DX LISTENING DIGEST 1-156, October 22, 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] WORLD OF RADIO #1101: NEXT BROADCAST on WWCR: Tue 1100 on 15685 NEXT BROADCASTS on RFPI: Tue 1900, Wed 0100 on 15050, 21815-USB, Wed 0700 on 15050, 1300 on 15040, 21815-USB (STREAM) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1101.ram (DOWNLOAD) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1101.rm (SUMMARY) http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio/wor1101.html ** AFGHANISTAN [non?]. October 16th 1255, 8700 USB, "Operation Solo" Psych Warfare [sic] unit. Program in Afghani languages. Indian style music. Seems to be identical announcements aired every so often. SINPO 32543. QRM from VIE Darwin on Clover/PACTOR. (NB: VIE has since shifted frequency by a few kilohertz, leaving "Solo" in the clear). (Robin L. Harwood, Launceston, 41.4500 S, 147.1670 E, DX LISTENING DIGEST) In information related to Information Radio, one of our listeners to the International Radio Report yesterday morning, Mr. Greg Steinstra, amateur operator VE2JGS, called us after the show. We had been discussing the 8700 kHz. USB frequency, speculating where it was located and who it was meant for. Greg called to say that possibly it could be meant for Taliban military personnel, thinking that they would be the most likely candidates to have radios capable of receiving a sideband signal. He thought that maybe the broadcasts would discourage the Taliban military, perhaps even forcing some of them to defect or disappear. An interesting thought (Sheldon Harvey, QC, Oct 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AFGHANISTAN/USA. Out of bulks on information of war in AFG some excerpted and condensed items copied from various sources: 8700 had a 2 min pause on the hour at 1500 and there's another now at 1600, and a loud "buzz" is emanating from the tx. Maybe this is to allow Solo to insert its own annts? As previously said, when tuning BBC 6195 at 1530 the changeover from Persian to Pashtu was very distinctive. As we know, the Persian ID's usually begin with "In-jah-" but the Pashtu began with "Da-a - - -", and the language was quite different. I must try to find a clear signal in Dari! (Noel R. Green-UK, Oct 16, BC-DX via DXLD) I'm listening to this "unID" episodically since 1439 on 8700.00 USB Good Modulation. Reasonably strong and clear, slight "C" QRM. 34444 Afghani mx/sx interchanging with what I think short speeches from well-known in AFG leaders. And local (AFG/north PAK) news. Two IDs noted: 1. "Da R Di Afghanistan Sharif Khalku" (last word sometimes "Khalik") 2. "Mazari-Sharif, Ye Afganistan". (Vlad G. Titarev, Ukraine, DXplorer, Oct 16 via BC-DX via DXLD) Interesting in the present connection is that item of Jun 10/Jul 23!! Mentioned 8700 kHz SW for R Voice of Shari'ah sce ! (Wolfgang Büschel, BC-DX via DXLD) viz.: Kabul, Kandahar radio schedules. R V of Shari'ah in Kabul broadcasts its programs 1230-1730 on MW 657, corresponding to 457 mb, and on SW 8700 [as published; Kabul radio's usual SW freq is 7080 kHz], corresponding to 41 mb. The station also broadcasts 0030-0230 on MW 41 mb [as published], corresponding to MW 1107. The Kabul R V of Shari'ah also broadcasts on the above frequencies 0720-0840. R V of Shari'ah in Kandahar broadcasts interesting political, religious, health, educational, entertainment and social programs every day 1330-1530 on MW 864. The station also broadcasts 0230-0345 on the above freq. Also on Fridays, on the above frequencies, the station broadcasts a special program 0530-0730. The broadcast includes religious, political and scientific programs, and programs for children (Tolu-e Afghan, Kandahar, in Pashto 10 Jun, via BBCM July 23 via DXLD) That`s it! Use of 8700 is a big mistake, resulting from a transposition typo somewhere up the line, and Info Radio was supposed to be on V. of Sharia`s real frequency, 7080v! PsyOps should have been reading DXLD. Again started at *0030 sharp UT Oct 23 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Either transmissions via a big "aircraft carrier" on the Indian Ocean off the coast of Pakistan, (a halfwave dipole isn't too large spaced), or from Kuwait soil, where the clandestine MW 1566/1575 station originally located. Also Bahrein and Al Dhabbaya-UAE have large British installation facilities to use. The distance between Diego García and AFG/TJK/UZB is too far away, to feed a MW stn North of Kabul on 9 MHz I guess. I think, the Dari/Pashto staff which run these special transmissions, should have contact to the rest of the (Western and Muslim) world, as well as to ME/CAsian circles, so the studio should be in Washington DC? According to the BBCM report of today, BOTH langs - Dari and Pashto - appear on the 8700 outlet, same program is repeated after each other in BOTH langs. Dari sounds a little bit like Eastern Persian, but in my opinion I missed the Persian like part in last night recording at 1630-1730. Pashto lang of the Taleban fraction, is also widely spoken in NW Pakistan along the long border region, where Bin Laden also can survive in coming winter months (Wolfgang Bueschel, Germany, Oct 16, BC-DX Oct 22 via DXLD) Another key to watch is weather: Commando Solos don't fly when weather is poor, regardless of IFR and satellite nav equipment aboard. This is a fact confirmed here from monitoring them here on numerous occasions when on 1035 kHz during the Haiti operation, and confirmed by the crew on the visit-before-last at MacDill AFB. So, it would be interesting to see if this is consistently present when conditions are poor. Jamming: Frankly, I'm confident we've ensured that the clowns don't have anything left to jam it with, exterior sites such as Iraq and Pakistan notwithstanding (Terry Krueger, FL, DXplorer Oct 18 via BC- DX via DXLD) Just another thought of the 8700U tx site: the 1230 UT broadcast could possibly be from Diego García. But the 0030 UT broadcast is likely to be from somewhere else. Why? At least two reasons: 1) the signal from DG to Afghanistan (and its near-by regions) is predicted to become rapidly useless during 04-05 UT. 2) the signal has also been heard in NZ at around 04 UT which should be impossible from DG using whatever path. The signal must have gone long-path which could imply a tx location in the Eastern Mediterranean or the Middle East (why not even one of Afghanistan's northern neighbours). 73 (Jari Perkiömäki, Vaasa, Finland, Hard-Core-DX mailing list Oct 22 via DXLD) I have heard more recently that the fixed frequency receivers being dropped to refugees, etc., cover all three frequencies, and the leaflets shown on the MSNBC website show all three frequencies as well, but the reception of 8700 could well be by skywave from a distant base, and included in the receiver as a contingency in case - due to mountainous terrain - the MW are being blocked. Did I see that 864 was used in Kandahar by the Taliban forces and 1107 was the Kabul freq? Could it be that two aircraft operate, one for each area? There are six EC-130 in the fleet. Could one aircraft reach both areas? This is a lot more real estate than Kosovo was to cover (Bob Foxworth, FL, hard-core-dx via DXLD) See above re 7080/8700. My Freeplay has a hard time avoiding drift just in the AM mode. Hard to imagine one with BFO and stability necessary for listening to 8700-USB (gh, DXLD) The Geneva frequency plan 1978 for Region I indicates 594 kHz Maimana, 630 kHz Herat, 657 kHz Kabul, 828 kHz Faizabad, 864 kHz Kandahar, 909 kHz Faizabad, 936 kHz Baghlan, 945 kHz Farah, 999 Jalalabad, 1017 Gardiz, 1026 Lashkar Gah, 1044 Herat, 1107 kHz Kabul 1000 kW, 1206 kHz Mazar i Sharif, 1278 Kabul, 1296 Kandahar + LP 1485/1584/1602 kHz. Most of these have never been used but it seems that under specific conditions any of these may be used by somebody needing frequencies (Jorma Mantyla, Kangasala, Finland, hard-core-dx via DXLD) Today I received the following reply to my email sent on Saturday: "Sir: If you would like to send a report of your findings or a audio tape, please send it to the following address: 193rd Special Operations Wing Attn: Lt. Edward Shank 81 Constellation Court Middletown, PA 17057 Thank you for your help and interest. Lt. Edward E. Shank Chief of Public Affairs 193rd Special Operations Wing" Best wishes from Wuppertal, vy 55 + 73, (Manfred Reiff, Hard-Core-DX mailing list Oct 22 via DXLD) ** AFGHANISTAN. Media round-up 22 October 2001 Balkh radio heard on 22 October Radio Voice of Shari'ah of Balkh Province - the Taleban-controlled provincial radio station based in the northern city of Mazar-e Sharif - was heard broadcasting its scheduled morning transmission from 0230-0430 gmt on 22 October. The radio was heard later on 22 October during its scheduled evening transmission. The station, scheduled to sign on at 1230 gmt, was heard by BBC Monitoring at 1255 gmt. The previous 25 minutes of the broadcast since sign-on could not be monitored by the BBC for technical reasons. At 1255 gmt the radio was broadcasting a religious talk. Balkh radio Following are items from the Pashto broadcast at 1330 gmt on 21 October: - The Taleban forces freed Chaghcharan, the capital of Ghowr Province, and its environs from the Northern Alliance this morning. - The Taleban forces foiled attacks launched by Northern Alliance forces on Taleban first frontlines in Dar-e Suf and also in Gospandi and Sang Charak District of Sar-e Pol yesterday. - The US and UK bombed densely-populated residential areas in Kabul last night, killing 18 and wounding 45. - The chairman of the court of litigation has chaired Balkh Province judges' council. - The Red Crescent special day was celebrated at a meeting in Sheberghan town today. - Ulema, scholars and elders from various villages of Gospandi District of Sar-e Pol Province held a meeting in support of the goals of the Islamic Emirate yesterday. - Civilian and military people from various villages in Shahi District held a meeting to declare their support for the achievements of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. - A delegation of the department of hajj and endowment of Balkh Province attended a meeting held by the religious people of Shahi District recently. - A delegation of the department of tithes visited Sholgara District to ensure the Emirate's decrees are implemented. - The department of tithes of Kaldar District has held a meeting. - Announcement about prayer schedule. - Announcement by the Department for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice requesting people's representatives to come to the department tomorrow. - Commentary: Infidel colonialism has always tried to prepare the ground for attacks on our pure and sacred religion and the pure territory of Afghanistan. Every time, they have not only received punishment, but the tooth-breaking blow of this brave nation is still like a scar on their heart. They want to use their advanced technology to test their futile efforts on this Muslim nation. Following are items from the Dari broadcast at 1330 gmt on 21 October: - Repeat of reports in the 1330 gmt Pashto news bulletin. - The head of the education department went to Shortepa and Kaldar Districts recently and attended meetings held by the people of the district. - Three butcher's shops have been closed for violating Mazar-e Sharif council rules. - Commentary: Since its foundation the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has been a source of security in Central Asia, ending the factional wars which could cause disarray and instability in the region. The Islamic Emirate has not committed any actions which might give cause for concern amongst neighbouring countries. Yet the Russian CGS has said Russia has given huge amounts of military aid to the Taleban's opponents. Russia want to continue war in these areas. Following are items from the Turkmen broadcast at 1445 gmt on 21 October: - Taleban forces freed the capital of Ghowr Province and surrounding districts this afternoon after three days of fighting against Northern Alliance forces. - The Taleban repulsed attacks of the Northern Alliance in Dara-e Suf in Samangan Province and in Gospandi and Sang Charak Districts of Sar-e Pol Province yesterday night. - American and British aircraft attacked a densely-populated residential area in Kabul last night; 18 Muslims were killed and 45 seriously wounded. - A meeting dedicated to Red Crescent week has been held in Sheberghan town of Jowzjan Province today. - A delegation has inspected the situation regarding the tithe which is given to needy people as prescribed by Islam in Sholgara District. - Clerics and elders of different villages in Gospandi District held a meeting to condemn the US attacks and support jihad against the enemies of Afghanistan. - A meeting in support of the achievements of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has been held in Shahi District. - A meeting of the department of tithes has been held in Kaldar District. Following are items from the Dari/Pashto broadcast at 0230 gmt on 22 October: - Programme review. - Recitation from the Koran. - Interpretation of verses recited from the Koran and religious slogans. - Way of Liberation, a religious figure answering listeners' religion-related questions. - Song, announcements and advertisements. News in Pashto (all items are repeats of reports broadcast earlier): - The Taleban have achieved military success in Ghowr Province. - The Taleban defeated the Northern Alliance in Sar-e Pol Province. - US strikes have inflicted heavy losses on Afghanistan. - A meeting of Balkh Province's judiciary officials was held recently. - A Red Crescent Society celebration has been marked in the capital of Jowzjan Province. - A meeting of clerics in the Kaldar area was chaired by the head of the education department recently. - At a meeting in Sar-e Pol Province elders and scholars expressed support for the Taleban and condemned the US strikes on Afghanistan. - Commentary: The Afghans have defeated the Russians and English, they will also defeat the Americans. - Interview with an official from Mazar-e Sharif's municipality, shopkeepers and traders on prices of goods. - News in Dari (mostly inaudible, repeat of Pashto where audible) - Commentary: Russia gives military aid to the Northern Alliance. - 0415-0430 gmt: Turkmen programme. Kabul radio still unheard The Taleban radio station, Radio Voice of Shari'ah from Kabul, has remained unheard by BBC Monitoring since Monday 8 October. US-run psychological operations "Information Radio" continues BBC Monitoring continues to hear broadcasts on shortwave believed to be directed to the people of Afghanistan. The broadcasts were heard on 22 October during their scheduled times of 0030-0530 gmt and later from their scheduled 1230 gmt sign-on. US "Commando Solo" aircraft also broadcasts VOA and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty [already in previous DXLD] Anti-Taleban's Radio Voice of Mojahed The Northern Alliance, opposed to the Taleban, runs the Internet-only Radio Voice of Mojahed http:///www.payamemujahid.com/radio/index.htm which broadcasts via the Internet three days per week in Pashto and Dari. Following are items from the Dari-language programme on Radio Voice of Mojahed's web site on 21 October: - Heavy fighting is under way between the Taleban and Northern Alliance forces in Samangan Province. - A group which has described itself as a freedom-loving movement secretly put up leaflets in Kabul criticizing Usamah Bin-Ladin's presence in Afghanistan. - According to a Pakistani paper, a Taleban minister in charge of tribal affairs has held talks with Pakistani officials regarding the establishment of a new government in Afghanistan. - A high-ranking US official has said that the US ground attack has started in Afghanistan. - The former Afghan king has expressed the hope that Turkish forces could join peacekeeping forces in Afghanistan. - Minor economic reports. - Commentary: Two weeks have passed since the international collation began its attack on Afghanistan, led by the US. During the past two weeks the Taleban have lost most of their military facilities. German daily views propaganda war between US, Bin-Ladin, Taleban On 22 October the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung web site published the following commentary by Udo Ulfkotte headlined "Fighting the propaganda war". The commentary was published in English: Militarily, the United States is vastly superior to the Taleban and Usamah Bin-Ladin. But in the propaganda battle, the people presumed to mastermind Islamic terrorism are opponents who must be taken very seriously. The efforts by the allies' anti-terrorism coalition to win the hearts and minds especially of the Muslim world have so far borne little fruit, at least in Afghanistan. There, the Taleban regime has long since destroyed all the television sets it could get its hands on. And so large parts of Afghanistan cannot be reached by either CNN or the Arab broadcaster Al-Jazeera. The only regional information source in the area controlled by the Taleban was the propaganda channel Radio Shari'ah, which was silenced by the first wave of air strikes on 7 October. Following the model of the American stations Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty, which broadcast to Eastern Europe during the Cold War, the new Radio Free Afghanistan will soon break the information monopoly of the "seekers of knowledge" and tell the population about world events in Afghanistan's Dari and Pashto languages. By the time of the Vietnam war, pictures had become devastating weapons of psychological warfare. Back then, media images of body bags with dead GIs undid the anti-communist war mood in the United States. In the Persian Gulf War and in Bosnia, "information pools" were created for journalists, a polite term for the attempt to keep reporters as far away as possible from the cruel events of war. Pictures from Somalia that circled the globe in October 1993 were also decisive for the outcome of that conflict. Fighters in that country's civil war shot down two American helicopters over Mogadishu. They tortured the survivors and dragged the mutilated bodies of the dead American soldiers through the streets of the capital amid a cheering mob. With this image, Operation Restore Hope soon met a premature and inglorious end. Somalia was given up as a hopeless case. Mr Bin-Ladin's military commander, Muhammad Atif, sought to produce a similar effect when he said US elite soldiers captured by the Taleban would suffer the same fate as their comrades in Somalia. Without a medium, such a message from the terrorists would be much less threatening. But they have found one in Taysar Alluni, the Afghanistan correspondent of Al-Jazeera, which is located in the Gulf emirate Qatar. Mr Alluni maintains excellent contacts with the Taleban and is a thorn in the side of the psychological warfare staffs in Washington. Whether Mr Bin-Ladin's spokesman, Sulayman Abu Ghayth, announces new airplane hijackings or Mr Bin-Ladin himself sends video messages, Al-Jazeera is always there. The broadcaster is playing the same role today that CNN did in Baghdad during the 1990/91 Gulf War, providing uncensored pictures of the destruction and interviewing Iraqi government members. Both broadcasters owe their prominence to a crisis in the Muslim world. And both had to pay a high price: to broadcast exclusive pictures from Baghdad, CNN had to let itself be used for the regime's propaganda purposes, just as Al-Jazeera is doing now when it uses its direct contacts with those behind the terrorist acts. Satellites are an important tool in the US military operations. But they have no control over the satellite dishes of Al-Jazeera. Washington is putting strong political pressure on the broadcaster, but its demand that Al-Jazeera as well as US networks only broadcast Mr Bin-Ladin's propaganda after editing is backfiring. Over the years, the United States has pushed for freedom of opinion and the press in authoritarian Arab countries. Now Al-Jazeera broadcasts videos from Mr Bin-Ladin's Al-Qa'idah organization and pictures of Palestinian children torn apart by Israeli shells. While Washington's desire for restraint is understandable, it is perceived as two-faced in the Arab world. The battle for hearts and minds will not be decided by elite troops, but by camera teams and media strategists. In Chechnia, Bosnia and the Philippines, Islamic terrorists have taken pictures of soldiers' mangled corpses, but no television network has chosen to show them. That could be different in Afghanistan, with the help of Al-Jazeera. The entry of a new player has created a changed situation on the world's public stage, which was previously dominated by CNN and a few other Western television networks. Western governments, which have long dealt with a free press, are used to making their actions transparent and explaining themselves publicly. But the Taleban, which is now counting on propaganda to defeat its opponents, may have miscalculated. The messages with which Mr Bin-Ladin stirs up hate against the "infidels" are producing a propaganda effect counter to that intended: They are increasing the demand for free information especially in the Arab-Islamic world. And on that score, the Taleban has nothing to offer. Compiled by Foreign Media Unit, BBC Monitoring Telephone +44 118 948 6261 e-mail: fmu@mon.bbc.co.uk Source: BBC Monitoring research 22 Oct 01 (via DXLD) Note: BBCM have apparently ceased publishing daily roundups of media reaction in other countries, the most recent still posted at http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio/afghreax.txt (gh) ** AUSTRALIA. This news item comes from the 'AMT' website http://www.amt.org.au which covers developments in the Australian radio industry. Note the use of 'Voice International' for the service, as opposed to Christian Voice ... Voice International appoints Gray: Commercial radio Program Director, Phil Gray, will join short wave Christian station Voice International as its English Service Program Manager. He was most recently at 91.9 Sea FM Sunshine Coast and previously at Hobart's TTT-FM. Gray follows in the footsteps of people like John O'Donnell and Phil Edwards in moving across to the Christian broadcasting sector. Station Manager, Ray Moti says, after commencing with Voice International (formerly known as Christian Voice) next week, Gray will be responsible for setting and implementing program policy, selecting and training announcers and overseeing the work of recently appointed Music Director, Nathan Ironside. Voice International is beaming English programming produced by the stations UK-based parent organisation Christian Vision into Asia from its Cox Peninsula (Darwin) transmitters. The plan is to gradually replace the UK programming with local content. It is hoped this transition will begin soon after new equipment arrives from overseas at the end of the year. Vision International's format will be a contemporary "FM music style" with short Christian features and news bulletins interspersed within a blend of Christian and mainstream music. It will be mostly live, with announcers presenting shifts from the stations new Sunshine Coast studios. As well as English, Vision International will also broadcast in Chinese Mandarin and Bahasa Indonesian. Voice International has also appointed Annie Yum as a Senior Producer/Presenter for Mandarin programs and Rani Brookshaw as a Bahasa producer (via Matt Francis, Canberra, Australia, Oct 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. Brazilian station mentioned in various DX sources as Rádio Senado was received on October 20 at 0100 UT on 5990 with very good signal which disappeared suddenly at 0102. Is it regular end of SW broadcast? Rádio Nacional da Amazônia at the same time on 6180 was just 34442 (Vladimir Kovalenko, Tomsk, Russia, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CAMBODIA. v11940.3 R National de Cambodia, Phnom Penh, is again active, according to their schedule of previous seasons. Very bad modulation. Technicians weren't able to fix that problem (Roland Schulze, Philippines, Oct 2-8, BC-DX Oct 22 via DXLD) ** CANADA [non]. Ken Fletcher thinks about RCI via Hörby on 3955: Indeed BBC Worldservice no longer uses this frequency but KBS/RKI will do so. Like many other sites Hörby has no antenna for 75 metres but Skelton has at least a second one, so RCI could well use another 4 MHz frequency from there, and on one special occasion (election coverage if I remember correct) RCI was indeed already on 75 metres from Skelton. Well, all these technical aspects are of course not the actual matter (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Oct 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** DOMINICAN REPUBLIC/COLOMBIA. Malm`s unid on 2700.06 and 2700.1 in DXLD 1-155 surely is Ondas del Yuna, Bonao, Dominincan Republic, first logged in 1998 (not 1993). I was referred to this harmonic by Jay Novello, and I had to try several times before even catching one of their canned IDs. The word after "Ondas del..." was hard to understand. "Sur" was a possibility, but this did not seem to match. "Yuna" sounded like another possibility, but I was unable to find any reference to it on maps or geography books apart from one in the Scandinavian QSL-list, edited by two illustrious Jacobssons, Zeth and Nils: a QSL-card from the "La Voz Dominicana" predecessor, "La Voz del Yuna". That was the perfect match. I have never logged "Ondas de la Montaña" on this channel, not even in Medellín. As for the music, I believe that the "Ondas del Yuna" format is "bachata", not "rockola", which seems to be a term limited in scope to Ecuador. For a sound clip in streaming RealAudio of a typical "bachata", selected by Jay Novello, and a link to an Ecuadorian "rockola" page, please refer to http://home.swipnet.se/gersnaes/henriks/lamusic.html (Henrik Klemetz, Sweden, Oct 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST)) ** FRANCE. The Allouis LW transmitter on 162 is now on its winter schedule. It goes down to half power at 6 PM local time (1600 UT) and back to 2 MW at 6 AM (0400 UT). The change to and from the winter schedule will from now on be made with the equinoxes and not when Europe changes between standard time and DST. So the winter schedule is: - 2 MW between 0400 and 1600, 1 MW between 1600 and 0400 from the autumn equinox to the last weekend of Oct, - 2 MW between 0500 and 1700, 1 MW between 1700 and 0500 from the last weekend of Oct to the spring equinox. The summer schedule is: - 2 MW between 0500 and 2000, 1 MW between 2000 and 0500 from the spring equinox to the last weekend of March. - 2 MW between 0400 and 1900, 1 MW between 1900 and 0400 from the last weekend of March to the autumn equinox. (Thierry Vignault, via Rglobe-L mailing-list. Via Remy Friess in MWC e-mail nx Sep 30; via ARC MV-Eko via BC-DX via DXLD) ** GERMANY. DW B-01 schedule includes: 25740 Wertachtal German 0800- 1400 (reactivation of 11 metres!) (Bob Padula, Australia, EDXP Oct 21 via DXLD) ** INDONESIA. VOI at 2000 on 15150; By 2030, this broadcast to Europe in English is literally blasting into upstate NY with a nice steady S7 signal. Audible at S3 at the beginning of the broadcast with news and commentary. What comes afterward (at least today, Monday) is what one would expect to hear on stations from more moderately governed Islamic countries--US-style pop/rock music. They are Indonesian artists singing in Indonesian, but American sounding all the same. — (John A. Figliozzi, Oct 22, swprograms via DXLD) ** IRAN. Plan to lift ban on foreign satellite TV reception | Text of report in English by Egyptian news agency MENA Tehran, 22 October: Iran's reformists who have the majority in the parliament plan to lift the ban on reception of satellite television programmes, dpa reported Monday. Technological progress had always succeeded in neutralizing such cultural bans, therefore revised cultural programmes were needed rather than imposing bans, MP Vali Shoja-Purian told the press. The five-year ban was imposed by the parliament in 1996 at a time when hardliners, who consider satellite TV as Western cultural invasion, had ruled over the legislative body. Despite the ban, which had foreseen harsh cash fines and confiscation of satellite receivers and dishes, a large number of Iranians continued to use the satellite devices with their dishes camouflaged on the roofs or put inside air conditioning chests. "Our principles are based on freedom of choice and civil liberties, therefore we see no reason to continue this ban," another MP, Shirzad, said. The reformist MPs further said that with the spread of Internet use in Iran, the cultural gates to the outside world had already been opened with no way any longer to prevent the globalization process. Source: MENA news agency, Cairo, in English 1505 gmt 22 Oct 01 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** IRAQ. R. Baghdad noted 135 kHz downwards on 11652 kHz, German service at 0527. Bad modulation as usual. Nothing heard on 11787 nor 9917 (Andreas Tschauder, Germany, A-DX Oct 18 via BC-DX via DXLD) But what about 11787 plus 135 equals 11922? (gh, DXLD) ** ISLE OF MAN. Regarding the item about construction of a longwave facility on the Isle of Man for "Radio Nova": What else should this be than the "MusicMan 279" project, so far reported to face problems in finding a place for the transmitter although they need no clumsy mast because a "crossed-field antenna" will be used. Not so it seems now. So what about this "crossed-field antenna"? (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Oct 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KASHMIR [non; see also PAKISTAN]. 4790, Azad Kashmir did not open at 0045 this morning. Maybe it was used for other broadcasts due to the clashes reported from Kashmir. It seems the Pakistanis found out that the C Asian and Afghan service on 9395 from 1400 has been unlistenable because of a loud howl on the carrier. Today it was reasonably clean and \\ 7375 seemed to be less distorted too. Instead the howl was on 7365 (the news channel), which seemed to conk out completely around 1500-1530. Maybe they changed transmitters between 9395 and 7365. 4790 was absent from 0045 this morning, but is back in the evening with low modulation. 5101 was also heard until 1430 (Olle Alm, Sweden, BC-DX Oct 18 via DXLD) AKR, 4790.4, went off at 0216 and reappeared on 5988.4 at 0220, on both frequencies with the characteristic low frequency buzz of this transmitter. It is rather stable on both frequencies, i.e. stays on or very near the same decimal from day to day. No het appeared on 7265 at 0200, so this transmitter, which conked out Thursday evening, seemed to remain off (Olle Alm, Sweden, BC-DX Oct 18 via DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH. 15th October, 0957, 8900 AM. Korean Broadcast with martial music. Definitely sounds like N. Korea. First time I have managed to pull out audio. Very weak in noise and SSB QRM. 2x 4450 a known north Korean clandestine frequency. 15th October, 1010, 7140, V of Korea, Pyongyang. I/S followed by National Anthem. Korean program. Good strength but overmodulated (Robin L. Harwood, Launceston, 41.4500 S, 147.1670 E, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LAOS. 7145, Lao National Radio, Vientiane, External Service, is on the air /1130-1400* 45544. Each language program segment lasts 30 minutes in duration, in neighbouring countries` languages, and 1300 Fr, 1330-1400 English. Also from /2330-0030* French and English included in this morning transmission. According to announcements they mentioned also FM 97.25 MHz local outlet active. Amongst the program items, very informative local and international news broadcasts, also local reports, folk music. Every segment ends with National Anthem and ID "That is the Lao National Radio, broadcasting from Vientiane, the Lao Democratic Republic. Our program in this language is broadcast twice daily at 1300 hours and 2330 hours local time [sic; is GMT/UTC], this is seven hours ahead of GMT ...". Also jamming can be heard on 7145 kHz, but not sure if that jamming is aimed at Laos (Roland Schulze, Philippines, Oct 2-8, BC-DX Oct 22 via DXLD) Chinese jamming aimed at VOA Mandarin service on 7150, heard in Europe against VOA Irkutsk Mandarin (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, BC-DX Oct 22 via DXLD) ** LIBYA. Hi friends, LJB, The Voice of Africa from Libya was heard very well with a news bulletin, first in English at 2030 and then in French at 2040 on 15435 kHz on the 20th of October. 73 from (Björn Fransson, the island of Gotland in Sweden, hard-core-dx via DXLD) But on another day, or at another hour, English segment might be totally outside this time frame (gh, DXLD) ** NEW ZEALAND. The tests didn`t go quite as well as planned. 6095 kHz 2218-2230 worked fine, here in Auckland (about 250 km from the Rangataiki site); it was very strong, but with regular VERY deep fades. 7205 kHz 2230-2240 didn`t happen. The transmitter switched to 9700 kHz instead! The transmitter maintenance staff (from Broadcast Communications Limited, part of TVNZ) were at Rangitaiki carrying out their usual third Thurs (local time) maintenance shutdown and they didn't get the tx on to 7205 kHz until nearly 2250 UT. When they did, it was about as strong as 6095 kHz had been, but with much less fading. It was very strong and steady in Wellington, about 350 km south-west. It looks like the exercise will have to be repeated next month, probably on Wed, 14 Nov (UT) when the next maintenance shutdown occurs. Incidentally, I was interested to read Noel Green's comments in your latest WWDXC Top News about RNZI having flutter fading in the UK. I noticed the same thing when I was there last month and it was no different in Nice and Italy. I thought there it would be away from polar propagation paths, but who knows why? Being away from the direct beam of the antenna may have something to do with it (Barry Hartley, New Zealand, BC-DX Oct 18 via DXLD) ** NIGERIA. I tuned 7275 after Tunis departed at 0800 and found a station on that frequency with accented English talk. Audio quality sounded very telephone like. The signal peaked from near nothing up to about 3 in 'peaks'. I assume this is Kaduna but heard no ID and could not \\ it with anything else - 4770, 6090 (Brother Scott Anguilla), and 9570 were not audible. At re-tune 0815, there is still a transmission audible on 7275 - it could be Seoul by now though (Noel R. Green, UK, BC-DX Oct 22 via DXLD) ** NIGERIA. Hi Glenn! Voice of Nigeria has been active and heard in Europe irregularly all weekend. For example on Sunday evening: not heard at 1900+2000, but 2100 and off again at 2115. This morning obviously off at 0700, on with strong signal at 0800, not heard at 0830. Sunday morning c/d at 0835. On Friday active in the morning, in the evening not heard until 1900, strong signal after 2000// 7255, and on Saturday about the same (Thorsten Hallmann, Münster, Germany, 22. Oct., DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA. I received QSL card from "Voice of Nigeria" in 113 days for reception on 7255 kHz. Address: Voice of Nigeria, Broadcasting House, P.M.B. 40003, Falomo, Ikoyi - Lagos, Nigeria. E-mail: dgovon@nigol.net.ng (Vladimir Kovalenko, Tomsk, Russia, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAKISTAN. Last year I heard R Pakistan Peshawar s-off at 1415 on 7321.4 kHz (Mauno Ritola, Finland, Oct 17, BC-DX via DXLD) ** PAKISTAN. The faulty transmission on 9395 (via API-3) has been reported to them many times, and hopefully some action has now been taken. 7365 (API-4) only carries the "Current Affairs" morning (7265 or 7100) and evening transmissions so it will be interesting to know if the morning transmission is also howling now. I can hear a loud whistling around 17520 again as I type (0758) which indicates that the faulty API-5 has not yet been repaired. This transmitter appears to operate differently when on 17 MHz and is less frequency-agile than when on 15 MHz. The last time I checked 4790 [AKR, see KASHMIR] modulation level seemed low, I thought. Those offset Pakistani frequencies do seem consistent. It makes a change to hear one that is regularly using the same channel! I note API-5 wobbling around 15331.7 tonight, but 11570 seems very close to its exact freq. API-2 is already operating on c9390.2 at 1757 tonight with telephone audio and background noise. News in Urdu at 1800 after three time pips and ID. They announce MW & SW frequencies. I did report this one missing, to F.M., so maybe it's been reactivated. It doesn`t appear to be \\ 4790.4, which sounds much better quality. ALL high power Islamabad units are therefore on air except API-4, which should close at 1800 on 7365, and seems to have done so. So API-4 would need to make a very quick frequency change if used for the Peshawar Dari service (Noel R. Green-UK, BC-DX Oct 19 via DXLD) ** PHILIPPINES. v9580.3, PBS Manila is heard daily. S=9 +20 dB. No ID heard ever at s-on and s-off! Switching time seems to the demand of the transmitter staff. Best signal around 2330 UT - in the PHL! (Roland Schulze, Philippines, Oct 8, BC-DX Oct 22 via DXLD) ** PORTUGAL. I've been automatically receiving the RDPI sched. via e- mail as well any amendments, so phoned this lady engineer and confirmed CEOC in São Gabriel is experiencing difficulties getting spares for a few - BUT said nothing about that new TSW2300 type 300 kW HF tx or antenna scheduled to start operation in 2002. Back in ' 89, when the 300 kW AEG transmitter started operation, along with a new (fixed) curtain array beamed to Africa, just like the old antenna, two such transmitters were expected to be installed: I've seen the vacant space in the transmitter hall arranged for it. Unfortunately, the twin unit never came... During my visit to the HF site back in May, ' 97, only 8 transmitters were installed. Back in ' 81, just the old 7 x 100 kW units plus a (PHILIPS ?) 5 kW transmitter (used as an HF link to AZR [to CSA97 4865 then, and MW 836 & 1367 ed.]) were there. São Gabriel actually consists of the RDP installations ONLY, i.e. there's no village; on one side of the road, the HF site itself, whereas on the opposite side, houses, cantine (curiously located at the "Praça do Ultramar" Overseas Square), chapel, sports & children facilities, in sum, a mini-village for the personnel attending the former CEU-Centro Emissor Ultramarino. Also in '81, I visited RTE in Sines, where three 250 kW MARCONI transmitters could be seen (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, BC-DX Oct 19, via DXLD) Re SINES site, these [two transmitters at start, later joined by another Marconi unit] MARCONI transmitters of 1970 were originally meant for the - then in 1967 - planned Deutsche Welle site in El Salvador, Central America, but latter never happened for realization. DW rented relay transmissions at Sackville, Canada site in Aug 1971, and joined the BBC project at Antigua - realized in 1976 then, instead. Project planner was the late DW Engineer Gustav-Georg Thiele (Wolfgang Büschel, Oct 20, BC-DX via DXLD) (readers pse refer to the WRTH 2001 edition). Neither Montemor-o- Velho 630 nor Porto Miramar 720 currently use their former main transmitters, viz. 50 and 100 kW respectively, which are now the stand by units; instead, both sites are at 10 kW. Also, the listed transmitters at 2 kW are actually 2.5 kW units. At least re. the RDP MF transmitters on mainland, they're all now solid state units. In former Emissora Nacional MW lists and later in RDP transmitter lists, two more or less strange references used to appear: Norte I and Norte II (i.e. north 1, 2) meaning EN (now RDP) in Porto, and C.E.N. = Centro Emissor Nacional, which is merely applies to the ex- EN, now RDP, MF site of Castanheira do Ribatejo, north of Lisboa; "CEN" is a ref. the RDP still uses, and despite what its meaning could suggest, it's not their HF centre, the CEOC-Centro Emissor de Ondas Curtas, eastwards of our capital. The best "take off" MW sites here in Portugal are the ones near Porto, right next to the shore, Santa Isabel (Montemor-o-Velho), right next the Mondego river, between Coimbra and the coastal town of Figueira da Foz, Castanheira do Ribatejo, also with the main tower very near the Tejo (=Tagus) river and finally the southern site of Santa Maria, between Algarve's capital, Faro, and Olhão. Apart from RDP's "CEOC", at São Gabriel (the name of a place which exists because CEOC, formerly CEU-Centro Emissor Ultramarino (Overseas Transmitting Centre), was built there), located eastwards of Lisboa, and that of former R Trans Europa, now Pro-Funk, in Sines, all the other major sites (M&HF) are NE of Lisbon: R. Renascença MW 594 100 kW in Muge*, RDP "CEN" in Castanheira do Ribatejo MW 666 (2 QRGs were used in the past), R Nacional (i.e. the MW ID of R Comercial) MW 1035 in Porto Alto and finally RFE/RL/VoA sites of Glória do Ribatejo and later Maxoqueira too are all more of less next to each other. *) R Renascença HF transmitter also in Muge is inactive for years (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, BC-DX Oct 22 via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. I visited Moscow back in 1964 and indeed the hotel room had a wired radio with just one control, volume. The lead from this box terminated in a two pin plug in a matching wall socket. There was an identical socket adjacent to this and I assumed, as you would, that moving the plug would give me an alternative programme. That alternative programme turned out to 220V 50Hz. It didn't seem to harm the speaker, just gave a nasty hum, it must have had a step down transformer in it (Gareth Foster, BDXC-UK via DXLD) ** TATARSTAN. 11665, V of Tatarstan via Samara verified with a full data card, station information and hand written note in 24 days from v/s Ildus Ibatullin, QSL Manager. The note looks for more reports in the future, "I verify your report with our QSL card. I hope you like it and you can write new reports in future. We have big collection of QSLs, 20 variants. In next year we have plan print special QSL: Voice of Tatarstan - 5 years." Return address on the envelope is Voice of Tatarstan, Ildus Ibatullin, P.O.Box 134, Kazan 420136 Tatarstan, Russia (Rich D'Angelo, PA, DXplorer Oct 22 via BC-DX via DXLD) ** U K. BBC backs Cooke but is silent on Young From: http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,2-2001364602,00.html MONDAY OCTOBER 22 2001, BY ANDREW PIERCE ALISTAIR COOKE has received a guarantee that he will not be axed from the BBC but the future looks less rosy for the more youthful Jimmy Young. While Radio 4 has leapt to the defence of Cooke, 92, who has been broadcasting Letter from America since 1946, there has been silence from Radio 2, where Young, 78, has worked since 1973. Last week The Times reported that Sir Christopher Bland, the chairman of the BBC, had admitted in his farewell speech that he had been unable to resolve the issue of when to tell Cooke and Young to go. Sir Christopher's light-hearted comments reflected a debate about both broadcasters in the highest echelons of the BBC. Helen Boaden, Controller of Radio 4, has now settled publicly the future of Cooke, who broadcasts from his New York apartment. In a letter to today's Times, Ms Boaden writes: "May I reassure your readers that I have absolutely no intention of retiring Alistair Cooke. Alistair Cooke is part of the fabric of Radio 4 and a much- loved presenter." Radio 2 declined to make a similar declaration about Young, whose contract expires next spring. "We never comment on individual presenters or their contracts," said a spokesman. Yesterday a senior BBC programme-maker said: "Jimmy is not going to go without a fight." (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** U K [and non]. Radio Espionage Publication Silenced by UK "D" Notice System --- October 15, 9:00 a.m. 2001 GMT LONDON -- Newspaper articles about Shortwave espionage have been pulled by the UK "D" notice system. This system exists to silence discussion of any subject that might jeopardize the defense (hence the "D") of the United Kingdom. "Its totally understandable; spies operating abroad must be protected." says Akin Fernández, director of the company that publishes "The Conet Project", an encyclopedic book and quadruple CD which describes the operation and catalogues the sounds of espionage "Numbers Stations". These obscure shortwave radio stations are believed to be used by intelligence agencies world wide to communicate with agents in the field. "If details of the way that Numbers Stations are publicized at this delicate moment, anyone carrying or listening to a portable shortwave radio would be suspect" he said. This is true, but would clearly work in reverse, spreading mistrust within the ranks of the Taliban, who will without doubt be listening to international news reports via shortwave radio. There has been speculation about hidden messages in pornographic images, and the video messages that have been coming out of the secret camp of Usama Bin Laden have also been rumored to contain encoded messages for "sleepers"; operatives planted in target countries waiting for the command to carry out more suicide attacks. "Its more likely that the Taleban are using low tech to deliver their messages" says Fernández, "It is a simple matter to transmit a 100% secure message via Shortwave Numbers Station, to any city in the world, for anonymous reception by an operative". Asked if there were any ways to decrypt the messages, Fernández said, "The consensus is that these messages are unbreakable without the recipients code book. Once you have that, you have entry into all of the messages". Numbers Stations are transmitted in a staggering [?? -gh] number of languages and formats. The voices of men women and children are used to deliver the messages, which are composed of strings of letters or digits. The stations are often preceded by music, from folk tunes such as "The Lincolnshire Poacher" and "The Swedish Rhapsody" to "Don't Cry for me Argentina". There is a station that transmits in Arabic, but its origin is unknown. Numbers Stations are a powerful method of anonymous and secure communication. They can be received by anyone with a simple inexpensive pocket radio that can be bought anywhere in the world. No special equipment is needed to unscramble the messages other than a pencil and a piece of paper. "It is astounding when you first hear that Shortwave is still being used in this way, but when you think about it, the way that it works is so perfect there is no reason to change the system at all". When questioned about how he knew that the "D" notice had been applied to The Conet Project, Fernández replied, "We were informed by someone that I can only describe as a Blue Beaked Canary". http://www.dnotice.org.uk/dan3.htm http://www.ibmpcug.co.uk/~irdial/conet.htm (via Bernard Chenal, France, Oct 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UZBEKISTAN. Just at 1330 UT I checked the R. Tashkent English outlet. 9715 kHz is on good level, and easily to understand. Will improve in coming weeks to strong signal level, even at 1200. 7285 suffers by Poland Esperanto co-channel I guess, but could hear the Tashkent's lady announcer in background of Polonia's program, when wearing my headphones of both receiver lines, Kenwood-R1000 and AOR 7030. 5975 is very poor these days, but recognized the program at S=1 and compared to 9715 signal, UZB is there on this freq, which will increase in coming weeks too. 5060 useless, not even a carrier or whisper to hear. (Wolfgang Büschel, df5sx, BC-DX Oct 16 via DXLD) ###