DX LISTENING DIGEST 1-139, October 2, 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. Voice of Shariat, on Sept. 26: 1458 Afghani mx, 1500 smth [something?] like long TS bips, into (presumed) Farsi-like program (Rec#18). Frequency is drifting downwards continuously: 1459 7083.96 1503 7083.88 1527 7083.55 1533 7083.45 1544 7083.32 SINPO 32332. S8+. (HAM QRMs!) 1530 - three long beeps. M vern tk. 1533 Engl started. At 1544 went into Afghan sx [? sports? I doubt it --gh]. 1545:49 Arabic ID "Izaatu sautu'l Shariat,..." frequencies announced. News in Arabic with few midst IDs until 1554. Bubble jam (seems non-intentional, f.i. at 1533-1539 LSB affected mostly.) So English today: 1533-1544 UT. Arabic 1546-1554 UT. PS: the most interesting, smth like anthem at 1558 (quite tedious singing), it is the same (or VERY similar) to one I heard in July in R. Kavkaz programs (Chechen's separatist clandestine). (V. G. Titarev, Ukraine, Sep 26, in DXplorer-ML via CRW via DXLD) ** AFGHANISTAN [non]. Opponents speak out against Afghan rulers By Dave Peyton, Tribune Media Services, Published October 1, 2001 http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0110010016oct01.story A month ago, most Americans probably didn't care what happened in Afghanistan. Now that beleaguered, war-torn nation may hold the key to America's future--and perhaps the future of the civilized world. You can learn much about Afghanistan on the Web. Although you won't find sites promoting the views of the Taliban militia, you can sample the many views of those who oppose the rulers of the country. The Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan has created a site http://www.rawasongs.fancymarketing.net that outlines the way the Taliban oppresses women. For more information on the treatment of women by the Taliban, check out the Feminist Majority Foundation's report on "Gender Apartheid in Afghanistan" http://www.feminist.org/afghan/intro.asp A site sponsored by the Islamic State of Afghanistan, the anti- Taliban government in exile, was "hacked" and forced to shut down, except for a simple message to visitors that says it has been receiving "ignorant and disturbing e-mails" from people who can't distinguish the difference between the Taliban, Osama bin Laden and their opponents. Those in charge of the site http://www.afghangovernment.org say it will be up and running again soon. The Afghan-American community is behind Afghanistan's Web Site http://www.afghanistans.com "These inhuman and criminal acts of terrorism are against all our beliefs and moralities," creators say. "Whoever committed these crimes is our `national enemy.'" The site tells Afghan-Americans, "If you are stopped, questioned by your local authorities [police, FBI], please cooperate and assist in every way. ... It is for the safety of every American, including your family and friends." Radio Afghanistan has perhaps the most interesting of all sites http://www.radioafghanistan.com focusing on Afghanistan. The services of Radio Afghanistan are broadcast 24 hours a day from Canada. The site features Afghan music, news, feature stories and lots of talk and commentary. The Afghanistan Peace Organization http://www.afghanistan.org may have the most difficult task in the world. "We are a number of determined Afghans who like to capitalize on their wisdom and knowledge for the holy cause of peace," site creators state. Despite the turmoil, "we believe with knowledge and wisdom, Afghans can resolve their differences and enter the 21st Century with peace and understanding." Lonely Planet is known on the Web for providing information for adventurous, independent world travelers. But its report on Afghanistan http://www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations/middle-east/afghanistan is sobering, even depressing. "Over 20 years of war have left the dramatic countryside peppered with landmines and reduced many of the finest monuments and minarets to rubble. ... Say a prayer to Allah [or the deity of your choice] for peace, and perhaps beleaguered Afghanis will once again be able to welcome the backpacking masses," the site says. Until then, Lonely Planet tells visitors to stay away. Hezb-e-Islami of Afghanistan claims to be "the legitimate and revolutionary movement of our country" at its site http://www.hezb-e-islami.org The only way the country can be saved is by implementing the Islamic Code of Justice (Shari ' ah) "in all spheres of the social life of the people," site creators say. Copyright © 2001, Chicago Tribune (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) ** BELGIUM. For the time being, [RVI] French can be heard at 1630 and German at 1645 UT both on 9925 kHz. Then a second time, German first at 1900, followed by French at 1915, both on 5960 kHz and on mediumwave 1512 kHz. At the end of October that will probably be one hour later, and soon I will come back to this when our engineers have finalised the new programme schedule. This, incidentally, might include some surprises, as all transmissions from Waver will be disrupted. The end of more than half a century of shortwave history will stop. We hope it will be only temporary, as there is still hope that the transmitters might be fitted for the new DRM system, Digital Radio Mondiale. In April the DRM consortium got the go-ahead from the ITU. Next year there will be test transmissions and the official start is scheduled in 2003. Hopefully there will be affordable receivers on the market by then, otherwise DRM might go the same way as DAB. For years stations in several European countries, including Belgium, have been broadcasting DAB programmes, but there are no listeners. It is an absurd situation, the more so because it’s really great technology (Frans Vossen, RVI Radio World Sept 30 via DXLD) ALL transmissions via Wavre disrupted? Previous info was that RTBF would continue to use site; or is that simply beyond the scope of consideration by RVi? (gh, DXLD) ** CANADA. I had the opportunity, as a member of the RCI Action Committee, to meet with Mr. Robert Rabinovitch, President of the CBC, and Mr. Sylvain Lafrance, the new head of RCI, earlier this week. Without going into all of the details of the meeting, I want to stress to all of those who feel strongly about RCI that it is crucial that you act now. I know that as a member of the Coalition, and now of the Action Committee, I and other members have asked a lot of you in supporting Canada's voice to the world in the past. I feel I must do so again. We have gone down a lot of roads over the past 11 years in fighting for RCI's survival, but we now may truly be facing the most difficult fight of all. On behalf of everyone at RCI, and shortwave listeners and supporters of RCI around the world, I'm asking that you read the following release on the RCI Action Committee webpage: http://www.geocities.com/rciaction/CBCDirectorsRCI.html One of our last hopes may rest in the hands of the CBC Board of Directors. The Committee is pursuing other avenues, but I strongly feel that it is most important that this body hear from every RCI supporter immediately. Please use the e-mail address indicated at the end of the above release to reach the Board directly, addressing your comments specifically to the Board of Directors. Let them know what RCI means to you, why you listen, and why you feel that the present "re-deployment" strategy of the new management, which will most certainly lead to the full integration of RCI into the CBC Domestic service, is a mistake. Also, review the documentation referred to in this release. It must be stressed that RCI must meet its mandate, and that the CBC must fulfill the terms of its accord with the Canadian government to ensure that the mandate is met. Needless to say, the results of the meeting with Rabinovitch and Lafrance were not encouraging. For this reason, I ask that you help us by not giving up the fight just yet. I can't sit by and let 55 years of history slip away. If RCI means something to you, I ask that you make it known, especially now. Thanks. (Sheldon Harvey, President-CIDX, http://www.anarc.org/cidx/ swprograms Oct 2 via DXLD) ** CANADA. Subject: [AmFmTvDx] AM Radio Changes In Regina, Saskatchewan On Sunday, September 30 at midnight CST (0600 UTC Monday / 2:00 AM Monday EDT), some changes will start for the radio dial here. 620 CKCK a.k.a. 62 KOOL, which has been on life support for several years will leave the airwaves after 80 years of existence. At signoff, CKRM Regina which broadcasts on 980 kHz will take over the 620 kHz frequency and start simulcasting on both 620 and 980 for some time. Sometime in the future, the plan is for CKRM to abandon 980, and another station, CJME 1300 kHz will take over the 980 kHz and add another FM station to our airwaves. Personally, I feel bad that CKCK radio is leaving. During my high- school days in the early 80's, CKCK was THE station to listen to in the province. It broadcast many things: open-line talk shows, election coverage, 50's, 60, disco (though I won't admit to listening to it ;-) ). American Top 40 was the hilight of the week on Saturdays. A program called "CKCK Night School" had high-school students from Regina spinning records & reporting news from their school. Unfortunately, times changed. The last few years it has been an "oldies" station and constantly the floor-mat for all the other stations in the city. Might be a good time to try and get this station before it leaves, and to add a new log when CKRM takes over the frequency. I hope there will be some special programming Sunday night before the switchover. It's too late to hear the last morning show sign-off on the radio, but you can hear it here: http://www.62kool.com/ (Terry Keyowski, Sept 28, amfmtfvdx via DXLD) ** CHINA. Thanks to leowood BCL forum, found the following link: http://www.chengde-windows.com/gbdsj.gov/index.htm regarding the broadcast TV media in Chengde, China. First paragraph reads: The Chendge municipality broadcast and television board has unified its management structure. Stations under its purview include Chengde People's Broadcasting Station; Chengde TV station; Chengde Cable TV station; Wuling Shan 05 relay staion; 1085 relay station; 1084 jamming station; TV relay section; microwave station; Broadcast TV press; Broadcast TV service company and 10 other units. The board employs 430 people. Now that they have officially acknowledged the existence of a jamming station, I wonder whether we can get a QSL from this (Richard Lam, Singapore, Oct 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COLOMBIA. Le escribo con la finalidad de informarle que el pasado viernes 21 de septiembre pude sintonizar la emisora ARAUCA ESTEREO 91.3 FM entre las 01 y 02 utc. Esta emisora es perteneciente al ejército colombiano. La emisora se escucha con bastante claridad y en estéreo acá en esta zona del ESTADO MÉRIDA, OCCIDENTE DE VENEZUELA. Le cuento que através de un vehículo fué donde yo pude captar dicha estación de radio y no solamente en vehículos sino también en equipos de radio digitales de casa. Ésta es una información de primicia. Le sabré agradecer cuando embies confirmación de este correo electrónico. ATENTAMENTE (HENRRI GONZALEZ SANTIAGO, CLUB DIEXISTA DE LA AMISTAD, CALLE INDEPENDENCIA #4-56, INTERNACIONAL DX 0211, CODIGO POSTAL 5124, PUEBLO LLANO, ESTADO MERIDA, REP. BOLIVARIANA DE VENEZUELA, Oct 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COSTA RICA. Dear Friends, Beginning October 8, RFPI will be changing frequencies from 15050 to 15045 due to heavy interference from a station in mainland China. Until that date we will operate on 15050 from 1800 to 1200 UT and 15045 from 1200 to 1800 UT. Remember -- an up-to-date frequency schedule can be always be found at our website at http://www.rfpi.org/frequencies.html Thanks for listening! (RFPI Oct 2 info@rfpi.org http://www.rfpi.org and via John Norfolk, DXLD) ** CUBA. Interesting morning on the drive in. 680 WPTF was in with "armchair copy" from about 6:35 to 6:45 [a.m. EDT == 1035-1045 UT] until being topped by Cuba. Cuba was dominant on 570, 580, 590, 600, 620, 630, 640 660, 670 and 690. There was also a het on 630 and 650, which changed in intensity with the carrier of the Cubans. It sounded like 2-4 kHz. One thing is curious to me. You note these strong signals on 570, 580, 590, 600, 620, 630, 640 660, 670 and 690. Cuba is not that large of a country, so I have to assume that much of these signals are just to goof up the AM band and to keep the U.S. from beaming in some programming to Cuba. This brings to mind several questions. Are many of these sites co-located? If you take a look at the list of Cuban stations, it would seem that some are, or at least very close. Another question crossed my mind; what make are their transmitters? I would have to assume they are Russian, but they have to be old. And with their economy, I wonder what they do about tubes for these high power beasts. Just some food for thought on a Tuesday morning. (Frederick R. Vobbe, W8HDU, Lima OH, Oct 2; Web Page: http://www.vobbe.net NRC-AM via DXLD) Thomas KN4LF Says: Yep, that's correct, part of the old cold war crap. One day when we have finally return to a better relationship with the Cuban Government many of the Cuban pest radio stations will disappear. Fidel has to pay quite a large amount in pesos to keep the stations going. Many of the Cuban stations run 100-500 kW, even though they list the stations at say 1-50 kW with the ITU. 73, (Thomas Giella, KN4LF, ibid.) Those transmitters have to be at least 40 years old, unless they purchased new transmitters from some other country. When you add up the carrier power and the costs to operate those old transmitters, that has to be a good bleed on their already sagging economy (Frederick R. Vobbe, W8HDU, Lima OH, ibid.) 590 from Cuba is armchair copy here in Sarasota during the day. I listen to it often. It programs some very good classical music and guess what? It's in stereo!! Thanks Fidel!! (Paul Smith W4KNX Sarasota, FL, ibid.) I don't think Cuba had many transmitters that big before the revolution - I would be pretty confident most of these powerhouses are using transmitters provided by the Soviets. They (the USSR, and still today Russia) have had some success in manufacturing decent tubes at reasonable prices. I suspect most of these transmitters aren't much more than 20 years old - there are plenty of 20-year-old transmitters still going strong here in the U.S.. Then again, since the disappearance of the USSR I suspect Cuba has been expected to pay the going rate for Russian replacement parts. And of course, the electricity costs must indeed be pretty tough to cover (Doug Smith, TN, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** CUBA [non]. Bill Hale sent me a copy of the Radio Martí pattern plot, and it's up on my website at http://www.w9wi.com/images/marti.gif (Doug Smith, NRC-AM via DXLD) I was stationed in Miami in the U.S. Coast Guard in the mid and late 1980's and was involved in various law enforcement and national security programs. I was an AG1 at the time (Meteorologist) and was in charge of the daily launching of a portable balloon based radar system, from the R. Martí/VOA site at Marathon. The radar was supposed to detect short range nukes and drug smuggling planes. We were always worried about our tether line getting caught up on one or more of the towers in the array, because of the 50 kW output, so we located ourselves on the prevailing downwind side (west) Even back then the site was secretly running 100-500 kW experimentally and quite frequently a variety of birds would fly into the array and explode into a ball of fire. As the explosion occurred we could here SS audio being rectified! pretty creepy. Also the salt water mosquito's were a nightmare. 73, (Thomas Giella, KN4LF, Plant City, FL, NRC-AM via DXLD) It would be VERY interesting to have a transmitter tour of that facility wouldn't it? BTW, that balloon is a nightmare for pilots flying down the keys. I'm surprised a plane hasn't flown into the tether cable yet (Paul Smith, W4KNX, Sarasota, FL, ibid.) I was based at the hospital in Key West for 1½ weeks following the Hurricane Georges strike in '98. My job was to install and maintain a 406 MHz portable repeater to support the DMAT operations and 2 INMARSAT phones to support the USPHS operations at the hospital. Unfortunately we were about 45 miles from the Martí site and I didn't get the chance to get up there to view it. One of the locals pointed out where the balloon is when it is up. He said it is easily visible to them from that distance. However it was down the entire time I was there. I'm not sure if it was damaged by the storm or what. I remember hearing that they were also experimenting with TV Martí transmissions from the balloon on a stabilized antenna aimed at Havana. I wonder if that is still going on? Thomas, is it true that the balloon goes to 10,000 feet? The mechanics of the tether must be enormous. Even getting power up to the balloon would be an enormous task unless it has onboard generators (Patrick Griffith, Westminster, CO, USA, ibid.) Hey Patrick, This may sound corny, but I can't reveal specifics of the balloon tethered radar system because it's still classified. 73, (Thomas Giella, KN4LF Plant City, FL, ibid.) Better be careful Thomas! Some of the conspiracy theorists claim that FEMA controls the Atlantic weather system from a secret base in the Keys. I hope you weren't involved in that!! :-) (Patrick Griffith, Westminster, CO, USA, ibid.) Is the balloon part of the antenna system for Radio Martí as all of the locals think (at least my in-laws), or is it part of the radar warning system (Richard Hillman, ibid.) The balloon system has nothing to do with Radio Martí. 73, (Thomas Giella, KN4LF Plant City, FL, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** EGYPT. 0215 UT Oct 3: R. Cairo's newscast had as its lead story tonight a report on a message sent by President Mubarak to the Saudi king as a continuation of consultations on "international developments" including the aftermath of the attacks on the US and continued conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. Powell says that a Palestinian state has always been a "vision" of American Mideast policy, but that there must be peace in the region for this to go forward. Bush refuses to set deadline for Taliban to turn over bin-Laden saying that the US will act on its own timetable. Comments by British PM Blair demonstrate that the US and Britain stand shoulder to shoulder on international terrorism. NATO invokes its mutual defense clause after U.S. provided it with what it termed proof of bin-Laden's involvement in the US attacks. Paris will maintain an "open mind" on any request for assistance from the US. Putin calls the effort against international terrorism the most important issue facing the world today. Italian PM Berlesconi meets with Islamic leaders in Italy in attempt to clarify what he called the "distortion" of his views caused by "erroneous" press reports on his comments yesterday; today, he called Islam one of the world's great religious traditions. Malaysian foreign minister calls on ASEAN leaders not to join any US attack on any Islamic nation, saying that the campaign against terrorism should be led by the UN, not "any one nation". The news was followed by the program "Spotlight on the Middle East" which chronicled what the program termed Egypt's long campaign against terrorism and its consistent efforts to foster understanding and peace. It stressed that terrorism should be blamed only on the terrorists themselves, not on whole peoples or national or religious groups. It decried Israeli characterizations of all Palestinians as terrorists as an attempt to distract the world community from considering the legitimate aspirations and grievances of the Palestinian people. It called Israeli policy toward Palestinians "racist". It said that Israel condemns a whole people, unlike Islamic countries which distinguish between the political state of Israel and the "great religion of Judaism". The speaker warned that any campaign against international terrorism cannot succeed unless Israeli "crimes" against the Palestinian people specifically and the Israeli- Palestinian problem in general are adequately addressed. Monitored on 9475 kHz. [Technically, tonight's broadcast had the best audio modulation I have heard from R. Cairo ever. Both speech and music were clear and perfectly understandable throughout the broadcast. No muddy audio to be found anywhere. Perhaps someone has finally found the right settings?] (--John A. Figliozzi, swprograms via DXLD) ** GERMANY. New Deutsche Welle director inaugurated | Text of press release by Deutsche Welle on 2 October Erik Bettermann became the new director general of the Deutsche Welle on 1 October. He hopes for a wide-ranging discussion on all fronts about how Germany should be presented to the world in the future. Now more than ever, is it important to present Germany in a very positive light overseas, following the recent terror attacks in the United States and the views expressed in the media there that Germany is a safe haven for terrorists. No one in Germany can be complacent that such a devastating impression of the country exists abroad, stressed the new director general. During his formal introduction by Dr Franz Schoser, chairman of the administrative board, Erik Betterman announced a new internal review to the employees of the external broadcast organization. Programme policy must be topical, up-to-date and clearly formulated and medium term secure financing must be assured. The proposed German overseas TV channel is a great opportunity for the Deutsche Welle, and Director General Bettermann will do his utmost to progress the venture between the Deutsche Welle, ARD and ZDF as well as securing the necessary start up capital of 5.5m Euros for the next seven years. The forthcoming move of the Deutsche Welle headquarters from Cologne to Bonn, planned for the middle of 2002, will continue the modernization of radio broadcasts with the expansion of digital technology. Erik Bettermann, 57, was elected by the governing body of the Deutsche Welle on 10 May 2001 as successor to Dieter Weirich who retired on 31 March 2001. He had previously been employed in Bremen and has been a member of the Deutsche Welle administrative board since 1994. Source: Deutsche Welle press release, Cologne, in English 2 Oct 01 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** HUNGARY. A rather interesting report about a full-time Roma radio station in Hungary can be heard in today's English program of R. Budapest at http://www.wrn.org/ondemand/, starting at 14'10" on your RealPlayer timer (Sergei Sosedkin, IL, swprograms via DXLD) Hurry: that`s the Tuesday broadcast in English (gh, DXLD) ** INDIA. A few days ago there was a discussion about where one could hear All India Radio these days in North America. I am listening to them now on their 500 kW beam to Europe on 7410 at 2130. They have just finished a talk about Ghandi and are now into Indian music. Some splatter from WBCQ. Suggest lower sideband (Joe Buch, DE, Oct 2, swprograms via DXLD) Works here in Central New York, too. I tuned them in just before 2200 and got them with pop music, top of hour ID, news in English, commentary, and a feature about an Indian woman musician. Joe was right about 7410 being best if one uses lower sideband. However, the audio was rather fluttery, and that was fixed by using the 2.3 kHz bandwidth on my Drake R8B in addition to LSB. Thanks, Joe! 73, (Marie Lamb, ibid.) ** IRAN. Here's the URL if you're having trouble with shortwave audibility from VOIRI: http://www.irib.com/worldservice/englishRADIO/default.htm The 1100 and 1530 programs are archived for a week's time. Audio quality isn't the best, but 9835 wasn't all that great, either, for the 0030 broadcast (Richard Cuff, Oct 2, swprograms via DXLD) If you click on Tue. link (11:00), you can hear an interview with a "US professor". Someone wrote about it yesterday. The interviewed person was Dr. Edward R. Fields, a publisher of the Truth at Last, "America's premier White Patriot newspaper." His site is http://www.stormfront.org/truth_at_last Mostly anti-Semitic stuff there... (Sergei Sosedkin, IL, swprograms via DXLD) Nice work, gentlemen. That's the guy I reported about. So this is who Iran thinks has the correct perspective on the Middle East and the WTC/Pentagon bombings, eh? This "White Patriot" group is probably none too happy about the Muslims here either; though "Dr. Fields" apparently restrained himself from saying so. Talk about your strange bedfellows (John A. Figliozzi, NY, swprograms via DXLD) ** MALTA [non]. Today I received the attached frequency schedule from the Voice of the Mediterranean. 73,s (Volker Willschrey Dillingen (Saar), DXLD) VOM FREQUENCY TABLE OCTOBER 2001 TO MARCH 2002 time in UTC Mon to Sat: 9840 kHz SW 1630-1700 Italian 1700-1730 Arabic 1730-1800 English 7440 kHz SW 2000-2100 English 2100-2200 Arabic {the 7440 entries above must be Mon to Thu, since the following entry during the same hours concerns Friday! -gh} Friday: 7440 kHz SW 2000-2200 Arabic Sunday: 15560 kHz SW 0500-0600 Japanese 11770 kHz SW 0800-0900 Italian 0900-1000 English 1000-1100 Maltese 1100-1200 French 1200-1300 German 7440 kHz SW 2000-2100 English 2100-2130 French 2130-2200 German (via Volker Willschrey, Saar, Oct 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Sites, not specified, are known to be Italy and Russia; none within Malta (gh) ** MOROCCO. Quem deseja fugir da mesmice das nossas emissoras de FM, deve sintonizar a Rádio Medi1, que transmite em 9575 kHz, na faixa de 31 metros. A programação musical não deixa nada a desejar para a melhor FM brasileira, uma vez que mistura músicas típicas do Marrocos, sucessos do pop internacional e canções francesas. No domingo, a programação musical da Medi1 vale a pena ser conferida após às 0100 UT (Célio Romais, @tividade DX Oct 1 via DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS. 2 October 2001: The tentative winter transmission schedule of Radio Netherlands, effective from 28 October, has been released by our Programme Distribution Department. Please note that, although we do not anticipate any changes at this stage, there could be one or two adjustments before the schedule goes into effect. Click here http://www.rnw.nl/realradio/html/scheduleb01.html to view the schedule (© Radio Netherlands Media Network via DXLD) Note that Sackville (not Bonaire!) 5965 to ENAm moves one UT hour later, unusual for RN, to 1130-1325, whilst 15220 to WNAm stays at 1430-1625. What sense does this make? Well, the present 1030 UT start is 6:30 am EDT, but in winter would be 5:30 am, perhaps a bit too early. Besides, I think the original European broadcast at midday habitually does time-shift. The present WNAm at 1430 is 7:30 am PDT, and will become 6:30 am, apparently the ideal morning start-time. And who cares about the Great Center of America on CT and MT in between? The dregs for us (gh, DXLD) ** PALESTINE [non]. Voice of Palestine, Voice of Palestinian Islamic Revolution, in Arabic, besides shortwave frequencies, observed on parallel MW frequency 1080 kHz, 1930-2030 UT via IRIB, Iran. Voice of Islamic Republic of Iran with Arabic service follows after Voice of Palestine programme. \\ 6200, etc. Heard at the end of September (R. Petraitis, Lithuania, Sep 28, 2001 for CRW via DXLD) ** SYRIA. Anything from here? One country we haven't talked about much regarding their spin on terror and its aftermath is Radio Damascus, from Syria. Daniel Sampson's PTSW listings http://www.triwest.net/~dsampson/shortwave/country.txt show 2005-2205 on 12085 and 13610 kHz, but I haven't heard anything on those frequencies in several years (but haven't tried that hard, either). Years past, their program was mostly Western music, with very little spoken word content or news analysis. Glenn Hauser had a logging from Harold Sellers for Damascus in his September 27th edition of DX Listening Digest http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio/dxld1135.txt and it looks like the pattern hasn't changed all that much. An August DXLD included a New Jersey logging lamenting the lack of audible audio as well. Comments on their programming welcomed here as we continue to assess how others perceive the world these days (Richard Cuff, PA, swprograms Oct 2 via DXLD) This should make the shortwave fundamentalists happy. At least according to Google, there is no Syrian Radio on the web (Larry Nebron, CA, Oct 2, swprograms via DXLD) I'm listening to them right now on 12085; signal strength is pretty good, but the audio level isn't... (Craig Meredith, NH USA, 2048 UT Oct 2, ibid.) Drake R8B/AD Sloper, Sony SW 77, Sony 2010, 2 x Phillips/Magnavox D2935, Uniden CR2021, GE Superadio II, Knight Kit Star Roamer, tuning since 1963 ** U K. BBC in Pashto: The BBC World Service with a newscast in Pashto, or Pushto, a language of Afghanistan and North West Pakistan. This is the official language of Afghanistan since 1936. According to the BBC an estimated 60 per cent of Afghans listened to the World Service before the terrorist attacks in the United States. That figure is believed to have risen to 85 per cent since. Consequently the BBC has increased its output, with a new mid-day programme at 0830-0900 UT (1300-1330 Afghanistan time) on 17640 and 11685 kHz. The dawn programme is at 0100-0130 on 17640, 13780, 15380 and 11685 kHz. And in the (Afghan) evening, the programme in Pashto can be heard on shortwave from 1530-1615 on 17640, 15380 and 11685. However, most of us do not understand the Pashto language, but might be interested in a programme of music, broadcast by the BBC Pashto service on Fridays only, from 0745-0945 UT on 17640 and 15380 kHz (Frans Vossen, RVi Radio World Sept 30 via DXLD) ** U S A. The B-01 FCC private SW schedule is now posted on the FCC web site. http://www.fcc.gov/ib/pnd/neg/hf_web/hfff0w01.txt is the direct URL to download the schedule. 73, (Jim Moats, OH, October 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST} From which we extract complete schedules for minor stations (in terms of number of transmitters). Notes: NO listings for `WWFV` or `WWCV`, just WGTG; WRNO and WJCR registrations do NOT mean they are actually using anywhere near 50 kW; WMLK powers now shown as 125 kW, so the 250 kW they are installing will be run at half-power; they have yet to appear on 9955 or 15265 tho the latter has been registered for some previous seasons including A-01. 5085.0 2300 0700 WGTG 50 250 10,55,61 6890.0 2300 0700 WGTG 50 310 1-3 9320.0 2100 0200 WGTG 50 250 10,55,61 9400.0 1300 2300 WGTG 50 250 10,55,61 12170.0 1200 0500 WGTG 50 310 1-3 7355.0 2300 0300 WRNO 50 20 3-5,9-11,27 7395.0 0300 2300 WRNO 50 20 3-5,9-11 15420.0 1600 2300 WRNO 50 20 3-5,9-11,27 7385.0 0200 1000 WRMI 50 317 2,3 9955.0 0000 0200 WRMI 50 160 11-16 9955.0 1000 1300 WRMI 50 160 10-13 [9955.0 0800 1700 KHBN 50 280 41,49] showing QRM overlap 15725.0 1300 2400 WRMI 50 317 2,3 7415.0 2100 1100 WBCQ 50 245 10,11 9335.0 1500 0700 WBCQ 50 245 10,11 17495.0 1300 0200 WBCQ 50 245 10,11 7490.0 0000 2400 WJCR 50 55 9,27 13595.0 0000 2400 WJCR 50 270 41-44 7555.0 0200 0300 KJES 50 335 2,3 7555.0 0300 0330 KJES 50 20 3,4,9 11715.0 1400 1500 KJES 50 70 3,4,9 11715.0 1500 1600 KJES 50 350 2,3 11715.0 1600 1700 KJES 50 150 10 15385.0 1900 2000 KJES 50 270 55,58,59 15385.0 2000 2100 KJES 50 100 11 9370.0 0000 2400 WTJC 50 40 4,9 9465.0 0400 0900 WMLK 125 53 27,28,39 9955.0 0400 0900 WMLK 125 53 27,28,39 15265.0 1700 2200 WMLK 125 53 27,28,39 9975.0 0100 0800 KVOH 50 100 10,11 9975.0 1300 1500 KVOH 50 100 10,11 17775.0 1500 0100 KVOH 50 100 10-12 11900.0 0000 0200 WWBS 50 30 3,4,9 Sun,Sat 17 12160.0 2300 0500 WINB 50 242 10,11 13570.0 1200 2300 WINB 50 242 10,11 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Richard Armitage and the VOA board are now high-seeded nominees for this year's Clueless in Cyberspace Award. How can anyone understand why acts of terror happen, let alone fight terrorism, if you close your ears to people who don't agree with you? (George Wood, SCDX/MediaScan Oct 2 via DXLD) Attempt to muzzle VOA reveals ignorance of media's role [Well-respected political reporter and columnist Jules Witcover takes on William Safire and his attack on VOA. See http://www.sunspot.net/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.witcover28sep28.column?coll=bal%2Dhome%2Dcolumnists for the complete article.] WASHINGTON -- Civil liberties groups are concerned about the Justice Department's request to Congress for greatly expanded powers to fight terrorism. While they're at it, they would do well to consider as part of the same fight the State Department's recent attempted muzzling of the Voice of America. [ a bunch of paragraphs deleted ] Criticizing VOA for being "even-handed" when "the nation is on a kind of war footing," Mr. Safire observed that "even in peacetime, news credibility does not flow from splitting the moral difference between good and evil. In the climate of today's undeclared war, private media in democracies are free to take either or neither side, but U.S. taxpayer-supported broadcasting is supposed to be on our side." But the responsibility of any credible news organization is to gather information wherever it can be found and report it rather than propagandize on behalf of "our side." As a one-time publicist and speechwriter for Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew, Mr. Safire can be forgiven for not appreciating the difference, even now as he adopts the journalist's cloak. (- Ralph Brandi, NJ, swprograms via DXLD) Having worked with several VOA Directors, I would point out that the 'poor old VOA' is SO far gone by now and so 'controlled' by the BBG that I don't believe ANY Director could do much to either help or hurt it. :-( bw (Bill Whitacre, DC, swprograms via DXLD) I think - and this is nothing new as I've said it before to my friends at VOA - that as long as the organisation calls itself "Voice of" it's going to be tainted with the suspicion of propaganda even in situations where it's being scrupulously fair and balanced. Think of all the stations you know, or used to know, that use the phrase "voice of" in their name or slogan. I can't think of any others that aren't associated with totalitarian regimes. The fact is, how can a multicultural democracy have "one voice". Isn't the whole point that it's supposed to have many voices, coexisting in harmony under the Constitution? To a mere foreigner, this has always been a confusing issue. Perhaps there's an obvious explanation which I, as a non- American, have failed to grasp (Andy Sennitt, Netherlands, std disclaimer, Oct 2, swprograms via DXLD) Yeah, that`s the ticket -- change it to ``Radio Washington``, which incidentally would fit its frequent provinciality. But ``Voice of`` has no such connotations for me (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. All Things Considered just had an interesting item on the VOA, related to the developments since September 11. It seems that 80% of Afghanis listen to VOA "regularly" and two out of three listen daily. The feature explored somewhat the controversy over whether or not to broadcast comments by Osama bin Laden. But the point was made that editorials that are clearly announced as being the official view of the US State Department (Roger Chambers, NY, Oct 2, ODXA via DXLD) Viz.: Voice of America NPR's Kathleen Schalch reports the Voice of America is about to get a new director. President Bush said yesterday he will appoint Robert Reilly as director of the government-funded, international broadcast service. The VOA finds itself under intense scrutiny these days with critics saying it needs to do more to make the case for America with overseas audiences. (4:00) Real Audio: http://www.npr.org/rmfiles/atc/20011002.atc.13.ram (NPR via Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** U S A. From Tech-Notes http://www.Tech-Notes.tv September 27, 2001 Tech-Note 090 The WORLD TRADE CENTER Disaster - New York Television's Recovery RESILIENCE! By Larry Bloomfield RESILIENCE! - There is probably no other word that more aptly describes our American Nation and the broadcasters in New York City. It would only be repetitive to reiterate the plethora of words that have been used to describe the incidents of September 11, 2001 - 9- 11. There is one story, however, that seems to have eluded the mass media; the one about the resiliency of the New York broadcast community and the spirit of cooperation of all concerned. This story of resiliency is inseparable from and an integral part of the New York and American spirit - the ability to bounce back from adversity. In a week's time, there has been an incredible outpouring of people and businesses ready to assist those directly affected by the tragedy and to start the process of healing in all respects... ENTIRE STORY (long) [evidently only temporarily the `Latest`]: http://www.tech-notes.tv/Latest_TN/new_tech-note.html (via Tom Roche, DXLD) ** U S A [and non]. Grove Newsletter -- Internet Information...The Good News and The Bad News. Dear GLENN, Without question, the Internet is the best thing that's happened to communications in history. It's also the worst. Let me explain. While the 'net is a cornucopia of information on any subject imaginable, it is also rife with misinformation. While we can generally identify the validity of printed material through the reputation of the publishing house, there is no such filter on the web. Anyone can walk into a local library, access a computer, and establish an Internet presence. I recently wrote an editorial in Monitoring Times asking readers to send in suggestions as to how we could weed out the facts from the fantasy. The number of replies from our tens of thousands of readers? Zero! It seems that most of us (all of us?) are stymied by this problem. The 'net is undisciplined, just like many who abuse it. It would seem we are on our own, relying on our own judgment, wisdom and education to decide what is correct and what is not. It's a rough game with no rules, and not everyone plays fair. There are some excellent, objective web sites that try to help expose the frauds, hoaxes, and urban legends, but no such on-line caution can be found for radio listeners. It seems that everyone wants to be recognized as an instant expert, and the bad information that is popping up on chat boards, news groups, and web sites is amazing. Many folks mean well, but are clueless. Most recently, we see proposals for hobby monitors to listen for terrorist communications and report them to the FBI. Do these folks really believe that they will hear bin Laden's thugs broadcasting their activities in plain English? Perhaps, instead, the proposers assume that a sizeable number of us understand encrypted Arabic. While the thought is laudable, the outcome is likely to net nothing. For one thing, there is no evidence, other than the well-worn TV images of bin Laden holding a walkie-talkie, that there is any extensive radio network that can be heard from the U.S. If you do hear Arabic, you could well be monitoring anything from a fishing vessel in the Persian Gulf to an oil platform in Dubai. [see below -gh] A more common source of misinformation is obsolete material pulled from old books and other web sites. We recognize our stuff from more than a decade ago, and it's still being proliferated. Just last week we saw a posting listing military call signs like "Ivanhoe" (formerly USN Norfolk, VA) and "Jitterbug" (formerly USN Balboa, Canal Zone). Not only have these call signs been retired for over a decade, but also there is no longer even a Canal Zone! Without a doubt, these were lifted from an early edition of my popular Shortwave Directory. Your best bet for accurate radio information is still the printed publication, but check the copyright date. Scanner frequency guides a year or two old are still very good; few agencies change frequencies every year! Shortwave broadcasters have major frequency changes twice a year, coinciding with the major seasonal propagation changes, so even shortwave annuals become rapidly outdate, but most publishers make up for that by listing all the assigned frequencies--along with some guesses--so that listeners can tune through these lists to see which frequencies are active that time of year. Stay with the recognized, established authorities. Knowledgeable dealers carry the best books and CDs, and they are updated in a timely fashion. By all means, check the Internet web sites, but use discretion in what you learn. Compare lists from several sources, and try to find out who originated the postings. Generic stuff can be very old, and of dubious origin. For our listeners, then, here is a short list of reputable sources of solid frequency information prepared by actual off-the-air monitors. There are many more for which there is simply not enough room. There has been no attempt to discriminate against any reputable site. The Grove websites: http://www.grove-ent.com and http://www.monitoringtimes.com General information on Radio: Shortwave/Radio Catalog: http://havana.iwsp.com/radio/ For general HF Utility: The World Utility News (WUN) website: http://www.wunclub.com/index.html Hugh Stegman's Utility World website: http://www.ominous-valve.com/uteworld.html Utility with a European Slant: European Utility Newsletter Homepage: http://members.aol.com/aibold/EUNL.htm For Spy Numbers Station Information: http://www.spynumbers.com/ For HF Civilian and Military frequencies: http://www.ute-monitor.org/aerolist/ Shortwave Broadcasting: Glenn Hauser's DX Listening Digest: http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio/Dxldmid.html For VHF/UHF US Aero Frequencies: http://www.airnav.com/airports/ New York Area Scanner Frequencies: http://www.n2nov.net/ World Trade Center Disaster website: http://nydxa.4t.com/WTC.html Washington DC Area Scanner Frequencies: The Capitol Hill Monitor: http://henney.com/chm/1200/ Regards, Bob Grove P.S. Don't forget to order your 2002 editions of Passport to World Band Radio and WRTH. Grove's Passport pre-publication special of $19.95, including shipping, expires October 31, 2001. The WRTH pre- publication special of $24.95, including shipping, expires December 31, 2001. Grove Enterprises, Inc. Web: http://www.grove-ent.com Email: order@grove-ent.com Orders: 800-438-8155 (US and Canada); 828-837-9200 Fax: 828-837-2216 (fax) (Grove newsletter Oct 2 via DXLD) The call for hams to monitor for spies came from none other than the FCC`s enforcer Riley Hollingsworth, and was published by Amateur Radio Newsline (see DXLD 1-131 and 1-136) (gh) ** U S A. Is your local radio station airing more local talk shows in place of syndicated fare, in the wake of the terrorist attacks on the US? Since the attacks on NYC and Washington on Sept. 11, WPHT (1210) in Philly has replaced Dr. Laura's 9am-noon slot with more local talk--Dom Giordano now occupies that slot, and Jeff Katz is now heard on Dom's old slot, 3-5pm, followed by Michael Smerconish at 5-7pm. Rush Limbaugh's show continues to be heard at noon to 3pm. [why?? - gh] This schedule will continue as long as the crisis is in effect; all times are ET. By the way, Dom Giordano has a website too, check it out at http://www.domtalk.com (Joe Hanlon, PA, Oct 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. The following note was posted by Terry McCracken on October 01, 2001 on the New York Radio Board. Since we all listen to the radio, not just for pleasure, but also for its technical properties, I thought that this information may be of interest. Having the right "pipes" has its bennies :) Pete Kemp ---------------------------- Monday September 10, 5:20 am Eastern Time Press Release SOURCE: Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center Americans Speak Out, Select the 'Best and Worst Voices in America' In Online Polling by the Center for Voice Disorders of Wake Forest University WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., Sept. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Americans prefer relatively low-pitched voices with minimal high-frequency noise, according to the results of an online public-opinion poll conducted this summer to determine the ``best and worst'' voices in America, and the choice for Best Voice Overall -- James Earl Jones -- exemplifies those characteristics. The Center for Voice Disorders of Wake Forest University conducted the poll over a period of five months, asking voters to name their top vocal picks in eight categories. The center also performed voice analyses of the winners to try to discern what was appealing -- or not -- about them. Here are the leading vote-getters overall: The Best Voices The Worst Voices in America 2001 in America 2001 1. James Earl Jones 1. Fran Drescher 2. Sean Connery 2. Roseanne Barr 3. Julia Roberts 3. Gilbert Godfried 4. Katie Couric 4. Bobcat Goldthwait 5. Barbra Streisand 5. Joan Rivers 6. Sam Donaldson 6. Howard Stern 7. Mel Gibson 7. Rosie O'Donnell 8. Diane Sawyer 8. Howard Cosell 9. Meg Ryan 9. Dick Vitale 10. Anthony Hopkins 10. Mike Tyson Honorable Mention Honorable Mention Bob Costas, Tom Brokaw, Oprah Winfrey, Peter Jennings, Celine Dion, Andrea Bocelli, Faith Hill, Megan Mullally, Jaleel White, Bill Clinton, Richard Simmons, Rush Limbaugh, Regis Philbin [these got jumbled in formatting – can you figure out which were best, worst?] Jones is recognizable for his deep, signature voice. He also won the most distinctive voice category with roles such as Darth Vader in the movie ``Star Wars,'' and as the voice of CNN. Fran Drescher, star of the television program, ``The Nanny,'' was the top vote getter in the entire survey, receiving more votes than anyone else in the categories: Most Distinctive Voice, Most Annoying Voice and Worst Overall. Of the top 10 best voices, half are men and half are women. Six are actors, three are announcers, and one (Barbra Streisand) is a singer and actor. Of the worst voices in America, six are men and four are women. Sean Connery was voted to have the sexiest male voice and Kathleen Turner the sexiest female voice. The best singer voices were Frank Sinatra and Barbra Streisand. Interestingly, of the almost 3,000 votes, two-thirds were female, but survey respondents equally represented all different age groups. One of the main purposes of this project was to call attention to the voice and to voice disorders. Approximately three percent of Americans have voice disorders, and it has been shown that voice disorders are often more disabling than hearing loss. The Center for Voice Disorders of Wake Forest University was one of the first comprehensive, multispecialty, voice centers in the United States, and it continues to push the frontiers of voice science and medicine. Winners of Special Categories Voice Category Male Female Best Overall* James Earl Jones Julia Roberts Best Singer Frank Sinatra Barbra Streisand Best Actor Sean Connery Julia Roberts Announcer/Sportscaster Bob Costas Katie Couric Sexiest Sean Connery Kathleen Turner Most Distinctive James Earl Jones Fran Drescher Most Annoying Gilbert Godfried Fran Drescher Worst Overall* Gilbert Godfried Fran Drescher *Most total votes (often in more than one category) Voice Analysis** Americans like distinctiveness and distinctive voices such as those that were found in this poll. Virtually all of the top vote getters have voices that would be recognized by most people. Acoustical analysis of the Best Voices in America reveals that Americans prefer melodious, relatively low-pitched voices with very little high frequency noise. Conversely, vote getters in the worst voice category usually had relatively high-pitched voices. The average speaking pitch for men in the ``Best Voice'' category was 126 Hz (frequency of vibrations in cycles/second), which is within the normal pitch range for male speakers (normal = 110-130 Hz). Sean Connery's pitch was the highest at 158 Hz, and Mel Gibson's was the lowest at 108 Hz. In the ``Worst Voice'' category, the average speaking pitch for the men was 242 Hz. This is quite high-pitched for men. Gilbert Godfried and Bobcat Goldthwait had the highest-pitched voices. The average speaking pitch for the ``Best Female Voice'' category was 201 Hz, which is also normal (normal range = 200-230 Hz). Barbra Streisand's speaking voice was the highest at 228 Hz, and Julia Roberts' voice was the lowest at 171 Hz. In the ``Worst Female Voice'' category, the average pitch was 262 Hz. This is quite high- pitched even for females. Roseanne Barr had the highest- pitched voice at 377 Hz. This is extraordinarily high. In conclusion, the average speaking pitch of males as well as females in the ``Best Voice'' categories were within the expected normal ranges for their gender. The average pitches of both males and females in the ``Worst Voice'' categories were higher than expected ranges for their genders. Sean Connery's higher than expected pitch may be the result of cultural factors as well as age. Male speaking pitch tends to increase with age, whereas female pitch tends to decrease with age. Visitors to the Center for Voice Disorders Web site, http://www.thevoicecenter.com may cast their votes for the Best and Worst Voices of 2002 beginning next January. Due to availability of usable voice samples, not all voices in the poll were analyzed. David Blalock, MA, CCC, SLP, Director, Voice Laboratory, and Shannon Kemp, MS, CCC, SLP performed the analysis. Center for Voice Disorders' Choice for Best Voice Although not on the popular list of ``Best Voices'' presented above, the Center for Voice Disorders staff voted George Payne [it`s George *Page* and age has taken its toll --- he no longer does this -gh] (narrator for the ``Nature'' television series) the best voice in America. His familiar and expressive speaking style is melodious and soothing. SOURCE: Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center (via Pete Kemp, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** U S A. The WJNT-1180 DX test has been rescheduled for 10/6/01, from midnight to 1 am CDT [0500-0600 UT Sat]. Same format as before - regular programming (talk programming - Rhona at Night (Talk America)) and Morse code IDs. WJNT will be operating with 50 kW non- directional. Reception reports (with return postage) may be sent to: Stan Carter, Chief Engineer, WJNT-AM, P.O. Box 1248, Jackson, MS 39215-1248 http://www.wjnt.com E-Mail: slcarter@wjnt.com (Arranged by Lynn Hollerman for the IRCA CPC.) Also, if you hear a test, PLEASE, PLEASE let me know, via either e-mail or in rec.radio.shortwave! And if you send a reception report to a station, please remember to include return postage with your report... Lynn ircamember@geocities.com (via DXLD) Visit the IRCA Web site at http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/5792 ** U S A. TWR enters English radio market in the US Tuesday October 2, 10:34 am Eastern Time Press Release SOURCE: Trans World Radio Hope in the Aftermath of Terror; Trans World Radio's Australian Youth Program Encourages New Jersey Teens CARY, N.C., Oct. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Youthful sounds from Down Under are declaring hope to teens and young adults in the Garden State, across the Hudson River and some 14 miles from Ground Zero in Manhattan, the site of September 11's horrific terrorist attack. Now each Sunday evening at 7, WVRM-1620 AM in Montclair, New Jersey, is airing ``The Reality Zone,'' a high-energy, hard-hitting 55-minute program for Australia's soul-searching youth culture. ``The Reality Zone'' is produced by the national partner of international Christian broadcaster Trans World Radio in Melbourne, Australia (TWR-ANZ), and can be heard on 53 stations in Australia, New Zealand, Tonga, and Guam. WVRM-AM is the first station in the United States to broadcast ``The Reality Zone.'' The low-powered community station also airs the broadcast via its Internet site, http://www.villageradio.com TWR-ANZ is hopeful to expand its U.S. audience as it explores how to make the program available to other North American stations under the auspices of Trans World Radio's Miami Ministry Center. More at: http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/011002/chtu013_1.html (via Sergei Sosedkin, IL, Oct 2, DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 2257.7, R La Mejer? (2 x 1130), 1023-1050 2 Oct. This is undoubtedly the harmonic reported by Mark Mohrmann on 27/9. Very raspy, weak signal, impossible to completely zero beat. Distorted audio, with M SS announcer, and traces of MX. Peaked and faded with Peruvian sunrise. Definitely a different harmonic than 2260, which was audible just 3 kcs up w/different PX, and much stronger level (David Hodgson, TN, harmonics via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 2260, ???, 1045-1105 2 Oct, Definite Central American MX played this morning. M/F anncrs, high paced format. Probably from Mexico. Fair to strong (David Hodgson, TN, harmonics via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 2200.14, HJMK, Colombia (2 x 1100) (presumed), 1027, 2 Oct, OM announcer in SS, LA pop MX. Too weak to ID (David Hodgson, TN, harmonics via DXLD) ###