DX LISTENING DIGEST 00-52, April 13, 2000 edited by Glenn Hauser {Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only providing full credit be maintained at all stages. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without permission} THIS WEEK ON WORLD OF RADIO 1032: See topic summary at http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio/wor1032.html THIS SESQUIMONTH ON CONTINENT OF MEDIA 00-03: See topic summary at http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio/com0003.html This editions debuts on RFPI Friday April 14 at 1900, and shortly also via http://www.DXing.com MUNDO RADIAL, ABRIL. Se comienza el viernes 14 de abril a las 2115 en 15685 por WWCR; guion disponible en http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio/rel0004.txt ARTICLE ON GLENN HAUSER and WORLD OF RADIO by Thomas Voelkner in the German-language Radio Journal, has been translated into Dutch, and this one is available online in Soundscapes http://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes On the first page just Volume III has started and you can find it there (Hans Knot, Groningen, NETHERLANDS via Voelkner) ** AUSTRIA. External service ROI Budget cut. New Austrian right wing government will cut the annual ROI Vienna budget from 166 to 140 MegaSchillings [about 2M US$]. Das steht in der SA-Ausgabe (8.4.00) der Salzburger Nachrichten: ``... Uebrigens haben nicht nur die Zeitungen unter der Spargesinnung der Regierung zu leiden. Wie am Freitag bekannt wurde, will die Regierung die Zuschuesse fuer den ORF-Auslandsdienst Radio Oesterreich International (ROI) erheblich kuerzen, und zwar von 166 auf 140 Mill.S. ORF-Generalintendant Gerhard Weis und ROI-Intendant Roland Machatschke erklaerten, dass die Plaene 'schmerzlich' seien und sich 'erhebliche Schwierigkeiten' ergeben wuerden. Man werde versuchen, die Kuerzungen nicht aufs Programm durchschlagen zu lassen.`` (Salzburger Nachrichten newspaper, via Herbert Meixner, Austria, A-DX Apr 8, via Wolfgang Bueschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST, WORLD OF RADIO 1032) ** BOLIVIA. Bolivia declares state of siege. Bolivia's president declared a state of siege Saturday, sending police with tear gas and rubber bullets into the streets of the country's third-largest city to try to quell demonstrators who hurled rocks and Molotov cocktails back at them. It was the seventh time the emergency measure, which suspends many constitutional guarantees but is much less serious than a call for martial law, has been used since democracy returned to Bolivia in 1982. Two protesters were reported killed in separate clashes, and Government Minister Walter Guiteras said scores of protest leaders were detained and confined to San Joaquin, a remote town on the border wih Brazil, 460 miles from La Paz. Police in the eastern city of Cochabamba seized radio stations to prevent independent reporting on the situation. <<<<<<<< The government's move came after a week of protests over rising water rates, unemployment and other economic difficulties plaguing this nation in the heart of South America (AP La Paz, via Enid News and Eagle April 9, DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. 4702.23, Radio Eco, 2354-0030 April 11, A rare appearance here with a string of operatic tenor vocals. 0011 switch to more Ranchera-like vocals. Announcer with short ``...Eco San Borja...`` IDs. LSB mode sliced away the UTE QRM from above. Occasional SSB QRM was right on top. 0030 RTTY sign-on buried it for good. Fair to poor overall signal (Mark Mohrmann, VT, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. A long article about RCI can be read at: http://www.ryerson.ca/rrj/print/2000_spr/2000_spr_rci.html 73- (Bill Westenhaver, Audience Relations avec l'auditoire, Radio Canada International, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CYPRUS. CyBC External Service in Greek, Fri, Sat, Sun at 2215-2245 is on 6180, 7205, 9760. CyBC is the broadcasting authority of the Greek Cypriot government. This service, for Cypriots in the United Kingdom, is transmitted from Merlin Communications facilities near Limassol. It was inaugurated on 1st May 1977. Address: CyBC, Broadcasting House, PO Box 4824, 1397 Nicosia, Cyprus. E-mail: rik@xybc.com.cy Web Site: http://www.cybc.com.cy (© BBC Monitoring April 12 via WORLD OF RADIO 1032, DXLD) ** ECUADOR. 4020, LA VOZ DE SU AMIGO, 1020-1050 April 9 (3 x 1340). Irregular harmonic but with strong signal, heard first time in mid- 98. Heard with the pgrm: Una Herencia para el Futuro. This was the pgrm heard by Mohrmann with Inspirational messages. After 1030 into ``Su Amigo y la Rockola`` with popular Ecuadorian music (Rafael Rodriguez Rodriguez, Bogota, Colombia, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EGYPT. R. Cairo, sesquihour English at 2300 to ENAm cannot settle itself to be consistently good or bad signal-wise or with modulation. One day good and next day poor-bad. Take each day as it comes on 9900. Sometimes splattered by 9895 (R. Nederland to SAm in Spanish). WNAm English on 9475 at 0200 remains terrible. This was once our only take-it-or-leave-it English to NAm, that started out quite good and then for over 10 years drew complaints due to horribly distorted modulation. Someone please tell me why Cairo is not consistent with signal quality on 9900 at 2300; but 0200 onward, Cairo`s 9900 [not in English] can do a job on SRI 9905 [via French Guiana]? (Bob Thomas, CT, April 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FRANCE. Radio France Internationale: Address: 116 avenue du President Kennedy, BP 9516, F-75016 Paris, France. E-mail: english.service@rfi.fr Web Site: http://www.rfi.fr --------------------------------------------------------------------- 0000-2359 On Demand MULTILINGUAL : http://www.rfi.fr -live audio 1200-1300 Daily ENGLISH EuAf Ter: 11.670 15.155 15.195 15.540 1400-1500 Daily ENGLISH MEAs Ter: 11.610 17.620 17.680 1600-1700 Daily ENGLISH Af Ter: 11.995 12.015 15.210 17.605 1700-1730 Daily ENGLISH Af Ter: 15.210 --------------------------------------------------------------------- (© BBC Monitoring April 12 exerpted by gh for DXLD, WORLD OF RADIO 1032) In addition, via WRN1 to North America daily at 1500-1600, i.e. just before WORLD OF RADIO on Saturdays (gh) ** GREECE. VOG, English news at 0201-0207, then Greek: 7450 has constant RTTY QRM, and a jammer off and on; best on 9420 and 12110 (Bob Thomas, CT, April 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREECE [non]. Glenn, Parliamentary elections were held in Greece on April 9, so no doubt ``It's Greek to Me`` was pre-empted by election programming. I hope the program is still on, as I enjoyed listening to it. (Christos Rigas, Wood Dale, Illinois, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Was Sun 1906 on 17705 (gh) ** GUATEMALA. Listening over and over to one of my tapes of R. Verdad, which is included on MUNDO RADIAL, it sounds like they are giving their location as Monte Orion, en la Sierra de la Gloria, but I am still not positive of the words Orion and Sierra. Was late coming on April 13 on 4052.5, anthem at 1134, skipped the history-of- the-anthem lecture, 1137 vibes and s/on, 1139 banjo theme. See also UNIDENTIFIED at bottom (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. Hi Glenn, my name is Harold, amateur callsign VO1JA, living at St. John's Newfoundland, Canada. Station is a Kenwood ts-50 with a longwire antenna. Tonight, 12 april, at 2020 UTC, heard Voice of Indonesia on 15.150 MHz. At 2100 UTC, the close of the transmission, the station announced frequencies of 9.525, 15.150, and 11.785 for 0800 and 2000 UTC. 73, de (vo1ja, Harold, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN [non]. MOLDOVA. New station Radio Voice of Iran in Farsi is on the air from March 26 via KCH [Kishinov] 500 kW 115 degrees: 1630- 1830 on new 12065 (SINPO 55555) but broadcaster is [actually] Grigoriopol MNO [Merlin Network One] (Observer, Bulgaria, via DXLD) ** ITALY. Rai, English at 0050 announces 9675, but have not heard their NAm service since April 2 when it was not English. Parallel 6010 and 11800 normal, in English. April 3 and 4, nothing on 9675, others OK (Bob Thomas, CT, April 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) We have suspected 9675 is a different transmitter site due to muffled audio (gh) ** KASHMIR [non?] CLANDESTINE. 5101.23, Voice of Jammu Kashmir Freedom. Open carrier March 25 at 1258, into national anthem at 1300. ID in local language, with Jammu Kashmir clearly heard, then into Koran (spoken, not chanted). Good signal. On 5101.26 when rechecked at 1358. Bag pipe like interval signal (?) and into English news at 1415. Headlines, then the news until 1420. ID in English at 1421. Commentary about India and Kashmir. No longer in English at 1428. Nice strong signal! (Walt Salmaniw, Maui, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. R. Mil, 6010, is back on the air after the tower collapse, noted April 13 at 1132 with jingle and ``La nueva imagen de Radio Mil``. Has slight het on high side (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MONGOLIA. 12085. Very good reception March 27 of the Voice of Mongolia, at 1503 except for mild transmitter buzz. Lone female does the whole program. Her grasp of English is obviously limited, as there are many errs, and ahhs, and poor pronunciations. I.e. ``EEsAAk Newton``, etc. Mailbag at 1518 to an Australian listener, and then ``Greetings from Canada`` and a QSL request from Dr Tom Williamson for his 16 February 2000 reception. The transmitter suddenly cut-off at 1524. Tuned in at 1459 March 29. 9720 had a strong signal, but buzzy audio. ``This is the Voice of Mongolia``. Good to very good. This frequency not heard two days previously, and is not announced. They did announce the following English broadcasts: 1030 to Australia on 12085, 1500 to South Asia on 12085 and 12015, and 2000 to Europe on the same two frequencies. ``Hello, please welcome the Voice of Mongolia``. A very distorted parallel could be heard under cochannel Voice of Russia WS in English on 12015. Fairly amateurish program. Same poor female proceeded to mostly read and paraphrase articles from the ``Mongol Messenger``. The same program was repeated the following day. Tuned in at 1510 (30 March), but this time heard on 12085. Nothing on 9720, nor 12015. On the first of April, 12084.98 and 12014.7 were heard, at 1502, interview with Joe, a voluntary vet in Mongolia (Walt Salmaniw, Maui, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MONGOLIA. 12085, Voice of Mongolia, Interval signal at 1029 to English broadcast 1030-1100 UTC, good signal into northeast Ohio this time of the season, April 10 through 12 (Lee Silvi, Mentor, OH, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MONGOLIA. Radio Ulan Bator was heard here in Taranto in the South of Italy, on April 13, at 1200 in presumed Chinese on the harmonic frequency of 24170 kHz (12085 x 2) with a fair signal. The transmission began with the IS, ID and TK. S/OFF at 1230 with station address. (Antonello Napolitano, hard-core-dx via DXLD) On the fundamental, at this time as I previously reported, I hear Japanese (gh) ** NEW ZEALAND. Greetings from New Zealand. Here is the RADIO NEW ZEALAND INTERNATIONAL FREQUENCY SCHEDULE 07 May - 03 September 2000 UTC kHz Target Days 1650-1850 6145 (49m) N.E. Pacific, Mon-Fri Samoa, Cook Islands 1851-1950 11725 (25m) All Pacific Mon-Fri 1855-1950 11725 All Pacific Sat-Sun 1951-0705 17675 (16m) All Pacific Daily 1955-0705 17675 All Pacific Sat-Sun 0706-0959 12045 (25m) All Pacific Daily 1000-1205 12045 N.W. Pacific, Bougainville, East Timor, Asia OFF-AIR 1205-1650 Occasional Use for Special Events 1206-1505 6100 1506-1650 6145 =============================================== The RNZI Audio Archive and topical Pacific New Bulletins, and a live audio stream available available at http://www.rnzi.com =============================================== (Adrian Sainsbury, Frequency Manager, Radio New Zealand International P O Box 123, Wellington, NEW ZEALAND, April 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) HCJB obliterates RNZI on 15115 at 1105 UT April 13, the latter nothing but an undercurrent. Maybe they should adopt 12045 post haste. Earlier UT Thu confirmed RNZI Mailbox is at 0304 as in current posted program schedule, not previous DST timing of 0205, since it was ending at 0330:30. This time, RNZI was atop the UAE co-channel on 17675 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OMAN. 15355, Radio Sultanate of Oman provides superb reception in English from 0300 to 0400. Programming is very interesting and enjoyable, with recitation of the Holy Koran, followed by a very thoughtful and well translated version in English. At 0330 they have a time check for 0730 AM, and an ID as ``live from our studios in Muscat``. Interesting items I heard this session March 25: That left handed women have a higher breast cancer risk, and that low cholesterol is linked to depression! (Dr. Walt Salmaniw, Maui, WORLD OF RADIO 1032, DXLD) I have yet to get this at anything approaching superbness (gh) ** PHILIPPINES. Radio Filipinas is the external service of the Philippine Broadcasting Service, under the control of the Bureau of Broadcast Services. It broadcasts via Voice of America shortwave relay transmitters in the Philippines. Address: Radio Filipinas, Philippine Broadcasting Service, 4th Floor, Media Centre, Visayas Ave, Diliman, Quezon City 1103, Philippines --------------------------------------------------------------------- 0230-0330 Daily TAGALOG ME Ter: 11.885 15.120 15.270 1730-1930 Daily ENGLISH ME Ter: 11.720 15.190 17.720 --------------------------------------------------------------------- (© BBC Monitoring April 12, complete, WORLD OF RADIO 1032, DXLD) ** PHILIPPINES [non]. Incidentally (I forgot to mention this in my initial report), the "pinoy" as in "Radio Pinoy" is a Tagalog colloquialism for a Filipino [male]; "pinay" is female. (Dave Kernick, UK, hard-core-dx via DXLD, WORLD OF RADIO 1032) ** ROMANIA. RRI, English to NAm at 0200 seemed to have settled on 9570 //11940. I heard it announce 9570 but when not there I found it on 9510. If not there, it was on 9570. A few times it was clear on 9510 but WYFR 9505, sometimes co-channel RHC Spanish, is back and splatters. So it went back to 9570. But once again I`ve found it on 9510!! At 0400, RRI English to NAm may or may not show up on 15105, or 11940 which is best (Bob Thomas, CT, April 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ROMANIA. Radio Romania International Program Guide. Monday: Radio Newsreel (News, Commentary on current affairs, Media Headlines). Pro Memoria - The History of Romanians. Political Flash. Business Update. Pulse of Transition. Performing Arts. Romanian Hits. Sports Weekend. Tuesday: Radio Newsreel (News, Commentary on current affairs, Media Headlines). Business Club (The Romanian business world). European Horizon (the process of Romania's integration into the European Union). Tourist News. Radio in Blue Jeans (youth programmes). Mother Nature (ecology). The Skylark (Romanian folk music). The Athlete of the Week. Wednesday: Radio Newsreel (News, Commentary on current affairs, Media Headlines). Society Today (mentalities, expectations, attitudes). Business Update. Visit Romania. The Stage and Screen. Fairs and Exhibitions. Romanian Musicians. RRI Sports Club Thursday: Radio Newsreel (News, Commentary on current affairs, Media Headlines). Cards on the Table (an unbiased debate) alternating with: Elections 2000 (a presentation of the political spectrum) alternating with: The Romanians Next to You (interviews with important Romanian personalities of the 20th century and presentation of Romanian communities world-wide, their life and their problems). Romanian Web Sites. Life in the Provinces. Editorial Novelties. The Latest in Music. Football Flash. Friday: Radio Newsreel (News, Commentary on current affairs, Media Headlines). A Challenge for the Future (debates on sensitive issues, including issues related to the election year 2000) alternating with: Terra 2000 (environmental program). Business Update. Practical Guide (useful information). Spectator (vox pop). Romanian Folk Music at Its Best. Sports Weekend. Saturday: Radio Newsreel (News, The Week - a retrospective of the political events of the week). World of Culture (Romanian cultural personalities / trends / ideas / events). RRI Encyclopaedia. Roots (Romanian traditions / traditional culture). Saturday Cafe (entertainment, curiosities, spare time, weekend events) Sunday: Radio Newsreel (News, Focus (commentary)). Olympic Circles (Romanian participation and achievements at Olympic Games in the 20th century and preparations for Sidney). Radio Tour - tourism in Romania. (RRI web site via John Norfolk, OKCOK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOMALIA. Observations from Maui, Hawaii: 7530, Radio Hargeisa. Heard initially at 1635 on 22 March. Did not seem to be daily, though propagation may have accounted for this. Frequently covered by a Chinese station, but this is also irregular. Clear with fair signal with mild hum. Signal improved when rechecked at 1652. Lots of talk interspersed with Horn of Africa music. Better yet at 1726. Barely audible by 1802. Following day heard at 1559 with ?interval signal and ID, but obliterated [by] Chinese station at 1600. Didn't hear them again for a few days, but found them again on 1 April at 1508 on 7530.02 USB. Poor signal. Better at 1515. Possible ID at 1526. Monotonous long songs, mainly instrumental or accompanied by a lone female voice. Again obliterated by Chinese station at 1600:30, but in clear again when rechecked at 1700. At this time it is stronger than the other Somali stations. At 1702 ``Somaliland`` clearly heard. Almost totally faded out by 1725. Nothing heard on 2 April. 7012 USB, tentatively Radio Gaalkacyo. Fair signal with same Horn of Africa music and talk at 1640 on 22 March. Not heard again until 30 March at 1604. Weak audio. Better by 1617, but with lots of ham QRM. When I rechecked them at 1653, they were definitely in English!!. Heard ``Somali language``, but soon reverted to Somali. Possible national anthem at 1659, then carrier off without further announcements. Listened again on 31 March at 1558, and carrier was there (either in Am or DSB?), but very weak. Nothing more came that day. 1 April, tune in at 1626, barely audible, but great fade-up to 1632, then gradual fade again. Possible Koran at 1658, then same interval signal once only that is heard at sign-on, and carrier off. Not heard the next day. 6900, tentative for Radio Kismaayo. First heard at 1605 on 1 April, either DSB or Am. Very weak audio, but same type of Horn of Africa music. A bit stronger by 1627. Continues past 1700, but fading. Still audible to 1726. Possibly off at 1730. Heard also the following day, 2 April at 1559 with open carrier, but weak audio when rechecked at 1604. Continued past 1625. No other Somali stations were heard during my two week stay in Maui. Stay tuned, much more to come! (Walter R. Salmaniw, MD, Maui, DX LISTENING DIGEST, WORLD OF RADIO 1032) ** SUDAN. 7200, English ID as ``This news is coming to you from the English service of Radio Omdurman``, at 1712 29 March. Also ``You are tuned to the Sudan Broadcasting Corporation``. Strong at 1733. Then 30 March, Good to very good on 7199.98 with English news at 1703. French is broadcast until 1700. At 1708 they said, ``You are still tuned to the English service of Radio Omdurman`` (Walt Salmaniw, Maui, WORLD OF RADIO 1032, DXLD) ** TURKEY. VOT/TRT Ankara, ENAm English 2200-2250 reliable and good reception on 13640; no show at 0300 on 11655 for WNAm (Bob Thomas, CT, April 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UKRAINE. RUI, English at 0000: 9640 sometimes good enough to be heard here; just scratchin` parallel 5905, 6020. May be getting better? (Bob Thomas, CT, April 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. [Re: BBC Write On at its ONLY scheduled time to Americas] It did not air!!! At 0330 UT Sat they aired People and Politics. I was listening at that time to both Net audio and shortwave! (Larry Nebron, April 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) TMMW, tho several ``features`` are available ondemand, Write On, mentioned on the same WS webpage, is not one of them! A World of Radio Editorial, not necessarily reflecting the views of the US Government: BBC WORLD service is hopelessly provincial. Would you believe that the most important news story in the world, April 11 at 1400, was the South African cricket captain being suspended??!! Most of the world does not give a damn about cricket, and even where it is played, people need to figure out that it is just another stupid ballgame, a total waste of everything, including time and attention. BTW, listening on my local cable relay, the audio level went up sharply at 1400 after Off the Shelf when the news started, which would appear to be a problem at the origination. And the internet feed of this was running a good 2.5 minutes behind, which is typical, a lot of buffering. They should at least suppress the so-called timesignal (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1032, DXLD) ** U K. Portishead Radio and all of the coastal VHF stations will close at 1200 UTC on Sunday the 30th of April. The MF stations will close at 1200 UTC on Friday the 30th of June. Portishead Radio first came on air 80 years ago in 1920 and was to become the largest communications centre in the world. It employed over 340 people and was the radio telegraphy centre for the Commonwealth. BT Maritime Radio Services has agreed to run a very special cross- band maritime/amateur event on Saturday the 29th of April 2000, from 0800 to 2000 UTC. The details are as follows: [amateur freqs plus/ minus 5 kHz] - Callsign GKB2, Frequency 4274.0 kHz, Amateur frequency 3525. Callsign GKB4, Frequency 8559.5 kHz, Amateur frequency 7025. Callsign GKB5, Frequency 12835.4 kHz, Amateur frequency 14050. Callsign GKB6, Frequency 17113.0 kHz, Amateur frequency 18075. Callsign GKB7, Frequency 22448.7 kHz, Amateur frequency 21050. There will be three stations operating at any one time - subject to the commercial requirements of the station. BT has appointed the Radio Officers' Association to handle the amateur side of this operation and the liaison officer is David Barlow, G3PLE. All QSOs will receive a QSL via the RSGB bureau. Amateurs are asked to note that there will be no access to BT sites and following closure there will be no surplus equipment for sale. Any enquiries from radio amateurs should be routed through David, G3PLE. His e-mail address, for this event only, is dbarlow@u.genie.co.uk (Radio Society of Great Britain, posted April 13, via John Norfolk, OKCOK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) All amateur frequencies listed are not voice frequencies, at least here in the US, so this may be CW only. ** U K. Monday, April 10, 2000 Report: Eavesdropping damaged spies hearing LONDON (AP) -- More than a hundred British intelligence officers have been compensated for hearing loss caused by too much eavesdropping on the enemy, The Sunday Telegraph reported. A government spokeswoman offered no immediate comment on the report that staff at the Government Communications Headquarters -- the agency that monitors global communications -- had suffered hearing loss while listening to "enemy emissions." The center at Cheltenham, 90 miles northwest of London, employs some 4,000 people including code breakers, computer experts and linguists. The Sunday Telegraph said staff blamed inadequate headphones -- which have since been replaced -- for the hearing damage. Staff "turned the volume up to full if foreign transmissions were difficult to understand. Some transmissions were accompanied by constant buzzing and crackling," the newspaper said. New headphones, introduced in 1995, came too late for operators who worked at the center during the height of the Cold War, the newspaper said. Individual staff have received compensation payments of up to $31,800, the report said. (via Brock Whaley, HI, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Heads up, BBCM Caversham!! (gh) ** U S A. Wavescan confirmed at new WRMI 7385 time of UT Thu 0328 April 13, but it was old edition 273 dated March 19. If we can download the latest at will from http://www.awr.org why can`t WRMI? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Hi Glenn, In Dec. WBCQ changed their webpage link to program sked to a graphical button link. I can't access it with text- browser. I wrote their ``web-mistress`` about it, and used my MARE title, but got no reply. Guess they don't want publicity. :-) I CAN look at source code for their main page, and CONCOCT a link to get me to the program schedule, but why bother? ;-) (Larry Russell, MI, April 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) At the time they told me the change was an improvement. Allan, are you still planning to broadcast from a ship in Boston harbor this summer? (gh) Dear Glenn, Don’t know yet. May not have the time to do radioship programming this summer as we will be working on a third transmitter and antenna in Monticello. Cheers, (Allan Weiner, WBCQ, April 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VATICAN CITY. 11740. Vatican Radio has a weekly (UT Sunday) eastern rite Catholic mass in Ukrainian. Very beautiful service, sung, no instruments, as is the custom in the eastern church. Good reception at 0701 March 26, parallel to 9770 fair. This is the summer schedule (Walt Salmaniw, Maui, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VIETNAM [non]. VOV at 0230 in English via Canada on 9695 is a poor choice. At 0200 CRI is on 9690 [via Spain] in Chinese. I don`t hear VOV on 9695 at 0230 doing well due to ``hiccups.`` The audio breaks up. They had this problem last season on the Russia relay. For now, 9690 CRI splatter is tolerable (Bob Thomas, CT, April 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. 7470, RADIO NACIONAL DE LA REPUBLICA ARABE DEL SAHARAWI. 2301-0002 April 8. Mx Arab, into the SS program: ``... Radio Nacional Saharawi, voz de un pueblo que lucha por su libertad, nuestro proyecto en lengua castellana llega a sus receptores todas las madrugadas con una variada programacion sobre la realidad nacional Saharawi....`` then Servicio de Noticias del Frente Polisario. Music in SS to 2330 when repeat Servicio de Noticias. After music in EE, At the 2358 S/off: ``Cuando son exactamente la 1 de la madrugada en Radio Nacional Saharawi, despedimos esta transmision que se ha originado directamente desde nuestro estudio numero 3, a nombre del equipo realizador de la misma les agradezco la sintonia y les invito a un nuevo encuentro el dia de mañana como siempre a las 12, buenas noches...`` NA. Thanks to DX friend Yimber Gaviria for this Tip (Rafael Rodriguez R., Bogota, Colombia, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. 7456.2, a spurious from 7470 with badly modulated signal (but clear audio) at 2014 in parallel to 7470. Signal was S4-5 while 7470 was S9 to S9+10 (Zacharias Liangas, Greece, April 13, evidently referring to April 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** YEMEN. 9780.28, Sana is now drifting on the high end of 9780. In the past, I always heard them on 9779.79. interval signal and national anthem at 1759 24 March [then English as sked? -gh]. Poor to fair. On 26 March, they were heard at 1751 on 9781.80 (Walt Salmaniw, Maui, WORLD OF RADIO 1032, DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. Checking for R. Verdad, 4052.5 around 1130, I am hearing a very weak signal on 4050 before the TG overcomes it, such as April 11, 13; could really be a 3 x 1350 harmonic (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 5-digit English numbers by YL, each group twice, on 17499.0 USB at 1110 April 13, masked by much stronger open carrier on 17500 which occasionally briefly steps up strength on meter. No modulation on the latter, but would expect R. Bulgaria //15700 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###