DX LISTENING DIGEST 00-19, January 31, 2000 edited by Glenn Hauser {Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only providing full credit be maintained at all stages} ** ANGUILLA. DGS splatter again noted as high as 11915 around 1245 Jan 31 from 11775 transmitter. If these reports are getting tiresome, that is nothing compared to the splat (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COSTA RICA. Joe Bernard reports that RFPI`s 25930-USB has been down the last few days due to antenna tuner problems. So instead they have been running 15049 much earlier than usual, from about 1600, I think, and so far is holding up well through mid-day as of Jan 30. On the other band, I have noticed 6975 closing well before 1300, and not always going by 2300 so its hours seem to have been reduced. Feb 1 was a tentative date for an official schedule revision (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COSTA RICA. 6105.0 had classical music around 1305-1325 Jan 31 with a Spanish announcement at 1315, presumably TIUCR, R. Universidad (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. RRI Fakfak radio off air since mob attack 28th January Text of report by Indonesian radio on 31st January The Fakfak station [in Papua Province] of Radio Republik Indonesia [RRI] has been off the air since local youths committed brutal acts [last Friday, 28th January]. RRI Jayapura Correspondent Gregorius Rumbino has filed a full report. [Rumbino] The RRI Fakfak station has been off the air since last Friday when a mob severely damaged its building and vital equipment. When contacted by telephone from Jayapura [Papua provincial capital] last night, RRI Fakfak station caretaker Aloys Ngotra confirmed that a group of youths committed the acts of destruction. The youths insisted that the station broadcast a statement opposing the provincial government and cancel the planned airing of a provincial government statement on the acceptance of new civil servants. RRI employees held tough negotiations with the youths. RRI adamantly refused to broadcast the youths' statement. In fact, this had far-reaching consequences. A mob later committed acts of destruction at the RRI Fakfak station. The building, including the studio, was severely damaged. Two RRI employees were seriously injured. They are being treated at the Fakfak District General Hospital. This is Gregorius Rumbino reporting from Jayapura. Source: Radio Republic of Indonesia, Jakarta, in Indonesian 0700 gmt 31 Jan 00 (via BBC Monitoring, via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALAWI. 3380, MBC has been reactivated; good and clear reception at 2100 with English Songs presented by man in English - 2200 ID as MBC Radio One then followed with news and went off after news (Mahendra Vaghjee, Mauritius, Jan 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO [non?] Glenn, the following was posted to FRN/vines ACE website: Gentlemen, The station you heard [on 6950, 6955, see DXLD 00-14] was a new clandestine in support of the Zapatista uprising in Chiapas, Mexico. The mentions of Argentina related to similarities of the human rights violations during Argentina's "Dirty War" and the human rights violations more recently in Chiapas. The station is "La Voz del Zapatista" or "The Voice of the Zapatista". As I understand it QSL arrangements are being made through one of the U.S. pirate drops. The location is of course secret. I will post more information at a later date. That is all, Commandante Null (via Charles Crawford, Henderson KY, Jan 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEW ZEALAND. Thu. Feb. 3 at 0205 UT on 17675: MAILBOX - Myra Oh reads letters and news of interest, Paul Ormandy reports on the latest DX news, Frequency Manager Adrian Sainsbury answers and explains technical questions and the latest solar propagation news is supplied by IPS Radio & Space Services. In the first new show of the New Year, Adrian Sainsbury finds out about a little known communication mode - it started life way back in 1927, and was used during the Spanish Civil War. It almost ceased to exist until an Auckland Radio Amateur brought it back to life. What do you know about Hellschreiber? MAILBOX first airs Monday 2135, as well as on Wednesday 1735, Friday 1935 UTC [all on 17675]. Each current program is available on demand in RealAudio at the RNZI Web site. (John Figliozzi, swprograms via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. Or perhaps Openhoma would be more appropriate, for all the stations which like to run open carriers. The TIS at Vance AFB, Enid on 1610 has been that way for 3 or 4 months now. Sunday afternoon is a good time, but not the only time, for unattended AM stations to lose their automation/feed or whatever, and go unnoticed by the licensees -- which ought to be a sure route to revocation for wasting the public`s airwaves even moreso than when modulating pap and crap. Jan 30 at 1820 UT I made a traditional bandscan and came upon 1580 KOKB Blackwell OK modulating zero, which led me to check 1020 for its twin KOKP Perry OK, a semi-local here, which indeed was open carrier too. 1580, however was soon back to a silly ballgame, but I left a receiver on 1020 to see just how long it would run blank. Still that way well past 1900. Finally popped on at 1948! with a Cowboys game well in progress, I suppose. This was running a satellite-hop behind 1580. So there you have at least a sesquihour of dead air. Do the sponsors get a refund? Ha! [non]. Meanwhile, another open carrier was found on 1130 from KLEY Wellington KS, not far from the OK border. This too was blank well past 1900, except a few words of something which briefly popped on at 1847. I have previously noticed silence or extraneous noises from this transmitter, which I have often passed on the road to Wichita, where it is obviously an adjunct to a much more important FM station. 1130 is often duplicating 1550 KKLE Winfield, which was operating normally, such as 2007 UT Balance the Scales from People`s Radio Network. Besides the OK 1550 station, this was atop a barrage of skywave already welling up underneath. 1130 audio never heard coming up all afternoon. [non non] 1530 is yet another Oklahoma open-carrier. We first noticed this 4 or 5 years ago at night, an obstacle to Cincinnati. At least a year ago it was traced, by John Tudenham, I believe, to KXTD, Wagoner, supposedly a daytimer, leaving its 5 kW transmitter on 24 hours. In the daytime we can barely hear it with Spanish for the Tulsa market aside KOMA. Just rechecked Jan 31 at 0531 and there was the carrier. Local KGWA 960, Enid often runs unattended. At 0535 UT Jan 31 we were hearing beeps one per second off some network feed, but preferred to sleep than find out how long this went on (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, where snow from last Wednesday still has not melted, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. Voice of Russia will resume its Spanish service to Europe on Feb 1st, 2000 according to the following schedule: Daily 2130-2200 UT 7320 kHz (from Mar 5th to Mar 25th) 7380 kHz (to Mar 4th) 9480 kHz If you will have any observations of this relay please will send a copy to me and I will resend your information to our frequency manager in Moscow (please note - no any QSL this way)... (Mikhail Timofeyev, St. Petersburg pcd00342@mail.admiral.ru DX LISTENING DIGEST) Will there be other frequencies from other sites, and how about Germany 1323 as Kai Ludwig suggested? (gh) ** U K O G B A N I. The scheduling geniuses at BBC WS have deprived North Americans of yet another of BBC`s bright shining lights: From Our Own Correspondent. The weekend 25-minute edition is typically made up of 5 x 5 minute essays, often humorous, touching, and/or insightful, from all over the world, reportage in a form one can hardly find on American radio, especially since the dumbing-down of Perspective from ABC News. Since January started, the only two airings on the AE stream are Sunday 0835, and Sunday 1630. The latter is for Europe only, since the AE has Concert Hall instead, another program which I am certainly glad to be able to hear well, but not at the expense of FOOC. At 0835, of course, there are NO SW frequencies to us; I was not so concerned while I could rely on KMUW 89.1 Wichita`s overnight BBC WS relay, now blocked by the newest Enid gospel-huckster satellator. So we are forced to look elsewhere for FOOC, including possible offbeam frequencies at the above times. I have gone thru the new WS frequency folder dated February-March, and double-checked the FOOC times as listed in the Feb BBC On air in case there have been any further changes; all applicable SW frequencies are shown here including those with no chance of propagating to NAm: Sat 1905 Af 17830-AS, 15400-AS. These may be our best bet, judging from good offbeam reception Sunday Jan 30. Sun 0005 SAs 17790-SG, 15310-T, 11955-OM, 9410-CY, 5965-OM. Additionally for SEAs, where I am not sure the S or E Asian variation applies: 17760-SG, 7110-SG, 6195-SG, 3915-SG Sun 0805 Af 17830-AS, 15400-AS, 11940-SA, 6190-SA. From occasional wakefulness at this hour, I recall that 15400 is often quite good. Sun 0805 As/Pac 21830-GB, 21660-SG, 17760-SG, 15360-SG, 15310-T, 11955-SG, 9740-SG Sun 0835 Eu 17640-GB, 15575-CY, 15565-GB, 15485-GB (NAf), 12095-GB, 9410-GB Sun 1505 EAs 9740-SG, 6195-SG, 5990-T. 9740 is also designated for WNAm with the Asian stream, obviously better toward the west, but sometimes holds up here. Sun 1630 Eu 15565-GB, 12095-GB, 9410-GB. 15565 had a marginal unreadable signal here, but further east and on a better day might be adequate. The situation is not so dire for the separate midweek edition of FOOC lasting 15 minutes, which I include here for the sake of completeness: Wed 1515 Eu 15565-GB, 12095-GB, 9410-GB Am 17840-AT, 15220-CA, 9590-WYFR, 9515-CA Wed 1930 Eu/NAf 12095-CY, 9410-GB, 6195-GB, 3955-GB Wed 2145 Af 15400-AS, 11835-GB, 6190-SA, 6005-SE, 3255-SA Thu 0430 Am 6175-CA, 6135-DL, 5975-AT Thu 0805 Eu 17640-GB, 15565-GB, 15485-FB, 12095-GB (NAf), 9410-GB Thu 0905 As 21660-SG, 17760-SG, 15360-SG, 15310-T, 11955-SG, 11945- SG, 11765-T, 9740-SG, 6195-SG Thu 1515 SAs 17630-OM, 15310-OM, 5975-T Thu 1945 Pac 9740-SG Key to sites: AS Ascension, AT Antigua, CA Canada, CY Cyprus, DL Delano, GB UKOGBANI, OM Oman, SA South Africa, SE Seychelles, SG Singapore, T Thailand, WYFR Okeechobee One may read the despatches, however, accompanied by photos and links, but apparently there is no audio for this, unlike many other programmes, at http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/from_our_own_correspondent/default.stm It is not clear, however, which reports were on which broadcast (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###