DX LISTENING DIGEST 00-36, March 6, 2000 edited by Glenn Hauser {Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only providing full credit be maintained at all stage. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without prior permission} CONTINENT OF MEDIA 00-02 is now available at http://www.DXing.com and may be at RFPI in time to start Tuesday March 7 at 2000. WORLD OF RADIO on WWCR: Altho WOR did not appear March 4, Sat at 1230 on 15685, we are still supposed to be scheduled there. UT Mon March 6 0130 and 0600 WWCR played WOR 1025 by mistake instead of 1026. [This report is intact and alphabetized separately from the rest of DXLD 00-36 which follows it:] REPORT FROM CHRIS GREENWAY, NAIROBI, KENYA. I was in Nairobi last week. Here is some shortwave news from that part of the world: DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO Bunia is broadcasting on both 3390 and 5066.3 simultaneously. Bukavu was heard on 6713. Kinshasa was heard on 15244.4 ERITREA VOBME was heard on 7100 (Tigrigna, etc) and 7175 (Arabic, etc). ETHIOPIA Radio Ethiopia external service sometimes switches its 7165 transmitter to 7175 in order to jam Eritrea. Radio Ethiopia domestic service was heard on the listed 5990, 7110 and 9704.2 (though not on all frequencies at the same time). Voice of Peace continues to broadcast at 1100-1200 on 9560 and 11801.9. However, the 1900 broadcast is no longer heard. KENYA KBC has cut right back on its shortwave usage. The Swahili (National) and English (General) services are no longer relayed on shortwave. The only shortwave activity is on 4915 (relay of the Central Service) and 4935 (relay of the Eastern Service). Some Swahili may be heard on both these services as they relay some National Service bulletins. Note that 4935 is silent on Saturdays and Sundays as the Eastern Service is Monday-Friday only. However, the Central Service is now Monday-Saturday rather than Monday-Friday. MADAGASCAR As reported elsewhere, Radio Madagascar on 5009.5 is currently on an extended schedule. MALAWI MBC was heard on 3380 and 5993.3 simultaneously. RWANDA Radio Rwanda on 6055 was heard earlier than the listed 0400 s/on. SUDAN This country has changed time zones, moving clocks forward so that local time is now GMT+3. This means that all broadcasts from Omdurman are now heard one hour earlier, according to GMT, than before. This accounts for the change in Radio Omdurman¹s English service (now 1700-1800) noted by DXers earlier this year. As it happens, Omdurman¹s sole shortwave transmitter appears to be off the air at present, and nothing was heard on 7200. Opposition station Voice of Sudan (from Eritrea) was heard on 8000, 9000 and 9517.2. SOMALIA Any listing of Somali stations is likely to go out of date pretty quickly, but here is the current position: 6823 - Radio Mogadishu, Voice of Somali Pacification (pro-Uthman Ali Ato) 6900 - Radio Kismaayo (new station; broadcasts at 1600-1730) 7012 - Radio Gaalkackyo at 1600-1700 7214 - Radio Banaadir at 1600-1900 (a slight change from 7213) 7530 - Radio Hargeysa at 1500-1800 TANZANIA Radio Tanzania is no longer broadcasting in English on shortwave. The English service is now only on at 0200-0400 on 1035 kHz and 94.6 FM in Dar es Salaam. I was told that it now calls itself RTD-PRT (Radio Tanzania, Dar es Salaam - Powerful, Realistic, Trustworthy). The Swahili service is on 5050 kHz throughout the day, and also on 7280 kHz at certain times (exact times not confirmed). Zanzibar is on 11734.1, but not for all of the day. The use of 6015 seems to have ceased. ZIMBABWE ZBC Radio 4 was heard in the evening on both 5975 and 6045. (Chris Greenway, March 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ** AFGHANISTAN. Here's a translation of the Russian news report about the Voice of Sharia'a broadcasts in Russian. Afghan Radio used to have Russian Service before Taliban came to power. The Talibs start propaganda broadcasts in Russian. The Afghan movement Taliban, officially not recognized by any state in the world, is preparing for information war with Russia. According to the sources in Dushanbe [the capital of Tajikistan], the Talibs have entrusted their radio station "Sadoj Shariat" ("The Voice of Sharia") with a task of conducting a series of propaganda actions aimed at discrediting the policy of the Russian leadership in Asia and Caucasus. The first Russian broadcast [of "The Voice of Sharia"] will go on the air on March 7th. Afterwards, the programs will be aired daily on medium and short waves, in the 41-meter band. This Afghan radio station is considered to be one of the most powerful in the region. Currently, it broadcasts in English, Uzbek, Turkmen, Urdu, Pushtu, and Dari. (The report of the Russian agency "RosBiznesKonsalting" from March 6, 2000 via Sergei Sosedkin, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Announced it would be a 15-minute broadcast, on 1107 and [nominal] 7200 kHz, no time given (BBC Monitoring, via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALBANIA. 7159.90, English program of Radio Tirana with very good reception 4 March at 0134, into Albanian press review at 0137:30. Slowly drifted up to 7159.92. Parallel 6114.96 only fair due to co- channel interference. Again very good at 0330 with sign-on in English with "This is Radio Tirana" repeated twice, just like in the old days! (Volodya Salmaniw, Victoria BC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BELGIUM. RVI A-00 schedule in English from March 26: 0400 NAm 15565-Bonaire 0700 Eu 5985 non-dir 1130 Eu 9925, As/Au 9865-Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy [may be new site for their English, but previously used in other language -gh] 1730 Eu 5910 non-dir; E/SEEu 9925 13710; E/CAf 17735 [or 17745?]; ME 17710-Juelich 1930 Eu 5960-Juelich non-dir 2230 NAm 15565-Bonaire The 0700 thru 1930 broadcasts are also on 1512 MW. The 0400 programming is a repeat of the previous day. New program day starts at 1130, so the 0700 is also a repeat of previous day, except for news, and except on Sat and Sun when 0700 is the first broadcast (Frans Vossen, RVI Radio World March 5 via gh, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. For the past few days I have been hearing a station on 3190 around 0900 UT, in Quechua and playing Andean music; reception not very good and difficult to ID. But thanks to the valuable collaboration of Rogildo Aragao in Cochabamba, the station is La Voz del Campesino, Sipe Sipe, depto de Cochabamba, a station not listed in Passport 2000 (Samuel Cassio, Brazil, radio-escutas via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. Alo Glenn y Dario, With the collaboration of colleague Samuel Cassio in Brazil, I have discovered a station which I had thought would be a harmonic, since it is near my house and there are several harmonics from other MW stations. It is RADIO LA VOZ DEL CAMPESINO, SIPE SIPE, DEPARTAMENTO DE COCHABAMBA, on 3.189,0 KHZ. I have heard it only in the mornings at 1030, March 3 with "Encuentro con la Felicidad", at 1050 nx "Encuentro Nacional". ID by woman: "En su cordial sintonía, Radio la Voz del Campesino, Voz y Pensamiento de los trabajadores del Agro, en el departamento de Cochabamba, Bolivia". I am working on uncovering the location of this station and will try to get more info, such as power (Rogildo Fontenelle Aragao, Cochabamba, Bolivia, member of DX CLUBE DO BRASIL, DX LISTENING DIGEST, both translated by gh) ** CANADA. Contrary to DXLD 00-30, UT Sun March 5 at 0005, Nova Scotia Kitchen Party was not heard on RCI, but usual Global Village (Joe Buch, swprograms) You originally reported it on UT Monday at that time; perhaps the RCI info was confused (gh) Hi Glenn! No... I passed along the info which we got in-house at RCI, which was that it would be UTC Sundays at 0005, i.e. Saturday evenings in NAm (Bill Westenhaver) Just checked the rcinet website and it now shows NSKP on UT Mondays instead of Roots and Wings, not on UT Sundays. And on March 6 at 0005, NSKP did in fact appear on 9755, 5960 (gh, OK) NSKP aired on Monday UTC 0005 replacing Roots and Wings tonight just as it did two weeks ago (Joe Buch, DE, swprograms, via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Hello... Just a quick note that CFRX 6070 in Toronto, Ontario is sending a dead carrier again. The main station CRFB 1010 is transmitting with full audio. I just completed a new antenna installation this morning. To test it I tuned to 6070 as I live 80 km away from the transmitter and receive the ground wave. So on March 5th, 2000y from 1500 till after 1730 utc still no audio but full signal here. No, I didn't contact the ODXA as I don't have their email address. I just checked 6070 and at 2030 utc 03/06/00 and still no audio! 73 Glenn and keep up the great work... love the show! (Alex Draper - Orillia, Ontario, DX LISTENING DIGEST) How long will it take them to notice and fix it this time? (gh, DXLD) ** CONGO DR. 15244.4, Radio Nationale Congolaise. Very unusual to hear this station during my local late evening! French programming and African music, but not much else able to be made out at 0540 4 March. Poor. More correctly a presumed logging. Some fine loggings on the higher frequencies well into the evening these past few days thanks to a solar flux over 200 (Volodya Salmaniw, Victoria BC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GHANA. GBC is getting new shortwave transmitters, in cooperation with the Japanese government. When this is done it will give GBC the capacity both to carry Radio 1 and Radio 2 programming, and probably to revive the defunct external service. GBC is also looking into digital satellite broadcasting (Sector minister John Mahama, in a Radio Ghana News review programme, "What Do You Say, Mr Minister?", March 4 via BBC Monitoring, excerpted by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREECE [non]. VOG via VOA 17565 and 17705 still has ``It`s All Greek To Me,`` ``the only music show that speaks English`` Sundays starting at 1906 UT, tho announced as ``every Sunday at 6 o`clock in the afternoon``, which would be 1600 UT for the original. Still good listenable audio (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRELAND. << RTE A-00 registrations 6200 0000-2400 27NW DUB 10 000 VOR MCB [strange Dublin registration via Voice of Russia authorities !] >> This 6200 entry has nothing to do with RTE. Instead it refers to United Christian Broadcasters (UCB), who used to operate shortwave transmitters with a few kilowatts of power in Ireland. They have contact to MCCBN in Moscow since they hired airtime on MW 1386 a couple of years ago, so MCCBN registered 6200 on behalf of UCB. However, as far as I know UCB are currently off shortwave and just using MW transmitters in Ireland, of course of modest power like the silenced shortwave ones; one frequency is 549, if I remember correctly (Kai Ludwig, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ITALY. 7120 USB, IRRS. Definitely ID'd this one between 0200 and 0300 4 March [UT Sat]. Barely threshold at 0200, but ID clearly heard at 0259, in English, with "I double R S" ID, and mentions of 10000 watts. They were co-channeled when another station signed on at 0300. Signal was quite decent, and would be an easy catch if away from hams and other stations (Volodya Salmaniw, Victoria BC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH. 11460 kHz. Interval Signal at 2358 UT March 4. This was a very weak signal on Pyongyang and could not capture the lang. of the broadcast. I do not see this frequency on any lists ?? Perhaps a mixing product or a new frequency being used now ?? (Dave Zantow, WI, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LIBERIA. The British government has salvaged the independent Star Radio temporarily by providing "bridge funding" to enable it continue broadcasting for about two months. The radio station's manager, James Morlu, disclosed Saturday [4th March] the funding will help the restructuring exercise that has been going from 1st-5th March, after which it will resume normal broadcast programmes. He said the management has decided to reduce staff by 50 per cent, cut down the salaries of those retained, as well as trimming other overhead spending to keep the station alive. Star Radio formerly employed about 90 Liberians. It was established as an NGO radio in 1997 to provide independent news and information during elections that year to Liberians at home and abroad. He said the funding gap and government's recent statement that it will not restore the station's short-wave frequency it withdrew 1998 were "unfortunate and negative coincidences" that have taken their toll on the institution. The station lost its short-wave frequency when government claimed it was foreign-run and financed, but allowed it to operate a Frequency Modulation (FM) station. At the moment, Star Radio is run by a 100 per cent Liberian staff with a Liberian board of directors overseeing its operation, yet its short-wave frequency is withheld by government which is giving one reason or the other for the action. Donor support for Star Radio has waned primarily due to the absence of the short- wave frequency because "the donors want every Liberian, especially those in the rural areas, to benefit from the services of Star Radio," Morlu said. "We are appealing to government to see reason to reconsider the decision to withdraw our short-wave frequency" he added. The station resumes normal broadcast Monday [6th March], Morlu said. Source: PANA news agency web site, Dakar, in English 5 Mar 00 (via BBC Monitoring, excerpted by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO? XERTA ????- This one is an "unid" Glenn, no Spanish [spoken] here. Last night on 4800.65 kHz at 0600 UT March 6. I was hearing a very distorted signal here. ID in SP after every piece of music (same type of music that XERTA used to play). It was strong but very hard to listen to. Frequency measured as close as I could tell. So is it XERTA returning or just hearing Ecuador ?? Have a listen maybe tonight...?? I never remember Ecuador sounding like this ?? Regards, (David Zantow, Janesville, WI, DX LISTENING DIGEST) XERTA was supposedly going to be on 4810 instead of 4800 when it comes back (gh, DXLD) ** MONGOLIA. E-Mail Address, Voice of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia according to my Mongolian friend Batbayar Demchig MRTV@MAGICNET.MN 73 (Volker Willschrey, Dillingen (Germany), DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEW ZEALAND. [This info differs from DXLD 00-31 by 1 to 3 minutes] RADIO NEW ZEALAND INTERNATIONAL This schedule will take effect from Sunday 19 March when New Zealand Clocks move to Standard time +12 UTC. 19 March - 07 May 2000 UTC kHz 1650-1751 11695 (25m) Mon-Fri 1752-0705 17675 (16m) Mon-Fri 1855-0705 17675 Sat-Sun 0706-1205 15115 (19m) Daily OFF-AIR 1205-1650 Occasional Use for Special Events 1206-1505 6100 1506-1650 6145 The RNZI Audio Archive and topical Pacific New Bulletins, and a live audio stream available at http://www.rnzi.com (Adrian Sainsbury, Frequency Manager, Radio New Zealand International, March 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAKISTAN. 11570.13, Radio Pakistan with ID and English news at 1600. Good reception. Interesting, among all of my fancy antennae, my lowly 30 foot random wire performed best! (Volodya Salmaniw, Victoria BC, 5 March, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 5300.0 R. Superior, Bolívar; 4/03 0010-0050 33333 mx ID ``Ya son las 7 de la noche con 14 minutos en su Radio Superior..`` mx ID ``Atención a la hora de Radio Superior`` NOTE: I thought this could be the same as the R. Bolívar that I reported on 5460.5 27/01, since they also mentioned the province of Bolívar, but this is not the case; I heard both at the same time with separate programming (Pedro F. Arrunagegui, Lima, Chasqui DX via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 5300.03, Radio Superior, Provincia de Bolivar; Thanks to a tip from Dave Valko, I could get it signal in Tokyo. It was first observed at 1047-1137 on 04/MAR/2000. Playing huaynos and announced advs. ID was given at 1125 as "Son las 6 y 25 minutos, la hora exacta en Radio Superior." The station was also heard at 1100-1146 on 05/MAR/2000 (Takayuki Inoue Nozaki, Relampago DX via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 5300.1 RADIO SUPERIOR. Bolivar - Peru 2320-0025 March 4. Thanks to Valko for this tip via Mohrmann. This is a new station from Bolivar in La Libertad. " ...la hora que te informa Radio Superior..." , "... Radio Superior una radio con estilo propio..." almost heard Sunday March 5 with s/on at the 1050 with NA. "... La aurora de este dia, les damos la mas cordial de las bienvenidas para disfrutar de nuestra programacion, esperando que todo lo programado sea de vuestro completo agrado... Radio Superior, frecuencia 1000 en A.M. y onda corta internacional... un mensaje de amistad en los cielos andinos, bienvenidos una vez más a nuestra excelente programacion, estamos transmitiendo desde el Jiron San Martin 229 en la provincia de Bolivar, Departamento de la Libertad, Radio Superior un mensaje de amistad en los cielos andinos..." Ments. Humberto Lozano as Gerente-propietario and sked 1030-1530 and 2300-0300 (Rafael Rodriguez R., Colombia, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 5995.3, RADIO MELODIA, Arequipa. 1002-1035 March 5. Heard with the program Melodia en los Andes. ments carnival music with Los Astros de Cuchibamba.. At 1030 "... Desde la ciudad de Arequipa en la Republica del Peru, Radio Melodia presenta su noticiero estelar Meldia en la noticia, transmitiendo en sus tres frecuencias, 5995 kcs onda corta 1.000 vatios de potencia, 104.3? mghz frecuencia modulada 5.000 de potencia, y en AM 10.000 vatios de potencia, un total de 16.000 vatios de potencia, 27 años informando con profesionalismo. Vamos ya con su director Hugo Ricardo Paucar y la plana de periodistas de Radio Melodia..." (Rafael Rodriguez R., Santafe de Bogota, Colombia, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOMALIA. Media advisory on current status of factional radios: The following is an update on the status of various radio stations in Somalia (it should be noted that the operations and frequency usage of these radios continues to be erratic and variable): Stations in Mogadishu Radio Mogadishu, Voice of Somali Pacification (which broadcasts in support of faction leader Uthman Ali Ato), has been heard recently on the shortwave frequency of 6823 kHz. However, according to the Mogadishu newspaper `Ayaamaha' on 2nd March, staff at the station have gone on indefinite strike. Radio Mogadishu, Voice of the People of the Somali Republic (which broadcasts in support of faction leader Husayn Muhammad Aydid), is not heard at present. This radio was heard briefly in January (on 6750 kHz shortwave) after a lengthy absence, but has not been traced recently. Radio Banaadir, which began broadcasting recently, is heard at 1600- 1900 gmt on 7213 kHz shortwave. It is believed to be based in Mogadishu (Banaadir is the name of the region encompassing Mogadishu and its environs). Its affiliation has yet to be confirmed. HornAfrik Radio broadcasts on FM from Mogadishu. According to a report in the Mogadishu newspaper `Qaran' on 17th February, it is the only station in Somalia that is not affiliated to one or other of the various factions or regional governments. Stations elsewhere in Somalia Radio Hargeysa is the official station of the self-declared Republic of Somaliland. It is currently heard at 1500-1800 gmt on its new shortwave frequency of 7530 kHz. It is also believed broadcast on mediumwave (frequency not confirmed). Radio Gaalkacyo is the official station of the self-declared state of Puntland. It broadcasts at 1600-1700 gmt on 7012 kHz shortwave. A new station, Radio Kismaayo, broadcasts at 1600-1730 gmt on 6900 kHz shortwave. Source: Monitoring research Mar 00 ((c) BBC Monitoring via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOMALIA. Dear Glenn, Ref. the following in DXLD 00-34: "Banaadir is the Somali word for Mogadishu." This is incorrect. The Somali for "Mogadishu" is "Mogadishu" (or "Moqdisho" is you prefer a more exotic spelling). Banaadir is the name of the region that encompasses both Mogadishu and its immediate environs (Chris Greenway, England, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAIWAN. New Star Radio, presumed, 13750 in clear with no TIDGS, March 6 at 1310 tune-in to 4-digit Chinese YL numbers, each group twice; distorted with hum, which continued after closing announcement 1314 and open carrier. Resumed at 1330 with music, ID twice ending with ``Guangbo diantai``, and shortly back to numbers. At 1350 recheck in OC again, and also found much weaker carrier on 15388, another of its traditional frequencies. 1357 on 13750 music, 1400 Chinese music and talk but now co-channel QRM, India? 15388 sounded very similar but not synchronized //. 1401 some music on 15388 started several seconds after it started on 13750 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TANZANIA. NEW RADIO FARAJA TO EVANGELIZE PEOPLE Rome (NE) Feb. 23- - The Catholic Church in Tanzania has decided to launch a radio station to evangelize the diverse remote populations of this East African country. Radio Faraja, as it will be called, will also aim at stopping the growing number of victims of several popular beliefs, particularly in the regions most affected by witchcraft-related killings. Father Norbert Kija, project coordinator, said that the station would broadcast religious programs to encourage conversion in the predominantly pagan population of Shinyanga. Shinyanga, a province south of Lake Victoria, with a capital of the same name, has more witchcraft-related killings than most other provinces. More than 500 such deaths have taken place in the recent years. Radio Faraja will cover most of western Tanzania, said Father Kija. That area includes the Diocese of Shinyanga, Bokoba, and Musoma, and the Archdioceses of Mwanza on Lake Victoria, and Tabora. Rwanda and Burundi are neighbors to the west. English and Swahili are the major languages in this nation of 31 million, of whom 25% are Catholic. There are 4 archdioceses and 25 dioceses. The Rome press report gave neither the kind of station Radio Faraja would be nor its frequency, but given the territory to be covered, which stretches at least 200 miles, that would seem to indicate either a high-power AM station, or at least a modest-power tropical band or shortwave station. There are very few Catholic radio stations in Africa, and no shortwave stations. (The Catholic Update#52 via Nicolas Eramo, Argentina via Horacio Nigro, Uruguay, Mar 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###