DX LISTENING DIGEST 1-177, November 20, 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 #1106 was produced a day early due to an intrusive holiday which does not need to be on a Thursday; ask any Canadian. So it is already available at our website in advance of broadcast: (STREAM) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1106ram (DOWNLOAD) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1106.rm (SUMMARY) http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio/wor1106.html [Summary not yet prepared at time of posting of this DXLD] FIRST AIRIGNS ON WBCQ: UT Thursday 0030 and 0600 on 7415 FIRST AIRINGS ON WWCR: Thursday 2130 on 15685, Friday 1030 on 3210[NEW], Saturday 0300 on 3215 FIRST AIRINGS ON RFPI: Friday 1930, Saturday 0130, 0730, 1330 on some of: 21815-USB, 15040, 7445 UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIAL Thanks for your great contribution to DXing, Glenn; you must get a prize for this great hobby to bring all nations together via Radio. I have a very nice Radio Nederland QSL card of your special issue QSL cards to the station in the early 80s. With designs of blocks and it is a excellent design each way you look at it. Best wishes for the festive season (Costa Constantinides, Cyprus, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AFGHANISTAN [non]. [cf DXLD 1-176] I just tuned into a station on 9949.88. Had Koran @1615. Not sure who this might be (Steve Lare, Holland, MI, Nov 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Very poor here at this hour, fading up a bit at 1656; but this was Egypt, familiar R. Cairo theme at 1700 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1106, DX LISTENING DIGEST) After about 45 minutes of listening I've tentatively ID'd the station running slightly below 9950 (9949.93 or so) as Radio Cairo. This at 1615+ with news at 1700. There is also another station directly on 9950 that seemed to come on around 1630 and much weaker than Radio Cairo. Not sure who this might be, though sounded like middle eastern or indian music being played. I'll listen again tomorrow (Steve Lare, Holland, MI, Nov 20, DX LSITENING DIGEST) This may or may not be relevant to the previous reports, but as soon as I received Glenn's message just after 1530 UT I tuned into 9950 and heard a colossal signal with Pashto in progress. This turned out to be Radio Cairo (not scheduled on this frequency, listed on 17710 in DXLD 1169) and the programme switched to Albanian, which *is* scheduled, at 1600 UT. Lots of Qur`an, but this is Ramadan. I wonder if the mystery transmission is a new, special, or rescheduled programme from Cairo. Exact frequency was 9949.9 kHz, and there seemed to be another Cairo transmission underneath with domestic programme in Arabic (or maybe audio breakthrough - it was difficult to tell). Further monitoring needed (Andy Sennitt, Radio Netherlands, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Well, as already pointed out, HFCC has Cairo on 9950 at 325 degrees toward us at 1600-1800, so nothing new there, but the Afghanistan station may well use 9950 also at other times, e.g., local morning. I can`t believe it`s R. Cairo, from the frequent mentions of Afghanistan in the IDs; tho the transmitter site could possibly be there. Such good reception here, however, at 1330-1430, indicates a site much further east. Several recording clips are in WOR 1106 already (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1106, DXLD) Radio Free Afghanistan is still in the funding stages -- $15 million as I hear. Our schedulers have proposed hours of operation I believe but no idea of when it'll come on their. They're also dealing with a boatload of additional VOA and RFE/RL programming for the 'war against terrorism.' Where it's going to fit in our network I have no idea! (Bill Whitacre, IBB Monitoring, Nov 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, Very unlikely that the station you heard is Radio Free Afghanistan, as it has not yet been approved by the Senate. See http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d107:HR02998:@@@X (Kim Elliott, DC, Nov 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AFGHANISTAN. The Music Makers Return and, Hesitantly, a City Sings Again http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/20/international/asia/20RADI.html JALALABAD, Afghanistan, Nov. 19 — Radio Nangarhar is on the air, 1,000 watts of poetry beaming out over Afghanistan. Until Sunday this was Radio Shariat, the voice of the Taliban --- all Koran, all the time. Now Sher Shah Humdard is at the microphone reciting a new work by a blind Kabul poet, Al Hajj Barakatullah Salim. The lyrics lose a little in translation, but it is a love poem, full of loneliness and longing, something like a Hank Williams song. A harsh God is not in sight. "For 23 years, it's been blood and guns and death — what other theme?" said Mr. Humdard. "But now we are broadcasting this poetry of love to the people. Today we talk about the beautiful lips, the beautiful hair, the beautiful cheeks of our beloved. And that is the change." (New York Times via Joel Rubin, swprograms via WORLD OF RADIO 1106, DXLD) ** AFGHANISTAN [non]. CLANDESTINE from ? to AFGHANISTAN Commando Solo continues to play a critical role in the war in Afghanistan. Here are parts of an interesting article from today's NY Times: WASHINGTON, Nov. 19 -- The United States stepped up its efforts to persuade the Afghan people to turn over Osama bin Laden, as American military aircraft began broadcasting a radio message into the country announcing a 25 million cash reward for information leading to his location or capture. The radio broadcasts, which also identified other leaders of Mr. bin Laden's Qaeda organization thought to be hiding in Afghanistan, are the latest elements of a United States strategy to rely heavily on anti-Taliban rebels and other Afghans to help reveal the whereabouts of Mr. bin Laden, a Saudi exile. The American radio messages about the reward, broadcast into Afghanistan by an airborne special operations forces radio station aboard an EC-130 aircraft code- named Commando Solo, began Sunday night. They called on the people of Afghanistan to "drive out the foreign terrorists" and promised cash rewards for information on the location of Mr. bin Laden and eight other Al Qaeda leaders -- indicating that the United States has gathered more information on the identities of Al Qaeda leaders still in Afghanistan than it has previously disclosed. In addition to Mr. bin Laden and his top lieutenants, Ayman al- Zawahiri and Abu Zubaydah, the broadcast also identifies several other men believed to be hiding in Afghanistan after playing major roles in the bombing of two American Embassies in East Africa in 1998, the bombing of the destroyer Cole in Yemen in Oct. 2000, and the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The group includes Abdu al- Nashri, suspected of helping plan the Cole bombing; al-Gaith Abu Yousef, a Qaeda leader suspected of playing a role in the Sept. 11 attacks; Fazul Abdullah Mohammed and Saleh Abdullab, suspected of involvement in the embassy bombings; and Saif al- Adel, a senior aide to Mr. bin Laden. The broadcast also identifies Abu Hafs, an alias for Muhammad Atef. It appears that the script was written before the reports of his death. In addition to the radio broadcasts, the Pentagon has begun dropping thousands of leaflets in Afghanistan calling for help from the Afghans in hunting Mr. bin Laden. About 10,000 leaflets were dropped tonight in the area of the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, and more will be dropped in other regions in coming days, officials said. Mr. Rumsfeld said today that he hoped that the cash rewards will persuade Afghans to "begin crawling through those tunnels and caves looking for the bad folks." (NY Times Nov 20 via Johnson) Announcement of a U.S. Reward Following is a translated text of one of two reward announcements that the American military began broadcasting to Afghanistan from EC- 130 Commando Solo aircraft, as provided by the Department of Defense: Attention people of Afghanistan! Up to $25 million reward is being offered for information leading to the location or capture of Osama bin Laden or Aiman al-Zawahiri. These two terrorists of Al Qaeda are responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent people around the world. The proud nation of Afghanistan gets closer to being free of the tyranny of foreign terrorists every day. Help drive out the foreign terrorists. Every day more foreign terrorists are defeated in battle. Because some of these cowards and murderers have gone into hiding, we ask for your help. The Coalition Authority and Afghan forces fighting to free Afghanistan will continue to hunt down these cowards. With your help we will bring the Al Qaeda terrorists to justice for their crimes. A reward is also being offered for documents and other information leading to the identification of other Al Qaeda agents. Keep listening to Information Radio for future updates. Information Radio will announce locations where anyone can provide information to the Coalition Authorities about the whereabouts of any of these known terrorists that could lead to a reward. Keep listening to information radio for future updates (NY Times Nov 20 via Johnson, Cumbre DX Special Nov 20 via DXLD) New on the Interval Signals Archive is a recent recording of Balkh Radio from Mazar-e-Sharif, the former Voice of Sharia of Balkh Province. The three-minute clip has a shortened version of the signature tune used at sign-on, an ID and programme preview by a female presenter, then an Afghan song. This can be found on the Interval Signals Archive at http://www.intervalsignals.net A search facility has also recently been added to the website (Dave Kernick, Nov 20, hard-core-dx via DXLD) ** AFGHANISTAN [and non]. Media round-up Tuesday 20 November 2001 KABUL Radio Afghanistan BBC Monitoring has not yet observed the reported Kabul radio broadcasts. The station known as Radio Kabul or Radio Afghanistan is broadcasting via a mobile transmitter. The director of the Kabul-based radio, in an interview for India's Star News TV on 16 November, said the station was transmitting for three hours in the morning and four hours in the evening daily. The former Taleban-controlled Radio Voice of Shari'ah was last heard by BBC Monitoring on its shortwave frequency of 7085 kHz, on 8 October. Kabul TV on the air, seeks foreign aid Kabul television began its first broadcast since 1996 at 1330 gmt (1800 local time) on Sunday 18 November. The Taleban had previously banned TV for five years. The station's transmitter has the potential to reach a 60-km (36- mile) radius, but the current technical limitations have reduced the range, at least for the moment. Broadcasting through a 10-Watt transmitter, Kabul TV will be seen at first only for three hours a day in central Kabul. Kabul TV director Humayon Rawi told Reuters news agency: "We want to expand our broadcasts, put out all kinds of programmes for the whole of the day. We're asking for help from foreigners so we can be a proper TV station." The staff, once 120 strong, now number about 25, the French news agency AFP said. Qatari Al-Jazeera satellite TV on 19 November in Kabul interviewed Afghan news reader Shimudin Shamsul Din, who said: "Everybody wanted the TV to resume its transmission, especially the women. We are three days late, but now we are happy to resume transmission." Al-Jazeera reporter Khalid al-Mahmud, reporting from the Kabul TV station, said: "The Afghan TV programming was not free of religious programmes, news and songs on its first day. Work went smoothly without much hardship. Work to breathe new life into the station has begun since the allied forces entered the capital. Had it not been for the technical problems that faced the technical workers, the transmission signals would have been received earlier by the local citizens. "However, the TV alone did not satisfy the Afghans' eagerness for entertainment, which they missed during the past years. The rhythm of life in Kabul today seems different from the past when the Taleban imposed shackles and restrictions on citizens in this regard. The most salient thing on the Afghani scene is the return of theatres. What the Taleban prohibited during its rule was allowed by the local citizens after its demise. Afghan audiences are eager to watch the films they receive from neighbouring countries. It is unlikely that the bad condition of theatres will discourage crowds from flocking to the theatre." MAZAR-E SHARIF Balkh Radio On Tuesday 20 November, the radio station broadcasting from the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e Sharif --- identifying itself as Balkh Radio --- was observed signing on at 0230 gmt on its usual frequency of 1584 kHz. However, reception deteriorated before the scheduled end of the morning transmission at 0430 gmt. Balkh Radio was heard later on 20 November, beginning its evening broadcasts at 1202 gmt. The broadcast opened with Koranic recitations; it stopped broadcasting temporarily at 1230 to allow people to break the Ramadan fast. 19 November evening broadcast The 1230-1500 gmt broadcast on Balkh Radio on 19 November included the following reports: - Gen Dostum, the commander in chief of the northern zone, chaired a meeting of the High Military Council of the northern zone today. He also met elders and people's representatives from Sar-e Pole and Samangan Provinces. - The Wadat-e Islam-i leader for the northern zone, Mohammad Mohaqqeq, met a number of elders and intellectuals from districts of Mazar-e Sharif. - The head of the department of political and military affairs of the northern zone told his department officials to set up religious departments at military units and commissions for religious propaganda. - A delegation from US and other foreign aid organizations visited a hospital in Mazar-e Sharif. - The head of the department of education and training of Balkh Province chaired a meeting of schoolmasters today. - The commander of the town of Hayraton reopened a girls' school. - Council of elders of Balkh Province to resume work and meet on 21 November. - A game of buzkashi (a form of polo with a dead calf or goat) will be held to mark the latest victories of the United Islamic Front For the Salvation of Afghanistan on Friday 23 November. - Interview with former Afghan president Rabbani about a future government in Afghanistan. HERAT Radio Herat The BBC continues to monitor a station identifying itself as Radio Herat broadcasting in Dari from the western city of Herat. [WTFK??!!] Herat television A TV station in Herat calling itself "Television of Herat City" is on the air, broadcasting in Dari from 1600 local time (1130 gmt) for two and a half hours a day. US INFORMATION RADIO US PsyOps broadcasts continue US PsyOps Information Radio continues to be observed by BBC Monitoring broadcasting in Pashto and Dari to Afghanistan 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 (reportedly a relay of Voice Of America) and 1107 kHz channels are believed to be broadcast from US PsyOps "Commando Solo" EC-130 aircraft. US PsyOps radio offers 25m-dollar bounty for Bin-Ladin The US PsyOps Information Radio continues its broadcasts for Afghanistan twice a day. The programme includes Afghan music and anti-Taleban and anti-Al-Qa'idah announcements and commentaries in Pashto and Dari. The following announcement in Dari was monitored on 19 November: For the attention of the brave people of Afghanistan: Some 25m dollars will be given as a reward to anyone who can provide us with reliable information about the whereabouts or [leading to] the arrest of Usamah Bin-Ladin or Ayman al-Zawahiri. The two terrorists are responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent people around the world. The liberation of the proud people of Afghanistan from the oppression of the foreign terrorists is becoming closer each day. We need your help in order to expel foreign terrorists. The terrorists are being defeated on the war front every day. We need your assistance and cooperation because a number of cowards and murderers have hidden themselves. The coalition forces or partnership countries and the Afghan forces, who are fighting for the liberation of Afghanistan, will continue to do their utmost in order to arrest those terrorists. We will be able to bring to justice, with your help, the terrorists of the Al-Qa'idah gang for the crimes that they have committed. Rewards will also be given for providing information or documents leading to the identification of other members of Al-Qa'idah. Please listen to Information Radio in order to obtain fresh information. This radio will announce in future how information about the whereabouts or [leading to] the arrest of those cowardly terrorists can be passed on to the relevant authorities of the coalition countries so that the deserving person can receive his cash reward for the arrest of those people. Please listen to Information Radio for further information. [Reuters news agency cited The New York Times as saying that the broadcasts offering the 25m-dollar reward for Bin-Ladin began on the night of Sunday 18 November, six weeks after the US started bombing Afghanistan. The broadcasts also identify several other Al-Qa'idah leaders believed to be hiding in Afghanistan, and the scripts indicate that the US has gathered more information on the identities of Al-Qa'idah leaders than it had previously disclosed, the New York Times said. In addition to the radio broadcasts, the Pentagon has begun dropping thousands of leaflets in Afghanistan calling on Afghans to help in the hunt for Bin-Ladin. About 10,000 leaflets were dropped on the night of Monday 19 November in the area of the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, according to the New York Times report. The newspaper quoted officials as saying that more leaflets would be dropped in other regions of Afghanistan in coming days.] Source: US PsyOps Information Radio in Dari 0230 gmt 19 Nov 01 FOREIGN MEDIA French media watchdog's "shock" over killing of four journalists Text of press release by Paris-based organization Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) on 19 November Reporters Sans Frontières has expressed its dismay and shock following the murder of four journalists in the province of Kabul. According to the latest information collected by RSF, the reported victims are Maria Grazia Cutuli, the Italian daily Corriere della Serra's special envoy, Julio Fuentes, a reporter from the Spanish daily El Mundo, Harry Burton, an Australian cameraman from the Reuters news agency, and Azizullah Haidari, an Afghan-born photographer from the Reuters agency. Following the deaths of Johanne Sutton of RFI, Pierre Billaud of RTL and Volker Handloik of Stern, this new tragedy reminds us that the press is paying a heavy price in order to inform the public of the situation in Afghanistan. We recommend that journalists ask mojahedin commanders or the local authorities for armed escorts when they leave cities under the control of anti-Taleban forces. Contacted by RSF, the new authorities in Jalalabad expressed regret that the journalists had left in a convoy for Kabul without any security. The press convoy, which included eight vehicles, left Jalalabad (province of Nangarhar) on the morning of 19 November 2001. Most reporters had arrived there the previous evening from the Pakistani border under the protection of Commander Zaman's mojahedin fighters. Two hours into the convoy's journey, near Pouli-es-the-Kam (90 km east of Kabul), six unidentified persons armed with Kalashnikovs reportedly blocked the convoy. They reportedly allowed the Afghan chauffeurs to leave the convoy and asked the Westerners to follow them. A few metres further, the attackers reportedly opened fire on the journalists. One of them was reportedly shot in the face. The six other vehicles made a U-turn and headed back to Jalalabad to report the incident. Commander Zaman confirmed with RSF that a group of at least 50 mojahedin had gone to the location of the crime to try and recover the bodies and establish the circumstances of the killings. He noted that the zone was located in the province of Kabul, which is an area under the Northern Alliance forces' authority. Another group of soldiers reportedly left from Kabul to investigate the incident. According to several sources questioned by RSF, the Sarowbi region, which has numerous narrow canyons, is known as an area where many bandits are active. The evening before the deadly attack, three Radio France Internationale journalists, including Jean Piel, the radio network's New Delhi correspondent, were attacked and robbed along the same road by a group of young bandits armed with Kalashnikovs. That same day, a group of Filipino journalists were robbed on the road to Kabul. Isolated groups of Taleban fighters may also be present in the region. Over 770 journalists have been killed over the past 15 years, including 24 since 1 January 2001. For further information, contact Vincent Brossel at RSF, 5, rue Geoffroy Marie, Paris 75009, France, tel: +33 1 44 83 84 84, fax: +33 1 45 23 11 51, e-mail: asie@rsf.fr, Internet: http://www.rsf.fr Source: Reporters Sans Frontieres press release, Paris, in English 19 Nov 01 Italian reporter's murder might relate to scoop on Afghan sarin gas stock | Excerpt from report by Italian newspaper La Repubblica web site on 19 November "It is hard to tell whether there's a link between the ambush and the article," said Ferruccio de Bortoli, the editor of [daily] Corriere della Sera, who did not want to commit himself to whether the murder of Maria Grazia Cutuli is an act of vengeance against the scoop published today by the Milan daily, simultaneously with the publication of a similar article in [Spanish daily] El Mundo, the paper Julio Fuentes worked for. Fuentes was among the reporters killed in today's ambush in Afghanistan. Maria Grazia Cutuli and her Spanish colleague together had scooped the news. "A stock of sarin gas at Bin-Ladin's base" is the headline of the article carrying the Sicilian journalist's by-line. "The report is definitely what we call a scoop," said de Bortoli, "but no scoop is worth a life"... Source: La Repubblica web site, Rome, in Italian 1720 gmt 19 Nov 01 Taleban to allow reporters into border town on 20 November - Al- Jazeera The Taleban have said they will allow a group of foreign journalists to visit the small Afghan town of Spin Boldak on the Pakistani border on Tuesday 20 November, Qatari Al-Jazeera satellite TV reported on the 19th. According to the TV, the Taleban said they want to show the journalists their "tight control of the areas in southern Afghanistan". Source: Al-Jazeera TV, Doha, in Arabic 2105 gmt 19 Nov 01 Pakistan prevents journalists from crossing Afghan border Text of press release by Paris-based organization Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) on 19 November In a letter to the Pakistani minister of the interior, Lt-Gen Moinuddin Haider, RSF asked that he grant Pakistani and foreign journalists "transit permits" as soon as possible, to enable them to cross the Afghan border. "The Pakistani authorities have asked journalists to obtain visas before entering Afghanistan, but there is no diplomatic representation of the United Front or of the Mojahedin commanders who control Jalalabad. This situation is ridiculous. The reporters would have to go to New Delhi or Paris, where there are embassies of the Rabbani government, to obtain a visa," said RSF Secretary-General Robert Menard. RSF asked the federal minister to intercede with North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) authorities, especially the Home and Tribal Affairs Department, in order to allow media representatives to cross the border as of 17 November 2001. "For two months now, hundreds of reporters have been covering the war in Afghanistan from Peshawar. Banning them from going to Jalalabad is in breach of the Pakistani government's commitments to allow open coverage of the conflict," said Menard. According to information obtained by RSF, on 16 November, NWFP authorities prevented a convoy of Pakistani and international reporters from leaving Peshawar for the Afghan border (Torkham). The day before, more than 100 reporters crossed the border with a convoy of thousands of armed men, organised by Commander Zaman. The security forces did not prohibit the journalists from entering Afghanistan, but the authorities announced later that reporters who try to return to Pakistan will be subject to an inspection. According to several sources, the NWFP's Interior and Tribal Affairs Department in Peshawar is responsible for the refusal to allow media representatives to have access to the border. Even reporters from BBC radio and CNN television, who were issued "transit permits" by the federal authorities in Islamabad, were barred from crossing the border. For further information, contact Vincent Brossel at RSF, 5, rue Geoffroy Marie, Paris 75009, France, tel: +33 1 44 83 84 84, fax: +33 1 45 23 11 51, e-mail: asie@rsf.fr, Internet: http://www.rsf.fr Source: Reporters Sans Frontieres press release, Paris, in English 19 Nov 01 Kashmiris "abandon" Pakistan TV for BBC, CNN coverage of Afghanistan Excerpt from report by Indian news agency PTI Leh, 20 November: People in Jammu and Kashmir have abandoned Pakistan Television and are tuning to multinational networks to follow events in Afghanistan, particularly the dramatic collapse of the hardline Taleban regime. "Past few weeks have seen a flood of requests from civilians, mostly Kashmiris with business interest here for hook-up to BBC and CNN channels from over all over Kargil and here," Ghaffar, a leading cable operator, told PTI. "I get 15 to 20 calls daily not only from Kashmiri settlers but people from Kargil and Buddhists here," he said adding people get impatient if connections are not instant. Earlier, it was Pakistan TV that people were watching, but for past few weeks there has been a dramatic change with people wanting and closely following the collapse of Taleban and rout of its Pakistani fraternal terrorist organizations like Harkat-ul-Mujahideen [Harakat- ul-Mojahedin] and Jaish-i-Muhammad [Muhammad's Army] in Afghanistan, Ghaffar said. As the "Operation Enduring Freedom" unfolded, people were watching PTV, which carried a lot of Al-Jazeera [Qatari satellite TV channel] footage, but with reports of 35 hardline Pakistani Harkat terrorists killed on 5 November in a house in Afghan capital Kabul in US B-52 bombers precision raids, the clamour for foreign channels started. Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, the reincarnation of Harkat-ul-Ansar [Harakat-ul-Ansar], which was put by US State Department on a terrorist watch list suspecting its hand in the gruesome killing of five abducted foreign tourists in Kashmir in 1995, as well as Jaish are active in Jammu and Kashmir in a big way. Jaish is the organization formed by Maulana Azhar, who was freed by New Delhi in exchange for release of hostages on the hijacked Indian Airlines plane to Kandahar in December 1999. According to top army officials here, foreign mercenaries outnumber local militants in Jammu and Kashmir, with their numbers in the state put around 5,000. Of these Jaish and Harkat strength is reported to be half. Salim Geelani, another Kashmiri resident, who returned from his home in the valley just two days back said: "It is with same intense interest that people in the valley are watching the collapse of Taleban in Afghanistan. "There is a similar beeline for foreign channels in Srinagar too." ... Cable operators here said television fever was not confined to public alone with dramatic increase in foreign channel surfing reported from large number of troops deployed along the Line of Control as well as Sino-Indian border. "There has been a ten-fold increase in demand for cable hook-up from army formations in Leh and Kargil itself, Ghaffar said adding front- line formations had their own satellite dish antenna to tune into international channels... Source: PTI news agency, New Delhi, in English 0654 gmt 20 Nov 01 Ukrainian journalist detained, asked to leave Kabul A correspondent for Ukraine's Inter TV was arrested together with two Pakistani colleagues while filming a closed meeting in Bagram between the US military and the Northern Alliance to discuss the use of Bagram airport by US planes. The correspondent, Andriy Tsapliyenko, and his crew were detained and taken to a police station because they had no accreditation. Although Tsapliyenko was soon released, his colleagues stayed in custody because they were Pakistani citizens of Afghan descent. "They were verbally accused of spying for the Taleban," he told Inter TV. Tsapliyenko has been asked to leave Kabul, but he has vowed to stay on until his colleagues are also set free. Source: Inter TV, Kiev, in Russian 1800 gmt 19 Nov 01 South African groups adopt plan of action to counter media "bias" on Afghanistan | Text of report by South African Muslim community Radio 786 on 16 November More than 20 organizations adopted a South African programme of action against the United States-led war in Afghanistan and for global peace and justice. Meeting in Johannesburg yesterday, the organizations also condemned what they describe as the one-sided and sensationalist nature of media coverage by the South African media of the 11 September attacks and the US-led war in Afghanistan. They compared it to the lack of coverage and criticism of Israeli terrorism in Palestine. Source: Radio 786, Cape Town, in English 0600 gmt 16 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 20 Nov 01 (via DXLD) ** AUSTRIA. Radio Afrika: Mit dem Beginn der Winterzeit hat der ORF hat sein multikulturelles Programm R 1476 http://1476.orf.at/ auf der gleichnämigen MW 1476 neu strukturiert. Der "donaudialog", der sich auf Mittel- und Südosteuropa bezieht und die Stadt Wien als ein europäischen Kommunikationsknotenpunkt positionieren soll, wird seit dem 28. Okt 2000 täglich 2130-2300 MEZ ausgestrahlt. Zusätzlich wird der "donaudialog" abends 2205-2300 Uhr MEZ auch auf der Kurzwelle 5945 von R Österreich International http://roi.orf.at übertragen. Als "Statement für die Verständigung zwischen verschiedenen Bevölkerungsgruppen" will der ORF die Ausweitung der "Tribüne Afrikas", A-1160 Wien, Heigerleinstraße 7, Tel/Fax +43 (0) 1 - 49 44 033 e-mail: radio.afrikas@sil.at http://africa.sil.at/ verstanden wissen. Die österreichisch-afrikanischen Sendungen sind jetzt täglich auer sonntags 2300-2400 MEZ zu hören, außerdem mehrere Stunden auf Kurzwelle. Ein von Schülern und Schülerinnen gemachtes Radioprogramm ist künftig an jedem Wochentag vertreten, ein Studentenradio einmal pro Woche. Außerdem gibt es wöchentlich das deutsch-tschechische Radioprogramm von GymRadio Hollabrunn, einen Slowenisch-Sprachkurs von R Agora, Sendungen des Polycollege, eine Esperanto-Sendung sowie "Freak- Radio", das von Behinderten und Nicht-Behinderten produziert wird (Dr. Hansjörg Biener, Germany, BC-DX Nov 13 via DXLD) Ich habe vor kurzem trotz fehlendem Hinweis auf deren Homepage die Übernahme bei RÖI via Moosbrunn beobachtet. Und zwar war das 2205- 2300 UT in der Winterhalbzeit. Das galt nur für Samstag abend. Laut aktuellem QRG-Plan sollte das zu hören sein auf 6155, 5945 und 1476 Empfangsberichte können geschickt werden an (Bestätigt mit Brief): Radio Afrika, Lorenz-Mandl Gaße 33/1, A-1160 Wien, Österreich z.Hd. von Mag. Alexis Neuberg http://www.radioafrika.net mail-to: radio.afrika@sil.at Die Sendung nannte sich "Tribüne Afrikas", und wurde auf MW auch am Di 1830-1900 [MEZ?] ausgestrahlt. Hier dürfte sich aber das nun veränderte Programmschema bei R.1476 bemerkbar gemacht haben. Der lokale UKW-Sender "Orange 94.0" bringt aus der selben Redaktion das Musikprogramm "FM-Afrique" So-Di 09-10 und Mi-Fr 17-1730 Uhr LT [MEZ] (Harald Süss, Austria, A-DX Nov 14 via BC-DX via DXLD) ** BULGARIA. DX programs of Radio Bulgaria, Sofia in B-01 season: En Fri 2045, Sat 2245 5800 7500. Sat 1245 15700 17500. Sat 0045, Sun 0345 7400 9400. Fr Tue+Sun 2140 5800 7500. Wed 0240 7400 9400. Wed 0740 12000 13600. Ge Thu+Sat 1915 5800 9400. Fri 1130, Sun 1115 15700 17500. Sp Sun 1715 9700 11700. 2215 6000 7300. Mon 0015 5900 11600. Mon 0215 5900 7500 11600. Ru Sat 1545 7500 9400 9900. 1845 7500 9900. Sun 0045 7500. Sun 0345 5900 7500 (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, BC-DX Nov 10 via DXLD) ** CANADA. R. Japan, Sackville spur from 5960 on 6390, Nov 17 0235, fair in Japanese (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Leapfrogging 6175, halfway between, the Vietnam relay (gh, DXLD) ** CHINA. Glen[n], I was wondering if I can use a clip of your show on my weekly communications review Wave-Length. I'm doing a show on different programs about radio. It air on CRI's domestic service from 8:45am to 9:00 on Thursday (Keith Perron, CRI Domestic/Overseas, English Service, Nov 21, DX LISTENING DIGEST) OK. I`ve been wanting to catch your show but lost track of the changing times. That would be 0045 UT, right? It would be nice if you made it available on demand. Or do you? (Glenn Hauser to Keith, DXLD) ** CHINA. Three more transmitters were added in the past few days to CNR from a site in S China to listeners in NW China (as I presume). At 2000 these are on 9810, 11870 and 12030. The signal strength is very good. None of the N China txs beaming to NW China offers anything near the good signals of the new S China outlets. At 2000 the October additions to CNR-1 are now on 6065, 9480, 11785, 13775, 15355. The September additions are on 7355, 7540, 9580, 11590, 11935. These in part serve as jammers. When CNR-2 opens at 2100 the new S China txs are on 9545, 9910, 11700, 11740, 11935, 15545. One of these (11935?) may be from a different site as the total should only be 5. Two transmitters continue testing with nonstop music. This music is also used by some jammers with distorted signal, so I believe that the feed is from Beijing, not local (Olle Alm, Sweden, BC-DX Nov 19 via DXLD) See also TIBET ** CHINA [non]. 5925 Falun Dafa R. [clandestine stn to China] *2100 Oriental melody, IDs in Chinese by woman and man; off at 2200, leaving the channel to DW (listed via Irkutsk-Russia 500 kW 152 degrees). Rather good signal with crisp audio. When they were on 12075 a few months ago the xmtr site was said to be Novosibirsk, Russia, later they were on 9710 apparently from Bulgaria but where is this new outlet originating from? (Bob Hill, MA, DXplorer Nov 4 via BC-DX via DXLD) Falun Dafa [from RUSSIA to CHINA] now also active on 9945, same program as 5925, but there is a delay between the two. CNR-1 and CNR- 2 jammers mess up both channels (Olle Alm, Sweden, BC-DX Nov 18 via WORLD OF RADIO 1106, DXLD) I listened to Falun Dafa when they signed on this evening. 9945 had a brief carrier test at approx 2050 and was back at 2057, program start at 20.59:30 UT. The signal was enormous, S=9+30 to 40 dB and left the jammers far behind. This is either someone in the east with much backlobe in my direction or someone in the west at close distance (polar cap propagation). Sunday evening the signal was nowhere near Monday's excellent strength. 5925 switches on the carrier at various times from 2042 to 2048 and has no tones or anything. The program start was at 21.00:30 UT, giving a difference of one full minute between the channels, so the program seems to be pre-recorded. The signal strength on 5925 is only fair and the jamming usually makes a mess of the freq (Olle Alm, Sweden, BC-DX Nov 19 via DXLD) See also TAIWAN ** COLOMBIA. Re QRM to 7380: See RUSSIA ** COSTA RICA. RFPI has finally reactivated 7445, noted at 0411 UT Nov 20, \\ 15040. But 7445 is in USB, at least for testing, rather than AM (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1106, DXLD) You guessed it re: us being off this morning. The tower crew finally came out to fix the small connection problem. James will be working tonight to test the system. If all goes well, we should be back up on 7445 by tomorrow night. I'll let you know the hours of operation ASAP or check the website shortly: http://www.rfpi.org/frequencies.html (Joe Bernard, RFPI, Nov 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CROATIA [non]. Croatian R observed on Nov 6/7/8: 0400-0600 9885, 9925 featuring: *0540-0546* nx in En, *0547-0553* nx in Sp. On 9885 co-ch AWR via DTK Jülich in Bulgarian 0500-0600. *0600-0700 on 9470, En 0606-0612, Sp 0613-0619 (Rumen Pankov-BUL, BC-DX Nov 10 via WORLD OF RADIO 1106, DXLD) See also GERMANY ** CUBA. Dxers Unlimited For broadcasting November 3 - 4 2001 By Arnie Coro CO2KK [ellipses sic --- we have not omitted anything] Hi amigos, welcome to another special edition of Dxers Unlimited coming to you from Havana, at the moment I was writing this script everyone in Western and Central is getting ready as powerful category 4 Hurricane Michelle is slowly moving towards us. This is the most powerful hurricane that has reached the waters near Cuba in many years, and according to forecasters it will definitely follow a track that will take it across the Cuban mainland somewhere between the extreme western tip of the island and the central provinces... Hurricanes and amateur radio are closely linked by more than sixty years of experience providing emergency communications before, during and after the storm. At 17 hours UTC Saturday all the Cuban amateur emergency nets were activated and running equipment checks, including standby generators and low height antennas needed to keep communications going when the wind reaches very high speeds. Battery operated portable equipment is also tested, as at many locations the 2 meter band handie-talkies provide very valuable services, like watching the flood levels at water reservoirs. Many radio amateurs are now participating in this emergency communications efforts, including hams in the Caribbean, the Bahamas and the United States. The safety ships and pleasure craft at sea at or near the affected area is also handled by amateur radio operators, that pass along weather reports and also pick up valuable weather data from ships and yachts that help weather forecasters to pinpoint the hurricane with more precision. You may want to listen to the Hurricane Watch net on the 20 meter amateur band, by tuning to 14325 kiloHertz SSB, again the frequency is 14325 kiloHertz SSB ... I can assure you that listening to that emergency net is a very rewarding experience, due to the excellent operating procedures followed by both the net control and those who contribute to the net. Standby for more radio hobby related information coming to you from Havana in a few seconds amigos ! Today we are focusing on how amateur radio stations in Cuba, the Caribbean and the Southern United States are providing emergency communications related to Hurricane Michelle. Margarita Delgado is my sound engineer and producer, I am Arnie Coro radio amateur CO2KK back with you in a few seconds.. ....... You are listening to Radio Havana Cuba, the name of the show is Dxers Unlimited, and today , radio amateurs are once again helping their fellow citizens by providing emergency communications in relation to powerful category 4 Hurricane Michelle. Not too long ago Cuban radio amateurs spent a whole weekend on a hurricane emergency drill... We installed portable stations, raised 2 meter band antennas atop high rise buildings to increase the range of the low power portable stations. Emergency generators were also tested and used for several hours, as well as battery chargers to keep nickel cadmium batteries fully charged. As usual during those drills a few things went wrong, something that helped to improve the preparedness of our emergency communications capabilities. Newcomers to the amateur radio hobby learned a lot during the practice drill, something that today, as the hurricane approaches Cuba they will put to very good use... According to my good friend and Cuba's top weather expert José Rubiera, one of the world's leading experts in tropical cyclones, our nation has not seen such a powerful storm since 1948, and the last really terrible one that affected Western Cuba crossed the island in 1944.... So after watching Rubiera's reports on national TV, all the presidents of the radio clubs located in the area that may be affected started mobilizing all the members capable of operating emergency stations... Our usual procedure is to work in small groups so that the emergency communications station can be kept on the air 24 hours a day, something that is essential during this type of event, and that is not possible with a single operator. Among the most interesting duties of ham radio operators are monitoring the water level of water reservoirs and communicating the data every hour to the hydrological service, so that they may decide when to open up the flood gates. Other hams have to go to the coast, and position themselves to deliver information about the dangerous storm surge, that in the case of a powerful hurricane like the one that we are expecting here in a few hours can be extremely dangerous. ........ This is Radio Havana Cuba, and you are listening to a special edition of DXers Unlimited, getting ready for Hurricane Michelle, the most powerful tropical storm that we have seen near Cuba in many years... Amateur radio operators are very resourceful people, and that's why emergency managers like them so much... when normal communications system fail due to traffic overload or damage to the installations , ham radio stations continue on the air using makeshift antennas, and power from car batteries or low power emergency generators. The three most popular ham bands here in Cuba for handling emergencies are 40 and 80 meters on the HF region of the radio spectrum and 2 meters on the VHF region... 40 meters provides excellent daytime communications using near vertical incidence skywave or NVIS antenna systems, that with powers as low as 10 watts provide very high quality links at distances from about 10 miles or 17 kilometers all the way to 500 miles or near 800 kilometers, but during the local evening hours 40 meters is useless and then the emergency traffic most be handled on the 80 meter band... Two meter band mountaintop or high rise building mounted repeaters are another very useful contribution to amateur radio emergency communications systems, because they can be accessed using very low power hand held radios... Contrary to cell phone systems that require a very sophisticated technology, 2 meter ham band repeaters are very rugged devices that if properly installed can endure even the worst weather conditions that one can imagine. Our mountaintop repeater at the Sierra del Rosario national park provided perfect copy to stations as far as 100 miles away during the last storm, and we are keeping our fingers crossed that during the upcoming hurricane the antennas will stay in place, as that is the only problem we may have, because we have installed the repeater at the site of a TV station's transmitter and share with them not only the big tower, but also their standby generators !!!. ......... This is DXers Unlimited's weekend edition, written as Western and Central Cuba are getting ready for the imminent crossing of powerful category 4 Hurricane Michelle... Well amigos, if I sound a little nervous yes, I am, this huge tropical cyclones can be very destructive and damage done to both the individuals and the national economy of a nation may take years to be repaired... The devastating super high speed winds plus very intense rains combine to produce terrible destruction... And among the infrastructure that is always badly hit, telecommunications and electricity distribution networks are among the worst affected, that's why amateur radio communications is so important (Arnie Coro, CO2KK, RHC DXers Unlimited Nov 3-4 via Bob Chandler, ODXA via DXLD) A week later: Item two: Hurricane Michelle did a lot of damage to Cuba's electricity distribution networks and telecommunications infrastructure, no less than 23 telecommunications and radio towers went down due to the terrible hurricane force winds that reached speeds in excess of 135 miles per hour with higher gusts.. Amateur radio operators provided emergency communications before, during and after Hurricane Michelle struck our archipelago... More about how Cuban radio amateurs helped to keep weather data and emergency coordination going later in today's edition of your favorite radio hobby program, DXers Unlimited from Radio Havana Cuba. Margarita Delgado is my sound engineer and producer at RHC studio 7, I am Arnie Coro in Havana, coming to you via shortwave on 9550 kiloHertz AM and 11705 kiloHertz SSB, our regular 6000 and 9820 kiloHertz frequencies to North America are still off the air and will be back as soon as possible amigos ! You can also listen to our broadcasts via the INTERNET connecting to http://www.radiohc.cu ... Stay tuned, I will be back with you in a few seconds... ........ You are listening to the weekend edition of DXers Unlimited amigos, and here is item two in detail... Amateur radio stations running as little as 3 watts peak envelope power and never more than 100 watts, using the single side band voice mode, and very simple half wave dipole antennas, provided emergency communications during Hurricane Michelle's destructive path across the Cuban archipelago. Car batteries and standby diesel or gasoline generators provided the power, while VHF two meter band repeaters had their antennas especially reinforced to be able to stand winds of up to 150 miles an hour or more proved to be, once again very effective. According to Pedro Rodríguez Pérez, CO2RP, the President of the Cuban Federation of Radio Amateurs, our national ham radio organization, more than 420 amateur radio operators participated in the emergency communications networks that included local, provincial and national nets. Pedro told me Saturday morning that he thought that even more operators where involved, as reports from some of the provinces struck by Hurricane Michelle are still to reach the Headquarters of FRC in Havana. Among the most striking events during the Hurricane was how Cayo Largo, a beautiful island South of Cuba, took the full force of Michelle with huge battering waves of more than 6 meters and a storm tide that made the island almost disappear. There Alexis, CL4RP, a young amateur from the Isle of Youth kept the national weather service, our Meteorological Institute, well informed with the Cayo Largo weather station data, even when the wind was blowing at sustained speeds clocked higher than 135 miles per hour... Alexis had to run away from his first location with his transceiver and antenna, and re-install everything at the Cayo Largo international airport control tower, when the storm surge started to rapidly make the island smaller and smaller. 142 Cubans had stayed in Cayo Largo to protect the tourist installations and the airport, and ham radio was the way they later contacted with their families in the mainland to tell them about the unique shivering experience of seen Cayo Largo go almost completely below the water ! By the way, the hurricane watch, alert and alarm stages saw more than half a million Cubans evacuated from their homes into safe areas, something that kept the number of fatalities to the extremely low number of 5 persons, a number that could had been much larger if the early evacuation procedures had not been adopted by the Civil Defense authorities. A the national Headquarters of the Cuban Civil Defense, the radio amateurs from the Playa Municipal Radio Club in the City of Havana manned the station at the command post. Oscar CO2GV, charlie oscar two gulf victor was in charge of CO2DCN, the Civil Defense Headquarters Station that was activated as soon as Hurricane Michelle was South of the Isle of Youth. Yes, we learned a lot during this emergency, especially how to use better antennas on the hand held two meter transceivers or handie talkies, in order to save battery power, also that running low power with near vertical incidence or NVIS antennas was very effective and also saved battery power, and last but not least, that the emergency training exercise we had at the start of this year's Hurricane season was extremely useful, especially to newcomers that had never before operated emergency communications networks during extreme conditions. Hurricane Michelle was the worst tropical cyclone to affect Cuba since 1944, and according to Dr. José Rubiera, our national weather service top expert in the field of hurricanes, it was a category 4 in the Saffir-Simpson scale, a huge storm by all standards. Today, almost a week after Michelle`s terrible winds and rains damaged buildings, downed high voltage transmission line towers, and destroyed crops, Cuba is recovering at a fast pace, including of course, our national telecommunications infrastructure. In some areas, like in the Zapata Swamp Municipality, amateur radio stations are still providing vital links for relief work, proving , once again that our radio hobby is a valuable asset to any nation. ........... You are listening to the weekend edition of DXers Unlimited, your favorite radio hobby program via shortwave and via the world wide web amigos... Sorry, but we have not been able to restore some of our frequencies to North America and Europe yet, during the next few days as the national electricity system's high voltage lines are brought back into service, we will be back on the air on 6000 kiloHertz and 9820 kiloHertz to North America and on 13750 kiloHertz to Europe..... Now amigos, here is QSL on the air, yes ! our popular QSL on the air section of DXers Unlimited is now on the air to give a big thank you to all of our listeners that have sent e-mail and FAX messages wanting to know about how Hurricane Michelle had affected us, fortunately we have had no personal injuries or heavy damage to our station, the only problem now, as I have just explained is the tremendous amount of work that is required to put the national electrical system network back into full service. Amigos from all over the world, it was very nice to see those messages coming in as soon as we had power restored to our computers!!!. MUCHAS GRACIAS, THANK YOU ALL VERY MUCH, MERCI BEACOUP !!! (Arnie Coro, CO2KK, DXers Unlimited Nov 10-11, via Bob Chandler, ODXA via DXLD) ** DUCIE ISLAND. DXpedition cancelled: They are playing it safe due to the WX......30 knot winds, 12 foot waves. 73 from (Bill Smith, W5USM, 2347 UT Nov 19, WORLD OF RADIO 1106, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EGYPT. Radio Cairo, 9990, 2138 UT in English with news read by woman, commentary on M. East problem, then some local Egyptian music. 18/11. SIO 443, audio not so great. Sony ICF 7600 (Costa Constantinides, Cyprus, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also AFGHANISTAN ** ETHIOPIA [non]. 9855 R Rainbow, P.O.Box 140104, D-53056 Bonn, Germany. Carta QSL (Verifier: T. Assefa). Transmission via Deutsche Telekom, Juelich. Against 1 dollar. Received in 60 days (Claudio Morales, Argentina, Conexión Digital, Nov 18 via BC-DX via DXLD) ** FINLAND. Since Bill dropped my name in here...to recap, I find YLE does a good job with the very little money it has. Its weekday programs are in a more or less standard magazine format with the emphasis emphatically on Finland first and then the Baltic states with a little Scandinavia for good measure. (This is good since Finland is a real player in the telecom marketplace.) This is truly niche programming...other than Radio Sweden (and Radio Vilnius [q.v.]) no one pays much attention to this region. On Saturdays, there's a week in review with a Finnish lesson. (Admittedly, I think they could find something a more value to do with the time devoted to that lesson...How much Finnish can someone learn in five minutes a week?) The jewel of the schedule, IMHO, is Sunday's "Capital Cafe". This is a conversation program, usually with a prominent Finn and usually on topics interesting to those who are, in turn, interested in Finland and in Finland`s role in international affairs and international commerce. Because of the aforementioned niche, it would be a loss, IMHO, if YLE decided to drop its English program --- certainly much more of a loss than took place when SRI ended its rather underwhelming service to NA a month or so ago. For me, SRI died some years ago when it gutted its English production staff, the unique programs it produced and instituted the sterile service it now provides to NA only via the Internet (and satellite, I believe) --- and, which, according to Larry, it cannot even be bothered to monitor from time to time to hear if everything is OK with distribution (John A. Figliozzi, NY, Nov 19, swprograms via DXLD) You're more or less right about this, except that in the past year or so (and especially now that there's news on the weekend as well) the format from one day to the next sounds almost the same (except for Saturday, which now has the Finnish lesson and Nuntii Latini, the news in Classical Latin). The format is basically news, followed by one or two studio interviews (either two separate interviews, or often one interview, but with two people). The format sounds much like the Sunday "Capital Café", which has repeats on Friday. Once a month, there's "Nordic Report", which is a co-production with Radio Sweden. It airs on the first Thursday on Radio Sweden; I can't remember when it airs on YLE. It's an excellent program, IMHO. While I like the program, I must admit that my favorites are stations where they actually go "on location" in their features, as do Radio Prague and Radio Sweden (Ted Schuerzinger, Nov 19, swprograms via DXLD) My memory may be playing tricks, but I think I remember her saying at the 2000 fest that the English service is "unofficial" in the sense that it is not in Radio Finland's mission statement to produce programmes in English. Radio Finland has chosen to do so out of the budget it receives for broadcasts to expatriates. Therefore you have been, in effect, getting a 'freebie' from Radio Finland, at least in recent years. So as costs rise, it's obvious that English will be the first casualty (Andy Sennitt, swprograms via DXLD) ** FRANCE. Further to the mystery transmitter on 25926: although as in previous report La Rochelle is frequently mentioned, and this appears to be coming from a museum, when I phoned the main museum there, they knew nothing about it. They have no internal sound system, and their current exhibit is about something else, fishing boats. I have now received it on several days as early as 1230 and as late as 1715 UT; Nov 17 was best, but at most I can get only 10 seconds of usable audio per hour (not per second as erroneously previously stated). Possibly it is elsewhere in La Rochelle but it is not a large city. Also heard the River Charante mentioned, which flows through there. Another nearby town is Rochefort which also has a museum, but not in the phone book. 25926 is best heard in narrow FM mode, 12-15 kHz bandwidth, not in very narrow FM mode. The repeating recording was recognised saying the same thing on two different days around 1430. The tapes are professionally produced with announcer and music mixing. This really needs to be investigated by someone in the local area. Minimum skip distance for reception in Europe would be to Scandinavia, and this low power signal, maybe 5-10 watts would have very limited groundwave coverage. La Rochelle is rather remote, halfway up the Biscay Coast, a point of embarkation for early settlers going to Québec, as a matter of fact. Further research is needed, perhaps on the Internet. As for the 26143-26150 kHz TV audio signal in French David Hodgson has reported, I have yet to hear it, although I frequently check 26150 as one of the main North American TV cueing frequencies (Alan Roberts, Québec, paraphrased notes from a phone conversation Nov 20, with Glenn Hauser, DX Listening Digest) ** GEORGIA. Sounds like Peter Sellers in the Mouse that Roared http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2001/11/20/008.html (Waterer) Tuesday, November 20, 2001 Satrap and Media Baron Dreams of Global Glory, By Chloe Arnold BATUMI, Georgia -- President Aslan Abashidze of the autonomous republic of Adzharia (capital Batumi, population considerably less than the London Borough of Hammersmith) has a vision. By the end of the year he wants everyone from Belfast to Bokhara and from Stavanger to the Sudan to have heard of his minuscule kingdom. To this end, he has bought himself a satellite television station and, if you've tuned in correctly, you can pick up Adzharia TV anywhere in Europe or Central Asia. You can even receive it in parts of Africa, its deputy director told me proudly. But this isn't all. News from Adzharia wouldn't be much use to the people of Edinburgh or Naples or Schwarzwald if it only came in Georgian. So the ingenious Abashidze hit on a plan. He'd broadcast the news of Adzharia, where donkeys outnumber buses four to one, in five languages -- English, French, German, Italian and Georgian. Flicking through the job section of a British newspaper earlier this year, I came across an advertisement for a broadcast journalist in Batumi. Scores of highly experienced hopefuls were interviewed in a plush office in London's Chelsea Harbor. They clearly thought the job was a fast track route to becoming the next prime-time anchorman on CNN. Footage of the candidates reading the news was sent straight to Abashidze, who eventually chose a good-looking young man with a plummy English accent. The people of Adzharia speak highly of their president. Nellie Paronyan, who runs the guest house I stayed in, says he is warm and generous. "He likes everything to be in order," she tells me. "And he's very kind to children." But I get the impression he is feared as much as he is worshiped in his tiny corner of Georgia. There is talk that he is planning to run in the next presidential election in Georgia. For all his international acclaim, the Georgian president, Eduard Shevardnadze, is rapidly losing support at home and it's thought to be only a matter of time before new elections are called. Abashidze would have no trouble running an election campaign. With Adzharia TV broadcasting across half the globe, he's Georgia's answer to Rupert Murdoch. It's his policies the country needs to be more wary of. The Adzharian leader holds no truck with Western organizations like NATO, and he scoffs at privativation. Meanwhile, I'm not sure how the plummy Englishman is getting on at Adzharia TV. He doesn't speak any Russian or Georgian, I was told, and he wasn't there when I visited -- he'd gone home for a break. Perhaps Adzharia TV wasn't all he'd hoped for. Chloe Arnold is a freelance journalist based in Baku, Azerbaijan (Moscow Times via Fred Waterer, DXLD) ** GERMANY. Re: > That's the job of the Croatian Radio Zagreb ... I think indeed the Jülich crew coordinates the frequencies for HRT. The only customers with own frequency management seems to be Deutsche Welle (including the airtime swap transmission of RNW), VRT/RVi, AWR, the dying SRI, TWR and also FEBC with their Wertachtal transmission independent from Deutsche Welle. Also the HFCC file shows that HRT coordinates the frequencies for Deanovec but not for the Jülich transmissions. There are some webpages about the Jülich site, buried in the general DTAG presentation (English section only, the whole broadcast department is omited on the German-language pages for whatever reason), but this direct URL should work: http://www.telekom.de/dtag/ipl1/cda/level3_a/0,3680,10110,00.html (start page with aerial picture of the site). There you will find all details about the antennas (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Nov 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. Two cases of major transmission disruptions were reported here in Germany recently: On Saturday all Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk networks from the Halle radiohouse were disrupted from about 22:40 CET for some 15 minutes with MDR 1 - Radio Sachsen-Anhalt from Magdeburg throwed in as substitute, allegedly after (false) fire alarm. On Monday around 11 AM all radio networks of Westdeutscher Rundfunk went silent for up to five minutes due to a complete power supply failure, caused by water damage within the radiohouse (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Nov 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. Mediumwave dead in Germany: Well, not so in the responsible area of Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk; the ratings of the MDR info network were not bad already when this station was on mediumwave exclusively. Actually Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk was a pioneer in introducing exclusive mediumwave programming rather than duplicating FM stuff. First they established MDR info, and this was followed by the memorable decision not to let DT64 die when the FM network was definitely lost in June 1992 but instead to put it on 1044, with full 250 kW of course. (The transmitter at Wilsdruff, built in 1953, is kept under preservation order, by the way.) It's another story, completely away from the MW matter, that DT64 finally died. Today mediumwave offers here, some 120 km south of Berlin, following stations: MEGA-Radio on 576, 630, 693, 1431; MDR info on 783, 1044; Deutschlandfunk on 549, 756; Deutschlandradio Berlin on 990 and, if on, 855; CRo "Praha" on 639; CRo 6 on 1233. plus some further signals of insufficient strength (1323 etc.). MDR info is since recently available on 98.9, Deutschlandfunk on 97.3 (amongst others), Deutschlandradio Berlin is meanwhile a pest on the FM band due to many modest power outlets in Saxonia, so MEGA-Radio is the only remaining exclusive mediumwave station from Germany. Not exactly a convincing supply, especially when considering how dull the exclusive mediumwave station is. No comparison to the situation back in 1992/1993. Regards, (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Nov 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HONDURAS. HRMI, 5010, Nov 17 0205-0418*, reduced carrier USB. Spanish religious talk and music. IDs as R. Misiones Internacionales. English ID at 0328 with frequencies, address, reports to IMF World Missions... San Bernardino, California. Not heard lately, but now back with a good, fairly strong signal (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Watch out for the Peruvian around there too (gh) ** HONG KONG. 3940 R TV Stn Hong Kong, /1145-1155*, English weather report for the final yacht race of the "World Hong Kong Yacht Club final race 2001!. 35333 (Roland Schulze, Pangasinan, Philippines, BC- DX Nov 2 via DXLD) ! this one slipped by us (gh, DXLD) ** INDIA. India-Media-Museum (516 words) Broadcasting museum little more than old album By Deepshikha Ghosh, Indo-Asian News Service New Delhi, Nov 12 (IANS) In a small corner room of the national capital's Broadcasting House is a treasure trove of memories that trace the journey of Indian radio and television since its early beginning in 1927. It boasts of a public message recorded by Mahatma Gandhi when he visited the All India Radio (AIR) studios for the first and last time on November 12, 1947, the script of the first play in Urdu aired in Indian radio and the score sheet of the national anthem, "Jana Gana Mana." It has short messages scrawled by eminent personages such as Alfred Hitchcock, Sarojini Naidu, Jawaharlal Nehru, Mohammad Ali Jinnah and Vallabhbhai Patel when they visited AIR headquarters - all laminated and displayed on the walls. Only limited items were on display in the museum of AIR and Doordarshan (state-owned television) inaugurated by Information and Broadcasting Minister Sushma Swaraj Monday to mark the 54th anniversary of the Gandhi visit to record his first radio message to the refugees of the India-Pakistan partition, commemorated as public service broadcasting day. "We called for old score-sheets and original tape recordings from all over the country. But it was discovered in the process that many of the records and documents were not maintained properly," an AIR official told IANS. Some of this original material has survived with chemical treatment. Radio broadcasting in India began in 1927 with the inauguration of the Indian Broadcasting Company by the then Viceroy of India Lord Irwin. Photographs and press clippings of the occasion are on display. The hurriedly put together collection has some photographs of eminent personalities performing or witnessing historic recordings. One memorable occasion is that of Yuri Gagarin --- the world's first cosmonaut --- being interviewed in the Doordarshan studios. A gramophone record of a post-prayer address of Gandhi in September 1947 or some old original scripts of the first programmes broadcast on radio gives the odd thrill. Some classic hardware such as 50-year-old microphones, gramophone records, the first video camera, old television and radio sets and recording machines are also displayed in the other half of the museum, which occupies the foyer of the building. These sets hark back to the days when listening to music meant twisting little knobs without the luxury of a remote control and self-CD changer. Also showcased are some five-decade old musical instruments, some so rare that they are no longer in use, such as the Nagara, Kashmiri Rabaab, Taus and Mandra Bahar. The museum has very little for the common man to muse about - unless one is interested in flipping through old photographs. An AIR official admitted: "This is just an attempt to preserve some antiques in a heritage monument. It is not meant for commercial purposes." Commenting on the disappointing display, the deputy director general of the museum, Vijay Sinha said: "This is just the first phase. We plan to put up a bigger display once we receive all the memorabilia preserved since 1927." (--Indo-Asian News Service via Frederick Noronha, dx_india via DXLD) ** IRAN [non]. IRAQ. V. Of Mojahed-1 at 1500 heard on 5350 5650 6450 6850 7050 8350 8550 8850 10250, 13450, and 10450 (11th tx). (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, BC-DX Nov 3 via DXLD) ** IRAQ [non]. Extended R. Free Iraq (via RFE/RL) schedule as of Oct 31: 0200-0300 7105; 0200-0400 5965, 7175 and 7110; 0600-0700 11965, 15400, 17740; 1400-1500 11910; 1400-1600 1314; 1400-1700 6130, 9685, 11835; 1500-1700 11965; 2100-2300 6140 and 9645 (from RFE/RL website, via Mathias Kropf, Germany, Nov 18, BC-DX via DXLD) ** KURDISTAN. V. of Iraqi Kurdistan, 7090, Nov 17 0308-0325+, tune-in to Kor`an; weak, presumed (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KUWAIT. Radio Kuwait, 15110, 0626- UT in English with programme about the Koran. Station ID and frequencies given by male announcer. SIO blasting signal into my location. 20/11. Heard on my NRD 515 Receiver (Costa Constantinides, Cyprus, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LITHUANIA. [continued from FINLAND] I also really like Radio Vilnius, which is also faced with perpetual money problems. Indeed, they had to stop renting time from the Jülich transmitters and build a site in Lithuania. The three staffers at Radio Vilnius more or less do nothing but translate features from Lithuanian Radio's domestic program, with the exception of Vladas Dobilas' "Mailbag" programme (which uses the distinctive sounds of Zamfir's pan flute for its theme). I suppose I should promote Radio Vilnius here, since Vladas Dobilas has singled me out (*blush*) for getting the frequency of the 0030 UT broadcast changed to 7325 kHz -- the powers that be had originally selected 7335 kHz, which is of course the frequency for CHU! Indeed, when I informed Vladas of this, he seemed very worried that they were going to lose even more of their listeners. :-| And there's good reason to listen to Radio Vilnius too -- they just got new QSL cards. ;-) (Ted Schuerzinger, Nov 19, swprograms via DXLD) R. Vilnius, 9710, Nov 17, 0930-1000 English news, commentary, local music, ID; weak, mixing with unID on same frequency (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Eu service very rarely reported in NAm (gh) ** MEXICO [non]. NPR's All Things Considered on Monday had two mentions of shortwave. One was a vague reference to shortwave broadcasting in Afghanistan. The other about single-channel shortwave radios parachuted into an Indian community in Mexico, tuned to an evangelical shortwave station in California. Audio of both available at the NPR ATC Web page. 73 (Kim Elliott, DC, Nov 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) viz.: Mexico - Religious Radio A high-flying attempt to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ in Mexico is dividing an ancient Indian culture. The Huicholes of central Mexico have lived in rugged isolation for centuries, warding off outsiders since long before the days of the Spanish conquest. But now an international coalition of evangelical ministries is making inroads -- by dropping tiny proselytizing radios into the most remote native villages. NPR's Gerry Hadden reports from the canyons of Zacatecas, in Mexico. (6:30) Listen with Real Audio http://www.npr.org/ramfiles/atc/20011119.atc.17.ram (NPR ATC website via Kim Elliott, DC, WORLD OF RADIO 1106, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Altho a brief clip is heard, the SW station in California is never identified. Bet it`s KVOH. But the radios come from Galcom(?), in Hamilton, Ontario. These people obviously have no respect for the native religion, ``witchcraft`` (gh, WORLD OF RADIO 1106, DXLD) ** NEW ZEALAND. RNZI, 11675, Nov 17 0930-1005* English, classical music, 1000 news. Excellent, really booming in; then switched to 15175 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA. Dear Glenn, I am wondering if you have the e mail of the Voice of Nigeria which I am hearing well lately with their English language programme. A postal address is given but I prefer to e mail first, then post them later a report. On Sunday at 2146 UT there is a programme where two charming presenters male and female read letters though they were for the few months back. Letter of the month came from NY USA; trying to be the best in Africa and compete against Channel Africa. Heard on 15120 at 2146 In English with letter box programme comments from the letters, 2200 Nigerian pop music show. Postal box for reports given and told of new web site in the future. An e mail was given but it was difficult to take down. 18/11. SIO 444. I got an e mail from a DXer in New Zealand informing me to fax them rather as the mailing system is not safe idea. Today Voice of Nigeria 15120, 0500 UT In English with Nigerian news then African news, SIO 444. 20/11 (Costa Constantinides, Cyprus, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAKISTAN. I found out today that Domestic Service via API-4 is now using 6140 at 0200-0400 (x7265). Their DS are broadcasting on: API-4: "Current Affairs" only 0200-0400 6140, 1300-1800 7265. (Noel R. Green-UK, BC-DX Nov 14 via DXLD) Frequency change of Radio Pakistan in Urdu to Eu/NAf: 1700-1900 NF 9390v, ex 9400v to avoid Radio Bulgaria in German/French/German \\ 11570v (Observer, Bulgaria, Nov 20, via DXLD) ** POLAND. One thing is sure: the Radio Polonia transmitters are doing a very bad job. I tried to listen to them on Wednesday and Thursday at 2030 UTC. They give four shortwave frequencies for that transmission: 9540, 7165,7290 and 5995 kHz. Only on 7165 kHz could I hear them on my Sony 2001. Even so, the signal was atrocious, and certainly not good enough to listen to them for more than a few seconds to identify the station. Anyway, maybe it’s just me, just test it out for yourself. There’s a first transmission on shortwave in English from 1300-1359 UTC on 11820, 9525, 7270 and 6095 kHz; and also from 1800-1859 UTC on 7285 and 5995 kHz. So, there you are. Another station that will disappear from the shortwaves. Maybe, or should I say, hopefully, DRM (Digital Radio Mondial) will bring the solution, like for our own transmitters at Waver (Frans Vossen, RVi Radio World Nov 18, via John Norfolk, DXLD) ** QATAR. AL JAZEERA --- The Arabic news channel Al Jazeera, which has become a vital source of news from within Afghanistan, has announced it is to launch an English language version early next year. It hopes this will broaden the appeal of the channel to a wider audience. The existing station is available on Sky Digital channel 674. ("What Satellite TV") At the CIBAR meeting it was revealed that Al Jazeera, which was founded with journalists trained by the BBC, after the British government forced BBC World to close its Arabic TV service, is launching two new Arabic language TV channels (a financial news channel and a documentary channel), as well as an English language website (George Wood, SCDX/MediaScan Nov 20 via DXLD) ** QATAR. Al-Jazeera TV director discusses network's plans, rejects claims of bias Muhammad Jasim al-Ali, director-general of Qatar-based Al-Jazeera satellite TV, was interviewed by Jordanian newspaper Al-Arab al-Yawm ahead of the Taleban's withdrawal from the Afghan capital Kabul on 12 November. Al-Ali said Al-Jazeera's next goal would be the introduction of an English-language service. On the question of US the government's concern over TV networks rebroadcasting Usamah Bin- Laden statements provided by Al-Jazeera, Al-Ali believed no direct pressure had been applied by the US. Al-Ali rejected media claims that Al-Jazeera was the mouthpiece of Bin-Ladin's Al-Qa'idah network, stressing that the station had reported the Afghan war in an unbiased manner. Following is text of the interview published on 19 November; date and location of the interview not specified. Subheadings inserted editorially: Role of the Arab media [Samir Abu-Hilalah] In your view, what is the role that the Arab media are required to play at this crucial stage in the nation's history? [Al-Ali] Actually the Arab media in general, whether now or at anytime, should mainly satisfy the Arab audience by conveying the facts and not politicizing issues in favour of this or that regime. The media should respect the intelligence of Arab viewers and listeners who are clever and can distinguish the facts. Also, they now have access to world and other Arab news sources, thanks to the revolution in information technology. English-language service envisaged [Abu-Hilalah] Al-Jazeera television managed to put the Arab media on the world map in a short time. Do you contemplate setting up an English-language channel to reach more viewers worldwide? [Al-Ali] In the past, specifically last year, Al-Jazeera began to receive many proposals and ideas from the television's friends and audiences, suggesting that at least one news bulletin be broadcast in English or subtitles be provided for other programmes and bulletins. The board of directors is currently studying these proposals. The station's primary objective is to reach Arab viewers in or outside the Arab world. We achieved this goal to a reasonable extent and are pursuing this line. However, we envisaged that our next goal should be the introduction of an English service. If we do, we must ensure that we provide a service with standards as good as those of the best international English-speaking networks. Given the current achievement in the Arabic service, we will not compromise the reputation of Al-Jazeera channel by introducing a modest service. Al-Jazeera denies US pressure [Abu-Hilalah] The US administration's current attack on the Al- Jazeera channel clearly reveals the defeat which this channel inflicted on the Western media plans. How much pressure is Washington exerting on you? [Al-Ali] Undoubtedly some US officials made statements showing that they were annoyed by Al-Jazeera's reports on Taleban and the statements of Al-Qa'idah and Usamah Bin-Ladin, which the channel aired. As far as we are concerned, we look at these reports and statements from a professional perspective, allowing opinions and counter opinions to be expressed. Nevertheless, the statements made by these officials do not amount to direct pressure. Besides, Western networks do not broadcast the Taleban and Al-Qa'idah organization statements. They cite Al-Jazeera's reports. "Harassment" of correspondents acknowledged [Abu-Hilalah] Do you regard the harassment of your correspondents in Geneva and Paris and the barring of your correspondent from going to China as part of this pressure? [Al-Ali] It is true that none of the Al-Jazeera correspondents in numerous countries worldwide were harassed before the 11 September events. However, some incidents of harassment occurred in the wake of these events. For example, the Al-Jazeera correspondent in Brussels, Ahmad Kamil, was banned from entering Geneva. Also, our correspondent in Moscow Akram Khuzam was not allowed to go to northern Afghanistan or China to cover political and economic developments there. With regard to the Arab countries, our correspondents in most of these countries are treated well. Our only problem is that we do not have correspondents in some Arab countries, such as Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Bahrain and Tunisia because the authorities in these countries have not given us licences to operate there. Still, we do not claim that this is part of the pressure on us because every country has its own media policy. Claims of bias "do not deserve comment" [Abu-Hilalah] While the US administration accuses the Al-Jazeera channel of being the trumpet of Bin-Ladin, as they put it, it has been reported that Al-Jazeera still refuses to broadcast tapes sent by Bin-Ladin and by the Al-Qa'idah organization's spokesman. How accurate are these reports? [Al-Ali] The Al-Jazeera channel is not a trumpet of anyone. We have not heard such a remark before. This issue does not deserve comment. As for the refusal to air tapes sent by a certain party, we are a news channel that deals with news reports in a professional and credible way. We do not refrain from airing any material that is fit for broadcasting. However, we sometimes receive a lot of material from Western, Asian and other sources. We ignore them if we deem them unfit, or air them after omitting the unfit parts. [Abu-Hilalah] The Western campaign against Al-Jazeera escalated after the channel showed pictures of Afghan civilians who came under the US bombardment and reported that the Americans used internationally banned weapons. Will this campaign prompt you to stop doing the professional work with which you were characterized or will you press ahead? [Al-Ali] Several media asked us this question before. We answered them by saying that it would be dishonest media practice not to show genuine pictures taken at the actual site of events. Why should cameramen be banned from travelling to destroyed military sites to show their pictures on the screen? As far as we are concerned, we show the material we receive. Another point we mentioned in our response was that US television networks used to show the pictures of ugly atrocities, which the Serbs committed against the Bosnian people during the Balkans war, in order to incite world public opinion against the Serbs before carrying out military strikes against them. In other words, their media were used for political purposes. So how come no one objected to them? US not blocking Al-Jazeera broadcasts [Abu-Hilalah] It is obvious that major Western media lost their Arab and Muslim audiences and even Arab and Muslim viewers in the West, namely in the United States. Do those who pick up Al-Jazeera transmission in the United States experience any inconveniences? Are there attempts to block Al-Jazeera's transmission, beamed at these audiences, following the 11 September events and the start of the war on Afghanistan? [Al-Ali] To our knowledge, the audiences of Al-Jazeera face no inconveniences. Rather, the number of Al-Jazeera viewers has risen a great deal. Al-Jazeera's transmission now covers all parts of the world, including America, Europe, Asia, Africa, the Far East and Australia. Onus on Arab media to follow channel's lead [Abu-Hilalah] It is the first time that the Arab media, represented by Al-Jazeera, convey true events as they happen, to the entire world. In the past, it was the Western media that monopolized the reporting of such events. Do you think that this transition will support our nation's causes? [Al-Ali] Surely the Arab media can support the Arab nation's just causes by honest reporting of events in the Arab world. Al-Jazeera made the first step in this direction, as a network conveying the sentiment of ordinary Arabs in a professional and credible way and conducting discussions and free dialogue without barring anyone from expressing their views with freedom and democracy. So the onus is now on the other audio, print and visual media to pursue the same line in order to achieve the desired objectives. Viewers' feedback encouraged [Abu-Hilalah] One of the means to gauge popularity is the letters received from the viewers. Do you receive letters from Arabs and Muslims residing in the West telling you that they watch your broadcasts and requesting specific programmes or news reports? [Al-Ali] Surely the channel receives a large number of letters from its dear viewers, containing various ideas, proposals and requests, some of which we implement. With regard to the feedback from our viewers, we rely on specialized international firms and take viewership into consideration when we plan our programme cycles and news bulletin times. Interviews with Israelis defended [Abu-Hilalah] After a noticeable break, why did Al-Jazeera resume interviews with the Israelis even though it knows that such interviews provoke the Arabs who reject them part and parcel? [Al-Ali] Conducting interviews with all parties to any conflict is a practice in line with Al-Jazeera's policy of airing opinions and counter opinions. Besides, Al-Jazeera did not stop conducting such interviews as you mentioned. We do this not to provoke people, but because professionalism and credibility require us to convey to the Arab audience, the other side's views and not only the official views that are carried by other Arab media, which do not convey the whole truth. Source: Al- Arab al-Yawm, Amman, in Arabic 19 Nov 01 p 4 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. Regarding the discussion about Voice of Russia on 7380: There should indeed be no VoR on this frequency after midnight UT but instead Radio Rossii from Taldom 0100-0500 with 250 kW, aiming at 260 degrees. The HFCC file suggests this further schedule: 0530-0800 12060, 0830-1500 17600, 1530-2100 11630 or alternative 1700-2000 12060 but in fact 11630 is in use, confirmed prior to 1700, // co- located 261. There is a sister outlet with 250 kW too but different beam heading of 310 degrees, schedule seems to be 0200-0500 6115, 0530-0800 9860, 0830-1700 13705 (also confirmed by monitoring), 1730- 2300 7350. In recent years there used to be a mixing product from both transmitters in the morning, this would be on 4850 now (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Nov 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. It was quite unnecessary to extract a Radio Rossii schedule from the HFCC file I meanwhile noted... Nikolay Rudnev not only confirms that the Chkalovskaya site was replaced by Kurovskaya (Olle already figured this from operational characteristics a while ago) but also points out that Noginsk was replaced by Kurovskaya, too. So evidently both Chkalovskaya and Noginsk are now off shortwave if not off air altogether. Noginsk used to operate 5910/7250, beaming towards northern Russia, while Chkalovskaya did 9720 and it's morning/evening companions towards Belarus (240 degrees). The Kurovskaya site should have 10 transmitters of 100 kW, mostly idle now, so it certainly makes sense to use this capacity for Radio Rossii and drop the small Chkalovskaya and Noginsk sites (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Nov 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SWEDEN. RADIO SWEDEN --- Coming up on Radio Sweden over the next few days: Tuesday-In "Close Up" a special on legendary and controversial Swedish entertainer Zarah Leander Wednesday-Money Matters Friday-Review of the Week Sunday-In "Sounds Nordic" Harry Potter fever and Isak (George Wood, CA, SCDX/MediaScan Nov 20 via DXLD) ** SWITZERLAND [and non]. I have a bit of a soft spot for SRI -- I won a wrist watch in their "Name Game" programme in the summer of 2000. I felt pretty odd going down to the post office, signing for the package with a Radio Slovakia International pen, and when I got back to the house, unlocking the front door with keys on a Radio Prague key-chain. At least I wasn't wearing my Radio Austria International fanny-pack. :-) (Ted Schuerzinger, swprograms Nov 19 via DXLD) ** TAIWAN. New Star Broadcasting Station, observed as "Xin Xing Guangbo dian tai", active on 8300 9725 13750 15385, flute melody on s-on. Transmitter on air 30 minutes before broadcast. Transmissions not in \\ they have different code number transmissions. Two lady announcer, one for ID announcement, the other for number reading. Irregular transmissions, some times one of three frequencies is not on air, sometimes one frequency on air but not modulated. sloper North/South 30 m East/West 30 m inverted L-antenna 8300 /0200-0215* S=7 S=5 9725 /0200-0220* S=4 S=3 13750 /0200-0245* S=1/2 S=5 8300 /1000-1025* S=9 S=9 +10 dB 9725 /1000-1020* S=9 S=7/8 13750 1000-1025 not active 8300 /1100-1118* S=9 S=9 +10 dB 9725 /1100-1115* S=9 +10 dB S=9 13750 /1100-1115* S=7 S=7/8 And on Nov 4th with different digit programmes: 15385 /0200-0220* S=8/9 S=9 9725 /0200-0210* 8300 /0200-0210* 13750 /0200-0300* not modulated, just the carrier on. (Roland Schulze, Philippines, BC-DX Oct 29 - Nov 10 via WORLD OF RADIO 1106, DXLD) 8300, New Star Broadcasting Station, 1436-1500+, YL with usual 4- digit number groups, also heard on 13750 (strong with buzz), 11430 (weak) and 9725 (fair), but seemed to be independent xmsns and not \\ to each other. Transmissions ended at different times: 1443* (13750), 1447* (9725), 1450* (13750) and 1451* (8300); carriers remained on; then all started up again at *1500 (John Wilkins, CO, DXplorer Nov 17 via BC-DX via DXLD) 15388 also confirmed at 1000, 11430 covered by RTTY, 13750 covered by a Chinese tester, 8300, 9725 both heard. At 1300, 1400 all five frequencies were confirmed with "program", 13750 being the strongest signal (Olle Alm, Sweden, BC-DX Nov 19 via WORLD OF RADIO 1106, DXLD) ** TIBET [non?]. Today (?) China switched to winter frequencies and added several new ones in the tropical bands. All transmissions below monitored from 1330: Tibet Tibetan: a) 3990, 5969.6, 7130, no satellite delay, s-off already at 1400, b) 4905, 4920, 5240, 6200, 7385 all single satellite delay, s-off 1700, c) 7150, 9500 double satellite delay s-off 1700. Chinese: 5935, 7170 and with satellite delay 7550. The Tibetan channel had a DJ program playing lots of very enjoyable modern Tibetan ballads. The a) channels had very good modern audio quality (Olle Alm, Sweden, BC-DX Nov 18 via DXLD) This afternoon Tibet was not using 4905 and 5240. 3990, 5969.6 and 7130 were in \\ with other Tibetan frequencies until 1400, then switched to a different program and finally went off by 1402. These frequencies also noted at 2300, again with a different program. Could this be a Tibetan service from another province (Qinghai or Gansu)? (Olle Alm, Sweden, BC-DX Nov 18/19 via DXLD) ** TIBET [non] Re: Where are these xmtrs? [15670, 15680] (John Cobb, Roswell, GA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi, for at least since 1998 now, V of Tibet is randomly using about four channels in 15.6 MHz range, to avoid Chinese jamming. Cat and Mouse play ... See HFCC list also, 100 kW transmitters from Almaty, Kazakhstan and Dushanbe, Tajikistan. 73 wb df5sx (Wolfgang Büschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKEY. 6900, Turkey Meteo, Nov 20 0805 with just trace of signal but Turkish songs are marginally heard. Slow fades coming and below threshold:. RX D2935 Philips at office, TVmesh, 40m TV cable. Also at house with R75 at 1456 with signal S9+10 (Zacharias Liangas, Thessaloniki, Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UKRAINE. Radio Kiev, 7420, 0445 UT in English with discussion on economy then about a trade fair. Ukrainian pop music. 20/11 (Costa Constantinides, Cyprus, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U A E. UAE Radio Dubai in Arabic and English noted: 0600-1645 on ODD 21597.7, instead of nominal 21605.0 1645-2100 on ODD 11945.3, instead of nominal 11950.0 0600-2100 on ODD 15387.4, instead of nominal 15395.0 <<<<<< only on Nov. 11 (Observer, Bulgaria, Nov 20, via WORLD OF RADIO 1106, DXLD) ** U K. OFT ruling... "Britain lost its way" NEWS RELEASE - 20 November 2001 Radiocommunications Agency not covered by Competition Act In response to a submission by Trevor Brook, who has been seeking a licence for an independent short wave station, Radiofax, since 1984, the Office of Fair Trading ruled that the Radiocommunications Agency is not covered by the Competition Act when it issues licences. The OFT directed that the government were entitled to refuse to grant a licence to anyone other than Merlin Communications International, overruling Brook's complaint that the government is operating a short wave monopoly. However, the OFT went on to point out that the White Paper on Enterprise, Skills and Innovation gives the OFT a new advisory role when laws and regulation create barriers to entry and competition. The OFT will be looking at all areas where there are potential problems which result in progress and innovation being held back. In his submission to the OFT, Trevor Brook made a comparison between slots for transatlantic flights and for short wave. At one time British Airways held a monopoly but this came to be recognised as unfair. The cake had to be shared amongst operators and the same should have happened on short wave. He concludes that, "The whole saga is a sad metaphor for the way that Britain has lost its way in exploiting innovation." Contact: Trevor Brook. Tel: 01483 275 997, Mobile: 07950 549 075, Fax: 01483 276 477. s.e@ndirect.co.uk Surrey Electronics Ltd., The Forge, Cranleigh, Surrey, GU6 7BG, England. Related stories: Anger over sale of former BBC business: 15 November 2001: http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4299253,00.html European Court of Human Rights ruling, 27 September 2000: http://www.rnw.nl/realradio/html/archive001013.html (Surrey Electronics via DXLD) ** U K. BBC plans global news website Owen Gibson, Monday, November 19, 2001 Senior BBC executives have confirmed the corporation is pressing ahead with ambitious plans for the launch of a global news website, aiming to make it the equivalent of the World Service and BBC World. Full story at http://media.guardian.co.uk/bbc/story/0,7521,597388,00.html (Mike Barralcough, Nov 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Homefront Radio Network Officially Launches; Armed Forces To Benefit For release: Immediate; Contact: Corey Deitz Email: coreydeitz@homefrontradio.com (Little Rock) - The Homefront Radio Network officially launched November 15th with the goal of serving America's Armed Forces with a taste of local radio no matter where they are stationed around the world. The network is comprised of various radio shows from around the country who have joined together to provide specially earmarked portions of their shows for the network. From Brunswick, Maine to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, local radio personalities have volunteered to provide audio content to the Homefront Radio Network. "What we're doing is giving America's Service men and women a taste of home no matter where they are, " says Jay Hamilton, co-founder of the network. "We can update our programming quickly and the Internet lets us broadcast it globally, " he adds. The network can keep the audio content fresh because the immediacy of the Internet allows affiliate stations to simply record a portion of their broadcast and then email it as an mp3 file. The segments are then integrated into it's 24/7 audio signal which originates through the streaming services of Live365.com . Besides segments of local radio from around the United States, the Homefront Radio Network will also be providing a selection of holiday music for military listeners beginning Thanksgiving and running through the end of the year. "We're still looking for more radio affiliates to join up and help out," adds co-founder Corey Deitz. "We need their help to make this project as strong as it can be." Radio stations can find out more information at http://www.homefrontradio.com Listeners can hear The Homefront Radio Network by going to the website and clicking the listen link (via Tom DiMeo, Nov 19, WORLD OF RADIO 1106, DXLD) Why not broadcast this on SW if it is really ``radio``?? Our forces in the field overseas are hauling around computers with Internet access? (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. WWCR Still adjusting Overcomer schedule, now 2200-0500 nf 7435, 0500 to 1400 7560, 1400-2200 9475 (Overcomer website Nov 19 via Johnson, Cumbre DX via DXLD) George McClintock tells me that it remains to be seen if Australia will object to 7435 as they did months ago causing WWCR to leave it previously. Now it has been shown beyond a shadow of a doubt that it would not possibly interfere in Australia at the hours used. Meanwhile, with WWCR absent from 7460, some other broadcaster has moved in, so the USAF can`t use it either. WWCR was in fact holding the channel for USG until it really needed it, but this eviction was apparently only to have it open as a backup. Resumption of 9475 at 2200-2400 for WWCR-1 is probably in the offing, but there is something Asian on the frequency at 1000-1100 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Welcome to the first on-the-road edition of "MediaScan", from cloudy northern California. CIBAR --- I recently attended the annual Conference of International Broadcasters' Audience Research Services, in Washington, DC. While much of what was discussed was not for public disclosure, the meeting did give some interesting insights into aspects of international broadcasting which we broadcast journalists are often unaware of. It's hard enough to work out the audience when they are listening on shortwave, but how do you add satellite reception, local rebroadcasting, and listening over the Internet? Should someone reading news on a station website or receiving a newsletter (like this one) be equated with someone actually listening to the radio program? In keeping with recent events, there were presentations about audiences during crises, and research in difficult areas. Ironically, during a presentation about Al-Jazeera, there was a bomb threat at the Brookings Institute next door, and the conference had to be temporarily moved from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace to the offices of Radio Liberty/Radio Free Europe. There was a session about the complexities of "Rebroadcasting in the USA" about public radio in the United States, of great interest to small stations like Radio Sweden, trying to reach the American audience. Perhaps more confusing are the complex relationships of US international broadcasters, the several hosts of the conference. The Voice of America is the official US broadcasting station. While many consider it to be the voice of the US government, that part of its mission is supposed to be confined to official commentaries. VOA news reporting is supposed to be objective, a fact which the Bush Administration recently seems to be failed to grasp as it sought to suppress an interview with the head of the Taliban, Mullah Omar. VOA journalists stood firm to protect their journalistic independence. The other side of US international broadcasting are the many "surrogate" broadcasters, beginning in the early days of the Cold War with Radio Liberty and Radio Free Europe. These are stations created by the US government (and initially secretly funded by the CIA) intended as alternative domestic broadcasters to nations perceived by the US as lacking a free press (and on the other side in the Cold War-there were never surrogate broadcasters to Marcos' Philippines, Pinochet's Chile, or the Shah's Iran). Radio Liberty was aimed at the Soviet Union, and continues to broadcast to Russia and the other countries which were part of the USSR. Radio Free Europe broadcast to the Soviet satellite states of Eastern Europe. Recent years have seen the addition of Radio-TV Martí to Cuba, and Radio Free Asia to China (including Tibet), North Korea, and Southeast Asia. The US Congress is currently considering legislation to create a Radio Free Afghanistan, a proposal opposed by the US State Department. Obviously there are overlaps, as these surrogates broadcast in languages also used by the VOA. There have been demarcation problems, which presumably might be reflected in the various audience research efforts. But at CIBAR the various stations were always completely cordial with each other (although there may have been under-the- surface currents which escaped an uninitiated observer). One puzzling incident…one of the surrogates presented a survey on whether people in the target country like Americans. That seems much more a question of interest to VOA, and not at all part of the mission of what is supposed to be a replacement domestic broadcaster. NPR/VOA/RFA --- During CIBAR I visited several radio stations in Washington, DC. One of the most interesting aspects was the level of digitalization. After many delays, NPR is now fully digital. Radio Free Asia, which inhabits the renovated former offices of NPR, is also fully digital. The Voice of America, in its venerable location a stone's throw from the US Capitol, has digital editing, including on the desktop (something we would dearly like to have at Radio Sweden), but all programs have to be copied from the computers to tape before broadcast, as the final stage of the production cycle is still analog. While Radio Free Asia used two digital editing systems I have never heard of, NPR and VOA use the Dalet system formerly used by several departments within the Swedish Broadcasting Corporation (and since replaced by Digas). (Radio Sweden uses the Finnish Radioman system now also used by the BBC.) We'll have more about CIBAR in an upcoming edition of MediaScan (George Wood, SCDX/MediaScan Nov 20 via DXLD) ** URUGUAY: 6009.71v to 6010.25v, Emisora Ciudad de Montevideo, Montevideo. 1548-1602. November 17. Program: "A sol caliente". Local ads: Cera H, Motores Eléctricos Limitada, Confitería La Ópera, Restaurante Panamericano, etc. Announcement about different weekend shows in Montevideo. ID: "En su receptor, CX42 Emisora Ciudad de Montevideo, Uruguay, transmitiendo en 1370 kilohercios. La frecuencia, que se sintoniza con mayor frecuencia". 34422 [this one also on WORLD OF RADIO 1106] 6125.1, SODRE, Montevideo. 1207-1215. November 17. Tangos by Carlos Gardel. 24432 6140, Radio Montecarlo, Montevideo. 1846-1900. November 17. Different songs. ID: "Desde Montevideo, capital de la República Oriental del Uruguay, transmite CX20 Montecarlo, 930 AM, la súper radio". Local ads. This stations is off air in local morning. 9620.9, SODRE, Montevideo. 1157-1202. November 17. Program: "Variedades musicales". ID: "Transmite CX6, en 650 kilohercios y CXA6 en 9620 kilohercios, emisoras de Radiodifusión Nacional SODRE, Montevideo, República Oriental del Uruguay". Ann.: "....nos reencontraremos mañana a partir de las 7 horas, aquí, en CX6 SODRE...". Local ads: Palacio de la Música. Other ann.: "y ahora, un espacio para el tradicional género español...aquí comienza...Música de Zarzuela". 34433 (all: Arnaldo Slaen, Argentine, Nov 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VIETNAM. VOV reported Oct 28 - Nov 7: En 1330-1400, 1600-1630, 1800-1830, 1900-1930, 2030-2100 7145 9730. 2330-2400 7285. Announced 0100-0130, 0230-0300, 0330-0400 6175-Sackville, Canada. 0330-0400 7260, 0100-0130, 0230-0300 5940. 1000-1030, 1230-1300 9840 12020. 1100-1130 7285 (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, BC-DX Nov 10 via DXLD) ###