DX LISTENING DIGEST 00-60, May 3, 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} ** ALBANIA. R. Tirana English to NAm, UT Wed April 19 at 0145 was on 6120 instead of 6115. No show on //7160; much QRM from hams on 7160.3 LSB. At 0230 on 6120 again, no 7160. Persistent hams on 7160.5 LSB (Bob Thomas, CT, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Is Tirana actually on 6115.0 or 6120.0, or varying in between? (gh, DXLD) ** ALBANIA. R. Tirana, 9540.05 at new English time of 2130-2200, news, commentary, ID //7130.07 April 21 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AZERBAIJAN. As far as unID on 9155 is concerned, V. of Azerbaijan is on both 9165 and 9155 (1500-1700 s-off). Most likely AZE is testing a new tx on 9155, modulation quality is fine. Noted today with continious mx/songs, which sounded like Azerbaijani (Nick Pashkevich, Russia, Apr 19, BC-DX via DXLD) ** BELGIUM [and non]. RVI in English at 2230 Sunday April 30 on 15565 had a weaker pre-echo throughout. Either this was a feed problem, or more likely it was running BOTH from Belgium and from temporary Antigua relay replacing Bonaire (or was it Bonaire, revived by then?). In any event the two sites ought to keep in touch to avoid self-interference! (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BHUTAN. After many years of silence, the "Kingdom of Bhutan" is finally on air thanks to the help of Jim Smith, VK9NS, now signing A52JS. Not only is Jim active, but a local resident of Bhutan is active also. Tuji Yonten, A51TY, has waited a long time to be active again. Hopefully, this is the start for more activity from this rare and wanted entity. For those who missed the two press releases by Jim/VK9NS ...in short, Tuji Yonten, A51TY, made his first CW and SSB QSOs on 20 meters. The CW QSO was with Pavel, RW0JR, on 20 meters. The SSB QSO was made later with Kirsti, VK9NL, on 20 meters. The logged time for START was 1201z, April 27th, 2000. Incidentally, Jim also made his first CW QSO with Pavel, RW0JR, at 1216z on 20 meters and later at 1252z his first SSB QSO with Vidi, VU2DVP, on 20 meters. Over the past weekend, Jim has been heard mainly on 15/20 meters CW. There has been some reports on SSB and 17 meters activity. Jim was heard saying that he would be in Bhutan for the next 4 weeks. QSL A52JS in the normal manner direct to HIDXA, PO Box 90, Norfolk Island, NI 2899, Australia. For BUREAU QSLING, Jim states, "All stations wishing to use the QSL bureau system are requested NOT to DUMP A52JS QSL cards into the bureau - they will get nowhere right now. PLEASE wait for an announcement to be made in a few weeks time once I get back to the UK and make some sort of arrangement for the handling of Bureau QSLs." ADDED REMINDER: The larger A5 operation is scheduled for this week between May 3-12th. The last of the 15 operators are scheduled to arrive on May 2nd. The DXpeditions Web page has been moved to: http://www.qsl.net/bhutan2000 You will find the operators profile, sponsors, log uploads, propagation links and updated details, press releases and pictures. QSL via W0GJ. (KB8NW/OPDX/BARF80 May 1 via John Norfolk, OKCOK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. New news sounders for RCI. I think they started these on Tuesday morning Montreal time. (Ricky Leong, Quebec, May 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) About time! The old ones were driving me nuts. BTW, a US-owned ad agency in Toronto has been contracted to develop a totally new image for CBC (English Television) per a May 2 Globe & Mail story via Mike Cooper. This could mean the end of the exploding pizza. Also, CBC `Radio` 3 will go ahead as a webcast only (gh) ** CANADA. Radio Canada International moving to new HQ : Text of press release from Radio Canada International on 28th April Montreal, 25th April: On 1st May, Radio Canada International, Canada's voice to the world, will move to new premises in the Radio Canada building in Montreal. At the heart of these new facilities is the newsroom; each job station is equipped with DALET. Three digital studios and seven booths will be used to broadcast the 200 hours of weekly production in eight languages. New address: Radio Canada International 1400 Rene Levesque Blvd. East Level B Montreal, Quebec H2L 2M2 The phone (514-597-7500) and fax (514-597-7076) numbers as well as the internet address (http://www.rcinet.ca), the e-mail (rci@montreal.radio-canada.ca) and the postal box (PO Box 6000, H3C 3A8) will remain the same. Source: Radio Canada International, Montreal, in English 28 Apr 00 (via BBC Monitoring via DXLD) ** CANADA. R. Japan via Sackville, April 22 at 0020-0035+ on spur 6205 in English news, local pops, ID, Asia In Focus; weak // new strong 6145 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) That would be a mix with 6175 BBC relay. RCI already produces mixing product on 6205 from two other frequencies, 6015 and 6110 in the 0500 hour! (gh, DXLD) ** CANADA/VIETNAM. I'm sending you an article about the execution by firing squad of a Canadian in Vietnam. Perhaps RCI should reconsider its relay of VoV. (Ivan Grishin, Ont., Apr 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA/VIETNAM. The Toronto Star - News Toronto woman executed despite pleas to Vietnam, Death by firing squad By Dale Anne Freed Toronto Star Staff Reporter Canadian officials are outraged over the secret execution of a Toronto woman jailed in Vietnam despite frantic international efforts to save her life. Nguyen Thi Hiep, 42, who was convicted in a Hanoi court in March, 1997, of smuggling 5.4 kilograms of heroin, was shot by a firing squad at dawn Monday. The death of Nguyen, the only Canadian known to have been executed anywhere in the world on a drug-related charge, could chill relations between Canada and Vietnam, Canadian officials said yesterday. Up to the day of her execution, Toronto police had been investigating whether Nguyen, who was born in Vietnam and became a Canadian citizen in 1982, was being used as an unsuspecting mule by an organized drug ring. Canadian authorities want to know why the Vietnamese government didn't wait to examine a 50-page document prepared by Detective Carl Noll and Detective Constable John Green of the Toronto police heroin unit. They had investigated the international drug ring that involved Nguyen, Doiron said. In the three years until her execution, Nguyen had been shackled in a squalid rat-infested jail cell while international appeals from Prime Minister Jean Chretien, Axworthy, U.S. President Bill Clinton, Rev. Jesse Jackson, former boxing great Rubin (Hurricane) Carter, Amnesty International, the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted and the woman's family appealed for clemency - but all were ignored. (excerpts from the Toronto Star, via Ivan Grishin, April 27, DXLD) ** CANADA/VIETNAM. With the Canadian government taking the first steps toward full-blown diplomatic and economic sanctions against Vietnam for the execution of Canadian Nguyen Thi Hiep on drug smuggling charges, look for the possible end of the Voice of Vietnam relays via Radio Canada International... But yet again, does the Canadian government even know that RCI exists? Just a thought! 73 (Mickey Delmage, Sherwood Park, Alberta, hard-core-dx April 28 via DXLD) ** CANADA/VIETNAM. Glenn, 9695 0100-0200 May 2 had the VOV relay missing, played rock & country music instead. Has this anything to do with the execution? (Ivan Grishin, Ont.) And again at various checks 0135, 0223, 0247 May 3 was rock music fill instead, but 9695 still paused for beam change at 0159-0200, off at 0257* and more of the same on 9795 after 0300. I`d think the transmitter would just be turned off if Canada decided to cancel it (gh, DX LISTENING DIGEST) [Earlier:] Glenn, We heard some operatic selections from La Traviata before the 0230 VoV English broadcast April 26 on 9695. A welcome change from the rock music they normally play between broadcasts. Much as I enjoy Verdi, wouldn't it be nice if they had some Vietnamese music as filler? (Ivan Grishin, Ont., DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHIAPAS [non]. Dear Mr. Hauser, In the April 2000 MT you wrote: ``Now known as Michael Leo Lively, Adams has a twisted sense of humor immediately evident on the webpage. Makes one wonder how seriously the Chiapas show should be taken (gh)`` While my sense of humor surely takes many forms, among them ``twisted``, the editorialization, ``Makes one wonder how seriously the Chiapas show should be taken (gh)`` is somewhat off base. I do however, appreciate the fact that you initialed the editorialization. I have yet to find a person fluent in Spanish who was not stunned by the program. It is DEADLY serious in its content, the Spanish talent is world class, and the production is state of the art. (Although some of the fades bothered me, I'm known in the industry as a picky SOB;). The ``Chiapas the World Speaks`` Programming was not designed for the context of my personal webpage. It was only posted there after I had left the Zapatista movement (in disgust) so that friends in the movement could download it. The ``Chiapas the World Speaks`` suite of 10 programs was meant to be broadcast into Mexico by RFPI and clandestine/semi-clandestine stations I was ‘backing’ or had planned to back in Central America and Southern Mexico and the only source to be mentioned in association with ``Chiapas the World Speaks`` was NPC Information Associates. The program was one of many truth based propaganda pieces designed [to] awaken the people of Mexico and the world to the human rights abuses perpetrated in Chiapas by the Mexican Government and mostly ignored or heavily `spun` in the Government and Corporate Mexican Media. There were actually three `suites` of programs ranging from responsible to radical that would have all appeared to come from totally different sources. We planned to use these different ``Masks``, (Sun Tzu would have called them ``Shapes``) with programming ranging from over the top raving sarcasm (One program has a Mexican pop station style commercial for a PRI travel agency that enthusiastically promotes a ``Death Squad Indian Hunting Tour Package`` Taxidermy included!), all the way to programming based on reasoned argument, guilt stimulation, etc, etc. None of the three formats would appear connected in the public eye or Mexican Government eye for tactical propaganda reasons. The series and two other suites of 10 or so programs already in the can, but unedited into programs, along with several communications projects were all cancelled due to lack of cooperation and/or down right hostility from the (in my opinion) turf protecting, often anti- gringo, bureaucracies that have attached themselves to the Zapatistas, particularly in the U.S. Also canceled was the distribution of 144 Baygen (Low Band) Windups which I sold back to the distributor at the loss of a 15% restocking fee. I’m obviously more persistent that smart because I wasted a year and a half and a wheel-barrow full of money before I blew the Zapatista’s Cool-Aid Stand. These organizations and individuals are supposed to be the Zapatista’s representatives and liaison outside of Mexico but seem to mostly serve as a defacto palace guard… (for their own palaces;) I really didn’t want to be a known entity in the project at all for security and propaganda flexibility reasons but during the pre- broadcast publicity phase Christopher Jones at Wired Online felt that people were interested in reading about the people involved in such a project and I relented. His article was called, ``Chiapas' Well- Connected Rebels`` and may be found at: http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,17633,00.html This was where the sharp eyed and elephant memoried Hans Johnson got his info. Since this clandestine (and it is a clandestine as I understand the term) has popped up, I’m probably going to do an article to submit to MT on all the NPCIA Zapatista radio projects to avoid more misinformation. I’m sure you can see from the above that while ill fated, these were some serious efforts. [Later May 2:] BTW, The Zapatista communities are in a very precarious situation right now with a massive build up of military force tightening the noose before the Chiapas State Elections. (Michael Leo Lively, aka Commandante Null MAF Rtd, April 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CONGO. CLANDESTINE to/from CONGO: Radio Liberte. Nick Grace kindly translated a French message I got from this station. It seems that they are on more than just 1800-2300 on 15725 kHz as previously reported. (Johnson) Here is Nick's translation- "Radio Télé-Liberté (RTL) has been on since the beginning of the year on shortwave- 9.800 MHz mornings, 12.925 MHz afternoons, and evenings on 15.725 MHz. We have press reviews at at 8h, 12h30, and 20h as well as three daily news bulletins at 10h, 14h, and 16h. RTL has a staff of 25 and many outside contributors. Radio Liberté is located in Gbadolite and also operates from Kisangani on FM." (Nick Grace, Cumbre DX Apr 30 via DXLD) Are we sure times are UT?? ** COSTA RICA. On its Mailbag first airing 0400 UT Sat April 29, RFPI announced that frequency usage had been expanded slightly for 15049 until 0400, and 6970 from 0200. So WOR and COM airings during these two hours are back on more frequencies and our schedules are revised. However, on UT Tue May 2 we noticed 15049 still on at 0430 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [non]. Elian Watch: Federally funded Radio Martí, which is supposed to provide objective reporting to Cuba, inexplicably waited four hours to broadcast the news that Elián González had been seized. "It was an editorial judgment made by Radio Martí," says Joe O'Connell, spokesman for the U.S. government's International Broadcasting Bureau. ``It's something we're looking into.`` But O'Connell says his agency has no problem with Radio Martí's director, Roberto Rodríguez Tejera, criticizing the raid on Spanish-language radio. ``He was speaking for himself,`` says O'Connell. ``It's a gray area. People don't lose their First Amendment rights when they come here.`` (c) 2000 The Washington Post Company (Howard Kurtz, Washington Post, May 1 via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** EARTH (CANADA). Dear People: David was able to make contact today with the Pole-to-Pole expedition, but the signal was only good enough to determine that ``everything is OK.`` The expedition Kenwood is only running 10 watts on the solar-charged ni-cad batteries. A snow mobile has been flown in, so when and if they can use the snow mobile battery, they will be able to transmit with much more power. The new time for making contact will be 1230 UT. You may not be able to hear the expedition, but you should be able to hear David, VE7GYA. If you don't hear him on 14150, QSY to the following backup frequencies, given here in order: 1) 14290 2) 28600 3) 21340 {David: please correct me if any of this is wrong.} Again, hams are asked to remain silent and monitor _only_ until such time as David asks for contacts. All the best (--Franklin Seiberling, Iowa City, April 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) David Balcaen has been able to make contact from time to time, and continues to attempt contact on a regular schedule. David encourage others to listen in, and other hams could be helpful if they are able to hear the Pole-to-Pole people when David cannot. However, I can't guarantee my information, since it is second hand. An attempt will be made tonight, 0230 Saturday UT, on 14150, and then again in the morning at 1230 UT. I have been able to hear David faintly. This morning I could hear him talking to the expedition -- he assuming that they could hear him, though he could not hear them. Again, until the expedition begins to use the snow mobile battery, they can only transmit at 10 watts -- enough power to get through when the conditions are right. All the best, (--Franklin Seiberling, Iowa City, April 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FINLAND. Glenn, You may have heard about a planned Finnish legal commercial SW station, due to start on July 1. For further information, have a look at Scandinavian Weekend Radio at http://www.swradio.net Let's see if they really can make it! 73 (Arto Mujunen, Finland, April 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Site says: ``SWR is Finland`s first private owned shortwave radio station. Our first transmission is planned to start at 30th of June, 2000, 22:00 UTC. SWR is on the air at every month`s first Saturday 24 hours (local time), starting at Friday 22.00 UTC and ending Saturday 21:59 UTC. SWR broadcasts in 25 meter band shortwaves. Our frequencies are 11690 and 11720 kHz. Frequency used depends on interfering stations. Studios and transmitters locate in Virrat, western Finland. Our reception area is confirmed after test transmissions held in June, 2000. If you want to be informed about our transmissions and other happenings, please join our E-mail list with our feedback form.`` Sixteen different programmes have already been lined up in a listing on another page of the above site, including History of Finnish Radio, but mostly hard music (gh, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREECE [non]. We have been checking VOG`s new 15455 in the mornings just about every day. Here in the boresight of 75 degrees from Delano, it`s the strongest signal on 19m and maybe on the entire shortwave range, except for the first half-hour or so from *1200. This beam from Delano must have been designed with domestic coverage in mind, denied to IBB, but I suppose it is kosher as long as used only to relay foreign stations? Immediately became a preset on our car SW radio for the great music. Altho scheduled until 1800 it has actually been cutting off at 1700*. On April 25, 26 this happened extremely abruptly in the middle of some music. By Friday April 28 a closing announcement in Greek had been prepared, altho programming in progress was still being interrupted; in this case, an Orthodox Good Friday service with more great music. (BTW, the inability of two major Christian factions even to agree on the dates of festivals – and moving them around several weeks from year to year -- further damages what little credibility they have.) I have yet to monitor the entire 5 hour broadcast to see if there is any token English newscast, but on Saturday April 29 I was very pleased to come across ``Hellenes Around the World,`` the weekly hourlong magazine in English with news, interviews and music, at 1603-1700*. This had been on Sats at 1900, but lost in the DST and frequency shuffle until now. VOG is of absolutely no help in publicizing its own English segments, so we have to do it for them – or rather, for you. We just rechecked the website http://ert.ntua.gr May 2 and found the SW schedule is out of date and gives no details of languages; tho you can get audio including foreign languages at certain times via webcast (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREECE. Hello Glen and all! I thoroughly enjoy your website. I have been monitoring the Voice of Greece on and off for the last few weeks. This is what I have found: V of Greece English news may be found on 12110.0 kHz at 0200-0212v, M-F. On weekends, I have heard over the last 2 weekends the English news on Saturdays on 9775.0 kHz at 0745-0800v. I hopes this helps those who have been chasing this elusive broadcaster! Good DX all! (Darren Hennig, Edmonton, AB, May 2, via DXing.com, DXLD) ** IRAN. VOIRI English a 0030 announces 9022 for the Americas and // 6135 which is blocked by VOA 6130 splash, and 6065 which is a no- show. I have found them on unannounced 9835, probably replacing 6 MHz, but I don`t know which one (Bob Thomas, CT, April 24, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN [non]. USA/Iran: Observations on US-based Radio Voice of Iran An Iranian opposition radio broadcast is currently being observed on 12065 kHz from 1630-1830 gmt daily. It identifies itself as Radio Voice of Iran (Persian: Radio Sedaye Iran) and is reportedly hiring airtime on a shortwave transmitter in Moldova. (Another Persian- language station, Radio International, is also believed to be operating from a hired shortwave transmitter in Moldova at 1730-1800 gmt, daily except Mondays and Wednesdays, on 15565 kHz.) When checked on 19th April, Radio Voice of Iran signed on with an old monarchist tune and announced that it was broadcasting from Los Angeles, USA on 12065 kHz shortwave "for all Iranians listeners throughout the world, and those living within Iran's borders". Programming was generally pro-Western and hostile to hardliners in Iran. BBC Monitoring has located a website for Radio Sedaye Iran at http://www.krsi.com. The website, based in Los Angeles, includes recent news bulletins from the radio broadcast and archives of various other programming available on demand. The following e-mail contact address is given on the web site: krsi@glancing.com Source: Monitoring research 19-26 Apr 00 ((C) BBC Monitoring April 27 via DXLD) We listened to this for a while, and indeed heard Radio Sedaye Iran IDs, as well as apparent local commercials, and referring to website with English terminology (gh, DXLD) ** ITALY. Rai, English at 0050 announces 9675, but no show for a while; OK on 6010 and 11800 (Bob Thomas, CT, April 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ITALY. RAI 846 kHz is back on air but with a poor signal, indicating a modest power but not 1200 kW. (Kai Ludwig, Germany, April 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ITALY. The closedown of Rai`s Santa Palomba transmitter site, 846 kHz, has been suspended for three days only, April 27, 28 and 29, in order to measure the actual levels of electromagnetic radiation. (Luca, IK0QDB) Meanwhile, Rai`s Radiotre in Torino on 1368 kHz has also been closed down (Andrea Borgnino) (gh`s summary translation of much longer report in Radio Incontro, for DXLD) ** ITALY. Vatican Radio investigated over transmitter radiation levels; Text of report by Italian newspaper 'Il Mesaggero' on 19th April The row over the affair of the aerials of Vatican Radio in Cesano, accused of exceeding the legal limits of electromagnetic pollution, is becoming red-hot. First came the decision by the prosecuting magistrate at the Rome tribunal, Gianfranco Amendola, to place three members of the Holy See's broadcaster under investigation. Then Vatican Radio's lawyers, Marcello Melandri and Eugenio Pacelli (a nephew of Pope Pius XII), drew attention to the fact that the area had been declared extra-territorial as long ago as 1951, thanks to an accord between the Italian State and the Holy See. A reply to the two lawyers came from Vanni Bulgarelli, a member of the board member of the National Environmental Agency (ANPA), who claimed that the principle of extra-territoriality was insufficient when the health of members of the public was at stake. Furthermore, the three people under investigation have rejected the summons from Amendola, citing Article 11 of the Lateran pacts which does not allow interference by Italy in the workings of the Catholic Church, as in the case of Vatican Radio. "The Italian State must intervene, using the existing accords, before the situation can degenerate," said Bulgarelli, who called on the Environment Minister "to take steps with the Foreign Ministry and the Prime Minister's office," with a view to finding a way out of the crisis. Bulgarelli went on to say: "I believe that it is in the interests of the Vatican to fall in line with the Italian regulations, in the context of good relations with our government. There is room for a diplomatic solution in Cesano. It has come to my attention that the radio chiefs are amenable to dialogue, before the suspension of broadcasts, as happened in Pomezia." Pomezia is where RAI [state broadcaster] aerials at Santa Palomba [on 846 and 1332 kHz] have been seized by magistrates, where two RAI employees are under investigation by Amendola, and the radio signal has been blacked out by the mayor of the city, Maurizio Aureli. With a warrant Friday [14th April] Aureli forced RAI to stop broadcasts. RAI has already filed two separate appeals against the seizure and the warrant. Source: 'Il Mesaggero', Rome, in Italian 19 Apr 00 (via BBC Monitoring May 2, via DXLD) ** KURDISTAN. V. of the People of Kurdistan on 6995, new? April 21 at 0215-0240+. Tune-in to local martial music, talk in language, Koran. Local Mid-East music. Slightly wobbly carrier, fair to good; weaker on // 4061.5 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALAYSIA / THAILAND / OMAN. TCI International Inc. (Nasdaq: TCII) announced today that its Broadcast and Communications Division has signed two contracts worth $5.4 million to supply high power broadcasting systems. The first contract is for the supply of broadband antennas and transmission lines to Radio Television Malaysia for its overseas broadcasting service. The second contract, awarded by UK-based Merlin Communications International Ltd., is for the supply and installation of several high power antennas and transmission lines for stations in Oman and Thailand. The antennas will be used to broadcast the World Service of the British Broadcasting Corporation. ((c) 2000, Business Wire, all rights reserved; April 20 via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** MONGOLIA. Glenn, Sorry to be so long with this. Mongolia is definitely on 12085 as follows (times UT): 0930 [Mongolian or Russian; hard to tell thru the polar flutter], 1000 Chinese, 1030 English, 1100 Mongolian, 1130 Chinese, 1200 Japanese. The other EG xmsns are announced as 1500 and 2000 here and // 12015. 73, (John Cobb, Roswell, GA, April 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Meanwhile, the erroneous EDXP info keeps getting quoted, e.g. by Gabriel Iván Barrera on the latest RN Radio-Enlace. Previous items here had already corrected it, if anyone were paying attention (gh) ** NETHERLANDS. Those of you who have been in the shortwave listening hobby a while will no doubt remember with affection Harry van Gelder, former host of DX Jukebox. Well, Harry's son works at Radio Netherlands, and today he mentioned to me that Harry is now 91, and his mind is still as sharp as a razor. Harry has suffered eyesight problems for many years and now only has 5% vision, but still takes an active interest in developments at Radio Netherlands. I thought some of you would be interested to know that Harry is still around, 26 years after he retired. I guess broadcasting isn't the unhealthy occupation I thought it was :-) (Andy Sennitt, swprograms, April 26, via DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS ANTILLES. The airtime we currently have via other stations will have to be paid for, or returned in kind at some point in the future. Further, Bonaire these days is much more than a relay station. It's also a regional radio and TV technical consultancy for the Caribbean area, and as such is on the road to becoming self- supporting thanks to the income generated. We are one of the largest employers on the island (around 50 people). I understand that when all the repairs have been completed, we will end up with much more generating capacity than we had before. So, if anything, Bonaire may actually expand, especially if digital shortwave takes off. (Andy Sennitt, RN, swprograms via DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS ANTILLES. RN was back on 6165 only a week after the generator fire, UT Mon May 1 at 0325 ending Spanish stronger than //9845 presumably still Flevo, 0327 starting Dutch (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS ANTILLES. Following the accident, our staff in Bonaire worked around the clock to get the station back on the air. Two new generators have been installed for the energy supply of the transmitters and one small generator for the general electricity of the station. A new building has been constructed to house the new generators. As of 2130 UTC on 29 April, Bonaire resumed operating with a single 250kW transmitter. It will follow the schedule of transmissions shown in Red in the schedule below. (Rocus de Joode, Manager Operations, Radio Netherlands, 1 May 2000, RN website via DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS ANTILLES [non]. WSHB will begin airing programs for Radio Netherlands on April 27 at 1100 UTC. The 1100 broadcast will be on 15,455 kHz. at 1130, we will switch to 9715 kHz. We will continue this until repairs are complete at the station. The word is that there was a generator fire at the station. Only the generator shed is damaged, not the full station. Ed Evans, WSHB, rec.radio.shortwave April 26 via John Norfolk) That is, Spanish (gh) [non] While WSHB is filling in for RNW, religious programming produced by the Christian Science Publishing Society on 6095 kHz for E. North America and the Caribbean will be dropped from 1100 to 1230 UTC. 73, {Jim Moats, OH, May 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST} Too late: ** NETHERLANDS ANTILLES. Hi Glenn, Our Bonaire Station Manager Leo Kool has informed us that they have been successful in running two transmitters in parallel at Bonaire on full power, using the hired generators they installed last week. Therefore Bonaire is returning to full service as of 1730 UTC this evening (2 May). The schedule remains as it was before the fire, including relays of DW and RVI. 73, (Andy Sennitt, RN, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS ANTILLES. Thanks to a fantastic effort over the past 10 days by station manager Leo Kool and his entire staff, I'm delighted to report that Radio Netherlands is resuming a full schedule from Bonaire, at full power, as of 1730 UTC this evening. The temporary generators have proven to be capable of powering two 250kW transmitters, so there's no need to use substitute sites. DW and RVI English broadcasts will also be using Bonaire again as from tonight. I've added some new photos on our Website of the generators being installed and tested. You can find the link, plus one to our current schedule, at http://www.rnw.nl/realradio/html/bonaire000424.html (Andy Sennitt, Radio Netherlands, May 2, swprograms via DXLD) Great! But what about the third transmitter, and the digital tests? (gh) ** NETHERLANDS ANTILLES. Hi Glenn, hope you had a good vacation... According to Radio Netherlands website Bonaire resumed full operation 5/2 at 1730 UTC. Checked English to Africa at 1830 and both 17605 and 21590 coming in at their usual strengths. They sure got back on quickly after initial indications that Bonaire might be off for several months. Hats off to RN's website for keeping us well informed as to what was going on; the technical schedule was continuously updated with complete info on alternate frequencies and transmitter sites. (Steve Luce, Houston, May 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEW MEXICO. Albuquerque is fortunate to have two public radio stations; KUNM 89.9 has such devotion to local music shows, that there is not enough time to carry many of the PRI and NPR shows heard nationally. Some of these are picked up by KANW 89.1, tho it devotes a lot of time to New Mexico Music (in Spanish), supposedly lacking on the commercial stations. Each has a separate network of translators in outlying towns, but KANW`s need some attention. Visiting Grants NM, I found 91.1 had a strong local signal, but very noisy audio due to multipath or other problems in the off-air input, not any better than one could hear direct on 89.1; Grants is behind a mountain. Another KANW translator, 91.9 in Santa Rosa, had co-channel interference relayed, probably 89.1 from Lubbock which can be strong with a bit of tropo, or the weaker Amarillan. KANW also screws up operationally: during Schickele Mix, Sunday April 30 at 1835 UT, a suite of music was rudely interrupted, twice, once for a taped ID, and then for an underwriter plug, instead of at the natural break at 1840. Santa Rosa`s long-listed but never-heard 95.9 outlet, now KRSR instead of KSSR per FM Atlas XVIII, may be close to happening; when I was there the afternoon of April 30, a weak carrier, probably just the exciter, could be heard. KTDB, 89.7, Pine Hill NM, on the Ramah Navajo Reservation is quite an interesting station, mixing NPR shows with talk in the local language. Sunday April 30 at 1200 NPR news was followed at 1206 UT by an apparent consecutive translation of that news, judging from some of the same English names and words included. In remote west-central NM, KTDB is the only decent signal in much of its sparsely-populated coverage area, and also reaches a stretch of I-40 around Grants. More than once I heard them play two minutes of music across the top of the hour between NPR shows, with no thought of doing a legal ID, e.g. April 29 at 2159-2201 UT. BTW, the main Navajo Nation does not recognize the Ramah Navajos as ``real`` Navajos for historical reasons. The Grants cable TV system ought to fill the FM band with Albuquerque and other nearby signals difficult to pick up direct, but instead I found this oddity: on 91.7, Spanish soundtrack for the Cartoon Network, matching video on Cable 33. Altho a number of more significant cable nets offer Spanish sound, no others were to be found. In Socorro, I picked up a copy of Paydirt, the student newspaper at New Mexico Tech, which had a full page on the Top Five at the student station `KTEK`, but no mention of frequency, and I could not find it on AM or FM. Carrier current? Cable? Internet only? BTW, the real KTEK is on 1110 in Alvin TX, per M-Street Directory. Then I found out on the NMT website: KTEK is New Mexico Tech's campus radio station. KTEK is funded and operated entirely by the Student Association; both of which are located in the Student Activity Center (SAC). It is currently only being broadcast via closed circuit cable on campus at 88.7 MHz. KTEK operates under an open format, meaning DJ`s can and do program their own shows. http://www.nmt.edu/~ktek/ Tho road signs still draw attention to ``Hear New Mexico`` TIS stations on 530 in various places, I could not hear a single one of them on this trip. Just as well, as Ricardo Montalban`s accented historical spiels were timeworn years ago, but a shame these potentially valuable promotional tools have been allowed to decay (Glenn Hauser, NM, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PITCAIRN ISLAND. "The 59(9) DXReport" states that through the courtesy of SMIRK (Six Meter International Radio Klub), Jukka, VP6BR, will leave his 6 meter gear with Tom, VP6TC, to provide a presence on this band from here. (KB8NW/OPDX/BARF80 May 1 via John Norfolk, OKCOK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ROMANIA. RRI at 0200 April 19 not on 9570 but on 9510, good despite 9505 YFR splash, //11940; UT April 18 they were on 9570, so if not heard on one, try the other, I continue to say. It appears some other station comes on 9570 at 0200 when RRI does its English hour to NAm. It creates a big heterodyne. At times I`ve heard RRI try 9510, but splattered by 9505 WYFR (co-channel RHC behaves in background). There is also splatter from 9515 Spanish [BBC Delano]. UT April 21 at 0200, RRI was on 9570, but next day on 9510 (Bob Thomas, CT, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. Moscow: Radio Mayak has officially inaugurated its web- site at http://www.radiomayak.ru/. In the past the station was carried on numerous SW frequencies but currently streaming media is used to deliver its broadcasts (music and information) to listeners all over the world. Starting April 26 Radio Mayak is also on FM 103.4 MHz in Moscow (first frequency in the Western FM-band for a state station in the Russian capital). Vladivostok: Radio Station Tikhiy Okean (The Pacific Ocean) is on the verge of being shut down. Fedor Brazhnikov from Irkutsk learned this news during his recent phone call to the station. Tikhiy Okean has been targeting the Russian-speaking seamen since April 13, 1963. Currently, station's staff consists of only two full-time journalists and one part-timer. They receive "a huge amount of letters and reports from all over the world" but are unable to respond. As Fedor was told, the journalists barely have enough time to prepare their broadcasts. In the beginning of this broadcasting season Tikhiy Okean was heard in Irkutsk from 07:15 to 08:00 UTC on 12070. However, currently the station seems to be absent from this or other SW frequencies. Yakutsk, Republic of Sakha: According to Fedor Brazhnikov, Radio Master-Mix is on the air daily from on 21:00 to 19:00 UTC on SW 4940 kHz and FM 102.5 MHz. The station was established under the auspices of a local city government and its first broadcast went on the air on Dec. 31, 1999. Mikhail Timofeev from St. Petersburg made a phone call to this station (4112-42-03-02). He reports its name as Radio Mix- Master and says that it is on the air daily until 17:00 UTC. Address: Radio Mix-Master, office 1, ul. Oktyabrskaya 20/1, Yakutsk 677027, RUSSIA. (Moscow DX Bulletin April 30 via Sergei Sossedkin, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. Here is some more information about Radio Mix-Master from Yakutsk in the Far East of Russia (I have just phoned them using a number of (4112) 42-03-02): Their schedule: 0700-0300 local time (or 2100-1700 UTC) on 102.5 MHz and 4940 kHz. According to a station representative THEY ARE REALLY AT 2100-1700 UTC ON 4940 KHZ (very long time period of shortwave relay for local station here in Russia!). Address: Radio Mix-Master, office 1, ul. Oktyabr'skaya 20/1, Yakutsk, 677027, Respublika Sakha, Russia. Unfortunately, they do not have an official station e-mail address yet, but I nevertheless hope to know one their personal "hotmail" address in the coming time. I also gave them a piece of advice how to verify reception reports... (Mikhail Timofeyev, St. Petersburg, April 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOMALIA. Faction leader Aydid's radio reportedly back on air; Text of report by Somali newspaper 'Xog-Ogaal' on 26th April Mogadishu faction leader, Husayn Muhammad Aydid, yesterday held a meeting with the SNA [Somali National Alliance] district officials and other ally factions. The meeting reviewed the prevailing political situation in the country in general and the state of famine in particular. According to a report from the pro-Husayn Aydid Voice of the People Radio, officials who could not attend the meeting have sent their representatives. Meanwhile, the Voice of the People Radio is once again back on air. Source: 'Xog-Ogaal', Mogadishu, in Somali 26 Apr 00 p 3 (via BBC Monitoring, DXLD) WTFK! ** SOMALIA. Two Mogadishu faction leaders to merge radio stations; Text of report by Somali newspaper 'Ayaamaha' on 1st May Reports from sources close to Mogadishu faction leaders Husayn Muhammad Aydid and Uthman Hasan Ali (Ato), say the two leaders have been reportedly working out strategies to merge their respective radio stations, Radio Mogadishu, Voice of Somali Pacification, pro- Ato radio, and Radio Mogadishu, Voice of the People of Somali Republic, pro-Aydid radio. The pro-Aydid radio, Radio Mogadishu, Voice of the People of Somali Republic, has been off the air in the past weeks, while pro-Uthman Ato radio, Radio Mogadishu, Voice of Somali Pacification, was on and off the air intermittently. Reports say the two leaders agreed to unite their efforts with a view to merge their broadcast stations and operate only an FM channel which will broadcast their joint political programme. Recently, the two leaders have become closer to each other and have jointly condemned the Somali national reconciliation conference due to kick off in Djibouti. Source: 'Ayaamaha', Mogadishu, in Somali 1 May 00 (via BBC Monitoring May 2, DXLD) WTFK! ** SPAIN. Altho one version of REE`s A-00 schedule showed 9650 for the weekly Sephardic broadcast to NAm, UT Tue 0415-0445, we confirmed May 2 and April 18 that it is still on the previous frequency, 9690. The music is always great, and it`s fun to note the differences between ``Judeo-espańol`` and Castilian. We only wonder what Jews think of this token penance for what Spain did to them over 500 years ago. So why doesn`t DW broadcast in Yiddish? Maybe in 500 years (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN. REE spurs, April 21 and 22 from 9540 in the 0240-0315+ period, in Spanish talk, IDs, pop music. Very distorted, FMing on approx. 8792, 8979, 9166, 9353; note separation of about 187 kHz between them (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN. A bit of a clarification of previous post of Spanish National Radio (REE). In Radio Waves over the weekend, and heard also tonight, Justin Coe announced that Christopher Birch had left the station, leaving only 4 announcers for the English service. (They will also be receiving some help from Veronica, an English speaking colleague from the German Service. So with such a small staff it is not surprising to see the loss of the weekend newscast, and some consolidation (and maybe more repeats) of some of their programs. Be that as it may, REE does put out some fine (though short) cultural programs, and plays good music. Also, their news is conprehensive, with much on Latin America. And the Spanish language lesson (Monday to Friday at about 0045, 0145, and 0545 UTC (all on 6055 kHz) is one of the best on the air at present. I certainly hope that in the mid term they do get a larger staff and can have news on the weekend. Justin Coe's comments on his Radio Waves program (soon to go back to the former name DX Unknown, I think) this weekend, the cutbacks may be only temporary. (Roger Chambers, April 24, swprograms via DXLD) ** SPAIN. Justin Coe, in today's Radio Waves, announced that the Director General (or similar "boss") Jose Manuel Amorena will be leaving his duties, as he has been appointed to the Cabinet in the second Asnar Administration. These leads to period of transition over the next month or so, to see how the "new boss" and shifts in management affect various services. The English section has been gradually dwindling from at least 7 a few months ago, to 4 full time and an assist from the German section. Let's hope that the English service here does not dwindle much more as a result of this transition, what Justin called office "political instabilty" Despite recent cutbacks, they continue to provide a quality program with a strong emphasis on music, art, culture, history and news of Spain. (Roger Chambers, NY, April 29, swprograms via DXLD) ** SRI LANKA [non] IBC Tamil is owned by Tamil Media Ltd, trading as IBC (International Broadcasting Corporation). It began broadcasting 9th June 1997. Transmission facilities are provided by the World Radio Network. IBC says its programming is non-partisan and is aimed at Tamil listeners worldwide. Programmes relayed on shortwave are via transmitters in Madagascar (-m) and Central Asia. Address : IBC-Tamil, PO Box 1505, London, SW8 2ZH, United Kingdom Tel : +44 20 7787 8000 Fax : +44 20 7787 8010 E-mail : desk@ibc-tamil.com Web Site : http://www.ibc-tamil.com (Real Audio available) ---------------------------------------------------------------- 0000-0050 Daily TAMIL As 11.570 0050-0100 Daily ENGLISH As 11.570 (News) 1458-1525 Daily TAMIL As 17.490-m ---------------------------------------------------------------- (© BBC Monitoring April 24 condensed by gh for DXLD) ** UKRAINE. I found a very good frequency for RUI in English at 0300, 13590. S = 3 to 4 with slight co-channel. At least UT Fri April 28. Most of us complain about the poor reception quality at 0000 on 5905, 6020 and 9640. Funny! They announce to Europe at 2100 on 5905, 6020, 11950; 0000 5905, 6020; 0300 6020. To Russia, Central Asia 2100 and 0000 on 6020, 9640. Another slot I missed, probably 0000, on 6020, 9640, 12045. NAm 0300 13590. Australia 1100 on 21520 [sic] (Bob Thomas, CT, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 13590 is the recently reactivated megawatt, but could redisappear at any time due to power bill dispute; originally A-00 schedule did not include any English on 13590. Glad RUI came to their senses on that. Oh, oh, UT May 3 at 0330 check on 13590 all I hear is a strong Qur`an, unlikely from RUI! Talk afterwards from 0336 was not Arabic, but Persian? (gh, DXLD) ** UNITED ARAB EMIRATES. Dubai, English at 0330 on 13675, 12005 and 15395 April 28; Sunday April 23 1600-1638 on 13675, 15395, maybe others? So we know they run English at 1330, 0330, 0530 and 1600 (Bob Thomas, CT, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Only other previous English time was 1030, probably still too (gh, DXLD) ** U K. Flat Earth Radio will initially be on the air for the next three Saturdays only (29 April, 6 May and 14 May) to cover the last Premiership games of the season. Depending on listener response, it will launch permanently in August. A competition is being run to win tickets to the Premiership final at Wembley on 20th May. Full details on the website. (Lee Roberts via Dave Kenny, BDXC-UK) Here is the schedule for Flat Earth Radio, which I have integrated for our convenience: 1100-1300 21455 21515 1300-1400 11890 21455 21515 1400-1600 15500 21515 1600-1730 15500 15525 21515 Further info via http://www.flatearthradio.com (Lee Roberts, via Tom Read, BDXC-UK, April 27 via DXLD) ** U K. BBCWS is still in a mess. UT Tue May 2 at 0305 we brought up the info-entertainment stream at http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice for Omnibus, but instead we got Quote, Unquote, and at 0330 Write On, instead of Body and Mind (actually 0333-0348 with the built-in delays). These two shows do not appear at this time on any of the 7 stream schedules in May BBC On Air, but they do on UT Saturday, when I missed Write On. This was the show laden with complaints about all the mistakes BBC has been making, and in true form they were downplayed and minimized. But Kirstie Coburn (sp?) had the good news that ``GMT will be far more prominent`` beginning with the July issue (too late to change in June). Meanwhile, 5975, 6135 and 6175 were carrying the scheduled Omnibus on the Spanish Civil War; and at 0345+ all carried Off The Shelf. When you already have seven variations, what in the world is the point of an eighth, unpublished one for webcasts??? A worse situation prevailed Sunday April 23 at 1505 when I wanted to hear the Millennium Concert on the web, but kept getting ``BBC WS not available until the top of the hour due to sporting coverage for which rights to webcast are not granted`` gist announcements. Trouble is, NO sports coverage was scheduled during that hour on any stream in BBC On Air. Could it be that BBC`s super-hyped Millennium Concerts are actually lacking such rights and this inappropriate generic sports announcement was brought up instead? So I had to default to SW for this; at least Mil Concs have four frequencies: 9515, 11865, 15220, 17840, but only 15220 was half-decent. Concert? At least the first 10 minutes were occupied by a hard-to-understand and rambling introduction by H.H. The Dalai Lama. I made up for this by witnessing from the front row center a performance by the touring Tibetan monks a few nights later, but I had to go to Socorro, New Mexico to accomplish this (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. Hi Glenn, I tuned into the BBC around 06:35 tonight and was surprised to hear two different programs on 5975 and 6175. It seems that 6175 was airing the "Americas" stream with World Business Report and Analysis at 06:45 However, during this time 5975 was airing Outlook and Off The Shelf. 5975 seems to have been carrying ether the East African stream or the Middle Eastern stream, that's about the best I can tell from the BBC schedules. It just strikes me as sort of odd that the BBC is still getting the streams mixed up after three weeks. 73 de (Walt kb8poa Gunstrom, May 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Actual cost of running the SSB VOA transmitters for the Communications World broadcast should not be much, so why not run them for a full hour instead of half an hour, with CW twice back-to- back? That would give enthusiasts a double chance to hear it, a chance to hear the whole thing if they tune in late, a chance to re- hear a specific word or passage that was obliterated by static in one of the airings, etc. CW fans would tape the full hour`s worth, and would appreciate the advantages. If propagation changed during the hour, it might come up out of the noise later during the hour if it was undetectable at the start, or different areas would hear different parts of the hour with better reception than others. Or, the hour could have two different VOA CW programs, the current and previous one, to give people a second chance to hear a missed edition, but that would involve more complicated keeping track of what tape should be aired just when, and lead to possible mistakes (Will Martin, MO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. FWIW, on the 4:00 WSM-650 news today they mentioned that WWCR/WNQM-1300's motion to dismiss Art Bell's defamation suit has failed & the suit will be heard in court. (apparently he didn't just threaten to sue, he really did file it...) Judging from what the station is alleged to have done, and the value of standalone AMs these days, if Mr. Bell wins this case one might expect him to become a station owner... (Doug Smith, Nashville, NRC- AM April 30 via DXLD) ** U S A. Hi, One of the more surreal listening experiences you get to "enjoy" in North America is Dave Franz's 11pm Eastern/ 0300UTC time rant that he goes on for about 15-20 minutes. Mr. Frantz is the owner/operator of WGTG. The purpose of the uh, talk, is unclear to me but it seems to be some filler before he switches to some network programming. I could be wrong on this, though. The topics seem to be whatever pop into Mr. Frantz's mind to kill the time. These have included in the past: 1. How single side band is the wave of the future. 2. Why you should buy a ssb capable radio. 3. Just how darned powerful his transmitters are. 4. How some of these programs of his never seem to pay their airtime bills on time. Or ever. 5. How Brother Stair and James Lloyd are false prophets (just what happened to JL, BTW? I enjoyed his twisting of scripture much like one enjoys viewing a good train wreck) 6. US servicemen overseas rely on Mr. Frantz to keep them informed and he's doing us all a big favour just by transmitting. 7. You get the idea... Just how entertaining the rant is depends on a number of factors, which seem to include: 1. Just how much a deadbeat a former customer of his really is. 2. Just how angry Dave might be. 3. Possibly just how long its been since his medications have been adjusted properly. (and yes, I know mental health jokes are in poor taste, but really, you have to wonder about him sometimes. You ever see his emails to Glenn Hauser? ALL CAPS!! LOTS OF EXCLAMATION MARKS!!!) You have to be in the right mood to enjoy this kind of thing, though.... Heaven help us when Mr. Frantz gets his other 3 transmitters up and running. (Brent Taylor, Toronto, swprograms via DXLD) ** U S A. WLIO Television, (where I work days), has a system on 26.410. It uses a GE MSTR-II radio which is narrow band FM. The base is 157 feet on a 5.5 dB gain antenna. The use of this link is to feed out what we have on the air (audio) to our crew in the field. At the truck, the 26.410 is received, and sent to a 10 mW FM exciter. The anchors in the field then use a "Walkman" to hear what's on the FM radio/26.410 link so they don't have to schlep a cord around. The 26.410 link has a directors override, so while you might hear just the audio broadcast, you could hear someone break in and say, "30 seconds", "wrap it up", "coming out to Jeff in 10 seconds". Anyway, when the skip gets decent here in Western Ohio, (I monitor the 10 meter repeaters in my office at times), I can turn on the link. I was just wondering how many AM DXers, who also seem to do some SW DXing at times, have access to SW FM receivers. [Later:] WLIO [Lima OH auxiliary on 26410 kHz] is 30 watts, and the antenna is a 5/8 over 5/8 mounted on the east side of the tower at 157 feet. What I'm thinking of doing is perhaps turning it on with our SAP channel programming for a day, which I will announce here in the list. Call it a AUX-CPC test. The SAP channel is programming World Radio Network except from 06:00- 09:00, 12:00-12:30, 18:00-19:00, and 23:00-23:30 M-F, and 18:00- 19:00, and 23:00-23:30 on Sat & Sun. [EDT, local time, presumably, as the off-times would coincide with local newscasts -gh] The channel IDs in a British voice as "This is the Secondary Audio Program Channel of WLIO Lima" on the hour and half hour. (Fred Vobbe, NRC-AM, April 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Hi Glenn. 26450 kHz, 2318 UTC April 22, WLW (700 kHz), Cincinnati OH USA, 33333 with talk show, wx, several identification "700 WLW". Also on 25950 kHz a poor signal, mx and advs but impossible an identification because clandestine truckers on frequency in USB. All the best. (Dinan Rogerio, Brasil, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 25950 most likely the Portland, OR aux (gh) ** VIETNAM / CANADA. See CANADA/VIETNAM above ** VIETNAM/USA. Vietnam TV inaugurates North American service; Text of report by Vietnamese radio on 27th April Starting from the evening of 27th April in Vietnam or 2100 New York time, the Vietnam Television Network will begin broadcasting its VTV- 4 programmes for Vietnamese people living in North America and surrounding areas such as Central America, the Caribbean and Hawaii. The daily four-hour broadcast will consists of three main features: news, documentaries and popular entertainment programmes such as dance, songs, art performances, and films on current life and the renovation process in Vietnam. A one-hour test broadcast has been carried since 22nd April through a Thai satellite. Officials of the Vietnamese consulate general in San Francisco said by telephone that audio and visual reception of the programme is excellent in the US. Source: Voice of Vietnam, Hanoi, in Vietnamese 1430 gmt 27 Apr 00 (via BBC Monitoring, DXLD) ###