GLENN HAUSER'S SHORTWAVE/DX REPORT 99-79, Dec 23, 1999 {Items from this and all our reports may be reproduced and re- reproduced only providing full credit be maintained at all stages. If excerpting, this means appending the line above.} THIS WEEK ON WORLD OF RADIO 1017: See topic summary at http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio/wor1017.html WORLD OF RADIO ON WBCQ: We are moving half an hour later from January 5 (or Maybe Dec 29) to Wednesday 2230 on 7415. Thanks to Al Weiner for agreeing to this; it will make things quite a bit less hectic on WOR production day and improve reception. WORLD OF RADIO ON RFPI: 1017 has been received and ready to start airing Friday at 1930. MUNDO RADIAL EN WWCR. New Dec-Jan edition starts airing weekly Dec 24, Fridays 2215 on 9475; mostly new material not previously on Radio-Enlace, and includes recording of St. Louis Spanish pirate on 92.9. SHORTWAVE YEAR IN REVIEW. Glenn--- For those who can hear VOA's Communications World at 2336 UTC Saturday, for GH's SW Year in Review for 1999, best frequency to try is 15290 kHz which comes in at good level here. (Joe Hanlon, PA) * ALBANIA. No, there is only one half hour from R. Tirana. The 0130 runs from 12 to 14 minutes; the 0330 23 to 26 minutes, both on 6115 and 7160. BBC 6110 spars with 6115. Sometimes 7155 R. Liberty challenges 7160. Last few weeks 40m ham traffic has been heavy! At 0330 there is also co-channel on 7160 (Bob Thomas, CT, Dec 15) ** COLOMBIA. La Voz de la Resistencia, FARC clandestine, 6261.12 or so, presumed with talk and music bits, close het on high side gradually closing in and lowering pitch; held up past 1205 (Glenn Hauser, OK) ** COSTA RICA. Joe Bernard announced on RFPI at 0203 UT Dec 24 that website http://www.rfpi.org is not working due to a DNS entry problem; instead temporarily use this: http://www.freespeech.org/radiopeace BTW, if you cannot get the new RFPI program schedule there, they will E-mail it on request (Glenn Hauser) ** GERMANY. In addition to our usual features and magazines, please tune in for our special Christmas programmes. 24.12. (UTC) 0905, 1105, 1605, 1905. Deutsche Welle Christmas Concert. Your favourite Bach Christmas cantatas, recorded in the Church of 'Sankt Maria im Capitol' in Cologne. Your host is Breandain O'Shea. 24.12. (UTC) 2005, 2105, 2305 - and through until 25.12 0105, 0205, 0305, 0405. 0505, 0605. German Folk Music for Christmas, introduced by Mike Lucas. 25.12. (UTC) 0905, 1105, 1605 Join Thomas Marzahl, Jackie Monkam and friends for 40 minutes of Christmas pop, stories and seasonal traditions. (DW E-mail bulletin via John Norfolk, OKCOK) ** IRAN. VOIRI NAm service, 1 hour English [at 0030] on 6065; 6135 covered here by VOA 6130; yes, heard on 9020-9025, announcing 9022. Sometimes I hear a US ute on USB QRMing; I think it is USAF. 9023 was/is NORAD (Bob Thomas, CT, Dec 15) ** MACAU. Glenn Hauser wrote: > I gather that China is expected to run Macau more efficiently than the colonialists [...] I have no doubt about this. For most of the time, the Macanese people have been left by their own. Macau was not a Portuguese colony in the usual sense of the word. Back in the 16th century, as a reward for the fight that the Portuguese navigators had made against pirates in the southern coast of China (pirates are still active in the South China Sea now), the emperor of China (I don't know his name) allowed them to settle in a small piece of land and rule it. This was the way Macau was born. The presence of Portuguese in Macau would ensure to China a better defence of its coast against pirates. It was convenient to China to have the Portuguese there. The Portuguese presence in Macau has always been dependent on the good will of the rulers in Peking. Therefore, Macau has always been considered part of China, not a colony of Portugal. The Portuguese stayed there as long as the Chinese rulers wanted. This has always been quite clear. In such a situation, the Portuguese tried not to disturb the everyday life of the locals, instead of exploiting them, as in the real colonies. Portugal has always tried to please Peking, up to the point of being humiliated sometimes, and this hurts our national pride. The only governor -- Ferreira do Amaral, who lived in the 19th century -- who tried to make a real colonisation of Macau (the colonialist way) was murdered. Throughout the centuries, two communities lived in Macau side by side, practically without mixing. The Portuguese usually stayed there for a couple of years, making easy money in trade relations with China and other Asian countries, and returned to Portugal with the wealth thus earned. The Chinese of Macau, on the other side, having a passion for gambling as a feature of their tradition (Mah Jong is played everywhere), founded casinos and the like. This is how the Macanese economy became based on gambling. The official rhetoric of the Portuguese and Chinese authorities, about the "harmonious encounter between East and West", the "fruitful relationship of two different civilisations", and so on and so forth, is a lie. Portugal ruled Macau for 442 years and, after all this time, only 1.8% of the population can speak Portuguese! Very soon, every sign of the Portuguese presence in Macau will be wiped out. Shame on us, Portuguese. Becoming conscious of this fact, the Portuguese governments of the most recent years finally decided to make something in Macau. Bridges, an international airport, residential buildings for the Chinese population, etc., were made in a hurry. But friendship cannot be bought with houses and bridges alone. Most Macanese must have felt relief with the departure of the Portuguese. (Fernando de Sousa Ribeiro, Porto, Portugal) ** NEW ZEALAND. RADIO NEW ZEALAND INTERNATIONAL FREQUENCY SCHEDULE 09 JANUARY - 19 MARCH 2000 Mon-Fri 1650-0605 17675 (16m) Daily 0606-1005 17690 (16m) Sat-Sun 1850-0605 17675 (16m) Occasional Use 1105-1505 6105, 1505-1650 6145 (Adrian Sainsbury, RNZI, Dec 23) ** ROMANIA. Dec. 23 was another bad day for Romanian spurs on 16 metres. I wonder if they are always there for Europeans, and I just get them when propagation is very good as early as 1330? This time, 17824.9 Romanian service was playing what would have been nice Xmas carols, with the usual roar; prime spur on 17807.36 actually had better audio, but the others were horrible wide FM messes, audio matching 17824.9, mostly without carriers so no point trying to pinpoint them: around 17756, 17718, 17702, 17686, 17842, but none higher nor in the open 17900+ range. Meanwhile the RRI English service was poor on 17805.0 with the usual co-channel something, barely on 15390 and 15335, and best tho with some roar on 11940 (Glenn Hauser, OK) ** SWEDEN. We have just missed the 93rd anniversary, on Christmas Eve, of Reginald Fessenden's first radio broadcast of songs and music, which was achieved using a large mechanical alternator to generate the RF. [NOTE: Although this was posted on December 21, the GB2RS script is not intended to be broadcast by UK hams before the following Sunday, December 26--jn] The alternator was designed by Swedish-born Ernst Alexanderson, who worked at the General Electric plant in Schenectady [pronounced 'sken-ect-terdy'], New York. Today, only one Alexanderson alternator transmitter exists in working order, and it is located in Sweden. On the 1st of January 2000 it will be working on VLF again under the callsign SAQ on a frequency of 17.2 kHz. Morse code A1A transmissions will take place at 1200, 1230 and 1300 UTC, and again on the 2nd of January at 0600 UTC. If you want to check your receiver before the broadcast, try listening for GBR from Rugby on 16.0 kHz. Please send reports of hearing SAQ to Gordon Adams, G3LEQ, whose e- mail address is gb2rs.news@cwcom.net Otherwise, you can use FAX or voice mail on 01565 634 560. Links to the VLF site and to the Long Wave Club of America can be found on the RSGB site [http://www.rsgb.org] (Radio Society of Great Britain GB2RS News via John Norfolk, OKCOK) ** U K O G B A N I. COOKE RETURNS TO LETTER FROM AMERICA Thursday 23 December 1999 Top News Veteran broadcaster Alistair Cooke is working on his Christmas Letter From America for BBC Radio 4 after being discharged from hospital. Illness prevented the 92-year-old radio legend from recording his programme last week for the first time since he began the slot as a weekly feature in 1968. Cooke was taken to hospital in New York with suspected pneumonia which was found to be bronchitis. A spokesman for the BBC said: "He's weak but fairly chipper." His seasonal Letter From America is due to be delivered as planned on Christmas Eve and repeated on Sunday. He has been broadcasting the comment piece since 1946 - although for many years it was a seasonal programme before it became a weekly fixture. (Excite News UK via http://www.radiosurfer.com via Chet Copeland) Incidentally, LFA is also on the BBC WS ** U S A. Any real distance reports that WAMY has been logged on 2480 kHz? They are about 40 dB over noise floor at CDX in East Texas. (Bill Smith) According to my references, WAMY is on 1580 in Amory MS. Are you sure this is the station, presumably harmonicizing from 1240?? In any event, I do not recall such a report before. (Hauser) Yes, you are correct, but they have mixing/spur on 2480. Clear ID at 1230Z Dec 22 Wednesday morning. Community calendar program after 1200/1230 and WAMY Talk Radio at 1230. Listen tomorrow; you should hear it. I sure did on the R70 and NRD535D. (Smith) Aha, WWZQ Aberdeen, MS is a widely reported harmonic on 2480, including by me. The M-Street Directory VIII shows they are both in the Tupelo market, no business relation between them, but I bet there is now! With WWZQ simulcasting WAMY (Hauser) Okay....but when they gave the ID at 1230Z it was with the 1580 frequency. I was so startled by the 1500+ freq the male ancr gave I didn't catch it 'cause I was expecting 1240 -- and had already checked to see if could hear WAMY there. What a howling mess of hets 1240 is, hi. Still, could be as you surmise. 73 (Smith) Congrats on adding a rare, actually otherwise impossible SWBC state, Mississippi, to your logbook. Dec 23 after 1200 there was something unreadable here on 2480, but there was audio on 2580, which would be 2 x 1290 or 3 x 860, typical morning news show, and at 1255 believe I heard TSN mentioned, which would be Texas State Network. A SAH was bothering all along, and at 1300 a Mexican started modulating, with Mexican news, but could get no ID from either of them. Meanwhile on 3180 at 1250 there was a good carrier, with fades so not local, occasionally carrying a noise somewhat like an electronic rooster. I might have thought it was a baby monitor in a chicken coop. At 1325 it was more like a mix of CW tones, and still in tho fading out at 1357. While I am on the weird unIDs, there was a carrier but no modulation detectable around 1300 on MW 886.44 (Hauser, OK) ** U S A. A pirate in Marion, IL, WDFD operates 24 hours on 91.5. Since it increased power recently to 10 watts, it is heard in much of the county, and draws attention for playing raw, expletive-filled rap. Operator is Brandon Sims, who voluntarily attended a City Council meeting to be scolded. Sims said he had started playing ``radio- edited'' versions of songs to be less offensive to the general public (Marion Daily Republican Dec 6 and 8 via Ken Halbert) ** U S A. On WOR 1017 I remark that CNN is supposed to have continuous New Millennium coverage starting early Dec 31. Then I see next week’s TV Guide showing nothing beyond ordinary programming on CNN. What do they know? (Maybe it’s CNN International that will do that.) But these networks are planning straight thru 24+ hour coverage from around the world: PBS from 0940 UT, ABC from 0950, and Pax from 1100. NBC does not bother with it until UT 2000y 0200 and CBS at 0300. BTW, of the online TV listings I find the one at msn.com more useful and informative than yahoo's or even TV Guide (Glenn Hauser) ** U S A. Bruce Elving is right, KKSU 580 Manhattan KS appears to be using the same transmitter as WIBW 580 Topeka, with which it shares time. Only a few weeks ago I noticed the usual break in carrier and handover at 12:30 and/or 5:30 pm, but anteyesterday at 5:30 CST there was no break. I wonder when the KKSU transmitter (presumably) was retired. No help by checking the website, which does have an interesting 75-year history of the station, but nothing so recent. The WIBW signal has always been slightly better here than KKSU was, tho both 5 kW and Manhattan is slightly closer. Steve Francis, KKSU dumped NPR several years ago, once they finally got their satellite dish, presumably with CPB aid. NPR has priced itself out of a number of public radio station budgets. So it does not carry ATC or any NPR news, and looking over the program schedule on the site, I do not see any that are actually NPR, tho several are from PRI, or WAMC. KKSU went with Monitoradio while it lasted, now runs The World, that strange blend of BBC and Boston, at 3 pm. Operating only 25 hours a week, minus certain holidays, KKSU is less than 14% of a fulltime radio station. I have urged them to be on the lookout for another AM or FM facility to get donated or otherwise acquire (e.g. KFRM 550 which was changing hands), to improve their coverage and allow them to go fulltime, but there is no interest. One seventh of a public radio station is certainly better than none at all, and it is the only one I can get on AM, besides the occasional DX from KUAT, or something. KKSU told me they were more interested in the 580 signal reaching better into the Kansas City market (pardon the expression) than 550 would have. This time of year they have to switch to night pattern before 5:30 pm sign-off. You will not find KKSU in the Your Stations list at the website http://www.npr.org and searching on Yahoo for KKSU turns up an incredibly extraneous list. But searching on Lycos you get KKSU right at the top. It's http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/dp_kksu However, when I tried to E-mail them at the listed kksu@oznet.ksu.edu about when they moved to WIBW transmitter, it bounced. Despite their brief M-F schedule, KKSU does a good bit of local production, probably more (besides playing music) than a lot of fulltime public stations. One of their best is K-State Perspectives, with Richard Baker, a top public-affairs half-hour weekly interview at 2:32 pm Fridays. It often deals with topics of interest beyond mere Kansas, including the shameful stance of the education honchos about creationism over evolution. I find it slightly more convenient to listen via two Wichita FM stations (103.7 and 107.3) which run Perspex Sundays at 6 am -- never in sync and not always the same episode. I once visited KKSU and found it confined to the basement of an auditorium building. I am not sure if they had any outside windows like KUAT does from their basement quarters in Tucson. (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, Dec 22 posting to NRC-AM) THIS DAY'S CHINESE LESSON If you're interested in learning more Chinese as it relates to DXing, I suggest you consult Hans van den Boogert's excellent primer on this subject at: http://www.swl.net/radiochina/chinese/fun.html 73's (George Maroti, hard-core-dx) ###