DX LISTENING DIGEST 1-169, November 12, 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 Check the WOR websites: http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio/ http://www.worldofradio.com [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 #1104 (STREAM) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1104.ram (DOWNLOAD) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1104.rm (SUMMARY) http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio/wor1104.html FINAL AIRING ON WWCR: Tue 1200 on 15685 FINAL AIRINGS ON RFPI: Tue 1900, UT Wed 0100, 0700, 1300 on some of: 21815-USB, 15040, 7445 (when reactivated) WORLD OF RADIO on RFPI, Costa Rica: an additional airtime, appearing in the just published June-November printed grid, is Monday 1730, when 15040 and 21815-USB are normally in use. Like other weekday 1730 programs, there are no repeats, since Freespeech Radio News occupies the 2330, 0530 and (1130) slots. WORLD OF RADIO on Radio Studio X, Italy: Dear Glenn, I'm writing to inform you that since the 11th of November, WORLD OF RADIO will be also rebroadcast on Radio Studio X 1584 kHz from Italy every Sunday at 6,30pm (local time), in addition to the main Saturday programme at 12,30am (always Italian time). Best Regards, (Massimiliano Marchi, RADIO STUDIO X) UT Fri 2330, Sun 1730 CONTINENT OF MEDIA 01-10 is available at DXing.com as of Nov 11: (STREAM) http://www.dxing.com/com0110.ram (DOWNLOAD) http://www.dxing.com/com0110.rm (SUMMARY) http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio/com0110.html SELECTED DX AND MEDIA PROGRAMS, Nov 12 update by John Norfolk: http://www.worldofradio.com/dxpgms.html NOTE: we were trying to take a break the past week, but did put out two abbreviated issues 1-167 and 1-168. Now with 1-169 we start to catch up, but this too is abbreviated and it may be a few more issues before we pick up all items at the usual depth from all our sources. As a result, some items may be out of chronological order, e.g., newer info here than in the next issue, so take special note of dates specified. Here`s what we have ready to go three days after the previous issue, rather than delaying publication further --- and enlarging it (gh) ** AFGHANISTAN. Note: during our break, we skipped a number of daily BBCM roundups; we expect to go back and pick up anything of significance for subsequent DXLD issues. Note that the 1584 kHz station, formerly BBCM`s only source for Taliban propaganda, is now under control of Northern Alliance, and seems to have made the transition without missing a beat (gh, DXLD) Mazar-e Sharif radio reports city falls to Afghan Northern Alliance At 0223 gmt on Saturday 10 November the radio station broadcasting from the northern city of Mazar-e Sharif carried an announcement in the Dari language saying that the city had been taken by the forces of the Northern Alliance. The station was monitored on 1584 kHz, the frequency formerly used by the Afghan Taleban station, Radio Voice of Shari'ah from Balkh Province. "Dear pious and Muslim compatriots, peace be with you," the announcement began. "We congratulate you from the bottom of our heart on the victory of the Islamic State of Afghanistan." "Dear citizens and listeners, Mazar-e Sharif and its surrounding areas have been completely cleared. The forces of the Islamic State of Afghanistan are advancing," the radio said. "We shall keep you informed by radio, God willing, about further developments in Balkh Province." The Northern Alliance said it was making advances in all the country's northern provinces, Balkh radio reported from Mazar-e Sharif at 0300 gmt on the 10th. "The advance of the Islamic State of Afghanistan's forces in all areas of the northern provinces is continuing," the radio said. "Control of Balkh Province and the surrounding areas in the northern provinces is now in the hands of the Islamic United Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan and the Islamic State of Afghanistan's forces," it added. "We ask you, dear compatriots, to continue your daily work without any hesitation to serve your citizens," the radio continued. "Dear friends, dear listeners, we would like to congratulate the whole pious Afghan nation once again from the bottom of our hearts on this victory." Later on the morning of 10 November, the station repeatedly broadcast the original announcement about the fall of the city to the Northern Alliance, interspersed with epic songs and music. From time to time, the announcement was broadcast in Turkmen and Uzbek (as well as Dari). The station also carried interviews and vox pops, a triumphal statement in Uzbek and an interview with a military commander about the latest Northern Alliance advances. The reports carried by the radio station from Mazar-e Sharif on the morning of 10 November also included an announcement that Samangan Province and Pol-e Khomri, the capital of Baghlan Province, had fallen to the Northern Alliance; an appeal to residents of Mazar-e Sharif to continue with their normal life "and help the armed forces of the Islamic State of Afghanistan"; an interview with Atta Mohammed (in charge of military affairs in the Northern Zone) about the advance; an announcement calling on people to stop fighting; announcement of an amnesty for people who had previously backed the Taleban; another call to citizens to refrain from fighting and instead to help the government. The radio station from Balkh Province ended its morning broadcast at 0735, saying it would sign on again at 1230 gmt. Source: Afghan Balkh radio from Balkh Province, Mazar-e Sharif, in Dari 10 Nov 01 (via BBCM via DXLD) Afghanistan: Media round-up Sunday 11 November 2001 "Radio Balkh Province" heard on 11 November On Sunday 11 November, the radio station broadcasting from the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e Sharif - which has identified itself as "Radio Balkh Province" - was monitored by the BBC from 0227-0430 gmt. The station was again heard signing on as scheduled at 1230 gmt with music followed by the sign-on: "Here is Balkh [Province] Radio, Mazar-e Sharif city. Peace and blessings be upon you." The station continued to broadcast on 1584 kHz, the frequency formerly used by the Afghan Taleban station, Radio Voice of Shari'ah from Balkh Province. The signal strength was stronger than observed recently. "Radio Balkh Province" morning broadcast The "Radio Balkh Province" morning broadcast from 0227-0430 gmt carried the following items: - 0227 gmt Afghan folk music. - 0230 gmt Preview. - 0232 gmt Recitation from the Koran and interpretation. - 0235 gmt Announcements: - 0245 gmt Afghan modern and classical music, Indian music. Reception was poor, but the words "They have achieved success again", presumably referring to the Northern Alliance, were heard, followed by more music, followed by the words: "The people who are in charge of educational institutions have not been able to create new ideas, because to create new ideas we need masterly brains." - 0300 gmt Announcement: the Islamic State of Afghanistan has announced a general amnesty. (Repeat) - 0308 gmt Presenter's congratulations on victory, song. - 0317 gmt Reports and interviews with two residents of Mazar-e Sharif expressing satisfaction about the recent developments. - 0330 gmt News in Pashto (Repeat of news bulletin broadcast at 1400 gmt on 10 Nov) - Messages of congratulations have been received by Northern Alliance President Rabbani, [Uzbek commander] Gen Abdorrashid Dostum and others on the occasion of the victory in Balkh Province. - Gen Dostum chaired a meeting of the high military council yesterday. - Gen Dostum received a number of former Taleban commanders who have joined the United Front. - The political and military head of the northern zone, Atta Mohammad, received a number of commanders of units and elders from various areas for a meeting today. - Gen Dostum has issued a message to the people of Mazar-e Sharif assuring them of their safety. - Announcements: death announcements, announcement of amnesty. - Song. - 0345 gmt Interviews with a number of residents of Mazar-e Sharif- people expressing their confidence and happiness over the latest developments in the town. - 0400 gmt News in Dari. (Repeat of news in Pashto) - 0405 gmt Interview with Gen Dostum. (Repeat, 1400 gmt 10 Nov) - 0414 gmt Continuation of news. (Repeat) - 0419 gmt Song. - 0424 gmt News in Turkmen: - Messages of congratulations have been received from President Rabbani, Gen Dostum and others on the occasion of the victory in Balkh Province. - Local people have been offering congratulations on the victory in Mazar-e Sharif. - 0430 gmt End. Mazar-e Sharif TV to go on air "very soon" - United Front spokesman Excerpt from report in English by Iranian news agency IRNA, 0924 gmt 11 November: Islamabad, 11 November: Radio Mazar-e Sharif [Radio Balkh Province] has started its broadcast again after 39 months when the city fell to forces of the United Front on Saturday [10 November]. Talking to IRNA, National Islamic Movement for Afghanistan of Abdorrashid Dostum's spokesman in Pakistan Sibghatullah Zaki [name as received] said that the radio was broadcasting national and war songs. He said that very soon television telecasts will also be initiated and radio will also broadcast other programmes as well. It merits a mention here that after taking control of Mazar little over three years back, Taleban had clamped complete ban on television telecasts and the radio service was also limited to their own Sada-e Shari'ah [(Radio) Voice of Shari'ah] programmes for the use of entire Afghanistan. After its restoration, Radio Mazar-e Sharif is the only radio presently functioning following the US-led operation that had caused closure of the rest of broadcasts... Kabul unheard; PsyOps broadcasts continue The Taleban radio station, Radio Voice of Shari'ah from Kabul, has remained unheard by BBC Monitoring since Monday 8 October. Meanwhile, US PsyOps broadcasts to Afghanistan continue. Information Radio continues to be observed by BBC Monitoring broadcasting in Pashto and Dari from 0030-0530 gmt and 1230-1730 gmt daily. It is heard on 8700 kHz upper sideband mode and at times on the former Kandahar mediumwave frequency of 864 kHz. A third announced channel of 1107 kHz (former Kabul frequency) has not yet been observed by BBC Monitoring. The 864, 980 and 1107 kHz channels are believed to be broadcast from US PsyOps "Commando Solo" EC-130 aircraft. US PsyOps broadcast announces liberation of Mazar-e Sharif At 0230 gmt on 11 November, US PsyOps Information Radio announced the liberation of Mazar-e Sharif in Dari, followed by a Pashto translation. "Greetings to the courageous people of Afghanistan. Be joyful and celebrate. The city of Mazar-e Sharif has been liberated. The evil rule of the Taleban over the people of this city has been brought to an end...Now that the city has been liberated, Afghanistan has taken a major stride toward toppling the Taleban dictatorship..." Pro-Taleban groups in Pakistan reportedly set up radio stations near Afghan border The Kashmiri mojahedin group, Jaish-i-Mohammad (JiM, Mohammad's Army) and the Pakistani militant group, Tehrik-i-Nifaz-i-Shariat-i- Mohammadi (TNSM), have reportedly set up at least three FM radio stations near the border with Afghanistan, to campaign for funds and volunteers to fight alongside the Taleban. Pakistani weekly newspaper The Friday Times reported in its 9-15 November edition that TNSM and JiM supporters have "set up small FM stations - at least three of them" in Bajaur Agency in Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province to "campaign for funds and also urge the people to join the jihad". The stations broadcast an address via telephone by Pakistani conservative Islamic party Jamaat-i-Islami leader Qazi Hussain Ahmed to a pro-Taleban rally in Bajaur on Sunday 4 November, the paper said. "He had been put under house arrest to deny him entry into Bajaur for the rally which authorities expected to be troublesome. The ban was deeply resented by the people in Bajaur who abused the authorities for denying them the right to assemble and proceed for jihad," the paper reported. The Tehrik-i-Nifaz-i-Shariat-i-Mohammadi outfit is based in the tribal area of Markand, also located near the border with Afghanistan. The group is also known as Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e- Muhammadi. The TNSM leader, Maulana Sufi Mohammad, "has been shuttling between Asadabad, the capital of Afghanistan's Konar Province and Bajaur to streamline the entry of thousands of his activists bent upon joining the Taleban in the war against the United States", the paper said. The Taleban had initially declined the TNSM offer to send in volunteers but on 1 November, 1,500 TNSM volunteers crossed over to Afghanistan to join Taleban forces, the paper said. The Friday Times said the situation in Pakistan's tribal areas bordering Afghanistan was "increasingly becoming untenable". "Officially, no Pakistani is allowed to cross the border. But practically any attempt to stop armed activists from doing so would only lead to a showdown," the paper added. The mountainous area of Bajaur Agency is situated around 300 km northwest of Islamabad, and about 145 km from Peshawar. Bajaur is the second biggest agency in the tribal areas and has an estimated population of 700,000. Compiled by Foreign Media Unit, BBC Monitoring Telephone +44 118 948 6261 e-mail: fmu@mon.bbc.co.uk Source: BBC Monitoring research, 11 Nov 01 (via DXLD) Afghanistan: Media round-up Monday 12 November 2001 Radio Balkh heard on 12 November On Monday 12 November, the radio station broadcasting from the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e Sharif - now identifying itself as Radio Balkh - was monitored by the BBC from 0227-0437 gmt. The station continues to broadcast on 1584 kHz, the frequency formerly used by the Afghan Taleban station, Radio Voice of Shari'ah from Balkh Province. The signal strength was stronger than observed recently. The station was again heard signing on at 1233 gmt on 12 November, starting with music. Radio Balkh morning broadcast on 12 November The 0227-0437 gmt broadcast on 12 November included the following reports: - Music. - Recitation from the Holy Koran and interpretation. - Religious song played with a musical instrument. - Cleric underlines the characteristics of the Prophet Mohammad. - News in Pashto, repeating bulletin broadcast at 1330 gmt on 11 November. - Congratulatory messages have been received by Gen Abdorrashid Dostum and other civilian and military officials, cultural, jihad and social figures, teachers, students and agricultural workers on the occasion on the victory in Mazar-e Sharif. - The vice-president of the Islamic State of Afghanistan and commander of the northern zone, Alhaj General Abdorrashid Dostum, yesterday received a number of military commanders and elders. - Gen Dostum visited Mazar-e Sharif's central mosque and held talks with clerics there. - With the approval of the high military council, (?Dr Mirwais) has been appointed head of the Public Health Department of the northern zone. - Announcement by the northern high military council calling on all civilian officials and military officers, engineers and doctors to attend to their duties and also all those officials and military personnel who had earlier left their duties for some reason to return to their duties. - Interview with a Taleban commander who has joined the Alliance forces. - News in Dari, repeating news in Pashto. - Songs. - News in Turkmen, repeating news in Pashto and Dari. Radio Balkh evening broadcast on 11 November The evening broadcast from 1230-1457 gmt on Sunday 11 November included the following items: - Recitation of Holy Koran and interpretation - Songs and messages, greetings and congratulations of people from urban and rural areas to the authorities for their brave patriotic campaign - Interview in Dari with commander Haji M. Mohaqeq, interior minister, who said he thought the Taleban could not last more than a week. Now our people are free from them, the people can live without fear. A group of Taleban were putting up resistance in a girls' school in Mazar yesterday and today they were defeated and finished off. We want all Taleban, Arabs and Pakistanis to be arrested and prosecuted by international law. - Col-Gen Abadollah chaired a meeting aimed at improving security measures at the headquarters of Hayraton town garrison today. - Interview with local resident of Mazar-e Sharif who says he personally witnessed Arab and Pakistani soldiers fighting against the anti-Taleban alliance forces. - Announcement by the northern high military council calling on all civilian officials and military officers, engineers and doctors to attend to their duties and urging all officials and military personnel who had earlier left their duties for whatever reason to return to their posts. (A later repeat of this announcement in Turkmen added that all shopkeepers should open their shops and traders should continue their activities.) Kabul unheard; PsyOps broadcasts continue The Taleban radio station, Radio Voice of Shari'ah from Kabul, has remained unheard by BBC Monitoring since Monday 8 October. Meanwhile, US PsyOps broadcasts to Afghanistan continue. Information Radio continues to be observed by BBC Monitoring broadcasting in Pashto and Dari from 0030-0530 gmt and 1230-1730 gmt daily. It is heard on 8700 kHz upper sideband mode and at times on the former Kandahar mediumwave frequency of 864 kHz. A third announced channel of 1107 kHz (former Kabul frequency) has not yet been observed by BBC Monitoring. The 864, 980 and 1107 kHz channels are believed to be broadcast from US PsyOps "Commando Solo" EC-130 aircraft. US PsyOps radio thanks Afghan people for listening to its broadcasts At 0230 gmt on 11 November, the US PsyOps Information Radio aired a message in Pashto thanking the Afghan people for listening to its broadcasts. "Noble people of Afghanistan. The coalition countries will continue their assistance to the Afghan people in the coming winter. We will continue to drop food to you by our aircraft. We know that this is a difficult season of the year. We know that you are suffering. In order to demonstrate our support for the struggle of the Afghan people we will continue to provide the assistance that we began. "The food parcels which are being air-dropped by the coalition countries will continue to be halal [? sic -gh] and nutritious. The food will help in difficult conditions. We would like to see you healthy. "The coalition countries express thanks for the Afghan people for listening to this radio programme. Please remember to recommend to others this radio programme which broadcast news on attacks and food air drops and good pieces of music. We will air information and music which you like via this radio." Afghan music followed the message. Source: US PsyOps Information Radio in Dari 0230 gmt 11 Nov 01 US PsyOps radio warns Afghan Taleban "you will be killed" US PsyOps radio at 0245 gmt on 11 November broadcast an announcement in Dari saying: "Attention Taleban men. The air raids of the coalition countries are successfully continuing. We have destroyed almost all your defence power. The Taleban regime does not have the power to resist. Therefore, our aircraft can fly and attack anywhere and everywhere we want. We have full air supremacy now. "The Taleban say that they have killed a large number of the coalition countries' soldiers. If this claim is true, then where is their evidence. Where are the bodies? They are mere lies. The aim of which is to deceive you and other Muslims in order to take part in a war which has been created by themselves, and does not belong to you. "The Taleban leaders know that they would not be able to win this war. Therefore, they resort to spreading such lies - in the same way as they force more young people to sacrifice their lives for the sake of the Taleban. "Our ground troops have launched an attack once and they will attack again if we want them too. You and the Al-Qa'idah terrorists will not have anywhere to hide. "The people in the world saw that you wanted to hide in mosques, schools and hospitals. It is clear to everyone that this in an act perpetrated by faint-hearted and cowardly people and it will endanger the life of the innocent Afghan people. "The more we continue our more intense attacks, the weaker the Taleban regime will become. The anti-Taleban forces are also advancing in the battle fields. The Taleban men are scattered. This is because they have to fight on several fronts at one time. They lack sufficient resources to confront this major war. The Taleban regime will fall and the only thing which is not known is the date and time. "You have two options: Support the Taleban and face defeat, or join your Afghan brothers in their resistance against the Taleban. Some of your leaders along with their soldiers have decided to abandon the Taleban. If you are with the Taleban and fight, you will be killed. You have to make a decision finally. Why don't you leave the Taleban now?" This was followed by Afghan music. Source: US PsyOps Information Radio in Dari 0230 gmt 11 Nov 01 French, German journalists killed in Taleban ambush A woman correspondent for Radio France Internationale was killed on Sunday 11 November in northern Afghanistan, the radio reported. It said Johanne Sutton, 34, was accompanying Northern Alliance troops when they fell into a Taleban ambush. RFI's editor in chief Gilles Schneider said the correspondent and other journalists had hitched a lift on a Northern Alliance tank to check reports of the capture of the town of Taloqan when the ambush happened. The French news agency AFP reported that two other journalists accompanying opposition forces had been killed in the ambush by the Taleban militia in northeastern Afghanistan. It named one of them as French radio reporter Pierre Billaud, who worked for Luxembourg-based RTL radio. The other victim was a German photographer, Volker Handloik, whose identity was confirmed by the magazine Stern on 12 November, according to a report by German news agency ddp. Bin-Ladin reportedly watches Western TV channels Excerpt from interview with Hamid Mir, editor of the Pakistani daily Ausaf, by correspondent Burcin Emir - place and date not given; interview in English with superimposed Turkish translation; broadcast by Turkish CNN Turk TV on 11 November [Emir] How did you find Usamah Bin-Ladin? Was he tired, anxious or concerned? Was he frightened? What is your impression? [Mir] He was not frightened, anxious or tired. He looked very confident. He looked very healthy. In fact, he looked healthier than two years ago when I saw him last. He was constantly saying to me: This place can be bombed and we can both die. [Emir] Why was he saying that? [Mir] He was trying to tell me that he was not afraid of dying. I told him: If I die here, who will publish this interview with you? Please do not repeat this again and again. In short, he was very self-confident. He was not under stress. He was very calm... [Emir] Why were you chosen for the interview? [Mir] Bin Ladin watched my interview with Larry King on CNN. I had criticized Bin-Ladin during that interview. Bin-Ladin said that he wanted to express his views on some of the issues I raised during the Larry King interview. He said: If an American or Western reporter criticizes me, I do not care. However, if somebody like you criticizes me, it is very important for me to express my views. In other words, it is thanks to Larry King that I could interview Bin-Ladin. [Emir] Does that mean that Bin-Ladin watches television all the time? Does he have a satellite dish? [Mir] I asked him the same question. He said that he does not watch all the channels but that he has a monitoring unit that follows Western channels as well as Turkish channels. He said that the Turkish government is helping certain terrorist groups in Afghanistan, and that these groups are committing crimes against the Afghan people. He said that in addition to British and US television channels, he watches Turkish television channels because Turkey is a US ally and is sending troops to Afghanistan. Source: CNN Turk TV, Istanbul, in Turkish 1600 gmt 11 Nov 01 Pakistani journalists express solidarity with Afghans Journalists from Rawalpindi and Islamabad held a rally on Sunday 11 November "to condemn the US killing of innocent people in Afghanistan and to express solidarity with Afghans," the Pakistani newspaper The Nation reported on the 12th. "The demonstrators were holding placards with slogans in support of innocent Afghan people and condemning the killing of civilians in Afghanistan by United States and its allies. Addressing the demonstrators, Mohammad Nawaz Raza, Mushtaq Minhas and others demanded of the government to help stop one-sided aerial attacks on Afghanistan," the Nation said. "They further said that people of Pakistan were with their Muslim brethren of Afghanistan in this time of trial and stressed the need for the peaceful settlement of the dispute. Later the demonstrators dispersed peacefully," the Nation report concluded. Source: The Nation web site, Islamabad, in English 12 Nov 01 Compiled by Foreign Media Unit, BBC Monitoring Telephone +44 118 948 6261 e-mail: fmu@mon.bbc.co.uk Source: BBC Monitoring research 12 Nov 01 (via DXLD) PWBR gets it wrong: re AFGHANISTAN; see end of this issue ** AFGHANISTAN. De: Shank, Edward edward.shank@paharr.ang.af.mil Enviado el: Miércoles, 07 de Noviembre de 2001 15:02 Para: Andy Sennitt; David E. Crawford; David Hochfelder; Don Nelson; Enrique A. Wembagher; Gabriel Ivan Barrera; Ing. Lubos Cech; Jerry Berg; Jim Solatie; jmrantan; Joachim Thiel; John CAMPBELL; Michael Prindle; Michiel Van Ooijen; Nobuya Kato; Richard A. D'Angelo; Thomas M. Rsner; Viacheslav A. Kochkozharov; Yasuhiro Shiozaki; Yasukuni Jinja Asunto: Thanks from the 193rd Special Operations Wing To all: Now that things are up and running with the war effort in Afghanistan, I would like to take this opportunity to thank those of you who were kind enough to notify my unit of your reception of the broadcasts you've received regarding our efforts to win the hearts and minds of people during Operation Enduring Freedom. Although I am not authorized to authenticate your receptions at this time, I am touched by the sentiments expressed regarding your support of U.S. military operations. (I am particularly grateful to those of you who have shared information regarding your families.) To date, I have learned a great deal from people residing in areas of the world such as Japan, Finland, Holland, Germany, the United Kingdom and several regions throughout the United States just to name a few. In the 15 years that I've been in the military I have witnessed many changes in U.S. policy. Now, in this post-Cold War climate, I am encouraged by the fact that hobbies such as yours have brought the diverse countries of this world closer together. Keep up the good work. I will keep your names and addresses on file and, as soon as I am able to do so, I will do my part to satisfy your desire to learn more about our part in the effort to rid the world of terrorism. No one despises war more than those of us who have to fight it. But rest assured, those of us who have dedicated our lives in defense of freedom are willing to lay down our lives for that cause...and we are the very best at what we do. Sincerely, Lt. Edward E. Shank Chief of Public Affairs 193rd Special Operations Wing (via E. A. Wembagher, Argentina, Nov 8, 2001 for CRW via DXLD) ** AFGHANISTAN [and non]. --- National Security Agency retreats into secrecy shell U.S. eavesdropping focuses on finding bin Laden, al-Qaida By Laura Sullivan, Baltimore Sun, November 3, 2001 The National Security Agency has spent the past eight years inching out of the shadows, courting public opinion and opening its doors in limited ways to win back wavering congressional support. But since Sept. 11, the agency has reverted to a place of secrets and seclusion, as shut down to outsiders as it was at the height of the Cold War. Its focus has narrowed to one mission: finding Osama bin Laden and his terrorist followers. The agency has called back more than 100 NSA veterans, most of them retired to nearby Howard and Anne Arundel counties. And at least that many employees have been sent abroad, according to one source, who said entire departments have been packed up and shipped to the Middle East. A driver from a local transportation company that contracts with NSA and Fort Meade, who did not want to be identified, said it has driven numerous passengers to Baltimore-Washington International Airport. The passengers, loaded with equipment, asked to be picked up in parking lots in the suburbs rather than at their homes or at the agency. NSA spokeswoman Judith Emmel said she couldn't comment on how many people might be abroad, but she said employees at the Fort Meade headquarters have been working around the clock. "When people say they are going to meet at 8," she said, "you have to ask if they mean 8 in the morning or 8 at night." Insiders say there are some who haven't left their offices since the attacks. The agency has been searching for bin Laden for more than two years, since the U.S. embassy bombings in Africa in 1998. Steve Uhrig, president of SWS Securities in Harford County, which provides intelligence and eavesdropping equipment to the NSA, said that before the attacks, he had sold the NSA a stash of "suitcase kits," portable listening devices best used against targets like the suspected terrorists. The kits, which are disposable and last about six weeks, travel well over rugged terrain and can track low-powered radio transmissions - especially those produced by people hiding with generators and ham radios, he said They can also help locate signals being "hidden" next to larger signals, Uhrig said. This new equipment could be key to tracking down bin Laden in a place that doesn't use the kind of sophisticated telecommunications and satellite technology the agency is so adept at cracking. Afghanistan, after decades of war and poverty, has few phone lines to tap or satellite links to eavesdrop on. But the communications methods bin Laden and the terrorists use could be elusive. "Anyone with a little computer understanding could get something up and running for him," Uhrig said. "If he kept his transmissions short, moved frequently, he could even put the transmitter 10 miles away from where he is, run a ground microwave relay to a hilltop and bounce it off a satellite, put it under an oil company's name. ... It could provide the perfect cover." Defense Department officials say finding him is the agency's No. 1 priority. "[The NSA] has anything and everything ... looking for signals of any kind," Uhrig said. "If you put enough people out there, someone is going to hear something." Some of the employees sent abroad will likely set up a temporary listening facility in Pakistan and put into use its Emergency Reaction Team, a small group with sophisticated eavesdropping skills that can move quickly into any region, said James Bamford, author of two books on the agency. Other NSA cryptologists and members of the other military intelli- gence agencies are already likely to be eavesdropping on signals from Afghanistan, from planes and ships in nearby waters, he said. There are a lot of communications to intercept, Bamford said, "The problem is most signals are probably going to be dealing with things that aren't related to finding bin Laden." Since the Cold War, the NSA had largely refocused its efforts from spying on the Soviet Union to helping the U.S. government in drug interdiction and monitoring worldwide financial transactions for bribes and extortion. In recent years, the Department of Defense has closed many of the listening stations in and around the Middle Eastern region that were once used to target Russian communications, including plans announced earlier this year to shut down the Bad Aibling Station in Germany in September. "Technology overcame them," said Tom A. Brooks, former director of naval intelligence. "High technology means more bounce, and satellites can collect that sort of thing for you. There was no longer a need to have a couple lonely guys sitting on a mountaintop in Iran." Now, those mountaintops are looking rather inviting, Brooks said. "There are things you can only get by being close," he said, adding that the NSA will also likely court the neighboring Uzbekistan and Tajikistan governments, which have years of experience tracking the Taliban, and enlist their help. As intelligence efforts abroad accelerate, the agency at home has hundreds of employees working overtime searching for clues to locate bin Laden and help ground and air troops locate targets. Just as life inside the agency has changed, so has its public image. For more than eight years, that image had been carefully crafted to present a more open agency. At numerous events over the past several years, the agency has showcased the heroic efforts of some of its alumni and attended hundreds of job fairs to promote itself. While closed to visitors, the agency has taken pains to be a good neighbor, talking with Anne Arundel County officials about its plans and needs, such as additional security fencing that has been unpopular with neighbors. But now concrete barricades block all but one entrance, and unmarked police cars pull up behind cars that linger on the side of the road. At the nearby Colony 7 Shell gas station, NSA employees, once chatty to station attendants, hide their agency badges and keep to themselves. The letters on the sign directing drivers to Fort Meade from Interstate 95 have also been removed, although the "NSA employees only" exit sign on the Baltimore-Washington Parkway is still in place. The agency has canceled more than a dozen public events, including lectures on site for former cryptologists. It has also locked down its long-standing symbol of openness and goodwill - the National Cryptologic Museum. Citing a lack of security, an agency spokeswoman said last week that the museum won't reopen any time soon. The facility, which opened in 1993 and has held events nearly every month for agency alumni and visitors for the past two years, sits outside the agency's perimeter security fence. An NSA official explained the agency is attempting to "keep a low profile," adding that it "doesn't seem appropriate" to comment on the war effort or its involvement (via N. Grace-USA, Nov 4, 2001 for CRW, via DXLD) ** ARGENTINA. RAE, English to NAm, UT Tue-Sat 0200, no good to me: 6060 hit by REE/Spain and someone Arabic; 11710 blasted as usual by RHC 11705-USB (Bob Thomas, CT, Nov 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. [SWL] VNG Off Air Soon, Says Dr. Brittain Dear Duane - Thank you for your e-mail and my apologies for the delay in responding. Unfortunately we have very little resource to devote to radio VNG which will probably be closing in mid-2002. As a result we have had to very ruthlessly prioritise our resources in order to maintain the service at all. Responding to QSLs has suffered I am sorry to say. However, I will try my very best to arrange for a batch of QSLs to be sent out before the end of this year if at all possible. Best regards, Dr Richard Brittain, Legal Metrology Officer, National Standards Commission, 12 Lyonpark Road, NORTH RYDE, NSW 2113, AUSTRALIA (postal address: PO Box 282, NORTH RYDE NSW 1670) phone 02-9856 0328, fax 02-9856 0399, e-mail: rbrittain@nsc.gov.au http://www.nsc.gov.au (via Duane Fisher, Nov 9, swl@qth.net via DXLD) ** AUSTRIA. Radio Africa International. Heard them today with sign-on at 1500 on 17895 (not 17640 as mentioned in BCDX. On that freq CNR-2 and KSDA were battling it out at that moment... ). (Silvain Domen, Belgium, Nov 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC. 6100, Radio Centrafrique, Bangui, 0600- 0645 Spunky female announcer encouraging people to get to work, Happy Birthday wishes, announcer perfectly bilingual in French and the local language. L'Équipe soleil's music was played. A pleasant morning program to listen to. No sign of reported Nigeria or Liberia here (David Faris, Chad, Oct 29, Cumbre DX Nov 9 via DXLD) ** CHINA. Tests presumably from China have continued during this week. 15250 around 0200-0230 (co-channel VOA News Now to S Asia) is a favourite, either with open carrier or music. One of the tapes or CDs they often play is rather Central Asian or Middle Eastern in flavour, which makes a change from the well-worn Moscow Nights and Auld Lang Syne. Occasional activity also noted on 21550, 21700 and possibly also 21705 during local daytime here (between about 0200-1000), all with music, test tones or open carrier. 17855 is another new and strong CNR-1 frequency around 0900-1000 (Alan Davies, Singapore, Nov 4, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** CHINA [non]. CRI in English at 0100: 9580 via Cuba is fair; I just found a stronger and better modulated channel then, 9790 [Canada] (Bob Thomas, CT, Nov 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COLOMBIA [non?]. HALLO GLENN, just some suggestions about this "new" station from COLOMBIA????. In 1992-1993 a station operated from Italy on short wave on 7380 kHz. Its name was IDEA RADIO. The station was based near Genova, and operated also on FM band. Some DXers got the QSL-stencil letter. I was the QSL-manager. Among the DXers who listened to it, also PAUL ORMANDY from NEW ZEALAND. Well...just coincidence, but now look at the complete story. The owner of the station had some problems with other people --- money, and stolen materials from other FM stations in Genova area. So before having more dangerous problems, he ran to COLOMBIA with his wife --- and MONEY. This I guess is a real more exact coincidence. So now to the actuality. A Colombian station will never say IDEA RADIO, but more likely RADIO IDEA; second, they will never identify in English. You know in Colombia the "yankees" are not so popular. Are you sure the station is operating from Colombia? If it is so, why Gaviria & Rodríguez have not reported good signals??? [Rodríguez did, later, q.v. -gh] Should be interesting to know their opinions and also the one of expert Dr. Henrik Klemetz. You may edit in full this message. I have not sent to HCDX, cause I think DX Listening Digest is THE BEST SOURCE independent existing in the whole world. 73's Dario playdx@libero.it PS: feel free to correct my MONFERINGLISH, hi (Dario Monferini, Italy, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Original Message To: playdx2001@yahoogroups.com Sent: Monday, November 05, 2001 8:32 PM Subject: [playdx2001] Aviso - 7380 IDEA RADIO EMITTENTE PIRATA COLOMBIANA Deseamos avisarle de este evento que se aproxima. 7380 IDEA RADIO EMITTENTE PIRATA COLOMBIANA?????? Fecha: lunes, noviembre 5, 2001 Hora: 10:30PM - 2:00AM GMT UN DXer AMERICANO DICE DI AVER SENTITO IDEA RADIO 7380 kHz DALLE 2230 ALLE 0100 della notte 03-04 NOVEMBRE. QUESTO NOME MI RICORDA QUALCOSA DI.....ITALIANO...IDEA RADIO DALLA LIGURIA PIRATA SU 7380...che strano...IL PROPRIETARIO UN LIGURE....FUGGI' DALL'ITALIA IN .......COLOMBIA ....8 anni fa.....CHE STRANO CASO. QTH: ANNUNCIATO : IDEA RADIO, P.O.BOX 25733, SANTA FE' DE BOGOTA', COLOMBIA. E-MAIL: idearadio@hotmail.com DATO CHE L'EMITTENTE ANNUNCIA IN INGLESE...SENTO PUZZA LIGURE...... (PLAY-DX 2001 LIST Nov 6 via Monferini, DXLD) ** COLOMBIA. 7380, Idea Radio. Rafael Rodríguez R., de Colombia, nos dice que gracias a un mensaje del colega Henrik Klemetz en el cual me informó acerca de una emisora reportada por colegas de Estados Unidos escuchada en los 7.380 que reporta dirección en Bogotá, Colombia, el 06/11/01 hizo un monitoreo desde las 0330-0600 y el 07/11/01 de 1000-1200. Aquí sus observaciones: * La emisora utiliza cuatro identificaciones, dos en inglés y dos español; las cuales son pronunciadas por dos locutores, un hombre con el acento extranjero y una mujer con un fluido español. Cada uno con dos identificaciones, una en español y otra en inglés. ID por Hombre: "...Esta e [sic] Idea Radio, estación satélite, desde Colombia para el mundo. Idea Radio transmite en onda corta en 7380 kilohercios. Para mejor (sic) información escribir a Idea Radio, Apartado Aéreo No. 25-7-3-3, Bogotá, Colombia, Suramérica. O enviar un e-mail o {sic] idearadio@hotmail.com..." ID por Mujer: "Estás escuchando Idea Radio en onda corta en 7380 khz reporta tu sintonia escribiendo a Idea Radio apartado aéreo No. 25733 Bogotá, Colombia, Suramérica y para contacto inmediato envía un mail a idearadio@hotmail.com... Idea Radio desde Colombia para el mundo..." * Luego de la hora en punto o a la hora 30 presentan un microespacio llamado: "Un minuto para pensar positivamente" donde dan aspectos sobre desarrollo personal como responsabilidad, fortaleza, caridad. Es presentado por un tipo llamado "Jesús Santos" que pronuncian como "Yesus Santos" y se denomina "Psico-Orientador". * presentan mucha música pero en la casi cinco horas de escucha escuché tan solo tres temas de intérpretes colombianos (Carlos Vives, Los 50 de Joselito y Diomedes Díaz) * De cuando en cuando presentan musica de alabanza en diversos ritmos, salsa, vallenato, merengue. * También presentaban canciones en ritmo vallenato pero no logré identificar ningún tema o intérprete colombiano. * La señal es muy fuerte, siempre por arriba del 8 en el indicador de mi Sony 2010; al parecer transmitió toda la noche y esta mañana no se oía que fuera a cesar emisones. * No daban la hora, ni había ningún tipo de anuncio; eso si pasan las identificaciones cada dos o tres temas musicales, alternando en inglés y español (Rafael Rodriguez R., Colombia, Conexión Digital Nov 11 via DXLD) 7380, Idea Radio: did a search to see if they had a web site and discovered that there was once an Italian pirate by the same name that operated on this channel. See http://www-pp.hogia.net/jonny/wmr/ That is a bit too much of a coincidence for me. Having said that, Idea Radio has a very strong signal, is on for long hours, and propagationally seems to be north of the equator in the Western Hemisphere [Heard as late as 1245 here, and I could tack another 1/2 to hour on to that if I was in a quiet location.] Time will tell (Hans Johnson, FL, Nov 6, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** COSTA RICA. 5054.6, Faro del Caribe reactivated after off for a several months. Heard Nov 2 at 1102 with morning program, rooster crows, and IDs. Nice signal. 9644v was first noted in // at 1045 on Nov 6 so it looks like they are back in business. A few other notes: The listed email and website addresses for this one do not work and a postcard sent to their parent organization in Orlando was returned undelivered (Hans Johnson, FL, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** COSTA RICA. 21815-USB, Radio for Peace International, good with Glenn Hauser's "World of Radio" on Saturdays. This frequency now audible in NZ all day - from before 2000 thru past 0600 UT (Bryan Clark, Nov 3, Cumbre DX via DXLD) WOR times on Sat in this window are 1930 UT Fri, 0130 UT Sat; 0000, 0600 UT Sun; 1900 UT Tue, 0100 UT Wed. See also additional WOR time at top (gh) ** CUBA. Horas más tarde del paso del huracán "Michelle" por la región central de Cuba, en el país prevalece una imagen de desolación, a juzgar por las transmisiones de la radio cubana. Hay pérdidas millonarias en la agricultura, la industria y los sistemas de telecomunicaciones. La mayor parte del territorio de la Isla amaneció el lunes sin energía eléctrica y sin telecomunicaciones, consecuencia de cientos de cientos de postes y tendidos de cables derribados por la furia de los vientos. Las autoridades reconocen que demorarán varios dias, y quizás semanas, en restablecer el servicio eléctrico y las telecomunicaciones. El occidente y centro de la isla, quedó prácticamente incomunicado del resto. Decenas de torres de comunicaciones y repetidoras de la televisión están en el suelo y hay grandes zonas donde no llegan las señales radiales. El gobernante Fidel Castro, que unas pocas horas antes del pasó del Huracán Michelle había expresado que "se trataba de un Cicloncito en comparación a lo que estaba sucediendo en el Mundo", expresó en la televisión nacional al llegar a Cienfuegos, durante un recorrído por algunas zonas afectadas, "hay más daños de lo que ayer uno podía imaginarse". A continuación un breve resumen, muy incompleto, de los daños reportados por la radio y la televisión local de Cuba: PROVINCIA DE MATANZAS: ``Derribada la torre del sistema nacional de televisión ubicada en la Loma de Jacán, en San Miguel de los Baños`` ``Torres de comunicación de ETECSA (Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Cuba SA) derribadas o dañadas`` ``Destruídas las torres de comunicación de Playa Larga y Playa Girón`` ISLA DE LA JUVENTUD. ``Derribada la torre de microonda de Sierra de Caballos. No hay comunicaciones de radio ni televisión`` Cordiales 73's (Oscar, FL, Nov 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Después del paso del Huracán "Michelle" por la región central de Cuba, algunos cambios se han notado en la Banda de AM. Por ejemplo en la frecuencia de los 1560 kHz y 1570 kHz, correspondiente a Radio Enciclopedia, emisora dedicada a la música instrumental variada, la primera desde Ciego de Ávila y la segunda desde un lugar desconocído, según el WRTV Handbook con una potencia de 1 kW se está escuchando "Radio Rebelde", por cierto con una señal bien fuerte para 1 kw de potencia. La "W" de Santa Clara en los 840 kHz de AM y con 10 kW de potencia, no se está escuchando; la pude captar en los 1290 kHz posiblemente desde Rancho Veloz en la Provincia de Villa Clara. Cordiales 73's (Oscar, FL, Nov 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. 5025, Radio Rebelde, la Habana. 0808-0818 November 06. Music. Annoucement: "A esta hora, lo acompaña Radio Rebelde, Cuba". Other ann.: "Si se encuentran en cualquier parte de la geografía de la ciudad, pueden comunicarse con la emisora.....a los teléfonos 554365 y 554366"-. Other: -"A esta hora, la señal está en el aire"- Short news. 24432 (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. RHC only on 11705-USB *0100; 6000 and 9820 remain out (Bob Thomas, CT, Nov 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [non]. CLANDESTINE from USA to CUBA. I asked Jeff White, manager of WRMI and a broker for many Cuban exile programs about the decline of Cuban exile programs. Here is his reply: Let me try to answer your question about the declining number of Cuban exile broadcasters. I would say that the number has been slowly declining since around the beginning of the Clinton administration. Part of this was probably because many Cuban exiles thought that the anti-Castro efforts of Reagan and Bush would not be continued during the Clinton administration, and so there was little hope for Castro to go away while Clinton was president. There was a flurry of anti-Castro broadcasting after the fall of the Berlin wall and the ouster of the Sandinistas by Chamorro in Nicaragua. Many Cubans here were sure that Cuba would be the next country to get rid of communism. But that didn't happen, and gradually over time the enthusiasm of the Cuban exiles died down, they gave fewer contributions to the exile organizations in Miami, and shortwave broadcasts began to decline. So that has been a long- term trend over the past 9 or 10 years. There are ebbs and flows, depending on political events, but the overall trend has been downward. Recently, however, the economic situation has been the principle cause for the decline in these broadcasts. More people are out of work or making less money, so members give less to the Cuban exile organizations, and they have less money to spend on shortwave broadcasting. When Alpha 66 discontinued its broadcasts recently, it was literally a choice between continuing to broadcast on shortwave or continuing to rent space for their headquarters office. With the Cuban American National Foundation, their recent abrupt decision to end shortwave transmissions after 12 years was due to both internal conflicts and money problems. This organization which had for over a decade been the largest and most powerful Cuban exile group suddenly didn't have enough funds to pay its employees. According to reports in the Miami Herald, the Foundation had been largely operating from a fund that founder Jorge Mas Canosa left the organization when he died. But the fund, it turns out, was not in cash, but in shares of stock in his very successful telecommunications company, MasTec. That was fine until the bottom fell out of the stock market, and it was especially bad for high-tech industries like MasTec. I forget the exact figures, but shares fell from something like $35 to $5 within a fairly short period of time. According to their own figures, the Foundation was spending 5 or 10 times as much on radio producer salaries and phone calls to Cuba as they were on shortwave airtime. Employees' pay checks were bouncing, and all of a sudden they decided that they couldn't keep going, so they shut down the entire radio production operation and gave us about two hours' notice that it was all ending. They still owe us over $18,000. And if this is the situation with the largest group, you can imagine that the smaller groups are also suffering from the economic slowdown. Their members just don't have as much money to give as they used to. And forget about CIA funding. That went out several years ago when Radio Caiman and La Voz del CID went off the air. There are a few exile groups that receive government or private grants, but it's not a great deal, and sometimes they are specifically not allowed to use that money for radio broadcasts. So that's an overview of the situation. At present, I think we have about four Cuban exile broadcasters on WRMI, and none of them have daily programs. (Most are weekly.) The situation could pick up again in the future, and I think there could be a big boom in shortwave broadcasting to Cuba if and when Castro falls or dies or whatever. But at the moment, Cuban exile broadcasting is at its lowest point since at least 1989, when Radio Miami began operations first as a broker, then operating our own station. Also during the past 10 years, many of the charismatic leaders of the Cuban exile community have died, and most of them were strong supporters of shortwave broadcasts to Cuba. I am sure that if people like Jorge Mas Canosa of the Cuban American National Foundation and Diego Medina of Alpha 66 were alive today, these organizations would still be doing some sort of shortwave broadcasts to Cuba, with their economic problems and all. I am convinced that part of the drop in membership support to some of these groups is due to the lack of charismatic leaders like they had in the past. In general, over the past decade, a lot of the older Cuban exiles have died. The younger generation of Cuban Americans were mostly born and raised in the U.S., and they are just not as passionate as their parents about the Cuban cause, including exile broadcasts to Cuba. There are exceptions, of course, but this is a general tendency (Jeff White, WRMI, Nov 7, via Hans Johnson, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. 4930, Radio Barahona has been perfectly readable as of late. Modulation varies from program to program. Nov 2 1056 strong, mentions of Barahona and again at 1058. Nov 3, very low modulation during music at 1006, but better for music at 1039 (Hans Johnson, FL, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Nov 2) ** DUCIE ISLAND. 2001 Ducie Island (24.40.00S - 124.47.00W, OC-182, WAZ 32, ITU 63) should be the next new Entity to be added to the DXCC List [425DXN 545]. The main part of the team (JA1BK, JF1IST, JA1SLS, K9AJ, K5VT and FO3BM) expects to leave Mangareva (Gambier Islands, French Polynesia) on 13 November in the local evening, to stop at Pitcairn and pick up other two operators (team leader Tom, VP6TC, and Dave, VP6DB) and then to sail immediately for Ducie. They will be active with four stations and a VP6 callsign to be announced when the operation starts, i.e. at 0000 UT on 16 November. The team must be back on Mangareva on 28 November. The two main frequencies - 21020 kHz (CW) and 21295 kHz (SSB) - will be used 24 hours a day. Other prime frequencies include 28495 kHz and 14195 kHz for SSB and 14020 kHz for CW, but some activity is planned to take place on the other bands (160-6 metres) and on RTTY as well. It is expected that low band and WARC operations are more likely to take place in the last days of the operation, as the initial emphasis will be to allow as many operators as possible to work this rare IOTA and probable new DXCC Entity. The team will have 2-element beams for 10 and 15 metres, a 4 Square for 20 metres and wire and vertical antennas for the other bands. There will be a 6 meter beacon on 50.110 MHz. 160 metres are not a priority. Nevertheless, the team is taking an inverted L 160 antenna and if the weather and other factors cooperate there may be 160m operation nearer the end. The pilot station is Bill Avery, K6GNX. QSL via VE3HO (HF QSOs: Garth Hamilton, P.O. Box 1156, Fonthill, Ontario L0S 1E0, Canada) and JA1BK (6m QSOs: Kan Mizoguchi, 5-3 Sakuragaoka 4 Chome, Tama-City, Tokyo 206-0013, Japan). Logs will be available at http://www.big.or.jp/~ham/dx.html. [TNX K6GNX and The Daily DX] via 425 DX News #549, Nov 9 (via Horacio Nigro, Uruguay, Nov 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR. HCJB announced a new toll-free fax number: 1-866-343- 0791. Also check out a free service converting fax to E-mail: http://www.callwave.com (George Thurman, IL, Nov 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EGYPT. 10 Nov '2001. Dear All, EGYPTIAN RADIO &TV UNION (ERTU) BROADCAST ENGINEERING TENTATIVE PROGRAM [sic] SCHEDULE (B 01) UTC KHz METERS PROGRAM TARGET AREA ------------------------------------------------------- 0030-0430 9900 ARABIC E.N.AMERICA 0045-0200 9475 SPANISH N. AMERICA 0045-0200 9740 SPANISH C. AMERICA 0045-0200 11715 SPANISH S. AMERICA 0200-0330 9475 ENGLISH N. AMERICA 0200-0000 12050 GENERAL N. AMERICA & EUROPE 0200-1500 9755 HOLY QURAN ARAB GULF 0300-0600 9855 VOICE OF ARABS N.AFRICA,S.EUROPE& ARAB GULF 0300-0030 15285 VOICE OF ARABS ARAB GULF 0350-0700 9770 GENERAL N.AFRICA , S.EUROPE 0350-0700 9620 GENERAL PROGRAM N.AFRICA , S.EUROPE 0350-1200 9800 GENERAL PROGRAM ARAB GULF 0600-1400 11980 VOICE OF ARABS N.AFRICA,S.EUROPE& ARAB GULF 0700-1100 15115 GENERAL PROGRAM W.AFRICA 0700-1400 15475 GENERAL PROGRAM S.&C.AFRICA 0700-1500 11785 GENERAL PROGRAM N.AFRICA , S.EUROPE 1015-1215 17745 ARABIC M.EAST & AFGHANISTAN 1100-0000 9850 GENERAL PROGRAM N.AFRICA,S.EUROPE& ARAB GULF 1100-1130 17800 ARABIC C.& S.AFRICA 1115-1215 17665 THAI S.E.ASIA 1215-1330 17595 ENGLISH S.ASIA 1215-1315 17665 MALAY S.E.ASIA 1230-1330 15160 PERSIAN TADZHIKSTAN 1300-1800 17670 GENERAL PROGRAM N.AFRICA,S.EUROPE 1320-1450 17665 INDONESIAN S.E.ASIA 1330-1430 17595 BENGALI S.ASIA 1330-1530 11560 PERSIAN IRAN 1300-1600 15220 ARABIC W.AFRICA 1430-1530 9780 AZERI AZERBAIJAN 1500-2400 9755 HOLY QURAN N.AFRICA, S.EUROPE 1500-1600 17690 HINDI S.ASIA 1500-1600 17710 PASHTO AFGHANISTAN 1500-1600 6120 RUSSIAN W.RUSSIA 1530-1630 9620 UZBEKI UZBEKISTAN 1530-1630 15155 AFAR E.&C.AFRICA 1530-1730 11975 SWAHILI C.&E.AFRICA 1600-1800 15170 URDU S.ASIA 1600-1645 15475 ZULU C.&S.AFRICA 1600-1800 6100 TURKISH TURKEY 1600-1800 9950 ALBANIAN ALBANIA 1630-1730 15155 SOMALI E.&C.AFRICA 1630-1830 15255 ENGLISH C.&S.AFRICA 1645-1730 15475 SHONA C.&S.AFRICA 1730-1815 15475 INDEBELE C.&S.AFRICA 1730-1900 15155 AMHARIC E.&C.AFRICA 1800-0030 9700 VOICE OF ARABS N.AFRICA,S.EUROPE 1800-1900 9988 ITALIAN EUROPE 1800-2100 9675 HAUSA W.AFRICA 1830-1915 15255 LINGALA C.&S.AFRICA 1830-1930 15375 WOLOF W.AFRICA 1900-2000 9990 GERMAN EUROPE 1900-0030 11665 VOICE OF ARABS C.&E.AFRICA 1915-2030 9720 FULANI W.AFRICA 1930-2030 15375 BAMBARA W.AFRICA 2000-2200 11990 ARABIC AUSTRALIA 2000-2115 9990 FRENCH EUROPE 2030-2200 15375 ENGLISH W.AFRICA 2030-2230 15335 FRENCH W.AFRICA 2100-2200 9675 YORUBA W.AFRICA 2115-2245 9990 ENGLISH EUROPE 2215-2330 15420 PORTUGUESE S.AMERICA 2300-0030 9900 ENGLISH E.N.AMERICA 2330-0045 15590 ARABIC S.AMERICA 2330-0045 17770 ARABIC S.AMERICA (Source: Mr Niveen Lawrence, Engineer, SW Dept) Regds, (Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, India, DX LISTENING DIGEST) R. Cairo achieves status as a `major` SW broadcaster with the above schedule ---- when hours per week are computed WITHOUT taking into account that each service is on only one, often inaudible, frequency! Too, the station rarely makes any frequency changes regardless of the season (gh, DXLD) ** EGYPT. R. Cairo, English to NAm at 2300, 9900 is crummy as usual, S = 4/5 and modulation is 40 percent *if* that; 0200, 9475 reasonable. At least can be heard with S = ¾ and mod 80 percent (Bob Thomas, CT, Nov 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hmm, sked above should also specify the modulation level of each broadcast! (gh, DXLD) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. Pan American's Radio Africa was a station I wasn`t able to hear in South Africa. I rang them today and they gave me the following schedule: Radio Africa 7190 1700-2300 Radio Africa Two 15190 0700-1100 weekdays Radio East Africa 15190 0700-1100 Sat/Sun They seems pretty in line with their published scheduled, but they have often been heard on 15185v in the 1700-2300 time frame. It will take a bit of monitoring to determine if they are actually on the air. Untraced here and I don't think they are on at the moment (Hans Johnson, FL, Nov 5, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Untraced here as well, never had much luck with the 7 MHz (Noel Green, England, Nov 5, ibid.) ** ERITREA. Today I got a really nice reply from Sudan National Alliance/Sudan Alliance Forces in Asmara, Eritrea. In a personal letter in English, Secretary Amir Babkir confirms my reception of the station on 6985 kHz and adds that the radio station is working with 10 kW. Address: SNA/SAF, Culture and Information Office, Neguse St. No. 6/8, Asmara, Eritrea (P O Box 9257). Old email address doesn`t work any longer, so use temporary address: pmbsaf@gemel.com.er He also sent lots of information material about the organisation. I also got another letter the same day from Com. Mhadi M. Nour, who brought my letter from the post office to the station. He sent a personal letter, picture postcard and 2 photos of himself. You can reach him via the address above! 73 from the island of Gotland, Sweden and (Björn Fransson, Nov 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY [and non]. DW is driving me nuts! I had `em tracked by tuning around and they made changes since Oct 28. At 0100 definitely on 6040, 6145, 9640, 9700, 9765, but dropped 11985. This is to NAm in English. At 03009 definitely on 6045, 9640, 9700 and 11985. Appears 9760 gone, tho it may just not be propagating well. I barely heard it when active. Previously sent 0500 list is OK (Bob Thomas, CT, Nov 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) There's been one update to the schedule of foreign relays via Sackville, in a new sked dated 8 November: ADD DW 6020 kHz, 250 kW, 277 azimuth, 0300-0345. I would presume that this is for the English broadcast at that time, eh? If so, that's the only English frequency via Sackville for this broadcast. 73- (Bill Westenhaver, QB, Nov 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) DISCOVER! DW-WORLD - Deutsche Welle's new website launches on Nov 15. We're improving our service for you. Starting November 15th, DW-WORLD will have a new and improved look with better navigation and exciting content. At our new site you'll find even more news, information and service from the heart of Europe. No matter what you're looking for - - from current affairs to business, arts and technology -- you'll easily find the topics that interest you. And you can quickly catch up on the latest details for your favorite DW-RADIO and DW-TV programs. DW-WORLD: your source of information in 31 languages. Interested? Have a look! http://www.dw-world.de (from the daily e-mail news digest from DW via Fred Waterer) ** INDIA. Hi Glenn, I was just checking reception of All India Radio here at 2300 11/9. Their English program (2245-0045) was audible on 9705, very weak under Radio Mexico, 9950 very weak, 11620 not heard. Best reception here was on 13605 with a fair signal. 9705 is ostensibly via Panaji, Goa (Steve Lare, Holland, MI, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re unID 11790 in DXLD 1-168: The unknown station heard on 8 November could be All India Radio on at 0100-0200 in Sindhi to Pakistan at 250 kW via Aligarh. Info direct from AIR. // frequency is 7125. Have a good weekend of DXing! (Stewart H. MacKenzie - WDX6AA, Nov 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) AIR Delhi 0100-0200 1071 7125 NEW 11790 to Pakistan (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Nov 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. E-mail addresses of AIR Stations/Offices Collected/prepared by Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, dx_india@rediffmail.com (Updates appreciated) Station (Frequency) E-mail Address Aizawl (540 5050 7295) airzawl@sancharnet.in Aligarh (101.3 + SW) Not Available Bangalore Super Power Transmitter (SW) spt@bgl.vsnl.net.in Bhopal (1593 3315 7180) airbhopal@vsnl.com Chennai (720 1395 4790 4920 7160 10330 105 107.1) airchennai@vsnl.com Chennai Avadi ,, airavadi@md5.vsnl.net.in Chennai Chief Engineer (South Zone) airworks@vsnl.com Delhi Chief Engineer (North Zone) abmathur@air.org.in Delhi Khampur aircudel@giasdl01.vsnl.net.in Delhi Kingsway hptkingsway@yahoo.com Director (Frequency Assignments), Delhi FOR ALL RECEPTION REPORTS faair@nda.vsnl.net.in Gangtok (1404 3390) airgtk@dte.vsnl.net.in Gorakhpur (909 3945 7250) Not Available Guwahati (729 1035 4940 7280 10330 100.8) airgau@sancharnet.in Hyderabad (738 1377 4800 7140) airhyd@hd2.vsnl.net.in Imphal (882 4775 7150) airimfal@dte.vsnl.net.in Itanagar (675 4990) Not Available Jaipur (1269 1476 4910 7120) airjpr@jp1.dot.net.in Jeypore (1467 5040 6040) airjeyp@dte.vsnl.net.in Kohima (639 1341 4850 6065) Not Available Kolkata (657 1008 1224 4820 7210 102.6 107.0) aircal@cal.vsnl.net.in Kolkata Chief Engineer (East Zone) Dearand@vsnl.com deproair@vsnl.net Kurseong (1440 4895 7230) Not Available Leh 1053 4760 6000 Not Available Lucknow (747 1278 4880 7105) airlko@sancharnet.in Mumbai (558 1044 4840 7240 11935 100.2 107.1) mindiran@yahoo.co.uk sdairmumbai@vsnl.net Mumbai Chief Engineer(West Zone) aircewz@vsnl.com Mumbai (High Power Transmitter) Malad hptmalad@bol.net.in Mumbai Vividh Bharati Service (1188 10330) vbs@vsnl.com Nagpur (Super Power Transmitter: National Channel) (566) ncairngp@nagpur.dot.net.in Panaji (SW) 9705 9820 11695 11715 11740 12025 15235......) airtrgoa@goatelecom.com Port Blair (684 144 4760 7115) airpb@dte.vsnl.net.in Rajkot Super Power Transmitter (1071) airsptrj@ad1.vsnl.net.in Ranchi (549 4960 5985 103.3) Not Available Shillong (SW) (4970 7130) air_neschillong@yahoo.com Shimla (774 3223 6020) Not Available Srinagar (684 1116 1224 4950) akashvani@nde.com Thiruvananthapuram (684 5020 7290 101.9) airtvpm@md4.vsnl.net.in 73 de Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, National Institute of Amateur Radio, Box 1555, Somajiguda, Hyderabad 500082, India, Telfax 91-40-3310287 http://www.niar.org This group specialises exclusively on Broadcasting in India (via DX India via DXLD: stations with SW frequencies mentioned, and a few high-power MW stations excerpted from a much longer list including many more MW and FM stations, via DXLD) To receive the following information on All India Radio, please send a request to dx_india@rediffmail.com Email address list. B-2001 Complete SW Schedule (Home & External Services) in Frequency Order. B-2001 External Service Schedule (Language Order). I also invite you to join dx_india egroup which deals exclusively on Broadcasting in India. To join this group, please email to dx_india- subscribe@yahoogroups.com Sincerely, (Jose Jacob, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN. Some DXers have been noting this... AUDIO KIM: It's the familiar sound of jamming, but it's a new target: the Persian Service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. This was recorded in Islamabad, Pakistan on Tuesday. It's been heard the past few days by VOA's worldwide monitoring team on most RFE/RL Persian frequencies. The main language of Iran is called Persian by RFE/RL and BBC, Farsi by VOA. A direction finding exercise suggests the jamming transmitters are at 32 degrees north, 48 and a half degrees east, which, not surprisingly, is western Iran. If you'd like to try to hear the jamming yourself, the schedule for RFE/RL Persian is 430 to 730 UTC on 9585, 12015, and 15290 kilohertz. Fourteen to 15 on 9435, 11730, 15195, and 17885. Fifteen to 17 on 9435, 11730, 15410, and 17885. And 20 to 23 on 7280 and 9835 (VOA Communications World Nov 3 via John Norfolk, DXLD) VOIRI is not on 9022 at 0030 UT in English to NAm. Pretty good on 6045 [you mean 6065?? -gh] with slight splash from Spain in English on 6055. VOIRI on 6135 wiped out by 6130 VOA English (Bob Thomas, CT, Nov 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH. 10th Nov ‘2001. Voice Of Korea B`01 Schedule -English 1200-1300 UTC – 9850, 11845, 13650 Khz (SEAsia/Central/South America) 1200-1300 UTC – 9650, 9975 (Middle East/Africa) 1600-1700 UTC - 6520, 9650, 9975, 9610 (Middle East/Africa) 0100-0200 UTC - 15230, 17735, 11745 (SEAsia/Central/South America) 0200-0300 UTC - 13650, 11845 (SEAsia/Central/South America) (On air announcement monitored on 28th Oct’01 @ 1255 UT) Regards, (Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, India, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KURDISTAN. Voice of Kudilara, 4600 1730-1800*, 24-10, Voice of Kudilara, Kurdish talk, songs, closing announcement, but no anthem. Best in LSB due to noise. 21221. 6815 *1625-1803* CLA, 25-10, Voice of Kudilara Kurdish & Farsi. Opened with a march from a famous opera, political talks and folkmusic, from 1723 Farsi which was noise jammed from 1725 onwards. Until then 34333. Heard // 4600 (A. Petersen, Denmark, for CRW via DXLD) ** MEXICO. See UNIDENTIFIED 4840 below ** MOLDOVA. Padio Pridnestrovye I [suggest] to include Padio Pridnestrovye [in to the lists for clandestine stations]. It broadcasts from Transnistria (Pridnestrovyan Moldavian Republic)- a self-proclaimed autonomous territory, under separatist administration. Such a situation is very similar to Abkhazia vs Georgia and Western Sahara vs Morocco. I don't see the differences. Some years ago there were military fights between Pridnestrovye and Moldova; now are not fights but is big enough enmity to each other. Pridnestrovye (Transdnistria) is de facto independent state with an own power headed by president Igor Smirnov, also has own laws, currency, etc. The authorities of Moldova want to back this region under own jurisdiction, but president of Pridnestrovye offers to create the association of two states. A name for this region I offer "Pridnestrovye (Moldova)" as is Chechnya (Russia). INFORMATION : Radio Pridnestrovye (or Radio PMR=Radio Pridnestrovskoy Moldavskoy Respubliki) broadcasts in Russian daily 0500-0530 on 1467 kHz (150 kW) and Mo-Fr (except holidays) 1800-1830 on 999 kHz (500 kW). Heard on November 1-8th. The programmes consist of much anti- Moldovian information, but no more communist ideology's propaganda as was some years ago. Address announced on the air is the same as earlier: Radio PMR, ul. Rozy Liuksemburg 10, (MD-3300) Tiraspol`. (R. Petraitis, Lithuania, Nov 8, 2001 for CRW via DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. Glenn, a large portion of the Hitlist has been updated, if you haven't already noticed, with an emphasis on broadcasters and press agencies. Between last week and tonight's mailing enroute, about 35 additional press agencies have been added to the list. You may also want to note that, on my own trsc.com site, I have a new page of selected newspaper links, mostly overseas, but with Arizona (Cooper) and Kentucky (Anderson) too. Regards, Tom Sundstrom, NJ, Nov 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) http://www.rnw.nl/realradio/html/hitlist.html http://www.trsc.com/musings.html ** NIGERIA. VON heard on 11770 in various African languages (Chris Hambly, Victoria, 1910 UT Nov 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hope this is all correct from somewhat garbled message (gh) 15120, V. of Nigeria, Lagos, 0751 with news and reports 0800 with ID 0807 man referring to the new radio broadcast initiative. Loud and clear and references to the new transmitters they are using now! 44433 (Zacharias Liangas, Thessaloniki, Greece, Nov 5?, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15120 was also good here in English around 0545 UT Nov 12 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) VON is on 15120 at 0500-0700 in English. Return postage not needed. Replies slowly with a nice picture postcard with a nice postage stamp on it (David Crystal, Israel, Nov 5, DXLD for CIDX) ** PAKISTAN. The new B-01 Domestic Services frequency schedule of Radio Pakistan is as follows: Islamabad : API-2 100kW 0045-0200 & 1615-1700 on 7100; 0600-0900, 0904-0907 & 1000-1115 on 9580; 1350- 1400 & 1420-1428 on 7335. English news is aired at 0800-0803 and 1100-1104. API-4 100 kW Current Affairs 0200-0400 & 1300-1800 on 7265. API-8 100 kW Rawalpindi III (otherwise known as Azad Kashmir) 0045- 0215 & 1445-1810 on 4790, 0900-1215 on 7265. Quetta 10 kW: 0045-0404 (Fri. 0345) & 1200-1805 on 5025 (usually heard on 5027) 0600-1145 (Fri. only 0400-0820 & 1000-1145) on 7155. Peshawar 10 kW: 1100-1400 on 7320. Rawalpindi 10 kW: 0230-0430, 1230-1330 & 1345-1430 on 4790. BTW - the Rawalpindi transmitter is NOT via Islamabad API-7, as I thought (that transmitter is out of action), but is a reactivation of the old regional transmitter located adjacent to the city of Rawalpindi. This information was stated in fairly recent correspondence with the station (Noel Green, England, Nov 7, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. ``KBBN``: We've got about 40% of what we need for the transmitter. I'm keeping busy with the new recording studio that we are adding to our station. Things are much slower than I anticipated, but I guess I'm learning patience! (DIRECT from Wells via Johnson Nov 6 Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** PERU. 5009.4, Radio Altura, sure sounds like ex-3339 to me. 1012 talk by man but signal is a bit weak on Nov 5. Nov 6 campo music till 1000 then spoken word program with a few mentions of Radio Altura, Cerro de Pasco. Tuned out at 1030; nothing heard on 3339 (Hans Johnson, FL, Nov 5-6, Cumbre DX via DXLD) 5009.46, Radio Altura, 1020-1031 Nov 7, Andean vocals, canned announcements into live announcers with IDs at 1030. Fair to good signal. Thanks to Dave Hodgson and Rafael Rodríguez for tips (Mark Mohrmann, VT, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PHILIPPINES [non]. ESTADOS UNIDOS [sic]: 15750 KAF Voice of the Lord, P.O. Box 425, Station E, Toronto, Ontario M6H 4E3, Canada. Tarjeta QSL con datos completos en 29 dias. Esta emisora pertenece a High Adventure Ministries (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Truly a multi-national; as previously reported here, program seemingly originates in Manila, Philippines and has an address there. So what is it doing with this Canadian address? And why list under USA, because HAM has HQ there? Transmission is via DTK Germany (gh, DXLD) ** ROMANIA. RRI, 0200 on 11940, 11830, sometimes no show. 0400 English to NAm, quite good and reliable on 9550, 11830. I`m trying to catch their announced sked. They only give the next scheduled transmission rather than the whole lineup (Bob Thomas, CT, Nov 1-2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. 7345, R. Republic Sakha, Yakutsk, Nov 1 0910-, 34332, bilingual px in Yakut & Russian, Local px started with IS by folk instrument. Opening ann in Yakut & Russian as "Govorit Radio Respubliki Sakha. Dobryy vecher, uvazhaemye radioslushateli". Then ads. I had reported name of the station as Yakutskoe Radio, but from now on I call it Radio Republic (or "Respubliki" in Russian) Sakha as it identifies itself. Parallel 7200 was weak signal under Chinese stn, other 7140 & 4825 was not heard (OGUMA Hironao, Tokyo, JAPAN, AR7030 with AN-1, Japan Premium via DXLD) ** SYRIA. 13610, Radio Damascus 2001 2121 [sic]. First time in a long time where the audio stronger than the signal hum. Voice modulation low, music mod great; English, news and music; 2208 National Anthem, 2211 Signal Cut off while NA still ending; hum gone also, Oct 30 (Konnie Rychalsky, CT, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** TAIWAN [non]. Usually RTI English to NAm on 5950 via WYFR [0200- 0400] has splash from NHK/R. Japan 5960 via Sackville. With winter that cuts down a bit. I now get usual splash from 5945 RFI in French (Bob Thomas, CT, Nov 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** THAILAND. R. Thailand domestic service is irregular on 4830 with their English service. Observed Oct 10 at 1400 with ID for ``Radio Three``, news summary and various community service programs from UN, etc. News summary from BBC WS at 1500, news in French at 1506, German at 1535. Obviously is for tourists as well. Played some beautiful classical music to 1600* (Victor Goonetilleke, Sri Lanka, DXplorer, via Nov BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** U A E. Dubai, 0330 in English still on 13675; wavers between 15400 and 15395; faint on 12005 due to co-channel Arabic [Tunisia] (Bob Thomas, CT, Nov 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. Ex-spy chief heads race to be BBC vice-chairman" Sunday Times (U.K.), Nov. 11 http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/ Richard Brooks, Arts Editor A FORMER spy chief and diplomat, Dame Pauline Neville-Jones, has emerged as the frontrunner to be the next vice-chairman of the BBC. According to Whitehall sources, Neville-Jones, known as sympathetic to the Tories, is seen as the ideal candidate for deputy to Gavyn Davies, the new chairman. Davies, who is close to Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, was made chairman in September, prompting speculation that ministers would seek a Tory as his number two. Previous names mentioned included Michael Portillo, who failed in his bid for the Tory leadership this summer, Virginia Bottomley, the former Tory health secretary, and David Mellor, the former Tory culture minister. None of them is on the shortlist. Neville-Jones, 62, was the first woman to head the government's joint intelligence committee which oversees MI5, MI6 and GCHQ. She spent most of her career in the Foreign Office, rising to deputy under- secretary. She was a senior British negotiator at the Dayton peace talks that ended the Bosnian war in 1995, when Douglas Hurd was foreign secretary. Both of them then left to join the NatWest Bank, where Hurd was deputy chairman of NatWest Markets while Neville-Jones was managing director. She is now vice-chairman of Hawkpoint Partners, part of NatWest. The vice-chairman of the BBC is usually of a different political persuasion from the chairman. Despite this, Tim Yeo, the Tories' culture and media spokesman, said the job should go to the candidate "on merit". He added: "It is not a political position, although Labour has politicised it through its appointment of the new chairman." (via Chet Copeland, NYC, DXLD) ** U S A. On WRNO`s old frequency, 7355, am hearing contemporary Christian music, and IDs mentioning K-love 89.1 FM, New Orleans, before 0300 UT Nov 12 (George Thurman, IL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) So new owners may finally be making something of this facility; seems power boosted from previous 1 kW level; but at 0301 George and I both noticed a het came on, indicating WRNO still off frequency, and at 0305 the het turned into WYFR in Russian. These two stations still can`t get coördinated on sharing 7355, and I`ll bet I know which is at fault (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Clash lasted for some two hours; George Jacobs has been notified (Thurman, ibid.) ** U S A. 9465, WMLK, 1900 Nov 5 in English. Right on frequency with a decent carrier, but almost no modulation (Hans Johnson, FL, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** U S A. WWFV continues to reduce its schedule. Last week, they were signing on at 2300 on 5085 and 6890 weekdays airing the same programs on both frequencies. This week, I am only hearing 5085 at *2300. It seems that some of the Genesis network programs that were on daytime on WWFV have found a home on other shortwave stations (Hans Johnson, FL, Oct 31-Nov 7, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** U S A. Crackling Signals Voice of America Is Pulled Between Journalism and Propaganda By Frank Ahrens, Washington Post Staff Writer Saturday, November 10, 2001; Page C01 At 9:30 each morning, 35 of America's top propagandists gather around a long table at the Voice of America radio headquarters on Independence Avenue and decide how to brainwash 91 million people worldwide; i.e., how best to cloak American agitprop in the noble guise of objective news. Or, maybe, at 9:30 each morning, al Qaeda's most ardent sympathizers huddle at a long table at Voice of America's HQ and decide how to advance the agenda of America's enemies by the cunning and seditious use of U.S. radio waves and taxpayer dollars. It depends on how one views the VOA. In either case, into a daily meeting recently walks the new VOA director.... To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5864-2001Nov10.html (via Artie Bigley, Tom McNiff, DXLD) ** U S A. The Nov 10 VOA Communications World begins a series of interviews with George Jacobs, about the early history of VOA. It is not transcribed, so listen via http://www.wrn.org/ondemand/communicationsworld.html (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) KIM: Ruben del Castillo has recently returned to VOA after seven years in his native Chile. Ruben is a radio amateur and radio enthusiast. He hopes to bring the W-3-Contacto-Directo radio hobbyist program back to the VOA Spanish Service. Ruben was host of that program until he left VOA, then Héctor Velásquez took over the program until he left to work for CNN. While in Chile, Ruben started a small network of FM radio stations. I talked to Ruben about his stations and radio broadcasting in general in Chile. AUDIO (VOA Communications World Nov 3 via John Norfolk, DXLD) ** U S A. ``Across the Tracks``, three hour-long programs about Route 66, which already aired earlier this year on a number of public radio stations, is finally appearing in Albuquerque, where it was produced, to mark the actual 75th anniversary Nov 11 of the Mother Road: on KUNM 89.9, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday Nov 12-13-14 at 7 pm MST, also webcast via http://www.kunm.org at 0200 UT Nov 13, 14, 15 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. UPDATE - Committee to Remove the Pacifica Board Date: Thu, 8 Nov 2001 00:35:56 -0800 From: "Carol Spooner" wildrose@pon.net November 8, 2001. Dear All -- Despite our hopes earlier this week for an agreement that would place Pacifica under the control of an interim board majority committed to restoring Pacifica & all five radio stations to their mission and would guarantee bylaws amendments creating a democratic governance structure for Pacifica to prevent this kind of usurpation from ever occurring again -- that no longer appears possible. Pacifica has notified the mediator that certain terms essential to our goals are not acceptable to them and they have terminated the mediator's services. We are, of course, very disappointed. I thank you all for your kind wishes & (premature) congratulations. We must now push on to trial in January. Venceremos! (Carol Spooner, Committee to Remove the Pacifica Board, Nov 8, (sponsoring the "listeners' lawsuit") web page: http://home.pon.net/wildrose/remove.htm via Kate A. Anderson, DXLD) A reported settlement of several lawsuits that could reshuffle the deck at WBAI 99.5 FM and its parent, Pacifica Foundation, was thrown into jeopardy Tuesday when San Francisco radio host Larry Bensky discussed some of its terms --- such as giving dissidents control of the Pacific board --- on the air. He said later he didn`t realize the deal wasn`t finalized and thus still confidential (David Hinckley, Around the Dial, NYDaily News Nov 8 via Bob Thomas, CT, DXLD) ** U S A. Public Radio's Private Guru NYTimes, November 11, 2001 By SAMUEL G. FREEDMAN [A brilliant analyst named David Giovannoni is quite possibly the most influential figure in shaping the sound of National Public Radio today.] Read Article (No Registration Version): http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/11/arts/music/11FREE.html?ex=1006489481&ei=1&en=a628538354a37274 (via Chet Copeland, NY, DXLD) ** U S A [clandestine]. We can only hope the radio phenomenon that was Anderson is over \ was initially of some interest for its outrageousness but seemed more and more to exhibit maniacal & sinister tones. Yes, there are things that are wrong in this country, threats to our freedom, politicians for hire to the highest bidder, corporate control of the media, etc., but the mind best with prejudice & paranoia sees a great malevolent conspiracy behind it all --- for him the ``Jew-Communist New World Order`` --- never fully defined. Tho Steve may be gone, other voices in a similar vein (tho generally less flamboyant) continue. Have the ``JBTs`` finally got to Cooper? Last evening, after COM on RFPI, I tuned to MW looking for a NY station for news of the mayoralty election, finding the best reception on WCBS 880. Too close to call at that time, so I tuned up thru the ``broadcast band``, which I rarely check any more (passed by CFRB 1010, very strong). When I got to WPHT 1210 Philly (the station I always knew as WCAU, when it was one of the nation`s more distinguished broadcasters), some female talk show person was mentioning something about the death of a ``Bill Cooper``, with callers calling in to lament this great loss. It was indeed THE William Cooper. Details were sketchy, but it apparently involved some sort of shootout with law enforcement persons. (You no doubt have more info on this --- certain websites will be full of it [DXLD 1-167, 1-168].) Don`t know if there was a Cooper-Anderson connection, despite the similarity of many of their views, with one meeting his end and he other almost doing so (and may yet) in very similar ways. Surely unfortunate. I never listened to Cooper very much, he striking me as one of these ``partly horse-sense, partly nuts`` types – with the balance toward the latter? But he certainly had admirers, one, I recall, being Gary B[ourgois] of Marquette. (Didn`t he once claim gh was a ``homosexual``? --seem to recall something of the sort; he`s not, but even if so, so what?) (Loren Cox, KY, Nov 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, Cooper did, and made further threats, such that I was uneasy venturing into that part of Arizona. He was a lunatic, and as it turned out, a dangerous one. It`s beyond me how anyone could admire him or regret his loss (gh, DXLD) From the WBCQ homepage: "With a deep sense of loss and mourning we announce the passing of William Cooper. It appears at this time to be totally unrelated to the disputes he had with the federal government. All we know at this time is that he was shot and killed by an Apache County Sheriff around 12:15 AM Tuesday morning while serving of an arrest warrant on a local issue. A sheriff was also wounded. Remain Calm! This is in no way a cause for action, but all patriots should be on high alert at this time. Do NOT listen to or spread undocumented and unconfirmed RUMORS! If it is not here it is not confirmed as fact. Updates will be posted here as they become available. We MUST all remember his love of freedom, America, the Constitution and the values it is founded on." (via Ricky Leong, QB, DXLD) Tho not so specified on WBCQ page, I believe this is a direct quote from the William Cooper site. So WBCQ endorses that? (gh, DXLD) ** VIETNAM [non]. Voice of Vietnam is indeed on 5970 via Skelton, too, noted from 2000 with typical UK-site audio processing. However, it seems that 12025 is not in use (yet), the carrier was cut off after the Salama Radio broadcast at 2000 and did not return. Yes, Salama Radio "is believed to broadcast via a hired transmitter in the United Kingdom". 7390 has after 2000 Voice of Russia in English, so VoV indeed cancelled both 7440 and 7390 from Moscow area (actual site is probably Lesnoy) in favour of Moosbrunn and Skelton. Regards, (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Nov 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) VIETNAM - NEW RELAYS. I spoke recently with the Director, Voice of Vietnam, Hanoi, concerning the use of overseas relays. He advised that evaluation of cost and service effectiveness of all relays is ongoing, and particular emphasis was being given to the transmissions for Europe, with new relays being planned. On Oct 29, after the start of B-01, VOV relays via Russia continued, and I observed them on this schedule: 1800-2000 7440 (English, Vietnamese, French), 2000-2130 7390 (Russian, Vietnamese). Prior to Oct-28, these transmissions were heard: 1700-1900 12070, 1900-2030 7330. Since then, these Russian relays appear to have been abandoned, with no VOV programming audible on 7440 or 7390. However, on Nov 10, I observed the following new channels in operation: 5955 1800-2000 - listed by ITU as Moosbrunn, Austria; 5970 2000-2130 - listed by ITU as Skelton, UK. From here in Melbourne, co-channel interference on 5955 was from Voice of Turkey and NHK. ITU B-01 also lists: 6135 2100-2200 Meyerton (to Africa); 12025 2000-2100 Skelton. I have not had the opportunity to check either of these allocations as yet. Meyerton has been tentatively listed by ITU on previous occasions, but to my knowledge has never been used. There have also been adjustments made to Vietnam transmitters subsequent to the start of B-01, with 13740 no longer heard, and noted here on 7145 in period 1600-2130, parallel with 9730. VOV generally uses only two txers at any one time, except 1100- 1530 when a third txer on 7285 is put into use for services to SEAs. I believe that this is a transmitter used during local daytime for relaying the Domestic Service. Unfortunately, the external service schedule I circulated recently, as supplied directly by the VOV, omitted the evening services to SEAs in Mandarin, Cantonese, Khmere, Thai, Indonesian, and Lao, which are considered by VOV to be a "separate" network (known by the station as "VOV6"). I will construct a further External Service schedule shortly, embodying all known alterations and relays. However, the station is notorious for making unpredictable frequency changes without notice! Regards (Bob Padula, Melbourne, EDXP via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 4840, 0520-0550, NOV 10, This station was only audible in FM mode. Absolutely no intelligibility in AM or SSB. What sounded like contemporary christian music. ID in FF!? by YL @ 0529, with presumed times and frequencies also mentioned. Then another song, and SS ID by OM. Here is the very poor phonetic attempt on my part: R Prizora or Prisora (with accent on 2nd syllable) International. There were IDs after almost every song. During one talk break announcer mentioned "... México, Estados Unidos y, Canadá", which I guess would explain the FF ID. Only heard one FF ID; all the rest were SS. Signal strength was high. No carrier beat audible. Transmitter was FMing, audio only readable in FM mode (about 10 kHz bandwidth). Audio quality ranged from clean to fairly distorted. Gone by 0615 recheck. Sounded like a test transmission. Not sure what this is. Have not checked the math for possible spurious signal from WWCR. Don't think it's them, but not sure (David Hodgson, Nashville TN, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Except for presumed ID, sounds like XERTA: bad modulation, frequency variation from nominal 4810(?), known even with French IDs (gh, DXLD) HI Glenn: Concerning my unID on 4840: Hans Johnson informs me that XERTA IDs occasionally in FF, so looks like this is a strong possibility. Here is a log from Cumbre DX: 0033-0110, Latin Pops and ballads with canned IDs by man mainly in Spanish, but also in English, and I think once by a woman in French. Every ID sounded different than the preceding ones. "....Transmite XERTA radio emisora internacional en onda corta radial, con 50 kilovatios de potencia . . . la banda de 60 metros, canal 4800 kilohertz", "....XERTA, Radio Transcontinental en onda corta en la banda internacional de 60 metros, ? kilohertz. . . XERTA por estudios de . . . Latino Americana....XERTA la voz de . . . onda corta", "Blue skies(?) . . . XERTA radio, transmitting to the United States, Canada, Central and South America . . . ". Strong signal but modulation sounded somewhat low. Of course QRM from Guatemala. Not on in the morning at 1000 (Dave Valko, PA, September 24, Cumbre DX via Hodgson, DXLD) PASSPORT TO WORLD BAND RADIO GETS IT WRONG AGAIN In an attempt to update PWBR `2002`, which is already in print and rapidly outdating, their website includes this item: ``Chinese Transmitters Shipped to Taliban. Two 50 kW Chinese-made shortwave transmitters reportedly were en route to the Taliban in Kabul when American air strikes commenced. The whereabouts of those units, presumably intended for the Voice of Shari`ah, is unknown. However, if they eventually surface in Afghanistan they would almost certainly be bombed into solder blobs before they could come on the air.`` As usual, PWBR does not deign to attribute its sources, and for that reason they are forbidden to use DXLD as a source --- but ``reportedly`` gives them permission to do so anyway, right? So how did they get this wrong? It was reported here long ago that the two Chinese-made SW transmitters were destined for the Northern Alliance`s Takhar Radio, NOT the Taliban in Kabul. Rather than hunting up that reference, here`s another version just in: (gh, DXLD) SW transmitters for the Northern Alliance: The NA is reported to be awaiting the delivery of two new SW radio transmitters donated by China, which will help the opposition movement relaunch its own broadcasts --- these will probably be used for the planned Sado-e Afghanistan / Voice of Afghanistan service (Nov BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) More: I recently received my copy of the 2002 edition of Passport to Worldband Radio and I've quickly observed that much of the information in the "Addresses Plus" section is exactly the same as the 2001 edition. I noted this because almost two months ago I sent a reception report to Steve Welch in Limassol, Cyprus, hoping that he would verify the BBC relay from there. It was returned "unknown" and I had used the address provided by PTWBR in the 2001 (and yes in the 2002) editions. Recently I tried to FAX a reception report to Nigeria using the FAX number provided by PTWBR. There was no answer after repeated attempts at different times of the day. I understand the difficulty of providing accurate information of this sort, particularly email addresses which seem to change frequently. However, it seems to me that if the PTWBR editors are unable to verify information from a previous edition, they should state that. In other words, if a broadcaster does not respond to a request for an update, they should let us readers know that the information is old and may not be accurate. By the way, does anyone have a good FAX number for the V. of Nigeria and a good mailing address for the Cyprus BBC relay? (Spencer Carter, Nov 10, swl@qth.net via DXLD) I continue to be concerned about the term "World Band Radio," which is used in Passport just about everywhere you or I would use the world "shortwave." People who are new to international radio might wonder if "World Band" is some new technology that's better than shortwave. In the generally useful glossary in the back of Passport, "World Band" is defined as "Similar to regular mediumwave AM band and FM band radio, except that world band stations can be heard over enormous distances." No mention of shortwave there. By chance, I happened to look at the definition for "utility stations." Passport says, "Most signals within the shortwave spectrum are not world band stations." They are the various types of communications that occur between the shortwave broadcast bands. So, here, finally, I was able to deduce that "world band" means not just shortwave, but shortwave broadcasts. I believe it was Sony that first used the term "world band" because "shortwave" has connotations of a high-technology hobby that requires a license. However, most of the radios that Sony calls "world band" tune all the shortwave spectrum and have sideband reception capability. So they are perfectly capable of receiving shortwave communications beyond what is defined by Passport as "world band." Well, now, I'm confused, and I've been listening to shortwave for thirty-six years. And so I imagine that not a few new shortwave listeners are also befuddled by the marketing strategy that created - --- and clings to --- the term "world band." (Kim Elliott, VOA Communications World Nov 10 via John Norfolk, DXLD) ###