DX LISTENING DIGEST 00-25, February 15, 2000 edited by Glenn Hauser WORLD OF RADIO ON WWCR: The Saturday 2030 time on 12160 may continue until March 4; meanwhile, to replace it a new Sat 1730 on 12160 may start before then (Adam Lock, WWCR) ** ANTARCTICA. 15475.7 [sic, previously reported as 15476.0, or was this an unjustified assumption of more accurate significant digits than called for?] LRA36, R. Nacional Arcangel San Gabriel has changed its schedule due to equipment problems, currently: Mon-Fri 1630-2045. Programming: From 1630 opening and Argentine music with news every 30 minutes; from 1800, commentaries and talks about Argentine provinces, their inhabitants, tourist locations, etc., until closing at 2045 (Gabriel Ivan Barrera, Argentina, Conexion Digital, via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARMENIA. In connection with the retimed bcs someone got the Sunday freq wrong (15240). They are still on 15270 Sundays, e.g. in German at 0920 followed by English at 0940-1000 (Erik Koie, Denmark, Feb 3, BC-DX via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. Hi Glenn, I saw the item regarding Radio Australia in today's DX Listening Digest. I didn't hear the item on Media Network that Bob Padula refers to so don't know what was said. Advice from Nigel Holmes, Transmission Manager of Radio Australia today is that: 1) The dummy load at Cox Peninsula (Darwin) is currently unserviceable 2) Australian Communications Authority DFing sites advised Nigel of these transmissions emanating from a specific location in northern Australia 3) Nigel has spoken to certain shift leaders employed by British Aerospace under contract to BCL under contract to Dept. Finance about the "tests" - and said he would prefer they used an audio source other than RA's jingle bells (AKA Waltzing Matilda) but no other audio material was available. Most ABC/SBS transmitters were run by the National Transmission Agency, this has since been sold to NTL - see http://www.ntl.com/australia for more information. Cox Peninsula is I believe owned by the Department of Finance. 73s (Richard Jary, Australia, Feb 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. Glenn, Here is the full info received this afternoon from Nigel Holmes of Radio Australia... "The Cox Peninsula high frequency broadcasting station has been conducting brief, on-air test transmissions during local daylight hours from December to present. The tests are part of the continuing maintenance program at the site. The test transmissions which carry no scheduled programming, are intended to evaluate the operation of aerials, transmission lines and aerial matrix switches at full r.f. power (250 or 300 kW) and are in accordance with obligations of the contractors engaged at the site. "The site is the subject of a long term lease tender offered by the Australian Federal Government. The tender closed late last year. A number of applications have been submitted. "The amendment bill (Amendment Bill No. 3 1999) to the Broadcasting Services Act which gives the Australian Federal Government a means to regulate the content of international broadcasts originating from Australia DOES NOT apply to ABC (including RA) or SBS. The ABC and SBS have their own enabling legislation and are not affected by the Broadcasting Services Act. "A number of industry representatives, including ABC, were present at a viewing of the draft Amendment in Canberra in November 1999. The Amendment has now gone before Parliament." (Nigel Holmes, Transmission Manager, RADIO AUSTRALIA via Australian Radio DX Club via Richard Jary Feb 10 via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. I have noted an apparent new frequency used by Radio Australia of late the last few days. At 1230 I normally tune into RSI to Americas on 21810 and noted last couple of days some QRM not there before and found Radio Australia in English on 21815. Heard the broadcast from around 1200 to 1355 when the signal is barely audio able and fades out so when it stops is another question. Signal is fair and so is the audio and suspect it's for Asia and possible Indonesia as lot of the programming is Indonesian based news and interviews in English, Feb-10. (Karl Kruger, England, Electronic DX Press via DX Listening Digest) Listed for B99 21820 Shepparton 0900-1400 with English. (Bob Padula, ibid.) RA continues to test on 9580 from *0030-0130* non-daily, carrying RA's normal English service, but this frequency not announced. I believe this to be from Shepparton, based on signal level and transmission characteristics. Signal strength is rock solid, which is consistent with ground wave propagation from Shepparton into Melbourne, about 200 km. I do not believe that the operations referred to in the above message are associated with the hour-long programming currently heard on 9580. I'll give Nigel a call when I get a chance and see what he says! (Roberto Vincenzo Padula, EDXP via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. Anyway the test on 21720 materialized and the ones on 31 metres was announced by Mr. Holmes himself. Maybe "obvious" is an exaggeration but one can hardly deny that both his secretiveness and the format (nonstop RA interval signal as audio and break-offs) of these 21720 transmission suggests an unofficial Darwin test. If this is a wrong assumption it would be the turn of Mr. Holmes to put it aside. (Kai Ludwig, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRIA. ORF's frequency in the 21 meter band (13730 kHz) has been silent for the past 8 days, at least from my QTH. 9870 kHz is booming here, however. I sent them a message five days ago, but haven't received any answers yet. Anyone knows what's going on? (Elmer Escoto, Honduras, Feb 5, Conexion Digital, where he is now editing a segment in English, via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. One wishes for a somewhat higher level on a science show for the masses, Quirks and Quarks. The Feb 6 edition had a segment interviewing Dr. Will Sager (sp?), oceanographer at Texas A&M University, College Station, about evidence for ``polar wandering`` some 84 megayears ago when Toronto would have found itself at the latitude of Tampa or Miami, and Washington in Cuba, yuk yuk. Over a 2 megayear period there was a shift in the surface of the whole earth of about 20 degrees of latitude, tho the spin axis remained pointed at the same star. The north pole would have been somewhere in northern Siberia. Anomalous masses within the mantle shifted, and were redistributed to maintain the equatorial bulge. Evidence for this comes from seamounts under the Pacific, with heliomagnetic indicators in the lava no longer pointing north. The polar wandering amounted to about 10 degrees per megayear, or 110 cm per year. Also, the magnetic field went from constant polarity to flipping back and forth. The Cretaceous Period had several polar shifts, then after it from 80 to 40 megayears ago, shifted back. It seems the spin axis shifts, sticks for a while, shifts again, etc. The trouble with this item is that NO distinction was made by the guest or brought up by the host between the geographical and the geomagnetic north pole. The two are NOT the same. The geomagnetic pole wanders measurably over short periods, but has stayed during my lifetime among the northern Arctic islands of Canada. Furthermore, there is a well-known phenomenon called precession of the equinoxes, wherein over a several thousand (not million) year period, the earth’s spin axis describes a circle in the heavens, making different stars the pole star. Now it is Polaris; at other times in the cycle it is closest to Vega. The point is: the magnetic indicators in the lava do not point to the north geographic pole, but to the north geomagnetic pole, which we already know wanders both with relation to the geographic pole and to the land masses floating on the mantle. So although Toronto may have wandered down to Tampa, from my layman`s knowledge it appears the evidence cited is false. And nothing at all was said about what would surely be another major factor: continental drift (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COSTA RICA. 5954.1, Radio Casino is irregular, maybe on one day every three weeks. Their signal is fair when they are on. Best reception just after *1200 (Hans Johnson, FL, Jan-Feb, Cumbre DX via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA [non]. Opposition radio heard on new frequency: The opposition radio, Voice of the Democratic Path of Ethiopian Unity (which broadcasts on Sundays and Wednesdays only), was heard on 9th February broadcasting on 15105 kHz, a replacement for 11670 kHz, at its usual time of 1600-1700 gmt. Source: Monitoring research 9 Feb 00 ((c) BBC Monitoring via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HAWAI`I. Just noticed in the latest FCC database that KUAU-1570 Haiku, HI is applying for 50kw days, 25kw nights, non-directional. Maybe that'll help more of us hear the islands.... (Blake Lawrence, San Francisco, CA, Feb 5, NRC-AM via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. Glenn, Today (Sunday Feb 13th), I'm hearing Voice of Indonesia once again on 15149.82 kHz. I was unable to hear any output on 11785 Khz which we monitored back awhile ago. Listening at about 1940 UT in French, and yes was able to hear English once again at 2000 UT. Whew..no more DW which was covering up English on the other frequency. (Gee Glenn...just maybe someone was reading/ listening to you/us ??) They still give both frequencies (plus 9525) in announcements. Signal today was very weak at my location here in southern Wisconsin, but could make out just fine. No major interference here to have to deal with, (JRC NRD-545 / Long Wire with RF Systems MLB) using ECSS- USB. Regards, (David Zantow, Janesville, WI, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. 5046.37, RRI Yogyakarta, now reactivated. 1259 ID then news from Jakarta relay. 1330 time pips and Local News. ID as "Inilah Radio Republik Indonesia Yogyakarta warta berita". Yogyakarta heard as Jogjakarta". SINPO 23342 to 33443. (Feb 10, 2000, Nobuo Takeno, JAPAN, Jembatan DX via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5046.4, RRI Yogyakarta. Reactivated. Telephone conversation program at 1425. This day was local all night program. Still heard at past 1800. Nobuo Takeno pointed out ID was heard like as "Radio Republik Indonesia Jogjakarta". I got the tape from him and confirmed that ID was heard as "Radio Republik Indonesia Yogyakarta dengan Warta Berita Daerah" at 1330. The station was inactive in the local eveving on 11, February, but the next day was heard again. 13 February was inactive. This is irregular broadcast. (Feb 10, 2000, Juichi Yamada, JAPAN, Jembatan DX via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN. USA/Iran: VOA says its Persian broadcasts "deliberately jammed" by Iran Text of press release by Voice of America on 9th Feb Washington, DC, 9th February 2000: On the eve of key Iranian parliamentary elections on 18th February, the Voice of America's Farsi [Persian] broadcasts have been deliberately jammed by Iran for the last two weeks, according to monitors in the International Broadcasting Bureau's Office of Engineering and Technical Services. Jamming intensified in the first week of February. "We very much regret that the Iranian government is jamming VOA broadcasts at a time when our Farsi Service is offering special programming on the 18th February elections and the 21st anniversary of the Islamic revolution," said VOA Director Sanford J. Ungar. "It makes me wonder, `What news and information is the Iranian government trying to hide from its people?' VOA is committed to covering important regional events, and listeners in Iran are complaining that jamming only makes it harder for them to hear these and other VOA programmes that are of interest to them." The IBB Technical Monitoring Office in Bahrain and monitors at IBB headquarters in Washington DC first observed the jamming of the Farsi services of both VOA and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty during the last week of January. Detailed monitoring of the situation began by IBB offices in Bahrain and Islamabad; an IBB Remote Monitoring System in Yerevan, Armenia; and contract monitors in Karkala, India; Colombo, Sri Lanka; and Auckland, New Zealand. Reports from these locations confirmed the Iranian jamming in the last week of January and that it had increased in the first week of February. Monitoring has identified two forms of jamming. The first is "bubble jamming," a fast oscillating tone transmitted by a jamming transmitter operating on the same frequency as the VOA transmitters. The second is "voice jamming," broadcasts of the external service of the Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran transmitted on the same frequency as VOA Farsi. Source: Voice of America press release, Washington, in English 9 Feb 00 (via BBC Monitoring excerpted by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH. Two-hundred kilowatt transmissions in English from Radio Pyongyang in North Korea may be heard at 2100 UTC on 6575 and 9335 kHz. A little more unusual are their obscure messages to agents which may be found by listening patiently using AM and SSB between 1600 and 2200 UTC on 3320, 4770 and 5872 kHz, and also in the 6 MHz band. These unusual public broadcasts commence on the hour with five minutes of martial music, followed by a female voice dictating coded messages. This is a variation on the 'numbers stations' existing in Europe, which have also been heard recently in exclusive amateur bands sending Morse code. (Radio Society of Great Britain GB2RS News, posted February 9, via John Norfolk, OKCOK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LIBERIA. Glenn, thanks for the mention of me and my Guinea Bissau logging of UT Jan 31 0500-0600 4848+ kc, in English. I have not heard them again, but would like to report my logging UT Feb 13: tune in 0710-0800 fade out, 4760 kc; of ELWA Liberia, with American religious programming, in English. ID was at 0715 "this program is coming to you from radio station ELWA, Liberia"; again an ID was at 0745. No QTH/city was heard besides Liberia. Signal had bad fading and QRN, became inaudible by 0757. This signal received nightly this past week. Same USA religious program was heard on 4851kc 0500-0515, then dead air, the same night. Possibly, ELWA used a Guinea Bissau medium wave broadcast UT Jan 31 while readying their transmitter to return to the airwaves, or was an unrelated relay. I enjoy your show on RFPI, weekly. I use a Rick Mish R-390a and a 250 foot balanced loop antenna. My name is pronounced "ghoul-yahsh", I never miss your 2 shows. Thanks, (Ron Guylas, MARE 73-good dx, Feb 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LIBERIA. ELWA on 4760 has fair signal near Dallas at 0600Z 13 February. Sunrise at ELWA today is 0712Z. 73 from Bill Smith, W5USM, hard-core-dx via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LIBERIA. I am Ron Sonius, former director of the SIM mission in Liberia that ran ELWA Radio before 1996. Your e-mail was forwarded to me to answer. Because of the 8 year civil war in Liberia which destroyed the original radio station the post office in Liberia is not operating to it's full capacity; therefore the post offices around the world cannot send mail into Liberia. You may send your QSL card [sic] to Radio ELWA, % SIM Liberia, 08 BP 886, Abidjan 08, Cote d'Ivoire, West Africa. The SIM mission in Abidjan sends the mail to ELWA in a bulk package once a week by air. (Sonius, ELWA, via Enzio Gehrig, hard-core-dx via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO [non]. VOICE OF ZAPATISTA/LA VOZ DEL ZAPATISTA 6955 USB Feb 6 *0100-0130 Relay of a program downloaded from the internet. Sign on with flute interval signal, Spanish talk about Chiapas by man and woman. Covered by Radio Bingo at 0130. (444 Coatsworth-ON)(555 Myers- VA)(142 Majewski-CT)(354 Silvi-OH)(fr Wolfish-ON)(353 Zeller-PA)(554 Kusalik-AB)(McArdle-OK)(good Demsky-ME) 6955 2-6 0130-0136 Under Radio Bingo with low key Spanish songs. (Frodge-MI) (all: Free Radio Weekly via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. R. Huayacocotla, 2390, was well heard UT Saturday Feb 12 from the 3800 block of Seawall in Galveston, TX, as there was nothing between us but the Gulf of Mexico; on battery power with the ATS-909 and whip. From tune-in 0043 a local oom-pah brass band, ``banda de viento`` was playing from the community of El Sotano. 0050 a nice R. Huayacocotla jingle. Nice on peaks with occasional deep fades and distortion presumably from dual path phase cancellation, but no QRM and only occasional static crashes. I taped most of this and may feature on a future WOR/COM. Program was ``La Carola(?) y el Trombon`` dedicated to wind bands. Sign-off announcement with XEJN calls, but faded down when giving hour of return. (However, I could detect a weak signal next day at 1432.) Concluded at 0103 with a solo child haltingly singing the Mexican national anthem with native (Nahuatl?) lyrics until 0105* (Glenn Hauser, TX, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEW ZEALAND. New Zealand TV audio pounding in on 50.750 and 50.760 MHz. Good enough for wideband FM detection. Two video offsets fighting on 45.260 giving nice whistle het, 0730 UT Feb. 15 (Brock Whaley, WH6SZ, Honolulu, amfmtvdx via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. Glenn, it sounds like Oklahoma City is getting ready to have another radio war [between] long time KJ-103 and new Wild 97.9. Usually lately there is no war but the usual is to buy out your competition. I noticed that KJ [102.7] has added more titles that they have not been playing that Wild has been playing. I thought they would get to go after KOMA no 2 rating but somehow mo money KJ will spank them along with other Clear Channel stations that pay listners a lot to listen to really crappy music. It is nice to know that KOMA and WKY of old are not the last stations to battle it out. If you listen to KTOK, they have been running spots for KQSR and KJ-103 and vice versa; sounds like they all need help. Take care (Bill Eckart, OK, Feb 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 5130.92 Radio Uno, Tongod; Thanks to the latest news from PFA, this new OA broadcaster was finally heard in Tokyo. First noted at 1157-1205 on 05/FEB/2000. S/on at 1157 with the Peruvian National Anthem and a long canned ID with deep echo. Followed by a morning folklore show entitled "Despertar Andino". Thanks also for a phone tip from Shoji Yamada. (Takayuki Inoue Nozaki, Relampago DX via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 5865.4, R. Nuevo Cajamarca, Nueva Cajamarca; 3 Feb 0020-0140 33333 huayno folk music, ID "Radio Nuevo Cajamarca, desde Nueva Cajamarca..." Note: I reported this station as Radio Nueva Cajamarca on 9 Dec 99 on 5860.0 kHz, but now tuned on 5865.4 and I hear more clearly that they say "NUEVO Cajamarca" [as name of station, while the city is NuevA, an anomaly discussed years ago -gh]. On this new frequency they are heard at times with distortion and background hum, and the frequency varies slightly to both sides. Tnx TIN tip. Checked the old frequency and there was no signal at all (Pedro F. Arrunategui, Lima, translated by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 7141.7, Radio Real, 1115-1130, Andean vocals, announcer with time checks and ID's in passing over music. Very strong signal just beginning to fade with local sunrise. Carrier drifting and jumping around between .70 and .74. (Mark Mohrmann, VT, Feb 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 7141.8, RADIO REAL DE HUARMACA, 2210-2315: 2210-2240 Musica chicha. "..gracias por su amable sintonia de Radio Real de Huarmaca..." "..la hora a nivel nacional en los estudios de Radio Real de Huarmaca, la autentica voz del pueblo huarmaqueño..." but a few times the word was different: ".. La voz del pueblo huarmaquino..." Mentioned nominal frequency of 7155 kHz. Thanks to Arrunategui info on this station (Rafael Rodriguez, Bogota, Colombia, Feb 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOUTH AFRICA. Channel Africa to be commercialized, minister says Text of report by South African news agency SAPA Cape Town 9th February: Government intended to corporatize [as received] the SABC's radio service arm, Channel Africa, by the end of this year, Communications Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri said on Wednesday [9th February]. Addressing a media briefing in Cape Town, she said this was part of the restructuring of the SABC into public and commercial entities. The public broadcasting service would focus on delivering a public service, while the commercial service aimed to attract investment in order to draw skills, technology and resources to enable the SABC to be competitive. "The corporatization of Channel Africa into a relevant and profitable independent company is another aim of the overall project," she said. It was also aimed at aligning Channel Africa to President Thabo Mbeki's concept of an African renaissance and the objectives of South African foreign policy. Matsepe-Casaburri said it was also intended that Channel Africa support the establishment of an Africa think-tank, drawing on a pool of African experts in the communications sector. Source: SAPA news agency, Johannesburg, in English 1450 gmt 9 Feb 00 (via BBC Monitoring, via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TEXAS. While my trip to Galveston was mainly for R&R, beyond the gross megurban obstacles of The Metroplex and Houston, I did note a few things of interest concerning stations here. 530 TIS at Texas City was running a loop about the water supply; when checked the next day at 1245 UT, presumably the same one, was running nothing but a female non-computer giving time, day and date, the latter as ``2, 12, zero`` -- but the time was two minutes slow! What a great public service. 1070 KENR Houston, ethnic format, Sat at 1610 UT was in Hindi(?) with ad for Savoy Jewelers for Val. Day 1180 KGOL Humble, as usual in Vietnamese Sat morning 1400 KHCB in Galveston (whose FM station is in Houston) may be Spanish most of the time, but Sat at 1608 UT was in Mandarin Chinese. 2660 had a harmonic, no doubt 2 x 1330, both night and day at 1250 with US music, 1300 net news from a US station so likely one of the Texans or Louisiana. A perfunctory FM bandscan, including checking every audible station for RDS, from Galveston u.o.s. found: 88.1 KJIC gospel originally on 90.5 has translator strong enough to be local, but unlisted by FM Atlas. Other nearby 88.1 listed in Freeport, Katy, Pasadena (RDS: KJIC) 89.1 KEOS Bryan/College Station got a joint ID on KPFT 90.1 Houston at 1601 UT Feb 12, but when I later listened to KEOS locally it was not duplicating KPFT 89.5 no sign of the Galveston KPFT 90.1 Houston translator listed by FM Atlas, but instead KLUX, religion from down the coast at Robstown near Corpus. 90.1 KPFT direct with only 28 kW is iffy with unID co-channel. Many full power Houston FMs blast in with no problem, not that far away. 90.3 KEDT Corpus public radio barely squeezes in 90.5 KJIC gospel from Santa Fe TX; (RDS: KJIC) 91.3 KVLU Beaumont public radio barely squeezes in 95.7 KIKK-FM Houston (RDS: KIKK FM) 97.3 Galveston translator of 89.3 KSBJ Humble-Houston gospel rock instead captured by classical public radio WRKF 89.3 Baton Rouge LA, not only in the evening with Nightmusic at 0236 but at 1559 UT with ID after Lawn and Garden Show. Those engineering off-air pickup translators in this area need to realize the power of Gulf Tropo, of which I gather there was some from Bill Hepburn`s forecast. WRKF usually on top but hash from the intended primary. On 89.3 itself, all I could hear was KSBJ. 97.9 KBXX Houston (RDS: THE BOX) 98.5 KTJM Port Arthur-Houston (RDS: THE JAMM) 107.5 KTBZ Lake Jackson-Houston (RDS: THE BUZZ) Reluctant to leave the coast, I decided to drive down to Freeport before heading back thru Houston. A few miles west of Galveston there was a stretch with extremely high noise level on AM from adjacent power lines, whose poles deliberately lean seaward to give them an edge against hurricanes. Beware the toll bridge as you leave Galveston county, where you will not only owe a dollar to escape but the dollar-taker puffs a smelly cigar. I wound up spending the next night at Bryan/College Station, where I was not impressed. Not only is it the home of misinformation about polar wandering [see CANADA], and of stupid and dangerous bonfire piles, but also of almost invisible median curbs down the main drag at night, and of all-smoking motels run by rednecks. So I wound up paying extra just to get a room free of poison gas. Cable TV at the Preference Inn deleted PBS affiliate KAMU from channel 4 in favor of HBO instead of putting it on any of several higher vacant channels. However, I got the chance to see a bit of the International Channel on cable 48, which was mostly in original languages without subtitles (closed captioning unknown), such as a Hungarian sitcom, Japanese music videos, but something from Korea was partly in English. Another very dangerous stretch of highway is Interstate 45 just north of Corsicana, where there are varying little curbs instead of shoulder on the inside lane next to the grass median. If one strays slightly off the highway at 75 mph it is far better to hit the grass than a curb! These are hard to see even in full daylight, and come and go with no rhyme or reason, never a full 6 inches, but 0 to 3 inches or so. I saw this southbound, and on the same stretch of highway northbound in 1986 a pickup in front of me hit the center curb, lost control, and caused me to roll over totalling my car full of household goods including an R390 and HQ160, from which I was very lucky to emerge with only a few scratches and bruises. As I was driving thru Fort Worth, which BTW is a very ugly city: will they ever finish the interchange in the middle of town? -- And the wonderful Amon Carter Museum is half-destroyed for remodeling the next two years - I happened upon ``Memories 96.7`` with some nice oldies and claims to 40 minutes in a row without ads (but not without jingles and DJs). Could not believe the signal on this class A channel, which held up almost to Ardmore OK, beyond most Metroplex FMs. Then I see it is 92 kW licensed to Flower Mound, north of FW, KMEO (Glenn Hauser, TX, Feb 10-13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TEXAS. What's in a name? The historic "KLIF" call letters have gotten a reprieve - but only because officials can't find anything better. The station retooled itself in early January, eliminating its sports shows in favor of straight talk and renaming itself "Big 570." At the time, program director Steve Konrad said he wanted a new set of call letters, too. But "as we look for something that works, they're either all taken, or they belong to other companies, and it's a pain right now," Mr. Konrad says. "Technically, we're keeping them, but it's only because there aren't any available that make any sense." Still, he acknowledges that the venerable call letters do hold some value, and "all things being equal, we'd prefer not to have someone else glom onto them." Should "Big 570" ever find an appropriate set of letters, he says, "KLIF" will likely be transferred to KKLF-AM (950), the outlet that carries the station's programming in the Denison-Sherman area. And if you listen carefully near the top of the hour, you can still hear the letters "KLIF" in the federally mandated station IDs. Just make sure you're listening very carefully. (Al Brumley, Dallas Morning News Feb 13 via Mike Cooper, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K O G B A N I. Feb BBC On Air mentions only one subject for Concert Hall, Sunday 1601-1700 on 17840: The Viderunt Project. We enjoyed this Feb 6 and were looking forward to more of the 26 compositions, but instead on Feb 13 it was a totally unrelated New York Philharmonic retrospective; and Feb 20 will be the Millennium Concert, Elza Soares, Rio`s Queen of Samba. So will there be any more Viderunts? Like so many other programmes, BBC On Air refuses to give specific dates or weeks during the month for topics mentioned, whilst they could easily do so (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K O G B A N I. Dear Glenn, Here is a copy (minus address info) of a letter I am e-mailing to Write-On. I know it is kind of harsh, but I think there are a hell of a lot of people who feel the way I do, whether or not they express it. Feel free to quote this letter anywhere you wish. Tim Dear Write-On, I don't know why you even bother to broadcast Write-On. Week after week you read letters, mostly from listeners who object to the changes which BBCWS is making. Then you usually reply with some variation of "We don't care a whit what you think, we've made up our mind." If you feel this way, why continue the pretense of caring what we, the listeners, think. This week you spent five minutes or so speaking with a Penny Something- Or-Other about why Farming World was being dropped, despite numerous letters of protest. I have no idea what this woman was trying to say, she made no sense at all. I believe this indifference to what your listeners really think goes back to when BBCWS was split into what you called "Streams." That is when I began to detect this not caring on the Write-On program. Just when BBCWS is becoming more available than it has ever previously been, through local re-broadcast, internet, etc. it is also becoming less worth hearing. I used to fantasize about how wonderful it would be to have BBCWS available 24 hours per day on a local FM station. Now I hardly care. I feel that BBCWS has three elements, news and information, entertainment, and atmosphere. Only the first of these elements seems to be important to you any more. To you want to know what I really miss? No, you probably don't, but I'm going to tell you anyway. I miss Lilliburlero at the beginning of the news, and the chimes of Big Ben at frequent intervals, when program breaks permitted it. Why were these dropped? If you dare to say that the air schedule was too tight to include them, I simply won't believe you. I've spent a fair amount of time in foreign countries and odd locations, sometimes under a lot of stress. NO matter where I was, or what I was doing, when I heard Lilliburlero coming over my shortwave radio at the top of the hour, I felt that the world was the same place I had always known. It was tremendously comforting to me, even when the news which followed the song was bad. I don't expect you to care about this, but maybe someone in London ought to at least know. A very unhappy listener. (Timothy Hendel, Huntsville AL, Feb 15, via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K O G B A N I. Glenn, I have been receiving the digest regularly - many thanks - you must spend hours on it every week - its excellent. At last I have a contribution. Here is something of interest (hopefully): JAB INFOLINE: This recorded telephone information line has been in operation covering offshore & other radio news for many years & is regularly updated. Slight change of telephone number for the "JB (Jaybee) Infoline" is now in operation - (UK) 07626 910 390. I have checked & confirmed this number. Calls are not a premium rate in the UK but I'm not sure about overseas rates. I am not the organiser but make contributions from time to time - give it a call. Calls last 5 minutes with a facility to leave a message. Please leave a short message as it would be appreciated. The old number will continue to 1 April. (Mike Terry, Feb 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. VOA plans to create a special service to Colombia, if and when Congress provides funding; to include news and info directed exclusively to Colombia, which is currently the third greatest recipient of US foreign aid. (AFP Washington via El Tiempo, Bogota, Feb 11, via Henrik Klemetz, translated excerpts by gh, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. KIM: On Thursday, Voice of America director Sandy Ungar held a town meeting for VOA employees to discuss the outcome of a language service review by the Broadcasting Board of Governors. Some VOA employees called it "black Thursday," because the BBG, the highest authority of U.S. government international broadcasting, determined that personnel cuts will take place in several VOA language services. Mr. Ungar announced that 51 VOA jobs will be cut. VOA Polish is most affected, with the loss of 15 positions. Also facing reductions are VOA Czech, Hungarian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Slovene, Romanian, Lao, and Portuguese to Brazil. The VOA News division will lose five positions at its New York and Chicago bureaus. Mr. Ungar explained that most of the European services that will experience personnel cuts will form a new VOA multimedia unit. [TAPE: CUT 1 NOT TRANSCRIBED] VOA transmissions are also affected. The amounts I will give are per day. Albanian will eliminate 15 minutes, leaving 1 and a half hours per day, including a 30-minute radio-TV simulcast. The Bulgarian 30- minute transmission on 792 kilohertz from Kavala, Greece will be converted to an Internet and affiliate feed service. Croatian will be reduced by 30 minutes to one sesquihour per day. The Romanian half- hour now on shortwave will be converted to an Internet and affiliate feed service. Serbian will be reduced by 30 minutes to two hours, including a half-hour radio-television simulcast. Slovak, now one hour on shortwave and Munich 1197 will be converted to an Internet and feed service. Burmese will change times to allow the resumption of service on 1575 kilohertz medium wave via Bangkok. Khmer will be reduced by 30 minutes for a total of one and a half hours. Lao, or Laotian, will be reduced by thirty minutes, leaving total of thirty minutes. Vietnamese will be reduced by 30 minutes, leaving a total of two and a half hours, but the service will add medium wave; the frequency was not specified. These reductions will be implemented by the end of August. The BBG language service review is based on such factors as media freedom in the target country, U.S. foreign policy interests, and audience numbers. Some VOA language services will be under particular scrutiny in the coming year because of their present performance as indicated by audience research. These are Russian, Portuguese to Brazil, Arabic, Hindi, Indonesian, Kurdish, and Turkish. Mr. Ungar said that if funds become available, VOA would like to restore 13 and a half hours recently cut from Amharic, English to Africa, Hausa, French to Africa, Kinyarwanda/Kirundi, and Swahili. Also, to acquire FM frequencies in Jakarta, as well as Dili, East Timor; expand VOA Macedonian by 15 minutes to a total of 30 minutes; and establish a targeted Spanish news and information service for Colombia. Radio Free Asia will not be subject to any reductions this year, but a press release from the Broadcasting Board of Governors states that Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty will also be making cuts to some of its services. Paul Goble, RFE/RL`s Director of Communications, told me that his organization is making no comments about cuts at this time. (Kim Elliott, VOA Communications World Feb 12 via John Nofolk, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Several months ago I spoke to Dave Frantz on the phone regarding QSLs. Once I got past his stand on "we know we are getting out"....."so we don't want reception reports", I offered to set up a maildrop and work with him on verifying some of these reception reports. At that time he told me he had hired a person (I think he said a sales person?), and went on to talk about the 5 hours of program details for a QSL. Those 5 hours of reception details would be used to market/sell air time. Fair enough; he is running a commerical SW station! I asked him what about the small mountain of existing reports; Dave told me those would be taken care of. As one of you mentioned, there may be a great deal of $'s in those reports. Please, rather than turning WGTG or any other station away from QSLing perhaps we can work with with them in getting some QSLs out. Another Nepal or Bhutan we don't need. I will call Dave Frantz tonight (Feb 9) and see what can be arranged to clear up the reception report backlog. [Later:] Hello Hard Core DX group: I was able to speak with Dave Frantz last night for over an hour. It was quite a conversation. Here is the bottom line. The 5 hours of program details stands. This 5 hours of programming can be over an extended time, i.e. days, weeks or months, with 5 hours of details WGTG has "an obligation to give an immediate reponse". What about the old reception reports? To be honest he "doesn`t care". Dave said they are not a priority now, expanding the station is. I explained to him his hard line ``doesn`t care`` answer is not an answer, but a problem! He went on to say that he was not sure where those reports are. They may have been "thrown out, lost or stored". He has agreed to look for those reports when time permits and "if" found perhaps a maildrop/QSL service can be set up. I personally am not holding my breath! Anyone interested in hearing the story of setting up a SW radio station in Georgia, could call Dave Frantz at WGTG; he is really not the hard liner he appears to be. On a positive note reception reports received under the 5 hour policy, have been QSLed, they have recently mailed out. Dave mentioned QSLs sent out to "some Scandinavian DXers". I know this really doesn`t solve the issue(s), but perhaps gets to WGTG's bottom line. Please be assured that I am not happy with this commerical station`s stand, but "at the end of the day" that`s their call! Let us hope things work out in the end. If not, oh well, I am still going to continue this great hobby. Wishing you all the BEST! (Joe Talbot, Canada, hard-core-dx via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Neo-Nazi SW broadcaster Kevin Alfred Strom made a brief appearance on ABC`s 20/20 Wednesday night, Feb 9 around 0315 UT Feb 10, in a story about women in the far right movement. One who has now seen the light is his ex-wife Kirsten Kaiser, who said, directly quoted, ``I was married to a monster``. They share custody of three children. She was going to chat at abcnews.com Thursday at 2 pm ET. Are these things archived? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Those away from their TVs at 0000 UT Mondays may still hear 60 Minutes on some CBS radio stations. Feb 14 reconfirmed on KRLD 1080 Dallas, and 7 seconds later on WBBM 780 Chicago. What`s the matter, finger on the button waiting for naughty words on this show?? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. You never know what AFN is going to do; for ABC Perspective, Sunday Feb 13 at 1205, 12689.5 and 4278.5 were instead carrying something else, so I could hear it only on 6458.5 from Puerto Rico; fortunately, KOA 850 Denver was better. BTW, ABC recently started much longer commercial breaks within this program. They used to be only one or two minutes max, usually PSAs. So there is less editorial and minute after minute after minute of breaks between stories (Glenn Hauser, Bryan TX, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Bob Collins of WGN 720 AM Chicago died recently in a tragic plane crash and this email was read by him on his last show. http://www.wgnam.com/shows/collins_bob/thingsilearned.htm -- (Kevin Maly, hard-core-dx via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Hello Glenn, I wonder if you heard me on Al Weiner's talk show tonight just after 7:00 PM Central. In case you didn't, I called to say that some of the afternoon shows on WBCQ which I really enjoy, such as Marion's Attic, WOR and Jean Shepherd are hard to hear, as 7415 does not propagate all that well, and that this will become worse as hours of daylight increase. I suggested that Al simulcast some of these programs on 9340, at least until that frequency is fully occupied. Well, this was Allan's cue to tell me that as of Monday, Feb. 14, 9340 is going to be on the air all day long (I think he said 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM Eastern time, but I am not sure of this) carrying some Christian network. It's probably just another one of these far right satellite networks, such as WGTG and WWCR already carry. I know Allan has to make money, but what a shame that he has to do it this way! (Tim Hendel, AL, Feb 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Notes from Al Weiner Worldwide on WBCQ, 7415, UT Sat Feb 12 at 0100: WBCQ-2 will start regular broadcasting Monday Feb 14: the Mon-Fri 8 am to 5 pm ET (1300-2200 UT) block has been sold to Christian Media Network, which is expected to carry a variety of mostly talk programs. CMN deal was with James Lloyd who does The Apocalypse Hour. This will be on compatible USB, carrier -6 dB, or roughly half of normal AM, so receivable on any cheap SW radio. Evenings and weekends are still open, and not clear whether would stay on the air until time is sold, but Tim Hendel called from Alabama asking for repeats on 9340 of Marion`s Attic and other enjoyable afternoon shows now becoming inaudible in the ever- increasing pre-spring daylight. She, for one, has already asked to be on 9340, but Allan made no definite commitment to simulcast 7415 or repeat shows on 9340. One problem in running longer hours is finding techs qualified to handle 50 kW transmitters who are willing to live in northern Maine in the winter, and take the pay WBCQ can offer. Tom called from the site asking Allan to wrap up the show in time for a spot to be run at 0159. WBCQ has been pushing spot sales, and one of the first takers is Kurt ``extreme weapons`` Saxon, who is still salivating for the collapse of the USA. What peace, love and understanding! A new 2-hour music show on 7415 starts Feb 19 Sats at 9 pm EST after RFNY [0200-0400 UT Sun]; they were not sure of the title but it seems the first hour will be ``Hear Now`` and the second ``Lay [Le??] Bon Bon Club``. Medical news: Big Steve Cole is going in for surgery shortly, and we hope all will be well. There are several pre-produced Different Kind of Oldies Shows so may not have to miss any weeks, UT Suns 0100-0200. Elayne Star (Mrs. Weiner) is having trouble walking, and is being examined for spinal cord problems. We were checking 9340 Monday Feb 14 at 1300, but nothing, and still nothing at 1440 recheck. Propagation not to blame, as RCI was fine on 9640. Still nothing on 9340 during the daytime Tue Feb 15, as Tim Hendel also notes (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Followup to DXLD 00-21: Current schedule for amateur bulletin station WA0RCR, Wentsville MO, Saturday afternoon and evening in North America, Central time. All tape delayed u.o.s. Begins 1 pm [1900 UT]: Amateur Radio Newsline; RAIN [Radio Amateur Information Service]; St. Louis Amateur Radio Newsline; This Week In Amateur Radio; and special announcements, taped and live. 5:30 pm [2330 UT]: The Houston AMSAT Net. Continue with: Amateur Radio Newsline; RAIN; St. Louis Amateur Radio Newsline; This week In Amateur Radio. 8 pm [0200 UT Sunday]: This Week In Amateur Radio (Live) 9 pm [0300 UT Sunday]: The Houston AMSAT Net. 10 pm [0400 UT Sunday]: Amateur Radio Newsline; RAIN; This Week In Amateur Radio. 12 Midnight until 2 am [0600-0800 UT Sunday]: Continue with retransmission of latest Amateur Radio Newsline; RAIN; This Week In Amateur Radio. 2 am or after [0800 UT Sunday]: Close Newsletter; Sign off. (wa0rcr.com via John Norfolk, OKCOK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) No mention here of the ARRL Audio Service but I suspect it may be heard sometime during the 13 hour period. While I'm on the subject, W1AW broadcasts ARRL bulletins Monday through Friday at 9:45 pm ET [Tue-Sat 0245 UT] on 1855, 3990, 7290, 14290, 18160, 21390 and 28590, all SSB. Also, W4KLV, Official Bulletin Station in San Antonio TX has been heard opening the South Texas Emergency Net Sundays at 8:30 am CT [1430 UT] on 3955 LSB. The International Amateur Radio Network's bulletins via K1MAN on 3975 and 14275 SSB and 3890 AM are currently inactive. RealAudio ham bulletins: Newsline http://www.arnewsline.com or http://www.newline,org ; RAIN Dial-up http://www.rainreport.com (includes FCC Enforcement Report from FCC Chief Enforcer Riley Hollingsworth, updated Sundays); This Week in Amateur Radio http://www.twiar.org ; ARRL Audio News http://www.arrl.org (John Norfolk, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [et al]. Glenn, Sunday 13 February 2000... Today was the the day for WEu Shortwave listeners to push the envelope. There was a marvellous opening across the Atlantic all of this Sunday afternoon for anyone interested in monitoring Amateur Operators working Narrrow FM via the W1OJ repeater in the Atlantic North West. Although conditions seemed a little scratchy into Ireland at times, nevertheless stations were just as good to hear at 1830 as they were four hours earlier at 1430 UT. However, things changed dramatically for the worse around 1900 UT. Throughout the evening, stations from as far afield as Jamaica, Canada, Russia, Poland, Germany, Belgium and England were heard. Needless to say, Massachusetts stations were plentiful, but stations from Colorado, Arizona, Texas, Louisiana were also heard via the W1OJ repeater throughout the period. In the latter part of the evening, after dark had fallen in Ireland and conditions were getting tricky, EI9EJ from County Kerry in Sou'-West Ireland had a brief QSO with a station in Denver, Colorado. The magic frequency for all the fun was 29.620 MegaHertz. By the way, the repeater in question is situated at Bolton near Boston MA. Often, operators in the vicinity of the repeater itself were heard to say that they were mobile, using CB antennas or even on occasions some were heard to say that they were simply using handhelds. There was a variety of antenna details from operators in Europe and elsewhere, but the most frequent type seemed to be some sort of vertical. Amazingly, one UK station was getting through with a G5RV. Several times, European stations, in countries that were relatively close to one another, had a QSO by going TransAtlantic via the American repeater. A good example of that happened at 1617 UT when stations in Belgium and Germany linked up. Power output from stations was modest by all accounts, the maximum heard mentioned was 100 watts, but the Jamaican station, 6Y5WW beat all with a mere 12 watts. That guy's name was William and he was clear as a bell into the Irish South West at 1721 UT in a QSO with Canadian station VE3SMI. The repeater station W1OJ was heard giving a loud and clear voice identification at 1645 UT. An automated voice [female] said "This is the W1OJ Repeater near Boston". Incidentally, this particular repeater is owned and managed by Roger Perkins W1OJ, Bolton, MA., USA. By all accounts, Roger has six such repeaters, but the Boston one seems to be the daddy of them all. It has been in operation for close on twenty years. Note that the input is 29.520 MegaHertz and the system is open for shared use. (Finbarr O'Driscoll, Ireland, Feb 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZIMBABWE. [Re: DXLD 00-23] ZBC dropped use of 3306 kHz early in November 1999, I happened to be visiting Harare at the time. They were then found operating the following schedule: Radio 2: 4828 kHz 0300-0530 & 1630-2200; 5975 kHz 0530-1630 Radio 4: 6045 kHz 0300-2200 Radio 2 is all in Shona/Ndebele, but Radio 4 has daily 10-minute newscast bulletins in English at 0600, 1130, 1800. All times UTC. Incidentally, ZBC now has a website at http://www.africaonline.co.zw/zbc/ ================================================ Check out the Interval Signals Archive at http://home.clara.net/dkernick (Dave Kernick, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###