DX LISTENING DIGEST 1-129, September 17, 2001 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 2001, 2000 contents archive see} http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio/Dxldmid.html [NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn] ** AFGHANISTAN. Tent 7.080 04.35 UTC 16/9. SIO 444 (Costa Constantinides, Cyprus via Wolfgang Büschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Dear friends, Today on September 17 I monitored Afghanistan on 7087v in Denmark as follows: 0125 (tune in) - 0245* Domestic service in Pushtu until 0217 when programme in Dari began. Mostly men talking about the Taliban and Osama bin Laden. The Voice of Shari'ah drifted from 7089.7 to 7087.6. SINPO 34444, but from *0242 to 0357* QRM from the Voice of Iraqi Kurdistan, Iraq on 7090.0 in Arabic (34444). External service: *1530 English, 1545 Arabic, 1600 Turkmen, 1615 Uzbek, 1630 Urdu, 1650-1710* Russian. The Voice of Shari'ah drifted from 7087.0 to 7086.8. SINPO 22332 with much QRM from European radioamateurs. Best 73, (Anker Petersen, Editor of DSWCI Domestic Broadcasting Survey, Sept 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Have been listening to Radio Voice of Shari'ah over last couple of days with good signals. English transmission heard between 1530-1545 UT on 7085, parallel to 1107 (1000 kW, Kabul). Programming consists of short news bulletin followed by commentary on recent developments with patriotic songs in English & Arabic [? -gh]. Urging to get ready for 'jehad' & defend their homeland. Pretty strong signals here in New Delhi! Urdu programming heard between 1630-1645 UT. Warm Regards, (Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, India, Sept 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AFGHANISTAN [and non]. Afghani Websites: I've been trying to find out what, if anything, is available online. The answer seems to be 'not a lot'. The site which used to host a Web page for the Voice of Shariya, http://www.afghanistan-ie.com/ seems to have vanished some months ago. To the best of my knowledge, http://www.shariatonline.net/ is now the official site of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, but there's nothing in English and it appears to be heavily under construction. As for pro-Taliban sites in general, http://www.supportersofshariah.org/ says "This web site has been temporarily disabled." And http://www.islamicjihad.com/ says "This website is currently not available. Please return soon." The US-based opposition Azadi Afghan Radio is very much active at http://www.afghanradio.com/ Its Web site says "Azadi Afghan Radio is currently being broadcast in the Washington D.C. and San Francisco Bay Area, home to about 100,000 Afghans. Permanent broadcast days are as follows: In Washington D.C, Northern Virginian and Maryland suburbs-from Baltimore to Fredericksburg Saturday from 4-5 P.M on AM 1120 (WUST) In the San Francisco Bay area Sunday from 9-10 P.M on FM 96.1 (KSQQ) If this information is still correct, I'd be interested to know what these people are broadcasting at the current time (Andy Sennitt, Sept 16, swprograms via DXLD) More details at http://www.rnw.nl/realradio/features/html/afghanistan010917.html ** ANGOLA. Depois de muito tempo, a Rádio Nacional voltou a ser ouvida, aqui em Porto Alegre, na freqüência de 11955 kHz, em 25 metros. Foi no dia 07 de setembro, entre 2200 e 2210, com noticiário seguido do programa "Boa Noite Angola". (Célio Romais, Panorama Atual das Ondas Curtas, DXCB Sept 17 via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. BREVES BRASILEIRÍSSIMAS - Após algum tempo inativa, a Rádio Globo, do Rio de Janeiro, voltou a ser sintonizada em 11805 kHz, em 25 metros. Foi sintonizada, aqui em Porto Alegre, após 2045 UTC, no dia 16 de setembro, transmitindo o jogo entre Flamengo e Juventude, em Caxias do Sul. A narração era de Maurício Menezes e comentários de Luiz Mendez. O destaque ficou por conta do repórter Rui Fernando que, ao final da partida, entrevistou funcionários do Estádio Alfredo Jaconni. Motivo: estava fazendo apenas dois graus centígrados no local! O sinal da Rádio Globo saiu do ar, de forma abrupta, às 2110 UT (Célio Romais, Panorama Atual das Ondas Curtas, DXCB Sept 17via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. Programas radiofônicos: - "Amigos do Rádio" vai ao ar pela Rádio Trans Mundial de São Paulo aos sábados às 12 h e 18h45 e às quartas-feiras, às 12h30 e 18h45 (horários de Brasília) nas freqüências de 5965, 9530 e 11735 kHz. A produção é de Carlos Felipe da Silva e Valdemir José Martim. Endereço: Caixa Postal 18300, CEP 04626-970, São Paulo/SP amigosdoradio@transmundial.com.br "Encontro DX" é transmitido pela Rádio Aparecida aos sábados às 19 horas (de Brasília), nas freqüências de 820, 5035, 6135, 9630 e 11855 kHz. A produção está a cargo de Cassiano Alves Macedo e José Moura. Endereço: Av. Getúlio Vargas, 185, CEP 12570-000, Aparecida/SP radioaparecida@redemptor.com.br Atenciosamente, (DX CLUBE DO BRASIL Sept 16 via DXLD) Local time above, so add 3 hours for UT (gh, DXLD) ** CONGO DR. Seven countries have been involved in a war, in which 3 million people have been killed in this country in the past three years. The UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations is starting its biggest ever radio operation, a network of six radio stations, headquartered in Kinshasa, plus 5 regional stations, both in government- and rebel-held territory, on FM and shortwave. Frequencies are not yet known, as we are only about to start building the studios, but should be known in 5 or 6 weeks. The SW transmitter will be much more powerful than our previous R. Minurca operation in the Central African Republic, so we expect lots of DX reports. The station has yet to be named, and suggestions from your listeners are invited. Preferably in French, although also will use Lingala, Swahili and Tshiluba. The name should not contain ``UN`` since it is in partnership with the Swiss NGO Fondation Hirondelle, which should not be in the name either. It is hoped the station will be sustainable and last long after peace comes. The HQ station will be in Kinshasa, operating 24h on FM and shortwave. The regional stations will relay Kinshasa part of the time, and break for local programming mornings and evenings. The most important regional station will be at Goma on the Rwandan border, near where hate R. Mille Collines, Kigali once called for genocide. Goma is RCD controlled area, backed by Rwandans. Second, at Kisangani, in another rebel-controlled area. Third, at Mbandaka, in a different rebel-controlled area, by Jean- Pierre Bemba`s forces. Fourth, Kananga, in the Kasai region, in Tshiluba language. Fifth, Kalémié, on the shores of Lake Tanganyika. [the last one I was unsure of, but my Times Atlas from the Zaïre era shows such a town in that location, formerly Albertville in the Belgian Congo era. He pronounced it ka-LEM-ee, despite the accents on the map entry -gh] I have been involved from the beginning in this project, sort of my night-time job. I have been running UN Radio at HQ in NY live in the daytime, but visited all these sites three months ago, locating secure areas for the stations to be built. Now we need to raise several million dollars, jointly UNPK and FH. FH will be fund-raising mainly with European governments, for equipment; UN will handle the salaries of the staff. Canada`s Pearson Centre for Peace-Keeping is interested in contributing, as well as an organisation in Britain. SW operation will be [only] in Kinshasa; needs secure location, large area, and very secure, reliable power source. UNPK already has own power source which will be used. Kananga has been without electricity for a very long time, as well as water, since no power to run pumps. We bring in fuel from South Africa by train for generators. Target date: Like to have Kinshasa running by mid-to-late November, then travel to each area in order above, the entire process taking believe it or not, about 20 weeks, so entire operation on the air by Northern spring. Go to http://www.un.org for further info and click on Peace & Security, then link to mission in Congo, MONUC. Will have own website soon, and hopefully even live streaming of the radio operation. I will be mainly behind the scenes, but expect will do the same as previously in Bangui to let off steam, a world music/variety show Saturday evenings. Once SW is up and running, will certainly welcome reception reports and will have QSLs printed; E-mail: smithd@un.org (David Smith, as interviewed by Sheldon Harvey and Bill Westenhaver on CKUT International Radio Report Sept 16, notes by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CZECH REPUBLIC [non]. Checked 15725 around 1320 UT Sun Sept 16 and did not hear any DRM noise as Sines alternate frequency, but instead English mailbag repeatedly mentioning Prague. Apparently WRMI is now relaying RP at this time. Audio was distorted and not fully modulated. Sounds like WRMI modulator is on its way out. Schedule in the `portfolio` of http://wrmi.net which is usually updated at least once a month, as of today is still dated August 1 and shows Viva Miami at this time. I wonder if R. Prague itself is aware of this transmission? (Glenn Hauser, OK, Sept 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FINLAND. here is the FIRST part of Scandinawian Weekend Radio Story - written by DJ Tex Willer! 73' Alpo Heinonen, Scandinavian Weekend Radio http://personal.inet.fi/koti/alpo.heinonen/ SWR – a radioenthusiasts' dream Through the decades radioamateurs and DX-listeners have also been pioneers in broadcasting. In the beginning of the 20th century many broadcasting pioneers around the world were radioamateurs. In the 1970s there were again a huge amount of new radiostations on the air in many European countries. Now the enthusiasts were mostly DX- listeners. Through the years the enthusiastic pioneers have been broadcasting illegally without licences. How is it possible that broadcasting has always been so close to the hearts of so many active radioenthusiasts? Over a century of experience At the end of the 1980s some active Finnish radioenthusiasts started to form a loose group. They were radioamateurs, DX-listeners, pirates, scannerlisteners and CB'ers. They were men from different parts of Finland. Men, who always wanted to reach out for something new and different. Men, who were eager to do something special first. In 1999 the group was in a critical situation. They desperately wanted to break through and really have a ball. Go, where no man has gone before. Just for their own mental stability. Those 10 men had altogether almost 200 years of radioexperience. That's why it would be quite difficult to find something totally new in the radioworld. Broadcasting. In shortwaves! Most bands and modes were already heard and done. When the group continued to discuss the possibilities, they found themselves again and again talking about the same subject: broadcasting. In Finland broadcasting is the most limited part of the radio as a hobby. FM was out of question, nothing new there. In mediumwaves there have been Finnish legal stations already on the air. TV sounded a bit too expensive for us poor enthusiasts. There was no legal equipment available for the long waves and we doubted if we can build it ourselves. But --- how about the shortwaves? An idea about the legal shortwave station hit like zillion volts. Or watts. That hasn`t been done in Finland before. Until now. Quick connections to different parties proved that in theory this could be done. The biggest problem was to find a legal transmitter. Also it would be nice, if the station could be founded with only a handful of dollars. Or without. But everything can be done. If there`s a will, there`s a way. And there was a will. Victory Many kinds of resources and talents emerged inside the group. The transmitters were built by ourselves, tested in own workplace and approved by the Finnish DTI/FCC. The association was founded. The stationbuilding was reconstructed. The studio was built. The licences were applied. Scandinavian Weekend Radio The results of the enthusiasts` work were heard on the dear airwaves already less than one year after the GO! –decision. In the town of Virrat, in the village of Liedenpohja operates the Scandinavian Weekend Radio. SWR started broadcasting in shortwaves 2. July 2000. SWR is the first and only independent, commercial, private shortwave station in the Nordic Countries (Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland). SWR broadcasts every first Saturday of the month at 0000–2400 Finnish time. In wintertime that is UTC + 2 hours and at summertime UTC + 3 hours. SWR is also on the air in some special occasions, for example at Christmas. Until 5. May 2001 SWR was broadcasting only in 25 meters in 11690 and 11720 kHz. 2. June 2001 SWR started to use another transmitter. It operates in 48 mb, were the frequencies are 5980, 5990 and 6170 kHz. In 25 mb the reception is best in Central-Europe and the British Isles, but SWR has also received several reports from USA. In 48 mb the reception is better in Finland and the areas close to Finland. The transmitter power in both bands has been around 50 watts. Upgrades will follow. From enthusiasts to enthusiasts An association called "The supportgroup of alternative broadcasting" is responsible for the operation of SWR. The editors and DJs of the station are mostly members of the association. All members have fulltime jobs elsewhere and no-one is a radio professional at the moment. All the members have sometimes been working on some other radiostation, either as a editor or in maintenance. SWR also gives airtime to contributors and students. SWR also relays good quality shows from Radio Marabu and The Big Backyard. The station has been built in an old farmhouse in countryside. There are studio, kitchen, lobby, outside toilet, sauna and a room for sleeping. The antennatower in the garden is about 20 meters tall. The studioequipment are mostly inexpensive brandname homestereolevel pieces. 2 MD-decks, 3 CD-decks, 2 turntables, 1 MC-deck, 1 mixer and 3 microphones. All programs are recorded with a VHS- homevideorecorder. The incoming calls are fed into the mixer with the help of a laptop PC with Nokia GSM-card and a hands free set. The antenna for 25 meters is a halfwave dipole antenna, which is hanging in around 20 meters of the ground. In 48 mb SWR uses a special dipole antenna, which is fixed 6 meters of the ground. Freedom and power SWR has no format and no playlists. There is a rule, that over half of the music should be from Finland. SWR aims to play mostly music that is not played in other radiostations. The editors are encouraged to use other languages than Finnish. English is most common language in programs. The editor makes the final decision. He plays whatever he wants and talks whatever he wants. Almost all programs are broadcast live. Luckily the musictastes of the SWR editors differ very much. That`s why there is lots of different music in different shows. DJ Ville has a show called "Perkele" (= devil), where he plays heavyrock and other black and hard music. DJ Tex Willer loves rootsmusic and plays Rock`a`billy, country and `50`s rock`n`roll in his "Rockin` Rhythm" – show. DJ Häkä takes it to the limit with techno and dance. SWR has only limited recordcollection. The editors mostly bring their own records to SWR when they have a show to do. Some recordcompanies have started to send promocopies to SWR. SWR loves to plays them. Especially small independent recordcompanies like the possibility to reach listeners around Europe. Even though SWR is commercial station, there has been only few advertisers. SWR is not selling radioadvertisements actively. The station mostly gets the needed money from the members. The biggest cost for the station are the music copyright fees. Do you want to join? SWR is operated by the volunteers. SWR is open for people who love the radio. SWR gives airtime to enthusiasts who want to be on the air. All of you are very welcome to visit the station during the broadcasts. If you happen to be in Finland around the first Saturday of the month, come to see SWR. You can find more information and great photos about SWR in SWR- webpages http://www.swradio.net You can send questions, reception reports and comments by e-mail to info@swradio.net The mailing address is SWR, P.O.Box 35, FIN-40321 JYVÄSKYLÄ, Finland. SWR answers all correct reception reports with a multicolor QSL-card. Just remember to enclose 2 IRC's or 2 USD with your report. SWR has managed so well, because there have been so many people who have been working so hard to make the dreams come true. DJ Tex Willer The author was first time applying for a broadcasting licence in 1983, he has been producing radioshows to 6 countries and he has been a managing director of a large Finnish local radiostation (via Alpo Heinonen, Sept 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN. I'm just checking some of the international broadcasting Web sites. It's interesting to see how others have reacted. Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting have a picture gallery of scenes from New York. But on their Home Page is a Flash Movie of an aircraft striking one of the twin towers. It repeated every 4-5 seconds. Bizarre! http://www.irib.com/worldservice/ (Andy Sennitt, std disclaimer, Sept 16, swprograms via DXLD) ** IRAN. Subject: Iran Linking to BBCWS! The Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting web site is actually linking to BBC news footage of the WTC tragedy! An amazing turn of events, IRIB links to footage of the WTC bombing on the page referenced below. Clicking on the camera icon opens up a BBC news report by James Robbins! http://www.irib.com/worldservice/america/america2/5.htm Of course, IRIB asks on its home page, "Killing of the defenceless and innocent people of Palestine should not be called as a Terrorist act?" They also have a rather tacky animation of a jet crashing into one of the towers. IRNA News Service is taking a hesitantly pro-American stance on the terrorist attack, which in itself is quite astounding, although there is no love lost between the Iranians and the Taliban. This tragedy may see at least a temporary realignment of nations and, I suspect, a reduction in the usual droning propaganda from the remaining anti-US broadcasters, excepting Baghdad of course (Phillip Dampier, NY, Sept 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN. VOIRI news at 0035 (Sep 17) on 9835. Reported U.S. warplanes flying over Pakistan near Iranian border. Also that FBI agents have now arrived in Pakistan. Other related stories included one about an anti-war protest Saturday in Atlanta, some Iranian academic saying fighting terrorism with military action would likely fail, better to use 'logic'. (oookay). Also talked about a report in the Toronto Star about Afghanis in Canada who were afraid for their safety. Good strong signal (just listening on a Panasonic RFB-65 with whip antenna) and quite clear audio for a change. 73, (Greg Schatzmann, Ont., ODXA via DXLD) ** ISRAEL. Dear George, Thanks for the reports. I am sending you and all USA citizens my deep sorrow for the disaster in your cities attacked by terrorists. I hope all your family is well. From September 1 we replaced 21665 with 17545 at 1600 utc. All the best, (Moshe Oren, frequency manager, ISRAEL, Sept 16, via George Poppin, CA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LIBERIA. CATHOLICS SUE GOVERNMENT FOR DENYING EMBATTLED RADIO VERITAS A SHORTWAVE LICENSE ELCM Radio Veritas, the embattled little FM station of the Archdiocese of Monrovia, the capital of war-devastated Liberia, is focal point of another storm that has attracted international attention. The government of Liberia has repeatedly denied ELCM Radio Veritas a new license for a new shortwave transmitter to replace a previous one wrecked some years ago in the endless civil war that raged in this west African nation. In response, a group of Catholic leaders has sued the government of President Charles Taylor, according to international media, both secular and religious. The government defended itself, saying that ELCM has broadcast slander about the government. As in previous Latin American dictatorships, in Africa the Church is often the only remaining institution that courageously defends the people against a brutal tyranny. The 5,000-watt station on 97.8 FM runs a split schedule at 5 a.m.-11 a.m. and 6 p.m.-11 p.m., according to the World Radio Television Handbook. It has been destroyed twice in a long-running civil war, was born a third time inside the French Embassy compound, from where it operated in protection during the years of turmoil, until the government threatened to revoke its license unless it returned to Liberian controlled soil. The fearless archbishop of Monrovia replied that when the government could guarantee the station and it staff protection, it would leave the French compound, that he, the archbishop of Monrovia, did not wish to build the station a fourth time. While the station was spared a third destruction, it was taken off the air for an extended period because of its criticism of the reigning dictator and his government. When Catholic Radio Update reported that the station at one time had planned a shortwave station but it was never brought to fruition. Shortwave expert and enthusiast Hans Johnson wrote to say that the shortwave station had existed: "They were once on shortwave a few years back and were heard as far away as North America. They have a shortwave transmitter, but it has completely broken down. In my telephone conversations earlier this year with the station manager, Steve Kennah, he said that they would like to return to shortwave but that they needed someone to provide them with a new transmitter or the funding for one" (Catholic Radio Update #98, December 11, 2000; Correspondence section). Obviously, the funds were contributed by an international or church organization but, as in other African countries, the government brooks no criticism, and licenses are not awarded. (See past articles on another Radio Veritas, this one in Luanda, Angola; the refusal of the government of Congo to license the bishops' Radio Veritas there. In South Africa, the Dominicans have been working to get a license for their Radio Veritas, but in this case there is no government repression. These various Radios Veritas are not related, nor are they related to Radio Veritas Asia and Radio Veritas Philippines.) Database Monrovia: ELCM Radio Veritas 97.8 FM (5,000 watts). Plans shortwave. Archdiocese of Monrovia, Box 3569. Phone: +231 221658. 5am-11am & 6pm-11pm. (Radio Catholic Update # 140 via Conexión Digital Sept 16 via DXLD) ** MADAGASCAR [non]. Re: DXLD 1-128: HRMI, Honduras on 5010.1 at 150 Watts was heard here several weeks ago but now seemingly not there (Power per QSL card received). Three weeks ago, YVTO time station heard on 5010.0, up from 5000.0, but YVTO subsequently moved on to 5030.0. (In fact they are on now as I write this at 0418 UT 16 Sept 2001. No trace on 5000.0). I've not checked recently for Madagascar on 5009.5 but will next week from the Coast of Washington when the beverages are aimed to SEA and E Africa. Best regards (Don Nelson, Oregon, USA, to Piet Pijpers, cc to DXLD) MALAGASY/MADAGASCAR. 5010.0, R. Malagasy, Sept 16 1835-1902*, Soft sounding vocals by female group, some vernacular in between the music that followed, all sounding somewhat solemn as if related to a religious broadcast on a Sunday evening. At 1901 possible NA and off at 1902. Poor signal and presumed. Later checked NA and judging by some bars that sounded like 'L'Internationale' this must indeed have been Malagasy and not on 5009.5 anymore. 73s (Piet Pijpers, Holland, bdxc via DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. Hello, there is a very wet and rainy Sunday here in Germany, and snow from about 1500 metres ASL upwards also. At present a special test transmission of DRM Digital signals in progress: DTK Jülich-Germany 5975 covers 12.6 kHz bandwidth only! Though formerly tests used a bandwidth of 19.2 kHz ... 5968.73 ... 5981.33 kHz. DW RTE Sines Portugal 15420 covers 12.7 kHz only ! 15413.66 to 15426.36 rx AOR 7030 using 2.2 kHz filter. 73 wb df5sx (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Sept 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PALESTINE. Here is the press release sent me by Associated Press concerning their withholding of a tape of thousands of people in Nablus celebrating the terrorist attacks on the US. While the desire to protect the lives of their personnel is all well and good, the fact that they openly submit to this kind of intimidation taints the footage they do release. This is not the first time an agency has been threatened though there have been a few (very few, really) courageous reporters and videographers who have smuggled their tapes out at great personal peril so that the world can see more than just the carefully staged visuals. There are still some questions that need to be answered. (Ori Siegel, ODXA via DXLD) ===================================================================== JERUSALEM (AP) _ The Associated Press on Wednesday protested to Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority about threats against a freelance camerman who filmed Palestinians celebrating terror attacks in the United States. The videographer, on assignment for Associated Press Television News, was summoned to a Palestinian Authority security office and told that the material must not be aired. Calls in the name of the Tanzim militia, an armed group associated with Yasser Arafat's Fatah group, warned him he would be held responsible and made what he interpreted as threats on his life. Several Palestinian Authority officials spoke to AP in Jerusalem urging that the material not be broadcast. Ahmed Abdel Rahman, Arafat's Cabinet secretary, said the Palestinian Authority "cannot guarantee the life" of the cameraman if the footage was broadcast. The cameraman then requested that the material not be aired. In light of the danger, APTN has not released the footage of the rally in Nablus. AP news stories reported worldwide on the demonstration in Nablus and coverage of similar rallies in east Jerusalem, Lebanon and elsewhere included both still pictures and video. An AP still photographer did not take pictures of the rally after being warned at the scene not to take photographs. The protest to Arafat by AP Chief of Bureau Dan Perry said, ``I ask your assurance that the Palestinian Authority will protect our journalists from threats and attempts at intimidation and that no harm would come to our freelance cameraman from distribution of the film.'' [previous story:] BC-Palestinian-Rally Bin-Laden poster raised at rally in Gaza, Palestinian police confiscate video and film JERUSALEM (AP) _ About 1,500 Palestinians, many supporters of the Islamic militant group Hamas, marched in a Gaza Strip refugee camp on Friday, burning Israeli flags and carrying a large poster of Osama bin Laden, who has been named as a key suspect in this week's terror attacks in the United States. After the rally, plainclothes Palestinian policemen questioned several journalists, including staffers of foreign news agencies, and confiscated videotape and film as well as camera equipment. An Associated Press Television News video was among the materials taken, and an AP photographer was warned by officials not to publish pictures of the bin-Laden poster. AP protested and demanded return of the video and other material. The journalists were told police would review the material before deciding whether to release it. Officials of Yasser Arafat's self-rule government refused to comment on the record and did not respond immediately to AP's protest. The Palestinian police said in a statement that the rally in the Nusseirat refugee camp took place without a permit. "The Palestinian police confiscated media material which documented illegal acts," the statement said. The Palestinian Authority has sought to prevent coverage of demonstrations in support of those who carried out the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington. Earlier this week, Palestinian police stopped camera teams and photographers from covering a rally in the West Bank town of Nablus in which several thousand Palestinians celebrated the attacks in the United States. Palestinian officials said the demonstration did not represent widespread Palestinian opinion. Friday's march in the Nusseirat refugee camp in the Gaza Strip was led by supporters of Hamas, a militant group that has claimed responsibility for suicide attacks against Israel. Demonstrators burned several Israeli flags and effigies of Israeli politicians, including Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. A large Osama bin Laden painting was carried by two men in the crowd. Bin Laden, an exiled Saudi millionaire, has been named by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell as a key suspect in Tuesday's terror attacks. (via Ori Siegel, VA3ORI, member: Toronto Area Amateur Radio Emergency Services Group Toronto, Ontario, Canada, ODXA Sept 16 via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. Subject: New features at the VoR? Seems like the Voice of Russia will soon be introducing three new features. Two of them are listeners' quizzes. The announcement concerning new programs has appeared on VoR's site in both Russian and English. The dates or times are not given yet. The proverbial Russian fatalism comes out in one of the titles and in program descriptions :) SHALL WE GO TO RUSSIA? This series of broadcasts deals with the attitude of the Russian state and Russians to the problems of their compatriots and Russian culture abroad. The broadcasts give an insight in the life of people whose fate, for one or another reason, was not easy. What has determined their fate? Their nationality? Misunderstanding or cruelty of other persons? Or may be, on the contrary, kindness, compassion and hospitality that were bestowed on them? DESTINED BY FATE At the crossroads of history Russia more than once got in touch with other nations and together they lived through happy and tragic events. Our programme entitled "Destined by Fate" is a quiz. You are welcome to take part. The programme highlights turning points in history during which Russia acted in cooperation with its close and not so close neighbours. You will learn more about historical events and personalities. If you listen attentively to our programme you will find keys to correct answers. HARMONY: RUSSIA AND WORLD CULTURE This series of broadcasts is devoted to Russia's contribution to world culture. Russia of today is as rich in talents as before. Therefore, the programmes in the series entitled "Harmony" are focusing not only on the traditions of the past but also tell about those Russian cultural figures who won recognition of the modern world. "Harmony" is a quiz. If you listen attentively to our broadcasts you will answer all questions correctly. (via Sergei Sosedkin, IL, Sept 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. ORT Ostankino tower transmitter back at full power | Text of report by Russian news agency ITAR-TASS Moscow, 17 September: The equipment on the Ostankino TV tower [in Moscow] that belongs to Russian Public Television [ORT, channel one] has been repaired. From now on the channel will work in normal mode, chief engineer of the state main television and radio broadcasting centre Aleksandr Kosarev told ITAR-TASS. A new feeding cable and antenna have been installed. The transmitter itself was not affected by the August 2000 fire and was left in place. A more powerful transmitter has been installed for Channel 49 in order to improve the quality of signal and increase the area of reception. New steel cables are being stretched inside the tower to make it more durable. Source: ITAR-TASS news agency, Moscow, in Russian 0701 gmt 17 Sep 01 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** UKRAINE. 17004.037 kHz USB, R Omega-polis, Sevastopol`, local pops, then ID, 1238 utc on 16/9/01 (Tim Bucknall, UK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) What`s it doing here – another Murmansk-like maritime operation? (gh, DXLD) ** U K. You may have noticed that I have not issued any BBC WS programme previews for some months, or had much of anything to say about its programming, especially since the NAm SW audience was abandoned July 1. I am still getting BBC On Air, and thanks to the generosity of Chris Hambly will continue to for some time, but my BBC listening has been almost exclusively to the domestic networks via the internet. For the past two months, that too, has been specialized primarily into the Promenade Concerts on Radio 3. This consumed two hours a day, sometimes double that, through the Last Night, which aired Sat Sept 15. Originally there were plans to ``webcast`` a number of Proms, which in BBC`s strange lingo means video as well as audio, but there were not any for many weeks until the Last Night. So I made a point of trying to enjoy the LN with sound plus vision. The sound, of course, with the video came from a different link than the sound alone on Radio 3. Unfortunately, the webcast could not be reached here for the first 50 minutes or so, but when we finally got it, was a pleasure to see with quality as good as could be expected, and had the additional draw of being live (starting at 1830 UT). The presenter in the intervals did an excellent job, and was also a very lovely sight. But the connexion would be lost too frequently, confronting one with the choice of going back to the more reliable audio-only stream, or repeatedly trying to get the video plus audio back, and meanwhile missing completely some of the music (e.g. the Adams première). Finally for the last half hour or more we gave up and just listened. Another advantage of listening on Radio 3 rather than the sound with the webcast was that the latter was extremely off-balance throughout, with hardly anything on one of the stereo channels! Did no one at BBC notice? Too busy watching instead of listening? The audio-as-an- afterthought mentality of TV is alive and well in the burgeoning field of netcasting, even when the audio is supremely important as in the case of classical music concerts. BBC Radio 3 continues with `afternoon` repeats of some of the proms for the rest of this week through Friday at 1300-1500 UT, and a lot more are already scheduled for the Xmas holidays December into January at http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/broadcasts/repeats.shtml BBC are to be commended for sponsoring such an extensive series of excellent concerts. The mix of familiar and new music was also very well done, and those programming the concerts deserve kudos too. It is hard to imagine any place I would have preferred to spend the summer more than in London with a season ticket to the Proms at Royal Albert Hall and other venues. Providing them on the web has been a tremendous gift to the music-loving world, and I hope this will continue in years to come. (BBC WS as usual has broadcast only a small fraction of the concerts available, and is hardly worth mentioning in this context.) The Proms website, however, has been a tremendous frustrating mess, difficult to navigate, and often lacking essential information, e.g. programme notes for specific pieces. One ought to be able to click on a composer/title in any particular concert and get the notes, but instead must hunt for them in an all-too-incomplete archive, not compiled until well after the fact, if at all. The programme schedule at BBC Radio 3 has been even worse, often with the briefest summaries of the content, not necessarily in order, and not complete, or giving only some blurb about a composition without actually naming it! The 20-minute interval features in the live broadcasts have been excellent, usually not related to the music of they day, but I have missed a number of them, especially since they are removed from the 1300 UT repeats. I hope they will be recycled as proper features on their own in the near future. The 1300 UT repeats also lose the live ambience as instead of playing tapes of the original broadcasts, the repeats play only the music, with new shortened announcement segments inserted from the studio. Why? Despite all these complaints, the quality of the music, and generally of the R3 stream (typically 44.1 Kbps unlike some other BBC services such as Radio 4) have given me and I am sure countless others a great deal of enjoyment. Thank you, BBC (Glenn Hauser, OK, Sept 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. The BBC has changed its IP address. No idea why. It's now: 212.58.224.36 (Andy Sennitt, Sept 16, swprograms via DXLD) ** U K. The BBC announced today, Monday 17 September 2001, that it has signed the contract for a ground-breaking property partnership with Land Securities Trillium, generating millions of pounds for programme-making and improving accommodation for thousands of BBC staff and visitors at no additional cost to the licence fee payer. The partnership means the BBC can build a state-of-the-art broadcast and presentation centre at its White City site in London and embark on plans to build a music centre, plus six more buildings at the site. The Partnership also enables the BBC to develop its vision for Broadcasting House in London W1 - creating the world’s largest live broadcasting centre - and continue developing its plans for a new BBC Scotland HQ at Pacific Quay in Glasgow. The BBC has over 500 properties across the UK and in recent months has developed an exciting new strategy to modernise its accommodation - making it more welcoming to audiences, more attractive to talent, staff and contributors, more flexible to technological change and more cost efficient. [...] (For more, go to) http://www.bbc.co.uk/info/news/news342.htm (Ricky Leong, QC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. GRAN BRETAÑA: 5030 kHz. World Radio Network, Wyvil Court, 10 Wyvil Road, Londres SW8 2TY. QSL electrónica (Verificadora: Paula Pitham, Administración WRN) (online@wrn.org) Transmisión vía WWCR. Respondió en 20 días (Claudio Morales, Argentina, Conexión Digital Sept 16 via DXLD) What in the world is this? 5030 is not a WWCR frequency; WRN does not transmit via WWCR, tho conceivably some program WWCR carried was distributed by WRN (gh, DXLD) Hi Glenn, Can't figure this one out whether - other than London Radio Service, your program and CW which on both WWCR and WRN (Tim Ayris, Marketing and Rebroadcasting Manager, World Radio Network, Sept 17, DXLD) I`ll be it was for a LRS program, if we only knew the time, but do they carry a WRN ID? Perhaps frequency was meant to be 5070 (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. Voice of America expands Arabic, Persian broadcasts, English news | Excerpt from report by press release by Voice of America on 17 September Washington DC, 12 September: Even as most of the nation's capital evacuated following Tuesday's [11 September] terrorist attacks here and in New York, the Voice of America (VOA) broadcast non-stop news of the unfolding story via radio, television and the Internet in English and 52 other languages for its worldwide audience. As the news broke, VOA dispatched correspondents to the World Trade Center, Pentagon, Capitol Hill, and the National Mall, and also moved to all-news formats in all 53 languages. VOA also expanded daily Arabic broadcasts from seven to nine hours. Farsi broadcasts went from three and a half to four and a half hours. VOA News Now, VOA's 24-hour news and information service, is providing 24-hour, English- language coverage... Headquartered just three blocks south of the US capitol, the Voice of America is a multimedia international broadcasting service funded by the US government. Using radio, television and the Internet, VOA broadcasts over 900 hours of news and information programming a week to a worldwide audience of 91 million. For additional information, please contact the Office of External Affairs at (202) 619-2538 or send e-mail to pubaff@voa.gov. Source: Voice of America press release, Washington, in English 17 Sep 01 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** U S A. UT-Sept. 15 at 0034, tuning around the 25 mb I ran across a VOA News Now fq. that I haven't heard before, 12030 (SIO 353), with panel discussion on the terror attacks on the WTC and what the US would do to respond; later on CW at 0132 on 6130 I heard from KE that 12030 was one of the new channels for the Middle East (Joe Hanlon in Philadelphia, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. I have been hearing the VOA via new 17820 the last couple of mornings carrying news in \\ usual 9680, but past 0700. Kim Elliott referred to extended transmissions this morning, and this frequency he said was operating 0600-0730 as well as 15205 and 15140. I can hear 15205, but 15140 is adjacent one of Finland`s splattering trnsmitters. 17820 has very 'woolly' sounding audio, with a hum. I tuned to it again c0725 after VOA 10869 finished, and there was a mix of VOA and pop mx. I thought this may be CRV Darwin, but both went off 0730. At 0730 15205 went on to carry Arabic. If you didn`t hear the item, Kim said the extended programme was a mix of English Arabic & Farsi for the ME. And freqs/transmitters had been 'donated' by RL to enable it to broadcast. He spoke quickly, and I think there was a little more to add. Frequencies are: 0600-0730 15140 15205 17820 0830-1100 15205 15355 17685 1200-1400 15265 15355 15515 17685 2200-0000 5935 6010 7195 9585 0000-0300 7285 9665 9750 12030 and he also mentioned particularly the addition of 1500-1530 17750 to the ME. I would guess these are the additional English segments. I haven`t looked at his http://www.voa.gov site yet but intend to do so - maybe these services will be included in the latest IBB freq sched (Noël R. Green-UK, Sep 15...) 0600-0730 UTC 15140KAV, 15205KAV, 17820KAV 0830-1100 UTC 15205KAV, 15355KAV, 17685KAV 1200-1400 UTC 15265KAV, 15355IRA, 15515KAV, 17685KAV 1500-1530 UTC 17750SKN -Arabic ?? 2100-2400 UTC 5935IRA, 6010KAV 2200-[-2200 6040 KAV], 7195KAV, 9585KAV 0000-0300 UTC 7285WOF, 9665MOR, 9750MOR, 12030MOR Quelle: (VOA Communications World vom 15.09.01 (A-DX via Wolfgang Büschel, DXLD) ** U S A [and non]. 13254U, 1638 Unknown location AFRTS. My last logging of this outlet was in April this year. Today it was on the air again with rather good signal in parallel (and synchro) with 12579U Diego Garcia [NOTE: we heard a news item about buildup of forces at DG, not surprisingly - gh]. Guam with different program was heard on 13362U. Hawaii and Italy were not heard, and too early for PR and FL. Recheck at 1750 showed Diego Garcia now on 4319U while 13254U and 13362U still audible. Anyone with location info? (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, FINLAND, Sept 16, Hard-Core-DX mailing list via DXLD) ** U S A. Here is a very good site that was mentioned in the Radio H.F internet newsletter. WTC Disaster - September 11, 2001: http://nydxa.4t.com/WTC.html (Tom McNiff, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Keeping up with developments in NYC, stations getting back on the air, etc.: http://world.std.com/~fybush/nerw.html (via gh, DXLD) ** U S A. From WNYC's President and CEO A MESSAGE TO OUR MEMBERS AND LISTENERS WE ARE CURRENTLY BROADCASTING LIVE ON AM 820 AND WNYE 91.5 FM 5:00PM, Friday, September 14, 2001: This is a tragic time for the city and for the whole nation. Along with our fellow New Yorkers and all Americans, we at WNYC keep hope for more survivors and honor those we have lost. As these events have unfolded, we have redoubled our efforts to bring New Yorkers the highest level of public service along with the latest breaking news. Now, with a moment to take a breath, I wanted to update you all on what has happened to WNYC and its staff during the last 72 hours. First and foremost, no WNYC employees were hurt, although several witnessed the events up close and our journalists have continued to report live from "Ground Zero" throughout the past 72 hours. Along with other radio and television stations in the city, we immediately lost our FM 93.9 signal when the North Tower of the World Trade Center was hit. We currently have no signal on 93.9 FM but continue to broadcast live on AM 820 at full power 24 hours/day. Our broadcast is also being simulcast on WNYE 91.5 FM, the New York City Board of Education's radio station, and we thank Chancellor Levy and the Board for their support in helping us to continue to provide an FM broadcast service to the city. As events unfolded on Tuesday, the Municipal Building at One Centre Street was quickly evacuated. An emergency skeleton crew remained at the station and all our news reporters went out into the field, where they filed live reports locally and for NPR throughout the day and night. After losing telecommunications in the Municipal Building in the early evening, we moved our broadcast activities to the National Public Radio bureau above the evacuation line at 42nd Street. (We lost our AM 820 signal for approximately two hours during this period.) Right now we are broadcasting live from NPR's midtown offices, where we have make-shift studios in very small quarters. I cannot express strongly enough how supportive NPR President Kevin Klose and his team have been in keeping us on the air. To enable us to get our signal from the NPR broadcast site to the satellite, Washington-based NPR staff actually drove a satellite dish to New York on Tuesday night, without which our continued broadcast would have been near impossible. The staff at NPR have made room at their own desks for our journalists and assisted us in every way they can to continue providing comprehensive news to New Yorkers. Under these incredibly challenging circumstances, our news and engineering teams, under the leadership of Dean Cappello and Steve Shultis, have done an extraordinary job, not only keeping New Yorkers informed, but filing stories for the entire nation through NPR. Meanwhile a skeleton administrative staff has temporarily moved to Channel 13 public television in midtown, where our friends at WNET have provided telephones, computers and Internet access to keep our behind-the-scenes activities afloat. WNET is also helping us to keep our website running and our online audio streams in service (although unprecedented demand means they are sometimes unavailable). We are working hard to restore the 93.9 FM signal as soon as possible. We've made arrangements to install a temporary FM antenna on the Empire State Building and we hope to have the signal up and running by the end of the weekend-so please stay tuned! Next week, we hope to regain access to our Municipal Building broadcast facilities and restore a full WNYC broadcast service. Meanwhile all of us here at WNYC thank you for your calls, your postings to the WNYC.ORG "Soapbox" and your letters of support during this extraordinarily challenging time. Your interest and support means so much to all of us! Please know that WNYC is committed to be here for you - this week, next week and for decades to come. (Laura Walker, President & CEO, WNYC Radio http://www.wnyc.org/new/today/lauraletter.htm Sept 16 via DXLD) WNYC-93.9 is back with what sounds like full power. Also back is WNET-13 but on micro-power, like 4 and 7 but better than not really there 11. If 5 is on, I can't get it. Likewise 9. Only WKCR- 89.9 is now absent from the FM band (Joe Fela, Central NJ, 0353 UT Sept 17, WTFDA via DXLD) Noon ELT Monday 9/17. It's still like watching with a 30 db pad in your coax line. Over the weekend, WABC Ch 7 appeared. Very ghosty at my location 45 miles north of NYC. I understand that they are on the Alpine, NJ tower with a panel antenna pointed SSE. They plan to add more panels in the next few days. WNBC 4 and WNET 13 are back on. Both have weak but ghost free signals at my QTH. These two are much weaker than WPIX 11 now on with 1 kilowatt from the Empire State Building. 4 and 13 are just barely watchable, but improve to nearly watchable status when there is any tropo enhancement. Still seeing WUSA Channel 9 from DC with reasonable quality nearly every morning. With the local NYC stations broadcasting with such low power, tropo becomes a serious factor. Co-channel stations do serious damage to casual watching of the NYCs when enhancement occurs. No sign of WNYW Fox 5 or WWOR UPN 9 yet. Channel 25 WNYE, a PBS outlet on the Empire State building, continues to relay the local cable news service NY1. In my office on the west side of Manhattan, I can see WPIX 11 with good quality. No sign at all of 4, 7, or 13. I don't yet know the location of the 4 and 13 transmitters (Karl Zuk, N2KZ, 1653 UT Sept 17, WTFDA via DXLD) ** U S A. TOUGH TASK GETTING STATIONS BACK ON AIR, By JOHN MAINELLI _________________________________________________________________ September 17, 2001 -- NEW York's major TV stations - which have been substantially off the air to homes without cable TV - are expected to resume broadcasting on their regular over-the-air channels this week. But the potential cost of Tuesday's World Trade Center tragedy could be more than $60 million for stations. For viewers, it may mean that TV reception will never be the same again. Of the 10 stations that were blasted off the air by the collapse of 1 World Trade Center, at least four will resume transmissions from the relatively remote - and shorter - Armstrong radio tower on the Palisades at Alpine, N.J. Two other stations are installing transmitters and antennas atop the already-crowded Empire State Building - the original home of New York's TV stations until the taller World Trade Center was completed in the early '70s. "We figure we're losing about 30 percent of our audience, so we have to get back up soon," said WNET/Ch. 13's Stella Giammasi. Ch. 13 will join WNBC/Ch. 4, WABC/Ch. 7 and WPIX/Ch. 11 on the 63-year-old, 425-foot Alpine tower. "We're only on cable now," said James Clayton, who manages both WNYW/Ch. 5 and WWOR/Ch. 9 for News Corp., which also owns The Post. "We hope to be on the air by early [this] week." Ch. 5 and Ch. 9 will join WCBS/Ch. 2 and three UHF stations already on the Empire State Building. Ch. 2 was the only major station that continued to broadcast over the air on its usual dial position because it has always maintained backup transmitters on "Empire," as engineers call it. Ch. 4 and Ch. 7's disaster coverage could be seen over the air only via the UHF stations that volunteered their transmitters while some of them continued their own programming just for cable. Normally, it's not easy to quickly obtain high-powered TV transmitter and antenna systems that together cost as much as $2 million, according to Harris Corp., the leading manufacturer. Each of the seven big VHF stations had two antennas and four to six transmitters at the World Trade Center - analog and digital (HDTV) systems with their respective backups. "We essentially stopped production at our factory of anything that interfered with restoration of service for our New York customers," Harris VP Dale Mowry told The Post. Mowry says all of the city's station managers - usually a fractious and highly competitive group - got together on "a common call" with Harris and other manufacturers to coordinate their needs. "It was New York broadcasters uniting to get the city back up," Mowry said. "You should be proud." The estimated 25 to 30 percent of local viewers who bypass cable and satellite TV for rooftop antennas or rabbit ears may need to reorient them. The relatively weaker signals emanating from the lower and more distant Alpine tower may not improve any time soon because the Empire State Building - which also accommodates about two dozen FM stations - has little room for additional bulky TV transmitters, not to mention more antennas on its already-jammed tower. An irony of WNBC's move to Alpine is that it will rely on the tower built by Edwin Armstrong, widely credited as the inventor of FM radio. In 1954, Armstrong jumped to his death from his River House apartment after a lengthy battle with RCA and NBC over FM patents left him nearly broke. Copyright 2001 NYP Holdings, Inc. All rights reserved (NY Post Sept 17 via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** U S A. DX Information from the British DX Club (BDXC-UK). WLS is a station I have listened to this weekend which can be found at http://www.wlsam.com/ This is one of the US stations that has recently been reallowed internet access. Yesterday the signal was almost continuous but today it is difficult to receive, but this may be a problem with my PC. See this from http://www.kurthanson.com/ (thanks to Mike Barraclough for advising of this useful site) ABC Radio, almost entirely silent on the Internet since the AFTRA complications arose in March, made the decision to resume the streams of some of its stations to provide coverage on the Internet (WLS/Chicago was back up by 11 am CDT). Though their technology has not been perfected (the WLS/Chicago website says it "isn't even beta-test-ready; it's more like 'experimental'"), several ABC Radio stations quickly got back up and were able to serve an information-hungry audience. WLS and WBAP/Dallas went live on the Internet with their local programming. WABC/New York, which eventually resumed streaming local content as well, began by simulcasting WLS's signal (the Chicago station is serving as the "guinea pig" for the company's ad-insertion solution). Certainly, given the gravity of the circumstances, no one is celebrating the numbers by any means. But they do show that people rely on radio, and want to be able to access radio, for information, entertainment, and other services -- and that there is an audience for it on the Internet. Al Brouilette, WLS webmaster, says the audience response has been "tremendous. We saw page views triple, basically without telling anybody (that streaming had resumed)." About their streaming provider, Real Broadcast Networks, Brouilette said, "Real's been great. I called them up and said, 'We're gonna need all the bandwidth you can give us.'" Real apparently was able to divert bandwidth esources (since most other ABC stations weren't streaming) to handle the WLS audience demands. Several stations have made a point of letting the industry know that, at least while the initial details of Tuesday morning were still unfolding, they went to full-time, commercial-free coverage. Yet most remained dark on the Internet. This brings up a good question: If stations pulled their streams due to AFTRA rights issues, but were running commercial-free on Tuesday, why couldn't more stations, at least temporarily, resume their streams as a service to their listeners? (via Mike Terry, BDXC-UK Sept 16 via DXLD) ** U S A. Zoneradio.com owned by horror author Stephen King: I sometimes listen over the web to Dr. Demento at 2200 ELT Sunday on WKIT [100.3 NYC] and last night I noticed that they had announcements in which the Kings were said to be thanking listeners for their contributions to the relief fund. I found: http://www.stephenking.com/links.html (Joel Rubin, Queens, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Also owns WZON-620, sports format NY (gh) ** U S A. The broadcast networks, putting telling above selling: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/style/columns/shalestom/A41274-2001Sep16.html (Tom Shales column, via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** U S A. Subject: Morning Edition, Pakistan Observer, and sign-in sheets Once again, National Public Radio's Morning Edition with Bob Edwards is the best source for in depth reports. Try the Real Audio archives later today to listen to segments of the program on your own schedule and pausing the Real Audio player as needed. The segment about the services at St. Patrick's Cathedral in NYC yesterday was particularly moving NPR - Morning Edition http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/ This morning I was listening to C-SPAN's Washington Journal on my walk-along radio as I did my morning walk around the neighborhood. I can pick up WCSP FM that carries C-SPAN programs on 90.1 MHz. They mentioned a resource that you might want to bookmark. PAKISTAN OBSERVER http://pakobservercom.readyhosting.com/index.html I have always found sign-in sheets to be a nuisance and a time- waster. The FBI believes otherwise and is reviewing the sign-in sheets at the Mount Vernon branch of the Fairfax County Public Library. They were signed by people using the library's internet PC's and were the way the terrorists communicated with each other. There are more indicators that Reagan National Airport will not reopen. The takeoff and landing patterns are too close to the Pentagon and the White House. Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority http://www.mwaa.com/index.htm Thank you for your e-mails and prayers. This site is maintained by Gary Price, a library consultant here In Washington. Resources Relating to the Events of September 11, 2001 http://www.freepint.com/gary/91101.html (Tom McNiff, Burke, Virginia, USA, Sept 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Subject: ARRL: ARES Volunteers... ARES Volunteers for Pentagon Disaster Stabilizes; New York City Operations Continue NEWINGTON, CT, Sep 15, 2001--The Amateur Radio Emergency Service operation in support of the Pentagon disaster in Washington, DC, now has sufficient "out-of-town" volunteers, according to Section Emergency Coordinator Tom Gregory, N4NW, of the ARRL Virginia Section. "We still request hams within 50 miles of the Pentagon to send their availability," Gregory said. "In an effort to reduce conflicts and improve the scheduling, both the Virginia and Maryland SECs are working together to coordinate all operational support at the Pentagon to the Salvation Army." Amateur Radio operators living in Maryland will be contacted by the Maryland SEC, Mike Carr, WA1QAA, for scheduling and operators in Virginia and all other areas will be contacted by the Virginia SEC, Tom Gregory, N4NW, for scheduling. All volunteers should continue to communicate their availability to n4nw@arrl.net. Also, all Amateur Radio operators who volunteer at the Pentagon site must have a VHF hand held with CTCSS encode ability, two batteries and an earphone or headset due to the high noise level in the recovery area. "There are significant security controls in place created by the military that are beyond the control of ARES or the Salvation Army," said Gregory. New York City Operations Continue Radio amateurs who are considering communications duty in New York City should first contact the appropriate ARRL Section Emergency Coordinator in the tri-state area for further information on how to proceed: New York City-Long Island: Tom Carrubba, KA2D, ka2d@arrl.net or telephone 631-422-9594. Eastern New York: Ken Akasofu, KL7JCQ, kl7jcq@arrl.net Northern New Jersey: Steve Ostrove, K2SO, k2so@arrl.net. Connecticut: Darrow Loucks, WA1D, wa1d@arrl.net. Assigned volunteers will be asked to report to American Red Cross Headquarters for credentials and assignments. Volunteers must use public transportation to ARC HQ because of limited vehicle access; there is no parking in that area. Tom Carrubba, the Section Emergency Coordinator for the ARRL New York City-Long Island Section has asked potential out-of-region volunteers to "stand by until we can provide for your safety and comfort." In addition, New York City Amateur Radio volunteers must have a VHF (2-meter) or, preferably, a VHF/UHF (2-meter/70-cm) mobile radio, power supply and cables, and mobile/portable mag-mounted gain antenna. Carrubba says hand-helds are not sufficient to deal with the difficult operating conditions. This duty requires a serious commitment and involves working in a possibly hazardous area in war zone-like conditions. Volunteers will need to supply some items of protective clothing. (ARRL Sept 15 6:31 pm ET via John Norfolk, OCKOK) ** U S A. Subject: ARRL: World Trade Center Volunteers... World Trade Center Volunteers May Now Register On Line; Pentagon Disaster Support Stabilizes NEWINGTON, CT, Sep 16, 2001--Amateur Radio operators who would like to volunteer for communications duty in support of the relief effort at the Word Trade Center in New York City may now register on line at http://wtc.ab2m.net. Bill Scheibel, N2NFI, the ARRL District Emergency Coordinator and RACES Radio Officer of Suffolk County, New York, reports that Amateur Radio operators, when logging onto the Web site, are quizzed against a checklist first and then are asked to fill out and submit a form on line. "Joe Thomasone, AB2M, is the guy who made this [on-line form] happen," Scheibel explained. "Besides the fact that when he was in New York (and now lives in Florida), he was instrumental in ARES and RACES, and has done great things for CAP (Civil Air Patrol) and of recent is still very active in SKYWARN. But, this type of contribution is way above and beyond. I personally can't thank him enough." Joe, AB2M, of Tampa, is an ARRL Technical Specialist in the West Central Florida Section. New York City Amateur Radio volunteers must have a VHF (2-meter) or, preferably, a VHF/UHF (2-meter/70-cm) mobile radio, power supply and cables, and mobile/portable mag-mounted gain antenna. Tom Carrubba, KA2D, the ARRL Section Emergency Coordinator for New York City-Long Island reminds operators that hand-helds are not sufficient to deal with the difficult operating conditions. This duty requires a serious commitment and involves working in a possibly hazardous area in war zone-like conditions. Volunteers will need to supply some items of protective clothing. "No assignment is insignificant as it is a contribution to the effort," Carrruba said. Pentagon Disaster Support Stabilizes Amateur Radio operators within 50 miles of the Pentagon in Washington, DC, who are interested and available in helping provide ARES support of the Pentagon disaster are asked to contact n4nw@arrl.org. As of Saturday evening, the ARES support effort had enough "out of town" help on the scene. "In an effort to reduce conflicts and improve the scheduling, both the Virginia and Maryland SECs are working together to coordinate all operational support at the Pentagon to the Salvation Army," Tom Gregory, N4NW, the ARRL Virgina SEC summarized. Amateur Radio operators living in Maryland will be contacted by the Maryland SEC, Mike Carr, WA1QAA, for scheduling and operators in Virginia and all other areas will be contacted by the Virginia SEC, Tom Gregory, N4NW, for scheduling. Gregory added that "all Amateur Radio operators who volunteer at the Pentagon site must have a VHF hand held with CTCSS encode ability, two batteries and an earphone or headset due to the high noise level in the recovery area." (ARRL September 16 5:38 pm ET via John Norfolk, OKCOK) ** U S A [non]. A most awesome display that will pull at your heartstrings....check it out.. http://arstechnica.infopop.net/OpenTopic/page?q=Y&a=tpc&s=50009562&f=34709834&m=4640913172&p=1 (via Horacio Nigro, Uruguay, DXLD) ** U S A [non]. Media round-up: US, Western media accused of scapegoating Muslims | Text of report by Monitoring research on 17 September The US media and government have been accused of leading an anti-Arab campaign in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in the United States. Since 11 September, many media organizations, particularly in Muslim countries, have been urging the US government not to act hastily in retaliating against countries that harbour militant groups. But in the last few days, some media in the Middle East, Egypt and Europe have sounded the alarm on the Western media's alleged scapegoating of Muslims. The Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram, a state-owned daily, wrote that despite widespread condemnation of the terrorist attacks in the Middle East, "Zionist" media were using isolated cases of Palestinians seen celebrating in the streets on TV as a propaganda tool in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. "The phenomenon is not confined to the United States alone, but is spilling over into Canada and a number of European countries. European media and TV programmes are fanning the flames of hatred against Arabs and Muslims. Some of these media have exploited the scenes of jubilation by a number of youths in some Arab back streets to fuel hatred against Muslims. These media are levelling accusations against Muslims as if the latter had declared war against America," Al-Ahram said. Egypt's Al-Wafd newspaper has also spoken out against the Western media's portrayal of Muslims. A column said CNN had collaborated with Israel, the CIA and FBI to point an accusing finger at Arabs and Muslims. The column said correspondents of CNN and of other channels and newspapers had used Islamic militant groups as scapegoats. The attacks were blamed on the Palestinians, the militant group Hezbollah and Iran, and without fail, the Taleban in Afghanistan and Saudi dissident Usamah Bin-Ladin, the column said. "The US media is influenced by Jewish leaders and their money. It is devoted to the service of the Zionist entity, which took advantage of the tragedy to brutalize the Palestinians and humiliate the Arabs and Muslims," the column said. In Iran, the media's initial condemnations of the bombings and expressions of support for a global anti-terrorism campaign have given way to allegations that the US media is scapegoating Muslims. Iranian state radio and TV have aired commentaries accusing the United States of using the media to justify a military attack on Afghanistan. The Iran Daily, an English-language newspaper, and the Jumhuri-ye Eslami, a conservative daily, have also linked the US media's portrayal of Muslims with a "Zionist" plot. "US politicians and their Zionist masterminds are doing all they can to win the American public's support for military retaliation by running a massive anti- Islam propaganda machine both inside and outside the country," the Iran Daily said. Newspapers in Europe have also raised concerns over US and Western media's alleged scapegoating of Muslims. Al-Hayat, a London-based Arabic newspaper, has warned that sensationalist reporting in the US media could lead to worse conflict: "The US administration will come to realize the danger of laying blame on the Arabs and Muslims so quickly and allowing the US media to go too far in fabricating news and information that help ingrain the heretical and stereotypical image of the Arabs before the investigations are concluded." "The danger does not lie in the fact that Washington would lose the sympathy of Arab and Islamic countries, which is not of great importance to it. It lies in the fact that a fictional enemy would be invented creating a lax attitude among US security agencies, which are already suffering from sloppiness. In addition, there is a risk this will deny the Americans a chance to find out the real enemy for a while, perhaps forever, and will increase hatred between the Arabs and the Americans," Al-Hayat warned. A Bosnian newspaper said the Western media must stop attaching "Islamic" to the word terrorism. "Thousands of times in recent days, CNN and the BBC, to mention only television networks in the front ranks of the media, have repeated phrases such as 'Islamic terrorism', 'Islamic extremism', 'Islamic terrorists', 'Islamic radicals', 'Islamic fundamentalists' and so on... such an approach is aggravating the position of Muslims in the West, as well as the position of the West in Muslim sentiments and the Muslim intellect, at least for the next 100 years," the Oslobodjenje newspaper said. Oslobodjenje also expressed the view that the "anti-Muslim" attitude in the Western media was largely due to influence from Jews and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Perceptions of Arabs and Muslims in some Western media have also raised concerns among some Middle Eastern governments. Muhammad Ahmad al-Mahmud, ambassador of the United Arab Emirates in Cairo, said the Arab media had failed to curb negative images of Arabs in Western media, the Egyptian newspaper Al-Wafd reported. Al- Mahmud said the Arab media "...have to listen carefully to, and watch, whatever the Western media present, particularly since the media in the West emphasize our negative sides. Unfortunately, this can sometimes lure us into repeating what the Western media present." In response, Middle East diplomats are currently working together to counter "misleading" media reports which miscast Arabs and Muslims as terrorists, the Egyptian news agency MENA reported. According to Jordanian Ambassador to the USA Marwan al-Mashar, Arab envoys in Washington DC have recruited a US media company to give the Arab point of view greater access to the American public and expose an "anti-Arab campaign" in the media. Source: BBC Monitoring research in English 17 Sep 01 (via DXLD) ** U S A / VENEZUELA. Estimado Don Guillermo, En primer lugar, reciba en nombre de todos los socios activos del Club Diexistas de la Amistad Internacional, muy especialmente de parte del Ing. Santiago San Gil, Carlo Ferro y de este humilde servidor Jorge García Rangel, queremos ofrecerles nuestras palabras de solidaridad y consternación por los apocalípticos atentandos terroristas ocurridos en la ciudades de Nueva York y Washington. Para Ud., para los colegas diexistas estadounidenses, así como para todo el gran pueblo de los Estados Unidos sepan que compartimos en el más profundo de nuestro ser, el gran dolor que ustedes estan sufriendo en estos momentos. Desafortunadamente, solamente ahora Ud. puede recibir este e-mail, después de varios intentos de conectarnos a la Internet debido al congestionamiento en las líneas telefónicas. Este acto horroroso en la historia de la civilización humana, estamos seguros jamás quedará impune; y nada más nos queda rezar por quienes perdieron su vida y pedir a Dios por su eterno descanso. Sepan que aquí el pueblo venezolano está con ustedes, muy a pesar de que percibimos que nuestro gobierno muy en el fondo debe sentir algún tipo de beneplacito. Sin más Don Guillermo, ya sabe que desde este pequeño rincón de nuestro país tiene un grupo de amigos a su disposición dentro de lo posible. ¡Muchas Gracias! Quedamos atentamente, Club Diexistas de la Amistad. Barinas, Venezuela (Jorge García Rangel, CDXA, Sept 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Gracias por sus palabras de apoyo! (gh, DXLD) ** VIETNAM [non]. What's this? I found a website of Voice of Khmer Kampuchea-Krom Radio at: http://radio.khmerkrom.org/index.php On its front page they announce: "Broadcasting every Friday night from 9:00PM to 10:00PM (Kampuchea- Krom Time) on Short Wave 15,690 kHz to Kampuchea Krom and South East Asia." Elsewhere on the web site they claim to broadcast from Washington DC and give a contact address in New Jersey. As far as I can see, they call former South Vietnam as 'Kampuchea-Krom'. 73 de (Pentti Lintujärvi, Helsinki, Finland hard-core-dx Sept 16 via DXLD) What this is has been reported extensively in DXLD starting with 1- 077, and has been on the air since June 1 (gh, DXLD) ###