DX LISTENING DIGEST 1-043, March 27, 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] ** AUSTRALIA. Alice Springs is still staying on 4835 all night, instead of 2310, for the third night in a row (Chris Hambly, Victoria, 1615 UT March 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRIA. Re: DXLD 1-042. Hi Glenn, despite the Excel File showing 5945 and 6155 in 2300-2400 time span, I checked that yesterday night. 5945 was off already at 2254, and 6155 left the air around 2258. ORF is only on 13730 towards SAm and the Canary Islands. German 2300-2330 Eu, LAm 13730, Spanish 2330-2400 Eu, LAm 13730 (Wolfgang Büschel, March 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BELGIUM. The RVi printed A-01 program schedule has arrived, and that is not a typo. Now we are supposed to abbr. it Capital R, Capital V, small i. It does not refer to ``Flanders Radio International`` or ``Flanders International Radio`` as another name for the station, so that must have been a last-minute decision (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 6105, 26 Mar 2301 Rádio Cultura Filadélfia, Foz de Iguaçu, once again with Filadélfia Musical, evangelical songs, some of them with the artist's name given. Full name, including Cultura in the IDs on the hour, otherwise just Filadélfia. The guy at the mike did indeed, bursting with pride, refer to listeners in Sweden. Before 23 A Voz do Brazil, after 00 a px called União Nacional. QSA 3. From 0000 BBC in Spanish on 6110, and a strong station in Chinese, with lots of commercials on 6100, qrm-ed (Johan Berglund, Trollhättan, Sweden, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Last reported in DXLD 1-017 Feb 8 as off SW and might not come back as transmitter is not suitable -- but now CHNX, Halifax NS is back! I knew it must be this when I came upon ``Downtown`` in USB on 6130 March 27 at 0625. At 0636, the ``96 CHNS Weather`` forecast, and monitored/taped until 0715, heard numerous IDs as Oldies 96, and/or CHNS; at 0701, ``Oldies 96, CHNS``. 0708, ``Take Good Care of My Baby``. There was a bonker sending ...- throughout near the frequency (another one sending .....- was messing up 11740 and vicinity at 1349 -- what is going on with this crap in the SWBC bands?). CHNX signal was fairly good, I would guess more than 30 watts. There was only a trace of a carrier, which may or may not have originated with CHNX too. CHNX faces the usual problems of major broadcasters ignoring their presence on 6130. Current IBB schedule shows -- note that some of these are M-F, or UT Tu-Sa only, so CHNX has less co-channel on weekends; a good window currently is 0600-1100: 6130 0000 0100 VOA LA-1 ENGL GA 08 145 23456 6130 0100 0200 VOA LA-1 ENGL GA 08 145 23456 6130 0430 0500 VOA E CROA BIB 10 126 6130 0500 0530 VOA E ALBA MOR 01 059 6130 0530 0600 VOA E SERB MOR 01 059 6130 1100 1130 BBC BBCS SPAN DL 02 115 12345 6130 1300 1330 BBC BBCS SPAN DL 02 126 12345 6130 2200 0000 RFE RL-8 SC LAM 03 120 6130 2000 2030 28S WER 500 120 1234567 D DWL DWL 6130 0000 0100 11 GR 250 145 1234567 USA IBB IBB 6130 0100 0200 10-16 GR 250 145 1234567 USA IBB IBB 6130 0430 0500 28 BIB 100 126 1234567 D IBB IBB 6130 0500 0600 28 MOR 250 59 1234567 MRC IBB IBB 6130 2200 2400 28SE LAM 100 120 1234567 D IBB IBB 6130 0300 0315 28SE RMP 500 95 23456 G BBC MER 6130 0400 0415 28SE WOF 300 105 1234567 G BBC MER 6130 1100 1130 11,12 DL 250 115 23456 G BBC MER 6130 1300 1330 11,12 DL 250 126 23456 G BBC MER 6130 2000 0400 45 FUK 1 0 1234567 J NHK NHK (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA/CHINA [nons]. Checking again March 27, the third day of the A-01 season, at 1350 found RCI/CBC had finally brought up 15305 to replace 13655, and 15305 coming in very nicely. Another Sackville transmitter remains on 13650 with the new morning relay of CRI which on this date was quite atop VOK which still caused a het. RKI was in the clear just 20 kHz up, q.v. (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COSTA RICA. R. Casino, 5953.93, March 18 1050-1105+, LAm music, 1100 ID. Poor with splatter from WYFR 5950 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. Con motivo del Aniversario 40 de Radio Habana Cuba se emitirá un espacio especial el día domingo 29 de abril próximo en el programa ``En Contacto``. Se invita a los oyentes que deseen participar en el mismo dejen mensajes alusivos a tal evento a través de las siguientes líneas telefónicas 537 812927 y 537 576531 (anuncio escuchado en ``Hablando de Diexismo con Manolo de La Rosa`` UT lunes 26/3) (Rubén Guillermo Margenet, Rosario, Argentina, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EGYPT. Big motorboat heard on 17770 with distorted music 0015 March 28. That would be Abis, Egypt, again, 250 kW at 241 degrees, the same thing that was putting out loads of spurs a few months ago, but none of those found this time. Resembles the sound of P`yongyang on 17735 at same time, but Egypt much stronger, with KVOH on 17775 not much of a problem to it, synchronously (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY/SOUTH CAROLINA [non]/SWITZERLAND [non]. I also checked Jülich 6110: The Stair transmission was concluded by carrier-cut inmidst shouting at about 1724; carrier back on about 12 seconds later and after a half minute the SRI circuit/satellite audio was connected. Actually no big deal, but the scheduled cut-off is really nice, isn't it? I would ask why SRI orders a beam towards the UK for a broadcast in German, if it would make sense to care about this station anymore (Kai Ludwig, Germany, March 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREECE. I note VOG (Kavalla) on new 21530 to Australia 0400-0800, 95 degrees, excellent signalss here in Melbourne, Mar 27. Delano continues to be listed on 11900 0600-0800 296 degrees. The VOG services from IBB facilities are shown in the IBB schedule available at the IBB home page, and will also be available in the public HFCC file when it is released shortly (Bob Padula, Victoria, March 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HONDURAS. HRMI, 5010 USB: March 24 0110-0431*, ex-5890, tnx to WOR tip. Tune-in to English religious sermon with Spanish translation. Into religious music around 0130. ``Radio Mi`` IDs, Spanish anmts. 0332 Spanish religious sermon. US-produced English religious program with San Bernardino, CA address at 0414-0429. 0429 back to Spanish with closing anmts and off with religious tune. Reception poor at 0110 tune-in but improved to good level by 0315. Also heard March 18 at 0215-0430* with mostly continuous Spanish religious music and very little talk. Much more Spanish talk and chatter March 24 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. Good morning Glenn, Had AIR`s new frequency on this morning at 1530 GMT on 9895. A bit rough; had to shift the NRD to USB and settled on 9894.80. Caught Hyderabad and Taliban [mentioned], Signal s0~s3, SIO 222 (Colonel Jon Standingbear, Army Radio Station adn3u, Beaumont, CA, March 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAQ. Radio Iraq Int`l was heard in the Midwest loud and clear on Tue March 27 from 0433 UT on 11787 kHz, presumably in Turkish. Initial SINPO-55545! A half an hour later propagation deteriorated to 33533. ID: "Burase Baghdad." News (read by a female with a strong Arabic accent), then short features intermingled with lots of somber- sounding Iraqi music. Starting from 0500 there was reading of the Qur`an (in Arabic, of course) with some noticeable interference from DW (Sergei Sosedkin, IL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA SOUTH. March 27 at 1330 found English in the clear on 13670, 1343 about National Ballet Company, 1354 the Jan-Feb-March quiz questions; schedule announced at 1358 on RKI gave 1300 as the general service (i.e. non-direxional) on 13670, so this is a good option for NAm to hear the entire morning broadcast (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LIBYA. Presumed V. of Africa audible under WYFR in Portuguese on 17725, the two within a few Hz of each other now, around 0015 March 28. WYFR now scheduled 2245-0145 on this frequency, 140 degrees. There are probably one or two English newscasts from Libya thus intercepted (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS. Hi Glenn, Re William Martin`s comments in DXLD 1-042: The programming changes between 0930 and 1130 UT are the result of the decision to move the European one hour earlier UT during daylight saving. That means the first hour of the European service overlaps with the second hour of the Pacific service, which is extended by 5 minutes to close at 1130 UT instead of 1125. Unfortunately we do not have the capacity to broadcast two different English services simultaneously. We base our frequency selections on what works in the target areas according to reports from our regular monitors, and constant checks using remote monitoring facilities. I can assure Mr. Martin that if we determine that reception on any of our frequencies in the target area is not satisfactory, we will take action (Andy Sennitt. [no disclaimer], RN, March 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERÚ. El pasado 20 de marzo capté en la frecuencia de 6301.70 kHz con señal algo distorcionada a Radio Unión de Lima identificándose como ``...Unión, la Radio...`` a las 0320 UT en momentos que transmitía el programa ``Salud, Dinero y Amor`` a cargo de dos ``...parapsicólogos naturistas, curanderos de fama internacional, profundos conocedores de la medicina tradicional...`` anunciando los teléfonos 44017800 y 2213159. ¿Quizás alguna harmónica?. Gracias por seguir con la radio, cordiales saludos y hasta otra oportunidad (Rubén Guillermo Margenet, Rosario, Argentina, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6304v, March 24 at 0410-0600+, LV del Llano, Colombia? Strong, very distorted signal with wobbly carrier and Spanish talk, phone-talk. LAm music, Spanish pops after 0500. Tentative ID. Not positive due to distortion (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) must be Unión ** PORTUGAL. RDP now listed for 21810 for India/ME 1300-1500 Mo-Fr. RDP via RTE [Radio Trans Europe, Sines] listed 11850 0645-0800 Mo-Fr, 11995 0830-1000 Sa/Su. 13 MHz listings are 13720 1900-2300 daily to Eu, 13700 2300-0200 Venezuela Mo-Fr, 13660 2300-0200 Brazil Mo-Fr, 13640 0700-1355 Sa/Su Eu (Bob Padula, Victoria, March 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. Hello, a few notes from today: VoR German from 1500: 7300 and 7330 from Bolshakovo are both somewhat muffled and 7330 suffers further from a hum (if really transmitted and not caused by a local source here). 9685 was rather weak, 9795 good, 12030 strong but with hummy and distorted audio, 12040 also strong but with co-channel interference and also suffering from poor feed-circuit quality. The Tbilisskaya outlet 15455 was as good as usual. RCI on new 9920 via a CRR-1 site (i.e. either Taldom, Lesnoy or Kurovskaya), was noted after 1500, of course with a weak signal here outside the beam. And tonight the Bolshakovo site is evidently without all satellite feeds. 1215, 1386 as well as 5835 (RNW Dutch) had only poor, narrow- bandwith audio from emergency circuits and the LBH-Radio transmission on 1386 was canceled completely; instead VoR English service was carried until 2100, then the transmitter was shut down. I wonder if the responsible Gorizont (or is it an old Raduga?) bird failed? Prior to 1600 the satellite link was still up, at least the VoR German feed. Regards, (Kai Ludwig, Germany, March 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOUTH AFRICA. On now, Channel Africa`s new frequency of 9525 starting at 1600, Fair signal with news of So Africa, Signal s5~s7, SIO 333. Half hour program, ends in English at 1630. Hi again Glenn, I also had Channel Africa in yesterday morning at 1730 on 17860 in English, News of So Africa, Signal s7~s9 SIO 333, and following in the next hour 1800~1830 in English on 17870 but it was barely there, For me anyway!, I had received the new frequencies too late to try 9525 at 1600, as I did this morning. Take care, 73's Sincerely, (Colonel Jon Standingbear, Army Radio Station adn3u, Beaumont, CA, March 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN. Subject: Amigos de la Onda Corta Prezados Radioescutas, O programa sobre dexismo "Amigos de la Onda Corta" agora possui tres edições semanais (antes, havia apenas uma), a saber: dia hora UTC frequ. (kHz) destino ======= =========== ============== ========= sábado 11:05-11:25 15.585 Europa 9.660 Asia sábado 18:05-18:25 17.755 Africa domingo 01:05-01:25 9.620 15.160 Americas 9.570 11.680 6.020 ================================================== Fonte: divulgado durante o programa "Amigos de la Onda Corta", em 25/03/2001 (Lenildo C. Silva, Brazil, March 27, radioescutas via DXLD) Surely not three editions per week, but three airings of one edition. One frequency differs in this version, and is more likely correct: Sábados 1105 para Europa en 15585 kHz y para Asia en 9660; 1805 para Africa por 17755 y los domingos 0105 para las Américas en 15160, 11680, 9620, 9540 y 6020 (esta última frecuencia vía Cariari-Costa Rica). (Rubén Guillermo Margenet, Rosario, Argentina, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAIWAN. CBS, 15060, March 27 at 1401 had well-modulated M&W alternating in Guo-yü, presumably news, but now heavy QRM from another station with low and varying het, music, and very soft spoken, not sure of language. Could be a PRC jammer; or Sa`udi back on the frequency? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKEY. Now for English at 1230-1325 VOT gives us both 17810 and 17830, the latter a bit better here, caught just before closing March 27. This week`s Live from Turkey, confirmed Tuesday 2213 on 11845, but I went with webcast. The first caller was Roger Tidy, England, who won a trip to Turkey last year, but did not get to meet Reshide Morali at that time. Her sister gave an official E-mail address of englishdesk@trt.net.tr (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U A E. March 27 at 1330 went looking for English from UAE Radio, Dubai; found it only on 21605 with a talk about irrigation(?) at 1337, while 13675 stayed in Arabic, and not on 15395, the three previous frequencies still listed by Prime Time Shortwave (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. Subject: UKOGBANI BBC WS schedule perplexion Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2001 09:19:42 -0500 (EST) Glenn: Am I missing something, or is there now no way to obtain a full, 24-hour schedule of BBCWS` Americas stream from their redesigned Web site? When I go through the tedious process of entering my location, correcting the displayed current local time and letting JavaScript manipulate my computer -- I get a schedule that only lists hours when BBCWS is available on shortwave to North America. Heaven forbid I should want to listen at other times via satellite or through one of the listed rebroadcasters (many of which air no BBC programming at all). You may recall that in response to a query, someone at BBCWS told me they were maintaining the old schedule addresses (which ended in a week number). However, those are now gone. It`s amazing how difficult they make it to obtain a schedule. It`s been shown that their bloated printed guide (full of vapid feature articles, advertisements and schedules for TV channels we`re not allowed to see while excluding useful information about frequencies, relay sites and broadcasts in other languages) is inaccurate in its listings. Does BBCWS just not care? Two e-mails to them in recent weeks about these problems with their on-line listings have brought no response. I say bring back the tiny print yet elegant simplicity of "London Calling." (Mike Cooper, Atlanta, March 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. "In Our Time:" BBC Radio 4 Not Dumbing Down? [BBC R4`s In Our Time airs live (no on demand) Thursday 22 March 9.00-9.45am, repeated at 9.30pm [local U.K. time]. [Thursdays 0800-0845 and 2030-2115 UT] The Sunday Times (U.K.) Mar 25 http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/ Bragg scores a highbrow hit -- Bragg: an audience of 2m AFTER dumbing down, here comes smartening up: one of BBC radio's most intellectually challenging programmes has become a surprise hit, writes Edin Hamzic. In Our Time, a weekly Radio 4 series presented by Lord (Melvyn) Bragg, is drawing an audience of 2m. The show, broadcast on Thursday mornings (with a repeat in the evening), confronts listeners with subjects that would test scholars in their own fields. Recent topics include: what fossils can reveal about organisms inhabiting Earth hundreds of millions of years before the arrival of mankind; Shakespeare, including who he really was and whether he wrote the plays credited to him; and the role of money in civilisation. Listeners are fascinated. The audience equals that for The Archers and is beaten only by a handful of others on Radio 4, including the Today programme and Woman's Hour. "We decided to comment on significant subjects and cast the programme with academic minds of the highest calibre," said Bragg. "We enjoyed the thought that it was almost a ridiculous risk for a programme that goes out at 9 am." The team, he says, is now ready to tackle truly fundamental subjects, such as the meaning of mathematics and string theory - which is to do with the basic entities of matter. It is hardly a subject likely to crop up on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire - but the popularity of that programme has waned, with its audience down from a peak of about 17m to 9m. By contrast, the more intelligent University Challenge maintains a much smaller but steady audience, despite having been broadcast for many years. It is watched by an average of 2.3m viewers - further evidence that there is a core of people happy to smarten up. ============= BBC R4's Description: In Our Time: "The big ideas which form the intellectual agenda of our age are illuminated by some of the best minds in the world. Melvyn Bragg and three guests investigate the history of ideas and debate their application in modern life." Mar 29's program has not been posted yet, but here's last week's: "Every few centuries fossils emerge from the rocks to fundamentally shake up understanding of humanity's place in nature. Recently, experts have begun to fully appreciate how their study might unwrap some of the deeper mysteries of our world. It's been claimed that the fossil record can link us to 'deep time', the period that preceded humankind by two hundred thousand million years, and give us compelling evidence of what life was like for the first organisms on Earth." Guests Richard Corfield, Research Associate, Department of Earth Sciences, Oxford University, and author of Architects of Eternity: The New Science of Fossils published by Headline. Professor Richard Fortey, Senior Research Palaeontologist, Natural History Museum, and author of Trilobite! Eyewitness to Evolution published by HarperCollins, 2000. Dianne Edwards, Distinguished Research Professor in Palaeobotany and Head of the Palaeobiology Research Group at Cardiff University. ============= BBC R4 http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/ Listen http://www.publicradiofan.com/ram/bbcr4.ram (Chet Copeland/NY, March 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Glenn, Thought you might be interested in my observation on early Saturday AM, I wonder is there any KSMR connection?? I live in Yorkshire, England. 24/3/01 6880 kHz AM 0120-0154 UT, Frenetic preacher with gems like "any non believers are going to be killed by God". He mentioned that his programme went out on WHRI a few times per week. Seemed to like to burst into song every now and again. Didn`t get his nor the programme name and audio cut abruptly at 0154; there seemed to be some mumbling in the background before the carrier went a few seconds later. Severe ute QRM, but I was able to listen quite easily in USB. Wonder was it a satellite relay or tape? David Frantz station on 6890 USB was on the air throughout. 24/3/01 6880 kHz USB 0220-0251, QSO between male Americans, giving out phone numbers and directions to an event (?) Copy was difficult at times. Any thoughts on these would be appreciated. Regards, (Ian Biggar, UK, March 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I would say it`s very likely connected with the KSMR operation. Nothing on 6880-USB (or 3260-USB) March 28 at 0141 check (gh) ** VIETNAM. I regard the VOV data recently circulated as highly questionable. 15390 noted here 2030-2100 with French, not VOV but R. Romania International! VOV English 2030-2100 and French 2100-2130 noted on 13740 and 9730, Mar 26 (Bob Padula, Victoria, March 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Subject: [SWL] Chinese on 25250? 3/27/01 I heard a Chinese (I think) language program on 25250 (25249.96) the other morning at about 1200 UT (0700 EST). I can't find any listing for this frequency in the 2001-Passport. I checked for the possibility that it was a harmonic but couldn't hear any fundamental on 12625 (2nd) or about 8416 (3rd). Anyone know who it was? (J W Schermerhorn skemi@capital.net swl@qth.net via DXLD) TIME SIGNAL STATION CD PROJECT I`m currently putting the finishing touches on a history of American time-signal broadcasts (WWV, WWVH, WWVB, WWVL) for release on compact disc sometime later this year. This was announced in several radio programs and bulletins as far back as late '99, but it's only recently nearing completion. After three years` work, I have managed to collate 70 minutes of recordings from 1953 to 2001; it will also include an extensive illustrated history of the stations. However, my next project will require much more outside help. I would like to produce a CD of the various time-signal stations broadcasting (even, if possible, defunct ones) throughout the world. Unfortunately, due to an extensive move, my audio archives here in Illinois have been significantly compromised since I last returned to them, and several tapes seem to be missing. These include flawless domestic recordings I made while on holiday in Australia and Ecuador, of their stations VNG and HD2IOA. I don`t know how many (or if any) of you keep audio logs of your dial-sweeps, but I`d be much obliged of anyone that might have good quality recordings to pitch in. This is especially true of list members who live in other countries, since I rarely travel internationally these days. Anyway, please get in touch if you`d like, I will try to make it worth your while in any way that I can. I`m hoping to have this WWV set out by Autumn, with the time-signal set to follow in the Spring of 2002 if all goes well. Best, MDW ("Myke Weiskopf" scipark@erols.com shortwaves@yahoogroups.com March 27 via DXLD) ###