DX LISTENING DIGEST 00-68, May 22, 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. Other publications quoting from DXLD must reciprocate with access to their publication} ** ALBANIA. New E-Mail Addresses + Homepage of Radio Tirana E-Mail: radiotirana@radiotirana.net radiotirana@interalb.net Homepage: http://www.radiotirana.net 73,s (Volker Willschrey, Dillingen/Saar, Germany, May 21, DX LISTENING DIGEST) No English, no apparent link to external services (gh) ** ARGENTINA? Pirate: R. Bosques is still on the air, with new equipment since last week, two transmitters. The main one, 150 watts SSB is on 5646 and 8240. Secondary, 100 watts SSB, transmits on 5670, 9313 and 12001 kHz. At the moment the most active are 5646, and 12001 or 9313. The latter two test irregularly during the daytime. Sked: UT Sun and Mon 0000-0300 mainly on 5646. Operator adds that they have newly printed colorful QSLs. Reports should only have the name of the operator on the envelope: Sr. Alejandro García, Magdalena 34, 1874- Villa Domínico (B.A.), Argentina. Please include return postage. (Alejandro García via Gabriel Iván Barrera, Conexión Digital May 21 translated by gh for DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. DXers Bill Smith and Marcelo Toniolo dos Anjos have teamed up to keep Radio Mamoré, Bolivia, on the air! According to Walt Fair, Radio Mamoré has a serviceable 500 watt transmitter, but they are on their last 813 transmitting tubes and even those are on low output because they are failing. Bill has just obtained the 813 tubes and Marcelo has agreed to help with the shipping. Radio Mamoré is located in Guayaramerín on the Amazon area border with Brazil. They operate at 1000-1700 and 2100-0200Z. This station was last reported by Rogildo Fontenelle A. Dec. 26, 1999 on 4802v. The <500 watt station has apparently never been reported in North America, but has received reports from European DXers. QSLs reports may go to: Radio Mamoré, Director Beni y Mamoré, Guayaramerín, Beni, Bolivia. Reports from DXers are welcome. Thanks to Walt for the backgrounder on the station. Other stations can use DXers help. If you or your organization are interested, please contact me (Hans Johnson, Cumbre DX May 20 via DXLD) ** CANADA. After a spell of rather uninteresting topics, in my opinion, Ideas on CBC draws my eartention: Wed-Thu May 17-18, Colour in the Mind`s Eye Fri May 19, Sampling Goa, a global trance state, birthplace of the Rave Mon-Tue May 22-23, The `Real` Richard Burton – Victorian linguist, explorer Wed May 24, Canadian Imperialist Abroad, African explorer William Grant Stairs Thu May 25, Standing for Africa, Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe Fri May 26, XXth Century Spring, première of Stravinsky`s Rite of Spring in 1913 Mon May 29, The End of the Wild, what indigenous peoples can teach us about the material and spiritual world Tue May 30, Losing Aiktow, sacred site in Saskatchewan dynamited Ideas is at 9:05 pm local in each timezone (except 9:35 Newfoundland), not on SW but on CBC Radio One AM and FM, webcast and many shows are archived. I have heard the Colour and Goa shows and recommend going after them. Thanks to Bill Westenhaver for sending us a handy folder of Ideas topics through June (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. CBC/RCI preview for Monday, May 22: AS IT HAPPENS: As it Happens starts half an hour later tonight to accommodate the World at Six special [on Kosovo]. And tonight on As it Happens... a special Victoria Day program, with interviews ranging from a monarchist in Souris, Manitoba, who has brought a giant 3 by 4-metre oil-painting of the Queen to her town; to the blacksmith in Gretna Green, the marriage capital of Great Britain. Also... photographer Sherman Hines on his love of out-houses. That's tonight on As It Happens, with Mary Lou Finlay and Barbara Budd at 7:00 (7:30 NT) on CBC Radio One. (CBC Hotsheet) So 2300-2400 UT on RCI 5960, 9755, 13670; webcast each hour thereafter at 7 pm local (gh, DXLD) ** CANADA. CFRX 6070 noted missing 2102 5/18. Still missing 0704 5/21, but heard Voz Christiana 6070 parallel to 11690 instead. (Larry Russell, MI, May 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COSTA RICA. RFPI`s 25930-USB is off the air, after the gardener`s tractor cut the overhead transmission line. Richard Lemke in Alberta had already suggested taking it off to save money, as it was not propagating so well in the long summer days; would others like it back, or perhaps on a different frequency (13 m again?). Also, another small SSB transmitter is expected to arrive soon. VISTA, RFPI`s quarterly magazine, is a combined issue now in the P-mail, including the new program schedule effective in June (received here May 22, containing some sad news). Several new interns/volunteers have arrived and are being trained (James and Debra Latham, RFPI Mailbag first airing Friday May 19 at 2000 on 15049, notes by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) Checking at 2353 UT May 22, 25930 was not there, nor was 15049, but 6970 was on early in the noise (gh) ** ETHIOPIA [non]. The Ethiopian clandestine opposition Voice of the Democratic Path of Ethiopian Unity radio was intercepted in progress at BBC Monitoring East Africa Unit on 21550 kHz today, 21st May, at 0750 gmt, 10 minutes before the normal transmission time. Reception was much better than before, but deteriorated shortly before the news bulletin started. The radio announced the following changes in its transmission time: ``Our listeners have informed us that there has been a problem with the quality of our transmissions on our Wednesday and Sunday broadcasts. In order to resolve this problem, the Voice of the Democratic Path of Ethiopian Unity radio will repeat its Wednesday and Sunday broadcasts. Therefore, our Wednesday broadcast, which comes at 1600 to 1700 gmt on the 19-metre band or on 15105 kHz, will be repeated from 1830 to 1930 gmt on the 19-metre band, or 15715 kHz. Our Sunday broadcast at 0700 to 0800 gmt on the 13-metre band, or on 21550 kHz, will be repeated from 0800 to 0900 gmt on the 13- metre band, or 21550 kHz.`` Source: Voice of the Democratic Path of Ethiopian Unity, in Amharic 0800 gmt 21 May 00 (BBC Monitoring via DXLD) ** GUATEMALA. R. Verdad, Chiquimula, 4052.5, still barely audible Monday May 22 at 1125 tune-in, programming already in progress, so sign-on may have been moved forward, good news against the advancing terminator. This was a produced discussion, rather than national anthem previously appearing at this time. At 1132 and 1133, IDs as R. Verdad, and then into usual Tren del Evangelio show with banjo theme. Totally faded out by 1140 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. Radio JOVE -- NASA helps students tune in to radio bursts from Jupiter. NASA Science News for May 22, 2000: Jupiter is a source of powerful radio bursts that can produce exotic sounds on common ham radio receivers. NASA scientists are helping students tune in to the giant planet as part of an innovative educational program called Radio JOVE. FULL STORY at http://spacescience.com/headlines/y2000/ast22may_1.htm?list (NASA Science News May 22 via Christoph Mayer, Germany, hard-core-dx via DXLD) Gee, I can get 20.1 MHz and I don`t have a ``ham radio receiver`` (gh) ** ISRAËL. Dear colleagues, Please find below a frequency change starting May 30th: Reshet Bet at 0000-2355 50 kW 318 degrees replaces 15615 with 15760. Russian at 1725-1855 300 kW 360 degrees [meaning 000 degrees due north?] replaces 11605 with 15650 Since it has been officially decided to extend DST until Oct. 29 like all other countries, instead of ending Sept. 22, the present schedule will remain in effect, hoping there will not be any more collisions than before. (Moshe Oren, Bezeq, May 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS ANTILLES [non]. Subject: WSHB airing RNW programs again. WSHB has been requested to aid Radio Netherlands again, relaying some of their Bonaire transmissions. It seems that one of the replacement generators at the Bonaire station has had a problem of some sort. Beginning Tuesday, May 23, 2000, at 1058 UTC, WSHB will air Radio Netherlands programming on frequency 15455 kHz, with a bearing of 173 degrees. At 1125, the frequency will change to 9715 kHz. The Radio Netherlands programming will end at 1225 UTC. WSHB will continue this relaying of Radio Netherlands programming until the Bonaire station is back on line. We are glad to be of service to our colleagues at RNW, and wish them a speedy recovery on Bonaire. (Ed Evans, WSHB Station Manager, rec.radio.shortwave May 22 via John Norfolk) He might point out that this concerns Spanish only (gh) ** OKLAHOMA. OKC`s PBS TV station, KETA, channel 13, only added stereo last year, but not SAP. Now the SAP is sometimes turned on, with undermodulated parallel audio to main channel, but also with DVS – Descriptive Video Service on certain programs; so far noted: Mystery, and Nova, but not Nature. The Tulsa repeater, KOED, channel 11, had left its SAP turned on with dead carrier for months every time a bit of tropo enhancement brought it in here. OETA could now use its SAP statewide (there are two more full-power relays in the east and west, and a couple dozen translators, reaching as far as Clayton NM), to bring public radio to numerous un/underserved areas, by putting KGOU/KROU at OU in Norman on the SAP during most of the time when it is not needed for DVS, as a number of other PBS stations do with corresponding public radio outlets. But that would be too obvious, logical and a service to the public and taxpayers... (Glenn Hauser, Enid, May 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOMALIA. DX Information from the British DX Club (BDXC-UK). I heard Radio Mogadishu, V of the People of the Somali Republic, (pro Husayn Muhammad Aydid) here with fairly strong and clear signal yesterday afternoon (Sun 21st May) from 1740 UTC tune-in to 1900 UTC sign-off on 6690.0 kHz, audible on usb & AM only. Included many IDs plus Koran extract & anthem at sign-off. 73s (Alan Pennington, Caversham, England, AOR 7030+, longwire, BDXC-UK via DXLD) ** UKRAINE. Very good! RUI NAm service in English returned UT May 16 at 0300 on 13590. I had them bounce between 2 and 3 with slight co- channel and some hash. At 0335 the co-channels challenged. There were at least two, one in Arabic. Ukrain had good modulation which is what gave them the edge. Well, let`s see how long the funds, fuel and transmitters hold out. Very poor reception at 0356* (Bob Thomas, CT, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Checking Cumbre report of WSHB 9430 carrying New Dimensions Sunday at 0200, instead I found May 21 BBC news in English on the frequency. Another feed mixup, if it was coming via Merlin, as New Dims is also being added to Skelton? Or did ``Sunday at 0200`` actually mean UT Monday? I forgot to recheck then (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. The Only Program Worth Listening To on KTBN, The Joy of Music with Diane Bish, appears again on the TBN television schedule, Sundays 0930 UT on 7510, and Tuesdays 1600 UT on 15590. Her full schedule (except no mention of SW or KTBN! and including lots of obscure TV outlets) is at http://www.dianebishtv.com (as of May 14, gh, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Dear Glenn, Thanks for letting your listeners know about our new webcasts on WAXX.fm and placing our instructions link on your web page. These webcasts are ongoing (our "shakedown cruise"). Our formal premier is Saturday, July 1, 6:00 pm PDT (Sunday, July 2, 0100 UTC). We will be doing a live show at that time, with phone calls, etc., followed by our "legendary" Magic Mushroom show, which is a stereo effects extravaganza never heard on shortwave. (John Wisyanski, AKA JohnnyRockin' The Scream of the Butterfly, May 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Strange that WAXX.FM is not the actual URL for the station. Isn’t that the point of getting a .fm domain? (gh) Dear Glenn, Re WAXX.fm, the domain name is registered, but the current programming is being served by Live365.com on a test basis. WAXX.fm is awaiting approval of funding from investors prior to serving from its own domain. Mark Speer, their GM, has arranged for net access at a reasonable rate. (It is now possible to get an "unlimited" amount of bandwidth for around $1500/month.) I furnish The Scream to WAXX.fm on a barter basis; obviously, on-demand audio is the way to go, but then again, shortwave radio doesn't work that way, either, so I'm grateful for the added exposure. WAXX.fm also plans a repeat at a reasonable hour for European listeners, so that should give everyone more options (John W., May 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Like Walt Salmaniw`s complaint about the noise on the 13 MHz band, I had something pulsating from 4820 to about 4945, centered around 4910 at 1247 and wiping out PNG 4890 as it was fading; at 1437 it was centered about 4880; sometimes loud (Ron Trotto, IL, circa May 15, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###