DX LISTENING DIGEST 7-012, January 28, 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 1344 Mon 0515 WBCQ 7415 [time varies] Mon 1330 WRMI 7385 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 GH`s SHORTWAVE FREQUENCY LIST FOR C. CRANE CO. UPDATED JANUARY 20: http://www.ccrane.com/shortwave-frequency-list.aspx ** AFGHANISTAN. RTA chief resigns --- KABUL, Jan 24 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Head of the state-run Radio/Television Afghanistan (RTA) Najib Roshan Wednesday tendered his resignation to the President Hamid Karzai. However, Attorney General Abdul Jabbar Sabit is determined to initiate enquiry against the former head of (RTA). Roshan has resigned from his position due to many charges leveled against him. A copy of his resignation received to Pajhwok Afghan News, former head of RTA has enumerated his achievements. He has termed the accusations of embezzlement as an attack on his personality. In a brief chat with this news agency, Sabit said Roshan had lavishly spent money on technical tools. He said Roshan was not allowed to leave country until his case was decided. Hamid Nasiri, spokesman for the information, culture and youths affairs said Roshan had brought some changes to tv, but had paid less attention to radio. Confirming the illegal appointment, he said Roshan had ignored rules in appointment. Hamim Jalalzai mam/rh (Source : Pajhwak Afghan News Agency via Alokesh Gupta, India, dxldyg via DXLD) ** ARGENTINA. Hi Glenn, Here informations about the radio station relay over General Pacheco frequency [15820 SSB]. CONCEPTO AM 1050 kHz ADDRESS : Maipú 267 "7mo" Piso C.P.1084 CAPITAL FEDERAL, BUENOS AIRES. http://www.conceptoam.com.ar/contacto.asp publicidad @ conceptoam.com.ar radio @ conceptoam.com.ar (Dario Monferini, Italy, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. Belconnen Masts Demolished: Further to previous items about the decommissioned facility in Canberra. During December the three 600 ft towers which supported the 44 kHz aerials were felled by using explosive charges to destroy two guy cable guy cable anchors allowing the tower to fall in the direction of the remaining guy anchor. And so ends the story of this station, twenty years ago one could tune upwards from the Omega frequency to the Indian Navy on 19 kHz, then Northwest Cape on 22 kHz and VIX etc. on 44 kHz. All gone now however there are still a number of stations operating between 15 and 100 kHz in other parts of the world. South Australia Coast Radio: As mentioned in our last column, ACMA had allocated VIA as the call sign. Just prior to commencement of the service it was noted that ACMA must have had second thoughts as this was changed to VZS951. As Wayne noted the call sign was given on air as VIA when the service commenced, and again a few days later when monitored by this editor. The IPS predictions for this service have been somewhat expanded with separate charts for 4, 6 & 8 MHz from both Alice Springs and Broken Hill; further, it would appear from information provided to Wayne Austin, AirServices would be interested in reception reports to Project Leader, S.A, Coast Radio, Brisbane Flight Centre (Utility DX Roundup, edited by ALLEN FOUNTAIN, PAKENHAM VIC 3810, Jan-Feb ADXN via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. Radio Australia Shepparton 21725 putting out spurs on 21625 and 21825, heard on December 31 2006 at 0322; 21725 was 20 over/9, heard occasionally since then, spurs are easily heard but not too strong. Been very busy with our Sporadic-E season in VK land and one side of my G5RV blew down, been too exhausted from daily monitoring to attend to harmonics, finally having some cool weather, so will continue the hunt!! 73 (Dave, Adelaide, South Australia, swl call vk5001swl grid pf95ga, Vitek, harmonics yg via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. Distorção no sinal (OC) da Rádio Globo/Anhangüera Prezados colegas, O que está acontecendo com o transmissor da Globo que irradia em 11805 kHz, pois o áudio está chegando em Recife/Olinda com bastante distorção, fato que impede ouvir a programação da RÁDIO GLOBO. Até a semana passada, tanto o áudio como a intensidade do sinal eram excelentes; nas primeiras horas da manhã, sofria interferência de uma estação cubana, porém, após a saída daquela estação a escuta da Globo era magnífica até o fim da tarde. Lamentavelmente, não encontrei, no site da Globo um meio de enviar mensagem dando conta do problema. Igual problema ocorre com a Anhangüera/CBN, na freqüência de 11830 kHz: a distorção é insuportável. Por outro lado, a Bandeirantes (11925 kHz) e Brasil Central (11815 kHz) chegam com áudio e sinal perfeitos, comparáveis a uma estação de OM local. O mesmo ocorria com a Globo nos 25 metros até a semana passada, mas... Se alguém do Grupo souber os respectivos endereços de e-mails por favor avisar-me (José Machado, Olinda, Pernambuco, Jan 27, radioescutas yg via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. BRASIL – Se a Rádio Clube, de Marília (SP), está ativa, atualmente, em 3235 kHz, tal fato deve ser creditado apenas a uma pessoa: o diretor da Rádio Guarujá Paulista, de Guarujá (SP), jornalista Orivaldo Rampazo. Foi ele quem foi atrás da estação de Marília e arrendou os transmissores de ondas tropicais. Agora, mesmo com o contrato encerrado com a Guarujá, a Clube permanece, ainda, transmitindo em 3235 kHz (Célio Romais, Panorama, via Conexión Digital Jan 28 via DXLD) ** CANADA. QSL: 13735, Radio Nederland World Cup Special via Sackville. Full data 'Winter of the Lakes' card in 7 months, four months after CD follow-up report (Edward Kusalik, Alberta, CANADA, Jan 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA [non]. United States Broadcast Information --- You can listen to the Vinyl Cafe in the U.S. at the following times and stations: WCPN 90.3 Cleveland, OH 3 p.m. ET Sundays [2006 UT] WFYI 90.1 FM Indianapolis, IN at 8 p.m. ET Saturdays [UT Sundays 0106] KUOW 94.9 FM in Seattle, WA at 4 p.m. PT Sundays [UT Mondays 0006] North Country Public Radio Stations in Upstate New York and Vermont at 1 p.m. ET Wednesdays [1806 UT] [+ long list of stations and translators] North Dakota Public Radio stations (Eastern Service) at 1 p.m. CT Saturdays [1906 UT] [a webcasting holdout] WCAI/WNAN in Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket MA at 11 p.m. ET Sundays [UT Mondays 0406] http://www.cbc.ca/vinylcafe/us-broadcast.html (via Glenn Hauser, DXLD) Assuming times are rounded off ignoring 6 minutes of NPR news at hourtop! But not confirmed as such; show is less than 55 minutes long, so why not? Or maybe at 4 past, dumping NPR at the optional cutaway. Have added these for convenience to MONITORING REMINDERS CALENDAR. Used to be on WBEZ Chicago UT Sat at 0600 and still in PublicRadioFan listings, but apparently gone since reformatting (gh, DXLD) ** CANADA. MOVE OF CHAA-1610 TORONTO ON TRANSMITTER APPROVED http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2007/db2007-30.htm CHAA Toronto – Technical change 1. The Commission approves the application by San Lorenzo Latin American Community Centre (San Lorenzo) to change the authorized contours of the Type B community radio programming undertaking CHAA Toronto, by relocating the transmitter. 2. The authorized contours of the station will be decreased significantly and displaced to the south of the present contours, as a result of the relocation of the transmitter. 3. The licensee indicated that the Department of Industry (the Department) had requested that San Lorenzo cease broadcasting from the current transmitter site by 30 November 2006, due to interference problems from San Lorenzo’s transmissions. 73, (via Deane McIntyre VE6BPO, Jan 25 NRC-AM via DXLD) ** CANADA. CRTC CHIEF SEEN AS 'PRO-CONSUMER' GRANT ROBERTSON Posted AT 9:02 AM EST ON 27/01/07 From Saturday's Globe and Mail January 27, 2007 Konrad von Finckenstein has never shied away from decisions that spark controversy in Corporate Canada, and industry executives are expecting he will bring that tough, hands-on administrative style to his new role as head of Canada's broadcast and telecom regulator. He takes over as the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission is on the verge of number of key personnel changes, and at a time when it must make important decisions about broadcasting. Mr. von Finckenstein, a Federal Court judge who was commissioner of the Competition Bureau from 1997 to 2003, was named chairman of the CRTC on Thursday for a five-year term. He will take over from Charles Dalfen, whose tenure ended last month. . . http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070127.wrcrtc27/BNStory/Business/home (via Dan Say, alt.radio.networks.cbc via Mike Cooper, DXLD) WHERE IS [sic] OUR MEDIA GOING? by Antonia Zerbisias The Toronto Star - News - January 26, 2007 Yesterday's appointment of Konrad von Finckenstein, former head of the federal competition watchdog, to chair the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) was pure synchronicity. . . http://www.thestar.com/News/article/175111 (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** CHINA. 7270, PBS Nei Menggu (presumed), 1228-1244 Jan 28, in assume Mongolian, with some traditional music, fair, // 9750 (QRM/NHK). Above average conditions for Asia (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, Etón E5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [and non]. CRI relay sites - update --- Took me awhile to dig thru my QSL cards (another project I've been working on, when I have the time, is to scan all QSLs and station memorabilia for posting on the 'net). Anyway, I found one R. Beijing QSL for a broadcast on December 26, 1987 at 0301 UT on 11715 kHz confirming, as hand written, "This broadcast was relayed via Mali". So, at one time CRI did confirm relay location. Why not now? What happened beside the name change from R. Beijing to CRI? Also, at one time the contact was Ms. Fan Fuguang. Perhaps, this accounts for the change? Once our contact was an actual person instead of a committee. 73, (Kraig Krist, KG4LAC, VA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CROATIA [non]. QSL: 7285, Hrvatske Radio via DTK-Telekom, Wertachtal Xmitter. E-mail verification in 9 hours from DTK-Telekom, Julich. V/s: Walter Brodowsky E-mail: walter.brodowsky @ t-systems.com (Edward Kusalik, Alberta, CANADA, Jan 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. Here`s some inside info on a local jamming station; if it can be believed from fueracubano sources. It`s news to us that Cuba jams Spain or the BBC as claimed (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UN DÍA SIN INTERFERENCIA RADIOELÉCTRICA EN PALMA SORIANO COPIADO DE _SOCIEDAD / CubaNet News - Noticias de Cuba / Cuba News - CubaNet N.._ http://www.cubanet.org/CNews/y07/jan07/26a2.htm PALMA SORIANO, Cuba - 25 enero --- Virgilio Delat, APLO / http://www.cubanet.org - Una interrupción de servicio de la antena que se usa para la interferencia de las emisoras de onda corta propició a los palmeros disfrutar de un día sin interferencia en la señal de la radio extranjera. El pasado domingo 20 de enero, muy temprano en la mañana, corrió el rumor entre la población de que la señal estaba entrando con nitiidez, y que las frecuencias más populares como Radio Martí, Radio Nacional de España y la BBC de Londres escuchaban como si fueran estaciones locales. La señal se mantuvo así hasta las 7 de la noche del lunes, cuando que entró de nuevo en servicio la antena de interferencia, la cual se encuentra en un polígono militar ubicado en la carretera del Cobre. Anteriormente, la antena estaba situada en los altos del edificio del Poder Popular en Palma Soriano, que se encuentra contiguo a la iglesia, pero quejas de varios sacerdotes por las radiaciones que emitía obligó a las autoridades a cambiarla de lugar (via Oscar de Céspedes, Miami, FL, condig list via DXLD) ** CUBA. R. Rebelde check, Jan 27 at 1820, found 17735, 17555 (no WYFR audible), 15570 and 11655 all synchronized, and 15370 slightly unsynchronized with an echo, so that one likely from a different transmitter site (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** DENMARK. - You can see a two-minute item from the Danish TV News (in Danish, that is) about the closure of the Danish LW transmitter at: http://www.dr.dk/DR1/TVAVISEN/tvaindslag.htm Choose out right under 'TV Avisen': Tors (=Thursday) 18.30. Then go down to item no. 19: 'Virkeligheden overhaler langbølge-radio' (Reality overtakes Long Wave Radio) I wonder why also a mobile telephone antenna is shown! The last broadcast will be up to midnight Danish time on Feb. 14 - or rather: the final closure is around 2330 [sic] UT, Feb. 14. 243 kHz. 73, (Erik Køie, Denmark, Jan 27, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. 5009.74, R. Pueblo. Signal suddenly on with rapid LA Pops at 1053:56 16 Jan. Finally three canned ID/promos by M at 1100, then into live raspy-voiced M with news program and actualities. Horribly undermodulated but live M voice better. First heard yesterday, although I see others heard it over the holidays. Yesterday around 1150 started getting QRM from a het from obviously AIR Thiru. which gradually got stronger. However Pueblo was still there when the MD ran out at 1309 (Dave Valko, PA, HCDX Jan 28 via DXLD) ** EGYPT. When checking around 0000 Jan 28. I could not detect any signals on 11950 and 12050. There was a carrier on 11885 but no possibility to find out whether or not this was Egypt. A carrier could be detected on 9360 as well; this would be Arabic to South America. No signal on reported // 9735. I also checked out Italian 1800-1900: It was definitely on 9990 tonight Jan 27. Previously it indeed used to be on 9988, at 1900 moving with a momentary carrier break to 9990, so obviously this was the same transmitter and 9988 an intended frequency for whatever reason. It is remarkable that Italian before 1900 had a noticeably better audio quality than German after 1900 which was muffled and somewhat distorted. Both had the same, much too low modulation level, so apparently still use the same transmitter (I missed the changeover from Italian to German at 1900). This indicates that the infamous distortion that often plagues Radio Kairo broadcasts arises in the audio chain before the transmitters (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Jan 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ERITREA. 5100, 21/01 0410-0430, RADIO BANA, ERITREA, VERNACULAR TALKS. POOR/SUFF BOC7 (Ascolti realizzati sulle onde corte a Bocca di Magra, DARIO MONFERINI & GIAMPIERO BERNARDINI, RX: AOR 7030, RF SPACE SDR-14, CIAO RADIO H101, PALSTAR MW 550-P, (2) DEGEN 1103 (FILTERS 80 + 110 kHz). ANT. : WELLBROOK LFL 1010 (OUTDOOR), playdx yg via DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA. 7165.13, R. Ethiopia, Gedja. External Service in English, very strong 1600 tune-in 12 Jan, announcing 31 & 41 mb SW, news (Craig Seager, Bathurst NSW (R&S EK890, Icom R75 with converter & Dream software, Horizontal Loop, Jan-Feb Australian DX News via DXLD) ** FINLAND. See USA [and non] ** GERMANY. Re 7-009, 7-010: It's a pity, on 4th weekend in February 25/26, DW English service will be ceased, and carry then the very last edition of DX program by presenter Wolfram Hess DL1RXA, a well known ham operator too and presenter of RBI-GDR days (Wolfgang Büschel, BCDX via DXLD) DW English will be reformatted by the end of March, more or less like was done with German before, i.e. into a kind of rolling news format. All long programs, including Mailbag, will be eliminated. It is understood that the new format will include a slot for listeners response again, but indeed with no DX Meeting anymore. And probably even more changes at DW Radio will follow (Aaron Zawitzky, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Oh no, another station which makes itself into an amorphous magazine, not worth listening to for specific topics. Goodbye, A World of Music too. This month the DX Meeting #200 starts 43:59 into the Mailbag file for Jan 28 at http://www.dw-world.de/dw/0,2142,4703,00.html but at the outset they say also ``at http://www.dw-world.de just click on DW Radio, then on Reception, and on DX Pages and you can listen to us whenever you want``, i.e. mp3 and/or ra files back to last April at http://www.dw-world.de/dw/0,2142,9542,00.html But not yet the January edition. Listening via the Mailbag file, they also announce, ``This DW World DX Meeting is supposed to be the second to last, only one more, in February``. But at the closing referring to next month, ``hope it`s not the last time``, but concluded with ``Partirò`` by Bocelli, I think, ``Time to Say Goodbye`` duet with a soprano, mixing Italian and English. Is there no German version of this?? [see below] Then station and schedule info which was full of errors [sic, with my annotations:] Following an item about YLE Radio Finland closing, no more Latin there; they also say ``even Vatican Radio doesn`t have any Latin programs`` [they certainly do still broadcast mass in Latin, at 0630- 0700 on a bunch of frequencies] A list of Horn of Africa broadcasts in English: ``Radio Ethiopia, M-F 17-1730 UT, 7155 9560, and 1900-1945 on 9794 [English is at 16 UT on 7165, not at 17; see item in this very issue. No idea what they have in mind on 9794, but certainly not Ethiopia --- oh, must be typo for 9704] Ethiopia, V. of Oromiya Independence, in English, Amharic, Oromo, Sat 15-1530 on 15650 [English is limited to the RMI intro ID, and it is now Sat at 17-1730 on 9820, per WRMI website and EiBi; via Germany!] Sudan, South Sudan Interactive Radio Instructions, Sat/Sun 0630-0700 17660 [as in 7-004, it has been deleted, and anyway was on 15205 M-F; 17660 was probably the A-06 channel; via UAE] In vernacular, RTV Jibouti, Mon-Thu 03-04, 05-06, 1835-1900 on 4780`` (with a recording) [that is certainly not the complete schedule; do they mean these are the times in Afar, with Arabic and Somali, not to mention French, not qualifying as vernaculars? Or is Somali obscure enough to be a ``vernacular``? WRTH 2007 does not break down the language timings, unfortunately, so source of this?] Every single schedule item they gave was wrong or questionable in some way! I enjoy their quirky, friendly style, and will miss the show, but I would miss it more if they took care to give accurate information. Like R. Budapest, that part of the show is actually worse than useless, because if anyone believes them and tries to pick up the stations as given, except Djibouti, they will be wasting their time (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I have heard them use this song to end programs before although I don't recall which DW program it was. The Sarah Brightman - Andrea Bocelli duet "Time to Say Goodbye" was a huge hit in Germany in 1996 then it did well in the UK as well, pretty much set Brightman on her current career course (that and being married at one time to Andrew Lloyd Webber). IIRC, it was a closing theme song for a World Cup/silly ballgame or something. I find it to be a particularly beautiful duet (Fred Waterer, Ont., dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. DEUTSCHE TELEKOM WILL POSSIBLY SELL MEDIA&BROADCAST Deutsche Telekom plans to rearrange T-Systems and considers outsourcing the Media&Broadcast department into a new company, stating that this would make sense because technical services for broadcasters are a business entirely different from providing IT solutions to small companies. http://www.manager-magazin.de/it/artikel/0,2828,462695,00.html http://de.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2007-01-27T154949Z_01_KOE756980_RTRDEOC_0_DEUTSCHLAND-FIRMEN-TELEKOM-ZF.xml&archived=False It is expected that a decision will be made by the end of February. http://de.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=companiesNews&storyID=2007-01-27T135438Z_01_KOE750069_RTRDEOC_0_DEUTSCHLAND-FIRMEN-TELEKOM.xml Allegedly a couple of companies are willing to pay some billion Euros for Media&Broadcast. http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/84383 Note that the Heise item is incorrect in as far as Media&Broadcast does not own the "TV towers in many German cities"; they are instead property of either DeTeImmobilien or Deutsche Funkturm GmbH. Yesterday another update of the Media&Broadcast shortwave schedule has been distributed; see the files section of the DXLD Yahoo group. No big news, basically some site changes, some Wertachtal outlets temporarily on air with 500 instead of 250 kW (appears to be a test). Follow-up on my short remark from the storm night: Indeed both Wilsdruff 1044 and Reichenbach 1188 are now a delay of about four seconds behind Wiederau 783, and at least one FM transmitter of MDR Info (Collmberg 105.9) is as well. Apparently Media&Broadcast started to migrate from ADR to DVB-S as audio source for satellite-fed MDR Info transmitters, since the shut-down of ADR is looming (tho not imminent) now. Wachenbrunn 882 is still delayed by about a half second only, so presumably still taking the ADR signal, and obviously nothing has changed at Wiederau, i.e. 783 is still fed via a terrestrial circuit (if I recall correctly J.17, a 768 kbps system with negligible delay). (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Jan 28, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. QSL: 9855, Adventist World Radio, Hindi to India, via Wertachtal. Full data 'Short wave Coverage' QSL, with blank QSL & 2007 Calendar Cards, in 20 days. v/s: Adrian M. Peterson, DX Editor (Edward Kusalik, Alberta, CANADA, Jan 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) also: POLAND ** GERMANY. BBG vs NPR in Berlin: see U S A [non] ** GREECE. Katerina: I tried to tune in to your "Hellenes Around The World" program from 1400-1500 UT on Saturday, but the propagation gods were unwilling to cooperate. The usual nothing on 9420/323 degrees and nothing but noise on 17525/105 degrees headed for Australia, the Middle East and Indian Ocean, and Africa. I will try for the repeat on UT Monday [0011 on 7475]. Glenn: I hope that you were tuned in to The Voice of Greece on UT Sunday at 0300-0400. 7475 was doing great and 9420 was starting to crack up and go away here, but it finally came back in time to hear Angelika Timms introducing the Greek songs in English. The theme of her program was Piraeus and Thessaloniki. I especially enjoyed these songs because my late dear mother Zoe was born in Thessaloniki. Just before the program closed, Angelika played Dizzy Gillespie and his orchestra doing their rendition of The Sailors From Piraeus (Ta Pedeia Tou Piraea) from the movie Never On Sunday. All-in-all, a very delightful treat for us here in America. If you don't have a short- wave receiver, The Voice of Greece has live radio on the Internet At: http://tvradio.ert.gr/radio/liveradio/voiceofGreece.asp (John Babbis, MD, Jan 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREECE. 6210, ERT. First observed on 1/1 at 0645 featuring National Orthodox Church program // 9420, 12105, 15630, MW 729, also at 0600- 0800 on 20/1 were the Radio Filia programs in Albanian, English [0700] and from 0804 in French (Rumen Pankov, Sofia, Bulgaria, Sony 2001, 16m Folded Marconi, Jan-Feb Australian DX News via DXLD) This frequency is unintentional! 15630 minus 9420 = 6210. Might give us a remote chance to hear the English hour (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUAM. QSL: 5765U, Armed Forces Network via Guam. Full data card in 8 days for a e-mail report to: qsl @ dodmedia.osd.mil v/s: Robert Winkler (Edward Kusalik, Alberta, CANADA, Jan 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUIANA FRENCH. Re DRM tests: Glenn, I saw your post about these tests last week. They were TDF in various languages. They left an open audio feed and aired whatever programming and language was on. By the way, during some of the test they forgot to send the MSC so there was no audio. I saw this on the regular Montsinéry RNW feed this Saturday too. Oh well, new technology, new problems. No MSC is akin to "dead air" (Christopher Rumbaugh / K6FIB, Salem, Oregon, [drmna yg moderator] Jan 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUIANA FRENCH. 17705, Radio Nederland World Cup Special via Montsinéry. Full data 'Winter of the Lakes' card in 7 months, four months after CD follow-up report (Edward Kusalik, Alberta, CANADA, Jan 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HAWAII. QSL: 6350U, Forces Network. Full data card in 5 days for an e-mail report to: qsl @ dodmedia.osd.mil v/s: Robert Winkler (Edward Kusalik, Alberta, CANADA, Jan 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HUNGARY. Re 7-009, 7-010, 1188 kHz: Right now [1838 UT Jan 27] one or both of the transmitters to be used for the new MR4 is/are already on air, carrying a jazz program, running without ID beyond the hour at 1800; probably Petöfi Rádió, previously taken off mediumwave in 1998, since it's neither Kossuth Rádió (as heard on 540 // 1251) nor the program feed which still contains the minority language broadcasts (as heard on 1116 // 1350, starting Romanian at 1800). The signal is noticeably weaker than it was when Marcali transmit BBG programming with 500 kW, but it sounds as if the same bass-hefty audio processing is in use again. Well-placed sources say that Lakihegy and Pécs will run new Transradio TRAM transmitters with 20 kW each on 873. Szolnok will run a 100 kW TRAM on 1188 while Marcali will again be on air with the Soviet 500 kW transmitter from 1986, now run at 300 kW. The Marcali transmitter carried until 1998 Petöfi Rádió on 1251. In September 2000 it had been reactivated on 1188 with relays of the Belgrade-based stations Radio B2-92 and Radio Drina-2, often if not always by way of telephone feeds: http://www.radioeins.de/meta/sendungen/apparat/040529_A2.ram I never saw a definite explanation for these relays, in particular who paid for the airtime. Most likely possibility would be the BBG, since soon afterwards Marcali started to relay RFE/RL and VOA programming, first for the former Yugoslavia, later mainly for Belarus and the Ukraine. These relays finally came to an end on May 31 2004 (UT) at 2230. The last three minutes: http://www.radioeins.de/meta/sendungen/apparat/040529_A3.ram Just a few weeks before the end a planned relay of VOA News Now had been cancelled in the last minute, so late that it was not possible anymore to kill the airtime, resulting in 500 kW of HF being wasted with the RFE/RL audio circuit marker: http://www.radioeins.de/meta/sendungen/apparat/040403_A5.ram (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Jan 27, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Continued under U S A [non] [Later:] Meanwhile Patrick Robic reported that 1188 carries neither Petöfi nor Bartók. Right now [2106 UT Sunday Jan 28] again a jazz music program can be heard, as if this is already the studio output of the new MR4 with this canned stuff being loaded to the playout. 1188 apparently stayed on air throughout the last night and is again still on air right now, after 2100, although it is supposed to be on air only until 1900 for the regular service from February 1st. I have to correct my initial report in as far as 1188 indeed sounds bass-hefty again, but it is not as loud and aggressively processed as it was when relaying BBG programming (Kai Ludwig, Germany, ibid.) ** INDIA [and non]. All India Radio DRM Test 28th Jan 2007, 0330-1230 UT, Freq: 6100 kHz. Site: Delhi (Khampur), 250 kW Regds (Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, dxld yg via DXLD) 250 kW is an awful lot to be running with DRM. One of the supposed selling points of DRM is that it does not require as much power as AM to achieve the same results. Judging from DRM reception reports, this claim is questionable. In fact, according to http://baseportal.com/baseportal/drmdx/main which can be sorted all sorts of ways but not by power! and which still doesn`t list anything from India, the highest-power DRM on SW is: 2202-2257 daily 15425 320 degrees USA/Canada 150 kW RNW HOL English Montsinéry French Guiana --- So is AIR really running DRM at 250 kW or is this just the transmitter capability? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glen[n], It`s the transmitter capability; actual power they are emitting not known. Regds (Alokesh Gupta, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I doubt this to be DRM Glenn. Anyway will check it out. Regards (Victor Goonetilleke, Sri Lanka, dx_india via DXLD) Thanks to tip from Alokesh Gupta, tuned into AIR's DRM test on 6100, 1215 UT. Alas, no audio, I think mainly due to co-channel QRM. Highest SNR achievable 11.4 dB. On-screen ID as "AIR Delhi Khampur", and language shown as English, using Dream software. Off abruptly 1220, 28/1. I'm confident a better frequency choice would yield results here (Craig Seager, Bathurst, Australia, HCDX via DXLD) These 250 kW are certainly AM carrier power. The possible output for DRM signals is always lower, possibly 90 kW in this case, especially if the same Thomson SK53C3-3P5 transmitters as installed at Sines are in use. Indeed the 150 kW from Montsinéry should be the highest powered DRM signals on shortwave since New Year's Day. Until then even 200 kW were on air from the Wertachtal site, presumably using the same RIZ transmitter model as installed at Woofferton as Sender 96 (why in the world did the BBC start to use the German term Sender for their transmitters?): http://www.drmradio.co.uk/html/woofferton.html I still recall how a T-Systems speaker on IFA 2005 praised these 200 kW as if there never were claims about DRM not requiring high outputs. By the way, in passing he also said that "Deutsche Welle is a very critical customer". When judging DRM reception results also the used audio bitrate must be taken into consideration. In many cases I find it to be a mere 14.5 kbps. This is not the praised "FM-like quality" but instead just AM quality (Kai Ludwig, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. All India radio Republic Day Logs --- Running commentary of Republic Day proceedings was noted on following frequencies : 26th Jan 2007 0430 - 0635 UT, QTH : New Delhi 4760 Leh Hindi Commentary 6020 Shimla Hindi Commentary 6030 Delhi English Commentary 6110 Srinagar Hindi Commentary 6155 Delhi Hindi Commentary 7140 Delhi English Commentary 7160 Chennai English Commentary 7180 Bhopal Hindi Commentary 7195 Mumbai Hindi Commentary 7210 Kolkata Hindi Commentary 7230 Kurseong English Commentary 9595 Delhi Hindi Commentary 9950 Delhi English Commentary 11585 Delhi English Commentary 11620 Delhi Hindi Commentary 15020 Aligarh English Commentary 15050 Delhi Hindi Commentary At 0520 UT external service frequencies 11730, 15075, 15185, 15770, 17715, 17845 were not carrying Republic Day commentary. Regds (Alokesh Gupta, dx_india via DXLD) ** INDIA. 4970, AIR Shillong, 1553 on Jan 28, in vernacular, with pop sub-continent music, ToH into English, 1602-1629 non-stop classical Western music (Vivaldi), BoH AIR ID, poor-fair (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, RX340, with T2FD antenna, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA [non]. Re Family Radio `new` broadcasts to S Asia: Tamil 7475 kHz at 1400-1500 UT Telugu 5880 kHz at 1400-1500 UT Marathi 6135 kHz at 1400-1500 UT (via Jaisakthivel-IND, via Alokesh Gupta-IND, wwdxc BC-DX Jan 26 via DXLD) YFR started these services on Dec 4, 2006: 7475 via Dushanbe-TJK. 5880 via Gavar Kamo-ARM. 6135 via Armavir-RUS (Wolfgang Büschel, BCDX Jan 27 via DXLD) ** INDONESIA. 9680, RRI Jakarta, 1004-1024 Jan 28 (Sun.), Kang Guru singing jingle, KGRE program with vocabulary about school shirts, song ``Blue Jeans On`` (Keith Urban), interview with young Indonesian actor (Sammy Rizal), song ``That’s What Friends Are For``, address given to write for their free magazine (P. O. Box 3095, Denpasar, Bali), fair. WYFR not heard at all till about 1019 (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, Etón E5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ISRAEL [non]. 15785, ALABAMA, WEWN, Birmingham; 1658-1702 27 January. Canned promos for EWTN programs, canned male legal ID 1700, very strong. This kills the occasionally-propagating Galei Tsahal daytime channel reception (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WEWN is scheduled on 15785 only at 16-20 (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** ITALY. 6878, 28/1 0205, Radio Planet FM, id in Italian: "Alla consolle di Radio Planet FM...", and in English "You are listening to Radio Planet FM". House music "House party". It is the same transmitter of Power FM that I reported in December... no doubt because the spectrum. Strong signal, perfect modulation. Ciao, (Giampiero Bernardini, Milano, Italy, rx: CiaoRadio H101, ant: T2FD, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) On 6878 kHz (29/1 0145) Planet FM, the rebroadcast of FM Italian radio Planet FM, is still on air on SW. this night with "Planet Night" programme. This FM radio is located in Lombardia, North Italy their web is: http://www.radioplanet.fm (reported by PlayDX) (Giampiero Bernardini, Milano, Italy, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. JAPAN, Shiokaze International Communications registered NTT Japan Yamata site in summer season, eff March 25, 2007: kHz UTC zone site kW deg ant 6005 0930-1200 44 YAM 300 290 146 J SIC MIC 6045 2000-2200 44 YAM 100 280 800 J SIC MIC 6080 2000-2200 44 YAM 100 280 800 J SIC MIC 6085 2000-2200 44 YAM 100 280 800 J SIC MIC 6140 0930-1100 44 YAM 300 290 146 J SIC MIC 6185 2000-2100 44 YAM 100 280 800 J SIC MIC SIC = Shiokaze International Communications MIC = Ministry of Internal Affairs & Communications Japan (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX Jan 24 via DXLD) I.e. same site as R. Japan. Will this require cutbax in NHK Warido transmissions to accommodate? This would tie up four transmitters at 20 and two at 0930, unless these are really being woodenly over- registered as alternatives. There was a big controversy over whether the Japanese government should get involved in this. So will the existing broadcasts, such as 1300 on 9955 via Taiwan also continue? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) According to Asian Broadcasting Institute, this is a pre-registration done by MIC to prevent jamming from North Korea. One of the 30 minute segment, probably morning broadcast, will be realized. Other transmission will remain from VT (Takahito Akabayashi, Japan, via Büschel, DXLD) How will that prevent jamming? Gives them a head start in setting up to do so (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** KURDISTAN. 3930, Clandestine. New socialist Kurdish speaking station (often mentioned socialist Kurdistan in ID), observed first time on 2/1 1625-1655 and 0400-0425, jumping every 2-3 minutes in range 3925-3940 to avoid Iranian jammer (Rumen Pankov, Sofia, Bulgaria Sony 2001, 16m Folded, Marconi, Jan-Feb Australian DX News via DXLD) ** KUWAIT. See TURKEY ** LITHUANIA. KBC Radio is on air just now and until 2259 UT on 6255 kHz via Sitkunai. I'm receiving the station very well, SINPO 34433 on SW, and SINPO 44422 on MW. 73s (Ydun Ritz, Denmark, Jan 27, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Most of the time music is the great vehicle to verify if you are able to tune a station when reception is poor or as in my case had a man- made noise on 6255 when at 2252 went to hear what was cooking there and The Magnificent Seven Theme was amidst the announcer's voice, that happily came clearer when local noise broke up and had the chance to hear between songs this voice saying "The most powerful AM...KBC Radio", after which they cut abruptly at 2258. SINPO 25252. 73s (Raùl Saavedra, Costa Rica, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALAYSIA. 6049.65, Asyik FM (RTM), 1052-1133 Jan 27, segment of indigenous chanting/singing; “Asyik FM” jingles, pop songs/ballads; 1126 Islamic call to prayer (maghrib - sunset prayer), their fourth prayer of the day - Kuala Lumpur sunset at 1125, fair (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, RX340 + T2FD antenna, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 9600.25, R. UNAM, 1554-1700+ Jan 21. Classical piano piece; at 1600 a YL announcer identified the piece just played; a "Radio UNAM" ID followed, giving the freqs of 860 and 9600; website announced as http://www.radiounam.unam.mx e-mail radiounam @ www.unam.mx --- back to music at 1601, with only one more announcement in the next hour, that at 1620 by the same YL. At 1700, some sort of public affairs/cultural program was presented with male host; did not understand much of this but the names of former XE presidents were mentioned, as well as mentions of "Wáshington," "colaboración," dates in the 1930's, etc. Signal had some nice S9+10dB peaks around 1630, but had decreased a bit by 1700. Still going pretty good at 1720, as I type this. (later:) Radio UNAM has drifted downward slightly since this morning. They are now (2200 UT) on 9599.20 kHz with classical music and a good signal into Colorado. They were on 9599.25 this morning at 1700 (John Wilkins, CO, DXplorer Jan 21 via BCDX via DXLD) {So the frequency at top is incorrect; never above 9600 --- gh} 9599.25, Radio UNAM noted around 2315 Jan 26 to around 0056; talk to 2330, Paul McCartney song, more talk, then 30 minutes uninterrupted classical music, W talk with distinct "X-E-Y-U" ID at 2359, last audio noted around 0056, might have signed then. Mostly at or slightly above noise with a few strong peaks, very slow MW-type fading peculiar to Mexican shortwavers heard here; best in LSB, with occasional racket from 9600. Recording of excerpted clips ending with ID available to hear at http://www.alcue.com/XEYU_UNAM_012607.mp3 Will take file down in a few days to save bandwidth, so play or save it soon (Al Quaglieri, NY, DX LISTENING DIGEST) XEYU, Radio UNAM (Probable), 1425-1507, 1/27/07, 9599.25, in Spanish. Two announcers talking, hard rock, same two (no discernible ID at BoH), one of the two talking through ToH, fading from 1455, there was a likely ID at ToH, but the signal was too poor to tell details, back to previous announcer. No ID , but known to be on about this frequency. Nothing at 2145 recheck (Mark Taylor, Madison, WI, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9599.30, Radio UNAM; 1630-1655 27 January and 1544-1600 28 January. Blowing in and finally with great audio and modulation (no more carrier with little modulation). Spanish female X 2 talk, classical fill, "Radio UNAM" ID 1634, rather pop-sounding vocal on the 27th. Today, blasting in with male/female opera (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, I hear this Sunday morning on 0936 UT, 28/1 on 9599.30 kHz XEYU, R. Universidad, Mexico City. With Classical music with wind instruments. At 1049 talks in Spanish and piano music, nice program. RX. NRD545 +EKD300 and EZ100, Antenna LW100m.+LW25m. +ALA1530(new) and 1026 phase from MFJ. Gr From (Maurits Van Driessche in Belgium, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Enclosed a clip of classical music, pretty far down in the noise, but there (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) Hola Glenn: efectivamente R. UNAM está al aire las 24 horas, incluso hoy en la madrugada (0200 Tiempo del Centro [0800 UT]); la escuché con muy buena presencia. No se qué tanto tiempo mantengan la transmisión las 24 horas; trataré de hablar con el Ing. Mejía esta semana. Buen domingo, (Julián Santiago Díez de Bonilla, DF, Jan 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I was not hearing XEYU around 0615 Jan 28, nor Jan 29, but XEXQ was audible as usual mixing with Sackville on 6045 at 0623 Jan 27 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENNG DIGEST) Desde hace una media hora (18:30 tiempo del Centro de México) (0030 UT) se escucha con muy buena potencia y excelente audio a R. UNAM en los 9600 kHz. A las 0000 pude escuchar muy baja a R. UNAM y como era cubierta en ese momento por la señal de Radio Habana Cuba; sin embargo ahora solo se escucha a Radio UNAM con cierto desvanecimiento. La presente escucha solo es comparable a la prueba que realizaron R. UNAM en la planta de lo que fué R. México Internacional hace casi un año; ojalá siga asi la señal. De nuevo el Ing. Mejía agradecerá los informes (aún sin política QSL). Favor de enviar a: emejiay @ servidor.unam.mx con copia a jusadiez @ hotmail.com Saludos (Julián Santiago Díez de Bonilla, DF, 0059 UT Jan 29, condig list via DXLD) ** NIGER. 9704.98, RTV de Niger at 2200-2301* on Jan 20. ID as "...écoutez Radiodiffusion Télévision de Niger éméttant de Niamey"; then short music clips, alternating with short phone chats in French; this continued to about 2254 when there was a few minutes of tribal chanting, sounding at first like Qur`an until the flutes came in; 2359 choral anthem. Heard one other ID as "Radiodiffusion Télévision de Niger" but heard no ID's as "La Voix du Sahel," although they may well have been in there somewhere. Good signal but marred by band noise and occasional Ute QRM. First time this country has gone into the Wheat Ridge logbook in a looong time (John Wilkins, CO, DXplorer Jan 21 via BCDX via DXLD) ** NORTH AMERICA. QSL: PIRATE (USA), 6925, Altered States Radio via Merlin address. Nice blue colored QSL sheet in response to my report sent to Merlin [Ont. maildrop], with reply in 4 months. Mentioned glad that I caught the first broadcast of their revival! (so am I). V/s The Shaman (Edward Kusalik, Alberta, CANADA, Jan 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. KGOU/KROU: 2006 Final Audit is a 26-page document, which mentions construxion of new studios in Norman, just completed, and a new relay station in Woodward under construxion [88.1], plus 250-watt translators in Ada, Seminole and Shawnee: http://www.kgou.org/2006FinalAudit.pdf (via Glenn Hauser, Enid, DXLD) Special program inaugurating new offices and studios was repeated at 1700 UT Jan 28, including a brief history of OU broadcasting. Mentioned the original WNAD on AM, but failed even to mention WNAD-FM, which IIRC was on 90.9 for a number of early years (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAKISTAN. 6214.45, R. Pakistan, Islamabad. WS with English news 1613, strong enough but distorted audio. A faint rumbling on listed 7530 as well, but splash from China 7535 too much, 12/1 (Craig Seager, Bathurst NSW (R&S EK890, Icom R75 with converter & Dream software, Horizontal Loop, Jan-Feb Australian DX News via DXLD) 15100, R. Pakistan, Islamabad. Strong signal, but dreadful audio with consistent crackles and breaks. Traditional song and music at 1015 on 15/12 (Dennis Allen, Milperra NSW (Icom R75, Dipole, Jan-Feb Australian DX News via DXLD) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 4960, Catholic Radio Network, Vanimo. Good night on 3/1, 0955 Had Vernacular then into ID as ``Catholic Radio Network``, then smattering of English/Pidgin, religious messages then bible Fellowship programme. Most nights just a het [carrier], so was lucky (John Wright, Peakhurst NSW (Icom R71, EWE antennae, Jan-Feb Australian DX News via DXLD) 7120, Wantok Radio Light. Audible again, less noise. Mostly religious songs. Wantok ID at 0720 on 22/12 (Alex Wellner, Bondi NSW (JRC NRD- 535, Jan-Feb Australian DX News via DXLD) English, 1030 Excellent level 16/1, many English IDs. For QSL hunters, NBC off air; this station readily QSLs (John Wright, Peakhurst NSW Icom R71, EWE antennae, ibid.) Devotional songs, 0215, and the only signal on 41 mb at this time, 6/1 (Craig Seager, Bridle Track, north of Bathurst, NSW (R&S EK890, Icom R75 with converter & Dream software, Horizontal Loop, Jan-Feb Australian DX News via DXLD) Everyone keeps telling me about the lack of QSLs from New Guinea. NBC Port Moresby is off air as they didn't pay the electricity bills! Wantok Light 7120 is heard in the evenings in Sydney and they QSL; also the rarely heard outlet 4960 at Vanimo Catholic Radio Network, I heard once, so fingers crossed for replies (John Wright, NSW, Jan-Feb Australian DX News via DXLD) ** PHILIPPINES. Hi All, Heard 15010, VOA Special English, spur from 15290 VOA Philippines and 15150 VOA Special English; have not checked 15430 for the higher product, 15010 only poor, just looked at EIBI and 15430 looks free around 2329; oh, 15010 heard at 2329 January 27. 73 (Dave, Adelaide, South Australia, swl call vk5001swl grid pf95ga, Vitek, harmonics yg via DXLD) ** PHILIPPINES. R. Pilipinas --- Please note that the frequencies of 11885, 15720 and 17665 shown for the Philippine B.S. (Radyo Pilipinas) for their English service from 0200 to 0330 are not those currently in use. These broadcasts are currently on 12025, 15115 and 15230 (all three frequencies re-confirmed through monitoring on 12 January 07). It is also my understanding that these broadcasts are targeted to the Middle East (Philippine overseas contract workers) and not to the Asia/Pacific (T. C. Patterson, Cebu, Philippines, via Daniel Sampson, PrimeTime Shortwave Jan 28 via DXLD) ** POLAND. POLISH RADIO TO AIR IN HEBREW http://jta.org/page_view_breaking_story.asp?intid=6625 In March, Poland’s state-run radio will start broadcasting a few hours of news each day in Hebrew. The government said the move would strengthen Poland’s ties with Israel and help shed the country’s reputation for anti-Semitism, according to Reuters. “We want good relations between Poland and Israel and to provide the worldwide Jewish community with information about Poland’s Jewish minority,” Adam Burakowski, deputy director of Polish Radio’s foreign department, said Friday. “These programs are another battle in the war to disprove the unfair opinion that Poland is anti-Semitic.” Poland had the largest Jewish population in Europe before World War II, but most were killed in the Holocaust. Approximately 10,000 Jews live in Poland today (via Zacharias Liangas, DXLD) More: STATE-RUN POLISH RADIO TO BEGIN BROADCASTS IN HEBREW Last update - 16:09 26/01/2007 By Reuters State-run Polish Radio will begin broadcasting news in Hebrew in March in an attempt to strengthen Poland's links with Israel and help it cast off what it believes is an unfair reputation for anti- Semitism. Poland had the biggest Jewish population in Europe until World War Two, but the murder of millions in the Holocaust by the occupying Germans and hostility from the postwar communist authorities left only a few thousand Jews in the country by the 1990s. Polish governments since the collapse of the Soviet bloc have tried to rebuild relations with Israel and the Jewish community overseas, and many thousands of Jews visit the land of their parents and grandparents each year. "We want good relations between Poland and Israel and to provide the worldwide Jewish community with information about Poland's Jewish minority," Adam Burakowski, deputy Director of Polish Radio's foreign department, told Reuters on Friday. "These programs are another battle in the war to disprove the unfair opinion that Poland is anti-Semitic," he added. Polish Radio spokesman Tadeusz Fredro-Boniecki said the broadcasts, initially for just a few hours a day, would be capable of reaching Israel and the whole of Europe. Details of bands and frequencies would be announced soon (via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) DS or ES? ** POLAND [non]. QSL: 7130, Radio Polonia via Wertachtal. E-mail verification in 9 days from DTK-Telekom, Julich. V/s: Walter Brodowsky E-mail: walter.brodowsky @ t-systems.com (Edward Kusalik, Alberta, CANADA, Jan 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. 6140, VOR via Chita (Atamanovka), 1248-1300* Jan 28, was checking on the activity reported here (CUBA[non], etc.) and found this in Vietnamese, with pop music, chimes IS at sign-off, fair-poor (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, Etón E5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SWEDEN. Romany programmes from Radio Sweden >> You can listen to this program Middle East & Southern Europe on shot wane [sic] 5850 KHz. Saturday 2300-2400, Sunday 2300-2400 and even in the night 2400-01.00, and finally also in Radio Romano’s web side [sic] in Sweden. [CET or UT??? --- gh] << CET, cf. http://www.sr.se/cgi-bin/International/programsidor/artikel.asp?ProgramID=2122&Artikel=523009 So the Romany service from Radio Sweden is on air Sat and Sun 2200- 2300 UT on 5850. There is a discrepancy with another transmission on 1179: WRTH 2007 shows it as Sat 2330-0030 while the Radio Sweden webpage suggests that it's on air Sun 0000-0100 instead. However, the wrong conversion to UT (-2 rather than -1 hour) could mean that this webpage in fact shows obsolete schedule data from the A06 season. I tried to find out who their coproduction partner for the new Radio Chachimo programme here in Germany is, but to no avail so far. At least there is no match on the Radio Multikulti (RBB) website for the mentioned name of the correspondent (Marko Knudsen) if I did not overlook it now, late at night. Good night, (Kai Ludwig, Germany, UT Jan 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKEY. TRT 15350 wide spread spurious again --- TRT Ankara via Çakirlar used the failure transmitter this morning Jan 27 again. Scheduled 0800-1500 UT. Spread all over the place 47 kHz wide each side, distorted signal peaks on 15303 to 15397 kHz like a garden fence. Reported this to Mrs. Sedef Somaltin sedef.somaltin @ trt.net.tr many times before. But nothing happens, bad signal appears still each day (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, harmonics yg via DXLD) ** TURKEY [and non]. Interval Signals: VOT and R. Kuwait --- I know this question may be silly, but anyhow I wanted to post it. When listening to an old recording of R. Kuwait's interval signal (which I made perhaps before 1980) I noticed a strong resemblance with the IS used nowadays by The Voice of Turkey. The IS from R. Kuwait was one played on flute or similar instrument. I don't know if they do have an IS today, but you can find it in Dave Kernick's interval signals website. http://www.intervalsignals.net/sounds/kwt-z-radio_kuwait_cm.mp3 May be I am the only person in the world finding such resemblance, but anyhow I thought that somebody could comment on this subject. Sometimes the same basic melody can be found in different countries sharing a culture, so I thought that being both muslim countries both ISs could be based on the same melody. 73, (Moisés Knochen, Montevideo, Uruguay, Jan 27, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UKRAINE. Radio Ukraine International announced that effective January 26th English to North America 0100-0200 and 0400-0500 would be on 7440 ex 5820 (Edwin Southwell, Basingstoke, UK, World DX Club via Mike Barraclough, DXLD) [sic:] Since January 25, RUI will change frequency 5820 on 7440 kHz for translations on North America with 0000 up to 0500 UT. The reason: complaints of students on bad Reception on 5820 in America (it is obvious because of conditions of passage of radiowaves and Handicapes from WEWN 5810, and in Europe and vicinities - from "espionage" Stations YHF2. The Russian stations on 7 [garble – MHz?] are audible well. Besides Spring not far off - increase of frequency inevitably (Alexander Egor, Kiev, Ukraine / open_dx via RUS-DX via DXLD) That`s Olexandr Yegorov. We complained about the proximity to WEWN as soon as this change was made to 5820, last September, I believe (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: WWORD-134 27.01.2007 --- Hello, radio listeners and DX-ers. I'm Olexandr Yegorov and here is your programme - "The Whole World on the Radio Dial". I remind you that all times in this programme are given in UT. But let's start with the important announcements. From the 25th of January RUI changed a frequency of 5820 kHz to 7440 kHz for broadcasts to North America between 0 and 5 hours because of poor reception and essential interferences in the 49 metre band. Soon the spring season will approach, so the higher frequency will be more suitable for such broadcasts. Andriy Baranskyy e-mailed us from Vancouver, Canada, telling that he has discovered in the Internet, and not on the site of the National Radio Company of Ukraine, the Real Audio streams of the Ukrainian Radio channels RUI (the satellite version of it - RUI2) and UR2 (Radio Promin). The bit rate is 64 kilobit per second, and the Windows Media Player is sufficient for listening. Address is http://media.wnet.ua/lists where, among various Ukrainian TV and radio channels, you will find also links to RUI2 and Promin. . . And that's all for today. Your host Olexandr Yegorov and our studio producer Liudmyla Sudakova are wishing you good luck, good reception and 73! (Whole World on the Radio Dial Jan 27 script http://www.dxing.ru/content/view/509/85/ via DXLD) So the link to RUI2 audio is http://media.wnet.ua/lists/rui2.m3u and indeed it provides much better quality allowing us finally to enjoy their music, 64 kbps, 32 kHz on the winamp, flagged as stereo but not really, compared to 16 kbps on the real audio link. At least at 0455 check Jan 28 RUI2 was the same English mailbag program as RUI (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, Re http://media.wnet.ua/index.php?go=Radio Nice find, thanks for letting me know about it. RUI2 schedule (under "Satellite broadcasting" on nrcu.gov.ua) lists exactly the same four hours of English as RUI. Actually the only difference between the services appears to be that RUI2 continues with Ukrainian when RUI has German. That same page also says that RUI2 is in mono even on the satellite. Besides the new streams at media.wnet.ua, there's now a stream of UR3 (R Kultura) at nrcu.gov.ua -- I'm not sure how new it is, but it hasn't been in my database until now. So between the two sources there's a full set of UR streams (except for regionals). Thanks again, (Kevin Kelly, Bedford, Massachusetts, USA PublicRadioFan.com DX LISTENING DIGEST) As for new 7440, I checked it at 0300 UT Jan 29: on the DX-398 portable in the yard, ice now melted but plenty chilly, carrier just detectable, while 7475 Greece was listenable, and somewhat weaker, Israel 7545 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. See WORLD OF HOROLOGY ** U S A [non]. [continued from HUNGARY]. While I'm at this topic: I have an impression that even YLE has been flatly banned from relaying VOA programming (via FM in Helsinki and DVB-T throughout Finland) when reading between the lines of the statement in the upper right corner of http://www.yle.fi/ylemondo/index.shtml Makes me wonder why at the same time BBG was so keen to keep their FM allocation at Berlin? Seems to me they bothered only to prevent NPR from going on air there. Gossip had it that even pressure had been put on German authorities by Bush administration circles in this matter, but to no avail (if it is true these attempts were probably even counterproductive instead). (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Jan 27, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. QSL: FLORIDA, 7812.5 U, Armed Forces Network via Key West. Full data card in 5 days for e-mail report to: qsl @ dodmedia.osd.mil v/s: Robert Winkler (Edward Kusalik, Alberta, CANADA, Jan 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Rechecked WBCQ, 18910, Jan 27 at 1827 and unlike Jan 26, the carrier reduxion seemed back to normal, i.e. only slight deflexion on the S-meter when attenuated (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. One is greatly impressed by one of the announcers, obviously not a student, on the WHRB classical orgies. He does a lot but the hours are so long, you never know when a much less-experienced and less-knowledgeable speaker will have to take over. {But what they say is rather clearly scripted, perhaps by him too} Not all WHRB announcers identify themselves, and those who do are no Arnie Coros, giving their names only once or maybe twice at start and finish of a program. I finally caught his name during the Edvard Grieg orgy, David Elliot, and he`s also doing the Robert Simpson orgy UT Monday. He really knows the music he presents. I don`t find him on the current staff list, and the website does not go into much detail, but googling him, after being sure he`s not an Eliot, or an Elliott, I got a number of hits from 5-7 years ago as President of the Board of WHRB. I`m glad he`s still involved (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Re Kansas City, ex-KXTR: I can't say with absolute certainty that 1660 will stay classical under the WDAF calls, now that the website is down. They did have a "Classical 1660 WDAF" logo up there briefly, but that's gone now, and it may well be that something else will pop up on that frequency when the new calls take effect. I'll pass along anything I hear, as soon as I hear it! s (Scott Fybush, NY, ABDX via DXLD) I'll attempt to watch 1660 for any ID change and post it when I hear it. Today, At 1730Z 1/28, they made three separate announcements (one was their KXTR Internet address) all still using KXTR. I don't take the KC Star so didn't/won't see any announcement of the change in the paper. I'm retired and a fairly regular listener so I'm bound to notice the change sooner or later whenever they get around to changing on the air. At 1800Z they only mentioned that they are "audio streaming at KXTR.com on the web" No station ID given (E. "Mac" MacDonald, KR0I, Kansas City, MO R-75, Quantum Loop (+ ham stuff), ibid.) ** U S A. PSL SHUTS DOWN ILLEGAL RADIO STATION By Allyson Bird, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer, Thursday, January 25, 2007 UPDATED: 11:05 a.m. January 25, 2007 PORT ST. LUCIE - Police raided a tidy home with pruned palms in the yard and a 50-foot antenna on the roof Wednesday night. Acting on Federal Communications Commission intelligence, they shut down an illegal Haitian radio station, 106.1 FM. Police met two FCC agents from Tampa at 7:30 p.m. The agents' car zeroed in on the radio signal with antennas built into the roof and a GPS that showed the signal's strength on the dashboard. Police in raid gear filed into the home at 1573 Southwest Nervia St. just before 8 p.m. as uptempo songs with Creole words spilled from the house to Port St. Lucie listeners tuned in. Police Sgt. Derek Brieske said the operators likely profited from advertising money. Wednesday marked Port St. Lucie's first radio station bust. A man sat in front of a computer in a back room, apparently working as the station deejay. Police did not take him into custody after the homeowner, 37-year-old Roubens Maignan, took full responsibility for the station. Police charged Maignan with unauthorized transmissions. He remained at the St. Lucie County Jail today in lieu of $2,500 bail. Brieske said Maignan had a previous out-of-state armed robbery arrest, which was later dropped. He cooperated with Wednesday's investigation and told police he did not know the station was illegal. Two FCC agents made their way to his door, wiping their feet and readying their cameras. Maignan's wife and daughter pulled up to the house during the search. An adult cousin took custody of the 5-year-old girl and an 11-year- old daughter who was in the home when police first arrived. Maignan's 19-year-old son squealed his Honda into a neighbor's driveway as the evidence technician loaded the station equipment into a crime-scene van. Officers ran over to Jean Louis Prophete, who they charged with resisting arrest without violence. He was not charged in connection with the radio station. By then the music had stopped. At 9 p.m. Brieske took hold of the station microphone. "This is the special investigations unit of the Port St. Lucie Police Department," he said. "This is an illegally operated radio station. It's being shut down." 106.1 FM fell to static. Find this article at: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2007/01/25/0125station.html (via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) ** U S A. Live and Local takes a hit in Tampa - I guessed wrong A week ago tonight I reported on a development in Tampa radio --- ``The announcement was not hard to pre-guess. As I suspected, Mark announced his "retirement" from his three-hour Sunday evening show, one of the very few liberal voices (Lionel, Saturdays, another) on FLA. The "choice" of retirement was "offered" to him over lunch`` Then I speculated on what would replace his local take on what was largely local content --- ``. . .last show after being cut. Maybe at the staff meeting tomorrow, when they plan whether to give us the 2nd repeat of Limbaugh or the next repeat of Hannity, someone will mention that . . .`` Well, I was wrong about at least this. He was not replaced with either of my guesses, but not a lot better, with a repeat of their local afternoon drive show which was originally recorded the day after the Bush SOTU speech, adding nothing to what has been said before. Unless, of course, you missed the PM drive show on Wednesday and feel the need to catch it now. (!) This is an interesting thought about HD. Now that CC seems to feel the need to eliminate programming that may not pay its way, (ironic, in that the listener to the alternative viewpoint is probably the more likely one to go out now and buy an HD receiver, becoming an early [only?] adopter) then the whole concept of what to offer the listener in the context of nighttime HD becomes open for analysis. IOW, if they view the night time hours as so un-important that they can merely fill it with days-old repeats, then what is the justification for all the expense of HD conversions for AM night ops. --- Another thought comes to mind when thinking of stations that rebroadcast days-old talk shows. This is the concept of being a "station of record" which is a promo that FLA runs every so often when they get in a self-back-patting mood. A *newspaper* can be a Newspaper of Record. I can go to the circulation department and order a back issue, or find it at the library, and can look up a story at my leisure. "Record" implies that the information they broadcast is accessible to anyone at some undefined future point to check facts, or for whatever purpose. That's because a newspaper pushes information out in "parallel" mode with a lot of "data busses" (sections) available at once. Radio stations present their product in "serial mode" with a single channel data buss, limited not by how fast one reads, but by how fast (slowly) they push it to you. A radio station CANNOT be a "Station of Record" because there is no practical way for any listener to access a previously broadcast story, on terms that are reasonably available to the listener. He or she would have to go to the station and convince them to make available logging tapes (if they are even available) (unless there are a few stations that are archived by 3rd parties for a fee). I'd bet a court order would be needed for this to happen. Has anyone ever done this? I hear that there are stations that do NOT archive content to avoid such situations, similar to the idea of businesses archiving (or not) e-mails (Bob Foxworth, Tampa FL, 2234 est Jan 28, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** U S A. 506 kHz, WD2XSH/10, Stanfield, NC, 0956 Jan 28, 600 meter experimental beacon. Good signal into Nashville, TN. Slow speed CW. ID then, "Please QSL to wd2xsh.10 @ gmail.com" I did a search on the net and found this webpage about the 500 kHz experimental group: http://www.w4dex.com/wd2xsh_10.htm I also noted some European longwave stations on tonight but signals were only fair to poor (David Hodgson, TN, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VIETNAM [non]. TAIWAN/CHINA, 7390, Little Saigon Radio at 1500-1530 UT, Taipei 100 kW 250 degrees, log-periodic, Vietnamese. Ex 7380, changed on Jan 17 (Wolfgang Büschel, Jan 21, BCDX via DXLD) ** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. RADIO OF THE SAHARAWI ARAB DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC, DATE: 27-01-2007; TIME: 1745-1815 UT; FREQUENCY: 6300 KHz; SIGNAL: INS.- SUFF.; LANGUAGE: ARABIC; PROGRAM: COMMENTARY, NEWS, MUSIC, ID. Audioclip available on http://swli05639fr.blogspot.com 73's (Francesco Cecconi, Italy, bclnews.it yg via DXLD) Not much luck here with Polisario on 6300; Jan 27 at 2315 something JBA, and at 0623 Jan 28 but the latter would be when the Cuban mixing product is usually heard, until 0700. That could cause some confusion for RNRASD`s morning broadcast, but I expect it will be moving on shortly to yet another frequency (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ALGERIA, 6300, R. National Saharaui is now here from 0700 to 0900, 28 Jan. First heard yesterday pre-2200 UT. Strong signal. Will make it tough for European pirates around this frequency before 0900. Not to mention the fact Cuba has a very strong spur here before 0700 (Dave Valko, PA, HCDX via DXLD) ARGELIA, 6458, Radio Nacional Saharaui, 2302-2330, escuchada el 26 de enero en español con emisión de música pop, locutor con noticias ``problemas de mala desnutrición de las mujeres en los campos de refugiados, la media luna Saharaui hace llamamientos para solicitar ayudas de urgencia`` SINPO 34343. 6300, Radio Nacional Saharaui, 1755-1800, escuchada el 27 de enero en idioma árabe a locutor con ID y música folklórica local, SINPO 35443. 6300, Radio Nacional Saharaui, 2308-2335, escuchada el 27 de enero en español a locutor con boletín de noticias y programa de música Saharaui, SINPO 34333. Audio: http://valenciadx.multiply.com/music/item/341 Hoy 28 de Enero se vuelve a captar en 6300 a la Radio Nacional Saharaui, 2002, en árabe, SINPO 44333. 73 (José Miguel Romero, Spain, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Western Sahara/Algeria. RN RASD noted on 6300 on 27 Jan at 1715 in Arabic. Good signal (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, ibid.) Right now 1740 heard RASD on 6300 with S9 and clerar signal 45534 (Zacharias Liangas, Greece, Jan 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RADIO OF THE SAHARAWI ARAB DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC heard here in New Mexico 2250-2330 UT 27th Jan 2007 on 6300 kHz. Music, commentary, ID on the hour. Signal poor but usable (3-4-3-3-3). (Bob Combs, New Mexico, HCDX via DXLD) RN RASD 6300, at 2245 to 2258 I am hearing here in South Florida, USA with armchair signal (Chuck Bolland, Jan 27, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Thanks for the tip, Chuck. I was in fact trying to chase RASD on 6485 or 6458, and even was about to move to 7460, when I saw your posting mentioning 6300 coming here with a slight het on USB by hams in Spanish. Reception is a little bit better than on those freq. lately used, but nothing like their former 7460. Guess someone has to be after them for that constant frequency changing. 73s (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, Jan 27, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZANZIBAR. Radio Tanzania-Zanzibar 11735 still has news in English at 1800-1811, or so (relay of Spice FM). Interesting news from the surrounding region (Steve Lare, Holland, MI, Jan 28, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZIMBABWE. FIRST LICENCED PRIVATE BROADCASTER EXPECTED Financial Gazette, Nkululeko Sibanda Staff Reporter, 25 January 2007 http://www.fingaz.co.zw/story.aspx?stid=2328 Zimbabwe could issue the first licence to an independent broadcaster before the end of this year, Leo Mugabe, chairman of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Transport and Communications, said yesterday. Mugabe said the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ) had assured the committee that the airwaves would be opened up by the end of the year to allow independent players to participate. "We were told that BAZ would, by the end of August, advertise for independent players to establish broadcasting companies, a process that is expected to be completed by November, leading to the granting of the licences then," said Mugabe. He said BAZ would flight new advertisements in the media for applications for national television, national radio stations and community radio stations. Mugabe said, however, that BAZ still needed to address "legislative hitches" within the Broadcasting Act, citing sections that were unclear on foreign funding. No comment was immediately available from BAZ. In 2004, BAZ invited applications for 15 national commercial free-to- air radio broadcasting licences, but no licences were issued. Of the five applicants, four - Matopos FM, Media Integration, Voxmedia Productions and Radio Dialogue - were disqualified, mostly on the grounds of ownership. Only MABC Television was shortlisted, but it also failed to make the grade reportedly due to lack of proof of adequate funding to undertake the project (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) Bet any such station will be under the thumb of government censorship. And since when is ``flight`` as in third-from-last graf, a verb? (gh, DXLD) ** ZIMBABWE [non]. Re 7-011, jamming VOA: Hi Glenn, I have monitored this jamming of VOA Studio 7 on 17730 at 1700-1830 since January 16 from here in Zimbabwe. Jammer takes on the form similar to those of 'bagpipes accompanied by a music box'. Extremely effective in jamming the frequency. The other two VOA Studio 7 shortwave frequencies of 11815 and 4930 are not jammed. VOA Studio 7 is also jammed by a similar jammer on Medium wave 909 from 1700-1830 this jamming has been in place for several months (David Pringle-Wood, Harare, Zimbabwe, Jan 26, dxldyg via DXLD) Question remains whether such jamming on 17730 comes from inside the country (groundwave, limited range unless multiple sites), or outside (skywave, at suitable distance capable of covering entire Zimbabwe (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Been hearing a tone on 590 kHz January 27, 2007 since I first scanned thru around 1215 UT. Anyone else? 73, (Kraig Krist, KG4LAC, VA, 1600 UT Jan 27, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Dear Glenn, I hear most of the days this station on 5050 with non stop music. No ID on the hour, just pip signal. Best time to hear it, from 1430 UT. Including this recording file in the mailingbox. Many thanks, your radiofriend (Maurits Van Driessche from Belgium, Jan 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) A large 1-minute wav file. Sounds like some nondescript American soul vocal group, nothing identifiable from it; time on the file name is 1607 == CET or UT? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ Radio Days --- By DAVE MARSH. Published: January 28, 2007 http://select.nytimes.com/preview/2007/01/28/books/1154662106732.html?ex=1170133200&en=7140b426554b821a&ei=5121&emc=eta1 In the late 1940s and early 1950s, broadcasting experts predicted that the advent of television would kill off radio. Many of them didn’t especially want it to survive, since it could only hold back the acceptance of TV. In fact, the radio those experts knew didn’t survive. By the mid-1950s, the national networks that had dominated since the ’20s had all but evaporated, replaced by more than twice as many local stations. Television took over presenting broadcast drama and comedy, variety shows and in-depth news. SOMETHING IN THE AIR Radio, Rock, and the Revolution That Shaped a Generation. By Marc Fisher. Illustrated. 374 pp. Random House. $27.95. Yet radio itself survived. Radio outstrips television as a means of conveying intimacy and, precisely because it doesn’t show but can only tell, may stir the active imagination more deeply. It’s cheaper to operate a radio station, and in those years broadcasting equipment was much more mobile, making it perfect for local presentations. With recorded music (before the advent of TV, most radio programming consisted of live performance), stations found a cheap programming source that attracted enough listeners to generate its lifeblood — advertising revenue — even after TV took hold. In “Something in the Air,” Marc Fisher takes the story from there, arguing that radio — those who programmed and performed on it, and the music they played — inspired his entire generation to come together: “We grew up dancing and dreaming to the same soundtrack, and we were therefore somehow united,” he writes. “Until the Great Unraveling of the late 1960s and early ’70s, this shared pop culture was a meeting ground for our nation, a commons that we only years later realized we had lost.” But Fisher can’t deliver on this premise, because it simply isn’t true. Different groups of people experienced that period differently, and they listened to radio differently too. The kids in Fisher’s neighborhood, and mine, spent 1963 listening to the Chiffons and Motown and were led to dream of a better world. The black kids in Birmingham, Ala., spent part of that year listening to local radio not only for those hit records but for coded messages about where to gather for illegal demonstrations that concretely changed their world for the better. Those are not equivalent experiences. But most of “Something in the Air” isn’t concerned with its broad premise, and therein lies the book’s value. It provides a history of the development of radio in the postwar era, but it works best when it backs away from the general and settles upon particular broadcasters who fascinate Fisher. He writes engagingly about the late-night giants Jean Shepherd and Bob Fass, the shock jock Tom Leykis, the National Public Radio co-founder Bill Siemering, the Long Island radio rebel Paul Sidney and the white R & B disc jockey Hunter Hancock. There are reasons to quarrel with the history. Fisher likes to settle on a single source for each section, which would be fine if he’d written a collection of profiles rather than a book billed as a comprehensive historical survey. Giving a history of Top 40 radio with only a single paragraph about the programmer Bill Drake (inventor of the hyperkinetic “Boss Radio”) is like writing a history of hit singles with only a single paragraph about Phil Spector. Writing about New York City radio’s response to the arrival of the Beatles through the eyes of WABC’s Bruce Morrow, without even mentioning “the Fifth Beatle,” WMCA’s Murray the K, is just bizarre. In his chapter on satellite radio, Fisher grows so fixed on the programmer Lee Abrams of XM that the rival Sirius network all but vanishes. (Disclosure: I am the host of a show on Sirius.) The chapter on shock jocks focuses so completely on Leykis that the portions on the much more important Rush Limbaugh and Howard Stern (who gets only three pages) feel like intrusion. Fisher has little to say about anything that happened outside the East Coast. B. Mitchell Reed, the great Los Angeles disc jockey who inspired Joni Mitchell’s “You Turn Me On, I’m a Radio,” is mentioned only briefly, for his work in San Francisco. There’s nothing about CKLW, in Windsor, Ontario, which was the No. 1 station in both Detroit and Cleveland for more than a decade. Wolfman Jack is mentioned for his role in “American Graffiti” and his brief dalliance with WNBC in New York, but there is only a passing acknowledgment of his long career in Mexican border radio, which could be heard from San Antonio to Buffalo. Fisher adores late-night radio, but he says nothing about the legendary John R. and Hoss Allen of WLAC Nashville, who also had an audience across broad swaths of the nation. Fisher describes how disco divided the rock radio audience and galvanized black and Latin listeners, who had been written off by FM rock radio, though he writes about such matters superficially. He claims that black disc jockeys simply “mimicked Top 40’s style,” which I presume means he never heard Martha Jean the Queen, Butterball, Georgie Woods, the Magnificent Montague or, for that matter, the young Sly Stone. If anything, the mimicry ran in the other direction. Readers will finish “Something in the Air” with no insight into how Spanish-language disc jockeys played the key role in delivering hundreds of thousands of immigration-rights supporters into the streets of Los Angeles and other cities last year, because Fisher says absolutely nothing about Latin radio in general and its crucial role in the Chicano community in particular. Turning out those demonstrators was a much greater accomplishment than the “Rush Rooms” that sprang up in restaurants across the nation in Limbaugh’s heyday, which Fisher does mention. Fisher provides a good deal of useful information about satellite and Internet broadcasting, and there are solid discussions of the consequences of the Federal Communications Commission’s laissez-faire policy toward fairness and community service and on the Clinton administration’s successful efforts to change the rules that prevented large corporations from owning large blocks of stations. He writes a devastating account of one of the focus groups that many big-city stations use to pick their playlists, arguing that such questionable research (each recording is judged by a seven-second sample) leads to unimaginative programming. He also has the courage to defend payola: “Despite the ugly underside of the promotion business,” he writes, “the old payola had a desirable result: a wider variety of music got on the air.” The problem, in the end, is the vastness and mutability of the radio culture that developed in the half-century since TV took over as the family hearth. Fisher’s book is at its best when he lets himself speak about passions that are almost but not quite private: the importance of his first transistor radio; the way that radio and its successors blew musical winds of change into his life; the near magical effect of listening to someone who is committed not to playing good music or making political points but simply making good radio, whatever form it may take. In such moments, readers will find that they and Fisher have much to share — not as a generation, but simply as lovers of a medium that, however scorned and abused, retains its fascination. Dave Marsh is writing a history of music and the civil rights movement. He is host of the weekly Sirius Satellite Radio program “Kick Out the Jams With Dave Marsh.” (via David Cole, DXLD) DX-PEDITIONS ++++++++++++ CRUISE SHIP AND MARITIME MONITORING FWIW, based on our travels, Some ships are electrically noisier than others. It's annoying on AM but can be mostly nulled by pointing receiver around. Loops again vital here. Carnival Inspiration sails from Tampa, IIRC, sister ship is the Fascination. Only noise noted on that ship was vicinity of lights string bow to stern along ship axis. Surprisingly good reception is possible in cabins with porthole & always good topside in a lounge chair. Every now and then, some but not all ship radars will give you the zzzzzhhhiiiieeettt, audible on the receiver, as they rotate past your QTH. Not much of a problem; moving to another chair cures it. Other lines sailing from Tampa are Celebrity, all of whose ships are blissfully RF-quiet. Newer vintage NCL ships are a bit heavy on white noise particularly on BCB. LF band is free of it, & it diminishes rapidly as one tunes upwards into HF. Here is the cruise ship frequency link: http://home.earthlink.net/~ecps92/cruise_ships.htm that oughts to do it, but lemme know if it doesn't (PV Zecchino, FL, Jan 28, IRCA via DXLD) WORLD OF HOROLOGY +++++++++++++++++ BRITAIN WEIGHS MOVING CLOCKS 1 HOUR AHEAD --- By DAVID STRINGER Associated Press Writer, January 26, 2007, 4:24 PM EST http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-britain-time-for-a-change,0,4937449,print.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines LONDON -- With a single sweep of an hour hand, Britain could shift closer to its continental neighbors and illuminate the thick gloom of winter evenings, a former minister said Friday, outlining proposals to set the country's clocks in line with mainland Europe. The proposal to switch to Central European Time, 60 minutes ahead of current settings, aims to reduce road deaths, boost tourism and promote outdoor activities, Former Environment Minister Tim Yeo said. Regional legislatures in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland would be free to opt out of the system, however -- raising the prospect that London could wake up with Paris, but not at the same time as Edinburgh, Cardiff or Belfast. Yeo, an opposition Conservative lawmaker, said his plan was "a simple change which would benefit everyone by creating a safer and greener country." He said government studies have predicted a time shift would lead to fewer road deaths, an increase in tourism earnings and a reduction in energy consumption -- aiding efforts to meet carbon emissions targets. To be put formally to parliament, the plan needs government sponsorship, after filibustering legislators prevented a vote Friday. Yeo argued Friday that for the price of an extra hour of darkness each morning, Britons would have "healthier lives with more social and recreational opportunities." Though the Department of Trade and Industry said it had no current plans to change timekeeping arrangements, municipal authorities have suggested they plan to press the government to examine the options. Currently, clocks in Britain go forward in the spring when daylight savings time takes effect and are turned back in the fall, and Yeo advocated standing by the practice. David Rooney, curator of timekeeping at London's Royal Greenwich Observatory -- the point where universal standard time is measured -- said the proposed change comes exactly 100 years after lawmakers first put forward the idea of daylight savings in 1907. Britain adopted summer time in 1916, during World War I; during World War II, summer time was set two hours ahead. The nation experimented with year-round summer time from Feb. 18, 1968, to Oct. 31, 1971. "At the time, the House of Commons was told there would be permanent summer following the change. It caused hoots of laughter when the winds began howling and snow fell," Rooney said. "After three years there was no consensus on whether the trial had been a success, in part because a one-size fits all solution has never been correct for Britain," he added. Southern towns and cities traditionally bask in warmer weather than Britain's northern regions and enjoy more sunlight, meaning the effect of darker mornings would be felt most severely in northern England and Scotland. "During the experiments, some areas of Scotland were in the dark until midmorning, so it seems certain the Scottish parliament would not join England in changing time," Rooney said. Similar problems in Wales and Northern Ireland would likely see the proposals rejected in Cardiff and Belfast, Rooney said. In January in southern England, dawn breaks around 7:30 a.m. and dusk falls at 4:45 p.m. Aberdeen, in eastern Scotland, enjoys less sunlight -- with dawn at around 8 a.m. and the sun setting at close to 4:20 p.m. Scottish legislator Angus MacNeil said England had won a "latitude lottery" and already had a longer day than Scotland. It would be small-minded and unfair to impose on Scots a 9:30 a.m dawn, he said. Lawmaker Charles Hendry told the debate separate time zones could "fragment the nation" and warned London's booming financial industry would be hit (via Brock Whaley, GA, Jan 26, DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING DRM: see GUIANA FRENCH; INDIA. IBOC: USA WFLA ++++++++++++++++++++ PROPAGATION +++++++++++ NEWS FOCUS --- WEATHER FORECASTING WAY OUT THERE --- Richard A. Kerr Science 5 January 2007: Vol. 315. no. 5808, pp. 36 - 37 FALL MEETING OF THE AMERICAN GEOPHYSICAL UNION, 11-15 DECEMBER 2006, SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA These days, forecasting rain or shine tomorrow means running huge number-crunching simulations on some of the biggest computers around. Meanwhile, "space weather" forecasters are still not much beyond the "Red sky at night, sailor's delight" stage of their science. Such rule-of-thumb methods have proved handy for predicting the geomagnetic storms that roil Earth's magnetosphere, fire up the aurora, and endanger satellites. At the meeting, however, researchers reported new progress but warned that empirical forecasting is approaching its practical limits. Scientists will have to answer some basic questions to make further progress in the field. Space physicist Patricia Reiff of Rice University in Houston, Texas, and colleagues have been forecasting geomagnetic storms by using low- flying satellites to measure the speed of charged particles wafting through Earth's upper ionosphere. "We haven't missed a major storm for 2 years," Reiff boasts. The method works, she says, because the measurements reveal how the next region out--the teardrop-shaped, plasma-filled magnetosphere--responds to the solar wind, which ultimately drives magnetic storms. A few hours' worth of measurements can predict magnetospheric conditions during the next few hours. The Rice scheme also learns from past storm behavior so that the final forecast is not thrown off by the commonplace "quiet before the storm," Reiff says. So far, the Rice forecast has been 98% accurate, Reiff reported at the meeting, with very few false alarms. It reliably gives a few hours' warning to satellite operators concerned about damage to sensitive electronics and to managers of vulnerable power grids on the ground. However, "we're reaching the limits of empirical forecasting," says Reiff. The next step must be full-blown simulations of space weather like those for earthly weather, preferably starting back at the sun, but "there's still some physics we have to learn," says Reiff. For example, researchers still lack a clear picture of how the solar wind drives space weather. At the meeting, space physicist Patrick Newell of Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, described how he and colleagues tried to nail down which aspects of the wind are most important for determining magnetospheric conditions such as the power of the aurora. After testing scores of formulas, they found that the best one involved just three properties of the solar wind. "The amazing thing is he fit 10 different data sets" with a single formula, says space physicist George Siscoe of Boston University (via Gerald T. Pollard, DXLD) SOLAR CYCLES 23, 24 Hi amigos radioaficionados around the world and in space! Welcome to the weekend edition of Dxers Unlimited reaching you when solar activity is still at really very low ebb. I am Arnie Coro, radio amateur CO2KK and here is item one of today’s program, solar scientists continue to scratch their heads about cycle 23’s final months --- and there are conflicting news about the possibility that solar minimum is already behind us. Yes, you heard it right, some recent statistical analysis could be interpreted as the first signs of a solar minimum that has already happened while some researchers still believe that we may see a rather extended tail end of cycle 23, while others insist it over by now. Another school of thought continues to underscore the very high probability that upcoming solar cycle 24 is going to be a record breaker, even capable of matching the super cycle 19 that sent the average monthly sunspot count up to two hundred and seven. For us radio hobby people, a super solar cycle, with a very high average sunspot count will also mean many solar flares and geomagnetic storms too!!! Now, we must just wait and see what’s going to happen during the next year and a half or so, when it would be possible to have a fairly good knowledge of the early phase of cycle 24. And now, as always at the end of the show, here is ARNIE CORO’S DXERS UNLIMITED, HF PLUS LOW BAND VHF PROPAGATION UPDATE AND FORECAST Let’s begin with the actual sunspot count that on Friday was 11, solar flux was near 80 units and the A index Saturday morning local time in Havana, that is at around 13 hours UT was a nice and low ONE, with the maximum useable frequency curve going as high as 33 megaHertz over parts of Africa, a good indication of the not too bad propagation we are enjoying despite the very low solar activity. The BAD news is that we may soon see yet another geomagnetic disturbance as the solar wind is bringing in a much higher than usual proton count that is expected to increase by Monday unleashing a possible geomagnetic storm at high latitudes. Keep time available for DXing from about an hour before your local sunset to three or four hours after sunset, and enjoy a second propagation peak starting at around two hours before sunrise, and extending no more than an hour after sunrise (Arnie Coro, CO2KK, RHC DXers Unlimited Jan 27, HCDX via DXLD) ###