DX LISTENING DIGEST 00-51, April 10, 2000 edited by Glenn Hauser {Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only providing full credit be maintained at all stages. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without permission} WORLD OF RADIO ON WBCQ1: Thanks to Allan Weiner who is moving our first broadcast two hours later, effective April 19, Wed at 2330 UT instead of 2130 on 7415. This will give us a bit less absorption during the summer. ** AFGHANISTAN. Having returned from Maui last Monday, this is the first opportunity I have had to sit down for more than a few minutes to describe my recent vacation in Kaanapali, Maui. I succumbed to the DX bug and brought my Kenwood R5000 receiver with me, and monitored virtually every morning from 1400 to 1800, before heading to the beach. Life is tough :) !! Used a random wire of approximately 250 feet, set at about 330 deg, along a 10 foot hedge. Very small gauge, and barely visible, so I was able to leave it up the whole time. A quiet site, especially during the early morning hours. I used a matching transformer from Aurora, and a Wellbrook Antenna Feeder Isolator. Afghanistan was audible every morning, including their English broadcast and the Russian broadcast, corresponding to local dawn enhancement. Reception was occasionally nearly excellent, except for persistent QRM from hams and utes. Monitoring this station stretched my DXing capabilities to the max, with its extreme drift, and the need to constantly flip from USB to LSB for best reception. I suspect the English broadcast should be audible in the Pacific Northwest, at least for the next while. I was able to hear a het this morning. 22 March: 7073.52 at 1625. Carrier off when rechecked 1647. 23 March: 7070.64 with very weak carrier at 1631. 24 March: 7083.23 into Russian at 1631. 25 March: not checked 26 March: 7083.23 carrier only audible at 1631. 27 March: 7083.32 at 1537. 28 March: not checked. 29 March: 7083.26 in English at 1517 tune-in. 7083.19 at 1524 7083.16 at 1525. 7083.12 at 1530. 7083.09 at 1531. 7082.37 at 1548. 7082.82 at 1605 7082.66 at 1625. Into Russian at 1632. Signal is strong, except for the darned QRM. Difficult to hear the exact ID. I'm going to have to listen to the tapes. They clearly state: ``Govorit,... (can't make out)..., Afghanistan, Kabul, na russkom yazike. Dorohij radio slushitali...`` ie, dear radio listeners. 7082.65 at 1636. 7082.62 at 1638. 7082.60 at 1642. 7082.59 at 1644. No sign off announcements that I could hear, but starting to fade badly. Into another language at 1645. 30 March: 7085.02 at 1459. 7084.91 at 1500. 7084.81 at 1503. 7084.34 at 1514. 7084.20 at 1518 in English. ``You have been listening to the ?Voice of ?``. 7084.13 at 1521. No longer in English when rechecked at 1532 on 7083.80. 7082.92 at 1608 7082.68 Nice strong signal at 1628. At 1629 the identical ID in Russian was heard. 7082.63 at 1633. 7082.54 at 1640. 7082.53 at 1641, into a religious program, with talk of the prophet Jacob, Moses, and Solomon. 7082.45 at 1650 with carrier off. 31 March: Best reception by far this morning! 7085.01 at 1454. 7084.93 at 1457. 7084.82 at 1458. English ID at 1458. ``This is...,...kHz in the 41 meter band.`` 7084.77 at 1501. 7084.71 at 1502. 7084.59 at 1509. Signal is strong, but the young female [??!! -gh] announcer does a poor job penetrating the ham/ute QRM. 1507: ``You have been listening to the Voice of Sharia``. 7084.50 at 1508. 7084.41 at 1511. 7084.30 at 1514. 7084.25 at 1515, with ``goodbye``, but then into a much louder Afghan song in English!!! ``Our guide is the Koran. Our religion is Islam``, repeated over and over! No longer in English at 1521 (on 7084.11). 7084.02 at 1524. 7082.91 at 1631. 1 April: 7082.91 at 1458. What a difference a day makes. Barely audible, but the big difference is the improved stability of the transmitter from this day onwards, and the drift is upwards, not down. 7084.05 at 1516, 7084.15 at 1527, 7084.20 at 1537, 7084.30 at 1557, 7084.38 at 1622. 2 April: 7085.30 at 1515. 7085.33 at 1518, 7085.35 at 1525, 7085.36 at 1532, 7085.33 at 1539, 7085.39 at 1606, 7085.37 at 1628. Russian started at 1633. They announced frequencies of 1107, and 7200. Continued on until 1646 with carrier off at 1648. Great fun and a challenge! MUCH MORE TO FOLLOW, including Somalia (including English), lots of Monglolian logs, and other Africans, of course. Stay tuned! (Walter R. Salmaniw, MD, HI, April 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AFGHANISTAN [non]. RFPI Preview for April 9, 13: VOICES OF OUR WORLD (30 minutes) Sun: 2030/Thurs: 1700 [repeated UT Fri 0100, 0900]: Part I " VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN " It is estimated that one out of every five women worldwide will be physically or sexually abused in their lifetimes.... Part II " AFGHAN WOMEN " The Taliban, an Islamic fundamentalist group, has stripped women of the majority of their rights in nenety percent of Afghanistan. Movement, ability to work, ability to go to school, and to receive adequate medical care are all restricted based on the Taliban interpretation of Muslim tenets. United Nations Reporter Bissera Kistova delivers a report on the plight of Afghan women. But, first United Nations Correspondent Judy Lessing provides information on an optional protocol to the UN Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women which could give its committee the power to prosecute groups like the Taliban. Resources: Hostile Environment: The Political Betrayal of Sexually Harassed Women by Gwendolyn Mink Published by Cornell University Press Available in most book stores and on Amazon.com (RFPI Weekly Update via gh, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANGOLA. Portuguese bishops to support Catholic community radio in Angola; Excerpts from report by Portuguese newspaper `Diario de Noticias' web site on 10th April Financial support for the Angolan diocesan stations will be coordinated in principle by the Fundacao Evangelizacao e Culturas [Evangelization and Cultures Foundation], a non-governmental organization for development of the Catholic Church whose General Council and Administrative Council are chaired respectively by Dom Jose Policarpo and Father Jose Maia. Jose Maia said that Ecclesia, which broadcasts on FM and is owned by the CEASTP, had asked for financial support so that it could have transmitters/receivers in the various provinces of Angola to allow them in the first phase to receive [the Portuguese Catholic station] Radio Renascenca (RR). In a second phase, the financial and technical support would permit the installation of recording studios and regular shortwave broadcasts. This was as a matter of fact Ecclesia management's initial idea, but it was put aside temporarily for financial reasons. Since having its own shortwave station would be "a very expensive option", Father Maia explained, in the short term the radio will go ahead on an experimental basis with the free loan by RR of its [shortwave] transmitter" with a view to starting regional rebroadcasts of Ecclesia. Radio Ecclesia, the Catholic broadcaster in Angola, was founded on 8th December 1955 by Angola's bishops. It was officially recognized in 1956 and broadcast 24 hours a day in FM, medium and shortwave. Its coverage was national. In 1977 it was closed down by the state and its assets were nationalized. In 1992, the regime allowed private radio stations. Ecclesia was reopened on 19th March 1997. Presently its programming is divided into: music and entertainment (35 per cent); news (3 per cent) educational programmes (20 per cent); religious programmes (15 per cent) and sport (7 per cent) Source: `Diario de Noticias' web site, Lisbon, in Portuguese 10 Apr 00 (via BBC Monitoring, excerpted by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. The RA program schedule in DXLD 00-47, taken from their website, shows incorrect UT days, at least in the 2100-2400 UT period, i.e. local Australian days, a day ahead of UT. For example, Feedback is at 2105 on UT Friday, not UT Saturday; Lingua Franca we hear at 2315 UT Friday, not UT Saturday. Possibly times in the 1400- 2100 UT period are also a day off. How we wish stations as well as listeners would be explicit about times AND DAYS strictly in UT (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. Pessoal, A Bolivia está em estado de sítio. Mais informacoes em : http://www.eldeber.com.bo/20000409/portada.html Agora eh soh ouvir ondas curtas para se informas mais. 73 (Carlos Felipe da Silva, Brasil, April 9, radio-escutas via DXLD) [Bolivia (or part of it) is in a state of siege – might lead to something unusual on SW] ** COSTA RICA. RFPI`s VISTA newsletter will be issued in early May as a combined edition. Will soon have a new PO Box in Oregon, but will keep the old one active as well. RFPI full-time staff is now only three, and station is in need of additional funding. Per RFPI Mailbag first airing April 7 (notes by Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. Checking the RHC web site, I noticed that Arnie Coro has not posted any DXers Unlimited scripts since late December. Meanwhile... English Program Schedule March 2000 RADIO HAVANA CUBA ENGLISH HOURS AND FREQUENCIES UTC 2230-2330 Caribbean 31m \ 9550 kHz 0100-0500 North America 49m \ 6000 kHz 0100-0700 North America 31m \ 9020 kHz 0500-0700 North America 31m \ 9550 kHz 0100-0500 Europe/Mediterranean 25m \ 11705 kHz USB 0500-0700 Europe/Mediterranean 31m \ 9830 kHz USB 2030-2130 Europe/Mediterranean 11m \ 13660 kHz USB 2030-2130 Europe/Mediterranean 21m \ 13750 kHz ENGLISH PROGRAM SCHEDULE Caribbean UTC 2230 Sun Weekly Review Mon-Sat International News 2240 Mon-Sat National News 2245 Mon-Sat RHC's Viewpoint 2300 Sun Mailbag Show Mon-Sat News Bulletin 2305 Mon-Sat Time Out (sports) 2310 Tue, Sat Dxers Unlimited Mon, Thu Caribbean Outlook Wed Mailbag Show Fri Weekly Review North America [local days] 0100 Mon-Sat International News 0110 Mon-Sat National News 0115 Mon-Sat RHC's Viewpoint 0130 Mon-Sat News Bulletin 0135 Mon-Fri Time Out (sports) 0140 Tue, Sat Dxers Unlimited Mon, Thu Caribbean Outlook Wed Mailbag Show Fri Weekly Review 0200 Mon-Sat International News 0210 Mon-Fri Spotlight on the Americas Sat The World of Stamps 0230 Mon-Sat News Bulletin [If any programs follow they are not listed] (0300 & 0500 repeats 0100 hour) (0400 & 0600 repeats 0200 hour) And what about Sunday? This is what they posted, despite obvious time errors: [guess this part is in EST {not EDT?}, so they have all- different shows on Sunday evenings, not repeating two-hourly?? -gh] 2000 Weekly Review 2130 Mailbag Show 2200 Top Tens 2230 Jazz Place 2300 Breakthrough 2330 From Havana Europe [back to UT] 2030 Sun Weekly Review Mon-Sat International News 2040 Mon-Sat National News 2045 Sun Mailbag Show Mon-Sat RHC's Viewpoint 2100 Mon-Sat News Bulletin 2105 Mon-Sat Time Out (sports) 2110 Tue, Sat Dxers Unlimited Mon, Thu Caribbean Outlook Wed Mailbag Show Fri Weekly Review (RHC web site via John Norfolk, OKCOK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FINLAND. Checking YLE`s weekly English hour, UT Sun April 9 until 0100 on 11985 and 13770: both carriers stayed on past 0110 but there was no modulation. Sked had indicated that 10 or 15 minute newscast at 0100 was daily (which means 7 days a week to me). At the same time, YLE did have news in English at 0100, then Latin at 0108-0115 on WRN1. The week before I checked the two SW frequencies, found them // in English, assumed YLE, but later IDed as VOA News Now; wrong feed via Finland?? These do not appear in the IBB schedule! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREECE [and non]. This Sunday I checked one UT hour earlier for ``It`s All Greek to Me``, the music show announced in English on VOG, at 1906 UT during the winter; but, no, April 9 it was not on in the 1800 hour either, on 17705 via Delano. And UT Mon April 10 tuned in at 0207 to hear a few words of English before Greek, so news at 0200 Bob Thomas previously reported must have been back on this day, on 7450, 12110, 15630 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREECE. Try again! I insist! I hear VOG English 0200v-0208v (may start 0201-0207) with news, then Greek. 7450 RTTY and sometimes jammer, best on 9420 and 12110; and 15630 with R. Austria in background [?? gh] (Bob Thomas, CT, April 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOH NU ISLAND. NEW IOTA NOW ACTVE! The Radio Amateur Society of Thailand (RAST) and the Thailand Group 1996 Ham Club (TGHC) is now active as E29DX on Koh Nu Island (Malay Peninsula South East Group). This island is not only a new IOTA number, but the last IOTA number for Thai lands. Activity will last until April 15th, with operations on 180-10 meters CW/SSB/RTTY/SSTV. Suggested frequencies are: CW - 1834, 3524, 7006; and 7030, 14040, 21040 and 28040 kHz SSB - 7055 (QSX 7200 for USA), 14260, 21260 and 28560 kHz RTTY - 7037, 14080, 21080 and 28080 kHz FM - 29260 and 29600 kHz VHF - 145.800 (Packet radio - 145.825) QSL via HS0GBI to CBA or to: TGHC, POB 1090, Kasetsart Bangkok, 10903 THAILAND. Check the Web page: http://www.qsl.net/tg1996 (KB8NW/Ohio Penn DX Bulletin 456, April 10/BARF80 via John Norfolk, OKCOK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MONGOLIA. A good Saturday morning to one and all. There were strange goings-on during the English transmission of Voice of Mongolia this morning at 1030 on 12085. I tuned in just before 1230 [must mean 1030 -gh], and the English program started as normal with the IS repeated 3 times, then station ID by woman. As she was reading off times/frequencies, they suddenly went off. The signal came back on a couple of minutes later, but it was an endlessly repeating music piece (oriental music) with ID by man, 'This is Radio Free Asia". This kept going on and on til at least 1050. (Craig Seufert, Meredith, New Hampshire, USA, Drake R8B with Alpha Delta Sloper, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Well, we know that RFA has used Mongolian site for a long time, even though they pretend not to admit it. This mixup confirms it (gh) ** NETHERLANDS. RN`s On Target now has program blocks color-coded. This is NOT a good idea since many of us are color-blind; and also becomes useless when photocopied. Why can`t info be presented in straightforward black-and-white text? (gh`s summary of comments by Will Martin, MO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS ANTILLES. Does RVI via Bonaire 15565 at 0400 seem to be splashing too much? (George Thurman, IL) Yes, I finally checked UT Mon April 10 at 0428 and it was splattering up to 15 kHz on either side (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PALAU. By the time you read this, Shige, JA8CCL, will be operating his K2 rig in the South Pacific as T88CL now through April 13th. He will be on the "K2 Frequency" 28715 kHz and also 14333 kHz. Also, there may be other possible DX frequencies. He operates mostly on SSB, so don't expect much CW. (KB8NW/Ohio Penn DX Bulletin 456, April 10/BARF80 via John Norfolk, OKCOK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PHILIPPINES [non]. Radio Pinoy can be heard daily on 17885 kHz 1000-1200 broadcasting in English and Tagalog to Filipinos in Kuwait, the Gulf region, southeast Asia and the Philippines on 96.3 MHz, 963 kHz, and 17885 kHz. It identifies as "Radio Pinoy, 96.3, Radio Kuwait". A clip of this service opening can be heard on Interval Signals Archive at http://www.intervalsignals.com (Dave Kernick, hard-core-dx, via DXLD) 17885 is an old Kuwait frequency. His clip opens with ID as ``Rahdio Pinoy on Raydio Kuwait`` and Kuwaiti anthem. Name R. Pinoy has previously been used by ethnic Filipino outlets on US subcarriers, NY or LA; guess it`s analogous to ``Rodina`` (gh, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOLOMON ISLANDS. 5019.95, R. Solomon Islands, 8 Apr, 0807, Sports play by play and talk of South Pacific Games in English by a male announcer. Numerous mentions of Solomon Islands along with Fiji and Vanuatu. Signal was fair, but extremely heavy adjacent channel QRM made intelligible copy difficult most of the time. ID by woman and brief music at 0813 (Pete Costello, NJ, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TIMOR EAST. Trey, 4W/N5KO (one of the operators from the TX0CI operation) was active last week and operating from the "Turismo Hotel." His activity seems to be mainly on 15 meters CW and RTTY. However, there have been no QSNs reported since 1416z April 7th. May have gone QRT. QSL via OH2BN. Probably the most active station here is Antonio, 4W6GH. He can usually be found on 15 meters somewhere around/above 21300 kHz, but has also been heard on 80/17/12 meters. QSL via CT1EGH. Jose, 4W6EB, has been active too but it seems mainly on 17/12 meters. Check between 1500 and 1700z. QSL via CT1EEB (ONLY THE CBA!). Thor, 4W6MM, continues to be active mainly on 20/15 meters CW between 1130 and 1530z. However, there has been "some" SSB active. (KB8NW/Ohio Penn DX Bulletin 456, April 10/BARF80 via John Norfolk, OKCOK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U A E. I've been looking for Dubai in light of Bob Padula's report it was missing, and found it Sat April 8 at 0330 on 13675 and 15400 with English news, 0334 into cultural talk to 0347* Anyone have complete new schedule? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U A E. Re query on Dubai in WOR 1031: I hear English at 0330-0348 on 13675 best, 12005, 15400. Abu Dhabi at 0200 on 17675 only in Arabic clashing with RNZI English which peaks to me at 0300-0430. By 0415 signal quality weakens (Bob Thomas, CT, April 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. I just heard a PSA on BBC Radio 4 (via Real Audio) about the Reith Lectures, Wednesdays at 8 P.M. British Summer Time. (1900 GMT) The theme is generally "saving the planet". The first speaker is Chris Patten, the last British governor of Hong Kong (whose moves towards democracy in Hong Kong would have had more credence if the British had introduced democracy in Hong Kong some decades ago before the date when, in practice, the colony had to revert to China. I think it was only part of the colony which legally had to go back to China but without that part they wouldn't have had a water supply). (Joel Rubin, NY, April 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Also on BBCWS, 5 x 55 minutes, from April 16 on the ``weekend strand``. The only time I spot for it on the Americas stream in bold print is Sunday 1705 UT, per BBC On Air via Chris Hambly. BTW, other Radio 4 show we previewed, Struck Off and Die, was also blocked from webcast. Will Reith suffer the same fate? Notice that the ONLY timing for Write On/Waveguide to the Americas is UT Sat 0330 (which I missed this week), while the hour-by-hour schedule shows numerous placings for Letter From America, even three hours in a row early Monday morning: 0645, 0745, 0845 UT. This hardly makes sense but I relied upon taping my local cable relay at 0845 April 10, only to find E-Files was aired instead. We don`t ask for much. Just establish a programme schedule and stick to it. This has proven to be far beyond the capabilities of the BBC WS (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. The two-hour tribute by Harry Shearer to Jean Shepherd is running this week on some webcasting public radio stations, such as: http://www.kuow.org, UT Wednesday April 12 at 0200-0400 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I heard it. As one who listened to Jean while home from college during the summer, it brought back great memories. They included the classic tale of the Fort Monmouth Morse Code School. KCRW announced that the entire 2 hour program is available as a premium for folks who join as members. Their web site said the program would be archived for later listening but as of tonight I don't think that part of it has been set up yet. Worth your time even if you don't know his works. (Joe Buch, swprograms via DXLD) ###