DX LISTENING DIGEST 1-180, November 23, 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 Check the WOR websites: http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio/ http://www.worldofradio.com [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 #1106: (STREAM) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1106ram (DOWNLOAD) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1106.rm (SUMMARY) http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio/wor1106.html MEXT AIRINGS ON WWCR: Saturday 0300 on 3215, 1230 on 15685, Sunday 0330 on 5070, 0730 on 3210 NEXT AIRINGS ON RFPI: Saturday 0130, 0730, 1330, 1800, Sunday 0000, 0600, 1200 on some of: 21815-USB, 15040, 7445 WORLD RADIO NETWORK: Saturday 0900 to rest of world; 1500 to NAm ** AFGHANISTAN [non]. Ed. note: The turnaround time of DXLD can be very rapid; just as we were putting the finishing touches on 1-179, we got the CRW report on 9950, and quickly inserted it. Unfortunately, as soon as that issue had been distributed, we found a corrected version, which would have replaced it if it had been in time. This involves minor editing changes in placement of the material: (gh, DXLD) --------------xxxxxxxxxx CRW 088 EXTRA Bc xxxxxxxxxx-------------- CLANDESTINE RADIO WATCH Afghanistan Special November 23, 2001 Below is a corrected version of the article. AFGHANISTAN : Radio Voice of Afghanistan By Takuya Hirayama, CRW Japan Bureau [Nov 22] Radio Voice of Afghanistan, first noted by Mexican monitor Adolfo Murrieta González in DX Listening Digest 1-176 on November 17, continues to broadcast test programs on 9950 kHz between 1330 and 1430 GMT in Pashto and Dari. The station does not announce an address or the name of the organization sponsoring the broadcasts. Schedule: 1330-1345 9950 kHz Test transmission in Pashto 1345-1400 9950 kHz Test transmission in Dari 1400-1415 9950 kHz Repeat of Pashto test transmission 1415-1430 9950 kHz Repeat of Dari test transmission Identifications for the station are as follows: Da Afghanistan Ghag Radyo (Pashto) Radyo-i Seda-i Afghanistan (Dari) 1 kHz test modulation tones were repeated for five minutes before opening the transmission. Broadcasts transmitters located in the former Soviet Union are known to require these types of tones before broadcasts are made. ---- Summary of November 21 test transmission in Dari (Radyo-i Seda-i Afghanistan): The transmission began with the famous song "Da Zamung Zebah Watan" by Ustad Awal Mir. The song is said to be the unofficial anthem of Afghanistan. The announcer then said that this is a test transmission. They will transmit daily broadcasts in Dari and Pashto on 31 mb, 9950 kHz from 6 pm Kabul Time. There was no mention, however, of when regular transmissions will begin. Recitation of the Qur'an followed. Then, the announcer said that the purpose of Radio Voice of Afghanistan is to restore culture in Afghanistan after radio, television and newspapers were damaged during the past years. The program, he said, aims to end the war and promote mutual understanding and unity among the people of Afghanistan. He also said that the station will broadcast local and international news for the entire country. Afghanistan is now at very sensitive period, he announced, and that is why the station is making the broadcasts. He invited listeners' letters and comments, and asked people to send them to a postal address and fax and telephone numbers, which he said will be announced later during regular transmissions. ---- During the November 22 transmission, the station broadcast the news in Pashto and Dari for the first time. There was also no mention of the test transmissions. The 15-minute Dari program opened with the announcement, "Today is Thursday... 8 Ramadan 1422 Hijri, 22 November 2001 AD..." Previous transmissions have not included the date. Three news items were included in the "Important News of Afghanistan" (Akhbar muhimm-e Afghanistan): developments in Kunduz, where the Taliban have surrendered, and also in Kandahar, a meeting between officials of the Northern Alliance and the Iranian Foreign Minister, and a report about the closure of the Taliban's embassy in Islamabad. Although a "Radio Voice of Afghanistan" radio program is broadcast locally in California and on the Internet, the new short wave radio station does not appear to be related (Clandestine Radio Watch Nov 22 via DXLD) Unconfirmed site, 9950, Presumed Radio Voice of Afghanistan, Heard from tunein at 1335 Nov 23 with fair signal into Northeast Ohio but fading quickly now at 1410. Heard music 1352-1356, short music at 1359 followed by a couple possible IDs and male announcers, music at 1401 with announcer returning at 1403 (Lee Silvi, Mentor, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re: ``the station on 9950 at 1330-1430. I listened - uninterrupted - throughout transmission today Nov.22. Carrier appeared c1320`` Interesting: I noted already at 1310 a carrier but a quite weak one, after 1320 the signal was stronger, at least the LCD bar suggested this. I think this continuous 1 kHz tone originates from the studio, for whatever purpose (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Nov 23, DX LISTENING DIGEST) If site is Moldova, as speculated, why would reception into NAm be so good? If an antenna is aimed directly at Kabul from there, the back- beam would be on Port-of-Spain, and then crossing SAm into Perú, not NAm. Moldova would be well-placed for its target, however, only some 2250 miles away, sort of like Sackville-to-Oklahoma. We monitored the R. V. of Afghanistan broadcast again on Nov 24; 9950 from 1330. This time most of the opening news was about Kunduz, not surprisingly. Thanks to Bob Thomas for sending us a new wall map, Hammond`s ``Great Middle East Region`` including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya and Turkey. This came out since Sept. 11 as evidenced by a chronology included. $4.95 US, a portion of proceeds to the American Red Cross. Partly due to the scale of the map, there are disappointingly few place names shown in Afghanistan. For perspective, let`s compare it with Texas, statistics from the Time Almanac 2000: Afghanistan: 647,500 sq km --- 25,824,882 population, mid-1999 est. Texas: 678,358 sq km --- 19,759,614 population, 1998 est. So that belies the idea that Afghanistan is sparsely populated --- it`s denser than Texas. Look at any US atlas and see the many thousands of placenames there. While Afghanistan may be more rural, surely there are at least as many towns in Afghanistan. Speaking of names, no two transliterations of city names in Afghanistan seem to match from one news report to another. The Hammond map uses a transliteration system we never see on TV, including macrons (long signs, horizontal bars) over many of the vowels, which I have yet to find out how to produce in ASCII or any other system --- who can help with this? Here, I`m going to use acutes instead for purposes of this essay only! I suspect the markings have to do with the vowel lengths, rather than stress. Clue: three of them on one word. Some principal cities which have been in the news: Kábol Qandahár Kondúz Herát Mazár-e Sharíf Balkh Táloqán Jalálábád Feyzábád --- This name also has a horizontal bar UNDER the Z: just try to produce that on your computer! BTW, place names in India, Pakistan, Iran, and Iraq (but not the CIS `stans) are also full of macrons, so this technique applies at least to Hindi, Urdu, Pashto, Dari, Farsi, and Arabic. An inset map titled Recent History also has a dotted line outlining ``Kurdistan`` encompassing parts of Syria, Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iraq and Iran. Seems to me these countries ought to cede some territory each so the Kurds can really have their own country beyond the pages of DXLD. Unfortunately, though the entire back side of the map is blank, there is nothing on it to explain orthography or pronunciation of place names! (Glenn Hauser, OK, Nov 24, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Afghanistan (non?) - Radio Voice of Afghanistan - 9950 (maybe 9949.5). 2001-11-23. 1532 UT (8:02 pm in Kabul), carrier on, weak s2 or so. 1533 1 kHz tone, builds in strength to s7 or so in a few minutes. 1538 programming starts, talking, music by 1545. Signal strength decent for time of day (didn't check the LUF), but high atmospheric background noise levels and terribly low audio on the microphone made it difficult to understand. Played around with a sound editing program to see if anything could be extracted, nothing significant although mike audio suggested echoing. (Is multipath possible at this hour?) Alerted through IRC #swl, also heard in Virginia by Dan Ferguson, and in The Netherlands by Mark Veldhuis (who reported good signals). Haven't read all the sources received, but so far seems like a new, additional, transmission time. Not heard on a recheck around 1645 (after running some errands). NRD-525, various wires (high signal angle reception best). (Tom Sundstrom, NJ, Nov 23, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Tom, in DXLD 1-177 Andy Sennitt already reported the 1530 signal as R. Cairo in Pashto (and apparently the one off-frequency), 1600 into Albanian (listen for the familiar R. Cairo news theme). 73, (Glenn Hauser, to Tom, DXLD) The big story of the week is the start of a new shortwave radio station broadcasting to Afghanistan. The arrival of Radio Voice of Afghanistan seemed to surprise just about everyone except those behind it, who have chosen not to reveal their identity yet. It was Glenn Hauser's DX Listening Digest that broke the news to the shortwave community, and a Mexican listener to Radio Netherlands Spanish service, Adolfo Murrieta González, must claim credit for the first logging on 17 November. Our partners at Clandestine Radio Watch were soon on the case, and Takuya Hirayama of the CRW Japan Bureau, who understands Pashto and Dari, has written a summary of the broadcast on 22 November. I monitored the 23 November broadcast, and we've published a 10 minute audio sample. Read more in our Afghanistan media dossier at http://www.rnw.nl/realradio/html/afghanistan.html If you want to listen immediately to the audio sample, click on this link: http://www.omroep.nl/cgi-bin/streams?/rnw/medianetwork/rvoa011123.rm Voices That Matter The emergence of this new station highlights a growing risk that the diverse broadcasts being aimed at the Afghans, some not on the air yet, will actually confuse the situation instead of bringing stability to the country. In a special commentary, I explain why I am coming to the conclusion. http://www.rnw.nl/realradio/features/html/afghanistan011123.html (Andy Sennitt, Media Network Newsletter Nov 23 via John Norfolk, DXLD) ** AFGHANISTAN. Media round-up Friday 23 November Radio Voice of Afghanistan A radio station identifying itself in Pashto as "Da Afghanistan Ghaq Radio" (Pashto for "Radio Voice of Afghanistan") was first observed by BBC Monitoring on 21 November. The station announced that it is currently broadcasting test programmes for one hour a day, from 1330- 1430 gmt on 9950 kHz and that the programmes were presented by the "Afghan broadcasting agency". The broadcast was heard again on 23 November. Programme in Pashto The broadcast began with the usual opening announcements, programme preview and a recitation from the Koran. This was followed by news in Pashto which included these items: A report on situation around Konduz, quoting Reuters news agency, on thousands of trapped Taleban fighters, and quoting United Front official Yunos Qanuni regarding Taleban fighters being given chance to surrender. Whereabouts of Taleban leader Mola Mohammed Omar (not known) based on foreign reports. Taleban spokesman claims Omar is in a safe place. The Taleban, however, have denied these reports. Foreign news agency reports on foreign fighters in Konduz - Chinese (presumably Uighurs), Pakistan, Arabs and Chechen. United Front diplomat in London Wali Masud says former Afghan President Borhanoddin Rabbani could be part of a broad-based government. UN special envoy Francesc Vendrell optimistic about Bonn talks between various Afghan factions which are to start next Monday. Commentary in Pashto urging Afghans to be united, finishing with a song in Pashto and the sign-off. Programme in Dari Usual introduction including, programme preview and a recitation from the Koran. The news in Dari repeated the Pashto bulletin, but added the following items: - ICRC is worried about Northern Alliance's treatment of prisoners. - It will not be easy for former Afghan President Borhanoddin Rabbani to reclaim his presidential post. Wali Masud says Rabbani will only be part of a transitional body. - Short commentary in Dari on the reconstruction of Afghanistan [so still not giving any contact info? --gh] KABUL, JALALABAD, HERAT Kabul radio/TV not observed by BBC Monitoring BBC Monitoring has not yet observed the reported radio and TV broadcasts in Kabul. The station known as Radio Kabul or Radio Afghanistan is broadcasting via a mobile transmitter. The director of the Kabul-based radio, in an interview for India's Star News TV on 16 November, said the station was transmitting for three hours in the morning and four hours in the evening daily. Kabul television began its first broadcast since 1996 at 1330 gmt (1800 local time) on Sunday 18 November. The Taleban had previously banned TV for five years. The station has a 10-Watt transmitter, which is very low power in terms of TV broadcasting, so range would be limited, probably to central Kabul. The station is on the air three hours a day. Radio Herat and "Herat City Television" are broadcasting in the western city of Herat. "Radio Nangarhar" is reportedly broadcasting in eastern Jalalabad, capital of Nangarhar Province. MAZAR-E SHARIF Balkh Radio On Friday 23 November, the radio station broadcasting from the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e Sharif - identifying itself as Balkh Radio - was not observed broadcasting as scheduled from 0230-0430 gmt on its usual frequency of 1584 kHz. Balkh Radio began its evening broadcasts at 1142 gmt; the broadcasts usually begin at 1230 gmt. The radio signed off at 1457 gmt. No announcement of broadcast time changes has been observed by BBC Monitoring. Uzbekistan offers assistance to Balkh TV/Radio An Uzbek TV and radio delegation offered assistance to staff at Balkh Radio and TV in the northern city of Mazar-e Sharif, Balkh Province, on 22 November. Bakhtar Information Agency said the head of Balkh Province's TV and radio, Ustad Abdorrab Jahed, received an Uzbek TV and radio technical delegation in his office in Mazar-e Sharif. The general director for technical affairs, Alhaj Abdol Jalil Osmani; the director for TV broadcasting and director for administrative affairs, Mohammad Gol Khan; and other officials discussed the need for technical equipment and spare parts and future cooperation. The Uzbek delegation said they would provide urgently needed assistance to Balkh TV/Radio as soon as possible. US INFORMATION RADIO US PsyOps broadcasts continue US PsyOps Information Radio continues to be observed by BBC Monitoring broadcasting in Pashto and Dari to Afghanistan from 0030- 0530 gmt and 1230-1730 gmt daily. It is heard on 8700 kHz upper sideband mode and at times on the former Kandahar mediumwave frequency of 864 kHz. A third announced channel of 1107 kHz (former Kabul frequency) has not yet been observed by BBC Monitoring. The 864, 980 (reportedly a relay of Voice of America) and 1107 kHz channels are believed to be broadcast from US PsyOps "Commando Solo" EC-130 aircraft. FOREIGN MEDIA US plans new broadcasting service aimed at Muslim world The US is reviewing plans for new government-sponsored international broadcasting services aimed at the Muslim world, which will include a 24-hour, 7-day a week, Arabic-language satellite TV channel. The initiative, which will be overseen by the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), which runs Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, will broadcast to the Middle East and throughout the Muslim world. The radio, TV and internet service will disseminate news and information in 26 languages, reach 40 countries, and specifically target nearly 500 million Muslims between the ages of 15-30, the US-based Salon web site (salon.com) reported on 17 November. The UK's Guardian newspaper on 23 November said Senator Joe Biden, the Democrat chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is the driving force behind the "Initiative 911" scheme to set up a satellite TV channel aimed specifically at younger Muslims who are seen as "anti-American". Voice of America (VOA) has already increased its services to the Middle East and South Asia, including Afghanistan. The US House of Representatives have also approved setting up a "Radio Free Afghanistan". Taleban order journalists to leave Afghanistan Al-Jazeera TV reported 23 November that their former Kandahar correspondent who moved to the Afghan border town of Spin Boldak, Yusuf al-Shuli, had been ordered to leave by the Taleban. He and around 50 other foreign correspondents were given only two hours to leave the town and travel to Pakistan via the Chaman border crossing. Al-Jazeera TV's former Kabul reporter interviewed Al-Jazeera TV's former Kabul correspondent Taysir Alluni has said he met Usamah Bin-Ladin in the southern Taleban stronghold of Kandahar prior to 11 September. In a live interview at the station's studio in Qatar on 22 November, Alluni said he had met Bin-Ladin in Kandahar prior to 11 September, but the meeting was not recorded. He said Bin Ladin had promised to give an interview on his personal life. Answering a question on how he reached Bin-Ladin, Alluni said: "In fact he reached us, we did not reach him." He explained that a taped statement by Bin-Ladin's was delivered to Al-Jazeera's office in Kabul on the first day of the US-led air attacks on 7 October. Alluni said he hoped to return to Kabul adding that many Al-Jazeera reporters were waiting for a permit to return to the capital. Alluni evacuated Kabul shortly before Northern Alliance forces entered the capital on 13 November. On his relationship with the Taleban, Alluni said: "We had good relations with some persons," adding that "some officials were not satisfied with our work". He said that "harassment was practised against me by some people who did not know Al-Jazeera had an office and that the office was licensed by the Foreign Ministry". Asked if he met the Taleban leader Mola Mohammed Omar, Alluni said he had met him once, adding that "he has a strong personality" and "says short sentences only". Alluni said he was detained many times and even beaten by the Taleban for taking photographs - a practice which was forbidden. Compiled by Foreign Media Unit, BBC Monitoring Telephone +44 118 948 6261 e-mail: fmu@mon.bbc.co.uk Source: BBC Monitoring research, 23 Nov 01 (via DXLD) ** ARGENTINA. RAE English to NAm at 0200 on 11715; as usual, RHC to NAm 11705-USB knocks it out. New 6060: splash from REE Madrid on 6055 and lately splash from WYFR 6065 English (Bob Thomas, CT, Nov 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Same old story, but is RAE listening, or impotent? ** ARMENIA [and non]. INTERNET SCAM THREATENS ARMENIA'S IMAGE By Emil Danielyan Armenia is earning an unwanted -- and undeserved -- reputation as a safe haven for perpetrators of a type of Internet crime called "cyber-squatting." The name describes a practice by which people purchase website domain names similar to those of legitimate companies in order to blackmail them. Armenia is figuring increasingly in press reports of people using pornographic material to extort money from owners of mainstream websites around the world. The most recent case of so-called "cyber-squatting" was registered in New Zealand earlier in November. Owners of a hard-core pornography site with a contact address in Yerevan reportedly demanded $6,000 in return for abandoning the site's domain name, which was virtually identical to the address of a site belonging to New Zealand's Ministry of Education. Visitors who mistakenly left off the dot and two-letter country suffix -- in this case, dot nz -- found themselves looking not at education resources and classroom itineraries but at a Dutch pornographic site. The same has happened with at least a dozen other domain addresses that are either similar to popular sites or simply named after prominent people. Targets of the cyber-squatters are amazingly diverse, ranging from a Hollywood actress, to a top Indian politician, to a rugby club in London. The cyber-squatting sites are registered with different Internet companies but have the same content and owner -- an apparently fictitious organization called Domain For Sale. Domain For Sale's contact address in Yerevan is also false. The company has been traced to Glendale, California. That Los Angeles suburb is home to the largest Armenian community in the United States, so there is some reason to believe that Armenian nationals could be involved in the Internet scam. Tom Samuelian is a Yerevan-based American business lawyer. He believes law-enforcement authorities in both the U.S. and Armenia can bring a commercial libel or unfair competition case against the perpetrators. He was alerted to the Internet scam earlier this year by one of his clients, another victim of the cyber-squatting-and- blackmail scheme. In an interview with RFE/RL, Samuelian said: "We don't know whether they are actually in Armenia. But wherever they are, they are using a name that is similar enough to the legal name of a company or organization, and are therefore doing harm to its reputation." But some Internet providers in Armenia disagree with this assertion. Vahram Mkhitarian of the Armenian Computer Center had this to say: "The sale of domain names that are popular or easy to remember is a widely accepted business in the world. There are even countries that will sell their national domain suffixes to anybody willing to pay for them." Mark Perry teaches a course on law and the Internet at the University of Western Ontario in Canada. He argued in an Armenian newspaper recently that while the blackmailers may be acting unethically, it will be difficult to win a lawsuit against them. He said appeals to ICANN -- the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers -- are therefore unlikely to be successful. Samuelian said persistent news reports implicating Armenia in the dubious practice could prove damaging to Yerevan's image and particularly to its growing information technology sector. He called for an official investigation into the reported cases but admitted that tracking down Internet abusers is not an easy task: "It's a kind of hooliganism -- like throwing a rock through a window. If you don't get caught [on the spot], it's hard to catch you." If law-enforcement authorities eventually launch an inquiry, they may find clues by talking with an Armenian student reportedly studying in California on an exchange program. Eighteen-year-old Emil Lazarian faced a lawsuit last summer for creating a porn site bearing the name of Joe Montana, a retired American football star. The U.S. media reported that the web address --- http://www.joemontanafanclub.com --- linked visitors to pornographic sites. It has since been shut down, and it is not clear if it is linked to the other allegedly Armenian domain names promoting pornography. The Yerevan office of the American Council for International Education, a government agency that selects young Armenians to study at U.S. universities and high schools, denies ever dealing with Lazarian. So far, there have been no reported cases of a celebrity or an organization paying the cyber-squatters a "ransom" to protect their good name. The New Zealand government, for example, decided against buying the web address on the advice of police and instead moved to block local school access to the false site. Emil Danielyan is an RFE/RL correspondent. (RFE/RL Media Matters Nov 23 via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. RA Previews for UT Saturday Nov 24: 0305 Rural Reporter - the people and places of country Australia. This week's stories: [2nd of four mentioned] "School via the HF Band". Children living in remote rural Australia often complete their schooling via HF radio. They are connected to their teacher at the School of Distance Education based at the nearest major town. But with new information technology the drawbacks of HF radio for parents and students are becoming more and more apparent. Susan McGuiness is 10 years old and in grade 5 learning from a remote cattle station in the western gulf country. Her mother Lorraine is also her home tutor. Kirsty Baird sat in on one of Susan's lessons, to find out why the days for HF radio are numbered. (0305 should be best on 15515; repeated Sunday 1030 on 13605; also ondemand audio) (via John Figliozzi, swprograms via DXLD) ** AUSTRIA. I have released propagation forecasts for select Voice of Turkey broadcasts and Radio Austria broadcasts in December 2001. http://www.uwasa.fi/~jpe/orf/dec01/ DISCLAIMER: These forecasts are my personal view only, based on a statistical assessment of their ITU requirement files. No guarantees whatsoever for suitability for any purpose. 73! (Jari Perkiömäki, Vaasa, Finland, Nov 23, jpe@uwasa.fi DX LISTENING DIGEST) For 7325 at 0230, this shows best in NE Am, of course, but also a good strip from SD to FL, while there is an area of inferior reception from MN to WV in between. For 17865 Sackville at 1630, there are two hot spots in the Midwest and Southwest, i.e. the first and second hops, while OK is in between, in a slightly inferior area, but still adequate (gh, DXLD) ** CANADA. QUIRKS AND QUARKS: This week on Quirks and Quarks...Lost, then Found: the Riddle of the Compass. The invention of the magnetic compass 700 years ago may have been the most important technological invention since the wheel. It opened the world to navigation beyond the horizon, leading to trade, exploration and the development of modern society. Meet the author of a new book that traces the riddle of how the compass was invented. Also, alligators on a treadmill. That's Quirks and Quarks, with host Bob McDonald, Saturday afternoon at 12:06 (12:36 NT) on CBC Radio One. (CBC Hotsheet via DXLD) First webcast to the Atlantic zone Sat 1605 UT; also via RCI, and 2405. ** CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC. 6100, R. Centrafrique (Presumed), 0625- 0640 Nov 17. Talk in French and Vernacular by energetic woman. 0629 Pop music with talk by man and woman between selections. 0640 Buried by sign on of R. Liberia International. Weak but readable signal (SINPO 24222). (Jim Evans, TN, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** CHINA. Beautiful Chinese Music on SW and MW audible in the Philippines Dear Glen[n]: Sorry I yet again let my subscriptions lapse to your magazines. I still occasionally hear your on-air reports although here in the Philippines I have yet to find a station on which they are audible. RFPI seems out of the question here, at least as a regular catch. I have a Sony ICF-7600W and a little double-conversion Sony analog, the ICF-SW22. There is a very nice overnight music service I have been monitoring here since my arrival in late September. I hear it on 549 kHz MW and on 9380 in the 31 meter band. Thus far I have discovered no other parallel frequencies. It airs from 1 AM to 5:10 AM every day, or from 17 to 2110 UT. The program consists of very nice Chinese traditional music with no interruptions. On Sunday night/Monday morning they played a whole set of ragtime jazz. Do you know what this station is or whether it has an internet audiocast? Inasmuch as I came here on very short notice because my brother was killed here on September 22 I did not bring any of my customary reference books or amateur radio equipment. On the nights when I can't sleep I sit up and monitor this music while listening to the BBC on the other radio or while reading the International Herald Tribune, the local papers or a copy of Joseph Conrad's Heart Of Darkness which I was able to purchase at a local shopping mall shortly after my arrival (Des Preston, KB8UYJ, Manila, Philippines, Nov 23, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Des, Sorry to hear of the cicumstances which brought you to Manila. The only 9380 entry in HFCC B-01 is this: 9380 1000 2400 44SE BEI 50 162 1234567 281001 310302 D CHN CRI RTC That means 50 kW, 162 degrees from Beijing, daily 1000-2400 UT to CIRAF zone 44SE. PWBR ``2002`` says it`s the Taiwan service from Beijing CPBS. WRTH 1998 says there is a 100 kW transmitter in Fujian on 549 kHz with the CNR Taiwan service. The Nagoya DX Circle has lots of info on China, http://www2.starcat.ne.jp/~ndxc/ There is an entry labeled CHN/TWN FREQUENCY LISTS lacking an audio icon, but in the toolbar it calls itself ``Taiwan Live Stream``; the page entirely in Japanese I checked, but could not find any audio links. Here`s another NDXC item on the homepage... (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. Xinjiang PBS(XJBS) Uighur language service also began the transmission from Xian site from November 7 on 9355kHz //5800 at last following the Tibet PBS(XZDT). Xinjiang radio station(XJBS), five languages broadcast completely realize the Internet on-line broadcast, the audience so long as clicked on "the Xinjiang news on- line" through the website: http://www.xjbs.com.cn no matter all may clear hear in where to the Xinjiang people radio station five languages entire day 18 hour broadcast (NDXC Nov 24, via DXLD) ** CHINA [and non]. Today (?) China switched to winter frequencies and added several new ones in the tropical bands. All transmissions below monitored from 1330 CNR-1: New on 4800 [Roth's UNID- Ed.] CNR-2: New on 3985, double satellite delay, also back on old 3290, no delay CRI: Back on 4815, 4883 in Russian from 1300 and 1500, Mongolian from 1400 Xinjiang PBS Chinese on 5060 (also on 7155, 11770), 5060 QRM from R Tashkent in Chinese Uighur on 4980 (also on 7195, 11885) Tibet Tibetan: a) 3990, 5969.6, 7130, no satellite delay, s/off already at 1400, b) 4905, 4920, 5240, 6200, 7385 all single satellite delay, s/off 1700, c) 7150, 9500 double satellite delay s/off 1700. Chinese: 5935, 7170 and with satellite delay 7550 The Tibetan channel had a DJ programme playing lots of very enjoyable modern Tibetan ballads. The a) channels had very good modern audio quality (Olle Alm, Sweden, Nov 18, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Three more transmitters were added in the past few days to CNR from a site in South China to listeners in NW China (as I presume). At 2000 these are on 9810, 11870 and 12030. The signal strength is very good. None of the North China transmitters beaming to NW China offers anything near the good signals of the new S. China outlets. At 2000 the October additions to CNR-1 are now on 6065, 9480, 11785, 13775, 15355. The September additions are on 7355, 7540, 9580, 11590, 11935. These in part serve as jammers. When CNR-2 opens at 2100 the new South China transmitters are on 9545, 9910, 11700, 11740, 11935, 15545. One of these (11935?) may be from a different site as the total should only be 5. Two transmitters continue testing with nonstop music. This music is also used by some jammers with distorted signal, so I believe that the feed is from Beijing, not local. Today Xinjiang seems to have entered into some degree of regular operation. Many frequencies stayed until 1700 s/off. Frequencies Uighur: 3990 (co-channel with presumed Tibet), 4980, 6120 (very strong), 7195 (from about 1300), 7275 (before about 1300), 9560, 11885, 13670 (latter two apparent s/off before end of day) Mongolian: 4500 (after 1300), 6190, 7120, 7230 (off before 1300, co-channel QRM from Xi'an with CNR-1), 9705 (possible early s/off) Kazakh: 4330 (late s/on?), 6015, 7340, 9470 (latter two s/off 1300 or so) Chinese: 3950, 5060, 5960, 7310, 11770 (31 mb not found) Tibet In the early afternoon they were heard on 9490, absent on 7385, even after 9490 close. 6200 also seemed to be off. The Chinese have been adding transmitters like mad. The September group seem to have been redirected from other services (jamming) and still serve in part as jammers of the co-channel, clean audio type. The later transmitters are new ones (at least 15 noted, plus many more in Xinjiang and Tibet for provincial services). As to why this is happening, you will have to ask Mr. Jiang, Ze-min himself about that, but apparently they want to keep domestic listeners away from listening to the wrong stations by making their own programmes omnipresent in the bands (Olle Alm, Sweden, Nov 21, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Today Tibet in Tibetan was active on all main freqs until 1700 s/off, i.e. 4905, 4920, 5240, 6200, 7385, 9490. Xinjiang was at full activity throughout the day. An additional frequency found today was the Chinese channel on 9885 (until 1700). The proliferating CNR-1 network has added several new frequencies in the past week or so: 9810 1400-1730 11810 1100-1400 11840 1130-1400 11870 1500-1730 13635 1300-1730 15320 1130-1500 17615 0800-1300 17850 0800-1130 21540 0800-0900 21705 0800-0900 These are strong or very strong and seem to be transmitting from S. China to SW China, just as the other CNR transmitters added in the last month (Olle Alm, Sweden, Nov 22, Cumbre DX via DXLD) {25670: another one: see UNIDENTIFIED at bottom} ** CHINA [non]. CLANDESTINE from ? to CHINA. Falun Dafa Radio: I was only hearing this one at the end of its 2100-2200 transmission, so I sent Ludo Maes a short audio file so that he could confirm that I was hearing them. He did and suggested I try 9945 as well, a channel I previously couldn't hear here. I heard both 5925 and 9945 on Nov 19. 5925 with open carrier as early as 2050, but no open carrier until 2057v on 9945. The latter was stronger but only had about 30 seconds of clear programming before it was blocked by a CNR jammer. 5925 was a bit weaker but remained free of jamming. There is a big delay between the two frequencies. I had already tuned away from 9945 and the programming on 5925 still hadn't started (Hans Johnson, FL, Nov 19, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** CONGO. Radio station on rural world development launched | Text of report by Congolese radio from Brazzaville on 20 November The director-general of Radio Congo has announced the creation of a new radio station, broadcasting rural life news. The new radio station is aimed at the development of the nation in general and of the rural areas in particular. For a long time, Brazzaville residents have wished for a new station with a listening audience in Brazzaville and its surroundings. The new radio station will broadcast news related to the rural world development. Every social and rural group will have easy access in order to inform listeners about any social project aimed at rural development. Source: Radio Congo, Brazzaville, in French 0700 gmt 20 Nov 01 (via BBCM via DXLD) The Congolese need a few pointers in basic journalism. What`s the **name** of the station??? The frequency? Could it be on SW? Schedule? (gh, DXLD) ** ECUADOR. 3259.94, HC___, Stéreo Carrizal, Portoviejo. Nov 22, 2001 – cd 0230* UT. Reactivated after being off air during 4 years. Was heard for the first time the evening of Nov 22, with nonstop, Latin American dance music in a hot-tempered tempo until close down at 0230, without saying anything. Kept on listening the next morning, Nov 23 0950, then with Mexican music. ID at 1002 UT, making me very surprised: "Radio Capital R.N.C, Portoviejo". The programme consisted of news and ads from Portoviejo and from surrounding towns like Manta, Monte Cristi, Rocafuerte and Chone. 1045-1100 UT a joint broadcast with "Radio Caravana" in Quito and Guayaquil. Gave a telephone-number (+593 5)632 773. I called Radio Capital at 0530 local time and talked to a very surprised technician --- he had no idea that they transmitted on shortwave! He said the station broadcasts on FM. Nor did he know about "Stéreo Carrizal". I called "PacíficTel" in Guayaquil to get the telephone number for Sr. Ovidio Velásquez, who according to WRTH is "Managing Director." of the station. I had a long nice conversation with Sr. Velásquez, who lives in "Calceta", a few km from "Portoviejo", and works as ``Notarius Publicus". His explanation: "Stéreo Carrizal" has been off air during 4 years but he still owns the license for the frequency of 3260 kHz. He told me that his technicians were on location in "Portoviejo" to test the old 350W- transmitter. Listed QTH is "Calceta", and that it was a pure "coincidence" that his technicians tested relaying the FM-transmitter "Radio Capital R.C.N." in Portoviejo! If the transmitter will be moved to "Calceta" later he couldn`t tell at this moment. This very nice man promised to call me later and also said that all are very welcome to inform him by fax about the reception of their transmission - FAX: +593 5 685 126. His private telephone number is +593 5 685 126 resp. +593 5 685 169. He has no e-mail. 73 from BM in Quito! (Björn Malm, translated by SW Bulletin Ed. Thomas Nilsson for DXLD) ** GEORGIA. 11805, Radio Georgia, 0630 Nov 12, sign on announcements, ID "... Worldwide Broadcasting From The Republic Of Georgia", OM with news report, local music, at 0657 killed by powerhouse DW sign on I/S on 11810. Fair (Joe Talbot, Alberta, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** GUATEMALA. 4700 [sic]. I heard Radio Amistad this morning Nov 19 from 1120 to 1140 at S3 to S4 with some QRM from an adjacent RTTY station starting at 1140. When we left Friday, Radio Amistad S/W was running 440 watts input power --- probably 350 watts or so output --- but the line voltage varies quite a lot so the power level will vary also. I'll try to contact the folks there to find out if they are planning to print some QSL cards in the event they get any reports (Larry Baysinger, KY, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** GUATEMALA. 4845, Radio K'ekchí (still operating at < 1 kW) during same time period. We repaired the main transmitter and had it up to 4.5 kW when the insulation of the newly repaired modulation transformer broke down and put it off the air. We ordered a new replacement transformer to be air-shipped (at a cost of $1250 plus $1000 for shipping ! ! !) but it didn't arrive in time for us to install before our return flight to the States. I'm supposed to go back in early January to install it IF they cannot find someone in the capital (Guatemala City) to do it for them. I think the Brothers will probably try to do it themselves --- I carefully tagged all the wires and marked the schematic diagram so that it should be easy to do. Current power is at 750 to 800 watts rather than at the 5 kW level we had hoped to achieve. We re-tubed the little transmitter and gave it a 50,000 mile checkup (Larry Baysinger, KY, Nov 21, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** GUYANA. 3291.35, V.O. Guyana, 0834 Nov 20, Indian Subcontinental MX. EE announcements w/ID @ 0845: "You're tuned to the Voice of Guyana..." Strong carrier, but still undermodulated, though much better then in recent months. This station became unlistenable due to weak modulation; now at least, the audio is readable, when the signal strength is high (David Hodgson, TN, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** ICELAND. Re: American Navy station on 1530 kHz This is a very nice catch. My most recent source (2000 WRTH) lists this as only 250 watts. Perhaps a more powerful transmitter is in use now, but there would be no reason for increasing power since this transmission is only intended for the Keflavik area. Hard to beat the ground conductivity of salt water! -(David Hodgson, TN, ex-Iceland, Nov 23, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. 11620, AIR 2045-2230 Nov 20. English program for Australasia from Bangalore. Also 0100-0430 with program in Urdu also from Bangalore on same frequency. Both broadcasts heard at strongest signal level ever for AIR at this Midwest U.S. site (Stephen Bass, OH, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** IRAN. "Voice of Al-Aqsa Intifadah from Tehran" heard on SW A previously unheard Arabic-language radio station identifying itself as "Voice of Al-Aqsa Intifadah from Tehran" (Arabic: "Sawt Intifadat al-Aqsa min Tehran") was observed by BBC Monitoring on 22 November. (Al-Aqsa is the name of a mosque in Jerusalem and is the third holiest place of pilgrimage in the Islamic world after Mecca and Medina.) The broadcast was heard on 7105 and 7175 kHz shortwave from tune-in at 1909 gmt until it went off the air at 1928 gmt. The following programming was heard: - Song on Islamic resistance - Revolutionary propaganda: unidentified speaker says "They will have to kill us all, destroy all our homes, and annihilate us all... to kill our resistance." - Speaker introduces the programme as "Voice of Al-Aqsa Intifadah from Tehran" - "Stars in the sky of glory": Second episode about martyr Abdallah al-Ifranji The broadcast was not in parallel with Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran's external service in Arabic which was observed at the same time on 6200, 7115 and 9860 kHz. At 1930 gmt Iranian radio's Arabic service carried its regular broadcast aimed at Palestinian listeners called "Voice of Palestine, Voice of the Palestinian Islamic Revolution". This broadcast, which has been heard regularly since the mid 1980s, was observed on 22 November at 1930-2030 gmt on 6065, 6200, 7115, 9860 kHz shortwave. Source: BBC Monitoring research in English 22 Nov 01 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** ISRAEL. 6973, Galei Zahal (Israel Defense Forces Radio) was fairly clear into NE Ohio last night Nov 23. Monitored from 0045 to 0230 with usual music and news format. The announcer also seemed to be taking phone calls from some listeners at times (Les Silvi, Mentor, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALAYSIA. Cumbre DX 373.5 Special follow up: 4895 parallel with 7270 is also an excellent frequency pair to listen [until 1500] (Don Nelson, OR, Nov 21, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Some background information for those of you who are interested in more than just radio. Contrary to normal practice, the position of king (Yang di-PertuanAgong) of Malaysia is not hereditary. A new king is elected every five years. He is elected by a.o. the nine sultans of Malaysia and is one of these sultans. The positions as sultans, on the other hand, are hereditary. The late Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah, Sultan of the State of Selangor, became Sultan of Selangor already in 1961 and was elected Yang di- Pertuan Agong in 1999, thus serving only two years of his five year term (Olle Alm, Sweden, Nov 21, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** MEXICO. XERTA, Radio Transcontinental de América is drifting around as low as 4760 on the 12th to as high as 4900 on the 17th (Héctor García Bojorge, DF, Nov 19, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** NEW ZEALAND. 3935, Radio Reading Service, 1226 Nov 12, OM reading an E Mail and Postal address in Indianapolis IN, at 1229 YL with "...Radio Reading Service", then mx interlude. Poor to fair with ARO QRM (Joe Talbot, Alberta, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Must`ve been AWR Wavescan (gh, DXLD) ** NEW ZEALAND. RNZI previews for UT Sunday Nov 25 on 17675: 0204 - Mai I Te Kü Ki Te Kütä - Tainui Stevens presents an eight-part series celebrating the diversity and depth of Maori music. (4) Tuturu: What defines traditional Maori music? The voice is one of a wide range of Maori musical instruments. Maori translate their lives into all kinds of waiata. With new rhythms and melodies, they have changed shape but remain quintessentially Maori. 0235 - The Band Programme - John Harrison presents music from the world of brass (via John Figliozzi, swprograms via DXLD) ** NIGERIA. For a nice dose of VON`s interval signal and IDs, tune 15120 in as early as 0450 UT, as I did Nov 23. If they want to be a real international broadcaster, they`ll start broadcasting to NAm earlier in our prime, their middle-of-the-night (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** QATAR. Re: DXLD 1-178 Nov 21, 2001. The Al-Jazeera Satellite Channel is available free to air on Eurobird and Hotbird 3 (Harry Brooks, UK, Nov 23, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ROMANIA. Finally! RRI English to NAm is on 11940, quite good, and 11830, JBA due to 11825 splash [at 0200?]. At 0400 9550 good and 11830 hit-or-miss, sometimes a no-show (Bob Thomas, CT, Nov 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. Hi, Trollhättan Sweden here again. Last night I came across: 3922.7, 22 Nov, 2125. Radio Samorodinka, Moscow, 22332. I have never tried to hear it before, but there it was, the one-man (?) talk show, with a strong basis of articulation and massive Russian men's choirs. Just like other DX-ers have described it. Sign off at 2145 (Johan Berglund, hard-core-dx via DXLD) ** RUSSIA/VIETNAM [non]. Re: the VoV item concerning 0330-0400 7260, 0100-0130, 0230-0300 5940. Wwould not seem to be intended for European listeners at those times. Their former sched seems to indicate transmissions only to N & C Am during those hours - via Russia? And using 7260? Yes. This was actually the previous schedule until they cancelled Tbilisskaya in favour of Sackville. HFCC shows 5940 0100 0400 7,8 ARM 250 315 1234567 281001 310302 D RUS VOR MCB 7260 0100 0400 11,12,27,36,37,46 ARM 500 290 1234567 281001 310302 D RUS VOR MCB so Voice of Vietnam on 5940 and 7260 should indeed originate from this site --- if these frequencies are really on air, of course. If so this would be the airtime they no longer use on 7390/7440 for Europe since early November. 7260: Well, MCCBN had never scruples to [not] use the 7100...7300 range for transmissions towards the Americas; just think of 7125/7180 from Grigoriopol`. In the past 7125 was 7105 instead, and a couple of years ago the MCCBN cleared a clash by moving this outlet 5 kHz down to 7100, so the lower sideband of this tremendous signal was within the European 40 metres ham band. The German regulation authority did some direction finding, concluded that the signal originates from the Ukraine and sent an official complaint to Kiev. Well, Grigoriopol` stayed on 7100 until the winter season was over and the change to the summer frequency 9665 due. And today? The HFCC file includes following registrations: 7100 2200 0400 38 VRN 100 000 1234567 281001 310302 D BUL RBU VARNA 7100 0330 0530 39N AHW 250 0 1234567 281001 310302 D S-A IRN IRB IRB 7100 1930 2030 29 KAM 100 340 1234567 281001 310302 D RUSSIAN IRN IRB (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Nov 23, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOMALIA. Internet link with rest of the world cut off | Excerpt from report by Somali Banaadir radio on 22 November Somalia's Internet link with the rest of the world was cut off for the first time yesterday following reports linking some Internet service providers to Al-Barakat company, which owns shares in some of them. Many Somali people have expressed anxiety at the development since the Internet was an important medium of communication, linking Somalia to the rest of the world. Reports say this development is yet another problem for Somalis living abroad... Source: Radio Banaadir, Mogadishu, in Somali 1700 gmt 22 Nov 01 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** SOMALILAND. (Corrected) Somalia: New independent radio, TV said launched [Inserting editorial notes] Excerpt from report by Somaliland Net web site on 20 November An independent shortwave radio station and a TV station were for the first time opened in Boorama, Awdal Region. The stations officially started their broadcasts this week. The radio, which went on air on Friday night, 16 November, can be heard on shortwave one, 5.5 MHz. The radio broadcasts for 10 hours. The new radio station was initiated by some Boorama technicians. The head of the new Boorama radio station, Mr Deq Mahmud Du'ale, who spoke to Jamhuuriya said the station is equipped with electronic equipment and unlike other radio stations doesn't need a transmitter or antennas [as published]. It's also a light mobile radio and doesn't require mains power [probably solar powered]... [BBC Monitoring East African Unit found Ethiopia's Radio Tigray broadcasting from Mekele on the above frequency at 1600 gmt on 22 November] Source: Somaliland Net web site in Somali 20 Nov 01 (via BBCM Nov 23 via DXLD) ``5.5 MHz`` could be very approximate (gh) ** TIBET. See CHINA ** TURKEY. I have released propagation forecasts for select Voice of Turkey broadcasts in December: http://www.uwasa.fi/~jpe/trt/dec01/ DISCLAIMER: These forecasts are my personal view only, based on a statistical assessment of their ITU requirement files. No guarantees whatsoever for suitability for any purpose. 73! (Jari Perkiömäki, Vaasa, Finland jpe@uwasa.fi Nov 23, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Admittedly has insufficient data for 6020 at 0400-0500 to NAm, but shows barely reaching Canada, not much of USA; 9655 at 2300-2400 a bit better, barely reaching OK at the start but losing out an hour later. 17815 at 1330 reaches ENAm well (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. WWFV heard announcing their sked on Nov 15 as daily 6 PM to 2 AM on 5085 [2300-0700 UT]. So confirming that 6890 has been dropped and the fact that they are only using one transmitter. Still using 12172 on Sunday afternoons for Pastor Fulcher's program, though (Hans Johnson, FL, Nov 18, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** U S A. WJCR: I can't hear either transmitter so I assume they are off the air again (Larry Baysinger, KY, Nov 19, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** U S A. This afternoon I heard a harmonic of Radio Martí, Miami FL on 43.35 MHz in AM mode. The harmonic had lots of fading up & down while the primary frequency of 21.675 was rock solid. 43.35 is the highest frequency that I've heard SW harmonics on. The Marathon FL xmtr isn't that far away. I wonder if this could be Es rather than F2 (VEM3ONT22 William Hepburn, WTFDA / CIDX Brampton, Peel, ON, CANADA, WTFDA via DXLD) There are no SW transmitters at Marathon FL. 21675 is transmitted from Delano, California (and a powerhouse here too, not far off- beam). So it would likely be F2 to Ontario (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Thanks Glenn, my mistake (forgot Martí is only on MW from Marathon, doh). KCBR Delano makes lots of sense with all the 42 MHz California Highway Patrol stuff blasting in. Thanks! (Bill Hepburn, ibid.) Ah yes, KCBR, memories of two sesquidecades ago or more... (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. Media | US plans TV station to rival al-Jazeera Satellite channel would be aimed at anti-American Muslim youngsters, while allies release details of regime's alleged brutality Duncan Campbell in Los Angeles Friday November 23, 2001 The Guardian An Arabic-language satellite television station financed by the US and aimed at winning hearts and minds in the Muslim world could shortly become a reality. President George Bush has been told of Initiative 911, which would put half a billion dollars into a channel that would compete in the region with al-Jazeera and would be aimed specifically at younger Muslims who are seen as anti-American.... X-URL: http://media.guardian.co.uk/Print/0,3858,4305529,00.html (via Daniel Say, Nov 23, swprograms via DXLD) See also AFGH, BBCM ** U S A. Press Release: Special Islamic Understanding Program on WWCR-Shortwave --- For Immediate Release 5 November 2001 POC: George McClintock WWCR, World Wide Christian Radio, located in Nashville, Tennessee, in the USA is airing a special radio message by Timothy Abraham, a former Muslim. Timothy was raised in the Delta region of Egypt as a fundamentalist Muslim, but eventually came to the US and became a Christian. "Timothy Abraham Ministries" is now devoted to reaching Muslims for the Lord and sharing with them the Gospel of Christ. This English language program is called "Jihad In Light Of the Quran & The Hadith." Muslims represent 1/5 of the world's population. They are the followers of Islam, a religion that emerged late in the sixth century. It began with a man named Mohammed who wrote the Qur`an, the Muslim holy book. This special radio program about Muslims will be aired on WWCR as follows: Thursday-3PM-Central, 2100 UTC-12.160 MHz. Friday-11:00AM- Central, 1600 UTC-15.685 MHz. Sunday-10:00PM-Central, 0400 UTC- Monday-3.215 MHz (WWCR Press Release on website Nov 23 via DXLD) ** U S A. World Harvest Radio in South Bend Indiana announced that its transmitter in Greenbush, Maine, WHRA has begun broadcasts directly to Afghanistan. WHRA has been broadcasting 90 degrees to Africa on 17.650 MHz from 1600 to 2300. Now WHRA is broadcasting 45 Degrees to The Middle East, including Afghanistan, on 17.650 from 1600 to 1900 UT and 90 Degrees to Africa at 1900 - 2300 UT. Programming includes an Arabic program at 1600 UTC time and one in Persian at 1605 UTC time [sic]. (Joe Brashier, WHR South Bend Nov 21, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Viz.: 1600 Mo-Fr 1100 AM - 1105 AM Monday - Friday Bible Pathway (Arabic) Bible Pathway Ministries 17.650 MHz ANGEL 5 1605 Mo-Fr 1105 AM - 1120 PM [sic] Monday - Friday Voice of Heavenly Hope (Persian) Ali Abed 17.650 MHz ANGEL 5 (WHR website Nov 23 via DXLD) ** U S A [and non]. A good site for area code information, maps, lists of new codes, splits of old codes, etc.: http://www.lincmad.com/index.html Some urban areas have two codes - the city of Toronto (i.e. the M postal code) shares 416 and 647, though I still haven't seen any (647) local numbers, even for cellphones or pagers. 73 (Mike Brooker, Ont., NRC-AM via DXLD) ** U S A. A reminder to check occasionally our Grafick Gaphes & Oddable Atrocities page for some fitful amusement, a new item just added: Holiday second-string woes. On ABC World News Tonight, Thanksgiving, Nov 22, 2001 at 2349 UT, substitute anchor Charlie Gibson in a story about Vatican honcho PJP2 speaking via Internet instead of in person, referred to ``the South Pacific nation of Oceana`` !! Charlie must be living in 1984! First of all, the term is Oceania, with ``Oceana`` a too-common mistake. There is no such ``nation`` as any SWL, DXer or Philatelist surely knows; it`s just a term for the Pacific area in general. Bet regular anchor Peter Jennings would not have made such a mistake (gh, http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio/grafgaff.html via DXLD) ** U S A. A Struggle to Keep Up for TV Caption Writers November 22, 2001 --- By ALESSANDRA STANLEY Some television captions were baffling, like Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld's mention of the "instinct for cap larries," during a Pentagon briefing. Others were almost racy. "He has to rely on institutions that can tush out the vote," a union official was described as saying about Mark Green's chances of winning New York City's mayoral election. And one was downright alarming about the state of American television. "Two networks are helping mass murderers," President Bush appeared to say in a denunciation of Osama bin Laden. A few typographical errors are inevitable in television captions for a live broadcast, and mistyping "capillaries," "push" and "terrorist networks" (not "two networks") are relatively minor mistakes. Still, errors in real-time captioning, subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing, increased noticeably after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 as stenographers raced to keep up with an unusually high volume of live news events, briefings, special programs and news conferences. Twenty million televisions equipped with caption decoders are sold every year in North America, said Gary D. Robson, the author of "Inside Captioning." On Sept. 11, local stations, cable channels and the major networks went live and stayed live, and so did the captions. In bars, health clubs, offices, airports and tens of millions of private homes, captions became instant written confirmation of an unfolding reality too horrifying to absorb. Most Americans just wanted to understand what was happening. Some industry veterans also noticed the pressure behind the scenes. "Yes, there were more errors right after Sept. 11," Mr. Robson said. "People were working very long shifts, and also, so many local stations were going live that companies did not have enough professionals. A lot had to put trainees on the air." An estimated 22 million deaf and hearing-impaired Americans depend on captions to understand what is unfolding on their television sets and in the world beyond. Many also noticed slips, but few took offense. "Most of our people said they felt sympathetic to the poor court reporter trying to keep up with this," Bill Sparks, a spokesman for the National Association for the Deaf, said. "But there were some gaps, and there were a lot of people frantic for information." Many captioners went far beyond the call of duty to keep viewers informed. Holli Miller, 32, who transcribes television shows using satellite TV, a special stenography machine and a dedicated phone line from her living room in Des Moines, became a hero of her company, the National Captioning Institute, when she kept transcribing the Sept. 11 live coverage of WNYW, the New York City affiliate of the Fox network, for eight hours without a break. "I had already been on live for three and a half hours and was getting ready to sign off when the first tower was hit," Ms. Miller recalled. That was 8:48 a.m. in New York. It was 7:48 in Des Moines. Still typing, she waved her 8-year- old off to school and asked her father, a retiree, to watch her 5-year-old and 1-year-old. Ms. Miller did not pause even when the second plane hit. "It was so horrifying, but I didn't cry or stop," she said. "Adrenaline kicks in and you just focus on what you are doing instead of the horror." Ms. Miller, who has 11 years' experience in captioning, said she feared that if she stopped, it might be impossible for anyone else to get a working phone line in Manhattan and replace her. Networks suspended commercials, as did local stations, robbing captioners of their breaks and opportunities to use a bathroom. "I didn't want to unhook, this was too important," she said. Exhausted, Ms. Miller called it quits at 2:30 p.m. her time, and Fox 5 news carried no captions for half an hour while her employers scrambled to locate an employee in New Jersey who could hook up her telephone. Ms. Miller said she had been captioning early morning shows for WNYW for four years and confessed that even on an uneventful day that is no easy task. "You don't hear words like `Verrazano' or `Gowanus' every day - not in Iowa," she said. The emergency has ebbed a little, but the demands on captioning companies remain far higher than normal, said Karen A. Finkelstein, the manager of real-time captioning services for the National Captioning Institute, one of the top television captioning companies. Anthrax, the war in Afghanistan and events like the crash of an Airbus A300 in Queens, have kept captioners working overtime. MSNBC, for example, provided captions from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. before the terrorist attacks, but has now switched to 24-hour coverage. "One of the really apparent things after Sept. 11 was the difference in quality," Ms. Finkelstein said. "We train our stenographers for six months before they are allowed to work. Some smaller competitors grab people off the street and put them on the air, and in a crisis you can really tell." There are two kinds of captioning: One is offline, done by fast typists who work on taped programs, using standard PC keyboards and professional video-editing software. "Real-time captioning" for live programming require the same kind of machine used by court stenographers, with 22 keys that are pressed in combinations like piano chords. Captioners are paid $20 to $120 an hour, Mr. Robson said, but the work requires about an hour of unpaid preparation time for every hour on the air, to study the spelling of names and other related research. A good captioner can type 225 words a minute, but errors do occur. A television reporter doing a live stand-up talked of "widows in pain" after Sept. 11. The caption read, "windowpanes." The Federal Communications Commission set a schedule requiring that captioning be phased in for almost all television programming by 2006. Now, stations are required to caption 25 percent of their programming, though most networks and local stations do much more. On Jan. 1, 2002, stations must caption half of their programming. The new rules have helped produce new, small caption companies with little experience in crisis captioning. But even veterans who captioned live reports of the Oklahoma City bombing said they had never dealt with anything like the attacks of Sept. 11. "That was very, very emotional, but this was even harder," Kathy Robson, the wife of Mr. Robson and a professional captioner, who like many of her colleagues, worked overtime for days in a row after the attacks. "I kept on typing, but I was just glad nobody could see my face." http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/22/national/22TUBE.html?ex=1007537417&ei=1&en=2c542134912b6a97 Copyright 2001 The New York Times Company (via Bill Westenhaver, DXLD) ** U S A. We remembered just in time that Friday after TG is the traditional slot on NPR`s Talk of the Nation Science Friday for the annual Ig-Nobel Awards, and caught the live feed of the amusing taped show at 1906 UT November 23. It remains available ondemand after 2300 UT, probably at this link not yet posted at DXLD presstime: http://www.npr.org/ramfiles/totn/20011123.totn.ram (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UZBEKISTAN. 9715, R Tashkent, 1215 Nov 20, For commentary on the Afghan situation from a next door neighbor, one can try R Tashkent's English service at 1200-1230. Right now, there is strong greyline propagation to the Eastern part of the USA, during this time period; trouble is, there is co-channel QRM on 9715 [RN Bonaire in Spanish], which is the preferred frequency propagation-wise. I found that // 5060 is much easier to copy (when conditions are decent), though signal is weaker. I hear no activity from Uzbekistan on their intermediate frequencies of 5975 or 7285 during this time slot. Also check for Indian tropical DX on this same path now, and about a month after the winter solstice (David Hodgson TN, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Those further west should also try the 1330 UT English broadcast which per old program schedules has different content (gh, DXLD) ** VENEZUELA. 4980, Voz Cristiana --- After some nights of hearing only Latin American music and short announcements there, at last I got at exactly on the top of the hour 0200 IS and IDs of Voz Cristiana with the very same quality like Ecos del Torbes was. Have Ecos del Torbes died? It sounds doubtful for me, but maybe Voz Cristiana only leases airtime at the station that still is called Ecos del Torbes? IS sound the very same like one from Chile (Artyom Prokhorov, Russia, Nov 16, Cumbre DX via DXLD) [Ecos is alive and well, anyone else hearing Voz here? Ed. Hans Johnson, FL, Cumbre DX via DXLD] ** VIETNAM. Following refers to an item in DXLD 1-172 under AFGHANISTAN [and non], which originated with Adrian Peterson, AWR Wavescan, subsequently in CRW (gh) History correction for Project Jenny Martin, In a recent "History" article posted on CRW, a partial history of the U.S. Navy Project Jenny was provided. I just wanted to provide some minor additions and corrections to the article if the info should ever be needed again. By the way, I am one of the Project Jenny broadcast engineers who designed, fabricated and operated the Blue Eagles in Vietnam from 1965 to 1969. The aircraft that were utilized for the first airborne broadcast tests during 1962 were C-118 aircraft home based out of NAS Patuxent River MD. The equipment was not permanently installed, but rather strapped aboard the aircraft with cargo straps in a temporary installation. The nose numbers of these C-118 aircraft were 611 and 429. In 1965 we removed this equipment and reinstalled it on the Blue Eagle aircraft when Project Jenny was started. The incident in which you reported the mysterious Voice of the Blue Eagle test broadcasts was in fact, 1965 not 1964. I was one of the individuals flying the test broadcasts out of Andrews AFB while being involved in the construction of the two television broadcast aircraft. The test flights in 1965 were broadcast from Blue Eagle I (BUNO 131627) an NC-121J Super Constellation aircraft. Project Jenny originally had one aircraft that was equipped as a radio broadcast aircraft (FM, AM and SW), this was Blue Eagle I and two aircraft (also super connies) Blue Eagle II and III which were equipped with essentially the same equipment as Blue Eagle I plus two TV transmitters (and associated peripheral equipment). These aircraft were completed in 1965 and deployed to Vietnam in Jan of 66. The missions for the Blue Eagles in Vietnam were to fly TV broadcast missions for AFVN (the American Forces Vietnam Network) and TNVN (the South Vietnamese government TV station) from Tan Son Nhut AB Saigon, and to broadcast PSYOPS radio broadcasts for SOG (see the book SOG- The Secret Wars of Americas Commandos in Vietnam - By John Plaster) flying out of DaNang AB RVN. In late 1966 a 4th TV broadcast aircraft was completed and added to the inventory. The Blue Eagles were also utilized to broadcast VOA/USIA broadcasts in 1968 when the VOA station at Hue was overrun and knocked off the air during Tet 68. The last broadcasts by the Blue Eagles in Vietnam were in 1970, at which time the aircraft were retired from active service due to excessive age of the aircraft, and frequent hits by enemy ground fire. At the end of the Vietnam War, the airborne broadcast mission was taken over by the U.S. Air Force flying broadcast equipped EC-121 (super connie) aircraft. This project was known as Coronet Solo. This capability continued until the late 70's when the Commando Solo EC-130 aircraft were fabricated and turned over to the 193 SOW of the PA ANG in 78 or 79. We have some of the photos of the Project Jenny Blue Eagles posted on our AFVN web site, along with a short video of the aircraft that I found on a Discovery Channel "Wings" program. The URL for the web site is in my signature block below. I also have reams of articles taken from various publications during the middle to late 60's on Project Jenny. Steve Robbins, RMC(AC), USNR, Ret. Project Jenny / VXN-8 Det WESTPAC Airborne Radio/TV Broadcast via NC121J aircraft Blue Eagle III (131641) / Saigon 66 / AFVN-THVN TV Blue Eagle I (131627) / DaNang 67-69 / PSYOPS Radio http://www.geocities.com/afvn/robbins.html (via Martin Schöch, Germany, CRW, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VIETNAM [non]. See RUSSIA Steve, Thank you for the splendid information in your update on Project Jenny. This information is very interesting and very useful. We will run an additional feature in our DX program, "Wavescan". some time early in the New Year in which your update information will be presented. Thank you again (Adrian M. Peterson, Wavescan via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 25670, Station playing non-stop Chinese orchestral music (the type one associates with traditional Chinese theatre). Heard one day only Nov 16 from 0842 tune in until 0930 UT tuneout. No announcements. Very good steady AM signal, similar strength to Deutsche Welle 25740 audible in same time period. No trace since (Bryan Clark, New Zealand, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Likely another of those ubiquitous new-transmitter tests, proving here their 11 metre capability (gh, DXLD) THIS DAY`S FRENCH LESSON Re ZIMBABWE [non]: (V. Korinek-ARS [sic --- has he moved from South Africa to Sa`udi Arabia? Down with these wacky French country abbreviations! --gh]) Of course he is still in AFS. Thank you, Glenn. Sorry, Vashek (Martin Schöch, CRW, DX LISTENING DIGEST) {comment from Dr. Anton J. Kuchelmeister supposed to go here, but will appear in 1-181} As many previous issues, including 1-179 should prove, I am perfectly happy to deal with material in the French language. I just don`t see the point, when writing in English (or German, or any other language) of using arbitrary country-abbreviations based on French, when we have perfectly good names for all countries in English (and in some cases, abbrs. as well). When writing in English, why in the world should we slip into French in order to talk about Afrique du Sud, or Arabie Saoudite -- countries where French is not native, either? I also hope that some readers appreciate that, as a general policy, I am constantly expanding abbrs. when relaying material from many other DXers and editors enamoured of abbrs., in order to make DXLD more readable and explicit. The increase in bandwidth consumed is minuscule compared to the benefit (gh, DXLD) ###