DX LISTENING DIGEST 00-54, April 17, 2000 edited by Glenn Hauser {Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only providing full credit be maintained at all stages. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without permission} WORLD OF RADIO AND CONTINENT OF MEDIA SHORTWAVE-ONLY SCHEDULE AS OF APRIL 17, 2000 Days and times strictly UT. Note: this version shows times while DST is in effect. RFPI activated new 6970 April 16, and new frequency schedule effective April 17 is now shown. Wed 1730 COM RFPI 25930-USB 15049 Wed 2330 WOR WBCQ1 7415 [ex-2130 from April 19] Thu 2030 WOR WWCR 15685 Thu 2300 WOR RFPI 25930-USB 15049 Fri 0700 WOR RFPI 6970 Fri 0930 WOR WWCR 7435 Fri 1500 WOR RFPI 25930-USB Fri 1900 COM RFPI 25930-USB 15049 Fri 1930 WOR RFPI 25930-USB 15049 Fri 2030 WOR WBCQ2 9330-CUSB Sat 0300 COM RFPI 25930-USB 15049 6970 Sat 0330 WOR RFPI 25930-USB 15049 6970 Sat 0300 WOR WWCR 3215 Sat 1100 COM RFPI 6970 Sat 1130 WOR RFPI 6970 Sat 1130 WOR WWCR 15685 Sat 1730 COM RFPI 25930-USB 15049 Sat 1800 WOR RFPI 25930-USB 15049 Sun 0130 COM RFPI 25930-USB 15049 Sun 0200 WOR RFPI 25930-USB 15049 Sun 0230 WOR WWCR 5070 Sun 0630 WOR WWCR 5070 Sun 0930 COM RFPI 6970 Sun 1000 WOR RFPI 6970 Sun 2300 WOR RFPI 25930-USB 15049 Mon 0030 WOR WWCR 3215 [NEW April 17, soon shifting to Sun 2330 on 9475] Mon 0501 WOR WWCR 3210 Mon 0700 WOR RFPI 6970 Mon 1500 WOR RFPI 25930-USB Tue 1100 WOR WWCR 15685 Tue 1900 WOR RFPI 25930-USB 15049 Tue 2000 COM RFPI 25930-USB 15049 Wed 0300 WOR RFPI 25930-USB 15049 6970 Wed 0400 COM RFPI 25930-USB 15049 6970 Wed 1200 COM RFPI 25930-USB WOR may also be heard at http://www.wrn.org/ondemand COM may also be heard at http://www.DXing.com For an exhaustive schedule of all our broadcasts and outlets see: http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio/wormast.html ** BHUTAN. This is a preliminary announcement seeking interest from ham licensed United States citizens who may wish to join a tour group to Bhutan for the purpose of operating legal ham radio from that country. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT IS NOT CONNECTED WITH THE CURRENT DXPEDITION NOW SKED FOR EARLY MAY 2000 organized by W0GJ. Unless unforeseen circumstances block this plan...I will organize a tour group of a max. of 20 USA hams (spouses, children, etc. additional to this number is OK) to the Kitchu Resort between Paro and Thimphu in Bhutan for early July 2000 (and maybe another tour group for the middle of July 2000). Costs approximately $200. per day per person in-country (nice new two-person room, Western style bath, all meals, tour trips with guide, access to antennas and electric power). Air travel to Bhutan extra, but coordinated by the tour. Photos of the resort accommodations at my DX Forum at Dayton 2000. There are more details, but to keep this brief, please email to me your serious statement of interest (no commitments now) with your US call sign, address, email address, and best telephone number. I have stayed in Kitchu and three other hotels in Bhutan during my two trips there in 1998 and 1999. 73, K4VUD, Charly (Charles Harpole, k4vud@hotmail.com April 14 via KB8NW/Ohio Penn DX Bulletin 457, April 17/BARF80 via John Norfolk, OKCOK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 2379.92, R Educadora, Limeira, Sao Paulo, 0020 Apr 13, possibly the one with play-by-play football commentary and nice signal; music and DJ chatter after 0200, but no ID until I gave up around 0230. (Jay Novello, Wake Forest NC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA [non]. Good Monday! You might want to note a frequency change for RCI's Monday to Friday morning transmission to Africa at 0600-0659 UTC. The former 17675 kHz frequency has been replaced, as of April 17th, by 17820 kHz. Both the old and the new frequencies are via the Wertachtal relay in Germany. The move will end the co-channel conflict, on 17675 kHz, with Radio New Zealand International. 73- (Bill Westenhaver, RCI, April 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHESTERFIELD ISLANDS. TX0DX Challenges National Geographic The TX0DX 2000 DXpedition organizing team of FK8GM, JA1BK and OH2BH had to clear several DXCC-related issues on the path to the Chesterfield Islands becoming the next entity on the DXCC list. They worked hard at clearing this path for the past two years, and indeed by March there were no more obstacles in the way. The question of intervening land between the rest of New Caledonia and the Chesterfields was obviously one of these critical issues. If you visit the National Geographic web site at http://plasma.nationalgeographic.com/mapmachine/ and look for the Chesterfields, you will see an island group which includes a cluster of reefs and islets at 158 degrees but also a massive island at 159 degrees 55 minutes East and 19 degrees 15 minutes South. This is Sandy Island, or Les Ile de Sable on some maps. Observant DXers have noticed that Sandy Island is still presented on some current maps, while other recently updated sources (e.g., The Times Comprehensive Atlas of the World, 10th Edition, 1999) show nothing but open water in this area. When asked about the matter, Mr. David Miller, Senior Editor, National Geographic Maps, explained that the map background on their map was developed by WorldSat International. This background, which indicates ocean depth by various shades of blue, was produced using raw scientific data provided by U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellites. The land areas (indicated in green) are based on a large collection of original maps, some dating back a number of years, and which are known to contain significant inaccuracies. By looking at the more accurate satellite-based data, it is clear that the ocean in the area where Sandy Island is depicted is actually quite deep, and no islands exist there. Mr. Miller conceded that ``our maps are hopelessly outdated for this area`` and indicated that they would be updated soon. The TX0DX team suggested that they indeed had better do so! What was the significance of Sandy Island? It was one of the key issues in determining whether the Chesterfield Islands qualified for addition to the DXCC List as another new entity. It is required that there should be an open water separation of at least 350 kilometers between the westernmost point of FK-land and the easternmost point of Chesterfield Islands. If Sandy Island existed, the separation would not be sufficient, and the bid to make this a new DXCC entity would have failed. But DXers are a determined bunch, and they are not always willing to take National Geographic maps or other obstacles at face value. After finishing their own investigation, the TX0DX research group concluded that this 6-km long claimed island simply does not exist. You may wish to check out another web site (http://www.clinet.fi/~oh2bn/) to see a set of photographs taken from the Space Shuttle. You will also find a set of maps, with and without Sandy Island. Notice that the claimed island is removed from the more recent maps. Any cartographer will tell you this is never done without a solid reason. Standard practice is to include any reported obstacle to navigation--no matter how unlikely--until it is proven not to exist. Only then can it be removed from a nautical chart. It is interesting to note that French, Australian and Japanese marine charts have all been corrected recently, while many U.S.-based maps have not. It would appear that U.S.-based IOTA hunters might seemingly have more options than the local folks! Additionally, you may wish to exercise your math skills by calculating the actual distance from FK to TX0DX: from the west end of Atoll de Portail at 18 deg 30 min South, 162 deg 50 min East to the east end of Bampton Reef at 19 deg 08 min South, 159 deg 05 min East which is the official determining line for the required open water separation. The DXpedition vessel also stopped at the Nereus Reefs, roughly midway on their journey to the Chesterfields, since the group had an academic interest to experience these underwater reefs. It was exciting indeed to watch the GPS and the breaking waves, while recording depths of less than 20 meters at times. When nothing could be found breaking the surface, the TX0DX team knew that clear sailing was ahead! The TX0DX DXpedition group wishes to thank the numerous DXers who took an interest in these remote waters. Now that the issue is water clear, another new DXCC counter will soon surface. (Tim Totten, N4GN, April 9, via KB8NW/Ohio Penn DX Bulletin 456.2, April 10/BARF80 via John Norfolk, OKCOK, with apologies for the one week delay, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. CRI launches Zhejiang show: Text of report in English by official Chinese news agency Xinhua (New China News Agency) Hangzhou, 16th April: China Radio International (CRI) will broadcast a special English programme ``Zhejiang Today`` each Wednesday starting from 19th April, at 0700 [local time]. Listeners in Asia, Africa, Europe, North America and Oceania and those from China's 22 cities can have a better understanding of Zhejiang, a picturesque and economically- developed coastal province in east China, through the programme. The programme will introduce local economic development, population and employment, traditional industries, investment environment, foreign- funded enterprises, the province's history, culture, local conditions and customs. Source: Xinhua news agency, Beijing, in English 0124 gmt 16 Apr 00 (BBC Monitoring via DXLD) ** CHINA. Re the new program lineup on CRI mentioned on WOR 1032: Unlike Kim Elliott, who also mentioned it on VOA CW, I neglected to notice that the this-and-that ``Times`` are subsections of the new Saturday program, not individual programs spread out through the week replacing all the others (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. And, in preparation for the new lineup?, China Radio International (Radio Beijing) has been self-interfering with their 4 UTC (9730 kHz) broadcast to the West Coast with some people in a studio doing auditions and tryouts right on top of the regular broadcast. It doesn't happen on weekends. Last Thursday there was 15 repeats of the 'People in the know' introduction over top of the hourly news. And R. Taiwan Int. played music instead of its regular (unexplained) technical problems. The more complex the system the more that can go wrong. Bring back Marconi's spark gap. (Daniel Say, Simon Fraser University, BC, swprograms via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COLOMBIA / CLANDESTINA. 6258v, Abril 4, El Pueblo Responde, 2200- 2215*, SIO 322, Locutor con comentarios contra la guerrilla pero no decia que grupo, talvez contra la FARC-EP, aunque se mueve a las 2214 UT vario a 6256 KHz donde se lograba escuchar por Locutor ``...Hasta aqui otra edicion de El Pueblo Responde, a nuestras amigas [sic] guerrilleras les dedicamos esta Guasquita... El Pueblo Responde a partir de este momento Ud. esta en compan~ia de El Pueblo Responde...`` Quedo en silencio a las 2215 UT cierre. 6261v, Abril 10, Voz de la Resistencia Bloque Oriental, 1145- SIO de 221, interferida por presumible El Pueblo Responde emitiendo musica Vallenata sin parar, llegando a moverse hasta los 6258v para evitar la interferencia pero el Jammer tambien se movia. Nota: Aunque anteriormente yo reportaba La Voz del Pueblo pero salia al aire una voz femenina. Ellos colocaban musica colombiana sin parar. Con El Pueblo Responde por locutor tiene casi el mismo formato pero hablan mas. Nota2: Reportada primero por Santiago San Gil en Banda Tropical # 7 (Yimber Gaviria, Colombia, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COSTA RICA. Hearing RFPI on 6970, noted at 0502 April 16 with Alternative Radio. Good signal up here, so they must have got the repairs done. 73 (Don Moman, Lamont, Alberta, CANADA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Also noted here at 1028, and since. Per RFPI Weekly Update new frequency schedule is: (gh) 0300-0800 6970 (to 1200 on weekends) 1200-0400 25930-USB 1600-0400 15049 This is reflected in the new WOR/COM schedule at top of this DXLD. ** ECUADOR. 4019, Abril 8, tentative LV de su Amigo, (3 x 1340 armonico, reportada primero por el Diexista Mark Mohrmann), 1002-, SIO 222, emitiendo musica folclorica ecuatoriana; luego OM ``Buenos dias hermanos colombianos, buenos dias hermanos ecuatorianos los que tengan la ideologia religiosa... estimados hermanos, vamos a dar contestacion a varias cartas que nos han llegado desde Colombia`` Tambien 1055-1105 UT Dificil para poder escucharlos. Tambien en Abril 13 0030-0130, debil pero claro, colocando musica Bolero, programa Sentimientos y Recuerdos. Abril 13 1120-1135 222 c/nx, 2315- 2340 222 SIO, Abril 14 0032-0045 322, al fin consegui una Identificacion por OM ``...La Voz de tu Amigo AM y FM.`` (Yimber Gaviria, Colombia, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. All India Radio GOS in English schedule: 2245-0045 7410 9705 9950 11620 13625 1000-1100 1053 11585 13700 15020 17485 17840 17895 1330-1500 9710 11620 13710 1745-1945 7410 9950 11620 11935 13750 15075 15200 2045-2230 7150 7410 9650 9910 9950 11715 (via Alok Das Gupta, April 14, via Wolfgang Bueschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN [non]. A quick check of the new clandestine operation from Grigoriopol [Radio Voice of Iran – is this really new?? -gh] 1630- 1830 on 12065 showed a striking narrow audio bandwith. Perhaps the signal is forwarded simply by phone line to Bush House and from there forwarded by Merlin through regular circuits to Moscow and from there to Grigoriopol. (Kai Ludwig, Germany, April 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ITALY [non]. Last night I found (but here inside the local noise I must add) no trace of any carrier on 846; looks like it is currently indeed occupied by no European transmitters at night, rather uncommon in the crowded AM band. Regards, (Kai Ludwig, Germany, April 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. Subject: Closedown Portishead Radio 30 Apr / 30 June History is shutting down: Portishead Radio GKA to close. Cross band event BT Maritime Radio Services have announced that Portishead Radio and all of the VHF stations will close at 1200z on Sunday 30 April. The MF stations will close at 1200z on Friday 30 June. Portishead Radio first came on air 80 years ago in 1920 and was to become the largest communications centre in the world. It employed over 340 people and was the CW and RT centre for the Commonwealth. BT Maritime Services have agreed to run a special cross band maritime/amateur event on Saturday 29th April 2000. The details are as follows: - Date: 29th April 2000. Time 0700 - 1900 UTC Call sign....... Frequency......... Amateur Frequency + or - 5 kHz GKB2............. 4274.................... 3525 GKB4............. 8559.5.................. 7025 GKB5............ 12835.4.................. 14050 GKB6............ 17113.................... 18075 GKB7 ............22448.7.................. 21050 There will be three stations operating at any one time - subject to the commercial requirements of the station. BT has appointed the Radio Officers Association to handle the amateur side of this operation and the liaison officer is David Barlow G3PLE. ALL QSOs WILL RECEIVE A QSL VIA THE RSGB BUREAU. Amateurs are asked to note that there will be NO access to BT sites and following closure and there will be no surplus equipment for sale. Any enquiries from radio amateurs should be routed through G3PLE. Contact details: - David Barlow G3PLE PO Box 50, Helston, TR12 7YQ e-mail (for this event) d.barlow@u.genie.co.uk Event Website: http://you.genie.co.uk/d.barlow PLEASE CIRCULATE THIS AS WIDELY AS POSSIBLE INSIDE THE AMATEUR RADIO WORLD. Special efforts will be made to beam towards Commonwealth countries at appropriate times. Please e-mail details of which frequency band and time suits your part of the world. BT Maritime Radio Services have decided to run this Cross Band Amateur Radio / Maritime event to mark 100 years of terrestrial maritime radio. The Marconi Company set up 8 Maritime Coast Radio Stations in England and Ireland in 1900 - one of which still stands at Bass Point in Cornwall. These operated with spark transmitters. Following tests from the famous Poldhu site short wave transmissions became possible and long distance HF stations were set up. Portishead Radio started transmissions from its site at Portishead near Bristol in 1920. Its size grew and it played a significant part in the safety of life at sea during World War 2. After the war the Commonwealth Area Scheme was set up at Portishead as a centre for both Royal Navy and Merchant Navy communications. Halifax CFH and Vancouver CKN formed part of this world wide network. During the 1950's and 1960's Portishead was the largest communications centre in the world handling millions of words by morse each year. It employed over 300 operators at that time. CW was overtaken by R/T to a great extent and the station changed with the times. The "Area" scheme became defunct and the station steadily declined with the introduction of satellite communications. In line with all the other great stations Portishead will cease its Maritime service on 30th April and within a month the remaining MF coast stations will also close. Famous names such as Lands End Radio GLD will no longer be on the airwaves. 100 years has seen terrestrial maritime radio start, become an important feature of safety of life at sea and now it is virtually finished (there will be a few stations remaining in some parts of the world). BT Maritime Radio Services wish to put on this event as a tribute to all those stations and people who have contributed to the maritime radio service over 100 years. There are thousands of former Radio Officers who would like to take this opportunity to pay their last respects to the service in which they worked. This is the end of a century of progress which has moved the world "from Spark to Satellite". David G3PLE (Virtual Radio Club April 15 via Dr Hansjoerg Biener via Wolfgang Bueschel, DXLD) ** U K. Hello, regarding Portishead Radio: Especially also all the announced commercial frequencies are CW only. Here are some voice frequencies for Portishead Radio: 4360 (GKT22), 4432 (GKV26), 8764 (GKU46), 8794 (GKV46), 13092 (GKT56), 13170 (GKW52), 17245 (GKT62), 17293 (GKU68), 17359 (GKW60), 19761 (GKU18). There are also some further voice channels registered, alongside with various maritime ones also frequencies inside the aero and fixed services bands, all using the call GKX, no idea what a maritime station has to do there. Anyway this story reminds me to old fellow 2614 with the famous alarm-clock tick, followed by "Hier ist Norddeich Radio", of course both canned. Today only the DLF news announcers are still busy with lengthy sea weather forecasts, aired three times a day on 177, 1269 and 6005 exclusively. Back in last year I found a logging of 177 from North America, mentioning that "something was read out slowly"... (Kai Ludwig, Germany, April 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. (Re DXLD 00-49) Here are the missing BBC frequencies for Central and West North America, from their frequency charts: 00:00 05:00 5975 00:00 07:00 6175 02:00 04:00 6135 12:00 14:00 9515 12:00 16:00 15520 [also listed is 9740, East Asia programs] 13:00 16:00 11865 14:00 18:00 9590 18:00 20:00 9590 Saturday only 22:00 02:00 9590 (BBC web site via John Norfolk, OKCOK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ?? The 9590 usage at 1400-2000 could be something new from an Asian or WNAm site??? Not yet heard, at 1440 check April 16. Or more likely this is what really has been on 17840 for a long time via Antigua, and Sackville, error by only 8250 kHz (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. 2480.00 KDGO, Durango, Colorado. (2 x 1240 harmonic), 0902- 1030 April 15, Solid +10dB over signal all morning long. 'Oldies Radio' network feed with occasional local ID inserts. ``KDGO AM 1240, Radio Durango``. Never noticed before and nothing heard the next morning Apr 16 (Mark Mohrmann, VT, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. [SWL] 2480 kHz second harmonic. I typically don't post logs here, but this one I just had to. Last night at 1000+ UTC (3 AM at my CA QTH), I was scanning the 120 mb when I came across ``KDGO AM 1240, oldies radio`` with a fairly strong signal on 2480 kHz. Obviously this was the second harmonic of what I later discovered to be KDGO 1240 kHz in Durango, CO. BTW, I couldn't receive this station at all on its actual frequency of 1240 kHz. I thought that was a pretty cool catch. Moc (Mike Mocha, April 15, swl@qth.net via DXLD) ** U S A. WGTG as we know stated that their current attitude to QSLing was that it would require an addressed envelope, $2 and 5 hours worth of programme details. I have sent all this off in a very comprehensive and detailed report. You wouldn't believe some of the nonsense spouted on 6890usb, a channel mainly sold out to ``super patriot`` groups. I was never quite sure what 'super patriot' actually meant, but it appears to be someone who is intolerant to pretty well every other race, religion and lifestyle, obsessed with 'outing' US governments past & present for alleged scandals and dishonesty, and trying to earn a few dollars by convincing as many as possible that either (a) there is an imminent nuclear strike or (b) there is a government conspiracy to strip Joe Public of his home and wealth, and using this to persuade them to invest in vitamin and food supplement tablets, tents, water purifiers and Grundig short wave radios (at least that's not such a bad thing). The 'severity' of these broadcasts varies; one of the more disturbing is Voice of Freedom, a neo-Nazi/anti-Semitic program of some organisation run by an Ernst Zundell. I had read of such programs over the years in PWBR, but only really got such an insight by chasing up this elusive WGTG QSL. Anyone know actually how many Americans are caught up in these sentiments? (Tom Read, BDXC-UK via DXLD) ** U S A [non]. World Beacon tell me that they will be starting an Australian service in about 10 days; schedule to follow. The African service well heard here UT April 17 at 1930 on 9675 [UK site] (Chris Hambly, Victoria, April 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Forgive me if I cannot get too excited about yet another gospel- huxter service polluting the SW bands, and giving a drastically skewed impression of America to the rest of the world. If this is what keeps shortwave ‘`alive``, it may be better off dead. These transmitters could be carrying something valuable like BBC (gh) ** U S A. VOA Sexism was Hidden, Entrenched. Another disheartening story on this shameful subject is in the April 17 Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26838-2000Apr16.html (via Mike Cooper, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. COMING NEXT WEEKEND... LIVE WEBCAST – AMERICAN ATHEISTS NATIONAL CONVENTION The 26th Annual National Convention of American Atheists will be broadcast live on the internet beginning next Friday, April 21. The convention takes place at the luxurious Westin San Francisco Airport, and includes a blockbuster lineup of speakers, Leadership Training and activist workshops, social events, the Life Members "Legacy" Dinner and the Annual Membership Banquet where we recognize the outstanding achievements and contributions of those who in the past year have contributed so much in the struggle for atheist civil rights and the separation of church and state. The convention will be broadcast live with streaming audio and video. Visitors may log on to http://www.atheists.org/convention/ for more information. On Line registration for the convention has now closed. Walk in registration, however, will take place on Friday morning, April 21 beginning at 8:00 a.m. Speakers for this historic gathering include: WENDY KAMINER -- Social critic, editor, author of ``Sleeping with Extra-Terrestrials: The Rise of Irrationalism and Perils of Piety.`` DOUGLAS ADAMS -- Award-winning novelist, author of ``Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy`` and other works. KEAY DAVIDSON -- Science reporter for the San Francisco Examiner, author of the new biography on astronomer Carl Sagan. ANN STONE -- Children's book author, speaking on ``Living in the Light: Freeing Your Child From the Dark Ages.`` JAMES G. Dwyer, author of ``Religious Schools vs. Children's Rights`` (Cornell University Press) "REV." CHRIS HARPER, satirist and Deacon of Landover Baptist Church DAVID SEABORG, evolutionary biologist, President of Rainforest Fund The action begins Friday morning, April 21. If you can't be there in person, be there on the web at http://www.atheists.org/convention/ (AA Newsletter April 16 via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Jim Bohannon’s topic is National TV Turnoff Week, live UT Sat April 22 at 0207 on Westwood One Entertainment network (gh, DXLD) ** URUGUAY. 6045, R Sarandi Sport, will transmit only this current week during the bicycle racing. Power is 150 W. The transmitter is at the stn, but the ownership belongs to the production team which carries the coverage, led by Sr. Joaquin Telis. Internet audio is at http://www.elsitio.com.uy (Horacio A. Nigro, Montevideo, Uruguay, April 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###