DX LISTENING DIGEST 6-182, December 9, 2006 Incorporating REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING edited by Glenn Hauser, http://www.worldofradio.com Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only if full credit be maintained at all stages and we be provided exchange copies. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without permission. Materials taken from Arctic or originating from Olle Alm and not having a commercial copyright are exempt from all restrictions of noncommercial, noncopyrighted reusage except for full credits For restrixions and searchable 2006 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn NEXT SHORTWAVE AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1339 Sun 0330 WWCR3 5070 Sun 0730 WWCR1 3215 Sun 0900 WRMI 9955 Mon 0400 WBCQ 9330-CLSB Mon 0515 WBCQ 7415 [time varies 0500/0520] 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 ** ANGUILLA [non]. COSTA RICA/CUBA NON? 9725, 0250-, R Martí, Dec 6, in Spanish; Gene Scott was not there as listed, but instead R Martí. No bubble jammer noted. COSTA RICA 9725, 0612-, Dec 8, Gene Scott, appears to be back on 9725 kHz talking about KJV Bible (Jason Gardner, Meridian, MS, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9725, DGS Costa Rica was on when checked Dec 8 at 0638 (also WWCR 5935) and 9725 at 1445; still nothing on Anguilla frequencies. I am tending to file all logs of DGS under this heading now (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also THAILAND ** ARGENTINA. X-band in Gran Buenos Aires: 1664.23, Radio Bethel, Banfield Oeste, Gran Buenos Aires, 0256+, December 08, Spanish, religious talk by two males, 34443. 1668.40, Radio Getro, Lanus, Gran Buenos Aires, 0307+, December 08, Spanish, religious programme and Christian songs, 24432 (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, radioescutas yg via DXLD) See how they vary (gh) ** AUSTRALIA. Two 40 ft shipping containers are sitting on the docks at the Port of Darwin, one day`s journey away from Kununurra. They contain HCJB`s new curtain antenna and towers. But they almost didn`t make it to Australia. Dave Pasechnik, from HCJB’s regional office in Singapore, intended to travel from the USA to Croatia, to supervise the loading of the antenna into the shipping containers. However, a few days before leaving. Dave fell ill. He just had time to contact a colleague at HCJB’s Euro-Asia office and ask him to go to Croatia in his place, before being taken to hospital. Erection of the towers and antenna are not planned until late 2007 (HCJB News via Dec Australian DX News via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. Western Australia commenced Daylight Saving at 1800 UT on December 3, which means they are now UT +9. Legislation to enable this was recently passed. DST will revert to WAST on the last Sunday in March. There will be an eventual referendum to see if WA will permanently have DST, in line with the majority of Australia. Queensland is reluctant as is the NT to have DST. It is likely there will be a uniform date to regulate when DST starts and finishes (Robin L. Harwood, VK7RH, Norwood, Tasmania 7250 Dec 6, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BELARUS. Re website http://www.radiobelarus.tvr.by --- Very poor translation from Bjelorussian into German language, supposedly using a translation machine (Dietrich Hommel, Germany, A-DX via Wolfgang Büschel, Dec 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BIAFRA [non]. SOUTH AFRICA: 7380, Voice of Biafra International; 2202-20+, 2-Dec; Religious organ music, English ID and sung anthem, "prayer" about evil Nigeria, then news. SIO=443+ (Harold Frodge, Brighton MI DXPedition, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) ?? instead of 21-22 UT? I suppose it would propagate better from southern summer an hour later. Saturdays only; please confirm Dec 9. If a change such as this has been monitored, I wish people would say so explicitly, rather than forcing us to wonder if there was a mistake in the time (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I am hearing Voice of Biafra International on 7380. English ID at 2118 (Steve Lare, Holland, MI USA, ibid.) But another alternative occurred to me. Perhaps they still start at 21, but run later than 22? (Glenn, ibid.) They signed off just prior to 2200 (Steve Lare, ibid.) Ecce ** CANADA. Hi Glenn: I noted the recent discussion in DXLD about the cost of postage in Canada, and whether a US dollar bill covers the cost of letter. As others pointed out it costs $0.89 to mail a letter from Canada to the US of A. However, I don't think anyone mentioned that, as Canadians, we have the added privilege (!) of paying Goods & Services Tax on our postage. That's 6%, so the actual price of a postage stamp for a letter to the US is $0.94. If you then add the cost of an envelope, US$1.00 probably doesn't cover the costs. Cheers! (Harold Sellers, Ont., DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: New postal rates. POSTAL RATES (CANADA) ---> Garth, VE3HO reports that on 15 January 2007 rates will increase for all mail (domestic, to the US and overseas) as follows: Canada - $0.56 for 30 grams ($0.52 plus 6% tax) USA - $0.99 for 30 grams ($0.93 plus 6% tax) Other countries - $1.64 for 30 grams ($1.55 plus 6% tax) Current exchange rate for 1 USD is $1.13 Canadian (note: US $2.00 bills can not be exchanged in Canada). All IRCs other than the new blue ones will no longer be redeemable starting on 1 January 2007 (From the 425 DX News #814 via Vincent Ferme, Ottawa, ON, Dec 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re 6-180: ``FYI, it is also possible to buy Canadian stamps online: http://www.shopcanadapost.ca/ (Ricky Leong, Calgary, Alta., ibid.)`` The site is worthless for non-Canadian addresses; they only ship to Canada according to their S&H FAQ. USPS' The Postal Store however ships worldwide and I've bought US stamps from them several times. Canada Post has something to learn (Bjarne Mjelde, Norway, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHILE. 6089.9, Radio Esperanza; 0640-0708+, 2-Dec; W&2M in Spanish with religious discussion; One-word "Esperanza" ID at 0653, then vocal music. Program named Libre en Cristo. SIO=333-, USB helps, occasional drop-outs (Harold Frodge, Brighton MI DXPedition, MARE Tipsheet Dec 7 via DXLD) Guess Anguilla, q.v., was already missing then; if DGS returns, beware of occasional Spanish segments they used to insert (gh, DXLD) ** CHINA [and non]. 8/12, 0805-0900, 15515 - 13650 - 13765 - 11965 - 9845 kHz, CNR 1 x 2 transmitters, Jamming contro VOA in mandarino. Segnale buono -> sufficiente. Sembra che il numero di canali occupati da jamming cinese sia minore a quest'ora rispetto al passato. Per caso VOA/RFA hanno ridotto le emissioni in mandarino? (Luca Botto Fiora, Italy, playdx yg via DXLD) Re 6-181: Firedrake on 9200: 1446 on 8.12 at S3 max , 25433 (Zacharias Liangas, Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Around 1410, 9 Dec, was not hearing it on 9200 (Glenn Hauser, OK, ibid.) ** CUBA [and non]. After checking 6100 [see UNIDENTIFIED] at 0318 Dec 8, I checked the R. República frequencies; nothing audible, RR or jamming on 6185; a little bit on 5970. But the Sackville relay was coming in on 9630, fading up and down sometimes atop the jamming, first time I`ve heard it. RCI 9755 in Spanish was also audible in a similar fashion without the jamming (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also USA: WRMI; UNIDENTIFIED 6100 CLANDESTINE, 6185, Radio República with transmissions to Cuba, 0002- 0030, December 06, Spanish, actuality and news programme, interview about Raúl Castro and Cuba, "Estamos en República", 23432 (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) When the 6185 transmission ends is still not pinned down, as it tends to fade out or under jamming before it can be heard closing down. Could it be until 0300, when 6100 was supposed to take over? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [and non]. R. Martí continues to play cat & mouse with the DentroCuban Jamming Command at 0700 UT. Dec 8, RM was back on 5980 over jamming, while jamming resources were split to cover 5890 as well, where it has been off and on previous nights. Dec 9 at 0700, jamming on both 5890 and 5980; not sure which one R. Martí was axually on this time (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [and non]. I would like to report an interesting documentary which is in rotation on the Documentary Channel (Dish TV ch 197). It is ``Ricardo, Miriam y Fidel`` (1997), which has scenes of the last, abandoned, fully equipped clandestine transmitter site of R. Rebelde, the studios of R. Martí, the site of their balloon antenna system for TV, and the Cuban Army springing into action to jam a TV Martí broadcast which had just opened on NTSC ch 13. The next airing of this program will be on Friday, 15 Dec 06 at 2100 GMT (1600 EST). Unfortunately, it does not appear that this film is available on cassette or DVD. urls: http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0120015/ http://www.documentarychannel.com/schedule/index.php?d=2006-12-15 73 de (KB9NXD, Michael A. Mathis, http://www.xnet.com/~mmathis Dec 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CYPRUS TURKISH NORTHERN. 6150, Dec 9, -0100 Pohjois-Kypros: Bayrak International. Helposti tunnistettavan musiikin valiin heitettiin idi. Taidanpa tehdä taas raportin! Jospa jopa vastaisi!! Kuuluvuus erinomainen ennen kello 0100 UTC jolloin Romania alkaa oman englanninkielisen lähetyksensä. JRX (HCDX Online log via DXLD) It seems Finnish is now an acceptable HCDX language, founded and operated after all, by a Finn. A certain garble character I have assumed is a-umlaut as I fixed it above, but could be wrong (gh, DXLD) ** DJIBOUTI. I received a full data QSL letter/folder stamped and signed by Chief of the Technical services and a sticker from Radio Télévision de Djibouti for a reception report on 4780 kHz in 64 days. I mailed them a printed report along with 2 IRCs as return postage. The QSL shows a black and white photo of the radio station along with broadcast schedules of radio and TV (time & frequency) in French. Radio frequencies mentioned are 1116, 1539 medium wave and 4780 kHz SW. Broadcast at 0300-2000 GMT (still they use it instead of UT) and languages are Afar, Somali and Arabic (But I monitored them in French too!). E-mail of technical department: rtdtech @ intnet.dj and address Boîte Postale 97, Djibouti, Rep. of Djibouti. (T. R. Rajeesh, Kerala, INDIA, Dec 9, HCDX via DXLD) ** DOMINICAN REPUBLIC [non]. LA ROSA DE TOKYO PARA ESTE DOMINGO LA ROSA DE TOKIO" (( LS11 RADIO PROVINCIA )) -- Con la conducción de Omar Somma y Juan M. Natale, sale al aire cada semana LA ROSA DE TOKIO, su programa de DX y comunicaciones de LS11 Radio Provincia, La Plata, Argentina. ESTE DOMINGO 10 DE DICIEMBRE, EL PROGRAMA ESTARA DEDICADO A LA REPUBLICA DOMINICANA, REALIZADO ENTERAMENTE POR DINO BLOISE CON LA HISTORIA DE LA RADIO EN ESE PAIS Y LAS EXPERIENCIAS DE TRANSMISIONES POR ONDA CORTA. La temática que se desarrolla cada semana consiste en la investigación y análisis de la situación radiofónica en un país. Se revisa su historia, su actualidad política y social y, por supuesto, se revisan y analizan sus emisoras de radio y TV más representativas. Con la participacion activa del Grupo Radioescucha Argentino y colaboradores como Arnaldo Slaen, Guillermo Margenet, Marcelo Arias en Argentina y desde los Estados Unidos con Dino Bloise. Horario de Transmisión por Radio Provincia: Domingo 1600­1700 UT por 1270 kHz Internet, en: http://www.radioprovincia.gba.gov.ar Horario de Transmisión por WRMI Radio Miami: Domingo 0700­0800 por 9955 kHz Internet, en: http://www.wrmi.net/ Horario de Transmisión por Frecuencia 9 FM: Domingo 2100­2200 UT por 91.1 MHz. Internet, en: http://www.frecuencia9.com.ar/ Horario de Transmisión por La Voz De Rusia [fragmentos]: Martes 0120­0135 UT dentro del programa Frecuencia RM Por los 9830 kcs para América Central. Por 12010, 11510, 7330, 7300 kcs para América del Sur. [now at 0220 UT Wednesday! And above frequencies out of date: really 9945, 7570, 7330, 5945, 5900 per http://www.vor.ru/Span_LA.htm –-- gh] Internet, en: http://www.vor.ru/Spanish/new/ Su página Web: http://es.geocities.com/programasdx/larosa.htm Su correo electrónico: dxradio @ argentina.com (Dino Bloise / Estados Unidos, Omar Somma/Argentina y Arnaldo Slaen/Argentina, playdx yg via DXLD) ** ECUADOR. HCJB blew away Aventura Diexista, Sat Dec 9 at 1450 when instead on 11960 I was hearing an apparently live alabanza revival celebrating the 75th anniversary of HCJB (really isn`t until Dec 25!), which apparently started at 6 am Thursday. Included bits of music on quena, pan flute with a guest who travelled 48 hours from Perú to get there. Among the various voices I think I may have heard Alen Grájam, whose accent seems to be improving as time goes on. After all, he only gets to speak English 15 minutes a week. They managed to override the automatic ID at 1459:30, but not the mandatory end of transmission abruptly after timesignal 1500:00* without so much as a goodbye, or tune to another frequency suggestion. How rude (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EGYPT. A change on the MW scene in Egypt!! Checking the MW frequencies around 1930 UT today 8/12/2006 I noticed that (news Radio) Idha`at al-akhbaar is on 1071; previously that frequency used to have (Greater Cairo radio) Idha`at al-kahira al-kobra, but sounds like the change took place as greater Cairo radio is on FM band, so the media people want to have the news radio more audible for listeners all over Egypt, not only on FM band in Cairo. All the best from Cairo, Egypt, yours (Tarek Zeidan, Cairo, Egypt, Dec 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. QSL: Radio Bata, 5005. Full Data QSL Letter in 15 years for an October 2005 reception report (Stephen J. Price, Johnstown PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Er, did you mean to say 15 years? I know they have been notoriously difficult to QSL, but have started doing so lately. Was the Oct 2005 report a follow-up from 1990 reception? (Glenn to Stephen, via DXLD) Yes. Tried for 15 years. Sent report for Oct 24th last Oct (Steve, ibid.) So you had been trying for 15 years, but verie for this particular report came in only 14 months (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. R. Africa 2 / East Africa, Malabo, 15050, 1130 14 Nov, SIO, USA religious program in English (Ron Easey, Suffolk, Dec BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) Unexplained why on 15050??? (gh) [earlier on same day, same source:] R. Africa 2, 15190, 0930 14 Nov, US religious program, ID, address, SIO 342 (Dave Kenny, Berks., ibid.) ** EUROPE. Hello all from Montreal, Just a quick note here is a notice of Pirate Cupid Radio that will be on air Saturday December 9th 2006 starting at 1400 UT with a beam towards Africa and then at 1500 he will beam towards North America. Frequency is 15070. Cupid radio is a pirate from Holland. Reports can be sent to cupidradio @ hotmail.com Two weeks ago it was a easy catch here in Montreal, so let's hope conditions help once again. Good luck and 73's (Gilles Létourneau, Montreal, Canada, well in advance, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) So anyone hear it? ** EUROPE. Re 6-181, Mystery Radio, 6220: Here in Europe, I recently got an impression that this would be a professional transmitter, so strong was their signal. Yes, certainly at least 1 kW, I would even guess rather 10 than 1 kW (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Dec 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FIJI. RADIO STATIONS AND OTHER NEWS SOURCES ON THE WEB --- At this time of political crisis in Fiji, BBC Monitoring observes that most of the country's radio stations are available streamed live on the web. Public broadcaster Fiji Broadcasting Corporation streams all six of its radio services from their website at http://www.radiofiji.com.fj These are: [corrected] Radio Fiji 1: General programming in Fijian, some Radio Australia English content. Radio Fiji 2: General programming in Hindustani. Radio Fiji Gold: News and music in English, regular news on the hour. Bula FM: Mainly Fijian pop music, presented in Fijian. 2Day FM: Pop music presented in English. Radio Mirchi: News and music in Hindustani. The Fiji Broadcasting Corporation is an independent commercial company, corporatized under the government's 1996 national development plan. Private broadcasting group Communications Fiji operates five radio stations, all of which are available on live streams from its news and information website at http://www.fijivillage.com These services are: Viti FM: General programming in Fijian. Legend FM: Music and news in English. FM96: Mainly pop music and news in English. Navtarang FM: Mainly music, presented in Hindustani. Radio Sargam: General programming in Hindustani. Some English news bulletins have recently been noted simulcast across all five services at various times. It's not certain if this is a regular arrangement, or has been prompted by the ongoing political crisis. All the above 11 radio stations are on the air 24 hours a day. Other websites offering news and information are FijiLive http://www.fijilive.com a comprehensive portal featuring audio and video files of political events in the country, and the Government of Fiji website at http://www.fiji.gov.fj Source: BBC Monitoring research in English 7-8 Dec 06 (via DXLD) ** FINLAND [and non]. According to http://www.hukala.net Pori 963 kHz 600 kW will cost about 150 euros per hour next year, so probably Norway costs a bit more. A reactivation of 1314 kHz 1200 kW every now and then isn't THAT serious (Mauno Ritola, Finland, IRCA via DXLD) ** FRANCE. RFI B06 monitoring observations: the 1700-1730 [English] transmission is scheduled but not heard; its listed frequency 11615 always closes at 1659 as per its HFCC registration (Dave Kenny, Dec BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) And was supposed to change to 15605 from 25 Feb (gh) ** FRANCE [non]. RFI via Guayana Francesa, esquemas monitoreadas: ) Español) 1200 a 1230 TU: 15515 kHz, [so not 60 minutes as on pdf sked?] 1600 a 1630 TU: 17630 kHz, 1800 a 1830 TU: 17630 kHz, 2100 a 2130 TU: 17630 kHz, 0100 a 0130 TU: 5995 kHz Gracias Glenn, por las observaciones, Muchos 73 para ti y todos los colegas (Dic 7-8, 2006, Yimber Gaviria, Santa Marta, Colombia, playdx yg via DXLD) ** FRANCE. FRANCE 24, NOW ON AIR, SEEKS ITS AUDIENCE, BY ALL MEANS "Seventy-five percent of the (France 24 website) hits came from France, Belgium and Switzerland, 15% from North America (with an estimated 100,000 hits from the U.S.) and 10% in other European countries (with a clear majority in the U.K.)." Hollywood Reporter, 8 December 2006. "France 24 can now be seen in Europe (via Astra 1KR at 19.2 East), the UK and Ireland (via Eurobird1 at 28.5 East), Africa (via NSS7 at 22 West), the Middle East (via ArabSat BADR-3 at 26 East and via Nilesat at 7 West) and the US." DMAsia.com, 7 December 2006. Parts of the France 24 schedule can be seen on MHz Networks, terrestrial analogue channel 56 (WNVC) in the Washington, D.C., area, and 24/7 on MHz Network digital terrestrial channel. MHz Networks press release, 6 December 2006. "Even as France 24 went on the air to reclaim the cultural high ground, American culture was striking deep in the heart of Paris. An American monster-truck show had come to the City of Light as part of a European tour and had caught on big with French youngsters, especially the boys." Scripps Howard, 8 December 2006. "Ooh look, the first advert is for a Citroen. Yeah, that's French. I'm relieved now." Gareth Cartman, Paris Link, 6 December 2006. "The French government does not expect 2007 advertising revenue to exceed $4 million, and the channel is not expected to become profitable." Bloomberg, 7 December 2006. Jacques Chirac: "It is indispensable that a great country like France should be able to have its vision of the world and broadcast this vision." Aljazeera.net, 7 December 2006. Chirac spokesman: "If you don't try to be present in the world in a dynamic way, then the world will ignore you. You have to show that you are somebody." Washington Post, 7 December 2006. "English-speaking anchors refer to the station by its French name - "'France vingt-quatre,' not 'France twenty- four.'" AP, 6 December 2006. "The network has a budget of 86m euros (£58m) a year. That compares with 900m euros for CNN." BBC News, 6 December 2006. Spokesman for socialist presidential candidate Royal Ségolène denounces France 24 as a waste of public funds because there is already a similar international channel, TV5 Monde. AFP, 8 December 2006. Radio France International CEO Antoine Schwartz welcomes France 24 but, given the existence of France 24, RFI, TV5, and Canal France International, says the French government should "définir une stratégie cohérente et optimiser les moyens." Le Monde, 8 December 2006. Handy list of the 24-hour news channels. AFP, 7 December 2006. Posted: 08 Dec 2006 (see http://www.kimandrewelliott.com/index.php?id=743 for numerous linx to all these stories, and also another batch a few days earlier at http://www.kimandrewelliott.com/index.php?id=736 and several others if you search them out, via DXLD) OPINION: FRANCE 24 - A STRANGE BREED I watched some of the output of the English version of the new French news channel France 24 yesterday evening, and I have to say I was underwhelmed. First of all, they have decided to call the channel by its French name ``France vingt-quatre`` rather than ``France twenty- four`` as you would expect. Technically, they have some bugs to sort out. A recorded broadcast from the floor of the stock exchange had a very low audio level, added to which the reporter was speaking against a background din that made it hard to hear what she was saying. In a ten-minute news bulletin, I didn`t see anything that wasn`t already being covered by the other international news channels. I was puzzled by the selection of filler items - one was entirely in Arabic, with no subtitles or explanation of what it was. A mini-documentary on French chocolate-making was scripted in a way reminiscent of Radio Moscow at the height of the Cold War, praising the country`s chocolate makers. It sounded too much like propaganda. Better scripting would have made it much more effective. Even the screen layout seems odd. Most channels place their logo at the top of the screen. France 24 has a permanent bar carrying news headlines near the bottom of the screen, and its bright blue logo is above the bar on the right hand side, which fills too much of the screen and distracts from the picture content. I think the channel is trying too hard to please President Chirac, and is *too* French. If it`s going to be jingoistic it won`t attract a large international audience. Let`s see how the channel develops in the coming weeks. Disclaimer: These are my personal views, not necessarily those of Radio Netherlands Worldwide (December 8th, 2006, 09:53 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) Jingoïstique? (gh) ** GERMANY [and non]. Speaking about VTC [UNID 6100]: Industry gossip had it that some DRM transmissions for DW will stay at Wertachtal beyond yearend for the time being, but this obviously won't happen. This posting mentions that 3995 will be on air from Sines only after Dec 31 and gives the presumed VTC arrangements for DW DRM, including a usage of Moosbrunn: http://forum.mysnip.de/read.php?8773,451822,461345,sv=1#msg-461345 I saw in passing that Moosbrunn will run some DW in AM from Jan 1 as well, but have no details at hand now (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Dec 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREECE. At 0700 UT heard ID "Radio Filia on FM, MW 665 kHz (not 666!) and SW" and program in English. Reported on 15630 and MW 666[5]. On 9420 and 12150 [12105] was church service (Dec 3). (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, Dec 6, wwdxc BC-DX Dec 8 via DXLD) ** GREECE. SVO OLYMPIA RADIO VOICE PRESS BULLETINS: There have been a number of NBDT (SITOR-B) logs of SVO press bulletins which are broadcast to keep those serving on Greek ships to keep abreast of home affairs etc. According to the latest ALRS there are two voice broadcasts daily at 1145 & 1945 UT on frequencies 8876, 13134, 17314 & 22720 kHz (Allen Fountain, Dec Australian DX News via DXLD) ** GREECE. See our hobbyists in Greece. Homepage of Finnish DXer Harri Kujala http://www.harriku.com/larissa.htm Auf der Homepage des finnischen DXers Harri Kujala gibt es neuerdings einige fotografische Impressionen aus der Welt der Neben- und Oberwellengeneratoren mit besonders professionellem Aufbau (Michael Geisel-D, A-DX Dec 5 via BCDX Dec 8 via DXLD) MW pirates there are no amateurs (gh, DXLD) ** GUAM. K57, Radio Pacific, with webcast now schedules Jim Bohannon Show as follows, converted to UT days and times: Fri 1807-2059 Sat 0307-0559 [live] Sun 0807-1059 Sun 1407-1659 So one of the five weekly shows doesn`t make it on KGUM 567, and the ones on Sunday are bound to be several days old. But they do give us some odd repeat times which may be convenient. Here`s the schedule page in UT+10, where there may be some other talk shows of interest: http://www.k57.com/schedule.htm (Glenn Hauser, OK, Dec 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUATEMALA. December 7, 2006. From: Dr. Édgar Madrid, "Radio Truth", Chiquimula, Guatemala, C. A. To: Several of our Friends = A algunos de nuestros Amigos ====Verlo Abajo en Español==== Our good news for today is that we got our permanent "Public IP" today, and we are planning to do all configuration tomorrow for putting Radio Truth's signal on the Internet again. So, expect our signal sometime tomorrow Friday. Nuestras buenas noticias de hoy, es que ya conseguimos nuestro ``IP Público`` permanente, y estamos pensando configurarlo mañana viernes, para poner la señal de “Radio Verdad” en Internet otra vez. Así es que, espere nuestra señal en algún rato de mañana viernes (Dr. Édgar Madrid, Manager, DX LISTENING DIGEST) "Radio Truth" is on the Internet once again. Please tune us and report our signal. "Radio Verdad" está en Internet una vez más. Por favor sintonícenos y reporte nuestra señal (Dr. Édgar Madrid, Manager, 2348 UT Dec 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Anything secular? (gh) ** HAWAII. Re Just Another Day --- From what I've been told, back before WW2 the US government would pay KGMB to stay on all night whenever military planes were expected to arrive from the mainland. That way, the aircraft crews could use their direction finding equipment to home in on Oahu, and not fly past the island. On the night of December 6-7, 1941, a fleet of B-17s was being ferried across the Pacific to the Philippines and was scheduled to make a refueling stop at Pearl Harbor, so KGMB was on all night. Judging from what happened, I'd say the B-17s weren't the only aircraft DFing on KGMB (Bruce Portzer, IRCA via DXLD) It is well known that the Jap pilots also used KGMB to find Oahu. In fact the Japs flew by the B-17's but B-17's could do nothing about it as all the guns had been removed from the planes so as to carry more fuel to make the hop to Hawaii. Photos in the navy archives show this (Willis Monk, TN, ibid.) Yesterday we ran a news story about the anniversary, with comments from somebody from the local VFW post etc. For background audio I pulled out some of the old radio broadcasts from 12/7/41. On the CBS World News Roundup that ran that afternoon, anchor John Daly mentions that, while one of their via-shortwave reports was airing, he just got off the phone with somebody from their Honolulu affiliate KGMB who was giving him a verbal report on what they were seeing/hearing in Honolulu etc. I also have a rather hard-to-hear but rather amusing clip of some poor guy up on the roof at KGU, TRYING to stay on the line and do a live report on NBC, and the operator breaks in trying to cut him off because the phone line is needed for "emergency traffic"... "Hey, but I'm on the line to New York here!!" Didn't matter... she pulled the plug, leaving the NBC newscaster high and dry... "one moment please!" is all he can manage. Guess he went back to fill music -- that's what the clip starts with (Randy Stewart, KSMU, Springfield MO, Dec 8, IRCA via DXLD) According to Chuck Boehnke, Dec 7th, KGMB was indeed on the air during the bombing. However they signed off right after, but were told to return to the air to give out emergency info. Both KGU and KGMB returned to the air (Patrick Martin, OR, ibid.) ** INDIA. On 25th Nov, 2006 another AIR station was noted on 4860 mixing with Kingsway between 1430-1741 UT. An audio file recorded at 1730 is available at : http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dx_india/files/AIR_4860_1730_7.wav Kingsway carrying Urdu news and the other AIR station is carrying English news. The other station signed off at 1741, too weak to identify, was carrying national program of music, then usual English & Hindi news and then off the air after closing announcements. On 26th Nov both the stations were again noted on 4860, but the other AIR station was much weaker. On 27th Nov after I informed AIR no co- channel was observed. Regds (Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, Dec 5, dx_india via DXLD) ** INDIA. Monitoring on 7410, 6 Dec from 1645 UT via Aligarh, it also suffers problems mentioned by Wolfgang Bueschel. I can hear Aligarh under strong station on 7417-7422. The transmitter of Aligarh is so noisy too. When Khampur went on Air from 1730 UT on 7410 kHz, reception seems to be good. But reception quality varies and the transmitter continues to suffer from problems. Another All India Radio station suffers problem is AIR Chennai 4920 with much larger bandwidth than normal 5 kHz. Sometimes they noted up to 12 kHz bandwidth. On Nov 18 I observed harmonic of 4920 on 9840 kHz! (T. R. Rajeesh, India, DXindia Dec 7 via BCDX via DXLD) Got a call from station engineer that the transmitter has finally been repaired today. Can somebody check at the target area, I'm getting much cleaner signals today. 1745-1945 Eng, 1945-2045 Hindi, 2045-2230 UT English. Regds (Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, Dec 8, dx_india via DXLD) 7410 - Sure, transmission quality is okay today. Checked three times, despite poor propagation condition due of solar flare. Regards wolfy Dec 9 (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, via Alokesh, ibid.) ** INDIA. Dear Glenn Hauser, The AIR station listed on 15175 at 1513 in 6-179 is Panaji [GOA]. Earlier Bangalore site was used. The latest AIR SW schedules is available in http://www.qsl.net/vu2jos Please look under Short Wave and External Services section. Yours sincerely, (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, National Institute of Amateur Radio, Hyderabad 500082, India, Dec 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. The shuttle will be carrying some Amateur Radio satellites: listen out for them - ANDE Side A: 145.825 Digipeater up/downlink 1200 baud packet ANDE Side B: 145.825 downlink (backup to side A only) RAFT System: 145.825 Digipeater up/downlink 1200 baud packet RAFT PSK-31: 28.120 HF PSK-31 uplink - downlink on 145.825 http://web.usna.navy.mil/~bruninga/satstation.html http://www.ew.usna.edu/~bruninga/ande-raft-ops.html http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ftp/news/2006/ans337.txt 73 (Trevor M5AKA, Dec 5, monitoring monthly yg via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. Satellite radio rumours NEW YORK (AP) - A merger of Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. with larger rival XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. would "be in the interests of shareholders," Sirius' chief financial officer said Wednesday. A tie up among the satellite radio operators would deliver benefits for both investors and consumers, and provide substantial cost savings, David Frear said at an investor conference in New York. The comments echoed Sirius' previous stance on the long-circulating rumors, which began earlier this year when a New York tabloid reported that Sirius Chief Executive Mel Karmazin had been in talks with XM executives. Karmazin refuted that report. However, he stirred speculation in June when he said he would be interested in buying XM at the right price. Speaking at a separate conference Wednesday, Karmazin said he wouldn't rule out a possible deal with XM. However, investors have been hesitant to cheer any talk of a merger since it would likely face high regulatory hurdles. The two companies are the only satellite radio providers in the United States. Competition Regulators would have to consider the two part of broader industry before approving any combination. Frear, who has previously said a merger would make operational sense, said he is "always" talking to XM, but would not specify what the talks entailed. Speaking separately at the same conference, XM CEO Gary Parsons said he would not comment on the subject. "If you look at their position, you can see why they would be interested," Parsons told reporters after his presentation, when told about Sirius' earlier comments. XM finished the third quarter with just over 7.2 million subscribers, but Sirius, with more than five million subscribers, has been closing the gap rapidly in the past few quarters. Sirius appeared to stumble earlier this week when it cut its full-year subscriber forecast, blaming lower-than-expected retail sales since Thanksgiving. XM's Parson said the trend of softening retail is continuing, but his company would not pour money into trying to revive it. "We won't chase a weak retail market for growth at any cost," he said. Both companies stressed that future subscriber growth is most likely to come from deals with car companies that install the radios at the factory. XM is seen to have an advantage in that area, with exclusive deals with carmakers who account for 60 per cent of total production in North America, including General Motors and Toyota. Sirius, meanwhile, said it is continuing its drive to deliver video over its car-installed sets. "The (car makers) want this, they make a lot of money on in-car entertainment systems," Frear said. Sirius shares retreated two cents to close at US$3.83 on the Nasdaq Wednesday, while XM added 38 cents, or 2.7 per cent, to finish at US$14.70 (via Ricky Leong, Dec 8, DXLD) ** IRAN. 7320, Voice of the Islamic Rep. of Iran; 1941-50+, 2-Dec; 2M in English with ME & Iran news & Bush-bash. IDd both as IRIB & VoIRI. SIO= 433; // 6010, SIO=2+52; 9855 & 11695 not heard (Harold Frodge, Brighton MI DXPedition, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) 7320, Voice of the Islamic Rep. of Iran with English News: items mostly about the Middle East. Sked & ID at :24 and abruptly off in mid sentence at :26 SIO 343+ 2020-2026 2/Dec (Kenneth Vito Zichi, Brighton MI DXpedition, MARE Tipsheeet via DXLD) Hours later, 7320 is Libya via France (gh) ** IRAN [non]. 7435, R. Democracy Shorayee, Nov 23 *1705-1720 35322- 35333 Farsi, 1705 sign on with opening music, ID and opening announce, Talk. Also Nov 26 *1700-1710 25232 Farsi, 1700 sign on with opening music, ID and opening announce, Talk. Also Nov 28 *1700-1725 34333 Farsi, 1700 sign on with opening music, ID and opening announce, Talk, 1717 ID (Kouji Hashimoto, Japan, Japan Premium Dec 8 via DXLD) 7435, R. Democracy Shorayee, Audio signal typical as Issoudun-France transmitter? Either originates from Samara, Russia or Issoudun, France. Noted here in Germany on Dec 7th, but very weak signal under YFR Almaty co-channel. Closed transmission around 1758-1759 UT with communist hymn "The Internationale" sung in Farsi language (Wolfgang Büschel, Stuttgart, wwdxc BC-DX Dec 8 via DXLD) ** IRELAND. DRM for LW 252 kHz --- RTE will install a Transradio DRM- capable system at its Summerhill transmitter site. The system includes a Transradio TRAM 300L transmitter and DRM-DMOD2 exciter. Factory acceptance tests are due in mid-December 2006 and RTE expects to have the transmitter in operation by the end of the first quarter of 2007 (Radio World International edition Nov 2006 via Medium Wave Report, Dec BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** ISRAEL. See SOMALIA ** JAPAN. BROADCASTS TO BE AIRED FOR ABDUCTEES --- Kyodo News http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20061209a9.html The government said Friday it will begin radio broadcasts in the next fiscal year to reach people it believes were abducted by North Korea and may still be alive there, government sources said. The move came after communications minister Yoshihide Suga last month issued an unprecedented order to NHK to air programs about North Korea's abductions of Japanese nationals on its shortwave radio service. The government has also decided to provide funding to the Investigation Commission on Missing Japanese Probably Related to North Korea, a private group, to help it pay for another shortwave radio service called Shiokaze, which broadcasts family messages to abductees who may still be alive. The move apparently reflects Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's efforts to draw attention to the abduction issue. The radio broadcasts will be produced by the government, which will hire stations mainly in South Korea to air them, the sources said. "It's the greatest hope for abduction victims in North Korea to know (their) families in Japan and the Japanese government have not given up on them," Suga said. The Japan Times Dec 9 (C) All rights reserved (via kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) WTFK? Unclear from this article if NHK will be involved in these broadcasts. VOA and Radio Free Asia cannot get access to relay transmitters in South Korea, so it would be surprising if Japan will be able to "hire stations" in South Korea (Kim Andrew Elliott, Dec 9, ibid.) ** JORDAN [and non]. R. Jordan, 11690, Dec 9 at 1501 with news in English by YL, about PLO, etc. G with no RTTY! For a few seconds, as it was only taking a breather. But RJ was strong enough to continue listening after 1505 when pop music resumed, should one have wanted to instead of Vinyl Café on CBCR2 webcast only, and that turned out to be a rerun (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. See JAPAN ** LIBYA. V. of Africa, 15415, 1130 11 Nov, time pips, ID, news in Arabic, 1145 news in Hausa, then Swahili, English and French, 1205*, SIO 444 (Tony Rogers, Dec BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** LIBYA [non]. Libyan Radio / V of Africa has been confirmed on SW via France for B06 as follows: 7205, 1900-2200 Arabic/multilingual news; English summary at approx 1920, 2050, 2120 7215, 1700-1900 Arabic/multilingual news; English summary at approx 1740, 1823 7320, 2200-2400 Arabic/multilingual news; English summary at approx 2223, 2358 11965, 1600-1800 French, 1800-2000 vernacs 15220, 1600-1700 French 15660, 1600-1700 French 17725, 1200-1400 vernacs, 1400-1600 English 21695, 1200-1400 vernacs, 1400-1600 English (Dave Kenny, Tony Rogers, Dec BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) Any ``vernacs`` besides Swahili, Hausa? (gh) ** MAURITANIA. R. Mauritanie on 4845 had all-night transmissions on 20 and 22 Nov, not checked 21 Nov. I hope this is not a permanent change as it will make R. Cultura, one of the more reliable non-regular Brazilians, impossible to hear. But no extended hours on 23 and 24 Nov (Charles Hendry, Bucks., Dec BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) Probably extended due to elections on 19 Nov --- their first since last year`s coup ended 20 years of authoritarian rule (Alan Pennington, BDXC-UK ed, ibid.) ** MEXICO. 720, XEDE, La Caliente, Saltillo, Coah (25 26'N, 100 53'W) DEC 8 0301 - Partially readable ID by man: "X-E-D-E (said slowly)... La Caliente... 24 horas... con ocho mil wats de potencia efectivo..." Signal had been good earlier but had faded a bit at ID time and was mixing with XEAVR and one or two others. 8000 watts would be an increase from the listed 5000 watts (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge CO, NRC IDXD via DXLD) Maybe, but ``efectivo`` is a weasel word --- could be 8 kW equivalent in its major direxional lobe, if any. Should have said ``efectiva``, or ``en efectivo`` (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. Radio Tapachula, 6120, 0435, Spanish, 333, Dec 5, Music vocals, OM announcer and more music vocals (Stewart MacKenzie, CA, GRDXC via DXLD) It would be wonderful if this long-inactive station in troubled Chiapas were back on the air, but how about an ID? Cuba has been known to use this frequency, and PWBR ``2007`` has R. Rebelde there but only at 03-04. And R. Tapachula is still ``projected``. One station scheduled for sure at this hour is Rai, from Italy, per bclnews.it: North East Africa 0435-0445 Italian 6120, followed by English So could it have been Italian instead of Spanish? Others, please check. This query cannot go directly to all the lists Stewart posts on, altho it ought to. There was a similar log in Oct 2005 which we had to challenge; see further discussion of that in DXLD 5-184 and 5-186 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hola Glenn: de vez en cuando monitoreo a la 6120 desde que supimos estaba autorizada por la Secretaría de Comunicaciones aquí en México. Personalmente me comuniqué telefónicamente hasta dar con el encargado de Radio Tapachula que pertenece a una organización radiofónica de Chiapas con sus oficinas centrales en Tuxtla Gutiérrez (capital de Chiapas). El encargado, cuyo nombre no recuerdo, no supo darnos detalles, ni de cuando funcionaría; solo me informó que esperaban un tranmisor de 1 Kw. Le seguí llamando y luego ya no tuve respuesta, esto creo fué hace mas de tres años. En cualquier caso voy a monitorear. Frecuentemente colegas de EE UU la confunden con Radio Rebelde. Saludos (Julián Santiago Díez de Bonilla, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, Because of that discussion in 2005, I have occasionally checked this one and have always found R. Rebelde here, sometimes with a fair signal and usually // 5025. Sorry I did not write down every reception, but I was only doing a quick check that Rebelde was in fact the one being heard here. My recollection is I was listening in the 03-04 time period, as with my log below from 2006. This clearly needs more work to confirm just what the current R. Rebelde schedule is. CUBA. 6120, R. Rebelde, Sept 10, 0301-0325, good reception, Spanish programming, pop LA music, light/moderate QRM from unidentified station under them, // 5025 the whole time (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, Etón E5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. The XEYU tests were scheduled thru Dec 7 only, and indeed on Dec 8 at 1440 check, nothing heard on 9599.4, nor any het. And not on Dec 9 either. What`s next? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MONTENEGRO. 1368 kHz, Serbia-Cherna Gora. Regional station Valjevo can be heard with fair-to-good signal at around 1400-1558* UT Dec 6. Interesting news, interviews featuring local affairs. A lot of music (mostly English pop oldies). QRM: Iran and few weakies (Vlad Titarev, Ukraine, mwdx via BCDX via DXLD) They still connect to Serbia despite independence, or is it just Vlad? (gh, DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. CANADA, 9625, Radio Netherlands, 0655 11/28, presumed program feed error. RN bells at 0700 (Larry Russell, MI, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) ?? No error; RN is scheduled on 9625 via Bonaire from 0600. CBCNQ signs off at 0605, altho it does overlap briefly with RN as I lamented weeks ago (gh, DXLD) RN`s 14-16 English broadcast to SAs is usually best here on Madagascar 12080, sometimes 15595, but the third frequency, 9345, was making it well Dec 9 at 1404 during news, so well that I could detect slight distortion in the audio. No doubt the audio feed undergoes circuitous routing to get to Tashkent, whence this emanates with 100 kW at 131 degrees, nowhere near toward us. Sounds quite different from RN`s own relays (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NICARAGUA. The recent semi-auroral conditions have pretty much killed TA signals and domestics in the mid- and far west here, but the silver lining is better signals at times from Latin America. Among some good LA loggings here recently, this one stands out: 1080, R. 15 de Septiembre, Managua, DEC 7 0152 - Fair under semi- nulled WTIC with "Radio Quince de Septiembre" ID, "mil ochenta kilohertz en AM", mention of Nicaragua or Managua, "buenas noches", then into the Nicaraguan national anthem. Many thanks to Chuck Hutton for help with the ID! [McLarnon-ON] I'm pleased with this one! I don't recall seeing it being reported before by anyone. I haven't been able to find much info on this station, such as call letters (if any) or transmitter power. If anyone has some info, I'd love to hear about it. Audio clip available at: http://topazdesigns.com/ambc/audio/nicaragua-1080-2152-6dec06.mp3 (Barry McLarnon, VE3JF, Ottawa, ON, IRCA via DXLD) Mostly WTIC (gh) That was the name of a Contra clandestine on SW, presumably morphed into a legal domestic station, or possibly unrelated, just named after Central American independence day. WRTH 2006 shows it as YNLC, next to the Taiwan embassy, no power. One reference about the Contra clandestine: http://www.swl.net/patepluma/central/costarica/impacto.html (gh, DXLD) ** PAKISTAN. News in English from 1600 only on 4790, 5081 and 11570 on Dec 1 and no signals on Dec 2 at 1600-1615 (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, wwdxc BC-DX Dec 6 via DXLD) Hello, did you ever hear R Pakistan's 100 kW units in B-06 ??: Middle East, Iran, Turkey, & N/West Africa Turkish 6215 1630-1700 38,39 Turkish 7545 1630-1700 38,39 Irani 5835 1715-1800 40 Irani 6235 1715-1800 40 Arabic 6235 1815-1900 37-39 Arabic 7545 1815-1900 38,39,46,47 7545 is fully covered by KOL Israel. CIS & Russia Turki 4835 1330-1400 39NE,40 Dari 4835 1515-1545 39NE,40 Russian 7550 1415-1445 29,30E Russian 9300 1415-1445 29,30E Pushto 5095 1500-1545 39E,40 (wb, Dec 6, ibid.) Hello Wolfgang, In fact I can't hear any of their external services that use the 100 kW transmitters. This includes the Turkish, Iranian and Arabic services between 1630 and 1900 UT. And Russian at 1415-1445 is not heard via either 7550 or 9300 - and that's via 313 degrees, which is the same beam they use towards WEu, so it should be well heard here. The two 250 kW are well heard - sometimes with better audio - and 7530 is doing well during the service to the Gulf & ME at 1330-1530 and again for news at 1600-1615. But I can't hear the 100 kW unit on 6215 at 1600-1615 (Noel R. Green, UK, wwdxc BC-DX Dec 7 via DXLD) ** PAKISTAN. 7/12, 1037, 15020 kHz, R. PAKISTAN - Islamabad, Spuria - con audio pesantemente distorto - dei 15100 kHz che 'casualmente' coincide con un'emissione in inglese su 15020 kHz di All India Radio! (Luca Botto Fiora, Italy, playdx yg via DXLD) ** PERU. Hi! If you want to listen to true vibrations of the soul of the Andean nation, go to http://www.radioantenasur.com/ The FM station operating on 90.3 MHz, in Tambo in the area of Huancayo is the right choose and you will fall in love of the songs of "raíces milenarias". Rarely I have put a message to report about a station you may get only in the real audio connection, but this is the real opportunity for all of you to be in touch with original melodies without territorial divisions created by "conquistadores" in 600 years of domination (Dario Monferini, Italy, bclnews.it yg via DXLD) ** ROMANIA RRI, 15105 kHz, *1300-1337 UT December 8, 2006. Program in English. "Radio Newsreel", commentary, "A Challenge for the Future", "Practical Guide", "Over Coffee with Artists" and "Listeners Letterbox". SIO 322. QRM from what sounds like DRM hash. // 17745 not heard. 73, (Kraig Krist, KG4LAC, Manassas, VA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. BBC relay problems: see U K [non] ** SAINT HELENA [and non]. Re 6-179: Hi Rajeesh!! What a fantastic story and you captured the imagination of everyone. This is the best piece of DX writing I can remember from Indian DXers as far as I can remember --- maybe in the last 40 years. I couldn't stop reading until I came to the end. The sequence of events and the flow was great. Thanks and enjoy the QSL and the memories of the memorable event. 73 and Good DX. Victor P.S. What happened to me? I forgot the day. I thought it was on Sunday night and when I checked it just before 2355, to my horror I realized I was too late. I ran to the shack and I was able to catch just the last 5 seconds and the carrier as it closed down. Maybe next time!! My 8 element Log Periodic and the many receivers wont have a problem hearing them. I wish I had joined your listening group. I wouldn't have minded making a couple of International phone calls. I have the identical equipment used by RSH and I am toying with the idea of having a Voice of Maldives day on SW!! Who knows it might go a bit beyond just an idea!! (Victor Gonnetilleke, Sri Lanka, dx_india via DXLD) It ran another hour to 0100+! (gh) ** SAINT KITTS & NEVIS [and non]. 555 kHz, Radio ZIZ, 12-09-06. Reggae local music and IDs at 0530. Outstanding armchair signal of a very steady S-9. Very nice selection of local music; reminds me of my Caribbean Cruise last Sept as the temps here are a whole 16 degrees F now. Hardly any signal from DBS Dominica on 595. Turks on 530 was propagating at normalcy. Despite the excellent reception of 570 Reloj, Cuba and ZIZ, it was pretty poor evening for hearing the usual hets from Europe, Saudi Arabia, and other Caribbean stations tonight. SW and LW were no prize either (Stephen Price, Johnstown PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 555 kHz, ZIZ R., Basseterre, 2324-2332, 02 Dec, English, talks, interview; 32441, adjacent QRM (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAUDI ARABIA. 9555 kHz, 2000 UT, ID in Arabic Sout Majles al-taawon "Voice of Cooperation Council", a special station for the Gulf cooperation council. I think the 27th meeting for the leaders of the GCC will be held in Saudi Arabia on 9/12/2006. News, followed by songs about the Gulf, followed by a program called Gulf decisions, followed by another ID and another song, a program called our Gulf, OM/YL hosting the show talking about the gulf region projects. All the best from Cairo, Egypt, yours (Tarek Zeidan, Cairo, Egypt, Dec 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Any other frequencies, stations? Viz.: SAUDI RADIO LAUNCHES GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL PROGRAMME The General Programme of Saudi Arabian radio will this evening launch its special programme for the 27th summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council, which opens in Riyadh on Saturday. The programme will be broadcast daily at 1830-2100 UT, and parts of it will also be carried by the other GCC radio stations marking the event, Abdurrahman Al- Haza`a, assistant undersecretary of radio affairs in the Saudi information ministry, told reporters. [The other GCC member countries are Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates] The programme will report on the leaders` meetings and other GCC related topics, in addition to a one hour live broadcast from 2000- 2100 UT entitled `Khalijuna Wahid` (One Gulf) that includes a news brief of the meetings` agenda, he added. Al-Haza`a said the Saudi radio will air live the opening session of the summit in addition to the final press conference. (Source: Kuwait News Agency) (December 6th, 2006, 10:49 UTC by Andy, Media Network blog via DXLD) But how long will the summit and such special coverage last? (gh, DXLD) ** SINGAPORE. 6080, Radio Singapore International, 1100-1110 Dec 8. Believe I heard an Interval Signal before the hour, but wasn't paying attention. On the hour, a woman comes up with ID in English as, "This is Radio Singapore International broadcasting on 6080 Kilocycles and 6150 Kilocycles ..." Following the Intro, news was presented. Checked 6150 and could hear RSI under DGS, but only barely. Signal on 6080 of RSI was good even with QRM (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston, Florida, NRD545, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOMALIA. 6985, Radio Shabelle at 1913 Dec 2 in Somali. Not sure of exact transmitter QTH. Clear ID. Somali has heavily trilled /r/'s, more than Arabic, etc. (Liz Cameron, Brighton MI, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) (See also UNIDs) Viz.: 6985, 1908-1956:48*, 2-Dec; M&W in language with alternating news stories mentioning Bush, Rice, Carter & Clinton with band music bumpers. Two of us thought sure there were two mentions of Shabele before & after a bumper at 1913. Off abruptly. Assume this is Kol Israel, as they were heard here later and // 7545 Kol Israel. It's highly unlikely – impossible -- that Israel would be relaying Somalia. SIO=353 (Harold Frodge, Brighton MI DXPedition, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) Also highly unlikely that Shabelle would be heard despite Israel on 6985, --- unless a fortuitous transmission break --- which is scheduled in Amharian (Amharic) at 1900-1930, and Tigris (Tigray?), both Ethiopian languages, at 1930-1945, to WEu and NAm on this frequency. How`s that for a very specialized audience, Ethiopians in NAm with SW radios listening to Israel? Can you tell Amharic from Somali? Not I. From their B-06 pdf sked in local time of UT+2: Amharian 21:00-21:30 N. Africa 9,345 32.1 N. America/W.Europe 6,985 42.9 Tigris 21:30-21:45 N. Africa 9,345 32.1 N. America/W.Europe 6,985 42.9 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The last time I heard Somali as opposed to Amharic, the former had heavier H's and R's, and Amharic sounded more Arabicky, if that's a word. Now, that was awhile ago and I make no claim to infallibility. 73 always/Liz (Cameron, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN. IBB, Playa de Pals, Spain, http://www.radioliberty.org This International Broadcasting Bureau transmission site was in operation from 1959 to 2001. This website, which has been assembled by an engineer who worked at the site, contains hundreds of interesting photos and documents, and even some brief video clips, related to the station and it's transmitters, antennas, control room, power supply, etc., as well as its background and various events at the station. Click on the Union Jack, and then follow the drop down menus at the top of the page for a very comprehensive tour around the station (via DXplorer, Dec 3, 2006 via BCDX Dec 8 via DXLD) Already referenced here many months ago. And if you subvocalize any of the text, be sure to do so with a British accent (gh, DXLD) ** SUDAN. R. Peace, Narus, 4750, 0334 9 Nov, three IDs in English heard between 0330-0334, guitar music into vernacular program, hymn to piano music, SIO 121; Also 31 Oct (Charles Hendry, Amersham, Bucks., Dec BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** SUDAN [non]. Nairobi-based Sudan Radio Service currently announces the following schedule: 0300-0500 M-F 7280 0500-0600 M-F 9525 0600-0630 Fri 15215 1400-1500 Wed 9565 1500-1600 dly 9840 1600-1700 M-F 9840 1700-1800 M-F 9840 (or 9565?) Programs are in English, Easy Arabi [sic] and vernaculars. SRS is funded by the US Education Development Center with support from US AID. It announces that it is ``dedicated to peace and development in Sudan``. Their address is Sudan Radio Service, c/o EDC, P O Box 4392, 00100 Nairobi, Kenya (Alan Pennington, Edwin Southwell, England, Dec BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** SWEDEN [non]. The only English broadcast on SW from IBRA Radio during B06 is to E Af at 1830-1845 on 9520 via Jülich (IBRA sked via Alokesh Gupta, Dec BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** SYRIA. Sounds like Syria Radio is working 24/7 now; I picked them up around 0145 UT on 5/12/2006, 783 kHz with a long political review about the situation in Lebanon. All the best from Cairo, Egypt, yours (Tarek Zeidan, Cairo, Egypt, Dec 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** THAILAND. Took advantage of absence of DGS Costa Rica and better propagation than usual, actually to listen to R. Thailand`s English broadcast at 1400 on 9725, Dec 9. Opened with theme, and R. Thailand news by YL with heavy accent, mostly pronouncements of new rulers; 1409 into Science Show with Robyn Williams. This was obviously the ABC Radio National program, also heard on RA, http://www.abc.net.au/rn/scienceshow/default.htm but I never heard any credit to ABC, RA, or even Australia! It was just a segment of the whole show, and apparently not recent per the summaries at the website. Items about how thanks to Moon, Earth doesn`t flip over causing drastic climate changes; and Jupiter`s gravity well helps to reduce the debris hitting Earth. Was interviewing some scientist from Cambridge. Good show, but it would be nice if R. Thailand broadcast stuff about or at least produced in, Thailand. At 1420 just that from the PRD of the RTG, ``The Soul of the Thai Nation`` about the Royal Guards March, which I thought would feature music other than peripherally, but it was mostly talk, about how the RG were parading last Saturday Dec 2 for the King`s birthday which was axually Dec 5. A bit of music had finally started at 1429 when the transmission mandatorily cut off at 1429:30 without so much as a wrapup or goodbye. How rude (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TRISTAN DA CUNHA. NEWS FROM THE POTATO PATCHES Tristan Radio, the broadcasting service of the remote UK territory of Tristan da Cunha, left shortwave some time in the early 90's, dashing the lingering hopes of many DXers of maybe picking up the weak (400 W) signal on 3290 kHz during the few hours a week it was on air. Nowadays the station's only on FM and is on air for even fewer hours than before, so the only way any radio enthusiast who doesn't have the time and deep pockets to visit the islands are going to hear the station is by "cheating" and listening to a clip just uploaded to the Interval Signals Online website. Kindly donated by Dutch DXer Rudy van Dalen and recorded in 1996, this 1 min 40 sec clip is of various Friday broadcasts of three news bulletins - each very brief, with the number of items varying from 3 to... nil!, including a lead item appealing for borrowed video tapes to be returned! The clip is in stereo and sound quality is good, obviously recorded on the spot, though the sound balance isn't quite right, with the announcer slightly struggling to be heard above a "background" track of Fleetwood Mac's "Albatross". You can hear the clip on the Interval Signals Online website at http://www.intervalsignals.net A 2003 edition of Glenn Hauser's "DX Listening Digest" had some interesting background on the station, an interview with Alan Hemming, who set up Tristan Radio in the mid 1960's. You can read it here: http://www.worldofradio.com/dxld3176.txt The territory's official website is at http://www.tristandc.com Regards, (Dave Kernick, UK, Dec 9, DX LISTENNG DIGEST) No own domain? ** U K [non]. In a separate development, the BBC said FM radio broadcasts by its Russian service, which on November 11 aired an interview with Mr Litvinenko, had not transmitted in Moscow since November 23. The reason given by Radio Arsenal, the local radio station which relayed its programmes, was unexplained "transmission problems", said the BBC. Broadcasts on medium wave continued unaffected, and its FM broadcasts in St. Petersburg, interrupted last November 13, had resumed on December 1 (From Financial Times, Dec 8 via Mike Cooper, GA, Dec 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K [non]. BBC RUSSIAN SERVICE FM BROADCASTS OFF AIR IN MOSCOW Fri Dec 8, 2006 11:30am ET http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?view=CN&storyID=2006-12-08T163018Z_01_L08878119_RTRIDST_0_RUSSIA-BBC-BROADCASTS.XML&rpc=66& type=qcna MOSCOW, Dec 8 (Reuters) - The BBC said on Friday that its Russian- language FM radio broadcasts in Moscow had been off the air since Nov. 24 due to unexplained "technical difficulties" at its local partners. The BBC said it had no information to suggest that there was a political motive for the break in transmission. Overall relations between Britain and Russia have soured markedly over the past year and took a major dive after the poisoning of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, who died in London last month. BBC FM radio services in Russia's second city St Petersburg also went off air on Nov. 13 but resumed on Dec. 1, the BBC World Service's Head of Media Relations Mike Gardner said in a telephone interview. "We have no further information on the nature of these technical difficulties and are therefore unable to speculate on their causes," Gardner added. The BBC's broadcasts can still be heard in Russia on medium wave and via the Internet. The British embassy in Moscow said it was aware of the BBC's problems. "It is important that the BBC continues to operate in Russia," an embassy spokesman said. "The BBC World Service provides a balanced and independent source of information, which is important in parts of the world where that is not otherwise available". Almost all Russian broadcast media have come under tight Kremlin control during Putin's rule, with coverage heavily slanted in favour of the government. Opposition figures complain they are almost entirely excluded from regular coverage. The BBC claims around one million listeners in Russia. It does not break that figure down by city but says Moscow is a "very important part" of the total Russian audience. Although the BBC is editorially independent, World Service broadcasts are almost entirely funded by the British government. Britain's granting of political asylum to high-profile enemies of the Kremlin and its support for independent NGOs operating in Russia have irked Moscow, while a Russian campaign against Anglo-Dutch oil company Royal Dutch/Shell and BP has provoked anger in London. The radiation poisoning in London last month of Litvinenko, who had acquired British citizenship, created further tension. Litvinenko accused President Vladimir Putin in a deathbed statement of ordering his murder, a charge strongly denied by Moscow. Even opponents of Putin in Moscow consider direct Russian government involvement in Litvinenko's death highly unlikely because of the damage it has done to Russia's image abroad (via Alokesh Gupta via http://www.fmdx.it mailing list via shortwave yg via DXLD) The reports about the BBC being off air in Moscow (btw, the link to Reuters leads to nowhere now, at least when trying to access from a German IP) apparently refer to some relays by Radio Arsenal, a station broadcasting in Moscow on FM 87.5 (a frequency impossible to use at least in Germany, by the way), website http://www.radioarsenal.ru rebroadcasts mentioned but no specific times given at http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/russian/programmes/newsid_4737000/4737508.stm Some news items from 2002 indicate that former Ekho Moskvy editors are or were involved in the launch of Radio Arsenal, somehow connected to plans by Gazprom to invest in Ekho Moskvy. Unfortunately the backlog I have to clear is too large for doing more research on this matter now. At a glance I saw no specific news items or notes about Radio Arsenal no longer relaying BBC programming either. Of course the 1260 AM outlet is another, unrelated matter. This frequency is used by the BBC on the basis of a contract with the company Oktod who runs various broadcast transmitters, including a Volna SV-20A (10 kW) on 1260. This is one of the transmitters which went off temporarily a year ago when the technical licence (to run the transmitters, opposed to a licence for distributing certain broadcaster's content) expired. Here is the press release issued by the BBC when 1260 resumed transmissions, basically the same than the above referenced item in Russian: http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2006/02_february/22/moscow.shtml Oktod (or in English Octode) mediumwave facilities: http://www.octode.ru/ENGLISH/BROADCASTING/FMMWDVB/MW.htm They are located at Oktyabrskoye Polye (if that donates a certain place, at least it's also the name of a subway station I think), formerly a jamming site with a bunch of 5 kW shortwave transmitters. In the early nineties a dozen of them were combined to a single 60 kW for a relay of Radio-1 on 4055. All the best, (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Dec 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RUSSIANS SUSPECTED OF DELIBERATELY DISRUPTING BBC RUSSIAN SERVICE FM TRANSMISSIONS The Times reports that the Russians are suspected of involvement in the disruption of the BBC’s Russian Service FM broadcasts in Moscow and St Petersburg, at the height of coverage of the poisoning in London of former Russian security agent Alexander Litvinenko. The FM transmitter that carries the 4-hour daily broadcast in St Petersburg was off the air from 13 November to 1 December. During this period the poison story broke, Litvinenko died and, in a final statement, accused Mr Putin of his murder. In Moscow the FM broadcasts went off air on 24 November, the day after Litvinenko’s death, and have not resumed since. Sarah Gibson, the head of the BBC Russian Service, told The Times that this was the first time that the FM transmissions had been stopped. She said that the Russians had blamed “technical difficulties” for the suspension. The service is still broadcast on shortwave and mediumwave, but the FM transmission is the most accessible in the Russian capital, where most of the one million Russian Service listeners live. A member of the Russian Service said that the 40 Russian journalists working for the BBC in Moscow were fearful for their safety if the Litvinenko story continued to dominate the headlines. (Source: The Times) (Dec 9th, 2006, 10:37 UTC by Andy, Media Network blog via DXLD) ** UNITED NATIONS [non]. Radio UNMEE to Eritrea/Ethiopia in English and vernaculars, B-06: 0900-1000 Sun 17670, 1030-1130 Tue 17565 both via Dhabbayya, UAE (HFCC via Dec BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) Had been filing under somewhat more cumbersome ERITREA/ETHIOPIA [nons] ** U S A. About the League ... Glen[n], just a personal observation about the continuing conflict between the ARRL's administration and the FCC. To borrow from ARRL's CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ, writing his QST editorial "It seems to Us," I'll write this as "It Seems to Me." It is high-time certain individuals of ARRL's administration do a self-examination of their war with FCC and what the dispute costs amateur radio in influence and respect with our governing officials. The constant attacks ARRL admin launches against FCC in matters of amateur regulations and BPL issues need to be resolved, now. The attacks are self-destructing to an already weaken ARRL due to years of shrinking "membership" (more specifically QST subscriptions) and advertising revenue. To resolve issues with FCC, ARRL CEO David Sumner alone, without hired gun, should board an airplane in Hartford, fly to Washington, DC sans briefcase to dinner, perhaps even with a drink or two, with the entire Commission sans FCC's bevy of attorneys. Do so, eye-to-eye, man-to-man and bare souls. ARRL has lost lobbying impact and influence with FCC. This is clearly true inasmuch as ARRL admin can cause little or no FCC action on a number of matters important to amateur radio. ARRL admin petty editorial sniping, an attitude only a select few ARRL officials know best and a barrage of legalese attorney letters of demand have taken heavy toll on amateur radio. ARRL self-proclaims itself now days as the "National association for amateur radio" yet only 20% of FCC licensed amateur belong to ARRL. Take away QST magazine, available only to ARRL members, and the percentage would be reduced significantly. Clearly ARRL has no mandate. ARRL today is a tax-protected publishing house, its strength and purpose vastly diminished in recent years. Hiram Percy Maxim rolls in his grave looking for the way that ARRL might see the light (Bill Smith, W0WOI, Dec 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) This was apparently prompted by the ARRL`s latest press release: LEAGUE FAULTS FCC CHAIRMAN RE BIASED, INACCURATE BPL PRESENTATION INFORMATION http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2006/12/06/100/?nc=1 (via DXLD) ** U S A. Looking thru the Dec revision of WWCR`s program schedule, I see they now broadcast in Swahili! ``Freedom In Christ``, M-F 1200- 1215 on 15825. A few `specialty` program times: Rock the Universe: Sat 13-14 9985, Mon 06-07 3215 View from Europe: Sat 1210-1215 15825 Into the Blue: Sun 05-06 3215 Into Tomorrow: Sun 06-08 5070 Latin Catholic Mass: Sun 1700-1730 15825 Sing for Joy: Sun 2030-2100 12160 I suspect some of those shows at xx00 axually don`t start until after a 5-minute newscast, which they no longer bother to mention. There has been a further reduxion in time for DX and other fill shows; business must be good (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WRMI, 9955, clear of jamming despite exile talk in Spanish, Dec 8 at 0639 check; fair with a lot of fading. Often the signal is not propagating at all so late. Weak with no jamming audible either around 2205 UT, both times when R. República is scheduled (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn: Forget what I told you about Viva Miami. I don't even know when my own program is on. The program grid is in fact correct about 2200 UT Saturday. We are currently airing Viva Miami in place of El Sonido de Miami on certain Sundays at 2330. (The two programs are sort of alternating.) We are also repeating it at 0500 UT Monday, since we haven't had any new programs from Global Crisis Watch lately. This Sunday/Monday we are airing Viva Miami with Encontro DX from Cassiano Macedo (Radio Aparecida). On December 24/25 we will be airing Viva Miami with "Christmas in the Cayman Islands." (Jeff White, WRMI, Dec 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) No signal from WRMI, 7385, Sat Dec 9 at 1355 check when WOR should have been on; recheck at 1407, was on with Rexella and another preacher asserting that scripture sez the world will *never* end; whew!!! I guess we can forget about asteroids and solar burnout too. Take that, Brother Scare! And at 1432, Wavescan was underway, program for second Sunday of month (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn: We had a power failure. We are all at the annual Christmas party right now, but Raúl, who's in charge of the transmitter site, just got here and said he had to go in and turn things back on. The Internet audio probably kept running since it's on a UPS. I think everything should be normal now (Jeff White, WRMI, Dec 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A? Swiper bands: 4400-4420, 4515-4560, 4735-4760, 4790-4825, 4965-4990; 0146-0151, 3-Dec; At least they've narrowed them down some (Harold Frodge, Brighton MI DX-Pedition, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) CODAR ** U S A. WOAI in San Antonio is running IBOC but 1190 in Dallas is still audible here, though somewhat noisy. Clear Channel has taken control of 1190, I think mainly to keep IBOC off 1190 to avoid bothering WOAI. I did notice that KRLD didn't have their IBOC running today. I don't know if it's temporary or not. 620 and 770 both running IBOC but 610 (Houston) and 630 (San Antonio) still audible. Just noise on 760 and 780 (Jerry Lenamon, Waco, Dec 9, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WNTP-WFIL DX Tests: NOTE: Details differ from the version in 6-181, at least the power and antenna info! (gh) Just a reminder that this Sunday morning WNTP-WFIL will be conducting its third annual DX Test. In making each year's test a but different, we have attempted to offer a variety of possible scenarios for the DX community. In our first test, it was a fairly standard arrangement: separate tests on separate nights for both WFIL and WNTP. Last year, we did a combined DX Test on both stations simultaneously to detect difference in propagation between the two frequencies. This year, with the input of Les Rayburn, we are conducting another combined test, but at a substantially different time frame. The test will be conducted between 0500 and 0600 Eastern (1000-1100 UT) in hope of being a more viable test for people in the Western United States. It is hoped that by conducting the test just before sunrise, propagation will be such that reception in that part of the nation will be enhanced. The test will run as follows: Sunday, December 10, 2006 0500-0530 Eastern (1000-1030 UT) WFIL 560 kHz, 5 KW, Directional Daytime WNTP 990 kHz, 50 KW, Directional Daytime 0530-0600 Eastern (1030-1100 UT) WFIL 560 kHz, 5 KW, Non-Directional WNTP 990 kHz, 5 KW, Non-Directional This year reception reports are being handled by Les and should be sent to: Email: les @ highnoonfilm.com or Snail Mail: Les Rayburn, director High Noon Film 100 Centerview Drive Suite 111 Birmingham, AL 35216 Good DXing and 73, Rene' --- Rene F. Tetro, Chief Engineer Salem Communications - Philadelphia, WNTP-AM / WFIL-AM, 117 Ridge Pike Lafayette Hill, PA 19444 Phone: 610- 828-6965 Extension 41, Fax: 610-828-6725 Email: rtetro@pobox.com (WTFDA-AM via DXLD) ** U S A [and non]. Back in Issue 8 [of NRC DX News` current volume], an item for WFIR-960 mentioned two South American `super powers` on the frequency. I`ve been asked what those stations might be. Now, keep in mind we are talking about the FCC and what might be in their records. I did a search of 960, and there are two stations listed which may qualify as `super powers`: HJHN in Magangué, Colombia with 120 kW days and 50 kW nights; and HCAH in Guayaquil, Equador with 100 kW days and 50 kW nights. Both stations operate nondirectional 24 hours. I wasn`t aware North American stations were required to `protect` those in South America, but evidently there is some sort of treaty between the countries as WFIR had to alter their proposed night signal application in order to be considered. What say you, IDXD participants? (Bill Hale, AM Switch, NRC DX News Dec 15 via DXLD) Yes, nonsensical as it may be; this was discussed not too long ago on DXLD in relation to Hawaii (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** U S A. Tower Status --- Just an update on my WLIO-DT progress. The antennas are up! We finished the installation of the antennas and power divider late this afternoon. I have pictures I will share later. I also was shooting video, so for the NRC Convention in 2007 I might have a nice presentation, including some shots from up on the tower. I did have to make one modification to the system and drop the center of radiation by 26.2". Several of the mounts were lining up with either tower leg pads or the reinforcements that were installed to increase the rating of the tower. Choice was to drop 26" or raise it 6' 2". Normally I would vote for raising, but the top bay was within 3 wavelengths of the guy wire at the top. Personally I don't think it will make much difference in the 2' drop. The antennas look good up there, but as you might expect, they look a lot like FM bays. I wonder how many rumors will be floating on Monday morning. I ended up shooting a lot of pictures with 35mm film. I did do some digital pictures, but they didn't have the color and clarity that I wanted. I ended up shooting with a Canon Rebel EOS-G, 200ISA Fuji film, and two different lens. The close shots were with a Canon 10-28 mm lens, while the tower shots (sometimes from as much as 2,000 feet away) were with a Sigma 800-1000 mm lens. Video wise I was shooting blind most of the time as the cold weather affected the LCD viewfinder of my camera. Most of the time I was looking at a blur and hoped that the auto-focus was doing the job. We'll see! Pictures will be posted on the WLIO.NET web site when I have a chance to scan and edit video and make some Windows Media files. Tomorrow we hang the line, and get it in the building. Late Monday we make power!! More to follow. 73 & Gud DX (Fred Vobbe, W8HDU, Lima OH, Dec 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. REDSKINS OWNER SET TO BUY LAST CLASSICAL STATION --- By Paul Farhi, Washington Post Staff Writer, Friday, December 8, 2006; C01 Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder has reached a preliminary agreement to buy classical music station WGMS-FM in a deal that would expand his budding sports-talk radio empire and likely be the swan song for the area's only classical outlet. Snyder and the owner of WGMS, Bonneville International Corp., have established a price for the sale but had not formalized the deal as of yesterday, people close to the negotiations said. They said, however, that an agreement could be wrapped up within days. "They made an offer that [a seller] can't refuse," said one executive involved in the negotiations. He requested anonymity because the sale was pending. "If someone wanted to buy your house and was willing to pay 50 percent more than it was worth, you'd do it," he said.. . http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/07/AR2006120701693_pf.html (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** VIETNAM [non]. TAIWAN, 7125, Degar Voice. Nov 28 at *1300-1329* in Vietnamese. SINPO 43433. Co-channel interference from Xizang PBS. Sign-on with guitar music & ID, followed by talk by a man (Iwao Nagatani, Japan, Japan Premium Dec 1 via BCDX via DXLD) ** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. 8/12, 0910, 7425 kHz, RN DE LA RASD - Tindouf (Algeria), Canto locale. Segnale buono (Luca Botto Fiora, Italy, playdx yg via DXLD) later than usual (gh) ** YEMEN. I received a high quality blue QSL Card and large QSL Certificate (30 x 22.5 cm) from Radio Sana`a in Yemen for my reports on 9780 and 6005 kHz in 211 days for a printed report and 1 IRC. I contacted Mr. Ali Ahmad Tashi, the Engineer and Technical director of the station which helped up for speed processing of my reports. He advised that return postage is always appreciated and e-mail follow ups may be sent to: ali_tashi @ yahoo.com Reception Reports with return postage should be mailed to: Mr. Ali Ahmed Tashi, Technical Department, 26 September Street, P.O.Box 2371, Sana'a, Republic of Yemen (T. R. Rajeesh, India, WDXC-UK Dec 6 via BCDX Dec 8 via DXLD) ** ZIMBABWE. 3396, Radio Zimbabwe; 0317-0401+, 2-Dec; M in unknown language with Afro & European rap & UC tunes. Mentioned Zimbabwe at 0338 over music and at 0355 before sung anthem with several verses. Drum chant at 0400 and continued but dropped off. Sig peaked 0330-0340 and a tad better in USB. Heard het or weak audio as early as 2243, but nothing copyable till time noted. Nothing on 3306 or 6612 (Harold Frodge, Brigthon MI DXPedition, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. Re 6-181, site of tone tests on 1610, 1020, 590: [Ft. A P Hill VA] This is a decent ways south of DC and definitely north of my DF to the tones from here near Chicago. That being said, I certainly cannot claim the my DF's are accurate enough to rule this out. So I am asking anyone on these lists the following. If you live in the VA/MD vicinity and took some good DF's are you able to most definitely state that the direction was nowhere near Bowling Green? 73 KAZ, (Neil Kazaross, IL, IRCA via DXLD) While I'm not in that immediate vicinity, Bowling Green VA would be within a reasonable margin of error for the bearings I got on 1610, and would seem to be within a margin of error for some of the others reported. I tend to agree that the greater the distance the greater the magnitude for potential error, and for the majority of those reporting, one would have to ascribe a nominal +/- 5 or even +/- 7.5 simply due to the imprecise nature of a portable radio or even a loop bearing. A loop outdoors in a field would likely be more accurate than a loop indoors which would be affected by metal within the building structure. Unfortunately, applying that kind of a range of potential error to the bearings posted would cover the entire area of SE VA. (Russ Edmunds, Blue Bell, PA (360' ASL) [15 mi NNW of Philadelphia], 40:08:45N; 75:16:04W, ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED. Surprised to hear something in Spanish under RHC in Arnie English, 6060, Dec 8 at 0632, and then classical music. First thought was maybe REE ex-6055, but not // 5965. Looking at several references, the only other 6060 station on at this hour would be R. Tupi, Curitiba, but I really think it was Spanish, not Portuguese, and do they play classical? Does R. Nacional/RAE Argentina ever run overnight on 6060? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Re 6-181, mystery station on 6100 at 0300-0400: I did not check 6100 until about 0318 UT Dec 8. Mostly jamming, but some music and talk underneath. Hope somebody can get more info on what this is, where it is coming from, and why it is being jammed (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Dear all, been monitoring the station on 6100 kHz. The station that you hear is the UK national digital radio station "Planet Rock", which broadcasts on DAB, satellite and cable around the UK. However, it isn't parallel to what is "actually" being broadcast, and I'm sure I just heard a time check of "20 minutes past 12". It`s 0339 gmt right now. Audio quality is pretty poor here, signal coming in fairly strong though. I think I can hear the jamming ever so slightly in the background. The mystery continues. Oh, and FWIW, the website (and live webcast) of the station is http://www.planetrock.com (Stephen Howie, Reading, UK, Dec 8, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I was hoping to be able to do some more audio enhancing today, even bought some audio software. Unfortunately though, tonight my recording of 0300-0400 UT is almost worthless. It is way too static- ridden to do much with. So, I will not be posting it on my site. The transmission goes off the air with out any ID. However, searching the internet I managed to find out Planet Rock is owned by Macquarie Group, which has a "100% interest in Broadcast Australia," and a "54% interest in Arqiva" (a United Kingdom communications infrastructure). In light of this, it is my theory that they maybe doing test broadcast transmissions. If they are? I honestly don't know. However, I also don't understand why it is being jammed by Cuba. Perhaps, Cuba is jamming it because they don't know what it is and may think it maybe R. Martí? Possibly they are tests for a recent deal struck with the BBC and Arqiva, but that deals seems mainly for BBC digital TV transmission. Or perhaps it is the following with Broadcast Australia and Australian Broadcast Corporation: BA is the only provider of HF transmission for ABC's regional, national, and international radio services. Quite possibly, if that is the case then it may be a test for possible DRM use. Once again, Cuba may just be jamming it because they don't understand what the broadcast is or who is behind it. So they (Broadcast Australia or Arqiva) may just be using Planet Rock (a part of Macquarie) because neither Broadcast Australia or Arqiva are program providers. So, far in light of this I think the 6100 kHz is simply a test transmission for possible future use. So, it is probably something to do with BBC World Service or Radio Australia, but I am not sure (Jason Gardner, MS, ibid.) A-ha Stephen, you said "it's 0339 gmt right now". I tuned at 0340 and Black Sabbath was on the air, and having read in dxld 6-181 they were playing Pink Floyd's Meddle album tracks, I tend to believe this got to be British or European pirate. North American counterparts don't usually play that kind of stuff. Bubble jammer were of course and jammers probably were smelling something anti-Cuban was about to appear on 6100. 73s. (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, ibid.) Hi Raúl, Ah, so we were listening at the same time! (I was working overnight; it was also 0339 local time here). As for it being a pirate, well the actual radio station that is heard most definitely isn't a pirate. Planet Rock is a legal, licenced national radio station here in the UK, broadcasting on many formats including DAB (digital audio broadcasting), and satellite/cable. However, the origin of the actual SW transmission - which is more unusual - still isn't clear. Although it is true that Macquarie own the station, and also have a stake in transmission provider Arquiva, who may well be conducting tests (as Jason pointed out earlier on DXLD yahoogroup - good work, by the way!). However, if this *is* Macquarie operating/behind, presumably legal, test broadcasts using a recording of Planet Rock then it is shocking, as the audio quality is appalling - I'd expect much better! So while the rock radio station you hear most definitely isn't a pirate, the actual relay of the station may still be. As for the jamming --- who knows what that is all about. Overzealous in Cuba? Take care, (Stephen Howie, ibid.) Here`s a theory: another screwup at VTC/Merlin control in London. Originally or supposed to be Radio República, thus the jamming; but somehow puts Planet Rock on there. Like Israeli TV instead of Voice of Vietnam via Austria. Maybe someone can find neighboring satellite feed channels. Or since PR is not live, maybe they just grab the wrong audio files. If this goes on, wonder if it is the SAME PR hour night after night? 73, (Glenn, ibid.) Certainly possible that it's another screwup, but unlikely to be the wrong satellite audio feed selected as the service wasn't in parallel. If you can get a good enough signal over the Atlantic, check it against the webstream at http://www.planetrock.com --- but Glenn's suggestion of a wrong audio *file* being selected is a possibility. I'll listen to the whole hour tonight, and try my best to get a recording to upload too. Like I said last night, the signal here was good, but audio quality made it difficult (Stephen Howie, Reading, UK BDXC-UK 1458, ibid.) 6100 kHz - Planet Rock - Internet Research for HF Test Unproductive Thus Far After searching the internet for a couple of hours, after I posted my testing theory, I can't find a single thing to back it up with. I was actually hoping for a pirate, but the power had me convinced otherwise. After researching a little bit of Planet Rock I started to feel a little better thinking it might be some test, but Glenn's probably right. A search for "Planet Radio" [sic] 6100 causes only a handful of results, as well as any terms involved with it. Whereas, "Radio República" "6100" produces about 12,000 matches. Nothing relates to any sort of testing involved with my ideas. It's a shame such a screwup would happen (again apparently). Thanks though for trying to help me ID 6100. File has been taken down from website as it is only a simulcast, apparently. I will try to continue to monitor the situation 6100 kHz, 0300-0400 UT. However, the signal did not come in strong at all last night. 73 & Thanks (Jason Gardner, MS, Dec 8, ibid.) Heard 6100 kHz, Planet Rock relay, again at 0301 (missed the sign on - was sitting on 6110 kHz by mistake! BBC WS sign-on in Spanish). Heard the TOH news in progress which ended with the time check "It's 3 minutes past 10". Not sure if this is AM or PM, but I'd guess the latter given the news content. Signal and audio quality as fair and as poor, respectively, as yesterday. Cannot hear any jamming tonight. Did anyone catch the sign-on? Was it 0259.30? If so, this is VT Communications standard - sign-off should therefore be 0359.30, which could be a tell-tale sign. The news appeared to be *today's* news, so it looks like we are hearing a different hour each day, and presumably with a delay of 5 hours. [Later:] 6100 kHz Planet Rock off at precisely 0359.30. I think it is therefore probable that this is coming from VT Communications in the UK. Mostly likely as Glenn says, a wrong source. Maybe recording the wrong source earlier in the evening (presumably 2200 gmt), and playing that out at the scheduled time? (Stephen Howie, Reading, UK, Dec 9, ibid.) All right, thanks for helping. The reception was extremely poor here with a lot of noise. I recorded the first couple of minutes, and ran some filters on the recording where the static was loudest, I could [not] understand any of the talk, but could hear what sounded like "Freebird" by Lynyrd Skynyrd (Jason Gardner, MS, ibid.) Hi Stephen, Obviously the thing to do is to check Planet Rock at both 10 am and 10 pm local time, to see whether either of those matches what you hear at 0300 UT the following day. I missed the news at 10am today, and may be out at 10 pm also, but if I am at home, and I remember, I will check Planet Rock at 10 pm and then, provided I am awake, check 6100, 5 UT hours later (PAUL DAVID, Wembley Park, United Kingdom, Dec 9, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re ``Maybe someone can find neighboring satellite feed channels.`` Planet Rock is on transponder F2L of Eurobird 1. This mux also contains a bunch of other radio services, but http://www.lyngsat.com/eb1.html doesn't show anything that could be a Radio República feed. Nothing that appears to fit on the Astra satellites on 28.2 deg. East either. It could nevertheless be there, hidden on the Eurobird 1 transponders still used for feeds. Perhaps somebody can specify the poor quality of these unintended Planet Rock relays a bit further? This could provide some clue to the source from which Bush House main control is recording Planet Rock instead of Radio República for playout five hours later (I wouldn't know any other explanation for what has been observed so far). And it will be interesting to see for how long it will go on this time (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Dec 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 17387, 8/12, 0810-0813* NON IDENTIFICATA, Inglese, annuncio YL, musica anni 80 e s/off. Segnale buono -> molto buono. Non era una vecchia frequenza di All India Radio? (Luca Botto Fiora, Italy, playdx yg via DXLD) Era (gh, DXLD) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ SPECTRUM CHARTS There's a chart of the US allocations for the full spectrum here: http://www.ntia.doc.gov/osmhome/allochrt.pdf There are a bunch of links to frequency data here: http://www.jneuhaus.com/fccindex/index.html#Freq_chart There's a nice chart of the amateur radio bands here: http://www.icomamerica.com/downloads/US_HF_Band_Chart.PDF If you Google shortwave spectrum you'll get a ton of hits. I got tired of looking through them trying to find a nice chart (Jay Heyl, ABDX via DXLD) CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES +++++++++++++++++++++++++ FCC PUBLIC HEARING IN NASHVILLE, DEC 11 Battle for the Airwaves --- Nashville FCC hearing gives locals the chance to speak out against further media consolidation by Lee Stabert December 7, 2006 Monday, Dec. 11 at Belmont University’s Massey Concert Hall If big media has its way, the Federal Communications Commission will relax limitations on media ownership, effectively allowing a single company to dominate local media in any given market. But on Monday, Dec. 11 at Belmont University, the FCC will hold the second of six proposed hearings, giving Nashvillians a chance to voice their concerns. Nashville could be a pivotal locale for anti-FCC ire because of its high concentration of artists experiencing firsthand the dearth of opportunities to get their art into the marketplace. Just think about the number of local artists you could hear on Nashville radio 10 years ago vs. today, and you have a good illustration of the way consolidation affects the livelihood of artists. . . http://www.nashvillescene.com/Stories/Arts/Music/2006/12/07/Battle_for_the_Airwaves/index.shtml (via Jilly Dybka, DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING DRM: GERMANY; IRELAND; ROMANIA; UNIDENTIFIED 6100 ++++++++++++++++++++ IBOC: See USA: WOAI, etc. RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ EARLY CARADIOS Did they have car radios in 1941? In those pre-transistor days, the radio must have taken up half the dashboard and the tubes would have kept the car warm in winter. BTW, Canada had been involved in WWII for more than two years before Pearl Harbor. 73 (Mike Brooker, Toronto, ON, IRCA via DXLD) Hi Mike, Yes they had cars and the cars had radios. They used metal covered tubes and the tubes were black, all had 6 volt filaments. The world even had radar, the battleship U.S.S. TEXAS was one of the first to have radar. They even had television, with football and baseball games. Channel 2 and 4 in New York City came on the air on 4 July 1941. Yes, the world really hasn't changed much since 1940. And no, the radios did not take up half the dashboard; true, they were bigger than today`s radios but they had to be. They had to have a vibrator and 0Z4 to create the AC to run the filaments. BUT, audio quality was so-o-o-o much better than today's car radios. If you were not around then you missed a lot of fun (Willis, Old Fort, TN, Monk, ibid.) That was until Motorola and Sylvania came out with loktal tubes. Glass tubes with snap in lock in base. Philco loved to use them in their consumer radios (Powell E. Way, ibid.) And they were all 7 volt filaments; had silver tops and if you were not careful you would rub the tube number off the top. My 1954 Chevy had those type of tubes in it (Willis, ibid.) Good question -- I thought I recalled a restored 34 Ford with a radio, so googled first car radio and got this Car Radio In 1929, American Paul Galvin, the head of Galvin Manufacturing Corporation, invented the first car radio. The first car radios were not available from carmakers. Consumers had to purchase the radios separately. Galvin coined the name "Motorola" for the company's new products combining the idea of motion and radio. http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blcar.htm (Eric Flodén, ibid.) The whole middle part of the dash and under dash. My grandmother's 1947 Studebaker had a radio with 14 tubes and push pull audio. 6 volt system and it drew 20 amps. That was one of the best car radios I ever heard. Motorola made some excellent car radios as did Philco. I have a Motorola 61T23 table radio with TRF that says Galvin on the back. It's from 1939, and I have to figure out why it doesn't work. I put in orange drops back in the late 60's and it worked for many years. It doesn't receive anything and all the tubes are fine. I'm guessing one of those caps failed open somewhere important (Powell E. Way, ibid.) I DXed for a few years with a 1957 (?? Buick?? Ford?? cannot remember) car radio I bought from Akron NRCer Bill Raczko (sp?). It was sweet, very nice indeed. In addition to the regular pushbutton tuning it had a "Town & Country Bar", which was a motorized scanning device. "Town" had little sensitivity, "Country" stopped on weaker signals. If I recall correctly, I only quit using it when the (110 VAC) power supply gave up. It was a very nice rig, and delivered excellent sound. This would have been when I lived in Ottawa, sometime between 1968 and '72. ef Memory Lane (Eric Flodén, ibid.) I'm gratified, by all the car radio history, that I didn't have to repudiate my memory of hearing Freddy Martin's music on the road on Dec. 7, 1941. And I'm happy to have inadvertently launched an interesting and entertaining thread! I suppose my most interesting car radio experience came in the summer of 1976 when my wife and I were driving south from Tucson and found an FM signal that was playing my kind of music. It reminded me, I thought, of what I had heard in the '50s from KXL-750 in Portland. Turned out to be some bodacious e-skip, and KXL on FM held steady for more than an hour. (I don't DX when the wife is in the car.) (Qal R. Mann, Krumudgeon, ibid.) NRD-545 PRODUCTION ENDS Japan Radio Co. declared in their web site that they will end the production of NRD-545 receiver in January 2007. The sales will be discontinued after the stock is out (Takahito Akabayashi, Tokyo, Japan, Dec 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) POWERLINE COMMUNICATIONS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ According to Mainichi Shimbun and other news sources, 115 Japanese radio amateurs brought an action against Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications to delete the approval of in-house PLC on December 7. The ministry approved the use of in-house PLC modem on October 18, and some PLC modems have been on sale. The accusers claim that the approval of in-house PLC will seriously affect the communications in HF (2-30 MHz) band (Takahito Akabayashi, Tokyo, Japan, Dec 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also U S A: ARRL ###