIA GUIDE - NOVEMBER 2006 --- OVERVIEW The Horn of Africa state of Djibouti remains one of the countries in Africa where authorities continue to impose severe restrictions on the licensing and operations of the media. The government is reluctant to liberalize the media. It owns and operates significant media sectors in the country, including the radio station with the farthest national reach, the sole television channel, and Djibouti's principal newspaper. Such control ensures favourable coverage of the authorities. The government's quest to keep tight control on the media is also due to the fact that the private media is viewed as the only available platform for expressing divergent views. The country's presidency and ruling party remain powerful institutions. However, relays of international broadcasters are permitted. A repressive regime The International Press Institute (IPI) noted in its 2005 annual report that "the [Djibouti] media, generally, provides a government- friendly digest of the day's events". The government, added the report, "keeps a tight leash on all domestic broadcast media". Freedom House ranked the country at position 154 out of the 194 countries surveyed for its 2006 report. The media control takes different forms: denial of broadcasting licences, arrest and detention of journalists, seizure of newspapers, and hefty court fines for papers and journalists deemed "offensive". The government has expelled foreign journalists and "interrupted" transmissions by foreign broadcasters over similar reasons. For example, in January 2005 the authorities cut off the local Radio France Internationale (RFI) transmission over a report on the 1995 death in Djibouti of a French judge. In October 1999, authorities expelled a crew from France-2 TV channel for "attempting to tarnish the image" of Djibouti and "orchestrating a disinformation campaign" in the country. Djibouti journalists also came under pressure from the US military presence in the country. The US has stationed thousands of soldiers in the country as part of its war against international terrorism. According to a 2004 report by the IPI, the American military presence has made Djibouti journalists "nervous" and they are "not encouraged to report on the soldiers' activities". Consequently, most journalists tend to exercise self-censorship. This is especially so in the coverage of human rights, military issues and opposition politics. Against this background, most citizens are said to prefer listening to foreign radio stations that are available in the country. Most media operating in the country transmit in four main languages - Arabic, French, Somali (Issa) and Afar. Somali is widely spoken as ethnic Somalis make about 60 per cent of the total population. Lack of infrastructure The country's media also faces challenges from the high poverty levels among the country's 600,000 people. UN sources estimate that 40 per cent of Djibouti's population lives in "extreme poverty", which means few can afford newspapers or TV sets. Broadcast media, notably radio, remains the most popular form of media. According to a June 2004 survey, by Canal France Internationale (CFI) and RFI, 76 per cent of Djiboutis either listen to radio or watch television. However, the survey found that most of this audience is "not interested in the government-owned [broadcast] media". The state radio has the largest national reach and broadcasts 24 hours a day. There are no local privately-owned stations but foreign ones BBC World Service, RFI and the Voice of America (VOA) - remain on air. Also available is a US government-run regional Arab-language regional station on medium-wave called Radio Sawa. Television remains undeveloped. The government operates the country's sole terrestrial and cable TV stations. Lack of electricity, in most of rural Djibouti, and poverty have undermined the popularity of television. The nomadic lifestyle of most rural Djiboutis has also discouraged the state from investing more in television. The press remains an urban media form limited to the country's elite and expatriate communities. High poverty and illiteracy rates continue to undermine the popularity of newspapers. According to a May 2003 report by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), poverty indexes in some rural areas have taken "disastrous proportions" affecting 96 per cent of the population. The report put literacy rates at 29 per cent of the population. Though there are about half a dozen privately-owned newspapers, most of them remain limited in circulation. The government publishes the principal newspaper in the country, La Nation, which remains a powerful tool for the authorities and also commands the local advertising market. Internet remains available and the government does not impose restrictions on the technology. Although the country's telecommunication infrastructure is poor, most of the state-owned media operate online editions. Media training remains insufficient and most private journalists have to go abroad for additional skills. Staff working with the national broadcaster usually benefit from attachments and training with some overseas media organizations, such as RFI. Salaries remain low and most journalists are reliant on other sources of income. Media Laws and Regulation Theoretically, the National Communications Commission (CNC) is supposed to oversee media operations in Djibouti. This body was created following the passage by parliament of Law No 2/AN/92 of 15 September 1992. Article 3 of this law sanctions the right to information for all Djiboutis. However, the reality is different and the commission continues to remain in the shadows of other powerful government departments like the presidency and security organs. The Djibouti Telecom, which falls under the Ministry of Communication and Culture, oversees the telecommunications sector. However, UN agencies and the ITU are said to be involved in a project to run between 2003 and 2009, and which will lead to the creation of a proper regulatory authority, the Djibouti Telecommunication Regulatory Agency (ADRT). The expected regulator will oversee the issuance and usage of broadcasting frequencies. RADIO Radio is the most popular medium. This is due to its long history in the country, the penetration of radio signals in the remotest parts of rural Djibouti and the use of vernacular languages in broadcasting. High illiteracy and poverty rates have also pushed most citizens towards listening to the radio. The state radio claims the largest reach, but most Djiboutis, especially in the urban areas, prefer international broadcasters that are available locally. In 2004, the government refused the opposition permission to set up a radio station. An 8 May 2004 report in the state-owned La Nation newspaper defended the non-licensing of the station arguing that Djiboutis should "give up the pernicious idea of a banal imitation of Western countries as regards press freedom". According to the paper, the state media was able to meet the public's information needs. 1. Radiodiffusion-Télévision de Djibouti (RTD) Radio This is the government-owned station and is operated by the national broadcaster, Radiodiffusion-Télévision de Djibouti (RTD), which is governed by Law No 42/AN/99/4 of 8 June 1999. The station has its origins in a colonial-era and was set up by the then French authorities in 1957. Transition from the colonial-era station started in the late 1970s after the country's independence in 1977. In 1983, with aid from former West Germany, authorities set up a transmission centre at Doraleh just outside the capital Djibouti. The centre broadcast in medium and shortwave, and FM, and enabled the new station to expand its signal to rural Djibouti. In June 2001, the station acquired digital editing equipment from Belgium in a bid to "make a notable improvement to the quality of its output". Earlier, in March 2001, UNESCO gave the station equipment valuing 11m US dollars to improve its shortwave broadcasts. The broadcaster operates a domestic and an international channel. The domestic channel is available on FM in Arta (southeastern Djibouti) on 93.5 FM while the international channel is on 89.4 FM. In the capital, the domestic channel can be heard on 91.3 FM while its international counterpart is on 95.2 FM. In the southern region of Ali Sabieh, the domestic channel can be heard on 90.2 FM, while the international one is on 94.2 FM. The domestic channel is available in Ballembaley region on 95.2 FM while the international channel can be heard on 91.3 FM. Programming is in four languages - Arabic, French, Somali and Afar. Its website address is http://www.rtd.dj/ 2. Radio Sawa This Arabic-language station is operated by the US government and targets the Horn of Africa and Arabian Gulf. Radio Sawa's broadcasts in Djibouti started following the signing in June 2002 of an agreement between the two governments. The pact provided for the installation of a medium wave transmitter and a 5-kW FM transmitter at the state radio's relay station in Arta. Radio Sawa is available on 1431 kHz mediumwave and 100.8 and 100.2 FM. The station's website says that it "seeks to effectively communicate with the youthful population of Arabic-speakers in the Middle East by providing up-to-date news, information, and entertainment, on FM and medium wave radio". Radio Sawa adds that it is "dedicated to broadcasting accurate, timely and relevant news about the Middle East, the world and the US". The station broadcasts for 24-hours a day, seven days a week. Its website address is http://www.radiosawa.com International broadcasters Foreign broadcasters are also available on FM in Djibouti. They include RFI, which can be heard on 92.0 FM in Arta, and 104 FM in the capital Djibouti. The BBC World Service is available in the capital on 99.2 FM, while VOA can be heard on 102 FM in the capital. TELEVISION Television was launched in 1967, but remains undeveloped. Its signal is largely unavailable outside the main urban centres. The government operates the only TV station in the country. It also owns the only company, Djib-Net, which has carried cable TV since October 1999. Radiodiffusion-Télévision de Djibouti (RTD) TV This is a state-owned national broadcaster with programming in Arabic, Somali, Afar and French. News on the government and President Ismail Guelleh dominate most of the station's programmes. The station embarked on nationwide transmission in 1986 through the creation of broadcasting networks in the country's main towns. This involved the setting up of relay stations. However, progress was hampered due to insufficient studios and equipment. The Japanese government donated production equipment which has increased the number of viewers, according to the station's website http://www.rtd.dj/ The station is on satellite following the passage of Decree No 99-0199/PR/MCC of 9 October 1999. PRESS There are no daily newspapers in Djibouti. The country boasts some six publications whose circulation is limited to the capital. Most of the papers are published in French. The government also publishes an Arabic-language weekly. The law allows political parties to publish newspapers. However, these mostly contain political bulletins of their respective parties. 1. La Nation Bi-weekly La Nation has the highest circulation in the country, estimated to be some 4,300 copies and is an important source of news in French. However, the paper has a pro-government bias. The paper is the successor to the colonial-era Le Reveil de Djibouti which began publishing in 1943. Its website address is http://www.lanation.dj/ 2. Al-Qarn This is another government publication. It is an Arabic-language weekly, which was founded in October 1998. Al-Qarn is published by the Office of the Secretary-General of Information. 3. Le Renouveau This is a prominent non-government-owned publication in Djibouti. Le Renouveau is a weekly and is published in French by the opposition party, Movement for Democratic Renewal (MRD). Editor Dahir Ahmad Farah is also the president of the MRD, which was formed in 2002. The paper remains critical of the authorities, especially on governance issues. The editor has been subjugated to numerous arrests over reports commenting on the country's politically and militarily powerful personalities. The authorities have not hesitated to fine the newspaper over articles deemed "offensive". The paper's online edition can be found on the party's website: http://www.mrd-djibouti.org NEWS AGENCIES Agence Djiboutienne d'Information (ADI) This is the government-owned press agency. It was created in March 1978 and its mission is "disseminating, within the territory of the Republic of Djibouti and abroad, information useful for the national and international public opinions". This was in accordance with Law No 3/78 of 1 March 1978. The agency collapsed in 1987 due to what its website says was the lack of funding and qualified personnel. It resumed operations in November 1999 and remains an important source of news as seen from the government's perspective. It disseminates news in French and Arabic. The website address is http://www.adi.dj/ INTERNET There are no government restrictions on access or operating of internet services in Djibouti. However, a May 2003 report by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) noted the "bandwidth providing access to the global internet is still inadequate". Access to personal computers is limited. However, out of those who access the internet, most do so through internet cafes located in the capital. The ITU estimates that there were some 13,000 internet users in the country in May 2003. Source: BBC Monitoring research 15 Nov 06 (via DXLD) ** ECUADOR. R. Chaskis, Otavalo, 4909.23, 1050-1115+ Nov 27, Tentative. HC style music, Spanish announcements, weak in noise (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4909.2, R. Chaskis, 1057-1115, 11/24/06. Dramatic religious reading by man. Prgm ended at 1110 into local music, then ID, greetings by station announcer at 1115. Fair (John Herkimer, NY, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. R. Africa, Bata, 15190, 1150-1157* Nov 17, sign- off with ID and various addresses for reports. Strong carrier but very poor, distorted audio with low modulation. Barely able to decipher an ID (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA. V. of Tigray Revolution, 5500, *0355-0415+ Nov 17, distinctive IS, 0400 vernacular talk and Horn of Africa music. Fair- good; // 6350 poor in QRM (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5500, V, of Revolution of Tigré, Mek'elé, logged 1701-1724, 26 Nov, Tigrinya, fet talks, changings; 45433 (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I don`t understand your program details (gh, DXLD) 7165.1, R. Ethiopia, Geja Jawe, observed 1723-1733, 25 Nov, French, tunes, ID+chimes 1730; 23441, adjacent QRM; // 9560.12. 9560.12, R. Ethiopia, Geja Jawe, 1730-1740, 25 Nov, French, newscast; 44432, but weakish audio; // 7165.1 (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FAROE ISLANDS. Yes, Kringvarp Føroya has begun broadcating 24 hrs. Heard them this morning at 2 UT with time pips and news on 531 kHz. Their English Soul Nation hour is on Tuesdays at 14-15 UT. 73, (Erik Køie, Denmark, Nov 28, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FRANCE. See RWANDA [and non] ** GABON. ANU The Buzz, 19160, with bits of modulation also audible, Nov 27 at 1522 was wavering between S3 and occasional S9 peaks (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. Frequency change for Bible Voice Broadcasting Network from Dec. 1, with azimuths after kW: 0100-0200 on 5935 WER 100 kW / 085 Daily ME English, cancelled 1600-1630 NF 11780 NAU 100 kW / 145 Wed EaAf Amharic, ex 13810 1630-1700 NF 11780 NAU 100 kW / 145 Daily EaAf Amharic, ex 13810 1700-1730 NF 11780 NAU 100 kW / 145 Mon/Tue/Fri EaAf Tigrinya ex 13810 1730-1800 NF 11780 NAU 100 kW / 145 Mon/Tue/Fri EaAf Amharic, ex 13810 1800-1900 NF 11780 NAU 100 kW / 145 Fri-Sun EaAf Somali, ex 13810 (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Nov 27 via DXLD) ** GREECE. Glenn: I was all set to check out the "It's All Greek To Me" program scheduled for 0030-0130 UT Monday. 9420 had already faded out and 7475 was still audible, but it faded out just before 0030 UT- better luck next week (John Babbis, MD, Nov 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREECE. This was the message from Babis Charalampopoulos: 06:00 - 07:00 UTC Avlis 2. Del. frequency 7.475 MHz / 285 06:00 - 07:00 UTC Avlis 2. Add frequency 15.630 MHz / 285 Languages 0600-0700 UTC AL (Albanian) 0700-0800 UTC Eng (English) 0800-0900 UTC F (French) 0900-1000 UTC E (Spanish) (except Tuesday 0600-0800 UTC) I this is what I think was meant; It is a daily program except for Tuesday when there is a BREAK FROM 0800-1200 [sic] UT FOR OVERHAULING THE TRANSMITTERS. Based on that information, I have amended my Voice of Greece Schedule as below to reflect these changes: THE VOICE OF GREECE (ERA S.A.) B-06 Short-wave Transmission Schedule (Effective from November 28, 2006 to March 24, 2007) Service Areas UTC Frequencies Language-Avlis 1, 2 and 3 transmitters EUROPE 0000-0600 *7475 9420 Gr (Eng Mon 0030-0130) 0600-1000 15630 9420 Gr (Al 0600-0700) (Eng 0700-0800) (F 0800-0900 ex Tue) (E 0900-1000 ex Tue) 1100-1600 9420 Gr (Eng Sat 1400-1500 and Sun 1105-1200) 1600-2000 *15630 9420 Gr 2000-2400 7475 9420 Gr MIDDLE EAST, INDIAN OCEAN 1100-1600 *17525 Gr, Ar (Eng Sat 1400-1500 and Sun 1105-1200) ATLANTIC OCEAN 0000-0300 12105 7475 9420 Gr (Eng Mon 0030-0130) 0300-0600 *7475 9420 Gr 0600-1000 15630 9420 Gr (Al 0600-0700) (Eng 0700-0800) (F 0800-0900 ex Tue) (E 0900-1000 ex Tue) 1100-1600 9420 Gr (Eng Sat 1400-1500 and Sun 1105-1200) 1600-2000 *15630 9420 Gr 2300-2400 12105 7475 9420 Gr AFRICA 0000-0650 *12105 Gr (Eng Mon 0030-0130) (Al 0600-0650) 0700-1000 12105 Gr (Eng 0700-0800) (F 0800-0900 ex Tue) (E 0900-1000 ex Tue) 1100-1600 *17525 Gr, Ar (Eng Sat 1400-1500 and Sun 1105-1200) 2300-2400 12105 Gr AUSTRALIA 1100-1600 *17525 Gr, Ar (Eng Sat 1400-1500 and Sun 1105-1200) NORTH AMERICA 0000-0500 7475 9420 Gr (Eng Mon 0030-0130) SOUTH AMERICA. PANAMA ZONE & SW AFRICA 0000-0700 *12105 Gr (Eng Mon 0030-0130) (Al 0600-0700) 2300-2400 12105 Gr (*)Transmission ends 10 minutes earlier Gr=Greek, Eng=English, Al=Albanian, Ar=Arabian, F-French, E=Spanish LIVE AUDIO URL: http://www.ert.gr Reports via e-mail: era5@ert.gr Technical information: bcharalabopoulos@ert.gr ERT S.A. MACEDONIA STATION EUROPE 1100-1650 9935 Gr EUROPE 1700-2250 7450 Gr ERA 5 'THE VOICE OF GREECE' Messogeion 432, 15342, Ag. Paraskevi Attikis, Tel +301 606 6308, +301 606 6297, Fax +301 606 6309 Macedonia Radio Station: Angelaki Str 2, 54621, Tel +303 124 4979, Fax +303 123 6370 General Direction of ERA (Engineering Div.): Messogeion 432, 15342, Ag. Paraskevi, Attikis, Tel +301 606 6257, Fax +301 606 6243 (John Babbis, MD, USA, Nov 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I wonder what English program is now on at 07-08, 6 days a week? (gh, DXLD) ** GREECE. ERA 5 VOICE OF GREECE B-06 in Greek: [NOTE: bracketed items are changes/correxions by John Babbis based on the above schedule!] 2300-0650 on 7475 AVL 100 kW / 285 deg to NoAm [0000-0450] 2300-0700 on 9420 AVL 250 kW / 323 deg to NoAm [0000-0500] 2300-0650 on 12105 AVL 100 kW / 226 deg to SoAm 0700-1000 on 9420 AVL 250 kW / 323 deg to WeEu [0500-1000] 0700-1000 on 12105 AVL 100 kW / 182 deg to CeAf [0500-0550 on 7475 AVL 100 kW / 285 deg to WeEu] 0700-1000 on 15630 AVL 100 kW / 285 deg to WeEu [0600-1000] 1100-1600 on 9420 AVL 250 kW / 323 deg to WeEu 1100-1550 on 17525 AVL 100 kW / 105 deg to AUS 1600-2000 on 9420 AVL 250 kW / 323 deg to WeEu 1600-1950 on 15630 AVL 100 kW / 285 deg to WeEu 2000-2300 on 7475 AVL 100 kW / 285 deg to WeEu [2000-2400] 2000-2300 on 9420 AVL 250 kW / 323 deg to WeEu [2000-2400] English transmissions: Sat 1405-1500; Sun 1105-1200; Mon 0030-0130 ERA 3 RADIOFONIKOS STATHMOS MAKEDONIAS in Greek 1100-1650 on 9935 AVL 100 kW / 285 deg to WeEu 1700-2250 on 7450 AVL 100 kW / 323 deg to WeEu (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Nov 27 via DXLD) ** GREECE. GRECIA, 9420, Voice of Grecia, 1728-1735, tentativa el 28 de noviembre en griego, se aprecia emisión de música griega pero con graves problemas en la transmisión, audio con constantes cortes, parece cómo un mal contacto. A las 1730 se escuchan unos tonos horarios y un locutor con unas frases; el problema parece haberse resuelto y se escucha con mas garantías, SINPO 35342 (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia) España, Sangean ATS 909, Antena Radio Master A-108, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREENLAND. Confirmed by a KNR technician: no English is broadcast from KNR. 73, (Erik Køie, Denmark, Nov 28, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUATEMALA. 4052.5, 25 Nov, 0307, Radio Verdad, singing, 32322 (new one for me!) (Eike Bierwirth, Mainz, Germany, JRC NRD-525, 15m wire in the garden, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ICELAND. 13865, Rikisutvarpid (Reykjavik) *1407-1451*, 11/23/06, in IC. No s/on or s/off heard; began with children's choir followed by OM and YL. Initially fair then weak with QRN, but mostly listenable until approx 1430 when QRN increased significantly and program could only be heard with difficulty; 1445 - piano music heard before loss of carrier at 1453 (Clem Shemanski, North Carolina, Sat 700, Sangean ANT-60, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ** INDONESIA. VOI, 9525, VG signal here, much better e.g. than Japan 9505/9535 or RCI 9610; Nov 27 during 1530 semihour again running gamelan orchestra 6:24 loop with English IDs; not checked during 1600 hour when no doubt in Arabic; seems to be running a few minutes late like RCI. 1703 music and opening Spanish, La Voz de Indonesia, news, spoken syl-la-ble-by-syl-la-ble with accent. Made some mistakes a native speaker would not, such as ``Indonesio`` as a noun, and ``democratíco``. 1712-1717 brief Arte y Cultura program about something in East Java, then music from different propinsis of Indonesia. Still on at 1802 into German. No sign of anything on 15150 at 1703 check where all these are supposedly scheduled toward Europe instead of 9525 toward North America. At last I get to hear VOI in a language I can understand; but the time is inconvenient (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, I’m starting a week vacation, so being at home at 1930 VOI surprised me with an even better signal in French that at first hearing didn’t give any credit. I thought it was some other station, while this woman announcer in French had that Indonesian music in the background. Well, VOI in English came VG at 2000 too. I haven’t check this situation neither Saturdays nor Sundays, so is my first time for VOI 15150 in French and English. But you just mentioned 9525 in today`s VOI monitoring and curiously nothing on 15150. The least thing I could expect here is having conditions from VOI on 31m not even after 1500. By the way 9525 has been strong here, specially last Saturday. And RRI 9680 was still on the air after 1500. You finally heard what I pointed out since April from the VOI Spanish, how terribly they dare to change the accent and the gender of many words. Funny that not even our pal José Miguel Romero has noticed this. It would be like having Raúl Saavedra writing scripts for an English broadcast. Maybe if I submit my curriculum vitae (36 years expertise) to them, I could get a job in VOI`s Castellano department. What do you think? Nothing to lose with just trying! (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, Nov 27, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. 3905, 15.11 1450, RRI Merauke (very tentative!). The station was somewhat low in frequency with ``typical`` Indonesian music. Lots of static and lousy signal (QSA 1-2). Common back then but has been inactive for a long time and is not present in DBS or similar lists. But what are the options? JE (Jan Edh, Sweden, SW Bulletin Nov 26, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST)) ** INTERNATIONAL. SNOOP, HERE IT IS --- SHORTWAVE RADIO USED FOR INTEL BY JAMES GORDON MEEK, DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU http://www.nydailynews.com/11-26-2006/news/wn_report/story/474663p-399278c.html WASHINGTON - You don't need 007's "Q" to listen in on coded broadcasts that are transmitted to spies in faraway places. Anybody can tune in to the world's top spy agencies talking to operatives in harm's way. All you need is a cheap shortwave radio receiver - the kind available at any drugstore. Tune it to 6855 kHz or 8010 on the hour. You might hear a girlish voice repeating strings of numbers in a Spanish monotone. "Nueve, uno, nueve, tres, cinco-cinco, quatro, cinco, tres, dos ... ," went one seemingly harmless message heard this week on a Grundig radio. It was the Cuban Intelligence Directorate or Russian FSB broadcasting coded instructions from Havana to spies inside the U.S. Turn the dial up to 11545 kHz and you might hear a few notes of an obscure English folk song called the "Lincolnshire Poacher," followed by a voice repeating strings of numbers. That's believed to be British MI6 broadcasting from Cyprus. On 6840 kHz, you may hear a voice reading groups of letters. That's a station nicknamed "E10," which is suspected to be Israel's Mossad intelligence. Chris Smolinski runs SpyNumbers.com and the "Spooks" e-mail list, where "number stations" hobbyists dutifully log hundreds of clandestine shortwave messages transmitted every month. "It's like a puzzle. They're mystery stations. There's no 'TV Guide' for them," explained Smolinski, who has tracked the spy broadcasts for 30 years. While hobbyists guess at the meaning of each cryptic message or which spy service sent it, it's no mystery to intelligence officials, who confirmed the purpose is espionage. The signals are too strong to be made by amateurs and are often on licensed frequencies. The State Department once complained to the Israeli Embassy in Washington that "E10" was blocking a U.S. broadcast, a source said. "I can't imagine who else would waste the time in front of a microphone reading numbers" but a spy, said James Bamford, author of best-selling books on intelligence. Bamford believes number stations are "simple but effective" spycraft. "It's extremely effective," agreed a senior intelligence official. "If you have a one-time pad, the code can't be broken, and you can send out dummy broadcasts as much as you want to confuse your enemy." A "one-time pad" is the key to unlocking coded shortwave messages that the CIA calls OWVL - "One Way Voice Link." It can't be cracked because it's known only to the sender and the recipient and used just once before it's destroyed, said CIA legend Tony Méndez. "I've had a lot of experience hiding one-time pads so you could get them into denied areas," said Méndez, now retired. Mendez said he would often imprint the code on microfilm or even a cigarette wrapper. Once inside the target country, a CIA asset could make a shortwave receiver out of simple materials. "The [shortwave] voices are not real people, they're computer- generated," he added. A CIA spokeswoman declined to comment. One-time pads and coded radio began in World War I, said Thomas Boghardt, a historian at the International Spy Museum. Little has changed since, judging by recent cases involving spies with shortwave radios, including an accused Russian spy nabbed in Canada last week. In Miami, the U.S. has charged Carlos and Elsa Álvarez with spying on behalf of Cuba. A prosecutor alleged in a court hearing last summer that the Cubans received shortwave "messages in five-digit groupings." An FBI interview transcript shows Álvarez admitted going into his bathroom "on Fridays to listen at 11" for messages aimed at the couple, code- named "David" and "Deborah." Originally published on November 26, 2006 (via Artie Bigley, Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** IRAN [non]. BELGICA [sic], 7435, Radio Democracy Shorayee, 1737- 1745, escuchada el 28 de noviembre en idioma farsi a locutora con comentarios y segmento musical, SINPO 35343 (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia) España, Sangean ATS 909, Antena Radio Master A- 108, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi all, I got a nice personal email confirmation from Radio Democracy Shorayee, new Iranian exile broadcaster on 7435 kHz. Website, only in Farsi, http://www.radioshora.org where also the email address is: info @ radioshora.org 73 and best wishes from (Björn Fransson, the island of Gotland, Sweden, Nov 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN [and non]. 3970, 25 Nov, 0304, IRN-Bubble Jammer, 33333; 4840, 25 Nov, 0432, IRN-Bubble Jammer (Eike Bierwirth, Mainz, Germany, JRC NRD-525, 15m wire in the garden, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ISRAEL [and non]. Adjacent channel interference Reshet Bet / WEWN I'm not sure if anyone posted this before, but when I've listened to Reshet Bet in the evening on 7545, there is quite a bit of adjacent channel interference from WEWN Spanish service aimed at Latin America, on 7540. I have emailed Moshe Oren - no reply as of yet. 7545 is used by Kol Israel just about 24 hours a day, over various language services. WEWN is on 7540 0000-1200 UT: http://www.susi-und-strolch.de/eibi/dx/freq-b06.txt (Doni Rosenzweig, Nov 27, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 11605 kHz overlapping with Kol Israel Spanish Hello dear Mr. Wiberg, [cc to Moshe Oren at BEZEQ in Israel] see MP3 attachment of the Radio Sweden broadcast on 11605 kHz, today November 27th, at 1645-1700 UT. 11605 kHz still suffers heavy interference by KI at same co-channel. KI uses that frequency in Spanish language til exact 1655 UT. After 1655, Radio Sweden newscast is in the clear, as at the end of the recording. Kol used that channel for decades, though Radio Sweden used 13580 kHz instead in B-05 season in previous year. MAYBE RADIO SWEDEN CAN MOVE DOWN 5 kHz TO 11600 kHz ??? I noticed that deliberate co-channel interference already three weeks ago; when on holiday in Spain and Portugal on the southwestern tip of Europe on the atlantic coast. Did send YOU and RADIO SWEDEN an e-mail on November 5th. But no acknowledgement or reply so far. Kind regards de Wolfgang Bueschel DF5SX Sprollstr. 87 70597 Stuttgart Germany ----- Original Message ----- Sent: Sunday, November 05, 2006 7:03 PM Subject: 11605 kHz overlapping with KOL Israel Spanish 11605 kHz overlapping with KOL Israel Spanish, B-06 season Co-channel interference !!! Today Oct 29th and Oct 30th also, Kol Israel Spanish registered til 1630 UT, but extended til 1700, and overlapping with Radio Sweden Home service relay on 11605 at 1645- 1700. Kind regards, Wolfgang Bueschel, Algarve coast in Portugal (via Büschel, Nov 27, DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH [and non?]. Glenn, Re: Re: DXLD 6-173 and 6-174, Strange sound under Pyongyang Pangsong (North Korea) on 6250 kHz. Attached please find two recordings made on that frequency, where that interference can be heard. Perhaps some kind of utility transmission or jammer - an ineffective one, I think. 73, (Moisés Knochen, Montevideo, Uruguay, Nov 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Continuous rapid pulsing punxuated at irregular intervals by some beeps. Yes, some utility definitely possible, as we must remember this is not a broadcast band, anyway (gh, DXLD) ** KUWAIT. USA/KUWAIT. Updated B-06 for IBB via KWT 250 kW / 070 deg: 0030-0130 ASH Pashto 7595 9335 0130-0230 ASH Dari 7595 9335 0100-0300 RFA Tibetan 7470 0230-0330 AFG Pashto 9335 12140 0300-0400 RFE Tajik 9680 0330-0430 AFG Dari 9335 12140 0430-0530 AFG Pashto 12140 17530 19010 0530-0600 AFG Dari 12140 17530 19010 0600-0630 AFG Dari 12140 19010 0600-0700 RFA Tibetan 17715 0630-0700 AFG Pashto 12140 19010 0700-0730 AFG Pashto 12140 17530 19010 0730-0830 AFG Dari 12140 17535 19010 0830-0930 AFG Pashto 12140 17535 19010 0930-1030 AFG Dari 12140 17535 19010 1030-1130 AFG Pashto 12140 19010 1100-1400 RFA Tibetan 11590 1130-1230 AFG Dari 9335 12140 1230-1330 AFG Pashto 9335 12140 1330-1430 AFG Dari 9335 1400-1500 VOA Tibetan 7255 1400-1500 RFE Uzbek 11910 1430-1500 ASH Pashto 9335 1500-1530 ASH Dari 9335 1500-1600 RFA Tibetan 7470 11500 1530-1630 ASH Pashto 9335 1600-1800 RFE Turkmen 5820 1630-1730 ASH Dari 9335 1730-1800 ASH Pashto 9335 1800-1830 ASH Dari 9335 1830-1930 ASH Pashto 5750 7595 1930-2030 ASH Dari 5750 7595 2030-2130 VOA English 7595 2100-2300 RFE Russian 7425 2130-0030 VOA English 7405 2300-2400 RFA Tibetan 7550 AFG=Radio Free Afghanistan ASH=Radio Ashna RFA=Radio Free Asia RFE=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty VOA=Voice of America (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Nov 27 via DXLD) ** LIBYA. 1053.1 kHz, LJBC, Tripoli, observed slightly off channel, 2326-..., 25 Nov, Arabic, Arabic music, Big Ben like chimes 2330, talks, prayer; 43442; // 1449 (at least). (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LIBYA [and non]. SAWT AL-AMAL OBSERVATIONS 27 NOVEMBER 06 Sawt al-Amal was observed as follows: 1230: Sawt al-Amal in progress on 17630 kHz, co-channel buzz jammer and DW German. 1248: Sawt al-Amal switched to 17640 kHz, co-channel BBCWS English. 1313: Sawt al-Amal switched to 17635 kHz, clear channel, remained there till off at 1359. Please note: Africa No.1 was untraced throughout. Afropops radio was on 17660 kHz throughout. Libya's Voice of Africa was observed in Swahili at 1305 on 17725 kHz, accompanied by a loud buzz. Such a noise has recently been widely reported (by DXers) on various Africa No.1 frequencies. Source: BBC Monitoring research, 27 Nov 06 (via DXLD) ** MALAYSIA. 5964.94, Klasik Nasional FM (RTM), Nov 28, 1600-1633, Anthem, news, reciting from the Qu`ran, YL DJ with pop songs and ballads, singing station jingles, IDs for ``Klasik Nasional`` and ``RTM Kuala Lumpur``, many ``Assalam Alaikum`` greetings, mostly fair. They now have their own website http://klasiknasional.dapat.fm/Home/tabid/3216/Default.aspx but it is in Bahasa Malaysia (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, RX340, with T2FD antenna, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. KEHUELGA 102.9 --- Hola amigos diexistas, Un ejemplo del poder de la radio en los sucesos del país. El sábado a las 2100 hrs. [local? = UT Sun 0300], sintonicé por los 102.9 FM la KHUELGA que trasmitía en directo a RADIO UNIVERSIDAD DE OAXACA con comentarios sobre el enfrentamiento de ese día entre miembros de la APPO y la PFP. La locutora pedía apoyo, daba aliento y sugerencias a los ciudadanos así como noticias urgentes. Cada determinado tiempo pasaban música de protesta. La señal era muy buena pero con interrumpciones momentaneas donde los locutores de la KEHUELGA retomaban la señal. Excelente forma de conocer la situación de Oaxaca; si tienen oportunidad de sintonizarla, háganlo (Pablo Angel, Club Diexista Mexico yg Nov 27 via Dario Monferini, DXLD) So how far away is Pablo? (gh) Hola Pablo Angel, gracias por tu señalación; visitando http://kehuelga.org/ su pagina WEB tiene varios documentos sonoros muy interesantes de acontecimentos que acá en Italia ningún fuente de información reporta (a parte la emisora independiente Italiana FM Onda d'urto 98 MHz). El medio radio demonstra su gran valor documentativo en este dramático acontecimento. Un muy cordial saludo desde Milán en Italia (Dario Monferini http://www.playdx.com ibid.) PROTESTERS IN OAXACA BRIEFLY RAID RADIO STATION TO TRANSMIT MESSAGE By REBECA ROMERO Associated Press NEWS from around Mexico Nov. 23, 2006, 2:13AM --- Slaying of Mexican boss ends era of power OAXACA, Mexico — Protesters calling for the resignation of the Oaxaca state governor briefly raided a radio station in the capital city on Wednesday to transmit a message rallying followers to a weekend march. Members of the Oaxaca People's Assembly, or APPO, forced their way into the Ley 710 radio station and warned that if they were not allowed to broadcast their message, they would take over the station as they did earlier for nearly three months. . . http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/world/4355921.html (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) ** MYANMAR. 5770, 15.11 1255, Defence Forces B.C.. Taunggi. Melodious Burmese music. Did not understand a thing when I returned at 1445, western music with country, pop (``Susannah``) and others and QSA 4. JE (Jan Edh, Sweden, SW Bulletin Nov 26, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS ANTILLES. Have been meaning to recheck the NHK Warido hour in Japanese at 23 UT Saturdays on 17605 via Bonaire to reconfirm whether they still have a Western classical music show and the exact time it starts. But this week I check 24 hours too late on UT Sunday, Nov 26: 2259 open carrier is already on, and heard a few words of Japanese, 2300 off, on, off again, 2302 on, joining Japanese talk in progress, 2303 back to open carrier, off, on, 2304 off, 2305 on with Japanese talk and some music, now seeming to manage to stay on the air. 2313 was playing ``Pretty Woman``, and at 2322 some lite instrumental music. Initially strong signal dropped off to almost nothing by 2330, tho CVC Chile remained strong on 17680 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEW ZEALAND. Surprised to find RNZI on an unannounced new frequency, 9765, Nov 27 at 0615 with music, then lengthy discussions of dingos and Tasmanian devils, whether they should be re-introduced onto Aussie mainland. Why? 9870 had been fine here. DRM remains on 9885-9890-9895 at the same time. RNZI website says ``Frequency Schedule Changes effective immediately ! (07 Nov 2006 1914 UTC)`` but that refers to the previous jumble, not the latest one, altho the schedule page still dated effective 08 Nov instead of 27 Nov has this latest change entered, all daily: 08 Nov 2006 - 24 Mar 2007 UTC kHz Target Azimuth 0559-1058 9765 AM, 9890 DRM All Pacific 0 1059-1258 13840 AM NW Pacific, Bougainville, PNG, Timor 325 1059-1258 9870 DRM All Pacific 0 1259-1750 5950 AM, 7145 DRM All Pacific 0 1751-1850 9870 AM, 11675 DRM NE Pac, Fiji, Samoa, Cook Islands 35 1851-1950 11675 AM, 15720 DRM All Pacific 0 1951-2150 11675 DRM NW Pacific, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands 325 1951-2150 17675 AM All Pacific 0 2151-0558 15720 AM, 17675 DRM All Pacific 0 Another notice on the website dated 24 Nov says DRM transmitter would be off air for maintenance part of the time. If RNZI did not make some schedule adjustment at least every three weeks, SWLing would be boring. Once again Nov 28, 7145 DRM cut off promptly at 1400* (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9765 kHz outlet looks new for me. S=6-7 signal into Germany now at 0710 UT. Ex-9870, where KBS Seoul in Korean is broadcast via Skelton U.K. relay, 300 kW 110 degrees into Europe (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEW ZEALAND. Frequency change of Radio New Zealand International from Nov. 27: 0559-1058 NF 9765 RAN 100 kW / 000 deg to All Pacific, ex 9870 \\ 9890 in DRM (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Nov 27 via DXLD) Per Adrian Sainsbury on Mailbox 11/27: RNZI moved to 9765, ex-9870, at 06-11 due to KTWR QRM from 9865, 0930-11 in Chinese (Joe Hanlon, NJ 11/28, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn; There was recently some discussions about NZ signals (AM & DRM). Just made a test receiving RNZI DRM 9890 (ACC mono 17.26kbs) in Southern Finland using an ALA100-loop (3 x 7m), a WinR 313e with IF- out to Dream 1.6 software. It seems that during good propagation conditions at right time (9-10 UT for Northern Europe) I could decode 99.9 % of audio using this setup. At the same time the analog program was not there on 9870. Usually analog is rather good as far as "understanding" is concerned, bad audio though. Later on 13840 was weak w a lot of QSB. Logging the signal with winR313 gave an average signal level of about S6,5 (85 dBm). Maybe these transmissions are OK for Pacific islands instead of satellite feed, but indeed quite good for that time period in Europe as well? Of course you need a good antenna; checking with small whips means normally 0% audio! Checking the internet feed at the same time gave good results, however at least with my setup, there were actually more dropouts & buffering on the net. BTW I still remember to have been listening to your DXLD in the 1970s or -80´s with my tube communications rx (Trio9R59DS) with heavy fading. Just recently I did the same driving to work at my car (listening to FM!). Well, using my Ipod with downloaded podcast & iTrip-transmitter. These small transmitter are now approved in European Union. Does that mean more QRM on FM remains to be seen later on. Best 73s TK (Tarmo Kontro, Finland, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEW ZEALAND. The media moves RNZI's DRM service to longwave ;-) Hi All, You gotta love the media sometimes :-( --- An article appeared in the press here today about DAB trials, but contains a little mention of RNZI's DRM service: ``Radio New Zealand is transmitting long-wave broadcasts to the Pacific using Digital Radio Mondiale, similar to DAB but used for AM signals. DAB is also being trialled in Melbourne and Sydney.`` http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3880157a28,00.html 8-) Cheers, -- (Chris Mackerell, P. O. Box 2241, Wellington 6140, New Zealand, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 4960, 15.11 1330, Catholic Radio Network, Vanimo. Music, occasional calls/announcements in English at this time in the night. Surprisingly good. QSA 3. JE (Jan Edh, Sweden, SW Bulletin Nov 26, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 7120, 15.11 1235, Wantok Radio Light, Port Moresby. Religious songs in Pidgin. Somewhat muddy audio. After 14 o'clock it is not possible anymore. QSA 3-4 JE (Jan Edh, Sweden, SW Bulletin Nov 26, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. Hi Glenn, Well it certainly appears something is going on with NBC Port Moresby. 4890 and 9675 have not been on at all. Not a carrier, nothing. From casual observations I would say it's been like this for a week or more. The only time this came to my attention was when on Tuesday November 21 I was tuning past 585 kHz at 0830 UTC just on my sunset and noticed Radio Sandaun in the clear. Normally at this time of late afternoon I get NBC Port Moresby and Radio Sandaun fighting it out. So I checked 4890 out of habit and nothing! This evening NBC Port Moresby on 585 kHz was not audible, which is very odd. This past week I've noticed NBC Pt Moresby 585 kHz back on but certainly down on strength. They are normally S3-6 at midday but barely a peep from home above the noise floor. Yesterday I parked in the beach car park at 2 pm during my lunch break and there was very poor audio on the car radio, normally it's nice and clear. So maybe 585 is at reduced power? Either 4890 and 9675 are off SW at the moment. Cheers -- (Craig Edwards, Nhulunbuy (Gove), Northern Territory, Australia, nutritionandsports @ bigpond.com ced34654 @ bigpond.net.au http://www.dxing.info/dxpeditions/nhulunbuy_2005_12.dx http://www.dxing.info/dxpeditions see Australia Nov 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 5015, Radio Altura, from 1037 to 1116 UT Nov 26, in Spanish, with OM talk, female vocal, announcements with echo chamber, into OM talk, high Andean music, ID and frequencies at 1101, much weaker by 1116 tune out. SINPO 32222 with QRN from Radio Rebelde on 5025. All heard on a Grundig YB 400 PE with random long wire (Roger Chambers, Utica, NY, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PHILIPPINES. Radio Veritas Asia going to make few changes. Below are the changes for Sinhala and Hindi effective December 3, 2006. Sinhala 0000-0027 UT from 12000 to 9510 Hindi 0030 0057 UT from 11710 to 11870 --- 73 from (Ashik Eqbal Tokon, Rajshahi, Bangladesh, Nov 28, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** POLAND [non]. POLÔNIA VIA GUIANA FRANCESA – A Rádio Polônia está utilizando os retransmissores localizados na Guiana Francesa, entre 2030 e 2100, nas freqüências de 9640 e 11940 kHz. O destino do sinal é a Europa, mas a sintonia está excelente no Brasil, na segunda freqüência, conforme constatou o José Moacir Portera de Melo, em Pontes e Lacerda (MT). Graças a isso, segundo o Moacir, em 19 anos de escutas em ondas curtas, é a primeira vez que ele consegue ouvir a estação polonesa, em que pese o sinal chegar, é claro, via retransmissor. De acordo com o Moacir, nas emissões dos domingos há até mesmo um espaço de dexismo (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX Nov 26 via DXLD) ** POLAND [non]. R. Polonia via Wertachtal, 6015, at 1857 with close of English program, address, times of other SW and satellite broadcasts, etc., off at 1859; fair (Joe Hanlon, NJ, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also RUSSIA ** RUSSIA. 11975, Kamchatka Rybatskaya, 0000, 11/25/06, in Russian. Long talks by M announcer and what would best be described as Russian easy-listening music. Signal improved steadily during broadcast and was quite good by 0100 s/off. Program is UT Sun only. Fair/Good (Mark Schiefelbein, Springfield, Missouri, Kenwood R-5000/Sony 2010, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. Interesting early-afternoon 49-meter signal from Europe heard 11/26: Voice of Russia on 6055 in English at 1810 with news followed by "Music and Musicians", fair (Joe Hanlon, NJ, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Armavir, 315 degrees toward us; See also POLAND [non] ** RUSSIA [and non]. VOR in Japanese, balalaika recital with some fancy fingerwork, Nov 27 at 1440 on 6005 in the clear and // 5995 mixing with R. Australia`s Health Report on risk factors for heart attax. BTW, No sign of RHC in between on 6000, which used to run until 1500; maybe that transmitter is the one that is on new 15370 or 13680 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA [and non]. The Kremlin has apparently pulled the plug on the BBC following the London killing of defector Alexander Litvinenko "The London Paper" on November 28 reported that "The BBC's Russian Service has been off the air in Moscow and St Petersburg since last Wednesday due to what Russian authorities have described as 'technical problems'. One insider put it differently, however: 'They turned the transmitter off'." Livinenko issued a statement from his death-bed claiming that he was poisoned on the orders of President Putin (Roger Tidy, UK, Nov 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RWANDA [and non]. RWANDA TAKES FRENCH RADIO OFF AIR --- Rwandan President Paul Kagame President Kagame has always accused France over the genocide Rwanda has ordered Radio France International to halt local broadcasts, in an escalating row over events leading to the 1994 Rwandan genocide. The move follows a cabinet decision to stop all activities of French state institutions, officials said. Rwanda severed diplomatic ties with France on Friday after a French judge implicated President Paul Kagame in the assassination of his predecessor. The act sparked a mass slaughter which claimed 800,000 lives within 100 days. Thousands of people in Rwanda have been holding anti-French protests in the capital, Kigali. The BBC, Voice of America and Germany's Deutsche Welle are the only international radio stations now broadcasting to Rwanda on FM. . . http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/6188550.stm (via Zacharias Liangas, DXLD) ** SCOTLAND [non]. Just to confirm, that our Saint Andrew’s Night special broadcasts from Scotland will be carried on one of our usual shortwave frequencies – 5775 kHz – at 150 kW via IRRS. The programme – a LIVE traditional Scottish Ceilidh from the Community Hall on the tiny Hebridean island of Lismore – will be carried on 5775 between 2100 and 2200 UT [Thursday November 30!]. It will also be available between 2100 and 2300 on 945 kHz MW from Riga, Latvia (2.7 kW) and on local FM in the Western isles of Scotland as well as online, of course, at http://www.radiosix.com (TONY CURRIE, Programme Director, radio six international, Nov 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5775 = BULGARIA, top secret (gh, DXLD) ** SENEGAL [non]. West Africa Democracy Radio, 12000 via UK, 0720- 0800* Nov 17, tune-in to English talk with manager of World Bank. 0725 IDs mentioning the 17 MHz frequency. Gave website address, full IDs and ``WADR`` IDs. Some Afro-pop music, lite instrumental music. Abrupt sign-off; weak but readable (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I wonder if WADR don`t even know they`re on 12 MHz during the first hour, and whether they mentioned the old 17 MHz frequency or the new one? (gh, DXLD) ** SRI LANKA. Re 6-174: Being a child in the middle 50s in my hometown sea port of Caribbean Tiquicia of Puerto Limón, I got in touch with the name Ceylon thanks to stamps, a hobby enjoyed by my father and my older brother. After all these years I guess that to be exposed to philately is just a step away from collecting distant radio signals. In fact, I have mentioned before that my dad owned a Philco Tropic in those good old days that everything gave us a sense of more exotic things, so different as today technology has converted the global dimensions into a ghetto. Yes fellas, I still preferred the name of Ceylon over Sri Lanka, because those simple stamps with Queen Victoria (or any other queen) enclosed in an oval frame in some upper corner of the stamp stuck in mind and comes alive every time I hear that name of Ceylon. Not that all our hobbies were the best, but they were ours. So keep enjoying while we breathe. 73s!!! (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, Nov 28, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SWEDEN. OBITUARY --- The chairman of the Arctic Radio Club, Leif Blomqvist, Halmstad, Sweden, passed away on November 27 at the age of 73. Beginning his DXing career fifty years ago, in 1956, Leif remained a very keen DXer and QSL hunter all his life, especially interested in Medium Wave DX. For many years he was also the organizer of the yearly ARC conventions for Medium Wave DXers from Sweden and abroad. R.I.P. (Ullmar Qvick on behalf of Arctic Radio Club, Nov 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also ISRAEL ** TIBET [non]. KUWAIT, 11500, Radio Free Asia, 1508-1512, escuchada el 28 de Noviembre en idioma tibetano a locutor y locutora con comentarios, a las 1510 se inicia transmisión Firedrake Jamming y poco después la emisora queda totalmente anulada, SINPO 23322 (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia) España, Sangean ATS 909, Antena Radio Master A-108, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKEY [and non]. VOT, 5960, Nov 26 at 2314, English to NAm but unusable against much stronger signal from RHC 5965 in French. Instead I listened to RCI with CBC TWTW on 6100 [for the last time; see CANADA], promised feature on RCC Pope Benedict`s upcoming visit to Turkey, and fears that the Christian faxions will forge an east-west alliance to try to take over Constantinople again. Really (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K [non]. Ran across BBCWS in English to Africa on 11795, new? At 0636 Nov 28, // 11765 but a reverb apart. HFCC shows 11795 is Ascension, in use for this semihour only, while 11765 is South Africa (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also RUSSIA [and non] ** U K [non]. Dear Glenn, I am just back after a trip to Kadamat Island of Lakshadeep Is. (VU7), India. While there I noticed the following announcements on several days at 0300-0315 on 7460/7465 on my small Grundig Mini 300 World band Receiver. "This is the BBC. There is currently no service on this channel but you can hear BBC program in English and Arabic 24 hrs a day on satellite channels. Details of all our channels are in bbcworldservice.com " This was repeated continuously with short music in between. I don`t know if this was reported in the dx press. If it is new info, please publish it in DXLD. I checked the BBC site, Passport to World band radio 2007/6, WRTH 2006 but could not get any info. Yours sincerely, (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, National Institute of Amateur Radio, Raj Bhavan Road, Hyderabad 500082, India, Nov 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Here`s HFCC B-06: 7460 0230 0315 40 KCH 500 116 1234567 291006 250307 D MDA MNO GFC 5529 Which means that it`s something registered by Merlin, not necessarily BBC itself. Then we find a report from last month: CLANDESTINE 7460 Radio Payam-e Doost, Grigoriopol, 0240-0246, October 15, Farsi, long talk by female, 24432 (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina) And this from last July: IRAN [non]. MOLDOVA / USA: Esquema de la estación religiosa Radio Payam-e Doost, en idioma farsi con destino a Medio Oriente, y vía los transmisores ubicados en Grigoriopol (500 kW). HORA UTC KHZ 0230-0315 7460 1800-1845 7480 La estación puede ser aceptablemente recepcionada en el cono sur de América a partir de las 0230 UTC. Cabe señalar que la emisora se identifica como \"Bahai Radio\". QTH: Radio Payam e Doost (Bahai Radio), P. O. Box 765, Great Falls, VA 22066, USA. E-mail: payam @ bahairadio.org Web: http://www.bahairadio.org/farsi/shortwave.asp (Marcelo A. Cornachioni, Argentina, Conexión Digital July 2 via DXLD 6-096) So I wonder what you would have heard before 0300. Perhaps Baha`i Radio is only running half an hour, or feeds were mixed up, or it has been totally cancelled? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UNITED NATIONS [non]. New schedule for UN Radio in French Mon-Fri from Nov. 27: 1900-1915 NF 5970 MEY 100 kW / 076 deg to SoAf, ex 1700-1715 on 7170 1900-1915 NF 9685 SKN 300 kW / 180 deg to NoAf, ex 1700-1715 on 9565 1900-1915 NF 15240 MEY 500 kW / 350 deg to WeAf, ex 1700-1715 on 17885 (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Nov 27 via DXLD) ** U S A [non]. Some frequency changes for IBB: Voice of America, with azimuths after kW: 0130-0200 Bangla NF 15205 PHT 250 kW / 283 ex 15160 0430-0500 Hausa NF 9600 BOT 100 kW / 350 ex 6015 Mon-Fri 0500-0530 Hausa NF 9600 BOT 100 kW / 350 ex 6015 0530-0600 Croatian NF 7315 BIB 100 kW / 105 ex 9635 1000-1030 Portuguese* on 18985 IRA 250 kW / 239 Sat/Sun, from Dec. 2 1000-1030 Portuguese* on 21590 IRA 250 kW / 251 Sat/Sun, from Dec. 2 1430-1530 Burmese on 12120 IRA 250 kW / 057 additional frequency 1930-2000 Turkish NF 9570 MOR 250 kW / 059 ex 11870 Mon-Fri 2030-2100 Serbian NF 7125 BIB 100 kW / 105 ex 9505 2200-2230 Serbian NF 7125 BIB 100 kW / 105 ex 9505 Mon-Fri 2330-2400 Burmese on 12120 PHT 250 kW / 283 additional frequency * news and information about medical and social aspects of HIV/AIDS Radio Liberty: 2100-2300 Russian NF 7425 KWT 250 kW / 070 ex 9520 UDO 250 / 335 Radio Free Afghanistan: 0430-0600 Pashto/Dari NF 17530 KWT 250 kW / 070 deg, ex 17575 0600-0700 Pashto/Dari NF 17530 IRA 250 kW / 340 deg, ex 17575 0700-0730 Pashto/Dari NF 17530 KWT 250 kW / 070 deg, ex 17575 0730-1030 Dari/Pashto NF 17535 KWT 250 kW / 070 deg, ex 17575 (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Nov 27 via DXLD) ** U S A [non]. ESTADOS UNIDOS VIA CHILE - Recordamos que a primeira emissão do programa Rádio DX, pela CVC - A Sua Voz, vai ao ar às 1532, em 15410 kHz, nas sextas-feiras. Também é reprisado no seguinte esquema: nos sábados, às 1100, em 15410 kHz; nos domingos universais, às 0200, em 11745 kHz; nas segundas-feiras universais, às 0000, em 11745 kHz. Rádio DX possui exatos 26 minutos de duração. Conta com a produção e apresentação de integrantes do DX Clube do Brasil. As edições anteriores podem ser baixadas acessando http://radiodx.podomatic.com (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX Nov 26 via DXLD) ** U S A. KRSN DX Test Didn't Happen --- The DX test for KRSN failed. We will try to reschedule it soon. I'm sorry for the inconvenience... :-( Here's a note I got from David Sutton, owner/operator of KRSN. Mike, I'm sorry but the control room computer crashed at around 11:30 on Saturday 11-25-06. I was in bed. That's when it does a log save so we have a record of when the commercials played. ... Again, I'm really sorry the computer crashed, can we reschedule it? I'll sit here and make sure it goes off next time! David (Mike Westfall, N6KUY, WDX6O, Los Alamos, NM, Nov 26, ABDX via DXLD) ** VATICAN. VATICAN RADIO BROADCASTS SPECIAL PROGRAMMES DURING POPE’S VISIT TO TURKEY Vatican Radio has a number of special live broadcasts on mediumwave, shortwave and satellite during the visit of Pope’s historic visit to Turkey, which started today and continues until Friday 1 December. Full details of these broadcasts can be found on the Vatican Radio website. http://www.vaticanradio.org/CoorPro/entrasmisspec.htm (November 28th, 2006, 16:19 UTC by Andy, Media Network blogo via DXLD) See also RADIO PHILATELY ** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. ARGELIA, 7425, Radio Nacional Saharaui, 1814- 1825, escuchada el 28 de noviembre en idioma árabe a locutora con boletín de noticias, segmento musical entre comentarios y temas de música folklórica local. Hacía varios días que desde Valencia no se conseguía captar a esta emisora; se desconoce si han sido problemas de propagación o que ha estado inactiva, SINPO 43343 (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia) España, Sangean ATS 909, Antena Radio Master A- 108, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7425, National Radio of the Saharan Arab Democratic Republic, 0800, 11/12/06. Male reporter gives the news and then later female Arabic song interrupted by a male announcer to make announcements till 0816 UT. Fair signal (Brant Hunt, Aiken SC, Drake R8A, Par antenna, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ** ZAMBIA. 5915, Radio Zambia (Lusaka), 0349, 11/20/06, in vernacular and English. Male and young lady reporting local news plus playing native songs in unknown language young lady introduces 2 to 3 songs signal fading around 0420 UT. Fair signal (Brant Hunt, Aiken SC, Drake R8A, Par antenna, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. Hi, Glenn, While listening for some sunset DX, I came across something of interest on AM-590. It sounded like a test tone, appeared to be around one kilohertz. It ranged from very poor to a fair signal, mainly in bleed over from local CKWW-580. Seemed to be strongest between 135 and 180 (Or, perhaps, 315 and 360 ?) I first noted it at approximately 17:30 EST (Or 2230 GMT.) Equipment used was GE Superadio III with 200 mm ferrite rod antenna. I was wondering of anyone else heard this. Thanks! (Eric Berger, Suburban Detroit, MI, Nov 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Or maybe a station off-frequency from 590 (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Good morning Glen[n], As of last evening, myself in NY, and at least one DXer heard a loud tone on 590 kHz. I included our loggings below. I heard same tone this AM on my car radio at 5-6 AM est on my way to work. Any idea what that would be? BCB Propagation Logger © : Nov 27 2228 UT, 590, Hearing what sounds like test tone strongest toward SE, in CKWW-580 slop. Between 900 Hz and 1 kHz. Anyone else hearing this? de Eric B Nov 28 0151 UT, 590, yes Eric it's 30 DB over 9 here. Herb NY Nov 28 0208 UT, 590.This is a little strange, if you zero beat it, there are three tones, 589, 590, 591 Herb Regards, Thanks for all the great WOR shows and 73, (Herb Shatz, Account Executive, Clear Channel Outdoor NY-NJ Division, South Hackensack NJ, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Well not an off-frequency het if heard on both sides. Any new US stations on 590 expected to be testing? Or it could be Cuba. Heard only at night? (gh, DXLD) Yes, seems only at night, I just checked, heard NJ Turnpike HAR station. As I mentioned below, there were three carriers. 589, 590, 591 kHz blending together. 30 db over in Hudson Valley NY. (I work in NJ)If it's a broadcast station, depending on where it is, could be a monster. I'll keep an ear out on it. Thanks for getting back to me Glenn (Herb Shatz, ibid.) Have him weak here, LOBS appx. 210 - 220 degrees > S XE/Cent America. Who is? Dunno. Area possibles: R. Quiche, Santa Cruz del Quiche, Guat., 5 k/snot R. Nacional, San José, Costa Rica, 5 k/snot - onna air again? Couple Hondoland sta's but only 1 k/snot power. What is it not? Rule out don Fido. 590 R. Musical wobbly of late - bag adjustment needed. But not tonight. Not tonight it is. Spot on freq, no wobbles, no hets for 590 Musical which consistently LOBS > due S this qth. Het appx. 30 - 40 degrees W of Musi., again in line w/ 210 - 220 Hdg. Trying RDF. Will advise. Dr. Zecchino (P.V. Zecchino, T.D., Manawobblito Key, FL, IRCA via DXLD) [Later:] OK - Re: 590 het: RDF LOBS appx. 197 > eastern Hondoland, Guatemala, thru Costa Rica. Rule out XE. Strength increasing. Listening w/extreme vigilance throughout evening. For once, not don Fido. Recall somewhere 'roun' '88, Baggie Maximo running something around 588 - 589 Kc. Tonight's het @ 591 Kcs. Dr. Zecchino (PV Zecchino, T.D., Manamanyhets Key, FL, ibid.) To add to Dr. Z.'s Florida gulf coast report, I have a fairly constant pair of hets on 589 and 591 approx., easy to see on Spectran. The 589 het is strongest most of the time. Also strong carriers on 590, which would be R. Musical and WAFC Clewiston, my two regulars on the channel, trading top dog but neither appreciably off frequency. The hets. have been there for a while, since before 0200Z until now at 0240Z, Nov 27 2006. Wobblers have been pretty much limited to 930 R.Surco this evening, with just a touch from 1100 RCH (W. Curt Deegan, Boca Raton, (southeast) Florida, [Ten-Tec RX-320D; LF Engineering H- 800; Spectran], ibid.) I am getting a carrier at both 589 and 591 tonight right now @ approx 0300 UT, of a fairly constant amplitude, thought it was maybe a computer or the TV but wasn't (got it earlier also). I get a constant carrier at 589 and 591 on two different radios. These are an SP-600 and an R-390A, the signals were about 80 over S9, don't know how these compare to other rigs. I can't hear any audio though. The het appears at all three frequencies which is as it should be, should be a 500 Hz tone, the difference of the 1 kHz space I believe between the carriers. With the crystal filter phasing on the SP-600 I can get rid of the het and just hear pretty much silence at both frequencies. They are really strong here, they're two strong constant carriers here, no audio that I've heard, but I haven't sat on them either, have to go to bed early tonight (Bob Young, Millbury, MA, various boatanchors, 2 400' LW's & Mizek phaser, ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED. 1430, Silent carrier (apparently), 1721-..., 26 Nov, het. with DJI+UKR; 13431 (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 1476.1, Silent carrier, 1731-..., 26 Nov, het with Austria fading in; 23441. Seemingly from a southerly latitude. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 9795-9800-9805, DRM, Nov 27 at 1558. 9800 is Sackville DRM but not scheduled at http://baseportal.com/baseportal/drmdx/main until much later, 2045-2359. [later: it`s RCI: see CANADA] More unID DRM, not on the schedule above at any time, 11955-11960- 11965, at 1556 Nov 27 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 2-way SSB in Spanish on 15140, Nov 26 at 2306, but in huge splash from WYFR 15130. Think they said something about QSYing and nothing further heard. By a semihour later the WYFR signal had diminished markedly (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ COMPROBACIÓN TECNICA DE LAS TRANSMISIONES Nº 312, ITU. Saludos cordiales, un nuevo listado de la ITU, Nº 312, ya está disponible en formato pdf. http://www.itu.int/ITU-R/terrestrial/monitoring/files/pdffiles/312.pdf Atentamente (José Miguel Romero, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) RADIO PHILATELY +++++++++++++++ 75th OF VATICAN RADIO: SPECIAL SERIES OF 5 POSTCARDS Last 12 Oct. 2006 the Postal Service of Vatican City has emitted a special series of 5 postcards with cancellations to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Vatican Radio. The 5 postcard reproduce the pictures of Guglielmo Marconi and all Popes that have spoken to the microphones of Vatican Radio. Info and pictures of all postcards are available on http://swli05639fr.blogspot.com/ 73's (Francesco Cecconi, DX LISTENING DIGEST) DIGITAL BROADCASTING DRM: See CANADA; NEW ZEALAND; UNIDENTIFIED 9800 ++++++++++++++++++++ PROPAGATION +++++++++++ MORE LONG-HAUL TRANS-EQUATORIAL FM DX, CARIBBEAN TO SOUTHERN BRASIL ESCUTAS DE RUBENS FERRAZ PEDROSO, BANDEIRANTES-PR, BRASIL, RECEPTOR: SONY ICF SW 7600GR SANTA LÚCIA 97.3, 0203 20/11 R. Saint Lucia, Castries, OM (Jerry George), id OM: ``This is Radio Saint Lucia``, depois anúncios políticos by YL, EE 45344 97.3, 0045 21/11 R. Saint Lucia, Castries, OM/OM, talks, EE 43343 GUADELOUPE 97.0, 0208 20/11 RFO, Basse-Terre, YL/OM, talks, FF 34333 92.9, 0223 20/11 R. Madras, Basse-Terre, mx caribenha, FF 33333 ANTIGUA 91.1, 0215 20/11 Observer FM, Saint John’s, mx caribenha, YL, EE 45333 SAINT VINCENT & GRENADINES 107.5, 0220 20/11 NBC, Kingstown, OM, mx caribenha, EE // 90.7 MHz 25232 90.7, 0221 20/11 NBC, Kingstown, mx caribenha, OM, EE 25332 RFP UNID 95.7, 0227 20/11 Unid (Praise FM - Saint Vincent & Grenadines?? ), mx caribenha, EE ????? RFP (@tivadade DX Nov 26 via DXLD) ARNIE CORO'S DXERS UNLIMITED'S HF PLUS LOW BAND VHF PROPAGATION UPDATE AND FORECAST Now here is item one of today's program, an update about solar cycle 23. Yes, my friends, we just saw another three days in a row of zero sunspots, and this according to scientists is a good indicator that the solar cycle is still traveling towards its minimum, expected to be happening by the end of next year, 2007. So, be prepared to watch many days of incredibly low maximum useable frequencies that will come associated with very low ionospheric absorption as the D layer becomes almost transparent to lower frequency radio waves because of the very little solar radiation impacting on it. And now amigos, as always when I am here in Havana, at the end of the program here is Arnie Coro's Dxers Unlimited's HF plus low band VHF propagation update and forecast. Solar activity continues at very low levels with several days of zero sunspot count, and then a slow rise to a count of about 12, with the microwave 10.7 centimeters solar flux hovering around 80 units. We also felt the effects of a high speed solar wind gust, but that is over now, and you should expect propagation conditions that are typical for periods of very low solar activity and very quiet geomagnetic field, so I think that the higher end of the HF spectrum from about 22 to 30 megaHertz should be performing just like another VHF band, amigos (Arnie Coro, CO2KK, RHC DXers Unlimited Nov 28, HCDX Nov 27 via DXLD) We saw three days of zero sunspots on November 22-24, but a new sunspot 926 appeared over the weekend. We should expect sunspot numbers above 12 over the next few days, with low geomagnetic activity. The U.S. Air Force predicts solar flux around 80 for the next 10 days, and a planetary A index around 5 until December 6. The next recurring coronal hole expected to push up the geomagnetic indicators should have maximum effect around December 7, a couple of days before the ARRL 10 Meter Contest (Tad Cook, ARRL Propagation Nov 27 via John Norfolk, dxldyg via DXLD) ###