DX LISTENING DIGEST 7-022, February 19, 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 FIRST SHORTWAVE AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1347 Wed 2300 WBCQ 7415 Thu 0000 WBCQ 18910-CLSB Thu 1430 WRMI 7385 Fri 2130 WWCR 7465 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 ** ABKHAZIA. 9494.76, 0340-0625 fade out, 0845-0915* and *1200-1230*, GEORGIA, 13 & 14-02, Abkhazian State R, Sokhumi, Abkhazian and Russian talks, ID's: 0540 in Russian: "Abkhazskoye Radio" and 0543 in Abkhazian by man and woman: "Apsua Radio". Abkhazian folksongs, Russian songs by choir of men, always relays of Abkhazian State R (never // R Rossii 261 LW 9840), 45344 - 35232, never heard on // 9535 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, via Dario Monferini, DXLD) 9535 sometimes thought to be a spur (gh) ** ANTARCTICA. 15476, LRA36, RN Arcángel, 2058 2/16/07. First appearance here in many months. Deep fades at tune-in from audible but not moving the S-meter to inaudibility. Pop music heard but never heard studio audio. Still audible at 2104 but faded so sign-off not heard (Jerry Strawman, Des Moines, IA, 41.38N, 93.40W. Equipment: Drake R8A + Winradio G313e + 60 Meter Dipole, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) Correlates with my log at same time (gh) ** ANTARCTICA [and non]. ANTARCTIC ACTIVITY WEEK (AAW). Remember that the Worldwide Antarctic Program's (WAP) will hold their 4th Antarctic Activity Week (AAW) this week, February 19-25th. This annual event is to promote worldwide interest in the Antarctic continent. There should be many special event callsigns on the air from around the world. For more details and a list of callsigns, please visit the WAP's Web page at: http://www.ddxc.net/wap (KB8NW/OPDX/BARF80 Feb 19 via Dave Raycroft, ODXA via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. 5049.9, 5.2 2110, Radio Yolgnu (ARDS) Humpty Doo. Program på en blandning av engelska och aborigin-språk. Musik sedan. Bästa jag hört den. QSA 3 och stabil. JE (Jan Edh, Sweden, SW Bulletin Feb 18 via DXLD) ** CANADA. Re 7-021, CJRS, 1650, R. Shalom, Montreal, imminent --- Hi Glenn, I see in their WEB pages they have photos of the antenna master build up, and also their logo SHALOM 1650 AM Their real audio streaming http://www.radio-shalom.ca/player.php?URI=stream offers programs in Hebrew, probably from other SHALOM organisations worldwide. http://www.radio-shalom.ca email for futures reports technique @ radio-shalom.ca Direction technique : Jean-Noël Guenot they say power is 1000 watts. No street address is given. They ask for money, 120000 $ Canada dollars still missing !!!!! This may explain why they are .... a bit later on starting the activities. 73's (Dario Monferini, Italy, Feb 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) My whole family originally hails from Montréal. So I am pleased to hear that my community will be served. The exact Google Earth transmitter site is on top of a building at 45 29 40N 73 39 51W. 73's (Dan Goldfarb, Brentwood, England, Feb 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC. 6099.714, (Tentative), R Centrafrique, 1440, 2/1507. CRI 6100 all over frequency; however offset of about 300 Hz enough to pick up occasional snatches of French on LSB (George Herr, CA Equipment: WinRadio g303e, R8B and NRD535, 50' wire and AmRad Antennas, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) Intriguing; not in WRTH, but PWBR `2007` has 6100v as temporarily inactive, 20 kW, 0730-1630, alternative to 7221v. But 1440 is at least couple hours before local sunset in the UT +1 tropix (gh, DXLD) ** CHINA. Re 7-021: The CNR-1 broadcasting by 3500 kHz USB has possibility of jamming. Received on another USB Chinese station (Sound of Hope?) on the same frequency. *1958-1735 CNR-1, 1735-1950* UnID Chinese program (CRI-Chinese?) de S. Aoki (via S. Hasegawa, NDXC, Feb 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CONGO DR. Radio Kahuzi (Bukavu) will temporarily be off the air as Rich and Kathy McDonald (station managers/operators) travel as guests of HCJB World Radio to the National Religious Broadcaster's convention in Orlando, Florida. HCJB has been Radio Kahuzi's partner for equipment since 1991. HCJB has chosen to honor the McDonalds for their years of faithful missionary radio service, and will present them with a special award February 19 at their HCJB Global Dinner. From Florida the Shortwave will be making the journey with them to HCJB's Engineering Center in Elkhart, IN for repairs. Later, they will make a visit to HCJB's headquarters in Colorado Springs then on to visit their home office and the Smiths (Barbara and Harold) in San Marcos, CA before heading home March 5. Presumably the transmitter will be up and operating later in March. I will try and visit the MacDonald's and Smiths during the San Marcos visit as that is only 25 min from my house. Perhaps I can do a special article on Radio Kahuzi right from the "horse's mouth", so to speak (Bruce Churchill, CA, DXplorer Feb 13 via BCDX Feb 18 via DXLD) ** COSTA RICA. Sunday morning local time, 1500z, and 9725 // 11870 are the only DGS Cahuita daytimers working. 13750 seems to be completely off. Don't think that being at a few miles South, skip zone prevents me to hear this one. 73 (Raúl Saavedra, Caribbean Beach, Costa Rica, Feb 18, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. Hi all: I have not been able to receive WWWE on 1100 kHz due to a strange interference. It sounds like a station is mixing with it that is off frequency. It sounds as though the station is drifting up and down in frequency at a fast pace and creating a horrible warbling heterodyne. Has anyone else noticed this? I'm in Jacksonville, Florida (Wayne King, Feb 17, dxhub yg via DXLD) You are hearing the rather famous wobbler. It is coming from Cuba somewhere although its cause is unknown at this time. Here`s a website with info on the wobbler. http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Plains/9543/WWWR/wobbler/ (Norbert, ibid.) I have listened carefully and experimented with this "wobbler". Just as I suspected, it's a station, likely from Cuba, that is drifting at a very fast pace up and down in frequency about 1 kHz every three to five times per second. I detuned to 1126 kHz [is that correct, 26 kHz away??? -- gh] and could hear this Cuban signal pop on and off this frequency about three to five times per second. It's, no doubt, a malfunctioning transmitter. In Cuba, the listener may no even be aware of the problem as there are probably no signals there that can compete and produce the warbling heterodyne. It pays to have a radio with decent selectivity to help understand this. I'm using a cheap SONY ICF SW7600GR. Despite it being a low-end radio, it has quite good selectivity (Wayne King, Feb 18, dxhub yg via DXLD) A Wobbler, when heard in its more energetic form sounds like a shaken sheet of metal. They appear to originate on Cuban AM broadcast stations and when strong can be heard interfering with other stations on the same channel, at times even usually dominate ones. It is not believed they are jamming, but rather the result of deteriorating and malfunctioning transmitters, possibly helped along with an unstable power grid. Re 7-021: Charles, A very interesting suggestion as to Wobbler cause. I'm listening to an Xtreme 1100 Wobbler right now at 10:07 pm ET, Feb 17 2007 (0307Z). I have audio from WTAM Cleveland, OH, on 1100, but a weaker carrier on 1098.01 kHz, which could account for the Wobbler. It is generally accepted that many Cuban transmitters are old and in ill repair. This would all certainly seem to meet your suggested criteria. Conditions tonight are such that audio from Radio Cadena Habana is not being heard, though in the past it usually has been. The next time RCH is in strong and Wobbling, I'll be better able to determine its carrier frequency without doubt. Your suggestion is possibly the best proposed Wobbler cause so far. Previously, the combination of bad power regulation and old equipment had seemed the most likely culprits, but still with no technical explanation of why they would cause a Wobbler. You may have added that missing element. Thanks, (W. Curt Deegan, Boca Ratón, (southeast) Florida http://ScooterHound.com/WWWR/wobbler IRCA via DXLD) 590, Radio Musical Nacional; 2331+ 17 February, 2007. Most odd Wobbler variant, which I will call "Looney Tunes Bull's-eye SFX" as, when sitting on the channel in USB (not nearly as noticeable in LSB), about every 1-2 minutes a quick wobbling noise that sounds like the arrow hitting a bull's-eye in a cartoon (you know that sound) would occur. Actually, quite amusing. Sitting on it as I type at 1600Z 18 February, it's still doing it, though it took about 4 minutes the first time of note, about a minute apart for the next two. 1220 unID (presume either Radio Vienteseis, Central España, Matanzas or Radio Caribe, Isla de la Juventud), 2248+ 17 February, 2007. Big Wobbler, but not enough audio to ID (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [non]. FLORIDA, 530, Air Martí 2300+ 17 February, 2007. A no- show on Saturday (heard yesterday at 2300 opening, presumably from the new 'privately contracted' airframe source (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [and non]. VOA'S THREE-PART TELEVISION SERIES ABOUT LIFE IN CUBA. "The series, entitled Reporter's Notebook, was shot on the island two weeks ago by a freelance team on assignment to VOA who had gained surreptitious access to Cuba. Through candid interviews with ordinary Cubans as they go about their lives, the series seeks to shed light on Cuba's current economic struggles, its government's efforts to control media and its citizens' desire for a better future. Images of those interviewed were withheld to protect their identities." http://voanews.com/english/About/2007-02-13-voa33.cfm (Voice of America press release, 12 February 2007 via kimandrewelliott.com Posted: 15 Feb 2007 via DXLD) Leading to video clips: http://www.voanews.com/english/Cuba-Today.cfm (via gh, DXLD) ** CUBA [non]. Glen[n], If I read the article correctly that I have included from the Sun-Sentinel; it seems the U.S. government is giving their blessing to pirate satellite television aimed for Havana, Cuba. Is this how you read it? I would enjoy hearing what you may have to add and/or how you read the article - benevolent pirate radio/television and the US government`s radio activities towards each country: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-asattvfeb18,0,1564150.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines (Jim Ellis, Geneva, Switzerland (formerly of Fort Lauderdale, Florida), DX LISTENING DIGEST) Jim, There have been several previous stories about this. All the USG has done is allow TV Martí to buy time on a little S Florida broadcast UHF TV station that also happens to be on Dish network (I think that`s the one), which is of course a pay-satellite TV service which carries hundreds of channels. There is already lots of ``pirating`` of satellite TV in Cuba, so that gives Martí another way to get thru. The pirating refers to the reception, not the transmission. This has led the Cuban authorities to step up their efforts to prevent such pirating. Of course, the satellite company is losing subscription fees, but they would never get them anyway from Cubans under the present political situation. The enforcement is not for the benefit of the company, but the state (Glenn to Jim via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. 6025.08, Radio Amanecer at 1602 UT on Feb 12 making one of its infrequent appearances, weak and low audio in unseasonably high QRN, Spanish M alternating with Spanish hymns, 1610 UT some kind of cart ID by W, back to M again. This and 6009.95 Radio Mil were the only audible Latins at the time (David E. Crawford, FL, DXplorer Feb 12 via BCDX Feb 18 via DXLD) ** ERITREA. 5100, Bana Radio heard Feb 9 via DX Tuner Sweden (IC-718 receiver with KAZ array at 230 degrees) with feature program "Eritrean Teacher's Forum". Intro remarks by man and woman 1600-03, into the feature on "Brainstorming in the Classroom" at 1603 presented by man and woman announcements in English. Included three music selections (1611-13.5 female vocal, 17-19.5 female vocal "Come Away with Me", 24.5-27 Eritrean male vocal with band) while teachers were to be contemplating answers to exercises. Had 7 questions about brainstorming with 7 answers. Discussion included material on concept maps (a.k.a. mind maps, spider diagrams, etc.) which happens to be one of my teaching interests in previous trips to Kazakhstan. Closing announcements 1629.5-1630.5 included mail address as: Eritrean Teacher's Forum, Bana Radio, Post Office Box 609, Asmara, Eritrea and tel no. of "12-55-46". At 1630.5 played an Eritrean group vocal which turned out to be a Bana Radio song with an abrupt sign off at 1631:20. Very interesting program. Mostly in the clear until 1611.5 when a strong CW carrier came on. I was able to overcome this with a 2.1 kHz USB setting on the IC-718 receiver - readability actually improved to R4 after this setting except when the CW station actually transmitted for two, 30-sec periods. Overall SINPO 34433 until 1611.5 then 32433 to sign off. Also heard Feb 12 via DX Tuner Sweden (this an R-75 receiver with an EWE array at 135 degrees) at 0358 tune to past 0505 with strong S4 signal in the clear. Three different IDs at 0358.5 including two in what seemed like different languages and man in English at 0402.5 "This is Radio Bana, from the Ministry of Education in Asmara, Eritrea, broadcasting educational programs in English, every day from 7 to 7:30 PM and in addition on Friday from 8 to 8:30 AM .gap. to 7 PM on the MW 1089 kHz and on SW on 5.1 KHz in the 60 meter band" - unfortunately my recorder level control slipped to 0 during part of the EE ID and I did not get all the times. Played the Radio Bana "theme" song in between announcements during various IDs which were heard again at 0433 (in language) and 0503 (in language). Programming throughout was mostly Eritrean vocal/instrumental music but here and there some short features or announcements by men and women. After 0445 signal faded to S3 and picked up more noticeable QSB. I could not tell how many different languages were used in this period - could have been as many as three, but no English except for ID at 0402.5. SINPO 45544 slipping to SINPO 35433 (DXtuner Sweden via Bruce Churchill, CA, DXplorer Feb 13 via BCDX Feb 18 via DXLD) ERITREA: RADIO BANA ON AIR WITH MORNING EDUCATIONAL TRANSMISSION On 19 February 2007 BBC Monitoring observed educational broadcaster Radio Bana on air with a morning transmission, opening at 0355 gmt on shortwave 5100 kHz. The transmission commenced with a song about Radio Bana interspersed with announcements in Tigrinya and other local languages, and in English as follows: "This is Radio Bana from the Ministry of Education in Asmara, Eritrea, broadcasting educational programmes in English. Every day, from seven to seven-thirty p.m. [local time, equivalent to 1600-1630 gmt], and in addition on Fridays from eight to eight-thirty a.m. [0500-0530 gmt], and on Saturdays from six-thirty to seven p.m. [1530-1600 gmt], on mediumwave 1089 kHz and on shortwave 5.1 MHz in the 60-metre band." Radio Bana was first observed by BBC Monitoring during their evening transmission on 30 January 2007, broadcasting on 5100 kHz. Source: BBC Monitoring research 19 Feb 07 (via DXLD) ** GREECE. More about Olympia Radio: http://www.coastalradio.org.uk/athinai.htm http://www.klingenfuss.org/hotfrequ.htm --- search for Olympia Radio. https:\\www.shom.fr/GanHtdocs/02/16/2/4/FR_RSX921-0216.pdf http://www.ukho.gov.uk/amd/wnm%5C2002%5Cweek05_406-545%5C05wknm02.pdf page 118! (Wolfgang Büschel, BCDX Feb 18 via DXLD) 5865, Voice of Greece, 0000, 02/14/07, in English. ID by YL in various languages with music mixed in. Fair/Good (Ken Wilson, Georgetown, KY. Equipment: NRD545, NRD525, R8A receivers; Wellbrook K9AY & ALA1530 antennas, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) That would be Olympia; their transmission opening sequence also as on webcast, other SW frequencies (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) Apodimos: I enjoyed another English-Greek broadcast of Angelika Timm's "Greek In Style" UT Monday at 0010-0110. The popular Greek music with song titles in both languages and the films that they were from were a big help in my enjoyment. 9420 came in like a local station at the beginning, but became a little noisy as propagation diminished toward the end of the broadcast. However, 7475 was steady all the way through. 12105 never makes it here (John Babbis, MD to ERA, Feb 19, via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I also enjoyed listening to it, on webcast (gh) 15630 once again had lots of carrier breaks when checked Feb 19 at 1520. In fact, I counted 13 of them during a 1-minute period, when the transmitter was off more than it was on. When will they ever overcome this or give up? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HONG KONG [and non]. RESPECTED HK BROADCASTER FACES UNCERTAIN FATE By James Pomfret HONG KONG, Feb 5 (Reuters) - For decades now, broadcaster Radio Television Hong Kong has held a trusted place in the public eye as a champion of editorial freedom, not unlike the BBC after which it was modelled. RTHK, which functions as a government department with full public funding, is arguably the most liberal and critical public broadcaster operating on Chinese soil today. Its airwaves buzz with talk-show barbs against contentious government policies and human rights cases in China, including the five-year jailing of Singapore Straits Times journalist Ching Cheong on spying charges. Now, some say, a major public broadcasting review initiated by the city's government last year threatens to mute its unique voice and heighten tensions in an already bristling newsroom. Critics call the review an ill-disguised attempt to muzzle RTHK under pressure from conservatives in Beijing, who in recent years have been cracking down on already scant mainland media freedom -- despite some relaxation of rules for foreign reporters in the run-up to the 2008 Olympics. RTHK's struggle to resist becoming a government mouthpiece began in the 1980s during British colonial rule, and is by no means unusual for a public broadcaster, the BBC included. "It's been a sort of incremental struggle to win independence if you like -- just flexing your muscles and doing things," said Cliff Bale, RTHK's head of English news. Pressure from government and hard-line Beijing voices, both explicit and implicit, surfaced especially after sensitive interviews, such as those with Taiwan politicians like Vice-President Annette Lu. But RTHK's present plight mirrors the tensions that have simmered in Hong Kong since the colony reverted to Chinese rule in 1997, and incessant fears that Beijing would further erode the latitude now enjoyed in one of Asia's freest media arenas. Raymond Wong, a veteran former news executive handpicked by the government to head the review committee, parries accusations that there is any hidden censorship agenda. He argues the review will bring a much-needed governance overhaul of a hulking, septuagenarian broadcaster that has suffered through a number of minor corruption scandals. What is being proposed in a final report due in early February, Wong says, is for RTHK to separate fully from the government and instead become "an independent, public broadcasting corporation". "Let's face it, the way RTHK's run right now is untenable," Wong told Reuters in an interview. PUBLIC BROADCASTING CORPORATION Funding would still largely come from public purse strings but RTHK might have to stump up as much as a fifth of its operating expenses on its own within 10 years. The liberal nature of those proposals -- some of which were tentatively aired last September -- surprised some media commentators. But persistent delays in releasing the final report originally due at year's end have raised fears of interference. "What we are hearing is that pro-Beijing voices are trying to influence the review committee, and that might be a reason for the delay," said an RTHK staff source on condition of anonymity. But Wong said it would be unwise for the government to attempt this. The government "can either accept the whole thing as it is, they can cherry-pick, or they can throw the damned thing away, which I doubt they'll do because they'll have a hard time explaining it", Wong said. "TENSION" RTHK editorial staff say government officials call the newsroom regularly to challenge reports critical of policies, while offering a more positive spin -- suggestions that sources say have sometimes been taken up. A government source close to Chief Executive Donald Tsang explained the Hong Kong leader's difficulties. "He's fairly relaxed about (RTHK). But he would certainly realise over the years, there's been quite a bit of pressure from certain camps that RTHK should be more of a government mouthpiece and should not be critical, or controversial, particularly when it comes to government policies," the source said. "There's always been this tension," the source added. That tension has sparked notable casualties, among them Mak Yin-ting, a former assignment editor with RTHK's Chinese newsroom, who decided not to renew her contract last year. "I was unhappy at the editorial line being taken," Mak, a former chairwoman of the Hong Kong Journalists Association, told Reuters. Despite this, Mak said the likely separation of RTHK from government could reduce some government interference, but only if RTHK's public funding were guaranteed along with an independent, democratically elected board of governors. "A real, genuine corporatisation is good for RTHK, for public service broadcasting. But I don't think the government will lose its hand in this regard," she said (RTw 02/05 1303 FEATURE-Reuters, via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** ICELAND. Hi all, Hearing what I presume is Iceland with usual chat between man and woman that I heard in the past. 13865 Iceland Feb 18 at 1845 UT tune in with talk in that Nordic language we all love and enjoy. Fair to poor. [Later:] The Icelandic Radio log was indeed them. Many mentions of Reykjavik past 1900. Went off at 1912 UT (Mick Delmage, AB, Collins HF-2050, Ant: 7-30 MHz KLM Log Periodic, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Contrary to Anker`s observations, which may have been correct for that date only, since ISBS timings vary, on Feb 19 as early as 1422 I was getting very weak talk and no music, which I think was ISBS and not R. Free Asia (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. AIR THIRUVANTHAPURAM 7290 ON LOW POWER Dear Friends, I am back in Hyderabad after a recent trip to Kochi & Minicoy to attend the Lakshadeep Dxpedition conducted by National Institute of Amateur Radio. More details are in http://www.vu7.in AIR Thiruvanthapuram is not heard lately on 7290 kHz. When I contacted the station I was told that they are operating with very very low power on that frequency due to technical problems. It is to be solved soon. However 5010 is heard as usual. They have a new website viz. http://www.airtvm.com AIR Aligarh on 9470 also is not heard with National Channel at 1320- 0043 lately. 73 (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, National Institute of Amateur Radio, Raj Bhavan Road, Hyderabad 500082, India, Feb 17, dx_india via DXLD) Isn`t 7290 the one which kept jumping to other frequencies? (gh) ** INDONESIA. However on Sunday Feb 18, at 1424, the big carrier and hum was back on 9526, so was 11785 later in the day a one-day event? (Glenn Hauser, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Guess not: v11784.85 VoI: Nach Reinhold's Tip von gestern, jetzt seit 1600 UT wieder in Arabisch in der Luft, geht noch bis 2100 UT in den verschiedenen Sprachen. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, Feb 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hoy 18 de Febrero se aprecia a la Voz de Indonesia emitir en español por la frecuencia de 11785, muy buena señal pero ligeramente interferida. 73 (José Miguel Romero, Spain, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: 11785, Voz de Indonesia, 1700-1800, escuchada el 18 de Febrero en español con sintonía, cuña de identificación, locutor con boletín de noticias, reportaje sobre una casa para ancianos, el programa “Música popular Malaya”, reportaje “Conociendo Indonesia”, SINPO 43443. Audio: http://valenciadx.multiply.com/music/item/422 (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia), España, Sangean ATS 909, Antena Radio Master A- 108, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) La señal de La Voz de Indonesia, también sintonizada por Tenerife, Canarias. También interferida por otras emisoras, pero audible; estaban emitiendo música con breves noticias al final de la emisión, a eso de las 18 UT. Consultando las listas de frecuencias, se hace referencia a los 9525 y a los 15150 kHz, y no a la frecuencia de 11785; intenté la recepción por las otras frecuencias y no había manera. ¿Se trata de un cambio de frecuencias? Saludos (Tomás González, Feb 18, Noticias DX via DXLD) Saludos Tomás, eso parece, pero hay que estar atentos en los próximos días para ver si siguen emitiendo por esa frecuencia; en 15150 hace semanas que no emiten y en 9525 es muy difícil sintonizarla en España. El programa de hoy lo estoy subiendo a Multiply; en unos minutos estará disponible. Se puede apreciar que el programa emitido hoy es de la época navideña; hay una noticia al respecto y han puesto un villancico. 73 (José Miguel Romero, ibid.) Geez, sez VOI is running a 2-month old program in Spanish (gh, DXLD) Don Jose Miguel, estaremos pendientes los proximos dias en la medida de lo posible. En la página http://www.rri-online.com anuncian las tres frecuencias. Aprovecho para agradecer su gran labor; Vd. es responsable de que personas como nosotros disfrutemos, mejor informados, de nuestra común afición. Saludos nuevamente (Tomás González, Canarias, Noticias DX via DXLD) Gracias Tomás por sus palabras; no es para tanto, lo importante es disfrutar de este apasionante mundo que es la radioescucha. Muchas gracias, atentamente (José Miguel, ibid.) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. I am Arnie Coro in Havana, and here is item one. It`s related to the ongoing solar cycle`s minimum. When HF propagation conditions are poor, then it’s time to enjoy many other aspects of the radio hobby, like homebrewing receivers, installing new VHF and UHF antennas, and even attempting to do some interesting radio astronomy experiments like listening to planet Jupiter’s rather easy to pick up signals on frequencies within reach of many short wave receivers and using very simple , easy to install antennas. If you happen to have an amateur’s band Yagi antenna capable of operating on the 15 meters or 21 megahertz ham band, then you will certainly be able to pick up Jupiter’s natural radio signals regularly. By the way, they sound like waves slowly moving over a sandy beach, and going back again (RHC DXers Unlimited Feb 19, via ODXA via DXLD) I am not sure I have heard this, distinguishable from other noises. How broadband is Jupiter? What are the upper and lower frequency limits? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. WRN SCHEDULE REDUCTION ON SIRIUS SATELLITE RADIO John Figliozzi writes: Sirius Satellite Radio has reduced the World Radio Network’s availability on its subscription satellite platform by making WRN’s carriage subject to preemption in extended blocks of time for sports events and advertising. Formerly carried full time on channel 140, significant unannounced preëmptions began on 14 February. WRN was unavailable from 7pm ET until 2am ET during weekdays and from noon to 2 am ET on weekends. Most of the reclaimed time was used by Sirius to run a constant loop of promotions for its sports content. Attempts to obtain further information from both Sirius and WRN were not immediately forthcoming. Sirius VP of Communications Patrick Reilly said in a written statement said only that “WRN is on now” and that the two companies had just renewed their agreement. Questions about the planned extent of the preëmptions and the rationale behind them went unaddressed. Attempts by Sirius subscribers to obtain further information or to protest the changes were answered by customer service personnel with statements of regret over the subscribers’ disappointment and claims that the satellite radio service listens to its listeners wishes, but no further elaboration or clarifications about the changes were provided. Andy Sennitt adds: This affects Radio Netherlands, as it means our broadcast scheduled for 0500 UTC (midnight ET) is no longer available via Sirius. However, if the above preemption pattern continues, our broadcast at 1300 UTC (0800 ET) should still be available via Sirius every day, and our broadcast at 2300 UTC (1800 ET) will be available via Sirius Mon-Fri only. We will try to get clarification of the situation as soon as possible. (February 18th, 2007 - 12:08 UTC by Andy, Media Network blog via DXLD) Regina Gervais Says: February 18th, 2007 at 15:24 e This is no real suprise to me as WRN’s content sounds like a stuck record anyway with the amount of repeated material, often with news that’s out of date by the time it’s broadcast. Reduce WRN and keep the BBC - that’s a much more valuable global news service. Andy Says: February 18th, 2007 at 17:11 e WRN is not responsible for the content of the broadcasts. That depends on what the individual broadcasters feed to London. Most international broadcasters have very limited budgets and resources, and do not even try to compete with the BBC for depth and breadth of global news coverage. If you only want news coverage, then fine - listen to the BBC. If you want to hear a wider range of opinions about major issues, then listen to some of the output on WRN. Per the hours above that means that WORLD OF RADIO will be available on WRN via Sirius only on Sundays at 0932 UT (gh, DXLD) Perhaps they are preoccupied with something else at Sirius --- ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. XM AND SIRIUS TO MERGE? I just came upon the following item. I have no idea how reliable this is. http://www.nypost.com/seven/02192007/business/heavenly_deal_business_peter_lauria.htm XM And Sirius To Announce Merger --- According to the NY Post, XMSR and Sirius will announce a merger as early as today. Both Sirius and XM trade near multi-year lows as their subscriber growth decelerates and they face competition from new consumer electronics devices like the Apple (AAPL) iPod. The companies each has over $1 billion in debt. A consolidation is seen as way to save hundreds of million of dollars in redundant costs, but the FCC may resist a merger which would eliminate competition in the satellite radio market (via Mr. Sandy Finlayson, Philadelphia, PA, Feb 19, swprograms via DXLD) Viz.: HEAVENLY DEAL --- By PETER LAURIA February 19, 2007 -- Satellite radio operators Sirius and XM are expected to announce their long-awaited merger today, according to a source familiar with the deal. The two sides were locked in negotiations over the weekend trying to hammer out a final agreement with an eye toward going public with the merger today in Washington, D.C., where XM is based, this source said. Talks were still going on at press time and the deal could fall apart at any time. With antitrust issues of paramount importance, this source said lawyers for both companies were working overtime to fine-tune the language of the agreement and frame the discussion around the deal itself and not regulatory concerns. The transaction is expected to be structured as a merger of equals, but given Sirius' higher enterprise value, shareholders in the Mel Karmazin-led firm will likely come away with a larger percentage of a combined company. According to the source, XM Chairman Gary Parsons will retain that title in the combined entity, with Karmazin likely taking the CEO role. It is unclear what role, if any, XM CEO Hugh Panero will play. Combining Sirius and XM would result in a single satellite radio operator with more than 12 million total subscribers. A deal would also marry Sirius content, such as Howard Stern, Frank Sinatra and Nascar with XM's Oprah Winfrey, Bob Dylan and Major League Baseball. More important, analysts widely predict that a deal would also save the two companies nearly $7 billion annually. Karmazin and Parsons have been dropping hints since last summer about a possible tie-up, believing that competition from terrestrial radio, online radio and mobile music devices such as iPods have not only expanded the marketplace but also lowered the regulatory hurdles to a deal. In a note on Friday, Bear Stearns analyst Robert Peck speculated that Sirius and XM needed to move quickly before their window of opportunity closed. Gaining regulatory approval "could take up to 15 months; hence, we think any proposed deal needs to be announced by the end of March to close by mid-2008," Peck wrote. On Friday, XM shares hit their lowest point since early November while Sirius shares were approaching 52-week lows. Shares in both companies did trade on heavy volume and ended the session higher, with Sirius gaining 10 cents to close at $3.70 and XM jumping a dollar to $13.98 (NY Post via BROCK WHALEY, GA, DXLD) There was a more detailed WSJ article I spotted on Saturday. It was less rosy regarding the possibility of a merger: "Mr. Martin's support for a deal would be critical to its success. The political climate at the Republican-controlled commission has been more strained than usual since Democrats took control of Congress, and it isn't clear that the five-member commission's two Democrats could be persuaded to support a further consolidation of the market, given their staunch opposition to relaxing media-ownership rules." Full article for WSJ subscribers: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB116899806305378365-search.html?KEYWORDS=sirius&COLLECTION=wsjie/6month or http://preview.tinyurl.com/3bnmfu (Richard Cuff, swprograms via DXLD) The Associated Press has now picked up the NY Post story. See, for example, http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/X/XM_RADIO_SIRIUS?SITE=WFMZ&SECTION=BUSINESS&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT or http://preview.tinyurl.com/23hvkv Also, the WSJ has updated its story. See http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117190978981912915.html?mod=home_whats_news_us or http://preview.tinyurl.com/yvxjlx Quoting the WSJ story: "Satellite radio operators XM Satellite Radio Holdings and Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. are in final merger discussions, a person familiar with the matter said Monday. The two are nearing an agreement but have yet to ratify a definitive contract, this person said." (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA, Feb 19, swprograms via DXLD) SIRIUS AND XM MERGE http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/070219/nym038.html?.v=75 WASHINGTON and NEW YORK, Feb. 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- XM Satellite Radio (Nasdaq: XMSR - News) and SIRIUS Satellite Radio (Nasdaq: SIRI - News) today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement, under which the companies will be combined in a tax-free, all-stock merger of equals with a combined enterprise value of approximately $13 billion, which includes net debt of approximately $1.6 billion (via Fred Waterer, Ont., dxldyg via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. WORLDSPACE UNENCRYPTS SOME CHANNELS INCLUDING CAROLINE List members who have Worldspace Radios will be interested to know that a lot of channels have gone unencrypted this week including Radio Caroline. Not sure whether this will be a permanent arrangement but the Afristar West service is due to end anyway in November as they are proposing using it for an Italian mobile service, which will not be able to be picked up on the current receivers. They have not been accepting any new subscriptions for some months and all current subscriptions have been extended for free. The list of unencrypted channels heard today are: Caroline, Foxsports, Shuva Is, Upop, Esperance, Talksport, Sud FM, Lamp FM, Afe Expat, Europe 1, Sunrise, WRN 1, WRN 2, Liveway, Bloomberg, Fox News, BBC WS, NPR, CNN, Virgin, African Learning Channel, RFI and Channel Islam (Mike Barraclough, Feb 18, BDXC-UK via DXLD) ** IRELAND. LOBBY NOW FOR SHORTWAVE BROADCASTS Hi Glenn, It is reported in today's Sunday Independent newspaper that pressure is mounting on the Irish Government to amend legislation currently being debated in the Irish Senate (Seanad Éireann). The proposed legislation would premit Irish Television Stations to be broadcast internationally. Pressure is now mounting apparently to amend this legislation to include international broadcasts of Irish radio stations. This pressure is mainly coming from Irish emigrant groups and also groups representing the blind. This is an opportunity to anyone around the world that would like to hear RTÉ on shortwave permanently to lobby their local Irish Embassy or Consulate for a change in this legislation! The time is now. Best wishes, (Paul Guckian, Co Clare, Ireland, Feb 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRELAND. 3910, NO ID, 2240-2248, escuchada el 18 de febrero con emisión de música de ópera, locutor con comentarios; no acabo de identificar el idioma, parece inglés, ¿Algún armónico? SINPO 24232; 73 (José Miguel Romero, Spain, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Según la base de datos http://www.emisoras.com.ar/ pertenece a Reflections Europe con emisión 1600-2330 los domingos con destino Europa en 3910, 6295 y 12255 kHz. Un cordial saludo (José Bueno, Córdoba, España, ibid.) IRLANDA, 3910, Reflections Europe, 2240-2248, escuchada el 18 de febrero con emisión de música de opera, locutor con comentarios, no acabo de identificar el idioma, parece inglés, SINPO 24232 (José Miguel Romero, ibid.) ** KOREA NORTH. D.P.R., 9335, Voice of Korea verified with a full data "Radio Pyongyang" picture postcard in 69 days. Package arrived in slightly torn brown envelope with a form letter requesting further reports, English program schedule, a copy of The Pyongyang Times, four 2007 pocket calendars, four order forms for from the Korean Stamp Corporation to buy certain Korean mint stamps, and finally an information sheet about a composition contest addressing, among other subjects, "the immortal exploits performed by the great leader President Kim Il Sung." The winners of the contest will receive "souvenirs." (Rich D'Angelo, PA, DXplorer Feb 11 via BCDX Feb 18 via DXLD) So was your report sent direct, or by some indirect route previously believed to be necessary for Americans? (gh) ** KYRGYZSTAN. 4010 at 2258 with tones till 2301 when a hymn starts, ID, program schedule in Kyrgyz by man and Russian by woman. Music, then a song at 2312. Signal S10 44433 Kyrgyz R 4010 2304 18.2.07 Download http://zlgr.multiply.com/music/item/163 (Zacharias Liangas, Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LIBYA [non]. MOLDAVIA, 17630, Sawt al-Amal, 1205-1215, escuchada el 16 de Febrero en idioma árabe con canto del Corán, locutora con cuña de identificación, sintonía y locutor con comentarios, referencias a Libia y a la ”Democratia”, SINPO 54554. 17660, Sawt al-Amal, 1200-1220, escuchada el 18 de Febrero en idioma árabe con sintonía, identificación, canto del Corán y locutora con dirección E-mail, comentarios y segmento musical, se aprecia a la emisora afro-pop en la misma frecuencia de fondo, SINPO 54444 (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia), España, Sangean ATS 909 Antena Radio Master A-108, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Afropop was still on 17660 when I checked later around 1430, also Feb 19 (gh, OK, DXLD) MOLDAVIA, 17620, Sawt al-Amal, 1206-1215, escuchada el 19 de febrero en idioma árabe a locutor con comentarios, referencias a Libia y a la Intifada, cuña de identificación, música de sintonía y locutora con correo electrónico, emisión en paralelo por 17625, SINPO 45554 (José Miguel Romero, Spain, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LUXEMBOURG. Re 7-021: Radio Luxembourg has cancelled the English DRM service on 7295, no longer listed on the drm.org schedule or heard here today. Webcast is still on, still listed on 25795 for local reception. Confirmed on the drmrx forum: http://www.drmrx. org/forum/ showthread. php?t=1243& page=15&highlight=7295 (Mike Barraclough, UK, Feb 18, BDXC-UK via DXLD) ** MEXICO. Tim Hall, our Mexican list man just north of Tijuana, reports that two days after the "big bust," one of the stations, at least, involved remains on the air: As I write this, the three Tijuana stations XESS-620, XESDD-1030, and XHBCE-105.7 (all nominally Ensenada) are blasting away as usual. If anything has been shut down, it would be the original legitimate Ensenada stations on 920 (audible middays from my home), 1450 (audible if I drive about 30 miles inland) and 92.1 (not sure I can hear them at all). That would leave Ensenada rather underserved, while the perpetrator of this fraud remains free to (possibly) make a lot more money on his 3 new San Diego market stations. 620 is ESPN Deportes (slightly bothered by KOGO-600 IBOC hiss during the day). 105.7 is leased to XEPRS-1090 for sports talk and Padres games. I'll have to listen for a while to hear what the 1030 station is programming now. They were still running Mexican oldies last week. Recall that we also have a 1040 in this market (KURS "the soul of San Diego", owned by the same individual but currently leased to a Baptist church in downtown San Diego). Nice detective work, SCT. Inspector Clouseau would be proud. 73, (Tim Hall, Chula Vista, CA (via John Callarman, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. Ett qsl att rapportera faktiskt: XEDF Radio UNAM, Mexico 9599,3. Två email. Lic. Antonio Morales Cortés, Sub director (Jan Edh, Sweden, SW Bulletin Feb 18 via DXLD) ?? XEDF is a commercial station on 1500, per John Callarman`s newly compiled Mexican list (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA. APPLICATIONS/CONSTRUCTION PERMITS DISMISSED: 1210, KGYN, OK, Guymon - Application was to move the station to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma with U4 50000/10000 (Bill Hale, AM Switch, NRC DX News Feb 26 via DXLD) Well, well, the Panhandle gets to keep its only AM radio station (Glenn Hauser, Enid) ** OKLAHOMA. 1580, KOKB, OK, Blackwell. 2/7 0859 EST. SUV/car ad; dual legal ID at 0859:50 “KOKP Perry-Stillwater, KOKP Perry-Stillwater, and KOKB Blackwell- Ponca City....radio network”. Not sure why KOKP was given twice, unless it is considered to be the “flagship” of this two- station network. Poor in QRM; one of these was slightly off-frequency at about 1580.03 (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge CO, DDXD West, NRC DX News Feb 19 via DXLD) Answer: One of these two Perry stations is actually KOSB 105.1 FM, not shown as a // in the 27th Log --- thus this is a three-station ID, not two. A visit to their website reveals that the stations’ format is all sports, not talk and sports as in the 27th Log, and they use the slogan “TriplePlay Sports, not the Log’s “Double Talk Radio,” so please make these changes in your Log. The three stations carry Fox Sports (Bill Dvorak, DDXD-W Ed., WI, ibid.) ** OKLAHOMA. KAKC, 1300, Tulsa, noted for the first time today (2/17) with sports programming -- ESPN Radio and Fox Sports Radio, "AM 1300 The Buzz" and "Building the Buzz Sports Network". KTBZ-1430 still using "The Buzz" slogan as well. Tulsa now has 3 AM sports stations: KAKC-1300, KTBZ-1430 and KYAL-1550. Dropping its former "business radio" format. Not sure when the format switch happened. Awaiting a response to my email inquiry (Bruce Winkelman, AA5CO, Tulsa, OK, R8, Quantum Phaser 2 - 50 foot wires, Feb 17, IRCA via DXLD) Still IBOC? ** PERU. 4746.85, R. Huanta Dos Mil, 1014, 2/16/07. Fair, man with greetings, local announcements, TCs, slick canned ads and promos. Much better than when logged on 4755.09 in early Jan (John Herkimer, Caledonia, NY, NRD-535D (Kiwa), Etón E1-XM, 100 ft longwire, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ** PERU. Re 7-021: 4856.43, Radio La Hora, (presumed), 1100-1120 Feb 19. Noted a man in Spanish comments. Later at 1111, he is joined by a female announcer. Starting to fade by 1117. Best heard using the R390A receiver, while the signal was poor still (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston, Florida, R-390A, Homemade Vertical Rhombic, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. New 5920.0, 2245-2300 10-02, Yelizovo, Far East, Russian announcement, songs, 2257 Russian National Hymn in relay of R Rossii, ex 6075 which is covered here by Deutsche Welle; 15121 heard // 4050 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, via Dario Monferini, DXLD) Yelizovo? HFCC B- 06 called 6075 Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy, at 18-14 (gh) ** RWANDA. 6055, R. Rwanda, Kigali, chances to listen to also at beginning of transmissions 0400+ or 0500+ (Walter Eibl, WWDXC via DXLD) ** U A E. Re Dubai SW site scrapped in 2004: Google Earth and Maps Live.com imagery. In past months we took for grated, that the Emirates Radio Dubai SW site had been scrapped in 2004. No SW antenna masts and tx house noted when looked out for on Google earth imagery sites. ITU G.C. 25N14 55E16. Last logs of UAE Radio Dubai noted by yours truly on 27 May 2004. (wb) Viz.: History: UNID distortion signal - Two tone signals centered on 15397.8 and 15398.9 kHz. UAE [tentative] A terrible UNID two carrier signal noted in approx. 1400-1800 UT range on May 27th. Seemingly one faulty unit of the UAE txs, which heard with similar distortion in the past on v21598 kHz. Two BUZZ tone signals centered on 15397.8 and 15398.9 kHz. (wb, May 27, 2004 in Italy) (BCDX Feb 18, 2007 via DXLD) ** U K [non]. Would those of you awake DXing at 11-12 UT Monday check out these new BBC frequencies in Spanish, and try to figure out where they are coming from? And also please check 13760 where this used to be via Guiana French, and 6140 which used to be Greenville, and was later reported to have R. Republica. Thanks (Glenn Hauser, circa 0500 UT Feb 19, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) As in previously published: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/spanish/latin_america/newsid_6362000/6362867.stm Glenn, I checked all of your frequencies (13570, 13870, 13760, 6140, 5100, 6300) between 1100 and 1146 and they were all NIL heard for any signals (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston, Florida, Feb 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) And I happened to wake up at 1148 and also found nil on 13870, 13570, 6300, 5100. Is BBC Mundo living in a fantasyland? Noel Green suggests that perhaps the frequencies mentioned were not meant to be specific but as a range, somewhere within which they would transmit, the limits of the bands; at least that applies to 22 m, but that`s not the way the announcement reads (Glenn Hauser, OK, Feb 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. Union calls strike at BBC over planned job losses LONDON (AP) -- British Broadcasting Corp. technical staff have called a strike for Feb. 26 in a dispute over job losses, their union said Friday. Luke Crawley, a BECTU official, said the planned stoppage was over fewer than 10 compulsory layoffs among journalists and broadcasting staff. "The BBC has achieved almost 4,000 job losses through voluntary measures and it seems madness to try to force through fewer than 10 compulsory redundancies," Crawley said. BECTU said 600 members were involved in the dispute. There was no immediate comment from the BBC, which has been pushing through a programme of cost savings (APws 02/09 1105 via Mike Cooper, DXLD) LONDON, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Staff at Britain's publicly funded broadcaster, the BBC, are to stage a 24-hour strike in a row over job cuts which could seriously disrupt news programmes, two unions said on Friday. The broadcasting union Bectu and the National Union of Journalists said the strike would be held on Feb. 26 with about 4,000 NUJ members and 600 Bectu members refusing to work. The corporation is in the middle of a three-year plan to reduce costs and cut jobs. Thousands of staff went on strike for a day in May 2005 over plans to cut 4,000 jobs from the whole corporation and late last year it said it was looking for 100 redundancies as part of that programme. The BBC was also recently awarded a licence fee settlement below its initial request and Director General Mark Thompson said in an address to staff on Thursday this was likely to put "additional pressure on existing job numbers". "We note the decision with regret but we have an obligation to licence fee payers to implement our value for money efficiency savings," a BBC spokeswoman said. "The BBC remains committed to trying to achieve these savings without the need for compulsory redundancies and we are still in discussions with Bectu and the NUJ about how this might be achieved". (REUTERS via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** U K. DRM doppio canale DRM sui 9 MHz? Ciao a tutti, oggi pomeriggio alle 15.15 locali ho notato una cosa molto strana, stavo facendo un giro di ascolto sulle stazione DRM attive in HF e ho notato che la BBC (BBSWS) oltre a trasmettere sui soliti 9470 Khz trasmetteva pure a 9480 khz sempre in DRM. Praticamente due canali DRM (Modo B larghezza 10 khz) attaccati. sullo spectrum scope del mio IC 756 si vede un "panettone" di segnale DRM largo 20 Khz centrato su 9475 Khz!! Entrambi i canali DRM trasmettono lo stesso servizio, BBC Worldservice + UK Navtex in MOT + AFS e EPG. Qualcuno ha mai ricevuto qualcosa di simile??? qui http://aycu13.webshots.com/image/12492/2003299500037864766_rs.jpg c'e' la schemata che ritrae lo spettro di questa strana emissione doppia. Saluti e 73 (Andrea IW0HK Borgnino, Italy, Feb 18, bclnews.it yg via DXLD) Double-DRM 20 kHz wide monitored from BBC; including non-audio? (gh) ** U S A. VOA takes flak from the starboard. "Oklahoma Republican Sen. Tom Coburn has released a pair of bombshell reports on U.S. government broadcasting to Iran, writing to President George W. Bush that the broadcasts 'undermine U.S. policy on Iran, often even supporting the propaganda of the Islamic Republic of Iran.'" Kenneth R. Timmerman, NewsMax.com, 14 February 2007. See also documents at Senator Coburn's website. "The solution? Coburn wants Bush to throw out the VOA board of governors and just turn VOA into a straight-up Nazi propaganda broadcaster. That’ll learn ‘em about our precious freedoms!" Wonkette, 12 February 2007. "High intensity propaganda like the effective operation of Voice of America beyond the Iron Curtain, broadcasting from Iraq's long borders and satellites, as well as clandestine intervention, may also help strengthen the internal opposition." Unnamed columnist, New York Sun, 14 February 2007. At an American Enterprise Institute event, a "questioner was not so polite. In heavily accented English, he asked a rambling and difficult to understand question, the gist of which was: How dare Ayaan Ali call the United States a democracy when it cast so many of its own people into poverty and was responsible for so much poverty and misery throughout the world. His employer? The Voice of America." David Frum, National Review Online, 14 February 2007. (for five linx see http://www.kimandrewelliott.com/index.php?id=1060 (kimandrewelliott.com Posted: 15 Feb 2007 via DXLD) I saw that last one on C-SPAN; someone questioned his identity with VOA, and he said, what`s wrong with that? One might ask, what`s wrong with him? Which language service, who was that exactly? (gh, DXLD) Update: "Were we to eliminate farm subsidies to a certain presidential candidate’s home state, [Colorado] we could add more than 50% to the Broadcasting Board of Governors’ budget request." http://www.registan.net/index.php/2007/02/16/radio-silence/ (Nathan Hamm, Registan.net, 16 February 2007 via kimandrewelliott.com Feb 18 via DXLD) ** U S A. WWVA --- Tonight I've found a break on the AM BC band away from the syndicated talk show hosts. WWVA and its live program Jamboree USA are worth tuning in to, and will give a ready answer to family members who ask, "Why do you listen to all that noise? Dr. Laura is on a local station, she sounds just like she does in Louisville." Tonight on Jamboree there's a band, Creedence Clearwater Revisited, formed from some of the original members of CCR, and the show is great (Dan Malloy, KA1RDZ, Everett MA, Feb 17, ODXA via DXLD) Hi Dan, Thanks for the tip. Sounding good. I am able to hear WWVA at my QTH in the central part of KY very well tonight. They are good copy during day time as well of coarse. 73, (Ken KG4BIG Wilson, ibid.) Guys, any Saturday night in eastern Ontario we can listen to both WWVA or WSM, 100% copy (Marshall Cubit, ibid.) So when is the Jamboree on NewsRadio 1170, which if you look at the schedule, http://2005.wwva.com/pages/programschedule.html is predominately far-right talkshows, and paid religion, a totally worthless station except for this: Sat 6:00 pm-9:00 pm The Original Radio Jamboree Note the title; i.e. Sat 2300-0200 UT Sun. Here`s a page about the show: http://www.wwva.com/pages/originaljambo.html We`re not likely ever to hear WWVA west of Tulsa. I don`t see anything on the website about live streaming altho many other CC stations are doing so now. There is, however, http://www.wwva.com/cc-common/babes/ I wonder if this gallery as the URL implies is identical on all CC stations? Why don`t I ever find pinups on public radio station websites??? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Dear Group: I am glad that you have all discovered WWVA again. To be honest, I have to credit to WWVA for the start of my early interest in radio when I was a kid. To me, Wheeling, W. Va. might just as well have been Ceylon when I was only 10 years of age. Listening to WWVA on a Channel Master 6 Transistor Radio, was "rare DX" in those years when the menu of evening television consisted of "Leave It To Beaver" or "The Twilight Zone". I wish to thank everyone for returning WWVA to my current short term memory instead of the distant memory it had become. I was just listening to said WWVA a few minutes ago when they gave the Mining Work Schedule for Midnight tonight, 24:00 ET 18 Feb; and I was thinking that, thank Heaven, the vast majority of us do not have to enter those mines. And, that the closest any of us will get to the entrance of a coal mine will be the WWVA report coming from the speaker of an AM radio. 73 and Best wishes to all, (Larry Cohen, WA2TVN, Utica, NY, ODXA via DXLD) ** U S A. WOR barbed wire radials: see RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM; IBOC from WHO, KGO: see DIGITAL BROADCASTING below ** U S A. Update on KTRB-860 San Francisco via Al Tobia: ``They are only using one transmitter site and gave up on two-site operation. The site is near Livermore, California. I’m sure when FCC updates info you’ll have it. Format now is just late 60’s / early 70’s SF rock music (just music now) but official format suppose to debut 3/1.`` [Editor’s note: The latest FCC data indicates their CP is for two sites, but they have a later application which states only one.] (Bill Hale, AM Switch, NRC DX News Feb 26 via DXLD) ** U S A. I was in Flagstaff, AZ (is there another city with that name?) today and on 1650, I heard this wonderful comment at 10:50 a.m. local time. ``Is it light outside? If it is, then you are listening to Fox Sports Radio. If it is dark outside, then I am talking to myself because our night time signal is really rotten.`` I have read, maybe a year ago, a mention of an AM station in Flagstaff at 1650. I forget what I read about it; but I cannot find it listed on the Radio Locator web page, which does catch 228 other Arizona stations. Thanks for your work, Dave (Andy Ooms, Pine, AZ, Musings of the Members, NRC DX News Feb 26 via DXLD) Andy, at some point in time a few years ago, Radio World magazine did a story on the 1650 station you’ve mentioned. I don’t know the status of this, perhaps operating from an Indian Reservation? Can anyone else offer some help with this one? (Dave Schmidt, PA, Musings editor, ibid.) Surely in Flagstaff itself; the question is if it`s Part 15 compliant. We have had items in DXLD about it if you care to search (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. As A&E`s Breakfast with the Arts gets further and further away from any arts but ``popular``, I look again on their website forums. Hardly anything has been posted in months, but here are a couple from a few months ago (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The irony is that the new format won't make them any money; the dearth of messages in this forum says more than ever I could about the new format's popularity (or lack of same). Arts lovers would wake up at 8 AM on a Sunday to see ballet, modern dance, theatre, classical music, et. al., because there are so few other shows that air such programming; pop culture sheeple have no reason to awaken early just to see the same pablum they can get in hundreds of other places. Even airing retreads costs money, so I suspect that BWTA, having alienated its audience (and having failed to attract replacement viewers), will soon be replaced with infomercials. I completely respect A&E's right to air whatever they choose, just as I respect their right to take this forum offline (as they did before and will undoubtedly do again) because they dislike what's being said here -- taking the forum offline being easier and cheaper than, y'know, fixing the problem. What I object to -- and respect not at all -- is their dishonesty. Continuing to cite the show's two Emmy nominations is dishonest. It was nominated for the old format; the new structure will certainly never receive such honors. Continuing to call the show Breakfast With the Arts is dishonest; it has only the most tenuous of associations with the arts and, were I to watch it, keeping breakfast down would not be an option (Salzberg, A&E Breakfast with the Arts forum via DXLD) Breakfast with the Arts. Really?? Really?? Just who is A&E trying to convince? Do you think anyone in your audience really believes that a) CMT, MTV and VH1 recording acts need an additional venue, or that b) Karina Huber can conduct an interview almost as well as a college newspaper reporter. The idea that a show from NYC, arts center of the world, that labels itself arts-based has such tired, tired excuses for arts is amazing. The only thing more ignoble than featuring performances of rap/hiphop 'musicians' is interviewing them, as if there were anything original they could say about that pitiful example of American popular music. And why spend money to visit arts and jazz festivals and dedicate less than 10 minutes of the 90+ available to showing some actual footage of the festival? Instead, we get a travelogue!! BORING!!!! This show is a miserable shadow of its former self. Eliot, you are sorely missed. Send Karina back to wherever she came from. And get back to really giving us some ARTS with our breakfast!!! (jazzfan, ibid.) ** ZIMBABWE [non]. TEXT MESSAGES VIA CELL PHONE GET THE NEWS INTO ZIMBABWE. "A radio station hounded out of the country by Zimbabwean strongman President Robert Mugabe has found its e-mails are monitored and shortwave broadcasts are blocked by Chinese-built jamming devices... . But, said SW Radio Africa founder Gerry Jackson, the censors haven't caught on yet to text messaging. It's a challenge to compress 'the complexity of Zimbabwe's news into 160 characters including spaces,' Jackson said. 'That's what I do every day.'" http://news.com.com/Exiled+journalists+circumvent+censors+by+text+messaging/2100-1028_3-6160323.html (CNET News, 16 February 2007 via kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) Who pays for the text messages? The recipient, or SW Radio Africa?" (Kim Andrew Elliott, Posted: 18 Feb 2007, ibid.) An interesting titbit from above story: But the censorship, she said, has odd limits. "The (radio) jammers need time off and don't work weekends, and of course we do," Jackson said (via gh, DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. Re 7-021: East-Africa format on 1044 --- Following today's tip from Björn Fransson on HCDX about an unidentified station with Africa Horn music on 1044, Walter Mola in Turin has been monitoring the channel after 2130z. Indeed, the unmistakable format was coming in with what Walter describes as an incredibly huge signal, totally covering up Spain at his location. I gave a try for it in my extremely noisy urban location, with a simple Degen portable, around 2225. Greece was of course dominant with Spain, but after a few minutes I was able to listen briefly to a female choir and rythms Eastern Africa style. It seems unlikely it really comes from an African station, but as Bjorn pointed out, Ethiopia was expected to activate two new Harris transmitters at the beginning of the year. Any idea? 73s (Andy Lawendel, Italy, Feb 17, MWC via DXLD) Hi Andy, at my list broadcasted Kenya on this frequenz; the transmitting ends at 2110 UT. 73, (Friedhelm Wittlieb, QTH: Lünen / NRW, Satellit 700 mit KW-Loop und Martens-Rahmen, member of the addx and medium wave circle uk http://www.wittlieb-online.de http://www.wellenforum.de ibid.) Yes Friedhelm, we've been thinking about it. Normally, however, Kenya doesn't go on prolonged schedule that easily. The station could be heard until midnight UTC (closing down after possible Qur`an). Language didn't resemble Swahili, either. It was almost entirely music, so a could have been a testing format. But where from? Morocco was heard on the same frequency with a separate programme, and the station was rather strong at peaks. VOA preparing to air to Somalia, from Kuwait? Oman? It's baffling. Of course one hypothesis could also be Djibouti, via Sawa's facilities. 73s (Andy Lawendel, Feb 18, ibid.) Andy, how have you then ruled out Ethiopia? WRTH 2007 lists Radio Ethiopia 1044 kHz via Mekele 200 kW to start regular operation in April 2007. OK, they are on after their regular 2100 s/off but that's not unusual for a test, this is clearly not regular programming. 73, (Mauno Ritola, Finland, ibid.) Of course I'm not ruling it out completely. But as much as I'd want Ethiopia to generate such levels, Mauno, I still find difficult to believe I'm really listening to Ethiopia on a 40 dollars portable and its ferrite antenna in central Milan. If I'm to compare listening conditions for Kenya or Tanzania, well, it's not they aren't regular here, but I have to switch to a decent antenna all the same, and I couldn't hope to get good copy at home. The same would hold true for Djibouti, I must add. You're perfectly right to say it doesn't sound as regular programming, I was discussing just that in a private mail with Max. If it *is* Ethiopia, this would be one of the most efficient new MW installs I've seen. I know Björn Fransson has mailed them, so let's hope for a verification. By the way, when trying to determine a possible direction with Salvo and Walter the other night, Salvo, who's DXing from Sicily's South- Easternmost vertex, told us the his strongest signal was due East (more like an Iranian station for him). That's not conclusive, of course, since we're regularly experiencing marked angular anomalies within our distant receptions. How is it at your location? (Andy Lawendel, ibid.) As written before: Just before 0000 UT I heard Qor`an singing and later (0010) I lost the station, so I think it was off the air. Yesterday I changed my 290 degrees KAZ antenna into a 110 degrees KAZ antenna. The station is hardly audible on my 110 KAZ antenna and strong on my other 250 degrees KAZ antenna. So that is why I was thinking of Morocco. However, when the signal on Sicily is strong from the east direction, the situation is still more complicated. Possibly more Dxers from more locations can listen tonight and find out the direction from where the signal is coming? 73 (Max van Arnhem, Netherlands, ibid.) I hear it better with my southeastern antenna than the southwestern one. Brand new transmitters setups are strong in the beginning, grounding works well etc. After a couple of years the signal weakens significantly. Also Mekele is in the north of Ethiopia. And here the signal doesn't sound so exceptionally strong, at least if compared with Radio Sawa from Djibouti. But let's see, hopefully someone catches an ID soon. 73, (Mauno Ritola, Finland, ibid.) Yes, I think it was off the air at 0001utc, after Qur'an calling, without ID. I thinked too of Morocco, but sometimes I could hear another station in Arabic language and also the singing that we're talking about. So, are they two different stations? I tried to rotate my Wellbrook ALA 1530 in different directions, but the best of all was 90/270 degrees (E/W), that in my location could be Middle East or Tangier (or Northern Morocco), but perhaps it could be that my loop in this position makes a null for the Greece and than our signal was heard better. I hope to could hear it better this evening. [Later:] ciò che sto registrando ora è decisamente AA (né amharic, né oromo, ecc...), ma la musica è come quella di ieri sera, per niente maghrebina. 73 (Salvo Micchiche, Italy, ibid.) Yes, also heard here in Arabic (or Arabic-like) talks. Only on 250 degrees KAZ antenna; not on 110 degrees! 2025 UT much more fading and less strong than yesterday, (Max van Arnhem, ibid.) Pardon, please, excuse me if I wrote in Italian :) For now I think this is Arabic, sure, and for me better with the loop E/W (perhaps because in this position the loop null better Makedhonia). (Salvo Miccichè, Italy, ibid.) This signal is very strong in the UK tonight. Stronger than Spain. Germany nulled with K9AYs looking SW and SE from this QTH. Best signal for me comes from SW because that nulls Germany. Could be Morocco. Certainly a strong signal. I explored http://www.rtm.ma/ which has no content & says it is a non-official website! There is so little news that it is worth hovering over the news icon. 73s (Steve Whitt, ibid.) If it was Morocco, it could be also in Berber (channel C) with news and announces in Arabic. I think that the station heard the last evening by Andrea, Walter and me perhaps is another, however, as the music and the format this evening were a bit different, and yesterday in some moments I heard probably two stations, one of them was surely Morocco. Here there are to clips I recorded yesterday, just to give "my two cents", hoping we could soon identify this radio :) http://www.sendspace.com/file/6smu5m http://www.sendspace.com/file/i8iyc1 73 (Salvo Miccichè, ibid.) You`ll find the download linx at bottom of page below all the advertising; second one, better, with neat sounder, played at 2x? speed (gh) On the On-line Receiver [where?] it is a S9 signal which would suggest it is Morocco. Germany and Spain are in the mix which at times is dominated by Arab music. Some snippets of French is spoken in the announcements which adds weight to this being Morocco, certainly from this location. Members much further south may be hearing a different station mixing with Morocco. WRTH lists Morocco as 300 kW on 1044 with alternative frequencies of 702, 1197, 936 + several low power transmitters. Regards (MW Circle webmaster, ibid.) After pretty much continuous music/singing all evening this station seemed to switch [to] the Kor`an at 2350 UT and probably signed off at 0000 - gone when rechecked at 0009. At 0009 Spain was pretty much alone on 1044. My bet is Maroc. 73 (Steve Whitt, York, ibid.) Seems to me with a simple ferrite rod antenna in a hand-held portable, or a box loop, a good approximate bearing on this should have been easy from the outset. Morocco and Ethiopia are at widely divergent angles from anywhere in Europe. The drawbacks of fancy antennas (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. Re DRM on 9760: Thanks Glenn, There seems to be a station, or several, just testing and tuning up digital transmissions on which frequency ever they like. Not a very nice habit. As to my new IC-718 (quick tests): The receiver part is at all not as good as the old Drake R4-C. Drake is more sensitive and the dynamics differ a lot - in favor of the '78 Drake R4. The RIT and IF tuning seem to help with "killing" the unwanted nearby AM and QRM signals (and even morse beeps) - these properties are better than the mere notch filter in Drake. 73 de (Matti Ponkamo, Naantali, Finland (KP10AK18) OH1GPU, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ MAGNETIC LOOP ANTENNAS FOR DF ON SW Re: ``Also the "exact" location of many of CRI's SW sites within China remain a mystery. Only 'one' so far has been located. be nice to have that info also - for DXers interests.`` Little late maybe to bring this back, am browsing the older emails as I've only recently resubscribed. I've made a magnetic loop http://www.kr1st.com/swlloop.htm and can fairly precise get an angle with it in the direction a site is transmitting from by rotating the antenna around its axis. It only doesn`t receive stations if you're directly looking through the 'hole' of the antenna. Then it only requires two people in different locations to get a pretty good idea where the site is located. No one else is using similar antennas? I don't have a Wellbrook active loop, but I guess these should have the same feature? Or maybe I'm missing something completely? It sounds so obvious to me, and wondered why for example the spynumber groups never used this method. Some sites of them speak of getting enough people around the world and by looking at signal strength getting a transmitter location (Jeroen Kloppenburg, Netherlands, Feb 16, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Tell us more; how accurate is it, when checking known stations? Frequency range? Accuracy varies by frequency? How about distance? Closer signals from high angles might be harder to DF. It seems the antenna is presented mainly to null out local noise sources rather than DFing (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Good question, other then using the directional properties once to look at the direction of a VOLMET station I only used it to null out interference. Here an image of the antenna I used: http://www.spaceweather-chat.info/_etc/loopantenna.jpg I just got my compass and did a readout of Armenian National Radio at 4810 kHz. I've plotted the direction on the map here: http://www.spaceweather-chat.info/_etc/4810khz.gif Ugh? Maybe it is less accurate then I thought. Unless the station isn't ANR (language seems correct though), or the station used a Northern African site? I begin to doubt myself now ... Would these variables be accountable for the difference I saw above? It seemed so obvious to me that the direction would be pretty clear and straightforward, but I guess there is a lot more to it. Excuses to use the list for building up my personal experiences! I still love the antenna though ;) (Jeroen Kloppenburg, Netherlands, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I got into this conversation late so my suggestion may be totally irrelevant. But I have found that pointing a magnetic loop antenna(in my case it's a Wellbrook) in the direction of the beam heading for the country you are trying to log can sometimes help the signal of a weak station you are trying to identify get out of the mud or at least definitely enhance the clarity of the station's signal. This seems to work best in MW and tropical shortwave bands up to 5 MHz. The North Jersey DX Association has done us a great service as on its site you can in minutes compile a beam headings list for all countries. For best results, you should know the latitude and longitude of your QTH (although you can also use your city name), and follow their directions carefully (including when to use minus signs, etc.). Here is the link to NJDXA's beam heading service: http://www.njdxa.org/dx-tools/dxcclist.shtml (Steve Bass, Columbus, Ohio, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, but, many of those are large countries, and the list implies much more accuracy than justified. Is it through the center of each country, or on the largest city, capital, or what? (gh, DXLD) TRACKING ELECTRICAL LEAKS interesting article, brought to mind various stories of trying to track down noise from power lines, etc. ef article starts out: After a small dog was apparently electrocuted while walking on an icy manhole cover in Downtown Manhattan on Wednesday, suspicion automatically fell on Consolidated Edison. It seemed to be the latest in a string of cases in which dogs and their owners have been injured, sometimes fatally. But much of the equipment that can carry an electric jolt is not owned by Con Ed. Manhole covers, for example, are overseen by the city's Department of Environmental Protection and lampposts by the city's Department of Transportation. Construction sites are usually overseen by private contractors. Still, stung by a $10.6 million legal settlement after the death of a pedestrian, Jodie Lane, in 2004, Con Ed has mounted a more extensive campaign to detect invisible hot spots of electricity in its own and other companies' equipment. When a reporter and a photographer rode along with Con Ed's mobile voltage inspectors yesterday, no voltage was too small to escape attention. "Christmas lights in flower pots kick out quite an e-field," or electronic field, said David Kalokitis, 45, chief technology officer with Power Survey Corp., which is helping Con Ed with the detection technology. . . [illustrated] http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/17/nyregion/17shock.html?ref=nyregion (via Eric Flodén, BC, IRCA via DXLD) WOR(AM), NEW YORK, ONCE USED BARBED WIRE RADIALS WOR(AM), New York, once used barbed wire radials. I think it was the late 70s, early 80s. The [old copper] radials were being stolen from the east side of our old array where the thieves could work unnoticed. The copper radials were replaced with regular barbed wire. Not only was the scrap value nothing, but having your hands sliced up served as a hell of a deterrent. Of course, the barbed wire deteriorated fairly soon – as our old transmitter site was built on a dump and the ground water tends to be brackish -- but after the perpetrators stopped bothering us, WOR went back to using copper (Thomas R. Ray, III, CPBE, KC2NTU, Vice President, Corporate Director of Engineering, Buckley Broadcasting/WOR-710HD Radio, Chairman, SBE Chapter 15, New York City tomray (at) wor710.com CGC Communicator Feb 17 via Kevin Redding, ABDFX via DXLD) The station that used barbed wire radials was WOR, NYC, and the engineer who tried it out was Orville Sather. That particular array was demolished just last month [CGC #776 video] to make way for a golf course. Ted Schober, ted (at) radiotechniques.com http://amband.us ibid.) ABOUT THE FCC'S APPROVAL OF BARBED WIRE AT WOR The idea for using barbed wire arose after a substantial portion of the WOR ground system was stolen after having been replaced following one of several fires in the trash dump underlying the site (the copper radials had been destroyed by the fire). I do believe that the barbed wire was galvanized to assure as high conductivity as practical, and I seem to recall that barbed wire was used rather than smooth wire as it was about impossible to pull a length of it out of the ground. I also seem to recall that the Commission's reaction was to approve the substitution with the condition (on the license) that the common point impedance be measured annually. What they were concerned about, of course, was potential deterioration in antenna radiation efficiency. With a network in place to set the common point impedance, the FCC's measurement requirement would not really detect such deterioration, but the RSS of the element base currents would. What the records actually showed over succeeding years I do not know, but if anyone finds out, I would be interested (Jim Kemman, Electronics Research, Inc., Jim (at) eriinc.com ibid.) ROBERT SILLIMAN'S ROLE IN THE WOR BARBED WIRE PROJECT In response to your question, Robert Silliman did work on the barbed wire radials for WOR, but did not publish a paper on the project. He wasn't much into giving papers, but he was known as a consulting engineer who would always answer questions and help other engineers out with problems.... In the New York area, one would expect to have problems with barbed wire unless it was galvanized, and I think that Robert did specify galvanized barbed wire. In the desert, un-galvanized wire might work, but galvanized wire would be better because the conductivity is better. As you know, copper conductivity is 3.57 better than zinc. Finally, if I were to use galvanized wire in the ground, I would consider adding a sacrificial ground (Mag rod) to keep the galvanized coating on the wire from deteriorating (Thomas B. Silliman, P.E., President, Electronics Research, Inc. Tom (at) eriinc.com ibid.) COPPERWELD RADIALS AS AN ALTERNATE SOLUTION At LBA, we design most of our ground systems in 40% Copperweld (TM) #10 wire. This stuff has virtually no scrap value, and there is insignificant AM loss due to the copper cladding being several skin depths thick at AM frequencies. It is stiff enough that anyone trying to pull it up should think twice about it being copper. It is also more resistant to breaking from earth movement and vehicular traffic, as well (Lawrence Behr, CEO, LBA Group, Inc., Greenville, NC 27834 lbwireless (at) lbagroup.com CGC Communicator Feb 17 via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) TOWERS AND BIRD KILLS If the Fish & Wildlife Service has its way, new towers, where practicable, will be limited to 200 feet in height, be of monopole or lattice design and contain no guy wires or lights. Taller towers that have to be built would be restricted from being guyed. And there is more.... http://www.wirelessestimator.com/t_content.cfm?pagename=Towers_Birds http://www.radioworld.com/pages/s.0100/t.1609.html (CGC Communicator Feb 17 via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING DRM: see LUXEMBOURG; UK; UNIDENTIFIED 9760 ++++++++++++++++++++ IBOC MW DX For the first time, I've received digital audio from a distant station. Noticed 1030 and 1050 essentially buried in WHO-HD sidebands (on the ham rig) and 1040 essentially local quality, so quickly grabbed the Receptor HD & hooked it to the 700' west Beverage. I was almost immediately rewarded with a WHO "text ID" on the display - and a fraction of a second later, with WHO digital audio. It stayed in in digital for about 90 seconds before fading a bit & going back to analog. I got another few seconds of digital audio around 0806 (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66 http://www.w9wi.com Feb 13, NRC-AM via DXLD) Well, if it's gonna take a 700' longwire to hear a station that can't be more than 500 miles away from you, DXing HD signals DEFINITELY ain't going to be easy! On SSS I've been able to get KFAB-1110 to display a text ID, but it couldn't quite switch into the digital-audio mode (Randy Stewart, Springfield MO, ibid.) Randy, The bigger question is, if it takes a beverage to hear bits of an IBOC signal at any distance, then "WHO" is going to buy an IBOC radio? It sure is not going to be the public. Some IBOC signals don't get across town well. 73, (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, ibid.) Certainly not on AM, but as others have pointed out, HD on FM seems to perform rather better-at least within a station's city-grade contour. I can vouch for that through experience with my station, KSMU, and the three other local FMs that have been running IBOC. I don't have trouble receiving any of them out in the southwest corner of Greene County where I live, and the lack of multipath really is a plus. But you'd have to be on the nitrous oxide AND the oxycodone I was on this past weekend after getting all four wisdom teeth (and a molar!) extracted to think this system would ever work that well on the AM band!! (Randy Stewart, Battlefield MO, ibid.) (494 miles according to the FCC's "Distance" program) No, it's *NOT* going to be easy! I've been trying for HD DX for quite awhile - I've got text IDs from WOAI (which was running their HD all night) and WOWO (on SRS) but this is the first audio. – (Doug Smith, TN, ibid.) Here is an interesting theoretical question. As we know, the digital IBOC signal is running at far less power than the analog signal despite the awful racket it creates. My question is, how far would a station running digital at 50,000 watts get out? I suspect that with skywave fading, it still wouldn't do so well, but it's just something I was pondering as I read this thread. I know digital TV has been mostly running at low power, and is having basically the same problem as IBOC. That is, people need an outside antenna to get the digital signal. I guess that's changing now, though (Adam Myrow, Memphis, TN, ibid.) KGO IBOC EVEN INTERFERES WITH ITS OWN AM SIGNAL AT CENTER CHANNEL Hi everyone, I have no idea if it is another test, or they kicked it on at 0600 PST this morning for good, but KGO's signal is really bad with this horrible hash behind the carrier right on 810. It sounds like a chainsaw behind Bernie Ward's God Talk. Now KEX does not have that chainsaw sound, even though they run IBOC. Of course KGO's hash knocks out most everything on 800 & 810 off the SW EWE. I can just imagine the number of calls KGO must be getting. The last time they ran the IBOC test after Midnight months ago, I called. This is unreal. [later:] They know about it. The first time I heard KGO testing IBOC, I called their CE and talked to him and they knew about the noise and many around the Bay area had called in asking what the terrible noise on their frequency was. Unless KGO can clean up the IBOC hash, they are going to lose listeners. It may be because of their directional pattern too. I have no clue, but I have heard directional patterns are tougher to set up with IBOC. But this noise will not do (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, Feb 18, IRCA via DXLD) I wonder if this is the asymmetry/directional antenna issue that people have been talking on the BROADCAST mailing list. I have heard something similar on WTWP/WTOP when they had IBOC on. That is why I was asking about an audio clip, so I could compare (Bill Harms, MD, ibid.) I sent KGO an email telling them what I am hearing 101 miles out from their transmitter, but still within their primary coverage. I didn't phrase it this way, but it ain't pretty. Not expecting a substantive response, but will pass on what, if anything, I get back (Bob Coomler Cloverdale, CA, ibid.) Dennis, I "hope" that IBOC was a test. There was a lot of Noise under their signal the usual "Whooshing" sound like on adjacents. It was heard under Bernie Ward's God Talk. Not fun to listen to. Plus, the audio was affected. The audio did not sound "Full" like before without IBOC. If they indeed go IBOC, I sure hope they fix the issues. This will turn people off. If it bothers a DXer who is used to noise, it sure will bother the average listener. Yes, the dial was pretty decent this morning. I am rarely up at 5:30, so I thought I would stay up and see what was coming in. Thanks. 73, (Patrick Martin, ibid.) Of all the stations in America, KGO has always taken great pride in their ability to put a clean signal into all points from Central America into Alaska. If anyone will respond to the IBOC lie, they will. Cheers and best 73, (Colin Newell, Victoria B.C. Canada, ibid.) Hi Patrick, I have noticed that ever since Friday, or possibly yesterday, that the IBOC side lobes of KGO are more noisy, as if there is data being transferred on a second channel, but remember, they have been IBOC for some time now, and the way it works right now is, that on the week days, they switch either transmitters, or, switch on the IBOC at 9 in the morning before Ronn Owens, and switch it off at 4 in the afternoon just before the afternoon news, but at least, they sound high fidelity with their IBOC, but there's got to be a way for all IBOC stations to somehow slash the side noise on the frequency to a bare minimum, if possible, and when they first went IBOC, there was slight over modulation on their signal, but now, that seems to have been corrected, and I really wish they'd at least mention their IBOC on the air, but maybe none of the stations that use IBOC do. I hope they don't do what most IBOC stations are doing, and that is, to broadcast in 5 kilohertz fidelity, like KNEW, and KQKE at 960 are doing. If your radio is in the center of KGO's carrier, you really can't tell, locally, right now, that they're using IBOC; possibly if you listened hard enough, you could, but remember, you're listening under different conditions than I am (Marty Rimpau, CA, ibid.) Marty, I did not know KGO has been IBOC for some time. The last time I caught it was during the test mode some months back. Since they run it daytime from 9 AM to 4 PM, that is a good reason I have not caught it. But the noise level is awful on 810. I don't know if the pattern has anything to do with it or maybe the extra sideband stuff. Whatever the case, it is not fun to listen to. I don't see how anyone could put up with the noise. A "Whoosing" under the talk is very troublesome. Yes, it is very unfortunate that KGO has taken the bitter pill of IBOC. I have listened to KGO since Les Crane was there at the Hungry Eye in the 60s. Later came Ira Blue and the list goes on and on. It is so sad to see what KGO is doing with IBOC. If I had to listen to them at night with that hash behind their signal, I would go nuts. By the way, my complaint with KGO's IBOC is not related to their sideband splash, but to listening to them period with their co channel hash. For the record, the hash on each side pretty well knocked out everything on 800 & 820. I just wonder if KPDQ or KGNW knows about it? 73, (Patrick Martin, OR, ibid.) Pat, About 4 months ago I sent off a e-mail to Bill Wattenburg explaining my concerts about IBOC. Told him my location and if I would still be able to hear his program if they went 24 hours with IBOC. No response, he probably gets thousands of e-mails weekly. Someone should call Dr. Bill tonight and ask him about IBOC. KGO can also be heard on-line at their web site. I did record about 30 minutes of KGO's program this morning after 1500 UT, after reading Pat's posting. (Dennis Vroomski, Vancouver, WA, ibid.) Hi Dennis and all, at present, my GE Super Radio 3 is on KGO's side channel in the other room, and the time is now sixteen after five o'clock, and Linn Tillum is on, so their IBOC is still on, and I wonder if they switch transmitters when they turn off their IBOC? I understand they were going to get rid of their notell transmitter, pardon the spelling [Nautel], but apparently, they haven't, because the quality is better when their IBOC is off, so I wonder if they switch to another transmitter when they're not running IBOC, and would they freely be open to talk about their IBOC signal openly (Marty Rimpau, ibid.) Dennis, Several months back I talked with a couple engineers. One from ABC and the other from KGO and they both told me that KGO was going IBOC, but they were having a time setting up the equipment. Maybe the directional system is the issue. But they both knew about the noise issue. I don't see how that noise is going to be 24/7. KPDQ 800 and KGNW 820 are both knocked out here. Plus the noise level on 810. I don't see how people will put up with it in the Bay area period. (Patrick Martin, ibid.) With all the to-do about KGO & IBOC I checked around 5:30 pm tonight & sure enuf they covered 800-820 easily & 790 & 830 were nastily QRMed but audible. I happened to just be on 920 at exactly the exact moment that KNEW 910 cut their IBOC. Fascinating --- Just "snap" and of a sudden signals appeared out of the void. Also noted KNEW & KQKE 960 both cut their IBOC within a second or two of each other. Possibly simultaneously? Band was full of local noises so that was enuf for the time (Don Kaskey, S.F. CA, ibid.) Hi all, I have recorded KGO's IBOC, with my Sony A100, and total recorder;, at first, it didn't work, but when I selected on board sound, and my sound card, it worked, so I don't know how people actually wanted to have the demonstration done, so I left it on and went back and forth over the carrier, focusing on the IBOC with the stereo on, and turning the stereo on and off while on the 820 side of the carrier. I went down as far as KCBS [740], but there was processor noise from the PC in between the stations, though not on KGO, so I hope this is up to people's liking, and you can download the file at http://www.mindspring.com/~mrimpau and the link that says KGO IBOC is at the bottom of the page, hope I did it okay. Also, I caught the switch from IBOC to normal broadcast at 6 p.m., very much like a transmitter switch, or pattern change, so I hope this will be okay (Marty Rimpau, ibid.) http://www.mindspring.com/~mrimpau/kgo_iboc.mp3 Wow. wow. wow. That sounds... awful underneath. Great recording BTW. wow (Colin Newell - Victoria B.C. Canada, http://www.coffeecrew.com http://www.dxer.ca IRCA via DXLD) Yes, it does - but again, that's with a Sony SRF-A100, one of a very, very tiny number of AM stereo radios that use an envelope detector that can't deal with the quadrature modulation that AM IBOC uses. This is NOT in any way typical of what an average listener tuned to KGO would be hearing. If there are a half-dozen listeners in KGO's local area using the A100 or a similar radio, more than 20 years after they were last sold, I'd be stunned. Perhaps when my local 50 kW IBOC blaster, WHAM, turns the HD back on in the morning, I'll pull out a sampling of more typical radios (along with my Carver TX11b, which has a similar envelope detector to the Sony) and record what it sounds like. Again, none of this should be construed as an endorsement of AM IBOC, about which I'm still skeptical - just a plea that if DXers want our concerns about the technology to be taken seriously in the larger engineering community, we have to be realistic about our concerns. This recording, while an accurate reflection of what the A100 sounds like when tuned to an IBOC signal, is NOT representative of what the average analog listener will hear. If it were, there's not an AM station anywhere that would be running the system in the first place. s (Scott Fybush, NY, ibid.) Scott, What I was using this morning was the Drake SPR4 from 1971. A few months back when KGO was testing IBOC after Midnight, I heard the "Hash" under their signal on the R8 too. I did not try the R8 this morning however, but I would be surprised if it would have sounded any different. If the IBOC hash is being heard under KGO's audio on a Drake in 5-6 kHz bandwidth, I would be surprised if everyone wouldn't hear it in the Bay area. KGO`s signal is S9+30-50 DB typical and I can even hear the transmitter hum. So it is basically local like most nights. KGO even made the ratings #2 in the Arbitron Portland Book in the early 70s. That was before KPDQ was on, but KGO still has a decent signal at night in a lot of Portland. I just wonder what KGO's hash would do to KPDQ at 500w in the Portland area at night? 73, (Patrick Martin, ibid.) Scott, on the other hand, I clearly heard an annoying sound under WTWP/WTOP on my car radio (in a 2004 Dodge Stratus). I spoke with other people who also heard it on their car radios. My kids told me to turn it off because it was so annoying. We concluded it sounded a bit like the 17-year old cicadas that came old a couple of years ago. It is my understanding it had to do with bandwidth issues and asymmetry involved with directional antennas. That is a serious issue for certain stations, something that is not easily dismissed (Bill Harms, Elkridge, Maryland, ibid.) Bill, OK, that is exactly the noise I am talking about. If your kids could not take the noise, then how many others will not listen to it either? It really sounds like KGO is really in trouble unless they either fix the issue or shut the IBOC off. 73, (Patrick Martin, ibid.) You're mixing up two issues here, though. The KPDQ issue is the IBOC sideband interfering with a first-adjacent analog signal. That's a very real concern, and of course it's the big obstacle to nighttime use of the system. For a station like KPDQ with a minimal (but protected class B) night signal, incoming interference from an IBOC sideband could do some significant harm. The on-channel noise issue is also a real one, but it's fixable for most stations. Bill Harms is right that it's primarily a problem for stations with directional antennas. Your typical AM DA was designed anywhere from 40 to 60 years ago with the idea that it would perform well over 10-12 kHz or so of occupied bandwidth. Not all of those arrays will easily pass the significantly wider bandwidth of an AM IBOC signal without introducing unwanted phase distortion, particularly in the nulls, and it's that phase distortion that makes the hash noise audible on a typical AM receiver. With enough careful engineering work (and a fair amount of trial and error), most AM DAs - but not all - can be made broadband enough to pass a clean IBOC signal. WTWP has particularly tight nulls in its pattern, and it's not easy to tweak the array so it nulls the IBOC carriers above and below the analog signal without introducing distortion. This is also the source of Pat's problem with KGO. Skywave, by its nature, distorts the phasing of incoming signals. That's why even the strongest skywave IBOC signals have yet to produce much recoverable audio for the DXers who've tried - and the same phase distortion that makes the audio unrecoverable also distorts the phase cancellation that should (when all's working well) make the digital signal inaudible on a normal analog radio. My educated guess is that the IBOC noise is thus much more objectionable when heard on strong skywave, as it would be at Seaside, than it would be on groundwave, as heard in KGO's home market. Sound like an imperfect system? You bet it is. But those imperfections are still much more serious for DX listeners than for typical in- market listeners, and since we're dealing with a system that was designed with the assumption that there would be no DX listening, the flaws we're seeing here were, in a sense, designed into the system. I'll reiterate that in my experience - and while I haven't been in either KGO's or WTWP's home markets since they turned on their IBOC, I've listened in a lot of other markets from Boston to LA to Seattle - I haven't heard audibly distracting background noise on any of the AM IBOC signals I've listened to, except on unusually wide-band AM receivers or AM stereo radios like the A100. s (Scott Fybush, NY, ibid.) ###