DX LISTENING DIGEST 0-114, September 20, 2000 edited by Glenn Hauser, wghauser@hotmail.com {Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only provided full credit be maintained at all stages and we are provided exchange copies. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without permission. For restrictions and searchable archive of contents see} http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio/Dxldmid.html THIS WEEK ON WORLD OF RADIO 1052: See topic summary at http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio/wor1052.html WOR and COM on RFPI: As reported below, RFPI is back, on 6969, resulting in some frequency usage changes also for 15049 ** ARMENIA. National Radio of Armenia (formerly Voice of Armenia) observed on Sep. 17: 0815-0900 in Armenian; 0900-0920 in French; 0920-0940 in German and 0940-1000 in English all on SUN ONLY on 15270 (55544), NOT SAT on 15240 (Ivo and Anguel, Observer, Bulgaria, Sept 20 via DXLD) Corrects item in DXLD 0-109 ** AUSTRALIA/ZAMBIA [sic]: Registered frequency of Christian Voice for B-00 via Darwin tx: 17775 0900-2000 DRW 100 kW/303 degrees in English to zone 41 (South Asia). (Ivo and Anguel, Observer, Bulgaria, via DXLD) Is that the only registration? 17775 is one of the current test frequencies, none of which have been heard here yet, and of course will be blocked most of this period by KVOH. I don`t think Zambia has anything to do with this operation (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA/UK. The puzzlement, to me, is that both the ABC and the BBCWS have created specialized programs and frequencies to transmit the Olympics to the world, propagation willing. I can understand, albeit disappointedly, that webcast rights were not conferred with whatever rights allowed these two broadcasters to create their specialized shortwave programs. Here's the irony: I am amused by the fact that words considered offensive by many (four-letter and seven- letter variations come to mind) can be aired without apology or censorship by the BBCWS and the CBC, as was mentioned here about a week ago, regardless of where a listener might happen to be. However, neither broadcaster has the spine to webcast their regular, non- Olympics audio, for fear that a snippet of uncensored, live coverage might sneak onto the Internet. I guess that means greed is more important than good taste. (Richard Cuff, Allentown, PA, USA, swprograms via DXLD) This is just one example of a long thread on the Olympic topic in this newsgroup (gh) ** CANADA. CBC This Morning announced that their `Lost and Found Sound` feature will now appear every Wednesday at the start of the second hour, as heard Sept 20 at 1406-1425 UT via EDT zone webcast if not on RCI SW (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COSTA RICA. After a 2+month absence, RFPI`s 30 kW transmitter is back on the air, on 6969 instead of 6970, noted at 0350 UT Sept 20. Modulation seemed to need a bit more work. As a result, 15049 is no longer 24h, which is too bad, nominally scheduled 1600-0600, but this day not on until about 1900; tho 21815-USB was audible after 1200. As a result the weekday repeats of WOR and COM in the 0600-1200 period are no longer there on SW (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1052, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** DENMARK/NORWAY. The frequency selection for Radio Norway and Denmark for the coming winter season leaves a lot to be desired... as we are nearing the peak of the current solar cycle I find it hard to believe that Ayumu Ohta, NRK's frequency manager, is placing the evening broadcasts to our area on 7 and 9 MHz, instead of 11 and 13 MHz... and you are right that they should be using 13 and even 11 meters for us during the day with the current reception conditions we are experiencing, where higher frequencies MUST be considered, not an open space in the new 15 meter SW band (18950 kHz)! (Joe Hanlon in Philadelphia, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. R. Barahona, Sept 16 0105-0135+ baseball, ads, jingles, ID. Strong, but very distorted, wobbly signal on 4911.5v (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. Last week there was an extended transmission failure of AFN Frankfurt-Weißkirchen 873. Following a summary of what is known about the incident so far: [but see addendum] The site was struck by lightning on a unspecified day of the last week. Due to some reason which was described as a "multiple kind of the strike" the lightning protection failed and the transmitter suffered heavy damage; supposedly the fire brigade was occupied for a couple of hours by extinguishing and tidy work in the transmitter hall. 873 appeared back on air last Saturday, supposedly a mobile transmitter was thrown in. It was discussed on a German message board that Deutsche Telekom owns a few mobile MW transmitters of 20 kW. The current signal on 873 would fit this power level. (To avoid misunderstandings, AFN also uses various DTAG facilities, including the FM site Großer Feldberg near Frankfurt on 98.7, but the Weißkirchen AM site is owned and operated by AFN itself; nevertheless one could imagine they rented a DTAG transmitter truck.) Other stations cut their internet distribution, but not so Hessischer Rundfunk, instead HR started streaming of the "hr 1plus" network right in time to the Olympic Games on Sep. 16, acc. a headline at http://www.hr-online.de/ (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Sept 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) [Later, Sept 19:] We should disregard the talks about busy firemen and a mobile transmitter at the AFN Frankfurt-Weißkirchen site: Both Michael Bethge and Michael Fuhr found there neither signs of a fire nor a mobile transmitter. Michael Fuhr also points out that 873 has a very low modulation since it was reactivated last Saturday, making it especially difficult to assess the current carrier power. I will tell you if we receive reliable information from AFN; anyway it is a matter of fact that they suffered an ususual severe failure of the 873 transmitter (Kai Ludwig, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUIANA FRENCH/SWITZERLAND. We asked Bob Zanotti for more details about the fire and its consequences, and he passed our letter on to Ulrich Wegmüller: Dear Glenn, The information we received from Télédiffusion de France (TDF), Paris, the owner of Montsinéry/French Guiana, was the following: On Sunday 10 September a transformer exploded which caused a fire at the station. The exact dimension of the damage is not known here. The transmitters themselves are not affected directly. What we know is that the complete station is out of service for about 1 month. So we hope by mid-October the cleaning and restoration works are done and the station becomes operational again. Answers to your questions: Montsinery ceased sending sometimes during the day of Sunday 10 September 2000. Since July 1994 SRI uses a transmitter 500 kW and a rotatable multiband antenna 9 - 21 MHz HR/4/4/0.5. Normally this equipment is only used by us but can also be used otherwise by TDF if needed. Today`s quota is the following (MSY = Montsinery; SOT = Sottens): a) MSY 9905 kHz 0030-0500 UTC 310 degrees for North America West Coast SOT 9885 kHz 0030-0545 UTC 295 degrees for North and Central America b) MSY 9885 kHz 0830-1030 UTC 215 degrees for Australia SOT 13685 kHz 0830-1030 UTC 245 degrees for Australia c) MSY 13710 kHz 2000-2130 UTC 115 degrees for West Africa d) MSY 11905 kHz 2200-2400 UTC 175 degrees for South America which makes a daily total of 10 hours. Immediately after Sunday 10th all transmissions were transferred to Issoudun/France (ISS). At the beginning there was some problem with the out-of-band frequency 9905 kHz. The transmitters in Issoudun did not accept this frequency, while our relay station Jülich/Germany (JUL) which is used to the remaining European and African Service is not allowed to go beyond 9900 kHz. So SOT took over 9905 kHz and Issoudun made 9885 kHz. Of course 9905 kHz was without any spare transmitter. Sottens is normally backed up by Jülich. Three days later the transmitters at Issoudun were reprogrammed and made able to run 9905 kHz. SOT took over 9885 kHz again backed up by JUL as usual. Although the distance between MSY and ISS is some thousands of km, the frequency bands remain more or less the appropriate ones. Therefore our target areas can be considered as covered. Of course there is some reduction in signal strength. The second part of the 9885 kHz transmission from ISS to Australia remains a problem. RFI uses as far as I know Issoudun for all its transmissions. To have more flexibility TDF is reactivating Issoudun-1 which is the former station with the old curtain antennas. The reactions of CRI and NHK are not known here. Regards, (Swiss Radio International, Ulrich Wegmüller, Frequency Management, CH-3000 Bern 15, Switzerland, September 19, WORLD OF RADIO 1052, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KURDISTAN [and non] CLANDESTINE/IRAN/IRAQ stations in the Middle East, observed in Bulgaria: 3880 4360 Vo the Kurdish Communist Party in Iran, *1455-1558* in Kurdish. *1655-1759* in Persian. 3900 R Freedom of Communist Party in Iraqi Kurdistan. *1555-1714* in Kurdish. 3900 4745 Vo the People of Iraq (communist), *0355-0515*, *1730-1850* in Ar. 3985 Vo the Iranian Kurdistan, *0227-0329*, *1527-1629* in Kurdish & Persian. 4000 Vo the Iraqi Communist Workers Party, 1500-1800* (Sat, Sun irreg) in Ar. 4061 6995 Vo the People of Kurdistan, 1440-1907 (irreg 1907-1947), 1947- 2055*, *0208-0430, 1025-1215* in Ar & Kurdish. 4085 7135 VoKurdistan, 1455-1935*, *0235-0430 in Ar & Kurdish. 4130 R Kurdistan *0235-0530, 1435-1755*, *1942-2108* in Ar & Kurdish. 4172 Vo IKO-PKK, *1455-1700*, *1627-1712* in Persian & Kurdish. 4200 VoWorkers, *1427-1512*, *1627-1712* in Persian & Kurdish. 4250 Vo the Toilers of Kurdistan, 1355-1755* (- irreg 1810), *0240- 0440 in Ar & Kurdish. Vo Mojahed on 10 freqs (6820, 10270 etc.) at *0130-0430*, *1330-1830* (- irreg 1730). UNIDentified: 4020 1600-1735*, 4280 *1500-1600*, *0245-0330* in Ar & Kurdish. (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, Sep 8, BC-DX via DXLD) ** LIBYA. V. of Africa, 17725, in at good level but always the usual muddy audio; English news times continue to vary from day to day: Sept 9 1727-1732, 2038-2045; Sept 10 1740-1745, 2041-2048 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MAURITANIA. R. Mauritania, 4826.7v, off nominal 4845 again, drifting up in frequency at about 20 Hz per minute, Sept 10 0005- 0101*. Was on 4826.7 at 0005 and 4827.5 at s/off. Local Arabic music, talk, phone talk, Koran. S/off with anthem (Brian Alexander, PA, WORLD OF RADIO 1052, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS. This is a slightly modified version of the Media Network Newsletter being sent out today: In the 21 September edition of the Media Network radio show, we’re making a major announcement. Since you’re a keen listener, we want to share the news with you directly, just in case you can’t hear the show this Thursday. Media Network is going to switch to becoming a WEB-ONLY production as from the end of October. The last edition of the radio show will air on Thursday 26th October. Surprised? We bet you are. But following the departure of Diana Janssen, we've taken the opportunity to re-evaluate the situation, and look at where things are heading. Radio Netherlands is moving into a new era, and it’s essential that the marriage of traditional and new technology happens in the right way. Media Network is unashamedly a specialist show. The secret is to take technology facts and turn them into an acoustic theatre...where the safari documentaries have scored the best by far. As the business broadens, it takes more research to get it right and keep it fresh. So the radio programme would require greater and greater investment in time and effort in order to maintain its leading position. It's time that radio producer and host Jonathan Marks simply doesn't have. Since Diana's departure he assumed the additional roles that Diana has vacated. This is in addition to his main corporate role as Radio Netherlands' Director of Programmes - Radio, TV and Internet. Clearly he cannot do all these things and continue to produce a weekly show of the high standard that we strive for, and you deserve. So, after much consideration, we’ve decided that the radio show should end its almost 20 year run while at its listening peak. There has never been more response than we get now. "It has been enormous fun", says Jonathan "but this seems a good point to hang up the headphones and step back from the microphone. I have hundreds of people out there to thank for the radio show's success over the last 20 years. I think we all worked hard to show that good international broadcasting comes from the heart". But Media Network, as a ``brand``, is not disappearing - far from it. Although the radio show will cease to exist, Andy Sennitt will maintain and expand Media Network's web presence. Media Network will be back in the pioneering phase again, looking at new ways to present media news, analysis and background features using the latest Internet technology. Content-wise, Media Network will continue to be `user driven`, but even more so. We’ll be adding interactive elements that enable you to react immediately to what you see, hear and read. We’ll continue to cover radio and TV developments from longwave right up to the satellite bands, as well as all forms of new media. We’ll also be delving into the radio archives of the past two decades and digitising some of the most memorable features. The final edition of the radio show, on 26 October, is sure to become a collectors’ item. In the meantime, after this week’s show we’ll be repeating the most requested Media Network specials over the next few weeks. To react directly to this message, please use ONLY the E-mail address media@rnw.nl Best Wishes from Hilversum (Jonathan Marks (X-DX as from October 26th), Andy Sennitt, swprograms Sept 20 via DXLD) ** PERÚ. 4299.98v, Radiodifusión Comercial Naranjos, Rioja, San Martín, 0928-1023, reactivated. Thanks to Henrik Klemetz for filling in the blanks, both with the partial ID's and historically (see Dateline Bogotá (1994/95/96) at http://www.algonet.se/~ahk/Dateline.htm Andean vocals, canned ID, announcer with time check and ID's in passing between songs. Fair signal with ute QRM above and below varying from day to day. Details and audio clips at http://homepages.together.net/~hackmohr/whatsnew/4300.htm (Mark Mohrmann, VT, Sep 18/19/20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) This was his unID at the end of DXLD 0-113 (gh) ** RUSSIA. Some information about Russian local broadcasting (date of compiling: September 19, one hour later in the winter season): Murmansk 5930 kHz 0100-2100 UTC : Radio Rossii including the following local programs from Murmansk: Mon 0300-0400, 0700-0710, 0810-0910, 1410-1500, 1510-1600 Tue-Fri 0300-0410, 0700-0710, 0810-0910, 1410-1500, 1510-1600 Sat 0510-0600, 0610-0700, 0710-0800, 0810-0900 Sun 0700-0710, 0800-0910 Arkhangelsk 6160 kHz 0100-2100 UTC : Radio Rossii including the following local programs from Arkhangelsk: Mon-Fri 0300-0400, 1000-1100, 1410-1500 Sat 0400-0500, 0700-0800 (Mikhail Timofeyev, St.Petersburg, Sept 19, hard-core-dx via DXLD) ** U K. With the October issue just received, BBC On Air has yet another new editor, Dionne St. Hill, and she has made some changes for the better, actually by going back to some previous modes before the latest fiascos. Primary is the resumption of showing all the times of each program right next to the program descriptions! So obvious. (With the exception of Assignment, the lead entry under News and Current Affairs – an oversight?). However the time listings are hard to read quickly; need to be set up so all the target headings are at the left margin, even if it takes a smidgin more lineage. Each stream still has two facing pages of weekly listings, but now containing only Monday-Friday, with GMT only under each day, and conversions taking up the left column only. But Saturday and Sunday listings are all crammed in much finer print, and in paragraph form, rather than a new entry for each hour as on weekdays, occupying three more pages, this time with one column for each stream. It`s as if, who cares about the weekend? No one must listen then, so let`s make those who do, dig for the info. Even worse are the midnight to 6 am listings, whatever the GMT be in each stream zone, which are again crammed into fine print at the bottom of each day. No color-coded world news/living/showcase/insight applies to weekends and overnight, just weekdays. Please, stop this silly prioritizing of time periods, and realize that different listeners prefer to listen at any time of the day or night or week and should get equal ease of reference. Of the 68 pages (a rather strange number, not a multiple of 8), the first 49 concern radio and the rest TV, the latter still being totally useless for most of us with no access to any BBC TV. The single page listing BBC WS SW broadcasts in all other languages has disappeared again, making it difficult for tens of millions of listeners also interested in at least one other BBC language to find out when and where to listen. Dionne encloses a research survey, and plans to recruit a fraction of respondents to participate in further research by phone. Enclosed is the separate WS in English frequency folder dated Nov 2000 to March 2001 but there seem to be some problems with it: (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1052, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Bad news is that they won't resume use of the 75 m/band (usually 3955 kHz) which during winter months is often the best (and sometimes the only usable) SW frequency in Northern Italy (and I presume in Central Europe) in the evening. Greetings from Italy, (Stefano Valianti, BDXC-UK via DXLD) I made some enquiries about the schedule chart which was enclosed with the October BBC On Air. Apparently it is mistakenly headed "November 2000-March 2001" but actually shows the summer frequencies. Hopefully the real winter schedule will be enclosed with the November issue, so 3955 could still be used this winter after all - though I haven't seen a definitive winter schedule yet. 73s (Dave Kenny, BDXC- UK via DXLD) Maybe a hybrid? The NAm portion does show the winter usage via WYFR at 1300-1600 of 9590 instead of summer`s 11865 (gh) ** U K. [Re: DXLD 0-112: Imagine a British version of ESPN's NFL highlights show on Sunday evening, where the only highlights that are shown are the players warming up on the field, or shaking hands after the game, while the announcers voice what actually happened during the match!?!! Very strange. That's what happens on Sky Sports for English soccer.] Glenn, A little clarification is needed here. On Saturday afternoons (and occasionally on some weekday evenings) Sky Sports does indeed cover soccer in the way originally described. That's because of the agreement with the Premier League and Football League. The bulk of weekend matches are played at 3pm UK time on Saturday, and no live soccer may be shown in the UK at this time in order to protect attendances, and thus revenue, at these games. Live games on Sky are shown on other days instead. Coverage consists of four panellists in the studio, each watching a different game on a TV monitor, supplemented by reporters at key games around the country. When there are a lot of midweek matches but no scheduled live game, the same thing applies. It may look bizarre to the uninitiated, but Sky makes up for it with copious quantities of live matches during the rest of the week :-) (Andy Sennitt, Sept 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K / IRELAND. Subject: Olympics screwing up broadcasting Hi Glenn -- I'm a longtime reader of your paper and online international radio bulletins. Because I now live in a spot that's not in any broadcaster's signal target area, and even worse, at the base of a cliff that blocks signals from much of the Northern Hemisphere, I've sold my radios and do my listening now via the World Wide Web. Last week I was dismayed to learn that two of my favorite world broadcasters, the BBC and RTE, the Irish broadcasting service, have canceled live and recorded feeds of many programs on the Internet -- most if not all of their news and current affairs programs -- because the International Olympics Committee has a licensing deal forbidding rebroadcast of Olympic coverage. This interruption of service is to continue until Oct. 1. This is absurd. As if the International Olympics Committee hasn't already done enough to ruin its own credibility by caging freebies all over the world for its millionaire members who certainly can afford to pay their own way. These people are utterly out of control and should be put out of business. (Ernest Murphy, Honolulu, Hawaii USA, Sept 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Among WWCR program changes in October: Rock the Universe repeat swaps time with Spectrum repeat, UT Monday on 3210, so that Spectrum will be at 0600, Rock the Universe at 0700 (Ask WWCR Sept 15 via gh, DX LISTENING DIGEST) That makes 0500-0700 an expanded `DX block` too with WOR, VOACW and S (gh) ** U S A. Last night, Sept. 18 at around 9.15 pm Central time I was scanning an AM band in Chicago. You can imagine my surprise when I stumbled across the unmistakable voice of Arnie Coro from RHC’s DXers Unlimited, passionately defending the Cuban revolution on 890 kHz. It turned out that Comrade Coro from Havana was a guest (by means of a phone line) of Jay Marvin, a night host of an ABC radio affiliate in Chicago WLS. It was a rather entertaining, hour-long conversation, with a few calls from listeners. In my opinion, Coro came across as a more objective and logical speaker than openly leftist Marvin. Among other things, Coro mentioned that he listens to WLS in Havana. After 10 pm, when the interview was already over, there was a phone call from a listener in Chicago saying that in the past he tried calling Radio Havana Cuba but couldn’t get through. Marvin advised him to use e-mail. When asked if he was a ham operator, Marvin replied, ``No, but I am an avid short-wave listener!`` Then he complained that at his new place he had too much noise on the short wave band and that he hadn't connected his big receiver yet. He advised a caller, a naturalized immigrant from New Zealand, to try listening to Radio New Zealand Int. in the local mornings. In the end Marvin said, ``73 and good DX!`` I checked Marvin’s page at http://www.WLSam.com. Sure enough, he has a link to Radio Habana Cuba and Pastors For Peace (Sergei Sosedkin, MI, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Hi Glenn: I heard a pirate this past weekend on 6240.5 kHz. I thought you might want to report this one on WOR. Here is the info. All times are in GMT. USA 6240.5-4 The Voice of Shortwave Radio (AM pirate) 02:12 Theme to "Dragnet", then ID " The Voice of Shortwave Radio" given at 02:13, along with the mail drop address, which is in a small town in PA. Then a radio jingle, and into a comedy piece… "An autobiographical piece here, by an anonymous author entitled `Radio Announcer`." The piece had to do with the adventures an awkward college student on a campus radio station. I believe it was a Garrison Keillor recording. When the sketch ended, at 02:26, station ID, and mailing address were given again, and the station went off abruptly. SINPO 35333, Sig. strength declined somewhat over the course of the transmission. TX drifted from 6240.5 to .4 . Good audio quality. A true AM pirate, not just a bunch of guys with ham radio transceivers making sound effects, playing grunge music, and criticizing each other. I sent them a reception report. We'll see what happens. (David Hodgson, TN, Sept 17, WORLD OF RADIO 1052, DX LISTENING DIGEST) FYI, I don`t deal much with pirates, but this one`s frequency is somewhat unusual for a North American (gh) ** U S A [non]. After reading BC-DX editor Wolfgang Buschel's report in DXLD # 110 regarding HBS new 17635 broadcast from 12 to 13 UTC, I began checking the 9875 parallel to see if the audio tones that he mentioned on 17635 were also on 9875. Just before 12 UTC today Sept 19, I heard those tones on 9875 as well. This raises 2 questions. First, are 9875 and 17635 both originating from a site in the CIS, and second, is the possibility that these transmissions are originating from a site in the CIS instead of from Taiwan the reason why WSHB would not reveal the site for 17635 recently? BTW, I also received the new QSL cards that CEE sent to you, along with HBS B-00 schedule. 73 {Jim Moats, OH, DX LISTENING DIGEST} ** VENEZUELA. In the frequency list issued by the Venezuelan Comisión Nacional de Telecomunicaciones, http://www.conatel.gov.ve/operadores.htm mention is made of a permit granted to Mrs Thaïs Silva de White to operate on 4730 kHz from a place called San Juan de los Cayos, which is in the state of Falcón, in Western Venezuela. Thaïs, who is Venezuelan, is married to Jeff White, the man behind WRMI, R Copán Internacional etc. Maybe Jeff would like to tell us more about these plans? 73, (Henrik Klemetz, Sweden, Sept 19, WORLD OF RADIO 1052, DX LISTENING DIGEST) This story was already covered in DXLD 00-07 last January; see final item in http//www.angelfire.com/ok/worlofradio/dxld0007.txt (gh) ###