DX LISTENING DIGEST 1-193, December 8, 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 #1108: (STREAM) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1108ram (DOWNLOAD) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1108.rm (SUMMARY) http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio/wor1108.html NEXT AIRINGS ON WWCR: Sunday 0330 on 5070, 0730 on 3210, Monday 0100 and 0600 on 3210 NEXT AIRINGS ON RFPI: Sunday 0000, 0600, 1200 on some of: 21815-USB, 15040, 7445-USB YAHOO PROBLEMS. Please do NOT use our yahoo address, but instead wghauser@hotmail.com MARCONI CENTENNIAL SPECIAL SITE is now available, aggregating all known items previously, presently, and futurely published here concerning special programs, ham, utility and DXpeditions. It will be frequently updated as needed. Enjoy! http://worldofradio.com/marconi.html (gh) LIVE365 IS BACK: Hi Guys, Live365 are back online, 1000 UT today Dec 8; thanks for your patience (Tim Gaynor, dxers calling, Gold Coast, Australia) ** AFGHANISTAN. Voice of Sharia': The Radio National (Australia) program Background Briefing did a program about GPS on November 18th. The beginning of the show details the missile strike against Voice of Sharia' and includes audio excerpts. The program is on demand at http://abc.net.au/rn/talks/bbing/default.htm (Hans Johnson, FL, Dec 6, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** ALASKA. Glenn, Note that two Alaskan stations provide opportunities to hear the Metropolitan Opera on Sundays: KUAC beginning at 2100 UT, KTOO beginning at 2200 UT. The requirement of airing the broadcasts live on Saturdays must apply only to the contiguous 48 states (Kevin Kelly, Arlington, Mass., PublicRadioFan.com DX LISTENING DIGEST) And since it`s delayed, do the extra-long operas, like this week`s live outsending starting a sesquihour ahead, still start at the same time rather than earlied? (gh, DXLD) I couldn't tell from the station sites whether they start earlier or end later. For the live Saturday broadcasts, I think Wisconsin Public Radio's Music Network may be the best quality feed: 96 Kbps Real Audio, sounding great today (Kevin, DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. **M** 12 December: 0900-1100 ABC Radio National "The Great Marconigram." No shortwave, except perhaps for some excerpts on Radio Australia. Information and RealAudio portions already available at http://www.abc.net.au/rn/events/radio100/marconi.htm Repeated 30 December at 0400 UT. Don't miss Russell Stapleton's excellent audio collage "Radio Alive or Dead": http://www.abc.net.au/rn/events/radio100/audio/Alive_or_Dead_2856.ram (Kim Elliott, VOA via DXLD) ** CANADA. Subject: Sunday's Maple Leaf Mailbag **M** Hi, Glenn. Just a short note to tell you and everyone else that my Canadian International DX Report on this week's edition of RCI's Maple Leaf Mailbag with Ian Jones focuses on events taking place this week relating to the 100th anniversary of Marconi's trans-Atlantic transmission from Cornwall, England to Signal Hill, St. John's, NF (now officially Newfoundland and Labrador). We will discuss some of the radio related events taking place across Canada and in other parts of the world. There is also a discussion on where Reginald Aubrey Fessenden fits in to radio history. CBC is dedicating a lot of airtime to the Marconi celebrations, with several programmes scheduled from Signal Hill. I'm not sure if any of these productions will be cancelled due to the labour disputes going on. I hope not. Details of the shows can be found at the special CBC website "Tuning the World" at http://www.tuningtheworld.com Totally by coincidence, the Canadian International DX Club will be holding its annual Christmas dinner on December 12 (Marconi Day). The dinner will bring together members of CIDX and the Yahoo Clubs "Radio in Montreal" group. 25 to 30 people are expected to attend, including a few representatives of local Montreal radio stations (Sheldon Harvey, Greenfield Park, Quebec, Dec 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. **M** TUNING THE WORLD MARCONI SPECIALS: CBC RADIO ONE: SUNDAY DECEMBER 9: CROSS COUNTRY CHECKUP, live in all timezones, 2105- 2300 UT. From Signal Hill. What has radio meant in your life, in the life of the country and the world? Free admission to audience, Riverhead Room, Battery Hotel, St John`s. Doors open at 4:30 NT. SUNDAY DECEMBER 9, THE INSIDE TRACK, 1:30 pm local except 4:30 Pacific: Radio remains a staple for sports fans. The sounds of international sport --- from South America to Africa and beyond. SUNDAY DECEMBER 9, WAVES IN THE CHATROOM, A Drama Special. 16-year-old Michel sits at his computer in St John`s, wandering chatrooms, where he meets 14-year-old Cerys, doing the same in Wales --- at either end of Marconi`s long defunct TA wireless network. Gradually, the father of modern communications begins to make his presence felt in their chatroom. Marconi thinks he is wise and funny. He`s sometimes useful, sometimes a waste of wave-space and sometimes dangerous. Written by David Britton, co-produced by CBC and BBC Wales using ISDN links to connect actors form both sides of the Atlantic. 3:00 pm AT and ET, 5:00 pm CT, MT and PT. MONDAY-FRIDAY DEC 10-14, RICHARDSON`S ROUNDUP, 2 pm local time: Reprising the history of radio from the Tuning the World specials produced by Chris Brookes. WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 12, BETWEEN THE COVERS, 2:30 and 10:40 pm local: hilarious story of a Moose Jaw man in the 1930s who will do anything to listen to the radio. ``The Great Electrical Revolution`` is written and read by Ken Mitchell, a Regina writer with more than 20 works to his credit, and an Order of Canada. WEDNESDAY DECMEBER 12, IDEAS, 9:05 pm local: WHISPERS IN THE AIR - Chris Brookes looks at ``the father of radio`` and his era a century ago. *********************************************************************** WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 12, TUNING THE WORLD, THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL, 0830-1300 LOCAL TIME, from Harbour Room, Battery Hotel, St. John`s: A planet-wide party from the foot of Signal Hill, recreating Marconi`s experiment on a grand scale with live sounds pulled out of the air from around the world. It will draw on radio art, interviews, music, comedy and co-hosts Shelagh Rogers and Jim Brown to create a unique program celebrating the power of radio and its significance to humankind. Some of the special segments include: THE GREAT EASTERN, CBC carrying the signal of the Broadcasting Corp. of Newfoundland (BCN). Celebrating wirelessness, BCN will throw a huge soirée, recommissioning its semi-rigid air-studio, the dirigible ``Master of Avalon```. Hosted by Paul Moth, legendary helmsman of BCN`s flagship cultural magazine, The Great Eastern. RADIO ART: five specially commissioned Radio Art pieces by renowned composers Gavin Bryars, Daren Copeland, Martin Gotfrit, Jim O`Leary and Randall Smith, each sonically celebrating the significance of Marconi`s achievement and presenting unique examples of the medium adapted for sonic purposes. THE VESTIBULES: Montréal`s favourite comedy trio, with a collexion of sketches documenting great moments in the history of radio, including the ``first`` radio broadcast, and Orson Welles ``other`` great radio hoax. THE SOUNDTRACK: In coöperation with broadcasters from around the world, remote feeds of Sydney, Australia; Helsinki, Finland; Cape Town, South Africa; New York, US; and more. Each will provide a mike that streams the unmediated sound verité of that place, putting the listener on location via their radio --- creating a global soundtrack for people`s lives. (CBC brochure via Bill Westenhaver, excerpts by gh for DXLD) 12 December: 1230-1700 UT CBC "Tuning the World" special from St. John's. Via RCI shortwave on 9515 and 17710 and 1300-1700 on 13655. Also on RCI-1 channel on Hot Bird 5. RealAudio at http://www.cbc.ca/audio.html Information and stuff at http://www.tuningtheworld.com (Might be disrupted by the present labor dispute involving CBC technicians.) (Kim Elliott, VOA via DXLD) 1405 [sic] UT CBC Radio St. John's "Radio Noon" announces winner of Marconi Story Contest. http://stjohns.cbc.ca/radionoon/ (Seems this would clash with CBC "Tuning the World" special.) (Kim Elliott, ibid.) CBC RADIO TWO: all WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 12: MUSIC AND COMPANY, from Cabot Tower on Signal Hill, Tom Allen kickstarts the celebration at 6:00 am local, great classical music from 1901, special guests talking about Cabot Tower, Signal Hill and Marconi. TAKE FIVE: From the Piano Bench, 1901: Music found in the piano benches of Canadian homes in 1901, 1:00 pm local. DISCDRIVE: Jurgen Gothe presents DiscDrive, through Marconi`s eyes, through the present, and through Gothe`s crystal ball to the future, 3:00 pm local. TUNED INTO 1901: A music special. What would a Canadian radio show on the arts have sounded like on December 12, 1901 while Marconi was receiving his wireless transmission? What were Canadian composers, performers, poets and comics doing? Was Canada a cultural wasteland? Host Peter Tiefenbach goes back to 1901 to find out, 8:00 pm local. (CBC handout via Westenhaver, retyped and condensed by gh for DXLD) ** CANADA. **M** UT Dec 13 0200-0300, David Wilson, VE3BBN near Niagara Falls, has received permission for a special spark gap Morse code transmission on 3550 kHz. Bandwidth will be about 20 kHz. He recommends using AM rather than CW mode for reception. David will send this message: MARCONI S -- with the S sounding more like three E's (dit - dit - dit). Reception reports to ve3bbn@rac.ca See http://www.rac.ca/dnews.htm for news about this and other special Canadian amateur radio events (Kim Elliott, VOA via DXLD) ** CANADA. Subject : CBC letter to union from http://www.cbucc.org/strike/other/notice_from_the_cbc.htm December 7, 2001 Mr. Mike Sullivan, National Representative Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada, 701 Evans Avenue, Suite 200, Etobicoke, Ontario M9C lA3 Dear Mike: Yesterday afternoon, CEP members, on instruction from their trade union, engaged in legal strike activity by withdrawing their services and ceasing work in a concerted action in St. John's, Halifax, Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver. Your members also, in a common understanding, occupied CBC`s private property to conduct demonstrations. Some CEP members returned to their work site but refused to work. Others failed to complete their shifts. A number of employees also indicated that they were working under "Union imposed" conditions. In addition, CBC has learned that the Union is advising its employees that they "are working under our (CEP) conditions which include not working past 12 hours and getting 12 hours off between shifts and taking meal breaks as per the 1999 CEP Collective Agreement". These actions clearly establish that the CEP members are engaged in a strike. The CEP`s strike activities have prevented the CBC from fulfilling its news programming mandate. Among other things, the Corporation was unable to put to air a number of its programmes. This situation is untenable and cannot continue. As a result of your strike activity, the Corporation is advising the CEP that effective immediately and until further notice its members are not permitted on CBC property. All legal strike activity, such as demonstrations and picketing must be undertaken on public property and in accordance with protocols that the CEP has negotiated with CBC. Yours truly, CANADIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION I. Henry, Director of Industrial Relations, Human Resources, English Networks, P.O. Box 500, Station "A", Toronto, Ontario [M5W 1E6] (via Bill Westenhaver, DXLD) ** CHINA. The NDXC monitoring of the constantly changing CNR scene is found at the following URL: http://www.geocities.co.jp/Technopolis-Mars/6235/b01ch.txt (Olle Alm, Sweden, Dec 1, Cumbre DX via DXLD) I now realize why the URL didn`t work previously: I had attempted to replace the abbr. tx throughout the copy with ``transmitter``, but that also messed up this extension...! (gh, DXLD) ** CUBA. 710 (multiple harmonics), 1015 Dec 8, R Rebelde. On Dec 7th I received a Rebelde spur on 6390. Today I figured out that this is the 9th harmonic of their 710 MW outlet. I decided to try other harmonic frequencies, as well. As far as I know, only the 4th and 7th harmonics have been previously reported. Using a different receiver on // 5025 as an audio reference, I was able to match the following harmonics: 4th on 2840, 5th on 3550, 6th on 4260, 7th on 4970, 8th on 5680, 9th on 6390, 10th on 7100, and 11th on 7810. Interestingly, the 11th harmonic was the strongest. I only received a het on the 3rd harmonic frequency, but my antenna is not at all resonant on 2130(David Hodgson, TN, harmonics yahoogroup via DXLD) ** DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. The WRTH [2001?] frequency listing has incorrectly listed the prefix on all Dominican stations as "CM" (Rick Kenneally, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA [non] CLANDESTINES from CIS to ETHIOPIA. Due to interference from the Voice of Greece, we did change one of frequencies recently. It concerns a move from 12110 kHz to 12120 kHz for the following broadcasts: 1700-1800 UT Netsanet Le Ethiopia Radio Wed + Sun 1700-1800 UT Dejen Radio Sat 1730-1800 UT Sagalee Oromiyaa Mon + Thu (Ludo Maes, TDP, Belgium, Dec 6, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** FINLAND. SWR Propagation Forecast for Dec 25, 2001 I have made a set of coverage maps for the coming Scandinavian Weekend Radio Xmas Special on Tuesday, December 25, 2001. They will be available on SWR's web site http://www.swradio.net but now also at http://www.uwasa.fi/~jpe/swr/ 73s (Jari Perkiömäki, Vaasa, Finland jpe@uwasa.fi DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUATEMALA. I just received a reply from the Media Consultant for the SBC in Mexico concerning reception reports & QSLs for R. Amistad. He said that he will serve as QSL manager for Radio Amistad and reception reports should be sent to him in Mexico. He reads/speaks English and Spanish. Address: Attn. David Daniell, Asesor de Communications Apartado Postal 25, Bulevares MX, 53140 Mexico (Larry Baysinger, KY, Dec 5, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** HONDURAS. 4830, Radio Litoral now spot on here, and fighting it out with co-channel Venezuelan Radio Táchira. Heard at 0020 Dec 2 with talk by woman. Language sounded African [Garifuna? or does Miskito sound like this?] and was broken up by music bridges every minute or so. I tuned away for a few minutes at 0025-0026, but when I returned, I heard an identification in Spanish. Also presumed them with Spanish religious program Dec 5 at 1105, but did not stick around to ID (Hans Johnson, FL, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** IRAQ. Hi all, 7072 7/12 2130z Radio Iraq 43333 mx - ID: "Idahatu jumhuriyah al Iraq, min Baghdad" - mx (songs) - YL in AA talk about Islam - YM - mx - ID again @ 2142z - mx (Islamic songs and children chorus) - YL: "Ramadan..." - mx - Time Signal @ 2159 - ID - nx: "Filistin... Jumhuriyah... Afghanistan... Amerikiyah..." New freq? 73 de (Salvo Micciché (SWL IT9/4639/RG), MondoRadio DX Club Kenwood R-5000 - Sangean ATS909 - Ant 60 mt longwire + MLB, Loop per onde medie FX AL IIId (designed by F. Golzio) Monitoring in Scicli (Sicilia, Italia) JM76IS (36 47'N -14 42'E) Hard-Core-DX mailing list via DXLD) ** ITALY. **M** In Italy, Marconi's country of birth, several special event stations are active throughout December, including IU0M, IY4FGM, IR7GM and II3GM (RSGB Dec 8 via Mike Terry, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** JAPAN. Hi Glenn, Re David Norrie's comment, I don't think lack of World Cup coverage has anything to do with Radio Japan not being interested. More likely it has everything to do with the money that FIFA (soccer's governing body) is demanding for rights. To cover the tournament live would be beyond the budget of any international broadcaster. I suspect that many international broadcasters will cover the games that their own countries play. Radio Netherlands, for example, buys rights for major games involving the Dutch team, but even then only for commentaries in Dutch. But our national team failed to qualify for the finals this time, so we won't be doing any commentaries :-( 73, (Andy Sennitt, Dec 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEWFOUNDLAND. **M** Special event to mark centenary of transatlantic reception: The Society of Newfoundland Radio Amateurs will operate special event station VO1S during the month of December. The special event will mark the 100th anniversary of the reception of the first transatlantic radio signal--the Morse code letter "s"--received by Marconi at Signal Hill in Newfoundland on December 12, 1901. Marconi used a kite-supported antenna to hear the signal, which was transmitted from his station in Poldhu, Cornwall, England. QSL VO1S via the bureau or direct (before March 1, 2002), to SONRA, PO Box 23099, St John's, NF A1B 479, Canada (ARRL Letter Dec 7 via John Norfolk, DXLD) On the other side of the Atlantic, the Society of Newfoundland Radio Amateurs http://www.sonra.ca will be operating with the special callsign VO1S during the whole of December (RSGB Dec 8 via Mike Terry, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NORWAY. Re: NRW MW/LW, Norkring SW transmitters Dear Kai and the rest, Yes it IS confusing! What I'm been told, Europakanalen WILL continue on all AM-outlets, EXCEPT 1314 kHz. But like the SW-txs, Norkring`s contract with NRK last till Dec. 31 2003, and it is NOT likely they will accept a sudden closure. Also Kvitsøy will have to remain in operation at least as a transmission centre, since all the other AM's (except Vigra 630) are remote controlled from Kvitsøy. I've seen no official messages from NRK giving exact details of what they intend to do. What I've reported the last few days is based on various newspaper-sources, and news-departments of NRK itself. I believe they will try to close 1314 on New Year as suggested (having the bill reduced with the power-costs, but still paying for the facilities). Another solution may be a power reduction. But Norkring may object to this and keep to their contract. Also a closure will most probably lead to many complaints, and result in reactivation. As for the SW-outlets, I believe they will continue as today despite the rumours of a full closedown, just to fulfill the contracts with Norkring and Radio Denmark. At least for some time. But it seems evident that Radio Norway is no more as a dedicated programme as from New Year. One solution is that the first half hour every hour will be silent, to save power costs. Another is that NRK will try to sell as much of the available slots as possible to others. A third and the most immediate solution is to keep the frequency/time slots, but feed them with a different programme, maybe produced by the rolling news service NRK Alltid Nyheter (= "Always News"). It can't be fed directly though, as this service relay BBC at night hours, and this would be silly to air on SW! But at some time during the day, it would be possible to prepare a halfhour programme that would be repeated the next 23 hours. Time will show what will happen. All this is only a small portion of a big savings plan to bring balance to the budgets. It may be a political game, as NRK at the same time wants to have a VAT-refund, like all newspapers in Norway already have, not so in NRK. A possible VAT-refund will improve the budgets more than the planned cuts! The bad economic state of NRK is not a new issue. It's been bad for a number of years. It's been kept close to balance through the formation on Norkring some years ago. Beforehand, NRK owned all transmitters and distribution (thousands of FM and TV transmitters, plus the AMs). Together with Norwegian telecom, Telenor, NRK formed Norkring. Gradually NRK have parted with their shares in the company, and it`s now 100% owned by Telenor. The income from selling these shares brought the ordinary budgets close to balance, but now they don't own their transmitters anymore and have to pay more to use them..... 73 (Bernt Erfjord, Norway, Dec 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 4835.5, R Marañón, 0940 Dec 8, Sign on announcements by M and YL including ID @ 0940. Promos/ads MX, then positive ID by DJ given twice @ 0953. Nice Peruvian folk MX, more ads and canned ID @ top of the hour. Good signal strength, with s9 peaks here in Nashville (David Hodgson, TN, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA [and non]. I think the contracts of foreign broadcasters with the MCCBN well specify technical parameters, so also the transmitter site. I remember that in some cases interested customers visited the sites before signing a contract, so years ago RNW issued a QSL card featuring Lesnoy, one of the "Moscow" sites. Apparently Samara has again main power problems at present with many or probably all transmissions either suspended or transferred to other sites, and certainly all affected customers were notified like VRT. And I guess this also applies for "Voice of Afghanistan" on 9950: Samara was originally planned but another site is in use now, probably indeed Grigoriopol`. I have not followed the transmission day by day but when I checked the signal strength suggested a site in Europe rather than Siberia as origin (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Dec 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SINGAPORE. A most interesting report by G3VGW. While I live in Singapore and had at one time even worked within sight of its antennas, I had never been inside the Kranji relay station. Just like to add that I had walked past the place two years ago. Yes, you can't get there on a taxi; I took an hour on foot walking in slowly from Choa Chu Kang Road. (Bring plenty of water on a hot day!) The site, in the middle of an atypical rural area for Singapore shares transmitting facilities with Sincom (Singapore International Communications, the parent organisation of Radio Singapore International). However, it`s not the only transmitting facility in the area. The Singtel utility station down the road is actually more extensive. On the subject of QSLs, I had once received a QSL card (not a postcard) from the station by sending it to the Turut Track address. Dunno if it still works (Richard Lam, Singapore, ODXA via DXLD) ** SWEDEN. In DXLD 1-191 you carried the following newspaper clipping: [Headline]: High velocity data transfers in powerlines might disturb radio communications. As the originating reporter to that news wire story, re-carried by several newspapers, I may briefly add some items: Yes, DX listeners may also be affected. But neither they, nor the radio amateurs, are of any significant importance when dealing with this matter. This was confirmed by one of the regulators in the governmental Elsäkerhetsverket, saying that "they need to keep a balanced view on these matters", adding that some radio amateurs may not count that much compared to the wide, general interest in broadband connections in any form. However, if air, sea and military security is affected, it is a whole new ballgame. And as a news reporter, I will tend to agree that reporting on shortwave listeners troubles in a general, daily newspaper would be a lousy story, compared with a national security story. Except here, and in other DX related forums, where it will be a top story. And please note that journalists have to write for a target audience, and they have to write articles, not books. Finally, to answer a few questions raised. Q: Does anyone know of any serious tests that has been made in this field? A: Yes, Ascom [the technical provider] has made several tests in Germany, who is in the lead on PLC. And, yes, Sydkraft in Sweden has done some local tests in the Malmö area. And one of Sweden's two regulator, Post och Telestyrelsen, has taken part in some of these tests. However, the other Swedish regulator, Elsäkerhetsverket, intends to do its own testing when the Swedish project has gone beyond today's 30 testing households to a planned 3.000 homes next year. Q: Would data streams come in high-voltage lines too? A. No, not at all. It is not a good, technically solution. The PLC normally is only used for the last part of the connection from the power transformer station to a house. The max. distance is 300 meters, then you will either have to add a transformer or add more juice on the line to get a satisfactory datastream -- but that will cause even more interference, and thus should be out of the question. So, in order to have a real broadband network, power companies will have to run fiberoptic networks as well, between all its power stations (Sydkraft is investing heavily in this). The user benefit is that you can connect your computer to any electric wall outlet anywhere in your house (via a modem, of course). But then, this could also be accomplished with wireless broadband, a field most mobile phone operators are betting on. So we are living in interesting times. Q: I would be grateful for hints where to read more. A: There are plenty of stuff about PLC available on the Internet. One good starting point is this: http://www.darc.de/referate/ausland/plc/ As it may be hard to find the most relevant story in all those links, I would recommend this one, giving a brief overview of how the PLC may affect you: http://www.darc.de/referate/ausland/plc/PLT-Market-version.pdf Ascom, with its "leading position in the Powerline Communications (PLC) market" http://www.ascom.com/ Ilevo, leading Swedish PLC experts http://www.ilevo.com/all_news.asp And the masochist may wish to dig into the European Unions work on "New Regulatory Framework for electronic communications" http://europa.eu.int/information_society/topics/telecoms/regulatory/new_rf/index_en.htm (Hermod Pedersen, Web Editor http://www.hard-core-dx.com/ Please use this email address: hermod@hard-core-dx.com Dec 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAJIKISTAN. A few words about the just discussed Orzu site in Tajikistan: There are two high power mediumwave transmitters on 648 and 972, still in use by Voice of Russia but also by other broadcasters. It seems that the BBC no longer uses 648 but for it recently Deutsche Welle appeared on 972, reportedly prior to 1930 sign off. In addition Orzu has two high power shortwave transmitters, there are some VOR slots but the main customer is now Radio Free Asia. May I comment that some of the recent conclusions do not appear to be right on spot to me, especially since the original report referred to TV rather than radio. To complete the picture: There is another shortwave site in Tajikistan, at Yangi-Yul, equipped with some 100 kW transmitters. Yangi-Yul is in use by various customers today but of special interest are certainly the Voice of Russia transmissions on 4940, 4965 and 4975, outlets once used to relay Radio Afghanistan. Regards, (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Dec 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. **M** MARCONI 100TH ANNIVERSARY The 100th anniversary of the reception of the first trans-Atlantic radio signal by Guilermo [sic] Marconi at Signal Hill in St. John's, Newfoundland, takes place on Wednesday the December 12th [sic]. In celebration, a number of United Kingdom special event stations will be active to commemorate the event. Most of the operations will take place on the 12th of December itself. Even Great Britain's Radiocommunications Agency is getting into the act. It will be operating GB100WT from its laboratory site at Whyteleafe, Surrey, during part of December including, they hope, the full 24 hours of the 12th of December. The Radiocommunications Agency expects to be operational on the High Frequency bands as well as 2 meters and 70 centimeters. The station will be operated by Radiocommunications Agency staff in addition to members of local radio clubs and will welcome QSOs with stations worldwide (RSGB via Amateur Radio Newsline Dec 7 via John Norfolk, DXLD) Many Special Event Stations Commemorate Marconi Centenary Wednesday the 12th of December is the 100th anniversary of the reception of the first trans-Atlantic radio signal. The signal, a repeated letter 'S' in Morse code, was sent from Poldhu in Cornwall and received by Guglielmo [pron: "Goo-lee-el-mo"] Marconi at Signal Hill, just outside St John's in Newfoundland. In order to celebrate this centenary, many special event stations will be on the air from both sides of the Atlantic: GB100GM will be activated by members of the Poldhu Amateur Radio Club on the 12th of December from 0800 to 1730 UT. Three stations will be on the air and, at 1600, one of them will attempt a link-up with VO1S at Signal Hill, Newfoundland. All the stations will close down for five minutes before each hour to allow a Royal Navy spark transmission experiment to take place from the site. GB100LD will operate from the nearby Lizard wireless station on the 12th. Chelmsford Amateur Radio Society http://www.g0mwt.free-online.co.uk/ will be running two special stations on the 12th of December. The very special callsign 2MT [note: 2MT is the complete callsign] will be operated from Chelmsford using SSB and CW on the 3.5 to 28 MHz bands. 2MT, standing for 'Marconi Telegraph', was the callsign used by Marconi from the original Marconi factory in Chelmsford. Also, GX0MWT will be operated from the Chelmsford Science and Industry Museum, where --- weather permitting --- it is planned to use a kite aerial similar to that used by Marconi 100 years ago. For further details contact the club's secretary David Bradley, M0BQC, on 01 245 602 838. GB100MAL, standing for 'Marconi's Atlantic Leap', will be operated from the headquarters of the Brickfields Amateur Radio Society on the Isle of Wight. The station will be active on 10 to 40 metres and possibly also on 2 metres. All stations working GB100MAL will be sent a QSL incorporating a photograph of Marconi taken at Signal Hill after the historic trans-Atlantic link was made. A special personalised 'Certificate of Achievement' is also available and details were published on page 10 of the December edition of RadCom. Radio amateurs working for the Radiocommunications Agency, along with local club members, will operate GB100WT from the RA laboratory at Whyteleafe near Croydon in Surrey on the 12th December. It is hoped that the station will be active on HF for the full 24 hours of Wednesday. GB100HD will operate from the Holyhead Coast Station on Anglesey for the full 24 hours of the 12th. And GB100MC is being operated from three different locations around Leicester from the 3rd of December until the end of the month (RSGB Dec 8 via Mike Terry, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 100 Year Marconi Celebrations. Saturday, 8th December, 2001 in Chelmsford Town Centre Chelmsford Borough Council have requested CARS to produce a Special Event Station to be positioned in the centre of Chelmsford. CARS has arranged with the RSGB that their mobile special event station mounted in a lorry will be active by the Shire Hall (which is in the High Street). It is called GB4FUN, for further details see the front cover of RadCom for November and the write-up on pages 10 and 21 of December's issue. The idea is to Operate the Club Call-sign GX0MWT and GB4FUN from 1000 to 1700 hrs. Sometime between 1030 and 1145 hrs, Princess Elettra is expected to visit the Exhibition after unveiling a memorial to Marconi in the town. It is hoped that scheds can be arranged to work other Marconi sites at this time --- propagation allowing. Please contact David Bradley, M0BQC by E-Mail at davidwbradley1@activemail.co.uk to arrange a Sked. Wednesday, 12th December 2001 Marconi New Street Celebrations. The Marconi Company, in cooperation with CARS is staging an Amateur Radio Station at its premises in New Street Chelmsford. This is the first building produced in the world for the production of Radio Equipment and was built in record time. The equipment is commercial equipment operating into a vertical aerial mounted on the roof. Full power will be available on all bands but propagation will limit what will be used. Due to possible problems operating the equipment remotely this site may use SSB only. The very special Call-Sign 2MT (yes! 2MT) will be used. Please note that 1MT will be operational from Italy. Also between 1830 and 2030 hours GMT, 2MT will be operating on 2 Metres (VHF) FM on 145.375 MHz +\- QRM. All station worked will receive a special QSL Card. Likewise the QSL Card will be sent to all SWL who submit a log. Please contact Trevor Hawkins, M5AKA by E-Mail at trevors_mail@yahoo.com to arrange a Sked. Note, the E-Mail address uses a Subscript "_" between the "s" of "trevors" and the "m" of "mail". Wednesday, 12th December 2001 Marconi Celebrations from The Writtle Hut. At the same time (1000 to 1500), as the New Street site is operating, CARS is running GX0MWT from Marconi's Writtle Hut where Broadcasting started in about 1922. This hut is now housed in the Chelmsford Science and Industry Museum at Sandford Water Works. The Society's favourite aerial will be used which straddles the water course from the weir which ensures such a good take-off. Tony, G4YTG may use an Aerial Kite similar to that used by Marconi 100 years ago - weather permitting. If you are in a QSO with GX0MWT and the signal drops then that could be due to a lack of wind!. It is proposed to use SSB and CW using very old (Marconi) keys. Please contact Brian Thwaites, G3CVI by E-Mail at chanwait@lineone.net to arrange a Sked. Wednesday, 12th December 2001 Marconi Celebrations from around the UK About the same time (1000 to 1500), as the above events, George Banner, G3AHX will be keying a 1.6 kW Spark Transmitter on 1.7 MHz. This will be for 5 mins on the hour. The aim is to replicate Marconi's transmission and to hear where signals can be received. Tune in to 1.7 MHz and see what YOU can hear. There will be many special event station operating. Look for the links to the RSGB Web Site on our Home Page for the latest details (The Chelmsford Amateur Radio Society http://www.g0mwt.free-online.co.uk/ via DXLD) ** U S A. **M** EDXC/Marconi special originally scheduled on WRMI is also on WHR 12 December: 0700-0730 European DX Council Marconi special via KWHR, 17780 0900-0930 European DX Council Marconi special via KWHR, 11565 1700-1730 European DX Council Marconi special via WHRI, 13760 2130-2200 European DX Council Marconi special via WHRA, 17650 13 December: 0130-0200 European DX Council Marconi special via WHRI, 5745 and 7315, and KWHR, 17510 (Kim Elliott, VOA via DXLD) ** U S A. **M** 11-16 December: Marconi Radio Club, W1AA, Eastham, Massachusetts, will be active using SSB on 3952, 7252, 14282, 18152, 21352, 24952, and 28352 kHz. CW on on 3552, 7052, 10112, 14052, 18082, 21052, 24892, and 28052 kHz. Club will use special call W1AA/CC, the "CC" being the call sign Marconi used in 1901. Information at http://personal.tmlp.com/k1vv/w1aa/release.html and http://www.qrz.com/database/W1AA (Kim Elliott, VOA via DXLD) ** U S A [and non]. "DX window" remains for ARRL 160 Meter Contest: Although the "DX window" no longer is a part of the ARRL 160-meter band plan, there will be a DX window for the ARRL 160 Meter Contest, which runs December 7-9. The contest's rules http://www.arrl.org/contests/announcements/rules-160m.html still require that the segment 1.830 to 1.835 MHz be used only for intercontinental QSOs. The contest is a CW-only event. The revised band plan, which is considered an operating guideline, recommends that SSB, SSTV and other wideband modes stay at or above 1.843 MHz. It also establishes a QRP calling frequency is 1.810. In doing away with the DX window last July, the ARRL Board of Directors adopted the recommendations of the ad hoc 160 Meter Committee, which said the DX window concept was not followed and was impractical. The change left it up to contest sponsors to establish DX windows as necessary during their events (ARRL Letter Dec 7 via John Norfolk, DXLD) ** VENEZUELA. Circuito Radio Venezuela: En el sitio http://www.radiovenezuela.com.ve puede ahora bajarse el audio de varias emisoras de esta cadena, a saber R Venezuela 790, Mara Ritmo 900, R 880 (Pto Ordaz) y Valencia 1220. También de la cadena, aunque sin poderse escuchar por ahora a través de internet (Windows Media Player), son R Llanera 960, R Carúpano, R Oriente 720, R Tricolor 990 y R 1080 AM, de Maracay (Henrik Klemetz, Suecia, Dec 8, Conexión Digital, DXLD) ###