DX LISTENING DIGEST 1-020 February 13, 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, 2000 contents archive see} http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio/Dxldmid.html [NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn] ** CHINA. Heard CPBS-1 on 10260 //11630 at 2400 until 2430 tune out. This was not any form of Chinese, nor was the programming the usual yl & om talking. Hard to tell the language but it was aspirated like Arabic but still doesn't sound like it. Tajik? Something else? Lite classical mx in the background-sounded like one long ad, a sophisticated one like a travel agency (or something besides Kool- Aid). ??? (73/Liz Cameron, MI, Feb 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) It`s the new CNR-8, and per schedule in DXLD 1-001 that hour is in Uighur (gh, DXLD) ** CUBA [non]. R. Martí on new 21675 at least in the 2000-2100 hour Feb 12, ex 21510 but not yet showing in the IBB daily frequency schedule. 21510 was itself a replacement for 21600 and/or 21500. Delano has been having trouble with harmonics interfering with aeronautical communications tho 5 x 21510 would be 107.550 and 5 x 21675 is 108.375, which would seem a more likely QRM hazard. By Feb 13 at 0430 the following appeared, but hasn`t 21510 actually been deleted in favor of 21675?: 21510 1500 1700 OCB LARM SPAN DL 02 100 21675 1500 1700 OCB LARM SPAN DL 02 100 21675 1700 2200 OCB LARM SPAN DL 02 100 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR. Subject: Live Streaming of HCJB. Hello Friends. For those of you that have access to the Internet we are running a live streaming test starting 14 February 2001 until 16 February 2001. Over this period you will be able to connect to the link below and listen to a variety of languages broadcast on HCJB. There is a schedule on the site to tell you what language is currently playing and when English will be on. I would appreciate it if you would find the time to listen in and give us some feedback. All going well we will begin live streaming in March 2001. http://www.hcjb.org/streamindex.php under "Radio" at the top left of the page. (Yvonne Kennedy, English Language Service, HCJB World Radio, Casilla 17-17-691, Quito, Ecuador email: english@hcjb.org.ec website: http://www.hcjb.org/english via Richard Cuff, swprograms via DXLD) Based on our survey of this group and other factors I think HCJB is missing the point. A live stream is nice, but on-demand makes much more sense. People who listen to HCJB, listen on shortwave and would be better served by on-demand for programs they like but were unable to listen to. This is not just HCJB; it`s all international broadcasters (Larry Nebron, CA, swprograms via DXLD) I agree, Larry. That's the problem with us 'radio people' trying to make the transition to 'on-line.' It's time to get-over-it ... shift paradigms! Nobody said that EVERYBODY has to listen to on-line junk INSTEAD of shortwave! There are clearly areas of the world where that's NOT practical now and may NEVER be. But for the every-expanding number of those of us for whom it IS practical to grab a RealAudio sound file on-line and listen when YOU want rather than trying to figure out shortwave schedules, propagation and UTC, it's a no-brainer to 'go to the Web.' Particularly with a shortwave audience -- on-line can't be compared to 'Broadcasting' with a capital B, it's time-multiplexed narrowcasting. On-demand is an ADVANTAGE for the listening audience, not an 'work-around' for on-line geeks who can't simultaneously 'serve' millions of people. When someone says that you can't possibly 'serve' 10 million people on-line all at once, I know immediately where they've spent their time ... NOT on a keyboard but 'at the dials.' With on-demand audio, you CAN get a cumulative total of well over 10 million viewings or 'listenings' to any given piece over a period of time. Who says everyone has to listen all at once? I'd think it's much more desirable to 'serve' one`s audience with something they can listen to ANYtime THEY want in good audio quality than force them to tune in when YOU broadcast and find YOU on shortwave. I don't know about you, but I've yet to find a shortwave radio with a 'Search' button on it! ;-) (Bill Whitacre, DC, swprograms via DXLD) As some on the swp list have opined, and I agree, it would be more useful to have programs ondemand when we want to hear them. Site says experiment actually begins at 7 pm EST Feb 13, i.e. 0000 UT Feb 14, and the English segments are (rounded off): 0100-0530, 0700-0900, 1100-1300 (gh, DXLD) ** ECUADOR. HCJB have taken the program `Friends of Israel` off the air without explanation. As they use hydro-electricity mainly instead of oil this seems to be inexplicable. Could be due to government regulations which HCJB operates under (David O. French, Feb World DX Club Contact via DXLD) Non sequiturs (gh) ** GEORGIA. Georgia/Russia: Abkhaz radio schedule | Text of report by Voice of Russia "DX CLub" web site on 9 February Abkhazia/Russia: Abkhaz radio can be heard in Russian daily from 1400 to 1430 [gmt] and on Sundays from 1100 to 1200. A mixed programme in Abkhaz, Russian and Georgian is broadcast on weekdays from 0400 to 0500 and on Saturdays from 1430 to 1600. This is all broadcast on 9489.8 kHz. In the remaining time, this frequency carries relays of Radio [Rossii], Radio Sochi and the Kuban State TV and Radio Company (apparently from Krasnodar). Source: Voice of Russia web site, Moscow, in Russian 9 Feb 01 (via BBC Monitoring via DXLD) ** INDIA. Feb 13 at 1825 I tuned in 13750.1 to find a good carrier, but no modulation, and heavy flutter. Stayed with it, still open at 1855 when signal began to fade down. Finally at 1902 a bit of modulation could be heard, seemingly English news, but by now too weak to matter. Surely AIR as scheduled. One wonders if the transmitter site engineers have orders to run the unit even when there is nothing to modulate –- if they were not sound asleep. At least there was no sign of TIDGS, which used to mar the channel from a slightly different off-frequency (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL WATERS {and non]. Subject: Hurricane Frequencies From: billsnyder@mindspring.com Bill Snyder`s Hurricane Frequencies has a new, permanent home! Published on the Net every hurricane season since 1991. Be ready for hurricane season. Reset your bookmarks to http://www.hurricanefrequencies.com Hundreds of valuable high-frequency disaster communications frequencies. Lots of disaster and weather links. Please send info updates (additions, deletions, corrections) to: bill@hurricanefrequencies.com Thank you! (Bill Snyder AA6KC rec.radio.shortwave Feb 12 via John Norfrolk, DXLD) ** MADAGASCAR. R. Madagascar in Malagasy signs on daily at 0500 on 9690, heard until 1200. Then R. Taipei International creates severe interference (Sergey Kolesov, Ukraine(?), letter postmarked Nigeria, Feb World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** NAMIBIA. The reason for not hearing NBC at 0400 on 7215 could be that they follow their normal schedule now. 7215 is from 0600 normally, 3290 used until 0500 with the same tx: http://www.natradio.imlt.org.na/frequencies.htm (Thorsten Hallmann, Germany, Feb 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PUERTO RICO. Station heard with great signals in Sweden, heard first on February 8 at 2200. Calling itself El Gigante, and says transmitting from Carolina, San Juan (Gert Nilsson, Sweden, swedx list, Feb 10, 2001 via hard-core-dx.com via DXLD) Station heard on February 10 here in Umeå, giving ID as "Estación WVIT [sic] Canóvanas, Carolina, San Juan, 1660 AM". According to NRC log the address is P.O Box 2780, Camuy, PR 00627 (Lars Bygdén, Sweden, swedx list, Feb 10, 2001 hard-core-dx.com via DXLD) WGIT, with the initial "w" pronounced as "doble u", is the actual call sign for the new X-bander heard testing on 1660. The station is located in Canóvanas (with the stress on the "o"), Carolina, San Juan. Identification was possible thanks to a clip uploaded by Martin Elbe, Germany, to the RealDX list (Henrik Klemetz, Feb 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) W G I T IS the correct call for this station. I reported it several days ago. 73 (Al - K 4 G L U Merriman, Chincoteague Island VA, Feb 12, hard-core-dx via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. Subject: VoR`s Quiz Questions April 12, 2001, will mark forty years of the space exploration era. The world's first astronaut, Yuri Gagarin, orbited Earth aboard a Russian-made spacecraft, forty years ago. The Voice of Russia is celebrating the fortieth anniversary of his flight with a quiz. We invite everyone to join this quiz. Here are the questions: What do you know about Yuri Gagarin? In what fields of space exploration were trails blazed by Russia? What international project is being carried out in space? What do you know about the first Soviet-US venture in outer space - the Apollo-Soyuz flight? In what fields are the results of space research put to use, on Earth? April 12, 2001, is set as the deadline on mailing your answers. Your letters will be read and the results of the quiz will be announced on the waves of the Voice of Russia and on our Web-site on June 15, 2001. We have, for some time now, been coming out with a Russian Space sequel which deals with the Russian contribution to space exploration. If you tune in to them, you'll find it easy to answer the quiz questions. There will be two kinds of awards: winners' and encouragement. Special awards will be given for drawings on, snapshots of and stories about the history of space exploration! We accept both regular and e-mail stories. The jury is headed by the deputy chief of Russian mission control cosmonaut Vladimir Soloviyev. Yuri Koptev who heads the Russian space agency is an honorary member of the quiz jury. Mail your quiz answers to letters@vor.ru, or to the Voice of Russia, 25, Pyatnitskaya Street, 113326, Moscow, Russia. Fax them in: (095) 950-5648. We are looking forward to hearing from you. Good luck to all of you! (From http://www.vor.ru/Space/Space.html via Sergei Sosedkin, MI, Feb 13, DXLD) ** SERBIA. Yugoslavia: Belgrade court remands former Serbian broadcast chief A Belgrade court remanded the former head of Serbian Radio and TV, Dragoljub Milanovich, in custody for a month on 13th February over the deaths of 16 people in a NATO raid at the broadcasting HQ in 1999, Yugoslav state news agency Tanjug reported. A prosecutor demanded last week that Milanovich be investigated over allegations that he insisted that radio and TV staff keep on working in the building, even though he knew it was about to be bombed. During a visit to Belgrade in January, the Hague Tribunal Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte told relatives of the 16 people who died that former President Slobodan Miloshevich had been informed by top NATO officials that the raid was about to take place. Source: Tanjug news agency, Belgrade, in Serbo-Croat 13 Feb 01 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** SINGAPORE. R. Singapore International, 9600, ID 1230 Feb 13 and financial newscast, SINPO 24543; 1235 more IDs and giving 31, 49 mb frequencies I could not copy, into show with Asian tribal music. At 1235 I began to hear Cuba in the background, and at 1236 it suddenly boomed in as if the power were turned up, not merely a propagational fade-in, obliterating RSI (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOMALILAND. The complete program schedule from Radio Hargeisa is now on http://www.radiosomaliland.com. Except the SW frequency... (Thorsten Hallmann, Germany, Feb 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN. Subject: Interesting Website: Here is the website of a ham in Hillsboro, New Hampshire: http://www.conknet.com/~b_mobile/ This fellow is also a TV DXer (he's got a photos of a 7 foot dish there and many other antennas). This is from his website. Does anyone have an explanation for this: Why do I almost continuously receive the Spanish 48.250 TV video carrier in summer? In 1996 I carefully monitored the 250 kW ERP Spanish 48.250 along with any other signs of transatlantic propagation (other video, in-band contacts, etc.) above 48.2 MHz, summed the results as MINUTES OF TRANSATLANTIC PROPAGATION and plotted the end product versus UT. The results are interesting and heavily weighted in favor of the very powerful video. My conclusion is that based upon the link between maximum propagation and Solar Elevation, the propagation mode of the Spanish 48.250 carrier is probably via E Layer Forward Scatter but NOT Sporadic E. Am I lucky to have a high location and be located at the perfect distance? Can I use this luck to "sniff" the condition of the E-Layer? Is there a link between the background condition of the E-Layer and the probability that multiple Es refraction points will form? This is NOT Sporadic E! (He also has some amazing photos taken of the 1998 ice storm up there). (via Mike Bugaj - Enfield, CT USA, Feb 12, wtfda list via DXLD) Isn`t this from Canary Islands, not Spain continental? ** TASMANIA/SCOTLAND. A story a friend told me personally. He was chief technician at Radio 7LA in the 40's thru 80's. One of their favourite Sunday afternoon programs when I was growing up was "Martial Moments", a program of martial music (both military and brass) which lasted for over 30 years until the mid sixties. Rex ran a competition of guessing the march and played a Pipe Band. It stumped everybody and pipers were consulting the Royal School of Piping in Edinburgh Castle where they drew a blank. Then he eventually came close to losing his job when he revealed that it was "Scotland the Brave" played backwards on a reel to reel tape!!!! Yes, bagpipes are the only instrument that sounds the same when played in both directions. Some saw the humour but apparently the General Manager didn`t nor did the local Caledonian Society. However, Rex kept his position for a number of decades and was recently awarded the Citizen of the Year for 2001 for contribution to radio broadcasting. And as this incident happened before I started to listen to radio, Rex played the tape to me and I was in hysterics. It really is impossible to tell if the recording was forward or reverse except on forward the tune was easily identifiable. Also didn`t the Chinese jam the Russians by broadcasting Russian language programs back at them in reverse? All they had to do is play the tape in reverse to hear the programming (Robin VK7RH Harwood, swl@qth.net via DXLD) ** U K. Following a re-design of the BBC World Service front page, the European Information & Entertainment stream can now be accessed from the right hand navigation, under the heading '24 HOUR RADIO'. The News stream and schedule page, are in the centre column under the main news story (Karl Kathuria, BBC World Service, Feb 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. On Tuesday afternoons I have been enjoying BBC Radio 2`s series of musical programmes in a lighter vein: 1900-2000 UT Alan Freeman with pop classics, or should I say classical pops? 2000-2100, The [Wurlitzer, Hammond] Organist Entertains; 2100-2200 The Colour of Music, with Lionel Richie (last program in series airs Feb 20); 2200- 2230 Jacques Loussier`s Swinging the Classics, from Bach to Jazz (Glenn Hauser, Feb 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Hi Folks, We have got a treat for you on our next CyberShortwave "Live"! netcast to be held on February 18th at 1600 UT. First we will be talking to Rich Cuff, Co-Chair of the 14th Annual Winter SWL Fest. Rich will give us an update on the fest with all the latest changes and additions. Rich is truly a "people person", and one of the most friendly individuals you can ever hope to meet. Secondly, D.J. Stevie of Radio 510 International has generously agreed to do a three part segment for CyberShortwave "Live"! In Part One, to be aired on February 18th, Stevie talks about the Winter SWL Fest, in addition to some really funny skits, and a geography lesson on names of towns in Switzerland. D.J. Stevie has done more world traveling than most of us combined, and when he says Kulpsville, Pa. is the place to be on March 9-10th, you can believe it! Here are a few suggestions on how to listen: A shortcut would be set your Winamp or Real Player (not your web browser) "Open Location" (CTRL-L) to http://216.32.166.89:9020 Below is a link for your browser that, if you have configured your browser previously, should activate your mp3 player when you click on it. http://www.live365.com/cgi-bin/play.pls?addr=216.32.166.89:9020/&file=filename.pls Also you can connect to http://www.live365.com and do a search for either cybershortwave or n1dk. Details on how to listen are also on my web site http://www.n1dk.com As always during a live netcast, we are interactive in Internet Relay Chat channel #cybershortwave via a Starchat server for your comments and suggestions. There is currently "The Best of CyberShortwave" programming running 24/7. 73, and CU Sunday at 1600 UT (Dave Kirby, N1DK, Feb 13, swprograms via DXLD) ** U S A. On Sunday 02/11/01 at 2353 CST announcer Bruce Duffie closed the classical format at WNIB with an announcement thanking listeners for 45 years of loyalty to the station. He then played Lyric for Strings by George Walker, and then there was dead air until the transmitter was turned off at 0001 CST Monday morning. I stopped listening a few minutes later, but according to his page at http://my.voyager.net/duffie/, Bonneville played New York, New York at 0025 CST. I tuned in at 0925 02/12/01 and heard them playing Barbra Streisand recordings, with a YL IDing "WNIB FM Chicago" at the top of the hour, with no other announcements. Today, 02/12/01, at 0945 CST I heard them playing country music, with the same ID at the top of the hour, but no other announcements. I will continue monitoring WNIB periodically until they begin normal operations and settle upon a format, and report at that time (Michael Mathis, IL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Classical station bows out with class February 13, 2001 COMMENTARY It could have been worse. After the last note of classical music faded away on WNIB-FM (97.1) just before midnight Sunday, we could have been treated to a triumphal blast of "Roll Over, Beethoven" to herald the longtime classical-music station's switch to '80s rock, golden oldies rock or alternative rock. Actually, all my radio picked up in those first moments was static as the new owners, Bonneville International Corp. of Salt Lake City, took over airwaves they had purchased for $165 million from WNIB's founders and owners, Sonia and Bill Florian. But on Monday morning, Barbra Streisand's greatest hits were wafting from WNIB's space on the FM band. After 45 years of Bach and Beethoven, Puccini and Penderecki, the new owners launched themselves with non-classical Barbra. WNIB as a classical music station is history, but WNIB's programming won't disappear entirely. "Those Were the Days," Chuck Schaden's popular Saturday afternoon program of vintage radio shows, can now be heard on WDCB-FM (90.9), the jazz station based at the College of DuPage. "Performance Today" has moved over to WFMT-FM (98.7), now the city's sole commercial classical station. [Ironic that this non-commercial *NPR* program can`t get placed on WBEZ or any other public radio station in Chicago market -gh] Other programs and program hosts may turn up elsewhere in the future. WFMT is a quality operation that seems to be finding renewed energy under Steve Robinson, its new programming vice president. Classical music remains on the local airwaves. But it was still difficult to listen last weekend as WNIB's familiar voices and programs signed off one by one. Not surprisingly, it was a classy sign-off, one that took quiet satisfaction in having done the broadcasting job well for 45 years. It also was a reminder of how vibrant Chicago's local classical music scene is. Bruce Duffie, a WNIB program host for more than 25 years, focused on Chicago artists and institutions as he brought the station's classical era to a close Sunday night. He played excerpts from a recent interview with the city's newest distinguished arrival, Lyric Opera of Chicago's music director Andrew Davis. We heard the Chicago Symphony, Chicago Symphony Chorus and assorted CSO principals. The lineup also included singers Susanne Mentzer and Sunny Joy Langton, pianists Elizabeth Buccheri and Richard Boldry and tenor John Vorrasi in works by Chicago composer William Ferris. A bare sampling, but an evocative one, of the depth of Chicago's classical music scene. If a classical music station is doing its job, it offers much more than Beethoven in place of Limp Bizkit. It also showcases the best of the music being made in its own hometown. Anybody can pop a Brahms symphony into a CD player and broadcast it. Listeners can buy their own Brahms symphony CD at the local record store. A local radio station, however, can bring us the local composer, the string quartet or solo artist who might not otherwise be heard. Luckily for Chicago musicians and music lovers, WFMT is as committed to talented local artists as WNIB was. But WNIB's unique take on Chicago's classical music scene will be missed. With too many farewell calls coming in, Duffie turned off the phones around 10 p.m. and invited us to simply enjoy the music he had chosen. It had been a "privilege and a pleasure," he said, to broadcast this music into our homes, and he hoped we would remember WNIB kindly. He signed off with "Lyric for Strings," a meditative piece by American composer George Walker that strongly evoked Barber's more familiar "Adagio for Strings." An elegant finish to 45 memorable years. (Chicago Sun-Times via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** U S A. For anyone who cares: I did a very quick check of AM stations running Art Bell at 1 am EST, as heard from Bridgeport CT with a Kenwood R-2000 and 75` longwire: 580, 800 CKLW, 810 WGY, 890 WLS, 900 Canada [CHML?], 930 Buffalo, 960 WELI CT, 1040, 1100 WTAM, 1140, 1200, 1210 Phila, 1290, 1360, 1370. WABC 770 NYC picks it up at 2-5 am, docking two of the five hours (Bob Thomas, Feb 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. Hi Wolfgang, Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty is preparing (starting Feb. 9) e-mail media bulletin "RFE/RL Media Matters" on the basis of reports by RFE/RL broadcast services and other sources. It is distributed every Friday. TO SUBSCRIBE send an e-mail to mm-request@list.rferl.org with the word subscribe as the subject of the message. Or you can access this on the web: http://www.rferl.org/mm/ (Krzysztof Rybus, Poland, Feb 12, via Wolfgang Büschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I looked through the entire file. Reminds me greatly of BBC Monitoring topics, but this is freely accessible, US-taxpayer- supported. Concerns ONLY the countries RFE/RL serves, eastern Europe, CIS and vicinity. This week there was nothing of relevance to SW or clandestine broadcasting, but there could be (gh) ** ZIMBABWE. There is a list of eight SW frequencies on the ZBC homepage http://www.zbc.co.zw/radio/frequencies.htm. But which ones are they using? (Thorsten Hallmann, Germany, Feb 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###