DX LISTENING DIGEST 1-001, January 2, 2001 edited by Glenn Hauser, wghauser@hotmail.com {Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only if full credit be maintained at all stages and we be provided exchange copies. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without permission. For restrixions and searchable 2001 archive contents see} http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio/Dxldmid.html ** AUSTRALIA. In accordance with recent practice, the ACA has agreed to the optional use of the "AX" Prefix by all Australian radio amateurs to commemorate Australia Day. The period for this usage is 24 hours beginning at midnight local time on 26th January 2001. (Peter Naish, President, WIA, Q News December 31 via John Norfolk, OKCOK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS --- RADIO SCOUTING - http://jota.scouting.net.au [no work when we try] 19th Australian Jamboree Amateur Radio Station VK2SCP operates each day of the Jamboree from the 2nd until the 13th of January 2200 - 0530 UT daily. Operation is anticipated to be primarily around 14.190 with possible operation around 21.190 and capability for 28.590. All are JOTA calling frequencies (Australian Q-News December 31 via John Norfolk, OKCOK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRIA. Engineer Herbert A. Kuhnle passed away. On Tue, 26 Dec 2000, Risto Vahakainu wrote: Dear friends, I have just received a message from Michael Murray reporting the sad news that Engineer Herbert Kuhnle died in the past weekend. Herbert was "a long-time member of the EDXC family". He worked as frequency planner at Radio Austria International and he kept the contact to the EDXC also after he had retired, and he together with his wife Hermine attended many EDXC conferences. Just about a year ago, in November 1999, they drove together from Vienna to the conference held in Copenhagen. Herbert`s work and later hobby was to exchange tapes with radio friends and he kept answering the letters and tapes sent to Radio Austria International also during his retirement years. Our condolences to Hermine and their children and grandchildren. (Risto Vahakainu, Finland, EDXC, via Michael Bethge, WWDXC, Dec 27 via BC-DX via DXLD Condolence address: Mrs. Hermine Kuhnle Donaustrasse 55 A-3421 Hoeflein, Austria It was certainly very sad news that our good friend Herbert passed away a few days ago. He became 74. He was a regular participant to the EDXC Conferences for 20-30 years. After retirement from the ORF, he continued the attendance, and kept himself busy and happy in correspondence with ORF listeners and answering their tapes. I received his last tape 5 days ago on Dec 22. It was recorded on Dec 10, 2000 and he was in good mood and told me in English and German about what had happened with him since his last letter to me 7 months ago, including his fall accident in August where he broke his nose, right shoulder and arm. He was now recovering and looked forward to meet all old friends at the EDXC Conference next year in Budapest. He thanked us for the postcard Dario sent him with some of our signatures from the EDXC Conference at Castelldefels which he missed a lot. If somebody are interested in a copy of this cassette tape, I will send you one. Please send an empty tape to: Anker Petersen, Udbyvej 11, DK-2740 Skovlunde, Denmark (Petersen, DSWCI, Dec 27, via BC-DX via DXLD) Herbert hatte mir auch im Dezember gerade noch eine Cassette geschickt (besprochen am 4.12.), die ich Mitte Dezember erhalten hatte (WWDXC Chairman Michael Bethge) I`m extremely thankful to have met this outstanding and exceptional friend; we had contact on ORF monitoring work since 1969, I guess (Wolfgang Büschel, BC-DX editor via DXLD) ** BHUTAN. 5030, BBS: This freq is no longer used; they are using 6035 only, both AM and PM (Alok Dasgupta, India, via Dan Henderson, NU Dec 31 via BC-DX via DXLD) 0100 with signature tune sounding like horn mx, then talk by man, probably in local language, and then apparent anthem and 0102-0111 prayer, talk and mx (Mahendra Vaghjee, Mauritius, NU Dec 28 via BC-DX via DXLD) ** BOUVET ISLAND. 3Y0C, from this rare ham country, is on the air until 3/16/01. Try 14195, 21295 or 28495 USB. QSL manager is WA4FFG (Bill Flynn, WDX7AF, Cave Junxion OR, Dec 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL? Today Jan 1 at 1100 UT on 7000 kHz, a religious program in Portuguese, man with bible quotations, religious music and comments about ``sins`` committed at yearend; several times he said he would be praying for those trying to ``interfere`` with the transmission... :) (Dinan Rogério, Brazil, radioescutas, translated by gh for DXLD) A ham/pirate, I suppose (gh) ** CANADA. Trying to hear CJRT in Toronto, Jan 3 at 0045 found http://www.cjrt.fm and http://www.cjrt.com both say the CJRT site has been closed, and forwarded to Jazz-FM91, http://www.jazz.fm/ where there are audio links but nothing else, not even program schedule. Fortunately, at least for now, Jazz has not totally gobbled up even more time, as we still heard The Goon Show as previously scheduled UT Wednesdays 0030-0100! And let us hope the remaining BBC comedy strip other weekdays. No CJRT calls used in ID at 0100, just JAZZ FM 91, ``Canada`s only all-jazz radio`` and into usual Bob Parlocha jazz show, syndicated from somewhere in the US –- how could it measure up to Canadian Content requirements? It runs all-night, e.g. also on KOSU in OK starting later. BTW, CJRT has been, and presumably still is pseudo- or completely commercial tho it often sounded like a US public radio station, which for that matter are also pseudo- commercial now... (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. Timofeyev reported one of the Lingshi txers now on 11835 and 7275 with CNR-1. It is well heard here, but is not exactly ex any of the old channels, since it breaks for Tibetan 1300-1400 (\\ 7120, 12080). So far I have not been able to trace any of the other Lingshi txers. In addition, CNR-4 (minorities prgr) seems to have left 9390 and 8566 from today. One of them has gone to 7120 with Tibetan at 1300 and Kazakh or Uygur at 1400. The other one so far is untraced. CNR transmitters. The new CNR txer on 11835/7275 reported turned out to be Xi`an, not Lingshi. From 1957 it had the off air relay noise that is characteristic for Xi`an txers. This noise was in synchronism with 7230. (As soon as the program starts the txers automatically switch to a cable or satellite feed without noise.) Lingshi at the same time reappeared on its usual freqs, so they were off for about a week only (Olle Alm, Sweden, Dec 25, BC-DX via DXLD) Afternoon monitoring of CNR-4. 1500-1600 Uygur (Uighur) on Lingshi 7935, 10260, 11630, Xi`an 9820 and Beijing 7120, 9610. Also on Urumqi 5800. 1600-1700 Mongolian on Lingshi 7935, 10260, Xi`an 9820 and Beijing 7120, 9610. Also on Urumqi 5060. (11630 not audible). Note that the former Beijing OOB channels 8566 and 9390 have been replaced by 7120 and 9610. This must have happened just a couple of days ago. The CNR-4 txers seemed to go off at 1700. Nothing heard on 7935, 10260, the other frequencies no longer audible. Very distorted audio on the Lingshi and Urumqi outlets. A loud hum seemed to originate from the Beijing studio as it went out whenever they switched to music. It is very strange that they have this distorted relay audio in Urumqi, given the excellent audio of FS broadcasts via the Urumqi high power site. Actually, the Uygur program controller in Urumqi cut off the Beijing relay already after 3 mins and ran a programme of Uygur national mx for the rest of the hour. The Mongolian listeners were not given the same favour. It could also be that the Uygur staff in Urumqi just wanted an excuse to let go of the dreadfully boring Uygur announcers in Beijing. With the return of the Lingshi txers, another reshuffle of the minority services to Western China seems to have taken place. Kazakh (presumed) was heard this morning from 0900 on Beijing 11780 (x11375) and 15670, Lingshi 10260, 11630, 15390, 17580, and Xi`an 11915. The Beijing txers went off before 1000, while the Lingshi txers switched to CNR-1 at 1000 after a few words of the Korean sce. 11915 also switched to CNR-1 and was noted with a spur on 11995 caused by mixing with 11835. 7935 seemed to open at 1000 as usual. 1100 Uygur (presumed) on Lingshi 10260, 11630, 15390, 17580, Xi'an 9820 and Beijing 11780. 1300 Tibetan on Xi'an 7275, Baoji 12080, Beijing 7120 1500 Kazakh (presumed) on Lingshi 7935, 10260, 11630 and Xi'an 9820. More to follow. Whatever they did with the Lingshi txers during the silent week, they did not improve the audio. The distortion during the Kazakh program at 0900 was really bad (Olle Alm, Sweden, Dec 26, BC-DX via DXLD) ** CHINA. I am sending you the monitored completely new CNR-8 schedule. Please, no copyright for further use of this material. 73s /Olle Alm -------------- This is the (hopefully) complete new CNR-8 (ex CNR-4) schedule: 2100-2200 Korean: Beijing 4190, 5420 2200-2300 Mongolian: Beijing 4190, 5420 2300-2400 Tibetan: Xi`an 7275, Baoji 7550, 9500, 11710, 12080, Beijing 11780, 15670 0000-0100 Uighur: Lingshi 9655, 9890, 10260, 11630, Xi`an 11915, Beijing 11780, 15670 0100-0200 Kazakh: Lingshi 9890, 10260, 11630, 15405, Xi`an 11915, Beijing 11780, 15670. 0200-0300 Korean: Beijing 7120 9610 0300-0400 Mongolian: Beijing 9610 11815 0400-0500 Tibetan: Xi`an 11835, Baoji 9500, 11740, 12080, 15570, Beijing 11780, 15670. 0500-0600 Kazakh: Lingshi 11630, 15390, 17580, Xi`an 11915, Beijing 11780, 15670. 0600-0700 Uighur: Lingshi 10260, 11630, 15390, 17580, Xi`an 11915, Beijing 11780, 15670. 0700-0800 Mongolian: Beijing 9610, 11815 0800-0900 Tibetan: Xi`an 11835, Baoji 9500, 11740, 12080, 15570, Beijing 11780, 15670 0900-1000 Kazakh: Lingshi 10260, 11630, 15390, 17580, Xi`an 11915, Beijing 11780, 15670, 1000-1100 Korean: Beijing 7120, 9610 1100-1200 Uighur: Lingshi 10260, 11630, 15390, 17580, Xi`an 9820, Beijing 9610, 11780. 1200-1300 Mongolian: Beijing 4190, 5420. 1300-1400 Tibetan: Xi`an 7275, Baoji 9635, 11740, 12080, 13625, Beijing 9610, 7120. 1400-1500 Kazakh: Lingshi 7935, 9890, 10260, 11630, Xi`an 9820, Beijing 7120, 9610. 1500-1600 Uighur: Lingshi 7935, 9890, 10260, 11630, Xi`an 9820, Beijing 7120, 9610. 1600-1700 Mongolian: Lingshi 7935, 10260, 11925, Xi`an 9820 and Beijing 7120, 9610. How to separate the kindred languages Kazakh and Uighur? Listen for the station identification: Kazakh: "Ortalyk khalyk radiostansiasy" Uighur: "Merkezi khalyk radiostansiasy" both meaning Central People's Broadcasting Station. (Olle Alm, Sweden + Shigenori Aoki, Japan, 30.12.2000, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COSTA RICA. 7480: This is NOT a good choice for RFPI. Monster signal from 7475 Voice of Greece (itself parallel with 7457), splashes all over a much weaker RFPI. Parallel 15048.88 2 Jan at 0140 much better (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria BC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. Jan 1 on 5009.8 at 2254 clear ID by male announcer as R. Crystal International, was hrd. Several mentions of Santo Domingo throughout the broadcast which seemed to peak at 2330. QRM from China and India. India faded down and finally China did also with R. Crystal clear. Continuous local mx, S-7 level here in S.E. Pa. I have recordings to verify copy (Bob Montgomery, hard-core-dx via DXLD) On 5009.78 am, Radio Cristal; Jan 1, 2225-2300. Lots of Latin music. ID'd as "Radio Cristal Internacional" at 2252 (Kevin Murray, Virginia Beach, VA, Kenwood R-5000/Random Wire, Hard-Core-DX mailing list via DXLD) Radio Crystal. Reactivated! At first tune in on Dec 29, 2330 noted 3 stations on or near the same freq. Found India and China on 5010 and a third station on 5009.9. By 2400 China had left the air leaving only two stations producing lots of problems trying to lock on to one or the other as both close to same signal level. Finally around 0030, India started dropping down and the remaining station in SS was more audible. Listened till past 0100 and unable to get clear ID of station. Possible ID hrd at 2344 as R. Crystal. Next day Dec 30, SS station stronger at tune in 2350. At 0001 ID as R. Crystal. After reviewing tapes a number of times not totally positive it is R. Crystal but sounds like it. The male announcer sort of mumbles the ID and audio is not very good as clipping or over mod present but clearer during programming of Latin mx. Rather nice selections. Possible ID again at 0058. At this time India is weak and not a problem in reception of this SS station. Signal level on the second day was S-7 with fades. Finally on Jan 1, positive ID hrd at 2254 confirming that this in fact is R. Crystal Internacional (Bob Montgomery, PA, SWBC@topica.com via DXLD) That`s Cristal. Nothing much here at 0053 check Jan 3 but a very weak carrier on 5010.0 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. Bata 5003.4 at 2250 31 Dec, Superb signal with live music performance with crowd noises in the background. (6250 was in also, but with severe utility QRM.) Man shouting, mainly in Spanish, but also included one "Happy New Year" in English. Signal was so strong WWV was being QRMed, rather than the reverse. Still around at 2330 but gone by 2344 check (Nigel Pimblett, Medicine Hat, Alberta, hard-core-dx via DXLD) ** GERMANY. Good morning, the sun just rose beyond the opposite house for the very first time this year; it`s a cold but bright morning with a nice blue sky. During the last days one could get the impression that only a single announcer worked at Radioropa [261 kHz] anymore. The last shows he did yesterday were of unexpected quality; during the early evening he was running "longplays, oldies and seldom heard tracks", perhaps some of them from his own CD collection. At least it was indeed seldom heard pieces, including GDR productions. The 1900-2000 hour between the RFI and ROI rebroadcasts was filled by the infamous continuation server, which is put in at the Betzdorf/Luxembourg uplink facility, but after ROI again true programming, actually a New Year`s Eve party. At 2257 the announcer said goodbye on behalf of the other presenters as well as the station`s managing director and technician; then he started the instrumental theme, certainly expecting the transmission to cut off at 2300. But nothing happened; instead the Betzdorf server again took over at 2303 with music. Eventually the longwave transmitter signed off automatically at 2310 as it always used to do, but on satellite the audio continued at least until 0200; probably it is still up while I write this. The satellite outlet was already since Dec. 28th without identification data, i.e. the subcarrier contained (contains) only the mere MUSICAM signal, so that certain equipment could no longer receive Radioropa already since this date. We were actually curious if 261 would as always come up in the morning, perhaps with a fresh "Technisat" ad... but the Deutsche Telekom guys had not forgotten that Radioropa would cease broadcasting, so Burg remains off; instead Radio Rossii from Taldom can be heard with a rather weak but readable signal. [Later:] To complete the chronicle: The satellite output of Radioropa was finally shut down at 0904. R.I.P. (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Jan 1, 2001, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also LUXEMBOURG ** GERMANY. Hi, V of Russia Berlin on 693 is putting out a HUGE 3rd Harmonic on 2079 kHz, first noticed at 1500 on 2/1/01. Please tell anyone who listens to MW/Tropical band about this. Will any North American DXers hear this tonight!!!! Good luck, 73's (Tim Bucknall, UK, hard-core-dx via DXLD) 2079 1604 2/1/01 D V of Russia, Berlin, Huge signal, 3 x 693 kHz 2079. It should really get out tonight (Bucknall, harmonics@egroups.com via DXLD) ** GERMANY. The last broadcast of Hamburger LokalRadio via DTK Jülich will be on air on Jan 27th, 2001. HLR 1000-1100 6045 Saturdays only (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, Dec 17, BC-DX via DXLD) ** GREECE. Dear Glenn: Happy holiday greetings to you and may the new year 2001 bring you much joy and happiness and prosperity. I have received a package from the Voice of Greece which included detailed program schedules of the shortwave operation; also a revised broadcasting schedule in which I noticed that the 0600-0800 service to Australia, Japan, and the Pacific Ocean is now on 11900, from VOA Delano (I tried to monitor this without success). Another Learn Greek program is listed for Saturday only at 0700-0715 on 9375, 17520, 11900. I should be able to pick it up on 9375. Clockwise listing of English portions of the Voice of Greece: 0300-0310 M-F 5890 7457 7475 12105 News 0610-0620 M-F 7475 9420 11900 15630 17520 News 0700-0715 Sat 9375 11900 17520 Learn Greek 0750-0800 S/S 9375 11900 17520 News 1110-1120 dly 9420 15630 News 1335-1350 Fri 12105 15650 Learn Greek 1700-1800 Sat 9420 15630 Hellenes Around the World 1900-2000 Sun 7457 9420 17565 17705 It`s All Greek to Me 1930-2000 dly 7475 9375 Orientations 2120-2220 Sun 9420 15650 It`s All Greek to Me (repeat) (John Babbis, Silver Spring, MD, Dec 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HOPI NATION. Hopi Radio - KUYI 88.1 FM The goal of KUYI-FM is to create a sense of community within the Hopi Nation. Together, through Hopi radio, our objective is to reaffirm our respect for tradition by preserving our language, history, and culture in the contemporary context. The dream of preservation of the Hopi language through Hopi stories for Hopi children will be the survival of the Hopi culture for future generations. Hopi radio will be a part of that dream. Community information, including job openings, health, school, and tribal announcements will be broadcast instantaneously to our people. Hands-on career development training in telecommunications will provide new opportunities. KUYI-FM will provide a new way of Hopi storytelling -- an age-old tradition. National news will be aired and how it affects us will be interpreted and debated. Hopi radio will provide entertainment and exposure to other cultures through music and ideas. Self-help call-in programs for legal advice, teen issues, etc. can be aired. Creative programs utilizing history and drama can be developed and broadcast. Hopi radio will broadcast local athletic events on-site. A board of directors chosen by Hopi people will govern KUYI-FM. The board will hire the station`s staff and a separate Community Advisory Board appointed by the Hopi Foundation Trustees will guide the staff in determining which programs will be broadcast. The expected outcomes and benefits of Hopi radio KUYI-FM are preserving and supplementing the Hopi language and culture, strengthening pride and self-esteem in hearing our own language on the air on a Hopi owned and operated community radio station, which will definitely create a stronger sense of community. Like all Hopi Foundation projects, KUYI-FM is intended to preserve the Hopi Way. ----- PRESS RELEASE ----- OPEN HOUSE FOR HOPI RADIO KUYI 88.1 FM Hopi Nation, Arizona, December 15, 2000 -- We are so pleased to invite all our friends and neighbors to the on-air debut of our Hopi radio station on December 20th. ``It's been five years in the planning and construction,`` exclaimed Doran Dalton, Chairman of The Hopi Foundation. The new non-commercial radio station is located behind the Hopi Police Complex just west of Kearns Canyon. KUYI will officially sign on at 10:00 am on the 20th and the open house will be from 10 am to 7 pm. Many events will take place throughout the day, most of which will be heard by tuning in to 88.1 FM. There will be special guests from near and far and live entertainment by a number of local and area musicians. In addition, the nationally-distributed program "Native America Calling" will debut as a regular program from 11 am to noon. NAC is a live call-in talk show produced in the studios of KUNM in Albuquerque, NM. It is produced every weekday and covers various topics of interest to Native people. The special guests on the 2Oth will be Hopi Tribal Chairman, Wayne Taylor, Hopi Foundation Chairman, Doran Dalton and Frank Blythe, Executive Director, Native American Public Telecommunications, Inc. who is located at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. If you are not in the KUYI listening area, you can hear this program on the internet at http://www.airos.org/ [1800 UT] At 69,000 watts, KUYI`s signal is expected to reach all of the Hopi Reservation, Winslow, Holbrook, Gallup, NM and parts of Flagstaff. Station personnel are very interested to find out how far the signal reaches and asks that people living or working 100 miles or more from Kearns Canyon please call 520.738.5500 to let them know how the signal sounds. P.O.B. 169, Hotevilla, Arizona 86030, Hopi Nation - USA [sic] 520.734.KUYI (5894) fax 520.734.9520 Susan Braine, Director RadioHopi@aol.com http://www.kuyi.net (Entire website above as of Jan 2, 2001 via gh, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. After Chennai & Mumbai the third Indian megacity Calcutta has recently got its new name which is Kolkata, Bengali pronunciation of Calcutta. It is effective from 1st January 2001. So if now onwards you hear All India Radio, Kolkata don't be confused. It is nothing but AIR Calcutta (Swopan Chakroborty, ibid., DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAQ [non]. CLANDESTINE/IRAQ: Voice of Iraqi People in Kurdish and Arabic now heard: 1500-2000 (time vary) on NF 5865.0 (55544), ex 7375.0 \\ 4085v. Morning transmission remains unchanged: 0200-0700 (time vary) on 4085v and 7375.0 (Ivo and Anguel, Observer, Bulgaria, Jan 1 via DXLD) ** IRELAND. RTE Radio 75TH Anniversary: Hello Glenn, You may be interested to include the following information on one of your shows. January 1, 2001 marks the 75th Anniversary of RTE Radio in Ireland. RTE is celebrating this all throughout the year with special programming which started on January 1st. (You can hear a number of these programs on the web also through their live RealAudio feeds) They also launched a very interesting web site which traces the history of RTE Radio in Ireland with stories, archived audio and video, and pictures from its start on January 1, 1926 with radio station 2RN. The main web site for the 75th Anniversary is... http://www.rte.ie/radio/radio75 which takes you to a Flash page introduction. Some people may not have the plug-in, but you can access the html-based web site at... http://www.rte.ie/radio/radio75/rte_radio.html which has links to the various archives mentioned above. Thanks. Regards, (Harry Sarkas, Jan 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRELAND. DX Information from the British DX Club (BDXC-UK). From http://www.radiowaves.fm/news/index.html Tuesday 2nd January 2001: RTE`s 75 year anniversary was marked last night with the launch of an internet only radio service which promises to be just as revolutionary now as 2RN was back in 1926. RTE Radio Ceolnet will be centred around RTE`s considerable Irish Traditional music archives which holds about 4,000 tracks and will also feature full programming. RTE`s plans are to allow listeners to create their own radio schedules from the music database (via Mike Terry, BDXC-UK Jan 2 via DXLD) ** ISRAËL. Kol Israel has been missing from 17545 for English at 0500 for several days, and one day not heard at 2000 either (Chris Hambly, Victoria, Jan 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH. 17735.04, Radio Pyongyang in English at 0112 on 2 Jan. Great modulation for a change. None of the loud humming heard in past. Good reception. Parallel 15230.34 good, and 11734.70 poor (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria BC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH. Freq change of Radio Pyongyang: 1500-1555 Arabic, 1600-1655 English, 1700-1755 Korean, 1800-1855 Arabic, 1900-1955 French, 2000-2050 Korean on NF 9660, ex 9600. Co-channel on NF 9660: 1500-1525 Radio Veritas Asia in Russian, 1600-1800 Radio Liberty in Kyrghyz and Uzbek, 1800-2000 Voice of America in Russian, 2000-2100 Radio Liberty in Russian (Observer, Bulgaria, Jan 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA SOUTH. Tho the 2000 World Cyberstamp Exhibition at the RKI website lasted only one month, ending in November, I just noticed that it is still accessible via a hard-to-notice small ikon near the bottom of the home page http://rki.kbs.co.kr -- specifically http://rki.kbs.co.kr/stamp_event/index.asp (Glenn Hauser, Jan 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LEBANON(?). Clandestine UNID (tentative Israel). I need some help in this one, specially MW lovers. During the month of Ramadan I picked that station on MW 756 bcing in Arabic and the ID was (the test transmission station from the Mediterranean) in Arabic "Bath al Eza'a al tgreebyyah min al bahr al motawaset". Well, 2 reasons made me think this one is an Israeli stn: 1) most of the programes are anti Syria and Iran. 2) remember a station called (Voice of the south) in Arabic (Sout al janoub) -- that stn used to broadcast on the same freq when Israel was occupying southern Lebanon. When they were kicked out by Hizbullah the transmission stopped because it was mainly anti Hizbullah. Anyway I pick them up - not on regular basis - around 1400 with only some news comm. and old mainly Egyptian songs with IDs in between the songs. Anyone got any idea about this one? (Tarek Zeidan, Egypt, SU1TZ, Dec 2, BC-DX via DXLD) See DXLD 0-167! ** LITHUANIA. Hello - I heard your January 3, 2001, 0030 UT broadcast on 6120 kHz. During that broadcast I heard it mentioned that there is now a second frequency to North America for Radio Vilnius - 9875 kHz. I switched to 9875 upon hearing the new frequency information and from my home in Connecticut was not able to pick up the broadcast. I went to the web page to see if I might have erred in the frequency but the frequency has not been added to the schedule. I'm passing along the new frequency to others in hopes they have luck receiving. I will email when I do receive it. Sincerely, (Dean Bonanno, Durham, Connecticut, to R. Vilnius, Jan 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LUXEMBOURG. DX Information from the British DX Club (BDXC-UK). It seems that Mega Radio is only relayed on 1440 kHz in the daytime - not sure of the exact times yet, but Oldies Sender is still being carried during the evening according to David Duckworth. 73s (Dave Kenny, UK, Jan 2, BDXC-UK via DXLD) The address is: Mega Radio, Kanzlei Clifford Chance, Oberlindau 54-56, 60323 Frankfurt Am Main, Germany (Mike Terry, BDXC-UK via DXLD) ** LUXEMBOURG/GERMANY. As announced 1440 carried Mega-Radio until 1800, then switched back to RTL-Radio German (as always with religious programming 1830-1900), eventually fading away from the program feed at 2204 for sign off announcement and hymn of Luxembourg until 2206 cut off, i.e. the usual procedure. [Later:] Marnach 1440 now indeed carries Mega-Radio, no noticeable delay compared with 1431. The program of this commercial station, which consists almost entirely of nonstop music, is generated at Schwerin and fed through an encrypted Eutelsat DVB feed to the transmitter sites. Mega-Radio already uses Wöbbelin 576 (power not known for sure but elsewhere reported 40 kW could be true spot), Wilsdruff 1431 and Burg 1575 (both 10 kW each). The station also announced the inauguration of a high power service on 693 from the Zehlendorf longwave site near Berlin for December, but until now not even the Voice of Russia transmitter at Berlin-Köpenick was removed into another frequency. Regards, (Kai Ludwig, Germany, January 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LUXEMBOURG. Dear Glenn, RE DXLD 0-167: Yes, you are right, Mega Radio is now on 1440 kHz. Am listening to it right now, here in the afternoon UT of Jan. 2. RTL German is still on our cable net here, which means that RTL continues on Astra satellite. Happy New Year, (Erik Køie, Copenhagen, Denmark, Jan 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LUXEMBOURG. Yes, Mega Radio is now heard loud and clear on 1440. It must be quite a culture shock for those listeners tuning in and expecting to hear the Oldiesender! This is the sort of tuneless drivel that we hear all too often via British pop stations. Each time a new commercial station opens with "adult orientated music" we know what to expect - pop! Someone must like it I suppose! (Noël R. Green, UK, Jan 2, BC-DX via DXLD) ** LUXEMBOURG. RTL and MegaRadio cooperation will be lasting one year. Mega Mon-Sat 0500-1800, Sun 0630-1800, remaining hours RTL program and rent broadcast time by religious broadcaster (like Missionswerk Werner Heukelbach) (Thomas Schröder, Germany, A-DX Jan 2 via BC-DX via DXLD) ** MOUNT ATHOS. Another very rare ham country, in/surrounded by Greece. Monk Apollo is using callsign SY2A until 12/31, then SV2ASP. He likes 20m but is very hard to catch. Happy New Year! (Bill Flynn, OR, Dec 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) That`s territory off-limits to females. Is he allowed to contact YLs? (gh, DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA. Hiram Champlin, manager of KCRC-1390 indicates to me that their 1640 CP will not be on for a while longer; the CP has been extended to March 2003. Consideration is being given to locating it away from the 1390 site inside northern Enid, due to RF considerations, 10 kW instead of 1 kW. It was more than a coincidence that the calls KMMZ coincide with ``Memories``, the new slogan where it has been moved, to 96.9 Enid/OKC (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ROMANIA. Spurs from 7145 at 0200 UT - 03/01/01, from 6815 every 55 kHz till 7090. 7090 is stronger and louder than fundamental 7145 but with much noise (Roberto Scaglione http://www.bclnews.it harmonics@egroups.com via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. This morning I could confirm Magadan on the three freqs mentioned to be active, i.e. 9530, 7320, 5940. Rudnev recently reported that Magadan 9600 is off the air. I also heard 11840 Yuzhno- Sakhalinsk in the USB mode. Khanty-Mansiysk 4820 was silent all Sunday, but is back on today. They seem to have corrected the awfully distorted audio from the past few weeks. The recent noise and distortion problems of one of the Lesnoy txers operating on 9800 afternoons, 7340 evenings and 7330 nights now have been corrected thanks the good contacts of Mikhail Timofeyev with the people in Moscow (Olle Alm, Sweden, Dec 25, BC-DX via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. Happy New Year Glenn! Last week I observed very good reception of the VoR in English 1500-1600 on 9800, // much weaker 7180 (Ivan Grishin, Ont., Jan 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. 11840 USB, Radio Rossii via Yuzhno-Sakhlinsk was well heard again at 0101 2 Jan after an absence of several months. Co- channel with HCJB. Both at good levels, with HCJB usually slightly stronger. News program. Nice to see them back (Volodya Salmaniw, Victoria BC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. Just a note to let you know that 11840 usb has returned with R Rossii and R Sakhalinsk. I tuned in about an hour ago and just now at 2100 caught the R Sakhalinsk ID. It is in here with about Normal signal level for this time of day. I also have 9530 now with some co-channel QRM, but it is definitely R Rossii, so likely Magadan. The signal level is good. Today [24th] at 1753: 5940, 7320 and 9530 started 800 Hz pips in \\ . Engineer switched to network instrumental mx at 1759, followed by time pips at 1800 and R Rossii ID. The fourth tx, expected on 9600, did not appear. The three txs are in here at normal signal levels for this time period and season. 11840 R. Sakhalinsk. Today at 2051 on 11840 usb I began to receive pop mx weakly rising out of the 'mud.' At 2100 I caught the R Sakhalinsk ID. By 2125 the level had increased to an easy S-6 with no QRM. I'm glad this tx and the Magadan ones are back, my best sources for home sce txions (Douglas W. Johnson, Dec 23/24, BC-DX via DXLD) ** SAUDI ARABIA. BSKSA in French 0800-1000 & 1400-1600 on 21600. *1400-1457* also on 21810 mixing product in both French & Arabic (latter on 21705); the formula is: 21810 = (21705-21600) x 2 + 21600. (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, Dec 17, BC-DX via DXLD) ** SOMALIA. 6900, R Banaadir, hrd on this freq; they usually went off at 2000. No jamming so far (Mahendra Vaghjee, Mauritius, NU Dec 27 via BC-DX via DXLD) ** SWEDEN. Checked for the Iglesia del Pueblo test as in DXLD 0-167 on 5920 UT Jan 2 at 0400-0430; tho a clear frequency, barely audible and could not be positive it was in Spanish; conditions subnormal, I guess, and/or beam toward SAm rather than NAm? Wonder if 500 kW (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SWEDEN. 5920, Iglesia del Pueblo (presumed), January 2 0401-0431, Heard a broadcast that was definitely in Spanish and presume it was the test but did not copy a positive ID. Signal was weak to fair at best. Male and female announcers at various times. Possible interview at 0420. Songs played at 0410, 0415, 0422, 0425, and 0429. (Lee Silvi, Mentor, OH, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAIWAN. REQUEST FOR HELP. Bernd Nasner, DL8UI, wrote to Ulrich Bihlmayer of DARC Intruder Bandwatch: Chen, BA1HAM, wrote: A new powerful bcing station in Taipei city started work on 7090 from 1-Jan-2001. The signal hit here in Beijing with 59+30dB, as well as in some other areas. That would be tragic news to the radio amateurs here. Would you try to monitor this freq and to see if you are also influenced by this bcing in Chinese language, and let me know the report: Location of receiving, date, time, and signal strength. Chen Ping BA1HAM ba1ham@amsat.org Dear Chen, thank you for your information which reached me via Bernd Nasner, DL8UI. Yesterday (1 Jan) I have heard that station myself from 1714 on, and it was active till s-off at 1800. The language is Chinese, and very often you can hear "Taipei" or "Taiwan" during the broadcast. Today I've heard it from 1220 onwards, and it is still active as I'm writing this email (1635). The signal is S=9 +60dB with a dipole. This afternoon I have informed the German Telecoms. by phone and asked them to listen on the QRG and to send a complaint to the relevant authorities (Ulrich Bihlmayer, DJ9KR, Coordinator of DARC MONITORING SYSTEM Intruder Watch. eMail: dj9kr@darc.de URL: http://www.darc.de/referate/hf/bandwacht/ Jan 2, via BC-DX via DXLD) ** TIBET [non]. Voice of Tibet, 1 January 2001. At 1157 UT tune in, the transmitter on 15595 was already on with a fair to good signal, no interference and no tones. 15705 came on at 1201 with only a poor to fair signal and low audio. Interference was particularly severe from 15715 but not quite as bad from 15700. The tones started almost immediately and went off at 1211. The interval signal started on both frequencies at 1212 with the opening announcement at 1215. Both frequencies by this time had deteriorated to poor. By 1218 15595 was barely audible but 15705 had improved. At 1222 15705 had improved again slightly but 15595 was still barely audible although this improved to poor to fair after 1230 and continued to the end of the broadcast. 15705 continued fair to good (Harry Brooks, England, DX LISTENING DIGEST) No doubt better in Tibet, jamming permitting ** TIBET [non]. TAJIKISTAN/KAZAKHSTAN: Freq changes of Voice of Tibet in Tibetan & Mandarin Chinese 1212-1300 NF 15695.0 (55544) via Dushanbe, ex 15655.0; NF 15705.0 (55544) via Almaaty, ex 15680.0 (Observer, Bulgaria, Jan 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TIBET [non]. Listening to the CIS relay of VOT today at 1240 I found strong spurs from 15695 on 15685 and 15705 (i.e. +/- 10 kHz). The other freq was 15595, which was in advance of 15695 and had a telephone line type of audio. As usual they switched to Chinese at 1246 after playing several minutes of lovely Tibetan music (Olle Alm, Sweden, Jan 2, BC-DX via DXLD) ** UKRAINE. Hi, does anybody know anything about Radio Era from Ukraine? Is it on MW or FM ? (WRTH 2001 does not list anything like that). My friend heard it on 9180 kHz (17 NOV, 0605 UTC), seemingly an unauthorised relay. There is a clear ID (2 or 3 times) on his tape recording. I can make an audio file if somebody is interested. Many thanks + GOOD DX, (Karel Honzík, the Czech Republic, hard-core-dx via DXLD) Radio ERA, Ukraine. R Era is usually carried via the UR1 network in the morning hrs. 9180 looks like 12 x 765 = the frequency of the UR1 tx at Petrivka (near Odessa) (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, Jan 2, BC-DX via DXLD) ** U A E. I wonder if I could ask for a little help from anyone reading this list living in 'the Levant' or Middle East? I work in the monitoring section of the U.S. International Broadcasting Bureau and we're 'testing' the performance of a potential mediumwave lease on 1314 kHz from Abu Dhabi. For the month of January only, you should hear VOA NewsNow programming at 0200-0300 and 1600-1800 UT. If you can tell me where you are and how well we're coming in I`d REALLY appreciate it. Thanks. P.S. If you'd like to know more about IBB Monitoring, check out our web site at http://monitor.ibb.gov (Bill Whitacre, International Broadcasting Bureau, Spectrum Management Division, Washington, DC 20237 bw@his.com billw@mac.com http://monitor.ibb.gov http://www.realmonitor.com (via hard-core-dx Jan 2 via DXLD) ** UK. More BBC World Service previews: *Wed Jan 3 |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| MERIDIAN – MUSIC Eu Wed 0905, 1905, Thu 0105, 1405 Am Wed 1405, Thu 0105, 2005, Fri 0605 Music Review, 6 x 25 min until Fri Jan 19 Mark Tully talks to Indian classical music star, Anoushka Shankar, daughter of Ravi, Jan 3 Birthday of pianist Alfred Brendel, Jan 10 Birthday of Placido Domingo, Jan 17 *Wed Jan 3 |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| PICK OF THE WORLD, continuing Eu Wed 2030, Thu 0230, 1530, Fri 1030 Am Thu 0230, 2130, Fri 1530 Extracts of programmes of the past week; listener requests invited *Thu Jan 4 |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| MERIDIAN – WRITING Eu Thu 0905, 1905, Fri 0105, 1405 Am Thu 1405, Fri 0105, 2005, Sat 0605 The Lyrics, 4 x 25 min until Sat Jan 27 Four leading contemporary poets discuss classic poems on a range of themes and write a new poem of their own in response *Thu Jan 4 |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| WORLD OF MUSIC, continuing Eu Thu 0930, 1930, Fri 0130, 1430 Am Thu 1430, Fri 0130, 2030, Sat 0630 The best of folk, non-Western classical and non-Western popular music, with Charlie Gillett, 9 x 30 min series continues into Feb *Thu Jan 4 |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| BODY AND MIND Eu Thu 1345, Fri 1845, Sat 0045, Tue 0430 Am Thu 1945, Sat 0045, Tue 0430 Health Talk, 6 x 15 min from Jan 7 [sic] What is happening in the field of diseases, health around the world, new series *Thu Jan 4 |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ONE PLANET Eu Thu 2005, Fri 0205, 1505, Mon 1005 Am Fri 0205, 2105, Mon 1505 Warm World, on global warming continues thru Jan 11, then other topics (BBC On Air via Chris Hambly, organised by gh for DXLD) ** U S A. Heard on Morning Edition yesterday from NPR: -- From member station W-Y-S-O, Aileen LeBlanc reports on how the end of the year also brought the end of an era for jazz music in Cincinnati. An A-M station there has been playing jazz music for the last 40 years, but early this morning switched its format to religious programming. (6:34) Listen at: http://www.npr.org/ramfiles/me/20010101.me.08.rmm (Tom Dimeo, Harrisburg Pennsylvania, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** U S A. I expected this to happen: the WBAI website http://www.wbai.org has been deleted, except for audio links and a link to Pacifica HQ site in Washington. No more program schedule and no more dissent against HQ on the homepage. Some months back, a website revamp eliminated all the links to individual programs` websites including OTH which had a lot of different audio connexion setups. Fortunately, we could still hear Off the Hook, UT Wednesday at 0100, at least on Jan 3. The host Emanuel(?) of http://www.2600.com confirmed that the WBAI website had been censored the day before, after having had a ``penetrating writeup on the whole mess`` -- all that info has been wiped away. He gave several sites for the other side: http://www.wbai.net and http://www.savepacifica.net and http://www.radio4all.org/freepacifica as well as phone numbers: 212- 465-7562 for audio info set up by a listener; 718-707-7189; and toll- free to volunteer, 1-800-825-0055. A big demonstration is scheduled for Jan 6, this Saturday noon outside the station at 120 Wall Street, and has not been getting much publicity on these sites. But there is a GREAT deal of info on them, including audio. BTW, Off the Hook is also scheduled at the same time on WBCQ 7415 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. I remembered to tune in Jan 1 at 1700 on 15485 for the official start of regular broadcasts by the General Board of Global Ministries, United Methodist Church -– it seems they haven`t adopted a briefer flashier name yet. After their African music opening, Randolph Nugent, General Secretary of the same, delivered an ad-lib inaugural address, followed by Donna Nieman and an African guy whose name I could not catch. Usual adequate reception here via Germany in Africa [non]. It would be nice, now, to have some specific advance program timings and topics within the daily bihour (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** USA [non]. Received today Jan 2 a full data QSL letter on "General Board of Global Ministries - The United Methodist Church" letterhead stationary for the 0400 UT December 9 and 10, 2000 test broadcasts on 13685 kHz. Letter opens with "Greetings from the new African Radio Project of the General Board ...." and gives the frequencies / times as of 1/1/2001. Signer was "Donna Niemann - Program Producer" (Lee Silvi, OH, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UZBEKISTAN. R Tashkent emission scheme in B-00 season effective 29/10/00 to 24/03/01: 0100-0130 En 5955 5975 7105 7285 9540 1200-1230 En 5060 5975 6025 9715 1330-1400 En 5060 5975 6025 9715 2030-2100 En 7105 9540 2130-2200 En 9540 QTH: R Tashkent, 49 Khoresm Street, Tashkent, Uzbekistan. E-mail: uzradio@uzpak.uz (Marcelo Cornachioni, Argentina, Conexión Digital Jan 1 via BC-DX via gh excerpting English only for DXLD) ** ZANZIBAR. It was me [who designed and printed QSLs for RTZ]. I sent 100 pieces to Zanzibar in the spring of 98. But there are only very few DXers that have received one of those QSLs. Enzio Gehrig made a trip to Zanzibar about a year ago and he assured me that there is still a stock of those QSLs. It looks like they are using the QSLs for special occasions. And there is one big problem with reception reports. Almost nobody speaks English at RTZ. Somebody not in service at RTZ is translating reports into Swahili, and that takes time and a lot of trouble. So be patient. You can also try to write in Swahili. Maybe you can find a contact on the net that will translate your report (Guido Schotmans, Belgium, hard-core-dx via DXLD) INTRUDER WATCH. Current intruders heard in IARU RIII and reported on teletext page 837 DPR - Korea on 3560, 14100 & 14250 (5 x 2850 kHz with 120 kW) 7030, 7040, 7050, 7060 Wobble jammer - Iranian - Mode FXX, 1730+ UTC 14210 Broadcaster harmonic of 7105 - Mode A3E, 0830 UTC 14211.5 1039 F1B Moscow Nav Radio (Australian Q-News December 31 via John Norfolk, OKCOK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also TAIWAN ###