DX LISTENING DIGEST 1-210, December 31, 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 #1111 (STREAM) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1111.ram (DOWNLOAD) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1111.rm (SUMMARY) http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio/wor1111.html NEXT AIRINGS on RFPI: Tue 1900, UT Wed 0100, 0700, 1300 on some of: 7445-USB/AM, 15040v, 21815-USB HOLIDAY MONITORING: both programming and DX, shortwave and web: http://www.worldofradio.com/holiday.html IMPORTANT NOTE: Starting with next issue, DXLD will be archived at our new website: CONTENTS: http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html NEXT ISSUE 2-001 named: http://www.worldofradio.com/dxld2001.html and so on in that format, /dxld2002 etc. The 2001 CONTENTS PAGE, remaining at angelfire, will be renamed: http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio/dxldmid1.html ANOMALY ALERT where each new issue is notified, et al., also moves: http://www.worldofradio.com/anomaly.html UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS Glenn, just read DXLD #209. I'm one who also does not always have the time to immediately read the latest. Yours is easily the most comprehensive source of breaking SW news, and I for one am extremely grateful to have your expertise with us. Too often the inexperience of hosts and announcers on SWL/DX programs is obvious, with clearly incorrect information. Embarrassing to the listener, and detracts greatly from the show, in my view. Rest assured, I take the time to download your programs on a floppy, and take it with me to read on my laptop when time allows. Best of luck in 2002, and Happy new year! (Walt Salmaniw, BC) I work at the Texas Commission for the Blind. I am not blind myself. I just went to the link you provided and it appears to be accessible to me. Next, I changed it to just your site, http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio and I see where the problem is. angelfire, as with most other "free" websites, open a second browser and it has ads in it. All I do is close it, but the second browser window opening makes it harder for JAWS (or whatever other software the blind person uses) to use (Bill Eastman, swprograms via DXLD) Ah yes, the annoying a/f popups --- tho sighted, I hardly see them any more myself. However, there is none of that at my new site http://www.worldofradio.com where I expect to be storing most if not all new info starting January 1, 2002! (gh, DXLD) In many instances in life, I chat with people regarding items having long forgotten where the original source was. In no instances is my "propagation" of such items without regard to their original source deliberate. If someone later raises their hand and says, "hey, that was my idea in the first place!", I'll most certainly thank them for their efforts. A note to Glenn: one organizational feature I would suggest regarding DXLD is to provide a link to a cumulative YTD version of the digest with each new edition. The YTD version would simply have the latest edition appended to the end. That way, whether it's a txt or an html file, a single 'search' or 'find' task will find references to a given item and better enable others to review the history of comments or see where it was first mentioned. This is how I store my NASWA Journal columns, so I can try to rotate subject matter and not cover the same information month after month. I also want to publicly thank Glenn for his work to summarize the world of international broadcasting via WOR, COM, and DXLD, as well as his posts here. I have much less time available each day to listen to the radio – or follow newsgroups -- than I would like, and the investment made by Glenn and others truly benefits us all. May everyone here have a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2002. Regards, (Richard Cuff, Allentown, PA USA, List Owner and co-founder, swprogams Dec 31 via DXLD) YTD file not a bad idea, tho it would eventually eat up a lot of webspace. Note that the *contents* dxldmid page is already year-to- date, as is the WOR/COM summary page http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio/wor2001.html Once again, more testimonial-like remarks at bottom with tones (gh) ** AFGHANISTAN [non]. Radio Voice of Afghanistan broadcasts Radio Voice of Afghanistan, which is based in London, continues to be observed on its scheduled frequency of 9950 kHz from 1330-1430 gmt daily. On 30 December the station announced that it would broadcast private or business advertisements from Afghans living in or outside Afghanistan (BBC Monitoring research 31 Dec 01 via DXLD) ** AFGHANISTAN. New year's wishes Fakhria Sroush, Producer and presenter, Afghanistan state television station --- Monday December 31, 2001, The Guardian My biggest hope for the new year is to pick up where I left off five years ago. I want to work, to make television programmes, to finish my studies, to earn some money and to travel. And to get rid of my burka. Before the Taliban came, I was just starting out as a producer here in Kabul. I was making youth and news programmes, buying programmes from abroad, coming up with my own ideas. It was exciting and I loved it. But I was forced to quit, along with all the other women. I tried working as a language teacher, and then for the World Food Programme. That lasted one year and 18 days. I counted. The Taliban made me stop that work, too. I came back to the studio a few weeks ago and got my old job back. It's wonderful to be among old friends again and to be inside studios, even if they are not in the best shape. I want to make more and better programmes for the people. They haven't had television for so long and they really missed it. One of my projects is to work with studio audiences, to involve as many people as possible in the process of making television. People haven't been able to speak out for a long time, and they have a lot to say. It is our job to give them a platform. And music, of course. People can't get enough of it, so I've got to figure out ways to pack it into programmes. I started out in television 12 years ago, when I was 17, making my own youth programme. I assumed it would be a steady career. I never dreamed things could get as bad as they did. In between producing, I present news to camera, which means my face is beamed into a lot of homes. But as soon as I leave the studio, I put on the burka, so out in the street no one knows who I am. I hate the burka, but I don't feel secure enough at the moment to shed it. The political situation is still too unsettled. If the peace continues and the new government does well, that could change. That is one of my biggest hopes. Money is an issue because I'm still a student. I never got to finish my journalism degree after the Taliban came, so I will resume the course in a few weeks. I can't wait to go back to class. Most of the students I used to hang out with have married or left the country, so it will be a different group than the one I remembered. Still, I'll be so happy to be able to learn again. I have been to Pakistan to escape the war, but otherwise I have never been outside Afghanistan. One of my hopes is to travel to foreign countries. I would love to visit my grandmother in Toronto. Because things seem so positive there is more to lose if it all goes wrong - that is, if the war starts again. We have had 23 years of fighting and there is no guarantee that it is over. More than anything, I hope there will be peace. I hope the killing will stop. I hope other countries will not forget us. We need their support. Who knows what will happen. Interview by Rory Carroll. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2001 (via Daniel Say, BC, DXLD) ** ARGENTINA. O programa que está no ar agora na Mitre intercala a velha fórmula música e notícias, embora seja realmente estranho se pensar em música com esta situação. Uma delas foi do Tim Maia. No entanto agora pouco um jornalista falou da Praça de Maio, inclusive entrevistando segundo ele os poucos populares que estão no momento lá. Sarmento, é o radiojornalismo lá novamente QRV! A Oncediez está entrevistando alguns políticos e populares (´tenemos una liena abierta´), mas também intercala músicas na programação, por sinal tango. Na Radio América passou agora pouco um incrível documentário sobre "as mães da Praça de Maio". Muito bem produzido, uma beleza mesmo, uma programa muito educacional. Segue uma pesquisa rápida na web de ALGUMAS emissoras de Buenos Aires, suas QRGs em OM e sites, com tx via web. 1220 kHz, Rádio Cadena Eco http://www.cadenaeco.com.ar 1190 kHz, Rádio América http://www.amradioamerica.com (Site muito interessante) 1110 kHz, Rádio Once Diez - Ciudad http://www.oncediez.com.ar 800 kHz, Rádio Mitre http://www.radiomitre.com.ar 630 kHz, Rádio Rivadávia http://www.rivadavia.sion.com 590 kHz, Rádio Continental http://www.continental.com.ar Flávio, (Al Archangelo, Brasil, Dec 30, radioescutas via DXLD) ** ARGENTINA. 1710 Radio Med o Mec, Caseros, Provincia de Buenos Aires. 1945-2000. 23 de diciembre. Nueva emisora!!!!.- Música pop internacional. Identificaciones por OM: "...Mec (o Med)... 1710... marca de empresa", o: "Busca buena música ....sintoniza Mec (o Med), siempre a tu lado"; o: "Transmite Mec (o Med), en 1710 khz, desde Buenos Aires, Argentina". Anuncia el telefono 4716-4734 para comunicarse con la emisora. Comerciales locales y de Villa Pineral. 24442 (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, Conexión Digital Dec 30 via DXLD) ** ARGENTINA. FEEDERS: 15820.0-LSB, AYP75, Cadena Tres, Buenos Aires; reportada por primera vez desde Tokio, Japón, a las 0750-1100 del 23 de diciembre de 2001 con señal regular a buena. Nuestro colaborador pudo escuchar el programa: "Noche y Dia", en el cual se irradiaba una variedad de música popular latinoamericana. A las 0700 se escuchó la siguiente ID grabada: "Transmite AYP75 Cadena Tres, Buenos Aires, 99.1 FM integrante de la Cadena Tres Argentina.", tras lo cual se difundió un flash informativo llamado "servicio de noticias". A 0702: "Recorriendo el País", programa de música folklórica argentina conducido por Susana Buontempo (Takayuki Inoue Nozaki, Japón, en "Relámpago DX Logging" via Conexión Digital Dec 30 via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. The arrival of 2002 was a non-event at R. Australia. UT Dec 31 at 1300 on 11650, no timesignal, no local timecheck, and no ``Happy New Year from Melbourne`` --- but then, it`s more important to RA what time it be in Suva or Hong Kong. I had tuned in about 1215 in case there were festivities of some sort; instead, a regular LNL (Late Night Live) show from R. National, interviewing Sheriff Joe, and then his detractors. At least, National Radio via RNZI 15175 at 1100 did observe the transition, with timesignal, Auld Lang Syne and Happy New Year, per a recording from Wolfgang Büschel (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. HOT SHEET FOR TUESDAY JANUARY 1, 2002 -- RADIO ONE -- SCANDINAVIAN SUNRISE: Wake up to a Scandinavian Sunrise January 1st! Join host Andrea Ratuski for three hours of Nordic Roots music capturing the glow of the rising sun in the wintry north: haunting melodies, quirky fiddling, vibrant vocals - you'll hear it all. You'll also meet some of the musicians and hear their stories. Scandinavian Sunrise, New Year's Day at 6:05 a.m. (6:35 NT) on CBC Radio One. THIS MORNING: On the New Year's Day edition of This Morning... The Year In Music: guest host Ralph Benmergui talks with three Canadian music experts about the state of the music industry. And The Year That Was: Shelagh Rogers welcomes five guests to reflect on the past year in their own lives and the year in the life of this country. And in Hour Three, an ode to shinny: Ralph talks with three hockey lovers in a celebration of the most spontaneous of national sports in Canada. That's on This Morning, 9:06 to noon, (9:36 to 12:30 NT) on CBC Radio One. OUTFRONT: This morning on OutFront... more Listener Faves: Louise Tyson of Toronto presents "Charlie Smith: Poet Farmer." On his farm north of Massey, Ontario, Charlie Smith spends his days tending cattle and waxing poetic about his life as a farmer...and his passion for the land. That's this morning on OutFront, at 11:45 (12:15 NT) on CBC Radio One. HOW THE LIGHT GETS IN: This New Year's Day, CBC Radio One presents How the Light Gets In, a program from Yellowknife about the wonderful days following the Winter Solstice when the hours of sunlight gradually increase. Join host Alison Dempster for music from Paul Simon, Prokofiev, Holly Cole and Tom Waits & Crystal Gayle, along with readings that celebrate new beginnings. How the Light Gets In, New Year's Day at 1:00 p.m. (1:30 NT) on CBC Radio One. WORLD AT SIX/AS IT HAPPENS: Tune in to CBC Radio One New Year's Day for a special World at Six-As it Happens joint presentation: New Year's Day With CBC Correspondents. Mary Lou Finlay and Russ Germain host a special broadcast with reporters who've been on the front lines of news coverage since September 11th. They've followed events in Kabul, Islamabad, New York, Washington, Ottawa and the capitals of Europe as the world responded to a crisis that shook North America. That's New Year's Day With CBC Correspondents, from 6 p.m. to 7:30 (half an hour later in Newfoundland) on CBC Radio One and CBC Radio Two (CBC Hotsheets via gh, DXLD) ** CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC. Hearing Bangui on 6100 yesterday and today. Highlife vocals, vernacular talk, National Anthem till 2100*. Terrible co-channel QRM from Iran. No sign of Bangui on either 5045v or 7220v (Bob Hill, MA, DXplorer Dec 27 via BC-DX via DXLD) ** CHILE. La religiosa Voz Cristiana que emite desde este país [aunque se origina en Miami, FL] tiene nuevo sitio http://www.vozcristiana.com (en español) y en el que se la puede escuchar en RealAudio en vivo (Pedro Sedano, España, Conexión Digital Dec 30 via DXLD) ** CHINA. Starting December 31 [UT], CRI will broadcast a seven-part retrospective of the past year. Among other things, CRI will focus on the challenges the September 11 attacks brought to Sino-US relations. [December 31]; a look at "the year in politics" in China [January 1]; the Chinese economy [January 2]; gains in the "foreign relations arena" [January 3]; a recap of "the year in sports" [January 4]; a "cultural recap" [January 5]; and a look at the future of "the common Chinese" [January 6] (--Jim CRI Shortwave http://pw2.netcom.com/~jleq/cri1.htm swprograms via DXLD) ** CHINA [non]. The engineers of the Marnach 1440 kHz transmitter state that the complete schedule for China Radio International will be French at 1900, German at 200 and English at 2100. But they refuse to say the power level they will use for CRI (Joe Leyder via "A-DX" mailinglist via Ludwig) Comment: Currently 300 kW are in use for both Mega-Radio and own RTL- Radio programming but allegedly full 1200 kW during religious programming. It remains to be seen how RTL will fill the 1830-1900 gap, provided that they continue to carry religious stuff 1800-1830. Anyway this will more or less be the end of RTL-Radio (German) on mediumwave (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Dec 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [non]. This evening Dec 29 WFDR was down from 9945 to 9445, same buzzy txer. 50% chance that this is a button pushing error (Olle Alm, Sweden, DXplorer via BC-DX via DXLD) at 2100 ** CUBA. 1540, R Sagua, Sagua la Grande, Villa Clara, 0101 Dec 31, checking southern reception ZNS on a whim, found it in a fade at precisely the right time for this with full ID "CMEX (?), Radio Sagua, desde Sagua la Grande...." followed by M giving 1540 and 106.6 FM. ZNS faded back up moments later. Nice surprise! (Jay Novello, Wake Forest NC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CYPRUS TURKISH. 6150.03, 27.12 1730, Radio Bayrak with news in English followed by local music. The frequency is blocked from 1759, and the whole evening - but at :27 and :57 the frequency is usually free for three minutes. Can also be heard after Singapore s/off at 1600 UT. But very weak and very disturbed here. QSA2 (Stig-Hartvig Nielsen, Denmark, SW Bulletin Dec 30, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DXLD) ** ECUADOR. HCJB. Just noticed on their website http://www.hcjb.org/english/ ("QSL Cards") that all the 2001 QSLs carry a "70 years, 1931-2001" logo. Today is apparently their anniversary, although I see nothing specific about it on their website other than the regular HCJB history page at http://www.hcjb.org/basics/basics.php?page=history [non]. FUTURE LOW POWER SW BROADCASTS? At the HCJB World R Engineering Center URL http://www.hcjb.org/tech/ "Shortwave" page (under "Low- Power Shortwave") is a photo of their 1 kw "ELWA" xmtr design, and this note: "Mike Axman and other engineers completed the design of a 1,000-watt low-power SW tx. The prototype, in operation at ELWA in Monrovia, Liberia, since January 2000, has enjoyed very high reliability. The Engineering Center is just completing the first production run of six txs to fill requests for this broadcast technology from Benin, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, the Democratic Rep of Congo, and Suriname." (Jerry Berg-USA, DXplorer Dec 25 via BC-DX via DXLD) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. Glenn, Per DXLD 1-209: ``Why do you put `s` after what is presumably the UT? S stands for some other timezone, in the alphabetical system, I forget which (gh, DXLD)`` You are correct that US military standards will put the timezone designator after a four-digit time. IIRC, they use all letters except 'J' and 'Q', making 'S' the Mountain Time zone. In this case, the small 's' means Sunday. I started a bad habit long ago when logging certain utes (and other pseudo-scheduled broadcasts) by adding a small letter after the time to denote the day of the week. By adding this letter I had a shorthand method precluding the need to look at a calendar when aggregating potential schedules. I usually strip the letter before submitting logs to reduce confusion. 73, (Mark J. Fine / Remington, Virginia, USA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Surely a good idea to keep track of days of week with logs. Especially when mentioning a specific program title which is not likely to be daily (gh, DXLD) ** FRANCE. RFO: Glenn: There was indeed a problem with the rfo.fr site, but it was rectified on Thursday or Friday. It was remarked upon at someone's informal news site about St. Pierre & Miquelon a little over a week ago. So, the item was correct, but is now outdated (Mike Cooper, GA, Dec 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREECE. Friday Dec 21 I caught the last part of `Mathete Ellinika Apo To Radiophono`` (Learn Greek from the Radio) with English responses by Mihali Stavropoulos to statements by a woman in Greek. I heard it again [Dec 28] in its entirety --- Fri 1345-1400 on VOG 9420, 9590, 15630, 15650, with announcement at the end that it would be heard again next Friday. I received a Christmas card from Demetri Vafeas and Family with best wishes from them for a Happy New Year too. Enclosed was his letter on ERT stationery: ``As far as the company (ERT) goes, I am very disappointed. Things are moving very slowly and in some cases in directions that I think are not the best. In the area of your immediate interest (shortwaves), we are still with the old infrastructures, even though we have a number of 250-kW transmitters, still inside the containers. In the area of frequencies, my recommendations are not accepted. We lost traditional frequencies like 9375, 7430, 7450, 11645 and at the same time we are playing at new and unknown frequencies, some of which are outside the ands that most new radio sets have. My work assignments have to do with digital television services, but I am trying to keep in touch with the radio as well. The problem is that the new colleagues responsible do not want to hear.`` My comments on the above letter: several years ago when Demetri Vafeas was the Frequency Manager of the Voice of Greece, I made a survey of portable radios in a radio distributor`s catalogue and mentioned the fact that a lot of these radios being manufactured did not include the frequencies that were sometimes used by VOG. Even now, most of VOG`s frequencies are WARC-92 bands which are to be allocated officially for use by HF broadcasting stations in 2007 --- 5865, 7475, and 12110 are all listed as NIB which means that if a broadcast station should cause interference it must relinquish the frequency [non-interference basis --gh]. When R. Norway International ceases its broadcasts to North America at the end of this year, that should solve the VOG`s interference problem on 7475, and they can go back to it from 7477 that they have been using to get away from Norway. [No, unfortunately for VOG, Norway will remain on the air ---gh]. With everyone so concerned about shortwave radio being on the way out because of live radio in the Internet, that may not be so --- OK if you are house-bound 24 hours a day, but suppose you are in a car, on the beach, or mostly outdoors; try packing a computer on your back with no electricity to plug into; batteries are heavy too. SW radio can reach the smaller, poorer countries who are mostly in need of what radio can bring. Maybe the Internet will be like the Fifth Wheel, mostly good as a spare tire! Best wishes to you for a Happy and Prosperous New Year 2002, (John Babbis, Silver Spring, MD, Dec 28 P- mail retyped by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ICELAND. According to the RUV webpage, the SW relays of RUV newscasts (provided by Icelandic Telecom) were re-started on 22 Dec and have the following schedule: To Europe (live) 1215-1300 on 13865, 1755-1825 on 11402; to USA (recorded) 1410-1440 & 1835-1905 on 13860, 2300-2335 on 11402 (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, Dec 29, BC-DX via DXLD) ** JAPAN [non]. R. Japan NYE special, Yearend Hitparade, checked around 1300 UT Dec 31: 6120 via Canada was still on; the switch to 11705 was not made until 1305-1306, overriding, but not enough, VOA already on 11705, whilst 6120 had started to fade down. Of all the other frequencies going at 1330, I preferred 21695 Rampisham to SW Asia (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH (Great News). Toma, YU1AB, informs OPDX that Hrane/YT1AD and Voja/YU7AV have returned from P5-land (December 26th). He also reports that they have received a license to operate from P5, together with two other operators starting March 5th, 2002. In return, Hrane and Voja will instruct future Korean ham radio operators (a minimum of 20 novice operators). Their callsigns are not known. More details are forthcoming (KB8NW/OPDX December 31/BARF-80 via John Norfolk, OKCOK, DXLD) ** KOREA SOUTH. I was asked by Bill Matthews to take over R Korea International DX programme weekly DX reports. However, I offered to do just once a month. So on the 30th I will have my interview with the producer and on the 6th January the first DX Report. If you have the time would you check out and let me know how reception is? In South Asia reception is overall fair. I guess they have it on the Internet as well. Thanks. The report starts almost at the beginning of the program and is no more than 5 mins. Usual thing like the old R Netherlands report (Victor A. Goonetilleke, Sri Lanka, 4S7VK, DXplorer Dec 28 via BC-DX via DXLD) All Suns. Europe: 0835 13670. 1935 7275. 2135 15575 2206 3955 (via the MNO Skelton tx stn, United Kingdom) North America: 1137 9650 (via Sackville-CAN). 0235 15575 (UTC Monday). 0235 9560 (UTC Monday) (via Sackville-CAN). South America: 0235 11725 & 11810 (UTC Monday). South East Asia: 1335 9570 Middle East and Africa: 1635 9515 and 9870 China: 0235 7275 Non directional txions: 0835 9570, 1335 13670, 1635 5975, 1935 5975 (BC-DX via DXLD) ** KURDISTAN [non]. Mezopotamia. As I suggested in a previous message, Denge Mezopotamia on 11530 switches to a different site at 0700. This morning Dec 30 the signal after 0700 could only be traced as a weak interference whistle in the SSB mode. Since Xinjiang 11885, 9470 and 9560 were also very weak compared to the normal situation, Tashkent may still be the site for 11530 during the period 0700-1100 despite that the frequency seems too low for good reception in the target area (Olle Alm, Sweden, BC-DX Dec 30) ...and from different site from 0500- 0700, 1100-1700?? (BC-DX ed) ** KURDISTAN [non]. Iraq: KurdSat TV testing to USA, Canada Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, PUK's, satellite TV station, KurdSat, started test transmissions to North America in mid December 2001. The test transmissions are on the air from 2200 to 0400 gmt. The programmes mainly include Kurdish music, cultural programmes and comedy sketches. Instructions on how to receive the channel are given on the PUK website as follows: Type of satellite dish required: Ku-Band 75-90 cm with universal LNB Platform: MCPC MPEG-2 DVB Satellite: Telstar-5 at 97 degrees west Polarization: Vertical Frequency: 12177 MHz SR 23,000 Msb/s FEC 2/3 Video: PID 4130 Audio: PID 4131 Source: BBC Monitoring research 30 Dec 01 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** LUXEMBOURG. See CHINA [non] ** MEXICO. Ayer en mi madrugada local 1000 UT estuve explorando el dial de onda media y me llamó mucho la atención un programa en la XEW de México en 900 kHz (la cual no es una escucha difícil por su gran potencia). Se trata de un programa en dirigido al contacto y charlas, principalmente, con conductores de camiones que trabajan entre México y Estados Unidos. Me pareció muy curioso el hecho de que tanto el locutor como los que participaban, con largas llamadas telefónicas, utilizaran la jerga típica de los canales en la "banda pirata" arriba de los 40 canales oficiales de la banda ciudadana y con un marcado acento "norteño", inclusive había un eco similar al utilizado en los micrófonos amplificados de común utilización en la banda ciudadana. Con la mezcla de números (10-4, 10-65...), código Q (QTH,...) y palabras típicas ("colegancia", "cristales", ...) más parecía haber sintonizado alguna frecuencia entre 27.405 y 28 MHz. No hay duda que en la radio encontramos siempre un programa con un formato apropiado para cada tipo de interés ¡¡¡ Feliz año nuevo para todos (Humberto Molina, San Salvador, El Salvador, Dec 29, Conexión Digital via DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS. Hi, there is enough 'vagabonding' money on the market, and the Jewish investment funds behind the Delta project will collect their money soon at NY Wallstreet, London and Israel stock markets. And the Dutch Telecommunication authorities will make money with frequency fees, like on the UMTS or Mediumwave market ... So, let`s wait 12-24 months more, and you will hear another 'needed?' pop music station towards good old England. [and a lot of interfered stations in Central Europe between 161 and 185 kHz] 73 wb df5sx (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Dec 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NORWAY. I listened to Radio Norway International at 1700 on 7490 for their final programme; probably the news during the first minutes were updated during the day but the rest was certainly always the same: Apparent historical audio clips, an interview with an apparent mention of a "hasty close-down", some telephone statements. Altogether only some keywords allowed to recognize this as a farewell broadcast, also this only when listening to the whole programme, there was nothing particular at the end. Later: I just noted that Erik Køie announced the last broadcast of Radio Norway International for today (Dec. 31) while I had the report from "DXDave" (last programme on Dec. 30) in mind when listening yesterday. As I wrote, away from the news they discussed their own station only, indeed sounding like a farewell broadcast. Right now (0015 on Dec. 31) NRK has some talk on 7470 and 7490, not // 1314. More later, now my bed tempts much more than these poor, spurious radiation signals (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Dec 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Subject : [HCDX] Radio Norway Int. - last day - QSL friendly content. I have just recorded the 0700 transmission to Europe. The program started with about 7 minutes of news followed by 'farewell music'. So if you don't speak our language, these songs are (mainly) in English. Very easy to recognize both songs and artists. The program is replayed throughout the day. See schedule http://www5.nrk.no/radionorway/frekvenser.html But this evening the program content will change to give place for our king's speak to the Norwegian people. (scheduled for 1830 UT in national television) I guess it will be on radio from 1900 UT (?). So good luck, and happy new year from Norway. 73 de (T. S. Bauge, Dec 31, hard-core-dx via DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA. WKY-930: I went to http://www.google.com and typed in a search for WKY Oklahoma City and went to one of the links provided regarding the loss of their 70 year old tower in 1998 to a tornado. There are some very dramatic photos here. This was the tower they were broadcasting from when I logged them in So. Cal. in 1990 during a KRTH SP. They provided a nice QSL card featuring a classic EKKO stamp. On the subject of Oklahoma City, I have been trying to arrange for a IRCA convention there the last weekend in July back to back with WTFDA. Dont yet know if it will happen!? (Mike ---, Dec 30, IRCA via DXLD ** PERU. Two nice email-QSLs: Radio San Antonio, Atalaya, 4940 email (and promise for a future "real" letter if only postal service will work). V/s: Gerardo Zerdin, director, who also sent a separate email Christmas card, zerdin@terra.com.pe in 1 day. Radio San Antontio de Padua, Callalli, Arequipa 3375, email (simultaneously to eight Swedish and Finnish DX-ers with a promise for a future letter). V/s Hno. Rolando del Carpio Montalvo rsan_antonio14@hotmail.com. 19 days (Jan Edh, Sweden, SW Bulletin Dec 30, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DXLD) ** TAIWAN. On the Saturday 29 December 2001 of Radio Taiwan International's English language "Mailbag time", director and presenter Carlson Wong said that they are dropping the Chinese lessons heard every day. The Chinese Correspondence School is dropping sponsorship, and they are going to have more music instead along with other changes in the programme style in the new year. What's the point of studio bound chatter then? Haven't heard if it affects the other language services heard (Dan Say, Vancouver, Canada, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAJIKISTAN. [Re new IBB relays via Dushanbe 4760] When I tuned to 4760 sometime after 0100 Thursday morning the program carried was VOA in Thai or possibly Lao. Wed at the same time there was only open carrier, so obviously they have problems with a switching gremlin. 5035 was OK 0200-0300 in Kyrgyz. It is interesting that the IBB schedule has txer numbers for the DUS transmitters, but unfortunately no powers (Olle Alm, Sweden, BC-DX Dec 28 via DXLD) Dushanbe 4760 still has not got its act together. This morning at 0115 the program was VOA Chinese. That makes more sense than yesterday's Thai (or Lao), but still is far from scheduled RL in Tajik. That's a problem in the MCB distribution circuits. Technicians at the various transmission facilities simply use the signal which comes-in from Moscow control center. Similar faults happened, when R Free Asia opened/extended their outlets via the various RUS/CIS facilities few years ago. And the Russians will celebrate their MOST IMPORTANT holidays in coming weeks, i.e. New Year and Christmas according the Gregorian calendar at about Jan 6th (in Sp 'Tres Reyes', Three Holy Kings). (WB, BC-DX Dec 28 via DXLD) This morning 4760 DUS had VOA English... (Olle Alm, Sweden, BC-DX Dec 29 via DXLD) ** U S A. 5085, 28.12 0645, WWRB with a mix of religion and politics. Close down at 0700 after ID as WWRB. Compare my tip on 12172 kHz. WWRB is obviously a new name for WGTG/WWFV. Time will show how things are. QSA=3 (Christer Brunström, Sweden, SW Bulletin, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DXLD) ** U S A. Re WOR 1111: WSM Grand Old Opry the only live country music concert on MW? See http://www.jamboreeusa.com/ on WWVA. (1170 kHz) Apparently even the suits at Clear Channel know better than to mess with this one for the time being (Joel Rubin, NY, Dec 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) But not every week; next one is Feb 2 (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. K6KPH On The Air for Straight Key Night From: http://www.lwca.org/ K6KPH, operating from the transmitting and receiving sites of ex- RCA coast station KPH, will be on the air for Straight Key Night. The transmitters, receivers and antennas of KPH will be used. Straight Key Night SKN) is an annual event sponsored by the ARRL and is intended to promote the use of Morse and non-automatic straight keys. SKN 2002 begins at 7 PM EST December 31 and runs for 24 hours through 7 PM EST January 1 (0000-2400 UT January 1, 2002). K6KPH will be on the air beginning at 0000 UT. Operations will continue into the evening Pacific time. Our frequencies of operation will be 3545, 7050 and 14050kc. 1950s vintage RCA transmitters will be used. KPH may also be on the air on medium frequency. Look for KPH on 500 and 426kc. K6KPH reception reports may be sent to: Dick Dillman, 435 Utah St., No. 4, San Francisco, CA 94110 USA KPH reception reports may be sent to: Tom Horsfall, 1862 Tulare Ave., Richmond, CA 94805, USA KPH and K6KPH are operated by the Maritime Radio Historical Society in cooperation with the Point Reyes National Seashore, part of the US National Park Service. Further information may be found on the Maritime Radio Historical Society Web site at http://www.radiomarine.org or by contacting Dick Dillman +1 415-255-9221 x 317 or Tom Horsfall +1 510-237-9535 (via Mike Terry, UK, DXLD) ** U S A. LIGHTHOUSE ACTIVITY IOTA USA-592. Look for the "Five Flags Amateur Radio Association" to activate the Pensacola, Florida, lighthouse on January 1st, as a special event, using the callsign W4UC. The Amateur Radio Lighthouse Society (ARLHS) says its research indicates that no Amateur Radio operations have ever been conducted from the Pensacola lighthouse which will mark its 143rd anniversary on New Year's Day. The Coast Guard and U.S. Navy restored the lighthouse and keeper's quarters in 1994. The special event station will operate from January 1st, 1400- 1800z on 20 and 15 meters. Operation on 40 meters also is possible. Stations contacting W4UC at the lighthouse may receive a W4UC special event QSL card and a Pensacola Lighthouse history brochure in return for a self-addressed, stamped envelope to KC7DCW. (KB8NW/OPDX December 31/BARF-80 via John Norfolk, OKCOK, DXLD) ** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. MARRUECOS [sic]. 7460, Radio Nacional de la República Árabe Saharaui Democrática, 2140-2205, 25 Diciembre 2001, selección de música folklórica. A la hora en punto, ID por locutor y otra ID por locutora; a continuación se irradia un boletín de noticias leído en árabe por locutor. SINPO: 24442 (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, Conexión Digital via DXLD) ** YEMEN. 9779.62, Republic of Yemen Radio, 2202 Dec 30, In Arabic, presumed news items or announcements read by man with short music clips played between each item until 2219. Quran reading, another announcement until 2224, followed by national anthem and late signoff at 2225. Good signal with slight fading. Listened in LSB to avoid VOIRI on 9780 (Mark J. Fine / Remington, Virginia, USA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** YUGOSLAVIA. Radio Yugoslavia: Today still nothing on 6100, so they are still off air (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Dec 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Re: 17450: I am rapidly coming to the conclusion that this is directly related to the War on Terrorism, and could well a form of OTHR. The IARU Intruder Watch report for December at http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/rdnronald/news1.htm says: "There were 30 reports for the NATO-"Woodpecker" Over-The-Horizon- Radar from Cyprus: The lowest frequency was 10125 kHz, the highest frequency was 29470 kHz. Usually the bandwidth of the woodpecker is 50 to 60 kHz, the signal strength S 9 + 70 dB thus causing very harmful interference to the Amateur Radio Service." I believe the reference to the Woodpecker is inaccurate. That was what the old Soviet system was called. I seem to recall that NATO was testing its own system around that time. Since the signals are being reported across a wide area, it cannot be Powerline Communications and has to be something that's bouncing off the ionosphere (Andy Sennitt, swprograms via DXLD) Negative. This was going on over a year ago; Here`s the previous reference to it I found by searching on ``unid 17`` in the Y2K contents archive of DXLD at http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio/Dxldmid0.html UNIDENTIFIED. For quite some time I have been hearing a wideband signal in the middle of the 17400 range. It`s a continuous high- pitched whine, peaking around 17450, but audible out to 30 or 40 kHz above and below, depending on strength. With BFO on, there appear to be multiple carrier peaks; one can get a zero beat every kHz, but especially strong ones on 17443, 17450, 17457. At first I suspected something local, but around 1545 UT Nov 28 noticed it fading gradually like a propagated SW signal. Then I also hear it on the car radio away from the house. Any idea what this is? Any clues by looking at it on a spectrum analyzer? DRM/DAB test? This is of concern to broadcasters invading the region below 17500 now, even WBCQ on 17495 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST 0-149, Nov 26, 2000) Well then, isn't it about time we found out what it was? It seems to be something that mainly affects the western hemisphere. I thought the FCC were supposed to deal with that sort of thing? (Andy Sennitt, swprograms via DXLD) You jest? (gh) Not necessarily. The FCC has jurisdiction over transmissions by non- governmental entities like you, me, and broadcasters other than VOA. The FCC does not have responsibility for transmissions by government agencies including the US military. If SW broadcasters are receiving interference from one of these agencies or from a foreign country, they can get the FCC to complain to the proper government agency. But that only holds true if the broadcasters are operating in the internationally agreed ITU bands. Stations who push the envelope by choosing frequencies adjacent to the authorized bands do so at their own peril. I used my Collins 51J3 receiver today to do some signal analysis. I cranked the crystal filter down to its narrowest setting which is probably 100 Hz or so. I was able to resolve distinct sidebands at approximately 500 Hz separation. The main energy appears to be concentrated over a range of 17440 to 17460. The higher order sidebands could be heard from 17400 to 17500. Some nulls in the energy distribution were noted but they were not consistent and may have been caused by selective fading over the ionospheric path. I noted the signal dropping out for ten seconds at 17 and 47 minutes past the hour. The exact time on was slightly longer than 30 minutes leading me to believe that the timing of this event was not keyed by a precision time source. The interval appears to be 30 minutes and 11 seconds over the past two hours of monitoring. This kind of spectrum would be consistent with a frequency swept signal at a 500 Hz rate with a deviation of roughly plus/minus 10 kHz. There was no discernible modulation on the 500 Hz sidebands. Such a signal would be consistent with an FM RADAR system. In FM RADAR a tracking receiver sweeps along with the transmitter. FM RADAR systems can be compared to the common pulse RADAR systems if you think of the reciprocal of the bandwidth of the FM transmission as analogous to the pulse length while the sweep rate is analogous to the pulse repetition frequency of a pulse RADAR. An echo will appear behind in frequency from the transmitted signal. The frequency separation between the transmitted signal and the return echo is proportional to the range to the target. Small shifts in return frequency can be used to measure target velocity using the Doppler effect. This provides a means for the receiver to exclude non-moving targets like mountains and large buildings. In such a system the transmitted signal could be radiated in an omnidirectional beam. Electronically-scanned, narrow- beam receiving antennas like the Wullenweber design could provide 1 degree accuracy azimuth information on the received echo direction. The 17 MHz frequency may have been chosen to enhance reflections from targets whose dimensions are a half wavelength at this frequency. Cruise missiles come to mind. The dropping of the carrier at approximately 30 minute and 11 second intervals could be to allow transmitter antenna switching or transfer of transmitting responsibility to a second transmitter site to fill in the skip zone. Whatever the reason for the drop, it does not seem that the precise time of the drop has anything to do with the mission. If you consider this information off topic for this list, just remember, I didn't bring the subject up. ~*-.,_,.-*~'^'~*-.,_,.-*~'^'~*-., (Joe Buch -- Infidel and proud of it, Dec 30, swprograms via DXLD) -*~'^'~*-.,_,.-*~'^'~*-.,_,.-*~'^ Hi Glenn, I'd like to apologize for inadvertently causing a kerfuffle like that. That was *far* from my intentions... I honestly thought it was DRM gone berzerk, so it could qualify for posting in swprograms. The annoying tone was also creeping into the broadcast band, at times spilling past 17500 kHz -- and interfering with operational stations. In any case, please allow me to heap on some more praise for the kind of work you do. Nowhere is there such a comprehensive digest of information on broadcasting ANYWHERE. I can't imagine the time you take to put it together -- I suppose it's like an editor's job on steroids. Most days, I actually read the whole DXLD stem to stern -- obviously I did not do that when you mentioned hearing the wretched noise. I wouldn't have bothered to point it out. :) Please enjoy the New Year holiday, and hopefully you'll be closer to a radio that I will be -- I am seeing both sets of parental relatives, one after another. Best regards, (Ricky Leong, QB, DX LISTENING DIGEST) PROPAGATION If you have a vacant or near-vacant channel 2, best keep an eye on it, because extremely rare F2-propagation was reported on it at various receiving locations in the US and Canada, on Dec 31, WTFDA and ODXA lists. Distances typically 2500-3000 miles, much greater than single- hop sporadic-E. E.g., coast to coast in North America, or Caribbean/ South America to North America, Video is quite smeary but can be strong, and more likely than the audio which is a hefty 4.5 MHz higher (gh, DXLD) ###