DX LISTENING DIGEST 1-209, December 30, 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 #1111 (STREAM) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1111.ram (DOWNLOAD) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1111.rm (SUMMARY) http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio/wor1111.html NEXT AIRINGS on WWCR: UT Mon 0100, 0600 3210 NEXT AIRINGS on RFPI: Tue 1900, UT Wed 0100, 0700, 1300 on some of: 7445-USB/AM, 15040v, 21815-USB 2001 --– THE SHORTWAVE YEAR IN REVIEW by GLENN HAUSER, appears on this week`s VOA Communications World. For full schedule, see http://www.trsc.com/cw EXPANDED version (almost 12 minutes): (DOWNLOAD) http://www.worldofradio.com/swyir01.rm (STREAM) http://www.worldofradio.com/swyir01.ram (SCRIPT) http://www.worldofradio.com/swyir01.html DX PROGRAMS: another updat posted December 30: http://www.worldofradio.com/dxpgms.html HOLIDAY MONITORING: both programming and DX, shortwave and web: http://www.worldofradio.com/holiday.html UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS Just finished listening to the new edition of your annual Shortwave Year in Review, using download (since CompuServe version 6.0 has a built-in media player). Once again, a fine piece of analysis on your part. Hopefully there will be enough shortwave to keep us tuning around in 2002 -- especially on the declining tropical band areas. Once again, you raise something about Radio Free Asia; what do you mean when you say "we're still waiting on Wu"? (Joe Hanlon in Philadelphia) Wu was a language they were supposedly going to add, but I thought never had (yet). But see Kim`s PS to my text, linked above (gh) Glenn, Your name was mentioned on the WWCR show called Spectrum last night on 5070 khz - 0400-0500 ut. They said you are very talented, used to work for a classical music station in NY (WNYC?), multilingual. One speaker said they never seen a person put on so much information/data on a half hour show - they were referring to your WOR show. Just wanted to let you know (Petro Giannakopoulos, GA, Dec 30) Tnx for letting me know. I`ve worked for several classical stations, but never in New York. More `testimonials` in 17450 discussion at bottom (gh) ** AFGHANISTAN. Media round-up Sunday 30 December 2001 Radio Afghanistan BBC Monitoring has confirmed that Radio Afghanistan in the capital Kabul is broadcasting on mediumwave 1570 kHz. The precise mediumwave frequency was measured as 1570.15 kHz at 1345 gmt on 28 December. The FM 96.0 MHz frequency, which had been observed recently, has not been heard since 26 December. Balkh Radio Balkh Radio, which is based in the northern city of Mazar-e Sharif, Balkh Province, continues to be heard. On Sunday 30 December, the morning broadcast was observed from 0227-0431 gmt. The evening broadcast on Sunday was observed from 1230 gmt. Broadcasts are on the usual frequency of 1584 kHz. TV test broadcasts planned in Balkh province on 31 Dec, 1 Jan | Text of report by Afghan Balkh radio on 30 December An announcement by [the northern] Balkh Province's radio and television department: Balkh television is officially to begin broadcasting. Since the radio and television archive is short of broadcasting material, all compatriots are sincerely asked to help us by sending recorded materials, educational, informative, sporting, artistic and entertainment films, with translations, and the songs of our country's famous singers. Any singers who wish to record their songs and voice on television may come to the radio and television department and their songs will be checked and recorded. Balkh television will broadcast a test programme tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, Monday and Tuesday [31 December and 1 January], from 1600-1800 [local time, 1130-1330 gmt] in the evening. Our esteemed compatriots can install their aerial antennas and contact us on telephone numbers 2092 and 3276 to notify us of the quality of the audio and picture. Source: Balkh radio, Mazar-e Sharif, in Dari 1230 gmt 30 Dec 01 US donates equipment for Balkh TV/radio | Text of report by Afghan Balkh radio on 29 December US state aid which includes some television equipment and television cameras and video equipment manufactured by the (?Kamgar) firm was presented to the head of Balkh Province radio, television and Afghan film [Abdolrab Jahid] by a representative of that firm (?Toryali Kamgar). Bakhtar Information Agency reported that this equipment was very necessary for the beginning of television broadcasting and were earlier promised and prepared by Mr (?Bill), a US state humanitarian aid representative. The equipment was formally presented to the Department of Radio and Television and accepted with thanks. It should be noted that the generous cooperation of the (?Kamgar) firm is of great importance and the Department of Radio and Television expresses its thanks for that cooperation. [Balkh radio reported on 18 December that the head of the Kamgar company had visited Balkh TV station together with a delegation from Uzbekistan's UzTeleRadio company] Source: Balkh radio, Mazar-e Sharif, in Pashto 1330 gmt 29 Dec 01 Northern authorities clamp down on foreign journalists | Text of report by Afghan Balkh radio on 29 December Announcement by the Foreign Relations Department of the northern zone: It has come to light that a number of people, members of staff of Afghan offices and organizations based in Mazar-e Sharif and commercial firms have independently invited some foreign journalists, correspondents and staff of humanitarian aid organizations to their houses in the guise of interpreters, without notifying the Foreign Relations Department. These actions are in contravention of diplomatic policies and against working principles. For this reason all city dwellers are informed that such actions are to be strictly avoided. In the event that such actions are discovered, violators will treated according to the law. Investigation and security agencies have been assigned to identify such people. Source: Balkh radio, Mazar-e Sharif, in Pashto 1330 gmt 29 Dec 01 US PsyOps radio US PsyOps Information Radio continues to be observed by BBC Monitoring broadcasting in Pashto and Dari to Afghanistan. On Sunday 30 December, the broadcasts were heard at 0030-0530 and 1230-1500 gmt. On 29 December the station broadcast a 450-word biography in Dari of the interim prime minister, Hamed Karzai. Compiled by Foreign Media Unit, BBC Monitoring Telephone +44 118 948 6261 e-mail: fmu@mon.bbc.co.uk Source: BBC Monitoring research 30 Dec 01 (via DXLD) ** CANADA. TORONTO (CP) - The CBC technicians' union announced Sunday afternoon that a tentative deal to end the labour dispute has been ratified. The nationwide ratification vote by 1,600 members of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union ends a three-week dispute that had disrupted almost all of the public broadcaster's TV programming. The shutdown resulted in work stoppages for regular weekly programs and eliminated virtually all fresh video footage on the network's news and public-affairs programs. In a release, the union said the deal was approved by 75 per cent of the union. Members will get a 5½ per cent wage increase over two years, while several key concessions were made in by management in issues such as overtime rates. The union said its members will return to work on Monday. But national representative Mike Sullivan said that some issues remain contentious. "CBC moved a long way from their original positions, but we still must hold the managers accountable for getting our members meal breaks and time between shifts," he said. "We haven't seen the end of the issue, but hopefully over the next 18 months we can work out our systems to ensure that meals and sleep breaks are not the huge problem they have been." Peter Murdoch, vice president of the union, said one of the reasons the union agreed to the decision was a fear that viewers might turn away from the CBC after a long dispute, hurting regional television. "The very fabric of CBC journalism in regional centres was threatened, if this continued much longer," said Murdoch (via Brian Smith, DXLD) ** COLOMBIA. 2319.72 (Harmonic?) unID TODELAR, unknown QTH. Dec 2001 - 1040 UT. A station with ads for something in "Barrio Florída". A very exciting harmonic-frequency with several, often pretty weak, stations. I have not noted all these frequencies but on the fundamental 1160 kHz there are stations on 1159.87, 1160.01, 1160.08, 1160.30 and 1160.43 kHz --- there are for sure more "splits". 11950.30 harmonnic, Radio Auténtica, Villavicencio. Dec 2001 - 0100 UT. A religious programme called "Cadena del Amor". 0202 "Radio Auténtica" IDs. Harmonic from 5975.15 which was heard simultaneously but rather weak. Announces 7 "Auténtica" stations but without frequency: Bogotá, Medellín, Cali, Cartagena and Melgar plus two more places I could not hear (Björn Malm, Quito, Ecuador, SW Bulletin, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DXLD) ** COSTA RICA. RFPI previews include: ALTERNATIVE RADIO (60 minutes) Sat Jan 5: 1930- Noam Chomsky -"The New War on Terrorism: Fact and Fiction" --- Noam Chomsky's long awaited talk on the September 11th events and their aftermath. Speaking before an overflowing crowd of 2000 people in Cambridge, Massachusetts on 18 October 2001, Chomsky's compelling lecture on U.S. foreign policy helps separate fact from fiction in the current conflict with Afghanistan. His thorough historical analysis provides vital information for understanding the state of the world following 9/11. Noam Chomsky is one of the foremost intellectual figures of this era. A renowned professor at MIT for more than four decades, he has been honored with numerous awards and degrees. He was one of the first to speak out against the Vietnam War and is known the world over for his trenchant critiques of U.S. foreign policy and the media. For many he is a symbol of resistance to tyranny and the depredations of private and state power. Few people are more astute in decoding the realities of globalization. He was named in by Utne Reader as one of the top 100 visionaries in the world. Utne says, "Chomsky knows who's powerful, who's abusing their power, and what they and we should do about it. Over the years he's managed to provoke left and right through his relentless critiques of U.S. foreign policy and culture." The New Statesman calls him, "the conscience of the American people." Rolling Stone magazine says, "Chomsky has been unrelenting in his attacks on the American hierarchy ... he is up there with Thoreau and Emerson in the literature of rebellion." A recent survey ranked Prof. Chomsky as the most cited living author. He is in such demand as a public speaker that he is booked years in advance, and everywhere he goes he draws overflow audiences. He is the author of scores of books, including Class Warfare, Powers and Prospects, The Common Good, The New Military Humanism and Propaganda and the Public Mind. He is the subject of an award-winning documentary film entitled Manufacturing Consent. E-mail contact: ar@orci.com FAR RIGHT RADIO REVIEW The "Far Right Radio Review," takes a critical look at radical, reactionary, right-wing organizations and their spokespeople on shortwave, as well as AM, FM, TV, print media, and Cyberspace. The backgrounds of racist program producers are exposed, the links between different groups investigated, and the effects of a barrage of scapegoating hysteria analyzed. Thu Jan 3: 1900- Guest: Prof. Michael Barkun, author of the book "Religion and the Far Right: The Origins of the Christian Identity Movement." It's been called the glue that holds the far right movement together. Christian Identity is found in the voices of the likes of Pete Peters, Bob Halstrom, Dave Barley, Jim Wickstrom and others. Many white supremacist groups of the radical right such as the Aryan Nations, the Order, the Posse Comitatus and elements of the Ku Klux Klan are deeply committed to the distinctive but little recognized religious position known as Christian Identity. (encore presentation) NOTE: Archive editions of this program are also available in RealAudio at the RFPI website: http://www.rfpi.org/webcast.html (RFPI Weekly Program Update via DXLD) ** CZECH REPUBLIC. RFE/RL may be moved. 20 December, 2001 The Associated Press: Czech Prime Minister Milos Zeman said Tuesday his government will open talks with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty on moving its downtown Prague headquarters to a more secure ... http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2001/12/20/253.html (via Mike Terry, UK, DXLD) ** DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. 5009.79, Radio Pueblo, Santo Domingo. Dec 28 1000 UT. Just like Mohrmann and Alexander in DXLD I could hear "Radio Pueblo" IDs during the program but when they started up the next day at 1000 UT, the ID was definitely not "Radio Pueblo" but instead (roughly, distorted audio): "Radio Sur(?) la 15-10 dando la hora" followed by a TC. Does anybody know what they actually say? Announces only MW 1510 kHz (Björn Malm, Quito, Ecuador, SW Bulletin, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DXLD) ** ECUADOR [non]. Bandscan Dec 29, 2001. See COLOMBIA, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, GUATEMALA, PERU, UNIDENTIFIED. Björn Malm , c/o Susana Garcès de Malm, Avenida la Prensa 4408 y Vaca de Castro, Quito, Ecuador. Tel: +593 2 598 470, email: bjornmalm@yahoo.es --- rx: NRD- 535, Loewe HF-150 samt Sangean 808ATS. Ant: lw 24m, kopplad till magnetic longwire balun (Björn Malm, Quito, Ecuador, SW Bulletin, via DXLD) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 15184.58, Radio Africa, 1720s, 30 Dec, In English, religious sermons by man. Good signal with little adjacent channel interference and somewhat muddy, undermodulated audio. Unheard on this alternate frequency for quite a while (Mark Fine, VA, SWBC via DXLD) Or on any frequency, I think; Hans Johnson, South Africa, et al., Cumbre had concluded it was off the air a sesquimonth ago. One can only wonder if all the clients knew and were not charged for their airtime meanwhile. Why do you put `s` after what is presumably the UT? S stands for some other timezone, in the alphabetical system, I forget which (gh, DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA [non]. CIS. 12120, 1701-1800, Dejen Radio, Dec 29, Very nice signal this morning. Solid S7, but more importantly, overpowering the chronic ute zapper in this area of the band. Presumed Tigrinya (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria, BC, Canada, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FRANCE [non non]. Glenn, I don't understand the item from Mike Cooper. I just checked http://www.rfo.fr/ and it came up with the normal RFO Web site. Maybe there was a temporary glitch in the Domain Name Database? 73, (Andy Sennitt, Dec 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Also connected for me when checked Dec 30 at 1655. Links to a lot of exotic stations (gh, DXLD) ** GERMANY. Checking http://www.worldofradio.com/dxpgms.html I tuned in early for DW`s monthly DX program, not even trying SW but webcast easily linked from http://www.publicradiofan.com listed along with the Mailbag at 0215-0245. This month, the mailbag host announced at the outset 0215, that his show would be curtailed to 20 minutes this week because of the DX program, which indeed did appear at 0235-0245. BTW, his new co-host came over from CBC, but I couldn`t catch her name. Then Wolfram and Uwe were talking mostly about propagation, including double-echoes on VHF and higher HF bands. Those consulting http://www.worldofradio.com/holiday.html were also alerted to this last chance to hear this month`s show. One of the hosts` dreams is for it to be on all DW English broadcasts, not just the Asia service (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. 6210.21, Radio Marabu, 30 Dec 0450s Rock/pop songs (Rikki Don't Play That Number - Steely Dan, My Sacrifice - Creed, Island in the Sun - Weezer, How You Remind Me - Nickelback, and few others not recognized) interspersed with talk (call-ins, etc.) and IDs in German by man. Relatively good signal from start, but slowly degraded by 0535. Some QRM (if you could call it that) from R. Fana on the lower sideband (Mark J. Fine / Remington, Virginia, USA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUATEMALA. 5954.98, Radio Cultural, Guatemala City. Dec 2001 - 1000 UT. Of course religious programming. A very ``mixed up`` frequency with Bolivia-5952.40, Costa Rica-5953.92, Guatemala-5954.98 and Colombia on 5957v kHz! (Björn Malm, Quito, Ecuador, SW Bulletin, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DXLD) ** INDIA. 4760, AIR Leh, 1333 Dec. 29, OM in lang, poor. I have received a couple of inquiries about AIR reports on 4760. Assuming that both Pt. Blair and Leh are on the air, some mornings 4760 fades in before Delhi and is parallel at 1230 English news, then fades down before 1300. This is likely Pt. Blair. Other mornings, such as this one, the fade pattern is similar to Delhi, as it should be if we are hearing Leh (Jerry Lineback, KS, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ** ITALY. ``Jesus is coming again`` are the lyrics that accompany AWR`s tuning signal. The dedication to this mission is what drives AWR to continually find new avenues by which to reach the people of the world. It was this goal that led to the investments required to build the Guam station, most of which came from generous donors. It was this goal that led AWR to seek rights to build a station in Argenta, Italy. This has been a long term project that we hoped by now would already be on air. Sadly, this project has been delayed yet again. The political climate in Italy has so far made construction impossible. Earlier this year, a local court in Italy decided that Argenta town leaders could require AWR to change the design of the station even though we had an approved license for the original design. These changes would severely limit the broadcast capability of the Argenta project and so are deemed unacceptable in the eyes of AWR leadership. The issue has been appealed but the process will likely take another two years or more (AWR Current, Autumn 2001, via Adrian Peterson, DXLD) [and non]. Tomorrow, December 31, AWR Forlì will be on the air with a special program at 0900-1000 UT on 15195 (Jülich 100 kW), and at 1000- 1100 on 9740 (Forlì 2.5 kW) with the same special program for the last time. Special QSL Card is available for these programs. Reports to: AWR Europe - P.O. Box 383 - 47100 Forlì - Italy (Roberto Scaglione http://www.bclnews.it Sicily, Dec 30, hard-core-dx via DXLD) ** KASHMIR [non]. CLANDESTINE from PAKISTAN? to SUBCONTINENT: Given recent tensions between India and Pakistan, I was wondering if there had been any changes at the clandestine station known as Radio Voice of Jammu and Kashmir Freedom. The station almost surely operates from Pakistan and serves as anti-India mouthpiece. I wondered if perhaps Pakistan had stopped the broadcasts as a step towards defusing the situation. Unable to monitor it from Florida, I asked Richard Lam in Singapore to have a listen (Hans Johnson, FL, Dec 30, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Started at 1300 on Dec 29 with spoken word program in what appears to be Urdu by OM. YL comes on at 1320. There were a number of folk songs from about 1340 onwards and then English at 1401 UT. Can't read 100 %, but lots of anti Indian politicking with phrases such as Indian- Pakistan diplomatic ties, human rights, people to people co-operation, right of people, "India, unmindful of international conscience...", one stage managed, under pretext. Asked several questions before English segments ends at 1408. Strong south Asian accent. Grainy audio, S3. I also checked Azad Kashmir Radio which is now back on 4790.3 kHz with the same kind of grainy audio (Richard Lam, Singapore, Dec 29, Cumbre DX via DXLD) So the station remains on for its most widely heard broadcast. It is easily received in the Western USA and much of Asia. Past analysis seems to indicate that the same Radio Pakistan transmitter is used for both 5101 and 4790v. The station gives an address of P. O. Box 102 in Muzaffarabad, Pakistan, for reception reports. Verifications have been signed from officials of the Jammu and Kashmir Freedom Movement. BBCM has simply described the station as the mouthpiece of Kashmiri militants (Hans Johnson, FL, Dec 30, Cumbre DX Special via DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS. According to a Dutch newspaper Delta Radio was allowed to start their transmissions towards the UK from their antennapark in the North Sea, off the coast of the Netherlands, before the 1st of January 2002. Delta Radio asked in court to postpone this date because their two 412 meter high antennas still had to be built. The court in Rotterdam judges that the Dutch Ministry does not have to postpone this date. This means that possibly there won't be a Delta Radio in the future (Max van Arnhem, The Netherlands, Dec 29, MW Circle via Mike Barraclough, DXLD) According to other Dutch newspapers Delta radio will not come on air at all as they don`t make their final startdate of January 1st. According to newspaper "De Gelderlander", a serious paper, Radio Caroline wants to take over the licence, frequency and place in the sea of Delta Radio and start broadcasting again from a ship. I always thought longwave needed very high antennas??? (Julius Hermans, Holland, Dec 30, MW Circle via Mike Barraclough, DXLD) ** NEW ZEALAND. RNZI heard well when it has not been recently: 15175, Dec 30 at 1150; Strong signal for RNZI at this time in New Jersey, USA. Cyclone weather reports for the South Pacific island areas of Tonga and Wallace at 1204 I suspect is the reason. Signal direction for the 15175 was probably altered to target that area. However, I found it strange to hear the signal disappear in mid sentence at 1206 while still reporting on the cyclone near Tonga (Pete Costello, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 2879.98 (harmonic?), unID, unknown QTH (Perú). Dec 2001 - 1015 UT. With ads for "Perú Profundo". Actually I have several unID harmonics, often Colombia, noted in my logbook but prefer to enclose these when I have more info than only a "unID Colombia". But Perú is often included due to a higher chance that it is a ``real`` station and not a harmonic. 3080.05v unID, unknown QTH (Perú). Dec 2001 - 0030 UT. This Peruvian has just now started to be heard --- almost every evening with pretty weak but fluttering signal. "Cajamarca" has been heard several times. Unstable frequency --- varies some 10-parts. 4879.06, Radio Comas, Comas, la provincia de Lima. Dec 2001 - 1000 UT. Was noted last time on 4881.07 kHz. There is also a "Comas" in departamento "Junín". It is good to be familiar with geographic names so here is a "long" list: Info from "Ventanaperú": Provincia de Lima, cuya capital es Lima. Sus distritos son: Ancón, Ate, Barranco, Breña, Carabayllo, Cieneguilla, Comas, Chaclacayo, Chorrillos, El Agustino, Independencia, Jesús María, La Molina, La Victoria, Lima, Lince, Lurigancho, Lurín, Magdalena del Mar, Miraflores, Pueblo Libre, Pachacámac, Pucusana, Puente Piedra, Punta Hermosa, Punta Negra, Rímac, San Bartolo, San Borja, San Isidro, San Juan de Lurigancho, San Juan de Miraflores, San Luis, San Martín de Porres, San Miguel, Santa María del Mar, Santa Rosa, Santiago de Surco, Surquillo, Villa el Salvador, Villa María del Triunfo; con una población total de 5'706,127 hab. 6673.87, Radio Súper Nueva Sensación (ex Radio Andina I suppose), Huancabamba, la provincia de Huancabamba, el departamento de Piura. Dec 2001 - 0100 UT. Just like Rafael Rodríguez I hear this ID. The stations logged by me in the vicinity are: 6673.24-Radio Andina, Huancabamba - Dec 2000 and 6673.97-Radio Súper Nueva Sensación, Huancabamba - Oct 1999. Maybe sometimes they change between those two names for FM and SW? Info from "Ventanaperú": Provincia de Huancabamba, cuya capital es Chanchaque. Sus distritos son: El Carmen de la Frontera, Huancabamba, Huarmaca, Lalaquiz, San miguel de El Faique, Sóndor, Sondorillo; con una población total de 125,458 hab. (Björn Malm, Quito, Ecuador, SW Bulletin, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DXLD) ** SOUTH AMERICA. PIRATE 6880.1, 0231-, Andino Relay Service Dec 29, Very weakly heard with Andean music. Can't hear much of anything else. There at tune-in at 0225. Very weak (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria, BC, Canada, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SRI LANKA. 15424.98, 0048-, SLBC COLOMBO, Dec 29, Really nice signal from the SLBC with vocal 'Memories'. SIO 4-5-4.5. Parallel 9770 SIO 3-3-3. Always the best time of year to log this one. Absolutely greylining all the way from my QTH to Sri Lanka (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria, BC, Canada, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. Glenn Hauser wrote: I urge the reinstatement of BBC World Service shortwave broadcasts to North America, as was the case before July 1, 2001. Thank you. Glenn Hauser, P.O. Box 1684, Enid, OK, 73702 USA ghauser@hotmail.com Hi Glen[n]: Thanks for your support. I'll add you to the list and do the final printing this morning and send it off. It has to go snail mail as the Queen's website http://www.royal.gov.uk is not set up for e-mail and they aren't giving out fax numbers for the staff. I intend to post the results to the odxa group along with thanks for those who helped publicize it. BTW, the tradition of a boon is actually of Scottish origin, however the traditions of the British Monarchy take in all forms and facets of the entire monarchy from throughout their history. It works the same with law and customs where all past experiences are taken into account. We do somewhat the same. Although the British North America Act established us as a country, Magna Carta is as much a part of our constitution as it is Great Britain's. Now there's your Canadian history lesson for today. Once again, thanks very much. Take care (Mark Coady, Ont., Dec 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. The following is being mailed this morning to HRH Elizabeth II Queen of the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth, and Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, as the royal website http://www.royal.gov.uk has no e-mail, telephone, or fax information for the royal household. "Your Majesty: We trust that you are well and take this opportunity to wish you, Prince Philip, and the entire Royal Family a most happy, safe, and prosperous New Year. In July of 2001, the BBC World Service discontinued direct broadcasting to North America and Australia and New Zealand via shortwave radio. They decided that these areas were being well served via live streaming from the internet and rebroadcasting via local FM stations. They also believed that those wishing to listen to the BBC via shortwave radio could tune into transmissions beamed to other target areas. The truth of the matter is that a very small percentage of all populations in the affected areas have access to an FM radio station that rebroadcasts the BBC. If they do, then more often than not, it is for one half hour each day. Live audio streaming from the internet is still an evolving technology that backs up or breaks down far more than the proponents of the internet would like you to believe. Reliable audio streaming requires high speed internet access which is expensive and not widely available. As for tuning into other transmissions, the further west you go in North America, the more difficult it becomes to tune into transmissions beamed to another target area. Australia and New Zealand listeners, I am led to believe, have an even more difficult time listening to transmissions to other target areas. Despite a rather vigorous campaign launched by several prominent individuals amongst us shortwave listening enthusiasts, we are left disappointed. There has been little or no increase in local FM relays of the BBC World Service and the internet is still not a viable alternative. Ancient Scottish tradition held that a citizen could ask for a New Year's favour, or boon, from the monarch. As such, we your loyal Canadian and New Zealand subjects, affix our names to this document requesting of you a boon for the new year --- That boon being a full reinstatement of BBC World Service programming, via shortwave radio, to North America, Australia, and New Zealand. We gratefully thank you for any help you can render us." It is signed by yours truly and the following page has the following signatories: Mark Coady, ON; Eric Floden, BC; Brian Smith, ON; Harold Sellers, ON; Ori Siegel, ON; Harvey Uzupis, ON; Walter Salmaniw, BC; Kathy Morin, ON; David Norrie, NEW ZEALAND. The next page reads "The following Americans wish to affix their names to this document in support of the above request" and includes: Roger Chambers, NY; Bill McFadden, GA; Saul Broudy, PA; John and Dorothy Cobb Jr., GA; Kevin Anderson, IA; Eric Chaytor, NJ; Petro Giannakopoulos, GA; G.B. McMahon, MI; David Moore, CA; Brian Roberts, WY; and Glen Hauser, OK. I would like to thank the above signatories for coming through on short notice and within a definitely short time span. I would like to thank the Ontario DX Association for giving us this vehicle with which to perform electronic miracles. A big thank you to Glen Hauser for publicizing this effort on his DXLD website and on World of Radio (Mark Coady, Dec 30, ODXA via DXLD) ** U S A. 7354.44, 0244-, WRNO NEW ORLEANS, Dec 29, Best reception in a long time, with solid S9 signal. Instrumental and Christmas vocals without announcements. Use LSB to avoid ute on USB side. Either propagation is very good tonight or they have substantially upped their power output. WRNO Worldwide, the United States of America announced at 0259:30, then open carrier, but gone when checked at 0301:30 (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria, BC, Canada, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. I was surprised to hear WYFR (//15400) on 15070 at 2303 on 12/28. I have not seen any mention of this frequency for WYFR (Pete Costello, NJ, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Maybe mixing product if they are also on 15235 midway (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. Commentary: It's hard to believe that the once respected powerhouse out of Buffalo, New York has fallen to its present status, but then it's easy to understand after listening to WWKB during the current state of emergency. Some 4 to 6 feet of snow has been dumped on Buffalo since Christmas bringing the city to a standstill. Roads are impassable, roofs are collapsing, as record amounts of lake-effect snow continue to accumulate. Yet not a word about the situation on 1520 WWKB, just the usual network business talk. This is disgraceful for Buffalo's only 50 kW clear channel AM station, once one of the northeast's great AM stations (Bruce Conti - Nashua NH, Dec 29, NRC-AM via DXLD) Totally agree with you Bruce! While many stations continue to serve their communities in times of emergencies like this, WWKB is an example of disgusting big company apathy, thanx, in part, to the growing satellite fed BS on the AM dial. Maybe in 10-15 years half or more AM stations will go dark and the rest will get a clue. FM is, in general so much more pleasant to listen to. 73 KAZ (Neil Kazaross, ibid.) 'KB hasn't been much of a station for years. As a top-40 blowtorch, WKBW competed with CHUM for the Toronto area teenage market back in the 50s and early 60s. When the Queen visited Canada in 1959, CHUM pulled Johnny Horton's "Battle of New Orleans" from their playlist (it was the #1 song at the time) so not to offend the royal family with its "bloody British kept a-coming" lyrics. But WKBW played the song almost non-stop. 73 (Mike Brooker, Toronto, ON, ibid.) ** U S A. Rechecked WWCR`s scheduled Amharic program, Sunday Dec 30 1730 on 15685. This time the Latin Mass ended with an announcement of ``resuming English`` but only for a promo, then without introduction into presumed Amharic show, starting with a bit of music and high level of background noise on amateur recording setup, with somewhat soft-spoken speaker. Opening ID as closely as I can make it out is something like ``Yeh si ramadan kramir radio ardeligiroot`` thrice amid theme music (should I call it an interval signal?), and clearly heard him give the name Michael Churchill... but I`m no Amharacist. Taped this and the first several minutes if any Amharic speaking monitor wants to translate and analyze it. No machine-gun soundeffects, so perhaps it really is religious rather than clandestine. Also, at 1741 he said ``amen``, choral music and wrapping up, ending before 1744; silver ad, 1745 N.B. Will Martin, Xmas edition of New Horizons (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Glenn, Just listened [via mp3 d/l] your year-end wrap-up and noted the obit for Roger Legge. When did he die? Roger was a 'fixture' at VOA when I first hired in WAY back in 1982 ... he was long-retired by then but kept on contract for 'bandscan' info. Life is too short and about the only 'remembrance' I've heard came from George Jacobs in the interview he did with Kim recently when he properly credited Roger with helping craft Article 17 of the ITU Radio Regs. Oh well, you are what you leave behind ... and unless you leave someone behind to 'remember' you, then you'll soon be forgotten (Bill Whitacre, IBB, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Bill, Actually, I should have been more careful about this. On the Oct 10, 2001 World of Radio I had an item that he died a sesquiyear before that --- but we just found out about it. 73, Glenn (DXLD) ** U S A [and non]. Many of us use shortwave and the Internet to listen to New Year's countdowns around the world. Countdowns are not the only interesting listening at the new year. Many international radio stations present comtemplative and/or humorous programs on New Year's Eve Day or New Year's Day. Listen whenever the English broadcast is available on 31 December or 1 January. For example, let's find out if the new DW director Erik Betterman continues Dieter Weirich's tradition of an annual message to listeners, including a status report about DW. If you manage to record any interesting New Year's content and can convert it to mp3 or realAudio, I would be grateful if you could send it to me for use on my program on 5 January. I can take e-mail attachments up to about 1 Mb. Larger than that, e-mail me for special arrangements. I will be live on VOA News Now on New Year's Day at 1433-1458 UT, and possibly live, or at least a repeat of 1433, at 1833 and 2233. I'll be telephoning Communications World listeners around the world and in the USA. If you'd like to be called, let me know (with your phone number and preferred time to be called). All the best to all in the SW Programs community in 2002, (Kim Elliott, VOA, Dec 30, swprograms via DXLD) ** YUGOSLAVIA. Unpaid electric bill keeps Yugoslav national radio from broadcasting Radio Yugoslavia, the Yugoslav international radio service, has fallen silent because of an unpaid electricity bill owed to the Bosnian Serb Electric Power Company. The station is hampered by debt and cuts in its budget. Yugoslav Information Secretary Slobodan Orlich said that Radio Yugoslavia's debt would be paid from the budget for 2002. Zoran Kalicanin, Yugoslav assistant minister of information, criticized Radio Yugoslavia for refusing to accept a government-proposed financial rehabilitation programme. The following is an excerpt from a report by I. Ikras, "State interest goes begging", published by the Serbian newspaper Glas javnosti on 28 December: Radio Yugoslavia is to the FRY what the Voice of America is to the United States, the BBC to Britain, Deutsche Welle to Germany. And while the last three are doing roaring business, the domestic short- wave radio has fallen silent because of an unpaid electricity bill to the Bosnian Serb Republic's Electric Power Company. The transmitter in Bijeljina, whence the programmes were broadcast to the world, is in darkness, out of commission. Radio Yugoslavia, whose programmes used to be heard on all continents in 12 languages and in Serbian for 12 hours a day, has been silent for 20 days now. "Yugoslavia is the only country in the world that has allowed a debt of nine million [as published, currency not specified] to put out of work one of the most modern short-wave centres in Europe, whose assets are worth DM50m," Milena Jokic, director of Radio Yugoslavia, discloses the unpalatable truth. "We have been drawing this to the attention of the [Yugoslav] federal government since last year, because Radio Yugoslavia has since 1998 been financed from the budget and is lumped together with YU Info television, Filmske Novosti and Filmski Pregled in the Yugoslav Radio and Television Federal Public Institution (SJU RTJ) with a joint account. The money allotted to Radio Yugoslavia was not sufficient even for the wages. Only Radio Yugoslavia's budget, in all of the SJU RTJ, has been cut, from the original 42.8m dinars to barely 30m, which is 7.5 times less than 10 years ago. The electricity bill soon reached nine million, with the consequent going off the air because of the shutting down of the broadcasting centre at Bijeljina and attendant tremendous material damage. The installations have burst in temperatures of -18 degrees centigrade, the well-pump and the network of pipes have been cracked by the melting ice," Jokic claims... "We almost lost the frequencies when we were off the air two years ago. We had more sympathetic understanding from Wolfgang Petritsch [UN high representative in Bosnia-Hercegovina] than from our own government, so we continued to broadcast without a licence. The biggest problem for the company, which is financed from the budget, is lack of funds. Subsisting on a joint account and paying the debts of YU Info television as part of the system at the expense of Radio Yugoslavia has made this radio station a hostage to the SJU RTJ. Bills keep coming in every day, no one knows if they are old debts or new, and someone in the government is blocking separation from the SJU RTJ despite the Justice Ministry's consent. The government is demanding that we slash the number of employees, because it has been estimated that the number of 1,500 people employed in the federal media is too high. The number of employees is thus down to 200 from 260 earlier this year. How many more people should we let go? Why not tell us instead how many people are employed in the federal administration? Ten thousand," Jokich says. Federal Information Secretary Slobodan Orlich admits that the chief culprit for the discontinuation of short-wave radio broadcasts is debt and empty state coffers. "The Bosnian Serb Electric Power Company is ignoring our appeals to turn the electricity back on. I have written to Radio Yugoslavia promising that the debt will be paid from the budget for 2002," Orlich says. Does the discontinuation of broadcasts mean that the state is giving up on this media house? "The government is not giving up on Radio Yugoslavia," Orlich insists. The chronology of events that have pushed to the brink of disaster a radio station that is some years older than the Voice of America is explained also by Zoran Kalicanin, assistant federal minister of information: "A debt of DM2.5m on the joint account dating back to the period of Ivan Markovich [former director and editor-in-chief of Radio Yugoslavia and federal minister of telecommunications] and Goran Matich [former federal secretary for information] has paralysed the entire SJU RTJ system. Within the space of a month, they hired 100 new people, and in the former SFRY [Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia] they had had 130 people. Radio Yugoslavia is also reproached for refusing to reorganize on rational and economic lines, so that it now has a permanent staff of 220, and another 40 part- timers. The government is proposing a financial rehabilitation programme, which Radio Yugoslavia is refusing to accept," Kalicanin explains. Short-wave radio broadcasts are of priority state interest, Kalicanin claims. "The government has an interest in short-wave radio broadcasts, but the budget for 2001 has been exceeded. The damage at Bijeljina is not all that great, but the state is poor," Kalicanin explains... Source: Glas javnosti, Belgrade, in Serbo-Croat 28 Dec 01 p 17 (via BBCM via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 2320.02 (Harmonic?) UNID LA, unknown QTH. Dec 2001 - 1010 UT. With the programme "La Voz de la Liberación" and "Iglesia Diós es amor". (Björn Malm, Quito, Ecuador, SW Bulletin, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 4895, a new sub-harmonic. From 9870 (Riyadh?) at 1925 Dec 29 with talks by man and music. Signal S7 or 23432 (Zacharias Liangas, Retziki, Thessaloniki, Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 11675 has strange transmission. Appears to be SSB but untunable. Signal is strong as well as the audio. If you can tune it in now 1220 UT, we can't. (Pete Costello, NJ, Dec 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn Hauser wrote: Unfortunately, did not see this until 1615 and nothing much there now. Anything further to report? Glenn No, Charlie Alexander in Ohio heard it as well. The transmission was intriguing because of its strength and our inability to get anything clear enough to know what it was that we had. Almost as though it was deliberately unintelligible buy a simple technology. Either that or a flaw in the transmitter (Pete Costello, NJ, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED 17450. Hi there, I was tuning around 17 MHz when I came across a test-tone like sound that can be heard between 17390 and 17490 kHz, with its loudest sound at around 17440-17450 kHz. I confirmed this with Sheldon Harvey, who lives about a kilometre away from me. Can anyone else hear this? We were thinking it was a DRM test, but since neither of us has actually heard one before, we can't really tell! (Ricky Leong, Dec 29, swprograms via DXLD) Can be heard quite loudly with a main lobe between 17430 and 17470, and tones spaced approximately 530 Hz apart. Not sure what this is. 73, (Mark J. Fine / Remington, Virginia, USA, ibid.) I think I'm hearing it too, in the south of Brazil. Here the signal is strongest on 17430. regards, (Rik van Riel, ibid.) Very loud in Atlanta between 17450 and 17455 (Maryanne Kehoe, ibid.) I don't know what you heard --- a U time would have been useful --- but I'm 99.9% certain that you did *not* hear DRM. According to my technical colleagues working on the DRM project, the normal bandwidth of a DRM transmission received in analogue mode is 20 kHz. If you're hearing a test tone, it's not DRM. The DRM transmission sounds more like 'hash' on an analogue receiver. I just checked here and I can't find anything unusual in the frequency range mentioned. But that could be down to propagation, of course :-) (Andy Sennitt, Holland, ibid.) It's now 1830 UT and the sound is still going strong. It's been there for close to an hour at least (Sheldon Harvey, QC, ibid.) If someone would care to send me a short audio sample (say, 30 seconds) in Real, Windows Media or MPG format as an E-mail attachment (NOT via the list) I'll take a listen. This is one of those occasions when it would have been useful to have the Two Bobs around. Remember how Bob Thomann used to love indentifying strange noises? I thought I'd got something for a moment - but it's my neighbour using an electric drill :-) (Andy Sennitt, ibid.) This has been annoying me for a long time mostly in the afternoons here, and has been discussed recently in DX Listening Digest. We have no idea what or whence it be either. The fact that this clearly off-topic subject drew so much quick response on the swprograms list, and drew no such response when mentioned twice recently in DXLD, where it is not offtopic, makes it rather clear that many of you are not bothering to read DXLD when I notify you of it. Why do I bother? (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Because some of us are and we appreciate it. JAF (John A. Figliozzi, NY, ibid.) Glenn, not complimenting one on their work is the highest praise of all! (Richard ``The Lone Stranger``, ibid.) When I have time I try to read DXLD, but unfortunately this is only about 3 times a week or so. Whenever I read it, usually great info, thanks Glenn. (but the rest of the week, I tend to miss info ;)) (Rik van Riel, Curitiba, Brazil, ibid.) Glenn, Apologies... I know that I probably didn't have the time to check the signal out when I read about it in DXLD, otherwise I would have commented as I have done here. Seeing about it today, a slow Saturday, was probably just good timing. Please don't take that as a slight against your work on DXLD. 73, (Mark J. Fine / Remington, Virginia, USA, DXLD) Glenn, I simply don't have time to read every single printed word that I receive whether it's the Boston Globe, DXLD, The Engineering Times, Structural Journal, Monitoring Times, Listening In, The NASWA Journal etc. etc. The information you supply is appreciated by most everybody that listens to shortwave radio. I'd guess the interest in this "off-topic" discussion is due to 1) amazing propagation, 2) vacations & holidays & plant shutdowns that allow more time to listen. The past couple of nights, longwave has been tremendous here in New England. (esp. 162khz Allouis). Glenn, please don't take it personal, it's just the way it is (jim strader, swprograms via DXLD) Well, if the digest were sent out as an email some of us blind folk who have trouble navigating the damn website could read it (John Faircloth, ibid.) Glenn, I wish to thank you personally for, and make public note of my appreciation of, all your hard work and extensive listings in DXLD. I don't always have time to look at them all on the web, but never miss your radio programs. I recently used the Marconi and Holiday Specials links so I wouldn't miss special programs. Thanks for being there. (Donna Ring, ibid.) Further to my message about DRM yesterday, my colleague Jan-Peter Werkman, who is officially on holiday, has kindly provided some additional information about the DRM tests, some of which corrects what I posted yesterday. I don't agree this is completely off-topic, since shortwave program listeners may encounter DRM transmissions during the normal course of tuning across the bands. Though I suggest we don't turn this into a technical thread :-) Here's what Jan-Peter writes: "Although I haven't heard the signal I am 100% sure that this is not a DRM transmission because of the simple fact that this part of 17 MHz is not intended for broadcasting." To be more precise about 10/20 kHz: There are various modes specified within the DRM standard. The DRM tests done until now have 10 kHz bandwidth for shortwave and 9 kHz for mediumwave. The 20 kHz mode is possible for DRM but has not been tested yet as far as I know. It can be used for stereo or simulcast transmissions (Analogue and digital on one transmitter and antenna). We plan to test 20 kHz mode from Bonaire in January/February 2002. The normal bandwidth for DRM transmissions is 10 kHz and not 20 kHz. If it was a DRM transmission and you could hear it over 100 kHz then something is wrong on the transmitter site. This should not happen !!! Interesting indeed where, when, how strong the signal was, etc. he heard that signal. Maybe what he heard was the big threat called PLC (Power Line Communications / Internet via mains) or some other digital signal which is allowed to transmit in that part of the band." (Andy Sennitt, ibid.) OK, folks. Everyone pour yourself an eggnog, sit back, take a deep breath and enjoy the holiday season. This whole unID Tones thing has gotten way out of control. Ricky Leong and myself take the responsibility for getting this whole thing started, but I don't think we did anything wrong. But that's all beside the point right now. First, to Glenn. As you know, and others who are CIDX members here will know, CIDX runs a condensed version of Glenn's DXLD in our monthly bulletin. I have taken on the job of editing down sometimes 20 to 30 DXLD's per month into a column that is generally somewhere from 15 to 20 pages long each month. It is a very time consuming task, but I do it for the benefit of those in our group who can't take the time, or don't have the means of accessing all this info each month. I am sure that all of us appreciate all the work that Glenn does. I certainly do, and I know our members do. There are a lot of others doing a lot of work out there, many behind the scenes, and their work often goes unrecognized. To all of them a big group thanks. I can honestly say that I didn't remember the notations about these "tones" in DXLD. This brings me finally to my ultimate point here. The Internet, e-mails, news groups, chat groups, etc. have succeeded in producing something that I think many of us are having difficulty dealing with... INFORMATION OVERLOAD! In a desire on the part of many of us, we want to get all we can from as many sources as we can, and in the long run, we end up missing out on things. If I spent half as much time actually listening to the radio as I do sifting through valuable information, editing it down, forwarding material to others, etc., I be very happy. But the fact is, I don't, and I regret that. There were times when I would, occasionally, "discover" something new myself, but now it seems like I always end up reading about it somewhere else, long after it has already happened. Groups like this one, swprograms, and the posting of this "unid. tones" discussion, prove the fact that people can't fully take in and digest everything that is available to them out there. In a condensed, bullet point delivery like we have in a group like this, items stand out as individual items, and when they seek the attention of other people, things can happen very quickly. Although Glenn may have mentioned this before, obviously people either forgot about it, or never saw it in the first place. I think, with all due respect to Glenn, the best thing he could have done would have been to simply point people back to a specific reference point where they could review the info. Instead it deteriorated somewhat to Glenn questioning the value of his work, and others getting testy about it. All, in the end, not very productive. I also posted the request for info on these sounds to the Worldwide Utility News group, a group of several thousand utility band DXers. Immediately, a number of them began looking into it. Some had already noticed these tones in the past, and posted their ideas on the matter. Still, the source has yet to be fully resolved. All in all, we have to learn to work together. We are not all human encyclopedias, nor do we all have photographic memories. These types of things will arise again, and instead of it resulting in what we've seen here in the last day or so, let's try to continue to help each other out, remembering that not everybody will have been able to see and remember all that has gone before. The shortwave community is a relatively small one. We have this incredible tool called the Internet which has taken information distribution to new levels and, in some cases, to levels where we just can't handle it all. Let's work together and realize that we all appreciate each other and the work that is being done collectively. Happy New Year. (Sheldon Harvey, ibid.) Thanks for everyone`s responses, which I took to be mostly positive. This discussion emphasizes the advantages and disadvantages of immediate listservers versus compiled news, even if this be done every day or two. The fact that many people have more time to listen on weekends than weekdays is also a foreign concept to me, but now I am reminded! I was somewhat surprised that one blind reader found my site difficult to navigate, since I have deliberately refrained from bells & whistles; except for audio files and the WOR title, it is entirely text, mostly in .html but DXLD issues themselves are in .txt. I am thinking about converting them to .html for 2002, although this would significantly increase my workload. Is it worth it? In any event, issue notifications always include a direct link to the new DXLD issue, bypassing the home page, etc. Once you are there, it may be quite large, I admit. One thing I have always done, hoping to make it easier to use, is to put two stars and a space before each new item`s country heading. Since some individual items can be quite long, one can at least spot where a new one starts as one skims or pages down. As for the unID tones centred around 17450, I certainly hope all this attention will lead to some identification and I will hear about it. I never considered them having anything to do with DRM, which is why I assumed them off-topic for this list. However, a frequency range like that is exactly where DRM *ought* to be testing, outside the de-facto analog SW broadcast bands! The latest item about this was in DXLD 1-205, at the bottom: http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio/dxld1205.txt Glenn, I suspect that the blind person on the SWprograms mailing list either is too lazy to surf the web or has an old computer with old speech software which makes this difficult. The fault is not yours at all. Yours is one of the easiest web sites for me to navigate, and I hope you keep it that way. Occasionally, I save a page as a text file so I don't have to stay online to read, as I have only one phone line and no cable or DSL connection, for have to save money. I can even paste a reminder from DXLD into a message to send to a blind friend, who never upgraded to windows. Keep up the good work! (Donna Ring, Dec 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###