DX LISTENING DIGEST 1-090, June 30, 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. Special program about RFE, Sunday at 0005 and 0605 on Radio Australia: THE EUROPEANS - Radio Free Europe was one of the major instruments used to bring about the demise of communist control in Europe. Beginning as an American campaign, 50 years ago, and funded largely by the CIA, it was an essential component in the pitched propaganda of the Cold War era. And it continues to broadcast today in 26 languages, to information poor countries of eastern Europe, central Asia and to Iran and - Iraq - where to be caught listening is punishable by death. To mark its anniversary, Maria Zijlstra tries to get to the bottom of the most controversial chapter of RFE`s history - whether it broadcast to Hungarians that Western military assistance was forthcoming during their ill-fated uprising in 1956. If in North America, try 21740 at 0000 and 15515 at 0605. For other frequencies, check http://www.abc.net.au/ra The program will also be streamed at these times from that site. The program is not archived, however (John A. Figliozzi, swprograms via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. There has been much recent speculation and comment on the Darwin facility. Here is the official engineering schedule, showing current and planned operations, for Radio Australia and Christian Voice services: 9725 CV 2130-2200 English (planned) 9865 RA 2130-2330 Indonesian 9865 CV 2330-2359 English (planned) 11840 CV 2030-2200 English (planned) 13620 RA 2200-2359 English 17820 CV 0700-0800 English (planned) 17850 CV 2200-0100 English (planned) 21680 RA 0000-0030 Indonesian 21550 CV 0100-0700 English 21680 CV 0030-0400 English 21680 RA 0400-0430 Indonesian 21680 CV 0430-0500 English 21680 RA 0500-0530 Indonesian 21680 CV 0530-0800 English Technical work is continuing at the facility, and only two transmitters are capable of simultaneous operations at the time of writing. Outages are frequent. The station is not currently authorised to operate in the period 0800 and 2030, local evening in Asia, but that may change. There is significant back-lobe radiation from Darwin across most of Australia, particularly into the southern States. --RADIO AUSTRALIA off-shore relay operations are currently scheduled: 9730 Kranji 2300-2330 Khmere 11550 Taipei 2130-2330 Indonesian 11550 Taipei 0800-0830 Indonesian 11745 Taipei 0500-0530 Indonesian 15240 Taipei 2200-2330 English 15240 Taipei 2330-0030 Vietnamese 15240 Taipei 0800-1130 English 15435 Kranji 1400-1530 Chinese 17865 Kranji 0500-0530 Khmere 21615 Tinian 0000-0030 Indonesian 21780 Tinian 0400-0430 Indonesian (previously used 21785) --HF DIGITAL RADIO IN AUSTRALIA. The Australian Broadcasting Authority has released a proposal-in-principle for the possible introduction of Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) technology, for enhancement and improvement of HF services to outback and remote regions. At present, the outback is serviced primarily by the three HF transmitters at Alice Springs (4835), Tennant Creek (4910), and Katherine (5025), using 2 MHz at night, and 4 MHz during the day. Concerns have been expressed at the lack of effective coverage in some regions, particularly during evening hours, where the relatively low frequencies are subject to heavy fading, and impairment by static crashes from tropical thunderstorms at certain times of the year. Recently, I prepared an engineering consultant's report for the ABC concerning the possible introduction of 3 MHz operations to replace the present ineffective 2 MHz services. The report has been marked "classified" by the Australian Government, but I can say that several frequencies have been registered with the AHU-HFC in Kuala Lumpur, and with the ITU in Geneva. The introduction of any 3 MHz frequency for night-time transmission is subject to very strict attention to co-channel, and adjacent-channel interference from existing transmitters in Region 3 (Asia/Pacific). Furthermore, any proposed 3 MHz operation will also have to protect existing broadcasters in Regions 1 and 2. This problem {was?} raised quite recently when the Alice Springs transmitter on 4835 failed to automatically switch to its 2 MHz allocation of 2310 for local evening broadcasts, creating severe adjacent channel disturbances to Radio Thailand (4830) and the Chinese stations at Fuzhou (4830) and Harbin (4840). There was also a problem with AIR's regional service at Mumbai (4840). These NT SW transmitters use vertical-incidence antenna configurations, "shower propagation", which is supposed to limit low-angle long-distance propagation, However, the theory doesn't work out in practice, as they are using quite high powers of 50 kW! I am not in a position to say anything more about the proposal to use 3 MHz transmitters, except to mention that the frequencies shown in WRTH (3230, 3315 and 3370) are VERY old tentative assignments and would not be used. 3315 has been taken over by Radio Manus, 3230 by Radio Nepal, and 3370 is adjacent to R. Western Highlands (3375). It seems ludicrous that there is NOW new interest in the possible use of DRM technology for improvement of HF services to the outback, keeping in mind that all former HF facilities in Perth, Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne (Lyndhurst) were de-commissioned some years ago. All those HF services were to be replaced with the Northern Territory SW Service from Alice, Tennant Creek, and Katherine, supported by augmented local coverage on VHF and MF. Unfortunately the anticipated service improvement didn't occur for vast areas of the outback. Note also that there are no longer any programs on the NT SW services at Alice Springs and Tennant Creek, from the Central Australia Aboriginal Media Association (CAAMA), despite what you may see in some "authoritative" publications. This is due to lack of reliable coverage during the local daytime, where the service area of the 4 MHz transmitters drops off in the remote regions. I have no idea why these transmitters were set up in the first place to use 4 MHz during the day, where coverage of up to 3000 km is intended. These 50 kW things are OK for semi-local services, with their vertical incidence antennas, out to about 1000 km or so, but not much more! Questions have also been asked in the Federal Parliament about improvement of outback radio services for the indigenous peoples, who believe that they are now getting an inferior and very low quality service on MF and VHF, and little useful coverage on HF (Bob Padula, Victoria, Electronic DX Press June 30 via DXLD) ** BAHAMAS. Terry Krueger's recent info about Bahamas FM stations left off 100Jamz (100.3) at http://www.100jamz.com/ (Bill Wilkins, Springfield, MO, June 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Sean and Doug- thanks for the help. With your help I did some searching on the net and figured out that my unID was Cool 96 FM in Freeport, Bahamas. New country on FM for me- something I can't say very often given my landlocked locale. Cool 96's site is http://members.tripod.com/~gb96/sched.html. Also found another site, run by a DXer in Tampa, that lists FM stations in the Caribbean. That URL is http://members.nbci.com/ddsradio1/carib.html 73, (Todd K0KAN Topeka, KS, amfmtvdx via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. 6050, R Guarani, 0655, this was a mystery... had been sitting on 6050 for over 40 minutes listening to non-stop English oldies pops at a reasonable level, it appeared to be a replay of an American music show as all announcements were in English and related only to the artists and songs. Then at 0730, announcements and IDs confirmed it was Brazilian R Guarani... Cheers, (Paul Ormandy, Oamaru, New Zealand, June 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. With the BBC ending its use of Radio Canada International's Sackville relay facility as of tomorrow (and Radio Netherlands is only using it for about two weeks for "publicity reasons") my concern is that Merlin Communications will eventually take the opportunity to buy up the remaining time available from the facility and thus we will end up with programming that is of lesser quality than what the BBC had offered listeners for many decades. Merlin is giving religious organizations, minority groups and music programmers all the opportunity they want to program to overseas listeners... some of which are not very impressive, and obviously worthless! Global Sound Kitchen is one example... good for young people to get interested in the hobby but of course we know that shortwave is not ideal for music programming. Have you heard the news about Radio Korea International announcing that they will expand its relays via RCI-Sackville next year? That will be very good for the station, adding some "prime-time" programming that is at present very inaudible on RKI's direct frequency of 15575 during the evening hours in our part of the world. Certainly, I hope that some more stations like RKI will take up the opportunity to exchange relay time with RCI and fill those growing gaps that the BBC will vacate tomorrow. That would be a better solution than Merlin's cashing-in on Moosbrunn, Austria, the site in the United Arab Emirates, etc. etc. (Joe Hanlon in Philadelphia, June 30, swprograms via DXLD) ** CHINA. Am hearing Yunnan Peoples Broadcasting Service on 6938. Noting this after 1100 with all Chinese music. Reception can be good but often buried by a ute. This is presumed, but 2001 PWBR says Yunnan here (Bill Wilkins, Springfield, MO, June 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [non]. Realtime China Press Release -- China Radio International`s daily news magazine can now heard on radio stations across the US. Realtime China -- Producer/Presenter: Keith Perron e-mail: usbox@cri.com.cn or kperron@hotmail.com WINZ 940 am Miami, Fl 50 kw 8:30-9:00 am Saturday KSRB 1150 am Seattle, Wash 10 kw 9:00-9:30 am Saturday WHNZ 1250 am Tampa, Fl 10 kw 1:30-2:00 pm Wednesday KRLA 870 am Los Angles, Cal 20 kw 8:30-9:00 pm Mon to Fri KTCK 960 am Phoenix, Az 5 kw 1:30-2:00 am Mon to Fri KTKZ 1380 am Sacramento, Cal 5 kw 1:30-2:00 am Mon to Fri KKOL 1300 am Seattle, Cal 5 kw 1:30-2:00 am Mon to Fri KCBQ 1170 am San Diego, Cal 1.5 kw 1:30-2:00 am Mon to Fri The broadcast on KRLA can also be heard on the world wide web at http://www.krla870.com at 8:30 pst. [sic] For more information contact Keith Perron at China Radio International. Tel: 86-10-68498888 ext 63732 Cell: 86-13301031199 (Perron, June 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) So this is Perron`s latest project, having abandoned the so-called R. Vancouver International; formerly worked for RHC and RCI (gh, DXLD) ** ECUADOR. I was saddened to hear of the passing of Bob Beukema. Years go, the folks at HCJB used to say that Bob was the *real* Voice of the Andes (Pete Bentley, NY, June 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. R. Africa, 15184.6v, June 24 2105-2246* with US-produced English religion, gospel music. Abruptly off at 2246. Strong carrier but weak modulation. Slowly drifted up 100 Hz during this time period (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAQ. Hello Glenn, Radio Iraq International, 11787, 29th June 2001, 2000 UT, ID into the German Program with Arabic musical bridges, 2034 another clear ID and now into the French program with the usual musical bridges. 2130 I was listening again to the Turkish Program with another clear ID of Radio Iraq International at 2134. Again I used Synchronous AM Detection to pick the signal out of the smog as LSB and USB could not open it up, very clear reception (Tony Berry, Burlington, Ontario, Canada, Icom R-75 with Eavesdropper, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LIBYA. V. of Africa, 17725, June 23/24: ID and English news at: 1736-1746, 1820-1825, 1920-1925, 2030-2038, 2120-2125, 2220-2225, 2332-2340, 0020-0025, 0132-0140, 0222-0226, 0322-0326. Slight co- channel QRM from WYFR at 2300-0200; otherwise, reception was good and in the clear. Libya not usually hard this well. Tnx to WOR 1081, DXLD tip. I did not realize Libya had English every hour like this (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. R. México Internacional, 11770.1v, June 24 0245-0345+, weak, unstable. Constantly varying +/- 50 Hz; Better on \\ 9705. Spanish ballads, talk, ID; English at 0306-0336 with mailbag reading listeners` letters, local pop music (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. You`ll note, in the Media Network newsletter which I forwarded you a little while ago, that Jonathan Marks has done a 30-minute programme concerning the RN "takeover" of the BBC WS frequencies. Well, that`s all you`ll be hearing on those frequencies for the first few days of July, at least. I`ve been told that it will take until Tuesday or Wednesday to get the feed circuits up and running, so that RN can run ordinary programming instead of just endless repeats of Jonathan. ("All Jonathan, all the time!") I`ve also been told that Jonathan gets quite incensed at the BBC WS attitude, in their cutting of SW transmissions to North America and Australia/New Zealand. 73- (Bill Westenhaver, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. Radio Nationaal starts broadcasting on Sunday using the 1296 Merlin Orfordness transmitter. Schedule will be 0300- 1800. Dave Porter reports the following: R. Nationaal are making a big thing about this on their web site, complete with lots of pictures of the Control Room and of Orfordness, and lots of mentions of Merlin. Although it's all in Dutch, the web site is worth looking at just for the pictures! It's at http://www.radionationaal.nl On the start page ''startpagina'' the pics are on the RHS and change themselves you will see a pic of the Orfordness transmitters labelled ''Klik hier voor de 1296 AM fotoreportage'', Click on that and the full show starts. OR, go to ''archief'' on the startpagina page and the pics are under ''Foto/Film Fotoverslag'' etc (Dave Porter, World DX Club via Mike Barraclough, DXLD) ** PAKISTAN [non]. Re DXLD 1-089: Glenn Hauser, I just checked 17550 at 1012 UT 30 June 2001. Utility transmitter definitely still there. Most likely to be French Army in ARQ mode (Harry Brooks, UK, June 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. Radio New Ireland, 3905, being heard here with nice sigs most days. First noticed on 1 June with EZL mx before 1100 and all talk by woman in Pidgin starting at or shortly after 1100. Sounds like news during first 10-15 minutes after 1100 & usually includes ID as "Radio New Ireland." Reception depends on ham activity, but usually sounds stronger than NBC on 4890. Having reception problems last couple of mornings with almost nothing from Pacific coming in. Hope next week is better. 73s (Bill Wilkins, Springfield, MO, June 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PARAGUAY. 19475.16 (2 x 9737.58), R Nacional, 2219 June 29, Slightly raspy carrier, distorted audio. Matched fundamental @ 2237. Positive station ID @ 2300. Harmonic weak, fundamental fair (David Hodgson, TN, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN. Aficionados of Latin American music with a jazz slant may not be aware of a programme called 'Manteca' (Spanish for 'cream') from REE. Two presenters, one in Madrid, one in Miami play an interesting and varied selection of recordings with commentary in Spanish. The programme can be heard on Sundays at 1010 following the news on 15585 to Europe. An average SINPO reading on my Sangean ATS 909 would be 45433 but I recall reception as good as 55555 on several occasions in the early months of the year on 21540 (to Africa). The programme is transmitted simultaneously to South America (21570) and the Middle East (21610). On Saturdays 'Manteca' is broadcast to North America at 0510 (6125), Central America on 3210 and to Europe on 9710 and 12035. Manteca is well worth a listen, fifty minutes well spent between the band scanning if you are Latin-Americally inclined. If however you are a real LA nut such as I, do what I did and invest in a Worldspace receiver (Martin Roberts, Colwyn Bay, Wales, World DX Club via Mike Barraclough, DXLD) ** TAIWAN. The CBS and its external arm Radio Taipei International have introduced many new frequencies recently, in a break from a long established tradition where frequency variations were rarely made. Several of the new outlets are in the extended bands. This affects the relays of the CBS domestic services (CBS), Radio Taipei International (RTI), the Voice of China (VOC), and the Voice of Asia (VAS). Here are details of the main new channels: 6220 CBS 0900-1700 Chinese 6265 CBS 0400-0500 Chinese CBS 0800-1500 Chinese CBS 2200-2300 Chinese 7365 CBS 0900-1800 Chinese 9650 CBS 0900-1800 Chinese VAS 1800-1900 Arabic 11605 CBS 0900-1000 Chinese RTI 1000-1100 Amoy RTI 1100-1200 Japanese CBS 1200-1300 Chinese RTI 1300-1400 Japanese 11635 RTI 1000-1100 Cantonese RTI 1100-1200 Hakka VAS 1200-1300 Indonesian RTI 1300-1400 Amoy RTI 1400-1500 Thai CBS 2200-2359 Chinese 11875 RTI 0000-0100 Hakka RTI 0100-0300 Amoy RTI 0300-0400 English RTI 2100-2200 Amoy CBS 2200-2300 Chinese RTI 2300-2359 Vietnamese 11795 VAS 0400-0600 Chinese [sic, out of order or typo? -gh] 11940 VOC 0830-0930 Chinese 11955 VAS 1600-1700 Arabic 11985 CBS 0400-0900 Chinese RTI 0900-1000 Russian CBS 2200-0200 Chinese 15060 CBS 0400-0800 Chinese CBS 0900-1700 Chinese CBS 2200-2359 Chinese 15110 CBS 0200-0500 Chinese 15265 RTI 1400-1500 English 15270 VAS 2300-2359 Thai 15280 VOC 2230-2330 Chinese 15320 RTI 0200-0400 English CBS 0400-0500 Chinese RTI 0500-0600 Cantonese RTI 0600-0700 Thai RTI 1000-1100 Cantonese 15355 CBS 0200-1700 Chinese CBS 2200-2359 Chinese 15405 RTI 0300-0400 Hakka The new schedule reflects the introduction of: --VOICE OF CHINA broadcasts on SW, previously only available on the Internet: 15280 2230-2330 Chinese 11940 0830-0930 Chinese --VOICE OF ASIA programming in Arabic, a new language service, formerly carried on Radio Taipei International Voice of Asia is now: 7445 1000-1100 Chinese 1100-1200 English 1200-1300 Indonesian 1300-1500 Chinese 1500-1600 Thai 1600-1700 Indonesian 2300-2359 Thai 9280 0900-1100 Chinese 9650 1800-1900 Arabic 11635 1200-1300 Indonesian 11745 1600-1700 Indonesian 11795 0400-0600 Chinese 11955 1600-1700 Arabic 15270 2300-2359 Thai (Nagoya DXers Circle, with analysis and research by Bob Padula, EDXP via DXLD) ** U K / NETHERLANDS. ISSUE 2227 Saturday 30 June 2001 Anger as Dutch take over World Service link to US By Tom Leonard, Media Editor THE BBC World Service's decision to stop broadcasting to North America and Australasia has been exploited by one of its rivals. The English-language service of Radio Netherlands has snapped up the shortwave frequencies which the BBC will discard from tomorrow in a move that will force its listeners to use the internet or rely on limited re-broadcasts on local stations. In common with many listeners, MPs and former staff who have criticised the BBC decision, the Dutch station challenged the corporation's stance that short wave is a declining medium because of the internet. Lodewijk Bouwens, the Radio Netherlands director-general, said: "Short wave remains the only direct way to share a full range of important issues with a loyal audience. Webcasting is expensive, it is often congested during a crisis, there are copyright restrictions - it's simply not ready for prime time." The announcement will cause further embarrassment for the World Service and its director, Mark Byford, as it could mean that the shortwave frequencies are permanently lost to the BBC. The Tory MP Michael Fabricant, a former World Service broadcaster, described the BBC's stance as "madness" and promised to raise the issue in the Commons. He described the BBC decision as "short-sighted and premature", particularly as digital short wave radio will soon allow listeners to hear broadcasts in compact disc quality. A BBC spokesman dismissed the Radio Netherlands move as a "publicity stunt" and stressed that the World Service shortwave shutdown would go ahead as planned. The corporation says that the £500,000 that will be saved from its £183 million budget is needed for reinvestment in improving transmissions to other parts of the world (Telegraph June 30 via Mike Barraclough, BDXC-UK via DXLD) ** U K. I`m not writing to *anyone* to keep BBC on the air. I don`t think I`ll miss them that much. Most of the programs I really liked are either gone or hard to find, and as for world news, we`ve got plenty of other sources. Europe is full of broadcasters that can keep us abreast of what`s happening in Europe and Africa. As for Asia and the Pacific, our best source of news for years has been R. Australia, and their parent company, the Ai-Bai-Cai (Pete Bentley, NY, June 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. We've all heard the excuses about why the BBC World Service is going to shut down broadcasts to North America and the Antipodes. They are summed up by: 1. Gazillions of people are staying up all night to try to find an occasional BBC program rebroadcast on an NPR station. Well, OK, so it's only thousands, that's still a large number. Errr, well, a few hundred isn't bad, continent-wide. We have changed our definition of the "target audience" to consist of hard-core FM DXers who are willing to try to pursue these hard-to-hear broadcasts. 2. There are certainly a lot of people, thousands maybe, who are listening on Internet streaming audio. We have redefined our target audience to amount to hacker geeks who don't have anything better to do with $1000+ computers than make them replace $100 radios. We need to reach these guys very quickly, because the ones who are doing it at the office are likely to be fired as soon as their managers discover that the kiddies are hogging the company's bandwidth for simple audio. 3. There will soon be satellite-to-ground radio. Of course, you can only pick it up in your car, and it costs $10 per month, but this gets us in touch with our latest target audience: long haul lorry drivers, the only people who spend enough time behind the wheel to make such services worthwhile. OK, OK, OK, that's just what Mark Byford says. By planting secret listening devices inside Bush House, your reporter can now reveal the REAL REASONS FOR THE BLACKOUT 1. Britain's image in those countries is good enough, and we don't want to risk damaging it with our newest dumbed-down program content. 2. Britain's image there is so bad that we can't do anything about it. 3. As a part of the "Kewl Britannia" campaign, we have been directed to pretend that the Spice Girls are the pinnacle of British culture. This involves hoping that nobody remembers the traditional BBC content. 4. We're switching to the euro. As a result, we will be unable to afford to pay for transmitter time, because nobody in his right mind will accept euros as payment. We were hoping that Sackville might be in Newfoundland (where passing fake money might work), but we just discovered that it's in New Brunswick. 5. We have appointed Hugh Grant to be our ambassador to Hollywood, and trust that he will make intimate contact with the locals. 6. All those people in Australia are deported criminals. We're going to pretend that we don't know any of them. 7. As a part of thus "EU" thingamajig, we have to do what the Germans say, and they won't let us broadcast so much anymore. They also say that they won the war, and a new Disney movie will show things working out that way, the same way that the studio sanitised the Pearl Harbour attack. 8. The Americans sent Bill Clinton here on an extended speaking and bribe-collection tour. We are retaliating by suspending communications. 9. It is becoming increasingly difficult to locate inhabitants of the UK who can speak proper English. Rather than subject listeners to a barrage of announcers who drop their leading and trailing consonants, we are only going to broadcast in English to non-English-speaking countries. 10. We have decided to call it the "BBC Local Service." 11. We have discovered that the American media portray our country as being composed of quaint castles, polite old ladies, and race riots. That's good enough, we won't try to contradict it. 12. America is not a soccer-playing country. Thus, our hooligan fans have not busted up any American cities, and so we will spend our time apologising to those countries that they have visited and wrecked. 13. OK, so Brandi Chastain plays soccer. But, the only reason anybody watches her is to see if she's going to take her shirt off again. 14. The more we broadcast, the more people send investment capital here. As proper socialists, New Labour requests that all such funds go somewhere else instead. 15. Why would anybody in New Zealand be listening to us? The original Zealand is in Holland, so let Radio Nederland broadcast to them. They're probably Dutch, anyway, just like those funny Afrikaaners. 16. We've decided that the British Empire was a mistake, and that the Belgians were supposed to take over the world instead. At least, that's what they keep telling us in Brussels, our new capital. 17. As royalists, we are shocked to learn what kind of person you refer to as a "queen" in San Francisco. We call that type of person a "Tory back-bencher." 18. We're ticked off. Bill and Hillary Clinton were here, and they BOTH groped Cherie Blair. We're going to go invisible for a while, and hope that those two go away and don't try to put their hands on HM. 19. We KNOW that you're not going to buy any of our beef, and suspect that you aren't going to buy anything else from us as long as we have exotic Third-World diseases running loose, so we're going to stop trying to have a global business image. 20. It was taking too long for the radio signals to reach Australia and New Zealand. When we would start a "summer" schedule, the listeners would report that it was winter when they heard it. As liberal arts graduates, this phenomenon is inexpicable to us. 21. Tony was hoping that Algore would win the American election, or at least maybe Barbra Streisand or Steven Spielberg. If you're going to elect somebody who lacks Hollywood approval, we're going to take our marbles home. 22. We were going to take our marbles home, but we seem to have lost all of them. 23. Our new "green" transmitters are powered by bicycle pedals, and lack the power to cross oceans. 24. We're located in London, but all the people with common sense and real guts are in Scotland, and they refuse to come down here and help us make the place run properly. 25. We are worried about where these broadcasts could be winding up. The other day we drilled a hole in the ground and, instead of finding water or oil, we ran into France. Ever since then, we have been besieged by snails and frogs walking in and asking for political asylum. 26. Americans keep writing in and asking to hear the sound of Big Ben. We are too embarrassed to admit that we lost the tape. 27. We're selling the BBC to Rupert Murdoch, who intends to operate it the same way he does the Fox News Channel. The problem is that FNC's shallow, flashy, video effects don't work on the radio. 28. After years of having Bush House barricaded and only the gift shop open to the public due to IRA threats, we have decided to completely throw in the towel, and this is the first step. 29. Tony tried to give honours to a couple of Canadians, and got a nasty letter from that Quebecker who runs the joint nowadays. Some gratitude - to hell with Canadians! 30. Producing radio shows is too hard. We don't care if nobody can hear us. Can we go to sleep now? ===================================================================== (Hamilton, rec.radio.shortwave Newsgroup Posting via Tomas Hood, swl@qth.net via DXLD) ** U K [?]. FREE RADIO. Mike Radio International now says he will be on the air on the first Sunday of each month 0500-0800 or perhaps slightly later on 9290 (Yahoo SW Pirates group via Mike Barraclough, World DX Club, DXLD) ** U S A. The Fri 0930 airing of WORLD OF RADIO on WWCR 7435 has been, by far, the best of the early airings here lately. No RTTY QRM to speak of. 73, (John Norfolk, OKCOK, June 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Went through the FCC IHF Public Notices through January 2000. Did not find anything about Piñón, NM, although one of the South American DX journals said that a religious group, the 7th Day Adventists, but I am not sure, was behind it. Found the following: WMLK: make antenna changes to accommodate power increase WBCQ: add 50 kW xmtr (not 100) and a second antenna, a reversible rhombic Apr 11, 2001: authorized sale of KAIJ from Two if By Sea to Peoria Broadcasting Services, Inc. Have no idea who they are, but probably a religious group. Wonder if they have any connection with the Pinebrook Fdn, which runs an AM-FM there. Aug 30, 2000: WGTG, CP, Blue Ridge Communications. No details. These were all I could find; but it is probable that some of the public notices about shortwave were mislabeled as international telephone or satellite notices; some of the latter I found to be mislabeled as international high frequency notices (Mike Dorner, June 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) {CEFGW -gh} ** U S A. Heard 1700 kHz station while driving in Dorchester (Boston) tonight (6/28 local, or 6/29 UT) at 8:57-9:17 pm (0057-0117 UT). Station IDing as "Rah-dee-oh Bell Ay-ee-tee", which my wife says is pure French (not Haitian-Creole) for "Beautiful Haiti Radio" (Radio Belle Haiti). One sure way to know if you're listening to this same station is they keep playing the "Mission Impossible" TV series theme music between announcers. Heard news about polio vaccine at 8:57 pm. Then ad/PSA for Bible Study group in Malden on Monday and Wednesday, 6-9 pm, and Saturday 9 am-noon. Then had commercial for a store/salon in Hyde Park (also part of Boston). Then had international news in French at 9 pm (0100 UT). Stories included drug traffic/zero tolerance, Serbia, Israeli/Palestinian peace accord, Yugoslav/Miloshevich/war crimes tribunal, comments by Bush and Chirac, etc. Commercial for Las Vegas Seafood Restaurant in Hyde Park at 9:15 pm in both English and French. Another ID as possible "Radio Belle Haiti" at 9:17. So Radio Belle Haiti may be the name of the station or the program they were running. I don't know. But I`ll keep listening. Enjoy, (Paul McDonough, Medford, Massachusetts, Hard-Core- DX mailing list via DXLD) ** U S A [clandestine]. The ``Somerset psycho```s absence from the airwaves was of short duration, as Steve Anderson`s United Patriot Radio was up last evening, UT June 26, when I tuned in around 0140. This really wasn`t surprising despite his announcement to shut down his unlicensed broadcasting operation on UT June 15. Evidently sufficient funding has come forth from his compatriots to permit a resumption of broadcasting on 6900 kHz USB. I`d been checking the frequency every evening, but had been hearing nothing but that ``chirp`` transmission, whatever it`s supposed to be, between 0100 and 0200. The chirps were there last evening as well, but also on the frequency was a program UPR had been carrying called (somewhat ironically) the ``Intelligence Report``, originating on the Genesis Network. But last evening Anderson was downloading it from computer, his satellite receiver remaining dysfunctional (he thinks it`s an LNB problem). Anderson`s current broadcasting plans call for three hours of programming every evening from 0000 to 0300 UT. For the first hour he is playing tapes of Christian Identity preacher Wickstrom (sp?), Anderson also being of that religion (which is even sicker than most). Anderson, who believes every man should have whatever array of weaponry he desires -- no limits (isn`t that what the Second Amendment sanctions?), is itching like mad -- or a least is well prepared -- to work that trigger finger, continuing to taunt governmental authority, not being displeased, it seems, to have a bloody confrontation as he defends himself, his property, and his right to advocate and propagate his positions. He is not in opposition to the U. S. Government, the prevailing authority not truly being such a government (is not constitutionally endowed). Not rebels, these militia/patriot groups are MEETING rebellion that is being conducted by present authority against the provisions and principles of the Constitution. They could say that, John Adams having made a similar utterance in regard to British authority over the Colonies. But Adams and his compatriots were relatively free of psychosis. Are the ``jackboots`` marshaling their forces to bring Anderson and his radio station down? Will we have a live broadcast of their attempt to do so, should it occur? Keep listening to 6900. Most outrageous radio fun I`ve had -- Anderson and Genesis Network talkers -- since ``Best`s Berlin Broadcasts``, and those of other speakers over that facility (as would have been listening to Ezra Pound`s from Rome -- knowing them only from recordings). (Loren Cox, Jr., Lexington Ky, June 26, retyped by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) UPR, 6900 USB. Thought Col. Steve was gone, but no such luck. Just another snake oil salesman. Heard 28 June at 0055 w/ID. Says they have no advertising so was begging for dollars, but then followed with ad for soap made by patriots in NC. Was having tech difficulties at 0100 w/satellite equipment (Bill Wilkins, Springfield, MO, June 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) And still there UT June 30 on 6900-USB, running late past 0300 with usual militia list (gh, OK, DXLD) ** U S A. WGN Extension 720 preview: WEDNESDAY 4TH JULY 9:10-11 pm CDT == UT Thursday July 5 0210-0400: GIVE ME LIBERTY! -- A SIMULCAST WITH THE BBC Few have seemed to notice, but this is the 225th anniversary year of the Declaration of Independence. To celebrate on this holiday, we will revisit Revolutionary America, the war, the politics of the era- -and see what the British have to say about all of this. Join us for a special broadcast with the London BBC program "Up All Night". Our guests will include American academics and British observers (WGN website http://www.wgnam.com via DXLD) ** U S A [non]. I keep hearing Dr Scott on 17645. So far it`s been between 1230 and 1600 UT. It`s very weak and keeps fading in and out. I called that ever-so-famous 800 number, but they say that frequency is not on their list. They can`t explain it. Russian frequencies they have are 17765, 17590, 9940. Usually when my receiver creates an image, I`m able to figure it out, but so far I haven`t been able to do that either. It`s the Radio Shack DX-375, with an IF of 450 kHz, and the oscillator *above* the tuned frequency. If anyone else is hearing this, I guess we can assume there`s a transmitter in Costa Rica, perhaps in Russia, running an unannounced frequency. I can hear the other three transmitter sites, and their transmitters are all where they`re supposed to be. Later: It finally came in good enough to hear it on two other receivers; unfortunately, the specs on these two are the same as the DX-375 (Pete Bentley, NY, June 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Current HFCC listing shows: 17645 0300 1645 41,49,54,55 SAM 250 130 1234567 250301 281001 D RUS VOR MCB 5655 Which means Voice of Russia via Samara site; evidently they have sold some time to DGS, and I`m sure 17645 has been so for quite some time, even if they don`t know about it in LA. Typical. So don`t blame your receivers (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. FM Pirate operating on 87.9 MHz in Los Angeles Just off the bottom end of the FM dial, a former San José area pirate has moved into Los Angeles. "Pirate Cat Radio" maintains a dominant signal in the Hollywood/West Hollywood areas but is easily heard much farther away. Ron Thompson writes that KLON (88.1 MHz) has been receiving interference reports from listeners primarily in the Sunset/ La Brea areas since March. The pirate's web site claims that the station has been on the air since March 8. "Pirate Cat Radio" is using an answering service until it has its own phone line. The pirate, "Monkey Man," is asking for DJs to sign up, so it seems that he's planning to stay awhile. In fact, he might do just that. Shutting down an allegedly illegal operation is not as simple as one might think. A pirate that fails to voluntarily cease operations must be forced to do so, but only after a legal process that has the potential of dragging on for a very long time. See the pirate`s own story (first two URLs below) and one distributed by Metro Publishing Inc.: http://piratecat.s5.com/aboutthecat.html http://www.piratecat.s5.com/events.html http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/05.14.98/slices-9819.html (- Steve Blodgett, via Fred Vobbe, June 28, NRC FM-TV via DXLD) ###