DX LISTENING DIGEST 00-56, April 23, 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} VOA COMMUNICATIONS WORLD. If you need to hear it on the radio, rather than on the web, and missed it on VOA News Now UT Saturday, your last chance at this week`s edition including our media news segment may be Sunday 1400 on 18275 LSB+USB from Greenville. WWCR played last week`s tape instead UT Sun 0200 on 5070, and might not manage to get the current edition for the further repeats. The last 2 weeks, we have had little if any reception on 18275 here, but Wolfgang Büschel in Germany has heard it. However, our script has now been posted at http://www.trsc.com/cw and at http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio/cw0422.html (gh) ** BELGIUM. From Monday 24 April 2000, RVI will change 17735 to 17590 for English to Africa via Jülich at 1730-1800 (Paul Brems, Belgium, rec.radio.shortwave via John Norfolk, DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. New: 4716.8, Radio Yura, Yura, Provincia Quijarro, Departamento de Potosi, 1150, ``Esta es Radio Yura, La Voz del Layo, recordando siempre que estamos trabajando en onda corta, 4715 de frecuencia en onda corta desde Yura, provincia de Quijarro, departamento de Potosí`` ``...estamos a escasos 5 minutos de las 9 de la mañana y pues hasta esta hora hemos acompañado desde Radio Yura, La Voz del Layo, ahora sí les decimos que sea hasta horas de la tarde, a partir de las 6 de la tarde estaremos volviendo a vuestra sintonia, amigos oyentes les deseamos que pasen un buen día y que Dios mediante..." (Rogildo Fontenelle Aragao, Cochabamba, Abril 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. 6065, Radio Mauro Núñez, Villa Serrano, Departamento Chuquisaca, 1330, Tx irregular, programa Encuentro Juvenil (Rogildo Fontenelle Aragao, Cochabamba, Abril 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Yesterday, Friday, the 600 and 850 kHz frequencies, which had been simulcasting 940 News and Info 690 here in Montreal, began running a tape loop saying that the 600 and 850 frequencies would be going silent "soon". Today, Saturday, Bill Westenhaver noticed that the tape loops had been changed, now saying that 600 and 850 frequencies will be going silent tomorrow (Sunday) evening at Midnight Eastern (0400 UTC Monday). No word on whether or not any special announcements will be made at that time. If you are out of range of the Montreal area and would like to hear recordings of the tape loops currently running, tune in Sunday morning to the International Radio Report on CKUT-FM 90.3 in Montreal, Radio McGill. The programme is available in RealAudio, live streaming only through the CKUT website at 10:30 AM Eastern, 1430 UTC Sunday morning. http://www.ckut.ca (Sheldon Harvey Co-Host, Int. Radio Report, President, Canadian Int. DX Club, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** CHECHNYA. Mobile radio station to shortly begin broadcasts A medium-wave ``Metel`` radio broadcasting station of 100 kilowatts will be put into service in Naursky district of Chechnya within the next two or three days, Itar-Tass was told on Tuesday by officials of the press service of the federal government's plenipotentiary representative in Chechnya. This broadcasting station will be heard practically on the entire territory of Chechnya and ``Radio Russia`` will do away with information shortage even in the remotest parts of the republic. Broadcasts of the ``Mayak`` and ``Radio Russia`` stations can now be heard on seventy per cent of the territory of Chechnya, chiefly in its lowland part. Radio relaying stations ensure the reception of broadcasts from Vladikavkaz and Tbilisskaya, a town in Krasnodar Territory. Moreover, radio programmes are transmitted on short waves to Chechnya from Moscow and St.Petersburg. kli/ezh All rights reserved. Copyright (c) 2000, ITAR/TASS News Agency, all rights reserved, April 18. You may now print or save this document. (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) And the frequency is of absolutely no importance, ITAR-TASS obviously thinks. A previous report we had said the mobile station would be aboard a train (gh) ** COSTA RICA. RFPI has already modified their published frequency schedule, upon which the latest WOR/COM schedule distribution a few days ago was based: 25930-USB and 15049 are now scheduled only until 0300* instead of -0400, with 6975 officially starting at *0300 but sometimes on a bit earlier. On April 22, 15049 went off at 0305* after COM had started. So we have removed 15 and 25 from our 0300 and 0330 times on UT Sat and Wed (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EARTH. Dear Glenn: As you may know an expedition is taking place of a group of people traveling between the north and south poles, by skis, bicycles, kayaks, and other modes of transportation. You may read about this on: http://www.pole2pole2000.com They are up near the north pole right now, their only means of contact to the outside world being a Kenwood HF transceiver. The next scheduled time to monitor contact with these people is at 1330 Sunday UT (8:30 am CDT) on 14150 USB. Ham operators are advised to remain silent unless their assistance is called upon. The expedition does NOT need a whole bunch of folks calling in for a QSL. David Balcaen VE7GYA from 100 Mile House, British Columbia, will be talking with them. Just thought you might like to know. (--Franklin Seiberling, IA, April 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MONGOLIA. Hi Glenn, Well, bad propagation has all but taken VOM out lately, not coming thru most mornings I've checked. I think as of about a week ago the observed lineup was: 1030 English, 1100 Mongolian, 1130 Chinese, 1200 Japanese. As soon as I can reconfirm will let you know. (John Cobb, GA, April 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MONGOLIA. Hi Glenn, I checked to see what was happening with Mongolia on Saturday morning; at 1030 UTC there was nothing on either 12085 or the alternate freq of 12015. A recheck just before 1200 resulted in what sounded like a faint het that sounded like them, but nothing more than that. I'll give it a shot again Sunday to see what's going on. BTW, "summer' in that country is basically the month of June (just like here in New Hampshire!). (Craig Seufert, Apr 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MONGOLIA. Glenn, After receiving V. of Mongolia here in English at 1030 UTC on 12085 with a good signal last week, I haven't been able to pick up even a faint signal for the past two days, April 20 and 21. Just bad propagation or are they having problems? I was checking for English at 1030. Heard nothing at 1200 April 22, either (Michael Kallstrom, KY, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MONGOLIA. [Re: DXLD 00-55]. The supposed new schedule of VOM is confirmed to have been outdated. No reception from VOM, and suspected off the air at 1200 checks April 21 and 22 on 12085, but April 23 tune in at 1053 to music, and 1056 announcement in English about it by our usual YL, more music, and she very briefly concluded the English broadcast at 1100, into IS. So English *is* still at 1030. Strong signal this date but flutter. And recheck at 1200: opening in Japanese as usual, not English. Unfortunately, the misinformation has already been broadcast in the EDXP Report on HCJB DX Partyline. I hope we will be hearing a correxion (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS. Glenn, Re the report from the Radio Society of Great Britain (DXLD 00-55). If the RSGB is 'confused' about the status of this project, they obviously weren't listening a few weeks ago to Media Network. I spoke to the station's PR representative in Amsterdam, and he confirmed that the project is effectively on hold because the French government has indeed raised an objection with the ITU (which it is perfectly entitled to do under ITU regulations). The reason is that the technical characteristics of the project are not in accordance with what was registered back in the 1970's. The registration was for a 500kW transmitter at Lopik, but Delta 171 plans to use 2 Megawatts from a different location. The French are, understandably, concerned about possible adjacent channel interference to the 162 kHz service of France-Inter, the only public frequency that covers the entire country. What is now happening is that Delta 171 is having to submit technical documents to the ITU that will - hopefully - ease French anxieties. The antennas of Delta 171 will be be directional towards the UK, so it's a matter of proving that there will not be excessive back radiation. All this take time: the wheels of bureaucracy turn slowly. Delta 171's representative told Media Network that they hoped the problem would be resolved by later this year so that construction can begin. (Andy Sennitt, April 23, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. 4940 Yakutiya - Acc to the report of VK, he has received for the first time the Rep Radio ``Miks-Master`` on Apr, 4 at 2250 on the freq 4940, SINPO 254442 [sic]. The stn has a standard commercial- musical format. There was an annt of the telephone numbers in Yakutsk 42-03-02, 42-03-04, but without mentioning any addr. The freqs were also announced - 102,5 and 4940. (Vladimir Kovalenko (Tomskaya oblast-RUS Apr 4), via MIDXB N 158, via RUS-DX via BC-DX via DXLD) ** SPAIN. Hi. REE in Madrid announced tonight that as of next week they will no longer have news bulletins on weekends. (I don`t recall if this is to increase the time of the so called 'DX program). (Bill Bergadano, KA2EMZ, April 22, swprograms via DXLD) Radio Exterior de España announced as noted that there will no longer be a newscast on their weekend programs. On Saturdays, their program will include Visitor's Book, American Chronicles, and Radio Waves, a DX and music show with Justin Coe. It is unclear, and was not mentioned, whether Radio Waves will be lengthened. On Sundays, this includes Window on Spain, Spanish composers (a very fine program, by the way), and Radio Club, where listeners' letters are answered by Deanelle Baker and she plays musical requests of (mostly) Spanish music. Some of the cutbacks could be due to an English announcing staff of only 5 (down from 7 few months ago). It is too bad in a way, but extending these nice cultural and easy listening programs could be nice too. (Roger Chambers, swprograms via DXLD) ** SWITZERLAND/UK/GERMANY. SRI at a recent conference said they will continue to use shortwave till the year 2002. This statement leads me to the question, if after that "date" they are planning to concentrate on activities on the internet, which SRI (along with BBC WS) nowadays considers to be the most important medium for international broadcasters. DW just announced that they will relaunch their web presence later this year and plans to invest available resources into DW-online. (Harald Kuhl, Germany, April 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. Congratulations to BBC WS who finally got it right – that is, merely following at least part of their own long-published schedule: UT Sat April 22 at 0330, Waveguide actually appeared on all three NAm frequencies, 5975, 6135 and 6175, and even on the webcast. This is news! (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. DX Information from the British DX Club (BDXC-UK). GLOBAL CAROLINE WEB BROADCAST: To celebrate Caroline's 36th birthday, the station will commence global live broadcasting from 8 am British time on Sat 22nd April. Access the broadcast on http://www.radio- caroline.nl MORE AIRTIME FOR CAROLINE. The satellite service of Radio Caroline on the Astra 1C satellite now commences on Friday evening at 6.00 pm UK time and continues until midnight. On Saturday and Sunday, the station is on air from 8.00 am until 11.00 pm. From 6 to 9 on Friday listeners can hear Dell Richardson specialist programme of good early Rock and Roll. From 9 until 12 Bryan Chalker present his own brand of cutting edge country music that he calls Hard Country. On Sunday night from 9 till 11 Caroline veteran Barry James plays two hours of the heavier side of rock music. Roy Masters and his Foundation Of Human Understanding are temporarily absent from Caroline but will return shortly with extra hours each week. (Mike Terry, BDXC-UK April 21 via DXLD) ** U S A. On this week`s Worldwide, UT Sat April 22 at 0000, Allan Weiner remarked that he often plays it back Tuesdays at 2300 UT, on WBCQ-1, 7415. Tho you would never know it from looking at the website schedule; that is an Available Time Slot. A few other new programs have been posted there at http://wbcq.net (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. HI GLEN CAN'T TELL YOU MUCH BUT U.S MILITARY NOW USING OUR MASSIVE FACILITIES HAVE VERY VERY SPECIAL COOL EQUIPMENT ON SITE SOME NEET GOODIES FOR SURE. ADDING MANY ANTENNAS, TOWERS GOING UP ALL OVER THIS FACILITY. COOL TO BE SURE!!!!! (Dave Frantz, WGTG, April 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. One of the most popular radio talk hosts in America, Art Bell, is retiring after his April 26th overnight show. Bell says his family has been in a ``psychological tailspin`` since the rape of his son by an AIDS-infected teacher, now sentenced to life in prison; and by false rumors broadcast on WWCR accusing Bell himself of child molestation. That matter is about to be litigated in Nashville. Bell’s replacement on Coast to Coast AM, has already been introduced. He is Mike Siegel, from Seattle beginning April 27. Bell has assured audiences that Siegel will continue the show's tradition of exploring the bizarre and unexplained. Tim Burton's film "Mars Attacks" was, in part, an homage to Bell, says the Seattle Times, via Mike Cooper. Bell's final show will air live and also on the web beginning at 0500 UT Thursday April 27. Check http://www.artbell.com Some of Art Bell`s affiliates, such as WABC New York, may drop the show once Bell is gone, says the New York Post via Joe Hanlon. (gh, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###