DX LISTENING DIGEST 1-048, April 5, 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] WORLD OF RADIO 1075: (stream) http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio/wor1075.ram (download) http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio/wor1075.rm (summary) http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio/wor1075.html HFCC LIST The new HFCC list for the A01 transmission period has finally been posted on http://www.hfcc.org/data/index.html For those that haven`t seen it, this gives a pretty good idea of the major broadcasters` schedules for the new period (Richard Jary, April 4, hard-core-dx via DXLD) ** ANDORRA. One of the fascinating things about Europe is that there still are perhaps a half-dozen very small countries that date back to medieval times, countries that still survive very well on a continent dominated by giants. One of these very small countries is the Principality of Andorra, wedged in the Pyrenees between Spain and France. In the official language, Catalan, its name is Príncipat d`Andorra, a feudal state from 1278 to 1993, and a parliamentary one since then, with the former owners, the Head of France and the Bishop of Urgell, Spain, now joint heads of state. Andorra has a population of about 75,000; the major economic activities are tourism, especially skiing; sheep raising, tobacco products, and the mining of lead and iron. Almost everyone is Catholic, as one might expect in a country that once belonged to a bishop, belonging to one of seven parishes, all subject to the Bishop of Urgell. Andorra has its own Catholic radio station, Ràdio Principat, which is also the Catholic diocesan station of the Spanish Diocese of Urgell. In Urgell it broadcasts on 105.0 FM, in Andorra on 107.5 FM. Its logo, which can be seen at Ràdio Principat's website http://www.radioprincipat.com is the logo of Ràdio Estel (Radio Star) of the Archdiocese of Barcelona with a stylized version of the Romanesque bell tower of the Cathedral of Urgell over it. Ràdio Principat, like Ràdio Estel, broadcasts in Catalan, the language of Cataluña that is seeing a remarkable comeback after decades of deliberate suppression by Generalísimo Francisco Franco`s government. A good deal of Ràdio Principat's programming is in fact a relay of Ràdio Estel, but it produces its own programs and collaborates with Ràdio Estel on others. There is an interesting map at Ràdio Principat's website that shows the coverage of its two transmitters and the four of Ràdio Estel. "Ràdio Principat," says its website, "... tries to be a medium of solidarity, plurality, open to all, and a vehicle of unity between Andorra and the Catalan comarcas of the Bishopric of Urgell. We want to give to information the treatment it deserves: transparency. In this we also try to be a broadcast medium of human values and solid thinking." It lists nine staff members responsible for station operation and programs. A well laid out programming table is color coded to show which programs are from Ràdio Principat, which from Ràdio Estel, and which joint productions. Much of the broadcast day is filled with music, including "The 7 o`clock Train." which includes a program of poetry, "Break of Dawn," daily at 7 a.m. At 8 a.m., "The First Cup of Coffee" follows, a joint production offering information and discussions. From 9 to 9:15, Ràdio Principat offers its own news and weather program, followed by music until 2 p.m., punctuated with general news and information on the Church and Solidarity, of service and culture, for 3 minutes every 15 minutes. Every hour a 2-3 minute program on Catholic Humanist Thought is offered. At 2 a.m., 7:30 a.m., and 3:30 p.m., the station offers a 2-3 minute commentary on the Gospels, and a commentary on the news of the day at 9:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. At 2 p.m. there is 15 minutes of Andorran news, and again at 8 p.m., with music filling in the 7-hour period up until 9 p.m. Local Andorran production begins in earnest at 9 p.m. "Tales of Father Vetakika," a kids program, is heard for 15 minutes Monday through Thursday. From 9:15 to 10 p.m., the local program varies. On Mondays, it`s "The Other Moon," on Tuesdays "Cum Laude." about education and the universities; on Wednesdays, "Blue Planet," an environmental program; on Thursdays a science and technology program. On Fridays, from 9 to 10 p.m., the hour is dedicated to classical music. "Night of Stars," described as "church and solidarity," is aired between 10 and 11 p.m., Mondays through Fridays. The last hour of the day is dedicated to travel (Mondays), the family (Tuesdays), catechism (Wednesdays), sports from Ràdio Estel (Thursdays, until 1 a.m.), and personalities (Fridays), followed by "The Grotto," a program on the ill at Lourdes, both Ràdio Estel productions. On Mondays at midnight "La Gran Diferencia," a music program is heard (12:30 a.m. on Tuesdays and Wedensdays). From 2 a.m. to 2:15 a.m., "The Break of Dawn," the poetry program is repeated, followed by a joint music program until 7 a.m. All music programs are relays of Ràdio Estel, unless otherwise noted. Saturday programs that differ from the weekday schedule: "A Week Again" (news compilation) 9-9:30 a.m.; "The Church in Urgell," 1-1:30 p.m.; "A Healthy Body," 1:30-2 p.m. -- all local programs. The remainder come from Ràdio Estel: Movie Music, 9:15-10 p.m., "The Glass Menagerie," a magazine of live theater, 10-11 p.m.; "No One Is Perfect," a program on the cinema (12 midnight -12:30 a.m.); "Row 7," a program on the musical theater; "Jazz Cove," jazz and blues, 1-1:30 a.m.; "The Newest of the New," new music, 1:30-2 a.m. Sunday programs are "Tot Sardana," 9-10 a.m.; "The Work of Evangelization," 6-6:30 p.m.; Mass from the Cathedral of Barcelona, 7-8 p.m.; Sports, 9:30-10 p.m., "91 Minutes," sports 9 p.m.-midnight; "Times of the Words," Bible and theology, 11 p.m. to midnight; "Moments at Midnight," described as "message in a jar," midnight- 12:30 a.m.; "Full Heart," 12:30-1 a.m.; and "Country Cove," from 1 to 1:30 a.m. The best way to describe Ràdio Principat, I think, is a Catholic Public Radio station. This is not to take away from its evangelical mission, of course. There is not the total split between the secular and the faith worlds in most of Europe that there is in the United States and the United Kingdom. Catholicism permeates all of its programming, and the station clearly operates on the premise that, to evangelize by radio, one has to offer attractive and useful programs that bring the audience to the station's frequency. To put it another way, Catholicism imbues the culture of Europe, even in this post- Christian age, and the culture of Europe imbues Catholicism. Catholic Europe is both humanist and Catholic: a desirable blend of two worlds. Andorra la Vella: Ràdio Principat 107.5 FM (power unknown) and 105.0 FM (10,000 watts) Urgell, Spain (transmitter at Colleserolla). Bishopric of Urgell (Spain). Passeig del Parc, 16-18 de la Seu d'Urgell, 25700 (Lleida). Tel.: 973 35 44 00, fax 973 35 42 11. E- mail: radio@radioprincipat.com Carles Rivas, program director; Alex Alsina y Albert Roure, technical engineers. Website: http://www.radioprincipat.com (Catholic Radio Update #111 via Conexión Digital via DXLD) While this article does not make a point of it, I seem to recall that one or both of these stations webcast (gh, DXLD) [Later: evidently not Principat -- must have been thinking of another Andorran -gh] ** ARGENTINA. 3200.4, R. Armonía harmonic, 1600 x 2, March 31, 0912, 2nd harmonic of MW station. Fair strength, but very disturbed propagation. Several canned station IDs. Regional pop mx, no announcers, just canned station promos. Only second time I`ve been able to ID this one. Signal peaked @ 0930 (David Hodgson, TN, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ASIA [non]. RFA schedule in A-01, valid till Oct 28, 2001. RF currently bcs at 1100-0700; there are no transmissions between 0700 and 1100. Daily programming including Mandarin for 12 hrs, Cantonese for two hrs, and Tibetan for eight hrs. RFA uses IBB txs in HOL = Holzkirchen Germany, IRA = Iranawila Sri Lanka, SAI = Saipan & TIN = Tinian, Northern Mariana Islands. 0000-0100 LAO 12015 13830 15545 0030-0130 BURMESE 13680 15660 17525 17645 0100-0300 TIBETAN 9365 11975 15225 15695 17730 0100-0130 UIGHUR 9350 11520 15405 0300-0700 MANDARIN 13670 13760 15150 15665 17495 17525 17615 17880 0600-0700 TIBETAN 17510 17535 17720 21500 1100-1300 TIBETAN 7470 11590 13625 13830 15695 17855-(from 1200) 1100-1200 LAO 9355 9545 15560 15660 1230-1330 CAMBODIAN 13765 15525 15660 1300-1400 BURMESE 9385 11765 13745 15680 1300-1400 TIBETAN 7470 11590 13625 13830 15695 17855 1400-1500 CANTONESE 9445 11950 13625 1400-1500 VIETNAMESE 9455 9635 9930 11510 11520 11765 13775 15660 1400-1500 KOREAN 7380 11790 13720 15690 1500-1600 TIBETAN 7470 11510 13835 1500-1600 MANDARIN 7540 9905 11765 11945 13690 15510 15680 17640 1600-1630 UIGHUR 7460 9370 13625 1600-1700 MANDARIN 7540 9455-(fr 1630) 9905 11750 11795 11945 13690 15510 17640 1700-1800 MANDARIN 7540 9455 9905 11750 11795 11945 13690 15510 17640 1800-1900 MANDARIN 7530 7540 9355 11520 11740 11945 11955 13680 15510 15680 17640 1900-2000 MANDARIN 7530 7540 9355 9905 11520 11740 11945 11955 13680 15510 15680 2000-2100 MANDARIN 7530 7540 9355 9455 9905 11520 11700 11740 11935 15515 15680 2100-2200 CANTONESE 9355 11785 13675 2100-2200 MANDARIN 7540 9455 9910 11700 11740 11935 13625 15515 15680 2200-2300 CANTONESE 9355 9955 11785 13675 2200-2300 KOREAN 7460 9455 11670 2230-2330 CAMBODIAN 9930 11570 15175 15485 2300-2359 MANDARIN 7540 9910 11785 13800 15430 15550 15680 2300-2359 TIBETAN 7470 7550 9365 9395 9875 15695 2330-0029 VIETNAMESE 11540 11560 11580 11670 13720 15560 (various sources, updated on Apr 1, 2001, compiled by Wolfgang Büschel, DXLD) [note: additional transmitter sites have been researched but deleted from this list upon request of RFA to suppress this info, to avoid pressure from China upon the host countries. Are we to assume that China has no way to find out this sensitive info except through DX publications? Furthermore, IBB sites themselves for each frequency have been deleted. Thus American taxpayers paying for this enterprise are also denied the most basic info about it -gh] ** AUSTRALIA. The current 24-hr operations from Alice Springs, 4835, are not authorised by the ITU. None of the three NT SW services are endorsed to use 60 mb frequencies during local night-time hours, due to potential interference to legitimate users of those channels, either "on channel" or up to 10 kHz either side of nominal carrier frequencies. The present unauthorised operation is causing problems to Radio Thailand 4830, and AIR Mumbai 4840. Despite vertical incidence antenna configuration, designed to limit coverage to the primary service area, high level radiation outside the target occurs. Here in Melbourne, 4835 is putting out strong spurious radiations across the entire 60 mb, creating havoc to other broadcasters, including the Flying Doctor transmissions (Bob Padula, Electronic DX Press April 4 via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. Christian Voice, Darwin, 21680, now heard with own religious programming, music at 0430 (Chris Hambly, Victoria, April 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA [non]. SW CUTBACKS AFFECT SERVICES TO AUSTRALIA. The slide continues, with more and more stations deleting direct broadcasts to Australia. The latest casualties include: Switzerland (SRI): the service previously 0830-1030 has been deleted. Vatican: the morning service in English deleted. USA (FEBC/FEBA): all services to Australia deleted. Austria (ROI): the service 0800-1100 to Australia deleted. Belgium (RVI): the English service to Australia 0700-0730 deleted. Germany (DW): some frequencies used for Australia have been unexpectedly deleted. Korea-S (RKI): all services to Australia deleted (Bob Padula, Electronic DX Press April 4 via DXLD) ** BELGIUM [and non]. Hi Glenn, RTBF 9970 originates indeed from Wavre, while all other frequencies are transmitted from Jülich, always through curtains aiming at 160 degrees. Also 9970 certainly uses always the same antenna. And the carried programming is, at least as far as I know, throughout the "Première" network (FM and MW 621), i.e. no special shortwave stuff. This should also be the reason for the "odd" times of the Jülich outlets. By the way, Wavre was in the headlines a couple of days ago, because about 10 people were killed in a severe rail accident there (Kai Ludwig, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BELGIUM. ...program ended around 2250. The transmission was in LSB. This was an unannounced test, but look forward to activity from R. Borderhunter on this freq. in the very near future. Very nice S7 signal here using half-wave dipole with no signal amplification. Hey Glenn: R Borderhunter will be on this weekend at the following times: Friday 6 April, starting around 2200 UT. Sunday 8 April, starting around 0500 UT. Frequency: In the area of 15800 kHz, LSB mode (David Hodgson, TN, Apr 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. Glenn, Segundo o Diretor da Rádio Difusora de Limeira -SP, Bruno Bortolan, a emissora confirma os relatórios de recepção a ela enviados. A emissora transmite 24 horas em 1020 kHz e das 2100 UT às 0800 em 2380 kHz. O endereço de e-mail é: bab@terra.com.br 73 (Samuel Cássio, DX Clube do Brasil April 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Let`s hope all the last-minute changes have been entered on this RCI schedule from their website April 5, English only excerpted: A01 SEASON FINAL SHORT-WAVE BROADCAST SCHEDULE Effective 01.04.01 (0900 UT) to 28.10.01 (0900 UT) RADIO CANADA INTERNATIONAL FREQU. UT (kHz) kW Azim TARGET PROGRAMS --------- -------- --- ---- ------ -------- 00:00-00:57 XIA 11895 120 188 S.E. ASIA CBC(ENGLISH) 01:00-01:59 5960 250 240 AMERICAS 9755 100 240 " 13670 250 285 " RCI(ENGLISH) 13770 250 176 " 15170 250 240 " 15305 250 189 " 02:00-02:57 XIA 15260 120 258 INDIA RCI(ENGLISH) XIA 17860 120 258 " 05:00-05:29 13755 250 105 AFRICA WER 15330 500 150 " MDC 17740 50 330 " RCI(ENGLISH) SKN 6145 300 150 EUROPE SKN 7290 300 150 " 11710 250 73 " SKN 9595 300 110 EUROPE/M.EAST 05:30-05:59 13755 250 105 AFRICA WER 15330 500 150 " RCI(ENGLISH) MDC 17740 50 330 " 12:00-12:59 YAM 9660 100 270 CHINA/S.E.ASIA CBC(ENGLISH) YAM 15190 300 235 " 12:00-14:59 9640 100 240 CARIB/EAST-USA (MON-FRI) 15305 250 240 " CBC(ENGLISH) 17820 100 189 " 13:00-15:59 9640 100 240 CARIB/EAST-USA CBC(ENGLISH) (SAT&SUN) 15305 250 240 " 17800 100 189 " 15:00-15:57 XIA 15455 120 258 INDIA RCI(ENGLISH) XIA 17720 120 258 " 18:00-18:59 SKN 13690 300 110 M-EAST/AFRICA ARM 15200 300 128 AFRICA DHA 17820 250 230 " RCI(ENGLISH) RMP 21570 500 189 " 20:00-20:59 HBY 5995 300 260 EUROPE SKN 11690 300 110 " RCI(ENGLISH) 15325 250 60 " 17870 250 60 " 21570 250 60 " 22:00-22:29 9755 100 240 AMERICAS (MON-FRI) 13670 250 240 " 15305 250 176 " CBC(ENGLISH) 17880 100 176 " 17695 250 240 " 22:00-23:59 9755 250 240 USA/CENT.AMER (SAT&SUN) 13670 250 240 " CBC(ENGLISH) 17695 250 240 " 22:30-23:59 9755 100 240 USA/CENT.AMER 13670 250 240 " CBC(ENGLISH) 17695 250 240 " RELAYS ARM: ARMAVIR RELAY, RUSSIA ASC: ASCENSION RELAY, ASCENSION ISLAND DHA: DHABAYYA RELAY, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES HBY: HOERBY RELAY, SWEDEN KIM: KIMJAE RELAY, KOREA MDC: MADGASCAR MSK: MOSCOW RELAY, RUSSIA RMP: RAMPISHAM, ENGLAND SKN: SKELTON RELAY, ENGLAND SNG: SINGAPORE RELAY, SINGAPORE VIE: VIENNA RELAY, AUSTRIA WER: WERTACHTAL RELAY, GERMANY WOF: WOOFERTON RELAY, ENGLAND XIA: XIAN RELAY, CHINA YAM: YAMATA RELAY, JAPAN RCI ENGINEERING 22.03.2001 (http://www.rcinet.ca/horaires/techscheA01-2.htm via gh, DXLD) ** CYPRUS GREEKISH. I have kindly asked CyBC to broadcast an English station announcement when broadcasting in the Greek language abroad. As Cyprus is a rare catch I am sure many will miss being able to identify this station just speaking in the Greek language. They also have a great QSL card and as things are on the island, a little public relations is needed to push for a long awaited solution on our division on the island to live side by side again. Maybe those who agree with me can e- mail the station to do this and also to make the 30 minute broadcast more interesting. As the programme is only a sketch show with a little Greek music. To be honest right now CyBC it is a boring week-end station. Regards, 73,s (Costa Constantinides, Cyprus, April 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EGYPT. R. Cairo to NAm in English at 2300 on 9900 is still pathetic. Splash by RN Spanish to LAm 9895. Ironic that by 0100, 9900 improves and by 0200 or a bit later becomes a QRMer itself! However, since SRI dropped 9905 relay to WNAm, it doesn`t matter much. It did in past when SRI was on (Bob Thomas, CT, April 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FRANCE. Tuned in RFI on 25820 just in time April 3 at 1257 to hear them ending a program which started at ``14h30``, World Space plug, promo African Tennis Confederation coverage April 9-14, and off 1259* Very good signal, and would have heard English if it was in before 1230. By contrast, at 1345, Sweden`s 18960 was barely audible when I tried for SCDX/MediaScan. April 4 at 1227, 25820 was poor ending English, but much better by 1257 ending French (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1075, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FRANCE. RFI English to Nigeria at 0700-0800 on 15605 has a good signal here (George Thurman, Chicago IL, April 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) And English at 0500 very good here on 17800 (Chris Hambly, Victoria, April 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GALÁPAGOS ISLANDS. Hi all, From the better-late-than-never department: I noticed an overseas DXer recently verified La Voz de Galápagos 4810 after a 20+ year wait and thought I should try my 1976 report once again. Yesterday I received a friendly VL from Nancy Tasipanta, Estudio Contabilidad along with a postcard of one of the Franciscan monks with a huge turtle called "Pepe", and a tourist brochure. Nancy Comments that MW 1320 has been inactive for 3 years to save electricity costs. La Voz de Galápagos now runs on 97.1 FM (since 3/2/01, previously on 97.7). La Voz de Galápagos is heard throughout the occupied islands and there are local operations (low power?) on Santa Cruz and Isabela islands. She also says they have received many letters from radio listeners but very few times have they written back. Now might be a good time to write to Nancy if you are sitting on a report too. 73s (Paul Ormandy, NZ, April 4, ARDXC via WORLD OF RADIO 1075, DXLD) ** GERMANY/PARAGUAY. Here`s the good news for Latin watchers: Deutsche Welle have dropped 9735 kHz, 0800-1000, meaning R Nacional Paraguay is in the clear. This seems to have taken effect from 25 March, but in their original monitors sked was included, now deleted in an updater. I have heard Asunción over several nights, quite good some days. Also DW have dropped the 11 MB 25740, 0800-1000, leaving only RFI as far as I know. 9735 is in use from 0500 to 0800 with German to Asia/Australia (Don Rhodes, SW Australia April 5 via DXLD) ** GERMANY. 25740, Deutsche Telekom test in several languages on now (1230 April 4). Will give more details later. This maybe be too early for you. Will also try 25250 Chinese harmonic in a little while (David Hodgson, TN, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 25740 good here tho with heavy fading from tune-in 1250-1312*, DTK with old multi-lingual ID tape and mailing address on 25740. By 1316, some Spanish 2-way appeared on 25740 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1075, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY [and non]. Yes, the organization behind SANTEC (I wonder what this actually stands for) is Universal Life, and another identification they use alongside with "Cosmic Wave" is or was "The Word". One should also note that the mentioned frequencies are Voice of Russia outlets, not all from transmitted from Russia itself but 9965 from the Gavar site in Armenia instead. As well-known VoR uses also a high power MW transmitter in Germany on 1323, and some five years ago VoR got in serious trouble when the media board of Thuringia did not like that Universal Life was carried on 1323. As a result VoR did not air any paid religion on 1323 anymore by establishing two separate feeds of its German service, one with the religious stuff and another one where it was replaced by replays of own programming. But that's no longer relevant; all religious programming is carried by VoR again on 1323, too, and Universal Life meanwhile also started transmissions via Jülich (Tue, Wed and Thu 1630-1659 6015, Sun only 0100-0129 9435, 1600-1629 15715, 1800-1829 13855). Regards, (Kai Ludwig, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREECE. Heavy splatter by Voice of Greece in the evenings. 12105 with splatter + - 25 kHz interfering with the BBC on 12095 and 9420 + - 15 kHz also interfering with the BBC, on 9410. Lowe HF-150/PR- 150/AP-150, QTH 25 km north of Stockholm (Kjell-Ingvar Karlsson, Upplands-Väsby, SWEDEN, April 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREECE. I finally monitored and translated the closing frequency announcement of ERT-3 Radiophonikos Stathmos Makedonias in Thessaloniki: 1100-1600 on 11595, 1700-2050 on 9935, 2100-2300 on 7430. I also checked out two of the news in English broadcasts on VOG: 0200-0210 on 7475 9420 12105 11645; 0610-0620 on 9420 15630 17520 21530 11900. Early this morning I tried for the 0700-0715 Learn Greek and the 0750-0800 news in English, but all those bands were dead, probably from the solar flares. I guessed right on the VOG Saturday, Hellenes Around the World English broadcast: 1600-1700 on 15630 9420 17705 (John Babbis, MD, March 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUAM. At the present time, all four transmitters of AWR KSDA on the island of Guam can be heard in North America each day at around sunrise, 1130 UT. The frequencies in use are:- KSDA1 11980, KSDA2 11560, KSDA3 15330, KSDA4 15615. Programming is in oriental languages with an English ID at the top of the hour "from the beautiful island of Guam" (Adrian M. Peterson, IN, April 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ITALY. Heard normal regular programming on Rai, April 1 0050-0110 to NAm in English; 6010 announced but I haven`t heard it in quite a while. Parallel on 9675 and 11800 (Bob Thoams, CT, April 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** JAPAN. Today (April 3) Radio Japan Bangla Service celebrates their 40th anniversary. To mark this occasion they have just aired a special live program at 0630-0800 UT. Programs were from 3 different locations, Tokyo (NHK), Dhaka (Bangladesh Betar) and Kolkata (All India Radio). Current schedule Radio Japan Bangla 0630-0700 11890 15590 1300-1330 11890 They have rescheduled their morning transmission to evening slot. But I think they should reschedule their mid day transmission, not the morning one. 0630 UT is just 1230 pm local (Rifat J. Eusufzai, DX Forum, GPO Box 488 Dhaka 1000 Bangladesh, DX LISTENING DIGEST) http://www.angelfire.com/electronic/dxforum ** JORDAN. R. Jordan, 11690, March 31 1538-1630* in English. Tune-in to local ME-type music. 1600 time pips and ID, English news. 1608 light instrumental music to 1630* quick announcement ``We end our transmission on 11690. We will be back on this frequency tomorrow.`` Poor, weak with much RTTY QRM at tune-in but improved to good level with minimal RTTY by 1600 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALAYSIA. I continue to be amused (and amazed!) at the persistence of some sources in showing long-dead outlets for RTM Kotakinabalu, Miri, and Sibu! Observed operations (but NOT complete schedules) (from Thailand) during March were: Kota Kinabalu: 5980 0930-1300* (there is no operation on 4970) Kuching: 4895 *2300-0200*, 1200-1500 5030 *2300-0000*, 1200-1500 7270 0100-0200, 0900-1500 (No activity observed on 4835, 7130, 7145, 7160) Miri: 6060 2300-2330 (appears to have discontinued local evening services) (No activity observed on 3385) Sibu: 6050 *2300-0000, 0930-1500 (No activity observed on 5005) There MAY be local daytime operations from Sarawak on 7130 7145 7160 5005, but propagation was not possible into Southern Thailand. Kuala Lumpur: 4845 24-hrs Tamil 5965 24-hrs Malay 7295 *0200-0100* (23-hrs daily with break between 0100-0200) English Note that there is a bad second harmonic on 11930 (2 x 5965) at all times. 6025 0500-1300* relay Domestic Network, *1400-1500 Voice of Islam. The external Service operates to its regular schedule: 6100 6175 9750 11885 15295 remain in use (this includes the Voice of Islam broadcasts). (Bob Padula, Electronic DX Press April 4 via DXLD) ** MALI. The Mali relay of CRI is listed for A01: 7170 2300-2357 Chinese, 0830-0857 Hausa 9890 1300-1400 English 11735 1930-1957 Portuguese, 2000-2127 English 11970 1700-1727 Arabic, 1730-1757 Hausa 11975 2130-2227 French, 2230-2257 Chinese 13640 2000-2127 English 13685 1300-1600 English, 1800-1827 Hausa, 1830-1927 Arabic, 1600-1700 Arabic 15125 1400-1600 English, 1700-1727 Swahili 15500 1930-1957 Portuguese, 2130-2227 French, 2230-2257 Chinese 15550 1730-1757 Hausa, 1800-1827 Hausa, 1830-1927 Arabic 17880 1600-1700 Arabic (Bob Padula, Electronic DX Press April 4, via WORLD OF RADIO 1075, DXLD) ** MEXICO. Before our sun rises any earlier, I`d better check 6105 to see if Mérida, which is trying to upgrade from 500 to 1000 watts, is really on the air. Yes, April 3 at 1200 I could barely hear the Mexican NA. Guess this also means Yucatán is still on UT-6 rather than CDT since anthem time is 6 am and midnight local. I then wanted to find out if Mexico City, where a big dispute over it was previously reported, has changed to CDT. XERMX was barely detectable on 11770, let alone 9705, but habitually shifts all programming one UT hour earlier during DST. So I checked Fred Cantú`s website http://www.onr.com/user/fcantu/index.htm and found for DF almost all the station links with audio were dead! Including all those in the large Radio Centro group. One which worked was XEUN, Radio UNAM, the non-commercial classical station at the university. After some piano music by Ligeti an announcement at 1930 UT gave time as 12:30! Which if correct would be UT - 7, a zone never in effect there before, but which is actually the proper zone, since MC is west of the 97.5 meridian (even more so than Enid!). But it must have been a mistake, since at 1932 UT a ``13:31`` timecheck so indeed still on CST of UT minus 6, and into BBC news relay. If they had gone to CDT at same time as USA, time would have been announced as 14-something of UT minus 5. I tried to notify Fred Cantu about dead links at his posted address of cantu@best.com but this quickly bounced as unknown. Apparently he set up the page a couple years ago, then forgot about it and does not care to be reminded. XERMX does seem to be still on UT-6 of CST, April 4 at *1232 open carriers on 11770, better on 9705, 1257 Mex NA, 1258 s/on mentions 9705 only, and 1259 into list of Mexican states where Antena Radio is heard. This show is normally aired at 7 am local, not 8 am. Same story on April 5 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1075, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS ANTILLES. No sign of DRM tests yet on schedule supposedly in effect from April 2. Just ordinary background noise on 17880 April 3 at 1830, 2007 checks and April 4 too (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAKISTAN. The Pakistan printed schedule arrived here today. I can confirm it is in accordance with the information on their web pages. (shortwaves only) World Services are all via their Islamabad 250 kW units (API-5 & 6) except 9390 1800-1900, which is via API-2 100 kW. External Services are all via the Islamabad 100 kW units API-1 & 3, except Chinese & French, which are both via the 250 kW units. The former Karachi 50 kW units have now been deleted entirely (APK-2 & 3) (Noël R. Green, UK, April 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PARAGUAY. See GERMANY ** ROMANIA/BULGARIA. Regarding Romania announcing frequencies for either Western Europe or North America: I guess this is just a matter of definition, because the azimuth is the same in both cases, i.e. likely they use the very same curtain antennas to serve both Western Europe as well as North America, which is just behind. A similar case is the Plovdiv-Padarsko high power site in Bulgaria. I guess Padarsko was once built especially for transmissions into overseas targets (like the three 500 kW transmitters of RBI at Nauen, which was not used to serve Europe at all), but now Radio Bulgaria prefers this site whenever possible; also the German broadcasts certainly now go out through curtains which were originally built to beam Radio Sofia and, not to forget, Radio Moscow into North America (Kai Ludwig, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOMALIA. New SW radio station reported | Text of report by Somali newspaper Xog-Ogaal on 4 April A new radio station, broadcasting on the 41 and 49 metre bands, was heard last night in Mogadishu and other towns. The new radio station is on test transmission and is said to broadcasting from Mahadey District, Shabellaha Dhexe [southern Somalia], and is funded by local Somali business community members. Source: Xog-Ogaal, Mogadishu, in Somali 4 Apr 01 p 2 (via BBCM via WORLD OF RADIO 1075, DXLD) WTFK?? ** SOMALIA. Logs: Radio Banaadir 7000, here since January, *1500- 2002*. Radio Hargeisa 7530, not hrd for the last few days. Radio Kismaayo 6810, R. Kismaayo, has moved here, *1500-1800*. 6750, R. Mogadishu--Voice of the People, still here at *1500-1900* (Mahendra Vaghjee, Mauritius, Mar 25, 2001, NU via Clandestine Radio Watch via DXLD) ** SOUTH AFRICA. Received this info from Ms Kathy Otto, Sentech: Sentech is sponsoring some special transmissions for World Amateur Radio Day on Wednesday 18 April; details as follows: India/Pakistan : 1400-1455 UT on 21725 kHz Southern Africa : 1800-1855 UT on 3215 kHz Central/North Africa : 1905-1955 UT on 17590 kHz Europe : 2005-2055 UT on 15475 kHz North America : 0200-0255 UT on 19 April on 9585 kHz Reception reports to: Kathy Otto, Terrestrial Planning, Sentech (Pty) Ltd, Private Bag X06, Honeydew 2040, South Africa Tel: +27 11 471 4658 Fax: +27 11 471 4758 04 April '01: There is a correction : Please send comments and reception reports to armi@intekom.co.za or QSL to P O Box 90438, Garsfontein 0042, South Africa. To receive a return QSL card, please include a self-addressed envelope and 2 IRC’s. The special program on April 18 will be a 50-minute broadcast and dedicated to the theme for 2001: ``Providing Disaster Communications: Amateur Radio in the 21st century``. Amateur Radio Mirror International is weekly programme about Amateur Radio, Short-wave Listening and Electronics produced and presented by the South African Radio League, the national society of amateur radio in South Africa. Sentech, the common carrier for broadcast signals in South Africa and Telkom, sponsors the programme. The programme is on the air on Sundays at 0800 UT on 9750 and 21560 kHz and rebroadcast on Mondays at 1800 on 3215. Warm regards, (Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKEY. Turkish State Meteorological Radio, presumed on 6900.04, March 31 0420-0435, tune-in to continuous Turkish vocal music, weak but in the clear (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKEY. I just listened to another ``Live from Turkey``, the call- in Voice of Turkey`s Reshide Morali has started, and which I have mentioned previously on this list. So far she has had one call per week, now down to zero. People lament the demise of live call-ins on Radio RSA, but apparently are taking no notice of this one. Reshide and her sister are not at a loss for material to fill the program, conversation about Turkish food, playing music, etc., but we can hardly expect them to keep staying up past 2 a.m. local if no one cares to participate. It`s every Tuesday at 2212-2255 UT on 11845 and 7190, also webcast via http://www.trt.net.tr -- click on English at the bottom of the page. She offers to call people at TRT expense if they E-mail her in advance at ankayra@yahoo.com with complete phone number, and if they are sure to be awaiting the call during this time period. It`s quite an informal, friendly show. I doubt that hardline political discussion would be appropriate, and since it`s on every week, rather than once a year as a holiday special, there is no particular theme or topic, other than telling about yourself, or talking about Turkey. No doubt you could send greetings to family or other listeners. I hope some more of you will listen and participate. Such work beyond the call of duty to promote listener contact should not go unrewarded. Regards, (Glenn Hauser, April 3, swprograms via DXLD) Well put, Glenn. Maybe we (as a group) can stop our lamentations about the decline of international radio long enough to try and participate. Given the timing of the broadcast, it appears that east coast NA listeners might practically be the only ones able to participate on the air (6:12-6:55 pm local time after work). But anyone could send e-mail greetings! Thanks for the reminder (John Figliozzi, NY, swprograms via DXLD) Not everyone works weekdays 8-5 like you apparently do, I hope! (gh) ** U A E. The start of the World Beacon test transmissions from Abu Dhabi have been delayed until later this week. This is due to work still to be done by Merlin engineers in finalizing downlink facilities. I will keep you informed! (Bob Padula Melbourne, Australia, April 4, Electronic DX Press via DXLD) ** U K. Subject: Seeing Stars Goes Away?! To the Write On team and the BBC programme deities: I hear that yet another long-time BBC programme has been cancelled. Buried in the ending comments on this week`s "Seeing Stars" segment of "Science View" is he comment that this would be the last "Seeing Stars" "for the forseeable future". I hope you'll give the same attention to this abrupt and un-anticipated cancellation that you gave to the "Waveguide" demise. The discussion on that in "Write On" was a reasonable explanation, with the hopeful note that another programme would be coming out to address similar topics. Can we hope for something similar about "Seeing Stars" or is it just gone with no resurrection foretold? To be honest, I can actually understand a bit of this. While naked- eye observational astronomy, the main thrust of "Seeing Stars", has long been the introduction to science for thousands of youngsters and led many to scientific careers, it requires that you be able to *see* the sky! And with the mass migration all over the world from rural areas to cities, with their notorious air and light pollution, fewer and fewer people can even see stars at all, much less the full panorama of the night sky in clear air far away from lights. So I suspect that the audience for "Seeing Stars" has dwindled rapidly over the past years. Of course, you did help kill it by cutting off the mailing of paper star charts, insisting that people get them off the web site, which hurt the audience in third-world areas where they may actually still be able to see the night sky, but who do not have net access. I just wish that you`d be more open and aboveboard in these programme cancellations. There's nothing in "On Air" about it being the last, though the fact that only the start-of-the-month airing is mentioned is a hint. Why not just simply state in advance what programmes will go and when? Are you ashamed of doing this? Give the audience advance notice of upcoming changes; we'll respect you more for doing that. (William Martin, Saint Louis, Missouri, April 5, cc to DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K [non]. As noted recently, BBC WS on 17840 has two overlapping transmitters, also noted April 3 at 1647, of roughly equal strength, with a separation of a couple of words, making the ONLY frequency on the air to North America at the time unusable. At 1727 recheck the echo was gone. This led me to check http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/schedules/frequencies/index.shtml where supposedly summer info in GMT is now available for each target area. Checking only for 17840, I found that to C&WNAm (not ENAm) it is supposed to be on the air at 1400-1800 (Sat only to 1900). However, this does not match the corresponding chart one may click on! That says 1400-1700 via Antigua, and 1700-1800 (Saturday -2000) via Canada. However, neither is correct, since on a Tuesday, April 3, as well as previous weekdays, we hear 17840 on the air until 1859:30! (which is nice, giving us a little more service than promised). But during the 1600-1700 hour, more or less, the two sites conflict. Sackville evidently brings up 17840 long before it is supposed to at 1700, oblivious of the harmful interference this causes BBC against itself. BTW, to the SAm target, 17840 is also listed, daily from Antigua at 1400-1700. While I was there I checked the Central America/Caribbean target, and to my amazement found frequencies such as 15360, 11955, 9580, 9740, 12080 and 9660, which are obviously(?) Singapore and Australian relays, NOT intended for Central America. They loaded an entirely wrong text schedule –- and the corresponding chart would not come up. Congratulations to BBC and Merlin, for another job totally botched! The glories of privatisation, and fragmentation of knowledge and responsibility! I have also noticed that the morning programming on the so-called Americas stream has stayed at the same UT, meaning the feature blocks at 1400-1600 are now an hour later by local clock. I thought the whole point of so many separate streams was to be able to compensate for local time shifts. Meanwhile I still await the arrival of BBC On Air for April. Strangely enough, there is no E-mail address listed in the March issue for subscription/delivery problems, so I got an automatic all-purpose reply from their editorial address (Glenn Hauser, April 4, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. In BBC`s favour, I must reveal that my missing BBC On Air for April (cause unknown, but could well be USPS fault), was quickly replaced following my E-mail to the editorial address; sent April 2 by Airmail Express Priority at a cost of 4.85 GBP, arrived April 5. WRITE ON still takes a week off in April, no longer to accommodate the canceled Waveguide, but FROM WHERE I STAND, week of April 14: audio diaries that open a window onto modern British society by allowing ordinary people to share their beliefs and concerns... Eu: Sat 0330, 0745; Am: Sat 0330 only; Af: Sat 0645, Mon 0945. COMPOSER OF THE MONTH is Mozart, 4 X 25/30 minutes: Eu: Sat 0305, 2130, Mon 1330, Sun 1501 [sic] Am: Sat 0305, Mon 1930, Tue 0530, Sun 1501 [sic] Do these 1501 Sunday timings mean 8 days after original airings?? MERIDIAN MASTERPIECE: Mental Torment and the Arts, 1 x 25 min from Sun April 8: Eu: Mon 0805, 1805, Tue 0005, 1305 Am: Mon 1405, Tue 0005, 1905, Wed 0505 LANGUAGE STEAMROLLERS: Thousands of languages have been `steamrollered` out of existence by the handful of language groups that dominate the world today. How did this happen? 12 x 15 min from Sunday April 1: Eu: Mon 1245, Tue 1745, 2345, Thu 0330 Am: Mon 1845, Tue 2345, Thu 0330 PATTERNS OF FAITH: Ashura commemorates the martyrdom of the Prophet`s beloved grandson and third Shia Imam, Husain. 1 x 15 min from Fri 6: Eu: Fri 1245, Mon 1745, 2345, Wed 0330 Am: Fri 1845, Mon 2345, Wed 0330 (April BBC On Air, selected by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Regarding last issue`s item about A Voz da OEA -– the reporter explains he was making a point about this and a number of other SW stations which no longer broadcast in Portuguese (or Spanish), with loggings actually dating from 1995 when they did: Desculpe pelos eventuais transtornos, mas as escutas relacionadas foram em "comemoração" ao Dia da Mentira (primeiro de abril); não esperava que alguem fosse dar importância, não são escutas recentes. Contudo são todas escutas verídicas... realizadas em 1995! Segue abaixo a relação dessas escutas, com a data real. Infelizmente, a Voz da OEA, assim como a Radio Suiça Int., a Deutsche Welle, a Voz da Grêcia, a WEWN, não transmitem mais em português, assim como a Rádio Vlaanderen Int. não mais transmite em espanhol (Lenildo C. Silva, Brasil, radio-escutas via DXLD) 15155 00:21 Voz da OEA, ESTADOS UNIDOS 22/05/1995, SINPO 45344, px "Americas", PP ** U S A. WRMI Radio Miami International, 7385, 9955 and 15725 kHz Shortwave/Onda Corta Portfolio: WRMI Program Schedule/Horario Effective April/Abril 1, 2001. Days are local days in the Americas; times are UT. [gh excerpted DX, news, Prague and entertainment shows only] MONDAY-FRIDAY To North America on 15725 kHz 2100-2115 Viva Miami (English; Friday only) 2130-2200 Wavescan (English; Friday only) Note: The following are Tuesday-Saturday UT To Caribbean and Latin America on 9955 kHz 0030-0100 Viva Miami (español - jueves) To North America on 7385 kHz 0200-0230 Radio Praga (español) 0230-0300 Viva Miami (English, Tuesday) 0230-0245 Radio Naciones Unidas (español, viernes) 0300-0330 Radio Prague (English) 0415-0445 Wavescan (English, 4th Friday) 0445-0500 Radio Naciones Unidas (español, 4to viernes) 0500-0530 Mi Seferino (English; 4th Friday) SATURDAY Note: The following are Sunday UT. To North America on 7385 kHz 0200-0230 Radio Praga (español) 0230-0300 Viva Miami (English) *** see below 0300-0330 Radio Prague (English) 0330-0400 This Lousy Half-Hour Show (English) 0400-0500 Scream of the Butterfly (English) 0500-0530 Seldom Heard Radio (1st, 3rd & 5th Sat) SUNDAY To the Caribbean and Latin America on 9955 kHz 1230-1300 Wavescan (English) 1300-1330 Viva Miami (English) 1530-1545 Viva Miami (English) To the Caribbean and Latin America on 9955 kHz 2200-2300 Viva Miami (English) 2330-0000 Wavescan (English) Note: The following are Monday UT. 0030-0100 Viva Miami (English) To North America on 7385 kHz 0200-0230 Radio Praga (español) 0230-0300 Wavescan (English) 0300-0330 Radio Prague (English) 0400-0415 Viva Miami (English) (http://www.wrmi.net via John Norfolk, DX LISTENING DIGEST) *** UT April 8 will be the final Viva Miami in the series recorded at Kulpsville; the previous one had an excellent interview with Kim Elliott and Dan Robinson of VOA making the case for consolidating all US external government broadcasting (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. Brucey never mentioned the time of his WWCR 103.7 reception, but it was Saturday night. Was it between 10 and 11 pm CST?? Perhaps the show was Spectrum on 5.07 MHz, which is on the Omega Radio Network, satellite fed and quite possibly taken by some legal 103.7 station. Since it is primarily on WWCR, it might contain WWCR IDs even though carried on other stations as well. However, no affiliate list to be found at their sparse website http://spectrum.orn.com If it was really WWCR-originated on 5070 you would have heard yours truly before 10 pm. Another possibility is a receiver mixing product with another signal 5.1 MHz away, when WWCR had an exceptionally strong signal. Was it in wideband FM mode rather than AM? (Glenn Hauser to Bruce Elving) Yes, it was in wideband FM mode, on my Fanfare FM tuner, with antenna aimed north. I am sure the program I heard was Spectrum. It has been in many times since on 103.7, day and night. This morning I am getting a pile up of signal, nothing understandable, on 103.7. Your 5.1 mixing idea is the best to date as to a theory why this has happened and is happening (Brucey Elving to gh) No, it is not, since you hear it in daytime when WWCR 5070 is not on the air, and since it is wideband FM, which WWCR on SW certainly is not (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. WRNO Worldwide shortwave is sold to a non-profit religious group, whose directors include a citizen of Zimbabwe and a citizen of Australia. The New Orleans operation was one of the very few attempts to create a viable commercial shortwave operation (doing CHR). It was an offshoot of WRNO-FM, and has recently been in the hands of executor and New Orleans communications attorney Ashton Hardy. Looks like the Ft. Worth-based Good News World Outreach will run WRNO Worldwide as a non-commercial proposition (Mstreet Daily Apr 5 via Lawrence rec.radio.shortwave via Lamb, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** U S A. Here`s another link to the originally LA Times article about VOA fixing up its Arabic service, in case the other one disappear: http://www.iht.com/articles/15755.html (via Artie Bigley, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. VOICE OF AMERICA: Board reviews plan to shut down service; Cites flood of letters from Thai listeners Bangkok Post - Thailand; Apr 5, 2001 Strong opposition to the closure of Voice of America's Thai-language service has prompted a review of the decision. US ambassador Richard Hecklinger, Brian Cornniff, director of the International Broadcasting Bureau in Washington, and Dave Strawman, VOA Transmitting Station Manager in Thailand announced the decision. They met Nitya Pibulsonggram, permanent secretary for foreign affairs, deputy spokesman Ratthakit Manathat, and other officials to discuss the matter. The service received more than 1,000 letters from politicians, academics and other listeners, said Mr. Cornniff. Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai also voiced concern to US Secretary of State Colin Powell. The issue was previously raised by former prime minister Chuan Leekpai, former foreign minister Surin Pitsuwan, HM the King's principal private secretary Arsa Sarasin, and private agencies. Mr. Surakiart said the service symbolised the long history of Thai-US relations and believed the planned closure highlighted the kingdom's lessening importance to the US. Mr. Cornniff was quoted as saying the service had been due to close on Aug 3 because of budget cuts and because the board was unaware the service attracted such a wide variety of listeners. The board would review its decision by the end of the month as it now believed the service had a role to play in Thai society. If the service was to continue, its ratings would be checked every three or six months. The Thai language service, which began in 1942 on shortwave, and expanded to 18 stations on AM and FM in 1988, has an annual budget of US$400,000 (17.2 million baht). The Thai-language broadcast is the only VOA service in Asia due for closure. It also broadcasts in Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, Tibetan, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Burmese, Cambodian and Lao. The US officials expressed interest in future co-operation with the Foreign Ministry by broadcasting some VOA programmes over the ministry's new FM station, Mr. Rathakit said. Launched on Tuesday, the FM station provides information about the workings of the ministry and also foreign news. The ministry will hold discussions with VOA about programme content, finance and air time, Mr. Rathakit said. Bhanravee Tansubhapol Copyright © Asia Intelligence Wire (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** U S A [clandestine]. This addendum barely missed the last DXLD: Hi Glenn, This seems to be KSMR with expanded programming. I continued listening to the station on 3260 USB. At 0200, it went into Steve Anderson's "The Militia Hour", the program associated with KSMR. Anderson then said that today he was "back to back with the Intelligence Report" so it seems he was relaying "Intel Report". He also said he had problems on daytime freq (12182?) and needed to drop power level. This would explain different time of program at 0100 UT and lower signal level. He said after broadcast, he`d go back to Genesis (Network) programming (Paul McDonough, Medford MA - 3 Apr 01, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re: KSMR: ``No way; but they continue with the blessing of the Feds, ultimately under control of the far right (gh, DXLD)`` Hardly, but I suppose from your traditional published positions anything less than fully subjugated to the Democratic Party qualifies as far right. Given the nature of the station, you can bet that an operation to silence it is inevitable and will be carefully planned, and thus will probably take a few weeks to put together. It should make for some very interesting listening when it finally happens. (David Crawford, FL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Like I said, April 19 (gh) UT April 4 on 3260-USB after 0200: the phone was ringing, so Steve says ``don`t call after 9 o`clock``; from this, he must be in the Central timezone, contrary to my previous remark. Then I looked at the atlas and see that Somerset is a few miles east of the boundary, so evidently his rural location is west of there on the CDT side. He added that now has good daytime antennas, like this one, resonating properly. No QSLs under any circumstances, no matter how nice your letters, how many times you write, or how much return postage. ``This is not a hobby station. It is intended for patriots in the continental US.`` Of course QSLs could be used as evidence against him when he is prosecuted, I remark (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. For A01, the "Far East Relays" of the Herald Broadcasting Syndicate are: 9875 1200-1230 Vladivostok 9940 1300-1400 Irkutsk 11870 1000-1100 Taipei 17635 1200-1300 Komsomolsk-Amur (Bob Padula, Electronic DX Press April 4 via DXLD) ** U S A. I've just finished some updating of my Canada/US AM Station Info Search Page at http://hydra.carleton.ca/ambc/aminfo.html This is basically a search engine that uses the data from Lee Freshwater`s BCB DX Logbook http://geocities.com/amlogbook/main1.htm It now displays more of the data from Lee`s database (thanks Lee!). As before, you can look up the info for a given AM station simply by entering the callsign. If you enter your lat/long, you`ll also get distance and bearing to the station, as well as an estimate of the elevation angle of the incoming skywave. I`ve also added a new feature: included in the data output is a link you can click on to fetch the sunrise/sunset times for that station from the FCC website, which is displayed in a separate browser window. The other function of the page is the unID station search - you can enter a tentative or partial callsign, and it will show you the data for stations on the selected frequency with callsigns that sound similar. You can enter wildcard characters in the search -- for example, if you hear a call that seems to begin with "WAB...", enter "WAB?" and see what comes up. Or, you can select a particular programming format and see all of the stations on the frequency that are supposed to have that format. The bottom of the page has a link you can click on to get more info on using the search engine. Since I use Netscape and Linux, I haven`t tested the latest version of the page with other browsers or OS's. Let me know if you encounter problems, and all comments are welcome. Enjoy! (Barry McLarnon, VE3JF, NRC Reflector via IRCA DX Monitor via DXLD) You`ll find legal s/on s/off times based on sunset at: http://www.fcc.gov/mmb/asd/amq.html#sprung1 Use one of the queries off this page, select a particular station, then scroll down to the Sunrise/Sunset button (Rick Kenneally, Wilton, CT, NRC-AM via IRCA AM Newsflash via DXLD) ** VATICAN/ITALY. Italian minister says analyses of Vatican Radio emissions "not encouraging" | Text of report in English from Italian news agency ANSA web site Rome, 5 April: The first analyses to be completed on the so-called electrosmog emissions from the Vatican Radio transmitters outside Rome are "not encouraging", Environment Minister Willer Bordon said here today. The minister promised that if the emissions levels exceed government limits when the data is confirmed on Tuesday [10 April], he will decide on when to pull the plug on the powerful radio station. "On Tuesday I will present the data on emissions monitoring conducted over the past three weeks by the ANPA environmental agency; I hope the Vatican Radio will be within the limits of the law, but I`m afraid it won`t, and therefore measures will be taken," Bordon said. Bordon and environmentalists have been sparring with the Vatican for weeks over the "electrosmog" controversy which has blown up over the Holy See`s radio transmitters. Last week Bordon said the transmitters just north of Rome would be cut off unless they meet legal standards by 12 May, the eve of Italy`s general election. Italy and the Vatican have set up a committee to measure electromagnetic levels and see if they break the law, as local residents contend. The committee agreed to abide by a government decree establishing emission levels, while the environment ministry set up a freephone number for citizens to alert it about electromagnetic pollution. Residents near the Vatican transmitters have protested about a surprisingly high number of cases of leukaemia in the town and Rome prosecutors have opened an investigation into the case. According to one survey published in the Italian press, local children are six times more likely to contract leukaemia than their peers elsewhere in the Lazio region. Last month, Vatican Radio pleaded for more time to adapt its allegedly dangerous transmitters to Italian norms, but an obdurate Bordon reiterated he would pull the plug in a matter of days if electromagnetic pollution levels stay the same, saying that the electromagnetic waves produced by Vatican Radio have repeatedly breached the limits set by Italian law. Source: ANSA news agency web site, Rome, in English 1324 gmt 5 Apr 01 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** VENEZUELA. Ecos del Torbes was active tonight (APR 3, 0200 UT) on 4980 kHz with its usual strong signal. On 4830 there was a very weak signal at that time -- Radio Táchira is stronger when it is on. Both channels were empty for the last two weeks or so... GOOD DX, (Karel Honzik, the Czech Republic, hard-core-dx via DXLD) ** VIETNAM. The Voice of Vietnam continues to use several SW txers for relaying its Domestic services to rural areas. The monitored usage during March from my journey into Thailand was: 5035-X 15 kW *2200-2300*,*1200-1300* VOV4 5925-X 50 kW *2200-1600* VOV1 5975-H 50 kW *2200-1600* VOV2 6020-H 20 kW *2200-1600* VOV4 6165-X 15 kW *2200-2300*, *0500-0600*, 1200-1300* VOV4 7145-S 100 kW *0000-0100*, *1100-1200*, *1300-1400* VOV2 7210-H 20 kW *2200 1600* VOV4 9530-H 50 kW *2330-1600* VOV2 9875-H 50 kW *0200-1000* VOV1 H=Ha Noi S=Son Tay X=Xuan Mai Transmitter powers and sites are sourced to the ABU listings, and may not be correct. Official Networks: VOV1: News and current affairs (HF and MF) VOV2: Economic, social, cultural and education (HF and MF) VOV3: Music and news, 24 hrs daily, VHF VOV4: Ethnic Minorities in Vietnam - Khmer, H'Mong, Ede, Giarai Bana, Xedang (HF and MF) VOV5: For foreigners in Vietnam - English, French, Mandarin, on VHF (Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh) VOV6: External Service (HF and VHF) At 2300-2315, 7210 6020 and 5925 carry the national news from Ha Noi, from VOV1. I found that there was no regular pattern of programming on frequencies other than 5035 and 6165. The remaining channels carried a mixture of VOV1, VOV2, and VOV4, including locally produced broadcasts at various times. 5035 and 6165 confined themselves to VOV4. The transmitters on 6020 and 7210, at Ha Noi, were faulty, putting out strong spurious radiations on carrier +/- 15 kHz (7195, 7225, 6005, 6035). Signal strengths on 7145, 7210, 7285, 9875 and 9530 were excellent for the entire broadcast period, as noted from various places in southern Thailand, with distances 3000 km from Patong to Ha Noi. Strengths on 5925 and 5975 were weaker. [from the southernmost tip of Thailand to the northernmost border of Vietnam is only 1000 miles = 1600 km. I am amazed at the very bad guesses people are making about distances, cf. `HAARP` report -gh] VOV4 on and 5035 6165 gave good signals throughout Thailand for the morning and evening broadcast periods; 5035 was quite good for the morning and evening services -- it is not used for midday service. Regional Broadcasters: The only regional broadcasters heard were: 4795 Son La, *2200-0100, 1000-1400 6381 La Chau *2200-0000*, 1200-1400* 6493 Cao Bang *1200-1400* 6695 *Lao Cai *1200-1400* (atrocious frequency stability, varied 6685-6695). The previously heard parallel frequency 5604v was not audible. Times of operation for all of these regional stations varied from day to day, and programs included very localised formats, and relays of VOV. These stations do not appear to be part of the VOV network. There may be others, but I didn`t find them! Midday broadcasts were not checked. 4722 Plei Ku - nothing audible at any time. Interestingly, reception of the domestic SW outlets on 9 MHz is rarely reported from outside of the Asian region; here in Melbourne, neither 9530 nor 9875 have been heard, but in the target area they are powerhouse signals! [vertical incidence ``shower`` antennas? -gh] External Services. Despite reports to the contrary, the only overseas relays being used by VOV for A01 are at Sackville (Canada), and Moscow. There are no current operations from Meyerton or Skelton, even though there had been tentative assignments submitted to the ITU for such relays. A01 relay usage is: 9525 Sackville 0100-0300 English 9695 Sackville 0130-0230 Vietnamese 9795 Sackville 0300-0500 Spanish, English, Vietnamese 12030 Moscow 1900-2030 Russian, Vietnamese 12070 Moscow 1730-1900 English, Vietnamese, French The VOV has for a long time shown its Spanish services 1100-1130 and 2000-2030 as intended for "Central Africa". This is of course erroneous, and the correct targets are Central America and Europe respectively. The External Service generally uses only two frequencies at any given time from Vietnam, but three channels are used: 1100-1130 (13730 9730 7285), 1130-1300 (12020 9840 7285), 1300-1400 (13740 9730 7285), 1400-1430 (12020 9840 7285), 1500-1530 (7285 9840 12020). (Bob Padula, Electronic DX Press April 4 via DXLD) ###