DX LISTENING DIGEST 0-107, September 5, 2000 edited by Glenn Hauser, wghauser@hotmail.com {Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only providing full credit be maintained at all stages, and we are provided exchange copies. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without permission} WORLD OF RADIO ON WWCR: One time change for September starts Sept 10: UT Sat 0030 instead of 0300, on 3215 ** AUSTRALIA [non]. Australophiles might want to condescend to watch PBS TV for six hours, Robert Hughes` series ``Australia: Beyond the Fatal Shore``, which on OETA in OK at least, airs on three nights, two parts each, starting Tuesday Sept 5 at 8-10 pm CDT. Configuration and times in other markets may differ (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also RUSSIA ** BRAZIL. The Brazilian station on 4905 broadcasting Rede Somzoomsat -px is Radio Anhanguera. Anhanguera AM 870 is affiliated to this network and R Novo Relógio isn`t. Says Rede`s affiliate page at: http://www.somzoom.com.br/Radio/mapa.htm R Anhanguera on SW is probably replacing its relays of Araguia [sic] FM with this network- px. This information is not copyrighted ;-) 73 de PUL, Pentti Lintujärvi, Helsinki, Finland Webmaster of 1000 Lakes DX Page at http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Park/3232/dx.htm (hard-core-dx via DXLD) ** CHECHNYA [non]. RUSSIA: Radio Free Chechnya in Russian and Arabic now heard: 0500-1330 (ex 0500-1400) on 11985//12045, 15620; 1330-2000 (ex 1430-2000) on 7345//15620 til 1400, 12045 til 1700, 9940 from 1730 and 7335 (Observer, Bulgaria, Sept 4 via DXLD) ** CHINA: China National Radio 1 in Mandarin (NOT FALUN DAFA RADIO) noted on Sept. 2: 22.00 - 23.00 on NF 12150 (55555). (Ivo Ivanov and Anguel Datzinov, Observer, Bulgaria, Sept 4, via DXLD) Scenario: I suppose FDR is/was on 12150 as previously reported here, attracting CNR1 to block it (gh, DXLD) ** CONGO/U S A. Nice to hear that fine mixture of Radio Congo and VoA (I believe) in French on 5985 in Europe every evening. Somewhat metaphoric for US policy on Africa? (Thorsten Hallmann, Germany, August 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. Speaking of exotic music, I heard the "Song of the Coconut Islands" this morning at 1300 UT on 15125! RRI, Jakarta--I presume--with a listed 250kW (acc. to WRTH and PWBR). Also has been fading in in the late evening here after 0300 until around 0415 UT. (John Figliozzi, NY, swprograms Sep 5 via DXLD) Re: the unID in last issue ** INDONESIA. Hi, Glen! I noticed that you had posted a question about who`s using 15125. Here in the Pacific northwest, at 0500 RRI`s interval signal and ID is clearly heard with their national program. Hope this helps (Walt Salmaniw, BC, Sept 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. We received news that a new 1 kW shortwave transmitter has been put into operation at RRI Sorong to operate on 9745 kHz. Although this might be a hard catch, we would be pleased to hear it if someone is able to receive it. Kind regards, (Ludo Maes, Belgium, TDP, Sept 4, Electronic DX Press via DXLD) ** IRAN [non]. MOLDOVA: Freq change of Voice of Iran in Farsi via KCH tx in Moldova, effective August 28: 1630-1830 on NF 11635 (54554) + Iranian bubble jammers on 11634.0 and 11635.0. Also co-ch TWR in Russian from 1800. Ex 12065 (Observer, Bulgaria, Sept 4 via DXLD) ** ISRAËL. On Monday through Saturday, the Kol Israel English 0400 UTC (midnight Eastern) news is available after 0430 UTC on: http://www.wrn.org/ondemand/israel.html (Thanks to Joel Rubin for pointing it out.) Also, http://www.israelradio.org has updated the schedule to reflect the 1400->1600 UTC change. It has also been updated to mention that Israel Radio International and Reshet Alef are available on the Eutelsat satellite. Also... Reshet Bet (talk/news/some music) /Reshet Dalet(Arabic)/Reshet Gimel (Israeli music) and Kol Hamusica (classical music) are available on the LMI-1 (South Beam) satellite. Of course it`s still available via the Amos satellite. Footprints and details on http://www.israelradio.org/summer00.html (Daniel Rosenzweig, Sept 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ISRAEL. From the Bezeq Frequency coordinator: "Dear friends, IBA has decided to move the news from 1400 utc to 1600 utc so we will not be on the air at 1400 instead we will be at 1600 to 1630 with 15640 kHz (instead of the Yiddish program - I hope to arrange better solution for the next season) after the English it will continue with Romanian as usual. Thanks Moshe" (via Doni Rosenzweig and gh, DXLD) I have been told that it was available today (someone heard it). When I listened on shortwave Sunday, it was still broadcasting Yiddish. The 1600 UTC (noon Eastern Time) broadcast IS currently available on demand via the web after 1650 UTC each day http://www.israelradio.org/english.html (Although, as of this writing, the text on the page still says 1400 UTC). And at: http://www.wrn.org/ondemand/israel.html I was also told by someone at KI that: "We change our clock from summer to winter on the night between 5th of October and the 6th 01:00 o'clock after midnight going to be 12:00 midnight winter time. " (That was the last date that I read in the papers - although there are still some people saying October 22nd.) Some other comments: A) Galei Tzahal is also called Galatz (an abbreviation) B) Galei Tzahal's website is now on the Microsoft Network's Israel Website: http://glz.msn.co.il The live feed, (using Windows Media, of course) is on the left hand side with a drawn picture of a radio and is titled (in English) "Glz Live". You can use this to compare with shortwave audio to make sure that you are actually listening to Galei Tzahal and not Reshet Bet. The frequencies for Galei Tzahal are listed on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs web site (I may have posted this months ago): http://www.israel-mfa.gov.il/mfa/go.asp?MFAH0dth0 IDF Radio Shortwave Broadcasts: As of January 2000, IDF Radio broadcasts to Europe on the following frequencies: 15785 KHZ - 08:30 - 20:00 6895 KHZ - 20:00 - 08:30 C) Arutz 7 is called "Arutz Shéva" (Channel 7) (as opposed to Arutz Seven) even in their English broadcasts. (Daniel Rosenzweig, Sept 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ISRAEL. DX Information from the British DX Club (BDXC-UK). I am listening to live audio now at http://www.a7.org It`s Israeli Pop Music with Mr. D. and very interesting. English Broadcasts Sun-Thurs. (9PM - Midnight) (Hebrew Schedule on Hebrew site) English Radio Frequencies: 98.7FM / 711AM Here is the programme schedule: [1800- 2100 UT; actually moved on AM to 1539, as now announced -gh] Sundays 09:00 PM News in English (2:00 PM EDT) 09:15 PM Music 09:35 PM Nadia Matar - News Analysis 10:00 PM Political Commentary & Analysis by Ray Rublin 10:05 PM Youth Beat: Covering topics that concern youth today with Host Chezi Goldberg 11:00 PM Rockin' the Boat! With Mordechai Shenker Mondays 09:00 PM News in English (2:00 PM EDT) 09:15 PM Deprogram Program with Host Shai Ben Tekoa 10:00 PM Jewish Rock and Alternative Music with Yitzhak Hutner 11:00 PM Israeli Pop Music with Mr. D. Tuesdays 09:00 PM News in English (2:00 PM EDT) 09:15 PM "What's Going On" with Yedidya Atlas 10:00 PM Weekly Haftara Commentary by Kalman Feder 10:05 PM Carlebach Music Hour - Rare Recordings and Oldies with host Rabbi Yosef Jackson 11:00 PM Rockin' the Boat! With Mordechai Shenker Wednesdays 09:00 PM News in English (2:00 PM EDT) 09:15 PM Women-In-Green Hour with Hostess Ruth Matar 10:00 PM Torah Commentary by Rabbi Shmuel Weiss, Ra'anana Outreach Center 10:05 PM The Eishes Chayil Hour Hostess Liora Silberstein interviews author Sarah Ben Dor "The Tragic Experience of a Schizophrenic Child" 11:00 PM Rockin' the Boat with Mr. D. Thursdays 09:00 PM News in English (2:00 PM EDT) 09:15 PM The Jay Shapiro Hour: Current Events, Analysis & Items of Interest in the Jewish World 10:00 PM Weekly Political Commentary by Dr. Aaron Lerner of IMRA 10:05 PM Torah Tidbits Audio Version with Phil Chernofsky, Assoc.- Director, Israel Center 11:00 PM Now Until Midnight - with Ron Ami Meir The above information may only be reproduced if full credit is given to the original contributor AND to the British DX Club (BDXC-UK). (via Mike Terry, BDXC-UK via DXLD) ** ISRAËL [non]. GERMANY: Kol Israel Reshet Alef via DTK/JUL noted on Sept.3: 0800-0845 on 21590 (55555), instead of Voice of Hope px!!! (Observer, Bulgaria via DXLD) That must be a first, Israël via Germany! Wrong satellite input? (gh, DXLD) ** NICARAGUA. 5770 USB. Radio Miskut heard on late from tune-in at 0305 Sept 3 until last check at 0500, with what sounded like a soccer game (at 0500). Lots of mentions of Nicaragua at 0418. Plenty of static crashes made for difficult listening. Fair signal strength. A good DX evening (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria, BC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OMAN and MUSCAT AND OMAN. 15355, Radio Sultanate of Oman rarely heard of late, especially at this time, but audible in English Sept 3 at 0315, but only a poor signal (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria, BC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. Russian main state broadcasting network called Radio Rossii has just changed its program format. One and the same program without any "time shifted versions" is on the air 24 hours a day starting on September 4th (there were five 20 hours a day Radio Rossii versions with s/on at 1700, 1900, 2100, 2300 and 0100 UT in the summer - one hour later in the winter). I just checked some Radio Rossii frequencies at +1625-1655+ UT and all of them were as parallel ones including 4485, 4895, 5290, 5905, 5930, 5940, 6160, 7220, 7360, 9490, 12025, 15165, 15305 and 17660. By the way, after R. Yugoslavia closing you can hear Yakutsk from the Russian Far East on clear 7200 with s/on at 1900 UTC here in Europe - but with a new "all-Russian" format too (Mikhail Timofeyev, St. Petersburg, Sept 4, hard-core-dx via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. Voice of Russia World Service in English. 0430 Sept 5 with news in brief (very brief!), followed by Musical Calendar program. 17660 is strongest, but suffers from a hum. 15595 is good, as is 15425. 7180 relatively good, as well. No other listed frequencies heard (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria, BC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. I hear VOR English near excellent at 0100 on 11825 //9665. Light but audible: 15595, 17595. Heard VOR say gold, silver and bronze Russian winners would get money prizes at winter [sic] Olympics. Coaches too (Bob Thomas, CT, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Actually, the so-called summer Olympics are being held in the winter which lasts until Sept 22, when it will be spring in Sydney, still far from summer. What`s next, winter olympics in the local summer for commercial or promotional or American TV season reasons? (gh, DXLD) ** RUSSIA. I heard VOR in English with a very powerful signal 0100- 0200 on 11825 on Sept 4 & 5. Not listed on their website schedule. I'm wondering if this is a test for a possible relay of Radio Yugoslavia, once the link to Belgrade is established. Also, VOR made their usual September switch to 7180 from 9665, heard 0100-0300 Sept 4. Very good reception. I could not find a suitable afternoon frequency for VOR to replace 11675. I was expecting listed 9720 to come in well, but it was not audible (Ivan Grishin, Ont., Sept. 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. Updated schedule of Voice of Russia in Russian eff. Sept. 3: - to Western hemisphere: 0100-0300 on NF 17690 and NF 21755, instead of registered 15455 and 17660 //7125, 7300, 9480, 13790, 15425, 15520; 0200-0300 on NF 17650, instead of 15465 (Observer, Bulgaria, Sept 4 via DXLD) ** SERBIA. Heard the latest WOR. Thanks for clearing up what`s happening with R. ``Yugo``. I last heard them on Aug 19 and searched all over figuring they QSY`d due to splatter from Cuba 11875 on their 11870 English half hour to North America at 0030. Dr Kim Andrew Elliott had a story on them Aug 26 (Bob Thomas, CT, Sept 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SERBIA. It looks like Radio Yugoslavia will not start to use foreign facilities but instead install transmitters within Serbia, perhaps at the Stubline site. Glenn already expressed the suspicion that some Brown Boveris were removed from Bijeljina into Serbia, but another story are the antennas they are able to construct on short notice, especially the power they can handle. Here the regarding excerpt from a mailbag show script, posted on the Radio Yugoslavia website: (Kai Ludwig) We continue our programme with RY`s mailbag programme P.O BOX 200. Our listener Mauro Corradi wrote from Italy, saying: Dear friends, it has been a week now since I have been unable to tune into Radio Yugoslavia`s programme in Italian on 9620 kHz. I would appreciate it immensely if you could let me know whether this was due to an unexpected change of frequency or a total suspension of the programme, which I would regret most sincerely since I have become quite a devotee. Your faithful listener Mauro Corradi. We received an e-mail message from Norbert Becker of Germany. It reads: I have heard on Radio Kosovo newsletter that you presently have no transmitters. When shall I be able to listen to your programme again and on which frequencies? Similar question also came from Dragan and Nikola from the United States: We are writing from the States and would like to know when will you start broadcasting programmes on short waves and on which frequencies? Letters of this or similar content kept coming all through the past week to Radio Yugoslavia`s address. We thank all of you our dear friends who phoned us, wrote to us or sent e-mails inquiring after the reasons for the suspension of RY`s short wave programme. We have informed our listeners about this many times, and for those of you who still might not know the reasons for the breaking off of our programme, here is a brief explanation: As you could learn earlier, Radio Yugoslavia`s transmitters on Mt Ovcar, in Makis and Stubline were bombed during the aggression against our country. After the bombing the aggression continued but by different means. The ultimatum threatening with the use of force, to the employees of RY`s Transmission Centre in Bijeljina to leave the premises within 48 hours and thus cease broadcasting the programmes of our national radio station, issued by an envoy in uniform of the commander of Republika Srpska Wolfgang Petritsch, is also of this nature. Radio Yugoslavia, the state-run radio station of FR Yugoslavia has, nevertheless, found other ways of sending the truth into the world. The radio is currently broadcasting its programme on the Internet, and our engineers and technicians, in partnership with competent state institutions, are working intensively on the installation of new transmitters, in order to make it possible for our listeners to hear RY`s programmes on short waves as soon as possible. Until then, you can hear us on the Internet, so stay tuned. Once again, we thank you for your letters of support to RY (via Kai Ludwig, Germany, Sept 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SLOVAKIA. R. Slovakia`s English to NAm at 0100 on 5930 has Dr Scott splatter from 5935 as of Sept. 1 (Bob Thomas, CT, DX LISTENING DIGEST) That is when WWCR-2 made seasonal shift one hour earlier from 13845 to 5935 (gh, DXLD) ** UKRAINE. Radio Ukraine International heard in English on 5905 0000-0100 Sept 4 & 5, weak but interference-free. Not heard there at 0300 (Ivan Grishin, Ont., DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UKRAINE. 13590, Radio Ukraine International heard in Ukrainian at 2310 tune/in Sept 4. Poor to fair, but improving to good level by 0015, except for the chronically heard pulsating sound which covers 13370 to 13600 continuously. I don't have a satisfactory explanation yet what is causing this noise, and who is producing it (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria, BC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UNITED NATIONS [non]. 4 September 2000: David Smith of the United Nations reports: UN Radio is back on shortwave. On Monday September 4 2000, our current affairs programmes in French, English and Arabic will be carried live to Africa through the facilities of Merlin Communications. The Schedule is as follows: Language UTC Site kHz Beam Main Target French 1700-1715 Meyerton 6120 076 Antananarivo Meyerton 21490 342 Kinshasa Skelton 17580 180 Dakar, Abidjan English 1730-1745 Woofferton 15265 140 Nairobi Meyerton 6125 005 Johannesburg, Harare Ascension 17710 065 Lagos Arabic 1830-1845 Skelton 17565 180 Casablanca, Algiers Woofferton 15265 140 Cairo It has been 15 years since UN Radio has been on shortwave. These programmes, along with our broadcasts in Chinese, Russian and Spanish, will also be carried on satellite by Merlin, for broadcast on partner stations around the world. Each 15 minute programme includes five minutes of world news, a three minute in-depth report on one of the main items in the news, and two three-minute features targeted to various geographical regions and focusing on issues including gender, environment, health and development. This launch coincides with the UN's Millennium Summit, running from Sept 6-8, and including roughly 155 heads of state. (Media Network website Sept 4 via DXLD) ** U S A. NEW X BANDER ON THE AIR!! 1660-KQWB (KQJB) ND, West Fargo, now on the air calling itself "Star 16-60 // with 1550, Nostalgia format, ID on the hour. Easily heard as KXOL is off tonight, just an OC. They also ID at KQWB-West Fargo on the hour, going into CNN News. 73s, Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, Sept 4, IRCA via DXLD) ** U S A. 12171.96: Why does WGTG broadcast on such a strange frequency? Heard at 2306 Sept 4, with "The Power Hour". Very good. (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria, BC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The story was that authorized 12170 interfered with some military net, so WGTG shifted up to 12172 (gh, DXLD) ** U S A [non]. Glenn, AFRTS 10940.5 kHz USB, reputed site Sicily, seems to be working round the clock at the moment. It is strong into Ireland during hours of darkness and daylight, at variance with published skeds on Internet, but what's new? This American Labor Day, 04 Sept 1458 UT, AFRTS was also audible, weak and noisy, on 13362 kHz USB, reputed site Guam. By 1700 UT, it had picked up a little, enough at least to hear clear "American Forces Network" ID and to prove that 5-min AP Network news on the hour was running in parallel to 10940.5 USB. Other programming on the two freqs throughout my local afternoon was not parallel. On checking at 1901 UT, 13362 was still audible but down in the mud. Here's the odd thing: 13362 was supposed to be a daytime freq for Guam, but a quick look at a day/night terminator map will show that my monitoring it at 1458, 1700, 1901 UT has Guam in darkness all the way. Gee, another AFRTS anomaly? The "Dr. Laura" [Schlessinger] show, 1705-1747 UT, was strong enough on 10940.5 to discover that there was enough residual carrier on the broadcast to persuade my receiver to lock onto the carrier and thus expand the audio processing into something more mellow on the ear than Sideband. So, finally this fact from my Depot Of Useless Info: the auto-lock-on varied a tad above 10941.0 [e.g. 10941.16] with sweetest audio found on tuning back to 10940.60 or so. The same phenomenon was noticeable on occasions last week. [Finbarr O'Driscoll.....Ireland, Sept 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST] ** U S A [non]. According to my notes 6350 kHz has not been heard at all here in south east Sweden and 10320 kHz is heard only in the morning to c/d 0630. The 10320 kHz has a clear "far away" sound, even if the signal strength sometimes are quite good. I guess Iceland is not on the air at all, only Hawaii, as 6350 kHz should have given a strong signal from Iceland. 73 Stefan (Stefan Björn, Nybro, SWEDEN, hard-core-dx Sept 3 via DXLD) Yes, I agree that 10320 kHz seems to come from Hawaii. Here in central Europe I can hear it quite well in the morning ...0330... (weak) ...0445...(better), one day I heard the station signing off at 0600, the other day I heard it still at 0630. The signal has the similar character to Honolulu Volmet on 13282 kHz (with slight echo or tremolo) which can be heard in the morning too. Simply a long distance signal, unlikely Island. Italian Sigonella has now changed to 10940.5 kHz (day and night) again, no use of 6847.5 kHz these days... GOOD DX, (Karel Honzik the Czech Republic, hard-core-dx Sept 4 via DXLD) ** U S A [non]. Updated schedule of World Beacon in English as of September 1: 1530-1800 on 6145 MEY - no signal in BUL 1600-1800 on 15455 SKN - DELETED 1800-1900 on 17665 MEY - (55555) - ex 1800-2200 1800-2000 on 15585 SKN - DELETED 1800-2200 on 3230 MEY - (23322) 1800-2200 on 5925 MEY - DELETED 1800-2200 on 9675 RMP - (45544) 1900-2200 on 11640 MEY - (54554) - ex 1900-2000 2000-2100 on 7360 ARM - (55444) - ex 1900-2200 (Observer, Bulgaria, Sept 4 via DXLD) ** UZBEKISTAN: Radio Tashkent on 3rd harmonic 21855 (3 x 7285 kHz) as follows: 1520-1550 in Dari, 1550-1630 in Uzbek, 1630-1700 in Farsi, 1700-1730 in Arabic, 1730-1830 in Uzbek, 1830-1900 in Farsi, 1900- 1930 in Arabic (73 from Ivo and Anguel, Observer, Bulgaria, Sept 4 via DXLD) ###