DX LISTENING DIGEST 7-031, March 7, 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 SHORTWAVE AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1349 Wed 2300 WOR WBCQ 7415 [first airing of each edition] Thu 0000 WOR WBCQ 18910-CLSB Thu 1430 WOR WRMI 7385 Thu 1600 WOR KAIJ 9480 [NEW] Fri 1130 WOR KAIJ 5755 Fri 2130 WOR WWCR1 7465 Sat 1330 WOR WRMI 7385 Sat 1730 WOR WWCR3 12160 [canceled?] Sat 2230 WOR WRMI 9955 Sun 0330 WOR WWCR3 5070 Sun 0730 WOR WWCR1 3215 Sun 0900 WOR WRMI 9955 [or 0800 with DST?] Mon 0300 WOR WBCQ 9330-CLSB Mon 0415 WOR WBCQ 7415 [time varies] Mon 1330 WOR WRMI 7385 [time unconfirmed] Latest edition of this schedule version, including AM, FM, satellite and webcasts with hotlinks to station sites and audio, is at: http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html For updates see our Anomaly Alert page: http://www.worldofradio.com/anomaly.html WRN ON DEMAND: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO [also CONTINENT OF MEDIA, MUNDO RADIAL] http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html or http://wor.worldofradio.org WORLD OF RADIO PODCASTS: www.obriensweb.com/wor.xml ** AFGHANISTAN [and non]. R. Solh, 15265 via UK, March 7 from tune-in at 1454 until 1457 again playing our favorite song as in previous report. Maybe they run it every day around 1450, some sort of station staple or theme? Propagation was poor today, however (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) This page mentions R. Solh and several other stations; not sure if it`s the same R. Solh we hear relayed from UK on 15265 (gh) AFGHANISTAN PEACEBUILDING INITIATIVES NEW! A brand new website - http://www.impacs-afghanistan.org - with information about our projects in Afghanistan has been launched with the support and effort of our IMPACS Afghanistan team! Visit the new site. You will find updates of our programs, information on the Afghan women-managed media network, downloadable audio and video files, newspaper articles, pictures and important resources on Afghanistan. NEW! http://www.impacs.org/projects/international/mediapeacebuilding/Aghanistan (via Clara Listensprechen, DXLD) ** ANTARCTICA. San Gabriel Arcángel op 15476 kHz weer terug, en zeergoede ontvangst. Met leuke Spaanse muziek, time 1906 UT, SINPO 44444. Mvg (Maurits van Driessche, Belgium, March 7, BDX via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. 5049.9, ARDS Humpty Doo being there most of the days I was in Denmark after sign off of China at 1700*. Best on Feb 14 at 2010-2035, slow tribal songs, 24532, signal mostly weaker at other times, ann: "Aborigines Radio Development System ....to develop...“ in between music program. 2031 Vernacular program (Stefan Schliphacke, Frankfurt am Main, Germany visiting Fjerritslev, Denmark Beverage Farm, DSWCI DX Window March 7, via DXLD) On Feb 08-17, our German member Stefan Schliphacke was on a DXpedition to the famous DX-site of Wilhelm Herbst at Fjerritslev near Aalborg, Denmark. Stefan has sent us a lot of fine loggings done on an AOR AR7030* shifting between 21 Beverages and Longwires 80m – 480m of length! (Anker Petersen, ibid.) ** AUSTRIA. Re ``I`ll never forget`` --- it`s just dawned on me that it was Wolf Harranth who got me that concert ticket when I visited Vienna, not David Hermges. My apologies to Wolf (Glenn Hauser, UT March 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BAHAMAS. There was a good signal from the Bahamas 1540 ZNS1 at midnight (mixing with WDCD) with a long list of public announcement including changes to Daylight Saving [sic] Time. Recording: http://paulc.mwcircle.org/zns1dst.mp3 One of the announcements referred to the ‘Family Islands’, a term I hadn’t heard before. F/G 0005 06/03 PC (Paul Crankshaw, Troon, MWC via DXLD) Bahamas has several unofficial (I assume) names for certain islands to make them more appealing to tourists; Paradise Island, etc. (gh) ** CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC. HCJB GLOBAL VOICE PARTNER OPENS SHORTWAVE STATION IN CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC By Dan Wooding Founder of ASSIST Ministries Central African Republic flag BOALI, CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC (ANS) -- Six years of planning and praying culminated on Thursday, March 1, as Integrated Community Development International (ICDI) in Boali, Central African Republic, officially began broadcasting the gospel via shortwave with help from HCJB Global Voice. According to HCJB Global Voice, this is the country's first privately owned shortwave station, making Christian broadcasts available to most of the country's 3.5 million people. "Our partner, Jim Hocking, and the staff of ICDI have prayed and worked to see this vision of nationwide Christian radio," said Curt Bender, manager of radio planting and development at the HCJB Global Technology Center in Elkhart, IN. He led a team that installed the equipment. In a clear example of the voice and hands of Jesus at work, Bender shared, "This is a country that has been devastated by war and HIV/AIDS. The folks at ICDI plan to use the radio broadcasts to help disseminate community health information and to spread the gospel. The needs are immense, but this station is a significant step in helping a people who need so much." The station, broadcasting at 6030 kHz, airs eight hours daily with programming in French and three African languages, Sango, Aka and Fulfuldé. "This low-power shortwave radio station will enable the staff at ICDI to deliver community health information and the gospel daily to remote villages inaccessible by vehicle," Bender added. A spokesperson for HCJB Global Voice, said, "Bender, together with engineers Dan Anderson, Don Hastings and Jeremy Maller, installed the 1,000-watt shortwave transmitter at ICDI, a ministry founded by Hocking 3½ years ago." Anderson said response to the new broadcasts was almost immediate. "Within hours of going on the air the station received cell phone calls from 10 towns across the country even though no formal announcement had been made. Reports came from as far away as 300 miles! Pray that many will come to trust Christ and that the churches in the country will be built up through the ministry of this station. We thank God for the privilege of having a part in starting this ministry." A week earlier (Thursday, Feb. 22), the Mayor of Boali spoke during a "commissioning ceremony" to thank all the people who helped make the station a reality. "Her comments were aired to the nation over the radio during an initial one-hour test broadcast," Bender said. The TB1000 shortwave transmitter, while portable and compact like an FM transmitter, "can send the signal much farther than FM transmitters." The antenna, designed at the technology center by Hastings and Maller, covers an area almost the size of a football field when fully assembled. The team also set up two satellite dishes for access to the Internet. This allows ICDI and other mission organizations in the country to have "reliable e-mail and Internet access," Bender explained. Hocking first got involved with HCJB Global Voice six years ago when he was with Grace Brethren International Missions. At that time engineers helped the mission set up an FM station in the capital city of Bangui. "I felt like we needed broadcasts that would reach further," said Hocking. It was a year after founding ICDI that he began serious discussions with HCJB Global Voice regarding a shortwave station to complement the ministry's community development work. According to HCJB Global, ICDI has been involved in various community health projects across Central African Republic such as well-drilling to provide drinking water in remote villages, orphan care and micro- enterprise development. "The radio station is as an effective way to disseminate community health information and spread the gospel," Hocking explained. "Poor roads make traveling to many villages difficult or dangerous. For these reasons, radio has become the logical tool to reach the inaccessible people of the country." He expressed his appreciation to the staff at the HCJB Global Technology Center on Monday, March 5. "There would not be a shortwave station on the air today in the Central African Republic if not for the help of HCJB Global," Hocking said. "We are already having fantastic results with people calling from across the country." (ASSIST News via Bruce Atchison, AB, DXLD) (Same story from HCJB Global via Alokesh Gupta, dxldyg via DXLD) We`ve got the frequency but at what times? 6030 will have a hard time making it thru to NAm with Radio Martí and Cuban jamming during long hours. Let`s hope it`s on the air in the local mornings when we might get it during the Cuban silent period on Mondays. Or maybe before the dentro- and fuera-Cubans come on at 2200. However, these should be a problem in the Eurafrican evening, per HFCC B-06, Oman and Kaliningrad: 6030 1630 2100 38E,39 SLA 250 305 1234567 291006 250307 D G BBC MER 6030 1700 2200 28N,37 KLG 150 245 1234567 291006 250307 D RUS VOR GFC (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Danjuma; Thanks for mentioning the frequency and power of this station. Far too many press release writers assume nobody cares about such details. They mean a lot to me. Just by the frequency, I can tell the station will have a shorter range during the daylight hours. At night, 6030 travels a lot further. 1000 watt shortwave stations do quite well under most propagation conditions. I'm glad shortwave is still useful for the gospel. AM is somewhat limited and FM is for short range communications for the most part. Rarely do FM signals travel thousands of miles. While North Americans know almost nothing about shortwave, third world folks depend on it. Besides that, the AM dial is crowded in most parts of the world. Sincerely, (Bruce Atchison, to ASSIST forwarder of release, via DXLD) ** CUBA. RHC, 15370 with usual big signal, March 7 at 1452, but lacking in modulation; just some weak noise and traces of audio. Wiggle that patch cord! OK on 15190 with usual much weaker signal aimed toward SSAm (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ERITREA. 5100.0, R Bana, Asmara, 0415 and -1631*, Feb 14 and Mar 04. This one is listed with 1 kW but produces a pretty huge signal being the winner against strong local utility transmitters on that channel. English language in cooperation with the BBC. Talks and Afro songs, closes with their address at P. O. Box 695, Asmara, Eritrea and some instrumental music, 43533 to 32532 (Giampiero Bernardini, Italy, DSWCI DX Window March 7, and Stefan Schliphacke, Frankfurt am Main, Germany visiting Fjerritslev, Denmark Beverage Farm, DSWCI DX Window March 7, via DXLD) cf recent report here from Bernardini only to figure out which part of this merged item came from Schliphacke (gh, DXLD) ** GEORGIA. 9494.7, Apsua R, R Abkhas Republik. In Sep 2006 I sent a registered reception-report letter to: Mr. Yuri Kutarba, Deputy Direktor General, Apsua-Radio, ul. Aydghilara 34, 384900 Suchumi, Abkhas, RUSSIA. The letter came return after 5 months with the following note: "RETOUR,......The UPU circular # 360 of 16.10.06 - NO MAIL exchange with GEORGIA" (Theo Ransmann, Ochtrup, Germany, Feb 21, DSWCI DX Window March 7 via DXLD) Then it is probably better to have patience and wait with a new report until the relations between these countries improve. (DSWCI Ed, ibid.) ** GREECE. 6210.0, ERA5, 1600-1800 heard // 9420. I first thought found Kahuzi from Congo. Best on 150 degrees antenna but very weak with S1. Anyone any clue? I do not have had any kind of funny cross mixture signals in my AOR receiver (Stefan Schliphacke, Frankfurt am Main, Germany visiting Fjerritslev, Denmark Beverage Farm, DSWCI DX Window March 7, via DXLD) He must not read DXLD; what a shame! Or he would know that this is a difference mixing product from 15630 minus 9420. No matter how good your receiver is you will get them if they are produced in the transmitter! (gh, DXLD) ** HUNGARY. All freelance journalists and translators at R Budapest will be fired as from Mar 01, 2007. The Italian section is unfortunately made only by freelancers and the program is now in danger. Also the Spanish section may suffer of a similar destiny. At the German section they are reducing some programs but they can count on the support of the German minority program from local studios in Hungary. By the way Magyar Radio has included foreign programs within the MR4 channel which is the Regional and Minorities program. Friends in Budapest confirm the situation is very bad. At Italradio we are trying to launch a protest (Luigi Cobisi, Italy, Feb 24, DSWCI DX Window March 7 via DXLD) On their first day without an Italian program R Budapest did broadcast 30 minutes of Italian songs, many from the Sixties at the very time the program used to be on the air. No ann was done. Rumors say R Budapest may close down in a few months. SW (whose budget is granted by Hungarian Parliament) are to stay alive but only relaying domestic services to Hungarian abroad (Cobisi, Mar 01, ibid.) ** INDIA. 4900, AIR Guwahati, 0045-0145 fade out, Feb 22, Assamese talk, Indian songs and music, jump from 4940, 35333 (Anker Petersen, Denmark and Gautam Sharma, India, DSWCI DX Window March 7 via DXLD) Also heard on this frequency 1159, Feb 21, Tiwa song as mentioned by a lady presenter. She also gave station reminder announcement plus mentioned the frequencies and metre band of broadcast of AIR Guwahati along with other program announcement in Assamese. And she mentioned the SW frequency as 4940 kHz and corresponding metre band as 60.73m. But actually it is on air on 4900 while 4940 was blank that time and only noise could be audible. And I checked several times in the evening, I found the AIR Guwahati Station on 4900 (Sharma, ibid.) And 1407, Feb 28, song, talk, ann, talk in Assamese etc. Guwahati reported occasionally in 4900 and they should be referred in referance books for the usage of both 4900 and 4940, 25322 (T. R. Rajeesh, India, ibid.) ** INDONESIA. 3345.0, RRI Ternate, 2004-2035, Feb 13, heard with interruptions. Long Qur`an recitations exceeding the other RRI broadcasts. The Propinsi Aced the Molukku area is the other Indonesia province with a little more conservative Islamic culture. Back into normal program at 2025 with local songs. Just „Radio Republik Indonesia, Ternate" at 2028, 23532. Reception with 095 degree beverage reduced interference from Channel Africa which is very strong using a 180 degrees aerial. (Schliphacke) 3976.0, RRI Pontianak, 1556-1658, Feb 15, prolonged schedule with no sign off at 1600. Just Radio Republik Indonesia ID at 1559, but no local one. Phone-in program and lots of slow Indonesian songs, some US oldies as well. Blocked by Hungary on 3975 at *1658. (Schliphacke) 3995.06, RRI Kendari, 1534-1559, Feb 16, non-stop Indonesian songs, no ID heard. *1559 blocked by DRM outcast. The former 4002v channel was harder to receive in the past. QRM Xinjiang PBS on 3990, 24532. (Schliphacke) 4605.0, RRI Serui, 2100-2110, Feb 13, 14 and 25, great openings towards Indonesia and Papua New Guinea and unbelievably strong signals from weak transmitters thousands of kilometres away. Played very nice Indonesian songs, ID at 2100: "Radio Republik Indonesia Serui dengan warta berita dari Jakarta“ prior to Jakarta news starting at 2101 with "Waktu Indonesia Barat (West Indonesian time), ini Radio Republik Indonesia dengan warta berita“ and local ID again at 2109: "Radio Republik Indonesia Serui...frekwensi 4605 kHz gelombang pentek di 62 metran“. Into nice songs again, 24534 - 44533. (Bernardini and Schliphacke) 4749.96, RRI Makassar, at 2055-2059, Feb 13 and 14, Quran recitations and RRI ID, 44533 with 065 degrees beverage. (Schliphacke) 4790.0, RRI Fak-Fak, 2021-2120, Feb 13 and 14, Indonesian love songs, great music reminding me of my trips to that country. Local ID at 2030: "Radio Republik Indonesia Fak-Fak, programma satu (Px 1) ...gelombang pentek 60 metran, frekwensi 4790 kHz“ all by lady and into music programme. 25532 up to 45533 in the peaks. (Schliphacke) 4869.9v, RRI Wamena (presumed), (time ? Ed), Feb 13 and 14, songs and male anns but unable to figure out details, no ID, weak 13521, not to be mixed up with RRI Sorong (see below). (Schliphacke) 4874.5, RRI Sorong, 2115-2200, e.g. Feb 09, the only one being audible most of the days I was in Denmark. Though the 10kW might propagate a bit more stable, local programme with local advs for Sorong companies, ID: "Radio Republik Indonesia Sorong“ at 2159 and into Jakarta news at 2200, 34533 (Stefan Schliphacke, Frankfurt am Main, Germany visiting Fjerritslev, Denmark Beverage Farm, DSWCI DX Window March 7, via DXLD) ** INDONESIA. 11785 Voz de Indonesia, 1740-1800, escuchada el 7 de Marzo en español a locutor con ID, segmento musical y el espacio “Noticias en breve”, SINPO 43443 (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia), España, Sangean ATS 909, Antena Radio Master A-108, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ¿Habrá que esperar hasta abril para enterarnos del último terremoto? (gh, DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. ALZAWRAA TV BACK ON 7 WEST! BUT NOT NILESAT - -- smart move! Hello, I noticed today 6/3/07 that Alzawraa TV is back again on the same transponder of the Nile sat 7 degrees west. I doubled check the frequency of (10873 Vertical 27500 3/4); it turned out to be on the Atlantic Bird 4 satellite which is on the same transponder of the Nile sat. As the Nile sat administration stopped transmitting Alzawraa TV last month, as some unofficial sources said there was some pressure from the US, I think having it on Atlantic bird 4 won't get the administration of the Nile sat any problems. Nice move. I was watching it a few moments ago and in the news bar they were asking the viewers to spread the news about having them back once again on "Nile sat" as they claimed --- after all it's the same transponder; the common viewer wouldn't mind if Nile sat or Atlantic bird is the satellite broadcasting the channel. Alzawraa TV now is broadcasting on 2 satellites covering Middle East and Europe : Atlantic Bird 4 - 7 degrees West, 10873, vertical, 27500, 3/4 Arabsat 2B, 30.5 Degrees east, 12564, Horizontal, 2170, 3/4 All the best (Tarek Zeidan, Cairo, Egypt, Mar 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. Here's a story that actually addresses the technical area, even though superficially: Will MERGER OF XM, SIRIUS MAY LEAD TO STATIC By Sarah McBride THE WALL STREET JOURNAL Sunday, Feb. 25 2007 Many consumers have delayed purchasing a satellite-radio subscription because of confusion over the blizzard of choices involving which service to buy (XM or Sirius) and where to have it installed (car, desktop or portable device). But while the proposed merger of Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. and XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. is supposed to ease uncertainty, consumers in the near term may find themselves more baffled than ever. . . http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/business/stories.nsf/story/CCD1B5DF44B6CF978625728C000EE916?OpenDocument (via Will Martin, dxldyg via DXLD) ** IRAN. The Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran Spanish Service, heard March 7 around 0245 UT with serious problems on 7225 kHz. The carrier went on and off continuously, and while on (which was for about one or two seconds each time) the audio was intermittent, garbled, totally unusable. I kept waiting for a while to see if the tx was fixed, noticed that the audio was getting a little better but still intermittent, and the carrier kept going on and off for a couple of seconds each time. I finally gave up and went to bed. Let's see today if the transmitter has been repaired. 73, (Moisés Knochen, Montevideo, Uruguay, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN [non]. 6245, R Zamaneh, via Mykaliov, Ukraine. I received a very nice full data QSL Card and an acknowledgement folder from Mehdi Jami, Director, in 90 days for an e-mail report. They welcome reception reports from listeners worldwide. E-mail reports to : info @ radiozamaneh.nl Address: Radio Zamaneh, Postbox- 92027, 1090 AA Amsterdam, The Netherlands (T. Ramachandran Rajeesh, Kerala, India, DSWCI DX Window March 7 via DXLD) ** JAPAN [and non]. STATE SUED FOR ORDERING NHK ABDUCTION REPORTS Wednesday, March 7, 2007 OSAKA (Kyodo) A civic group filed a lawsuit Tuesday with the Osaka District Court, demanding the government repeal its order to NHK to intensify coverage of the North Korean abduction issue on its shortwave international radio service, members of the group said. The group, consisting of NHK subscribers in Hyogo and Kyoto prefectures and viewers in the United States and France, said Article 33 of the Broadcast Law, which authorizes the communications minister to give such orders, infringes on freedom of the press, which is guaranteed under the Constitution. The 35 group members are also demanding that the state pay 10,000 yen in damages to each plaintiff and that the broadcaster confirm it is not obliged to obey such orders. The order in question was issued by Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Yoshihide Suga on Nov. 10. It was the first time the government had issued a specific order to NHK. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has placed priority on resolving the abduction issue since assuming power in September. Government orders to NHK had until then been limited to such abstract wording as current topics, policies important to the state of Japan and the government's views on international issues. NHK accepted Suga's order. The group is also demanding that future government orders on broadcasts be suspended. "Ordered broadcast will be influenced by the ruling parties' intentions and will contradict the public nature of broadcast," it said. Nobuyo Fujinaga, who is representing the plaintiffs, told reporters after the lawsuit was filed that government should stop meddling with the free press. "The mass media's influence is extremely large," Fujinaga said. "Broadcast, which should be made for the people, should not be influenced by the authorities." Article 33 of the law says the communications minister "may order NHK to conduct international broadcasting by designating broadcast service areas, broadcasting matters and other relevant matters, or may order NHK to carry out international broadcast programming operations by designating NHK's service area in which the broadcaster will operate, to be broadcast and other relevant matters." The communications ministry said it cannot make any comments as it has not seen the plaintiffs' complaint. NHK said it will make its argument in the trial after seeing the complaint. The Japan Times All rights reserved (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) GROUP SUES STATE OVER NHK ORDER 03/07/2007 THE ASAHI SHIMBUN OSAKA -- A civic group lawsuit filed here Tuesday calls on the government to repeal its order to Japan Broadcasting Corp. (NHK) to air more coverage of the abduction issue via international shortwave radio. The 35-member group, led by Koji Morioka, a professor of political economy at Kansai University, argues the order is unconstitutional because it infringes on media freedom. The lawsuit, filed at the Osaka District Court, also seeks confirmation from NHK that it has no obligation to follow the order. The plaintiffs demand payment of 10,000 yen to each plaintiff in compensation from the government. Communications minister Yoshihide Suga ordered NHK on Nov. 10 last year to pay "special attention" to abductions of Japanese nationals by North Korea in its international radio broadcasts. The order was given under Article 33 of the Broadcast Law. It was the first time a government order to the public broadcaster had specified the content of a broadcast. It was markedly different from past orders, which used more abstract terms in instructing NHK to cover three fields. The fields were: current events; important government policies; and government views on international issues. According to the lawsuit, the plaintiffs insist Article 33 allows the minister unlimited discretion over what to order the public broadcaster to air. They argue that the article thus violates the Constitution, which guarantees press freedom. They said broadcast content was in danger of being influenced by the minister or the ruling party. "The broadcast content of NHK, which is supported by viewer fees, must reflect the people's voices," said plaintiff Nobuyo Fujinaga, head of a citizens group in Osaka. "It is not permissible for those in power to decide the content," Fujinaga said. The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications declined to comment, saying it has not received papers on the lawsuit. NHK said it would make its views clear in court. Other plaintiffs include seven Japanese living abroad and Hiroshi Kamiwaki, a professor of constitutional issues at Kobe Gakuin University who also heads an ombudsman group examining political funds (IHT/Asahi: March 7, 2007) (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** LIBYA [non]. Glenn, I have measured Sawt al-Amal frequencies each day for several days, and they have mostly been on 2.5 and 7.5 channels, sometimes on 5.0 or 0.0 channels, but never on 3.0 or 2.0 channels. Measured in the SSB mode using the NRD-535, which is well calibrated. The bubble jammer, when active, has also adapted to the .5 channels. The TDF jammers remain using the adjacent standard channels when Amal is on split channels. 73 (Olle Alm, Sweden, March 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Saludos José Miguel. A diferencia de tus recientes mediciones sobre Sawt Al-Amal, caí en la cuenta de que a casi todos los colegas, excepto a Terry Krueger y a mí, se les pasó la fuera de serie captación que hice igualmente a las 1330 del Domingo pasado, cuando me sorprendió en 17632, encima de Africa #1, produciéndole un tremendo heterodino, mientras la señal de afro-pop estaba en 17660. Esto parece haberse prolongado hasta las 1400. No la escuchaste? Supongo que no porque no lo mencionaste. 73 (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Saludos Raúl, sí que la escuché pero de pasada, ese día estaba trabajando y llegué tarde a casa; luego entre mi hijo y mi sobrino se montaron dos ordenadores y estaban jugando en la red, cualquiera entraba en el cuarto de la radio. Respecto a la emisora afro-pop, vengo observando ciertas particularidades últimamente; en primer lugar observo que ya no llega con la fuerza que llegaba antes, su señal ya no es la misma y es incapaz de interferir a Sawt al-Amal. También observo que ya no se mueve por el Dial; antes cambiaba a la frecuencia donde se encontraba Sawt-al-Amal. Sin embargo ahora queda en 17660 kHz inamovible. Por otra parte Sawt al-Amal a veces no duda en colocarse en la misma frecuencia y la anula; también se observa que Sawt al-Amal, sin más cambia de frecuencia aunque no sea interferida. A veces se coloca encima o junto a Africa Nº 1, interfiriéndola o anulándola, ¿quizás de forma intencionada? Bueno, veremos en que queda todo éste juego, un fuerte abrazo. Atentamente (José Miguel Romero, Spain, March 7, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MADAGASCAR. Malagasy Republic: RN Malagasy 5010, sign on at 0257z with anthem and voices. I don't know if it is intentional but the audio was way down on the lower sideband. Good quality on the upper sideband (Jerry Lenamon, Waco Tx, Drake R8B with sloper, UT March 7, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5010, 8/3 0301 Radio Malagasy, Talks, reports, short music pieces, clear id at 0311, good. rx WinRadio G33EM & long wire 30 m ciao (Giampiero Bernardini, Milano, Italy, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALAWI. Malawian Musings: Diaspora, Internet-based Radio, Nigerian Movies, Stray Dogs, Silicon Valley dreams, and Muluzi's comeback http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/2007/03/06/malawian-musings-diaspora-internet-based-radio-nigerian-movies-stray-dogs-silicon-valley-dreams-and-muluzi%E2%80%99s-comeback/ (via Zacharias Liangas, DXLD) ** MALDIVES. 1449 MW, Voice of Maldives, 0220, Mar 01, talk in Dhivehi, seems to be a cookery show this morning. They have an English service with nice English pops at 1300, 34343 (T. Ramachandran Rajeesh, Kerala, India, DSWCI DX Window March 7 via DXLD) ** MEXICO. Hola Amigos, Acabo de recibir este mensaje de Radio UNAM, donde prometen el envío de QSL; confío que los buenos oficios del colega Julián Santiago Diez de B. para este fin hayan prosperado y también que la emisora se mantenga al aire (Rafael Rodriguez R., Bogota D.C.- COLOMBIA, playdx yg via DXLD) Viz.: teohm @ servidor.unam.mx escribió: Estimado Rafael: Agradecemos infinitamente su reporte. En breve le haremos llegar la tarjeta QSL. Le invitamos a seguir en sintonía con Radio UNAM Atentamente, Lic. Teófilo Huerta Moreno, Jefe del Depto. de Planeación y Asistente del Director General, RADIO UNAM (via Rafael Rodríguez, Colombia, March 6, playdx yg via DXLD) ** MEXICO. XEYU remains MIA from 9599.4v on various chex, including March 7 around 0720 and 1448. XEXQ, 6045, is still heard during favorable conditions, altho much weaker than XEYU was, such as March 7 at 0722 with classical flute music (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MOROCCO. Y cierto lo que comenta Glenn con respecto a la marroquí MEDI, 9575, que estando prácticamente en la misma zona, rara vez se ve aquí un reporte. Yo la he captado en extraña combinación entre árabe y francés siempre después de las 2300 cuando Gabón se retira de los 9580. 73 (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, March 6, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Respecto a lo que comentas sobre Medí 1, no es una emisora que suela escuchar, pero en estos momentos a las 1825 he sintonizado en la frecuencia de 9575 y la verdad no sé lo que estoy escuchando, Medí 1 seguro que nó, más bien se trata de una emisora en idioma asiático, probablemente Mandarín, Coreano o Japonés, pero nada en árabe, no sé que emisora es (José Miguel Romero, Spain, ibid.) ** NETHERLANDS [and non]. Special RNW schedule for results of Dutch provincial elections Today, the Dutch people are back at the polls, voting in provincial elections. The results will also determine the makeup of the Upper Chamber in the national parliament. Our Dutch service will be carrying a special results programme, which will be broadcast via additional transmitters as follows: 2000-2300 UT 1314 kHz (Norway) to NW Europe 702 kHz (Monte Carlo) to SW Europe 9895 kHz (Flevo) to NW Africa. Also via Madagascar from 2100 as regularly scheduled. 2100-2300 UT 6040 kHz (Kichinev) to Europe 2200-2300 UT 11730 kHz (Bonaire) to Canary Islands 2 Responses to “Special RNW schedule for results of Dutch provincial elections” Sergei Says: March 7th, 2007 at 15:50 e >6040 kHz (Kichinev) to Europe Is it Kishinev, Moldavia? To the best of my knowledge there are no SW facilities there. I guess it`s a facility in Mayak, Transdniestr Respublic. Andy Says: March 7th, 2007 at 16:06 e Yes, it’s that one. But it’s registered with the HFCC as Kichinev (KCH), and our Programme Distribution Department uses the official HFCC names to avoid confusion (Media Network blog March 7 via dxldyg in advance, DXLD) ** NEW ZEALAND. RNZI DRM again being heard, such as at 1504 March 7 on 7145; not sure if they are still taking a break not shown on schedule, in the 14-15 UT hour. Also noticed around 0630 on 9890 along with analog on 9870. Note the currently posted schedule no longer shows DRM on 15720 at any time, but it also omits any DRM at 1059-1259. Since 13840 was previously shown erroneously as 2259-1259, we cannot be sure this be totally correct either, and 13840 is now not specified as either AM or DRM, at http://www.rnzi.com/pages/listen.php --- ``26 Feb 2007 - 26 Mar 2007 UTC kHz band Target Azimuth Days 0559-1058 9870 AM 9890 DRM Pacific 0 1059-1259 13840 NW Pacific, Bougainville, PNG, Timor 325 1300-1750 5950 AM 7145 DRM Pacific 0 1751-1850 9765 AM 9890 DRM NE Pacific, Fiji, Samoa, Cook Islands 35 1850-1950 11725 AM 11675 DRM Pacific 0 1950-2258 17675 AM 11675 DRM Pacific 0 2259-0558 15720 AM 17675 DRM Pacific 0 `` (Glenn Hauser, UT March 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. I`m wondering, how many OPR HD-1 (or HD-2) listeners do you know you have (other than staff); and how many more do you think there are out there?? Only the 91.7 transmitter is running any HD so far, right? What is the real, practical range for HD reception? Regards, (Glenn Hauser, Enid, to Dan Schroeder, KOSU CE, via DXLD) Glenn, we do not know how many HD listeners we have. At this point, Arbitron does not distinguish. We have only one receiver, a first generation made by Boston Acoustics. It emits so much computer hash, that it interferes with its own and close by receivers, including 145 MHz ones. A shielded feedline to a dipole about 25 ft away is necessary to really use this rx. Newer receivers by various manufacturers are less troublesome in this regard. We have two receivers on back order for 20 months. We are hoping they will perform better. They are allegedly now shipping these models, made by Radiosophy. Until we acquire a better receiver, we are really unable to say what our coverage in HD is. Even with the BA receiver with a 5' feedline and dipole INSIDE our minivan, we were able to get reliable HD-2 coverage about 33 miles from the Tx. HD-2 is really better for checking digital range, because there is no analog backup for it. When you drop out of range, the rx goes dead quiet. HD-1 flips back and forth to analog and you have to watch the tiny HD on the LCD screen to know which mode you really have. Tedious while driving down the road. JVC has produced a good car radio for about $130 street price. Sangean has produced a good component rx for about $400. Radio Shack is marketing a table top rx (better than the BA) for under $200. Texas Instruments has just started to produce a second generation HD decoder chip that can be used in walkman sized HD receivers. Today, Walmart announced it will start marketing HD receivers in its stores. This should give a big boost to listeners. No word about which receiver(s) they will stock. Progress is slow (Dan Schroeder, CE, KOSU = OPR, March 6-7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also DIGITAL BROADCASTING below ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. I checked the 90 mb frequencies every day in Denmark. The only one with a positive result was R East Sepik on 3335 on Feb 12, 13 and 14 with English news at 1202. Several IDs as „Radio East Sepik“ in between the newscast. ID at 2008 after news, some advs and the program announcement 2010 onwards. There was no other 90 mb channel showing up with any kind of signal using the 065 and 095 degree beverages. One might presume the morning broadcasts from Papua still on variable schedule. 4890 was off and the 31mb channel 9675 also seems to be silent (Stefan Schliphacke, Frankfurt am Main, Germany visiting Fjerritslev, Denmark Beverage Farm, DSWCI DX Window March 7, via DXLD) 4960, R Maria, Vanimo, seems to be active here as scheduled, because there always is a very weak signal radiating from this direction between around 1800 until around 2100, but nothing positive as well. 7120 Wantok was also monitored continuously. Due to Eastern-Russia and China stations as well as European stations occupying the channel between 1200 and 2200 there was no reception possible unfortunately as well (Stefan Schliphacke, Frankfurt am Main, Germany visiting Fjerritslev, Denmark Beverage Farm, DSWCI DX Window March 7, via DXLD) ** SAUDI ARABIA. Another contribution to BC-DX 796 & 797 BSKSA Riyadh item: Observed/heard in Sofia, Bulgaria: [CNB = Central News Bulletin] 7150 1500-1700 in Persian, not jammed. 9555 and 9870 1745-1800 & 1815-2010 fade out, Main Prgr; 1800 CNB. 9675 0255-0710 f/o 2nd Program. 9715 & 15170 0355-0555 Holy Q. 11715, 11820 & 11915 1815-2010 fadeout Holy Q; 1800 CNB. 11855 0555-0710 f/o on March 2nd \\ 9675. 11935, 17615 & 21495 0855-1130 & 1145-1155 UT Holy Q; 1130 CNB. 15425 (from 1455) & 15435 from 1450, both to 1750 UT program "Call of Islam". 15370 0455-0700 f/o Urdu 15380 0545-0800 & 0810-0850 & 1150-1355 Holy Q; 0800 CNB. 17660 1450-1600 Fr, 1600-1710 f/o En (in their program parade they said the program is till 2400 hrs, or 2100 UT on MW 1098 kHz and several FMs). 17730 & 17740 0545-0800 & 0810-0850 Main program; 0800 CNB. 17805 & 21705 0855-1130 & 1145-1155 Main program; 1130 CNB. 17895 0255-0755 & 1155-1400 & 1407-1500 Holy Q; 1400 CNB. 21505 & 21640 1155-1400 & 1407-1450 Main program; 1400 CNB. 21600 1155-1350 Holy Q. 21670 0855-1030 Indonesian service. Noted mix/spur of Main & Holy Qur`an prgogram: 1600-1700 on 15425 & 15435 in the background and 15330 and 15540 kHz with equal signal level (on 15540 kHz with another in Ar); 1200-1300 on 21560 and 21680 kHz as for the decade (all March 3-6, Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, wwdxc BC-DX Mar 7 via dxldyg via DXLD) ** SERBIA [non]. Desde la web de Radio Serbia se anuncia ampliación de servicios entre otros uno en español a las 1500-1530 UT, en 6100; el pasado 5 de Marzo intenté sintonizar el servicio en inglés a las 1400 sin éxito. A las 1430 esperé al servicio en Serbio con el mismo resultado, lo mismo ocurrió con el anunciado servicio en español de las 1500; también lo intenté el 6 de Marzo pero sin resultados, hoy 7 de Marzo no he tenido ocasión de intentarlo, sin embargo he entrado en la web de la emisora para escuchar las noticias sonoras. Curiosamente no se puede acceder al audio en el servicio en español, tampoco en el de inglés. Sale un mensaje diciendo “A General Error has occurred” Seguiremos intentándolo, atentamente (José Miguel Romero, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN. 4749.9, R Peace, Southern Sudan, Narus, 1734-1815, Feb 09, finally got that one after several times checking this channel in morning and afternoons. several Gospel songs, English program with ID as "You are listening to Radio Peace“ and "This is Radio Peace“ but has 1–2 minute segments in an Arabic dialect in between, 25532 (Stefan Schliphacke, Frankfurt am Main, Germany visiting Fjerritslev, Denmark Beverage Farm, DSWCI DX Window March 7, via DXLD) 4750, 8/3 0245, Radio Peace, Sudan, English slow talks, some music and several IDs giving also the frequency, at 0254 also in vernacular language; good, rx WinRadio G33EM & long wire 30 m ciao (Giampiero Bernardini, Milano, Italy, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UGANDA. 4976, 6/3 2025, Radio Uganda, afro music, great signal, I used 8 kHz AM filter! rx Winradio G33EM ciao (Giampiero Bernardini, Milano, Italy, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U A E. Re 7-030: 1575, Radio Farda --- Thanks Dan, for your tip; heard Radio Farda on 1575 kHz yesterday at 1828 UT and 15 mins ahead with very good signal here in the southern part of Denmark. Checked with their online streaming (Ydun Ritz, March 7, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K [and non]. BBC Scotland policy --- Hi guys, Was really disappointed to get a polite letter back from BBC Scotland saying that they no longer QSL. I saw the letter in the box and thought You Beauty; but the wind was taken right out of my sail with the contents. How long have they had this policy? I notice on their web site they have this group called the Audience Council Scotland. I was wondering if it was worth the effort to actually write to this group and ask them what harm is there in replying to a handful of letters each year --- just a template, etc. Surely it cannot be that time consuming. Could stations still have a little bit of empathy for this historical aspect of broadcasting? QSLing has been going on since Marconi. In this dog eat dog business environment these days you would think not. Stations such as BBC Scotland are almost sentencing our hobby to death. Here's the piece from their web site. Cheers, (Dave Onley, MWC via DXLD) Viz.: Welcome to the website for the Audience Council Scotland. We represent you, the licence fee payer. The Audience Council is part of the new BBC Trust. We plan to use this site to let you know about the work we've been doing, but more than anything we want to hear from you! Contact us by email or comment on our blogs, which launch soon. Best wishes, Jeremy Peat, National Trustee for Scotland -- (David Onley - MW/FM Tropical Band Dxer, Rijswijk ZH - The Netherlands, http://home.casema.nl/onley/ MWC via DXLD) Hello from Finland! I have noticed that even BBC local stations have not replied to me as they used to do. This winter I sent reports to BBC Radio Guernsey, BBC Radio Cambridgeshire and BBC Radio Derby. However, none of these stations have replied to me. In the past I remember how BBC WS, BBC R1/R2/R3/R4, BBC Radio Wales and Scotland all replied with nice QSL cards. First BBC WS announced they will not QSL, after that BBC national home services like BBC Radio 2 announced the same. Now also the BBC local stations? What is going on in the UK? Is it really so much trouble when replying to listener's reports? All tips how to get a QSL from the BBC stations I mentioned above would be very welcome. 73's (Hannu from Finland Romppainen, ibid.) Hi Hannu, I totally agree, especially if a station has a template, how hard could it possibly be. 2 or 3 minutes tops. Okay, I suppose if one has to research (which the majority probably don't) it may take a bit longer, but if a report is well constructed, they can tell by format and announcements it was them. As I said in my last email --- life is getting dog eat dog, time is money, etc., etc. Boooo Boooo The niceties of the past, politeness and a sense of history, oddity are all gone. And to be honest stations were NEVER under any obligation to write back to us. Maybe we have been spoilt all these years. I have a stack of reports still to go out, and you know, I'm starting to question whether I should put in the time and effort, and more so the money into sending a report out. By the time you do a letter, put a CD in for the tough ones and then include return postage, then mail it (Then x 20 reports) it certainly adds up. Yeah, I'm having a good old whinge, but it is disheartening. I visited Max Van Arnhem at his DX haven in Hoenderloo on Thursday evening and even Max said that since Christmas 53 or so reports have gone out, and only 6 or so have replied. And I can tell you that Max is a very thorough reporter. It`s sad. p.s Think I'm going to take up fishing, and I hate eating fish. lol (Dave Onley, ibid.) Dave If they made all the effort to reply saying they don't QSL, why couldn't they just say 'yes you heard us' in the letter...doesn't really make sense. I'm sure you know of my long-standing battle with my Dx-nemesis - Sunrise Radio (which I've whinged about to almost everyone!). All efforts to get a QSL, in any guise, have come up against brick walls. I've just tried again, with an email & some more audio clips. All I want is them to listen to the clip which should take no more than a minute or 2 of their time, and then to reply with a one sentence email saying that it was definitely them I heard. I've tried to make it as painless for them as possible, but still nothing (Vince, Cape Town RSA, Stevens, ibid.) Hi Vin, Yeah I recall your battle with Sunrise. But don't give up. People move on, even wake up happy some mornings after dreaming of winning the lottery, or getting a bit of crumble cake the night before. Maybe try timing the letter to arrive on Monday morning instead of Friday afternoon. Lol. Seriously don't give up. Craig Edwards got Palau back recently, after 10 or so goes, and I think Steve's suggestion is good. There was a case about a decade ago. I'm not sure if it was David Headland or Chris Rogers in Australia, but they were after one of the small Pacific nations (Can't recall which). After many failed attempts they actually wrote to the Prime Minister, and guess what --- Success. So sometimes we need to go outside the boundaries a bit. Although taking it to the PM's office is a bit extreme. But if it works... !! Cheers (Dave Onley, Netherlands, ibid.) Perhaps you should contact Dr Avtar Lit Dr. Avtar Lit Age: 54 Chairman of Sunrise Radio group. Lit runs one of the most successful and longest-running companies in the British Asian media world. Sunrise reaches more than 600,000 listeners a week, and Lit has amassed a big personal fortune. 73 (Steve Whitt, ibid.) ** U S A. As the battle for the survival of VOA English and other broadcasts continues, two significant developments, one reported by the Washington Post, the other announced by the new VOA Director Dan Austin. Austin came to the VOA newsroom Wednesday morning to announce that Alex Belida, former overseas correspondent who has served in the position of managing editor for several years, will be moving to a new post of Senior Advisor for News. Belida, who during his more than two decade history with VOA reported from East Africa and South Africa among other places, is described as taking on a portfolio that will include lending his considerable expertise to the continuing improvement of all VOA English and other- language content delivered to [the] world-wide audience by radio, television and the Internet. However, Belida's tenure in the Managing Editor spot was not without problems, as he was faced with some strong complaints from employees. Although he issued a number of statements pledging his commitment to the VOA charter, questions were asked about his willingness to confront attempts emanating from within the building, to limit wide- open discussion of certain topics in the news on the VOA Talk to America program. Meanwhile, the "In the Loop" column in the Washington Post of March 7 reports that James Glassman, television pundit who has been with the American Enterprise Institute, may be moving into the chairmanship of the Broadcasting Board of Governors. Glassman will face some big challenges in the wake of the terrible publicity the BBG received resulting from actions of Ken Tomlinson, the conservative ex-chairman of the BBG, who was the subject of an investigation by the State Department Inspector General, and was also ousted from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting where he attempted to slant programming to the right (VOA source, March 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Note that WORLD OF RADIO has been rescheduled on KAIJ, 9480, from Friday at 2000 UT to Thursday at 1600 --- this week; from next week, March 15, time will have shifted to 1500. The other broadcast, on 5755, remains Friday 1130, shifting to 1030 with DST, altho subject to change. WORLD OF RADIO on WWCR was missing again, Saturday March 3 at 1730 from 12160 where it had been for a few weeks. Various paid programming has been appearing there sporadically, so we are not sure whether WOR will be back. If so, the time will have shifted by March 17 to 1630 UT. A projected time-shifted WOR schedule from March 11 now follows the non-shifted one at http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Now it`s certain that the pulsing spurs around 5889 and 5951 are indeed coming from the WBOH 5920 transmitter. March 7 at 0720, when there were no other station on 5890, I could detect some music along with the pulses, and it matched what was playing on 5920 at the time. On 5950 a very strong signal from RTI in English via WYFR almost overrode the pulses, but they were still audible. This led me to send the following e-mail to Fundamental Broadcasting Network: WBOH CAUSING HARMFUL INTERFERENCE Dear FBN, Your WBOH transmitter is putting out rather strong spurious noises. I have logged this repeatedly the last few days. There are two matching spurs just below 5890 and just above 5950 kHz. Around 0600 UT (1 am EST) 5890 interferes with VOA, and 5950 interferes with WYFR. I have also heard these around 1330 UT (8:30 am) at that time interfering with VOA on 5890, and New Zealand on 5950. The spurs are normally a rapid pulsing noise. At first I was not positive they were from WBOH, altho it is typical for such pairs of spurs to be coming from a maladjusted transmitter exactly halfway between them, i.e. 5920. Last night, however, after 0700 UT, when there was nothing else on 5890 (or more like 5889), I was able to match some music on that frequency with the music playing on 5920. At some other times I have not heard the spurs, but this is generally when the 5920 signal is weaker, so your spurs may not be propagating; or they may be intermittent. However, you should be able to detect them yourselves if you look for them. You are causing harmful interference to VOA, WYFR, RNZI, and no doubt other stations which are on the affected frequencies. You need to take this transmitter off the air immediately and keep it off the air until it is repaired and functioning properly. Sincerely, Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, WORLD OF RADIO PS: if no action is taken promptly, this notice will be copied to the affected parties and the FCC (gh to FBN, March 7, cc to DX LISTENING DIGEST) No reply yet, and WBOH was still on the air around 2220 March 7, the spurs not audible then. Altho I have no doubt WBOH is responsible, it would be nice if some other monitors would back me up in case I am challenged (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I checked again at 0217 UT March 8, in case the spur was now interfering with R. Thailand on 5890, and it was not --- because 5920 was off the air. Let`s hope they got the message (Glenn, ibid.) ** U S A. It isn't now (and never was) my intention to cast aspersions on KXEL specifically. I didn't start the thread, and I keep trying to change the title of it. I don't know the engineers there, and I don't know what they were up against. They're in an awfully small market for a 50 kW AM, and buying a generator might not be the slam-dunk cost- benefit calculation it would be in a bigger market. The points I've been trying to make are more general ones, that being prepared for an emergency pays off in the long run for stations big and small. WWL is, in many ways, a more interesting case than KXEL. They were quite well prepared for a big storm. Ironically, their chief engineer had just given a presentation on emergency preparedness at the NAB convention the April before Katrina, including some interesting shots of the old WWL site in Metairie (long gone, to make room for the airport) under several feet of water after a flood in the 1940s. They had backup power for the studio, backup power (two generators) at the hardened transmitter site, and even a completely separate backup transmitter site. And yet...when the storm slammed that site overnight Sunday into Monday, WWL did go off the air, and stayed off the air until late on Monday. What happened? For all the planning, one element wasn't taken into consideration: they didn't station an engineer out at the transmitter site, and when the shore power went off, the generator started running, but then hit an "overcrank" alarm and went off. That's something that can be reset in a matter of seconds if someone's present, but instead it took almost a day to be able to get someone out to the remote site to kick the generator back on. I do not know, even now, why the backup transmitter site wasn't put into service. WWL recovered heroically once it got back on the air, and its subsequent role as a communication link during the flooding and recovery is indeed worthy of one of the mythical "gold stars" being handed out in this thread. But any emergency recovery plan can have its weak links, and now WWL (and anyone else who cares to learn from their experiences, which they've been very good about sharing) knows something else to add to their plan in case there's a "next time." (There are now three generators at the WWL site, from what I'm told.) Is this all germane to a DX list? As a DXer who's also a broadcaster (or, these days, a broadcaster who also occasionally finds some spare time to DX), it adds value and perspective to my DX experience to know not only who's on the air and who's off the air, but why. s (Scott Fybush, March 6, IRCA via DXLD) KXEL Updates --- Had an enjoyable conversation this afternoon with Mark Schumacher, who is the Chief Engineer at KXEL-AM 1540 in Waterloo, Iowa. He was kind enough to discuss KXEL's recent outage during one of the worst ice storms to hit the region in decades. According to Mr. Schumacher, KXEL's outage was due to 1 and 1/4 inch of ice coating everything for miles around their transmitter site, which is approximately 24 miles from town. Several power poles along the last mile of the route actually collapsed during the storm, which also contained high winds. KXEL is not equipped with backup power generation, having undergone a series of expensive upgrades in recent years. The budget simply wouldn't allow for it prior to this event, but it is being considered by the owners now. He also could not estimate the amount of revenue lost due to the outage. Mr. Schumacher said that KXEL lost power only a few hours into the storm, and that at one point every station in the market was off the air. Their sister station, KWLO 1330 dropped off the air only for a few minutes until it's backup power generator kicked in. KWLO is a 5 kW station that has "decent coverage" according to Mr. Schumacher. Along with two FM stations in the area, KWLO assumed the role as the principal conduit of information and advisory messages during the incident which crippled much of the region for nearly a week. At one point on the first day, the generator failed to operate at KWLO, but the station remained on the air due a bank of backup batteries, though it operated at reduced power levels. Mr. Schumacher and his wife were able to obtain parts for the generator at an in- law`s hardware store and effected repairs late that afternoon, returning the station to full power. As of this afternoon, March 7th, two of the Radio Group's FM stations remained off the air, and one studio suffered major roof damage during the storm. Schumacher was still very busy with repairs but took time out to provide some insight into the outage. He had a very positive view of DX'ers and expressed that he might be willing to include sweep tones and Morse code during future maintenance tests. He also mentioned the web site http://www.fybush.com which he really enjoys. He was concerned about a picture of their transmitter site at: http://www.fybush.com/site-010822.html The photo was taken awhile ago, before their recent improvements to both the transmitter and the building. He felt that the photo reflected poorly on the station and wanted to know if we could help get it replaced with a new photo he could provide once the Spring came. (Who says broadcaster's don't care about their image with the hobby?) He's also going to send along some photos taken at the transmitter sites during the ice storm, which I'll pass along to the clubs for publication. I think the Waterloo market owes the Schumachers a debt of gratitude for their hard work and courage, braving the weather to keep KWLO on the air during the event. 73, (Les Rayburn, N1LF, AL, March 7, IRCA via DXLD) ** U S A. WJCC 1700 FL: Please visit http://www.6kh.mwcircle.org/ - my new MWC webspace kindly facilitated by that wonderful guru of cyberspace Mr. Tony Hudson - to hear the recording I made this morning of the rather sinister sounding French programme and the TOH ID from WJCC. I’ve never heard anything quite like this on Transatlantic radio before! If you ever listened to WJCC in its “Radio Voz Mundial” incarnation, you’ll agree this sounds completely different. Note in the short English part of the ID clip they seem to refer to themselves as “Fox 17” – I’d appreciate a second opinion on this because it’s not clear. Worth a listen whether you speak English, French or Spanish. 73 (Andrew Brade, MWC via DXLD) Hallo Andrew, Yes, that is the station I also heard this morning. They are a bit off frequency. I heard them on 1700.03. I wonder if they say Fox; for me (not English native speaker) it sounds like Cap 17, or even Top 17. 73 (Max van Arnhem, The Netherlands, ibid.) You`re right about the frequency Max – I forgot to note this. I had 1700.03 too. I did think about “Top 17” when I heard it. “Top” would make sense given their position on the dial (Andrew Brade, ibid.) The only Fox stations on channel 17 (not including translators, relays and DTV) which would likely ID as Fox 17 are in Duluth MN, Greenville MS (but also CBS), Roanoke VA and Lacrosse WI, according to: http://www.w9wi.com/tvdb/channels/17.htm Glenn - you can hear the clip at http://www.6kh.mwcircle.org and see what you think. Max van Arnhem hears 'top 17'. Having listened again I'm inclined to agree. Anyhow the format seems to be new, and I didn't see WJCC reported in February. Also it's not on the FCC database, so perhaps it's been off the air and has resurfaced in new ownership and with new format (Andrew Brade, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Never mind; later listening to clip, I agree they are saying Top 17 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Extension 720 preview page got stuck in February with my bookmark; normally the same URL goes to the current month. Finally roundaboutly found where the March page really resides now, http://wgnradio.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=167&Itemid=275 Excellent discussions there on a wide variety of topix, from WGN 720, plus webcast (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VIRGIN ISLANDS US. José Elías Díaz Gómez sent me a couple of clips of station on 1620 after relaying R. República, and it was definitely WDHP, which had a robotic NWS marine weather summary for the VI, and I noticed the ID claimed that it`s ``1620 AM Stereo`` --- so dust off your C-Quams and give it a try when this widely-propagating station is incoming (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. 6300, 6/3 2040, RN Saharaui, on air again, Arabic reports in // with 1550 very good. Rx Winradio G33EM ciao (Giampiero Bernardini, Milano, Italy, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Confirmado José, y tal parece que esta vez como que le metieron vitamina adicional a la RASD, quizá mejoras en el transmisor o en antenas, porque la estaban pegando casi de cañonazo cuando sintonicé a las 2300, con sus características disertaciones sobre los derechos a la autodeterminación del pueblo saharahui, tema al que rara vez le he prestado atención como ayer lo hice gracias a la magnífica señal. 73 (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, March 6, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Saludos Raúl, en efecto que el regreso de la RASD a sido con mas fuerza, quizás alguna mejora en las antenas o bien en el transmisor, veremos por cuanto tiempo, (JMRR, ibid.) 6300 Radio Nacional Saharaui, 1800-1810, escuchada el 7 de Marzo en árabe a locutor con ID, Noticias y música, SINPO 44433 (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia), España, Sangean ATS 909, Antena Radio Master A-108, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Have never had much luck with RN de la RASD here on 48 mb, but March 7 at 2303 on 6300, better signal than before altho still wanting, on the ATS-909 in the yard, during brief check when playing music. How long will this last? Others report that after a few weeks off, the signal has definitely improved since its previous appearance (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 12045, Unidentified Brazilian, 2140, Mar 03, Relay of Spanish League football match between Barcelona and Sevia, Mentions of Ronaldino, Pelaty. 2144-Scored goal and excited commentary, "Marco Alexander el Russo", sambrato, Alexander Krescheko, Adriano etc mentioned 25333 // frequencies heard R Aparecedia 9630 and R Marumby 9665 with same programme.(Any idea about this new frequency, No mentions found in WRTH or DBS-8 or earlier DXWindows). (T. Ramachandran Rajeesh, Kerala, India, DSWCI DX Window March 7 via DXLD) Help needed! (DSWCI Ed, ibid.) Are you sure this was in Portuguese? REE Spain is normally heard here, and the teams were from Spain. REE would also be on 9630, but I don`t know about 9665. 73, (Glenn Hauser, to T.R., via DXLD) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Glenn, I have been a MW / SW listener for 30 years. And I still have NO idea what your "digest" is about. None at all! So I request that you kindly remove me from your mailing list. Thank you (Jim Unger, Philadelphia, PA, Shortwave-SWL-Antenna yg via DXLD) Jim, Glenn does a radio show on the topic of radio. His announcement messages list the topics of the show, the times and frequencies where you can hear it, and also where you can find a transcript of the show. If you've been a MW/SW listener for 30 years, you would probably find Glenn's show to be of interest. You are receiving his DX Listening Digest announcements because you are subscribed to the Yahoo Group "Shortwave-SWL-Antenna". Glenn posts his announcements in this group by permission of the group owner and because many of the group members are interested in his show. Glenn is not sending these announcements directly to you (Jay Heyl, ibid.) Dear Glenn, Thank You for your Digest postings and I for one would encourage you please to keep on doing it. Please ignore Jim Unger's of respected 30 years SWLer. Perhaps it has not done on him that, to get to the scoop of your reports you need to go to one of these links: http://www.w4uvh.net/dxlatest.txt or http://dxld.worldofradio.org Keep up the good work, Bests, (Erwin, California, North Los Angeles, San Fernando Valley Area, ibid.) PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ GE75/115 published March 6 A new addition to the 1975 Geneva plan is out. It is dated March 6 and contains a large amount of updates for Russia and some CIS states, apparently to real locations/coordinates. Go to http://www.itu.int/ITU-R/publications/brific-ter/index.html and select GE75_115 in the first line under Special section. This is a pdf file (Olle Alm, Sweden, March 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) LW & MW broadcast stations, mostly Russia including DVR, also CIS, a few from elsewhere in Europe, Guam, Australia (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING ++++++++++++++++++++ Re 7-028: DRM DOOMED TO FAIL [thread also deals with IBOC/HD] DRM is doomed to fail because SW is on the way out. Most of the major broadcasters are abandoning it as fast as they can without simply dropping it like a hot potato. It wouldn't surprise me much to see SW aimed only at the lesser developed countries in a few years time -- the countries where DRM receivers, if they even existed, would be owned by almost no one. DRM was way late to the party and to a great extent is a solution for which there is no known problem. The BBC fails to see that shortwave listening is of any importance at all. They've been steadily cutting back service via SW for years, claiming that alternative methods of distribution are more efficient in these advanced technological times. SW service to North America ended several years ago. You can still hear them, but only because broadcasts to other areas spill over into parts of North America. I strongly suspect much of the rest of the world will follow in the not too distant future. It's a chicken and egg problem, much like the one faced by stations in the US adopting IBOC (a.k.a. HD Radio). The stations can invest as much as they want in equipment and pollute the airways with their digital hash, but they won't have any listeners until compatible radios become available at a reasonable price. Without listeners, eventually they'll start turning out the lights on these new systems. While DRM has been around for a while, it's still mostly in an experimental stage. I don't think any of the broadcasters are seriously expecting vast listening audiences. ``digital broadcasting in the MW BC band might boom, because the signals are mostly ground wave and not so prone to fading`` Sadly, at least as far as IBOC is concerned, such is not the case once the sun goes down. Those MW signals start bouncing off the ionosphere just like SW and they can carry their digital hash great distances, causing horrible interference with local signals that used to be pristine. There seems little point in digital broadcasting for MW, but that doesn't appear to be stopping Ibiquity from pushing for IBOC on MW 24/7. --- (Jay Heyl, March 5, DX-398 yg via DXLD) HD/iBLOC and SW DRM benefit a handful of hole-i-garchs at the expense of all listeners. HD/iBLOC now claims Wal-Mart will sell HD radios for < $200. No one knows HD's many destructive faults better than those pimping HD. That's why their sales pitch is so frantic. Why recite arguments against digital on MF/HF? They are legion. Conversely, every reason put forth to promote HD can be debunked by slow-witted six year olds. Why squander $200 on HD radios when you can buy beautiful AM/FM analog sets for five bucks that pull everything? Legit analog broadcasters say it would be wise to drop iBLOC now, citing high cost of future permanent listener ill will. Do you object to these greedhogs rendering billions of analog radios - including yours - worthless merely so they can make a quick buck? I do. As does everyone I know. Might qWeerChunnel and fellow KronyKasters experience the consequences of their 'partnering' with FCC, mob-type coercion specialists, and Wall St. crooks? Hope so. HD 'streams' are a joke. What few exist stink & aren't monitored by station personnel. Sadly, time is with these putrid bums. They don't care about quality. All BigBoyKasters need do is leave HD transmitters on to coerce listeners into buying HD sets - so they think. Audio quality isn't 'CD' as advertised, it's more like 'seedy'. Besides losing all but nearby stations, you can't even hear HD stations beyond a few miles. HD is a long obsolete, serially superseded, failed 80's technology. Unfortunately, NAB bought this junk and coopted FCC into approving it against all reason. iBuncwitty reportedly states half the AM stations could go off the air and no one would notice. How arrogant. Which stations? Yours? Not mine. What gives these bums the right? Coyly admitting to destructive interference they've long denied exists, iBunkwitty reportedly states the 'fix' for HD hash is to eliminate more stations! Again, whose? Yours? Hopefully people will tune out in droves when nighttime iBLOC ops commence. Rather than the monopoly iQwakwitty & qWeerChannel covet, listeners may tune out completely and turn to iPods, WiMax, and other valid systems. Tell your neighbors and friends about HD & DRM hash - chances are they're upset about losing favorite stations to digital hash, and have been lied to about its origin. Spread the word about interference. Who are these bums to tell us we have no right listening to our favorite stations simply because they want to jam them? As to DRM, Shortwave is not obsolete. As with AM & FM analog, HF is alive. Those who hope to seize it via digitization claim it's foundering. It isn't. They just want total control. Expect DRM/HD radios to require 'licensing' fees and software updates, not to mention inevitable flashing messages of 'unexpected errors'. The more you spread the word about this turkey, the sooner it will deservedly croak (Paul Vincent Zecchino, Manasota Key, FL, ibid.) I checked online today. Circuit City is currently selling a JVC in- dash auto model including HD-Radio for $179. This has to be the same model they're making a big deal out of Wal-Mart selling. Interestingly, this radio includes a front panel connection for iPod hookup and the CD player will play CDs full of MP3s. Why bother with HD-Radio when you can hook up your iPod or play a CD with 30 hours of music of YOUR choice on it? Five bucks? Pull everything? Let's leave the hyperbole to the other guys, okay? I realize the eliminate stations argument is being leveled against MW, but I find it interesting that they're touting the added channels of FM IBOC one minute and then suggesting the elimination of MW stations the next. "We're adding more by taking some away." Ya gotta love the symmetry. I like SW as much as anyone, but it IS foundering. At least SW as it's been known for the last 50 years. The quick band scan I did earlier tonight to try out a new radio shows there's no shortage of signals, but the big broadcasters of the past are leaving SW as quickly as they can. We radio nuts are a dwindling breed. The fact that Drake and JRC have withdrawn from the consumer receiver market is testament to that. Maybe all the inexpensive receivers coming out of China will breathe new life into SW. – (Jay Heyl, FL, ibid.) Agree, symmetry, as you term it, is wonderful. "We take away your choices but give you new - and most exciting - ones". Magnificent. Sorta like Glasnost comes to radio. Some hapless naive Wal-Mart spokesman who was doubtless put up to the job claimed people demand HD radio, etc. etc. & Vlad-Mart is proud to sell them to them. Oh boy..... Isn't 'the people demand this...and the people demand that...' 90s lingo so tiresome? This is 2007. We've 'moved on', so to speak. JVC radio will grace Wal-Mart shelves upon which, 'overwhelming demand' notwithstanding, it will gather dust until someone throws the thing in the sale bin. On radiolists.net BC boards, station engineers relate Circuit City, Best Buy, and similar experiences. Clerks' eyes glaze when asked about HD radios. Yeah, they've sold a few. Here's the best part of the story: For each set sold, one is returned. Ratio of returns to sales is almost 1/1. Stunning! Overwhelming! Wow! Radio Shack reports same. People buy. People listen. People are disappointed. People return HD radios. HD demonstrates the fallacy of trying to create demand for a product that people don't want. Recent market research indicates public knows about HD and does not want it. I've seen cheap sets available for five dollars in various stores. I've read others' reports that five and ten dollar radios work surprisingly well. Given our alternative retail choices such as e-bay, you can acquire fine am/fm stereo on e-bay for thirty dollars, inevitably begging the question, who, besides a few BigKorpseorate KronyKasters, needs this turkey? As to Big Broadcasters leaving HF, they have the right to be shortsighted. They claim there's better ways? Perhaps. But haven't we heard all this previously. This sounds like recycled flatulence gassed off as wisdom from the latest bunch of beancounting dullards. Doesn't it seem that each time someone leaves HF, new stations quickly take their place? What do they know that BigBoyz don't? Old story. Invariably, something happens to remind those who worship at the Altar of Digitalis that HF's beauty is its simplicity. Cruise ships have lifeboats, which in turn carry rafts and plenty of vests. Somehow, this small point is lost and then inevitably found. At sea, nothing beats HF. In remote country, HF rules. Here in suburban Englewood, FL, HF works. The problem with HF is it doesn't generate 'monthly recurring revenue' for some Satcaster who 'shares' proceeds with program originators. JRC and Drake also have the absolute right to be myopic. In radio business over twenty years. Appreciate their receivers yet have long advised customers you can do almost as well with a Sony 2010 or similar and use savings to buy more sets - or go on a cruise. Recently had time to mess with JRC 535d. Left me flat. Sorry. Plenty of good receivers out there. Are we really a dying breed? HF does what no computer can: connects people without middleman/fibreoptic internet 'services'. Rather a great advantage, as future may well demonstrate. z (Paul V. Zecchino, Manasota Key FL, 26 58 N @ Gulf of Mexico, ibid.) I'm for a portable radio that hooks into a wireless INet connection. That's the future. Not DRM (Karl Hess, ibid.) Karl, Jay, and 398 friends - Agree, as you point out, new superior devices which can be connected for enjoyable results. This qth on Manasota Key, FL, Cuban stations are well heard. Some have left AM in favor of FM, beyond our horizon. Now I can hear them via internet. Jack laptop into our tube stereo and former R. Enciclopedia sounds almost as good as its former 1260 AM self. Problem with digital radio, be it HD/iBLOC or DRM is that it dates back to the 80s. Would we buy an 80s 'word processor'? We wouldn't represent it as new technology. But isn't this what HD and DRM zealots do? Whether MW or SW, problem with digital radio isn't the digital, it's interference. Given advances in chips & software, anything done at the transmitter can surely be better executed in the receiver - without interference. The drawback is that this denies KronyKasters and their 'partners' ability to control all that we hear and charge us dearly for the dubious privilege. z (Paul V. Zecchino, ibid.) They've had a real problem getting quality product to the market. There are a few ultra-expensive units, which I'm willing to concede probably work very well (But who wants to pay $800 for HD radio?), and then we move down to the BA Recepter. I have one of the regular Recepters and am very pleased with it. Very nice feature set, good sound, decent performance. So they take a winning product, add another speaker and add a few hundred dollars to the price (have to figure the majority of the price difference was for the "HD" part -- licensing, expensive new components, engineering costs, etc.), and you have a $500 table radio. Oddly, they didn't fly off the shelves. And performance was very spotty due to weak signal situations. Then RS starts selling the Accurian at a price regular folks might actually consider. But a review I read recently indicated the whole thing was cheaply made and sounded like it. Just what HD radio needs to show off its CD quality sound. I suspect that between the cost of the hardware necessary to implement IBOC and the licensing fees paid to Ibiquity, it forces the price close to $100. If you add decent speakers and a sturdy cabinet you're pushing the price into the range where most people aren't willing to go. If Ibiquity really wanted this thing to take off they'd waive their licensing fee for the first few thousand units sold and lower it on the remainder, counting on eventual quantity to make up for an extended cost recovery period. HD demonstrates the fallacy of trying to create demand for a product that people don't want. It is a bit like the people saying, "We want more variety in the music. We want more genres available, not just all urban/rap and top 40. We want fewer commercials.", and the radio folks responding, "Who wants cake?" The existence of cheap radios is indisputable. I also don't doubt reports indicating $5 radios work surprisingly well. For $5, I'd be surprised to get anything beyond a ten mile radius. I think, perhaps, lowered expectations might be at work here. Where I had an issue was with the suggestion that these cheapo radios do "everything". I don't doubt they do everything the average purchaser expects. I do doubt they make much of a DX machine. ``As to Big Broadcasters leaving HF, they have the right to be shortsighted.`` I do think they're overlooking certain aspects that may come back to bite them. On the other hand, there's no disputing that at any single moment there are far more people sitting near computers with internet access than there are sitting near SW radios, at least in the industrialized countries. If your target is the US, Canada, Europe, Japan, Korea, Australia, or any other part of the technologically advanced world, streaming over the internet is almost certain to reach more actual listeners than SW. That's just the reality of the world we live in. If you're targeting Africa or much of South America, SW is the way to go. ``The problem with HF is it doesn't generate 'monthly recurring revenue' for some Satcaster who 'shares' proceeds with program originators.`` I think that speaks to the problem. If there was a huge audience that could be marketed to, somebody would already be doing it. There are commercial broadcasters on SW, but not many. SW has traditionally been a way for countries to introduce themselves to the rest of the world. There are now more efficient ways of doing that. It still provides a cheap platform for spreading propaganda, as witnessed by the laughable nonsense I heard coming out of a certain middle eastern country last night. I think we have to assume JRC and Drake have better knowledge of their bottom line on these products than we do. They're in business to make money. If they were still making money on these things, they'd still be producing them. Drake, as a company, has always seemed to have a love affair with radio. I can't imagine that pulling out of the consumer radio market was an easy thing for them. I just hope AOR doesn't follow suit. That would leave us with nothing at the high end of the consumer radio market. The 2010 was unquestionably a fine receiver. Lots of excellent DXing has been done with them. But they're not quite in the same category as the Drake R8B or JRC NRD545. Note I said "was", since even Sony has dropped their flagship SW receiver. There's no question it's a contracting market. – (Jay Heyl, ibid.) I agree that HD is DOOMED! Right now I can get all of the Sirius Channels (among others) on DISH Satellite in PERFECT SOUND AND DIGITAL across so many types of channels I have forgotten how many. I simply record them on CD or cassette tape. What in the hell does AM radio have to offer that is better, a beer commercial? OR I can find what I want on the INTERNET and record that on CD without the hemorrhoid commercials. You see I am obsolete! I haven't got a pod yet to replace my CD's and Cassette tapes. Remember AM Stereo radio? Look at its major success! (Bob Clark, ibid.) CD's sound much better after tube stereo softens 'what's missing' digital qualities. No iPod here. No point. Cassettes fine. Why bother with something requiring constant attention? Yeah, people around world are seated before computers. Isn't that part of the problem? Radios don't compel our total attention. Computers imprison us. If I could acquire needed info without computer, you think I'd put up with their constant aggravation? iBiquity's Achilles' Heel is their belief that a radio must become a computer to survive. Typical BigKorpseorate mythology. Just because the new hi-tech washing machines feature glass front windows larger than previous models, that's no reason to spend billions ruining an industry and irritating consumers by insisting they both wash clothes and receive UHF TV. HD is a moronic excercise in hi-dollar greed, corruption, and callous dismissal of listeners. The price paid by those pimping it may well be enormous. And, yeah, maybe HF is in a down phase right now. So what? Operant word: phase. Twenty years inna business, or is it 25, and a lifetime messing with this stuff. Sorry. Talkies were supposed to kill radio, as was Technicolor. TV? The Death of Radio, certainly. Right. Radio is indeed, as digital nitwits claim, old. So is eating and drinking. Oddly, no one's come up with a finer replacement. HF died for ten minutes when tube receiver manufacturers failed to keep up with solid state progress. And along came the FRG-7 and RF- 2800/2900 thirty years ago, and HF took off. As Mr. Twain stated w/clarity, reports of death a bit premature....... z (PV Zecchino, Manasota Key FL, ibid.) My computer hasn't imprisoned me a bit. It's done quite the opposite (Karl Hess, ibid.) Karl - it's a figure of speech. to appreciate a computer, one must look at the screen. Radio asks only that we listen as we go about our business. Some cat named McLuhan wrote all about this, way beyond my feeble pea-brain. alla best, z (pv zecchino, manasota key, fl, ibid.) I believe that real smart Canuck said: "The media is the message!" If that's true then it matters not where we get it. AM IS DOOMED, pass the word (Bob Clark, ibid.) OK - Got you. I do accomplish a lot while the radio plays in the background. It is different with a computer. K (Karl Hess, ibid.) I have been casually following this thread and, as usual, I end up having to post. Sorry. I have CDs, tapes, both reel to reel, cassette and vinyl. I can assure you that many of my reel to reel tapes and LPs beat CDs hands down. It does not take a golden ear to hear the difference. I have never been a fan of any digital audio format. Digital is the future to many people these days. Unfortunately many of those people have never had the opportunity to hear a well produced analog recording. And subsequently assume (think) such material is laden with noise, distortion and limited frequency response. Nothing could further from the truth. Now, that being said, I will return to my stall in silence. Craig - N4CQR Still, ibid.) Hi Craig - While at Sebring Hamfest, made acquaintance of fellow who spent years in hi-end audio design & construction from 50s forward. No contest - LPs, etc. far finer than CD's. Can ears hear it? Perhaps. But mind's ear does just as it distinguishes twixt real Mona Lisa and photo of same. Regularly tape music off R. Progreso, 640 AM, qth Habana, among other Cubanos heard here. R-390 - not A - Diode Output fed thru blocking cap to JVC cassette deck which in turn feeds Ampex '60 pre-amp, into either matched Knight 735's running push-pull 6BQ5s, poor-man's 6L6s or Fisher 800 & Scott 299C. Even cheapie K-Mart Venturer portable CD player sounds great thru it but LPs, tapes and off-air broadcasts thru good receiver sound superb. Progreso probably running 60s vintage Czech transmitters, maintenance is always questionable, yet they sound fantastic. With CDs, my recent acquaintance agreed, there's a 'what's missing' factor to do with compression, digitalization, and other wonders designed not to improve sound, rather to stuff more selections onto a smaller disc in name of profits. That's the point missed - digital audio may secondarily be about improved quality, but its primary aim is to improve music biz profits. Yes, JRC and Drake dumped HF receivers, but again, we've seen this dump & resurrect phenom over and over. Corporations want profits in two quarters. No profits? No third quarter. Sometimes, three times counts for all. HD and DRM are what happens when people who know about computers and little else reinvent the wheel to conform to their tunnel-vision world. They slice corners off the wheel, sell them back to us for refitting, and call it a triumph. Digital cellphone audio is a fine case in point. It's cheaper for companies surely. Official snitches have an easier time bundling and analyzing digital than they would with analog, but we of course hear the difference. PS - if HF was finished in the 90s as well, when computers were certain to eclipse them. Guess the 'experts' were wrong, as they were when they declared talkies, color tv and FM would finish radio. Given the information that can be placed on LPs', a CD is like a charcoal sketch compared with a painting. again, it's that 'what's missing' quality z (pv zecchino, manasota key fl, ibid.) Steve - Agree. Elegant simplicity rules. CW works when all else fails. You can wrap some wire around a cardboard tube, ground one end, string the other end around the room, shunt a diode across the mess and you have an AM crystal set for BCB. Useful? Under certain conditions, may well be critical. Thus endeth the lesson. Z (pvz manasota key, fl, ibid.) Yeah... I play the radio while I work on the computer. Also... I do not try to make my computer be a radio, a TV, a phone, a DVD movie player, or other appliance. That just robs my computer of bandwidth available for... what else... computing! My pet peeve is all the ways computer software companies try to hijack my computer processor running little useless applets in the system tray -- sheesh, like I have nothing better to run than some dumb utility that tells me when my hard drive needs a defrag or that it has less than x % capacity left, or that it has been more than x days since I ran scandisk. Git-adda-here !! Thank you for indulgence. Not sure I agree with all the commentary on DRM but I enjoyed the thread immensely. Happy trails. (/// Richards /// ibid.) Fine end to good day. Alla messages, blips, glinks, flikes, & irksome screen intrusions drive undersigned uppa wall as well. Most entertaining HD claim by iBisquick: 'traffic texting'. Right. We gonna stare atta LCD scrolling for stale traffic reports an announcer could read in couple seconds? For what? To liven up dull commutes w/horrific 'distracted driver' accidents? Better yet, HD Bund promising this for years along w/weather texting. Well? They gonna do it - or quit the outhouse? As Souk Wahleed flack says: "We know our customers want HD radios!" And there were some who snickered at that..... As 'civilian' i.e. non-DXer/radio buff listeners are posting, 'everything about HD is a lie'. Understandable. Industry stuck themselves with an obsolete concept, poorly executed. No matter how good a receiver one builds, the underlying thought is flawed. Hopeless. Worse, HD Bund makes over the top, overblown promises which of course it can't meet. To cover broken promises & assuage disappointed customers & leery broadcasters, they tell more tall tales. Hopeless. This is what criminals do when caught. It's how scams end. z (PV Zecchino, Manasota Key, FL, ibid.) While I, too, appreciate the "romance" of hearing a distant station thru the unpredictable "aether", I can't say I agree with smar_68. If you accept the premise that DRM delivered shortwave is aimed at the "plug and play" crowd then sure, it will always suffer from less reliability than that audience expects. If you don't accept that premise, then maybe the outlook isn't as grim. For many, indeed for the overwhelming majority of shortwave listeners around the world, it has never been about romantic notions of DX but about getting information they can't get any other way. And for them, DRM might make it easier [leaving the jamming issue aside for the moment] and certainly more listenable than today. My personal sense is that the real issue facing DRM is: will it make it to market fast enough to matter? As we watch broadcaster after broadcaster cut back or eliminate shortwave broadcasting, will there be many left by the time DRM is ready for "prime time"? Or by the time receivers are readily available at a cost comparable to analog receivers today? I agree about the second point. For DRM to succeed, it must (and soon), get past the stage where you need a PC and effort to tap into the IF section of a receiver. If Sangean can't get their DRM receiver to market soon that will raise warning flags in my book (-Rob de Santos, Columbus, OH, ibid.) You bring up an excellent point. RNZI is one of the few SW broadcasters I'm aware of that has been expanding operations and they are also moving in the direction of DRM. While I'm sure they're happy to be heard in other parts of the world, their primary audience is the South Pacific. Given the comparatively short distance involved (at least for SW), DRM may stand a good chance of working quite well. Of course, there is still that need for receivers at reasonable prices (-- Jay Heyl, ibid.) DRM: see also INDONESIA; NEW ZEALAND. IBOC/HD: see also OKLAHOMA RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ AM STEREO IN ACCURIAN AM Stereo is a little-known feature of the Accurian (Radio Shack) HD radio with FM and AM. I`ve tried to tune in AM stereo without any luck, but Kevin M. Tekel, founder of the AM Stereo website, Warren NJ, claims C-Quam AM is an undocumented feature of those radios. ``The manufacturer`s literature does not mention it, and the tuner display does not include a stereo indicator for either AM or FM. Nevertheless, this is good news for the hundreds of stations still transmitting AM stereo, because for the first time in years, their listeners can now walk into any Radio Shack and purchase a radio that will let them hear the station in stereo.`` However, I have found the RS HD radio to be generally unavailable in major city stores, but did note it in smaller cities like Ashland WI and Jamestown ND, where there is no HD (nor any known AM stereo). (Bruce Elving, March FMedia! via DXLD) FLUORESCENT LAMPS Media here in Germany made a big fuss about the Australian plans to ban incandescent lamps as well. My own experience with CFL lamps is that their radiation can be detected only when bringing a radio within less than 20 cm of them. However, this is within an already quite noisy apartment. On the other hands these lamps are Osram's, no cheap trash of dubious quality (cheap only when disregarding how long they will last). Right now I'm sitting in front of a 35 years old lamp with 2 x 13 watt fluorescents. Only a single Philips type of these tubes is available in local shops here. It was the same 530 colour trash ten years ago and recently, when I had to relamp the good old piece (and discovering that it's again 530 was quite a disappointment; now I will have to find a pair of decent 827's and put up with awful, greenish light until then). However, one thing has changed: The ones I purchased now are labelled "Made in China". I don't know where Philips Lighting made their lamps in the nineties, but now one has to wonder if any production of them is left in Europe at all (Kai Ludwig, Germany, March 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WORLD OF HOROLOGY +++++++++++++++++ Re: ``NOTE: if you refer to DST as Daylight Saving Time, you are buying into and perpetuating the Big Lie that daylight can be saved rather than merely shifted from one part of the clock day to another (gh)`` Hi Glenn, that lie exists only in the US, probably created by your government? :-) We In Germany and some other countries call it summertime or wintertime. Although not a precise descriptor, but comes much closer for the average citizen. I wonder what the French term is for DST or "summertime" ? The new date of the switch affects a lot of Windows PCs that automatically switch their clocks back & forth. Specifically the older versions that can't get an update from M$ anymore? (Jurgen Bartels, Germany, mwdx yg via DXLD) Which reminds me, here in the USA we move the clocks ahead three weeks earlier starting this year. It'll happen this coming weekend, March 11, rather than the last Sunday in March. In a way, the term Standard Time is now a misnomer, since it'll be used only four months out of the year. Wouldn't it now be more accurate to say we're on Standard Time from March to November, and something else from November to March? Maybe call it Winter Losing Time ("it gets dark early during the winter, so why not make it get dark an hour earlier than normal"). Lots of electronic equipment these days has DST changeover hard coded into firmware or software. For example, I have a VCR, a thermostat, and a couple of atomic clocks at home that switch to DST automatically the last weekend in March. My home PCs do the same thing. I expect them to all be an hour off this Sunday morning. If I reset the clocks in the PC's, they'll probably be wrong again on March 25. I wonder how many stations will change power, pattern, etc. at the wrong time starting this weekend? Depending on the circumstances, equipment such as timers might not be updatable, the station might not install a software patch to make things right, they try to do it manually and get it wrong, etc., all of which could create some interesting DX possibilities. Some might get it right this weekend and then be off by an hour three weeks later when the equipment thinks DST goes into effect. Some might not notice that things are happening an hour earlier or later than they should next week, and others may just live with doing it wrong/illegally for three weeks. It could get interesting (Bruce Portzer, WA, IRCA via DXLD) Two of my directional clients will be OK. One has a system that runs under DOS and never changes to daylight time. Stays standard time all year round, with the correct time programmed in. The other runs under Windows XP and has had the Microsoft patch applied. For those of you who have Windows 2000, there is a script available to make the adjustment. It's not a Microsoft product, but was put up by one of the leading audio storage and playback manufacturers. I've used it on a number of machines and it seems to work OK. It will only work on Windows 2000, and not Windows 98 or earlier (Craig Healy, Providence, RI, ibid.) I wouldn't have to get up an hour earlier (bane of my existence) for work. I lived in Peru for a year (where I plan to retire) where there is no DST and I just liked it, one less thing to disrupt things, etc. It seems we can't leave well enough alone here in the US (Bob Young, Millbury, MA, KB1OKL, NRC AM via DXLD) Has nothing to do with candles any more. (Here in Europe we got DST, or Summertime just 20 years ago.) Thanks to DST billjons of people around the world save electricity as they don't have to use electric lamps till one hour later in the evenings. And I can enjoy my afternoons after work, one hour warmer and lighter. (/Sig in Sweden, ibid.) While we're on the subject of Daylight Savings (a.k.a. Shifting) Time, there is a rather comprehensive article on the subject at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylight_savings_time The eye-openers for me: 1. First actually proposed in 1907 by Englishman William Willett. 2. Put in place by several countries during 1916-1919 including the U.S. 3. Ended by the U.S. in 1919, although there is no mention of it being reinstated during World War II. 4. Enery consumption is increased in the morning hours, but reduced in the evening hours, which more than offsets the morning increase (as the arguments go). 5. Number of fatal accidents significantly increases due to sleep disruption on the Monday following the change-over Sunday. 6. Has caused significant problems for computer programming. Soooo, if it were up to me, I would end it muy pronto. For some reason, Wikipedia does mention "War Time", but you have to go to different page. And according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Time War Time was "continuously observed until the end of the war". Thanks for letting me ventilate. 73/ (Joe Miller, Troy, MI, ibid.) John Dunning's book entitled "Three O'Clock Eastern War Time", which is a marvelous fictional account of a New Jersey radio station during WW II, makes use of this time shift. Great read for radio aficionados (Paul Swearingen, Topeka, ibid.) We had DST in the 1930's but even in Pennsylvania it was not observed in every part of the state. You could drive out of Pittsburgh [where I grew up] and find standard time in the next county. In England in WW2 they were on Double Summer Time! That's right, DST plus one! And DST was year round in this country, but called "War Time". The only things that bother me about this change are #1, I have to change 15 or so clocks, and #2, I have to stay up an hour later to hear what I would ordinarily hear (Ben Dangerfield, Wallingford, PA, ibid.) Hello, This Week on Quirks & Quarks: "Setting Clocks by the Rising Sun." For years now, there's been a mystery among the 2,300-year-old ruins at Chankillo in Perú. Most of the site looks like a pretty typical ancient fortress. But to one side of the ruins is a set of 13 stone towers. Over the last century, scientists and historians have debated what they were used for. Finally there's an answer. These towers were a very sophisticated and accurate solar observatory - the oldest in the Americas. This discovery changes our view of the people who lived in Peru at the time, and pushes back the date of Sun worship in South America by several hundred years. We'll talk with the scientist who solved the riddle and unwrapped the enigma. Plus - chimps chomp on speared specialities ... All this and more on Quirks & Quarks, Saturday right after the noon news on Radio One, or anytime on our web page. AND COMING MARCH 19: A new evening broadcast of Quirks & Quarks - every Monday night at 11 pm on Radio One. Bob McDonald, Host Don't forget to check out our new Quirks blog: http://www.cbc.ca/technology/quirks-blog/ Or subscribe to our Quirks podcast: http://www.cbc.ca/quirks/podcast.html You are currently signed-up for CBC's Quirks newsletter (via DXLD) ###