DX LISTENING DIGEST 0-147, November 30, 2000 edited by Glenn Hauser, wghauser@hotmail.com THIS WEEK ON WORLD OF RADIO 1060: See topic summary at http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio/wor1060.html HEAR WORLD OF RADIO 1060: (DOWNLOAD) http://www.freespeech.org/hauser/wor1060.rm (STREAM) http://www.freespeech.org/hauser/wor1060.ram (if these don`t work later try the links at top of the WOR homepage:) http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio/ NETS TO YOU. New December revision is now posted at http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio/nets2you.html WHAT`S NEW AND ANOMALY ALERT. For latest news about what our website offers, bookmark the following. We occasionally post a hot time- sensitive DX news item here too if it has missed a DXLD issue. http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio/Anomaly.html ** ALGERIA. Checked for Algiers on 15160 at 1600 and 2000 Nov 23 and 24, but heard nothing, not even a weak het (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. For NAm night owls like me who miss the days when RA would boom in on 9580 as early as 0600 instead of waiting all the way till 1100 to use that frequency like they do now, I've been hearing them with decent reception on 9710 at *0800 lately. This frequency only stays in English for one hour, going into Tok Pisin at 0900, but that`s something of a treat too since it`s not too often we get to hear that language here in CNAm (Mike Horan, Park Forest, IL, Nov 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Hello, This week we are devoting our entire edition of Quirks and Quarks to a topic that is getting Hot, Hot, Hot: The complex consequences of global climate change. This week in The Hague, politicians and negotiators from around the world failed, once again, to agree on ways to cut greenhouse gases; while scientists continue to warn of the dangers of delaying action. On this week's special edition of the program, we'll examine various aspects of the climate change issue, including the role of carbon sinks in controlling greenhouse gases, the effect of global warming on coral reefs, and the impact of climate change on Pacific salmon populations. Join me for the latest, Saturday right after the noon news, on Radio One. (Bob McDonald, Q&Q mailing list via DXLD) On RCI UT Sun 0005 on 5960, 9755 ** CANADA. 6310, RCI, 25 Nov 2335-2359*, Found RCI here in Spanish. Undoubtedly Hodgson`s unID LAm station (Dave Valko, PA, hard-core-dx via DXLD) Mix of two 49mb channels, I assume (gh) ** CHINA [non]. Falun Dafa website http://www.falundafaradio.org gives this schedule on Nov 30 (converted to UT): 2200-2300 15670/15680/15690/15700, 12120/12130/12140/12150, 13575/13580/13585/13590. And 1400-1500: 9350/9370/9380. This despite recent reports that 9 MHz frequencies have replaced Bulgarian 12 MHz at 2200. Fortunately the 15 MHz frequency-game does not start until after WWCR has finished with 15685. Also note that in reality, other frequencies in between the ones shown may be used intermittently (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COLOMBIA. 2200.16 (t) HJMK - Emisora Ideal, (harmonic 2 x 1100) 1008-1024 Nov 27, Christmas music and brass band instrumental. Announcer in between songs with many mentions of "Planeta Rico" but no ID heard. Fair to good signal (Mark Mohrmann, Coventry VT, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COSTA RICA. 4260.66 TIRP - Radio Pampa, Nicoya (3 x 1420) (harmonic) 1003-1105 Nov 20, Campo Christmas song, announcer with ID. Still audible at 1105. Fair to good signal (Mark Mohrmann, Coventry VT, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. 2440.00 Radio 26, (harmonic 2 x 1220) 1025 Nov 27, Man and woman announcers, "26" ID. Raspy audio. Fair signal (Mark Mohrmann, Coventry VT, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. 4200.01 Radio Rebelde (7 x 600 harmonic) 1025 Nov 20, // 4970 spur with "Haciendo Radio" program. Very weak (Mark Mohrmann, Coventry VT, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. 2700.09 Ondas del Yuna, (harmonic 2 x 1350) 1032 Nov 27, Bachata guitar vocals, canned ID. Good signal when you slice the Ute station away (Mark Mohrmann, Coventry VT, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR. 2480.29 (t) Radio Sonorama (harmonic 2 x 1240) 1021 Nov 27, Andean song, very weak (Mark Mohrmann, Coventry VT, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR. 4770.15 Radio Centinela del Sur 0102-0230 Nov 26, Basketball game, one of the teams from Loja the other possibly from Machado. Live interviews, play-by-play, ID's in passing, ad blocks. Good signal but "swiper" QRM very bad (Mark Mohrmann, Coventry VT, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. R. Africa, 15184.8v, Nov 23 1845-2306*, US- produced English religious programming. ``The Hour of Decision`` plus other programs. ID and addresses for reports at 1936. S/off with ID, addresses and long NA. Freq varied 15184.7 to 15184.88. Very strong but somewhat distorted audio (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FINLAND. Oh joy! Finally near decent reception to confirm! YLE/R. Finland UT Sundays 0130 on 9655 (hit by Arabic 9650) and 12035 (hit by 12030), runs 15 minutes in English. And daily 1330 on 15400 (hit by Dubai 15395) and 17660 (best choice). The 1330 does not always come in well (Bob Thomas, CT, Nov 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREECE. The VOG 15170 frequency at 0600-0800 was not announced, so I did not have it on my list. It is definitely from Delano. [not heard on several checks here! Maybe the MUF is now too low? gh, OK] I have not heard from Dionisios Angelogiannis so far, but I imagine he has been busy straightening the complaints about the frequencies being used on the 0000-0350 broadcast to NAm. They started out on Oct 29 with 5895 7450 7475 and 9310; around Nov 17 he moved to 5890 which was much better. Then they were announcing 7455, which I thought was a bad move because the strong RTTY station is on 7453, only 2 kHz away instead of 3 from the old frequency of 7450. On Nov 21 they went to 7455, and now they are barely audible underneath the RTTY signal on 7453. I sent Dionisios a letter telling him that Demetri Vafeas had solved this problem by shifting to 7448 – I imagine that the Greeks on this side of the ocean have been jumping all over him judging by the telephone complaints on the program. In this area we have been getting a great 45555 signal from 9420. But on Nov 22, they came on 12105 from Kavala-2 instead of 9420, and that signal is only in the good range. On Nov 22, the Program Department of VOG sent me a transmission schedule; one in Greek and the other in English plus a schedule listing their news programs in other languages. This is what they have and it mostly agrees with what I have monitored. News in English M-F 0300-0310 5890 7455(?) 7475 9420(?) M-F 0610-0620 7475 9420 15170 15630 17520 M-F 0750-0800 9375 9420 15170 15630 17520 daily 1110-1120 9420 15630 daily 1930-1955 7475 9375 Albanian daily 1800-1825 9375 11645 Arabic daily 1400-1425 12105 15650 Bulgarian daily 1730-1755 9375 11645 French daily 1830-1855 9375 11645 German daily 1430-1455 12105 15650 Polish M-F 1900-1925 7475 9375 Romanian daily 1600-1625 12105 15650 Russian daily 1500-1525 12105 15650 Serbo-Croatian daily 1700-1725 9375 11645 Spanish daily 1530-1555 12105 15650 Turkish daily 1630-1655 12105 15650 (John Babbis, Maryland, Nov 24, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAQ. R. Iraq Int`l, 11784.96, Nov 23 *1932-2000 Arabic music, talk, 1947 Koran, 1957 covered by DW s/on (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ISRAËL. At 1700 UT I often face the difficult choice of listening to news in English from Jordan on 17680, or Israël on 17545. Nov 30 after a minute of Jordan, I switched to 17545, to hear Yiddish instead! But seconds later, IBA got their wires uncrossed and abruptly switched to English in progress. BTW, Israel`s other frequency nearby, 17535 in Hebrew, usually has a better signal (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LIBERIA. 5100, R. Liberia, 24 Nov 2130-2204, Hi-life music, commentary by woman in accented EG, hi-life music for about another minute, then another commentary. Woman tried talking over music many times later but was ineffective as she wasn't turning down the music volume!! Did get one TC once. Finally an ID "You're tuned to R. Liberia Int. ?? service of the Liberian Communications Network. The time is 10 o'clock...". Into "An Awareness" pgm. Very nice at tune-in but signal got choppy towards the top of the hour (Dave Valko, PA, hard-core-dx via DXLD) ** LIBYA. V. of Africa, 17725, still has short English news heard at 1734-1737 and 2034-2040 Nov 23. Strong, but usual distorted audio (Brian Alexander, PA, WORLD OF RADIO 1060, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MÉXICO. See VATICAN ** NIGERIA. VON, 7256.0, Nov 23, 24, 1922-2301*, tune-in to English news, ID, Afro-pops, 2000 English news, local folk music, vernacular talk. Strong but somewhat muffled audio. S/off with choral anthem. Slightly off nominal 7255. I was looking for the new Iran to Israel program on 7255 at 1900, but not heard (Brian Alexander, PA, WORLD OF RADIO 1060, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERÚ. 5046.38 Radio Integración (tentative) 1013 Nov 22, Andean vocals, vernacular announcements in presumed Quechua, announcer with long talk over instrumental song. Very weak signal (Mark Mohrmann, Coventry VT, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERÚ. 13565.33 (t) Radio Ondas del Pacífico (harmonic 2 x 6787.66) 0258-0311 Nov 27, Very weak signal. Nondescript music and talk until 0308 with definite Andean vocal followed by Peruvian national anthem and sign off at 0311. Not a trace of audio on 6787.66 (Mark Mohrmann, Coventry VT, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERÚ. Noticed a LAm on 4992.3 before 1100 UT Nov 30, which per Rodríguez` previous report in DXLD 0-139 is the latest variation of R. Ancash, not yet here in the list via DXLD 0-145 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SEALAND. Glenn, Your posts are being reproduced on deja.com bulletin boards for radio, and that is where I stumbled across the planned 1SL ham radio operation notes: Go to http://www.freebornjohn.com/index.htm and then click on the extension given in the headline after you have seen the front page, and on the second page (/RSG-LAW-1.htm), you will find "1SL" is mentioned in context with the main story about the history of Bates and his con game which also links to Alan Weiner. The site is called "ROUGH SANDS GAZETTE" (Rough Sands is the location of Rough Tower where "Sealand" is supposed to be.) - (Paul John Lilburne-Byford, TX, Nov 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SLOVAKIA. One station that could stand to change frequencies, at least to NAm, is Radio Slovakia Int`l. For their English/ Slovak/French broadcast at 0100-0230, I find that 5930 is bothered by splatter from WWCR on 5935, while 7230 is QRM`ed off and on by hams. 9440 has only a tiny bit of splatter from Turkey on 9445, but is beamed to SAm and is only marginally useful here. 73, (Mike Horan, Park Forest, IL, Nov 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) As I recall they previously used a 7 MHz frequency above the hamband; why such a retrograde move? (gh) ** SUDAN [non]. CLANDESTINE. 15320, V. of Hope, 25 Nov [Sat only via Madagascar] *0426-0445, Open Carrier on at 0426, instrumental music on 1 minute later, accented EG s/on ID announcements by woman with freqs and sked and purpose of broadcasts. Lively hi-life like vocal music. 0430 man with ID and talk in Lang. with many mentions of Sudan. 0435 woman with feature intro then talk by 2 men in EG and Lang. sending greetings to friends in Sudan, and mentions of V.O. Hope. Fair and clear (Dave Valko, PA, hard-core-dx via DXLD) ** TAIWAN [non]. RFI French 5945 hits RTI English to NAm at 0200 and 0300 on 5950. \\ Taipei 9680 either no show signal-wise or very weak (Bob Thomas, CT, Nov 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Not the case here with WYFR relays on 5950 and 9680 always good and dominant (gh, OK, DXLD) ** TIBET. China: First Tibetan paper goes online | Text of report by official Chinese news agency Xinhua (New China News Agency) Lhasa, 28th November: The Internet version of 'Lhasa Wanbao' ['Lhasa Evening News'], the only evening newspaper in the Xueyu Plateau, was officially launched at 0000 hours today, and its web site address is http://www.lasa-eveningnews.com.cn It reportedly is the first Tibetan paper to go online. The Internet version of 'Lhasa Wanbao' contains the columns of Xueyu Newsflash, Business Information, Short Guide to Tibet, National Customs, and Sunlight Travel. Xueyu Newsflash primarily provides important news on Tibet, as well as social and economic news. Business Information offers investment guidelines, projects opened for investment and corporate information. The National Customs and Sunlight Travel columns will show to visitors Tibet's customs and practices and its magnificent scenery and will provide them with tourist guide and other services. Founded on 1st July 1985, 'Lhasa Wanbao', with nationwide circulation, is published in both Tibetan and Chinese. The launch of its online version will enable Chinese people at home and abroad to understand Lhasa and Tibet more speedily and conveniently. Source: Xinhua news agency domestic service, Beijing, in Chinese 0230 gmt 28 Nov 00 (via BBC Monitoring via DXLD) The Chinese imperialists have the nerve to put a major lamasery on the home page, after having destroyed a great many of them. Although navigation at the site is necessarily in English, all of it appears to be in Chinese (gh, DXLD) ** UKRAINE. RUI, Kiev, one hour English to NAm 0100 and 0400 on 9810: at 0100 severe co-channel VOR Spanish to LAm; also splash 9805 R. Martí and the Cuban jammer nearby. Maybe at 0400 part of RUI sneaks in; no chance at 0100 (Bob Thomas, CT, Nov 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) In the meantime as we have already reported, this is moving to 9385 (gh) ** U K. Tho I rarely use the Windows Media option on BBC WS via yahoo`s broadcast.com, I think this has been going on for many months, as I found Nov 30 at 2020: the feeds labeled all-news, and news-and-entertainment are reversed! How could they not have noticed? How could no one have complained? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. BBC WS PREVIEWS: ESSENTIAL GUIDE: RUSSIA: GOLD DOMES, BLACK EARTH 3 x 30 min from Dec 1 Eu: Fri 2030, Sat 0230, Mon 1530, Tue 1030 Am: Sat 0230, Mon 2130, Tue 1530 A decade after losing its empire and ideology, Russia remains the sick man of the world. Freedom from Communism was just the latest in a centuries-long procession of false dawns that have left the country physically and spiritually exhausted. Can Russia ever come to terms with its history and find a new identity its people are comfortable with? In this landmark series, the BBC`s former Moscow correspondent, Tim Whewell, who reported first-hand on the collapse of the USSR, returns to Russia to try to answer these questions. He travels 5000 miles from the old imperial capital of St Petersburg in the west to the Pacific outpost of Vladivostok in the east, talking to Russians of all backgrounds - priests and peasants, bureaucrats and businessmen, Cossacks and cultural critics - about where their country is heading. Along the way he examines episodes from medieval, Tsarist and Soviet history to try to understand the contradictions of a country whose gold domes express belief in a unique destiny, whose black earth is a reminder of opportunities squandered, of suffering and endurance. Each programme concentrates on the history and present-day attitudes of one of the three great castes of Russian society: first the ``men of ideas``, then the ``men of power`` and finally the people themselves, who have only rarely been given a voice in Russian history. The first programme, Thinking Russia, opens on the remote island monastery of Valaam, in the far north. Orthodox Christianity provided Russia with its first sense of mission and has set the country apart from the West. Tim Whewell traces the history of Russia’s ``national idea`` with the help of monks on Valaam and leaders of the intelligentsia - Russia’s secularised priesthood - in St Petersburg and Moscow. Why is the intelligentsia - which once acted as the nation’s moral compass - unable to find its voice over tragedies like the Chechen war? In the literary cafes of Moscow, Tim finds demoralisation, and in the corridors of the Kremlin, cynicism. Only at Yasnaya Polyana, the estate of Leo Tolstoy, does he find a revival of the old Russian Utopianism as the writer’s great grand-son, Count Vladimir Tolstoy, seeks to create an idealised ``state within a state.`` In Commanding Russia, the second programme, Tim Whewell explores the background and attitudes of the country’s ruling elite. Why have Russians chosen a career bureaucrat - the former KGB official Vladimir Putin - as their elected leader? Tim Whewell visits the Academy of State Service in St Petersburg to discover how today’s bureaucrats are chosen and how their view of the world is shaped. From St Petersburg, Tim travels to one of the furthest outposts of the Russian state, Vladivostok. Who are the men of power on the edges of empire? He goes on a raid to round up illegal Chinese immigrants and joins Cossacks who are patrolling Russia’s borders again for the first time since the Bolshevik Revolution. The final programme, Enduring Russia focuses on the people themselves. After centuries of alternating silence and rebellion, will they ever be able to control their own rulers? In the Middle Ages one small part of Russia - the Republic of Novgorod - evolved a lively democracy, later snuffed out amid great cruelty by the Tsars. In the last programme of the series, Tim Whewell visits Novgorod to ask whether, after more than six centuries, the people can return to power. He’s astonished to be invited to dinner by the by the town’s newly formed Rotary Club. But is this really the start of a new bourgeois revolution? Tim finds that Novgorod - like Russia itself - is ruled by a closed circle of politicians and businessmen who have their own ways of dealing with challenges from the grassroots. To ask what`s gone wrong, Tim meets the former political prisoners of Novgorod. In other ex-Communist countries, they would now have important jobs but in Russia, they are still outsiders. Do they think that ``civil society`` can still take root in Russia’s black earth? The series is produced by Teresa Cherfas. PLAY OF THE WEEK Eu: Sun 0001, 1701 Am: Sun 0001, Mon 0630 Born to be Wilde, by James Walker, 1 x 60 min Dec 2-3 Following the previous week`s production of Lady Windermere`s Fan, Play of the Week marks the centenary of Oscar Wilde`s death with a play that looks at the writer through the eyes of his son, Vyvyan Holland. Oscar Wilde was feted and adored by Victorian society before his disgrace and imprisonment for ``gross indecency`` in 1895 - an imprisonment that brutally tore young Vyvyan from his father. Wilde never recovered from two years in Reading Gaol and was later to die in poverty and exile in France - still separated from his children. Born to be Wilde reflects on a fascinating childhood, initially happy - but later to be marred by lies, evasions and the loss of a much loved father. The play is written and performed by James Walker and directed by Martha Littlehailes (BBC Press Office via WORLD OF RADIO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WMLK, 9465: Nov 24 *1600-1910+ very strong with s/on, ID, address. ``Sacred Name`` religious program about the teachings of Yahweh. Gone at 2000 check. No sign of WMLK on Nov 23, Thanksgiving, at various checks between 1800 and 2100. They are usually strong here since I only live about 50 km from the transmitter site. They do not broadcast on Saturday, their Sabbath (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hmm, whenever I check, I hear only a weak carrier and no audio (gh) ** VATICAN/MÉXICO. After hearing Stig Hartvig Nielsen`s inquiry as to whether Vatican`s use of 6185 in European mornings was bothering reception of Radio Educación here in NAm at all, I checked it around 0630 last night and heard Educación as solidly as ever, with not even a trace of the Vatican on the frequency. So, unfortunately it looks like Vatican Radio is doing nothing that`s really out of bounds. At least their reply seemed polite and somewhat receptive to the interests of a DXer, unlike how most US religious SW outlets would probably react (Mike Horan, Park Forest, IL, Nov 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZANZIBAR. 11734.09, R. Tanzania Zanzibar, 26 Nov *1459, After hearing this sign on in Hawaii, decided to sit on this freq and see if it was audible back here on the east coast. Did indeed pop on with hi-life instrumental music. Very brief children singing, then man announcer with presumed extended newscast. Got better by 1505, but then faded by 1520. Never seems to have an "official" sign-on, but just comes on with programming already in progress. Signal is very nice later in the day around 2000 (Dave Valko, PA, hard-core-dx via DXLD) ###