DX LISTENING DIGEST 7-038, March 25, 2007 Incorporating REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING edited by Glenn Hauser, http://www.worldofradio.com Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only if full credit be maintained at all stages and we be provided exchange copies. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without permission. Materials taken from Arctic or originating from Olle Alm and not having a commercial copyright are exempt from all restrictions of noncommercial, noncopyrighted reusage except for full credits For restrixions and searchable 2007 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html For restrixions and searchable 2006 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid6.html NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn NEXT SHORTWAVE AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1351: Mon 0300 WBCQ 9330-CLSB Mon 0415 WBCQ 7415 [time varies 0400/0420] Mon 1330 WRMI 9955 [ex-7385] WORLD OF RADIO, CONTINENT OF MEDIA, MUNDO RADIAL SCHEDULE: Latest edition of this schedule version, including AM, FM, satellite and webcasts with hotlinks to station sites and audio, is at: http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html For updates see our Anomaly Alert page: http://www.worldofradio.com/anomaly.html WRN ON DEMAND: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO [also CONTINENT OF MEDIA, MUNDO RADIAL] http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html or http://wor.worldofradio.org WORLD OF RADIO PODCASTS: www.obriensweb.com/wor.xml ** ABKHAZIA. I monitored 9495 kHz on 22 March with Spectrum Lab for any signs of needed Apsua Radio, Abkhazia, which is a separate radio country per NASWA Country List. The transmitter came on at 0253 on 9494.78 and quickly stabilized to 9494.75 by 0300. The channel is blocked by VOA-9495 via Wertachtal until 0330* and then from 0500 until 0945 by WYFR-9495. During the 0330-0500 window, Apsua Radio was left in the clear with occasional barely threshold audio with what sounded like ethnic vocals and talk, best around 0340-0350 which is a little over 20 minutes after sunrise at the transmitter. The transmitter was stable after warm-up until fade-out with no drifting. I didn't check for the reported 9535 parallel/spur. The carrier started fading at 0545 and was no longer visible in Spectrum Lab at 0612 UT (Brandon Jordan, Memphis, TN. WinRadio G313e, Icom R75, 60' KAZ, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) In A-07 it looks as if the competition in this time period will be DW in Swahili at 0300-0400 via Nauen until May 1, then UAE; and if Apsua is signing on an hour earlier, Iran may be there in English to NAm at 0130-0230 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AFGHANISTAN [non]. Bagram AFB station of Afghanistan --- Dear OM, On 6700 kHz AM broadcasted by Bagram AFB of Afghanistan, two broadcast interferes and are known. Will not one station be a ghost signal? There is not interference after 1800 UT. I can receive a bureau seeming to be a ghost signal in 7000 kHz and 7300 kHz with parallel until 1800. de S. Aoki cf. http://www.ndxc.org/imgbbs/img-box/img20070325163645.mp3 On Mar 24 at 1643 UT (de S. Hasegawa, NDXC via DXLD) I thought this might be related to the 7000 unID/ID item in DXLD 7-035 which turned out to be a Moscow mixing product, 7230 leapfrogging over 7115, in Arabic, but that was only after 1800. 7000 could not be a deliberate frequency but a mixing product itself. So a simple leapfrog of 7300 over 7000 to 6700 would not work. If something on 7150 is involved, that could be CRI, or Iran or Saudi Arabia. And 7150 is the new registered frequency for Kabul itself, as recently reported, until 1800! 7300 in A-07 has CRI Kashi until 1800. So is the 6700 mix still being heard from March 25, as possible mixing producers may have just changed? One of the audios on 6700 needs to be matched with 7000, 7150, 7300, or some other frequency (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Dear OM, I can seldom receive nearly of 6.7 MHz by interference of Chinese OTH radar (Dragon helico jam) in Hainan. I cannot receive condition badly today (S. Hasegawa NDXC, UT March 25, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AFGHANISTAN [non]. R. Solh`s 7-minute-later timeshift in musical programming seems to have stuck; still on March 24 the Solh Theme on 15265 Rampisham did not start until 1458 so it would be cut off at 1500. What a pity. From tomorrow, however, try 17700, which will run all the way until 1800, but less likely to propagate well over here, I fear (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALBANIA. R. Tirana, on 7465 at 0330 on 3/23, woman with IDs, frequencies, schedule, news on Macedonia, March 22 as holy holiday, independence of Kosovo, news on Russia, Belgrade; commentary on new Albanian airport terminal and how will affect economy; one of the better signals so far from R. Tirana, fair to good reception (Eric Bryan, WA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALGERIA. Saludos cordiales. ARGELIA. Hoy 25 de marzo he podido escuchar el final de un servicio en español de Radio Argelia Internacional a través de la página web de Radio Argelia y facilitada por Glenn Hauser: http://www.algerian-radio.dz/Radio-International/indexfr.asp Este servicio ha terminado a las 1958 UT y anuncian hasta el próximo programa por las mismas frecuencias, no dicen cuales. Al mismo tiempo estaba escuchando el servicio de Radio Argel por 9765 [vía RU] y no correspondía al mismo programa; la emisión era en árabe. Audio: http://jmromero782004.podomatic.com/entry/2007-03-25T13_18_12-07_00 (JOSE MIGUEL ROMERO ROMERO, Burjasot (Valencia), España, Sangean, ATS 909, Antena Radio Master A-108, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Lacking a full program schedule, we need people to check the stream at various times and note what language is airing (gh, DXLD) ** ANTARCTICA. 15476, Radio Nacional Arcángel San Gabriel, Base Antártica Esperanza, 2020-2035, March 22, Spanish. Local folk, at 2030 UT ID by male as: "...desde la Base Antártica Esperanza... transmite LRA36 Radio Nacional Arcángel San Gabriel, en su frecuencia de 15476 kHz, de lunes a viernes, para todo el Mundo", more local folk songs, 34443 (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRIA. Radio Austria Int. A07 EUROPA - ONDA MEDIA Noticiero de Austria 2255-2300 MEZ 1476 [= 2055-2100 UT] EUROPA Y AFRICA - ONDA CORTA 0400-2208 UT 6155 0400-1730 UT 13730 1730-2208 UT 5945 MUNDO ENTERO - ONDA CORTA Oriente Próximo 0500-0600 UT 17870 América este 0130-0200 UT 9870 América oeste 1500-1600 UT 13775 [via Canada] América central 0100-0130 UT 9870 América sur 0030-0100 UT 9870 Asia / Australia 1200-1300 UT 17715 (via José Miguel Romero, Spain, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Nice and succinct, as long as you don`t try to break it out by language (gh, DXLD) ** BANGLADESH. Bangladesh Betar : Independence Day Special. Bangladesh Betar Going to air special program on March 26, 2007 on the following time slots: UTC 1230 on 7185 kHz (for S & SE Asia) UTC 1815 on 7185 kHz (for Eu) Program : "26 March: A Red Letter Day in the history of Bangladesh : A special program on the occasion of the independence and Nation" (Ashik Eqbal Tokon, Rajshahi, Bangladesh, March 25, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BELARUS. Radio Belarus is back on 7105, noted after 2045 with a powerful, unobstructed signal in English, first making me wonder who this is since they were playing western pop songs (Shakira, Bon Jovi etc.). The other two transmitters are on 7390 and 7440, both with weaker signals than 7105 and suffering from some sideband splash. Each frequency sounds somewhat different; 7105 has loud audio with lots of compression, 7390 is clearly undermodulated, 7440 does not use much dynamic compression either but has more modulation depth than 7390. It seems that 7105 is their 250 kW transmitter, 7390 a 75 kW which is actually 15 x 5 kW (former jamming transmitters) and 7440 an elder transmitter, rated as 150 kW, apparently no serial model but an unique one (Kai Ludwig, Germany, March 25, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BELGIUM [non]. SHORTWAVE TRANSMITTER AIRTIME PROGRAM AND FREQUENCY SCHEDULE A07 PROGRAM TIME(UTC) FREQ AM/DRM DAYS LANGUAGE TARGET TDPradio 0000-0100 9790 DRM mtwtfss English America Moj Them Radio 0100-0130 15260 AM .t.t... Hmong Asia Denge Mezopotamya 0200-0400 7590 AM mtwtfss Kurdish MidEast Denge Mezopotamya 0400-1600 11530 AM mtwtfss Kurdish MidEast Que Huong Radio 1200-1300 15680 AM mtwtfs. Vietnamese Asia TDPradio 1500-1600 6015 DRM mtwtfss English Europe Tensae Ethiopia V.O.Unity 1500-1600 15660 AM mtwtfss Amharic Africa Radio Xoriyo Ogadenia 1600-1700 15260 AM .t..... Somali Africa Andenet Ledemocracy 1600-1700 15260 AM ..w.f.s Amharic Africa Radio Saa 1600-1700 15180 AM ..w..s. Hausa Africa Denge Rojhelat 1600-1800 11530 AM mtwtfss Farsi MidEast Voice of Delina 1700-1730 11830 AM mtwtf.. Tigrigna Africa Radio Democracy Shorayee 1700-1800 12130 AM .t.tf.s Farsi MidEast Suab Xaa Moo Zoo 2300-2330 11650 AM mtwtfss Hmong Asia Reports to : TDP c/o Ludo Maes P.O. Box 1 2310 Rijkevorsel BELGIUM Tel : +32 33 14 78 00 Mob : +32 477 477 800 Fax : +32 33 14 12 12 E-mail : info @ transmitter.org Web : http://www.broadcast.be (via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, India, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BELIZE. The hot news from David [Shore?] is that TWR expect to be broadcasting from Belize by about the middle of this year (David Morris, Bournemouth Dxers Meet Twice in a Week, March BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) Hot news if it is SW, about any such plans we have heard nothing; not so hot if on FM. Which is it, Mike Terry? A look at http://www.twr.org finds nothing about that, even when searching on Belize and Belice (gh, DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. 5952.41, Radio Pio Doce, Siglo Veinte, 1040-1050+ March 23, Spanish talk. ID at 1041. Fair signal strength but poor, difficult reception with QRM from strong stations on 5950 & 5955 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. ‘A Voz do Brasil’ to end? --- The creation of a new national radio network can sweep out the program ‘A Voz do Brasil’ from the Brazilian radio stations. President Lula wants to create a communication channel to cover actions of the government, and plans to launch a new radio network this year. This probably means the extinction of the daily program ‘A Voz do Brasil’. (tudoradio.com), (March 20, 2007 Posted by finndxer, DXing the Finnish Way via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. 4845, 22/3 0120, Rádio Cultura, Manáus, nice songs, clear ID at 0130, good, no Mauritania. Note: I don't understand why it is reported as Rádio Cultura Ondas Tropicais, when it announces always only "Rádio Cultura". When they give the frequency they add ondas tropicais with the frequency. Rx: R71E & Winradio G33EM Ciao (Giampiero Bernardini, Milano, Italy, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BULGARIA. Has Plovdiv-Padarsko a behaviour to switch the carriers on a considerable time before the scheduled broadcasts are due? Noted at 2242 an open carrier on 7400 which must have been them, warming up for Spanish, to start at 2300 (Kai Ludwig, Germany, March 25, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BULGARIA. During the summer radio season, our DX Program will be broadcast as of next Friday as follows: In the one-hour emissions on Friday at 2100 UT on 5900 and 9700 kHz beamed to West Europe, at 2300 and Saturday at 2300 on 9700 and 11700 kHz to North America, as well as in the half-hour emissions Sunday at 0630 on 9600 and 11600 and at 1130 on 11700 and 15700 to West Europe (R. Bulgaria DX March 23 via John Norfolk, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Approximately in the last quarter hour of the broadcasts; see DX/SWL/MEDIA PROGRAMS (gh) Radio Bulgaria must be kidding with their A-07 at 0100 in Spanish. 7400 // 9400 , the latter stronger, were the only two frequencies on the air for South America. And absolutely no trace of 11600 for Central Am. But, let's wait...maybe tomorrow. It's still too early. DX program was on the air at 0125. 73 (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, UT March 26, dxlgyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BULGARIA. Dear colleagues, Attached please find the A07 operational schedule for ANT (IRRS-Shortwave from Milan, Italy). Please check these data for any possible conflict because it is not usually included in the HFCC schedule distributions, and feel free to contact me for any additional information. You can find updates and more information on our web site at: http://www.nexus.org/NEXUS-IBA/Schedules/ All of our broadcasts will be using 150 kW until further notice. Thank You. With best regards from Milano, -- Alfredo E. Cotroneo, CEO, NEXUS-Int'l Broadcasting Association email: alfredo@nexus.org http://www.nexus.org ph: +39-02-266 6971 - Toll free: 1-888-612-0039 fax: +39-02-706 38151 ANT IRRS-Shortwave A07 250307 281007 SUMMER 2007 All times in UTC: WKDAY FREQ START STOP TARGET ITU zones kW Fri 5775 1600 1830 EU 18-19, 27-30, 37-39 150 Sun 9310 0930 1200 EU 18-19, 27-30, 37-39 150 Sun 15735 1300 1330 India 30-31, 40-43 150 Sun 5775 1400 1500 EU 18-19, 27-30, 37-39 150 Sun 5775 1600 1900 EU 18-19, 27-30, 37-39 150 (via Drita Çiço, R. Tirana, DXLD) ** CANADA. The move of CKPT-1420 Peterborough ON to FM (99.3 MHz, 5.7 kW) has been approved by the CRTC: CKPT Peterborough – Conversion to FM band The Commission approves an application by CHUM Limited for a broadcasting licence to operate a new English-language commercial FM radio station in Peterborough to replace its AM station CKPT. . . http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2007/db2007-99.htm (via Dean McIntyre, AB, March 23, DXLD) ** CHILE. 12275 spur, Voz Cristiana, 0200-0230+ March 25, Weak spur, or mixing product, from 11970 & 11665 mixing together with Spanish religious programming. 305 kHz separation between each frequency (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also CHINA ** CHINA. 6060, Sichuan PBS-2, 1126-1224, March 24, traditional Chinese music, BoH their usual canned program ID (consists of a musical fanfare, followed by an ID in Chinese by YL & OM [lists frequencies of 954 kHz. and 5900 kHz.] and ending with an OM in English: "This is the Voice of Golden Bridge"), // 7225, fair-poor. Programming is always in Chinese (Mandarin). First time I have been able to hear them here in Shanghai. Somewhat better reception in Calif. (Ron Howard, Shanghai, China, Etón E5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. Firedrake, VG with flutter, March 21 at 1348 on 10200 against Sound of Hope; nothing on 9200 at this time (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [non]. 11810, Mystery CRI French station missing today at 0800 UT. Left the air in A07 season? Strange idea: -- toys of remaining 3 Chinese technicians on (second) site Shijak in Albania? (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, March 25, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. After 2040 CRI in a Slavic language (didn't listen enough to tell which one) was booming in on 7150 with huge signal. First I was suspecting a transmitter in Europe, but this appears to be the Kashi site in China. Program wrapped up at 1957, followed by fill music until transmitter went off shortly before 2000 (Kai Ludwig, Germany, March 25, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [non]. As usual in A-seasons, CRI relay via Canada in English at 1300 has shifted from 15230 to 15260, as noted March 25 at 1354; a minute later found it on 17625, which is via Chile ex-15540 during B- seasons (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. Yet another example for the countless signals from China: CRI in Spanish with a language lesson, booming in after 2330 on 7250 (Kai Ludwig, Germany, March 25, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COLOMBIA. Radio Líder, Colombia, on 6140 kHz was heard all this week (except Sunday) 0830-past 0900 UT; and on the 22nd at 0500, but then absent when checked Thursday morning local time (from 0930 UT on). We'll have to see if they remain off the air for now (Roger Chambers, Utica, NY March 22, ODXA via DXLD) Radio Lider, 6139.8, 0103-0205, 3/24/07, in Spanish. OM talking at length with occasional musical breaks. Full ID at 0133. "Esta es Radio Lider ... transmitiendo ... , Bogotá, Colombia." Short talk by YL, then back to same OM. Same ID sequence at 0202, with continued talk by YL. Strong QRM from R. Habana 0.2 kHz up. Would have been an excellent signal except for RHC. SINPO 32442 (Mark Taylor, Madison, WI, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6139.78, R. Líder, Bogotá, 0728 UT March 24, full ID ``Radio Líder, la melodía de Colombia``, strong and audio good, 45444. Radio Líder komt nu nog sterk binnen om 0811 UT; hopelijk blijven de condities wat aanhouden. Gr. (Maurits van Driessche, Belgium, BDX via DXLD) 6139.8, Radio Líder, Bogotá, 0550-0750, 25-04, hasta las 0600 interferida por Radio Liberty en 6140 con programa en Bielorruso. Entre las 0600 y las 0700 sin interferencia y a partir de las 0700 interferencia de Radio Vaticano en 6140 con programa en italiano. "Radio Lider, más cerca de la familia colombiana", "Radio Lider informa la hora oficial, una en punto, en Radio Lider éstas son las últimas noticias". Canciones españolas y latinoamericanas, "En Radio Líder las historias de amor bien contadas, y bien cantadas". SINPO entre 0600 y 0700: 44444 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, Escuchas realizadas en Friol, Grundig Satellit 500 y Sony ICF SW 7600G, Antena de cable, 10 metros, orientada WSW, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See http://www.cadenamelodia.com/ for pictures and two reception reports, one from Australia and another one from Finland. The suggested menu options are: Cadena Melodía /one picture showing Efraín Páez Espitia, politician and founder of this network/, Respaldo, Cobertura and, for the reports, Opinión. In their frequency list for affiliated stations Radio Libertad, Barranquilla, appears on 960 kHz which seems doubtful. I believe they are on their traditional 600. -- Véase http://www.cadenamelodia.com/ para diversas fotos y dos informes de recepción, uno enviado desde Australia y el otro, desde Finlandia. Sugiero abran en todo caso las siguientes opciones del Menú: Cadena Melodía /hay una foto del edificio actual en donde se encuentra enclavada la emisora y otra de Efraín Páez Espitia, político y fundador de la cadena/, Respaldo, Cobertura y, por aquello de los informes, Opinión. En la lista de emisoras afiliadas figura Radio Libertad, de Barranquilla, en 960, lo cual dudo. Pienso que estará en los 600 de siempre (Henrik Klemetz, Sweden, March 25, HCDX via DXLD) ** CUBA. Now that it`s an hour `later` by the local clock, I will be more likely to catch RHC`s Spanish DX program, En Contacto, Sundays at 1335. March 25, on 11760, Manolo Ortega Romero was interviewed, or rather it was edited into a monolog, about a precursor of all Revolutionary Cuban broadcasting today. It was La Emisora del Pueblo, informally ``La Mil Diez`` which was on a clear channel 1010, and covered the whole island, especially during béisbol games, between the years of 1943 and 1948 when it was closed down by the then government. It was run by the Partido Socialista Popular; had its own orchestra, dramatic and comic actors. Ortega said he was a writer but occasionally also acted. The closure came on May 1, 1948, International Workers` Day. I wonder if anyone remembers DXing this station, or even QSLing it, and what were its calls? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [non]. Radio República is after 2200 still (or again) on 6135, noted with lively programming in Spanish and elaborate teasing at 2228, followed by some talk recorded outside the studio. Appears to be an European site, like Rampisham which had earlier been reported as apparent origin of these top secret transmissions (Kai Ludwig, Germany, March 25, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CZECH REPUBLIC [and non]. Are you sure you are still relaying R. Prague? WRMI times are not on this A-07 schedule: http://www.radio.cz/en/frequencies#en (Glenn to Jeff White, via DXLD) Glenn: Yes, the Radio Prague relays continue unchanged, probably through the end of this year. They'll eventually catch up and get our relays on their schedule! (Jeff White, WRMI, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. 5009.79, Radio Pueblo, Santo Domingo, 0000- 0001*, March 24, Just caught the end of their transmission with choral type music at tune-in. ID announcement at 0001 & off. Good reception for this one minute (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR. Glenn: -- Re "...and that is always interrupted abruptly at precisely 0504* when the transmitter cuts off the air. Why do they do this? Yet another instance of automation gone wild and no human minding the store to control what actually goes on the air." Any automation system can be programmed (or repaired to inherent capabilities, if necessary) to start and stop at the proper times, or in response to the proper cues, may they be DTMF, SubAudible Analog, or Digital in nature. Failure to do so usually marks either an incompetence factor, or a lack of caring about the situation. My money's on the latter, as man-made organized religionists are mainly only interested in maintaining the huge cash flow. (An arguable improvement over the centuries-old traditional compulsions toward controlling all behaviours of all other Humans). If it works, why fix it?? -- (GREG HARDISON, CA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Really? They sound rather pious on HCJB (gh) ** ECUADOR. Re 7-033, HD2IOA: There have been a few people question what is the Applause Card I reference in most of my QSL reports. An Applause Card is simply a card that I print to thank the station for the broadcast. On the front of the card, I have a graphic of a set of headphones surrounded by the phrase: Station 123 was heard in Greenback, Tennessee, USA. On the back of the card, the time, date, and frequency of the reception are listed. It also has a thank you statement along with a US & TN flag graphic. If the booming metropolis of Greenback had a flag, I would print it also! It is my understanding that in the early days of radio, DXers often included something of this nature with their reports. I usually enclose a local postcard and sometimes an IRC or green stamp (Joe Wood, TN, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) ** ECUADOR [and non]. March 24 at 1403 with K=3, conditions were pretty poor on 19m, but I couldn`t help but notice that HCJB DRM on 15195-15200-15205 sounded an awful lot like the DentroCuban Jamming Command on 15330; same pitch, no analog audible (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Solar-terrestrial indices for 23 March follow. Solar flux 73 and mid- latitude A-index 10. The mid-latitude K-index at 1500 UTC on 24 March was 3 (38 nT). Space weather for the past 24 hours has been minor. Geomagnetic storms reaching the G1 level occurred. No space weather storms are expected for the next 24 hours (SEC via DXLD) ** EGYPT. Presumed Radio Kairo in Arabic noted at 2350 on 9460. Strong signal but terrible, muffled modulation. As if this were not enough they carried talk of a lady who spoke "into the room", away from the mic (Kai Ludwig, Germany, March 25, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 15190, Radio Africa, Bata, 1025-1200*, March 23, US produced English religious programming with fire & brimstone preacher. Christian music. No programming at 1101-1107. Only an open carrier. Back at 1107 with religious talk. Closing announcements at 1158 with ID & Cupertino, California address given. Fair signal strength but audio somewhat distorted (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FINLAND. Made a point of following the Return to Air transmission (as PR people would call it) of the Pori-Preiviiki site, with Polskie Radio from 2100 on 7140. It was a bit difficult to tell when the carrier came on, since there were already two signals on the frequency, but I think this happened at 2058. Modulation started straight at 2100 with programming in Polish, announcing an upcoming discussion of the current situation in Afghanistan, // Wertachtal on 6135 but with a delay of about a second, so the audio delivery is more complicated than just picking up the same satellite feed. The signal on 7140 was quite poor, in fact unlistenable, while 6135 was booming in (Kai Ludwig, Germany, March 25, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREECE. THOUGHTS ON SVO --- Glenn: I've been wondering what they are going to do with SVO in Pyrgos, Greece, after the testing period is over. My thoughts are that whoever is running this show has something on his mind for the near future. Perhaps the ship owners and airline operators are trying to improve reception on the merchant and pleasure ships at sea as well as on the airplanes. I believe that the present MW and FM stations on the mainland are not received very well when the ships get too far away from their transmitters. Perhaps the programming on the Voice of Greece does not suit the crews and passengers who would rather listen to Greek music rather than yakkity- yak. Maybe these ship owners have gotten together and decided to set up this short-wave transmitter to carry a selection of programming from Pyrgos which has a MW transmitter on 1350 kc. with Regional+ERA 1, 2, 4 programming and an FM transmitter on 100.0 MHz. with ERA regional programming. There is also short-wave programming available from ERT-3 from Thessaloniki and Avlis 1, 2, and 3 in Athens. With a selection of programming from these sources, ships at sea could then receive a more reliable signal if SVO was set up to broadcast on short wave. Regards, (John Babbis, MD, March 21, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Dear Friend Babis: As we approach the A-07 Broadcasting Season, I am completely confused about the reasoning behind these SVO tests during the past few weeks. I know that they are not coming from Avlis, but from a former 10-kW coastal transmitter in Pyrgos. After these tests have been completed, will this OLYMPIA RADIO transmitter become part of the ERA-5 setup, or will it just carry Voice of Greece programming? Do you or anyone at ERA-5 have any idea of what the future plans are for this transmitter? Regards, (John Babbis to Babis Charalampopoulos, ERA, via DXLD) Dear John, The A-07 season it will run according to the program that you have, no SVO. Probably in the future an agreement is going to take place. Best regards (Babis C., March 23, via John Babbis, ibid.) Glenn: It looks as though SVO will be on standby; for what, who knows? (John Babbis, MD, DX LISTENING DIGEST) GRC ERA 5 via Olympia Radio couldn't be traced today (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, March 25, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Greece: No foreign languages on 11645 --- ERA 5 was according to schedule in DXLD 7-036 supposed to carry foreign language programming on 11645, like Spanish until 0900, followed by German. But either they just forgot about it or changed their minds at short notice, since 11645 carries now, before and after 0900, the same Greek program as 9420 and 15630. 9420 and 11645 are about equally strong here, 15630 is much weaker. 11645 is plagued by the same hum during faint program audio than the Radiofonikos Stathmos Makedonias relays later in the day, so this is obviously the same transmitter, and the problem must arise behind the point from where the audio feed runs exclusively to this particular transmitter, i.e. presumably within the Avlis station (Kai Ludwig, Germany, March 25, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Okay, very strong signal noted on 11645 at 002 degrees from Avlis today. But wait until tomorrow. In past winter season, ERA5 foreign services in Albanian, English, French and Spanish missed very often on Sundays on 15630 kHz, and normal Greek Orthodox Sunday divine service was broadcast instead. 73 wolfy (Wolfgang Büschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Greek in Style music programme not broadcast today either at former summer time of 0905 or winter schedule time of 1105, station was audible on all frequencies listed on their schedule, 9420 11645 and 15630 at 0905, 9420 9935 and 15630 at 1105 (Mike Barraclough, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Did you check at 1005? Or are all frequencies resting then? (gh) I didn't as the schedule shows all frequencies silent, which IIRC has always been the case (Mike Barraclough, ibid.) ** GUAM. SITE ?, 9720, AWR-Voice of Hope, 2138-2200*, March 23, in English; program about the 7 pillars of Christianity; many IDs, gives address as: A.W.R., P. O. Box 17, Pune, Maharashtra; fair-good. I only have limited access to the web, so cannot find the site for this (Ron Howard, Shanghai, China, Etón E5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) KSDA ** GUATEMALA. 4799.8, Radio Buenas Nuevas, San Sebastián Huehuetenango, 0415-0429*, 25-03, programa religioso, locutor: "Les agradecemos su atención a este programa", canciones religosas, identificación: "Desde San Sebastián Huehuetenango, transmite Radio Buenas Nuevas, en 4800 kilociclos onda corta, banda de 60 metros, y 102.1 Frecuencia Modulada, pasa de las 11 de la noche". A las 0428: "Amables oyentes, Radio Buenas Nuevas ha llegado al final de su programación en este día, gracias por su amable sintonía; les agradecemos reporten esta transmisión a la siguiente dirección: Radio Buenas Nuevas San Sebastián Huehuetenango, apartado 13020 Huehuetenango, Guatemala, Centroamérica. Estaremos con ustedes a partir de las 4 de la madrugada, buenas noches y hasta mañana". Cierre a las 0429. Así que, según esto Radio Buenas Nuevas abriría programación a las 0400 y cerraría a las 2330, hora de Guatemala. SINPO 25322 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, Escuchas realizadas en Friol, Grundig Satellit 500 y Sony ICF SW 7600G, Antena de cable, 10 metros, orientada WSW, DX LISTENING DIGEST) So they are on DST of UT -5; WRTH 2007 did not have DST dates confirmed, if any, at press time; seems they vary from year to year. Timeanddate.com has no entry for Guatemala, and also has an easier to refer to overview in country order at http://www.timeanddate.com/time/dst2007.html which says `No DST in 2007` for Guatemala (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HONDURAS. 3340, La Voz de Misiones Internacionales, Comayagüela, 0432-0600*, 25-03, programa religioso, canciones y comentarios: "Será hasta el próximo programa, transmite Radio Misiones Internacionales", locutor, anuncios, "Siga con Radio Misiones Internacionales. Cierre a las 0600. 24322 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, Escuchas realizadas en Friol, Grundig Satellit 500 y Sony ICF SW 7600G, Antena de cable, 10 metros, orientada WSW, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 3340, HRMI, Radio Misiones Internacionales, 0535-0605* March 25, Spanish ballads, LA music. Spanish announcements. 0555 ID. 0605 abruptly pulled plug. Fair (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ICELAND. 13865, ISL still on air in Icelandic at 1410 til 1444 UT playing Sunday xylophone tea-time music, and 1444:00 til 1444:54 ?urgent ship announcements? (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, March 25 afternoon, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. Dear Glenn Hauser, Yesterday 21 March 2007 on 15050 at 1345 UTC also the mix up was noticed of AIR External Services. Along with the original Sinhala Service, I have identified the mixing signal as that that of Dari & Pushtu Service which is also broadcast simultaneously as follows: Dari 1315-1415 & Pushtu 1415-1530 UT on 7255 7410 9910 It seems 2 feeds are given on 15050 by error. The matter has been intimated to the concerned at AIR. Yours sincerely, (Jose Jacob, India, dx_india via DXLD) The Sinhala Service on 15050 was noted yesterday 22 Mar 07 with clear audio (without mixup of Dari/Pushtu Service) at 1345 (Jose Jacob, March 22, ibid.) AIR self-collision on 15050 was still going 24 hours later, March 21 at 1349 check; drum music on one, presumed Pashto talk on other; not as strong as the day before. Jose Jacob confirmed it was still going March 21 and that it was indeed Pashto interfering with Sinhala. He notified AIR and the next day is was just Sinhala. Also March 23 at 1355 check I was just hearing one program, music. I`m still wondering if two transmitters were involved or only one (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. 4970, AIR-Shillong, 1602-1630*, March 24, OM DJ in English, with pop songs (Whitney Houston "I Wanna Dance With Somebody"), sign- off with: "This is the North Eastern Service of All India Radio broadcasting from Shillong on 60.... meters, 4970 kHz", fair (Ron Howard, Shanghai, China, Etón E5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15075, AIR Bengaluru/Bangalore (presumed), 0523-0530*, March 23, sub- contintent music, fair-poor (Ron Howard, Shanghai, China, Etón E5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. AIR A-2007 changes --- Dear friends, AIR External Service A- 2007 changes monitored: 1000-1100 English 13695 (ex 13710), 15410 (ex 15235) 1115-1200 Thai 15410 (ex 15235) 1115-1215 Tamil 13695 (ex 13710) 1215-1245 Telegu 13695 (ex 13710) 73 (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, National Institute of Amateur Radio, Raj Bhavan Road, Hyderabad 500082, India, March 25, dx_india via DXLD) ** IRAN. A07 English from IRIB website http://english.irib.ir/ 1030-1130 15600 17660 to Indian Subcontinent, Pakistan & Kashmir 1530-1630 7370 9635 to Indian Subcontinent 1930-2030 6255 to Central Europe [Lithuania] 1930-2030 6205 7205 to Europe 1930-2030 9800 9925 to South Africa 0130-0230 7235 9495 to North America [``V. of Justice``] (Mike Barraclough, March 24, dxldyg via DXLD) See ABKHAZIA VOIRI A-07, Español LA TABLA DE LAS FRECUENCIAS, ONDAS CORTAS 2030-2130 EUROPA 49 M 6255 KHZ [Lithuania] 2030-2130 ESPAÑA 31 M 9800 KHZ 41 M 7300 KHZ 0030-0130 AMÉRICA CENTRAL Y AMÉRICA DEL SUR 31 M 9905 KHZ 31 M 9655 KHZ 0230-0330 AMÉRICA DEL SUR 31 M 9905 KHZ [sic, out of order] 0130-0230 AMÉRICA DEL SUR 31 M 9905 KHZ 31 M 9655 KHZ 0530-0630 EUROPA 16 M 17785 KHZ 19 M 15530 KHZ (via José Miguel Romero, Spain, dxldyg via DXLD) IOW, it`s on 9905 straight thru from 0030 to 0330, 9655 0030-0230 (gh) ** IRAN [and non]. Apparently the Arabic service of IRIB has abandoned 6065 --- and popped up on 6025 instead, yet another frequency used by a European broadcaster for decades. In this case the victim is Radio Budapest, and at 2150 the result was an almost equal mixture of Radio Budapest in Spanish and IRIB, with the produced mess being shred into pieces by the carriers having an offset of about 4 Hz against each other. A really terrible clash (Kai Ludwig, Germany, March 25, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Noted an UNID strong station on 11820 at 0030-0100, with endless English newscast reading by man and female. Mostly on Arabic, Iranian and Iraqi matter items, and against US occupancy into Iraq. Most likely it`s an additional IRIB newscast, which follows the IRIB Chinese outlet til 0030 towards Asia. Not scheduled in HFCC data yet. An UNID IRN outlet also around 2130 on 9780, needs further monitoring (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, UT March 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ISRAEL. Dear friends, The next schedule will start at April the 1st. The B06 will be valid until then. Hope for high SSN and good propagation condition (Moshe Oren, Bezeq, March 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Along with the full schedule, but in local time and requiring lots of fixing up for text format. Perhaps a more handy version will emerge in the meantime. Here is just the English portion, converted to UT once Israel is on DST, just before it goes into effect: 0330-0345 N. America/W. Europe 9345 N. America/W. Europe @ 11590 7530 Central America/Australia 17600 0930-0945 N. America/W. Europe 15760 N. America/W. Europe 13855 1730-1745 N. America/W. Europe 9345 N. America/W. Europe 13675 N. America/W. Europe 11590 1900-1925 N. America/W. Europe 9400 N. America/W. Europe 11590 South Africa 15640 Valid from 1.5.07 - 31.8.07 (@) [11590 replacing 7530] (via Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ISRAEL. During Feb, Israel army radio Galei Zahal has been heard daytime on 15785 and at night on MW only. Not heard recently on 6973 (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, March BDXC UK Communication via DXLD) 6973, 21/03 0404, GALEI TZAHAL, px com entrevistas por om até 0412 seguida de mx local pop, ouvida até 0429, px em Hebrew 25333. Receptor: DEGEN DE1103 (antena dipolo 1/2 onda para 60 metros e interna de ferrite do receptor) (José Ricardo Motta de Oliveira Rio de Janeiro - RJ, HCDX via DXLD) 6973.26, Galei Zahal (presumed); 2346-2353+, 23-Mar; M in Hebrew with lite pop music & phone calls. Not heard for couple of weeks. SIO=353 (Harold Frodge, MI, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) 15784.78, Galei Zahal, Tel Aviv, 2140-2200+ March 23, Hebrew talk. Music by Queen. Local pop music. Weak but readable. Much better on // 6973.25 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Israel Radio, odd 15759.92 at 0900 and Galei Zahal 15785.59 kHz, hit by heavy Moscow DRM signal 15780. 73 wolfy (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, March 25, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ITALY. Dear GIROGIO, I thank you very much for your precious contribution in helping us to test the quality of our External Service. I hope you will continue in this co-operation very important for us. I've sent you a little gadget. I'm sorry but I've no new QSL because during this winter there was a possibility to close SW transmission. Now, the last news is that Rai will continue in HF broadcasting trying to study the switch some programmes in DRM system. I promise that you'll receive the first QSL of new series at the start of next period B07. Sorry again!! CIAO (Mario Ballabio, RaiWay Monitoring Centre, Monza - ITALY, March 22, to and via George Poppin, CA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ITALY [and non]. Notturno Italiano after 2200 on 6060 was bothered by loud RTTY on the low side, rendering it unlistenable. Who is the intruder? At the same time RAI was in the clear on 5970, until 2210 with Slovak, followed by Polish. I would consider such a slot after local midnight as quite late (Kai Ludwig, Germany, March 25, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** JAPAN [and non]. NHK World Radio Japan`s A07 frequency schedule has been posted at http://www.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/freq/all_e.pdf Effective March 25-October 1, 2007 --- ``There will be major changes in frequencies after October 1, 2007. The frequency schedule you have right now is effective until 11 o'clock (Japan time) of October 1.`` English: Asia 0100-0200 15235 0500-0700 15195 0600-0700 11760 11715 both via Far East Russia 1000-1200 11730 1500-1600 6190 Southeast Asia: 0000-0015 17810 13650 0100-0200 17810 0100-0200 11780 via Singapore 0500-0600 17810 0600-0700 11740 via Singapore 1000-1200 9695 1400-1600 7200 Southwest Asia: 0100-0200 15325 1400-1600 11730 Oceania 0100-0200 17685 0300-0400 21610 0500-0700 21755 1000-1100 11890 1400-1500 11840 via Sri Lanka 2100-2200 6035 via Singapore North America 0000-0100 6145 via Canada 0100-0200 17825 0500-0600 6110 via Canada 0600-0700 13630 1000-1200 6120 via Canada 1500-1600 9505 1700-1800 9535 2100-2200 17825 Central America 0100-0200 17825 0600-0700 13630 1500-1600 9505 1700-1800 9535 Hawaii 0600-0700 17870 2100-2200 17870 South America 0100-0200 17560 0100-0200 11935 via Bonaire [see below] Middle East & North Africa 0100-0200 17560 0100-0200 5960 via UK 1000-1100 9650 via UAE Africa 1700-1800 15355 via Gabon 2100-2200 11855 via Ascension Island Europe 0500-0600 5975 via UK 0500-0700 7230 via UK 1000-1100 17585 via UK 1700-1800 11970 2100-2200 6180 6055 both via UK (via John Norfolk, dxldyg via DXLD) This week`s World Interactive program said from next week it would be reduced to 20 minutes, but there would still be DX segments. On UT March 25, the 0100 broadcast via Bonaire on 11935, listed above as English, was in Japanese (Joe Hanlon, NJ, DX LISTENING DIGEST) But it was in English when I checked at 0156 UT March 26. RN transmission schedule is not very helpful, showing ``English/Japanese`` at 0100- 0400 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** JAPAN. For the new A07 schedule details they can be found at: http://www.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/freq/all_e.pdf This schedule is in effect until Oct. 1. From 0200 on Oct. 1 there will be significant schedule changes, as a result of the planned cutbacks in broadcasts and language services. (That was shown in the RNW schedule with regard to NHK usage via Bonaire!) (Joe Hanlon, NJ, March 24, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Radio Japan reductions from October 1 --- According to Mr. Tohru Yamashita of Asian Broadcasting Institute, NHK Radio Japan made the decision to cut down their shortwave transmission on October 1. The daily broadcasting hours will be reduced to 49 hours 20 minutes from 65 hours. Malay (now 1 h 20 min/day), German (1h), Swedish (30 min), Italian (30 min) services are to be discontinued. English service is to be drastically reduced to 3 h 10 min/day from 14 hours. Other reductions: French to 1 h from 2 h 10 min, Spanish to 1 h 30 min from 1 h 50 min. The reduction is mainly due to the discontinuation of shortwave transmission to North America/Hawaii, and Europe except Russia. Other services will be remain unchanged: Japanese (20 h), Chinese (4 h), Russian (3 h 40 min), Korean (2 h 50 min), Indonesian (2 h 10 min), Vietnamese (1 h 20 min), Thai (1 h 20 min), Burmese (1 h 20 min), Bengali (1 h), Hindi (1 h), Urdu (1 h), Persian (1 h), Arabic (1 h), Swahili (1 h), Portuguese (1 h). (Takahito Akabayashi, Tokyo, Japan, March 24, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Change planned in Bonaire relay October 1: see NETHERLANDS Hello Glenn, One more time, the French service of NHK has denied the cancellation of French broadcasts to Europe. According to NHK (25/03), transmissions in German, Italian et Swedish will disappear, but French will stay via Moyabi. Strange (Jean-Michel Aubier, France, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** JAPAN [and non]. Re 7-037: Dear Mr. Glenn Hauser, Hello. My name is Seong Mun, Park. I'm Working to The Institute of North East Asia Broadcasting in Seoul, Korea. JAPAN / Radio Shiokaze A07 Schedule (3/26~10/28) * 1st Program (Via KDDI Yamata, Japan) : 2030~2100UTC 6045 kHz / 100 kW / Callsign. JSR * 2nd Program (Via RTI-VT Taipai, Taiwan) : 1300~1330UTC 9485 kHz / 100 kW Sincerely yours, (Seong Mun Park, Vice president, The Institute of North East Asia Broadcasting in Seoul Korea, DX LISTENING DIGEST) According to Mr. Tohru Yamashita of Asian Broadcasting Institute, “Investment Committee of the Missing Japanese probably related to North Korea” officially announced on March 22 the use of KDDI Yamata transmitter site for their “Shiokaze” broadcast in A07. On the same day Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications gave them the license of “special business broadcasting for public information” . Their first transmission from KDDI Yamata site will be on air on March 25 with the call sign JSR. “JSR kochirawa Shiokaze desu” will be announced in Japanese at the beginning and end of every transmission from Yammata. Their A07 schedule is as follows; 1st broadcasting (over KDDI Yamata site) 2030-2100 6045 kHz 100 kW call JSR term of a contract March 25 – October 27 2nd broadcasting (over VT Taiwan site) 1300-1330 9485 kHz 100 kW Asian Broadcasting Institute also reported: “Shiokaze” broadcast over KDDI Yamata site was officially registered to ITU on March 19 by the Japanese government. This means if North Korea jams this transmission, Japanese government will regard it as a hostile activity to Japan. The transmission will be over the Log Periodic Antenna. A professional female announcer will be employed for the first time for first broadcast. The overall cost will remain 600 thousand yen/month as before. The license, which is for utility station, is valid for 2 years. BTW the “Balloon Project” will start next week (from March 25). Korean organization NKnet (Network for North Korean Democracy and Human Rights) will spray 100,000 bills in Korean and Japanese from the sky into North Korea using balloons to promote the reception both “Open Radio for North Korea” and “Shiokaze” (Takahito Akabayashi, Tokyo, Japan, March 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) [update/correxion] Daily NK reports on March 5 [sic]: ``Investment Commission of the Missing Japanese probably related to North Korea``, who is sending ``Shiokaze`` broadcast to North Korea, is planning to spray the bills to North Korea in April. 5m diameter balloon with 3 bags of bills will be launched near the 38 degree boundary line. Using timers, bags will be exploded 3 times in the skies of North Korea, and 100000 bills will be sprayed around Pyongyang area. On the bill, the following information is written in Japanese and Korean. The frequencies and hours of ``Shiokaze`` broadcast, the requirement message to North Korean people to inform them of the abducted Japanese in North Korea, $10000 reward for the information. The launch of the balloon will be done by the Korean organization ``Christian Union of Refugees from North Korea``, who has been spray the same kind of bills since 2004 (via Takahito Akabayashi, Tokyo, Japan, March 25, DX LISSTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. 7390: A broadcast accident of Open Radio for North Korea 1436-1500 Mar 24. Dear Mr. Glenn Hauser, hello. My name is Seong Mun, Park. I'm Working to The Institute of Northeast Asian Broadcasting in Seoul, Korea. 2007/03/24 1436:40 UT, 7390, ORNK transmitted nonmodulate carrier. Occasionally transmitted "Windows XP" Opensound 4 times. 15:00:11 UT 7390 S/Off. Because it my guess sending computer error of broadcast sender VT's transmitter site. Sincerely yours, (Seong Mun Park, Vice president, Northeast Asian Broadcasting Institute, in Seoul Korea http://cafe.daum.net/neabi March 24, DX LISTENING DIGEST) with a couple of sound clips, yup (gh) ** KOREA SOUTH [and non]. So far the new A07 frequency schedule has yet to be posted, but it turns out that the English A07 is available on a pop-up (which I found after unblocking the pop ups from this site) [text edited]: http://rki.kbs.co.kr/sub_popup.php?No=147 Europe 1600 on 9515 Europe 1800 on 7275 Europe 2100 on 3955 (30 mins) North America 0230 on 9560 (30 mins) North America 1200 on 9650 North America 1430 on 9770 DRM Fridays only (duration not given) South America 0200 on 15575 South Asia 0800 on 9570 South Asia 1300 on 9770 9570 (all one hour u.o.s.) A second pop-up at http://rki.kbs.co.kr/sub_popup.php?No=130 says: "We apologize for the inconvenience, but there may be some difficulties in listening to or viewing our Audio-On-Demand and Video- On-Demand services for a short time, due to incompatability problems with Windows Media Player 11. Pleas try to use an earlier version of Windows Media Player to play the files until these complications are resolved. Thank you for your patience." (via John Norfolk, dxldyg, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9560 and 9650 are of course Sackville, but has the evening broadcast really been cut to 30 minutes instead of 0200-0300? 9770 DRM is certainly not to NAm, but 92 degrees from Rampisham, 30 minutes, and Friday only. The popup does not say it is to NAm, axually. So there could be other errors (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) ** LAOS [non]. Hmong Lao Radio, 11785 via WHRI, was barely audible Saturday March 24 at 1330, with the frequency occupied by VOA Thailand in Mandarin, which means it is even more dominated by Chicom jammers. At closing 1359, HLR was audible, but still with QRM on what had previously been a huge signal from WHRI. The broadcast is just too early before the MUF builds up, since it had to shift a UT hour earlier to compensate for DST in Hminnesota, but should get better as summer approaches. You might think that this collision was due to The Fortnight of Confusion, but according to HFCC it was already colliding at 1400-1500, and furthermore both will still be colliding in A-07 at 1300-1400. Another instance of false assumption that US SW broadcasts from opposite sides of the world will not interfere with each other and may safely share frequencies (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LATVIA. Relay this weekend via 9290 kHz. Sat March 24th Latvia Today 0800-0900 UT E-mail info @ radioswh.lv Sun March 25th Latvia Today 1500-1600 UT Good listening (Tom Taylor, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LIBYA [non]. Today March 25, Sawt al Amal signing on as usual at 1200 with signature tune on 17675 kHz. Poor to fair signal in this area. By 1218 modulation was gone and replaced by short audio tones every 5 seconds. Perhaps they lost the satellite feed. A few minutes later modulation was again as usual. I thought perhaps they had abandoned using split frequencies, but after 1230 I found them on around 17667.5 kHz. 73, (Moisés Knochen, Montevideo, Uruguay, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LUXEMBOURG. DRM A-07: No Radio Luxembourg English transmissions listed, apart from the local 26 MHz service at http://www.drm.org/livebroadcast/livebroadcast.php (Mike Barraclough, UK, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALDIVE ISLANDS [non]. Glenn: We've had a last-minute cancellation by Minivan Radio, which will end its broadcasts on March 24, just before the A07 season begins and the frequency change [to 11725] would have taken place. They say they expect to get a license from the Maldives government for an FM station within the next month or so. We wish them all the best, but I am very skeptical that the government will allow them to broadcast locally, at least with any degree of freedom of expression (Jeff White, RMI, March 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) So the last two broadcasts were March 23 and 24 at 1600-1700 on 11800 via Germany. However, they have reversed their `quitting SW` plans a few times before (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** MALI. Checks confirm that the English programme from R. Mali is only broadcast on Saturdays, e.g. heard 1908-1924 UT on 3 Feb, on 4835, 5995 (Rumen Pankov, Sofia, Bulgaria, March BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** MEXICO. Desde las 2000 UT escucho con excelente señal a Radio UNAM (9600 kHz) desde la Cd. de México; se puede decir que aumentaron potencia en relación al día de ayer pero además se escucha con gran claridad (Julián Santiago Díez de Bonilla, DF, March 23, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Still not much luck hearing XEYU which reportedly has been active again lately. March 21 at 1342 could hear some Spanish talk on 9599.4 with het from 9600, also splatter from RA 9590. March 24 at 1406 check I could just hear the het it was causing, but now they have even more QRM: 2-way Spanish SSB, quite possibly Mexican-related, on 9600; the usual very idiomatic and poorly enunciated conversation, hardly comprehensible here, one station weaker than the other (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9599.30, XEYU-Radio Universidad, Mexico City, 0955-1010+ March 24, Classical piano music. Spanish announcement at 1005. Classical instrumental music at 1006. Poor, weak in noisy conditions (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) XEYU coming thru again, 9599.2 approx., March 25 at 0535 with Beethoven, good but fades; 0549 outro announce as a Romance, and current time as 23:49, confirming they are still on CST another week, chime and ID as Radio Unam, pronounced as a word. Also audible with classical music at 1334 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 620, XESS, ESPN Deportes, Ensenada BCN (32 29'N 117 01'W) MAR 13 0416 - ID, "Através de XE Doble S, ESPN deportes. Una día más de comunicación. Son 8 con 16, 8 con 16 de la noche." Into lengthy discussion that "Tijuana tiene una hora de diferencia con EE. UU." Discussed effect on business. This is contrary to WRTH 2007 which says, "Baja California Norte: UTC-8h (11 Mar-4 Nov 7h)," and also contrary to an apparent time change in the CST zone of Mexico as observed on 810 XEFW. Booming, local-like, no sign of KIPA on east Beverage. [Wood-HI] 810, XEFW R. Estrella, Tampico (22 13'N 97 51'W) MAR 12 0530 - ID, "XEFW, 50,000 wats de potencia. Escuche lo que pasa en nuestra ciudad." Clear time check, "las 12:30," showing that Tamaulipas (and presumably Mexico City, etc.) went on to CDT (UTC-5) on MAR 11. Very good atop KGO on east Beverage (Richard Wood, Keaau HI; R75, 1500-ft and 1800-ft east Beverages, 300-ft northeast long wire, NRCIDXD March 23 via DXLD) Not DF, but Tamaulipas may have succumbed to Texas time. Ever notice how seldom ``Tamaulipas`` is mentioned in American news about e.g., Nuevo Laredo`s crime problem? To ignorant North Americans, anything across the border is one amorphous ``Mexico`` unworthy of any distinctiveness by state (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** MOROCCO. Found at 2250 on 7135 what I believed to be an open carrier until a muezzin kicked in. Ah-yes, Radio Marocaine via the IBB transmitters. This muezzin call had periods of silence more than half a minute long, with the Optimod drifting to full gain reduction, thus sucking up a residual 50 Hz hum and pre-echos (at times even two were audible), indicating that this was a tape recording, with the pre-echo resulting from one layer of tape on the reel magnetizing the next layer. Made me wonder if the Briech site staff had to defeat a silence detection for this particular feed in order to not being bothered by false alarms? Anyway 7135 and its noon/afternoon counterpart 15335 are the only remaining transmissions from Briech towards Central Europe anymore (Kai Ludwig, Germany, March 25, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS [and non]. Glenn: A more-detailed RNW sked is available at http://www.bclnews.it --- click on the "Radio Netherland" link. It includes freq. usage for the full summer season, including in-season changes, frequencies to be used for Tour de France coverage, various relays, etc. Is that similar to the one in the dxldyg? (Joe Hanlon, NJ, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes (gh) A look at the RNW technical sked via bclnews.it shows two different schedule plans for 11935 via Bonaire: 01-0358 until Oct. 1, then 01-03 until Oct. 28. Does this suggest that NHK will make their planned cutbacks on Oct. 1, or is this just a change for the final month of A07? (Joe Hanlon, NJ, ibid.) Yes GH: Disregard the message above; the full technical sked for RN has been removed (Joe Hanlon, ibid.) from bclnews maybe but not from dxldyg (gh) ** NETHERLANDS. RNW Dutch at 0800-0857 UT produced two spurious outlets 55 kHz away, on 11990 and 11880[latter less strong signal], S=4 signal. Mar 23 (Wolfgang Büschel, harmonics yg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Ergo, the missing fundamental must be 11935 (gh) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. Radio Netherlands currently on 6035 in English with a very good signal (Harry Brooks, North East England, March 25, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Please be a little more precise than "currently". If it was before 1000 UT, it should have been in Dutch. This could be a problem with the automation at Hörby, picking up the wrong stream. If you can give precise details, I will report it to our Programme Distribution Department (Andy Sennitt, Radio Netherlands, ibid.) Andy, Sorry for any confusion. I meant when I typed the message and sent it to the group, i.e. at 8.38 am GMT, 9.38 am BST, as shown in the messages list. I don't know why the time has changed to 10.35 in your reply. When group members view the list of messages do the actual times they are shown as being posted change with regard to which time zone that member is in? If this is the case I am enlightened. Regards (Harry, ibid.) Thanks. Then it looks like an error at Hörby. It should be in Dutch at 0800-1000 UT. I don't know what Yahoo Groups does with the times, that's why I wanted to be sure before reporting anything to my colleagues. The message I received said it was sent at 1035, presumably my local time. Thanks for your help (Andy Sennitt, ibid.) Just to complete the story, apparently my colleague Ehard Goddijn noticed the same thing, and called our Network Operations Centre in Hilversum, and it was in Dutch as scheduled by 0855 UT. These problems often occur on the first day of a new broadcast period, as radio stations are still run by human beings :-) (Andy Sennitt, ibid.) This was the timestamp on Harry`s original item as posted on the yg and received here: Sun, 25 Mar 2007 08:35:28 -0000 --- but please, if posting about something ``current`` always give the actual time in the message body (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. Our morning frequency for RN is once again as in previous A-seasons, 9890 via Madagascar at 14-16, intended for S Asia, but longpathing over here rather well, as March 25 at 1416 with docu mentioning Joy FM in Accra; not too much QRM yet from WEWN 9885 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEW ZEALAND. RNZI on new 6095 ex-5950, March 25 at 1401 with news about dog attack in Hamilton; DRM was still running on 7145 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA. 4769.95, 1910 6 Feb, R. Nigeria Kaduna, long piece of tribal type music, 1930 talk in vernacular and Qur`an recitals, 2000 ID, news and reports in English, 2030 news in vernacular, 2100 national news in English; SIO 333 (Tony Rogers, Birmingham, Tropical Bands Logbook, March BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** NIGERIA [non]. Radio Saa via Issoudun-France, only on Sat/Wed. Today Saturday Mar 24th noted again Radio Saa on 15180, at 1600- 1700:03 UT close-down. Playing West African music continuously. Agree 99% supposedly via ISS - like mentioned in BUL DX Mix news, due of poor signal strength on my location, some 600 km away of ISS site in France. Weak signal only S=2 just above threshold, like other Issoudun outlets on 15220 and 15300 kHz, latter both 153/155 degrees too. Other ISS outlets on 15605 and 15660 kHz at 185 degree angle were a little bit louder of S=2-3 level. Comparison: a lot of broadcast stations on 19 mb at that same time noted on much louder level, like 15105 CYP, 15160 MEY, 15195 EMR powerhouse, 15205 RIY, 15235 MEY, 15275 ASC, 15295 MLA, 15345 unID Arabic, 15400 ASC, 15410 WOF, 15420 SEY, 15425 RIY, 15435 RIY powerhouse, 15445 IRA, 15475 GAB, 15555 CYP, 15580 MOR powerhouse. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, March 24, DX LISTENING DIGEST) What`s the point of buying time and then playing music fill? (gh) ** NORTH AMERICA. Pirate WPCR (?) on 6925 in SSB on 3/18 at 0106, playing Johnny Rivers's "The Poor Side of Town", ID at 0112 by woman who said they were signing off, and gave New York address for a QSL and asked for stamps or money; fair reception (could it have been WTPR? but IDed twice and sounded like WPCR); heard another station on 6925 after s/off, very weak and distant (Eric Bryan, WA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA [and non]. The OKC pirate on 107.1 is still active, audible a few miles away as I was driving around OKC, March 23 at 0140 UT with Genesis Communications Network programming, 0200 ID only for Radio Free Austin, USA Network news. RFA also alludes to problems it has had with the nasty government. Read all about it via http://www.radiofreeaustin.org/ where it seems FCC cease & desist notices in Feb coincided with a bit of infighting between partisans of GCN and of RBN, and their various air personalities. Really a circus going on there (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. Glenn, So what's the answer to the Radio Visión or Radio Atlántida question? I have been sitting on 4790 all evening and haven't heard any Radio Atlántida ID yet? It would be nice if one of our Peruvian DXers gave Radio Atlántida a telephone call and inquired for us? I sent an email to Radio Atlántida FM earlier this evening, but doubt if they'll answer? Hope you are doing okay (Chuck Bolland, FL, March 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4790.16, Radio Vision, 0921-0930 March 23, From tune in, programming consisted of nice Huaynos music and a few Spanish comments. At 0928, canned ID as, "Radio Visión ... Onda corta". This followed at 0930 with religious programming. Signal was good and strong but seemed to be over modulated (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston, Florida, WR-G305E/PD, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4790.2, Radio Visión, Chiclayo, 0454-0715, 25-03, locutor, comentarios religiosos: "El Evangelio de Cristo", comentarios sobre curaciones milagrosas. Parece que ya no tienen en antena el programa musical que había a partir de las 0700, pues a esta hora seguían con los comentarios religiosos. 24322, variando a 34333 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, Escuchas realizadas en Friol, Grundig Satellit 500 y Sony ICF SW 7600G, Antena de cable, 10 metros, orientada WSW, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PHILIPPINES. 15115, R. Pilipinas/VOP, 0253-0322, March 23 & 24, in English; "Dateline", from the Presidential Palace in Manila; "The Philippines Today", many IDs: "Radio Pilipinas Overseas, The Voice of the Philippines", "More than 7,100 islands make up the Philippines", // 15230, fair-good (Ron Howard, Shanghai, China, Etón E5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PHILIPPINES. All FEBC outlets in 41, 31, 25, 19 mb sound much stronger at present, improved power quality noted here. Equipment well maintained? (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, March 25 afternoon, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PHILIPPINES [and non]. NHK in Japanese via Skelton on 6115 was after 2215 bothered by some other signal which sounded like Chinese. If it was indeed Chinese this ought to be Radio Veritas Asia. Should be checked out further after October 1st, when the presumed RVA will be in the clear (Kai Ludwig, Germany, March 25, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** POLAND [and non]. Polish Radio External Service: Broadcasting Schedule --- http://www.polskieradio.pl/zagranica/ramowka.aspx?id=10 25 March to 27 October - all times UTC 0330 – 0429 – satellite only 0900 – 0959 – satellite only 1200 – 1259 – 9525 kHz 11850 kHz Satellite 1700 – 1759 - 7140 kHz 7265 kHz Satellite 1930 – 2029 – satellite only Europe 0700 – 0729 1900 – 1959 CET Astra 2 satellite, 28 degrees east, SKY DIGITAL package channel 872 Eutelsat Hot Bird 13 degrees east, WRN English, cable terrestrial relays. North America 1245 – 1315 2300 – 2359 EST [sic; what`s that?] Satellite Intelsat Americas 5, 97 degrees West, Transponder 27, 12,177 GHz Channel Audio WRN 1, Terrestrial relays SIRIUS car radio. Africa Channel Afristar 627 WRN 1 Panamsat 68.5 degrees E. Asia, Australia Asiastar WRN 1, AsiaSat 100.5 degrees E (via John Norfolk, dxldyg, DX LISTENING DIGEST) PRES seems to be downplaying the fact that all their SW transmissions are now relayed from other countries, and some casual SWLs still think they are actually hearing Poland direct. Per A-07 registrations: 9525 - Wertachtal, Germany, 100 kW, 300 degrees 11850 - Nauen, Germany, 100 kW, 359 degrees 7140 - Juelich, Germany, 100 kW, 20 degrees 7265 - Wertachtal, Germany, 100 kW, 300 degrees One might also wonder why half their English broadcasts are aimed toward Scandinavia rather than UK (and incidentally North America). (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also FINLAND Hi Glenn, that comment is not fair. Poland has traditionally very closed ties to all states on Baltic Sea, like Finland, Estonia, [St. Petersburg area], Latvia, Lithuania, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, -- and also to GB - a long experience of history. Polish Radio will serve their nearby [English speaking] audience in these states and reflect their listener letter poll. Outlets towards 20 or 359 degrees main lobe on single hop will also cover a lot of northern GB parts. 73 wolfy (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ROMANIA. Checked the RRI website http://www.rri.ro the past several days. Not working. Does anyone know if RRI is having other problems (broadcast related)? 73, (Kraig Krist, VA, March 25, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I also noticed the fact. But the audio link http://www.rri.ro/rams/audio1.ram is working without problem (Jean-Michel Aubier, France, ibid.) [and non]. All Romanian outlets via GAL and TIG SOUND much more in high quality. All tx tubes and antennas upgraded seemingly, or lets say repaired now, in comparison to their poor quality in previous half decade. 11775 mess - ROU RRI in Arabic, and co-ch AIR Tibetan/Nepali at 1400. 11965 ROU RRI in Romanian to EUR, mess with co-ch IBB Tinian Chinese, and accompanied Firedrake. 15160 mess - ROU RRI Arabic, and co-ch BBC Oman in Hindi at 1450 UT (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, March 25 afternoon, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Now, in the 1930...2000 period, 11715 with Spanish via Galbeni has again horribly distorted audio. Tiganesti with Serbian on 7215 sounds better, still a bit muffled and undermodulated, but at least there is no distortion and no hiss. // 6110 is coordination-wise a disaster: It's only a faint whisper underneath *two* other signals, Wertachtal with Polskie Radio and someone else, presumably China (Kai Ludwig, ibid.) Okay, that's not the opinion for the old 50 kW units at different Saftica site across the national street on the eastern side, which originate of the 50ties, like Radio España Independiente era. 6110 1930 2000 28S TIG 50 282 SERBIAN ROU RRO 6130 1730 1800 28S TIG 50 282 SERBIAN ROU RRO 6175 1530 1600 28S TIG 50 282 SERBIAN ROU RRO 7130 1800 1830 28SW TIG 50 260 ITALIAN ROU RRO 7130 1830 1900 28SW TIG 50 235 AROMANIAN ROU RRO 7135 1630 1700 28SW TIG 50 235 AROMANIAN ROU RRO 7165 1200 1300 28NW TIG 50 300 ROMANIAN ROU RRO 7170 1400 1430 28SW TIG 50 260 ITALIAN ROU RRO 7170 1430 1500 28SW TIG 50 235 AROMANIAN ROU RRO 7185 1700 1730 29SW TIG 50 25 UKRAINEAN ROU RRO 7210 1500 1530 29SW TIG 50 25 UKRAINEAN ROU RRO 7210 1900 1930 29SW TIG 50 25 UKRAINEAN ROU RRO 9620 1600 1630 28SW TIG 50 260 ITALIAN ROU RRO French at 2000 had a wonderful signal on 7215, and a lower audio signal on 9655. English on both 11810 and 11940 at 2030 UT was not perfect, a little small band, but much much louder and 'biting' then previously. 73 wolfy (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, ibid.) ** RUSSIA. P.K. via Alaska to CAN, USA New in A-07 to zones 1,2,6 extended to 0500 UT ? 13635 0100-0500 1,2,6 P.K 250 65 RUS VOR GFC 15425 0100-0500 1,2,6 P.K 250 65 RUS VOR GFC (Wolfgang Büschel, March 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. Nuevas Frecuencias de La Voz de Rusia El siguiente es el esquema de horarios y frecuencias del Servicio en Español de La Voz de Rusia para el período 25.03.2007 - 27.10.2007. Para España y Europa De 2030 a 2100 : 11630 y 7310 de 0000 a 0100 : 603 (la programación que a esa hora sale para América Latina) [vía Berlín or somewhere in Germany, I recall; low power – gh] Para América Central De 0000 a 0100 : 9830 y 9665 De 0100 a 0200 : solo por 9830 Hacia Sudamérica De 0000 a 0100 : 12010, 11510, 7330 y 7300 De 0200 a 0300 : 12010, 11510, 9945, 7330 y 7300 Saludos cordiales, Francisco Rodríguez, FRECUENCIA RM, LA VOZ DE RUSIA (via José Elías Díaz Gómez, Venezuela, Noticias DX via DXLD) Radio Teos: see SAIPAN, next ** SAIPAN. 11650, March 24 at 1359, Russian ID and frequencies for Radio Teos, and off. Per HFCC this is really: 11650 1100 1400 30-33,42-44 FBS 100 323 1234567 291006 250307 Mul According to WRTH, and EiBi, this quarter-hour is actually in Kyrgyz: 11650 1345-1400 Fr-Sa MRA KFBS Saipan KG CIS Can it be that FEBC is still running announcements in the former colonial language Russian on its broadcasts to FSU countries? Radio Teos is St. Petersburg-based with website http://www.teos.org.ru/ or http://www.teos.org.ru/engl/ but they are inaccessible or under construxion (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The working Radio Teos site is http://www.radiotserkov.ru (which includes the Saipan schedule). Local programming of Radio Teos (MW etc.) is produced de-centralized in Russia and other countries. According to the website, the programs via SW (Saipan) are put on the air live from a studio in Saipan (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAUDI ARABIA. 17660.03, Radio Riyadh, 1659-1800+ March 23, Heard prior to 1659 mixing with WYFR. Good signal after WYFR signs off at 1659 with English program about computers. Religious program at 1708. Program about the business-economic relationship between Saudi Arabia & Japan. Another program about computers at 1741. Local music program at 1800. Stronger than usual (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAUDI ARABIA. v11853.98, Holy Qur`an prayer, most likely from seldom heard BSKSA Jeddah site around 1540 UT (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, March 25 afternoon, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN. REE in Spanish on 15350, Sunday March 25 at 1411 talking about baloncesto, a few syllables ahead of // 15170 Costa Rica relay. 15350 is not in schedules, but must be a change from planned 15345 service to Lebanon, which on Sundays only starts this early. Did they get our message that 15345 would collide with Morocco? However, at 1843 recheck, REE was definitely on 15345, // and ahead of 17850 CR, and with a slow SAH on 15345, presumably uncoördinated Nador, Morocco; but no audible het from Argentina which may not have been on or propagating. Since my earlier log was made only on the FRG- 7 analog dial, I began to doubt whether it was really on 15345 at that time. Recheck on following days, weeks (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I see only a single entry from 1600 UT onwards. 15345 1600-2200 39 NOB 250 92 SPANISH E REE 15350 1300-1500 UT I see YFR via Wertachtal only. 73 wolfy (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) You don`t see entries for Morocco and Argentina because, as I said, they aren`t coordinated. Just wait for the collision QRM on Monday (gh, DXLD) ** SWEDEN. Stumbled after 2140 over a transmission in an unfamiliar sounding language: Radio Sweden with their weekend broadcasts in Romani, probably the only ones on shortwave now since Deutsche Welle no longer relays the RBB-produced Romani programmes. Quite weak signal, I don't think that a casual listener would be content with such a noisy reception. The Radio Sweden website mentions that also a journalist from Germany contributes to this program, but it remains unclear for which German station he otherwise works (his name doesn't match the teamlist posted on the website of RBB's Radio Multikulti). (Kai Ludwig, Germany, March 25, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SWEDEN [non]. No fooling around this time; R. Sweden relay via Sackville made its shift without waiting a few days, March 25 at 1330 on 15240, ex-direct. The direct broadcast on same should now be at 1230; I did not check at 1430. Of course, these changes for NAm should have been made March 11 this year, not on the European timeshift date of March 25, but in past years they always nominally made them a week ahead of us anyway, obviously for their own convenience, not that of listeners (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKEY. Voice of Turkey on 6020 at 0404 on 3/21, man with news referencing Congo, Israel, the US, Pakistan, and India; Review of the Turkish Press, covered the Iraq occupation, the Greece-Cyprus-Turkey debacle, and referenced Russia, Armenia, and Israel; Agenda, had commentary on Bulgaria, Pakistan, and Russia then into music followed by talk by low-mod-man I couldn't make out; heterodyne caused it best heard in SSB, though still whistling; fair signal (Eric Bryan, WA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Now an hour earlier, and on 5975 (gh) ** TURKEY. Voice of Turkey in English 2200-2300 is now on 6195, putting a huge signal into Germany (Kai Ludwig, Germany, March 25, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6195 also very good here. English at 1230 audible on 13680 to Asia, but not on 15450 to Europe; that transmitter off the air? (Joe Hanlon, NJ, March 25, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UKRAINE. Radio Ukraine Int'l, on 7440 at 0102, 3/22, Ukraine Today with news on Russia/Putin, US, France, Canada, Belgium and Morocco read by woman; talk of March 21 as Muslim new year celebration (Eric Bryan, WA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Now an hour earlier on same (gh) ** UKRAINE. Krasne shortwave transmitter Return to Air: 7440 is until 2300 in use by Radio Belarus, but the Krasne carrier came on not before 2259, apparently in order to avoid an extended overlap. Still the RUI IS ended up on the last notes of the Radio Belarus transmission. Faint signal, perhaps already skipping over me, since I'm not more than 700 km away from this transmitter site, unlike the 1600 km distance to the 7510 transmitter which came in much stronger, carrying German, not // 7440 of course. Olle Alm sent along some corrections to what I recently wrote on this matter: In fact a new shortwave transmitter had been installed at Krasne in 1991 or 1993, and it is most likely this transmitter they now use on 7440. It was instead a third 1000 kW shortwave transmitter they never completed. To free up the space for these new transmitters they apparently removed four pieces of 120 kW transmitters. These old transmitters were usually operated in two pairs, but for relays of Radio Habana Cuba they were split up into 2 x 120 kW and 1 x 240 kW during the evenings, resulting in RHC imprecisely referring to "3 x 200 kW" transmitters there (Kai Ludwig, Germany, March 25, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U A E. R. Japan via Dhabbaya, 17720.1, off-channel, 1006 04/20 [sic, probably means 2 Feb], news, ID, English (Tony Roberts, Birmingham, HF Logbook, March BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** U K [and non]. SW Changes for BBC World Service It sounded rather ominous, but when BBC World Service announced certain changes would be made to their Shortwave broacasts to Central and Eastern Europe from 25th April "in line with listener trends in radio," I was expecting the worst. However, looking at the BBC WS website, there will still be SW to these parts of the World, just less of them. One change as far as I can see is that 1323 kHz seems to have disappeared off the Middle Eastern Ether, being replaced by a couple of other MW frequencies, 720 kHz among them. Does anyone know if this is true? 1323 has been used in that region for years (Andrew Tett, Shoreham, UK, March 20, BDXC-UK via DXLD) Thanks, Andrew. I know it's a long way from London to the Middle East, but couldn't the use of 720 kHz cause problems for anyone still listening to Radio 4 on that relay frequency, particularly for test match commentaries from distant parts on winter nights?. Still, it's good to see a more sensible attitude to keeping conventional programme distribution methods via the airwaves, albeit for less time. Has the BBC perhaps learnt something from their heavy-handedness with axing SW in North America? (Mark Savage, BDXC-UK moderator, ibid.) Andrew, A couple of things are leaving me puzzled. First, the relevant BBC website - http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/schedules/internet/800/radio_frequencies_middle_east.shtml - is still showing the winter schedule and with 1323 from Cyprus very much there as it has been for decades. Also, no mention of 720 for English - 720 and 639 have been for decades the main BBC Arabic MW frequencies for those parts of the Middle East. Do you have another source for this info? Changing those Cyprus 639/720/1323 schedules would be like the Earth wobbling on its axis!! (Chris Greenway, ibid.) Thanks, Chris. I guess time will tell on this one. And I guess the question of interference with R4 I raised hardly arises since 720 has been in use for so long. The cynic in me thinks a lot of these changes would not have happened in the days when the BBC owned their own transmission facilities, rather than just renting them (Mark Savage, Moderator, ibid.) ** U K [non]. BBC World Service noted after 2030 with excellent signal on 9410. This is via Cyprus, and I have to conclude that the statement posted at http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/schedules/frequencies/index.shtml is simply unnecessary. Or is it their strategy to purposefully discourage listeners in Central Europe from tuning in on shortwave? (Kai Ludwig, Germany, March 25, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K [and non]. BBCWS cuts back use of DRM Just been checking the new A-07 DRM schedules and BBC WS has cut back on their use of DRM, 1296 was used 0500-2300, now only used 0500-0900 and 1700-2100. They previously had 16 shortwave transmitter hours, now cut back to 7, 0700-1000 on 9470, 1500-1900 on 7465 [both via Norway?] http://www.drm.org/livebroadcast/livebroadcast.php (Mike Barraclough, UK, March 25, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I suppose it's difficult to generate demand for the transmissions with no receivers at market (John Figliozzi, ibid.) ** U K. BBC blog reaxion to ``Biased Broadcasting Corporation`` article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2007/03/both_sides.html (via Dan Say, DXLD) ** U K. Angel Radio Isle of Wight launches 24th March Angel Radio Isle of Wight will launch March 24th on 91.5. Their website says "From Now on Grey will be the loudest colour on the wireless". The station is aimed at older listeners with no track recorded after 1959 being played; they have a record library of over 65,000 songs. They have online streaming. They have another station in Havant on 101.1 and have been on the air legally since 1999. They began broadcasting however as an FM pirate and later on shortwave, which I were I heard them, in 1993. They had a DX programme which included a lot of material from Communication. There's a station history with detail of these early unlicenced transmissions on the Angel Radio Havant site. Angel Radio Isle of Wight: http://angelradioisleofwight.moonfruit.com/ Angel Radio Havant: http://angelradio.co.uk/ (Mike Barraclough, March 23, BDXC-UK via DXLD) ** U S A. Hi Glenn: VOA has just posted their Summer (A07) Sked. Slim pickings otherwise re A07 skeds. No BBC. No FCC Private stations. Dan Sampson is tied up with other projects. No more ILG. Last season B06 was fastest ever here for updates, but change this time sucks so far. Glenn to the rescue ?? Anyway, Cheers from (Thomas Moyer, Canada, March 24, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Starting with the E-language: http://www.voanews.com/english/about/frequenciesAtoZ_e.cfm (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Full sked in language order is in dxldyg ** U S A [and non]. A bit surprised to hear Yankee Doodle Dandy IS at 1359-1401* March 25 on 7405 after a R. Martí broadcast. I thought YDD pertained to VOA only, and RM had nothing to do with it! This was underneath jamming. Also noticed R. Martí back on its A-season channel of 11845, at 1414; only lite jamming as not all the DCJC transmitters had retuned there yet (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, Sounds like a error in programming the audio switcher. Someone inadvertently programmed the YDD cut on the CD (or EPROM) to run after RM-7405 close-down. Years ago, while I was doing midnight shifts, I tuned 7405 several times one morning and noted that many DCJC jammers (That's your abbreviation: I can't fathom it. A message for MOSAD?) remained live on 7405 even when IBB was off the channel. Jamming nothing. Later, we tuned 5745, 7405 and 9590 transmitters for the morning LA-1 broadcast to Carib/SA (0500-0600?). I thought, "VOA-7405 is being jammed by the residual DCJC jammers for Martí on 7405" Ensued a correspondence via e-mail with Washington that went on for two months to get the VOA LA-1 broadcast moved to another frequency because of the jamming. I looked at frequency usage, and recommended 7415 as the new frequency. Finally, Greenville got an Operational Order that moved 7405 to 7635. Not what I recommended, but I remembered that VOA did a broadcast to West Africa on 7635. The frequency was already registered, so IBB wouldn't have to go through the rigamarole of registering 7415. I was happy. Washington actually listened to me, once (Charles A Taylor, WD4INP, Greenville, North Carolina, March 25, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I usually spell it out, but here it is again: DCJC = DentroCuban Jamming Command (gh) ** U S A [non]. VOA Tinang, Philippines, in Korean on 9555 is still maladjusted; March 24 at 1412 check its splatter was audible out to plus/minus 25 kHz, 9530-9580 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [and non]. Voice ... of ... America ... in ... Special ... English ... noted after 2340 on 7555 (via Kuwait). Well, I find also the regular English from the VOA considerably easier to understand than the BBC WS (Kai Ludwig, Germany, March 25, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Fellow Texan lays into Karen Hughes. "Our undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs operation is fighting an entire world of Arabic rage with five bloggers? That's like trying to fight a forest fire with a squirt gun!" . . . http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/column?oid=oid%3A458480 (Jim Hightower, Austin Chronicle, 23 March 2007. Posted: 23 Mar 2007, kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) Has archive of Hightower columns (gh) ** U S A. COMMENTARY --- Television Takeover By JOEL MOWBRAY March 12, 2007; Page A15 Fighting to create a secular democracy in Iraq, parliamentarian Mithal al-Alusi had come to rely on at least one TV network to help further freedom: U.S. taxpayer-financed Al-Hurra. Now, however, he's concerned. The broadcaster he had seen as a stalwart ally has done an about-face. "Until now, we were so happy with Al-Hurra. It was taking stands against corruption, for human rights, and for peace. But not anymore." Stories that he believes cry out for further investigation, such as recent arrests of those accused of supporting the terrorists in Iraq, are instead getting mere news-ticker mentions at the bottom of the screen. And Arab voices for freedom, which used to have a home on Al- Hurra, are noticeably absent. "They're driving out the liberals," he complains. . . http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB117366182048433772-lMyQjAxMDE3NzIzMzYyNjMxWj.html? (via David Cole, DXLD) WSJ articles available limited time only ** U S A. Glenn: Just to confirm, at least for the time being we're going with the same programming from 1300-1400 every day, except on 9955, beginning March 25 (Jeff White, WRMI, March 24, DX LISTENING DIGEST) So that includes various DX programs in English and Spanish, including MUNDO RADIAL, Wed 1300; WORLD OF RADIO Sat & Mon 1330 (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. Glenn, I assume you know that WOR on KAIJ on Thursdays at 1500 is one week behind. This isn't necessarily bad; it is nice to have a back-up if you miss it. I used to like it when RFPI was a week behind, just for that reason. On the other hand, it's a shame for this not to be my primary opportunity to hear WOR, because 9480 at 1500 gives excellent reception. 12160 and 15825 impossible here, we are in the skip zone of WWCR. Sometimes in the winter, even 5070 doesn't work. 7415 at 2200 good this time of year, but, not so in the high summer (Tim Hendel, Huntsville AL, March 23, DX LISTENING DIGEST) KAIJ aired World of Radio #1350 (last week's show, not this week's) today at 1030 on 5755, good audibility here (Joe Hanlon, NJ, Friday March 23, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. HARMONIC: 6430, WWCR-Nashville, TN, 0150-0200+ March 25, 2nd harmonic of 3215 with English religious programming. Fair to good signal. 2 x 3215 = 6430 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. HARMONIC: 6370, WWRB-Manchester, TN, 0140-0200+ March 25, Weak 2nd harmonic of 3185 with English program about US education system. 2 x 3185 = 6370 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. DXing with Cumbre --- Does anyone know the present status of this program? Cumbredx.org is down when I tried it, and a Google search for audio archives yields nothing. It's been a good year since I've heard them and I recall (Glenn?) asking about Marie Lamb's health. I apologize if I'm out of the loop. If the program indeed still exists, wouldn't it make some sense to have an archive like most other DX programs (the few still remaining)? (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria BC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Someone else asked Hans Jihad about that and got a snotty reply along the lines of, why should we do anything for you? (gh, DXLD) I checked the audio files the other day at http://cs3.ralabs.com/streams/ and found that the last available program was dated January 13 (John Norfolk, ibid.) I quit Sundays usual hearing on WHRI 11785 at 1530. Occasionally go through it, perhaps a couple of weeks back but doesn't gave me the impression is outdated and Mary was there. But is still on the air. 73 (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. At 2340 March 25 both transmitter sites of World Harvest Radio came in with good signals and different programs in English: WHRA on 7520 with boooming mic audio from a lady talking about love etc., etc. on a continuous bed of guitar music, and WHRI on 7490 with a couple of transmitter breaks, carrying continuously music until station announcement at 2358. It's quite obvious that these are different facilities, since the audio processing is very different. Apparently WHR left it untouched after purchasing both transmitter sites? (Kai Ludwig, Germany, March 25, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Just noticed something strange with KOHM Lubbick TX. It appears their main website has been converted to a blog. http://www.kohm.org goes to /blog. And there is nothing I can find on it about live streaming. Yet publicradiofan.com links to publicbroadcasting/net for KOHM, including audio info, program sked, stream still work. I haven`t found any connexion between the blog and this, yet (Glenn Hauser, March 23, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. FCC OKAYS NIGHTTIME IBOC ON MEDIUMWAVE: see DIGITAL BROADCASTING below ** URUGUAY. 6125, Radio Uruguay-SODRE, Montevideo, 2102-2110, March 22, Spanish, announcement “Museo de la Palabra”, ID as: “Radio Uruguay, 1290 AM”, 32432. 9620.04, Radio Sur-SODRE, Montevideo, 2050-2100, March 22, Spanish, very nice popular songs in Spanish, ID as: “....SODRE...”, 32432 (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) [non]. CHINA: 6125 China Radio Int'l; 2240-2255*, 20-Mar; China Drive program; very chatty M&W in English with very annoying background music. Presume a relay--from Spain? Not in Passport, WRTVH or their latest web sked. SIO=454-. Since Spain came on right after CRI went off, that pretty well kills any chance for Uruguay near local sunset. Checked 6125 around 1000 & heard weak Chinese, probably the Central People's BS. SPAIN: 6125 Radio Exterior de España; *2258:37-2300+, 20-Mar; IS on to 2300 sign-on in Spanish. SIO=454. WRTVH sez via Spain till 0500; Passport sez via Costa Rica from approx. 0100 to 0600; REE web site doesn't note relay sites. Regardless, forget Uruguay. COSTA RICA: 6125 Radio Exterior de España; 0156-0205+, 19-Mar; Lite music to ID at 0200 then M&W in Spanish news. SIO=433. Uruguay will have to wait (Harold Frodge, MI, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) ** VENEZUELA [non]. Since Chávez decided to go back to Sunday mornings with Aló, Presidente, I checked the previous Cuban relay channels March 25 at 1404: yes, 11670 // 11875 // 13750 and JBA on 13680, with Spanish programming not // to regular RHC frequencies 11760, 11805, 12000. However, 11670 was in a big collision with WYFR in Spanish which is now scheduled 1400-1600! Too bad these stations don`t coördinate with each other; or rather, Cuba doesn`t coördinate formally with anyone, preferring to play the outcast, while claiming to adhere to ITU regulations. I have plenty else to monitor on Sunday mornings, so did not recheck until 1645 when indeed it did sound like Chávez pontificating on the same frequencies (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VIETNAM [non]. A `new` B-06 printed schedule effective until 28 Feb 07 shows that English to NAm at 0100-0130 & 0230-0300 is on 5970; at 0330-0400 on 6175 (via Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, March BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) I haven`t seen any confirmation of 5970 at 0100 and 0230 yet. It may still be on 6175? (Dave Kenny, BDXC-UK editor, ibid.) Indeed, never used 5970; may have been an early planned change, but ditched, whilst R. República via Germany got 5970 instead (gh, DXLD) ** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. CLANDESTINA, 6300, Radio Nacional, República Arabe Saharaui, *0700-0820, 25-03, inicio programación, cánticos del corán y comentarios en árabe, locutor. 45444. En paralelo con 1550 con peor señal. 22222 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, Escuchas realizadas en Friol, Grundig Satellit 500 y Sony ICF SW 7600G, Antena de cable, 10 metros, orientada WSW, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** YEMEN. Republic of Yemen Radio heard in English 17 Feb at 1800-1900 on 9780.05. Clear signal after Turkey closed at 1830 when news in English could be heard 1830-1836. Transmitter is almost on channel now so there is no longer a heterodyne (Dave Kenny, UK, March BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) But it was thought they alternate with another transmitter which is further off frequency, so further chex suggested (gh, DXLD) ** ZIMBABWE. 21 March 2007 at 1725 noted Zimbabwe on 4828. Yesterday 3396 was off, at least when I checked it couple of times in the evening (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Dear Jari: I listened to Zimbabwe on March 20-21 on 3396 from 2356 to 0021. 73s (Nicolás Eramo, Argentina, ibid.) Hi Nicolás, yes, it seems they can't decide what channel to use. 21 Mar when rechecking at 2200 they were back on 3396 and 4828 was empty. 73, (Jari, ibid.) 3396.05, Radio Zimbabwe, 0315-0330 March 23. Steady hilife music with male in African Portuguese language comments. One can recognize the African dialect in the languages of Africa if he's been there as I have. Signal was good. This has been identified as Zimbabwe in previous loggings since late last year. Heard an English ID at 0326 as, "Radio Zimbabwe ..." by a man, then into Hilife music again (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston, Florida, WR-G305E/PD, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I don`t see how Portuguese would be a factor in Zimbabwe (gh, DXLD) 3396, Radio Zimbabwe, Gweru, 0034-0110+ March 24, Variety of local choral music, Afro-pop music. Talk in vernacular. Weak, poor in noise (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Hi Glenn, no specific name has been heard for nearly four days monitoring 8989 USB at sunset, which I would call Fishermen Church of the Air, beginning this Sunday 25 even earlier than on weekdays as I checked at 2130, having a prayer welcoming all brothers, and a boat Cachalote 3 was mentioned. What I have been noting is there isn't only Caribbeans, but people from Perú as well as our Pacific port of Puntarenas have been participating. So it's clearly growing. 73 (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, March 25, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED [non]. Re 7-037, 18880, harmonic?: Había un error en la frecuencia: se trataba de 17880 y no 18880 pero sigo sin identificarla. --- NO IDENTIFICADA, 17880, 17-03-07, 1635-1646 UT. Comentarios de locutor con música de fondo, en árabe. SINPO 55555 (Javier Robledillo Jaén - Elche (Alicante) España, Rx: Sangean ATS909 - Ant: Telescópica, EA5-1028, Noticias DX via DXLD) Javier, Según dice en http://www.geocities.jp/binewsjp/bib06_1.txt es: 17880 CHINA RADIO INTER. 1600-1657 1234567 Arabic 50 20 Bamako II MLI 0801W1239 CRI b06. 73, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Dear Sir: You are the most arrogant, conceited, condescending jerk I have EVER had the displeasure of hearing / reading. Sincerely, (Bob Large, Texas, March 22) DIGITAL BROADCASTING ++++++++++++++++++++ FCC OKAYS IBOC ON MEDIUMWAVE AT NIGHT [just a few of many posts] The United States joins France, Germany, and Netherlands in the implementation of digital AM! In a March 22 press release, the FCC announced a Second Report and Order and Second Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking authorizing nighttime digital transmission on the AM broadcast band. Though there was some dissention among FCC commissioners, it was all regarding public service, oblivious to interference issues. The FCC is abrogating its responsibility to protect stations from interference, content to have broadcasters battle it out in court. Then there's the potential for border disputes with Canada and Mexico. It will be interesting to follow how skywave interference issues will be addressed as radio stations attempt to transmit wideband hybrid analog/digital 24/7. Let the games begin (Bruce Conti, NRC IDXD 74-24, March 23, 2007, via DXLD) THE SKY IS NOT FALLING, AND THE HOBBY'S FAR FROM DEAD Now that the FCC has done its thing today, I fully expect the DX lists to get very full, very fast, of more of the same doom-and-gloom posts that we've been seeing in earnest for the last few weeks, predicting the death of the DX hobby with what sometimes seems (to my eyes at least) like an unseemly glee. My two cents amidst the noise, if I may: I watched the FCC hearing this morning. The commissioners spent almost no time talking about the AM nighttime authority for IBOC. Their interest is in FM HD multicasting, and particularly in how that affects their pet issues - programming diversity, sponsorship identification, political advertising, obscenity, etc. I spend a lot of time traveling the country, visiting radio stations large and small and talking to radio people, from small station owners all the way up to the engineering VPs at the big groups. Here's what I'm hearing: multicasting - *FM HD* multicasting, which is the only kind there is - is where all the action is. The original idea that "improved" digital audio would be the big selling point for HD Radio has fallen largely by the wayside. For AM HD, that "improved" audio was the only selling point, and without it, converting more stations to IBOC will be a tough sell. Just because 24-hour operation is now legally possible does NOT - I can't emphasize this enough - does NOT mean that we'll suddenly go from the current couple of hundred AMs with HD to thousands of AM HD stations, overnight, or probably ever. Based on what I'm hearing and seeing in my travels, I don't think the lack of 24-hour authority was the factor that was holding most AM stations back from converting to HD. There are plenty of other drawbacks that are well known within the engineering community: nighttime interference, questionable audio quality on the current codecs, and limited reach of AM HD signals (of the three HD AMs in my market, I can only hear two of them at all reliably, and I expect that the third, which is already iffy by day, will be entirely unusable in HD at night where I am.) Bottom line: will HD Radio be a failure? No - but whatever success it achieves as a niche medium will be as a result of FM multicasting and the new options it opens up to broadcasters in a position to take advantage of them (like public radio, for instance, where an average station has access to much more programming than it has airtime on its main signal). AM HD may go the way of AM stereo and fade into oblivion, or at worse it may show up on a few hundred stations and cause us, as DXers, some new interference headaches. But to predict that somehow everyone on the dial will suddenly turn on the buzzsaws just because the FCC says they can is to ignore a market reality in which AM HD has already become an afterthought. No, this is not a happy day for AM DX, but neither is it the end of the hobby, not by a long shot. s (Scott Fybush, NY, March 22, dxhub yg via DXLD) A few other thoughts... Usually this kind of FCC action isn't actually effective until 30 days after publication in the Federal Register. In recent amateur cases this publication seems to take about a week to ten days. So these IBOC rules won't be effective until early May. - (though I wouldn't be too surprised to see some stations receive Special Temporary Authority before then) - As Scott says, don't expect a stampede towards implementation of IBOC, especially on AM stations. - There are islands of IBOC inactivity, and they're Australia-sized... A quick scan of the IBOC stations listed in the back of the NRC Log shows 53% of them are on clear channels. 38% are on regionals, and only 9% on graveyard channels. Smaller stations are not interested. We survived the development of the all-night station, 24/7 operation, satellite feeds, automation, hourly (instead of twice-hourly) legal IDs, and a radio war with Cuba. We'll survive this. – (Doug Smith W9WI Pleasant View, TN EM66 NRC-AM via DXLD) Sirius/XM/IBOC John, what you say presently has merit, but not for much longer due to changes in the terrestrial radio field in the US. Your argument was partly based on a viable FTA radio system in the US. Problem there is that with the introduction of IBOC - and the fact that it has just been cleared for 24 hours a day use - the conglomerates now have access to a business model which is not entirely dissimilar to that of Sirius/XM. The FCC has already tacitly acknowledged that carriers may charge fees for the multicast audio streams in an IBOC signal. Guess what? FTA broadcasting on FM in the US is going to suddenly become worse than ever. Strangely, however, the additional subscription-only channels are suddenly going to be carrying far superior programming - you may even see the likes of Howard Stern showing up once more on terrestrial radio via the subscription-only channels. All of a sudden the big boys have direct access to the listener's wallets. This is the first two thirds of my predictions (made five or six years ago in various forums)coming true. The final third will be the massacre of the mom and pop FTA stations and the other non- conglomerates by the cost of IBOC fitting, the vastly reduced service areas accessible to them and the interference that IBOC causes to interstitial stations. If that doesn't work fast enough, the NAB/FCC will then, citing the IBOC precedent as proof of feasibility, force a switch to all digital on the domestic radio bands. It's all about the money guys. When you can turn a free and open market into a closed revenue-generating one, why - *everyone* benefits, right? (Lee Reynolds, kd1sq, Swprograms mailing list via DXLD) HOW DOES DRM WORK ON MW IN EUROPE? I'm hoping some of the Europeans who lurk on the list might chime in with some more detailed observations about how DRM works in real-world conditions over there (Scott Fybush, IRCA via DXLD) Pronto. From a purely (analog) DX oriented POV, Scott, DRM tests on the MW band here are a nuisance. As correctly pointed out DRM was not born hybrid, and since there's still no commercial receivers offering worth of the name, one really wonders how come so many EBU federated broadcasters (there have been some official complaints bringing Croatia to reduce its DRM testing for instance) are putting so much power into a noise nobody is listening to. I've spoken with the "infrastructure" guys at RAI, they have a very nice monitoring center in Monza, close to Milan (and the renowned Formula One track) about their tests on 693. They're telling me how happy they are about DRM efficiency. One of the engineers told me how they can listen and decode to 693 in the daytime, at remarkable distances. It would seem you can actually cover a larger area with less power thanks to DRM. But I must say this picture is quite different from what fellow DXers trying to synch on the same digital signal tell me. RAI's technician usually reply it's their antennas` fault. Looks like their reception tests are conducted with one of those pre-release Sangean/Roberts DRM 40 portables, which are equipped with rotating ferrite antennas. "The aerial must be magnetic" is their mantra, "electrical noise destroys DRM". Which is really fun hearing, I must say! It's really difficult to say. On SW DRM has been highly disappointing given its "on/off" nature in a ionospheric propagation environment. Analogue fading still allows you to extract meaning from a transmission, especially if you know your foreign languages well. With DRM it's either very good or very absent, which drives listeners crazy (and they're highly engaged listeners who spend time and money to modify their receivers and set their PC up). They say local tests on 26 MHz are going much better, several public broadcasters and some commercial ones are considering that. But what about DRM on FM? I'm pretty sure DRM+ will be extended up to 120 MHz as told. But testing will be fare more difficult, because FM channels are spaced 100 kHz here (in Italy's total spectral anarchy they're spaced even less!). There's more than the lack-of-receivers factor with DRM. At least in the US people can find a few alternatives in shops. In Europe, a number of public broadcasters has trials in place but it's no real "system": if it weren't for a few tens of engineers at the stations, literally nobody would know about DRM, because *nobody* really care about MW in many European countries. Perhaps only Spain and UK do listen to commercial stations in this band. France, where there's still an audience for LW, MW "renaissance" is a failure with commercial broadcasters after they have been authorized to use frequencies the State owned Radio France has left. Low power stations open and often close down in a few months. Commercial or public, European radio speaks FM. MW band is really dead as far as the listeners are concerned. Reviving that via a digital mode which nobody can tune for lack of hardware is one of these typical European delusions. As for quality, last year I've had the opportunity to take part in a IBOC field test arranged by a commercial FM station in Switzerland. I also spoke with an Italian company trying to tout HD Radio here. I must say Ibiquity quality on FM is far better than DRM AAC audio on SW and MW, but we're talking about much wider spectrum here, so not really surprising. Suddenly, a few days ago a local FM station here in Varese (midway between Milan and Switzerland) announced a test based on FMeXtra and its SCA approach: this is the first in band transmission based on a digital mode. There will be some regulatory problems with SCA on FM here, since use of subsidiary carriers in the FM baseband is limited to 76 kHz by ETSI regulations (FMeXtra goes up to 99 kHz). But the response to these tests is huge, I'm told several stations would be willing to try it for themselves. So that's it. I know the TA MW DXer is speaking here, but I'm fairly convinced that even given that multiple streams/programming thing, there's nothing in DRM or other digital modes which cannot be done with a more efficient use of analogue technologies, better analogue receivers and better spectrum policy. And above all better, more compelling programming. Does Europe want digital radio in a previously analogue band? Well, we'd have to fill our shops with digital receivers and mandate a complete analogue switch off, exactly like we did with terrestrial TV. With DRM, any "transition" phase would mean taking away extant MW or FM bands from broadcasters and listeners. Nobody really wants that. We've been having DAB channels for close to 15 years (15!) in the VHF Band III and outside the UK (and to a far lesser degree Germany, Denmark and now Switzerland) there's not a digital radio market at all. Fifteen years. In 2005 the Italian FCC eventually regulated DAB licensing on the UHF L band (VHF Band III licenses would be a simple fall back option when the L Band be full). You know how many commercial networks applied for a DAB license? Guess it: zero, nilch, nada, nessuna. So much for listeners "convenience". 73s (Andy Lawendel, IRCA via DXLD) DIGITAL RADIO ACCORDING TO KIM If you're nostalgic for the Fest, listen to the audio of VOA's Talk to America , with Erin Brummett Klein interviewing Ian McFarland, Rich Cuff, and me, live at the Fest. From this page, select the audio from March 9, then listen to the second half of the program... http://www.voanews.com/english/NewsAnalysis/TTA-New-Past-Shows.cfm Also, my report on the Fest digital radio exhibit, including our DRM experiments, is available at.... http://www.kimandrewelliott.com/?id=1211 (Kim Elliott, DC, via Rich Cuff, DXLD) This is a real shame; the DRM group has had nine years to get it right and still has no clues. Well at least they picked up a ton of FF miles. DRM may have been a great name nine years ago, but it`s not today! Do you think any world travellers have a clue why? (anon.) DRM: see also BELGIUM; ECUADOR; ISRAEL; ITALY; KOREA SOUTH; LUXEMBOURG; NEW ZEALAND WORLD OF HOROLOGY +++++++++++++++++ EUROPEAN SUMMER TIME Readers outside the European Union - please disregard this message. This is somewhat off topic, but the issue of Summer Time (or "Daylight Saving Time" as it is erroneously referred to in some places) has been dealt with before here in this group. So I hope you'll bear with me. Tonight is the time for the change. I think most DX'ers agree that this shift from "Normal Time" to "Summer Time" is ridiculous and a major nuisance for DX'ers and international broadcasting. In case you agree you might like to support this petition to the European Parliament, the Presidency and the Council of the European Union called "Abolish European Summer Time as soon as possible!" http://www.petitiononline.com/sd197306/petition.html In case you agree - please spread the word. Please note that citizens of the EU only are eligible for the signing of this petition. Best 73s (Stig Hartvig Nielsen, Denmark, March 24, HCDX via DXLD) Nope. I disagree with you. I find it much more important to have an hour more sunlight for activities in the evening than to have sunrise hours before my alarm-bell rings. Who really needs to have sunrise at four o'clock in the morning? On the other hand, sundown at 21 instead of 20 hrs is giving me an hour more of possibilities. And speaking of international broadcasters, you as an oldtime-DXer will certainly remember the times, when we had 4 schedule-changes a year instead of two as we now have. And that was during those days before DST. -- Tschüß, (Martin http://home.wolfsburg.de/elbe/ Elbe, mwdxyg via DXLD) What a stupid idea. The longer daylight in the evening is just what everybody enjoys. Broadcasters use computer based systems that handles this on their own, so what's the problem?. And DXers can live in their "own timezone" if they want, but don't enforce that on us (Jürgen Bartels, Germany, ibid.) I disagree. I like summer time VERY MUCH, since the first US American soldier arrived in our street in April 1945, -- 62 years ago. It's the best decision to expand leisure time possibilities for working people in the afternoon. Regards de wolfy http://topnews.wwdxc.de (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) Hello, I certainly will not be supporting this petition. I can see why the adoption of Summer Time may be ridiculous in some parts of Europe, but see nothing wrong with it in the UK. Incidentally, I note that yesterday, 23 March was the 100th anniversary of the original proposal of Summer Time in the UK, although it was not brought into operation until 1916, a year after Germany adopted it (PAUL DAVID, Wembley Park, United Kingdom, HCDX via DXLD) Well, it is not only a nuisance to us - but we are _not_ the center of the world-, it is also bad for environment, it does NOT save energy, very young and very old (and other!) people take time to adjust and farmers downright hate it because their cattle cannot read the clock. (Herman Boel, http://www.hermanboel.eu MWC via DXLD) Hi Stig, I would like BST all year as I prefer the light evenings. Regards (Mike Terry, BDXC-UK via DXLD) Hi, Summer Time is really stupid in France as our country is crossed by the Greenwich meridian. In the winter time, we're already 1 hour ahead of the Sun, as if we were 15 degrees East (as if Paris was Prague). In the idiotic Summer Time we are 2 hours ahead (as if it was 30 degrees East like Kiev or Alexandria). There are far more subtle ways to save energy, especially by switching off the lights in the bureaucratic skyscrapers in EU Administrations buildings when it's dark. Who cares about end-of-June 11 pm daylight barbecues? Watch the Gulf States channels on satellite TV next week, you'll see that Abu Dhabi and Paris have one hour's time gap. Complete Nonsense (de Pat in France Privat, MWDX yg via DXLD) PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ ANOTHER SOURCE FOR HFCC SCHEDULES http://www.geocities.jp/binewsjp/b06all.txt Hopefully there will be an A07 version available on this site when HFCC releases it for theirs, at http://www.hfcc.org (Joe Hanlon, NJ, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ITU MONITORING REPORT, FIRST QUARTER 2007 Saludos cordiales, la ITU ha publicado un nuevo listado en formato pdf, actualizado el 13 de Marzo; la dirección es: http://www.itu.int/ITU-R/ terrestrial/monitoring/files/pdffiles/313.pdf 73 (José Miguel Romero, Spain, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) GREAT CIRCLE BEARINGS At the following URL, a program which calculates the Great Circle beam/bearing from a transmitter site to your home is available for downing loading. I wrote this program. Besides the above, it is a database with the Longitude and Latitudes of over 200 transmitter sites around the world. The instructions for downloading and loading the program are on the download page: http://www.orchidcitysoftware.com/IMAGE58.HTML Drop me a line if you have problems: ka4prf @ peoplepc.com (Chuck Bolland, FL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ NO SUNSPOTS FOR A DEKADAY ZCZC AP13 QST de W1AW Propagation Forecast Bulletin 13 ARLP013 From Tad Cook, K7RA Seattle, WA March 23, 2007 To all radio amateurs For the past ten days we've observed no sunspots at all. Periods like this, or longer, are expected at the bottom of the sunspot cycle. As mentioned in a recent bulletin, the latest projection for smoothed sunspot numbers from NOAA Space Environment Center has the solar minimum at February through April 2007, with a smoothed sunspot number of 11. You can see the table on page 10 of the Preliminary Report and Forecast at, http://tinyurl.com/yvw2ke Another way to look at it is that the minimum is projected between December 2006 and July 2007, with a smoothed sunspot number of 12 or lower. Randy Crews, W7TJ notes that the graph at http://www.dxlc.com/solar tells the story on recent trends (ARRL via Dave Raycroft, ODXA via DXLD) ###