DX LISTENING DIGEST 0-155, December 12, 2000 edited by Glenn Hauser, wghauser@hotmail.com {Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only if full credit be maintained at all stages and we be provided exchange copies. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without permission. For restrixions and searchable 2000 contents archive see} http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio/Dxldmid.html ** ALBANIA. Spurious signals of TWR in English via Cerrik: 0745-0920 on 12135v/12005v or plus/minus 65 kHz from fundamental 12070v (Observer, Bulgaria, Dec 11 via DXLD) ** ANTARCTICA. 15475.6, LRA36, R. San Gabriel Arcángel [sic], Nov 16 2041-2049* and Nov 17 2025-2045*, mix of Spanish talk by man and music segments. Nice ID at 2047* and 2045*. Carrier cut two minutes later. Poor signal but in the clear (French Creek State Park DX- pedition PA via Richard A. D`Angelo, Dec World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** ARMENIA: B-00 National Radio of Armenia/Voice of Armenia: 0300-0400 Daily Armenian 9965 0400-0430 Daily Spanish 9965 0800-0830 Sun Armenian 4810, 15270 0830-0850 Sun French 4810, 15270 0850-0910 Sun German 4810, 15270 0910-0930 Sun English 4810, 15270 1700-1745 Daily Armenian 4810, 9965 1745-1815 Daily Arabic 4810 1930-2000 Mon-Sat Armenian 4810, 9965 strong co-ch China Radio Int. 2000-2020 Mon-Sat French 4810, 9965 strong co-ch China Radio Int. 2020-2040 Mon-Sat German 4810, 9965 strong co-ch China Radio Int. 2040-2100 Mon-Sat English 4810, 9965 strong co-ch China Radio Int. (Observer, Bulgaria, Dec 11, via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. The poorly maintained, ancient Shepparton facility continues to put out strong spurious signals in the morning period between 1800-1900. The old favourite 4920 (2 x 6080) minus 7240 is a pest. Another new spur is on 5800 (11800 minus 6080). Here in Melbourne we get back-lobe radiation (about 150 km), and I shudder to think what direct radiation lobes of these spurs would be up north! (NF noted is 9475 (ex 9500) for English *1900-2130*, Dec-10). (Bob Padula, Victoria, Electronic DX Press via DXLD) Whew, off just in time for WOR UT Thu (gh) ** AUSTRALIA. The auction for Melbourne's new commercial FM license is to be held on Thursday, with much speculation about a mega-million dollar bid from one of the main FM networks (following the $150 million bid earlier this year for Sydney's additional FM license). The frequency up for grabs is 91.5 MHz. For those interested in Australian radio's backroom dealings, there`s a wealth of info available right now from the federal parliamentary inquiry into regional radio. Check out the inquiry website at http://www.aph.gov.au/committee/cta/irindex for more info. Some of the 200 public submissions to the inquiry are available on line, including those from major players such as the DMG Group. They offer a great insight into the operations of major radio networks in Oz today, and some of the technology they`re now using to deliver programing into regional markets from their broadcast hubs in Townsville, Bunbury and Albury. Also interesting are the perspectives from broadcasters such as DMG and the ABC on the potential for digital radio -- there's quite a divergence in views, depending on who`s paying the bills! The submission from the Australian Broadcasting Authority provides a good overview of how broadcasting policy has developed in recent years. Some might have seen a report in the Sydney Morning Herald on Saturday 9 December in which a PR consultant was exposed as the author of bogus letters criticising local content, or lack of it, on DMG's networked regional stations. See http://www.smh.com.au/news/0012/09/text/national1.html All part and parcel of the rivalry between the major networks, particularly with lucrative new licenses coming up for grabs in metropolitan and regional areas (Matt Francis, Dec 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. R. San Miguel, Pando, 4926.4, Dec 9 0930-0950, strangely presenting Colombian vallenta music, "...Radio San Miguel, la voz del vicariato apostólico de Pando, rumbo al tercer milenio...". Xmas jingle, ads for Superreforzador, Campaña de Vacunación permanente (Rafael Rodríguez R., Bogotá D.C. - COLOMBIA, Dec 11, translated by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. New QSL: I have received today one nice letter: Radio Emisora MALLKU, 4796.5 kHz, confirms my report of 24.06.2000 with long PC letter (sent 1$), v/s Erwin Freddy Mamani Machaca (he says: "...contarle que mi persona ya no es parte del equipo de la radio, puesto que me reemplazan los señores David Mamani y Clotilde Yucra..."), address: Radio Emisora "Mallku", voz de los trabajadores campesinos del altiplano sud, Casilla N 16, Uyuni, Bolivia (Daniele Canonica, Switzerland, Dec 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) So change your v/s lists ** BRAZIL. Hi all, Radiodifusora Taubaté is back on shortwave. Heard this morning on 4925 from 0655-0715 with announcements, international pop music and música popular brasileira. Weak but steady signal with slight interference. Thanks Glenn for this tip! Vy 73, (Enzio Gehrig Dénia/Spain (38.50N 00.04E) JRC-535d/ALA-1530/Dipole, Dec 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. The following is a news item posted on CBC NEWS ONLINE at http://www.cbcnews.cbc.ca/ ________________________________ CBC BROADCASTER ALLAN MCFEE DIES WebPosted Tue Dec 12 15:56:36 2000 TORONTO--Allan McFee, a longtime CBC radio personality famous for his offbeat music choices and unusual stunts, has died at the age of 87. McFee is remembered for a 20-year on-air partnership with Max Ferguson and later as host of the Eclectic Circus, during the '70s and '80s. McFee, a native of Belleville, Ont., began his career with the CBC in 1937 and –- except for a three-year stint in the army during the Second World War -– stayed with the public broadcaster until he retired in 1991. McFee had a reputation early on as a rebel at the CBC, joking on-air and clashing with producers and bureaucrats who tried to repress his act. One of the ways he`d vent his frustrations was to dot the studio ceiling with asparagus tips he`d thrown in the air. Alex Frame, vice-president of CBC Radio, honoured McFee as the "oldest-ever `enfant terrible`" in a statement on Tuesday. "I know it's a cliché to say it`s an end of an era but it certainly is," Ferguson said of his old partner. "I don`t think they`ll see his like again. Maybe some people at the CBC might be glad of that. "In a business full of egos, he was without a trace of ego," he added. McFee died of cancer early Tuesday. There will be no public funeral at his and his family`s request. CBC Radio will announce details of a public memorial to celebrate McFee`s contribution to broadcasting. Copyright © 2000 CBC All Rights Reserved (via Ivan Grishin and Bill Westenhaver, DXLD) ** CHINA. CRI program sked tfn: M-F: News 30 min, features 25 min. Sat & Sun: News 20 min, features 35 min. Mon ``People in the Know`` -- hot topics talk show Tue ``Sports World`` -- weekly highlights and sports music Wed ``China Horizons`` -- local news and travel info Thu ``Voices from Other Lands`` -- magazine with foreign guests Fri ``Life in China`` -- China`s rapid progress and its problems Sat ``Listener`s Garden`` -- listeners` questions, Learn Chinese Sun ``In the Spotlight`` -- culture and traditional music (via Christopher J Williams, Edwin Southwell, Dec World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. 4960.3, R Villa, Santo Domingo, December 9, 2105-2125, Spanish, usual bachata music, romantic songs, ID; extremely early fade in. SINPO 24422 (Michael Schnitzer, DX-Camp Bavaria, hard-core-dx via DXLD) ** DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. 4900.8v, RADIO BARAHONA INTERNACIONAL. Barahona. 1038-1103 Dec 10, first time I have heard this one, with news program Diario Noticias. "... En el aire la producción noticiosa más completa, dinámica, ágil y profesional, con más información que realmente tiene veracidad... Diario Noticias, por las ondas de Radio Barahona Internacional..." For better reception I used LSB, since the signal was wobbling from 4899.2 to 4904.3, although it stabilized a bit on the frequency above (Rafael Rodríguez R., Bogotá D.C. - COLOMBIA, Dec 11, translated by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREECE [non]. Dec 11 finally heard VOG via Delano(?) 15170, Greek talk and music at 0621, a satellite-hop behind \\ 7475 direct from Greece, both of them good. Strange this was inaudible before; maybe I was checking too soon after 0600, as IBB relays of VOG are often late-starting. Anyhow, MUF from west was definitely up on this occasion with RA-15515 and RNZI-17675 also in. Note what has become of Tahiti`s onetime frequency. Dec 12: 15170 inaudible again (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUYANA. 3289.8, GBC Georgetown, December 8, 0625-0635 and 0800- 0845, English, relay BBC World Service, excellent signal with S=9+10 at around 0630. SINPO at that time 55434. Later on from 0800 to 0845 I tuned in to GBC again and could listen to a special Ramadan program from the Guyana Islamic Institute with Qur`an lectures in English (!) and Qur`an singing. ID: "Voice of Guyana" (Michael Schnitzer, DX-Camp Bavaria, hard-core-dx via DXLD) ** IRAQ. RII English now 2000-2045, German 2045-2145, French 2145- 2215, Turkish 2215-2300; also English 0200-0245, German 0245-0345, French 0345-0415, Turkish 0415-0500, then a foreign service in Arabic all on 11785 variable. Times vary by 5 minutes and the service is not daily; the 0200 service sometimes misses a language out (Robertas Petraitis, Lithuania, Dec World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** KOREA SOUTH. Tnx to RKI which has already come thru with my prize for finding their logo in the Cyberstamp exhibition contest: RKI mug received. Appears to be ceramic, glazed. White, slightly narrower and deeper than your typical NAm mug. The handle is sculpted to accomodate the fingers. Only inscriptions are: italic lower-case rki logo in blue on the side in indented squarish area (the indentation also protruding slightly on the inside); just below it, in black, http://rki.kbs.co.kr and rki RADIO KOREA INTERNATIONAL on the bottom (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KURDISTAN. CLANDESTINE/IRAQ: Freq changes of Voice of Iraqi Kurdistan in Kurdish and Arabic: 0200-0600 (time vary) NF 7375.0 (45444), ex 7390.0 \\ 4085v 1400-1800 (time vary) NF 7375.0 (44444) over R. Pakistan in Turki and Russian till 1515, ex 7390.0 \\ 4085v (Observer, Bulgaria, Dec 11 via DXLD) ** LIBERIA [non]. Re: DXLD in CIDX Messenger Nov 2000. Schedule from GJA. Mrs Anne Case is an Associate of George Jacobs. She is not famous but she was VOA Chief of the Frequency Division after George Jacobs left and moved to RFE/RL. My B-00 sked was accompanied by a personal letter from her, which said in part: ``The KVOH Liberia may also puzzle you. After High Adventure Ministries had to leave Lebanon, they hoped to install the transmitters in Liberia. Time will tell, but we did want to protect the frequencies.`` I have been monitoring for GJA several years. I do not know of any case in which an Alternative frequency was actually used. Alternatives are of interest to frequency managers, but not to listeners. They serve to protect the frequencies. Thank you for DXLD. Best wishes. Yours, (David Crystal, Israel, Nov 30 by P-mail, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MAURITANIA. Nouakchott, 4845 kHz, has been staying on all night during Ramadan, with Arabic religious programming (mostly speech, little music). Remember when it was off frequency and nearly inaudible? It is now by far the best African signal on 60 meters. Fades in here about 2030 UT, and has been strong past 0500 with the extended schedule, burying the co-channel Guatemalan (John H. Cobb, Jr., Roswell, GA, Dec 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MOLDOVA. Maiac history. A few historical details about the Maiac site: The first two SW txers came on the air during the winter 1973- 1974, one beaming to WAf/SAm, the other to NWEu/NAm. Two more SW txers appeared in 1975 and the last one in 1976. The usual practice was that new txers operated a limited schedule for several months before they went full time. My first assumption regarding the location was Kishinev (Chisinau) as I found a program feed connection with 999, but when the existence of a large site near Nikolayev (Mykolaiv) became known I thought that this was the actual site, assuming that the "Simferopol`" site was located somewhere in the Crimea. The actual site, called Grigoriopol` from the nearest larger town, or Maiac (Mayak in Russian) from a nearby village, is located in eastern Moldova, next to the border with Ukraine. The opening of the Maiac txers on 236 and 998 (later changed to 234 and 999) cannot be traced from my monitoring notes, except that 999 had switched from Chisinau to Maiac before the opening of the SW txers. The foreign service txer appeared late 1970 or early 1971. It was then using 1493, often interfering badly with co-channel St. Petersburg. The schedule in early 1972 was Mayak program 0700-1500 and FS 1500- 2300. The Mayak transmission moved to another freq in 1973 and around 1st Jan 1974 the FS slot changed to 1546 (now 1548), apparently to take care of the interference problems. The Mayak transmissions finally settled on 549 using a 4 mast directional antenna, although 594 was used for some time in the early `90s. A few words about the zarya antenna system. A zarya antenna consists of a long row of masts carrying a number of parallel wires. The one used at Popovka, south of St. Petersburg, is shown in WRTH 1995, page 579. There are three models: small, medium and large, measuring 1500, 2500 and 3500 m, respectively. The mast height is around 50 m and the inter-mast distance 100 meters. The wires form a complicated system, changing between three levels as they pass from mast to mast. There must be an interesting mathematical theory behind this system, which was/is widely used for directional MW broadcasts in the CIS. The 1548 small zarya antenna at Grigoriopol` is beamed at 245 degrees (Olle Alm, Sweden, Dec 9, BC-DX via DXLD) I can add that the take-over of the Maiac transmitting center with military force by separatists happened on 7 May 1992 at 2200 LT, according to a local newspaper report. The same source says that as part of the action both the relay of Moldovan Radio 1 on MW 999 and Radio-1 from Moscow on LW 234 was switched off (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, Dec 10, ibid.) I can add: The German "wwh" magazine cited Stanislav Kiselyov with the statement that R Pridnestrovye started on 22 June 1992. Probably they needed first to establish a feed to Grigoriopol`. I used to believe it was some kind of a field phone cable, considering the narrow-bandwith audio (which was also on a rather low level on both 999 and SW as far as I remember). Another technical consideration: Bernd pointed out that 549/594 and 1548 shared the tx unit. But recently Rumen Pankov in Sofia, Bulgaria found that at certain times definitely all 621, 999, 1467 and 1548 were on air, so these must be four independent transmitters. Probably 621 used the ex-234 unit? (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Dec 10, BC-DX via DXLD) ** MONACO [NON!!]. Here is the latest and final(?) installment of a lengthy thread we have not been republishing here about transmitter sites (gh) Dear Olle, today I looked at bigger bookstore in downtown Stuttgart to a 'Hiking' map of high resolution on Côte d`Azur and Monte Carlo area, of 1 cm = 1 kilometer printout. There never has been a tx location on Monaco soil, not on LW, MW, or SW (except a small FM station there?), at least from 1946 onwards. 73 de (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, via DXLD) MONACO [c.f. BCDX #497]. Regarding the RMC nearby sites, Fontbonne is located about 1500 meters north of the nearest point of Monaco. Two major roads (Grande Corniche and Moyenne Corniche) pass through the area between the Fontbonne site and Monaco. The slope between Fontbonne and Monaco falls at least 450 meters [the web site mentioned 850 metres ASL], and is very steep. This excludes any chance that the Fontbonne site would stretch all the way down the mountain into Monaco. In addition the French town of Beausoleil stretches along the north side of Monaco. I think people do not realize how small Monaco is. It only makes up a part of the coastal strip in the area. The rest of the populated area on all sides of Monaco is on French soil. A QSL picture of the TWR antennas at Fontbonne shows the whole group crammed on a small plateau overlooking the coastal strip. More history on this matter, some pictures and ancient QSL cards via RMC web sites, photos taken by Mr. Thierry Vignaud: http://rmcstory.free.fr/ http://rmcstory.free.fr/newindex.htm http://home.worldnet.fr/~tvignaud/ http://home.worldnet.fr/~tvignaud/am/e1/fr-e1.htm http://home.worldnet.fr/~tvignaud/am/allouis/fr-allouis.htm (Olle Alm, Sweden, Dec 2, 9, BCDX via DXLD) I looked to a 'Hiking' map of high resolution on Cote Azur and Monte Carlo area: To answer Paul Ormandy in New Zealand, All four[!] sites are on French soil. Only the broadcasting house is situated at a palace of 1946 in 16 Boulevard Princess Charlotte within Monte Carlo, downtown Monaco. 1 - Fontbonne tx housing area is about 1500 meters from the nearest point of Monaco, as Olle explains ABOVE. That tx building originates from the Nazi-German-French collaboration era during/after WW II in 1942/1946. 2 - Between Fontbonne tx house and the SW installation at Mt Agel location are more 200-300 meters distance to true North; this location housed also the old 120 kW MW unit in 1952. 3 - The 'older' MW site of 701/702 and 1466/1467 at Col de la Madonne, North of Monaco constructed in 1965, is more 3000 meters further North of the Monacan border line. Roumoules, at Plateau de Valensole, on the western shore of Lac de ????? is exactly 102 kilometers away to the western border of Monaco, totally on French soil. LW tx 216 was erected in 1974, and modern MW tx 1467 in 1987 (Wolfgang Büschel, Dec 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OMAN. Dr Glenn - In DXLD 153 there`s doubt about the Oman English Service at 14-15 on 15140 kHz. While writing this -- Dec. 12 -- reception of this English relay is SIO 554 here in Copenhagen. 73, (Erik Køie, Denmark, Dec 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. Port Moresby 4890 leaves transmitter on all night with open carrier, morning programming comes on at 1900; Rabaul 3385 also has open all-night carrier, and morning programming starts at 1830 with instrumental pieces, no announcements until at least 1930! Dec 10 (Bob Padula, Victoria, Electronic DX Press via DXLD) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. Funds sought for West Sepik local radio | Excerpt from report by 'Papua New Guinea Post-Courier' web site on 12th December ... Yesterday, Sandaun [West Sepik Province] Governor Robert Sakias appealed to the National Broadcasting Corporation [NBC] to clear its electricity bill of 31,000 kina to allow Radio Sandaun to get back on air to broadcast urgent messages about what people could do on the border to avoid being caught up in the reported fighting in the area between the Indonesian forces and the freedom fighters. He said Radio Sandaun had been off air for seven months because Elcom [the Electricity Commission] had pulled the plug on the station because of the unpaid power bill. He said the situation on the border was tense, with fighting forcing West Papuans to cross the border in turn pushing Papua New Guineans out of their villages in fear of reprisal attacks or getting caught in the cross-fire. He said people at Amanab, Imonda, Yapsi, Green River, Skotchiau and Wutung villages were the most affected by the problems on the border. NBC managing director Boski Tonny was out of town and could not be reached for comment... Source: 'Papua New Guinea Post-Courier' web site, Port Moresby, in English 12 Dec 00 (via BBC Monitoring via DXLD) 3205 kHz (WRTH 1998 via gh, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERÚ. 4655, ECOS DEL EDEN. Celendín. 0020-0110 Dec 8. New name for this station, previously reported by Pedro F. Arrunátegui as Radio La Voz del Campesino; heard with program Noches Poéticas about how Xmas is celebrated in Celendín, "...Radio Ecos del Eden, una emisora de amor en el Norte Peruano..." (Rafael Rodríguez R., Bogotá D.C. - COLOMBIA, Dec 11, translated by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERÚ. 4300, RD COMERCIAL NARANJOS. Pardo Miguel Naranjos. 1004- 1020 Dec 9, Himno nacional del Perú, para luego la apertura: "...Damas y caballeros del majestuoso valle del Alto Mayo, de esta manera inicia sus labores cotidianas Radiodifusora Comercial Naranjos, al mimso tiempo os da la bienvenida a su programación correspondiente a la fecha, a nombre de Mario Cusma Vásquez, propietario; Esperanza Galo Gómez, Gerente Adminitrativo; Pepe Vásquez, Jefe de Producciones. Les brindamos nuestro cordial saludo augurándoles éxitos en todas sus metas... Radiodifusora Comercial Naranjos, transmitimos desde nuestros estudios ubicados en la Avenida Cajamarca 464, Distrito de Pardo Miguel Naranjos, provincia de Rioja, Región San Martín, República del Perú, Sudamérica..." (Rafael Rodríguez R., Bogotá D.C. - COLOMBIA, Dec 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERÚ. Harmonic 13565.4, ONDAS DEL PACIFICO, Ayabaca, 2050-2130 Dec 9 heard signing on at 2050 with NA, "..Desde Ayabaca, Perú, transmite la nueva, nueva, nuevecita Radio Ondas del Pacifico..." "...Desde Ayabaca, Perú, transmite Radio Ondas del Pacífico, su mejor opción en buena música, mejor sonido y el mejor entretenimiento musical, Radio Ondas del Pacífico...". Something unqiue with this station: I cannot hear it at all on fundamental 6782.7, but the harmonic booms in (Rafael Rodríguez R., Bogotá D.C. - COLOMBIA, Dec 11, translated by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERÚ. 6817, L.V. DE LAS HUARINJAS, Huancabamba. 2350-0020 Dec 9 back on the air after several weeks of silence, heard with musical programming, has varied to 6817, ex-6819.5 the last time it was heard (Rafael Rodríguez R., Bogotá D.C. - COLOMBIA, Dec 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. For the last week I have been hearing VOR on 9475 kHz between 0500 and 0600, I believe this is a 2 hour block starting 0400. At first I assumed VOR had decided finally to vacate the American ham band, that was until I heard about the ice damage in Moldova via WOR 1061. This morning I woke around 0230 and found VOR on 7125 but with a weaker signal than before, presumably transmitted from a site somewhere in Russia (Peter Hallam, N. Ireland, Dec 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. VOR English to NAm at 0200: I do hear it on 7125 Dec 6. Strong signal but a little hollow. On my Kenwood R2000, S=4/5. Splash from 7120 and 7130. Usual parallel 7180 is silent. 9765 [Vatican] silent as well. At 0400 I`ve heard `em on 7125, 7180 and 12010. I checked tonight: 7125 nice signal since 7120 and 7130 signed off. 7180 silent. 12010 active but just barely heard. I could not find any others in a sweep of the bands (Bob Thomas, CT, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOMALIA. Heard in Mauritius at that time 6750 R Mogadishu (V of the People) 0300-0430, 1200-1258, 1400-1900 7530 R Hargeisa 1430-1900 7070 R Banaadir 1400-2000 6985 R Gaalkayco 1445-1658 6985 Radyo Gaalkacyo *1445-1658*. S-on and off with Signature tune (Military March Tune) which sounded very similar with R Mogadishu (VOP). 1530 nx bulletin then followed with songs 1559, ID then talk on Malaria ailment - songs after that and Recital of Koran at 1654, followed by a long anmt and went off at 1658, after Signature tune. The reception was much better when it was on 7012 (Mahendra Vaghjee, Mauritius, Dec 9, BC-DX via DXLD) ** SOMALIA. Radio Banaadir on FM in Mogadishu | Text of report by Somali newspaper 'Ayaamaha' on 10th December Radio Banaadir, which usually broadcasts on 41 and 49 metre bands [shortwave], and can be heard in many parts of Somalia, is now broadcasting in Mogadishu on 104.0 FM. Radio Banaadir`s new FM station brings to four the number of FM radios currently broadcasting in Mogadishu. There are already three other FM radios here, namely, STN [Somali Television Network], Horn Afrik and the Voice of the People [which supports faction leader Husayn Aydid]. The [Radio Banaadir] FM station is conducting trial transmissions and was heard yesterday broadcasting songs interspersed with messages calling on listeners to give the station a feedback on the reception. Source: 'Ayaamaha', Mogadishu, in Somali 10 Dec 00 (© BBC Monitoring via DXLD) ** SRI LANKA. SLBC noted on 4902 with all-night religious service 1700-2000+, Dec-10 (Bob Padula, Victoria, EDXP via DXLD); All Asia Service in English heard at much stronger level than in past at this location (Columbus, Ohio) with pop music and Xmas songs, time and station IDs from 0030 to past 0130 //9770 also very strong signal but latter frequency hurt by severe QRM from Germany on 9765, Dec 11 (Stephen Bass, Electronic DX Press via DXLD) ** SUDAN. 7200, R Omdurman is back here at 2125 with Afro Arabic Religious chant and talk on Ramadan by an Imam. 2134 ID and annt, then followed by a radio play, talk and songs until 2255, then recital of Koran and went off at 2300*, after ID and Nat Anth. Co-channel with China but strong at certain times, also \\ on MW 1296 (Mahendra Vaghjee, Mauritius, Dec 9, BC-DX via DXLD) ** SUDAN. 7200, Omdurman in Arabic from tune in at 1620 UT. ID as "Huna Omdurman". From 1708 UT almost totally blocked by carrier and test tones for Radio Bulgaria in German (starting at 1714 UT). No trace of Omdurman French or English service. vy73 (Harald Kuhl, Germany, Dec 11, swbc@topica.com via DXLD) ** SWEDEN. RSI English will be ``live`` from Belgium next [this] week. Special programming with EU topics et al. (Bob Thomas, CT, Dec 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SWEDEN. On Dec. 21, 2000 Radio Sweden will carry a special Christmas broadcast: 2030-2100 on 11615 HB 500 kW/180 deg to Eu/Af 2100-2200 on 9400 HB 500 kW/135 deg to Eu/ME 2200-2300 on 9430 HB 500 kW/045 deg to As/Pac 2200-2300 on 9710 HB 500 kW/290 deg to N&SAm (Observer, Bulgaria, Dec 11 via DXLD) Languages?? ** TAIWAN. Heard via RTI: GIO site [government info office?], http://www.gio.gov.tw – Taiwan`s history, accomplishments, future goals, etc. (Bob Thomas, CT, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAIWAN. RTI English programs effective until March 25, 2001: According to this grid, there are now two different sets of features rather than the 0300 broadcast being a repeat of the previous day`s 0200. All broadcasts start with news. All UT Mon-Fri end with Let`s Learn Chinese [tho there may be different levels depending on day of week, not specified here]; all UT Sundays end with Mailbag Time. Some Saturdays end with LLCh, others with Taiwan Excursions, as shown below, along with the ``middle`` feature lineup: Set one is on these UT day broadcasts: 0200 on 9680 5950 NAm [WYFR], 15345 11825 SEAs, 11740 CAm [WYFR] 0700 on 5950 NAm [WYFR] 1200 on 9610 Au/NZ, 7130 Japan/Korea 2200 on 5810 9355 Eu [WYFR] Sun Great Wall Forum; Food, Poetry and Others Mon Jade Bells & Bamboo Pipes Tue People; Trends Wed Taiwan Today; Stage & Screen Thu Journey into Chinese Culture; Hot Spots Fri Taipei Magazine; East meets West Sat Kaleidoscope; Reflections; Let`s Learn Chinese Set two is on these UT day broadcasts: 0300 on 9680 5950 NAm [WYFR], 15345 11825 SEAs, 11745 Japan/Korea 1400 on 15125 SEAs 1800 on 3955 Eu [Skelton] Sun Instant Noodles Mon Life on the Outside, Women in Taiwan Tue Taiwan Economic Journal, Formosa Oldies Wed Floating Air Thu Soundbite, Life Unusual Fri Miss Mook`s Big Countdown Sat Naluwan, Carol`s Café, Taiwan Excursions Some intriguing titles there; listener reviews and recommendations will be welcome (gh`s rearrangement and analysis of RTI grid via Christopher J. Williams, Dec World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** THAILAND. Glenn, I heard Radio Thailand in English with good reception 1100-1115 Dec 10 on 7285. 73, (Ivan Grishin, Toronto, DX LISTENING DIGEST) New transmission? ** THAILAND. Now here`s Ray`s Trans-Pacific report from Florida Raymond Moore e-mail: rsmcomm@usa.net RECEIVING EQUIPMENT: R8, MW and SW 23" passive spiral loops [at Key Largo, as I recall -gh] Recent unusual conditions have produced reception of what I believe to be the VOA in Bangkok on 1575 kHz. 1575 THAILAND Bangkok (presumed) DEC 4 1132-1141, brief bursts of audio in noise, male voice. Again DEC 7 1138-1147 in and out with short periods of audio, male voice. This station has been heard every winter (NOV-FEB) for the past eight or ten years that I have been monitoring TP frequencies on a daily basis. Usually just a carrier, but occasional audio. Best ever reception was FEB 1, 1998, when I got a nice tape of a program in a SE Asian language. Tentative identification based on (1) Past receptions (notably 1998 tape.) (2) Signal fading typical of transpolar propagation. (3) Propagation conditions, i.e., not a trace of common Aussies on 1548, 1512 and 1503 kHz (4) All of South America in daylight eliminating possibility of a deep SA. (5) VOA Burmese program on 9890 and 11850 kHz sounded exactly like what I taped on 1575 kHz: man talking with several brief pieces of music, at 1130-1200 when monitored on DEC 9 with SW loop. Came on with Yankee Doodle at 1130 which I will be listening for next time the 1575 kHz station comes in. Incidentally, WRTVH lists VOA Thailand on 9890 and 11850 kHz while PWBR does not mention them. (IRCA Soft DX Monitor Dec 12 via DXLD) Current IBB sked shows all the frequencies and sites for this 1130 Burmese broadcast; suggest you try to get a SW parallel during the next 1575 reception! BURM VOA S 1130 1200 IRA 02 11850 057 [Sri Lanka] BURM VOA S 1130 1200 IRA 03 9890 057 [Sri Lanka] BURM VOA S 1130 1200 UDO 03 6100 268 [Udorn, Thailand] BURM VOA S 1130 1200 BAK 01 1575 145 [Bangkok, Thailand] (via gh, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKEY. 5840, spurious signal of TRT Çakirlar 250 kW channels in Turkish 5980/6120, 313/152 degrees, heard before and after R Sweden program on co-channel. Formula 5980 x 2 minus 6120 = 5840 (Herbert Meixner, Ausria, A-DX Dec 7-9 via BC-DX via DXLD) Symmetrical 6260 should also fit, 140 kHz away on the upper side (Wolfgang Büschel, BC-DX ed. via DXLD) ** UKRAINE. Glenn, I can confirm that RUI is using 9385 kHz daily in English at 0400; in fact it comes in better than their dedicated frequencies for Europe out here in N. Ireland (Peter Hallam, Dec 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UKRAINE. Woeful signal from RUI NAm service in English at 0100, which switched from 9810 (dominated by VOR Spanish and splatter from 9800 France) to 9385. I was just barely getting S = 1.5. For a short time one of those mystery stations came on frequency Dec 5, for some 10 minutes: ``Xray, Delta, Tango, Sierra`` by a YL. I had slight splash from 9400 R. Bulgaria because RUI was so dismal. So, no joy or improvement. It was worse at 0400 on 9385. Just about heard. Extremely low signal. Static!! Splash from 9375 since RUI was barely scratchin` on 9385. Next day Dec 6: RUI is there at 0100 and 0400 on 9385. Maybe a gerbil can discern its signal?! Still 1.5 on ``S`` and mediocre modulation (Bob Thomas, CT, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UNITED ARAB EMIRATES. I have monitored English from Dubai, and can confirm still 1030-1050 on 13675 15370 15395 21605; 1330-1355 and 1600-1640 on 13630 13675 15395 21605 (Mike Barraclough, UK, Dec World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** U S A. The WGN Extension 720 preview in DXLD 0-151 struck out as Dec 7 had a last minute change; American regional English topic has been rescheduled to Friday (local) Dec 22. The others mentioned remain on the list as of Dec 12, but check it yourself for further revisions: http://wgnradio.com/shows/ex720/list.htm (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Webcasting public radio stations should be checked for holiday special programming schedules. For example, http://www.wuot.org in Knoxville TN has among others, these planned, here in Central days and time of UT-6, one of the zones it announces: Fri Dec 15 1900 Paul Winter Consort Winter Solstice concert Sat Dec 16 2100 New York Philharmonic (monthly, weeks vary) Thu Dec 21 2100 Early American Xmas Sat Dec 23 2000 Klezmer music Sat Dec 23 2230 Swiss Xmas Sun Dec 24 0900 Festival of Nine Lessons & Carols (via Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Hello Glenn, I just wanted to notify folks that as of 1/6/01 my half hour program Seldom Heard Radio will be heard on the first & third Saturday nights (technically Sunday AM on the east coast) at 0600 UTC on WRMI Radio Miami International 7385 kHz. This is a change from Friday nights. The program will follow Scream of the Butterfly. Seldom Heard Radio will continue to focus on obscure & lesser known folk, psychedelic & ethnic music from the 1960s to the present. Thanks for your support. For more information contact: (Fred, Seldom Heard Radio, 36 West Main Street, Warner NH 03278 singinggrove@conknet.com Dec 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. I was lamenting the lack of recitations of the Qur`an on American radio -- now I have found such a program, but these may be specials for Ramadan only: A Fezful of Possibilities on KAZU in California, UT Tuesdays 0400-0600 via http://www.kazu.org on Dec 12 was featuring the third program in a series of award-winning reciters. Oh, how lovely. I believe this is an Indonesian ethnic show, which I have heard before with secular music (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. GERMANY UMC Test Program 15485 1816-1852 4 December: E-mail acknowledgement with thanks in 8 days from Donna Niemann, Program Producer. Promises E-mail before starting regular schedule. (Bill Flynn, OR, Dec. 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.?: ** U S A [non]. Greetings All, I heard United Methodist Church Test Broadcasts from Jülich, Germany at 1700 on 13810 kHz December 5th; below is the reply I received when sending a brief "I heard you", Email earlier last week. Best Wishes (Paul Bailey, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia) 12/12/2000 07.35UTC Thank you for taking the time to send us your reception report. We appreciate your interest in the General Board of Global Ministries' radio project, and look forward to being on the air daily starting January 1, 2001 at the following times and frequencies. [same] East Africa 0400-0600 hrs 11775 kHz 1700-1900 hrs 13810 kHz Central/South Africa 0400-0600 hrs 13685 kHz 1700-1900 hrs 15485 kHz We are interested in hearing your comments and suggestions about the content of our programming, so please let us know what you think. We will inform you by email before we begin our regular broadcasting schedule. We look forward to hearing from you. Thanks again. Sincerely, Donna Niemann Program Producer (via Bailey, shortwaves@egroups.com Dec 12 via DXLD) ** U S A [non]. AWR Wavescan mentioned that their audio files are available by Wednesday before the weekly broadcasts on weekends, and now Tuesday Dec 12 I see that they have already uploaded programs through #314, December 31 at http://english.awr.org/realmedia/wavescan.html (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VATICAN. Bandscanning around 0627 UT Dec 11, found VR IS on 13765, and better 11625; 0630 opened half hour in English to Africa with news of Guinea-Bissau (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VATICAN [non]. The new VR printed schedule has finally arrived. I can`t help but notice that just as in matters of faith, science and history, RCC HQ are not exactly forthcoming and honest, as nothing whatsoever is said about certain of their transmissions being via relay sites. Indeed, the radial maps centred upon Rome certainly give the impression that all target areas are served directly from there! Yet in DXLD 0-149 we had the Russian relay sites which included these entries for Vatican: CRR-8 (Khabarovsk) 6205 2200-2245 VAT 120 218 TCR-12 (Chita) 6205 1300-1345 VAT 500 194 Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy 5940 1315-1345 VAT 100 248 The VR sked shows that these are in Chinese, Vietnamese, and Japanese respectively and are ``non-direxional`` since there is no letter- suffix indicating a target area, but this is certainly untrue as the listings above show direxional azimuths for each in the last 3-digit figure. Some other questionable transmissions, I believe from other CIS or Philippine relays would be: 1230 in Chinese on 6020 (VR never shows exactly how LONG any broadcast be!) (via RVA Philippines as I recall) 1450 in Hindi/Tamil/Malayalam/English on 9865 1550 Friday only, Mass in English on 9865 to As/Au/NZ/Af 1710 Russian (until 1740 Ukrainian starts?) on 6205 to Eu Note the last one is the same frequency as used earlier from Russian sites above. Some European frequencies without a direxional suffix, 4005, and part of the time 5880, are believed actually to be from Vatican (or Santa Maria di Galeria, another distinxion that VR does not bother to get into). The latter is usually reported by DX listeners 2 or 3 kHz higher -- yet another bit of untrue info published by VR about itself. Just to be fair, I also checked their website and found the same lack of candidness, e.g.: http://www.vaticanradio.org/CoorPro/palinsasiaoce.htm (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Quite a heterodyne against BBC 11955 noted at 0639 Dec 11, about 11955.16, but could not pull any audio. Could be something interesting, like Angola, known to vary (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) +++++HUNTING HARMONICS+++++ Updated the webpage to bring it up to date as of midnight last night 10/12/00 http://www.dxradio.demon.co.uk/harmonics.html (Mark Hattam, UK, harmonics@egroups.com Dec 11 via DXLD) This by-frequency list is now quite long, and the longer it gets, the more useful. Includes not only harmonics but reported spurs and unID mixes from MF to VHF (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###