DX LISTENING DIGEST 9-024, March 19, 2009
Incorporating REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING
edited by Glenn Hauser, http://www.worldofradio.com
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SHORTWAVE AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1452
Thu 0530 WRMI 9955
Fri 0100 WRMI 9955
Fri 1130 WRMI 9955
Fri 2030 IPAR/IRRS/NEXUS/IBA 7290
Fri 2030 WWCR1 15825 [or 2029]
Fri 2300 WBCQ 5110-CUSB Area 51 [irregular]
Sat 0800 WRMI 9955
Sat 0900 IPAR/IRRS/NEXUS/IBA 9510 [except first Sat]
Sat 1530 WRMI 9955 [March only]
Sat 1630 WWCR3 12160
Sun 0230 WWCR3 5070
Sun 0630 WWCR1 3215
Sun 0800 WRMI 9955
Sun 1515 WRMI 9955
Mon 0500 WRMI 9955
Mon 2200 WBCQ 7415
Tue 1100 WRMI 9955
Tue 1530 WRMI 9955
Wed 0500 WRMI 9955 [or new 1453]
Wed 1530 WRMI 9955 [or new 1453]
WBCQ is also airing new or archive editions of WOR M-F 1900 on 7415
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 or
http://schedule.worldofradio.org or http://sked.worldofradio.org
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
WORLD OF RADIO PODCASTS VIA WRN NOW AVAILABLE:
http://podcast.worldofradio.org or
http://www.wrn.org/listeners/stations/podcast.php
OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO:
http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html
or http://wor.worldofradio.org
** AFGHANISTAN [non]. R. Free Afghanistan, 9990 via Sri Lanka, March
18 at 1311 with several Radio Azadi IDs; fair with flutter being
almost trans-polar, aimed 340 degrees from Iranawila. 1327 playing
some music very reminiscent of the late lamented Radio Solh, cut off
abruptly at 1330 without so much as a goodbye, retune-to-next-
frequency, or anything, and carrier off at 1331:10. Initially, WWCR
9980 was no problem but by the end it was starting to build up to its
usual daytime super-power desensitizing and splattering signal (Glenn
Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ALASKA. QSL returns continue to be strong. First up is a reply from
KNLS with a short personal letter from Paul Ladd, Director of Listener
Response who hails from nearby West Chester, PA. Not sure what to do
with logo refrigerator magnetic [sic] but I like the cloth pennant
(Richard A. D`Angelo, Wyomissing PA, March NASWA Journal via DXLD)
You will find that if you put the magnet on a refrigerator or other
steel surface, it will magically adhere :0 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
** ALGERIA [non]. Reverent-sounding Arabic talk on 7295, Friday March
13 at 0540, fair signal. That fits for an Algerian relay, and Aoki
confirms this is R. Algerienne via Issoudun, FRANCE, since March 1 at
0400-0557, which may continue another hour as alternate to 7115, but
not today as gone at 0604 recheck (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
** ANDAMAN & NICOBAR ISLANDS. 4700, AIR Port Blair (tentative), 1358-
1516, March 18. All the evidence I have tends to point to this being
the one off frequency from their regular 4760 and not the other AIR
there (AIR Leh). Believe the weak carrier I was hearing today on 4760
during the same time period was AIR Leh, which is not often reported
(especial in North Amer.) and I do not remember them being reported
off frequency before, whereas Port Blair was heard off frequency back
in Nov. 2008, when they were on 4765.
Today I heard them in assume Hindi, with subcontinent music and
singing; 1511 possible local ID but unable to make it out; 1512 the
usual switch over to network programming from New Delhi and becomes
parallel with 9425 (good reception); ads (“hypertension … doctor”) and
perhaps a PSA with mention of “National Disaster Management”; into the
news in assume Hindi. In the past I have clearly heard this network
programming continuing on till at least through the end of the “News
at Nine” (1545). At tune-in was at threshold level and steadily
improved up to almost fair.
This is the same format and reception pattern that I have been hearing
recently for the station on 4760, which I had assumed was AIR Port
Blair, but have never actually been able to dig out a positive local
ID, so will call it tentative for now, until someone can confirm it
with the local ID. Thanks to Jari Savolainen for first pointing out
the possibility that this was perhaps one of the 4760 AIR stations
(Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO
1452, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Heh Ron, I was also listening to 4700 today 18 March at 1547 but they
wen to Delhi programming. No luck with local ID due to TV receiver
hash later on the band. 4760 had only one carrier with AIR audio at my
tune-in time. Just like you, I think it's Port Blair. Sign-off was at
1700 (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, ibid.)
Hello, 4760 - what ever ?
Nils DK8OK and Christoph OE2CRM measured both AIR stations and
Swaziland recently with Perseus gear.
Leh 4760.029 kHz
Pt. Blair 4759.987 kHz
73 (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.)
INDIA/SWAZILAND Terzett auf 4760 kHz. Es hat was von Feinarbeit;
gestern Nachmittag, um 4760 kHz:
1118:06 UT - s/on auf 4760.029 kHz [Leh, see below] mit s/off um
1630:23 UT.
1155 UT - f/in auf 4759.987 kHz [Pt. Blair], kein s/off vor 1715 UT
(Ende der Aufnahme)
1555:50 UT - TWR Swaziland s/on, auf 4760.001 kHz hoerbar, schnell
staerker werdend, s/off 1659:15 UTC
(Nils Schiffhauer-D DK8OK, A-DX)
Die Antwort kommt morgens gegen 0100 / 0230 UT am einfachsten: Da
erklaert sich durch die unterschiedlichen s/on Zeiten schnell das
4760.029 kHz aus dem Himalaya kommt und 4759.987 kHz direkt aus der
Andamanensee zu uns wandert (Christoph Ratzer-AUT OE2CRM, A-DX, all
via Büschel, dxldyg via DXLD)
4700 seems to be Port Blair, see http://dx-india.blogspot.com/
(Jari Savolainen, Finland, March 19, ibid.) Viz.:
All India Radio Port Blair noted on 4700 kHz instead of 4760 with sign
off at 1700 UT. 73 (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, March 18, via DXLD)
** ANGUILLA. Glenn, on my trip near Anguilla: On Mar. 4 - 0245 Z, PMS
preaching on Caribbean Beacon - 1610 AM. We passed southbound approx.
35 miles west of the Island and the signal was quite strong.
On Mar 5 - 0330 Z, DGS preaching. We're now passing northbound less
than 30 miles to the west.
Nothing heard on other Anguilla AM BCB frequencies listed from some
sources on 690 and 1505 / 1510. The noise on the AM band on the cruise
ship was quite high, but spots high and forward were the best. Used a
Kenwood F6A handheld with ferrite rod antenna to null the noise (Brian
Miller, Marco Island, Florida, March 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ARGENTINA. Radio Nacional RAE A09
[+ Radiodifusión Argentina al Exterior] * = (Mondays to Fridays)
U.T.C. LANGUAGE PROGRAM FREQUENCY DESTINATION
0900-1000 SPANISH RADIO NACIONAL NEWS 6060 THE AMERICAS
1000-1100 JAPANESE* JAPANESE PROGRAM 6060-11710 FAR EAST
1100-1200 PORTUGUESE* PORTUGUESE PROGRAM 6060-11710 THE AMERICAS
1200-1400 SPANISH* SPANISH PROGRAM 11710 THE AMERICAS
1800-1900 ENGLISH* ENGLISH PROGRAM 9690–15345 EUROPE
1900-2000 ITALIAN* ITALIAN PROGRAM 9690-15345 EUROPE
2000-2100 FRENCH* FRENCH PROGRAM 9690-15345 EUROPE/NAFRICA
2100-2200 GERMAN* ALEMÁN PROGRAM 9690-15345 EUROPE/NAFRICA
2300-2400 SPANISH* SPANISH PROGRAM 6060-11710-15345
EUROPE/N AFRICA, AMÉRICAS
0000-0100 PORTUGUESE* PORTUGUESE PROGRAM 11710 THE AMÉRICAS
0100-0200 JAPANESE* JAPANESE PROGRAM 11710 THE AMERICAS
0200-0300 ENGLISH* ENGLISH PROGRAM 11710 THE AMERICAS
0300-0400 FRENCH* FRENCH PROGRAM 11710 THE AMERICAS
[entries after 0000: axually UT Tue-Sat]
6060 KHz 49 meter Band
9690 KHz 31 meter Band [frequency really active? Never reported]
11710 KHz 25 meter Band
15345 KHz 19 meter Band
- Broadcasting LRA 1 Radio Nacional Buenos Aires, AM 870 KHz. –
– On the air Saturdays on 6060 & 15345: 17.00 a 23.30 (2000 a 0230 UT)
11710: 17.00 & 19.00 (1900 & 2100 UT)
On the air Sundays on 6060 & 15345 KHz.: 15.00 a 24.00 H.L (1800 a
0300 UT): signal Radio Nacional AM 870 KHz.
Telefax RAE 54 11 4325 6368. P O Box: 555 – Zip code: C1000WAF Buenos
Aires – República Argentina. E-mail: rae @ radionacional.gov.ar
DX Programs: barrera @ arg.sicoar.com
(via Jaisakthivel, ADXC, Chennai, India, dxldyg via DXLD)
In other words, no significant change from B-08, except that until
March 15 everything was one hour earlier for DST, despite the fact
that this was irrelevant in all external target areas. They also fail
to admit that frequencies vary up to 1 kHz (gh, DXLD)
** ARGENTINA. Saludos amigos de la Radio: Queremos anunciar que hemos
colocado un enlace a un video sobre el documental "Comunicando Desde
el Fin del Mundo". Relata 3 expediciones realizadas por un grupo de
radioaficionados del GACW a la legendaria Isla de Los Estados,
Argentina. Les recomiendo visitar nuestra pagina en:
http://es.geocities.com/programas_dx/frecuencialdia.htm
No se lo pierdan, una verdadera joya !!!! 73. (Dino Bloise, Miami,
EUA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Scratchy old film. It`s not in Antarctica, but off the eastern tip of
Tierra del Fuego, a.k.a. Staten Island, just north of the 55th
parallel, and not as far south as many other islands down around Cape
Horn, but plenty world-endish (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ARMENIA. Anybody please give the correct email ID for Radio
Armenia. 2009 WRTH gives following ID pr@armradio.am but it`s returned
to me?! (Jaisakthivel, India, Mar 13, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Try here: http://www.armradio.am/contact/ (George, Spain, ibid.)
** AUSTRALIA. 4910, VL8T, Tennant Creek, 0158-0215 Feb 10, good
carrier in SSB; LSB eliminated QRM completely but only traces of audio
peeking through. Caught bits of music but couldn`t nail it down until
I heard about 5 seconds of OM announcer with Aussie accent. Poor
(Richard W. Parker, Pennsburg PA, USA, March WDXC Contact via DXLD)
Sorry, when it`s near noon in tropical N Australia, I would need more
than 5 sex of Oz accent to conclude I had logged this station,
contrary to all propagational probability. AIR Jaipur, India 50 kW
non-direxional is on the air on 4910 at that hour per Aoki and could
certainly propagate westward. Jaipur sunrise Feb 10 was 0137 UT per
http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/astronomy.html?n=516&month=2&year=2009&obj=sun&afl=-11&day=1
Richard lists an impressive array of equipment including an R-390A,
51S-1, and a variety of antennas, but whatever he was using could not
overcome the odds against VL8.
The VL8 station usually best here is 2485, but March 13 at 1228 I
found 2325 the only one audible with modulation, Strine talk and song,
1230 ABC ID and news theme, English news starting with an item about
Queensland. S9+12 on 2325 amid T-storm crashes, carriers detectable on
2485, 2310.
All three VL8 stations were in on 120 meters, March 14 at 1257, but
this time 2310 was strongest, 2485 next, and 2325 weakest, M&W
discussion in Strine thru hourtop, then C&W song. Nothing much on 90
or 105 meters at this time, but one should still check the lowest
band. Sounded like same people on RA 9580, 9590, 9560 at 1327
discussion of Angel Flight, free medevax from the Outback, and
coördinating with 4WD ground transportation, then ``Don`t Fence Me
In`` sung.
The VL8s are still `showering` far beyond their up-and-down NT-only
target area. March 18 at 1252 check, 2485 best with discussion in
English, barely audible on 2310, and nothing but a carrier detectable
on 2325 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** AUSTRALIA [and non]. While there were no stations on 11625-11645
and 11670-11680, four of them were bunched up every 5 kHz 11650-11665,
at 2139 March 14: R. Australia in English on 11650 and 11660; 11650 is
Shepparton, but listings differ whether 11660 is Shepparton or
Brandon; stronger RNW via Madagascar on 11655; and strongest Arabic on
11665 pausing for music, which is WYFR (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
** AUSTRIA. In January 2009, all the broadcasts seemed in German. Now
in February, they have changed again. On the evenings of Feb 4 and 5,
on 7325 at 0000-0100, programs started in Spanish, changing to German
at 0005, English at 0014, French at 0017, and German again at 0020. At
0029, transmitter shot off for one minute. Back on again at 0030 with
ID, Spanish to 0035, German to 0044, English to 0047, French at [sic]
0050, and German to 0100 (Bob Fraser, Belfast ME, March NASWA Journal
via DXLD)
You can always tell who doesn`t read DXLD and is thus ill-informed.
Why do I bother? These English and other language segments started
immediately in January, e.g. first reported in a Jan 6 log, DXLD 9-003
(Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** AUSTRIA. RADIO AUSTRIA 1 INTERNATIONAL – FROM 29TH OF MARCH 2009 TO
24TH OF OCTOBER 2009 --- All programmes on short wave; All times in UT
(CEST Central European Time = UT plus 2 hours)
EUROPE – SATELLITE 0000-2400 CEST
Via the ASTRA 1H Satellite
Polarisation: horizontal
12.66275 GHz, Transponder 115
Symbolrate 22.000 MS, FEC 5/6
EUROPE AND AFRICA - SHORT WAVE
0500-1700 6155 kHz
2000-2100 6155 kHz
0500-1300 13730 kHz
Monday-Friday: 2055 UT Noticiero de Austria/News in Spanish
WORLDWIDE - SHORT WAVE
Middle East 0500-0530 17870
America East 0030-0100 9820
America West 1500-1600 13775 [via CANADA]
Central America 0000-0030 9820
South America 0100-0130 9820
Asia / Australia 1200-1230 17715
Changes of the regular radio Ö1 schedule for Radio Austria 1
International starting 1.1.2009:
MONDAY
Europe
2055-2100 Noticiero de Austria (Spanisch)
Middle East
0500-0532 like Europe
East America
0030-0040 Journal (News in German)
0040-0056 Moment – Kulinarium (Feature about culinary topics)
West America
1500-1600 Mittagsjournal (News)
Central America
0000-0010 Journal (News)
0010-0026 Moment – Kulinarium (Feature about culinary topics)
South America
0100-0110 Journal (News)
0110-0126 Moment – Kulinarium (Feature about culinary topics)
Asia / Australia
1200-1215 Nachrichten (News)
1215-1220 Vom Leben der Natur (Feature about nature topics)
1220-1225 Regionalradio-Nachrichten (News)
1225-1230 Wissen aktuell (broadcast about Science)
TUESDAY TO FRIDAY
Europe
Ö1 Programme, with the exception
2055-2100 Noticiero de Austria (Spanisch)
Middle East
0500-0532 like Europe
East America
0030-0035 Noticiero de Austria (Spanisch)
0035-0050 Journal (News)
0050-0055 Wissen aktuell (Science broadcast)
0055-0100 Vom Leben der Natur (Feature about nature topics)
West America
1500-1600 Mittagsjournal (News)
Central America
0000-0005 Noticiero de Austria (Spanisch)
0005-0020 Journal (News)
0020-0025 Wissen aktuell (Science broadcast)
0025-0030 Vom Leben der Natur (Feature about nature topics)
South America
0100-0105 Noticiero de Austria (Spanisch)
0105-0120 Journal (News)
0120-0125 Wissen aktuell (Science broadcast)
0125-0130 Vom Leben der Natur (Feature about nature topics)
Asia / Australia
1200-1215 Journal (News)
1215-1220 Vom Leben der Natur (Feature about nature topics)
1220-1225 Regionalradio-Nachrichten (News)
1225-1230 Wissen aktuell (Science broadcast)
SATURDAY
Middle East
0500-0532 like Europe
East America
0030-0035 Noticiero de Austria (Spanisch)
0035-0050 Journal
0050-0055 Wissen aktuell (Science broadcast)
0055-0100 Vom Leben der Natur (Feature about nature topics)
West America
1500-1600 Mittagsjournal (news)
Central America
0000-0005 Noticiero de Austria (Spanisch)
0005-0020 Journal
0020-0025 Wissen aktuell (Science broadcast)
0025-0030 Vom Leben der Natur (Feature about nature topics)
South America
0110-0105 Noticiero de Austria (Spanisch)
0105-0120 Journal
0120-0125 Wissen aktuell (Science broadcast)
0125-0130 Vom Leben der Natur (Feature about nature topics)
Asia / Australia
1200-1210 Journal (news)
1210-1225 Ganz Ich - Wohlfühlen mit Ö1 (feature)
1225-1230 Buch der Woche (Book of the week)
SUNDAY
Middle East
0500-0505 Nachrichten (news)
0505-0530 Kulturjournal (news about cultural topics)
East America
0030-0040 Journal (news)
0040-0055 Ganz Ich - Wohlfühlen mit Ö1 (feature)
0055-0100 Buch der Woche (Book of the week)
West America
1500-1510 Sonntagsjournal (news)
1510-1545 Europajournal (news about Europe)
1545-1600 Ganz Ich - Wohlfühlen mit Ö1 (feature)
Central America
0000-0010 Journal (news)
0010-0025 Ganz Ich - Wohlfühlen mit Ö1 (feature)
0025-0030 Buch der Woche (Book of the week)
South America
0100-0110 Journal (news)
0110-0125 Ganz Ich - Wohlfühlen mit Ö1 (feature)
0125-0130 Buch der Woche (Book of the week)
Asia / Australia
1200-1210 Journal (news)
1210-1226 Moment – Kulinarium (Feature about culinary topics)
Radio Austria International
Ö1-Service
Listeners' Department
roi.service@orf.at
http://oe1.orf.at
Please note that all English programmes of Radio Austria 1
International have been suspended with 31th of December 2008. Radio
Austria 1 International will continue to broadcast with the given
above frequencies and times, but only programmes in German. LINK:
http://oe1.orf.at/service/international_en
(via Jaisakthivel, ADXC, Chennai, India, March 13, dxldyg via WORLD OF
RADIO 1452, DXLD)
EXCEPT, we know that in reality the 3-minute English news from 0708
UT, followed by French, out of the domestic service, have really been
carried during the Journal blox, e.g. 0013 UT or so, which will then
be on new 9820, so this may continue, originating in summer at 0608 on
6155 and presumably 13730. Why won`t the station even admit this?
(Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
[another version:] O yeah? IF things continue as they have been, the
15-minute Journal segments on weekdays will consist of 8 minutes in
German, 3 in English and 3 in French, approximately, repeated from
0600 to 0615 the previous morning. Why don`t they make this clear??
(Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** BELARUS. BIELORRUSIA, 7170, Belaruskoje Radyjo, Minsk-Kalodzicy,
0756-0800, escuchada el 15 de marzo en bielorruso, emisión de música
pop melódica, locutor con comentarios, fin de emisión, SINPO 24442
(José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia), España, Sangean ATS 909,
Antena Radio Master A-108, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** BELARUS. Radio Minsk A09
1100-2300 UT 7390, 7210 kHz
1705-2300 UT 7255 kHz
1900-2300 UT 1170 kHz
Send your Reception reports to
Technical Department, 9, Makayonka St., Minsk, 220807, Belarus
http://www.tvr.by/eng/
Send you Programme Comments to
Radio Station "Belarus", 4, Krasnaya St., Minsk, 220807, Belarus,
http://www.radiobelarus.tvr.by Email: radiostation-belarus @ tvr.by
(Larisa Suárez, Minsk, via Jaisakthivel, ADXC, Chennai, India, dxld yg
via WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
English has been at 21-23, but in A-08 it shifted to 20-22, as per May
WRTH supplement. Goodbye to 7135 in B-08, or 7105 in A-08, but 7255 is
liable to collide with Nigeria, which doesn`t bother to register its
frequencies with HFCC, so Minsk may have imagined Nigeria is not
there! Aoki shows it on 7255 at 19-20 and 21-23, but usage varies
(Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Summer schedule from March 29 to October 25, 2009
Radiostation Belarus [external service]
1100-2300 :
7210 kHz (75 kW), Azimut 270
7390 kHz (150 kW), Azimut 246
1705-2300 :
7255 KHz (250 kW), Azimut 252
1900-2300 :
1170 kHz (800 kW), Azimut 244
Belorusskoe Radio [domestic service]
0400-0700 :
11930 kHz (250 kW), Azimut 72
1170 kHz (800 kW), Azimut 64, Sosnovy
1500-1700 :
7255 kHz (250 kW), Azumut 72
1170 kHz (800 kW), Azimut 64, Sosnovy
0300-2100 :
6010 kHz (5 kW), Brest
6040 kHz (5 kW), Grodno
6070 kHz (5 kW), Brest
6080 kHz (150 kW), Azimut 127, Kolodishchi
6115 kHz (75 kW) , Kolodishchi
6190 kHz (5 kW), Mogilev
7110 kHz (5 kW), Grodno
7135 kHz (5 kW) Mogilev
Kanal Kultura
7265 kHz (5 kW), Grodno + numerous MW
(Alexander Mazgo, Vitebsk, Belarus, RusDX March 15 via DXLD)
But until then apparently SW runs until 2400:
7135, 15/03 2351, R. Belarus, Minsk-Kalodzicy in englisch, 34343
(py5aap-morato, gg46qu cornelio procopio pr, radio kenwood ts 570D
antena dipolu 40 metros, dxclubepr yg via DXLD)
** BELGIUM [non]. TDP A09
Program UTC Freq Days Lang Target Area
Moj Them Radio 0100-0130 15260 AM m.w.f.. Hmong Asia
Haiv Hmoob Radio 0100-0130 15260 AM .t..... Hmong Asia
Hmong Lao Radio 0100-0200 15260 AM ...t..s Hmong Asia
Hmong World Christian R 0100-0130 15260 AM .....s. Hmong Asia
Aso Radio 0530-0600 9680 AM mtwtf.. Hausa Africa
Denge Mezopotamya 0400-1800 11530 AM mtwtfss Kurdish Mid East
Denge Mezopotamya 1800-2000 7540 AM mtwtfss Kurdish Mid East
TDPradio 0800-0900 6015 DRM m...... English Europe
TDPradio 0900-1000 6015 DRM .t..... English Europe
TDPradio 1000-1100 6015 DRM ..w.... English Europe
TDPradio 1100-1200 6015 DRM ...t... English Europe
TDPradio 1200-1300 6015 DRM ....f.. English Europe
TDPradio 1300-1400 6015 DRM .....s. English Europe
TDPradio 1400-1500 6015 DRM ......s English Europe
TDPradio 1500-1600 6015 DRM mtwtfss English Europe
Que Huong Radio 1200-1300 15680 AM ..wtf.. Vietnamese Asia
Aso Radio 1600-1630 15215 AM mtwtf.. Hausa Africa
EOTC Holy Synod Radio 1600-1700 15340 AM m...... Amharic Africa
Addis Dimts Radio 1600-1700 15195 AM ......s Amharic Africa
Radio Xoriyo Ogadenia 1700-1730 15350 AM m...f.. Somali Africa
Radio Xoriyo Ogadenia 1700-1730 17870 AM m...f.. Somali Africa
Voice Of Asena 1730-1800 15350 AM m.w.f.. Tigrinya Africa
Ginbot 7 1700-1730 15350 AM .t.t.s. Amharic Africa
Ginbot 7 1700-1730 17870 AM .t.t.s. Amharic Africa
Voice Of Meselna-Delina 1730-1800 15350 AM .t.t.s. Tigrinya Africa
Radio Bilal 1700-1800 15350 AM ......s Amharic Africa
TDPradio 2300-2400 9790 DRM mtwtfss English America
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, dxldyg via DXLD)
** BIAFRA [non]. via USA, WHRI, 15665, Voice of Biafra International,
*2100-2200*, March 13, sign on with African music and opening English
ID announcements. Anthem at 2101. Local African music. Many English
IDs. Vernacular talk at 2111 followed by English talk about rights and
freedom in Nigeria. WHRI ID at sign off. New time, ex-2000-2100. Fri
only. Very good signal. Thanks to Glenn Hauser tip (Brian Alexander,
PA, WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Confirming time shift for V. of Biafra International, which had been
at 20-21 UT Fridays only via WHRI 15665: March 13 checked before 2000
in case it shifted earlier as would normally happen due to local DST,
but nothing there. Nor after 2000. But at 2103 opening exercises in
progress, mezzo-soprano singing God Bless Africa, and at 2110 The
Orator with VOBI, Washington DC, ID in English, then into Ibo for a
while. Sufficient but not very strong signal. So this is now airing at
21-22 UT Fridays. Probably same transmitter as used by 11785 other
days of the week, where also heard with regular English gospel huxters
in the hour before 2100 this day.
Checked UT March 16, http://www.biafraland.com/vobi.htm shows:
``Voice of Biafra International (VOBI)
A SHORTWAVE Radio Broadcast Service
transmitting on 15.28 MHz (on 19 meter band)
at 2000 - 2100 Hours UTC (Universal Time [Coordinated])
equivalent to 9.00pm- 10.00pm Biafraland time every Friday.
A project of Biafra Foundation, and Biafra Actualization Forum.``
So wrong time, wrong frequency, but hey, close enough for anti-
government work! What does the audio file linked just below there of
the latest March 13 broadcast say, which we axually heard at 2100 on
15665? The Orator speaks: ``coming to you on the 15.67 Megahertz
frequency in the 19 meter band, bringing to you matters of interest to
Biafra``.
In A-09, it looks like this moves to 17650 at 2000-2100 again on
Fridays, but we`ll see (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
** BOLIVIA. 4699.34v, (presumed), R. San Miguel, Riberalta, MAR 7,
0111-0227*, 0904-f/out - steady on 4699.34 kHz until 0227 s/off, poor.
S/on at 0904 on 4699.353 and slowly drifting down to 4699.346 by 1045
where it remained steady until 1130 carrier f/out. Peaking around 1028
sunrise at transmitter with talk by male speaker then fading rapidly.
4716.68v, (presumed), R. Yura, Aillu Yura, MAR 7, 0111-0211*. *0955-
f/out. 0111 tune in with threshold audio on 4716.69 kHz until 0211
s/off. Back at 0955 s/on on 4716.679 and drifting upwards to 4716.687
by 1045 where it remained steady until 1122 carrier f/out. Peaking
around 1024 transmitter sunrise enhancement with threshold audio then
rapidly fading (Brandon Jordan - Memphis, TN, USA, Receiver: Perseus
SDR, Antenna: Wellbrook ALA100, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
** BOLIVIA. Two seldom heard Bolivians here last night, no definite ID
for either but probable for both: R. Yura, 4716.7 at 0145z
R. Mosoj Chaski, 3310 at 0120z UT March 18 (Jerry Lenamon, Waco TX,
Eton E-1, T2FD & 9m vertical, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** BOLIVIA [and non]. This year I received more wall calendars than
any time before. They include ones from Buenas Nuevas in Guatemala,
HCJB in Quito, Ecuador, VOA, and Mosoj Chaski Radio in Bolivia [3310].
The calendar from Mosoj Chaski has beautiful pictures of Bolivia, its
land and its people. It`s in three languages --- English for the
months, Spanish for the months and Bible verses, with the remainder in
Quechua. Ann Wheeler, the station`s administrator, in her letter wrote
that she`d be in the United States for seven months, beginning in June
and I wanted to get in touch with her about questions I had about the
station to let her know [sic]. I don`t know whether she wants to meet
with groups as Jorge Zambrano [HCJB] does when he`s back. If anyone is
interested in contacting her, the station`s address is Casilla 4493,
Cochabamba, Bolivia or [via] http://www.mosojchaski.com.es (Marlin A.
Field, Hillsdale MI, March NASWA Journal via DXLD)
** BRAZIL. 3255.055, (presumed), R. Difusora 6 de Agosto, Xapuri AC,
MAR 13, *0857-f/out and t/on at 0857, increasing in strength around
1038 transmitter sunrise but only producing threshold audio. Fading
until carrier fell beneath the noise floor around 1120 UT.
4775v, (presumed), R. Congonhas, Congonhas, MG, MAR 7, *0801-fade/out
and t/on at 0801 and rapidly drifting +/- 10 Hz while warming up,
settling on 4775.016 from 0900 onward. Definite peak around 0905
transmitter sunrise enhancement, although no audio produced. Carrier
dipped below noise floor by 0945. Significant CODAR (Brandon Jordan -
Memphis, TN, USA, Receiver: Perseus SDR, Antenna: Wellbrook ALA100,
dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Re 9-023: ``4744.95, Radio Imaculada Conceição – Campo Grande, 0346–
0404, 3/3/09, in Portuguese. (0346) lively ballad, OM announcer, 0349
“Radio Imaculada Conceicão, Campo Grande, Brasil”, program previews,
0351, mu. br. [muon bright? musical bridge??], two vocals, 0400, ID,
OM talk, 0404 fade down during talk. Fair except for CODAR QRM (Mark
Taylor, Madison, WI, Icom R-75, Winradio g313e, Eton E1, Satellit 800,
Kaito 1103; 2 Flextennas, EWE, NASWA Flashsheet March 8 via DXLD)``
Shouldn’t that be 4754.95? (gh, DXLD)
** BRAZIL. 4915, R. Difusora, Macapá, 0430-0435 Jan 5 in Portuguese
with OM announcer, pops, usual incredible fidelity, strapping 80 dB
signal (Richard W. Parker, Pennsburg PA, USA, March WDXC Contact via
DXLD) Compared to what? (gh)
4915, Rádio Diffusora de Macapá, Macapá, Mar 17 0815-0825. Dueling
Brazilians. R. Anhanguera (CBN Network) Goiânia and Macapá producing a
het on 4915. Macapá winning the battle with a solid signal. OM in
Portuguese playing lively Brazilian tunes (Bruce Barker, Broomall, PA,
NRD535D and an Alpha Delta DX Sloper, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Ao que tudo indica, a Rádio CBN Anhanguera, de Goiânia (GO), está
inativa na frequência de 4915 kHz. Com isso, tem aparecido, no mesmo
canal, a Rádio Difusora, de Macapá (AP). Em Porto Alegre (RS), foi
sintonizada, em 8 de março, às 0935, no Tempo Universal, durante a
apresentação de um programa religioso. O comunicador também informou
que o programa poderia ser ouvido no seguinte site:
http://www.radiodifusoranet.com
BRASIL - Uma monitoria feita na última semana por Édison Bocorny
Júnior, em Novo Hamburgo (RS), aponta que a freqüência de 11785 kHz,
da Rádio Guaíba, de Porto Alegre (RS), permanece fora do ar. Da mesma
forma, estão inativas as rádios Guarujá, de Florianópolis (SC), em
5980 kHz, e Clube Paranaense, de Curitiba (PR), em 6040 kHz. Também
ressalta que a Rádio Guarujá Paulista, de Guarujá (SP), está fora do
ar nos últimos tempos. Como esta coluna já informou anteriormente,
a emissora paulista está inativa, eis que o programa de transmitir em
ondas curtas é apenas obra e fruto do seu diretor, jornalista Orivaldo
Rampazo, que, atualmente, está afastado de suas funções.
BRASIL – A Rádio Aparecida, de Aparecida do Norte (SP), tem
acompanhado todos os jogos do Guaratinguetá pelo campeonato paulista
de futebol. As transmissões são irradiadas apenas na frequência de
5035 kHz, enquanto que as demais seguem emitindo a programação normal
(Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX March 15 via DXLD)
** BRAZIL. 11764.95, Super Radio Deus é Amor, 0555-0610, March 15,
usual Portuguese preacher. Several IDs at 0602 along with mention of
frequencies & website. Brazilan ballads. Back to preacher at 0606.
Fair. // 9565 - poor in noisy conditions (Brian Alexander, PA, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
** BULGARIA. A-09 schedule of RADIO BULGARIA March 29-October 25, 2009
ADDR: 4, Dragan Tsankov Blvd., 1040 Sofia and P.O. Box 900, 1000 Sofia
Phone: +359 2 933 66 33; fax.: +359 2 865 05 60; Web http://www.bnr.bg
MW: Petritch (G.C: 41N28/023E19): 747 kHz, 300 kW / non-dir
Vidin (G.C: 43N50/022E43): 1224 kHz, 300 kW / 205 deg
SW: P=Plovdiv (G.C: 42N23/024E52): 2 x 300 kW, 3 x 170 kW
S=Sofia (G.C: 42N49/023E11): 2 x 100 kW, 2 x 050 kW
V=Varna (G.C: 43N09/027E52): 2 x 100 kW
BULGARIAN / e-mail:<bulgarian @ bnr.bg>
0000-0100 -daily- South America 7400 P170/258, 9400 P170/245
0000-0100 -daily- North America 9700 P300/306, 11700 P300/306
0430-0500 Mon-Fri Balkans 6000 P170/248, 1224
0430-0500 Mon-Fri East Europe 6100 S100/030, 7400 S100/030
0430-0500 Mon-Fri West Europe 6100 P300/306, 7400 P300/295
0400-0500 Sat/Sun Balkans 6000 P170/248, 1224
0400-0500 Sat/Sun East Europe 6100 S100/030, 7400 S100/030
0400-0500 Sat/Sun West Europe 6100 P300/306, 7400 P300/295
1000-1030 -daily- Balkans 7400 P170/248
1000-1030 -daily- East Europe 11600 S100/030, 13600 S100/030
1000-1030 -daily- West Europe 11700 P300/306, 15700 P300/306
1200-1400 -daily- Balkans 1224
1200-1400 -daily- West Europe 11700 P300/306, 15700 P300/306
1500-1600 -daily- Balkans 1224
1500-1600 -daily- East Europe 5900 S100/030, 7400 S100/030
1500-1600 -daily- Middle East 13800 P300/126
1500-1600 -daily- South Africa 15700 P300/185
1800-1900 -daily- Balkans 1224, 747
1800-2000 -daily- Middle East 6100 P170/115
1800-2000 -daily- West Europe 6100 P170/306
ENGLISH / e-mail:<english @ bnr.bg>
0200-0300 -daily- North America 9700 P300/306, 11700 P300/306
0630-0700 -daily- West Europe 9600 P300/306, 11600 P300/306
1130-1200 -daily- West Europe 11700 P300/306, 15700 P300/306
1730-1800 -daily- West Europe 5900 P300/306, 7400 P300/295
1730-1800 -daily- West Europe 9400 S050/306 DRM
2100-2200 -daily- West Europe 5900 P300/306, 7400 P300/295
2300-2400 -daily- North America 9500 S050/306 DRM
2300-2400 -daily- North America 9700 P300/306, 11700 P300/306
FRENCH / e-mail:<french @ bnr.bg>
0100-0200 -daily- North America 9700 P300/306, 11700 P300/306
0600-0630 -daily- West Europe 9600 P300/306, 11600 P300/306
1100-1130 -daily- West Europe 11700 P300/306, 15700 P300/306
1700-1730 -daily- West Europe 5900 P300/306, 7400 P300/295
1700-1730 -daily- West Europe 9400 S050/306 DRM
2000-2100 -daily- West Europe 5900 P300/306, 7400 P300/295
GERMAN / e-mail:<german @ bnr.bg>
0530-0600 -daily- West Europe 9600 P300/306, 11600 P300/306
1030-1100 -daily- West Europe 11700 P300/306, 15700 P300/306
1630-1700 -daily- West Europe 5900 P300/306, 7400 P300/295
1630-1700 -daily- West Europe 9400 S050/306 DRM
1900-2000 -daily- West Europe 5900 P300/306, 7400 P300/295
RUSSIAN / e-mail:<russian @ bnr.bg>
0300-0400 -daily- East Europe 6100 S100/030, 7400 S100/030, 1224
0500-0530 -daily- East Europe 6100 S100/030, 7400 S100/030
1030-1100 -daily- East Europe 11600 S100/030, 13600 S100/030
1400-1500 -daily- East Europe 5900 S100/030, 7400 S100/030, 1224
1400-1500 -daily- Central Asia 7400 P170/045
1530-1600 -daily- East Europe 9400 S050/030 DRM
1600-1630 -daily- East Europe 5900 S100/030, 7400 S100/030
1800-1900 -daily- East Europe 5900 S100/030, 7400 S100/030
2300-2400 -daily- Central Asia 6200 P170/045
SPANISH / e-mail:<spanish @ bnr.bg>
0100-0200 -daily- South America 7400 P170/258, 9400 P170/245
0100-0200 -daily- Central America 9400 P170/295
0600-0630 -daily- South Europe 11800 P170/260, 15800 P170/260
1100-1130 -daily- South Europe 11800 P170/260, 15800 P170/260
1630-1700 -daily- South Europe 11800 P170/260, 13800 P170/260
2130-2230 -daily- South Europe 6200 P170/260, 9800 P170/260
2300-2400 -daily- South America 7400 P170/258, 9400 P170/245
TURKISH / e-mail:<turkish @ bnr.bg>
0500-0530 -daily- Middle East 5900 P170/115, 7300 P170/126
1000-1030 -daily- Middle East 5900 P170/115, 7300 P170/126
1730-1800 -daily- Middle East 6100 P170/115, 1224, 747
ALBANIAN / e-mail:<albanian @ bnr.bg>
0530-0600 Mon-Fri Balkans 6000 P170/248, 1224
0600-0700 Sat/Sun Balkans 6000 P170/248, 1224
1100-1130 -daily- Balkans 7400 P170/248
1600-1630 -daily- Balkans 1224, 747
1900-2000 -daily- Balkans 1224, 747
GREEK / e-mail:<greek @ bnr.bg>
0500-0530 Mon-Fri Balkans 6000 P170/248, 1224
0500-0600 Sat/Sun Balkans 6000 P170/248, 1224
1030-1100 -daily- Balkans 7400 P170/248
1630-1700 -daily- Balkans 1224, 747
2000-2100 -daily- Balkans 1224, 747
SERBIAN / e-mail:<serbian @ bnr.bg>
0600-0630 Mon-Fri Balkans 6000 P170/248, 1224
0700-0800 Sat/Sun Balkans 6000 P170/248, 1224
1130-1200 -daily- Balkans 7400 P170/248
1700-1730 -daily- Balkans 1224, 747
2100-2200 -daily- Balkans 1224, 747
EURANET English
0700-0710 Sat/Sun West Europe 9600 P300/306
EURANET German
0710-0720 Sat/Sun West Europe 9600 P300/306
EURANET Spanish
0700-0710 Sat/Sun South Europe 11800 P170/260
EURANET French
0710-0720 Sat/Sun South Europe 11800 P170/260
HORIZONT HS-1 Bulgarian
0900-1200 Mon-Thu West Europe 11900 S050/306 DRM
0400-0700 Friday West Europe 9400 S050/306 DRM
0600-0900 Sat/Sun West Europe 11900 S050/306 DRM
RADIO VARNA Bulgarian
2100-2400 Sunday Black Sea 6000 V100/ND
0000-0300 Monday Black Sea 6000 V100/ND
DX MIX NEWS in Bulgarian:
1345-1400 Sun 1224 11700 15700
1945-2000 Sun 6100 6100
DX MIX NEWS in French:
2030-2040 Tue 5900 7400
0130-0140 Wed 9700 11700
2030-2040 Sun 5900 7400
0130-0140 Mon 9700 11700
DX MIX NEWS in German:
1950-2000 Tue 5900 7400
1050-1100 Wed 11700 15700
0550-0600 Thu 9600 11600
1920-1930 Sat 5900 7400
DX MIX NEWS in Russian:
1440-1500 Sat 1224 5900 7400
1540-1600 Sat 9400 DRM
1610-1630 Sat 5900 7400
1840-1900 Sat 5900 7400
2340-2400 Sat 6200
0340-0400 Sun 1224 6100 7400
0510-0530 Sun 6100 7400
1040-1100 Sun 11600 13600
0510-0530 Mon 6100 7400
1040-1100 Wed 11600 13600
DX MIX NEWS in Spanish:
1650-1700 Sun 11800 13800
2150-2200 Sun 6200 9800
2320-2330 Sun 7400 9400
0120-0130 Mon 7400 9400
(DX Mix News, Bulgaria, March 17 via WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DXLD)
DX Mix never mentions the Radio Bulgaria DX program in English, since
it is under the control of rivals, different content. Or is it? I know
the Spanish version includes some of the same tips from Rumen Pankov
as the English, per scripts posted (Glenn Hauser, DXLD)
** BURMA [and non]. Where they still listen to shortwave --- The two
main surviving shortwave listening countries are Burma and Zimbabwe.
The governments there have made their domestic media so bad that
people tune to shortwave for essential news and even for a bit of
entertainment.
In Burma, satellite dishes are seen all over the place. I’m talking C-
band dishes, like West Virginia twenty years ago. Mostly they’re used
for entertainment. Some people in Burma watch dramas from China’s
CCTV, that’s how bad Burmese domestic television is.
But more news-oriented Burmese watch Democratic Voice of Burma TV via
the Telstar 10 satellite. This is a supplement or substitute for the
older, but still transmitting, DVB radio service using leased
transmitters from somewhere.
Audience research I’m involved in indicates that Al Jazeera English
has established some audience in Burma. Yes, to be sure, AJE is not in
Burmese. But AJE has developed a reputation for gathering news from
developing countries not covered sufficiently by Western news
organizations.
One such developing country is Burma. During the 2007 unrest, and the
2008 Cyclone Nargis recovery, AJE reporters were in Burma, sending
video to Doha, from where it was transmitted back to satellite
receivers in Burma. (Many are in tea shops, thus group viewing.) Even
if the Burmese viewers did not speak English, the fresh video conveyed
much information of interest to this audience.
The VOA Burmese Service, to its credit, discerned a trend. With
limited television production resources, they have cobbled together a
weekly television program. It’s seen on VOA’s Asiasat 3 transponder.
Expect the BBC Burmese Service to notice this, and to get into
television of its own. It would be helpful if all the Burmese-language
international broadcasters could agree on a single satellite and
transponder, especially given that steerable dishes are relatively
uncommon in the target country (Kim Andrew Elliott, Kim`s Column,
March NASWA Journal via DXLD)
** CAMEROON. 6005, 0730 18 Jan, R. Cameroon using BBC`s channel,
English, SINPO 32323 (Dzever Ishenge, Nigeria, March World DX Club
Contact via WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DXLD)
We recently noted that BBCWS Ascension closed 6005 at the odd time of
0706* after the news. Perhaps it would be worth staying tuned, tho by
0730 it`s a 2+ hours after sunrise in Cameroon. The same listener in
Nigeria reported this last May at 1400, leading to further discussion
in DXLDs 8-080, 8-081, 8-086, 8-087, concluding with monitoring from
another listener in Nigeria, seemingly confirming Buea 6005 was on the
air, heard from 1455 until blocked by BBC at 1700. But not a single
report since, nor on the onetime nighttime channel 3970. This may be
another African whose signal doesn`t manage to escape the continent,
and may be a daytime-only operation (Glenn Hauser, March 13, DX
LISTENING DIGEST) Part of last year`s items as from issues above:
R. Cameroon, 6005, news in English at 1400 May 20, SIO 333 (Dzever
Ishenge, Benue State, Nigeria, Sony ICF-7600G, July World DX Club
Contact via DXLD)
This is an intriguing logging, as no Cameroon stations are believed to
be active on SW. The hour, 3 pm local, suggests the transmitter may
not be too far away, altho some schedules show 6005 in use by Yemen,
Sri Lanka, and Shiokaze from Japan, as an alternate frequency. BBC
Ascension uses 6005 a lot, but not at this hour.
Let`s consult the two major sources of info on Africa. BDXC, Africa on
Shortwave, updated May 2008 says:
``Official shortwave broadcasting from Cameroon Radio and Television
has ceased. The main station at Yaounde was last heard in early 2000
on 4850 kHz. The CRTV regional stations at Bafoussam, Bertoua, Buea,
Douala, and Garoua are also inactive on shortwave. The CRTV website
indicates that regional stations are now only on FM.``
Was there ever one on this frequency? Thorsten Hallmann`s Africalist,
updated 26 June 2008:
``Cameroon: inactive on SW, last frequencies heard in 2000/2001: 4850
Yaoundé, 5009 Garoua, 6005 Buea.``
Ah yes, so if there is a reactivated Cameroonian on 6005, it should be
Buea (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Glenn, Limited e-mail access here, but following up World
of Radio 1417, I do believe Cameroon is on 6005 kHz. I had not
identified this station previously as the audio is so badly distorted
it is almost impossible to listen to. Here in north-west Nigeria I can
hear the station most afternoons until drowned by the BBC sign-on at
1700 UT. On 23 July at 1455 I was able to decipher funeral
announcements in English with several mentions of Buea. I cannot
confirm transmissions during darkness hours but will check other
frequencies mentioned in DXLD posts (James MacDonell, July 28, DX
LISTENING DIGEST 8-086)
Glenn, I will write in more detail later next week as I have to type
this on a cellphone. However, I can confirm that I am still hearing
Cameroon on 6005 most days, audible when the channel is otherwise
clear - 0706 to around 1700. Signal strength weak and audio always low
and distorted making most speech unintelligible (James MacDonell,
Nigeria, March 14, 2009, WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CANADA. Long time ODXA member Brian Smith suffered a brain aneurism
on Sunday and is unconscious in hospital and is not expected to
recover. Brian has been a stalwart member of the executive
representing the ODXA at various ham flea markets and running the QSL
service for AM 740. I will especially miss seeing him at our Shadow
Lake Radio Camps where we shared DX, friendship, and some weird
tasting beers. Messages of condolences can be posted here and Harold
Sellers will relay them to the family (Mark Coady, March 18, ODXA yg
via WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DXLD)
I was shocked and saddened to receive this news. Brian and Muriel have
always made me feel very welcome when I have had the privilege of
participating in ODXA activities in person; his smiling face and
enthusiastic handshake were among the first to greet me at both the
Radio Camps as well as the Radio Fests. Brian has been a great "bridge
builder" -- with his years of service to the members of ODXA, as well
as his outreach to the radio hobbyist community at large via his
leadership of the AM 740 QSL work.
Brian would never let his position of leadership get in the way of a
good laugh, either. I still have a multipurpose "DX Bag" in the glove
compartment of my car, silently at the ready for whenever it's needed.
When Brian joined Harold to pay us a visit at the 20th Winter SWL Fest
two years ago, Brian made sure to bring extra DX Bags with him, as he
knew how much I enjoyed their goofiness. My condolences to Muriel and
their family (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA, ibid.)
** CANADA. 6069.97, CFRX Toronto, 0301-0311, March 14. Good reception
and almost 100% readable with news (“From the Canadian press”), sports
and weather (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
** CANADA. ONLINE CAMPAIGN WARNS OF ADS ON CBC RADIO
THE CANADIAN PRESS March 16
CBC's board of directors met Monday to discuss strategies for the
economic downturn as a watchdog group warned against putting ads on
CBC Radio - a possibility that the public broadcaster raised last
month.
CBC spokesman Marco Dube would not speculate on the nature of the
closed-door meeting, expected to continue Tuesday, saying only that a
difficult economic climate will force it "to make difficult choices
that will affect our people and our programs."
Ian Morrison, spokesman for Friends of Canadian Broadcasting,
predicted deep cuts to staff and programming, but also said that the
broadcaster has been eyeing the ad revenue potential of CBC Radio.
full article: http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/603136
I believe CBC Radio was commercial at one time. I seem to recall
hearing ads on CBL-740 in the early 70s. 73 (Mike Brooker, Toronto,
ON, March 16, IRCA via WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DXLD)
CANADA PUBLIC BROADCASTER OKS BUDGET, CUTS MAY LOOM
By Wojtek Dabrowski
TORONTO (Reuters) - Asset sales and layoffs are still on the table at
the Canadian Broadcasting Corp after the public broadcaster's board of
directors approved its budget for the next 12 months, a CBC spokesman
said Wednesday.
Spokesman Marco Dube wouldn't comment further, but added that the
broadcaster plans to make a more detailed announcement to its
employees before the end of the month.
The CBC, like other media companies, has struggled with a sharp drop
in advertising revenue as the recession forces marketers to slash
spending.
To cope with the weak ad market, the CBC is looking at a wide swath of
options, from selling radio and television assets, to adding more
American TV programming to its schedule and consolidating local
stations.
"Asset sales are still on the table," Dube said, adding that any such
move would require the approval of the federal government.
Airing ads on the CBC's radio services is not being considered, he
said.
Layoffs are expected to be part of any cost-cutting plan at the CBC.
Dube said the broadcaster is facing decisions that "will affect our
services, our programs and our people."
The CBC receives more than C$1 billion ($787.4 million) in government
funding each year. Aside from this, the CBC generates about C$600
million a year in revenue from commercial activities, including C$340
million from advertising.
($1=$1.27 Canadian) (Reporting by Wojtek Dabrowski; editing by Peter
Galloway) Reut10:59 03-18-0903-18-2009 15:59UTC (via Dave Alpert, ABC
News, Los Angeles, March 18, via WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DXLD)
** CHAD. 4904.966, RNT, N'Djamena, Mar 7, *0427-0730* --- t/on at
0427 with strong carrier, but with poor modulation and practically no
audio heard until just at 0512 transmitter sunrise, with male speaker
in French. Woman host from 0530 with magazine type format, male
speakers then back to woman. Signal degrading from 0540 and unusable
after 0600. Carrier still just above the noise floor at 0730 s/off
(Brandon Jordan - Memphis, TN, USA, Receiver: Perseus SDR, Antenna:
Wellbrook ALA100, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake (music jamming), 1618, March 13. Heard 9000
clearly parallel and in sync on 9495 (vs. BBC), 9905 (vs. R. Free
Asia) and 11920 (vs. VOA). Also heard the usual 8400 Firedrake, but
was not parallel at all and assume was just very far out of sync with
9000 and the others. First time 8400 and 9000 did not match up (Ron
Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. 5955, CRI English at 1243 March 13, but co-channel QRM
seemingly from something else in English with piano music, and a third
language/station, or maybe just two with one of them doing a voice-
under. Strangely enough, China registers two transmissions from
Beijing during this hour, 80 degrees apart, so perhaps the
theoreticians figured they could not interfere with each other! CRI
English at 95 degrees, CNR8 Mongolian at 15 degrees. Chicoms vs
Chicoms! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA [non]. ESTADOS UNIDOS VIA CHILE – A CVC não vendeu nem
pretende negociar seus transmissores que estão localizados em Santiago
do Chile para a Rádio Internacional da China. A informação é do
diretor da estação para a América Latina, Juan Mark Gallardo. Conforme
o apresentador da programação em português José Antônio Ceschin,
correu uma informação dando conta de que o governo chinês estaria
adquirindo os transmissores da CVC para usá-los nas transmissões da
Rádio Internacional da China em português para o Brasil. Por decisão
sua, a emissora chinesa optou em não renovar um contrato de aluguel de
alguns transmissores da CVC que eram utilizados para levar a
programação em português para o Brasil (Célio Romais, Panorama,
@tividade DX March 15 via DXLD)
CRI has not renewed its relays via Chile. Someone thought they would
be buying the transmitters! Had been not only in Portuguese, but
Spanish and English too. I had not noticed but apparently these were
already canceled before the end of B-08; were on 15, 17 MHz (gh, DXLD)
** CHINA. As for Chinese SW/MW lists reported in DXLD 9-023, Seiichi
Hasegawa of NDXC says: "2009 List of Mediumwave Stations in Chinese
Mainland" seems to be extracted and translated from Alan Davis's
"Asiawaves AM Radio Frequency Tables" and WRTH 2009, and "2009 List of
Domestic Shortwave Stations in Chinese Mainland" from Aoki List B08.
There is the possibility of copyright violation (Takahito Akabayashi,
Japan, March 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also TIBET
** CHINA. I am glad that none of today's new posts referred to
"ChiComs". That is an unnecessary and degrading reference with
historical roots dating back to an era some 60 years ago. Today we
have good relations with the people of the Peoples Republic of China
and should treat them as we would like them to treat us, with respect.
We may not agree with all their government does, but some of us may
not agree with all the US government does. We can remain civil. Thank
you (Phil Marcus, Columbia MD, ex-WA2AQX, ptswyg via DXLD)
My reply which I will not post on that group: In case you are unaware,
it`s short for Chinese Communists, which the last I heard, they still
are, even tho they are capitalists too, a conundrum? Until the Chinese
Communist Party loses power, and/or control over broadcasting, they
will still be referred to as Chicom(s). We do NOT have good relations
with the PRC as long as they are intensely jamming our broadcasts!!
Talk about respect! Once the Chicom grow up and turn off the jammers,
they may be worthy of some respect. The term is axually exactly
Politically Correct, and we should never forget that China is still a
dictatorship with human rights suppressed (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
Hello, Please let us keep to the reason for this group. Namely the
love of the hobby of HAM and SWL radio. I have seen other groups
dissolve into the Sunset because some individuals take off on the
tangent to correct others` political beliefs. Some of us are too young
to remember the "cold war" and others of us can recall what they were
doing on December 7, 1941. So, I request that the membership overlook
some members use of terminology that may reflect their age or their
past life experiences. Let us keep to the subject of and reason for
this group. 73, (Mike in Sacramento Hearne, ptsw yg via DXLD)
** COLOMBIA. QSL: COLUMBIA [sic], Radio Marfil Estéreo (Puerto
Lleras). Freq: 5910. 0443-0514. 7 Jan 09. Spanish. Received an email
verification reply in 40 minutes for an English report. V/S Rafael
Rodgríguez. Email addy: rafaelcoldx @ yahoo.com The initial report was
sent via postal mail to Mr. Rafael Rodríguez R., QSL Manager, La Voz
De Tu Concieneia, A/C Colombia Para Cristo, Calle 44 No. 13-67 Bogotá,
DC, Colombia, which was returned as "No Existing Number" by the
Colombian Postal Service. Mr. Rodríguez verified the street address
and PO Box as: La Voz de Tu Conciencia, Columbia [sic] para Cristo,
Calle 44º No. 13-67, Local 1, Barrio Palememo, (pr [meaning `or`? --
gh] Apartado Aéreo 67751), SF de Bogotá. Colombia (Joe Wood, TN, MARE
Tipsheet March 13 via DXLD)
** CONGO DR. DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO, 6210, R. Kahuzi ---
Shocked to get a nice reply in the mail from the BESI/R. Kahuzi
headquarters in San Marcos, CA today. Confirmation frequency folder
card "handmade by members of a Radio Kahuzi Club utilizing dried
banana bark. The cards are sold in the local markets surrounding
Bukavu & the funds raised are used to minister to orphans, widows, and
malnourished children". The dried banana bark was cut and pasted
creating a scene of the 3 Magi following the Star of Bethlehem. Also
sent an info card, a computer generated full/data ham-type card, and
complete program sked in local time. The sked has them signing off at
midnight, which would be 2200 UT as they're UT +2. However, they were
signing off at 2000. The sign on, on the sked is 9:00. So that's
either 0700, or 0500. A unique QSL and one of my best!! (hard copy
QSLs are few and far between these days!!). 73 (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA,
March 13, HCDX via DXLD)
Dave: Congratulations on a great QSL! The challenge here is not
getting the QSL per se, but hearing them in the first place! San
Marcos is only about 20 miles down the road from my house so anyone
needing intercession for a QSL can feel free to contact me. I have
visited Smitty and Barbara Smith at their home and they are very
accommodating on their QSL policy. My Kahuzi QSL required the use of
the old Johannesburg DX Tuner and even that was a bit of a challenge.
My first (of two) Kahuzi QSL's was delivered by Smitty while I was
getting my hair cut in his old barber shop in Fallbrook (my current
QTH). I'm sure that falls into one of the more "unusual" QSL delivery
stories! (Bruce W. Churchill, CA, Cumbre DX via DXLD)
** CONGO DR [non]. Re: ``TDP changes:
Radio Kimpwanza in Lingala, new station:
1700-1800 on 15260 SAM 250 kW / 188 deg to CeAf Sun
(DX Mix News, Bulgaria, March 8 via DXLD)``
Did anyone remember to check this again this Sunday? (Glenn Hauser,
March 15, dxldyg via DXLD)
If the station was operating, there was - again? - no propagation to
my location (Noel R. Green (NW England), March 16, ibid.)
15260 is too high for propagation/reception into Germany at this time
of the year. Maybe Tarek in Cairo will be more successful. 15260 Sun
March 22, 1700-1800 UT. 73 (wolfy df5sx, ibid.)
** CROATIA [and non]. The following transmissions of the VOICE OF
CROATIA will be stopped during the scheduled maintenance MARCH 17,
2009 AT 0030-0045 & 0330-0345 UT:
- 1134 kHz [Zadar 600 kW]
- 3985 kHz [Deanovec 10 kW]
- Hot Bird 6 satellite
I'm not quite sure, but if Wertachtal, Germany is fed via Hot Bird,
then 7375 kHz will also be affected. Best regards & many 73s! (Dragan
Lekic, Serbia, March 16, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Why only quarter-hour segments of longer scheduled Croatian and
Spanish broadcasts, respectively, on 3985 at least? Or were any
languages specifically referred to? (Glenn, ibid.)
March 17 at 0030-0045 & 0330-0345z is chosen randomly, and it has no
link with Voice of Croatia (Glas Hrvatske) program schedule.
At these time segments, the equipment at Network Control Center of OiV
(Odasiljaci i veze) in Zagreb will be at routine maintenance. Only the
routing from Zagreb to Deanovec satellite uplink station will be
affected (aborted). Since Deanovec will not receive feeds from Zagreb
to uplink the Hot Bird satellite, ALL PROGRAMS at Hot Bird satellite
will be stopped (all radio and TV stations who are uplinked from
Deanovec).
All stations who receive feeds via Hot Bird will not have signal, and
this includes Zadar mediumwave station, terrestrial FM and UHF
transmitters, and since Deanovec will not have any feeds from Zagreb,
also the shortwave transmitter will stop broadcasting.
My guess is that Wertachtal, Germany also picks up the VoCroatia
signal from Hot Bird, so, probably, they will not broadcast at that
time on 7375 kHz, or, perhaps they will use a web stream instead (?)
Regards, (Dragan Lekic, Serbia, ibid.)
** CUBA [and non]. I too heard RHC [English] move from 6140 to 6180.
This conflicted with 6175 V of Vietnam, [via Canada including] English
to NAm at 0100, 0230, 0330. There have been no-shows all three slots;
propagation? Conflict? March 7, RHC back on 6140. Now this can and has
in recent past conflicted with RRI Bucharest English to NAm on 6145;
// 9515 is hit or miss; try. PS: RHC 6000 slammed by 5995 Spanish (Bob
Thomas, Bridgeport CT, March 9, by p-mail, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Romania has English on 6145 at 0100-0157 only. The only Spanish on
5995 is RFI via GUF at 0100-0130 per EiBi, missing from Aoki (gh,
DXLD)
6000, RHC with English News, including a long item about Venezuela,
and into ID and EE features, abruptly into Spanish at 1320: this must
have been a switching error as English isn't in their sked at this
time, and this is listed as Spanish. 1310-1320 8/Mar (Kenneth Vito
Zichi, DXpedition, Brighton MI, MARE Tipsheet March 13 via DXLD)
A SNAFU I missed! (gh, DXLD)
** CUBA [and non]. Amused to hear the DentroCuban Jamming Command
pulsing against YFR in Bengali via Nauen on 13820, March 13 at 1344 --
- Commies vs Protestants! DCJC was really ramping up against R. Martí
whose Greenville carrier came on at 1347, initially with weak tone
tests, but Family Radio could still be heard underneath.
First checked PWBR `2009` by the radio; was that any help? Of course
not! Nothing such from YFR listed in the grid, but it does claim that
R. Martí broadcasts to ``Central America``. FYI, Cuba is not in CAm.
Europeans frequently make this mistake from their remote vantage
point, but you`d think Pennsylvanians or Paraguayans would know
better. Central America is the string of countries in the Isthmus
between Mexico and Colombia. Cuba is an island in the Caribbean, or
rather, islands (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA [non]. Glenn: We have a last-minute new program for Cuba
beginning tonight at 7:00 pm (2300-2330 UT Saturday) called La Voz de
Vueltabajo por Cuba. Vueltabajo is in Pinar del Rio and is well-known
for its tobacco production. It will be repeated (for the first few
weeks anyway) at 2130-2200 UT Sunday (Jeff White, WRMI 9955, March 14,
WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CYPRUS. Re 9-023: This is the CyBC International Programme intended
for Greek Cypriots in England relayed via BBC. It's been broadcast, at
the same time, for more than 20 years. The CyBC could broadcast
English language tourism info but it wouldn't be of much use to the
intended audience. Regards (Harry Brooks, North East England, UK,
dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** DJIBOUTI. 4780, RTV de Djibouti, Arta, 0320-0427 Feb 10 in
vernacular, OM with aboriginal music selexions with drums, strings,
vocals, some very similar to old Mississippi delta blues. The
astounding 80-90 dB signal (full quieting here), and outstanding audio
forced [me] to take a break from DXing and go into the `program
listening mode` --- an exceptional broadcast (Richard W. Parker,
Pennsburg PA, USA, March WDXC Contact via DXLD) 80-90 dB compared to
what?
4779.997, RTV Djibouti, MAR 7, *0251- - t/on at 0251 although no audio
heard until 0300 as signal improved, Qur`anic recitations into talk by
man in Arabic. Improving further by 0319 transmitter sunrise but still
poor-fair in CODAR, with further Arabic talk then vocals from 0343
while steadily fading until carrier dropping below noise floor around
0530. +/- 100 Hz spikes visible on waterfall (Brandon Jordan -
Memphis, TN, USA, Receiver: Perseus SDR, Antenna: Wellbrook ALA100,
dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ECUADOR [non?]. I've noticed that the 21455 frequency for HCJB is
not listed in the 2009 WRTH, despite that fact that it is audible here
in Florida throughout most of the afternoon (Russ Scotka - > Florida,
via Bob Wilkner, March 17, ibid., DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Bob, Ask him if he`s sure it was not WYFR. Scheduled on 21455 at 1600-
1945, first two hours in English, then German and finally French 1900.
A bit of backscatter from O`bee could seem like a weak HCJB. HCJB said
they closed down their 21455 a couple years ago. 73, (Glenn to Bob,
via DXLD)
Glenn, Russ is a ham with a rotating directional antenna pointed south
for the log. 73, (Bob Wilkner, ibid.)
Bob, OK, but we still need to know what times he is hearing this, [in
Margate, KE4PTM] and if when WYFR is on, to be sure it isn`t WYFR.
When the two were sharing the frequency, they did not overlap, anyway,
HCJB taking a break during the WYFR hours. Of course it would be of
interest if HCJB has really reactivated 21455, which would be contrary
to the gradual decline there. The fact that they have never removed it
from their Spanish frequency announcements is probably good evidence
this it is really off (Glenn to Bob, via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 6250, Radio Nacional-Malabo, *0605-0640+, March
13, abrupt sign on with Spanish talk. Radio Malabo IDs. Short breaks
of Afro-pop music. Good signal at sign on but started to get weaker by
0630. Irregular (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ERITREA. 5099.987, (presumed), R Bana, MAR 7, *0349-f/out --- t/on
at 0349, about 12 minutes after sunrise at transmitter. Signal not
strong enough to produce audio and slowly fading until below the noise
floor by 0530 (Brandon Jordan - Memphis, TN, USA, Receiver: Perseus
SDR, Antenna: Wellbrook ALA100, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ERITREA [non]. Venerdì 6 marzo 2009, *17.30 - 9610 kHz, VOICE OF
ASENA - Samara (Russia), Arabo (no tigrigna), ids e nxs OM. Segnale
sufficiente, QRM BBC Urdu 9605 (SWL I1-0799GE, Luca Botto Fiora, G.C.
09E13 - 44N21, Rapallo (Genova), Italia, bclnews.it yg via DXLD)
** ETHIOPIA. ETIÓPIA - Amhara State Radio é uma emissora etíope que
está no ar, emitindo em amárico, entre 0300 e 0600, na freqüência de
6090 kHz. A emissora tem chegado ao Sul do Brasil, por volta de 0400,
no Tempo Universal. Foi ouvida, em Porto Alegre (RS), em 7 de março,
quando transmitia músicas típicas do Chifre da África (Célio Romais,
Panorama, @tividade DX March 15 via DXLD)
** EUROPE. Thanks for joining World of Radio via South Herts Radio
every Sunday at 1230 UT. Recent streaming issues have now been
resolved and we had a good response this past weekend. This coming
Sunday is Mother's Day here in the U.K.
I will try to bring you wor 1452 from the live stream but failing that
use our sustaining service
http://www.southhertsradio.com/playback.html
During the U.K. clock change on 29th March our schedule will alter to
BST - British Summer Time so world of radio will be one hour earlier
each Sunday from then until late October in terms of GMT / UT.
SHR also continues in bringing you the best in offshore pirate radio
material as often as we can.
Thanks also to Glenn for mentioning the return of Laser shortwave in
WOR 1451. At 1803 UT on Friday 13th March I heard someone familiar on
exactly 4024 KHz playing alternative music - I hoped you liked it ;-)
(Gary Drew, UK, March 16, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) v. unID 6850
** EUROPE. Re 9-023, KISS-FM: 6670 seems to be on again 13 March at
1850 UT (Jari Savolainen, Finland, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** FRANCE. I can confirm from my conversations with David Page of RFI
English that there are no morning English broadcasts on the weekends
(Mike Cooper, Mar 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 04, 05, 06, 07 UT M-F only
** FRANCE. French television, Radio France and RFI plan a 24-hour
strike on Thursday over financing and plans to cut 206 jobs at RFI,
about one-fifth of RFI's work force. Labor unions are asking that all
work positions be retained. RFI officials announced plans in January
to cut the positions and end broadcasts in German, Albanian, Polish,
Serbo-Croat, Turkish and Lao (Mike Cooper, Mar 17, WORLD OF RADIO
1452, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
RFI STRIKES AGAIN! --- RFI's listeners worldwide can again enjoy a
lively music selection today. It's an unintended benefit of station's
joining a national strike-2. All RFI's channels carry the same music
program from RFI Musique.
France 24 TV chose to stay on, though - to provide a continuous
coverage of the French people's epic struggle against the regime of
Nicolas Sarkozy. You can watch F24's prerecorded report on strike
here: http://tinyurl.com/FrenchStrike2
(Sergei S., Moscow, March 19, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GERMANY. 6030, 0034 26 Jan, Bible Voice Broadcasting, Christian in
English, SIO 333 (Robin Tancoo, Trinidad, March WDXC Contact via DXLD)
Wow, inconceivable in CNAm to hear anything on 6030 but the
DentroCuban Jamming Command and/or R. Martí when they are active,
which they always are at this hour; and the Greenville signal toward
Cuba should carry on to Trinidad. But BVB is indeed scheduled here at
0030-0100 via Wertachtal, 250 kW, 90 degrees, in Hindi on Mon, Tue,
Wed(to 0115), Thu; English Sun, Fri and Sat.
But Jan 26 was a Monday! WRTH 2009 and Aoki agree on this. So is the
date wrong on the report? Even if he used local date despite Universal
time, that would still put it on a UT Tuesday when it should have been
in Hindi, which Robin may well understand, his full name being
Robindranath, as on an old QSL illustrated in BDXC Communication,
probably an anglicization of Ravindranath, which is interchangeably
spelt with a b. These reports also lack any country of origin or
transmission (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GERMANY [and non]. Re 9-023: GERMANY +non, ``Why, moreover, should
the German taxpayer finance a service with any other agenda?``
--- He doesn't matter anyway, since he is explicitly no target
audience anymore. Germans abroad are being referred by DW to German
domestic media instead.
However, on the other hand the same question could be asked about BBC
World Service, the BBG stations or RNW's foreign language services.
``Perhaps the powers that be at DW have lost touch with their raison
d`être and instead are more interested in building a Weltreich of
influence, to give BBC and VOA some competition, which really cannot
be a badthing``
--- Almost. International TV news stations, including CNN, are
considered as competition by DW. Here internal critics (who are much
more active at DW-TV than on the radio side where a build-up of
solidarity could have been prevented) say that DW has simply not the
resources to compete with these stations.
``Just to Central Asia? There`s a lot more to Russia than that``
--- This Reuters AlertNet item deals explicitly with the Khronika
Tsentralnoye Asii programme, launched in 2001. Topic of this programme
are storys from the former Soviet republics in Asia. It is broadcast
instead of separate Kazakh, Uzbek, Turkmen, Kyrgyz or Tajik services,
since anybody there understands Russian anyway. The same approach DW
got heavily bashed for in regard to the Belorusskaya Khronika
programme.
Khronika Tsentralnoye Asii is at present a 20 minute show on Mon-Fri,
aired at 0105 with repeats at 0205 and 0305. Talks are about cutting
it back to 9 minutes. Check the comments on the Reuters AlertNet page,
here meanwhile a dispute between the head of DW Russian service and
the International Crisis Group representatives took place (Kai Ludwig,
Germany, March 14, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GERMANY. Just after this Saturday`s scheduled DW SW broadcast at
1530 of the avant-garde music show Muzprosvet, I attempted to hear its
audio file via http://www.dw-world.de/dw/0,,4356,00.html
But what do I get, clicking on Muzprosvet? A quarter hour of somewhat
heated discussion in Russian about the financial situation, not a note
of music. Geez, their automated audio system can`t even get the right
program into the right file. Furthermore the player label says
``Playing Starparade, 15:30 UTC``, which this obviously was not,
either. Any humans there paying attention? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
They fixed the problem. Now you can hear the ''Muzprosvet''. By the
way, DW just changed the audio links, and here are the current ones
for MUZPROSVET:
MP3 / 64 kbps / 44 kHz / STEREO [13.8 MB]:
http://217.243.250.77/dwworldondemand1/encoder/audio/mitschnitt/Kanal11-rus-stp-1530.mp3
WMA / 48 kbps / 44 kHz / MONO [21.0 MB]:
http://217.243.250.77/dwworldondemand1/encoder/audio/mitschnitt/Kanal11-rus-stp-1530.wmv
First airing of the show is at 1530z on Saturdays, so we can download
the latest show approximately as of 1610z on Saturdays. Regards,
(Dragan Lekic, Serbia, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GREECE. Dear Glenn: I listened to the opening announcement of the
North American Service of The Voice of Greece at 0000 UT on Tuesday,
March 17. Translating, the Greek woman announcer said: "Greetings from
Athens. The program which follows is directed to Europe, the Atlantic
Ocean, Africa, North America, South America, and the Zone of Panama;
also on the Internet at www.ert.gr"
The working frequencies of 7475 and 9420 were not mentioned at all. I
even wonder if they will issue a new schedule at all for A-09; if they
do, it will probably be if and whenever they get the Continental
transmitter back on the air. I sent an E-mail to Apodimos at The Voice
of Greece asking for the new A-09 Schedule; Babis seems to be a lost
cause.
Glenn: At the opening of the North American Service of The Voice of
Greece on Wednesday, March 18, they are still announcing the three
frequencies of 7475, 9420, and 12105. The 12105 frequency never makes
it in this area, so I do not know whether the Continental transmitter
is back in service yet or not. Has anybody South of the Border been
able to pick it up? Regards, (John Babbis, MD, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
March 18, 1100 UT still ONLY two transmitter units on air, both S=9
signals in Germany:
9935 Thessaloniki regional with Abba song, and
15650 kHz VoGreece Greek music, til 1350 UT.
Nothing on 9420 ! regards de (wb df5sx, ibid.)
Dear all, concerning utilization of 12105 KHz, the situation, is as
follows:
2300-0300 GMT: Azimuth 226 degrees
0600-1000 GMT: Azimuth 002 degrees (Demetri Vafeas, ERA, via John
Babbis, March 18, WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
No logs seen of 12105 kHz here recently, but the foreign languages
observed on 9420 kHz instead, in our early European morning. Also
15630 noted so far, but not 12105. Concerning announcement of 12105
channel: the studio recording may an old one of November '08, when
season starts. regards wb (Büschel, ibid.)
** GUAM. KTWR Program Schedule A09
Target Language UTC Days Frequency/mb
China
Amdo-Tibetan 1300-1315 Mon-Thu 9370 / 31
Cantonese 1330-1400 Mon-Fri 9975 / 31
Cantonese 1100-1200 Sun 9975 / 31
Cantonese 2200-2230 Mon-Fri 12130 / 25
Cantonese 2200-2245 Sun 12130 / 25
Hui 1000-1030 Sat 15325 / 19
Hui 1300-1330 Sat 9370 / 31
Mandarin 0930-1045 Daily 12105 / 25
Mandarin 1015-1200 Daily 11590 / 25
Mandarin 1100-1230 Daily 9910 / 31
Mandarin 1230-1330 Daily 9975 / 31
Mandarin 1200-1400 Mon-Fri 9370 / 31
Mandarin 1200-1330 Sat 9370 / 31
Mandarin 1200-1300 Sun 9370 / 31
Mandarin 2300-2315 Daily 11765 / 25
Nosu Yi 1100-1115 Sat-Sun 11590/ 25
Nosu Yi 1200-1215 Daily 9975 / 31
Uyghur 1000-1030 Mon-Fri 11935 / 25
Mongolia
Mongolian 1200-1215 Sat 9910 / 31
Korea
Korean 1400-1515 Sun-Fri 11570 / 25
Korean 1400-1545 Sat 11570 / 25
South Pacific
English 0855-0930 Mon-Fri 11840 / 25
English 0915-0930 Sat 11840 / 25
SE Asia
English 0805-0900 Tu,Th,Fr 15170 / 19
English 0820-0900 Wed 15170 / 19
English 0835-0900 Mon 15170 / 19
Indonesia
Balinese 0900-0915 Fri-Tue 15200 / 19
Indonesian 0945-1045 Daily 15200 / 19
Javanese 1045-1115 Daily 15200 / 19
Madurese 0915-0945 Daily 15200 / 19
Sundanese 1115-1145 Daily 15200 / 19
Torajanese 0900-0915 Wed-Thu 15200 / 19
Myanmar
Burmese 1200-1300 Sun-Fri 13765 / 22
Burmese 1200-1235 Sat 13765 / 22
Sgaw Karen 1300-1330 Daily 9585 / 31
Vietnam
Vietnamese 1100-1130 Daily 9635 / 31
Vietnamese 1400-1415 Mon-Fri 9920 / 31
Vietnamese 1400-1500 Sat-Sun 9920 / 31
South Asia
Kokborok 1230-1300 Mon-Fri 11870 / 25
Kokborok 1245-1300 Sat 11870 / 25
English 1415-1450 Daily 9975 / 31
Assamese 1330-1400 Mon-Fri 12075 / 25
Assamese 1330-1345 Sun 12075 / 25
Santhali 1345-1400 Daily 9650 / 31
Boro 1300-1315 Wed-Sun 9650 / 31
Manipuri 1315-1330 Mon-Wed 9650 / 31
Reports to
Trans World Radio - Guam
P.O. Box 8780, Agat, Guam 96928 USA
(via Jaisakthivel, ADXC, Chennai, India. For more A09:
http://www.adxc.wordpress.com dxldyg via DXLD)
KTWR A-09 Schedule
Amdo-Tibetan
1300-1315 China mo-th 9370
Assamese
1330-1345 sAS su 12075
1330-1400 sAS mo-fr 12075
Balinese
0900-0915 Indon fr-tu 15200
Boro
1300-1315 sAS we-su 9650
Burmese
1200-1235 Myan. sa 13765
1200-1300 Myan su-fr 13765
Cantonese
1100-1200 China su 9975
1330-1400 China mo-fr 9975
2200-2230 China mo-fr 12130
2200-2245 China su 12130
English
0805-0900 seAS tu,th,fr 15170
0820-0900 seAS we 15170
0835-0900 seAS mo 15170
0855-0930 sPA mo-fr 11840
0915-0930 sPA sa 11840
1415-1450 sAS Daily 9975
Hui
1000-1030 China sa 15325
1300-1330 China sa 9370
Indonesian
0945-1045 Indon Daily 15200
Javanese
1045-1115 Indon Daily 15200
Kokborok
1230-1300 sAS mo-fr 11870
1245-1300 sAS sa 11870
Korean
1400-1515 Korea su-fr 11570
1400-1545 Korea sa 11570
Madurese
0915-0945 Indon Daily 15200
Mandarin
0930-1045 China Daily 12105
1015-1200 China Daily 11590
1100-1230 China Daily 9910
1200-1300 China su 9370
1200-1330 China sa 9370
1200-1400 China mo-fr 9370
1230-1330 China Daily 9975
2300-2315 China Daily 11765
Manipuri
1315-1330 sAS mo-we 9650
Mongolian
1200-1215 Mong. sa 9910
Nosu Yi
1100-1115 China sa-su 11590
1200-1215 China Daily 9975
Santhali
1345-1400 sAS Daily 9650
Sgaw Karen
1300-1330 Myanm.Daily 9585
Sundanese
1115-1145 Indon Daily 15200
Torajanese
0900-0915 Indon we-th 15200
Uyghur
1000-1030 China mo-fr 11935
Vietnamese
1100-1130 Vietnam Daily 9635
1400-1415 Vietnam mo-fr 9920
1400-1500 Vietnam sa-su 9920 (Jaisakthivel, ADXC via dxldyg mail
list, re-arranged by Alan Roe, DXLD)
** GUIANA FRENCH [and non]. TDF DRM noise test for Winter Fest, 17540-
17545-17550, March 13 at 1342 when not much else audible on 16m,
primarily Chile 17680 AM. Strangely enough, this transmission is
missing from the supposedly comprehensive DRM DX schedule at
http://www.baseportal.com/cgi-bin/baseportal.pl?htx=/drmdx/main&sort=kHz,UTC
but publicity says it`s running 13-20 UT on March 13 and 14 only.
I gather it`s in French, anyway, so hardly of much use to a North
American audience.
Evidently, HCJB is not doing a DRM special for the Fest this year, tho
Kim may have been trying for its regular broadcasts to Europe, Brasil
in the mornings. Those would be in German, Spanish and Portuguese, so
hardly of much use to a monolingual North American audience (Glenn
Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also VATICAN
Excellent signals here in NNJ; well over +40db over S9 with 100%
decode. Pity that it's in French though. Not too many folks at the
Fest speak French if any (I think some of the Canadians might). It's
been a while since we've heard Montsinery on the air. Looks like those
spiders nesting in the TX coils didn't do much damage :} (Mark
Phillips, drmna yg via DXLD)
Hi Mark, Thanks for good report in NJ of MSY transmissions. Sorry
about French program; I know your position regarding this. FYI, in
Montsinery, G2 transmitter (250 kW, DRM capable) is daily used during
6.5 h for VoR transmissions on 7335, 11605 and 13630 kHz so no spiders
nesting in the transmitter coils, HI! (Jacques F6AJW, ibid.)
Haven't checked here on my end (coastal California), but just as it
blasts on the east coast, Montsinery equally blasts well here in the
west, usually -- And I echo the sentiment about missing hearing TDF's
digital presence, and I don't care in what language it's in - The TDF
facility there is grossly underused, and can easily serve the majority
of North America's population with considerable ease. d.m.f. (Dennis M
Falk, ibid.)
I couldn't agree more. MSY could well cover North America on a daily
basis. I would argue however that TDF should broadcast in the
predominant languages of the target area. Unless their intended target
is French Canada or areas of Louisiana, French is pretty much wasted
on us here. In all seriousness, I don't make this argument out of an
culturally inherited dislike of France and all things French (I'm an
Englishman after all :}) but out of practicality. Just how big would
the audience be if broadcasts were in French? Even my wife's cousin
(from French St Martin, married to a Parisien) agrees (Mark Phillips,
ibid.)
** HAWAII. Hi Everyone: Yesterday afternoon I was going thru my list
of unlogged Hawaiian stations and noticed KUMU-1500 was amongst them.
Normally KSTP dominates here with a very loud signal, but as the St
Paul/Minneapolis sunrise is much earlier than here this time of year,
I thought I might have a chance at logging them. So for an over night
session I set my timer/radio on 1500 and crossed my fingers. Naturally
the first 8 TOH IDs were all from KSTP. At 06:00 and 07:00 MST [sic;
Alberta is on MDT of UT -6 now, so does he mean 12 & 13 UT, or 13 & 14
UT??] there was someone under KSTP, but I know not who. At 08:00
(10:00 EST [sic]) I heard the following ID "something unintelligible
followed by 1500 KUMU Honolulu." The ID was heard again at 09:00,
though not as clearly. This is only my second new Hawaiian station
logged in the last 22 years. If only they were all as easy as this one
had been (Mike in St Isidore, AB, Stonebridge, with AOR 7030+ and
1000' E/W beverage, March 16, IRCA mailing list via DXLD)
** HAWAII. WH6, HAWAII (Very Rare County). Attention county hunters!
It was announced at the Maui Amateur Radio Club (MARC) this past week
that the extremely rare Kalawao County will be activated on 40 and 20
meters, March 30-31st. MARC member, Jayson Kohama, WH6BXK, is expected
to work there on those particular days. After he gets off work each
day, he plans to be on HF making as many contacts as possible. His
station, WH6BXK, will be on the air each day after 1800 local (6:00 pm
or 0400z). He will be on 7188 kHz and 14335 kHz.
Kalwao County is one of the rarest USA counties. It is the 2nd
smallest county and the poorest in the USA. It is located on the
Kalaupapa peninsula, on the island of Molokai. It is the old Hawaiian
leper colony. Because it was a leper colony, it was totally isolated
from the rest of the islands and had its own separate county
government, which was administered by the state. Hams must have
special permission to go there and operate. Thus it is extremely rare
for any ham signals to ever radiate from Kalawao (Ohio/Penn DX
Bulletin No. 900, March 16, 2009 Editor Tedd Mirgliotta, KB8NW,
Provided by BARF80.ORG (Cleveland, Ohio) via Dave Raycroft, ODXA yg
via DXLD)
Sorry, the 2009 Rand McNally Atlas shows no such county. The four
`middle islands`, Maui, Kaho`olawe, Lana`i and all of Moloka`i
comprise Maui County. There are only four counties in the state,
Kaua`i, O`ahu, Maui, Hawai`i. Kalawao does not appear on the map or
the index as a town or county.
However, Wikipedia claims there are 5 counties including Kalawao which
is rather special: Kalawao County (administered by Hawaii Dept. of
Health) The village of Kalawao, which lies within its boundaries. The
smallest [sic] county in the U.S., population 147, square miles 52.
Here is a very interesting discussion in depth of whether or not it is
a county, the county-hungry hams of course asserting that it is:
http://www.chem.hawaii.edu/uham/counties.html
Now checking the 2009 AAA Atlas, which has MUCH better maps of each of
the main Hawaiian islands, and does show Kalawao town on the central
north coast of Molokai, and furthermore a separate KALAWAO
inscription, same font as MAUI elsewhere on the island of Molokai,
i.e., implying both of those are names of separate counties. But the
index for Hawaii state shows only four counties, and under Molokai,
Kalawao is listed only as one of several towns (Glenn Hauser, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
** HONDURAS. 3250.03, Radio Luz y Vida, 1139-1151 March 14. Religious
talk and music on program "Mañanitas Cristianas"' several ID's and
repetitions of program name. Good signal (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge,
Colorado. Drake R-8, 100-foot RW, Cumbredx mailing list, via DXLD)
** HONDURAS. 3339.98, HRMI - Radio Misiones Internacionales, 0730-
0750, March 15, lively Spanish music. Spanish ID at 0743. Some
contemporary Spanish Christian music. Fair to good (Brian Alexander,
PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDIA. (+ UNID) (tentative), AIR Imphal, 4775, MAR 7, 1056 - At
1056 I noticed a carrier fading up above noise floor on 4775, and at
1130 noticed that another carrier had faded up on 4775.002. This was
slightly weaker and only a few times peaking to equal levels, but 4775
was consistently dominant from 1145 as the other started fading and
was gone by 1215 UT. The 4775 carrier persisted after local sunrise,
likely AIR Imphal. I have no idea who the other could be, possibly
another Asian or perhaps an Andean or LA station signing on after
sunrise? Neither one improved enough in strength to produce audio, and
CODAR present (Brandon Jordan - Memphis, TN, USA, Receiver: Perseus
SDR, Antenna: Wellbrook ALA100, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDIA. After being on 7190 / 7191 for about a month, AIR Mumbai is
now back on its original frequency 7195 from 13 Mar 2009. 73 (Jose
Jacob, VU2JOS, National Institute of Amateur Radio, Raj Bhavan Road,
Hyderabad 500082, India, March 15, dx_india yg via DXLD) But not for
long; must evacuate above 7200 by March 29 (gh, DXLD)
** INDIA. 4775, AIR Imphal, 1410-1440, March 13. Mostly fair reception
with CODAR QRM; assume in Hindi; ads; subcontinent singing and music.
Above average reception (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1,
dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also ANDAMAN & NICOBAR ISLANDS
** INDIA. Re 9-023: Running commentary of 1st cricket test match
between India-New Zealand was noted on following SW channels :
Lucknow - 4880
Jaipur - 4910
Jeypore - 5040
Bhopal - 7180
Thiruvanathapuram - 7180 --- (Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, March 17,
dx_india yg via DXLD) Time? presumably on early before sunrise (gh)
** INDIA. India is Going DRM
http://www.drm.org/news/detail/news/india-is-going-drm/
After extensive trials in 2007, the Indian state broadcaster All India
Radio (AIR) has decided that DRM is the best technology for converting
its vast public service broadcasting network to digital. After
conducting trials over a one and a half year period, AIR has started
regular DRM transmissions from a 250 KW SW transmitter installed near
the capital city New Delhi in January this year.
AIR is also in the process of converting 4 shortwave transmitters (250
kW) to DRM mode by March 2009. There are plans to introduce DRM
transmissions in 42 new medium wave, 36 existing medium wave and 5 new
short wave transmitters. However, the cost and availability of good
receivers remains the main issue in their implementation strategy for
the next five years.
The BES (Broadcast Engineering Society of India) event held in New
Delhi on 23rd, 24th and 25th February was a great opportunity for the
Consortium to interact with AIR at a very senior level and understand
the broadcaster's plans and problems. While Ruxandra Obreja, DRM
Chairperson, was the keynote speaker for the event, the DRM workshop
on the opening day and DRM session next day was attended by about 300-
400 delegates and had excellent presentations by Lindsay Cornell and
Julian Cable (BBC), Thomas Feustel (Deutsche Welle), Joseph Troxler
(Thomson), T V B Subbramnyam (Analog Devices), S R Aggrawal, (AIR),
Vineeta Dwivedi (DRM). (DRM Consortium PR via Alokesh Gupta, New
Delhi, India, March 13, dxldyg via DXLD)
** INDONESIA. RRI Fak2 missing again March 13 from 4790 at 1234 check.
There goes our best tropical signal from the archipelago. 4605 and
4750 were regulars a few months ago but also disappeared. Nothing
heard today on 9525 VOI either.
4790, RRI Fak2, barely audible at 1254 March 14, talk and music vs
CODAR. Could not hear it at all the previous two mornings. VOI, 9525,
fairly good in English at 1315, YL announcer with constant hum, also
during following hour in Malay.
** INDONESIA. 3325, RRI Palangkaraya, 1334-1350 March 15. Kor`an
program with recitations and occasional M announcer or imam. Fair but
deteriorating.
3987.05, RRI Manokwari, 1351-1414 March 15. Pop music to 1359, then
SCI and short Jak news program; back to local programming at 1408,
with lite Indo vocals. Pretty good signal but starting to decline
(John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado. Drake R-8, 100-foot RW, Cumbredx
mailing list, via DXLD)
** INDONESIA. VOI reconfirmed on 9525 in English around 1315 March 15.
Someone recently reported this on 9526 a few hours earlier, so this
time I made sure it was 9525 --- really slightly below, e.g. 9524.97
as measured March 11 by Ron Howard. Also quite good March 9 for the
13-14 English hour (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
9524.96, Voice of Indonesia, 1607-1613, March 13. Weak
with poor reception; VOI IDs; program in BI (Ron Howard, Asilomar
Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
9525.97, V. of Indonesia, news in English by W 1004-1013 with two
programs running simultaneously at 1012!! 1013 news ended leaving
other English press review program alone. 1014 ID with web site URL.
Good. (14 March) 73 (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, HCDX via DXLD)
So there they were almost 1 kHz off again, at the earlier English(es)
hour. Evidently a feed duplication, than a transmitter duplication as
not also reported on 9525 or so (gh, DXLD)
** INDONESIA [non]. 9680, checking for the Fri. edition of the Kang
Guru Indonesia (KGI) program (scheduled 0800-0820, Wed. & Fri.) via
RRI Jakarta, with random listening between 0802 to 0825, March 13. By
0806 heard only WYFR in Portuguese with improving signal; never heard
any sign of KGI/RRI. Completely different conditions than my Wed.
reception, which had no sign of WYFR, but a weak KGI/RRI. I believe
that shortly the WYFR schedule will change and they will be gone from
here. Hope so! (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
** INTERNATIONAL. Thought y'all could use the following list of e-mail
addresses that I have found useful for sending SWL reception reports -
- avoiding the use of lots of $$ in the process!
"BBC" <worldservice.letters@bbc.co.uk>
"Caribbean Beacon" <beacon@anguillanet.com>
"China Radio International" <crieng@crifm.com>
"CHU Canada" <radio.chu@nrc.ca>
"CVC La Voz" <ondacorta@cvclavoz.cl>
"Deutsche Welle" <online@dw-world.de>
"Family Radio" <intl@familyradio.com>
"Global Catholic Network" <gtapley@ewtn.com>
"HCJB" <radioseguimiento@hcjb.org.ec>
"La Voz de Restauracion" kvoh@restauracion.com
"R. Aparecida" <radioaparecida.com.br>
"R. Australia" <english@ra.abc.net.au>
"R. Austria" <servicecenter@orf.at>
"R. Bulgaria" <radiobulgaria@bnr.bg>
"R. Cairo" <freqmeg@yahoo.com>
"R. Canada International" <info@rcinet.ca>
"R. Catolica Mundial" <gtapley@ewtn.com>
"R. Exterior de Espana" <ree.rne@rtve.es>
"R. France Internationale" <english.service@rfi.fr>
"R. Free Asia" <qsl@rfa.org>
"R. Habana" <radiohc@enet.cu>
"R. Japan (NHK)" <nhkworld@nhk.jp>
"R. Marti" <mraydearenas@ocb.ibb.gov>
"R. Nacional da Amazonia" <faleconosco@radiobras.gov.br>
"R. Nacional da Brazilia" <radiobras@radiobras.gov.br>
<ouvidoria@radiobras.gov.br>
"R. Nacional de Venezuela" <rnv@rnv.gov.ve>
"R. Netherlands Worldwide" <letters@rnw.nl>
"R. Portugal International" <gabinete.tecnologias@rtp.pt>
"R. Reloj" <reloj@cenial.inf.cu>
"R. Republica" <info@radiorepublica.org>
"R. Slovakia" <englishsection@slovakradio.sk>
"R. Sonder Grense" >maash@sabc.co.za>
"R. Taiwan International" <rti@rti.org.tw>
"R. Tirana, Albania" <knls@aol.com>
"R. Ukraine" <vsru@nrcu.gov.ua>
"R. Vilnius" <radiovilnius@lrt.lt>
"RAI International" <raiinternational@rai.it>
"Shiokaze" <chosakai@circus.ocn.ne.jp>
"T D France Relay Station" [GUF] <fabrice.esnay@tdf.fr>
"Vatican Radio" <webteam@vaticanradio.org>
"Voice of Croatia" <voiceofcroatia@hrt.hr>
"Voice of Greece" <era5@ert.gr>
"Voice of Russia" <world@ruvr.ru>
"Voice of Turkey" <englishdesk@trt.net.tr>
"WEWN (Also WW Catholic Radio)" <gtapley@ewtn.com>
"World Harvest Radio" <whr@lesea.com>
"World-Wide Christian Radio" <wwcr@wwcr.com>
"WWV" <nist.radio@boulder.nist.gov>
If anyone has others to add to the list, please e-mail me at
<djaskine@earthlink.net> Cheers! (Dave Askine, NASWA yg via DXLD) Some
additions have been inserted above
** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM [ex-WATERS]. "THE BOAT THAT ROCKED" RADIO
CAROLINE, THEN AND NOW
The forthcoming international release of the comedy movie "The Boat
That Rocked" is drawing attention to offshore pirate radio that
prospered in Britain from 1964 to 1970, and for many people is it the
name Radio Caroline that is synonymous with it. For it was the most
famous, as well as being the first and last station in the UK to be
based at sea, and those stations changed radio forever, both here and
all over Europe.
While the film may give the impression that pirate radio was a brief
interlude, starting and ending in the sixties, this is not so as Radio
Caroline battled on at sea until 1990 and was silenced only when
Government officials vandalised its broadcasting ship after which the
station suffered a catastrophic shipwreck. With the salvaged vessel
having to go for rebuild, Caroline either had to quit or find a new
path. This path was satellite radio; through the technical facilities
of WRN the station was first launched on Hotbird in 1994 and can now
be found on Sky channel 0199 and of course via Internet.
To try and retain credibility while operating with UK jurisdiction,
Caroline is self funded and totally independent but uses many of her
ex-marine staff on air. Their motto is ‘same ideology, new
technology’. Having exchanged hardship for a comfortable operation on
land, Caroline avoids questions about what may happen when its radio
broadcast ship Ross Revenge is fully repaired. Will the staff look
longingly toward to ocean again? Never say never is the only response
ever made to the question. Information on Radio Caroline is at
http;//www.radiocaroline.co.uk
Richard Curtis's film "The Boat that Rocked" will be released on 3rd
April in the UK and its worldwide release will follow. It stars Philip
Seymour Hoffman, Bill Nighy, Emma Thompson, Kenneth Branagh and Rhys
Ifans (WRN News, March 16, via DXLD)
"WHEN BRITAIN RULED THE RADIO WAVES"
There is an interesting article in today's Sun which is online at
http://www.thesun.co.uk:80/sol/homepage/showbiz/film/article2319234.ece
However the caption on the main picture is wrong as the picture was
taken in 1991 when the Caroline ship MV Ross Revenge grounded on The
Goodwin Sands! (Mike Terry, UK, March 14, dxldyg via DXLD)
An interesting article in The Sun which isn't designed to provoke an
erection - must be a first! :-) (Dave Kernick, ibid.) You mean,
erexion. Well, you can follow the link to the Bikini Babes, but they
are rather marginalised. Better the A to Z (gh, DXLD)
Pirate Radio is star of Richard Curtis film The Boat that Rocked
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article5896974.ece
Johnnie Walker remembers Radio Caroline
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article5897099.ece
(Mike Barrraclough, dxldyg via DXLD)
** IRAN. 7130, 9680, 9680 Voz da República Islâmica do Irã - Kamalabad
- IRN, Kamalabad - IRN e Kamalabad - IRN. Recebido belo cartão QSL
full data (Ornamental printing on glazed tiles - Masjed-e Nassirulmolk
(Mosque) - Shiraz) confirmando três informes, carta pessoal, boletim
de horários e freqüências, grelha de programas, cartão retratando a
cidade de Masooleh e exemplar da revista Az-Zaqalain. Em torno de
109 dias. V/S: N. Edalat Manesh (Director de la Redacción Española).
Informes enviados por e-mail: spanishradio@ irib.com QTH: Vali-e Ave.,
Jame Jam St., P.O. Box 19395-6767 - Tehran - Iran (Rubens Ferraz
Pedroso; Bandeirantes - Paraná - Brasil, March 16, dxclubepr yg via
DXLD)
** IRAN. V. of Justice, Tehran, English hour to NAm at 0130 has been
poor lately on 6120 and 7160; one of the two, maybe, or both useless
(Bob Thomas, Bridgeport CT, March 9, by p-mail, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
7320, Islamic Voice of the Republic of Iran [sic], 2014-2030 March 13.
At tune in, noted a female in English language comments talking about
movies and other topics. Signal was good at this early hour (Chuck
Bolland, Clewiston Florida, NRD545, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Sirjan,
English at 1930, 500 kW, 313 degrees (gh)
** IRAN. IRIB ENGLISH RADIO BROADCASTING SCHEDULE (A2009)
TIME (UTC) WAVE METER BAND (KHZ) TARGET AREAS
1030-1130 SW 19m 15600 Indian Subcontinent
16m 17660 Indian Subcontinent
MW 702 Republic of Azerbaijan [why?? --gh]
FM 100.7 Tehran
1130-1230 Receivable Only Via Internet and Hotbird Satellite
1530-1630 SW 41m 7305 Indian Subcontinent
31m 9600 Indian Subcontinent
1930-2030 SW 49m 5945 Central Europe
49m 6205 Europe
41m 7205 Europe
31m 9800 South Africa
31m 9925 South Africa
2130-2230 Receivable Only Via Internet and Hotbird Satellite
0030-0130 Receivable Only Via Internet and Hotbird Satellite
0130-0230 SW 31m 9495 North America
41m 7235 North America
IRIB English service, P. O. Box No: 19395-6767, Tehran, I.R of Iran
E-Mail:: Englishradio @ irib.ir (via Jaisakthivel, ADXC, Chennai,
India, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DXLD)
** IRELAND [non]. Re 9-023, RTE via South Africa from March 17, 1930-
2030 on 6220: altho the one-day test in January was barely audible in
eastern North America, same time, frequency and transmitter site, this
will be quite difficult to hear in NAm outside our winter. The same
transmission is expected to continue in A-09, with 100 kW, 0 azimuth,
which perhaps means due north rather than non-direxional.
WRMI Miami relays WRN North America on 9955, including half-hours from
RTE, Mon-Fri at 1800 and 2100. Both contain the Drivetime news roundup
(Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Amazing. Shortwave matters. Maybe Africans in Africa will listen, too,
RTE. Perhaps other broadcasters will notice and follow suit. Well, we
can hope (Rob de Santos, Columbus, OH, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
6220 suff to good in south Italy (Roberto Scaglione, Sicily, March 17,
ibid.)
Saludos cordiales, hoy 17 de marzo desde las 1900 a 2100 UT por 6220
se ha captado a Mystery Radio, con buena señal, emisión musical e ID.
Ni rastro de RTE. 73 JMR (José Miguel Romero2, Spain, ibid.)
How can that be? Roberto Scaglione just reported RTE:
``6220 suff to good in south Italy``
Besides invading the maritime band to which Wolfgang Bueschel objects,
RTE also faces Mystery Radio. Will the latter deliberately avoid
transmitting during that hour? (Glenn Hauser, ibid.)
2005-2015z, only a bit of fading with YL in English (Scaglione, ibid.)
Only Mystery Radio audible in NZL on 6220 today - good at 1900 and
monitored past 2000 UT with no evidence of any RTE transmission from
1930 onwards. Mystery Radio idents noted at 1947 and 1959, otherwise
lengthy pop tracks. Perhaps the RTE technicians were enjoying
themselves too much at the Irish Pub, hi? (Bryan Clark, Mangawhai New
Zealand, UT March 17, AOR7030+ and EWEs to NE, E & SE, ibid.)
I forgot to check RTE 6220 [on March 17] but according to the info I
just received from Sentech, RTE was on the air as scheduled 1930-2030
(Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, March 18, ibid.)
At 2005 on the 17th there were two transmissions of about equal (good)
strength on 6220. One was playing continuous pop music - the other was
speech (a female voice) in English, but the co-channel station made
this almost impossible to copy. It wasn't parallel RTE 252LW at this
time (Noel R. Green (NW England), ibid.)
Same here Noel. At 2001 tune in on 6220, the woman announcer was
confirmed as being in English. The pop music - the stronger signal -
identified as 'Mystery Radio' just before 2005 UT (Bryan Clark,
Mangawhai (Northland) New Zealand, AOR7030+ and EWEs to NE, E & SE. UT
March 18, ibid.)
Thanks for the confirmation, Bryan. I noted the same conditions on the
18th too, and perhaps Mystery Radio (pop music) was slightly stronger
this evening. 73 (Noel R. Green, England, March 19, ibid.)
Glenn, In Europe, Mystery Radio predominated but I could discern RTE
here and there. I will wait for reports from Africa to see how it was
there but from VOA RMS in Nairobi it was strong (Jeff Cohen, UK, March
17, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Main primary target for a 100 kW outlet on 6 MHz from Meyerton will be
only Africa continent up to the equator or rather Sahel zone, but
never Europe. Former RSA outlets towards Europe used to be on 25!, 21,
and 17 MHz in days of the apartheid. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.)
Dear Mrs. Abreu, the new WRN (RTE Ireland) service towards listeners
in Africa will start March 17th via Meyerton site, at Sentech South
Africa: 6220 kHz 1930-2030 UTC 46,47,48,52,53 Meyerton 100-kW 0-degr
In the past the Portuguese FCC government organization hard-fought
always against using these 6220/6225 kHz channels in the ITU maritime
band by international broadcasters, in order to PROTECT communication
of their maritime fleet, as fishery and other important vessels. Is
this 6220 kHz channel FREE and DISPOSABLE now for worldwide coverage,
for International Broadcasters like Sentech in South Africa?
Kind regards de W. Bueschel (to RDPI via DXLD)
Wolfy uses ``FCC`` as a generic term for a government regulatory body
over communications, not really appropriate outside USA (gh, DXLD)
Thanks for the tip. "FCC" is, however, something that simply does not
exist over here - the radio authority is ANACOM, http://www.anacom.pt
and it's them, not the RTP, the only service that may provide an
answer to the use of those frequencies. Since you sent the mail to
Mrs. Teresa Abreu, RDPi frequency manager, I'm convinced she'll reply
approx. the same way as I did.
My own view is that, if certain frequencies fall off the authorised BC
bands, and are even allocated to other internationally recognised
services, then BC stations are breaching the regulations.
I remember the issue re R. Tirana using those frequencies and a
certain complaint from Portugal. If this is still valid, then it's
valid for ALB or any other country, including our own (Carlos
Gonçalves, Portugal, via Büschel, DXLD)
Re RTE/WRN on 6220 kHz shortwave in Maritime Band !
See page 29 [of 244] on file
http://www.anacom.pt/streaming/qnaf_2008.pdf?contentId=779160&field=ATTACHED_FILE
http://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=782182
QUADRO NACIONAL DE ATRIBUIÇÃO DE FREQUÊNCIAS
6200 - 6525 MÓVEL MARÍTIMO 5.109, 5.110, 5.130, 5.132 5.137
Móvel marítimo (MM) Tráfego de socorro e segurança - telefonia
(6215 kHz) regards de (W. Bueschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ITALY [non]. WORLD OF RADIO, Conditions via IRRS-Milano --- Hello
Glenn, short report for the 9510 kHz transmission!
Date: 2009-03-14
Time in UT: 0910–0930
SINPO: 55555 (S9+20 R5)
Details: DX/Radionews
RX: YAESU FRG 7700
Antenna: ARA 60 (very small active Outdoorantenna) 55+73s (Klaus from
Western Germany Fuchs, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Glad to know Slovakia transmission is doing so well, as it might have
been too close to you, in the skip zone (gh, DXLD)
** JAPAN [and non]. NHK WORLD RADIO JAPAN - A09 will access in the
following link
http://adxc.wordpress.com/2009/03/16/nhk-world-radio-japan-a09
(Jaisakthivel, ADXC, Chennai, India, dxldyg via DXLD)
That pdf should also be available directly on the NHK website. I see
that the four English relays via Sackville continue unchanged, but
still no Japanese via there to N America, just to S and C America
which unfortunately has to cross NAm to get there (gh, DXLD)
JAPAN: NHK World - R. Japan
A-09 Schedule
Arabic
0400-0430 ME 5980ar
0700-0730 ME 11905is
2015-2145 ME 1377ar
Bengali
1300-1345 swAS 15215uz
Burmese
1030-1100 seAS 11740sn
1430-1500 seAS 11705
2340-2400 seAS 13650
Chinese
0400-0430 AS 15300
0500-0530 AS 15300
0600-0630 seAS 17860
1130-1200 AS 6090
1300-1330 AS/seAS 6190 11740sn
1430-1500 AS 6190
2230-2250 AS 9560
2240-2300 seAS 13650
2340-2400 15195 17810
English
0000-0020 seAS 13650 17810
0000-0020 EU 5960uk
0000-0020 NAM 6145sa
0500-0530 AF/EU 5975uk 11970is
0500-0530 AS 15325 17810
0500-0530 NAM 6110sa
0900-0930 As 11815 15590
0900-0930 OC/Hawaii 9625 9825
1200-1230 NAM 6120sa
1200-1230 OC 9625 9695
1200-1230 EU 9790ge
1310-1340 swAS 11985
1400-1430 AS 11705 11985
1400-1430 NAM 11705sa
1400-1430 EU/AF 13630uk 21560is
2200-2220 OC 13640
French
0530-0600 AF 9850ge 11750ge
0630-0700 AF 9800is
1230-1300 AF 15400is
Hindi
1345-1430 swAS 9585uz
Indonesian
0945-1030 seAS 6140sn
1315-1400 seAS 11705
2310-2340 seAS 17810
Japanese
0200-0300 seAS 11780sn
0200-0400 SAM 11935bo
0200-0500 CAM 5960sa
0200-0500 AS 15195 15325 17810
0200-0500 ME 17560
0700-0800 AS 6145 6165
0700-1700 AS 9750
0800-0900 SAM 9825
0800-1000 seAS/AF 11740sn 15290is
0900-1000 SAM 9795sa
1000-1700 seAS 11815
1500-1700 CAM 9535
1500-1700 AF/swAS 12045sn 17735is
1700-1900 AF/ME 11945is 13740dh
1700-1900 AS 6035 7225
1700-1900 SAM 9835
1900-2200 ME 9560
2000-2100 OC 9625
2000-2200 AS 6085
2000-2400 AS 11910
2100-2200 seAS/OC 11665 13640
2200-2300 ME 9650dh
2200-2400 AS/SAM 13680 15265bo
Korean
0430-0500 AS 15300
1100-1130 AS 6090
1230-1300 AS 6190
1400-1430 AS 6190
1630-1700 AS 6035
2210-2230 AS 9560
Persian
0230-0300 ME 5960ar
0830-0900 ME 15190ge
Portuguese
0230-0300 SAM 9660bo
0930-1000 SAM 9660bo
Russian
0330-0400 EU 6130ge
0430-0500 EU 6130ge
0530-0600 AS 11715 11760
0800-0830 AS 6145 6165
1100-1200 AS 6010
1330-1400 AS 6190
1600-1630 EU 738mo
Spanish
0400-0430 SAM 6195bo
0500-0530 CAM 6195bo
1000-1030 C+SAM 6120sa 6195bo
Swahili
0330-0400 AF 9555is
1300-1330 AF 21560is
Thai
1130-1200 seAS 11740sn
1230-1300 seAs 9695
2300-2320 seAS 13650
Urdu
1430-1515 swAS 9680uz
Vietnamese
1100-1130 seAS 9695
1230-1300 seAS 11740sn
2320-2340 seAS 13650
Relays:
ar = Armenia
bo = Bonaire
dh = Dhabbaya
ge = Germany
is = Issoudun
mo = Moscow
sa = Sackville
sn = Singapore
uk = UK
uz = Uzbekistan
(From pdf Sked at
http://adxc.wordpress.com/2009/03/16/nhk-world-radio-japan-a09
via Jaisakthivel, ADXC in dxldyg, retyped and re-
arranged by Alan Roe, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** JAPAN [non]. Dear Glenn, I have just had notification from NHK that
Radio Japan will be making further reductions in airtime for Europe
during the A-09 season. English will be 1200-1230 UT on 9790 via
Germany (presumably Wertachtal). Russian will be 0330-0400 and 0430-
0500 again via Germany both on 6130 kHz.
English at 0500, 1400 and 0000 will be cancelled as is Russian at 1100
and 1800. Their full schedule will be posted on their website towards
the end of March. Best regards, (Alan Holder, Isle of Wight, UK, March
18, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
See above: still a UK frequency at 0500 anyway, and one via France
(Glenn Hauser, DXLD)
** KOREA NORTH. 2850 with strident Korean talk at 1231 March 13,
roughly equivalent signal to Oz 2325; so checked 2350 for KN, but
nothing audible; at 1233 weak music on 3250, carrier on 3480, also
presumably from the peninsula (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KOREA NORTH [non]. Re alternate frequencies for JSR, Shiokaze at
1400-1430 which for the last months has been alternating between 5910
and 5985: in B-08 the following are also registered: 7175, 7195.
In A-09 the choices are: 5910, 6020, 6070, 6075, 6120, 6125 (Glenn
Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KOREA NORTH [non]. Venerdì 6 marzo 2009, *1900 - 7530 kHz, FREE N.
KOREA RADIO - Gavar (Armenia), IDs YL. Segnale buono - molto buono. Il
canale è occupato da Radio Pakistan con l'inno nazionale fino alle
1900:30 circa (SWL I1-0799GE, Luca Botto Fiora, G.C. 09E13 - 44N21,
Rapallo (Genova), Italia, bclnews.it yg via DXLD)
** KOREA SOUTH. QSL: HLG Seoul Radio, 8484, no data thank you card
with antennas in 45 days via airmail for English snail mail letter and
$1 return postage (Al Muick, Kabul Afghanistan, March 14, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
** KOREA SOUTH [and non]. KBS WORLD RADIO – ANOTHER VOCAL PERSPECTIVE
FROM ASIA
Many people look at China Radio International as the best example of
the bygone days of shortwave, when each country’s international
broadcaster occupied several frequencies per hour over multiple hours
in a day. Sure, much of the information was repeated, but you knew you
could tune in at the top of the hour and hear the day’s news, news
analysis, and rotating feature story. CRI airs English language
programming targeting to North America for approximately 11 hours per
day, making them nearly ubiquitous on the North American airwaves.
As a result of CRI’s blanket coverage, one obviously thinks of CRI
first when it comes to Asian broadcasters. Not so fast --- while Radio
Japan might be slowly receding, and Radio Taiwan International gamely
on the air a couple times a night, Korea’s KBS World Radio continues
to target North America via shortwave relays, and has done an
effective job of leveraging Internet technology and alternative
platforms to maintain a steady presence here in North America.
One of the reasons KBS World Radio is particularly relevant is that
KBS World Radio pays very close attention to what’s going on in North
Korea, and how South Korea interacts with North Korea. With a recent
change from a relatively liberal to a relatively conservative
government, South Korea has recently become more aggressive in how it
deals with the North. There’s nothing like a bird’s eye view to gain
an understanding of how the North looms large over the South.
Schedule format
KBS World Radio's programming is in either 30-minute or hour-long
schedule blocks.
Overview: The hour-long program
The hour-long program block starts off with a daily 10 minute
newscast; this tends to focus on Korean domestic issues of interest to
a global audience, along with Korea's relations with its neighbors. A
five-minute news commentary follows on weekdays, then a 30-minute
weekday feature called Seoul Calling. A recent edition of Seoul
Calling featured a pleasant male-female team discussing four stories
from domestic matters. Their style was conversational without being
chatty, and they shared observations about their own experiences, or
how Koreans would view a situation, that helped the topics seem more
accessible than the sometimes-sterile approach other broadcasters
would take to their current affairs programs.
After roughly four news stories, interspersed with two tolerable
Korean pop music songs, there's a brief rotating feature (for example,
Style Korea, focusing on home pedicure tips...I kid you not...) and a
Korean language lesson.
Weekday hours are then filled out with the following features: Faces
of Korea (Mondays), Business Watch (Tuesdays), Culture on the Move
(Wednesdays), Korea, Today & Tomorrow (Thursdays), and Seoul Report
(Fridays).
Saturdays feature Worldwide Friendship, a weekly malibox / listener
Q&A program following the news; Sundays feature Korean Pop
Interactive, a talk and music magazine for the balance of the hour
after the 10-minute newscast.
Overview: 30 minute broadcast
The main difference between the 30-minute and 60-minute broadcast is
that Seoul Calling is omitted in the short version; first there’s the
news, then News Commentary, then the feature program as listed above.
The weekend programs remain the same, though the versions airing in
the 30-minute version are shortened.
While I haven’t listened to all of the program segments, I did listen
to a recent Seoul Calling. It’s a pleasant program; not as dry as
something like Radio Australia’s Asia Pacific or the BBC World Service
Newshour program; unlike those two examples, where field reporters
report the news, the Seoul Calling team comments on the news and its
impact on Koreans or those who interact with Korea and Koreans.
How to listen – shortwave
Thankfully, KBS World Radio is reasonably easy to hear in North
America. A daily half-hour program airs from Radio Canada
International’s Sackville, NB transmitter at 0230 on 9560 kHz, with a
daily hour-long program from Sackville at 1200 on 9650 kHz. The 1200
edition is the version I listen to the most via shortwave.
How to listen – live and on-demand webcast
KBS World Radio has embraced the World Wide Web by offering a variety
of live and on-demand listening options. There are two live streams
that rotate the various language services throughout the day,
designated Channel 1 and Channel 2. Channel 1 airs English 0300-0400,
0800-0830, 1500-1530, and 2300-2400 UTC; Channel 2 airs English 0500-
0530, 0630-0700, 0830-0930, 1100-1230, 2030-2100, and 2200-2300.
On-demand options include most recent editions of the individual
program segments, plus the full hour-long program for the day. Only a
limited number of programs are podcast, and the list of available
audio is not promptly updated.
How to listen – World Radio Network (satellite / webcast / local
rebroadcast)
KBS World Radio broadcasts daily in the WRN North America programming
service; this is available via live webcast and most of the day on
Sirius Satellite Radio. English broadcasts are aired 0230-0300, 0930-
1000, and 1530-1600 UTC as of the March Daylight Savings time change.
A few public radio stations rebroadcast WRN as an overnight service;
the 0930-1000 release would air if the particular station hasn’t
switched to NPR programming as of 0900 UT. The 1530 edition is
available on-demand at the World Radio Network website,
http://www.wrn.org.
How to listen – Spectrum Radio (webcast / local London, UK
rebroadcast) [see RUSSIA]
KBS World Radio airs Mondays-Fridays at 1500-1530 and 2300-2330 UT
(Richard Cuff, PA, Easy Listening, March NASWA Journal via DXLD)
** LIBERIA. 6070, ELWA, Monrovia, 2257-2302*, March 13, audible only
after Romania signs off at 2257. A poor, weak signal heard at that
point under a strong CFRX 6069.97 with gospel music. National Anthem
at 2301. Very difficult reception (Brian Alexander, PA, WORLD OF RADIO
1452, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
6070, 15/03 2049, ELWA Monrovia, presumed, English, from Monrovia,
with 5 kW, two OM talk American preaching style, recorded, clear
reference to God the 2058 UT, 24432 (Jorge Freitas – Feira de Santana
BA – Brasil, HCDX via WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DXLD)
** MADAGASCAR. 5010.0, RNM, 1443-1505, March 13. Believe this is the
first time this year I have heard this particular transmitter in use
here, being on frequency and clearly in USB + carrier mode. Not heard
in LSB, making for easy confirmation that it is them. In French with
Hi-life music and French ballads; sounded like a singing station
jingle; almost fair with no AIR QRM (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA,
Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
5010.0, RNM (presumed), 0331-0348, March 15. Still on frequency and in
USB + carrier mode. Non-stop music (Hi-life, ballads and “Manic
Monday” by the Bangles); poor-fair (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA,
Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Radio Madagasikara, 5010 kHz USB (suppressed LSB) at 0300 on 03-16-09.
Continuous music with ID jingles. They were absent during the past two
(my local) evenings. I started to listen to them regularly again when
the political crisis developed back in late January-early February.
When the studios were damaged weeks ago, they were broadcasting in AM
mode up until tonight with both sidebands audible then. RNM was absent
on 03-14 and 03-15 and returned tonight in suppressed LSB, audio in
USB (Stephen J. Price, Johnstown, PA, R-5000 with 400' "L" and 200'
buried counterpoise and ground rods, ODXA yg via DXLD)
Hi Steve, Propagation conditions have varied a lot recently and I have
been able to hear them at both my local mornings and evenings (logs
below). Seems they still have a political crisis:
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2009/03/200931512420880333.html
(Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, NASWA yg via DXLD
The final item on PRI`s The World, March 16, is about this, the DJ who
says he controls the military, altho he is constitutionally too young
to become president. A four-minute report:
http://www.theworld.org/taxonomy_by_date/1/20090316
http://www.theworld.org/node/25123
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
6134.93, R. Madagaskira (presumed), 1333-1402 March 16. Regional
music; YL in French, joined later by OM at 1349; more music and chat
past ToH. No break or ID noted at ToH. Presumed, based on other DXers'
loggings of RM on this exact frequency. Fair signal on peaks but
losing steam. Noted next day (17 March) also but much weaker and very
little readable (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado. Drake R-8, 100-
foot RW, Cumbredx mailing list via WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DXLD) Long
path, good catch (gh)
A great catch, John! Thorsten Hallmann emailed me that “Reports for
6135 from outside Africa have always been very rare.” He has an
authoritative website for African stations with a lot of good
information:
http://www.muenster.org/uwz/ms-alt/africalist/africalist.pdf
It also helps that he keeps it very up-to-date, with the most current
information available. Again, well done!! (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach,
CA, Cumbre DX via DXLD)
Interesting. I still have a Perseus recording spanning this frequency
from March 14 and just took a look. This carrier faded up above the
noise floor from 1200 UT on exactly 6134.94, and kept slowly rising in
level until the recording ended at 1348, when it was approx. -35.4 dBm
above the noise floor. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough to produce
any audio, perhaps if the recording continued a while longer. Sunrise
here in Memphis was 1211 UT. 73, (Brandon Jordan, Memphis, TN, ibid.)
Sunset in Antananarivo was 1504 UT, so would 6 MHz really be
propagating longpath to the other worldside that early?
http://www.gaisma.com/en/location/antananarivo.html
(Glenn Hauser, ibid.)
Glenn, hearing stations an hour or two before sunset is not that
unusual. In the middle of winter, the Japanese NHK MW stations are
often heard during our local evenings 2 or more hours before their
sunset. Now that part of the world is not far from the antipode from
the west coast, so long path/short path becomes less of an issue. Not
sure how much different John's LP/SP would be from his QTH (Walt
Salmaniw, BC, ibid.)
Altho the subject continued John, I was referring to Brandon`s showing
of a carrier in TN as early as 1200, which is THREE hours before LSS
in Mad. And it`s not winter here nor there, but very close to equinox,
FWIW. Yes, one can hear DX on 6 MHz anyway 3 hours before sunset or
after sunrise, but it`s really pushing the limits; that`s what the
Perseus SDR facilitates.
No doubt John`s catches are LP, and close to grayline. The path is
pretty tropical most of the way. The exact antipodes of Mad is out SW
of California in the Pacific. 73, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.)
6134.93, RM 1345-1415 March 18. Heard again this morning with fair
peaks and similar programming to that heard on March 16 (mostly
music); still have not heard an ID. Begins deteriorating after 1400
and is just a het [carrier?] by 1430. Sunrise here is around 1330 and
sunset at transmitter around 1450 UT so I guess this is "semi-
grayline" - via longpath, maybe? (John WIlkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado.
Drake R-8, 100-foot RW, Cumbredx mailing list via WORLD OF RADIO 1452,
DXLD)
I had two carriers signing off at 1500; one on 6134.93 and the other
6135 kHz. The upper one was Yemen with clear audio, so 6134.93 kHz was
most probably Madagascar. Funny, though that it had stronger carrier
but I couldn't get any audio from it. Undermodulated? 73, (Mauno
Ritola, Finland, March 19, cumbredx via DXLD)
** MADAGASCAR. MADAGASCAR PRESIDENT'S HQ SEIZED
Madagascan troops have entered the presidential palace compound in the
capital Antananarivo, witnesses say. Marc Ravalomanana, the president,
was not in the building, which is largely used for ceremonial
purposes, when soldiers smashed down the gates with armoured vehicles
on Monday.
"Surrender, surrender, if you are there surrender, because we are
brothers," a soldier shouted into a megaphone as they forced their way
in.
Troops were also reportedly heading to another palace about 6 km from
the city centre where Ravalomanana was believed to be sheltering. Al
Jazeera's Haru Mutasa, speaking from Antananarivo, said that the army
had declared that it would take the second presidential palace during
the evening.
"The people protecting the president and the few soldiers protecting
the president have mined the area to make sure people can't get any
closer," she said.
"They are expecting some kind of standoff; the question is when will
it happen. It doesn't seem, at the moment that [Ravalomanana] will go
back on his word not to leave the presidential palace."
Crippling crisis
Monday's events came amid a worsening political standoff between
Ravalomanana and the country's principal opposition leader that has
crippled the island nation since the beginning of the year.
Just hours prior to the forcible takeover of the presidential
compound, Andry Rajoelina, the opposition leader, called on the
security forces to arrest Ravalomanana, who he accuses of being a
dictator and misusing public funds.
"If Andry Rajoelina can resolve the problem, we are behind him"
Colonel Andre Ndriarijaona, army chief of staff [caption?]
Rajoelina has already declared himself the Indian Ocean island's de
facto leader, tapping into widespread public discontent, especially
among Madagascar's poor.
"We have been told that he [Rajoelina] is actually preparing to go
into the presidential palace on Tuesday morning to take office and to
tell people that he is in charge," Mutasa said.
Ravalomanana had offered to hold a referendum to end the crisis, but
Rajoelina said in a radio address that there was no need for a poll as
the people had already made their opinions clear.
The head of Madagascar's armed forces said on Monday they were 99 per
cent behind Rajoelina.
"We are there for the Malagasy people. If Andry Rajoelina can resolve
the problem, we are behind him," Colonel Andre Ndriarijaona, who led a
mutiny last week and replaced the previous army chief of staff, said.
"I would say 99 per cent of the forces are behind him."
'Attempted coup'
The African Union has called the situation in Madagascar an attempted
coup and urged the people to respect the constitution. "The situation
in Madagascar is an internal conflict," Edouard Alo-Glele, Benin's
envoy to Ethiopia, said after an emergency meeting of the AU's Peace
and Security Council. "It is an attempted coup d'etat. We condemn the
attempted coup d'etat."
More than 130 people have been killed in Madagascar since the
country's political crisis began in January, most of them when
security forces cracked down on anti-government protests at the order
of Ravalomanana's government. Source: Al Jazeera (via Roberto
Scaglione, Sicily, March 16, bclnews.it yg via DXLD)
I gather from reporters speaking at the scene that the ex`s name is
stressed Ravolománana, whose name I have just learned to pronounce,
let alone his successor.
Biting their nails at WCBC Franklin TN and KNLS Anchor Point! And
Hilversum. But, but, as just reported yesterday, the new guy is too
young to be president; however, I guess he can be a dictator-DJ (Glenn
Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DXLD)
Worth watching 5010 tonight after a day of major developments.
President Marc Ravalomanana has resigned after troops stormed his
office last night. State-owned TVM TV went off satellite abruptly at
1225 gmt, just minutes after the president's resignation - not sure if
it's still on the air locally there (Chris Greenway, UK, 1535 UT March
17, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
On 17 March at 1615 noted presumed Madagascar on 3287.6 with talks.
Bad ute-QRM, not sure if it was in French or Malagasy. Audio went off
around 1625 but the carrier stayed on until past 1700. No trace of
them on 5010 during random checks (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski,
Finland, WORLD OF RADIO 1452, ibid.)
Thanks for this, Jari. More observations welcome! Both TVM and Radio
Madagascar apparently still off their usual satellite beams this
morning (18 March). Not sure if they are on the air terrestrially
(Chris Greenway, UK, 0849 UT March 18, ibid.)
18 March, no sign of 3287.6 but 5010 USB strong at tune-in 1555, co-
channel AIR also strong. Madagascar played local poptunes. They also
tried to send a speech by someone but the audio was distorted. Back to
music and talks. ID as "Radio Madagasikara". Recheck at 1536 showed
only AIR alone on the channel (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland,
dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Also keep an ear on scheduled transmissions of RNW and the other
stations it relays via Talata, to see if there are any disruptions.
(Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1452, ibid.)
If there are any disruptions, we will report this on our website and
in the Media Network Weblog. At the moment everything is under
control. The local police are providing a 24 hour guard around the
station just in case, and relations with the local community are
excellent.
Even if the mains supply is cut they have enough fuel to operate for
two weeks. Our programme distribution department has daily contact
with our colleagues there. Their safety is of paramount importance.
The most likely reason for any disruptions is if our staff have
problems, or their safety is threatened, getting to and from the
station, which is about 25 km outside Antananarivo. So far, that
hasn't been the case (Andy Sennitt, Radio Netherlands Worldwide
March 18, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DX LISTENIING DIGEST)
Bad news. President Marc Ravalomanana was the one who personally
invited KNLS to build a SW station there. Now it's an open question if
a new guy will honor his predecessor's promises (Sergei S., ibid.)
Bad, only if you feel the world really needs another gospel-huxtering
SW station (Glenn Hauser, DXLD)
VOA OFFERS COMPREHENSIVE COVERAGE OF MADAGASCAR --- "Exceptional
circumstances need exceptional measures," new president said
Washington, D.C., March 18, 2009 - The Voice of America
(http://www.VOANews.com) is providing round-the-clock, ongoing
coverage of political turmoil in Madagascar by a VOA correspondent,
stringers and regular telephone interviews with principals including
the self-declared president.
Scott Bobb, a VOA correspondent, is filing stories from Antananarivo,
the capital of the island nation in the Indian Ocean where Andry
Rajoelina says he is the new president. The military handed him power
following the resignation of President Marc Ravalomanana.
Rajoelina told VOA's French to Africa Service, in a telephone
interview before he took power, that "exceptional circumstances need
exceptional measures."
A former disc jockey, Rajoelina, 34, is six years younger than the
required age for president under Madagascar's constitution. He has
said he will schedule free and fair elections within two years.
Rajoelina, an opposition leader, had led a series of anti-government
protests over the past several months, resulting in the deaths of at
least 100 people. The African Union has urged Madagascar to respect
the constitution, and Washington has warned it could cut off aid to
the country (VOA press release March 18 via DXLD)
** MALAYSIA. 7294.97, Traxx FM via RTM, 1636-1709, March 13. Nice
promos for the “Traxx Mobile”, which this Sun. will be at the
historical city of Melaka, giving away prizes from 12 PM onward;
several singing “Traxx FM” jingles; ToH 2 pips; “The news update at
1:00 from the RTM News Center at Kuala Lumpur”; fair. Have posted an
audio file of their station jingle and the neat promo, to “file >
Station Sounds” at dxldyg. This is still one of my favorite stations!
(Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
** MALAYSIA. IBRAHIM YAHAYA APPOINTED RTM DIRECTOR-GENERAL
March 16, 2009 20:37 PM
KUALA LUMPUR, March 16 (Bernama) -- Former senior editor of Berita
Publishing Sdn Bhd Datuk Ibrahim Yahaya has been appointed Director-
General of the Broadcasting Department (RTM) effective Monday.
Ibrahim, 48, replaces Datuk Abdul Rahman Hamid who has been Advisor of
Digital Broadcasting to the Information Minister since Jan 2.
"He was appointed based on his wide experience in the media and
broadcasting field," an Information Ministry statement here says.
Prior to the appointment, Ibrahim was media advisor to the Information
Minister. He had also served as TV3's current affairs and broadcasting
manager and Berita Harian editor-in chief.
The statement says Ibrahim's appointment is in line with the
restructuring of the Broadcasting Department which was approved by the
Public Service Department, effective Jan 1 2009.
Starting last Feb 25, Datuk Norhyati Ismail, the managing director of
TV programmes, was appointed Deputy Director-General (Strategic
Broadcasting), replacing Datuk Adilah Shek Omar who is now Director of
the Tun Abdul Razak Institute of Broadcasting and Information
(IPPTAR).
The statement says Adilah's appointment is aimed at strengthening
IPPTAR as a respected broadcasting institute at the international
level. -- BERNAMA
IBRAHIM TO CONTINUE TO TURN RTM INTO CREDIBLE AGENCY
March 16, 2009 23:48 PM
KUALA LUMPUR, March 16 (Bernama) -- Datuk Ibrahim Yahaya described his
appointment as the new Director-General of Broadcasting on Monday as a
heavy responsibility to realise the objective of turning Radio
Television Malaysia (RTM) into a credible and respected agency in
future.
He said he would use his experience of more than 25 years in the print
and electronic media to ensure that the RTM's move towards
digitalisation in 2010 would be successful. "This effort is also in
line with the aspiration of the Ministry of Information to form a
strong creative industry not only to tap the local market but also at
the international level," he told Bernama here.
Ibrahim, 48, who was a former senior editor of Berita Publishing Sdn
Bhd, succeeded Datuk Abdul Rahman Hamid who was appointed the Digital
Broadcasting Advisor to the Information Minister since Jan 2. Ibrahim
had previously held the post of Media Advisor to the Information
Minister. He had also served as TV3 current affairs and broadcasting
manager and chief news editor of Berita Harian. —BERNAMA (both via
Zacharias Liangas, Greece, DXLD)
Aha, so now we know, until now, RTM has been incredible! (gh, DXLD)
** MALI. 9635, RTV du Mali *0800-0810 March 16, S/on with flute and
drums. YL with s/on announcement and then into tribal music. Signal
rapidly decayed and gone by 0810 (Bruce Barker, Broomall, PA.
Equipment: NRD535D and an Alpha Delta DX Sloper, dxldyg via DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
** MAURITANIA. 4845.0, RTM, Nouakchott, MAR 7, *0609-0827* - s/on at
0609 with Qur`anic recitations underway ending at 0630, musical
bridge, then male speaker in Arabic with greetings then monologue.
Fair signal, slightly improving after 0718 transmitter sunrise and
only starting to fade slowly from 0750. Off at 0827 (Brandon Jordan -
Memphis, TN, USA, Receiver: Perseus SDR, Antenna: Wellbrook ALA100,
dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NETHERLANDS. Happy Station show 15.12.69 now posted at the Radio
Netherlands Historical Audio Archive for streaming or download. This
is part of the last show of Eddy Startz, presented by his successor
Tom Meyer (partly in German and French) with recorded messages. Some
of Eddy Startz best friends and listeners speaking to him over the
airwaves in his own program. The messages come from the United States
of America, Australia, United Kingdom, New Zealand, Germany and
France. The program is interlarded with some appropriate music, a.o.
the Jack Hilton Orchestra, which used to be one of Eddy Startz'
favorite orchestras, and a song sung by Tom Meyer. N.B. Eddy Startz is
not speaking.
There are some other Happy Station shows there; put Happy Station in
the search engine:
http://blogs.rnw.nl/haa/b27193401-happy-station-laatste-show-eddy-startz-1969-12-15
(Mike Barraclough, UK, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NETHERLANDS [non]. Nederland, Taiwan & USA. The popular program
“Happy Station” broadcast 1928 though 1995 with interruption during
WWII over “Philips Radio” and Radio Nederland will be resumed by two
prominent radio announcers. Based in Taiwan, with a studio in the
Netherlands and broadcast via a transmitter of Radio Miami
International on 9955 kHz, it will be aired in the forthcoming weeks
(Rumen Pankov, R. Bulgaria DX posted March 9, via DXLD)
I guess this script is of the RB March 6 broadcast. No one said
anything about a ``studio in the Netherlands`` now, nor a second
``prominent radio announcer`` besides Keith Perron, which I gather is
pronounced Pérun ?? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD)
Just want to let know that starting with the second broadcast date of
Happy Station, which is March 26, 2009 both transmissions will be
different.
0100 UT/GMT will be HS 1 (9 pm EDT) Wednesday evening
1500 UT/GMT will be HS 2 (11 am EDT) Thursday morning
Frequency: 9955 kHz
For the first program at 0100 UT/GMT (March 12, 2009) Glenn Hauser and
some other people told me they were picking up jamming from Cuba, but
in other parts of the US it seemed to be OK. If you do hear any
jamming from Cuba, please let me know. Also the webcast server at WRMI
overloaded. Jeff White at WRMI is going to get back to me to inform me
what the capacity is.
For the second program at 1500 UT/GMT (March 12, 2009) signal had no
jamming, but it was weak in some areas and stronger in others. But
that’s shortwave for you.
To my surprise a listener in Australia who listened to the webcast
contacted me with an amazing offer. He first started listening to the
show in the mid 60s when Eddy Startz was still hosting and his father
who started listening even before that around 1949 or 1950 made a
number of off-air recordings. He located them in his attic and is
sending along the recorder his father used to make them.
To my surprise the off-air recordings his father made in the 50s were
done using Wedster 80-1 wire recorder (still works). He sent me a few
clips he digitized and I was shockingly surprised at how good they
sounded for a recorder bought in 1948. He has over 50 spools of Happy
Station from the 50s and is sending them along with the recorder. So
thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, Ryan Holden in Adelaide
for your kind offer. I will be sure to put them to good use.
The version which will be broadcast weekly on Radio Sonora Surabaya in
Indonesia will also be different. The problem for online listening is
the web stream is very unreliable as the last few times I’ve listened,
the program listed as on air was different to the one being streamed;
other times there was no stream even with the program being broadcast.
But don’t worry, this version of the show will also be uploaded as a
file so you can also listen to the podcast.
What will be the same and what will be different?
Same:
Theme (but no interval signal)
Interviews done for the N&S America shows
A few of the listener messages sent in from the SW version
Jingles
Length
Different:
Music
Focus more on that target
Station Name: Radio Sonora Surabaya
Frequencies: 98.0 FM Surabaya, 92.0 FM Jakarta
Day: Sundays
Date: As of March 22nd, 2009
Time: 9:05PM (local time)
Well, that’s it for now. 73s (Keith Perron, Taiwan, March 14, WORLD OF
RADIO 1452, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Hello Everyone, Jeff White at WRMI contacted me a few moments ago
asking me if it would be OK to re-broadcast the 1500 UT March 12th
program again on March 19th.
So this Thursday March 19th and 0100 and 1500 you can catch a repeat
of last week`s show. The program that will air will feature the final
radio work of Dick Speekman formally of Radio Netherlands DX Jukebox
and Radio Australia’s Spectrum who pas away last week from colon
cancer (Keith Perron, Taiwan, March 14, WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
Hi Everyone, Just wanted to let you know the following. Starting with
the March 26th (UT) editions of Happy Station there will be 2 shows
and no repeats.
0100 to 0155 (9 pm to 9:55 pm local time [EDT March 25]) will be HS 1
1500 to 1500 (11 am to 11:55 am local time) will be HS 2
Both will be different with music, emails and letters, recorded
messages and chitchat.
Also the version for Radio Sonora on FM in Indonesia will also be
different, known as HS 3. The HS for Indonesia will be weekly and air
at 9:05pm local time. This version will be uploaded onto the facebook
page. Regards, (Keith Perron, Taiwan, March 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
See also USA: WRMI, for April 23 anomaly
I was busy producing World of Radio during the 0100 hour UT Thursday
March 19, so didn`t try to monitor then, but at 1500 UT on WRMI 9955,
last week`s Happy Station repeat is well heard even on a portable,
very good signal from WRMI. Nevertheless, there IS still DentroCuban
jamming audible in the background (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
Hi Glenn, I'm not sure if I should feel flattered or not that they are
jamming the show. Oh well it's costing them much more to jam than it's
costing me to put the show together, so good luck to them is all I can
say. LOL! Regs, (Keith Perron, Taiwan, March 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Just uploading a very rare interview from 3 years ago - Of Dick
Speekman and Ian McFarland to the http://DXer.ca webpage (Colin
Newell, Victoria, British Columbia, March 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Our latest podcast features a rare interview between Ian McFarland and
Dick Speekman during Dick's visit to Canada a few years back (Newell,
HCDX via DXLD)
** NETHERLANDS [non]. For those interested, I have published the A09
technical schedule of Radio Netherlands Worldwide at
http://www.radionetherlands.nl/features/media/090329-rnw-shortwave-schedule
(Andy Sennitt, RNW, March 13, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
RNW complete A-09 of what`s left in English, actually from 1 minute
before the start hour to 3 minutes before the end-hour, with site,
azimuth, kW:
10-11 KHB 12065 218 100 E China
PHT 15110 283 250 E Asia
TIN 11895 267 250 E & SE Asia
14-15 TAC 9345 131 100 SE Asia/India
14-16 MDC 11835 50 250 S Asia
MDC 15815 35 250 S Asia
TAC 7530 131 100 SE Asia/India
18-19 MDC 6020 255 250 S Africa
18-20 WER 15535 150 500 E Africa
19-20 DHA 9480 215 500 E Africa
ISS 11660 183 500 W Africa
NAU 15335 183 500 W Africa
19-21 MDC 5905 305 250 E Africa
MDC 7425 270 250 C & S Africa
20-21 ISS 11610 183 500 W Africa
Bonaire is still on the air but not with any English from RNW, which
had been at 20-21 on 17810. Site key: KHB = Khabarovsk, Russia; PHT =
Tinang, Philippines; TIN = Tinian, N Marianas; TAC = Tashkent,
Uzbekistan; MDC = Talata, Madagascar; WER = Wertachtal, Germany; DHA =
UAE; NAU = Nauen, Germany; ISS = Issoudun, France
(Glenn Hauser, excerpted from
http://www.radionetherlands.nl/features/media/090329-rnw-shortwave-schedule
for DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Worth to mention: The extremely early transmission of English via
Trincomalee 1548 will be cancelled (for lack of listeners I suspect).
The 1600-1700 slot on Orfordness 1296, booked for the EU-sponsored
Euranet programme and switched to Dutch after no relays of other
Euranet editions like German could be arranged, will be cancelled.
Instead 1296 will be in use for Dutch during the summer season from
June to August also between 2000 and 2200. This is possible because
1296 will be used for the DRM service of DW and BBC only between 0600
and 0800 anymore.
New shortwave sites:
Moosbrunn -- Dutch 0500-0557 on 6015 to southwestern Europe.
Rampisham -- Arabic 1800-1857 on 13820. During summer also 6040 2000-
2200 will be temporarily switched from Grigoriopol to Rampisham.
Greenville -- Spanish 2300-2400 on 9450, as already discussed here.
Re: Los cambios en Radio Nederland
Some more aspects: Other secular broadcasters still beaming Spanish
programming to South America south of the Amazonas region, and
presumably doing so also after March 28, are Radio Exterior de España,
Voice of Russia, Radio Prague, Radio Slovakia International, Radio
Romania International, Radio Bulgaria, Radio Cairo, Radio Canada
International, IRIB, China Radio International, Radio Taiwan
International, Voice of Korea and KBS. Transmissions from Cuba
probably but not necessarily are to be mentioned here, too.
BBC, RFI and VOA already have the same target area limit for their
Spanish broadcasts on shortwave than RNW now introduces. In the case
of BBC these limited Spanish transmissions (via WHRI and Montsinéry)
are also the only remaining shortwave transmissions of the BBC in the
western hemisphere altogether.
Worth to mention also Deutsche Welle: If I got it right they closed
down Spanish radio completely in 1999, completely concentrating on TV
since (Kai Ludwig, Germany, March 15, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
This [1548 Sri Lanka as above] was never a permanent transmission.
Deutsche Welle offered it to us as an airtime exchange for the B08
season, and my colleagues at Programme Distribution thought it would
be interesting to have some practical data on the range of this
transmitter, in case it became available at a more convenient time
(which, given DW's planned cuts, is a possibility). We never expected
a large audience at this time, but it was an interesting experiment,
that cost us nothing.
Of course, some people tried to make a connection between this and the
end of our shortwave service to North America, but it was a pure
coincidence (Andy Sennitt, RNW, March 16, ibid.)
Andy, in one of RNW recent broadcasts I heard something about RNW
starting English AM/MW relays in Asia. I guess I wasn't very
attentive, so maybe I misheard it. At least, I can't find any details
on R. Netherlands` site. Did you hear anything about that? (Sergei S.,
Moscow, ibid.)
No I haven't, but I will make enquiries and let you know. The only way
we could do it would be on an airtime exchange basis. We are actually
trying to reduce the proportion of our budget that we spend on
distribution (Andy Sennitt, ibid.)
Andy, after re-reading what you and Kai wrote I'm thinking maybe it
was an announcement of canceling 1548. It seems like every
international broadcaster out there is working on reducing its
distribution costs. Except for CRI, that is (Sergei S., ibid.)
I was already wondering if 1548 kHz is included when DW talks about
closing down shortwave for Asia. Experience seems to suggest that it
is indeed considered as "belongs to what is summarized as shortwave".
And the other side of this medal was that this airtime contingent
could also have been used at Sines, making it unnecessary to buy these
two hours for cash from Media Broadcast or TDF. But perhaps it is
pointless to discuss this further, now that RNW not only abandons
complete target areas (by the way, I think that zero communication in
regard to South America would have been the best approach) but also
wants to reduce distribution costs (Kai Ludwig, Germany, ibid.)
** NETHERLANDS. R. Netherlands Worldwide A-09 sked
Arabic
1800-1857 ME mo-fr 13820ra
1900-1957 ME mo-fr 9895is
2100-2157 nAF 5930sm
Dutch
0200-0227 nAMe 6190bo
0300-0327 nAMc 6190bo
0329-0357 sAMnw 6190bo
0400-0427 Mex/Car 5975bo
0500-0530 nAMw 6165bo (su: - 0527)
0500-0557 EU 5955si 6015au 6125na 9895na
0500-0557 nEU/Baltic 9835is (1 Jun-1 Sep)
0500-0657 seEU 11935is
0600-0657 c+wEU 6035na 9895na
0600-0758 c+wEU 5955sk (su: -0800)
0700-0757 sEU 6035na 6120we 11935we (su: -0800)
0700-0757 swEU 9895hb
0700-1000 swEU su 9895hb
0700-1000 France sa 9895na(1 Jun-1 Sep)
0800-1000 EU mo-fr 1296or 5955hb 6035is 6120we
0800-1000 c+wEU sa 5955we (1 Jun-1 Sep)
0800-1000 c+wEU su 5955hb
0829-0857 NZ/AU 9790sp
0929-1015 Sur mo-sa 6020bo
0900-0927 AU/Indo 9790sp
1000-1200 Benelux th 1296or (30 Apr-1 May)
1000-1657 EU su (1 Jun-1 Sep: daily) 5955we 9895we
1200-1459 swEU 13700na (4 Jul-27 Jul)
1200-1600 EU 7235is 9595we 13825is (4 Jul - 27 Jul)
1229-1257 seAS 9350ti
1300-1327 AS 5910pk 9650tn 12085tn 17585ma
1500-1557 swEU 13700na 13700na
1500-1657 c+wEU mo-sa 5955we 9895we (not 2 Jun - 31 Aug)
1600-1657 swEU 13700na (1 Jun - 1 Sep)
1700-1727 eAF/ME 9895ma 11665we
1729-1757 c+sAF 6020ma 9895ma
2000-2200 EU 6040ki (not 2 Jun-31 Aug)
2000-2200 c+seEU 1296or 6040ra (1 Jun - 1 Sep)
2000-2200 swEU 6125na
2100-2127 AF/SAM 5970is 17605bo
2100-2127 Ijsland (?) 9895na (1 Jun-1 Sep)
2200-2227 SAM 15540bo 17605bo
2300-2327 SAM/Car 6165bo
English
1000-1057 e+seAS 11895ti 12065kh 15110tn
1400-1457 seAS/India 9345ta
1400-1557 seAS/India 5825du 7530ta 11835ma 15815ma
1800-1857 sAF 6020ma
1800-1957 eAF 15535we
1900-1957 e+wAF 9480dh 11660is 15335na
1900-2057 c,s+eAF 5905ma 7425ma
2000-2057 wAF 11610is
Indonesian
1100-1157 Indon. 17505dh
1100-1257 Indon. 9795sn
1200-1257 Indon. 11920Sn 15640dh
2200-2257 Indon. 7395tn
2200-2357 Indon. 9475Tn 15280sp
2300-2357 Indon. 6120sn
Spanish
0000-0157 C+SAM 6165bo 7325si 9450si
0200-0357 CAM/Mex 6165bo
1100-1127 Carib 6165bo
1130-1157 C+SAM 6165bo
1200-1227 C+SAM 9715bo 9895bo
2300-2359 SAM/Car 9450gr
Sites:
au=Moosbrunn
bo=Bonaire
dh=Dhabbaya
du=Dushanbe
gr=Greenville
hb=Hörby
is=Issoudun
kh=Khabarovsk
ki=Kishinev
ma=Madagascar
na=Nauen
or=Orfordness
pk=Petropavlovsk Kamchatskiy
ra=Rampisham
si=Sines
sk=Skelton
sm=Santa Maria di Galeria
sn=Singapore
sp=Saipan
ta=Tashkent
ti=Tinian Islands
tn=Tinang
we=Wertachtal
(RNW website, via Andy Sennitt in dxldyg, re-arranged by Alan Roe,
dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NEWFOUNDLAND. CJYQ-930 St John's Newfoundland has applied to the
CRTC to reduce its daytime power from 50 to 25 kW, and to relocate the
transmitter due to "numerous acts of vandalism made against its
transmitter facilities". Night power remains at 25 kW.
The link to the application documents gives a 404 error so I do not
know where the transmitter is being relocated to - it is not yet in
the Industry Canada Broadcasting Database as well.
<http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2009/2009-140.htm#3>
St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, Application No. 2009-0249-6
Application by Newcap Inc. relating to the licence of the English-
language commercial AM radio programming undertaking CJYQ St-John’s to
amend the technical parameters of its transmitter CJYQ St-John’s by
relocating the antenna site and by reducing the transmitter power from
50,000 watts to 25,000 watts day-time. The station’s night-time
transmitter power will remain unchanged at 25,000 watts.
The licensee states that the antenna relocation is necessary due to
the numerous acts of vandalism made against its transmitter
facilities. The licensee anticipates a reduction in service to
approximately 79,000 individuals with the population served by its 15
mVm contour reduced from 149,655 to 70,522 (via Deane McIntyre VE6BPO,
March 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NEW ZEALAND. New RNZI sked coming up on 18 March, give or take a
day, as engineers go to site to switch us away from 17675. A lot of
work has to go on in the aerial farm to modify things in order to
operate on winter frequencies, in preparation for the entire new
schedule at the end of March. So 17675 is being replaced early by
13730 and 15720 during the daytime to the Pacific. Will be off the air
a whole afternoon while changes are being made (Adrian Sainsbury, RNZI
Mailbox March 9, notes by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST)
He did not make clear which is AM, which is DRM, or the exact new
hours. At 1610 UT March 19, the schedule at
http://www.rnzi.com/pages/listen.php had still not been updated to
this effect, 17675 remaining on it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
** NIGERIA. FRCN Kaduna, *0430-f/out, MAR 7, t/on briefly at 0420,
jumping back and forth between 4770.1 and 4769.964 then off at 0424.
Back on at 0430 on 4769.962, poor with hints of audio, improving to
almost fair by 0529 UT sunrise at transmitter with Hi-life music,
time-pips at the top of the hour, ID into news 0600 and starting to
slowly fade. Carrier finally dropped below noise floor at 0800, 2 1/2
hours after sunrise in Kaduna. Weak CODAR (Brandon Jordan - Memphis,
TN, USA, Receiver: Perseus SDR, Antenna: Wellbrook ALA100, dxldyg via
DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NIGERIA [non]. 7385, March 13 around 0535, fair signal in language
mentioning ``Nigeria`` a few times, pronounced almost as in English
with long I. Presumably the new morning service of Aso Radio via
Samara, RUSSIA at 0530-0600 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Via Samara, RUSSIA, 7385, Aso Radio, *0529-0559*, March 13, sign on
with African music & opening ID announcements. Talk in Hausa. Fair to
good. Mon-Fri only (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Via Samara, RUSSIA, 15180, Aso Radio, *1600-1630*, March 13, sign on
with African music and opening announcements. Talk in Hausa. Presumed.
Poor. Too weak in noisy conditions to catch an ID. Mon-Fri only (Brian
Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NORTH AMERICA. Andrew Yoder Audio Interview link:
http://shortwavepirate.info/wordpress/?page_id=8
(Artie Bigley, OH, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
73 MB download of an Art Bell show from 2001y (gh, DXLD)
** OKLAHOMA. APPLICATIONS DISMISSED: 1210, KGYN, Guymon - Application
to move to Oklahoma City with U4 50000/10000 (AM Switch [FCC news
column], NRC DX News March 16 via DXLD)
Hijacking this facility to OKC, the only AM broadcaster in No Man`s
Land, was a horrible idea. Do they know in Guymon about this? I
searched on KGYN at the Guymon Daily Herald, and got a number of hits,
but none relevant more recent than below.
If, as of last April, KGYN was *not* going to move to OKC, why has
their application to do so only recently been dismissed, and was the
dismissal at station request or FCC denying what the station ownership
still wanted to do? This dismissal does not necessarily mean it`s all
over. A new application with different parameters, justification could
be filed. But the impression below is that it was the LMA operator,
CC, which wanted to do this and now that KGYN is back in hands of the
locals, it stays (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
RUMORS VS. FACT: KGYN SETS THE RECORD STRAIGHT
Monday, 28 April 2008 By Miranda Gilbert, Managing Editor
http://www.guymondailyherald.com/content/view/81949/
Recent changes to radio contracts and staff at KGYN 1210 AM left some
locals with questions. To set the record straight, KGYN's owner Ed
Smith of TELNS Broadcasting Co., spoke with the GDH to assure
listeners that the station is not only staying on air, but are also
celebrating their 60th year as KGYN.
*RUMOR- KGYN is going off air and moving to Oklahoma City
*FACT- KGYN is NOT going off air nor moving to Oklahoma City
Former General Manager, Jim Smith and Clear Channel Communications are
no longer associated with KGYN Radio
*RUMOR- Advertising that was previously contracted with Clear Channel
Communications and KGYN will not be honored and aired.
*FACT- Previous contracts will be honored and aired as contracted by
KGYN and TELNS Broadcasting Co.
*RUMOR- KGYN has new owner/operator
*FACT- KGYN is celebrating its 60-year anniversary. Since it signed on
60 years ago, it has only had two owners, Plains Broadcasting Co. Inc
/ T.M Rayburn (owner) and in 1986 TELNS Broadcasting Co. Inc / Ed
Smith (owner) (No relation to Jim Smith, former General Manager)
purchased KGYN.
*FACT- KGYN is still owned by TELNS Broadcasting Co. Inc. For the past
10 years the station has been under a Lease Management Agreement
between Clear Channel Communications and TELNS Broadcasting. As of
5:00 pm April 25, 2008 the agreement has been cancelled and TELNS
Broadcasting and its owner Ed Smith are now both owner and managing
operator.
*FACT- TELNS Broadcasting Co. Inc./Ed Smith realizes there are lots of
ways we can improve our dedication and responsibility to our 5 state
listening audiences and are committed to "listening to you so that you
will listen to us."
*FACT- KGYN/TELNS broadcasting, "appreciate" each and everyone of our
listeners
*FACT- KGYN/TELNS Broadcasting knows that there is no way to provide
the programming you want without our "Most valued advertisers." Please
support them with your patronage. Without them we could not exist.
*FACT- We value your input. We want to listen to you so that you
continue to listen to us. Please mail us your comments and
suggestions, good and bad; they will all be welcomed PO Box 130,
Guymon, OK 73942. Watch the GDH for more news on exciting things
happening at KGYN (via DXLD)
** PAKISTAN. 7530: see KOREA NORTH [non]
** PERU. 4746.92, (presumed), R. Huanta 2000, Huanta, Mar 7, *1001-
f/out - s/on at 1001 on 4746.916, then slowly drifting upward until
settling on 4646.922 kHz by 1100 where it remained until carrier f/out
around by 1200. Definite peak from 1100 transmitter sunrise
enhancement then rapidly fading from 1110 UT. Poor threshold audio,
music, significant CODAR and occasional Ute QRM.
4774.96v, (presumed), R. Tarma, Tarma, Mar 7, 0111-0305* *1000-f/out -
steady on 4774.964 kHz until 0305 t/off. S/on at 1000 on 4774.978 and
drifting down to 4774.966 by 1030 where it remained steady until
carrier fell into the noise floor around 1203 UT. No audio produced,
CODAR thru-out.
5120.183, (presumed), Ondas del Suroriente, Quillabamba, Mar 7, *0953-
f/out - t/on at 0953 on 5120.5 kHz and very rapidly drifting down to
5120.18 kHz by 1000 UTC, drifting back up a bit slower to 5120.19,
then settling on 5120.183 kHz and drifting +/- 1 Hz. Carrier faded
into the noise floor by 1050 UT. Definite peak from 1054 transmitter
sunrise lasting until about 1110 before fading, possible threshold
audio in the noise but could have been imaginary. This is a very noisy
frequency at my QTH (Brandon Jordan - Memphis, TN, USA, Receiver:
Perseus SDR, Antenna: Wellbrook ALA100, dxldyg via DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
4805, Radio Rasuwilca, tentative, 1000 to 1100 on several days this
week, with aid from Dave Valko but not being received well here or in
Cedar Key. Dave Valko seem to be receiving them well. 15/ 16 March
(Robert Wilkner, Pompano Beach, et al. Florida DXers, Drake R8 NRD
535D, March 17, WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
4805.03, Radio Rasuwilca. End of camposina [sic] song, studio
announcer mentioning Miguel, TC mentioning Peru, and ID at 1042. 1044
back to campo music with W vocal. M returned at 1050 but impossible,
as it was weakening quickly. Gone by 1105. Really surprised as this is
very difficult due to its distorted audio (in SSB) and CODAR QRM. This
frequency area is one of the worst here for CODAR. Lucky (is it really
Friday the 13th??!!) to get the ID and would never have known what it
was if not for Alfredo Benjamin Cañote Bueno logging. Tnx!! Been
following this but never strong enough for readable audio until now,
probably because of increased solar flux in the recurrent coronal hole
geoeffective today. (13 March) [also see RRR`s bandscan below]
4826.5, R. Sicuani (presumed), 1036 talk by alternating M and W hosts
with many mentions of Pampa, and also Perú, and radio. Took a phone
call by W at 1038. 1040 instrumental music with continuous talk by M
mentioning camposina [sic]. Ads at 1045 and promos. Thought heard an
ID but not 100% sure. (13 March)
3329.56, Ondas del Huallaga, 1052-1056, long talk by W over music,
then 1056 nice ID promo by excited sounding M. Another nice clear
shorter ID promo by M, and ads. Audible only on the Windom and not at
all on the T2FD. The Windom is always better for LAs though. (13
March).
5039.19, R. Libertad de Junín. Came on sometime between 1021-1023. All
announcements by M host were over "El Condor Pasa". Doesn't seem to ID
very often. (14 March)
5120.21, Ondas del Sur Oriente, 1048 canned M over camposina song with
simple ID "Ondas del Sur." 1050 canned M with possible ID. More canned
announcements. Tough with ute QRM above and local noise below. (14
March) 73 (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, HCDX via WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DXLD)
For the non-native American speaker, we should explain once in a while
that ``canned`` in this sense is just slang for recorded, rather than
live (gh)
** PERU [and non]. BOLIVIA / BRAZIL/ COLOMBIA / CUBA/ ECUADOR
[since countries are irrelevant below, why should I insert them? gh]
Bandscan 14-marzo-2009 2300-0100 UT
3280.0, LV del Napo, con música tropical colombiana.
3329.5, Ondas del Huallaga, programa Salud Alternativa.
3310.0, Radio Mosoj Chaski, charla en vernacular
4409.8, tent. Radio Eco, con música folclórica, baja señal.
4451.1, Radio Santa Ana, programa: El Mensajero de la Mosquitania
4699.4, Radio San Miguel, con noticias deportivas
4716.8, Radio Yura, música folclórica
4747.0, Radio Huanta 2000, programa: una cita con su destino
4775.0, Radio Tarma, comentarios locales
4781.8, Radio Tacana, mencionando a Tumupasa.
4790.1, Radio Visión, música andina
4796.5, tent. Radio Malku [sic], locutor en quechua y música folk
4805.0 presumed, Radio Rasuwilca, mezclándose con Dif. Amazonas que
domina el canal, música folclórica
4826.6, Radio Sicuani, programa: Panorama Deportivo
4950.0, tent. Radio Madre de Dios, pobre señal, música tropical
4955.1, Radio Cultural Amauta, locutora en quechua
4991.1, Radio Manantial, predicación en vivo
5025.0, Radio Rebelde, noticias deportivas mezclada con Radio
Quillabamba (mejor en LSB)
5120.3, Ondas del Suroriente, música folclórica
5460.4, Radio Bolívar, música y comentarios locales
5910.0, Marfil Estéreo, música y anuncios locales "ondas de paz"
5952.7, Radio Pio XII, música y charla en vernacular. "la radio que se
hace pueblo"
6010.0, LV de tu Conciencia, programa: tu historia preferida
6035.0, LV del Guaviare, programa: Fiesta RCN
6135.0, Radio Santa Cruz, programación en vivo
6155.3, Radio Fides, comunicaciones telefónicas
Escuchadas en otros horarios:
4799.7, Radio Buenas Nuevas, parece predicación en vernacular
4824.5, Radio LV de la Selva, identificándose como "LVS Digital"
6173.8, Radio Tawantinsuyo "que buena música solo aquí en Radio Cusco"
Buen DX (Rafael Rodríguez R., Sony ICF 2010 hilo de 15 mtrs, Bogota
D.C., COLOMBIA, March 18, condiglist yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DXLD)
** PHILIPPINES. QSLs: FEBC, 12095, full data Monkey-Eating Eagle card
in 108 days along with partial data letter for English snail mail
report and 2 IRCs. V/s: Ms. Menchie Marcos
Radio Pilipinas, 11730, full data card in 100 days with schedule for
English snail mail report and 1 IRC. V/s: Ric G. Lorenzo, Audience
Relations (Al Muick, Kabul Afghanistan, March 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Radio Pilipinas 11730 // 11890 in Filipino with s/on (English also
noted for sign on announcements) at 1730, then into feature program
about economy. Very Good March 14/09 (Mick Delmage, Sherwood Park,
Alberta, Icom R71a with 7-30 MHz Log periodic, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ROMANIA. ROMÊNIA - Nos domingos, a programação em espanhol da Rádio
Romênia leva ao ar os espaços Rádio Domingo, Club de Oyentes e Rincón
Diexista. Neste último programa, Victoria Sepciu apresenta informações
do mundo das ondas curtas (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX March
15 via DXLD)
** RUSSIA [non]. LONDON’S SPECTRUM RADIO – ANOTHER CHANCE TO HEAR THE
VOICE OF RUSSIA AND OTHER BROADCASTERS
London has had a multi-ethnic MW station for nearly 20 years that
broadcasts a variety of foreign-language and English language
programming of interest to particular ethnic groups or groups
interested in particular global regions. The station is Spectrum Radio
and broadcasts on MW 558 in the UK with a second service on Britain’s
DAB digital radio.
I came across Spectrum Radio while browsing the Voice of Russia
website – there is an entry there for “English Hour in London” which,
it turns out, is the hour-long broadcast that airs Sundays through
Fridays at 1300 UT (likely 1200 UT as of April).
During the hour, each broadcast opens with news; Russia and the World
– An Update fills out the first half hour on weekdays. The second half
hour consists of Kaleidoscope (Mondays), Music Around Us alternating
with Music Calendar (Tuesdays), Folk Box (Wednesdays), Legends of
Russian Sports alternating with A Stroll Around the Kremlin and other
music features (Thursdays), and Timelines (Fridays). Sundays are a bit
different: after the news, Music and Musicians fills out the hour.
Easiest way to catch the Voice of Russia this way is to visit the
Spectrum Radio website, http://www.spectrumradio.net and click on the
Listen Live | AM 558 link.
Other English language broadcasters featured on Spectrum Radio include
Canada’s CBC and RCI, China Radio International, Polish Radio, Radio
Sweden, Radio Netherlands, Radio Australia, Radio Romania
International, and Radio Prague.
And, at 0300, the audio from PBS’s NewsHour with Jim Lehrer (Richard
Cuff, PA, Easy Listening, March NASWA Journal via DXLD)
** RUSSIA. Re 9-023: MAJOR CHANGES AT THE VOICE OF RUSSIA
I can't find anything at the Voice of Russia website about the
reported plans to drop a third of its languages at the end of this
month. (See previous post.) Of the affected languages, the one I could
remotely understand is Romanian. Nothing there, either. But the VOR
website has an interesting video report about old Russian radio sets.
Posted: 17 Mar 2009 (Kim Andrew Elliott, see
http://kimelli.nfshost.com/index.php?id=6110 for linx, via DXLD)
Thank you, Kai! You are right, for a short while in the beginning of
1990s VoR Russian was under Russia's Home Service R. Rossii. But I
guess it was more of an artificial administrative oversight that had
to do Yeltsin's victory over Gorbachev.
In the Soviet times there was All-Union Radio that covered the whole
USSR and Republic Radio that covered 14 Soviet republics. However, the
Russian Federation never had its own Republic broadcasting (or TV).
R. Rossii was Yeltsin's creation. It started as a few hours on the
First Programme (Channel) of the All-Union Radio. When Yeltsin trumped
over Gorbachev, R. Rossii took over the First Programme's transmitters
and studios.
VoR in Russian was grabbed, as well. I guess VoR Russia spent a year
or two under R. Rossii. The editorial offices of two services were
located in different buildings. They didn't cooperate much and there
was even some deal of animosity between the two.
``What was actually the predecessor of this old Golos Rossii service,
was it simply the Mayak relays that are described as once omnipresent
on shortwave?``
The predecessor was the so-called Fifth Programme of the All-Union
Radio. It was never announced as such on the air though. It was more
of an administrative designation used in internal documents.
This round the clock service consisted of various SW/MW broadcasts in
Russian - Mayak, First Programme, the Seaman Services (Atlantika,
Tikhiy Okean and maybe a few others), Radio Station Rodina (Overseas
Compatriot Service), Broadcasts for the Soviet Specialists Overseas,
the Arctic and Antarctic Service.
Mayak and First Programme had numerous SW relays targeting local
listeners. Those broadcasts were not considered a part of the Fifth
Programme.
`At present still 35 foreign language services from Moscow are on air`
Actually, VoR's official tally from December 2008 stands at 38. I
guess it's because of newly added CIS languages. The highest number of
the language services for Radio Moscow that I saw in the Soviet
publications was 85. But 68 was a more common figure that referred to
pre-perestroika 1980s. VoA number of languages was always put at 42
(Sergei S., Moscow, March 13, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Emailed Voice of Russia about 24 hours a day broadcasting. Here is
their reply. Also, the survey mentioned in the email was uploaded into
the files section [of the dxldyg]. The name is POLL_VOR_80.doc. Yes,
it's been virus scanned. 73, (Kraig, KG4LAC, Krist, Manassas,
Virginia, March 13, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
***** V of Russia reply follows *****
Dear Mr. Krist, I have received your kind e-mail and would like to
thank you for writing me and the Voice of Russia again. It is always a
pleasure to hear from you and the interest you take in our broadcasts
is highly appreciated. Thanks for staying tuned in to them.
As for your question about the 24-hour broadcasting planned here at
the Voice of Russia, we inform you that it is really so. It is only a
plan at the moment, but it seems to be implemented. You will know it
exactly when receive the new schedule which we will send to you as
soon as it is off the press.
So, I am sending you my best wishes for health and good luck and hope
to receive more e-mails from you with questions and of course
reception reports. They are most welcome. Attached you will find a
poll conducted on the threshold of the VOR's 80th anniversary. If you
have time, fill it please. Thanks in advance. Yours sincerely,
Evdokiya Tolkachyova, Letters Department, World Service, Voice of
Russia (via Krist, ibid.)
This is what the RM/VOR WS 24 hour schedule used to look like.
RADIO MOSCOW WORLD SERVICE September 26th, 1993 - March 26th, 1994
---------------------------------------------------------------------
ENGLISH SCHEDULE . . . (via Harry Brooks, ibid.)
Huge schedule of up to 40 frequencies during a single hour; full of
asterisks denoting different effective dates within a season. A bitch
to make sense of, frequencies also not given in order (gh, DXLD)
Hehe, that's a good one, thanks! Those confusing stars are a hallmark
of a real VoR schedule! But don't hold your breath, you won't see as
many digits in VoR's upcoming schedule. A good half of those
transmitters are probably gone forever. And quite a few antennas were
sold for scrap.
Judging by that letter from VoR's World Service, switching to 24x7
service was a last-minute decision that came out of the blue. Now
everyone has to rush like crazy creating a new schedule. Quite typical
for Russia I should add. - Planning isn't our strongest feature...
I'm worried for those 100+ personnel who are going to lose their jobs
as a result of this abrupt cutting of 13 language services. Maybe a
year ago that would be OK, but in today's economy those people will
have a very tough time finding a new job.
Many of those who will be laid off stuck with VoR through some very
difficult times in 1990s. And now they are thrown out on the streets
without much advanced warning and explanation. They won't have a
chance to do anything close to RFI's strikes and rallies.
In accordance with the Russian labor code, the people whose positions
are eliminated will get two months worth of their contract salary. (No
bonuses though. Although they comprise up to 2/3 of one's pay at gov
jobs in Russia.)
And VoR's new director will be able to report on his achievements at
huge savings while promoting Russia's positive image overseas (Sergei
S., Russia, ibid.)
I wouldn't want to see VOR using that many frequencies again. It's
totally unnecessary. As far as broadcasting in English to Europe,
primarily the UK and Ireland, is concerned, they could do it with less
frequencies than in use now and get better reception.
Reception of VOR in the last few years, here in North East UK, can
generally be summarised as:-
A season (Apr-Oct) morning, on mw or sw, very poor or zero, afternoon
and evening, good from Moscow transmitters, very good/excellent to
outstanding mono fm quality from Pridnestrovye relay.
B season (Nov-Mar) morning, on mw, very good/excellent, on sw, very
poor or zero, afternoon and evening, poor to very poor from Moscow
transmitters, very good/excellent to outstanding mono fm quality from
Pridnestrovye relay.
What I would like to see is this:-
A-season, 0600 to 1500 no mw, sw on one 12/13 mhz frequency from
Moscow, from 1500 to 2400 on sw on one 6/7 mhz frequency from
Pridnestrovye relay.
B-season, 0600 to 0900 on mw, 0900 to 1400 on sw on one 12/13 mhz
frequency from Moscow, from 1400 to 2400 on sw on one 6/7 mhz
frequency from Pridnestrovye relay. It can't be any worse than the
current situation. Regards (Harry Brooks, North East England, UK,
dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Re: ``Hehe, that's a good one, thanks!`
Yes, sheer nostalgia. Those were the days when during daytime
the shortwave bands were still stuffed with Russian signals,
often running open carrier for extended periods. Also German
1000-1200 was on a good bunch of 19 and 16 metres frequencies.
The 13 metres outlets with RM Russian are a particular memory
I have as well.
``Those confusing stars are a hallmark of a real VoR's schedule!``
But no reason to worry for German service listeners, there were
always the helpful announcements for the upcoming autumn, winter,
spring and summer schedules.
I remember a certain point in 1994 (or perhaps already in 1993)
when RM suddenly gave correct frequency announcements. Until then
half of them or so were simply wrong. And not only at RM, it was
the same with Radio Ukraine as well.
``But don't hold your breath, you won't see as many digits in VoR's
upcoming schedule. A good half of those transmitters is probably gone
forever.``
It seems that surprisingly little of the Russian shortwave
infrastructure is gone. The only major site I'm aware of being
off altogether is Yekaterinburg. All the other big sites are still
around, also Samara in spite of all the talks about shutting it
down. All three big shortwave plants around Moscow (Lesnoy, Taldom,
Kurovskaya) appear to be still active as well.
Likewise it appears that all the unused shortwave transmitters in
the Ukraine still exist as well. I heard from a quite reliable
source that station staff even powers them up on dummyloads at
regular intervals, as required by equipment manuals.
It would be an interesting question anyway from where all the
frequencies of RM English in 1993/1994 actually originated. Back
then I heard about anecdotal evidence about 4795 and 4860
originating from here:
http://maps.google.de./?ie=UTF8&ll=49.63145,36.119056&spn=0.020514,0.038624&t=h&z=15
Info from Olle Alm indicates that this site opened around 1970.
The mediumwave antenna is for 837 kHz (150 kW) and 257 metres tall,
until November 1973 this installation was in use on 385 kHz. The
shortwave equipment consists of three Sneg-M transmitters. In the
USSR days it was a common practice to combine during daytime two
transmitters for Mayak on 9620 kHz and use the third one for Radio-1
on 9800 kHz while during the evening all transmitters carried
foreign service broadcasts to Central/Western Europe.
Since autumn 2002 two transmitters are in use alternately, i.e.
only one frequency at once, for Radio Ukraine International. The
third transmitter had been taken aside, it was until then well
known for a characteristic noise it had developed over the years:
http://www.radioeins.de/etc/medialib/rbb/rad/multimedia/audios/200410/winterfrequenzen_von.smil..smi
Not the crackle which is of local origin but the "celestial" sound.
Upper mids of this recording had to be excessively boosted to
compensate for a very muffled modulation, thus the crackling sounds so
harsh. Note also the room ambiance (mic worked from quite a distance)
and the long list of announced frequencies (this was in 1997).
All this said it is extremely unlikely anyway that VoR will now
lease an amount of transmitter capacity even remotely close to the
transmitter use one and a half decades ago.
``Judging by that letter from VoR's World Service, switching to 24x7
service was a last-minute decision that came out of the blue. Now
everyone has to rush like crazy creating a new schedule.``
After just all plannings for shortwave have already been done for the
A09 season ...
``Many of those who will be laid off stuck with VoR through some very
difficult times in 1990s.``
On the German service one could at a point here hints (no big calls
for protest, just a "we would like to hear from you" in passing) that
the station could perish. There was also a mention of the building
getting little if any heating, like "it is completely irrelevant that
we're sitting with our coats here, but let's hope that the studio
equipment tolerates this".
And they had the problem that people with sufficient knowledge of
German could find considerably better paid jobs in Moscow. So those
who stayed did obviously so due to their passion for radio. One of
them, who passed away a few years ago, made no secret of being a
communist and produced very interesting programmes about history.
Another longtime broadcaster has become a very good indicator for how
much is possible on this station. It's more than one probably thinks.
Unforgettable to me was his presentation of a news magazine during the
worst times in Chechnya: "These were the official points of views, but
there are others, too", followed by reporting the dissenting opinions
within Russia. It seems they have drawn some conclusions from the
past.
Now the questions about the Soviet times arise:
``R. Rossii was Yeltsin's creation. It's started as a few hours on the
First Programme (Channel) of the All-Union Radio. When Yeltsin trumped
over Gorbachev, R.Rossii took over the First Programme's transmitters
and studios.``
So what was until 1991 carried on 171/234 kHz on one side and 261/873
kHz on the other side, to mention the main frequencies of Radio-1 and
Radio Rossii in European Russia during the nineties?
Concerning the studios: Mayak, Radio-1 and the break-off Radio Rossii
were at Ostankino, Yunost at ul. Pyatnitskaya 25 and Radio Orfey at
neither of both but an own location in Moscow, is this correct?
``At present still 35 foreign language services from Moscow are on
air. Actually, VoR's official tally from December 2008 stands at 38. I
guess it's because of newly added CIS languages.``
Could it be that they are broadcast within Sodruzhestvo? (Kai Ludwig,
Germany, ibid.)
``But no reason to worry for German service listeners, there were
always the helpful announcements for the upcoming autumn, winter``
I guess VoR German is much better. The Russian services have always
refused to give out their frequencies on the regular basis, only m-
bands. One can hear the frequencies only in Klub DX announcements
before a new broadcast season.
``Until then half of them or so were simply wrong. And not only at RM,
it was the same with Radio Ukraine as well.``
Kai, first you ask for the correct frequencies. Then you'll want to
know transmitter's power, antenna's azimuth and their exact QTH. R.
Moscow and R. Kiev had to draw the line somewhere! :)
In the Soviet times even the local maps and road atlases purposely
weren't precise. The idea behind that was to confuse the expected NATO
invaders. That didn't make much sense considering the satellite
technology but the first detailed map of Moscow went on sale only in
the end of 1980s.
I suspect the secretive Soviet and later Russian Ministry of
Communications never felt comfortable about the fact that its SW
frequencies were openly announced on the air. That's why they had to
confuse the broadcasters so that they would confuse the listeners.
Not long time ago Kim Elliot wrote in his blog that he doesn't always
get VoA's frequencies for special broadcasts, either. The reason for
that is simple - he has the "nasty" habit of passing this info to
others!
``Likewise it appears that all the unused shortwave transmitters in
the Ukraine still exist as well.``
I heard other reports but I hope you are right. You seem to be better
informed in this area than I'm.
``After just all plannings for shortwave have already been done for
the A09 season ...``
Yes. And many other things now have to be changed in a huge rush.
Imagine all the stress.
As I mentioned a few weeks ago in DXLD, VoR people have been reporting
the persistent rumors of major cuts. But all the changes were kept
secret to the very end. I still don't see any official announcements
on ruvr.ru or any press releases. The news was only announced in Klub
DX and later published by DXing.ru.
Shutting down the strategic Korean and Vietnamese services while
keeping the Japanese, Polish, Romanian and Italian broadcasts doesn't
make much sense to me.
``Another longtime broadcaster has become a very good indicator for
how much is possible on this station. It's more than one probably
thinks.``
The Soviet generation was notoriously difficult to control. Once the
fear of persecution was gone people started saying what they were
really thinking. And in the end of 1990s the pay was so little that
firing someone from VoR wasn't much of a threat, either.
Today is different. The new Russian generation is similar to their
Western peers. They are conformists and don't have a habit of thinking
for themselves (Sergei S., Moscow, ibid.)
``In the Soviet times even the local maps and road atlases purposely
weren't precise.``
What was the scale of the best general maps available to the public?
Was it 1 : 1,000,000 as I seem to recall? Anything bigger was called
"tourist scheme", i.e. did not claim to be a real map at all.
In the GDR the best general purpose maps were 1 : 200,000, and these
were already not precise at particular points. After 1989 the
publishing house Haack Gotha had to come to the bitter conclusion that
they can throw away all the trail maps they created over decades, and
the name of the house disappeared when it was privatized in 1992
because it was completely burnt.
It should be added that official topographic maps on the other side of
the Iron Curtain contained forgeries, too.
``I suspect the secretive Soviet and later Russian Ministry of
Communications never felt comfortable about the fact that its SW
frequencies were openly announced on the air.``
And concerning the sites they went on the path of disinformation. I
once saw a WRTH from the eighties that promised already on the cover
"Radio Moscow full transmitter details". It's perhaps needless to say
that they were sheer phantasy, with no relation whatsoever to reality.
``Not long time ago Kim Elliott wrote in his blog that he doesn't
always get VoA's frequencies for special broadcasts, either.``
Yup. Such insights are a bit too reminiscent for comfort to what we
left behind in 1989 here. (If we really left it behind at all.)
``Likewise it appears that all the unused shortwave transmitters in
the Ukraine still exist as well. I heard other reports but I hope you
are right. You seem to be better informed in this area than I'm.``
Maybe not necessarily.
What I vaguely heard first referred to the Krasne site and its two
shortwave transmitters. Recently one of them went back into regular
service (away from breaks due to lack of money) for RUI after the site
was off shortwave for more than five years. Also DW tried to use the
site for a short time but left again since.
It appears to be an educated guess that all transmitters are still in
place at Kopani/Lutch as well. This site is no longer used by RUI
(away from the short period when they had to burn some remaining money
towards the end of last year) but has still a few transmissions for
foreign customers. However, apparently not all antennas are still
usable. Specifically the large curtains for transmissions to North
America have deteriorated to a degree that they can no longer be used.
Thus they had to make do with rhombics, and the results were so bad
that they decided to move this service to Krasne.
But what about the Brovary transmitters near Kiev? They have a complex
of 100 kW transmitters, and one of them is at present in use for UR1
on 5970 kHz. But they also have another complex of 200 kW transmitters
(maybe Sneg-MU, like at Krasny Bor, but this is entirely speculation),
five ones it seems, and they were never used again since autumn 2002.
So hints about dismantled transmitters should be seriously considered,
they could well be true, referring to this Brovary complex.
``After just all plannings for shortwave have already been done for
the A09 season ... Yes. And many other things now have to be changed
in a huge rush.``
Some last minute plannings took place at VoR for the B08 season, too.
In early to mid October the German service did not know yet the
shortwave frequencies they would use. I suspect this had something to
do with uncertainty about whether the Samara site would still be
available for the B08 season or not.
``Shutting down the strategic Korean and Vietnamese services while
keeping the Japanese, Polish, Romanian and Italian broadcasts doesn't
make much sense to me.``
I even wonder if the list of victims is complete and reliable? For
Europe I think it is reasonable to keep Polish, but what makes me
wonder is that Czech and Slovak are on the list while Hungarian is
not. At present all three languages air in a combined 1800-2000 block
of 45 minutes Hungarian, 45 minutes Czech and 30 minutes Slovak. It
hardly fits into anything to run a 45 minutes broadcast alone, or is
it supposed to be expanded to a full hour?
And the plan to close Korean was quite a surprise to me, too.
``The new Russian generation is similar to their Western peers. They
are conformists and don't have a habit of thinking for themselves.``
Tell it all the sceptics: The promotion of western values in Russia is
successful! (Kai Ludwig, Germany, ibid.)
``So what was until 1991 carried on 171/234 kHz on one side and
261/873 kHz on the other side, to mention the main frequencies of
Radio-1 and Radio Rossii in European Russia during the nineties?``
I guess people with access to older WRTHs should be able to answer
those questions.
``Concerning the studios: Mayak, Radio-1 and the break-off Radio
Rossii were at Ostankino, Yunost at ul. Pyatnitskaya 25 and Radio
Orfey at neither of both but an own location in Moscow, is this
correct?``
It's tough to say as they were moving around and the names were
changing. It is my understanding that back in 1980s there were no
domestic broadcasts recorded at Pyatnitskaya, 25. I believe R.
Nostalgie was the first one.
All local radio used to come from Ostankino. If I'm not mistaken Radio
Station Rodina (the overseas compatriots service) was also located
there. The standard All-Soviet radio lineup was:
First Programme - several streams (Orbita) for different time zones
(News, information, culture, a bit of various music)
Second Programme - Radio Mayak (news at :00 and :30, various music)
Third Programme - culture broadcasting, many radio plays and concerts
Fourth Programme - classical music. Does anyone remember its fine SW
network on 75 m-band?
R. Russia really took over First Programme even though Radio-1 argues
to be FP's legal heir.
R. Mayak is still out there - at least, by name and frequency of 549
kHz. Today its mostly trash talk radio with some pop-music thrown in.
The Third Program is really gone. One can argue that in Moscow its
place is taken by Radio Rossii-Kultura (former R.Kultura). Sadly,
R. Kultura lost its national FM-network and even its name after
Russia-Georgia conflict.
R. Orfey is a true heir to the Fourth Programme. It's still a
classical music station with no commercials. In the end of 2008 it
finally got an FM frequency in Moscow! The station has some English
and audio streaming on its site: http://www.muzcentrum.ru/eng/
Radiostantsija Yunost used to be just the catchy name for Youth
Broadcasting Department within the All-Soviet Radio used from
Khrushchev's times. As such it was located in Ostankino. In 1980s the
department prepared a few hours daily for FP (spoken programs and
music) and Mayak (daily 25-min. request program for the Soviet Army
conscripts, incl. those serving in Afghanistan). In the end of 1980s
Yunost got three hours of morning broadcasting on the Third Programme
(it was called Molodyezhnyj kanal). Finally, in 1990s it became the
real station with its own frequencies.
``Could it be that they are broadcast within Sodruzhestvo?``
Yes, on local FM-affiliates (Sergei S., Moscow, March 15, ibid.)
Until August 1991 there was Radio-1 (the former first program of All-
Union Radio) on 171, 234 and 261 kHz while 873 kHz carried Radio-2
(the former 3rd program) After August, Radio Rossii took over all the
frequencies of Radio-2 and some of Radio-1's, including 261 kHz.
If I recall correctly, Radio Rossii from its foundation in 1990 was at
5-ya ul. Yamskogo Polya. One should notice though that the studios of
broadcasters were not necessarily located at the same place as their
head organizations. Radio Orfey was on ul. Kachalova (now called
Malaya Nikitskaya). -- 73! (Serghey Nikishin, Moscow, ibid.)
Thanks, Sergej [sic], this is helpful. I guess "Radio-2" name wasn't
used for two long. Did Radio-2 take over the frequencies of the Third
Programme? This announcement from 1993 suggests that Radio-2 was the
same thing as R. Yunost:
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1278/542557181_245ebb36ba_o.jpg
Note that they had 233- phones. That was Pyatnitskya 25 extension.
I guess "Molodyezhny kanal" produced by R. Yunost and carried on the
Third Programme simply took over the network? The Youth Broadcasting
Department of the All-Union Radio ("R. Yunost") was the most pro-
Yeltsin department there. Perhaps that's why with his victory, it
became a real radio station. Generally under Yeltsin funding for
cultural broadcasting dried up and the top rouble went for political
propaganda (Sergei S., Moscow, ibid.)
Hello Sergei, and thanks for your reply.
I don't remember exactly when the Third program became Radio-2, but
you're right: that name didn't exist too long. I couldn't even find
any reference to it in Russian Internet resources. Here's a quote from
WRTH-1992:
"Radio 2: Formerly the 3rd program, this program lost several of its
transmitters to R. Rossii in Oct. 1991. The exact situation was not
clear at the deadline of this section, but apparently Radio 2
continues on all its FM and on MW/SW transmitters, except MW in
European Russia. Radio 2 includes programs for youth (``R.-stantsia
Yunost``)."
Perhaps R. Yunost had occupied the whole airtime of Radio-2 right
after the official dismissal of Soviet Union or even earlier. Yunost
came back to Pyatnitskaya studios supposedly in 1993, just before the
October events, although until 1995 the channel stayed under the rule
of GTRK Ostankino.
Some info can be found at http://www.politika.su/media/rhist.html but
I'm not sure those data are absolutely correct. -- 73! (Serghey
Nikishin, Moscow, ibid.)
``Fourth Programme - classical music. Does anyone remember its fine SW
network on 75 m-band?``
Gone already before 1990? Nothing shows up in a German frequency list
from this year, besides foreign service transmissions on 4045 and
4060. Plus "RM2 Chita" on 4055, shown as a regular strong station,
thus this must have been what I got to know as Radio-1 via the former
jamming transmitters within Moscow, coupled to a single 60 kW.
``R. Mayak is still out there``
In autumn 1993 it was even still on shortwave:
http://www.radioeins.de/etc/medialib/rbb/rad/multimedia/audios/200605/radio_majak_auf_kurzwelle.smil..smi
This was on 7360, apparently the very same Tbilisskaya transmitter
that also carried RM German during the evening. If I recall correct
this recording is of the start of this Mayak relay, so 7360 signed
back on at 2200 UT.
Actually I made this recording at work, on a signal box. The ticking
and the prominent whining noise of varying speed were of local origin,
from the signalling and radio equipment, respectively. The other
background hums and whines should have been transmitted, however.
``The Third Program is really gone.``
Could it be that it was in fact eliminated to make way for Radio
Rossii? See this:
http://www.radiorus.ru/news.html?rid=326&date=17-03-2009&id=916
Says they started in December 1990 with four hours airtime per day,
two small offices and a single studio at Ostankino. First on the
second button, Mayak. We're not responsible for taking airtime away
from a popular station, it was an order from above. But this tyranny
lasted only for a short time. New order: We're on the third button
now. And then August 19 1991, the complete ban of the broadcasts. And
a note on the door of one of the two Ostankino offices: "Nu schto,
doigralis?", something like "hey, what's the game?". Then we already
had offices at 5th Yamskogo polya street ...
If I get it right Radio Rossii went fulltime by way of some order that
eliminated the former third programme.
So they have their offices at 5th Yamskogo polya street, in the not
terribly big number 19/21 building, but do they have also their
studios there? Or perhaps they even have studios both there and still
at Ostankino, too? Take a look at this piece about a Radio Rossii
audio engineer:
http://www.radiorus.ru/news.html?rid=326&date=17-03-2009&id=146760
Looks like an old Pyatnitskaya street studio, but this should be quite
unlikely. Perhaps this is rather an Ostankino studio, since a few
details seem to differ from what could be seen on Voice of Russia
photos. In particular this appears to be a stereo-capable studio, if
the grey device with the small screen is indeed a goniometer and the
level meter above it shows indeed two channels.
Radio-1 was still around after 1991, but probably they lost not only
261 kHz but also most or even all their OIRT-FM frequencies to Radio
Rossii? Then they had to give up one transmitter after another due to
lack of money. In the end only the 171 kHz transmitter at Sasnovy in
Belarus was left, who knows who paid for its operation. I still
remember how I was notified on May 15 2000 that this transmitter did
not sign on this morning, "so this was it then for Radio-1".
In 1997 Radio-1 was even still on shortwave:
http://www.radioeins.de/etc/medialib/rbb/rad/multimedia/audios/200304/kurzwellensender_noginsk.smil..smi
I made this recording on Christmas Day 1997, in the room that is to my
back while I type this, shortly before going away for the due visit of
relatives. As far as I remember this was said to be a transmission via
Noginsk, via an old transmitter (I was told that the hum was typical
for them). I'm not sure about the frequency, but it was some 75xx.
Could it be that they used another hour opener with drum beats during
the early nineties? Damn, I did never press the "Rec" buttom when
hearing it (on 171 kHz, at this time still in use from Bolshakovo).
Concerning domestic broadcasting from the Voice of Russia building:
Could it be that Radio Podmoskovya was already there in the eighties?
At least WRTH 1994 shows this address for them.
And here is an interesting photo of this building:
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/5629169
Note the large shortwave dipoles on the roof and the new air-
conditioners, probably belonging to their great new studios which
introduced muffled mic audio and inconsistent audio levels to VoR.
German service staff once told that this building was originally
supposed to become an office building for the Ministry of Culture but
then considered as not representative enough, and so the radio got it.
``R. Orfey is a true heir to the Fourth Programme. It's still a
classical music station with no commercials. In the end of 2008 it
finally got an FM frequency in Moscow!``
Here we should the other readers tell that in Russian the term "FM"
specifies the CCIR band only while the OIRT band is being referred to
as "UKV". Radio Orfey was of course not an AM-only station until now
but in Moscow besides mediumwave also on 72.14 MHz. [UKV is obviously
taken from German, ultra-kurz-welle --- gh]
``Radiostantsija Yunost used to be just the catchy name for Youth
Broadcasting Department within the All-Soviet Radio used from
Khruschev's times. [...] Finally, in 1990s it became the real station
with its own frequencies.``
But very few it seems. Looks like what could be taken away from the
other four networks (Kai Ludwig, Germany, March 16, ibid.)
This lengthy thread has been most enlightening, if confusing, and we
are indebted to our Russians and Germans for conducting it here all in
English (gh)
** RUSSIA. 5900, True Light via Petropavlovsk-Kamchatka, 1205, 3/14/09
poor with man and woman talking in Mandarin; still with talk at 1225
recheck; all in surging band noise; best in LSB (Jim Ronda, Tulsa, OK,
NRD-545; R-75; E-5 + RF Systems Mini-Windom, GMDSS-2 Vertical; several
homebrew FlexTennas, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD)
What`s that? An IBRA program, per Aoki: 5900 IBRA RADIO True Light
1200-1300 1234567 Chinese 250 263 Petropavlovsk-Kamchatka 15824E 5311N
IBRA b08 (gh)
** RUSSIA. Missing 23 hours earlier, but March 13 at 1253, R. Rossii,
Pet/Kam, back on 6075 with the usual motorboating, in Russian talk
over piano music. Also after 1300 March 16, before 1300 March 19
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** RUSSIA. Encouraging [DRM] News from Russia
http://www.drm.org/news/detail/news/drm-encouraging-news-from-russia/
The Consortium has received some very encouraging news from Russia
that its General Radio Frequency Centre has decided to introduce
'Digital Radio Mondiale' (DRM) in Russia in the medium and shortwave
bands.
The Russian General Radio Frequency Centre, the organisation that
coordinates national spectrum management issues, took the decision
number N 09-01-05 on 20 January 2009 following a series of tests on
the future use of transmission networks with digital technology.
The Radio Frequency Service carries out supervision over emissions of
radio-electronic facilities and high-frequency devices, provides
proper use of radio frequencies and radio frequency channels, radio-
electronic facilities and high-frequency devices, assistance in
international legal protection of radio frequency assignments.
The Russian text of the decision is available on the website of the
Ministry of Communications and Information of the Russian federation.
To read the Russian text, click here :
http://minkomsvjaz.ru/ministry/170/174/6780.shtml
(via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, India, March 13, dxldyg via DXLD)
Google translate the text it refers to and you get:
1. To approve the results of the work performed to clarify the
conditions for use in the Russian Federation networking digital audio
broadcasting, and to recognize the possible use of radio frequency
bands 526,5-1606,5 kHz, 3,95-4,0 MHz, 5,9-6,2 MHz, 7, 1-7,45 MHz 9,4-
9,9 MHz 11,6-12,1 MHz 13,57-13,87 MHz 15,1-15,8 MHz 17,78-17,9 MHz,
18,9-19,02 MHz 21,45-21,85 MHz and 25,67-26,1 MHz to create the
territory of the Russian Federation, networking digital audio
broadcasting standard DRM.
2. The allocation of bands of radio frequencies to the RECs digital
audio broadcasting standard DRM radio frequencies in the bands listed
in paragraph 1 of this decision, should be on the applications of
legal and natural persons of Russian Federation in accordance with
established procedure.
Can any Russian speakers on the list clarify if that is a fair
translation, please.
To me, noting in particular the word possible, the translation is
saying that, following a test period, the General Radio Frequency
Centre, who are a regulator not a broadcaster, has said that
broadcasters may now apply for DRM licences if they so wish. If so,
that's different from the impression that the press release gives.
The encouraging news, from the Consortium's point of view, would be if
Russian broadcasters now decide to apply for DRM licences, allied with
the development of simple low cost consumer receivers by the local
radio industry (Mike Barraclough, ibid.) It`s PR stuff, after all (gh)
The main words are 'to recognize the possibility to create the DRM
networks on the territory of the Russian Federation'. By now there
were just VOR tests outside or just tests.
After this GRFC decision Krasnodar (from Tbilisskaya site evidently)
in February has started the test DRM broadcasting for Krasnodar region
on 3930 kHz, possibly till 15 March. Content - Vesti FM.
Krasnodar project description
http://translate.google.com/translate?langpair=ru|en&u=http://www.rtrs.ru/projects.asp?view=19812
logs
http://www.drmrx.org/forum/showthread.php?t=2067
(Victor Rutkovsky, ibid.)
"encouraging". It depends on whether you enjoy listening to deliberate
interference. It is no different to what has been written about here,
http://www.radiojamming.puslapiai.lt/article_en.htm
Regards (Harry Brooks, North East England, UK, ibid.)
** SAIPAN. 11650, VG signal at 1358 March 14, Central Asian language
giving address in Almaty, Kazakhstan, chime IS, KFBS Saipan ID, then
YL in Russian with ID as Radio Teos, and off before 1400. About which
more here once it loads: http://www.radioteos.ru Apparently they have
a 24-hour satellite service, but nothing found about SW relays. You
would think ``Teos`` refers to God, cognate Deus, etc., but Google is
unable to translate the word!
KFBS is completely missing from EiBi on this frequency, whence you
might list-log CRI instead, but Aoki has KFBS on 11650 with multiple
languages at 11-14, concluding Fri and Sat at 1345-1400 with Kyrgyz
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
KFBS schedule can be retrieved from here:
http://data.febinfo.org/enq4.php (Station Location: Marpi)
Their frequencies usually don't change between A and B seasons.
Teos came from Greek; the correct Latin [alfabet] transcription
should be ``Theos``. The Russian word for God is ``Bog``. This FEBC
affiliate is also on AM in Moscow (1134 kHz), St Petersburg (1089 kHz)
and some other Russian cities. --- 73! (Serghey Nikishin, Moscow,
Russia, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SAUDI ARABIA. 21640.0, 1224-1230 9/3, Broadcasting Service of [the
Kingdom of] Saudi Arabia - Presumida, Riyadh, Arabic, falas de OM;
banda musical tocando dobrados; falas de OM. - Extranhamente o audio
não acompanha a intensidade do sinal; 35332 (Antonio Laurentino
Garcia, PR7BCP, Escutas realizadas em João Pessoa-PB HI22nu, IC
706MKIIG - 3DX3/dipolo 40m, HCDX via DXLD) i.e. undermodulated, but no
mention of buzz here (gh)
SAUDI ARABIA On March 8th observed massive BUZZ on 17732 kHz
(fundamental program was on 17730 kHz) at 0850 and close down at 0855
UT. Switching to 17805 kHz at 0857 UT. I found same buzz on approx.
17807 kHz. Checked the other frequencies at 0858 UT - all were without
buzz 11855, 11935, 17615, 17785, 21670 etc.
But again "Saudi Mix Effect" noted on 13 m.b.: mixing product
[Intermodulation in Riyadh] from program in Indonesian on 21670 kHz
and Main 1st program in Arabic on 21705 kHz was heard with strong
signals at 0856 UT on 21635 and 21740 kHz. That "effect' was observed
just for last 4-5 years (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews
Mar 10 via WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DXLD)
Not having looked for it the past week, I made a point of checking for
Sout ul-Buzz, March 16 at 1509: yes, there it is on 15435, the frying
sound detracting from but at the moment not totally overriding the
Word of God, Who speaks only Arabic (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO
1452, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SIERRA LEONE [non]. Tentative A-09 for Cotton Tree News, daily
0730-0800: 15220, 250 kW, 189 degrees from Rampisham; ex-11875 in B-08
(Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SINGAPORE. QSL: Singapore VOLMET, 11387, full data letter with
information about their services in 45 days for English report and $2
via snail mail. V/s: Ms. Chua Guat Mui (Al Muick, Kabul Afghanistan,
March 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SOLOMON ISLANDS. 9541.52, SIBC/R. Happy Isles. Set the timer on the
radio and MD recorder to record over the 1200 ToH when they close down
their own programming in the hopes of catching their closing ID.
Indeed, at 1154 lively Island song, 1155 program closing, 1156-1200
prayers, fanfare music bridge, then closing by M "You have been
listening to the Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation, R. Happy
Isles, 9545 kHz in the 31 meterband, ?? shortwave frequency of 5020
kHz in the 60 meterband… for today but will return … broadcast
tomorrow morning. Until then … goodnight everyone". Then instrumental
NA 1201-1202, and immediately into BBC news. Was extremely poor before
1150 but came up nicely quickly. Unfortunately adjacent channel QRM
prevented 100% copy. (10 March) 73 (Dave Valko, PA, HCDX via DXLD)
No confirmation they are really active on 5020 (gh)
** SPAIN [and non]. REE on 11890, Saturday March 14 at 2101 with live
coverage of stupid ballgame, Real Madrid mentioned, but cut to open
carrier only at 2102, and it had been colliding with VOA Creole which
has moved without notification one hour earlier than 2200, and 5 kHz
down from previous 11895. It was almost as if Spain were aware a
collision had just started and shut down their modulation, but the
carrier was still on at 2106, producing a slow SAH, almost zero-beat.
Rechecked at 2142 after VOA was finished, Spain was again modulating
game, punxuated at 2144 by ``goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool``.
Found same game in synch on 9630 and much weaker 9665, and with usual
delay and lower modulation via Costa Rica 9765. I can`t find 11890 for
Spain at this time in any of the online or paper references, but PWBR
`2009` shows it to Mideast at 0500-0700, while WRTH has that on 11895.
Perhaps Noblejas punched up a totally wrong frequency, maybe instead
of 11940 which I did not check at the time. 9665 is the weekend-only
REE Spanish sports transmission which causes English and French to
Europe to be weekdays only (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SPAIN [and non]. Travessias é o nome do programa da Rádio Exterior
de Espanha que pretende fazer “uma viagem cultural” pela música,
livros e outros temas. Uma das transmissões vai ao ar, de terças a
sábados, entre 0400 e 0500, no Tempo Universal, em 5965 e 6125
kHz, que é via retransmissores localizados na Costa Rica. Na edição
que foi ao ar em 7 de março, foi enfocada a música árabe. Confira!
(Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX March 15 via DXLD) 5965 is CR
relay; 6125 is direct from Noblejas with much better fidelity, but
best here is 6055 direct (gh, OK, DXLD)
** SRI LANKA [non]. From Monday March 16 for a week, WRN is testing a
new IBC Tamil broadcast daily at 1200-1257 via Madagascar, on 17530,
50 kW at 50 degrees. WRN already carries IBC Tamil at 0000-0100 on
6045 via Wertachtal (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
** SUDAN [non]. via Sines, PORTUGAL, 17745, Sudan Radio Service,
*1500-1530, March 15, English “Lets Talk” program with radio-drama &
discussion about women’s rights & equality in Sudan. ID. Arabic talk
at 1530. Fair (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See U A E
** SUDAN [non]. via GERMANY, 9830, Radio Dabanga, 0515-0527*, March
15, Arabic talk. IDs. Very weak. Poor. Stronger on // 7315 but with
constant tone on frequency. 13800 not heard (Brian Alexander, PA, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
RADIO DABANGA: DUTCH LIFELINE TO DARFUR REFUGEES
Read the AFP report here:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iCu4oOCiIP1Vqt9eCCrbqC48lmSQ
(via Alokesh Gupta, March 15, dxldyg via DXLD)
[one small excerpt from above:] When Radio Dabanga starts up each
morning, people in these camps huddle in hordes around battery-powered
radios for a brief connection with the outside world, said Muhagir
Muhagir, 47, one of six Darfuri journalists on the editorial team in
Hilversum. The programming focuses on hard news, reported by some four
dozen volunteer local correspondents in five languages: standard
Arabic, Darfuri Arabic, Masalit, Fur and Zaghawa (via Zacharias
Liangas, DXLD)
R. Dabanga, tentative A-09:
0430-0527 13800 UAE, 13840 Madagascar
1530-1727 11500 Madagascar, 13730 Wertachtal
(Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SWAZILAND. TWR, 4774.994, Mar 7 *0341-f/out - c/on in mid program
at 0341, religious talk in language until 0400, ID in German? into
program of contemporary religious vocals. Transmitter off at 0418,
then back at 0419. Religious program at 0430 and starting to fade,
almost unusable by 0500 when possible English programming. Carrier
dropped below the noise floor by 0600 (Brandon Jordan - Memphis, TN,
USA, Receiver: Perseus SDR, Antenna: Wellbrook ALA100, dxldyg via DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
** SWAZILAND. QSL: TWR, 7315, full data Map of Swaziland card in 45
days via airmail for English snail mail report and $5 return postage.
V/s: Mrs. L. Stavropoules. Also sent schedule and a rather hilarious
bible tract promising death and destruction for human excesses (Al
Muick, Kabul Afghanistan, March 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SWEDEN [and non]. Radio Sweden in English. A-09:
Broadcasts to Asia and the Pacific
0230-0300 11550 (50 ) via Madagascar
1330-1400 15735 (55 )
1430-1500 13820 (120 )
Europe, Africa and the Middle East
1430-1500 13820 (85 )
1530-1600 13600 (120 )
1630-1700 MW 1179
1730-1800 MW 1179
1900-1930 MW 1179
2030-2100 7395 (320 ) via Madagascar
2130-2200 7395 (280 ) via Madagascar + MW 1179
North America
0130-0200 6010 (268 } via Sackville
0230-0400 6010 (277 } via Sackville
Source: http://sr.se 73! (via Alexey Zinevich: a DXer from Minsk,
Belarus, ptsw yg via DXLD) degree symbols after azimuths disappear
** SWITZERLAND. Vintage MGR's / Vintage Two Bobs ---
Hello Glenn. I hope this finds you well. Sad news about Dick Speekman.
He and I kept in contact, and I could sense - and so could he - that
the end was near.
I just want to let you know that we have added two new features to The
Two Bobs section of http://www.switzerlandinsound.com
One is Bob Thomann's collection of the only known surviving recordings
of some of the Merry-Go-Rounds of the 1960's, as well as a couple of
special interviews. The other is a collection of the only known
surviving recordings of some of The Two Bobs shows of the 80's and
90's, including the final show sequence in 1994, as well as a couple
of specials. I thought the DX/SWL community would appreciate getting
this news. Thanks and 73, (Bob Zanotti, March 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
There are 8 editions of the Swiss Shortwave Merry Go Round and 9
editions of the Two Bobs available (Mike Barraclough, dxldyg via DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
** SWITZERLAND. swissinfo celebrates ten years of Swiss news Friday,
swissinfo.ch March 13, 2009
http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/news_digest/swissinfo_celebrates_ten_years_of_Swiss_news.html?siteSect=104&sid=10448588&cKey=1236947194000&ty=nd
Friday marks the tenth anniversary of swissinfo.ch, a multimedia
platform that produces news about Switzerland in nine languages for an
international audience.
Based in Bern and part of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, the
enterprise was created by federal mandate. The portal replaced
shortwave radio broadcasts produced by Swiss Radio International for
decades.
swissinfo aims to provide an authentic image of Switzerland through
special dossiers and coverage of a wide array of topics of worldwide
interest. The target audience are Swiss nationals living abroad and
those with ties to or an interest in the country.
Teams produce content in three national languages - French, German and
Italian - as well as English, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Chinese and
Japanese.
A pilot programme for a tenth language, Russian, will launch in time
to cover to the World Hockey Championships in Kloten next month.
From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SRG_SSR_id%C3%A9e_suisse ---
The abbreviation SRI originally stood only for "Swiss Radio
International", which was SRG-SSR's international broadcasting arm,
aimed at expatriates and others interested in Switzerland. In October
2004 SRI ceased broadcasting on short-wave and satellite, and instead
concentrated its efforts on its Swissinfo 'multimedia internet
platform', which now takes most of the SRI resources. The Swissinfo
website is produced in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish,
Portuguese, Arabic, Chinese, and Japanese.
Nevertheless, SRI remains an international broadcaster as Swiss
Satellite Radio operates under the SRI umbrella. Founded in the 1980s
and based in Berne, it consists of three trilingual radio channels for
different types of music, available on satellite and the internet as
well as terrestrially in Switzerland: Radio Swiss Pop Radio Swiss
Classic Radio Swiss Jazz (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD)
** SYRIA. Radio Damascus, 12085 kHz with huge carrier at 2058 UT but
when English audio came on just past the hour it was very low. Sign-on
announcements and program line-up. Things picked up a bit at 2106 with
a newscast. Good March 15/09 (Mick Delmage, Sherwood Park, Alberta,
Icom R71a with 7-30 MHz Log periodic, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
9330, Radio Damascus, 1844-1942*, March 15, German talk. Local Mid-
East music. Into French at 1900. Poor audio with low modulation. 12085
not heard (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SYRIA. THE OFFICIAL ENGLISH LANGUAGE WEBSITE OF SYRIAN RADIO &
TELEVISION IS ONLINE
Dear Radio Friends, At last the official English language website of
Syrian Radio & Television came online. Please find below the letter I
sent to my friends at Radio Damascus (the head of the English language
section with a copy to the Director General of the radio) with my
suggestions. Greetings from Belgium! Kris Janssen
http://www.radio-damascus.net
http://www.radio-damascus-listeners-club.tk
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/radio_damascus
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Antwerpen, 16th of March 2009
Dear Rasheed, Dear Radio Damascus friends, Congratulations!
It looks as RTV Syria at last got the promised English language
website online at http://www.syriaonline.sy and it looks very
promising.
Its design is clear attractive and the content is great. Daily news
from Syria, the Arab World and the rest of the world --- interviews,
opinion articles, economic & business news and arts & culture.
I am very happy with this new website. It's an excellent piece of work
which, I hope, will only grow in the future.
Something else I have noticed. The audio recordings page at the
general Arab language RTV website,
http://www.rtv.gov.sy/index.php?m=541
does since today mention all the language programs of Radio Damascus.
Besides English and German, we can now also find French, Spanish,
Turkish, Russian and Hebrew. This is again great news. At last it is
possible for Radio Damascus listeners from all language sections to
download the daily program.
But please, link the two: the audio recording of the daily Radio
Damascus program with the "Syria Online" website. Please put a link to
the daily audio recordings of Radio Damascus on the homepage of the
new "Syria Online" website!
The international listeners of Radio Damascus are non-Arab speaking
listeners and they can not find the Radio Damascus recordings on the
Arabic RTV website. They will visit from now on the English "Syria
Online" website. So, it is there they will be looking for Radio
Damascus, the international service of Syrian Radio.
And it would also be great news and a major boost to Radio Damascus
availability and hence its listener numbers if the Radio Damascus
(international) program would also be streamed live on the internet,
as the Arabic General program already is, besides the daily
downloadable audio archive. This would make Radio Damascus complete.
I hope this suggestions are of use to you and I am looking forward to
it's future implementations. Keep on the excellent work and best
wishes to everyone at Radio Damascus! (Kris Janssen, Belgium, March
16, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
I see that R. Damascus` audio archive page has so far empty linx to
strange new languages: Hebro, Rassian, and Latin:
http://www.rtv.gov.sy/index.php?m=541#5
It`s about the time the duopoly of WWCR and Vatican Radio in Latin
broadcasting were broken! O yeah, WEWN too now and then (Glenn Hauser,
OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TAIWAN. 9745, Voice of Han, *0758-0852, March 13. In Chinese;
starts with brief announcement, Western orchestra music till ToH;
played Chinese ballads and Western EZL orchestra music; a few ads;
program consisted mainly of conversation between two women; parallel
to audio streaming directly at http://www.voh.com.tw/e301_1.asp?fq=309
fair. Their website is http://www.voh.com.tw/ (Ron Howard, Asilomar
Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** THAILAND. QSL: Bangkok VOLMET, 11387, full data Manee Mekhala
folder card and partial data letter in 45 days for English snail mail
report and $2. V/s Ms. Jantima Niyomchok (Al Muick, Kabul Afghanistan,
March 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TIBET. Re 9-023: 6010, CNR-11, 1423-1447, March 15 (Sun.). Tuned in
with the expectation of hearing their program in English which
normally starts at 1430, but the program was already in progress. Must
have started at 1400. Talking about Tibetan music and playing Tibetan
music & songs; BoH generic sign-off announcement (“That’s all for
today’s program. Thank you for joining me.”); into Tibetan, with
another program of Tibetan music & songs. Fair to poor; QRM from
jamming on 6003 not as severe today. Was this a one day event or what?
Last Sun. I heard their English program from the regular 1430 to 1500;
playing a lot of Tibetan music & songs and also talking about the
music (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF
RADIO 1452, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TINIAN [and non]. More signs of the ailing IBB transmitter on 7575
for VOA English in the 13-14 UT hour only: Sat March 14 at 1311, jazz
marred by continuous whine. With BFO on, could tell there were
multiple carriers on both sides of the fundamental, so I think it is a
transmitter defect rather than QRM or jamming. At 1312 the pitch as
heard on AM suddenly shifted higher and became somewhat less annoying.
Should be interesting to watch on a spectrum display. At 1330 I noted
same program on 9760 via Tinang, but five sex ahead of 7575, contact
info for Jazz America and fulfilling a request from Rwanda. However,
on March 18 7575 sounded OK (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TUNISIA. RTT, 7275, lovely singing by child, 0550 March 13, 0559 to
open carrier, 0600 Arabic talk, presumably news but much lower
modulation than the singing had been. Checked // 7190 at 0606 and its
modulation was much better (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TURKEY [non]. Sackville is STILL carrying the wrong feed from V. of
Turkey, UT March 15 at 0400. 7325 transmitter cut on barely before the
hour, no IS, no ID, just joined discussion in progress, and again
sounds like an informal conversation in a cabaret or somewhere with
background noise, presumably in Turkish.
Hard to believe it has gone on this long without being fixed, or at
least compensated for by accessing webcast
http://www.trt.net.tr/Canli/anasayfa.aspx?kanal=rdvot&slv=0
instead of mixed-up satellite feed. Another reply from Sackville was
uncooperative, so I have sent this to the English Desk at VOT, and
frequency management:
Hello Seref, et al.: You may be surprised to learn that your 0400 UT
relay via Canada on 7325 has not been in English for the past two
weeks at least --- I have been in contact with Sackville about this
and they insist they are downlinking the correct satellite channel
they have always used, Galaxy 19, 11966 H, channel 6. This is VOT
World, as listed at Lyngsat: http://www.lyngsat.com/galaxy19.html
I do not have satellite myself so cannot confirm, but whatever is
coming over at that hour is a program in progress; I am not even sure
it is in Turkish, but it is certainly not English. There is no
interval signal or sign-on, just a conversation with background noise.
Sackville will not make any effort to find your correct English feed,
or even substitute a web feed, since they are merely following
instructions on record as to which audio input to use.
Therefore it is up to TRT to investigate this and take whatever steps
are necessary to get the correct program to Sackville if you wish to
continue having an English-language relay to North America. Would you
please keep me informed about if and how this is resolved?
BTW, there is usually another mixup in this transmission when the time
changes happen, i.e. March 29 when it becomes 0300 UT, which could
further complicate matters. Regards, (Glenn Hauser, Oklahoma, March
15, via DXLD)
Glenn: I made a spot check at about 0415 UT Monday and found music on
7325, but not // with the satellite feed. Checking again at 1400, a
period during which Turkey is broadcasting on SW in English, I did not
hear English on satellite (presumed Turkish).
The "satellite programme schedule" on the TRT English Web site lists
both TSR-Turkish and TRT-World as being broadcast on the Galaxy 25
(now Galaxy 19) satellite. I don't know how these two services have
presumably been sharing time on the satellite feed, but perhaps
Turkey is sending TSR-Turkish sted TRT-World at the 0400 Sackville
relay time.
Until TRT resolves this, I guess listeners will have to go "cold
turkey" (Mike Cooper, Mar 16, DXLD)
7325 at *0400 March 16 with nice Turkish (?) music, but still not the
scheduled English broadcast. Several people at TRT should have
received my E-mail on Monday, so perhaps we`ll see some axion on this
misfeed which has now gone on for at least two weeks since I first
noticed it (not three). I then heard from frequency management, who
were going to look into it, but a lower priority than working on the
A-09 schedule. So again at 0407 check March 17, Turkish music. At 0450
check March 18, talk in Turkish(?), not English. And *0400 March 19
abruptly into Turkish (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
Listened to VOT`s Letterbox Wed March 18 on daily audio archive, in
case they acknowledged my report about the foulups on 7325 via
Sackville.
Seref Isler read reception report after reception report, praising the
programming and hankering after QSLs, but no mention of this problem.
The mailbag ran from 37 to 49 minutes into the file, and appeared
after another feature, Turkey-EU Agenda, contrary to the order on
their current printed program schedule folder, which shows that to be
last on Wednesdays. Yet, in replying to another listener who mentioned
that programming heard did not match the schedule, Seref explicitly
said, ``We confirm every day before going on the air that the program
schedule matches airplay``!
Another one wanted to be a `monitor`, but ``unfortunately, we don`t
have a monitoring service``. No surprise there, considering that no
one but yours truly seems to have noticed the wrong language on 7325,
and nothing has been done about it so far. By `monitoring service` I
suppose he means some kind of organized group sending regular reports
as other stations have, or used to have, in return for small or large
favors, even a paycheck (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** UGANDA. 4975.966, R Uganda, Kampala, MAR 7, *0308-f/out - Weak
signal never increasing enough to produce audio. Only modest 0357
sunrise at transmitter enhancement noticed on carrier signal.
Transmitter slowly drifted +/- 2 Hz around 4975.966 kHz. Signal faded
below noise floor by 0525 and unable to verify 0600 s/off (Brandon
Jordan - Memphis, TN, USA, Receiver: Perseus SDR, Antenna: Wellbrook
ALA100, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** UGANDA. 4750 at 1805 3 Feb, R. Dunamis, religious talk in
vernacular, SINPO 25432 (Patrick Cody, Co Tipperary, Ireland, AOR
AR7030 Plus, Wellbrook ALA-1530 loop, March World DX Club Contact via
DXLD)
Also at 1807 27 Jan, Dunamis Shortwave, song and religious talk in
English, SINPO 33433 (Arthur Miller, Llandrindod Wells [Wales], JRC
NRD-545, 40m long wire, G5RV, ibid.)
** UKRAINE. SW transmitter sites here are also discussed in the long
thread above under RUSSIA
** U A E. QSL: Sudan Radio Service (via UAE), 13720, no data email and
attached no data letter thanking me for my report and confirming it
was their broadcast in 48 days for English snail mail report and $1
return postage. V/s: Michael R. Tamburo, Marketing Coordinator,
mtamburo @ sudanradio.org (Al Muick, Kabul Afghanistan, March 14, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
** U K. Spectrum Radio, 558 and webcasts: see RUSSIA [non]
** U K. BBC RUSSIAN LAUNCHES ITS NEW RADIO SCHEDULE WITH INNOVATIVE
WEEKEND LIVE NEWS PROGRAMME --- London, 12 March 2009
http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/category/world_service_index.shtml
BBC Russian service has introduced a new programme in its newly
refreshed radio schedule. From tomorrow, 14 March, live weekend news
and current-affairs programme, Pyatiy Etazh (Fifth Floor) will go on
air every Saturday and Sunday.
Broadcast at 20.00 Moscow Time (MT) (17.00 GMT) Saturdays and Sundays
from the fifth floor of Bush House – the London home of the BBC
Russian service for more than 60 years – Pyatiy Etazh is a news and
current-affairs programme with a difference.
As well as covering breaking news stories as they happen, the
programme offers audiences a fresh view on key events and trends, seen
by studio guests from various walks of life. Pyatiy Etazh is a
conversation about latest developments in politics and world affairs,
culture and sport, and society, with a special focus on British life.
With a different tone to the weekday news and current-affairs
programmes on BBC Russian, Pyatiy Etazh aims to create an atmosphere
for lively, engaging discussions. Reporters from the BBC Russian team
around the world, the wider BBC as well as personalities from
different areas of Russian and international life will be invited to
take part with their comments and views.
The programme will have regular reviews of British press, and it will
have its own webpage on bbcrussian.com where the team will stay in
touch with listeners and readers about current and future programmes.
Pyatiy Etazh producer Ben Tobias says: "We want this programme to be a
place where interesting conversations happen. We hope to draw out
opinions that haven't been heard before and to shed a new light on
stories by looking at them through the eyes of our guests."
On Sundays there will be regular appearances by author and
broadcaster, Zinovy Zinik, known to BBC audiences as the host of the
programme Westend.
Zinovy adds: "On Pyatiy Etazh we will put cultural events in the
context of politics and life in general, revealing, sometimes
invisible, links and connections, and joining lives and developments
in stories which, I hope, will engage our audience."
The introduction of Pyatiy Etazh is part of a wider change in the BBC
Russian radio output.
Head of BBC Russian, Sarah Gibson, comments: "In an increasingly
competitive environment and with fast-changing audience demands, we
have decided to focus our services on what audiences primarily expect
from the BBC – high quality news and current affairs, and strong
analysis of global events, in whatever area of life they occur.
"But at weekends audiences want something a little different. We also
know that they are very interested in British life. I think Pyatiy
Etazh will bring audiences the content they expect in a format that
they will enjoy."
In other changes to the BBC Russian radio schedule, the flagship
morning weekday news and current affairs programme, Utro na BBC, has
been increased by half an hour to three-and-a-half hours each weekday.
It now starts at 06.30 MT.
The afternoon weekday drivetime news and current affairs sequence,
Vecher na BBC – which includes the hour-long BBSeva hosted by Seva
Novgorodsev – will be increased in April by one hour to four hours
each day (from 17.00 MT).
In the new schedule, the last hour of this sequence, from 20.00 MT,
will include the BBC's extended interactive programme, Vam Slovo.
Sarah Gibson concludes: "We are excited by these changes and believe
that together they will deliver an even better service to our audience
in Russia and around the world." (BBC World Service Publicity March
12, via DXLD; also via Alokesh Gupta, dxldyg via DXLD)
** U K. STRIKE NOTICE IN WHOLE OF BBC IN SUPPORT OF WORLD SERVICE'S
HINDI, URDU AND NEPALI SECTIONS
BBC strikes over threat of compulsory redundancies === 16 March 2009
http://www.nuj.org.uk/innerPagenuj.html?docid=1169
Thousands of journalists at the BBC are to hold two national one-day
strikes against compulsory redundancies. NUJ members at the
corporation voted 77 percent in favour of strike action in a national
ballot.
The most urgent threat of compulsory cuts is at the World Service's
South Asian section where up to twenty members are at risk. London-
based journalists on the BBC Hindi, Nepali, and Urdu radio programmes
and websites have already held a one-day strike over the cuts.
Union representatives from across the BBC met today and passed the
following motion:
"This meeting of BBC NUJ M/FoCs:
- Condemns the compulsory redundancies faced by NUJ members, in
particular at this time by members at the South Asia Service.
- Notes with concern the efforts by some World Service managers to
coerce staff in the South Asia service in to accepting redundancy
packages against their will and warns that the NUJ will continue to
consider such arrangements as compulsory redundancies.
- Welcomes the ballot result that reiterates our opposition to CR in
all parts of the BBC
- Calls on management to immediately enter meaningful negotiations and
to withdraw the threat of CR.
- Resolves to call industrial action on Friday 3 April and Thursday 9
April in the event that further talks fail to resolve the issue.
- Resolves to meet Bectu and Unite reps to seek to co-ordinate our
response.
- Will meet again on 30 March to consider plans for additional
action."
Jeremy Dear, NUJ General Secretary, said: "Once again NUJ members at
the BBC have shown they will not accept compulsory redundancies.
"Journalists at the South Asian services have been fighting a heroic
struggle against the outsourcing of their jobs which will sacrifice
jobs and editorial independence.
"Now they have the weight of thousands of NUJ members at the BBC
behind them."
Paul McLaughlin, NUJ National Broadcasting Organiser said, "Today's
result shows that members at the BBC are fully prepared to stand up
for their colleagues under threat across the BBC.
"At a difficult time for journalism the fact that so many members at
the BBC are willing to support their colleagues is inspiring.
"If the BBC wants to provoke a strike over such small numbers it would
be shameful. We call on the BBC to get round the table with us and
sort it out."
The action at the BBC is part of a union-wide campaign against media
cutbacks (via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO
1452, DXLD)
** U K. PHAROS POWERS BBC WORLD SERVICE --- 7th January 2009
Pharos announces the completion of a major contract for BBC World
Service. In the role of prime contractor, Pharos was selected to
supply content management and automation for 68 channels of radio
programming together with automation for live and time-shifted content
playout.
Central to the project is a Pharos Mediator content management
platform which has been chosen to integrate the network's ingest,
media workflow, transfer management, router control and playout.
Mediator includes a task-specific web-based user interface which
guides operators and supervisors through the workflow and allows
search and browse of any material from their desktop. World Service
workflows are prioritised and resources managed by Mediator based on
the demands of an integrated programme schedule. A total of 32
channels are configured as complete playout-capable subsystems, each
safeguarded by a fully mirrored channel.
"This latest contract was awarded after a lengthy OJEC process,"
comments Nigel Fry Head of Transmission & Distribution at BBC World
Service. "A full audit was conducted which Pharos passed with high
recommendations. Pharos was then commissioned to look at our current
operation and to co-operate with staff in creating an outline
requirement for a future playout and routing infrastructure to cover
the entire World Service operation.
These requirements included flexible delivery of material to multiple
platforms for both traditional linear broadcasting and new on-demand
services. Reliability was obviously essential so the new playout
infrastructure is protected by full redundancy. The overall system
enables us to respond more quickly to late-breaking editorial changes
and is scalable to meet changing demand."
"Our Project Services team worked closely with the BBC to determine
the system acceptance criteria," adds Pharos Technical Director
Spencer Rodd. "The new system is based on PC workstations running
standard web browsers. Where staff previously interacted with
individual audio elements manually, content management and switching
are now automatically driven by the scheduling system.
As material becomes ready for transmission, it is made available to
Pharos Playtime automation for secure playout in conjunction with live
and scheduled programmes switched from studios and other sources. All
workflow states are tracked on-screen and used to generate reports as
well as updating the material preparation status."
Pharos has worked with BBC World Service for over 10 years, helping
deliver new systems that maximise efficiency and allow prompt response
to the rapidly developing media marketplace. Newly-developed features
in this latest installation include a node-based online storage
subsystem for content management plus a high-performance audio server.
Router control was also a key challenge with thousands of on-demand
sources and destinations. The audio routing system consists of dual
Lawo Nova73 routers scalable up to 8,192 mono channels.
http://www.pharos.tv (via AIB via DXLD)
Should that be 8,196, = 2 to the tenth power, or allowing for four of
them to be inoperative? Now we know what to blame when we can`t get to
a BBCWS programmme (Glenn Hauser, DXLD)
** U K [non]. BBC Mundo Radio, 9410 via WHRI, still filling the hour
with the same old classical music, lovely at it is, Friday March 13 at
1258 with Puccini aria O Mio Babbino Caro, excellent signal.
Fortunately she finished in time before transmission cut off without
any announcement at 1300 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. Very strong signal from Greenville on 15185, splattering
even upon WYFR-Ascension 15195, March 13 at 2033 playing great hilife
music. Hmm, strange to have music instead of news at the start of
VOA`s M-F 2030-2100 Hausa service as per previous logs and schedule at
http://www.voanews.com/english/about/frequenciesAtoZ_h.cfm
Oh, oh, it`s not Hausa, but the English service to Africa, in ``The
Africa Beat`` show as per DJ announcements, and // frequency which
really is supposed to be in English, currently via Bonaire, 11975 tho
a reverb apart; most of the lyrix unseemed English; at 2050 heard
``Africa Numéro Un`` mentioned in a song which also unseemed French.
2052 outroed as having originated in the DRCongo. Vocals on some of
these were electronically altered for a yodeling effect, not something
easily accomplished in the jungle.
Ladysmith music interrupted at 2059:30 for VOA sign-off in English. So
the poor Hausans (surely not Hausers?) have lost their broadcast due
to a feed mixup somewhere along the line at VOA. Geez, what a mickey-
mouse operation; can`t even get the correct languages on the air
according to their own schedule (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO
1452, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
VOA HAUSA transmissions 2030-2100z Mo-Fr are wrongly fed for the
entire season!!! The wrong feed originates from AOR (Atlantic Ocean
Relay). Greenville takes the audio from AOR. HB (Eutelsat HotBird) is
fed by AOR, and that is why Nauen also has a wrong feed.
freq tx az sat lang
----- --- --- ------- -----------------
4940 SAO 030 afsat Hausa
6040 NAU 190 aor->hb ENGLISH TO AFRICA !!!
9780 MEY 328 afsat Hausa
12080 IRA 275 ior Hausa
15185 GB 094 aor ENGLISH TO AFRICA !!!
If you check the VOA satellite schedules for HB
http://www.voa.gov/afl/pdf/hotbird.pdf
you can see the entry for HB-7 at 2030-2100z M-F is VOA HAUSA, but I
checked the audio on Hot Bird 2 months ago and last week, they played
VOA ENGLISH TO AFRICA!!! Regards, (Dragan Lekic, Serbia, March 14,
dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Dear ALL, I checked SW recordings via IBB Monitoring website, and
instead of VOA Hausa 2030-2100 Mo-Fr GREENVILLE 15185 kHz and NAUEN
6040 kHz again and again aired (FOR THE ENTIRE SEASON) VOA ENGLISH TO
AFRICA instead of VOA Hausa!
The error is in AOR satellite (wrong audio feed uplinked from VOA) and
also in Hot bird satellite (HB-7 VC 242 2L, 252 2L & 253 2L), because
HB relays signal from AOR (Atlantic Ocean Relay). PLEASE, can anyone
have an e-mail address of VOA/IBB/BBG Master Control/Network Control
Center, so I could pass them a note to correct the wrong feed. Thanks,
(Dragan Lekic, Serbia, March 17, WORLD OF RADIO 1452, ibid.)
Re: Need help: VOA/IBB Master Control e-mail address
Thanks for your email, forwarded by Wolfgang Bueschel.
It's pretty embarrassing to have such an obvious flaw go on for the
whole A09 season and not be aware of it. I have passed your email on
to our schedulers and now that the season is almost over, I expect
we'll have it fixed shortly. When you run in to things such as this in
the future please feel free to email me. Thanks. bw (Bill Whitacre,
IBB, March 18, via Lekic, DXLD)
Dear Mr. Whitacre, Sure You ment B08 season :)
Thank You for quick respond. I'm cc-ing this reply also to DX
Listening Digest Yahoogroup, because there many DXers write about
VOA/IBB transmitter errors, etc. Especially Glenn Hauser notices
almost every Greenville transmitter error :)
I sometimes visit your IBB Monitoring website and use it to listen to
sound recordings and band scans, because I love to hear SW sound.
Of course, in the future, if any new anomaly occurs, I'll email you
immediately.
P.S. I`ve checked IBB Monitoring site recordings for 03/17 2030-2100z:
15185 kHz Greenville FIXED (VOA Hausa aired), but 6040 kHz Nauen,
Germany aired VOA English to Africa again. So, the problem is at Hot
Bird satellite. Kind regards, (Dragan Lekic, DXer from Serbia, to IBB,
via dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Have been intending to check VOA Creole service this week since DST
began, to confirm whether or not it has moved one UT hour earlier as
usual despite the fact that there is no DST in target Haïti. I did
notice one day that it was missing after 2200. Yes! Finally noted
March 13 at 2100 with strong signal in Kriyol on 15390 // 11890*, but
unfound on any 13 MHz band frequency, nor in a quick scan of other
bands 9-17 MHz.
VOA language schedule website for ``C`` at
http://www.voanews.com/english/about/frequenciesAtoZ_c.cfm
claims this is still at 2200-2230 on 11895*, 13725 and 15390. Par for
the course. Likely the other two Creole transmissions are also one
hour earlier for the convenience of Washingtonians, not Haitians, at
1130 M-F and 1630 daily, instead of 1230 and 1730, 15390 being the
only channel common to all of them, if there have not been further
unlisted frequency changes too.
VOA Creole, at 2100 instead of 2200, Sat March 14 on 11890 instead of
11895, but colliding with SPAIN, q.v. at first on unlisted 11890;
still missing from 13725, and weaker on // 15390.
Yet another VOA/IBB SNAFU: Greenville 15590, which is supposed to
carry the Spanish service, was in English at 1304 Wed March 18 ending
VOA News Now with Austrian incest item, 1305 to VOA Music Mix, also
introduced in English. VG signal here, but no signals on the two //
scheduled, 13715 and 9885.
Has Spanish been moved an hour earlier without notice due to DST in
Washington, which is irrelevant in the LAm target area? Last Oct/Nov
some unexpected schedule changes were also made to this broadcast.
Guess what? The VOA language schedule for B-08 now shows: Spanish
1130-1200 UTC 9885 13715 15590 M-F
1200-1300 UTC 9885 13715 15590
2300-0000 UTC 5890 5940 9690
So that is exactly what has happened, but the 15590 transmitter is
still being run for an extra hour on the pre-DST schedule!
The program schedule on the Spanish site ignores SW, but for webcasts:
``Buenos días América, 20 kbps, duración 00:30:00, Lunes a Viernes
1330 UTC, 09:30 Hora de Wáshington`` --- so that is long outdated.
Rock music in English, such as M. Cyrus, continued on 15590 only, but
at 1333 recheck there was an announcement in Spanish, and again a few
minutes later, so sometime in the interim, a switch was made from
English to Spanish feed, the so-called Éxitos Latinoamericanos show I
usually hear until abrupt 1400*
Eibi shows the way it was until March 8:
1230 1300 Mo-Fr USA Voice of America S LAm 13715g 9885g 15590g
1300 1400 [daily] USA Voice of America S LAm 15590g 9885g 13715g
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. KVOH, 17775, ditto my report of March 5, again putting out
hefty filthy spurs at multiples of 144 kHz plus and minus, March 13 at
2013, strongest on 17631 and 17919, also audible considerably weaker
on 18063 and 17487, but not heard on 3x and 4x 144 kHz further out,
tho they might have been if I had turned off a noisy computer. 17775
fundamental was also somewhat distorted. However at 2106 recheck could
not hear the spurs, luckily for RFI 17630, tho 17775 was still audible
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also UNIDENTIFIED [non]
** U S A. I believe I have heard WWCR via long path, i.e. some 39
megameters away. At 2017 March 13, 13845 PMS/DGS service had extremely
heavy echo, i.e. the echo was almost as strong as the direct signal,
and relatively quite a long delay. In round figures, the LP is 38 Mm
longer than the SP, so the computed delay is 38/300 = 0.1267 second,
or approximately one eighth of a second, which I bet would be
confirmed if I had a way to measure it. I know it`s possible for 13
MHz to hold up thru the darkside, since I often hear R. Australia
there when it is the middle of the night here, including 14 hours
earlier. The direct signal from 13845 is usually borderline here due
to skip zone, and this was still the case; if it were very strong it
would obscure the echo if there were any.
Compared to other WWCR frequencies at same time: 15825 fair with a
much quicker echo, like a reverb, which is what you would expect from
backscatter, i.e. coming back from the first reflexion point eastward
from Nashville, rather than all the way around the world. 12160 had a
good signal, no echoes, tho occasional audio dropouts during program
discussing Islam, which per the program schedule at
http://www.wwcr.com/program-guides/WWCR_Program_Guide.html
on Fridays at 3-4 on CT is called ``Warning``. According to the
program website, the guest was ``Walid Shoebat, Ex-Muslim Terrorist``.
Disregard the incorrect UT time conversions as if TN were still on UT
-6 instead of UT -5.
Back on 15825, the Friday airing of World of Radio 1451 started late
at 2030:35 after a over-running preacher, making me apprehensive that
I might be cut off at the end, but WWCR was paying attention and let
WOR play to completion at 2059:20 before starting the frequency change
announcement to 7465, an exercise which has been compacted (Glenn
Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
WWCR 5070 missing at 0611 March 13, but big signals as usual on 5890
and 5935.
WWCR-3 on 5070 had been missing earlier, and on routine check to
confirm WORLD OF RADIO airing, Sat March 14 at 1656, found 12160 also
off the air, tho inbooming on all three other transmitters, 9980,
13845, and even on 15825, so must be with sporadic-E assistance.
Checked a few minutes earlier, the WWCR-3 webcast was also missing,
the winamp and real players running silently. Continued missing from
12160 Saturday afternoon and thru the DX block UT Sunday March 15 0300
on 5070. Just as I was writing this at 0319, the real audio stream cut
on; I had left the player running silently after I notified WWCR. Not
until 0358 did I check 5070, and it was finally back on too (Glenn
Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
4910, WWCR spur, or mixing product, or something, 0128–0145, 3/15/09,
in English. Mixing of at least 2 (maybe 3 for a while) streams;
preaching (maybe Pete Peters) on one stream and the preacher who sings
to the pump organ on another, possibly Brother Stair mixing in for a
while. // 5070 at one point but not another. Abruptly off at 0145.
Quite a mess. I could not find a // spur to either 5070 or 3215, but
didn't check further. Thanks to Don Jensen who pointed it out and
Jerry Strawman who also investigated it with us (Mark Taylor, Madison,
WI, R-75, Winradio g313e, Eton E1, Satllit 800, Kaito 1103; 110’
random wire, Flextenna, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD)
It`s 9980 minus 5070 = 4910, reported several times in DXLD at least.
Brother Scare not involved, but the singing preacher was probably
Peters who occupies 9980 (or night 5890) 24/7 (Glenn Hauser, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
WWCR mixing products 9980 - 5070 = 4910 with both audio streams
appearing on 4910, March 18 (Jerry Lenamon, Waco TX, Eton E-1, T2FD &
9m vertical, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Time? other logs in same
report range from 0120 to 0215. Both 9980 and 5070 are on the air
between 2200 and 0200 (gh, DXLD)
5890, WWCR Nashville, on Mar 12 at 0800. Good Book vs. Good Book.
Tuned in at WWCR ID and then into Pastor Peter Peters and dueling
bibles as he compared passages from different bibles in an attempt to,
as he put it, "discern evil." Modulation was way too hot (Bruce
Barker, Broomall, PA, NRD 535D and an Alpha Delta DX Sloper, NASWA
Flashsheet via DXLD)
9980, WWCR Nashville TN (presumed); 1705-1730+, 15 Mar; English
program about Sacred Geometry -- entertaining; lots about the layout
of Washington DC. Among the pearls of wisdom offered: The universe is
shaped like a dodecahedron. The Nile River branches left and right;
the Potomac River branches left and right, just like we were still in
bondage to the Egyptians. The shape of the Oval Office amplifies the
bio-physical energy of the body. (Maybe this is the stimulation I keep
hearing about -- I'm still waiting to be stimulated.) The background
music sounds a lot like that used by Alan Maxwell on the pirate KIPM.
SIO=353+, QRN (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Drake R8B + 125 ft.
bow-tie; 85 ft. RW & 180 ft. center-fed RW, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 5920, WBOH, March 13 at 1245 Gringo preacher who didn`t
bother to learn accents in Spanish, giving address with ``codígo
postal`` instead of código, accompanied by ``Maravillosas palabras de
vida`` tune; then YL in Spanish with different FBN e- and p-mail
addresses. Once again, there is no sign of any program title in
Spanish on their own program schedule in unspecified timezone, whether
you take it as EDT or EST:
http://www.fbnradio.com/new_page_copy(1).htm
--- and this wacky URL always breaks apart due to the parentheses
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. "Off The Hook" Restored on WBCQ --- The shortwave simulcast
of the New York technology-oriented radio program "Off The Hook",
which had been regularly aired on WBCQ on 7415 kHz up till a few
months ago, has now been returned to WBCQ as part of the "Area 51"
programming on 5110 kHz. The first one was on Wednesday, March 11, at
2300 and it should be on every Wednesday at 2300 on 5110 from now on.
The relay was discussed on the program itself by the participants so
it is a joint project between the "Area 51" programmers and the "Off
The Hook" personnel. I hope this means that they will acknowledge
their shortwave audience to a greater degree now than was the custom
in the past; they tended to only address their local New York public-
radio audience before.
To get more information about the program and the organization behind
it, look at their website "2600.com". Thanks to the "Area 51" staff
and to WBCQ for this! 73, (Will Martin, MO, March 13, dxldyg via DX
LISTENING DIGEST) First mentioned in 9-022
** U S A. WBCQ has extra transmissions on 5110 and 9330 during the SWL
Winter Fest, but it`s mostly just rock music and/or old pirate tapes
rather than live coverage of the proceedings. UT March 13 around 0230
I heard nothing but music on 5110`s webcast. At 1301 found 9330 on the
air early as publicized, but with ---ugh!!--- Fox News Radio, ``fair
and balanced``, hum and undermodulated, cut to hard rock music without
the hum at 1303.
It`s always fun to wait for the BFO on the FRG-7 to stabilize when
trying to hear music in SSB; it takes a few minutes without switching
back to AM. 1307 DJ back-announce as AC-DC. 1311 mentioned Karnataka
with a K, apparently in this sense a music group or title. 1316 DJ is
Barry on Caroline in the afternoon until 2 o`clock, so live relay of
something from UK? 1318 Scorpions, etc., etc. past 1340. Referred at
one point to The Boat that Rocked film coming up April 1, so this is
something current rather than an old archive tape.
1349 switches to Jean Shepherd routine, end of show and 1357 to
vintage WOR 710 newscast from the Vietnam War era, 1400 ad for
whitewall tires. After that I had other listening commitments, altho a
quick check at 1407 sounded like Allan Weiner and a YL were axually on
live. This was also being webcast on the same stream as 5110, checked
at 1518, a maharishi speaking with funny accent, presumably another
pirate tape, V of the Runaway Maharishi.
On March 13 and 14, scheduled time to switch from 9330 to 5110 is
2200, with WORLD OF RADIO still scheduled at the DST-shifted time of
Friday 2300.
Rechecked WBCQ for WinterFest coverage on 9330, Friday March 13 at
2025, but it was too weak, at least without turning off computer.
Could tell it was more on USB than LSB, and sounded like someone off-
mike speaking in a forum, with co-channel QRM, possibly Syria.
Meanwhile 15420 was VG with preacher, and 7415 somewhat better than
9330; after 2100, 7415 with Behavior Night, old record show, but one
UT hour earlier now and noisy, so we shall have to rely on webcast
more and more for that as solstice comes on, likewise Marion`s Attic
24 hours later.
WBCQ, 9330-CUSB with another special transmission inspired by, if not
from the SWL Winterfest: 1318 like yesterday relaying R. Caroline from
UK, live webfeed? ``San Francisco`` song, 1323 name-that-tune-clip, e-
mail via http://radiocaroline.co.uk --- checking that, none of the
linx on the homepage work, including the one to ``relays``, but I bet
it would be news to them they are on WBCQ. 1403 DJ reminiscing with
anecdote about copying news from the BBC. 1404 cut abruptly to Allan
Weiner in progress, an old interview from WRKO 680 about his several
pirate ships and busts. 1419 he mentioned Pirate`s Cove, so a replay
of that show which is intentionally running UT Wednesdays at 0000 on
7415; 1437 into aircheck from 7/23/87 of the first RNI broadcast from
the m/v Sarah, as in http://www.worldmicroscope.com/?p=620 --- Nothing
heard from the current Fest itself.
WORLD OF RADIO 1451 failed to appear March 13 at 2300 on webcast of
5110, despite being in the ``Confirmed Friday Line-up`` for that date,
just rock music, but I assume that`s now its nominal 5110 airing time
on following Fridays. I understand would-be WOR listeners closer to
Monticello would like to have a reliable transmission on 5110.
WBCQ, 9330-CUSB, March 14 at 2040 seemed to have something originating
at the Fest, but soon into novelty songs, including Popeye. I couldn`t
miss Marion`s Attic from 2100 on 7415 instead. Quick-checking 9330
again at 2136, Radio Free Mount Airy ID in passing. 9330 much weaker
at this hour than had been in the morning (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
7415, WBCQ Monticello ME (presumed); 2210-2231+, 16 March; Glenn
Hauser's World or [sic] Radio #1451 ending at 2229+, then two sesqui-
minutes of DA till English religious program came up suddenly; no ID
at BoH. SIO=544 with weak co-channel QRM--from inside WBCQ maybe?
(Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Drake R8B + 125 ft. bow-tie; 85 ft.
RW & 180 ft. center-fed RW, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. The Thursday 1530 airing of WORLD OF RADIO on WRMI, 9955 has
been displaced by the repeat of Happy Station. However, Jeff White
tells me a new temporary airing of WOR has been added as of March 14,
for the rest of the month only, Saturdays at 1530 (Glenn Hauser, WORLD
OF RADIO 1452, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
WRMI 9955 has mostly been off the air for maintenance the past
fortnight on weekday afternoons, but once resumed it is again running
WORLD RADIO NETWORK relays eight hours straight at 1600-2400 UT; the
webcast continued. Content is as follows, from WRN`s schedule,
converted to UT, which as of March 15 is incorrect on the North
American service, altho local times in DST are correct:
1600 RNZI
Korero Pacifica - Recorded in RNZI’s Wellington studios, this 15
minute programme includes a news bulletin covering the Pacific region
including Fiji, Tonga, the Cook Islands, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands,
Samoa and New Zealand, followed by a short current affairs feature
1615 Vatican Radio
World News - a daily bulletin of international news from the team at
Vatican Radio
1630 Radio Slovakia International
News and Features
1700 Polish Radio External Service
News and Features
1730 Radio Netherlands
News and Features
1800 RTE Ireland
Drivetime - A round up of the day's top news stories in Ireland.
[if Drivetime is a 1-hour show originally, is this part 1? See 2100]
1830 Radio Prague
News and Features
1900 Radio Sweden
News and Features
1930 Radio Australia
News and Features
2000 Polish Radio External Service
News and Features
2030 KBS World Radio (Korea)
News and Features
2100 RTE Ireland
Drivetime - A round up of the day's top news stories in Ireland.
[if Drivetime is a 1-hour show originally, is this part 2?]
2130 Radio Romania International
News and Features
2200 Radio Netherlands
News and Features
2300 Voice of Russia
News and Features
2330 Israel Radio
News - a round up of the day's news and current affairs from Jerusalem
Now, let us see no mystery loggings of any of these stations on 9955
(Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Nothing audible March 16 on 9955 at 1800. Are you still off afternoons
for maintenance, and how much longer? (Glenn to Jeff White, via DXLD)
Yes, we're trying to get some specific things done during March. Our
goal is to be back on 24 hours by the beginning of A09, if not
earlier. Unfortunately, we're at the mercy of our consulting engineer
and when he can do the work (Jeff White, WRMI, ibid.)
Glenn: So The DCJC has no reason to keep jamming 9955 while Jeff's
station remains off the air, right? (Noble West, TN, dxldyg via DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
No, but they don`t need a reason, because, they can. Or: They don`t
need a reason other than too lazy or incompetent to turn it off when
not required. However, I was not hearing jamming either at that
particular time. For many months that had not been a time when there
was exile programming. However, at 2208 I am again hearing lite
jamming against nothing on 9955; also heavier jamming against nothing,
on 9810, an hour before Radio Republica via Sackville upcomes (Glenn
Hauser, OK, ibid.)
Earth Day Special: I just checked the calendar and April 23 is UT Thu,
so conflict with Happy Station? Is this still planned? (As well as the
prior one on UT Sat March 21)? (Glenn to Jeff White, via DXLD)
Glenn: I checked my records and discussed it with Keith. Looks like
the 0100 UTC April 23 Happy Station will be pre-empted by the two-hour
Earth Day special from 0100-0300. However, a new Happy Station will
air at 1500 April 23.
I should add that the 1500 UT Happy Station on April 23 will probably
be repeated at 0100 the following UT Thursday. Keith is talking about
possibly updating the 1500 transmission each time with listener
comments, etc. Things are kind of fluid for the moment (Jeff White,
WRMI, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Take it easy, Keith; one single new program per week is enough (gh)
** U S A. 15385, KJES at 1940 7 March with OM reading the Bible.
Excellent signal but no Robo Kids. Hope they're still alive (Liz
Cameron, DXPedition, Brighton MI, MARE Tipsheet March 13 via DXLD)
** U S A. WEWN, 7555, defective modulator hi-pitched squeal getting
worse to the point of driving away even motivated listeners, March 18
at 1339 check during Spanish discussion. Why have they let this go on
and worsen for years without fixing it? If they can afford the juice
for all those 500 kW transmitters, they should be able to afford a
replacement part. But hey, the fewer listeners being misled by this
nonsense, the better (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [non]. 9720 at 1129 13 Feb, Family Radio, Open Forum in
English, SINPO 34543; site? (Edwin Southwell, England, March World DX
Club Contact via DXLD) Aoki shows Novosibirsk during this hour only,
250 kW at 125 degrees, but in Cantonese. Was Open Forum being
translated? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD)
** U S A [non]. I was pleased to hear gh and DXLD cited in a number of
the first items on Radio DX, the CVC A Sua Voz Brazilian DX program,
monitored on the 0200 UT Sunday March 15 webcast-only. And to hear how
what we reported comes out in idiomatic Portuguese. Other DX program
producers should take to heart quoting reliable sources and crediting
them fully. I believe this segment was voiced by Marcelo Xavier
Vieira; followed by more news from Célio Romais. Both had annoying and
distracting continuous music bed which the producer apparently thinx
is required to liven-up the proceedings (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. US COAST GUARD TO DISCONTINUE LORAN STATIONS
http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2009/03/11/10694/?nc=1
Last month, the US Coast Guard announced that due to economic
conditions, they would be closing down the 24 LORAN-C (Long Range Aid
to Navigation) stations operated under the auspices of the USCG. LORAN
stations provide navigation, location and timing services for both
civil and military air, land and marine users. According to the USCG,
LORAN-C is approved as an en route supplemental air navigation system
for both Instrument Flight Rule (IFR) and Visual Flight Rule (VFR)
operations. The LORAN-C system serves the 48 continental states, their
coastal areas and parts of Alaska.
On February 26, 2009, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
publicly announced the President's Fiscal Year 2010 Budget. In the
section for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the budget
"supports the termination of outdated systems such as the terrestrial-
based, long-range radionavigation (LORAN-C) operated by the US Coast
Guard, resulting in an offset of $36 million in 2010 and $190 million
over five years." The USCG, once a part of the US Department of
Transportation, is now under the direction of DHS.
LORAN-A stations were developed beginning in World War II, and signals
were transmitted on frequencies in and around our present-day 160
meter band. LORAN-A was responsible for reduced amateur radio
operations, including frequency and power limitations, on 160 meters
in the United States. In 1979, the Coast Guard phased out the LORAN-A
stations; they were replaced by LORAN-C stations. The newer stations
operated on 100 kHz [plus pulsing harmonix into the MW band nearby ---
gh], enabling the restrictions on 160 meters due to LORAN functions,
to be dropped.
According to the Coast Guard, the nation's oldest continuous sea-going
service will continue to operate the current LORAN-C system through
the end of fiscal year 2009; it is in the process of preparing
detailed plans for implementing the fiscal year 2010 budget. According
to USCG Vice Commandant and Chief Operating Officer Vice Admiral V. S.
Crea, further details of the LORAN-C termination plan will be
available upon the submission of the President's full budget. -- Some
information provided by Cliff Appel, W7CGA -- (via Andrea Borgnino
IW0HK - HB9EMK, blcnews.it yg via DXLD)
So much for the economy of Boise City, OK (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DXLD)
** U S A. 4049.923, KWMO, Washington, MO, March 13, 0419-0649* *1159-
f/out - 3rd harmonic of KWMO, nominal 1350 kHz with C&W format, off at
0649 in mid-program and back on at 1159 UT. Poor to fair with slightly
distorted signal; this one should be getting out pretty well. I caught
this on an overnight Perseus recording. I will check this evening and
verify that KWMO offset is 1349.974 kHz (Brandon Jordan - Memphis, TN,
USA, http://www.bcdx.org dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. Hello Glenn, re the recent info contributed on X-Band WCNZ -
1660 and WVOI - 1480 - Marco Island, Florida and format changes. I'm a
just a few miles from their shared transmitter site, which is actually
just off the Island.
WCNZ and WVOI share one of the towers with WCNZ running 10 kW day - 1
kW night, non-directional. WVOI uses the entire four tower directional
array with 1 kW both day and night.
On Mar. 17, WCNZ was in their Oldies format, but WVOI had just a dead
carrier most of the day. Later at 2225Z, they were simulcasting the
Oldies format.
What a change. In their religious format days, I once counted them
saying "Relevant Radio" 17 times in one minute. Surely a record in
repetitively - !! Best Regards, (Brian Miller, Marco Island, Florida,
March 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WHYL DX Test This Weekend!!! New info --- I will have sweep
tones. I will have Morse ID's at least 6x/hour at different
frequencies, going up from 400 Hz. I will crank the processing to the
max and a bit more. Music will be 70's and 80's mostly, but maybe some
Americana too. TV themes, etc. This thing really squawks! Great
antenna system. 1957 and someone knew their stuff! Original sticks but
transmitter site burned in 2004 and so most equipment dates from then,
SX5A transmitter, phaser, Optimod, etc. Tuning boxes are Gates 1957
and are like new!! Gorgeous! Live jocks and maybe on-air calls. Got an
audio clip from Ken [Baird?] in Scotland in 2006! Very clear, must've
been transmitter work and I believe there was a big problem about then
that resulted in some down time, so likely engineer testing the rig.
It's really cool to hear your own station from Scotland!!! Peace and
73, BC (Bruce, York, PA 722ft ASL, FM19px, March 12, NRC-AM via DXLD)
WHYL Carlisle, PA 960 kHz DX test March 15, 2009. Listened from 0355
until 0605 UT. Mixing with R. Reloj, another Spanish station
mentioning "Habana Cuba" and WFIR in Roanoke, VA. Clearly heard many
WHYL in CW, sweep tones, ID by OM and songs from the 1970s. 73,
(Kraig, KG4LAC, Krist, Manassas, Virginia, USA, March 17, dxldyg via
DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Reminder was posted shortly in advance on the dxldyg. There were
numerous reports mostly from the NE quadrant of the country, it seems,
the furthest being:
960 WHYL-PA, slow CW ID, 2310 CDT 15 MAR 09, followed by sweep tones;
new one! Thanks, Bruce! (Bruce Winkelman AA5CO, Tulsa, OK, Drake R8,
Quantum Phaser, 2 - 50foot wires, IRCA via DXLD) I didn`t even try for
it in Enid, with local KGWA 960 a couple miles away (gh)
** U S A. Article on KGBC-1540 Galveston TX -- Hi Glenn, Found this on
the Illinois Airwaves Message Board:
http://b4.boards2go.com/boards/board.cgi?action=read&id=1236975064&user=ilradio
"A NEW TREND TO LOCALISM?
Posted on 3/13/2009 at 02:11:04 PM by Dan Hughes
GALVESTON — After years of changing musical formats and a gradual
slide into obscurity, radio station KGBC is going back to its roots.
Since it first started broadcasting in 1947, the station was a vital
part of the community, delivering music, local news and coverage of
community events, said Vandy Ánderson, one of the station’s former
owners.
Julián Arango, whose family now owns the station, said he plans to
bring KGBC back to prominence as a source of local entertainment and
news.
The Arangos, whose company Siga Broadcasting owns several other small
stations around the state, bought KGBC about six years ago, Arango
said. Until about three weeks ago, the family leased the station out
to other people to operate, a business plan it uses for all but one of
its stations.
But after Hurricane Ike, the Arangos decided to operate KGBC
themselves because of its smaller market, Arango said. The format will
be more personal than the corporate fare offered by stations in larger
markets, he said.
The station, which broadcasts on 1540AM, is now playing a mixture of
music from the 1960s through the 1980s. The Arangos have dubbed it
“sounds of the bay.”
In the next few months, Arango plans to add local, on-air disc jockeys
and talk show hosts to the mix. As general manager, Arango is
searching the island for possible talent.
He also wants to create relationships with island businesses that
might have expertise, like landscaping or home repair, they can offer
on air during regular shows, he said. “We’ll have all the good stuff
that comes along with being a local station,” he said.
As a community service, the station will also offer information to
islanders during a hurricane, something that’s lacking now, Arango
said."
One interesting response: "Re(1): A New Trend to Localism?
Posted on 3/13/2009 at 07:38:51 PM by responder
In response to this story concerning KGBC, 1540, currently licensed to
Galveston, I have some questions. If they are going to be a local
station for Galveston bay area, how can it be explained that they have
an application with the FCC to move the station to a new city of
license, Dayton TX, which is approximately 50 miles to the north of
Galveston? If this happens, it is obvious that it won't be serving the
local Galveston community. When it goes way up north of Houston it
might simply be used to extend a present Houston station which does
not cover the northern part of Houston. Please explain how this can be
local to Houston with an APP to change city of license to Dayton. I
doubt very seriously that a signal would reach Galveston."
Take care, Glenn! (Eric Loy, DWS Sportsnight, WDWS Radio, Champaign
IL, 217-351-5613, March 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. KARN 920/102.9FM which is Little Rock Arkansas' only
news/talk radio station is going to convert the AM signal on 920 to an
all-sports format. KARN has aired a news/talk radio format on 920
since the late 70's.
http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article.aspx?aID=113223.54928.125346&view=all&link=perm
I'm not sure Little Rock can stand yet another sports-talk station.
There is already a station on 103.7 FM (KABZ) with mainly Razorback
college football/basketball talk and also a smaller signal with ESPN
radio on KDXE 1380 [an ex Air America affiliate]. However, local talk
on 920 has been reduced to Dave Elswick's conservative fare and even
that is only aired the first two hours since a sports-talk show is
aired on 920 AM between 4-7 pm local time. Perhaps Citadel could come
to their senses and take off the gospel-huxters off sister-station
KAAY 1090 and make a viable format out of that sleeping giant (Fritze
H. Prentice Jr, KC5KBV. Star City, AR, Grid: EM43aw,
http://tvdxseark.blogspot.com March 15, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** VATICAN. 15495-15500-15505, DRM Noise test to SWL Winter Fest,
March 14 at 1343, weaker than 17545 GUF. An exercise in piety, gone at
1416 recheck as publicized for one hour only, but 17545 still running;
see GUIANA FRENCH. Strangely enough, both transmissions were missing
from the supposedly comprehensive DRM DX schedule at
http://www.baseportal.com/cgi-bin/baseportal.pl?htx=/drmdx/main&sort=kHz,UTC
I gather it`s in Italian, anyway, so hardly of much use to a North
American audience (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.:
To Vatican Radio, In that this is a demo related to the properties,
advantages and fidelity of DRM radio, it might be in your best
interest to transmit some contemporary or classical music rather than
Italian religious dialogue that most people here in N.A. cannot
understand. Sincere Best Regards, 73,s (Eric//KG4OZO// Atlanta,
Georgia, March 12, drmna yg via DXLD)
** VENEZUELA [non]. Sunday March 15 checking the Aló, Presidente
service via Cuba: at 1440 on 11875 they were just announcing
frequencies: 13680, 13750, 11680, 11875, 17750. Also audible on 13750
and much weaker 13680 with CCI. Nothing on 11680, but has really been
using 11690 which had too much QRM to confirm this date. Then joined
in progress someone speaking; if it was the would-be president-for-
life, he was unusually subdued. Meanwhile, mainstream RHC was running
on 11760, 12000, 13760, 15120, 15360, 15370 --- but for a few minutes
just some rustling noises, apparently feed cutting out, then weak
audio on 13760 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ZAMBIA. CVC Lusaka, 1Africa in the service at 315 degrees toward
Nigeria and Michigan, tentative A-09: 05-06 9430, 06-19 13590, 19-22
5940. Note the last which will finally resolve the collision with
Greece on 9420, but look out in B-09 --- assuming ERA gets back to
full transmitter usage. The earlier plan to change to 13835 in the
evening has been dropped (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
4965.0, Christian Voice, Lusaka, Mar 7, 0111-0558* - Decent signal
with variety music, from hip hop to inspirational, announcements,
phone numbers, etc., between songs. Best signal between 0200-0230
before fading somewhat and then another moderate peak around 0408
transmitter sunrise before fading out. Carrier still above noise floor
to verify 0558 s/off.
5914.955, ZNBC Radio 1, Lusaka, MAR 7, *0231-f/out - t/on at 0231,
likely NA starting at 0250, drumming at 0253 then spirited male
speaker in vernacular with sign-on announcements. Local music past top
of hour until 0310 into talk. Very slight enhancement after 0408
transmitter sunrise. QRM from co-channel DW Rampisham from 0459
(Brandon Jordan - Memphis, TN, USA, Receiver: Perseus SDR, Antenna:
Wellbrook ALA100, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ZIMBABWE [non]. Zimbabwe Community Radio (5935) website
http://www.zicora.com has now some material. The banner says "We are
currently rebranding please stay tuned for our new website coming out
on Monday 06 April 2009" (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, March
18, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
5935, Zimbabwe Community R. via Dhabbaya. FD email confirmation inside
12 hours from Nigel Johnson (Station Manager of Radio Dialogue in
Bulawayo) at njohnson @ mweb.co.zw (David Foster, Australia, March 18,
DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Nigel Johnson provided these details - Zimbabwe Community Radio has
been set up by a community radio support organisation outside of
Zimbabwe called Friends of Radio Dialogue. The material for the
programmes is being provided by various community radio initiatives
within Zimbabwe, who are members of the Zimbabwe Association of
Community Radio Stations (ZACRAS). The coordination for the gathering
of this material is being done by Radio Dialogue in Bulawayo.
ZCR’s schedule is –
2000 Ndebele news (5 min) followed by program (20 min)
2025 English news (5 min) followed by program (15 min)
2045 Shona news (5 min) followed by program (10 min)
Programs -
Sunday-
A religious program about people’s beliefs (Ndebele)
Drama, Comedy, Documentary (English) (The drama and comedy will tackle
issues like democracy, human rights, and social issues like politics)
–though not sure we’re ready for this immediately.
Human interest--(Shona)
Monday-
Current Affairs (Ndebele)
Youth Chat program that tackles youth issues (English)
Magariro current affairs (Shona)
Tuesday-
Elimeni Tradition, culture and social issues (Ndebele)
Women’s issues (English)
Dapurahunanza Traditions and values (Shona)
Wednesday-
Ebandla Women’s issues (Ndebele)
Know your rights (We discuss human rights and we inform people about
their rights) (English)
Kete pakete Youth program (Shona)
Thursday-
Yazi amalungelo akho Program that looks at issues of Human rights
(Ndebele)
Heart beat Current Affairs program (English)
Dzebanhu Kadzi Program that deals with women’s issues (Shona)
Friday-
Ezobuciko Program on Art and Artists (Ndebele)
Human Interest/Arts (English)
Sports Diary (Shona)
Saturday-
Ezabontanga (Ndebele)
Health issues/Religion (English)
Zwirimumatare Program that looks at court cases and whether justice
was done (Shona)
Some web surfing uncovered more details about Nigel Johnson and Radio
Dialogue showing that broadcasting as Zimbabwe Community Radio from
outside Zimbabwe is a natural evolution of the station’s activities.
Father Nigel Johnson is a Jesuit priest originally from Britain. He
co-founded Radio Dialogue in 2000. He is variously described as
Station Manager, Executive Director and Coordinator of the station. In
2008 he received an award from Zimbabwe Christian Alliance for his
work in promoting justice and peace in Zimbabwe. Radio Dialogue is a
recording and production studio offering its services to the community
of Bulawayo and at the same time advocating for the licensing of
community stations in Zimbabwe.
In 2005 Radio Dialogue was refused a licence by the Broadcasting
Authority of Zimbabwe. Even though it is a community station, it had
in desperation applied for a commercial licence. Johnson said that
although the existence of community stations was provided for in law,
“the problem is that there is legislation . . . saying no licence can
be issued to any organization that is partly or wholly foreign funded,
which we are, as we receive funding from international NGO’s.” Johnson
added, “You would find most community stations are (foreign funded),
as to raise funds locally is nearly impossible. It’s a major stumbling
block to community stations.”
“What we do while we’re waiting (for a licence) is to make radio
programs and record them on cassette for minibus taxis to play. We
call these taxi tunes. Each of the programs focuses on a different
theme, such as HIV/AIDS, domestic violence, religion, politics, and so
on,” said Johnson.
On 4 April 2008 Johnson wrote the following article which outlines the
trials and tribulations of Radio Dialogue. See
www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=6516
ZIMBABWE RESULT COULD OPEN THE AIRWAVES
“A year after Radio Dialogue started operations in 2000, we were
invaded. They locked me in my office, and attempted to replace the
lock on the main doors and take over the studios.
The local state-owned newspaper reported that I had been replaced, and
published a cartoon of me being kicked out of a window. From then on
we have employed 24 hour security.
Two weeks later, we were raided by the riot police, police internal
security, central intelligence and the national telephone corporation.
The telephone people were hoping to find radio transmission equipment
so that they could confiscate it, but all we had was recording
equipment. The police and central intelligence were hoping to find
subversive material, but there was nothing.
Two days later, we had a visit from the immigration people, who were
hoping to find someone they could deport. They found one. He was given
two days to leave the country.
A few months later, I was filming a Valentine's Day demonstration by a
group of women, and was arrested along with them. We spent the night
in jail, and next day were charged with holding an illegal
demonstration, then released. Some time later, I was filming a youth
group to make a music video for them. That earned me another night in
jail.
That is how it has been in Zimbabwe for the past ten years. The
government is very suspicious of any independent organisation they are
not in control of, especially media organisations.
Radio Dialogue was set up as a community radio station for Zimbabwe's
second city, Bulawayo. But no one has ever been granted a broadcasting
licence in Zimbabwe, except the state broadcaster. So, while waiting
for a change, we have 'broadcast' by alternative legal means.
We make programs on CD and cassette, which are then played on public
transport, in hair salons, bars and so on. We put on road shows in the
suburbs, featuring local singers, dancers and drama groups. Each show
contains a special message. The earliest shows got across to people
the idea of community radio. The most recent ones urged people to
register and then vote.
We then developed our 'Live Broadcast Meetings'. These are public
meetings, organised by our Radio Dialogue ward committees. They select
a topic of local interest — mostly concerned with shortages of water,
electricity or food. They then invite local officials to be questioned
by the audience. The whole show is presented like a radio program,
with the presenter behind a mixing desk, playing CDs and jingles
between segments of the program.
The day before the meeting, we gather local news from that suburb, and
present a news bulletin in the middle of the program. The meeting ends
with a 'phone-in' segment, where a roving microphone is passed among
the audience. Through this people get a real experience of what local
community radio will be like — that they will not just be passive
listeners, but will actively participate and have their voices heard.
We also do music recording and work a lot with local youth and
artists.
So far, it's been difficult. We have to get police clearance for any
public event, which is time consuming and makes planning difficult.
Last year, the police banned the opening night of our cultural
festival a few hours before it was due to start because President
Mugabe was in Bulawayo.
As I write, the whole nation is anxiously waiting to hear the final
results of the general election. Tight state control ensures that
small amounts of information trickle through very slowly. This is made
up for by the rumours that fly around via the internet or mobile
phones.
Some people are despairing — 'It's been rigged ... the election's
stolen ... five more years of this misery ... how can I get to South
Africa, to UK, to Australia?' Others, like myself, are hopeful — 'Our
time of suffering is about to end ... a new beginning ... a new dawn
... an end to the police state ... the beginning of freedom of speech
... the opening of the airwaves ... soon we'll be broadcasting.'
The next few days will prove who is right.”
It’s also worth reading the article ‘Zimbabweans find a voice through
Radio’ in online magazine Jesuits & Friends Issue 68. See
http://issuu.com/ianjcurtis/docs/winter_07_issue/06
No doubt Zimbabwe Community Radio’s expansion into international
shortwave has been inspired by the examples of Radio Voice of the
People and SW Radio Africa, as well as the proliferation of all sorts
of organisations broadcasting into African countries such as Eritrea,
Ethiopia, Sudan, Somalia and Congo (David Foster, Australia, March 18,
DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. Hola a todos, en 4895 en estos momentos 1755 UT, música
americana big band 40-50's, funky 70's. ¿Qué puede ser? (Antonio
Madrid Gutiérrez, March 14, QTH: Rubí, Barcelona (España), CG:
41 31'49.19N, 1 59'37.69''E/328 Mts Altitud, Rx: Sony ICF2001D+Kenwood
R5000+Degen, Ant.: Hilo largo de 25 mts+Yaesu FRT7700, Web:
http://www.elradioescucha.tk dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Yes, rather nice signal on 4895 around 1815 with kind-a funky music
(Jari Savolainen, Finland, March 14, ibid.)
Radio Pakistan? (David Kernick, ibid.)
Hola de nuevo, he podido escuchar una identificación "EPMGMT on the
radio dance international" o algo así... (Antonio Madrid, ibid.) Or
rather:
Also heard here in UK with quite good signal from tune-in at 1830.
Just before 1900 a male voice with a foreign sounding accent said what
sounded like "8 pm GMT on Radio Jazz International" So their clock is
an hour out! Not heard at 1915 recheck. Could somebody somewhere be
testing a new transmitter? (Dave Kenny, Caversham, UK, AOR7030+ 30m
long wire, ibid.)
One of those pirates again I guess. Modulation was rather nice, but I
think the carrier was wobbling at times (Jari Savolainen, Finland,
2037 UT, ibid.)
The station being relayed on 4895 was Swiss-based internet, satellite
and cable station Radio Jazz International:
http://www.r-jazz.ch/en/home.aspx
Similar ID on the internet stream at 2000 UT as "Radio Jazz
International" with time check as "9 pm GMT". I don't remember any
pirate using this frequency before though? (Alan Pennington,
Caversham, UK, ibid.)
Domenica, aprile 06, 2008, New italian pirate??? 4895 kHz, relay FM
stations from Sicily
http://bclnews.blogspot.com/2008/04/new-italian-pirate.html
(Roberto Scaglione, Sicily, ibid.)
UNIDENTIFIED. 5825 NO ID, 1910-1915, escuchada el 13 de marzo en
idioma sin identificar, probablemente ruso o ucraniano, locutor y
locutora con noticias, referencias a Ucrania, frecuencia no listada ni
en EiBi ni en Aoki, SINPO 33443.
[poco después] Se trata de Radio Praga, anunciada en 5840, pero sin
señal (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia), España, Sangean ATS
909, Antena Radio Master A-108, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Are you sure? 5840 was scheduled as Ukraine at 18-21, not Prague, and
neither on 5825 (gh, DXLD)
UNIDENTIFIED. The two VT Merlin tests at 0800 on 5875 and 12095 at
0810 appear to have concluded. Both were heard on the 9th and 10th - I
didn't listen on the 11th - but on the 12th and 13th only 12095 was on
air. And so far this week, neither is heard (Noel R. Green (NW
England), March 16, ibid.)
UNIDENTIFIED. There was an English voice on 6850 kHz at 0011 GMT today
but I could not make out the ID. I have not copied anything on this
frequency before. Maybe someone will know, the signal faded out by
0017 and reception was poor (Gary Drew, UK, March 16, dxldyg via DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 7887-AM, 5-digit YL Spanish spy numbers, sufficient
signal March 13 at 2028 repeating 50651 several times, then into other
groups starting with 83424 and 76281 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. Another big utility noise invading the ``exclusive`` 31m
SWBC band is making 9495 and 9500 unusable much of the time, such as
at 1339 check March 14, a multiplex signal covering at least 9494-9500
so centered around 9497. What is this? Searching the 20,145 posts so
far in the UDXF yg on 9496, 9497, 9498 got zero relevant hits (Glenn
Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. Aside RHC 13760, at 1354 March 14, heard some 2-way
intermittent Spanish SSB on approximately 13757 give or take a kHz, as
never could nail it down, too close to RHC. Probably another invasion
into the exclusive SWBC band by poachers or drug traffickers. Query:
why don`t the feds DF these communications and nab `em? The culprits
apparently transmit with impunity (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 13935-13960, weak OTH radar pulses, presumed, 1308 March
18. This area is one of its favorite ranges just below 20m hamband
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED [non]. Re 15120: puzzle. German DXer noted unID Arabic
station on 15120 kHz at 1228 to 1256 UT only, March 3rd, und 4th.
[From 1300 UT US IBB R Liberty Biblis in Kazakh starts.] (wb, wwdxc
BC-DX TopNews Mar 9 via DXLD)
Hi dear Tarek, German DXer discovered an UNID Arabic station on 15120
UT in 1228 to 1256 UT slot in past two days. [not Cuba Spanish and not
Saipan IBB Laotian]. May you can check and trace that service in
coming days at your place in Egypt? Maybe even a Palestine radio
service via Iran facilities at noon time? Kind regards de (Wolfy df5sx
http://topnews.wwdxc.de March 4 to Tarek Zeidan, Egypt, via DXLD)
15120 BSKSA Riyadh in Bengali. Dear friends, it seems to be Saudi R.
in Bengali \\ 17820 kHz, signed on today at 1230 UT (Mauno Ritola,
Finland, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Mar 9 via DXLD)
Hi Guys, I kept on monitoring that freq. for sometime now around 1200
UT, but no Arabic heard around that time on that frequency. All the
best, guys (Tarek Zeidan, Cairo, Egypt, March 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Dear Tarek, has been solved recently: BSKSA Riyadh in Bengali from
March 29th onwards.
In A-09 season BSKSA Riyadh schedule a \\ transmission to 17820 kHz is
on
15120 kHz registered, possibly an hour extended till 1600 UT.
15120 1200-1600 41E RIY 500 70
17820 1200-1500 41E RIY 500 70
(Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Mar 10, via DXLD)
UNIDENTIFIED [non]. ESTACION DE RADIO NO IDENTIFICADA EN ESPAÑOL
Hoy domingo 15 de Marzo de 2009, Santiago San Gil captó una radio no
identificada en idioma español en Barrancas - una zona campestre
distante a unos 20 kilómetros de Barinas la capital del Estado
Barinas, Venezuela - La frecuencia fué la de los 17920 kHz con una
programación musical con intervenciones de un locutor dando la hora e
identificando las canciones y saludando a los oyentes a las 2145 UT
con un SINPO 25322 pero con demasiada distorsión del audio. El
receptor utilizado es un portátil marca Grundig G5 y su antena
telescópica.
Posteriormente a las 2100 me comuniqué con Jorge García Rangel en
Barinas para que grabara esa transmisión, quien me confirmó que
también escuchaba la emisora con música de baladas e inclusive cumbia
peruana pero con muchísimo ruido. Él la captó con un receptor Kaito
1103 y una antena de hilo largo con un SINPO 25111. Cuando regresé a
Barinas, escuché la grabación y evidentemente Jorge tenía más ruidos
estáticos y atmosféricos que yo. De hecho la siguiente grabación
alojada en el servidor de audio TooFiles es prácticamente inservible:
http://www.toofiles.com/es/oip/audios/mp3/emisoramisteriosa-17920khz2100utc15-03-2009.html
Tanto Jorge como yo presumimos que esta transmisión “pudiera” ser el
tercer armónico de alguna estación que opera en los 5973v kHz o sus
alrededores desde Colombia, Ecuador o Perú. Y aunque chequeamos
también esa frecuencia, ninguna señal había allí. Verificamos en el
Libro Passport to Worldband Radio 2009 y no hay ninguna estación
listada de esos países en esas 2 frecuencias.
¿Alguien más la pudo captar? Será una nueva estación? Seguiremos
monitoreándola a ver si podemos identificarla, pero mucho agradecemos
a los colegas diexistas, vecinos de los países andinos, que nos ayuden
(Santiago San Gil, Jorge García Rangel, Editores del Blog “Diexismo
Venezolano” http://diexismovenezolano.blogspot.com CLUB DIEXISTAS DE
LA AMISTAD, V E N E Z U E L A, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Hardly anything but noise is audible on the sound file, which is
interrupted by Wii commercial! I replied that `17920` is one of the
KVOH spurs, as reported in great detail in DXLD 9-021 and again in
this issue (Glenn Hauser, DXLD)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS
++++++++++++++++++++++++
Thanks again for providing a valuable service to all of us. Keep up
the good work! (Donna Ring, Baltimore MD, with a check in the mail to
Glenn Hauser, P O Box 1684, Enid OK 73702, WORLD OF RADIO 1452)
SCOTT BARBOUR
I think Scott Barbour is doing a great job with the Trop Band column
[NASWA Journal, print]. `` Non-editing`` is the key here; he allows
the guys to express their comments on what they`re hearing, rather
than chop submissions down to a ``just the facts, ma`am` format.
Consequently, the column now reads like a bunch of DXers getting
together to shoot the breeze. It`s very lively and entertaining. It
seems like participation is up as well (Richard W. Parker, Pennsburg
PA, March NASWA Journal via DXLD) Many other clubs and editors might
take this to heart (gh)
RON HOWARD: 2009 MEMBER OF THE YEAR
NASWA Executive Council member Alan Johnson announced at the [Winter
Fest] banquet that Ron Howard was selected by the club`s Executive
Council to be the recipient of the William P. Eddings
Award as the club`s 2009 member of the year.
As many of you know, Ron is a regular contributor to the club`s
Flashsheet, Yahoo Group and the Journal. Attacking the bands from his
location at Asilomar Beach, CA, Ron provides excellent reports of DX
emanating from the Asian and Pacific region as well as from other
parts of the DX globe. Congratulations Ron! 73, (Rich D`Angelo, PA,
NASWA yg via DXLD)
Hi Rich, Thanks and appreciation to the NASWA Executive Council for
selecting me for the William P. Eddings Award as NASWA’s 2009 member
of the year. It was back in early 1971 that I first joined the club
and have certainly enjoyed my membership ever since. It’s been a
pleasure to have had the privilege of interacting with many of our
members. With my recent retirement, I find I can put in even more time
listening to my favorite stations from Asia and hope to continue to
pass along many more postings, with my logs and observations. Thank
you again for the honor of receiving this award! (Ron Howard, Asilomar
Beach, CA, ibid.)
DIGITAL BROADCASTING DRM: see also BELGIUM; BULGARIA; GUIANA FRENCH;
++++++++++++++++++++ INDIA; NETHERLANDS; NEW ZEALAND; RUSSIA; VATICAN
DRM PROGRESS REPORT
A few items from DRM steering board meeting Jan 2009
DW may work with RDP (Portugal) on a joint DRM broadcast as it already
is doing with BBC.
Brazil has declined HD Radio. Possible Brazilian DRM seminar in May.
Discussions going on with ABU, EBU and WBU on a worldwide standard
receiver profile.
DRM panels at NAB next month.
DRM Wiki being worked on, though this may be a member only service.
UniWave receivers tested in Paris, Finland and NZ.
Good indoor reception in NZ of French broadcasts.
"It should have a competitive price and retail networks are now well
informed and waiting to take delivery of receivers."
DRM+ continues to make progress as a standard.
A wide-coverage area Traffic Management Channel spec has been
developed.
The upper limit for DRM+has been set at 170 MHz.
Manufacturers are trending to multi-standard chipsets.
Analog Devices has a multimode chipset to be released within a few
months; Mirics has a system-in-package RF, demod and audio DSP for a
multistandard radio, not yet in production; STM will have samples of
itsDAB+/DMB/DRM chipset in 3Q 2009.
Near term focus of DRM on regulatory bodies in Romania, Bulgaria,
Hungary, Russia. Longer term India, Brazil, China, Canada (Benn Kobb,
DC, March 11, drmna yg via DXLD)
DRM DEMO AT THE SWL WINTERFEST, KULPSVILLE PA, MARCH 13-15
The Vatican Radio DRM at 1300-1400 on 15500 mostly did not work. But
that is via a trans-Atlantic path during poor propagation. It was
worth a try. And Vatican Radio at 2300-2400 on 7370 is usually good.
We were at dinner and couldn't try it at Kulpsville. [see also
VATICAN above]
TDF French Guiana was about 90% successful on 17545, 1300-2000. It
would have been closer to 100% on a better receiver in a less noisy
location. [see also GUIANA FRENCH above]
We had about 50% reception of Kuwait on 11675. Sackville was almost
always good on 9800. And that is just about all the DRM we had to
receive. 73 (Kim Elliott, March 15, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Re 9-023: TRANSLATOR PROBLEMS
``Cash-strapped translators should just use a consumer STB as input --
- assuming there is any DTV signal to capture (gh, DXLD)``
That was my first thought also but I believe a lot of translators are
heterodyne type, downconverting the received channel to an IF
frequency then upconverting that to the output channel. So you'd need
a good quality modulator to get the STB audio/video up to the IF
frequency (Ed/wd8kct Thomas, March 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Re 9-023: AIRPLANES DISRUPT DTV
At my previous residence jet airliners would pass over at about 1000
feet; happened to be watching a DTV channel on the spectrum analyzer
during one flyover and the normally flat waveform developed a
sinewave, the frequency of which changed as the aircraft flew over.
the old Accurian DTV STB I was using would freeze several times during
flyovers (Ed/wd8kct Thomas, March 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
DTV IN-HOME ELECTRICAL INTERFERENCE
I had previously been under the impression that digital television,
although affected by things like airplanes and bad weather, was not
affected by electrical interference within the house. I hadn't had
issues with it like I did with analog because the picture was always
so nice and clear.
Then I found out tonight that just like analog, digital IS affected by
other appliances and devices. My antenna was turned just enough away
from my locals (without my knowledge) that whenever I would turn on my
computer's monitor, our very strong local PBS would go to hell then
totally drop out within 5 seconds. All other stations would drop out
as well, except our 10-mile local which only intense tropo can wipe
out.
On our PBS, the signal metre was about halfway into the "Good"
category (usually at the very top when the antenna is aiming in the
right spot) and upon turning on the monitor, dropped halfway into the
bad category then to the very bottom. Local NBC and CBS started in the
very middle of the bar and turning on the monitor dropped the signal
entirely - nothing even showing on the signal bar.
I can imagine the problems with reception if one were to buy an
appliance that unknowingly was affecting their DTV - no lines like
analog, no ghosts, just crappy signals or none at all. Trying to find
the source of the interference would be rough, and you wouldn't even
know if it was from within the house or just weather patterns.
Can you use signal traps with digital like you can with analog?
Anyone else experience in-home interference like this yet?
Of course, aiming the antenna properly (a turn of about 5 degrees)
fixed the problem entirely, except I am noting that my NBC and CBS -
two already weak signals - become even weaker with my computer monitor
on. Nice to know I guess, because I hadn't caught onto that in the
past 3 months until today (Chris Kadlec, Fremont, Mich., March 16,
WTFDA via DXLD)
STB's DIFFER
Found something strange the other day .I thought that KTCI-17 (analog)
KTCI-16 digital were only providing an analog signal, having dropped
their 3 sub-channels when they combined with KTCA-2(TPT). My Magnavox
Model TB100MW9 STB picks up 16-1 & 16-2. My Zenith STB's fail to remap
to the 16 digital. Even adding the 16 channel manually fails to give
me anything except 'no signal'. The signal level on the Mag unit only
reads about 22, which should give me some sort of signal reading on
the Zenith & Insignia boxes. It is strong enough to decode on the Mag
box.
Heck, my 4 year old Accurian STB at least gives me a signal readout
for 16/17, which is on the weak side, but it's more than the Z & I
boxes do. Really odd (John Ebeling, Bloomington, MN, March 16, WTFDA
via DXLD)
If I'm reading their website correctly, and they're not especially
clear about this, they're playing an interesting game with remapping,
using "2.x" as their major channel for both KTCA-DT and KTCI-DT.
http://www.tpt.org/program/dtv/dtv_channels.php
From this, and from RabbitEars.info, it appears that KTCA-DT (RF 34)
is running "TPT2" in HD on 2.1 and TPT MN Channel in SD on 2.2, while
KTCI-DT (RF 16) carries TPT Life in SD on 2.3 and weather in SD on
2.4.
So if you rescan and get 2.1 through 2.4 inclusive...you ARE getting
both KTCA and KTCI; it's just that they're using the combined 12 MHz
of the KTCA and KTCI signals to deliver all their "2.x" signals.
I would bet that there are at least a few brands of boxes out there
that might choke on this sort of a setup, but that's just a guess.
I don't know of any other stations that are trying anything like this,
but then there are few other PBS duopolies like KTCA/KTCI remaining.
(Off the top of my head, there's WGBH/WGBX Boston, WNET/WLIW New York,
WCVE/WCVW Richmond, WMVS/WMVT Milwaukee, WPTD/WPTO Dayton - though
WPTO has really moved to Cincinnati now, KET/KET2 in Louisville, and I
suppose you could include WQED/WQEX Pittsburgh, though WQEX is no
longer operated as a PBS outlet, and KUED/KUEN Salt Lake, though KUEN
is operated rather independently of KUED.) s (Scott Fybush, NY, ibid.)
MUSEA
+++++
RUSSIA CELEBRATES A RADIO PIONEER'S 150TH ANNIVERSARY/SESQUICENTENNIAL
Today is Alexander Popov's 150th anniversary. Traditionally he is
credited in Russia with "inventing radio." In accordance with a
presidential decree, this anniversary is widely celebrated throughout
the nation.
The celebration includes special ham radio broadcasts, student
rallies, a special post stamp issue, countless media reports, several
expositions, unveiling of monuments and public plaques, etc.
Popov was originally from the Urals area. He graduated from the
Russian Orthodox seminary there. Then he studied at St.Peterburg
university. You can read more on him and his scientific achievements
at Wickipedia at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Stepanovich_Popov
For a purely Soviet perspective from Stalin's time I recommend
watching an English-subtitled part of a 1950 blockbuster Alexander
Popov at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrxT1ya9fso
Marconi is featured there, too :)
Finally, Popov Central Museum of Communications runs a surprisingly
comprehensive English version of its site at:
http://www.rustelecom-museum.ru/?lang=en
Curiously, today's Vesti National Newscast carried a special report on
both radio hams and pirates. The radio pirates weren't presented as
such but rather as bright students who set up their own low-power
station with a coverage of five kilometers. The reporter didn't deal
with legality issue. (Actually Russian regulations don't provide for
low-power broadcasting. And I guess five km aren't so low-power
anyway.) (Sergei S., Moscow, March 16, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Any listener to R. Moscow knows that Popov invented radio, not those
Italo-British or American impostors (gh)
After watching that old movie I came to a conclusion that TV Martí, in
a Marconi-like fashion, stole a Russian invention! The TV channel used
a blimp over Florida Keys for its antenna :) (Sergei S., Moscow, March
16, dxldyg via DXLD)
RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM
+++++++++++++++++++++
THOMAS TOLIVER GOLDSMITH, JR. passed away at his home in Lacey,
Washington on March 5. Among his many accomplishments, Goldsmith was
the Director of Research at the Allen B. DuMont Laboratories from
1936-1966 and founder of Washington , D.C. station WTTG-TV (5) in
1945.
The station was a DuMont Network-owned station (as was Pittsburgh 's
WDTV-TV (3) - later KDKA-TV (2)) and dubbed with Goldsmith's initials.
WTTG still exists today. Goldsmith was 99 and is survived by his wife
of 70 years, Helen, three children, six grandchildren and ten great-
grandchildren. Nine interviews from 1997 on Youtube at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npNfOikMMFA
Full obit:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/15/arts/television/15goldsmith.html?ref=obituaries&pagewanted=print
(Brock Whaley, HI, March 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
TECSUN PL-600 LW-MW-SW PORTABLE
Hello, I received the Tecsun PL 600 receiver from Hong Kong this
morning, in good shape, no probs. Receiver is light, and has many
features, including 600 memories, Single Side band (tuned by Beat
Frequency Oscillator), external antennas socket etc.
Upon powering up the receiver, immediately noted how sensitive it
actually is. Amateur communications on 7 MHz here in Europe came in
with half of the whip antenna extended, giving ample results. China
Radio International, 13665 at 1200 UT, was received very well with no
antenna whatever, still perfectly listenable.
The receiver was supplied with several meters of wire, with a winding
frame on one end, being terminated with a 3.5 mm jack plug. This gave
more than adequate reception for general shortwave listening. The
receiver has three settings for reception. DX, Normal and Local. The
normal setting is useful when signals are particularly strong, such as
CRI on 13665.
FM reception is great, with a stereo output via the two supplied
earbuds. Longwire is satisfactory also, tuning BBC Radio 4 on longwave
(198 kHz) just fine. I didn't try medium wave yet.
The receiver is powered using 4 NiMh Batteries, which can be charged
in the receiver, using the charging circuit. The batteries are 1000
mah, which should on normal use, last fairly well. When time comes to
re-charge, you select the mah of the batteries used, and select from
the relevant choice on the receiver.
Unit was supplied with an AC wall wart, which is 220 Volts, with
American-style prongs. Pleased with this purchase, recommend to others
(Chris Lewis, England, March 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Hello All, One of the newest SSB models from China, the Tecsun PL-600
is obviously designed to compete with the Sony ICF-SW7600GR, with very
similar size, shape and features. As a much newer model, however, it
has superior digital features and a much lower price-- $65.95 plus $24
shipping, from the eBay seller "tquchina."
Although this model is seriously oversized for Ultralight radio
qualification, it does have one stellar quality that would thrill
any pocket radio transoceanic DXer -- the ability to act as a compact
SSB spotting receiver, with a sensitive and selective AM section. Its
4" x .4" loopstick is identical to that of the new PL-450, and
provides highly directional nulling capability to identify
transoceanic SSB carriers. In addition, its SSB fine tuning range
covers about 5 kHz of total spectrum, giving it greater flexibility
than the more narrow SSB tuning range of the ICF-SW7600GR (which is
switched between LSB and USB). The BFO circuitry is also stable enough
for routine copy of amateur radio SSB and CW signals.
As in the ICF-SW7600GR and ICF-2010 models, the PL-600 has a
broadbanded, fixed loopstick which doubles as the LW antenna. These
loopsticks have two fixed coils with no alignment system, making them
a completely different type of antenna than the single-coil E100 and
C. Crane SWP loopsticks, both of which can be replaced by a sliding-
coil transplant providing greatly increased sensitivity. In the case
of the PL-600 (and also the ICF-SW7600GR and ICF-2010), greatly
increased sensitivity can be obtained by matching the stock coil
inductances in a longer composite ferrite bar loopstick transplant,
however.
As a stock model, the SSB-equipped PL-600 should be a great choice for
Ultralight radio DXers needing a "spotting receiver" for transoceanic
DX possibilities. Strong TA or TP carriers on a PL-600 should indicate
a great chance for stock Ultralights like the E100, C. Crane SWP or
DT-400W to receive their first transoceanic DX signals. As one of the
lowest priced, relatively competent SSB portables on the market
currently, the new Tecsun PL-600 can really help the beginning TA or
TP DXer discover the thrills of transoceanic DX at a very reasonable
cost. 73, (Gary DeBock, WA, IRCA mailing list via DXLD)
AND --- you can also use it to axually listen to SW! (gh, DXLD)
Hi Gary: Thanks for the review! You're willingness to get and try out
new receivers is a great benefit to us all. I have three hopefully
easy questions.
1. A question on the SSB: how stable is the BFO after warmup? In other
words, would using this in ECSS be an annoying warble-fest as the
zero-beat is slowly lost, or does it settle down to allow good ECSS
listening? The Sony 7600GR (mine, anyway) stabilizes after about 15
minutes, allowing the selection of either sideband, a great DX asset,
but I have heard from several others whose 7600GR simply won't
stabilize. You're right about the limited BFO range of the 7600GR -
mine has a range of +2.2 kHz and -1.8 kHz, meaning that you can go
either 2 kHz down or 1 kHz up and still get a zero beat, a sort of
"poor man's passband tuning". If the PL-600 is plus/minus 2.5 kHz, you
could detune 2 kHz in either direction.
2. Does the SSB allow the use of the Wide bandwidth? On the Sony
7600GR, shifting to SSB restricts you to only the narrow bandwidth.
3. If the answer to #2 was yes, does the Wide bandwidth cause
"fluttering" in ECSS on AM signals? On many sets, if the filter
bandwidth is too wide, the opposite sideband starts to leak through,
and the ECSS signal starts to flutter. It would be nice to have a set
that allows higher-fidelity single-sideband reception, sort of a poor-
man's emulation of the Drake R-8B's Selectable Synch mode with its 6
kHz filter. If the PL-600 does flutter in Wide bandwidth, can you
detune a couple kHz, re-zero beat it, and get rid of the flutter,
since you are 2 kHz further away from the offending sideband?
Thanks for any info! (Kevin Satya, Bainbridge Island, WA, IRCA via
DXLD)
Hi Kevin, In answer to your questions, the SSB capability of the new
Tecsun PL-600 is basically similar to that of the ICF-SW7600GR, with
neither radio having any significant edge in BFO stability. Both of
them require a short warm-up to be completely stable, and the ECSS
reception potential of the PL-600 is similar to that of the Sony
model.
The major difference is ergonomic, with the PL-600 having a dedicated
round knob for the SSB fine tuning, compared to the ICF-SW7600GR's
rather cumbersome tuning thumbwheel. As mentioned previously, the PL-
600 also has a wider tuning range in the SSB control, and need not be
switched between LSB and USB, as in the Sony model. The Tecsun's SSB
capability can be used with either the wide or narrow IF filter,
although for serious AM DXing the wide filter is essentially useless,
allowing far too much slop from local stations. As a result, any
flutter issue is pretty much a moot point. Since the SSB fine tuning
control on the PL-600 covers a wider range, it is also slightly more
difficult to zero in on the desired DX station than on the Sony model.
Using the narrow filter in the SSB mode can allow the PL-600 user to
make some excellent DX catches adjacent to strong locals, however,
when the SSB fine tuning control is optimized on the weak DX station's
frequency.
As mentioned previously, the PL-600 lacks the ICF-SW7600GR's effective
synch detector, and in general does not have the highly attractive fit
and finish of the Sony model. But at roughly half the cost of the ICF-
SW7600GR, it does provide outstanding DX performance for the money,
and ergonomically superior SSB tuning capability as an Ultralight
radio spotting receiver. For DXers with stock Ultralights like the
E100, DT-400W, C.Crane SWP and other sensitive models, the Tecsun PL-
600 would be an excellent, economic choice to organize a search for
transoceanic DX. 73, (Gary DeBock, ibid.)
MYSTERIOUS 60 MINUTES ANOMALY
It happens every week about 2 minutes into CBS` 60 Minutes, and it
just happened again March 15 at 2302 UT. When the correspondents are
introducing themselves one after another, right after the billboard,
there are two or three glitches, audio and video, interrupting the
flow as if switching back and forth between two slightly
unsynchronized sources, for no reason at all.
This is as received from KWTV OKC via Suddenlink cable here in Enid.
This time I had another monitor running on the direct KWTV-DT-9 signal
(analog already closed down, as did temp DT-39 on Feb 17), and there
were NO such glitches. I thought S/link was getting KWTV off KWTV-DT-
9, but the cable version was running about 5 seconds behind direct OTA
DTV, so it must be less direct.
Anyhow, I don`t think this has anything to do with DTV as it has been
going on for many months, always at this precise part of 60 Minutes.
So the question is, has anyone else noticed this on their CBS
affiliate, direct, by cable, satellite, or whatever. Or will you
notice it next weeks now that I have inquired? And for that matter,
any similar instances which always happen at certain points in other
programs? 73, (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Above was posted on a number of TV DX lists, and several responses
were received, but none really about this particular kind of anomaly
(gh)
I can't comment on "60 Minutes" as I've only watched one segment on
the show in the last five years (and that was very disappointing), but
I did notice once that the cable signal on one of the local Chicago
stations (if memory serves it was WGN) was about six or seven seconds
ahead of the OTA DTV signal. I can only assume the station is feeding
the cable system directly via wire and the encoding/decoding of the
OTA digital signal adds an effective delay of several seconds. Not
good news if you're trying to watch a sporting event on TV but listen
to the radio coverage (Jay Heyl, IL, ABDX via DXLD)
Could have the local station been recording the Sixty Minutes feed via
video tape - and a glitch/splice on the very same spot on said tape?
Just a wild guess (Ron Gitschier, Palm Coast, FL, ibid.)
Glenn, We don't really get a CBS here on DTV without constant
distortions or a plain unreliable signal, so it's tough to compare 60
Minutes here to yours, but ---
We have been getting constant glitches just like you describe on
multiple channels recently, that just started up in the past week or
maybe two. They're just like you describe, almost similar to a brief
signal loss, but seems more like the glitches are based in the studio
as they are occurring even on our closest DTV 10 miles away on our
most powerful signals, in the daytime and in the dead of night. No
planes flying overhead and last I checked, not many birds have
nightvision and fly at 4 am in the path of our signals.
Your situation is probably different than mine, but I have been
wondering about these glitches. On the plus side, I always have closed
captioning on and such loss of signal that briefly doesn't interrupt
it. I do more reading while watching TV than I do in a magazine. After
all, with the signal quality of our DTVs out here, CC is a necessity
to piece together what's being said every time the signal drops.
Good thing all our analogs are still running here. Damn good choice to
keep em running too - because hey, we're happy we can watch all our
shows til the end of the season without dealing with digital ;). (Oh
yeah, analog Es too). (Chris Kadlec, Fremont, Mich., 105 mi ene of
Milwaukee, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Hi Glenn; I've noticed something that may be similar, on AT&T U-Verse.
Many channels and networks while watching Standard Definition
programming, sometimes the picture will hiccup and jump to partial
letterbox. It doesn't do it on OTA but it is annoying. A tech stated
that he thought it was auto switching of (feed) sources, like you
mentioned but it seems to happen lots during ad blocks and other times
too (Dave in Indy Hascall, ibid.)
I was having multiple problems with nearly all HDTV signals. Lots of
uncorrectable errors showing even tho the SN was still respectable.
The Ch 13 HD channel the worst, Ch 29 the best. It all came down to
one freaking loose F connector on the input of a splitter/3 dB amp
feeding the entire house (Bill Frahm - Boise, amfmtvdx at qth.net via
DXLD)
Important news from The BLANDX News Service
http://www.blandx.com/bdx3/draco_bailout.html
(Bill Kyle, CEO, The BLANDX Corporation, March 15, dxldyg via DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
PROPAGATION
+++++++++++
Geomagnetic field activity was at predominantly quiet levels during
09 - 12 March. Activity increased to unsettled to minor storm levels
on 13 March. Quiet to active conditions prevailed on 14 March through
mid-day on 15 March, when activity returned to quiet levels. ACE solar
wind data indicated the activity was due to a coronal hole high-speed
stream (CH HSS). Velocities increased to a maximum of 587 km/s at
13/2111 UTC and then gradually decreased to the end of the period,
with a velocity of 435 km/s at 15/2359 UTC. During this period, the
interplanetary magnetic field Bt increased to a maximum of 20 nT at
12/2147 UTC, and Bz reached a minimum of -11 nT at 13/0108 UTC.
FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 18 MARCH - 13 APRIL 2009
Solar activity is expected to be at very low levels. No proton events
are expected at geosynchronous orbit. The greater than 2 MeV electron
flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to remain at high levels
through 18 March. Normal flux levels are expected during the rest of
the period.
Geomagnetic field activity is expected to be at predominantly quiet
levels through 08 April. Activity is expected to increase to unsettled
to active levels during 09 - 10 April, with a chance for minor storm
periods at high latitudes due to a recurrent CH HSS. Mostly quiet
activity is expected for the rest of the period.
:Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt
:Issued: 2009 Mar 17 2113 UTC
# Prepared by the US Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, Space Weather Prediction
Center
# Product description and SWPC contact on the Web
# http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/wwire.html
#
# 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table
# Issued 2009 Mar 17
#
# UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest
# Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index
2009 Mar 18 70 5 2
2009 Mar 19 70 5 2
2009 Mar 20 70 5 2
2009 Mar 21 70 5 2
2009 Mar 22 70 5 2
2009 Mar 23 70 5 2
2009 Mar 24 70 5 2
2009 Mar 25 70 5 2
2009 Mar 26 70 5 2
2009 Mar 27 70 5 2
2009 Mar 28 70 5 2
2009 Mar 29 70 5 2
2009 Mar 30 70 5 2
2009 Mar 31 70 5 2
2009 Apr 01 70 5 2
2009 Apr 02 70 5 2
2009 Apr 03 70 5 2
2009 Apr 04 70 5 2
2009 Apr 05 70 5 2
2009 Apr 06 70 5 2
2009 Apr 07 70 5 2
2009 Apr 08 70 5 2
2009 Apr 09 70 15 4
2009 Apr 10 70 10 3
2009 Apr 11 70 5 2
2009 Apr 12 70 5 2
2009 Apr 13 70 5 2
(SWPC March 17 via WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DXLD) ###