DX LISTENING DIGEST 7-006, January 13, 2007 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 2007 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html For restrixions and searchable 2006 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid6.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 1343 Sat 2230 WRMI 9955 Sun 0330 WWCR3 5070 Sun 0730 WWCR1 3215 Sun 0900 WRMI 9955 Mon 0400 WBCQ 9330-CLSB Mon 0515 WBCQ 7415 [time varies] Mon 1330 WRMI 7385 [NEW] 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 ** AFGHANISTAN. 9345 USB, R Sohl (Peace R), Bagram Air Base, 1319, Dec 30, fine signal (Thomas Lindenthal, Osterfeld, Germany, DSWCI DX Window Jan 10 via DXLD) Wow, a fine signal --- or any signal from this --- we can only dream about over here. Or is this where the long-awaited new 100 kW transmitter supplied by India (hope it`s better than the ones in Goa), will first appear? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARMENIA. Armenian Radio is heard on 4810 at 0400-1930 with relays of home services as well as external in Farsi 0430-0500, Russian 0530- 0600, various ME languages 1305-1500, Arabic 1900-1930. When carrying HS it is // 1395, but // 864 at 0430-0500 and 1305-1500 (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, 17 Dec, Jan BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. HEATSTROKE AT VL8A --- Hi Glenn, Chris Hambly asked me to send this on: 4835 kHz, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, has been off air with heat related problems, with the transmitter, after a long bout of over 40 C degrees, 104F; they had fifteen days in a row over 104F degrees, seems the transmitter just gave up!! 73 (Chris Hambly, Melbourne, via David Vitek, Adelaide, Jan 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) So nite frequency 2310 would also be off. Wonder if they`ll fire up a Shepparton backup again? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** AZERBAIJAN. 6110.77, Voice of Azerbaijan, 1219-1420, Dec 30, quite strong signal. But unfortunately I found no German Program. The station has a very distorted modulation like old R Cairo (Thomas Lindenthal, Osterfeld, Germany, DSWCI DX Window Jan 10 via DXLD) 6111 was on the air this morning up to 0400, but went off without opening any programme, so apparently a test. The heterodyne frequency as measured at 1415 was 917 Hz up from Juelich 6110, i.e. the transmission frequency was 6110.92 kHz, if we assume that Juelich is spot on 6110 (Olle Alm, Sweden, Jan 5, wwdxc BC-DX Jan 12 via DXLD) ** BANGLADESH. In case you haven`t heard, there is a state of emergency in Bangladesh. It might be interesting to monitor Bangladesh Betar, if you can get it, with English scheduled 1745-1900 on 7185 (Glenn Hauser, OK, Jan 12, in advance, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) BANGLADESH GOVERNMENT ORDERS MEDIA BLACK-OUT Malaysia Sun, Saturday 13th January, 2007 http://story.malaysiasun.com/index.php/ct/9/cid/303b19022816233b/id/224284/cs/1/ The Bangladesh interim government has ordered all newspapers, radio, and TV stations, to cease their news coverage. The owner of an independent television station has been placed under house arrest, while journalists have been restricted in movements around the capital, Dhaka. Reporters Without Borders has condemned the interim government head's decision, which it describes as 'general censorship of the news media.' 'The desire to extricate Bangladesh from the current political crisis in no way justifies censorship,' Reporters Without Borders said. 'On the contrary, the interim government should guarantee the public's right to news and information because the country is going through a difficult period. This decision sends Bangladesh back to the dark days of the dictatorship. We call on the new interim government head Fakhruddin Ahmed to immediately lift all curbs on press freedom.' On 11 January, President Iajuddin Ahmed proclaimed a state of emergency and a curfew. He then announced his resignation and the postponement of legislative elections scheduled for 22 January. At the same time, the Information Ministry's Press and Information Department gave verbal instructions to terrestrial and cable TV stations to censor news reports. The broadcast media were told to broadcast only the news bulletins issued by the government television station BTV. 'This restriction is to be applied until further notice,' a representative of the NTV station told The Associated Press. All the privately-owned TV stations have complied with the news ban. Asked by Reporters Without Borders why they had complied, the news editor of a privately-owned TV station said the broadcast media were not sufficiently organised to resist. 'The owners of the TV stations are businessmen with interests to defend,' he said. 'They cannot oppose the government.' The authorities have also warned the print media not to criticise the interim government, whose job is to organise the elections. But many daily newspapers have published front-page editorials condemning the censorship measures. Mahfuz Anam, the editor of the 'Daily Star', wrote, 'Since it is not a written order we cannot consider it to have the backing of the law. Friends of democracy never gag the press, only autocrats do. The people of Bangladesh will never accept autocrats.' The privately-owned Radio Today station continued to broadcast news on 11 January. But the following day, the authorities verbally ordered the station to no longer broadcast anything but the programming of the government-run Radio Bangladesh. During the night of 11 to 12 January, the police forcibly prevented journalists from moving about the capital, now under curfew. Although the media have 'emergency service' status, the vehicles of several news organisations including the 'Daily Star' were prevented by police from circulating for several hours. The police also reportedly placed the owner of the Channel One television station, Giasuddin Al-Mamoon, under house arrest in Dhaka. The interim government's decision to postpone the elections has been welcomed by the opposition Awami League, which organised the recent protests against the elections, claiming they would be rigged in favour of the ruling BNP (via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, dxldyg via DXLD) also similar short story from UPI (via Zacharias Liangas, DXLD) Audio clip of Bangladesh Betaar with English news at 1530 UT on 4750: http://www.geocities.com/alokeshgupta/bbetar_4750_1530utc_13jan2007.mp3 (Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Only 33 seconds` worth ** BELGIUM. The ``Flanders News`` bulletins in English from R. Vlaanderen Internationaal on 1512 kHz have been dropped. It appears that they ended in October. I found a recording of the 28 Oct bulletin still on line on 4 Dec which confirmed the closure. It ends saying ``Well, that was my last ever Flanders News as the VRT`s English- language radio news service is ceasing broadcasting at the end of the week. However you can still keep abreast of the latest news, sport and feature from Flanders in English by visiting our web site http://www.flandersnews.be I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for having listened to me over the past 15 months and would just like to add how much I`ve enjoyed bringing you the news in English on RVI. For the final time from me, Mike Barlow, goodbye.`` (Dave Kenny, MW Report, Jan BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. The night before caught RNA 11780 cutting on abruptly at *0645, but Fri Jan 12 tuning in at 0644 I found it already on. So much for precision and pinning down its true schedule. Also noted Jan 12 at 1922 with talk (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BULGARIA [and non]. 7200, R. Varna, Varna, 2223-0105, Su-Mo Jan 07- 08, heard well on this new frequency, ex 7600, with its weekend programme in Bulgarian, Bulgarian and English pop songs, short talks about the new Bulgarian membership of the EU and about tourism, 45444 except 2223-2227* while co-channel QRM from CRI in French, *0000-0100* QRM from VOA Udon Thani in Tibetan and *0100-0105 QRM VOA, via Briech in English, then 43443 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Jan 10 via DXLD) I am again hearing the ``Yakutsk warbler`` on 7200 both around 0630 and 1430 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Recommended website with Wolfman Jack on from 6 to 7 pm US time (around 2300 GMT I think). http://www.oldies1150.com (Keith Knight, Webwatch, Jan BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) Who cares what time it is in US, which has 7 timezones? Station is Canadian, where there are 6 timezones. It`s CKOC in Hamilton Ont, where ET reigns; therefore, yes, 2300-2400 UT currently. Which days of week? Axually, per http://www.oldies1150.com/shows/wolfman_jack it`s Saturdays only, for 5 hours, not one: ``1150 CKOC has brought Wolfman Jack back to the airwaves! Saturday evenings ~ 6 – 11 pm.... You will be able to tune into Oldies 1150 CKOC for 5 hours of The Wolfman Jack Show every Saturday night! Wolfman Jack is one of America’s most famous radio personalities of all time. He was well known for his role in the movie ``American Graffiti`` and millions listened to him every night for the howling sounds and great music he played. Until last year, tapes of the Wolfman Jack shows were unavailable. When Wolfman Jack passed away, it is believed the tapes of all of his shows had been locked in a vault and hidden way, but now the long lost recordings have been found, re-mastered, digitally enhanced and are ready to be heard again. Wolfman Jack on Oldies 1150 CKOC!`` Are we to believe that CKOC is the ONLY place to hear WMJ? BTW, it`s 50 kW on what used to be a regional channel limited in the US to only 5 kW. It has a large lobe to the NNW in the daytime, NNE in the nighttime, no minor lobes to the S as shown in the NRC Antenna Pattern Book. See also MEXICO [non] (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COLOMBIA. Re: CD and QSL-card for useful reports [LV de tu Conciencia, Marfil Estéreo] --- Hello from Colombia, We are seeking information with value to improve our transmissions; we need: - Reports with "SINPO", we received many reports without this essential info. - Information about what the DXer considers the best time (hour, month, season, etc) he can listen to our signals in his area. - Indications of Cochannel with other SW stations - If possible monitoring 2-3 days The audio files are important, but more important are your comments, your opinions and details. I send verifications; all reports received were verified; the DXers who didn´t receive our QSL and paper pennant maybe were lost in the mail, or really the report was unuseful. Best 73 (Rafael Rodríguez R., Editor DX, Emisoras de la Campaña Fuerza de Paz, Organización Colombia para Cristo, HCDX via DXLD ** COLOMBIA. In Colombia, as in a good number of other countries, call signs are assigned to a channel. Ownership of the permit comes next. HJQT is then the call sign affixed to 1580 ever since the channel came alive in Bogotá in the early 1980´s. (Before that the Bogotá dial stopped at 1550). The first station to use the call HJQT was Radio Cachaca, owned by an ex-Caracol employee, I can´t remember his name now, but I once met him. Later - perhaps in 1988 or so - this man sold his permit to William Vinasco, who at the same time was taking over a number of other channels, both on MW and FM. The story is long, and I once wrote a story for the Finnish DX Kuuntelija magazine about it, but as for 1580, the txer was upgraded, studios were moved to a new location etc., and so Ecos de Colombia came into being. Ecos de Colombia was on 1580 for three or four years when their programming moved to 1160 (which was another of Vinasco´s channels). The format changed, and so did the name, to Beverly Hills 15-80. This was in 1994 or so but nothing much happened to the station´s rating. In a town where there are stations on every 30 kHz down to 1010, and from there on every 40 kHz down to 540, not many listeners would decide to stay tuned to a weakish station at the upper edge of the band, and so he leased the channel to .... yes, you guessed it ... to the Brazilian IURD church whose "Pare de sufrir" programming was dubbed Radio Mar. This contract now seems to have expired. Meanwhile, Vinasco is relaying Radio Reloj 1010, interspersing his "WV Radio" ID´s from time to time on top of the music selections. Vinasco told me he was once in the Guinness record book, Once in the mid-70´s, together with his friend Armando Plata, he spent more than 24 hours talking on Radio Tequendama, at that time on 770. He is well known as a football narrator on TV in Colombia (Henrik Klemetz, via Andrew Brade, MWC via DXLD) ** CONGO DR. 5066.38, R Télé Candip - La Voix du People, Bunia, heard 1553-1620*, Jan 03, talk in UNID language, orchestra music, closing ann, 14211 CWQRM (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Jan 10 via DXLD) ** CUBA. RHC, 6000 in English, 0640 UT Jan 12 is using one of the failing transmitters with its mushy, squealy, sound extending too far above and below the carrier frequency. Who needs this when we have loud and almost clear // 6180? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** DENMARK. Today, Jan 10, at 1445, 243 LW was heard relaying P1 and 1062 MW P4, both 55555 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Jan 10 via DXLD) ** ERITREA. Re 7-005, R. Bana: Thanks to Jari and others I had the possibility to listen today, Friday, at 1500 UT on 5100 kHz, the English educational programme from Eritrea. I can confirm all details, but want to add that they said: "every Monday, Wednesday and Friday" and ended: "Till next week". 73 from (Björn Fransson, the island of Gotland, Sweden, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Björn, the program you heard was "Eritrean Teacher's Forum", a weekly program on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Nice reception today, not too much ute QRM. (Jari Savolainen, Finland, ibid.) ** ERITREA. 7100, VOBME, full data QSL card with site, form letter and Eritrean postcard in 671 days for $1 and an English report. (Forgot about this one. Came in the mail a few months ago!) (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., NH, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also SOMALIA [non] ** ETHIOPIA [non]. A new target program for Ethiopia appeared on the TDP schedule website http://www.airtime.be/schedule.html --- Andenet Ledemocracy 1700-1800 7280 .t.t..s Amharic The TDP site also provides the link to a website for the service: http://www.andenetledemocracy.org (not yet working correctly) (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, Jan 13, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. Re 7005, DLR off the air: They must have sent for the wrong part as I find 6005 is still empty this morning (now 1030 UT). When a "always on air" transmitter goes off for some reason it's interesting to hear what else is using the frequency - and on adjacent channels too. There was another on 6005 just about audible yesterday afternoon but I didn't ID it - I'll try again later today and note the time correctly! (Noel R. Green, UK, wwdxc BC-DX Jan 11 via DXLD) 6005, DLR Deutschlandradio Berlin Britz on air again. Noted around 0700 UT again this morning Jan 13. DLR technicians and "Transradio Telefunken?" repaired the S4001 unit already. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, Stuttgart, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY [non]. DWL 6075 disaster --- There is one more source of delay, and that is in the ionosphere. When the transmitter frequency is well above MUF the delay is negligible, but when it is close to or somewhat below MUF (scatter reception) the signal will travel a considerable distance within the ionosphere at a lower speed than the speed of light before the reflection is complete. In that way a variable delay that cannot be easily compensated is added on top. The echo on 6075 often results from a main signal propagating normally and a weaker scatter signal that is prone to add an echo even if the audio is synchronized at the transmitters. The echo will disappear only if the frequency of the second transmitter is much below the MUF as seen from the point of reception or if the main beams do not overlap. Reception free from echoing requires at least 60 dB protection between the signals, while the HFCC protection standards is hardly more than 30 dB (Olle Alm, Sweden, wwdxc BC-DX Jan 7 via DXLD) ** GERMANY. ERF on 1539 kHz in foreign languages 04-05 UT: there are quarter-hour programs differing by day of week in: Croatian, Arabic, Persian, Russian, Turkish, Spanish, English, French, Greek, Kurdish (ERF website via Tony Rogers, Jan BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD, details neglected by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GOA [and non]. INDIA. All India Radio (Panaji), (Presumed), 11775, 1339­1404 UT Jan 13 in Tibetan (listed). SINPO 14242. No Caribbean Beacon at this time (listed 1000­2200). Female sounding announcer in a tonal language that didn't sound either Mandarin or Cantonese. Signal deteriorating after 1355; South Asian music noted at 1357. Fanfare and announcement at 1359 (signal was too poor to ID), S. Asian music 1400, fade-out 1404. Both EiBi and Passport show AIR Panaji at this time in Tibetan. University network on via Costa Rica 9725 and 11870. 13750 Not heard (not sure if it was propagation or not transmitting.) (Mark Taylor, Madison, WI, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Mark, you are right: Caribbean Beacon 11775 is off. Currently with good signal on my local morning, circa 1500z. But 9725 DGS Cahuita, is there, a little diminished, while 13750 has been out now for several days. 73s. (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, ibid.) ** GREECE. Saludos cordiales. 15630, Voz de Grecia, 0918-0955, escuchada el 13 de enero en español a locutora con boletín de noticias internacionales y un reportaje sobre el movimiento Ocupa en Barcelona, sintonía y música latina, SINPO 45554 (José Miguel Romero, Sacañet (Castellón), España, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Jose Miguel, that item puzzles me. Checked the English/French portion at 0700-0900 UT only, and heard Greek language relay of \\ 9420 and 12105 kHz instead. So assume, that ERA 5 Athens English/French on 15630 is Mon-Fri only. But didn't check the Spanish slot today Jan 13 [Sat]. Maybe replaces ERA 5 English on Sats to 14-15 UT ?? 9420, 17525 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, ibid.) Hellenes Around the World was back this Saturday until 1500 on 9420 (Glenn Hauser, OK, ibid.) Thanks Glenn, yes heard it too at 1404!!-1500 UT on powerhouse 9420 [also 9935 with Thessaloniki domestic relay progr at same time slot], but \\ 17525 didn't propagate into Germany at this time of the year. Did you hear ERA 5 on 17525 at this time slot in USA? So English at least Mon-Fri 0700-0800, Sat 1404-1500,--- ??? and Suns 1105 and Mons 0030 UT too ?? 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) Or Mon 0005+? Did not try 17525 today; sometimes I can hear a trace of it, sometimes not (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** GUATEMALA. History of Radio Verdad, 4052.5, in Spanish & English: http://www.radioverdad.org/historia.html (via José Miguel Romero, dxldyg via DXLD) Tells a lot about the very strange SW licensing situation in this country (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** HUNGARY. Radio Budapest no longer seems to be using 6110 kHz at 0200 UTC -- scanning through the 49-meter band, I believe I picked up a weak signal on 5980. There is a Spanish (if memory serves) language broadcast on 6110 from before 0200. Any idea what station that is? I don't recall hearing a station ID at the top of the hour (Ted Schuerzinger, swprograms via DXLD) As in 7-004, Budapest move to 5980 at 0200 was because of Rai in Italian on 6110 (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) ** HUNGARY. Transradio antenna engineer Bernd Waniewski has again added more material to his website http://www.waniewski.de/id208.htm Interesting facts: The Lakihegy site just south of Budapest has a 314- metre-tall Blaw-Knox mast, built in 1933, used for a 540 kHz stand-by transmitter and a utility transmitter on 135.6, the latter one being apparently new? 810 and 873 have their own, smaller masts (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Jan 12, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ICELAND. 11890, RUV, Reykjavik, 1215-1300, Jan 01, still active in Icelandic. No longer heard at 1400 and 1835 (Friedrich Buettner, Goeppingen, Germany, DSWCI DX Window Jan 10 via DXLD) 11890? A new frequency. Any confirmation? But not much chance of hearing it elsewhere after 1230 with these two in HFCC: 11890 1230 1300 11 GB 250 164 23456 291006 240307 USA IBB 11890 1230 1300 41 EKA 300 350 1234567 291006 250307 Various CLN NHK Or is there some confusion here with the LW frequency 189?? Per HFCC, VOA is not on 11890 Sat & Sun, so this weekend would be a good time to check (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RUV website shows still the old frequencies like in autumn and given in WRTH 2007 too. http://www.ruv.is/heim/upplysingar/um/dreifikerfi/stuttbylgja/ 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) i.e. 13865 at 1215 (gh, DXLD) He apparently means 13865, since the version of this item for the German Radio-Kurier magazine reads: ISLAND - Im Gegensatz zur Meldung im Heft 12/2006 war Rikisutvarpid von 1215-1300 UTC Anfang Januar nach wie vor noch auf 13865 kHz hörbar. Dagegen schwieg die Station um 1410 und 1835 Uhr. #Friedrich Büttner (Kai Ludwig, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) The last two days (Thursday/Friday) I have heard them at 1215 on 13865, but I have had no trace of their 1755 transmission. Til Evrópu: Kl. 1215-1300 UTC 13865 kHz (125 ) Kl. 1755-1825 UTC 12115 kHz (125 ) 73, (Erik in Copenhagen Køie, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Thanks to tips on DXLD, hearing RUV Iceland on 13865 kHz USB at the moment - strong signal (SIO 444) with Nordic, world news reports in Icelandic. Weather reports at 1245 (13 Jan). The reports of their death (on 1st January) are greatly exaggerated! (Alan Pennington, Caversham, UK, AOR 7030+ / longwire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, heard with sign-off at 1250. Also now at 1405 signing on with IS on 13864.98 kHz. So off only for a few days? 73, (Mauno Ritola, Finland, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. All India Radio (Vividh Bharati), Bangalore, in Hindi on 10330 has been coming in very well this past week in our mornings. A great channel if you like to hear music from India. Today, Thursday, Jan. 11, I tuned in after 1400 UT and had excellent reception right up to about 1720 when it suddenly faded out. According to the eibi website it signs on at 1245 and off at 1730. Another transmission that is often very good here is from 0025 to 0435 UT (Bernie O'Shea, Ottawa, Ontario, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also GOA; KASHMIR ** INDONESIA. 3266.4 kHz, Radio Republik Indonesia Gorontalo. Jan. 6 at 1147-1228*. SINPO 35333. Music program with Indonesian popular songs. Music "Rayuan Pulau Kelapa" at 1158, followed by Jakarta News relay at 1200 (Iwao Nagatani, Japan, Japan Premium via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL. Offsets from 6010 kHz: 6009.8v, R. Parinacota (Chile) 6009.98v, Núcleo Radio Mil (México) 6010.1, R. Bahrain [Note: other reports put this at 6010.11! -- gh] 6010.18v, La Voz de tu Conciencia (Colombia) [6009.49 Dec 10: 6-185] 6010.25v, R. Inconfidência (Brasil) (Compiled by Tony Rogers, Jan BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL. NEW YEAR transmissions: UT 1100 NZL 13840 kHz pips, Auld Lang Syne, news, concert. On Dec 31st till 1057 UT 9765 kHz was blocked by DRM, but at 1058 were birdsounds as IS on 13840, at 1100 pips and right now an Auld Lang Syne song by men choir, news from 1103 starting with New Year Message to all listeners who are on the waves of National Radio and special concert with pop songs. It was the first radiostation on SW where the NY came! 1300 AUS 9580 pips, same song, news, special. program. Radio Australia had two special programmes from 1200 to 1600 UT on Dec 24 and 31st. At 1300 Merry X-mas and week later A Very Happy new Year was plus singing part of Auld Lang Syne in duo in studio plus playing on a guitar. 1500 JAP 15355 special program from a studio but no mention NY at 15 1600 MNG Mongolia on 4830 and 4895 kHz, at 1545 speech, National Anthem, 1600 salvo. 1800 KGZ Kyrgyzstan 4010, 4795, 1750 speech in vernacular & Russian, 1800 shouts, songs, ID. 1900 TKM Turkmenistan, 4930, speech by new leader, 1857 a record of the speech by died Nyazov, National Anthem, ID, music from 1900. TJK Tajikistan 4635 at 1855 UT speech, 1901 watch tick-tack 1902, ID, music. 2000 ARM Armenia only on 1395 (4810 close/down at 1930 UT) under TWR ALB. Speech by Patriarch, National Anthem at 2000. 2100 GEO Georgia [Abkhazia] Abkhaz R. on 9495, MW 1350 at 2050 UT, speech and National Anthem of Abkhazia. RUS R. Rossii at 2053 UT. Putin, Anthem of USSR (5905, 9495 and 1350 all under DW in Arabic!) UGA Uganda as on Christmas special program on 4976 kHz was. 2200 BUL Bulgaria in European Union again after 63 Years! 2300 TCD Chad on 6165 kHz, direct from the Central Square in N'Djamena, at 2240 speech in French & Arabic, at 2256 UT the National Anthem, salvo, joy at 2300 hours. Checked but seems they not celebrating the NY: both Koreas; both Chinas; India; Diego Garcia on 4319.3 USB; all in Guam, Saipan and Palau; Sudan, Eritrea, Tanzania, Equatorial Guinea, Thailand (last year was on 4835 kHz) and others (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, Jan 6, wwdxc BC-DX Jan 12, via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. HOWARD STERN BONUS WORTH NEARLY $83 MILLION January 10, 2007 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/01/10/sirius-radio-pays-howard-_n_38261.html Sirius Satellite Radio paid shock jock Howard Stern a bonus worth nearly $83 million on Tuesday for surpassing subscriber goals set in a 2004 contract that had already turned heads with its $500 million compensation package. The freewheeling and ribald Stern joined Sirius one year ago, jumping from the FM dial where he rose to become one of radio's biggest stars but frequently bridled at government indecency regulations and ties with his corporate bosses (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) Yes... and unfortunately the likely scenario that follows from this obscene level of payment is a further reduction in diversity of program content. Contracts with NPR and WRN to name two come up for renewal in 2007. I fear that there probably won't be much of an effort to re-sign these (and others) combined with a further coordinate move to "mainstream" because of cost-cutting measures necessitated by payouts to individual performers like this one. I hope I'm wrong (John Figliozzi, ibid.) ** IRAN [non]. R. Zamaneh, 6245, a beautifully designed card, full data, received for an e-mail report with Real/Audio recording. Card depicts a book with station logo on the right, f/d details on left, and a small QSL card depicting a microphone on the left hand page. I sent my report to both contact @ radiozamaneh.com and to station director Mehdi Jami at mehdi.jami @ gmail.com --- Jami replied with an e-mail of thanks, saying he would send a card. He also translated my report into Farsi and posted it on their website. Card was accompanied by a separate white card from Jami: Dear radio lover, thanks for the report. Received in 65 weeks from Holland. Return address on envelope was: Linaeusstratt 35 F, 1093 EE Amsterdam, and P OI Box 92027, AA Amsterdam (Jerry Berg, MA, Jan BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) see also KURDISTAN ** ISRAEL. Radio Galei Zahal now broadcasts on two frequencies simultaneously – 6973 and 15785 kHz and has been received in Sofia at different hours around the clock (Rumen Pankov, R. Bulgaria DX Jan 12 via John Norfolk, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: Galei Zahal observed on already two frequencies: 6973 \\ 15785 kHz as follows: Dec 30 at 1200-1430, Dec 31 at 0600-1100, Jan 2 at 1500-1800 and Jan 3 at 0600-1400 UT (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, Jan 6, wwdxc BC-DX Jan 12 via DXLD) ** ITALY. 6110 at 2015 29 Nov, Rai International, Rome, music, awful modulation --- heard obliterating 6090 earlier, completely unusable, ID and IS, off at 2020, back for 5 seconds at 2024, not scheduled here! SIO 551 [sic] (Stephen Howie, Reading, Berkshire, Jan BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** KASHMIR. 4760, AIR, Leh heard 0245-0250, Dec 29, English news from Delhi // 4830, 4860, 6030, 7235 and 11830; 0300 Kashmiri (presumed) announcement, songs, 35333 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Jan 10 via DXLD)) Regarding logging R Kashmir, Leh, it`s really greaaat!!!!! I never heard it because AIR Port Blair is on the same frequency 4760 and Andaman is much closer to me than Leh! But your achievement is tremendous (T. R. Rajeesh, Jan 01, Kerala, ibid.) On Jan 04 I received this e-mail QSL from Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). Three days before I had sent my e-mail reception report to the Station Engineer of AIR, Leh, at seairleh @ rediffmail.com ``Dear Friend at Denmark, I am in receipt of your mail regarding reception of All India Radio, Leh. I confirm the reception of our station. The language you mentioned at 0830 Indian Standerd Time (0300 UTC. Ed) is not Kashmere [sic], it is Laddakhi. Leh is capital of Laddakh region of J&K (India). Program you mentioned in reception report is all right. Kindly, if possible please monitor our station in the Night (India) i.e. we operate on 4760 kHz from 0515 PM to 1000 PM (Indian Standard Time) daily. (1145-1630 UTC. Ed) Thanking You, With Regards, V S Nagar, Station Engineer, All India Radio, Leh (Laddakh) J&K, India.`` On Jan 04 at 1410-1602 I then monitored 4760, but only AIR Port Blair was heard, including Delhi news relay 1530-1600 in English and Hindi, 24232 – 24333 with a weak heterodyne from 4761.0 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Jan 10 via DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH [and non]. 9665 had the same motorboating sound at 2257 UT Jan 11 as it did some 8 hours earlier, both believed to be maladjusted P`yongyang transmitter. Fortunately it was not enough to bother Polskie Radio via Guiana French on 9660 with some nice classical music. That stayed on a few secs past 2300 for one iteration of the modernized IS (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KURDISTAN [non?]. 3880.65V, V. of Iranian Revolution, Jan 03 *1526- 1535, 25342-21341, Kurdish, 1526 sign on with IS, IS and ID repetition, Talk, 1531 jamming (Kouji Hashimoto, Japan, Japan Premium via DXLD) ** KURDISTAN [non?]. Re 7-005: UNIDENTIFIED At 1641-1657 UT on 3931 and during the song moving to 3941 kHz - here heard till 1702 UT. Without ID, only drummed military songs in presumed Kurdish or similar (Jan 2). (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, Jan 6, wwdxc BC-DX Jan 12 via DXLD) 10 Jan at 1630 (sign-on) noted clandestine station Voice of the Kurdistan Democratic Party on 3925.1 in Kurdish. At 1726 a Farsi program started. S-off around 1800. Strong signal and no jammers at all. This was reported earlier (by BBC Monitoring 5 Jan via DX Listening Digest) to be on air 0400-0430 on 3930 (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I happened to be on 3930.07 on January 6, right after having read about the new Kurdish station reported by BBCMS, Jari, and around 1800z I was fortunate enough to get a closing announcement in what I presume is Farsi. You can listen to my clip on: http://www.radiopassioni.it/audio/nuovakurda.mp3 Being back in Milan and its terrible noise, I have now no chances to check if it's now on 3925, but I assume I've been listening to the same station reported by the BBC on 3930 and yourself 5 kHz below. 73s (Andy Lawendel, Italy, ibid.) Andy, the same station. On your clip, just before ending the talk man briefly mentions "Radyo Sedaye Kordestan". 73, (Jari Savolainen, ibid.) The correct name for the new Kurdish station on 3930 kHz is "Radio Voice of Kurdistan", as Bernd has indicated. If you listen to my audio clip on Interval Signals Online http://www.intervalsignals.net you'll hear "Aira Radyo Dengi Kurdistana" as the first words uttered, followed by various slogans - voice of this, voice of that - and at 1m38s in: "dengi Hezbi Demokrati Kurdistana" [voice of the Kurdish Democratic Party]. (Dave Kernick, Jan 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KURDISTAN [non?]. 4870 at 0325 20 Dec, V. of Iranian Kurdistan (presumed), M in ME language, SIO 333. Jammer on 4840 but back on 4870 at 0335 (Charles Hendry, Bucks., BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** LATVIA. Latvia Today`s Radio SWH have a website with some English pages http://www.radioswh.lv/swh/page.php?id=131 confirming address as Skanstes Street 13, LV-1013, Riga, Latvia (Barraclough, Herkimer and Liangas, DSWCI DX Window Jan 10 via DXLD) see also SCOTLAND [non] ** LIBERIA. 5470, R. Veritas, 2020-2034, Jan 8, English. Phone-in program with studio guest taking listener questions re Scriptures. Discussion becomes quite ``heated`` at times! Announcer reminding listeners of station phone number. Poor/fair (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Sugar Hill Outlook, Kancamagus Highway, NH, R75, 150’ longwire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LIBYA [and non]. Hoy 12 de enero se escucha en 17630 a África Nº 1 a las 1230, en 17660 la emisora afro-pop, en 17665 y 17670 a la Voz de África en árabe, con ID. Se escucha con dificultades a Sawt al-Amal en 17665. A las 1252 desaparece la emisora afro-pop en 17660 y reaparece un minuto después; a las 1255 se queda en portadora sin señal. La Voz de África en 17665 // 17670, Sawt al-Amal cambia a 17655 (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia), España, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LUXEMBOURG. The mail delivered my copy of the book ``208 It Was Great``, by Alan Bailey, who was the engineer and producer at R. Luxembourg between 1958 and 1975. More than 120 pages full of history from the beginning on longwave to the end of 208 (the end?), personalities, colour photos, 208 programme listings from newspapers and more. A book I`m happy to own, read and leaf through because, to put it in Jimmy Savile`s words, ``Radio Luxembourg is still a magical name``; http://www.208itwasgreatradioluxembourg.co.uk (Stefano Valianti, S. European Report, Jan BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** MALAYSIA. RADIO BROADCASTING IN MALAYSIAN BORNEO - SABAH Dear Radio Colleague, This article features all known information about the Japanese & Australian & Malaysian radio stations on Labuan Island and Malaysian North Borneo - Sabah during the formative years. On several occasions I have visited Kota Kinabalu in North Borneo and during my most recent visit I found an old radio receiver, a prewar model made in England. This radio had a glass dial upon which were printed the local radio stations, SW & MW, that were on the air in that part of Asia at the time. A splendid historic item, but how to get it back to USA! New Year greetings! AMP. Located at the northern tip on the island of Borneo is the territory known as Sabah. This geographic entity is a state of Malaysia and it occupies an area of 29,000 square miles with a population something over one million people. The capital city, known in earlier years as Jesselton, was renamed Kota Kinabalu in 1968. Back one thousand years ago, tribal groups were already settled in many areas of Borneo, and European explorers began to visit the area in the 1500s. In the mid 1800s, the British took over the coastal areas of north Borneo, and on January 1. 1942, Japanese forces landed on Labuan island off the coast of Sabah. For a period of more than four years, the island was known as Pulau Maida, in honor of the local Japanese commander. Australian forces landed on Pulau Maida on June 5, 1945, and soon took over the mainland areas of Sabah also. Sabah became the eastern-most state of Malaysia on September 16, 1983. The story of radio broadcasting in Sabah goes back to the early days of wireless transmission, in the 1920s and 1930s, when two stations were installed, VCK on Labuan Island and VQA at Jesselton. Interestingly, more events in radio history occurred on the small and beautiful, touristy island of Labuan than in the larger territory of Sabah itself. So, let's take a look at these historic events as they transpired on Labuan Island. Remarkable as it may seem, a total of six radio broadcasting stations were on the air on the island of Labuan in the short span of just two years. Mobile forces of the Australian army landed on Labuan on June 5, 1945 and just six days later, an army photographer took a series of black & white photographs of what was described as a broadcasting station. Obviously, because of the short time span, this had to be an installation that was abandoned by the Japanese. This is indeed a tantalizing news item. There are no known DX reports anywhere in the world that indicate that the Japanese were on the air from a broadcasting station located in North Borneo. We could ask the question: Was this station then a program broadcasting station, or in reality a station used for the broadcast of communication information to Japanese personnel throughout the area? Now, just two or three weeks later, an Australian soldier in North Borneo reported to a radio magazine in Melbourne Victoria that he heard on local mediumwave a relay broadcast from the American shortwave station KROJ in California. A correlation of the specific dates assures us that this mediumwave relay of an American shortwave program took place more than three months before the arrival of mobile radio stations from Australia. Could we speculate then that radio personnel in the Australian army on Labuan began to experiment with the Japanese radio station and made a few test broadcasts on mediumwave using a shortwave receiver as a program source? To add to this intriguing story, we find next, that a month or two later, an Australian soldier stationed in North Borneo visited a broadcasting station that was identified on air as JL2, apparently located on Labuan Island. He stated that the equipment was totally Japanese and that it was a neat operation. Maybe station JL2 was a subsequent usage of the same facility that was photographed by the Australian photographer. The output power at station JL2 was 50 watts, and the antenna is described as a 100 ft wire, which fits the antenna system as shown in the black & white photograph. This station was heard in North Borneo, the Philippines and New Guinea on a shortwave channel given as 42 metres. The broadcasting service from station JL2 was followed by Radio Labuan, a 500 watt shortwave station operating from a three ton army truck. This new Radio Labuan began service on October 1, 1945 and it was on the air for a period of six weeks. It is suggested that this was an army communication facility that was taken over for a program broadcasting service. The shortwave transmitter was an American-made Hallicrafters model BC610 fed into a half wave center-fed Zeppelin tuned to a 7 MHz channel. Shortwave Radio Labuan was followed briefly by an AAAS station, unidentified at the time, but operating on 980 kHz. It is presumed that this was the 10 watt Australian mobile station 9AP which was known to be in the area at the time. Next came another mobile AAAS station, 9AF, which was transported from Sydney Harbour on the American navy vessel, USS ``Henry Riceâ``, and delivered to Tarakan in Borneo and then apparently driven overland and ultimately delivered to Labuan Island in October. However, simultaneously, a specific radio building was under construction on Labuan Island and the electronic equipment from the three 3 ton trucks was installed into the more spacious building. This rather substantial radio station was inaugurated on November 8, 1945, and it was on the air for approximately five months. Around November 1946, the noted Arne Skoog in Sweden heard a station that he identified as Radio Labuan on the unusual channel 2995 kHz. Nothing more is known about this station, and it could have been the first [sic] harmonic from a mediumwave unit on 1497.5 kHz, or a fundamental emission from an army communication station in the 100 metre band. That's the end of the story about radio broadcasting on Labuan Island, Sabah, North Borneo, until the more recent era when Radio Malaysia established local relay stations on this notable tourist island. So, let's go across the waterways to the mainland area of Jesselton or Kota Kinabalu itself, the modern and progressive state capital of the Malaysian state of Sabah. As mentioned earlier, there was a spark wireless station, VQA, on the air for Morse Code communication with Singapore back in the 1920s and 1930s. Then, in January 1946, there was a 10 watt mobile station on the air in Jesselton on 980 kHz. This station, with the callsign 9AO, was then transferred to the Indonesian island of Morotai a few weeks later, on March 4. It was then intended that another 10 watt mobile station, 9AP, would be transferred for service in the Jesselton area. However, that plan was deleted due to the fact that Australian servicemen had transferred out to other areas. Next comes the story of regular radio broadcasting in Jesselton which began in 1952 with an experimental program service from the 250 watt shortwave communication station VS4S. Temporary studios were installed on Bruce Hill, the antenna was a folded dipole a quarter wavelength above ground, and programming consisted mainly of news and announcements. It was announced in 1952 that a new shortwave station was under installation near Jesselton and it was officially inaugurated in November 1955 with 5 kW under the regular callsign VQA. Some eleven years later, a new studio building was erected for Radio Sabah on Tuaran Road. This was at about the same time as the Federation of Malaysia was formed and the British colony of Sabah became the eastern-most state of Malaysia. The name of the state capital, Jesselton, was changed to Kota Kinabalu, in honor of the high mountain nearby, five years after federation. This original shortwave transmitter at Jesselton - Kota Kinabalu was rated at 5 kW and it was in general broadcast usage for a period of nearly twenty years on two major channels, 4970 kHz and 5980 kHz. However, in 1969, a new radio base was established at Laya Laya, near Kota Kinabalu, and two new 10 kW shortwave transmitters were installed. This new facility was officially inaugurated on May 1, 1971. These two NEC shortwave transmitters from Japan were in constant usage for many years, and apparently one gave out half a dozen years ago, and the other just more recently. The last known logging of Radio Malaysia Sabah on shortwave occurred on September 27, 2003 when an Australian monitor, Craig Seager, heard the station and made the observation that this station ``was not often heard``. However, in spite of the fact that this lonely shortwave station does seem to be off the air these days, yet the two shortwave channels, 4970 kHz & 5980 kHz, have been registered for use by Radio Malaysia in Kota Kinabalu in more recent time. It is probable that their nationwide mediumwave and FM networks, together with the high powered 700 kW mediumwave transmitter on 1475 kHz, now give adequate radio coverage throughout Sabah. Back during the era when Sabah was active on shortwave, QSL cards were issued, both by the original Radio Sabah, and subsequently by Radio Malaysia Sabah (Adrian Peterson, IN, for AWR Wavescan, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALDIVE ISLANDS [non]. MINIVAN RADIO CEASES SHORTWAVE TRANSMISSIONS [NOT: see below] http://www.minivannews.com/news/news.php?id=2814 Minivan Radio will be ceasing shortwave transmissions from Sunday the 14th of January 2007, the radio station has announced. The last programme to be broadcasted on shortwave will be Saturday the 13th of January. In the meantime Minivan Radio is awaiting registration or the granting of a temporary licence by the Ministry of Information to enable it to continue broadcasting. Maldives only independent radio station says it hopes that once registration is granted it will continue transmitting on an FM frequency. Listeners will still be able to access the daily radio shows on Minivan Radio’s new website, http://www.minivanradio.net, and from the front page of this website (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) That`s 16-17 UT via Jülich on 11800; hurry to hear it (Glenn Hauser, OK, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn: We just got word that Minivan Radio will indeed continue on shortwave indefinitely, until further notice. So Saturday's "last" transmission will in fact not be the last! (Jeff White, RMI, Jan 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) But apparently the Saturday broadcast was missing, per reports coming in! Cf. ICELAND --- we sure are having a lot of false-stops lately. Can`t stations make up their mind? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) Viz.: At tune in 1630 frequency 11800 appears to be empty. There's a mighty signal from Radio Svoboda on 11805 - registered via Morocco (Noel R. Green (NW England), dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, Hi Noel: If this means the last time for Radio Minivan, I ended up with just the illusion. Nothing heard in Tiquicia. 73 (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, ibid.) It should have gone out as scheduled. I will check to see if there was a problem (Jeff White, RMI, Jan 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) MINIVAN RADIO WILL CONTINUE ON SHORTWAVE Minivan Radio, the independent station broadcasting to the Maldives, has advised us that the news we published yesterday about the imminent suspension of shortwave transmissions resulted in an offer of new sponsorship, which means that the shortwave service can now continue. Minivan Radio broadcasts at 1600-1700 UT on 11800 kHz (January 13th, 2007, 13:57 UTC by Andy, Media Network blog via DXLD) ** MALI. Re: ``[CHINA non] Another fakeout by CRI: Jan 3 at 1512 on 17880, a discussion about John McCain with American accents, VOA? No, a minute later back to news with Chinese accent. Unlisted in EiBi, only 1300-1400 UT in French via Mali (Glenn Hauser-OK-USA, dxld Jan 4)`` Technician at Bamako relay site did forget to replace 17880 by 17630 kHz at this time slot. And Arabic follows on 17880 at 1600 UT. (wb) 1500-1557 English 17630M 13685M 13740hab 11775jin 9870xia 9800kas 9785kas 9525kas 9435kas, 7325bei, 7160jin, 6100mey, 5955bei, 1188 (NDXC) 7170 0800 0900 46 BKO 100 0 MLI CRI RTC 7170 2300 2400 46 BKO 100 0 MLI CRI RTC 11640 1730 1830 46E,47W BKO 100 85 MLI CRI RTC 11640 1830 1930 47E,48NW BKO 100 85 MLI CRI RTC 11640 1930 2000 52S,53W BKO 100 111 MLI CRI RTC 11640 2000 2130 48SW,52NE,53BKO 100 111 MLI CRI RTC 11975 2130 2230 46 BKO 100 20 MLI CRI RTC 11975 2230 2400 37,38W BKO 100 20 MLI CRI RTC 13630 1930 2000 52,53 BKO 100 111 MLI CRI RTC 13630 2000 2130 48,53 BKO 100 111 MLI CRI RTC 13630 2130 2230 46,47,52 BKO 100 111 MLI CRI RTC 13645 1700 1800 48SW,53NW BKO 100 111 MLI CRI RTC 13670 1800 1830 46 BKO 100 111 MLI CRI RTC 13685 1300 1400 46 BKO 100 111 MLI CRI RTC 13685 1400 1600 52N,53 BKO 100 111 MLI CRI RTC <<<< 13685 1830 1930 37,38 BKO 100 20 MLI CRI RTC 15125 1600 1700 47E,48NW BKO 100 85 MLI CRI RTC 15125 1700 1800 48SW,53NW BKO 100 111 MLI CRI RTC 15505 2230 2300 46-48 BKO 100 85 MLI CRI RTC 17630 1400 1600 46-48 BKO 100 85 MLI CRI RTC 17880 1300 1400 46,47,52 BKO 100 111 MLI CRI RTC <<<< 17880 1600 1700 37,38 BKO 100 20 MLI CRI RTC <<<< (Wolfgang Büschel, BCDX Jan 12 via DXLD) Indeed CRI not heard on 17880 during those hours several subsequent dates; but it was a good idea to forget, and avoid Gabon on 17630 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. JAN 11, 2200 EST, 1700, XEPE, BCN, "Cash, where money talks" non-ID, San Diego ads. Fighting it out with La Grande (Iowa), but a surprisingly good signal from the west coast. I think the last time I had BCN was when I heard Wolfman Jack on XERB 1090 around 1972 from Connecticut. By the way, we also heard this signal in Newfoundland back in November. Anyone get a QSL from this one yet? And who came up with the lyric "Your cash ain't nothin' but trash"? I can't remember (Jim Renfrew, Byron NY, NRC-AM via DXLD) Per http://www.gangster-of-love.com/songjok.html it's from Steve Miller's "Gangster of Love". Hope this helps. 73/(Joe (no relation to Steve that I know of) Miller, KD8DLU, Troy, MI, ibid.) XEPE [``Cash 1700``] is running 10 kW ND even nights, so with the little nighttime competition on 1700 they do indeed enjoy a worldwide reception. Their CE is Bill Lipis, who has shown admirably patience to reception reports. If you don't have his email address, contact me off-list. Here in Arctic Norway, XEPE is the dominant one on 1700 as soon as there is the slightest opening to the west coast (Bjarne Mjelde, http://www.kongsfjord.no http://www.arcticdx.blogspot.com amfmtvdx at qth.net via DXLD) I am amazed by your catches. I have tried for XEPE on numerous occasions and WEUP is always in the way. On the rare occasions that I can knock down WEUP, I have been able to heard two or three other stations on the channel, but not a whiff of XEPE. People further to the north in New York and Ontario, but at roughly the same longitude as Maryland, have an easier time hearing stations to the West. Go figure (Bill Harms, Elkridge, Maryland, ibid.) ** MEXICO. Note recent reports in DXLD 7-004 about an unID around 0900 UT on 6045 Jan 2 and 6: Jan 12 at 0641 I find classical piano music on 6045, G signal but here and there takes rapid deep fades, such as when brief announcements are inserted, like 0650, ``Radio ----``, after some Beethoven, into Recuerdos de la Alhambra on classical guitar; then other brief classical pieces on other instruments. Slightly overmodulated, same sound as XEXQ has after sunrise when I hear it, but much more weakly, around 1400 (which I have not lately, nor later on Jan 12 at 1457 check). Bothered by CVC Chile 6050 after its *0659. KBS World Radio in Spanish to Europe via Sackville is on 6045 until 0629, so must be quite a collision then, and 0629-0659 is the best window for XEXQ to be heard, if that`s what it is. Hunting around the Universidad de SLP website for anything specific about XEXQ, let alone a playlist, is futile. WRTH 2007 shows 6045 schedule as 12-04, except Sat & Sun 12-24, so this would represent quite an expansion if running all night now. Certainly gives us a better chance to hear it when the frequency be clear. Again heard a few minutes of music on 6045 Jan 13 until 0659, no announcements (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn: I wish I knew what this was! I've checked this frequency at roughly the same time period and heard nothing that sounded like anything I heard on 1/2/07. What I did hear at 0849 tune-in was continuous EZL orchestra/piano/flute music; this was non-stop right through the top of the hour; all at fair-poor levels. But I will continue to try (Jim Ronda, Tulsa OK, Jan 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re XEXQ: Hi Glenn, Back in the early 1980s, when I lived in Santa Bárbara, CA, I often enjoyed their classical music programs. Sent them a reception report, which resulted in my receiving their program schedule (Boletín Cultural - Publicación Mensual de la Radiodifusora XEXQ de la Universidad Autónoma Potosina / Radio Universidad XEXQ -- San Luís Potosí), with a daily schedule. Received it for several years, but believe this publication ended sometime in the 1980s. Anyone know for sure if it did stop publication or do they have a similar publication now? (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I was on that mailing list too, but assume it stopped long ago (gh) ** MEXICO [non]. Wolfman Jack revived: see CANADA ** NETHERLANDS. RADIO NETHERLANDS PROGRAMME CHANGES As some of our readers already know, the Radio Netherlands Worldwide English Service will be rolling out new programmes in 2007. That means, of course, that some of the existing programmes have come to the end of their run, or will soon do so. In our Web feature A Fond Farewell, marking 10 years and over 600 editions of A Good Life, my colleagues in the English Department explain what's being planned, and why. http://www.radionetherlands.nl/radioprogrammes/agoodlife/agl070104 Network Europe joins Radio Netherlands Worldwide's English language schedules every Friday, replacing A Good Life. The programme provides a fresh perspective on events and life in Europe, with its pan- European team linking up across the continent each week. Radio Netherlands Worldwide is now a major partner in the production of the programme. http://www.radionetherlands.nl/radioprogrammes/070105neu On Sunday, Dutch Extra is replaced from this weekend by our new listener contact programme Echoes, in which Mindy Ran responds to your comments, queries and complaints about our programmes. And featuring every week A Critical Eye - commentary from Perro de Jong (Media Network newsletter Jan 12 via DXLD) RNW’S NETWORK MANAGER TALKS ABOUT PROGRAMME CHANGES Tomorrow sees the start of our new listener feedback programme ‘Echoes’, produced and presented by Mindy Ran, which will be broadcast every Sunday in the slot previously occupied by Dutch Extra. In tomorrow’s programme, Network Manager Michele Ernsting joins Mindy to answer some of your questions and concerns about the programme changes that are being phased in during the first half of 2007. If you can’t listen to the programme, or you can’t wait, you’ll find a transcript and audio of what Michele has to say on this page http://www.radionetherlands.nl/feedback/feedbackarchive/feedback070114 (January 13th, 2007, 10:23 UTC by Andy, Media Network blog via DXLD) Seems to me it`s just change for the sake of change; if it`s not broken, don`t fix it. As already outpointed, we can already hear Network Europe on several other stations, so we have a net loss of programming choices (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS ANTILLES. Re: Bonaire will get the status of a "city" within the Netherlands --- But according to the EDXC rules for counting ``Radio Countries``, Bonaire continues as a separate country because of its distance from the homeland (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Jan 10 via DXLD) Hi, Glenn -- Speaking of the political changes in the Netherlands Antilles (DXLD 7-004) has there been any further word about the new transmitters for Radio Netherlands' Bonaire facility? I know the new office building is complete, and antenna work has been done, but I haven't seen anything about the awarding of the transmitter contract. The original RN website article regarding the overhaul stated that "tenders had been invited from three or four manufacturers" but no further word since then, unless I completely missed it. The changeover on Bonaire, when it happens, will make me feel a little old! I remember hearing the original test transmissions of the Philips units in the Spring of 1969, and marveling over the excellent signal strength and audio quality. Wonder if someone at RN has a breakout schedule of which frequencies/times the Philips units are used for (or perhaps more simply, the ABB unit) so we know which is which? (Stephen Luce, Houston, Texas, Jan 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I can confirm that a supply contract has been awarded, but our management and the supplier agreed that details of the contract would remain confidential, so no press release was issued. The project is on schedule, and the new transmitters should be ready for service by the end of 2007. Thanks and 73, (Andy Sennitt, RN, Jan 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hmmm. Odd that they would keep this a secret, as manufacturers generally like to publicize new orders and who their clients are. First thing that jumped into my mind was "Chinese clone transmitters." Would RN really go that route? Another guess is that they got a really sweet deal, which the supplier might not want other potential clients to know about -- yet. Guess more details will eventually be released as tests begin (Stephen Luce, Houston, Texas, ibid.) Lacking glasnost, one must guess (gh, DXLD) ** NEW ZEALAND. Beginning on 22 January, the two Radio N.Z. Networks are having a minor name change. National Radio will become "Radio New Zealand - National" while the classical music network Concert FM will become "Radio New Zealand - Concert". Also there is a new Radio N.Z. logo, that I will send when I have an electronic version (Barry Hartley, NZ, wwdxc BC-DX Jan 11 via DXLD) ** NORTH AMERICA. USA Pirates: 6850, MAC Radio, 1730-1740+ Jan 6, ID, E-mail address. Announcer Paul Starr. Oldies pop music; good. 6950 USB, Laser Hot Hits, 1950-2015+ Jan 6, USA relay of this Euro- pirate with IDs. Merlin, Ontario, maildrop. Gave phone number and e- mail address. Oldies pop music, ID jingles. Acknowledged listener`s report from Germany. Ad for British magazine. Very strong. 6925, R. Ice Cream, 1912-1925+ Jan 6, IDs, Belfast NY maildrop. Heavy metal music. Good (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA [and non]. The AFTRA agreement covering the Grand Ole Opry aired on WSM-AM was made available by the Tennessean newspaper in conjunction with an age-discrimination lawsuit filed against the long- running radio show. http://www.tennessean.com/assets/pdf/DN57005112.PDF It details WSM's permissions for taping and airing the Opry, adding that WKY in Oklahoma City has permission to broadcast any Opry performances. The document also reveals the pay scale for performers, ranging from $250 per show for solo artists to $854 for a sextet. A letter of agreement added to the contract notes "the Opry's continued declined [sic] in audience numbers." (Mike Cooper, GA, Jan 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) But, but, WKY 930 now has a Spanish format! This is because both it and GOO are owned by Gaylord Entertainment (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DXLD) ** PAKISTAN. Transradio antenna engineer Bernd Waniewski has again added more material to his website http://www.waniewski.de/id208.htm 1134, 1170 and 1332 are now new facilities, each with a 100 kW TRAM transmitter. "Lahore-1" (listed as such in WRTH 2007) on 630 must be a different site than 630/1332, since a diplexing into the only mast of the 1332 site would have no doubt been mentioned in the description (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Jan 12, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 6535.97, R. LV del Rondero, Huancabamba, 0145-0203* Jan 6, Spanish talk, OA folk music. Many mentions of Huancabamba. 0203 ID and off. Fair but some occasional ute QRM (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 4835.47, I also heard R. Marañón on Jan 3rd while looking for AIR Gangtok at 0150 start of recording to 0240 end recording, consisting of mostly local music (vocals with instrumental accompaniment) with a few short announcements by man and/or woman (sometimes it seemed like an echo in the announcements), occasionally an ID and some (happily) short commercials. Strangely at 0157 to 0159.5 the Peruvian national anthem was played - thought they were signing off early, but programming continued past 0240 with slightly improving signals. SINPO 25332. Try this evening time slot - better for sleep, hi! With the increasing trend of ownership appearing to be religious organizations with LA tropical broadcasters, the programs are getting easier to log (fewer announcements and commercials, it seems). R. Marañón has an interesting web page at http://www.radiomaranon.org.pe (in Spanish). The station manager is a Jesuit priest (Bruce W. Churchill, CA, DXplorer Jan 4 via BCDX Jan 12 via DXLD) ** POLAND. Hi Glenn, While listening to your current WoR, I noted your item about the new name for Polish R. - You can hear the (correct) explanation from the new Head, in ``In Touch`` from last Friday (Erik Køie, Denmark, Jan 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: Name is simple: Polish Radio External Service. I have to get used to it; we all have to. We can manage it. Is it like a rebranding exercise, or to clear up confusion? ``R. Polonia`` implies that this station is to be broadcast to Poles living abroad, which is what Polonia means. But our mission is not just for them. A small subtlety, but very important. Not that much difference for foreign audiences. A good move, so we avoid certain misunderstandings, e.g. foreign affairs commission of senate tried to impose certain decisions on our programming, that since we broadcast to Polish ethnic minorities abroad we should listen to what they had to say. There is a TV Polonia too, another source of confusion, which caters to Polish audiences abroad, broadcasting only in Polish. We are not rejecting Polish minorities abroad; we are with them too. After accession to EU, there is not a problem any more. Many people of Polish origin in the UK were changing their identity . . . (Summary notes by gh from clip via Erik Køie, conversation between two people, for DX LISTENING DIGEST) Certainly a move in the right direxion, contrary to a number of other SW services which manage to survive, for a while anyway, like Finland`s, only by catering to their diaspora. But P.R.E.S. is just too cumbersome. Why not go for a name totally new: Voice of Poland International? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** POLAND [non]. Polskie Radio via Guiana French on 9660 with some nice classical music. That stayed on a few secs past 2300 for one iteration of the modernized IS (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA [and non]. Re 7-005: UR1 on 936? I would be surprised if this is a paid transmission...? Right now, in the 2200...2300 hour, Russkoye Mezhdunarodnoye Radio is supposed to be on 999, but the transmitter is off and RMR only on 1215 (Bolshakovo), not sounding as bass-hefty as it used to. At the same time Sodruzhestvo is as scheduled on air via the transmitters in Germany; 603/630/693/1431/1575 as well as 1323 (which takes another feed). Nice jingle with a claim at 2222. So what's up with 936 and the Grigoriopol transmitters? (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Jan 11, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAUDI ARABIA. 9555, 1855 10 Dec, V. of Gulf Cooperation Council via BSKSA Riyadh, ID in Arabic, ``Sawt Majles al-Taawon``, music, talk, SIO 444 (Tony Rogers, Birmingham, UK, Jan BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) This service probably only lasted a few days, but we never found out exactly how long, so here is another backlog of it (gh, DXLD) ** SAUDI ARABIA. At 1330 were heard 15380, 17895, 21600, and 21640 kHz with Holy Qur`an; on 21505 and 21640 kHz the Main Program and on 21560 and 21680 kHz mix sound from both programs. On 21775 with demodulated sound Main program (Jan 3). (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, Jan 5, wwdxc BC- DX Jan 12 via DXLD) 21775 = leapfrog 21505 over 21640. 21560 and 21680 = leapfrogs of 21640 and 21600 over each other. See also UNIDENTIFIED 11715 (gh) ** SCOTLAND [non]. Radio Six International Jan 13 --- What`s New http://www.radiosix.com/index.html Welcome to our redesigned website! Things are back to normal this week after the holiday break. The Best of Alchemical Radio continues on Mondays at 2250 GMT (Web only) with a repeat at 0400 GMT on Tuesdays (94.2 and 94.8 MHz, Sky Channel 0195, Hotbird and the Web). There are two brand new series starting this month - The 60s Party with a mix of hits, obscurities, TV themes, and instrumentals from the period 1960 - 1969. You can hear it on Tuesdays at 0600 GMT (88.5 MHz and Web) with a repeat on Saturdays at 2300 GMT (88.5 MHz and Web). And Sounds Orchestral featuring Johnny Pearson at the piano. Each programme features a whole hour of uninterrupted music. Starts Monday, 15th January at 0600 GMT (88.5 MHz and Web) with a repeat on Friday nights at 2300 GMT (88.5 MHz and Web). And check out Soundwave next week, featuring a live session with Autumn Grieve. And don't forget Letter From Scotland tomorrow at 1850 GMT. Please note that the weekend transmission of the Shortwave Report this week will be at 0800 GMT tomorrow. Site last updated at 1630 GMT on Saturday, 13th January, 2007. Playlist updated; Schedule and homepage updated. Note: A program schedule ``for the next seven days`` can be found at http://www.radiosix.com/schedule.html (via John Norfolk, dxldyg via DXLD) 88.5 MHz = very low power at Tawa, New Zealand, but where are 94.2 and 94.8? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) QSL FROM RADIO SIX INTERNATIONAL. 9290 [via LATVIA]. QSL-CARD AND SCHEDULE 13 days. Report sent to P O BOX 600 - GLASGOW - G41 5SH - SCOTLAND - U.K. with 1,00 €. The pictures they are available on http://swli05639fr.blogspot.com 73 (Francesco Cecconi, Jan 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOMALIA. Until Feb 2002, R. Mogadishu was heard on 6822, but at present it is on 98 MHz only (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Jan 10 via DXLD) ** SOMALIA [non]. ERITREA, 7175, Voice of the Broad Masses of Eritrea, Asmara, 1645-1730*, Dec 30, Afar (tentatively) talk mentioning Eritrea and Somalia, HOA songs, 1700 Arabic ID, news about the hanging of Saddam, Somalia and President Mubarak, Arab songs, phone interview. No transmitter break at 1730 when clandestine continued! 34333. 7175, Voice of the Somali People, via Asmara, Eritrea, *1730-1800*, Sat Dec 30, Somali announcement after fanfare, excited talk about Somalia, HOA music and songs, more talk and closed with flute music, 34333 sideband QRM (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Jan 10 via DXLD) ** SOUTH AMERICA. PIRATE (South America). 6307.4, Radio Piraña International, 0235-0313 Jan 12, Very weak at tune-in, could only pull out some high-pitched vocals, and possible flute-like instruments. Signal improved a bit by 0241, when I could recognize "Have You Ever Seen the Rain" by CCR. Some more music that I couldn't recognize followed, then clear "This is Radio Piraña International" ID was heard at 0255, although the voice didn't sound like Jorge García's. At 0305 there was an announcement with echo effects, with several mentions of Radio Piraña International, and parts of a mailing address. At 0311 another CCR song, "Old Man Down the Road". An e-mail from operator Jorge García confirmed it was RPI that I heard, and they were using a 20 watt homemade transmitter. SINPO 13432 (George Maroti, Mt Kisco NY, DX LISTENING DIGEST) & he was excited about making it to NAm (gh) PIRATA, 6307.66, Radio Piraña Internacional, 0910-0930, January 11, Spanish, international pops, identification at 0925 as: "Radio Piraña Internacional", 23332. 6307.06, Radio Piraña Internacional, 2201-2215, January 11, Spanish, instrumental music, 34333 (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SRI LANKA. SLBC (presumed). Tuned in to 11905 after 1400 UT Thursday, Jan. 11, to hear South Asian type music. Time pips at 1530 and off at about 1534. Not listed on eibi website for this time period. Soon after, a carrier heard on 11750 and then talk by 1540. Recognizable by the music. No Cuban jammer on 11750 today (see DXLD 7- 004). Faded out by 1610. Both frequencies were only poor to fair. Does anyone have an up-to-date schedule for SLBC? (Bernie O'Shea, Ottawa, Ontario, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SRI LANKA. The Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation celebrated 40 years in broadcasting on the 5th of January 2006. This is another historic milestone for the radio station formerly known as Radio Ceylon. The SLBC is the oldest radio station in South Asia and celebrated eighty years in broadcasting in 2005. . . http://www.lankaeverything.com/vinews/srilanka/20070106232057.php (via BCDX Jan 12, 2007 via DXLD) ** SWEDEN [non?]. Radio Sweden's English-language broadcast at 1330 UT was not on 15240 kHz this morning. At first, I thought it was their Swedish-language sports report, because there's usually a sports report at the end of the 1300 UT program. As I listened though, I realized it was actually a program in *Dutch*, on speed skating (thankfully I recognized the name Claudia Pechstein!). Are the Dutch using RS's transmitter as a relay for anything? According to RS's program brochure, the 1330 broadcast is *not* via the Sackville relay. (The 1430 UT broadcast on 15240 is listed as being via Sackville.) (Ted Schuerzinger, Jan 12, swprograms via DXLD) Can`t explain the 15240 but seems like a feed mixup at Hoerby if not Sackville. 73, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Andy Sennitt speculates it was indeed a feed mixup at Hörby. RNW does indeed send Dutch language programming out from Hörby but not normally at that time (Rich Cuff / Allentown, PA USA, ibid.) ** SWEDEN. R. Sweden now maintains a rolling 30-day archive of prior broadcasts available for on-demand listening; visit http://www.sr.se/rs/english/ click on English, then on 30 day Archive (Rich Cuff, Easy Listening, Jan NASWA Journal via DXLD) ** TIBET [non]. 1116 UT 9 Jan, 17562, VOICE OF TIBET - Yangi Yul (Tagikistan), Tibetano, tk OM/YL. Segnale insufficiente -> buono. Il jamming di musica cinese era su 17565: evidentemente non si erano ancora accorti della fuga in basso di Vo Tibet oppure non possono andare oltre gli steps di +/- 5 kHz (Luca Botto Fiora, Rapallo (Genova), playdx yg via DXLD) ** TUNISIA. 963 kHz no longer carries R. Tunis International but is now heard with programming in Arabic from sign-on at 1100 UT. It is not // the main Arabic service on 585, 630 and 684 kHz. RTT International channel in French, English, etc., is still on FM – the FM frequencies can occasionally be heard in Malta (Peter Zerafa, Malta, phone call to Dave Kenny 21 Dec, BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) But what about in the morning? Viz.: 963, TUNISIA, R. Tunis Chaîne Int'l, Tunis-Djedeida (36 48'N 10 53'E), JAN 8, 0405 - Apparently shortly after sign-on as nothing much on this frequency before 0400. Woman in French playing music, a French vocal, then into an instrumental selection. This faded slowly into the weak mix of stations on this channel. New country (Roy Barstow, Falmouth, Cape Cod, MA; R-75, Flag at 63 degrees, NRC International DX Digest via DXLD) Transradio antenna engineer Bernd Waniewski has again added more material to his website http://www.waniewski.de/id208.htm The Tunis site at Djedeida originally had a Thomson transmitter for 963 and a 148-metre-tall mast. Telefunken added a second transmitter for 630, diplexed into the existing masts. Powers are specified as 100 kW for 963 and 300 kW for 630, half of the power listed for both frequencies so far (200 and 600 kW, respectively). (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Jan 12, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKEY. TURQUIA: Confrontando el confuso anuncio de horarios y frecuencias que emite La Voz de Turquía al cierre de cada emisión en idioma español -según informa el colega venezolano José Elías Díaz Gómez a través de DXLD 7-005, January 11, 2007- debemos reconocer que la apertura del programa diario incluye una identificación absolutamente clara, así escuché el pasado 9 de enero: "Esta es La Voz de Turquía`` (voz masculina). Después del top de la hora, ``Ankara, en 9 de enero de 2007, son las 19 y 30 en Turquía, 17 y 30 hora UTC`` (voz femenina). ``Muy buenas tardes, estamos con ustedes en una nueva emisión en lengua española; esta es La Voz de Turquía que transmite por la onda corta en 31 metros 9780 kHz, la redifusión de nuestra emisión se puede sintonizar a las 2 en 31 metros en 9865 kHz en las Américas...`` (misma voz masculina). (Rubén Guillermo Margenet, Rosario, ARGENTINA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15350 from TRT Çakirlar again uses that failure transmitter unit today. Noted distorted spurious splatter spectrum on 15313 to 15377 kHz channels (Wolfgang Büschel, Jan 11, wwdxc BC-DX Jan 12 via DXLD) ** TURKMENISTAN. Observed back the English news on Jan 2nd at 1500- 1507 UT on 5015 and LW 279 and 1630-1637 (new time) UT on 4930 kHz. BTW on 31 Dec, when the New Year speech was, the man reads briskly and before one year in my log is written "... speaking slowly as a sick man..." for died Nyazov (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, Jan 6, wwdxc BC-DX Jan 12 via DXLD) ** U K. BBC World Service appears to have completely killed off Top Of The Pops, the last vestige of the long-running "Top Twenty" chart show. The show, which had already been relegated to a weekend airing for Asia-Pacific, no longer is listed at http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/programmes/programme_times/t_v.shtml Having listened for decades to the British singles chart on BBCWS, I'm sorry to see that it has now been eliminated (Mike Cooper, GA, Jan 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. I was under the impression that VOA Music Mix, via VOA SW, 21-22 UT via Greenville 15580, was Classic Rock at least 5 days a week, but on Thu Jan 11 it was instead a (current) Top 20 countdown, even tho Weird Al made it to that list. [Later]: My impression was wrong, as the item via Richard Cuff in a previous DXLD, when I take another look at it, clearly shows that Classic Rock is on Wednesdays only. Here`s the full lineup of 21-22 UT programming which is on Greenville 15580: Mon American Gold Tue Roots & Branches (eclectic) Wed Classic Rock Thu Top 20 Countdown Fri Hip Hop Connexion Sat Hip Hop Connexion Sun Fusion (world music) BTW, tuning around Jan 12 at 1918, I found VOA news in English quite loud on 17895, Greenville too during that hour? No, Botswana per HFCC, but // 11975 is Greenville (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Glenn: The new schedule for Monitor DX at 2315 UT Saturday is not providing very good reception in southern South America, based on first reports. So we are moving it to 2345 UT Sunday as of this weekend (Jeff White, WRMI, Jan 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Why would that make any difference? (Glenn to Jeff, via DXLD) Glenn: They tell us that there's QRM from All India Radio and Taiwan, but that WRMI starts to come in better at 2330. We'll try 2345 and see if that's better. So, Viva Miami at 2330 UT Sunday will be moving to 0500 UT Monday on 9955, and Global Crisis Watch will move permanently to 1300 UT Friday on 7385, which makes sense since GCW is more oriented to a North American audience anyway. I just put a new program grid on the website http://www.wrmi.net/schedule.php Now we have these changes already (Jeff White, WRMI, ibid.) I see also that MUNDO RADIAL has another airing, Saturday 2300 on 9955, immediately following WORLD OF RADIO (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO is not the only casualty of the new program schedule at WSUI; via the unofficial site http://wsui.info/ --- Kind Of Blue --- January 06, 2007 --- Listen (real) slideshow http://weekendamerica.publicradio.org/programs/2007/01/06/kind_of_blue.html Tonight, for the first time in 37 years, Jim Dougherty will not be doing his midnight jazz show, "Big Bands Then and Now." Dougherty aired his last show on WSUI in Iowa City on New Year's Eve. He's the latest casualty of a trend in public radio. The local midnight jazz host used to be a fixture on public radio stations but, for the last decade, more and more stations have been cutting back or dropping the shows altogether. As Kyle Gassiott reports, Jim Dougherty went quietly off the air. When I started listening to Jim's show I was really amazed at how much he knew about jazz. Here was someone who knew everyone who played with Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey, could tell you when Billie Holiday stopped recording for Columbia and went to Commodore, and why Fats Waller finds "Her Feet's Too Big." I went to sleep every night listening to Jim and I'm convinced that's why his music and stories have made it into my sub-conscious. Why else would I want to randomly blurt out to complete strangers on the bus one night that it was Bunny Berrigan on the radio playing that solo in "I Can't Get Started"? Jim is one of the people who have radio in their blood. When he was ten he got an amateur radio set and started "broadcasting" his shows from his bedroom to the kitchen where his parents were listening to the radio. They just listened along as if the show was coming from a station miles away-his early Arbitron ratings were excellent. In high school he quit all of his extra curricular activities-like jazz band- to host a weekly show on KWPC in Muscatine, Iowa. At the end of the day he even swept the station floor and burned the trash out back and one night almost the station itself. When he started at WSUI in 1970 he was the host of the hottest show around, "Rhythm Rambles." This show was so good that people switched the TV off to listen. Every broadcast started at noon with a version of "Stardust" and Jim kept listeners swinging through their lunch hours each weekday. Later Jim switched to all night shows but he still kept "Stardust" as his musical signature. A couple of years ago, Jim had a heart attack when he was getting ready to host his Thanksgiving night show. He was off the air for three months over the holidays and that really hurt. Every holiday or anniversary gets some musical recognition on Jim's show and none more than Christmas and New Year's when he really pulls out all the stops. Each day he put together the shows he wanted to do in his head. All listeners heard in the winter of 2004 was the BBC all night, 'til Jim came back in February just in time for Valentine's Day. It was the thought that he was depriving his listeners of great jazz that brought him back to the microphone and he says saved his life. I was really depressed when I found out that my late night jazz hero was going off the air but I should have known better. Jim's decided to take his show to the internet where its midnight everywhere. When you're as passionate as Jim is about sharing your music, you don't just fade out (via Franklin Seiberling, IA, DXLD) ** U S A. WOR TOWER DEMOLITION: http://www.wcbstv.com/video/?cid48 (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) By the time I went for it after 0000 UT Jan 12, this item was already down to page three. Look for ``Raw Video: Landmark Radio Towers Tumble``. It really is raw, with out of focus zooms, etc., also with nondescript sound. Apparently from a chopper due to occasional tilting, tho it might have been from a tall building across the river with a telephoto, I thought. There is a delay of several minutes between the first collapse and the second; skip forward to about 75% into the file for the second (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) News report and video of demolition of famous WOR 710 New York's MW masts today can be seen at: http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=local&id=4926618 WOR 710 is one of the more regular US stations to make it across the Atlantic and its rather sad to see the masts that transmitted the signal all that way to my receiver disappear! (Alan Pennington, BDXC- UK via DXLD) Here's the link to the article on the WOR tower dismantling as seen in today`s Bergen Record. For those who do not know, the Bergen Record is the paper serving northern New Jersey. The link is quite long, so you may have to copy and paste it into your browser. There's some nice photos in this article too. http://northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk0NSZmZ2JlbDdmN3ZxZWVFRXl5NzA1NTY3MiZ5cmlyeTdmNzE3Zjd2cWVlRUV5eTM= 73- (Gary Wilt, W2GJW, Wood Ridge, NJ, Jan 12, NRC-AM via DXLD) Geez, the old towers were not ``digital``, but the new ones are, according to this IBOC hyped-up article (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) I wonder how many times we are going to be hit over the head with reminders of digital, HD etc., in radio promos in the next year, HD Antennas, HD wires, HD CD's, HD hotdogs served at the station, HD mobile transmissions, HD DJ's ad nauseam; kind of reminds me of the Weapons of Mass Destruction B.S. we had to endure for several years. I realize that transmitting antennas need to be tuned for optimum transmission of IBAC, but this is ridiculous (Bob Young, Analog MA, NRC-Am via DXLD) ** U S A. COMMENTARY -- SWITCH ROBS US OF CHOICE IN TALK RADIO Monday, January 08, 2007. ANN FISHER I’m so glad that Tom Thon has us mere mortals all figured out. He told Dispatch reporter Tim Feran last week that folks disappointed by the liberal/progressive-to-conservative format change at the station formerly known as WTPG (1230 AM) are just being "human." . . . http://www.dispatch.com/news-story.php?story=dispatch/2007/01/08/20070108-B1-00.html (via Artie Bigley, OH, DXLD) ** U S A. OWNER OF CONSERVATIVE RADIO STATION KSFO DEMANDS LIBERAL CRITIC QUIT USING AUDIO CLIPS === TRYING TO CENSOR BLOGGER Joe Garofoli, Chronicle Staff Writer, Thursday, January 11, 2007 A series of events involving a local liberal blogger, a San Francisco conservative radio station and the reaction of two of the larger corporate advertisers in the country -- Bank of America and MasterCard -- is revealing how slippery freedom of speech has become in the digital age. The tale of Spocko, http://blogintegrityblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2007/01/i-am-spocko.html a self-described "fifth-tier" blogger who lives in San Francisco, exemplifies how one person with a computer and an Internet hookup can challenge the views of a major media corporation -- and what a media corporation will do to stop him. For the past year, Spocko has been e-mailing advertisers of KSFO-AM with audio clips from its shows and asking sponsors to examine what they're supporting. Some sponsors have pulled their ads, after hearing clips like one of KSFO's Lee Rodgers suggesting that a protester be "stomped to death right there. Just stomp their bleeping guts out." Now, bloggers and media freedom advocates are concerned about the legal reaction from Disney/ABC-owned KSFO. Shortly before Christmas, an ABC lawyer demanded that Spocko remove audio clips from his blog on the grounds that Spocko's posting of KSFO content was illegal. Digital freedom advocates counter that the clips constitute fair use and worry that critical voices could be silenced by corporations threatening legal action for violation of copyright law. . . article at: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/01/11/MNGHLNGH2N1.DTL (via Eric Flodén, dxldyg via DXLD) ** U S A. Back when the PSRA's were first granted, a number of stations were approved for either 500 or 250 watts. This was calculated by the FCC and was an addendum to the licenses. This was bfeore the breakdown of the clears and the proliferation of small night powers. The number of approved stations was limited by comparison to what came later. When PSRA was expanded, blanket permission was granted by the FCC, which advised stations of what calculated power they could run, ranging from 1 to 500 watts. Stations could either choose to go with a PSRA or not. The only FCC records as to who was opting to run it was a letter from the station stating that intent - otherwise no additional records. Since that was all paper, in various forms, it inevitably got lost or destroyed and most of that was before FCC data went online. The FCC still does have some records on PSRA's, still on paper, I believe per correspondence I had from FCC several years ago, but there was simply no resource available to transfer that onto the database which could then be viewed online. There's really no way to tell who is operating with a 'legal' PSRA and who is not from FCC records. Nor is there any way to tell who is even using it or not (Russ Edmunds, Blue Bell, PA (360' ASL), [15 mi NNW of Philadelphia], NRC-AM via DXLD) {Pre Sun Rise Authority} ** U S A. WMRO 1560 kHz, Full Power/ND Test Announced. Update on WOKY QSL's. More! WMRO in Gallatin, TN is going to do a brief full power 1 KW, Non- Directional test this coming Sunday night/Monday Morning as they test out their remote control/automation system. Please note the following on this important test: The test is automated. No live personnel will be at the station, so please no telephone calls. Also Monday is a holiday, so no telephone calls on Monday either. This is a request directly from the station, so please respect it. WMRO 1560 Gallatin, TN Maintenance Test Date(s): January 15th, 2007 (Late Sunday night, early Monday morning) Time: 1 AM Central Time to 2 AM Central Time (1 Hour Test) [07-08 UT] Modes of Operation: "Inventory Insert" 60 Second Long Test inserted into local breaks at approximately :24 past the hour, :34 past the hour, and :48 past the hour. Test will be conducted at 1 KW, Non-Directional pattern. Station is testing remote control/automation features. Programming: 60 Second Long "Inventory Insert" during local breaks. These include Morse Code ID's and sweep tones. Music will be transmitted in the "Bright AC" format, with artists like John Mayer, Five for Fighting, Goo Goo Dolls, etc. Notes: Remote Control/Automation testing. A song/artist list should be available after the test to help with verification. DX'ers are encouraged to note song title and artist along with exact time so that we can compare that to the playlist. The test will be automated. DO NOT CALL THE STATION! Also, do not call on Monday which is a federal holiday. QSL Information: Station is handling QSL's directly, however, Scott Bailey is dealing with some serious family medical issues, so responses may take quite some time. Please be patient and do not expect a reply for several weeks. E-mail reception reports may be sent to: sbailey @ nespower.com Send Postal reports and/or recordings to: Scott Bailey, President & General Manager WMRO Radio, Magic 1560 P. O. Box 1445 Gallatin, TN 37066 Please include a SASE for reply. Our thanks Scott Bailey of WMRO, who's always been very DX Friendly! And also to Paul Walker, who helped to arrange yet another test for all of us. WOKY DX Test QSL Information: Engineer Kent Winrich reports that he has not forgotten about the requests for verifications on the test. Kent and his family have moved twice in the past few months, and his workload is also very heavy. Please be patient. The QSL's will be sent, though it may be some time before they are received. (Les Rayburn, N1LF, NRC/IRCA Broadcast Test Coordinator, Please call anytime 24/7 if your transmitter will be off the air for maintenance. (205) 253-4867, Jan 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Great Oldies Stream Online --- Since the country is covered in cold and rain and there isn't much DX going on --- A friend told me about this one: WXHC 101.5 in Cortland, NY has an Oldies format that is rather interesting. Kinda like the Cool Oldies format but a much wider playlist (and there is nothing even close here in Hartford). Since many of us are older farts the format is likely of interest, but what is really amazing is they are using a full 128 kbps stream, in stereo and the sound quality is pretty darn good through my PC speakers - I'm thinking I might try it on my living room stereo to see just how good it is ! Web Page is here: http://www.wxhc.com/ Direct Link to the stream is here: http://radio.webstream.net/radio_player_large.asp?stationCallSign=WXHC (Bill Nollman, Farmington, CT, Jan 13, WTFDA-AM via DXLD) ** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. 6458.0, Nacional de RASD, Rabouni, Algeria, heard on this new SW frequency at 1915-2400*, Jan 05, 06, 07, 08 and 09, in Arabic until 2300, then Spanish, clear ID at 2331 before the news. It is often disturbed very much by a strong noisy utility transmitter, 43443 (Bueschel, Gonçalves, Hauser and Petersen, DSWCI DX Window Jan 10 via DXLD) 6458, R. Nacional Saharaui, 2245-0002* Jan 5-6 and 6-7, new frequency again, tune-in to Arabic talk, local music, IDs. 2301-2400 Spanish. Sign-off with NA. Good strength but co-channel QRM from RTTY station almost as strong as RASD (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6458 -- Just had a look into 2007 Klingenfuss SW Guide. How on earth, I wants to know, why RASD is using this band midst on nowhere. I see only DIGITAL mode entries in marine band around 6.4 MHz, when looked to the Klingenfuss reference book. Like NATO Lisbon, Murmansk R, Valetta R, Hamala Bahrain, Kiel radio, PWZ Rio, Rogaland R, Marinecom Malmoe Goeteborg R, PBB Den Helder, Berne R, Tors Cove NFDL etc. Maybe the Algerian Telecom provided RASD with an old transceiver unit of ALG marine as short term alternative, or the RASD technicians mis-aligned the RIZ Zagreb transmitter by mistake (Wolfgang Büschel, Jan 6, wwdxc BC-DX Jan 12 via DXLD) ** YEMEN. 9780.05, Rep. of Yemen R., 1850-1900 Jan 6, tune-in to Kenny Rogers music, 1855 English news, ID. Poor in high noise level (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZIMBABWE [non]. 11695, R. Voice of the People (via Talata, Madagascar) -: I can hear them almost every day from 1700 opening until closing which varies from 1757 to 1759 UT. Although always weak, it's easy to ID because every two or three minutes "R. Voice of the People VOP," "R. VOP" or "Voice of the People" is mentioned. And the address and frequencies are given almost as often. The broadcast seems to consist mostly of interviews. Most of the program is in an African language, but there is usually at least one interview in English. I've never heard a musical selection on VOP, just occasional brief music bridges (Wendel Craighead, KS, DXplorer Jan 7 via BCDX Jan 12 via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 6165, re 7-004, 7-005: I was wondering if you knew of any URL's for Asian DX web sites that might have a list of stations from the Pacific rim. Maybe I can find a log for this unID? (Chuck Bolland, FL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Chuck, Try these: http://www.asiawaves.net/ and http://www2.starcat.ne.jp/~ndxc/ 73, (Glenn to Chuck, via DXLD) Glenn, Thanks - No help so far, but I am thinking positive (Chuck Bolland, ibid.) If anyone is interested, my unident on 6165 is coming in pretty well at this time 1034 UT, so if you'd want to try an ident, please do (Chuck Clewiston, Florida, Jan 13, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) CNR1 ID was heard at 1000. 73, (Mauno Ritola, Finland, ibid.) Mauno, the unident I am interested in fades in later than 1000, somewhere around 1020. Yes, China is on the frequency prior to and at 1000 also. Thanks (Chuck Bolland, ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED. Common practice have become the last few days to listen a buzz (similar to that "Gabuzz") on 11715 between 2230 and 2300. Thought this was from India, altho not convinced. Have somebody else noticed this? (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, Jan 12, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) AIR is finished with 11715 at 2230, but the answer is in EiBi, a known buzzer, Saudi Arabia: 11715 1800-2300 ARS BSKSA HQ A Af 11715 2045-2230 IND All India Radio E Oc p (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ WORLD RADIO TV HANDBOOK 2007 Richard Dixon takes a look at the 2007 edition of the World Radio TV Handbook, which describes itself as the World's most comprehensive and up-to-date guide to broadcasting. . . http://www.radionetherlands.nl/features/media/wrth.html (Media Network newsletter Jan 12 via DXLD) QSL ALBUM OF RUDOLF SONNTAG, GERMANY http://home.arcor.de/rudolfsonntag/qsl.htm (A-DX Jan 7 via BCDX via DXLD) Quite extensive DIGITAL BROADCASTING ++++++++++++++++++++ DRM: mentioned in this issue above only under INTERNATIONAL, NY eve monitoring, as QRM; and just below CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES +++++++++++++++++++++++++ DRM PRESENTATION Re 6-184, correcting time conversion: Wed January 31st 6 pm for 6:30 pm start [1800/1830 UT] at the Telford Lecture Theatre, BAE Systems, Great Baddow, Chelmsford, Essex, CM2 8HN. The World Standard Digital Solution for Improving Short Wave Broadcasting. Jonathan Stott of the BBC Technology Group will explain how Digital Radio Mondiale works and will illustrate its development, testing and service launch. 73 (Trevor M5AKA Chelmsford Amateur Radio Society http://www.g0mwt.org.uk/ monitoringmonthly yg via DXLD) RVA ANNUAL LISTENERS MEET Dear friends, Venue for Radio Veritas Asia, Philippines, annual listeners meet 2007 has been announced. This year it will be help at Hrithik Sadan, Baharampur, West Bengal on Sunday 4th February 2007. Interetsed listeners may contact Mr. Atanu Das of RVA regional centre at Chitrabani, Kolkata, (phone no 033-22440108). Please note, any type of accomodation will not be provided by RVA at Baharampur. Thanks, (Swopan Chakroborty, Kolkata, India, Jan 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) EDXC 2006 SPECIAL REPORT Mr. Toshimichi Ohtake, main staff of Japan Shortwave Club, who attended EDXC 2006 in St. Petersburg, contributed ``EDXC2006 Special Report`` in English and Japanese for my home page ``Monthly Shortwave``. Have a look at http://www5a.biglobe.ne.jp/~BCLSWL/SP2007/EDXC2006.html An article on EDXC2006 Special QSL card and Radio Gardarika in Japanese is also found at http://www5a.biglobe.ne.jp/~BCLSWL/QSL0701.html (Takahito Akabayashi, Tokyo, Japan, Jan 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) NEW LEADERSHIP AT EUROPEAN DX COUNCIL On Jan 01, the European DX Council (EDXC) got the new leadership which the member clubs did elect in 2006: Tibor Szilagyi, Sweden, is the new Secretary General with Torre Ekblom, Finland, as Assistant Secretary General. They took over from Luigi Cobisi and Paolo Morandotti, Italy. The DSWCI thanks Luigi and Paolo for their often troublesome work during several years and congratulates Tibor and Torre with their new jobs. Their first action has been to invite all of us to the next EDXC Conference (DSWCI DX Window Jan 10 via DXLD) Viz.: EDXC 2007 NOVEMBER 01-04 2007, LUGANO, SWITZERLAND Dear DX-Friends, Shortwave Listeners all over the World! The EDXC (European DX Council) cordially invite you all to the next EDXC Conference, November 1 --- 4 , 2007, in Lugano / Switzerland. As the number of cheap hotel--rooms are limited, we kindly ask you to make your hotel reservations already now! Venue of the Conference: HOTEL DISCHMA, Vicolo Geretta 6, CH -- 6900 LUGANO PARADISO, Switzerland. Phone : + 41 91 994 21 31. Fax : + 41 91 994 15 03. E--mail : hotel-dischma @ bluewin.ch Home page : http://www.hotel-dischma.ch Please observe : This is a 2 / two / star hotel. Prices: Single--room (small): SFR 79 ,-- = EUR 49,--- . Single room (larger) : SFR 100,--- = EUR 63,--- . Double--room for 2 / two / persons : Total price for such a room: SFR 132,--- = EUR 83,---. All above prices per night, including Swiss breakfast, VAT and service. This hotel accepts the following credit cards: AMERICAN EXPRESS, VISA, EUROCARD, MASTERCARD. PLEASE MAKE YOUR OWN RESERVATION --- NOW !! First you write: The special password for this reservation: EDXC CONFERENCE 2007. Then you write your family name, christian name, your arrival date at hotel, your departure date from the hotel. If you arrive on November 1 and depart on November 4, you will need 3 / three / nights. The Conference fee is : EUR 95,--- per person. Preliminary programme : *********************** November 1, Thursday . Arrival, register to the Conference. Informal gathering in the evening. Approx. 19.00 hours at the hotel bar / hotel restaurant. November 2, Friday. Lectures, discussions, EDXC matters. We are planning to have lecturers like : Somebody from Lugano City, Mr. Bob Zanotti, former speaker and DX-editor at Swiss Radio International. Mr. Jeff White, Radio Miami International. Mr. Anker Petersen, Chairman of Danish Shortwave Club International. He will speak on subject: "DX-ing in the High Andes". Mr. Torre Ekblom from Finland. He will speak on the subject: "Utility Listening especially Airline- Traffic." EDXC session approx. one hour and a half. November 3, Saturday. Sightseeing tour in Lugano by bus with English speaking guide. We continue with the same bus to visit the local radio and TV station: Radiotelevisione Swizzera di lingua Italiana / RTSI / Free time in the afternoon. At 19.30 hours in the evening at our conference hotel : Banquet Dinner consisting of 3 / three / course menu from Ticino / Ticino is the Southern, Italian speaking province on Switzerland / including local Ticino drinks. November 4, Sunday. Departure from our conference hotel. The Conference Fee : EUR 95,--- includes : The use of Conference room, relevant papers, name-signs, sightseeing in Lugano, visit at the local Radio station by bus. The Conference Fee also includes the Banquet Dinner and the drinks. Please observe : Breakfast every day is included into the hotel room price. Not included : Thursday evening what you consume during the informal gathering, Friday lunch and dinner, Saturday lunch ---- all above meals on your own account. For further information you may contact: Mr. Tibor Szilagyi, Sweden. Phone number : + 46 8 500 264 83. E--mail : tiszi2035 @ yahoo.com (via Dario Monferini, DXLD) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ Re: FAA SAYS REMOVE AM/FM RADIOS - CONTROLLERS [cannot] TUNE IN FOR TORNADO WARNINGS For heaven's sake, a simple NOAA weather-warning alarm-sounding radio can be had for $30 or even less these days! Any really dedicated controller could simply bring one in and leave it, especially if he got an AM/FM set to take home as part of the FAA-ordered "clean-up"! The weather radio wouldn't come under the ban because it doesn't receive regular AM or FM! (Though many such radios DO get AM & FM in addition to the NOAA signals, there are those which don't. I have some of each kind.) 73, (Will Martin, MO, Jan 11, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###