DX LISTENING DIGEST, 00-15, January 26, 2000 EDITED BY GLENN HAUSER {Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only providing full credit be maintained at all stages} THIS WEEK ON WORLD OF RADIO 1021: See topic summary at http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio/wor1021.html ** ANGUILLA. Don`t blame Dr Gene Scott personally for technical problems. He is not an engineer and has people working for him to take care of them. Caribbean Beacon has been advised of the spikes from 11775, and to keep modulation down to some 70 percent until a new processor with 4.5 kHz bandwidth can be installed, perhaps within 30 days. Part of the problem may be widely varying input levels in the satellite uplink, and hence downlink (George McClintock, TN, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Hello, Here's what we're working on for this week`s show... Meet Richard Taylor - the man who found the quark. Taylor is a Canadian scientist from Alberta who was the first person to demonstrate the existence of quarks .... sub-atomic particles that are the basic building blocks of everything in the universe. He won the Nobel Prize in 1990 for his work - which proved that the name of our program wasn't just a hypothetical whimsy. Plus - we'll find out why MSG tastes so good. All that and more on Quirks and Quarks, Saturday, right after the noon news, on Radio One. (Bob, Quirks and Quarks, Jan 26) That`s Sat 2205 and Sun 1305 on RCI (DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC (not!). 5900, Tantalizing signal at 0340 tune-in. Music sounded African initially, and I was sure I had Radio Minurca. Talk seemed to be in French. Very weak. Mission Impossible theme music at 0354:30, but as I listened more, it began to sound like a DX program... It was! This was Bulgaria's Russian service, with a DX program. References to WWCR and WBCQ. Into IS at 0359, and Radio Bulgaria ID at the top of the hour in unknown language. Drats! (Volodya Salmaniw, BC, 23 January, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COLOMBIA/CLANDESTINA: 6240, Enero 19 Voz de la Resistencia, +2058- 2115*, 343, con historia del plan del Tolima. ID "Voz de la Resistencia, Voz insurgente del pueblo colombiano. cerrando a las 2115 con usual "Compan~eros de la FARC. 6261.v Enero 19 Voz de la Resistencia-Bloque Oriental (FARC-EP), 1150-1155. 343, con programa politico, 6261.v Enero 19 Voz de la Resistencia-Bloque Oriental (FARC-EP), 2138-2140, 343, con Notienfoque. (Yimber Gaviria, Cali, Colombia, Jan 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST)) ** CUBA. RHC finally got my message about referring to AM as FM in their French opening announcements: Jan 25 at 2131 on 13660-USB (13750 being dominated by DGS) she now refers to 13750 as ``modulation normale`` -- does not the word ``Amplitude`` exist in French or is that too technical for the presumed audience level? Surely no more so than ``bande laterale unique`` on 13660 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL WATERS. Bandscanning toward Miskut just in case it be back, Jan 26 at 1250 found USB ragchew on 5772 between two fishing skippers in the eastern Gulf of Mexico. Salty language, re weather broadcasts, what to fix for breakfast, bait, engine temperatures and problems. Never heard any legal ID, and barely caught the name of one of them, Rick; instead of ``over`` would say ``come back``. Finally finished at 1311* until another QSO at lunchtime. Since this is not a marine band, and no legal IDs, may I safely assume these are illegal? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KASHMIR [non]. Voice of Free Jammu & Kashmir is currently regularly heard in Europe opening at 0230 on 5988.6 kHz, but beware of Radio Liberty in Uzbek splashing over from 5985 kHz at this time. You can hear a recording of this on the Interval Signals Archive, at http://home.clara.net/dkernick (David Kernick, Jan 26, hard-core-dx via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. KCYI 97.9 [cf DXLD 00-14] What I've heard from the folks at Clear Channel is that KCYI will be going CHR to go head to head with KJ-103 (KJYO 102.7). I have a couple .wav files of the countdown if anyone wants to hear them (John Zondlo Yukon, OK, Jan 25, amfmtvdx) FM DX Web http://members.aol.com/fmdxweb (via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 4862.55, Radio La Hora 0957, is the unID from yesterday, up slightly from nominal 4855 with 0957 sign-on into typical Andean music program with time checks, and this time ID's. Very good signal. (Mark Mohrmann, VT, Jan 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. Voice of Russia has just extended its Farsi program from 60 to 90 minutes: 1530-1700 UTC on 9840 (St. Petersburg, 400 kW, 147 degrees) //Samara 5925 and 5935. Additional Voice of Russia frequency for Russian service: 12030 1600-1700 UTC (St. Petersburg, 400 kW, 147 degrees). All from Jan 24th. (Mikhail Timofeyev, St. Petersburg, Jan 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. Radiostantsiya Tikhiy Okean (Radio Pacific Ocean), main studio Vladivostok, is a service for Russian seafarers in the Pacific. This schedule is based on monitoring observations. Tikhiy Okean broadcasts may also be relayed via domestic-service transmitters at Khabarovsk, Magadan and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. Language: Russian, Daily: 0130-0215 21.750 0815-0900 0.234 0.810 7.175 7.210 7.490 10.344-usb 12.045 17.675 71.85 1215-1300 0.810 1900-1945 0.648 7.345 9.885 9.900 (© BBC Monitoring via WORLD OF RADIO 1021, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOMALIA. Aydid radio suffers further problems, expected back on the air "soon" -- Text of report by Somali newspaper 'Ayaamaha' on 25th January” The Voice of the People of the Somali Republic radio is expected to be back on the air soon. The radio, which supports Husayn Muhammad Aydid, one of the armed Mogadishu faction leaders, is off the air [see below] and Aydid has been busy rehabilitating and equipping the radio for the past few months. The radio is expected to operate on shortwave and FM. Husayn Muhammad Aydid has issued a circular appointing Mr Abd al-Qadir Dahir Abdi (Hudhayfi) as the new director-general of the radio. It is hoped that the radio will soon be on the air. Aydid recently imported a new FM radio transmitter from the United Arab Emirates and an Italian engineer was flown to Mogadishu to set up the new equipment. Husayn Aydid also said in his circular that the staff of the radio would receive regular salaries and allowances. Currently there are two radio stations on the air in Mogadishu: Voice of Somali Pacification, which backs Uthman Hasan Ali Ato; and HornAfrik [a new FM station said to be independent and owned by Somali individuals who live in the USA and Europe]. Meanwhile, Husayn Haji Bod is also making efforts to have his own radio in Mogadishu. [Voice of the People of the Somali Republic was observed back on the air on 16th January, having been unheard since July 1999. However, this reappearance was short-lived and the station has not been heard for several days.] (Source: 'Ayaamaha', Mogadishu, in Somali 25 Jan 00 p 2 via BBC Monitoring, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Listened to the apparent debut of ``On Being Human`` as mentioned on AWWW, Tue Jan 25 at 2230-2300 on WBCQ 7415. Very informal man and woman talking into a built-in tape recorder mike, the external purchased from Radio Shack not working. I gather these are two former professors, who quit teaching three years ago and are now psychotherapists. They have a website http://www.onbeinghuman.com which explains all this further. They beg for response, and if the program proves popular may expand to an hour. Mentioned contacts on air as: 631-654-5622, area code in process of changing from 516. onbeinghuman@aol.com but the website gives 631-654-3581 and whatever10@earthlink.net plus P O Box 3328, Patchogue, NY 11772. Will be getting a toll-free number. They have a book, not available at Borders, and being sold themselves (for $19.95), ``Eat or Be Eaten --- The Marriage of Darwin and Machiavelli. Also tapes and brochures. Gave their names at the end, but semi-mumbled, so from website they are, both Ph.D.: James Gibson, and Patricia Bravata-Brozinsky. They spell Mach`s first name as Nicole rather than Niccolo. ``Gutenberg discovered the printing press.`` - well, there is quite a difference between discovery and invention! Gist of what this is all about: We have spent the last bimillennium denying our animal instinctual nature. We are evolutionary animals, using deception and aggression to survive. We are now in an age of intuition. Linearity(?) thinking is now a thing of the past. This is for a return to instinctuality. Quoted from their home page: ``As you go the way of life, you will see a great chasm. JUMP. It is not as wide as you think. Welcome to the Third Millennium.`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Glenn, You mentioned the excellent "Tech Nation" with Moira Gunn in the DXLD dated Jan. 22. You listened to it on AFN. T.N.. can be heard on demand in True Speech (?) at an IBM website: For the most recent show (and some backgound about the show) http://www.ibm.com/industrytalk/technation/ Additional shows are at: http://www.ibm.com/industrytalk/technation/previous.phtml T.N. is not distributed by NPR, but made available to NPR stations. It originates out of KQED in San Francisco. It can be heard 'live' on the web via KACU, Abilene, TX at 12 noon CT (18 UT), Sundays http://www.kacu.org/ http://www.kacu.org/schedule/enddayschedule.html And via WHYY, Philly, Tues. at 10 PM ET (Wed 3 UT), http://www.whyy.org/ http://www.whyy.org/91FM/live.html WHYY usually posts a paragraph about the show in its 'daily hot sheet' which gets posted the night before--great place to see what's on other NPR shows (as well as Charlie Rose!) each day!: http://www.whyy.org/91FM/91fmtoday.html (Chet Copeland, DC, Jan 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. An Alabama SW station is being heard worldwide in the daytime on its second harmonic, 23750, along with others from 25m in the 23.4 to 24.1 MHz range (Arnie Coro, RHC DXers Unlimited Jan 26) Hmm, checking all the Alabama stations on 11875, I suspect it is WEWN. Ever notice how Arnie does not like to get too specific? This is the closest he comes to a genuine DX tip, something he derides on other DX shows. I do not doubt such a harmonic, but I am too close and would suspect receiver-production if heard, from overloading blaster on fundamental (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. KAIJ will soon be moving to another 50+ mb frequency at night, 5755 authorized by FCC, in an effort to find one that works better than 5835 (George McClintock, TN) Still on 5835 UT Jan 27 (Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 9515, Enero 15 [Sat] VOA, 2325-2329, 444, mini programa DX con Hector Velazquez Mejia (La VOA aumento de 10 minutos a 30 minutos en Internet desde el 3 de Enero). (Yimber Gaviria, Cali, Colombia, Jan 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** YEMEN. Following up on Lee Silvi`s tip in DXLD 00-13, checked 9780 (no het heard, but did not measure to see if offset as previously reported), Jan 25 2130 indeed with lots of Arab music but I was concentrating on Marion`s Attic 2365 kHz below; 2200 ID mentioned Yemen, news, 2205 or so Qur`an, 2208 brief anthem and off 2209* Are they running later than before? Quite nice reception. The Time Almanac 2000 I just purchased, says Yemen is not an Islamic state, tho the tourist-kidnapping rebels last year had that as their objective. But I`ll bet you won`t hear readings from the Bible, Torah, or O`Hair on this station where they obviously do not appreciate the benefits of separation of church and state (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UNIDENTIFIED. [Re: 9337] Sounds like drug dealers to me, arranging a drop. Possibly one in Colombia and the other in Bahamas or whatever... kilos are units of quantity of course. Time of day seems valid, also. I've heard a couple of these guys in past years 73 (Bob Foxworth, FL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) THIS DAY`S ITALIAN LESSON Perhaps you have the capability of listening to digital audio files like .wav, .aiff, or .au file formats with your PC and web browser, Glenn. If you do, go to this web page, http://www.bell-labs.com/project/tts/italian.html and put in "Quaglieri, Figliozzi, Padula.", select the file format that works with your web browser and PC configuration (.AIF, .WAV, or .AU) and hit the "Synthesize" button. You should hear a completely mechanical, by-the-book Italian pronunciation. WAV http://wwwtts.research.bell-labs.com/cgi-user/tts/ittts?text=Quaglieri%2C+Figliozzi%2C+Padula.&rate=slowest&audio=.wav AIFF http://wwwtts.research.bell-labs.com/cgi-user/tts/ittts?text=Quaglieri%2C+Figliozzi%2C+Padula.&rate=slowest&audio=.aiff I thought it was an amusing side-bar to the war about words. (Pietro Costello, Gen 25, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Grazie, Pietro, I`m LOL and ROTF (Hauser, DXLD) PROPAGATION OUTLOOK FROM RSGB And now the solar forecast. This week the quieter side of the sun will be facing us. Solar activity should be low, but could increase to moderate next weekend with solar flux levels gradually increasing to around 170. Geomagnetic activity is expected to be 'unsettled' but could reduce to 'quiet' towards next weekend. MUFs during daylight hours at equal latitudes are expected to be about 33 MHz for the south and 30 MHz for the north. The darkness hour lows should be around 7 MHz. Paths this week to Japan should have a maximum usable frequency, with a 50 per cent success rate, of about 29 MHz. The optimum working frequency, with a 90 per cent success rate, will be around 23 MHz. The best time to try this path will be around 0900 UTC. Updated propagation information since this bulletin was prepared is available at: http://www.keele.ac.uk/depts/por/update.htm and for more on propagation generally see http://www.rsgb.org/society/psc.htm (Radio Society of Great Britain GB2RS News, posted January 26, via John Norfolk, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###