DX LISTENING DIGEST 0-167, December 28, 2000 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 2000 archive contents see} http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio/Dxldmid.html WORLD OF RADIO ON WWCR: Glenn, Wanted to let you know that it was necessary to move the Friday evening edition of WOR. Instead of 7 PM, [rather 7:30] it is now 9:30 PM Central [0330 UT Saturday] (Dawn, WWCR PD Dec 27) On 3215; just as well, since the 0130 timing was clashing with RFPI, and VOA CW (gh) ** AFGHANISTAN. Kabul radio announces schedule changes | Text of report by Afghan Taleban radio on 26 December [Presenter] Here is an announcement by Radio Voice of Shari'ah: In the blessed days of Id al-Fitr our morning programmes start at 0800 [0330 gmt] and continue to noon [0730 gmt]. Likewise, the evening programmes of Radio Voice of Shari'ah start as before at 1700 [1230 gmt] and continue until 2200 [1730 gmt]. The 1930 [1500 gmt] evening bulletin in Pashto which was broadcast at 1800 [1330 gmt] during the month of Ramadan will be broadcast as before at 1930 [1500 gmt] starting from the first day of Id al-Fitr [27 December]. It should be mentioned that local and foreign languages are broadcast at the previous times and on the same frequencies. Our esteemed listeners should be aware of this. Source: Radio Voice of Shariah, Kabul, in Pashto 1330 gmt 26 Dec 00 (BBC Monitoring Dec 28 via DXLD) ** BELARUS`. Hi, today (Dec 28) I heard this new retransmission in the 60 meter band: 4855 kHz - Radio Retro, Sankt-Peterburg Time: 1520-1601* s/off Modulation: DSB It seems the already known Belorussian transmitter/feeder has been reactivated. Program: Russian pop music, slogans, weather for Sankt-Peterburg. GOOD DX, (Karel Honzik, the Czech Republic, Hard-Core-DX mailing list via DXLD) We had a report of this station previously on a higher 4 MHz frequency... (gh) ** BENIN. 5025, Radio Benin, Parakou (presumed) Dec 25 at 0026 on late for Christmas with a live church service in French. No sign of co-channel Rebelde. Announcer talking in French with singing in background. Broke away to the preacher a minute later. Followed by a bit of a chorus singing and a mention of Benin at 0032. Nice level at this time, but faded down by 0050 (Hans Johnson, AZ, Cumbre DX via DXLD) One hesitates to deal with oneshots after the fact, but this could be twoshot, so try NY eve (gh) ** BRAZIL. 3.325, 23/12 0035 Rádio Nacional, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brasil - identificação: ``Sucessos e informações em tempo real! AM 650 kHz! Nacional!``. A emissora não transmite mais programação evangélica, SINPO 55555 (Célio Romáis, Pôrto Alegre RGS, DX Clube do Brasil, radioescutas via DXLD) Hmm, the only Brazilian listed on 3325 is R. Tupi, São Paulo, 10 kW 24 h (PWBR 2001 via Chris Hambly, DXLD) ** BRAZIL. 2460, Radio Alvorada: José Severiano de Freitas, who runs Radio Alvorada, says they are having problems with the transmitter. They have not been broadcasting from 10 days but they are expecting to be back on the air on January, 5th. When on, their schedule is daily 0900-0500 with 1 kW. They are expecting to get a license to increase it to 5 kW (Marcelo Tonilo, NY, Dec 29, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC. Radio Ndeke Luka is the replacement for the UN station Radio MINURCA. Run by the Hirondelle Foundation, this station took over much of Radio MINURCA`s equipment, including MINURCA`s old transmitter. There have been some tentative logs made by DXers, so I decided to call the Hirondelle Foundation to see exactly when and where Radio Ndeke Luka is on shortwave. After their director provided me with the above background, I asked him about Radio Ndeke Luka`s time and frequency schedule on shortwave. Here is what he said- Radio Ndeke Luka has NEVER been on shortwave. We have tried to get Radio MINURCA`s transmitter running without success. We are going to need another transmitter, but that will take some more funding so it will be some months before another transmitter is there. We do plan to operate on Radio MINURCA`s old frequencies [9900 and 5900] when we get on the air (via Hans Johnson, Dec 28, Cumbre DX via DXLD) So what were they hearing on 5900, DXLD 0-164? (gh, DXLD) ** CHINA. In coöperation with the Xinhua News Agency, CRI will "look back" and review the stories affecting China in a weeklong series of special programs starting December 29. (--Jim China Radio International/ Shortwave http://pw2.netcom.com/~jleq/cri1.htm swprograms Dec 28 via DXLD) ** CHINA. Central radio launches 8th channel for border areas | Text of report by Chinese central radio on 23 December From 25 December, the Central People`s Radio Station will start broadcasting Programme Eight. This programme will be on the air from 0500 in the morning to 0100 the next morning [2100-1700 gmt]. The programme will be beamed to border areas of our country inhabited by people of the minority ethnic groups, using five ethnic languages: Mongolian, Zhuang, Uighur, Kazakh and Korean. Programme Four of the Central People`s Radio Station will use five ethnic languages and the Han language to serve audiences in the capital on 101.8 MHz FM. The main contents of Programme Eight include special news topics, entertainment, theatrical performance, and so on. After the launch of Programme Eight, the broadcasting output of the Central People`s Radio Station will increase from 136 hours to 156 hours a day. Source: Central People's Broadcasting Station, Beijing, in Standard Chinese 2230 gmt 23 Dec 00 (via BBC Monitoring Dec 28 via DXLD) This could very well involve SW, as the other minolity language services do (gh) ** CHINA. CNR-4 (Minority programs) is new on 7935 kHz (ex CNR-1). Dec 28 I heard the following programs: 1400-1500 Kazakh, 1500-1600 Mongolian, 1600-1700 UNID language (Kirghiz? - Uighur sounds different, I think) - s/off 1700* Parallel frequencies heard: 10260, 11630 kHz. GOOD DX, (Karel Honzik, the Czech Republic, Dec 28, hard- core-dx via DXLD) So maybe this is actually the new CNR-8? (gh) ** CHINA [non]. CLANDESTINE from TAJIKISTAN to CHINA: 9415 (Cumbre DX 326 follow up [to DXLD 0-156]) Falun Dafa Radio: while this one is listed at 1400 to 1500, I don`t think it is on. I have been checking for a week. While I wouldn`t necessarily expect to hear FDR, I would expect to hear the various Chinese jammers. It was quite easy to hear them last summer when FDR was on 9370v at this time (Hans Johnson, AZ, Dec 19-24, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** CONGO. The following loggings were made on a micro-DXpedition using a 537` Beverage aimed at 70 degrees (Africa). 5985, R. Congo, 27 Dec 2051-2147, heard with Afro hi-life music program hosted by woman in FR underneath VOA (UK) in FR. Man in speech at 2126, discussion by man and woman announcer. Talks and music bridges, live interview, and finally ID by woman at 2147. Fairly decent. Clearer after 2130 when VOA went off, but still hampered by slop QRM from 5980 (Dave Valko, PA, hard-core-dx via DXLD) ** FRANCE. 11995, Radio France International in English to Africa with good signal into Northeast Ohio at 1600-1656 Dec 23 (Lee Silvi, Mentor, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. Today Radioropa read out a statement regarding the imminent shut-down of the station, which was evidently written at the Technisat headquarters in Daun. They claim that the station failed because no FM frequencies were allocated to Radioropa. No word about the quality of its own low-budget programming, no word about the fact that Radioropa once had FM outlets in Saxonia but then sold its Leipzig branch to Radio PSR, a commercial station which broadcasts its original program on the former DT64 frequencies in Saxony. Some words about the history of Radioropa: The station was founded in 1990 by the Technisat satellite equipment manufacturer at Daun/Eifel (Rhineland-Palatinate). First Radioropa broadcast on satellite only, but in 1992 they started to rent airtime from the Russian forces station Radio Volga, replacing on 261 the relays of the German service of Radio Moscow as well as some Radio Rossii relays. As compensation a fulltime relay of Radio Rossii by a low powered mediumwave transmitter for the Russian forces headquartered at Wünsdorf was established (891 kHz, power 1 kW; the transmitter was reportedly installed at Zossen). In 1993 Radioropa established shortwave transmissions via the Czech Litomysl site on 5980/5975 as well as a modest power mediumwave outlet at Berlin (693 kHz, power 5 kW, as well-known today carrying Voice of Russia). In 1994 Radioropa discontinued the transmissions on 261. I had a really pleasant phone-talk with Radio Volga and was told that Radioropa was simply short of money and that it is uncertain if Radioropa can inherit the 261 channel; Radio Volga had to pay 80,000 DM per month for the 200 kW transmitter at Burg, which was always operated by Deutsche Telekom or in the past the GDR post office, respectively. From Aug. 1st 1994, the day after the farewell of Radio Volga, the Burg site carried again Radioropa on 261 as an engineering test but after a while they stopped the transmissions. After a period of silence a regular Radioropa service on 261 was established in 1995. By the end of October 1995 both Berlin 693 and shortwave were shut down in favour of the longwave channel. Later the Burg site was equipped with a brand-new 50 kW semiconductor transmitter, which feeds into a 324 metre tall ARRT antenna. This combination of a state-of-the-art transmitter with a tried and tested Soviet antenna design delivers really good results considering the power, which is really modest compared with other European longwave transmitters. In the meantime Radioropa established a branch at Leipzig, which became in 1996 the new headquarters of the station while the activities at Daun were discontinued. In autumn 1996 I visited the Radioropa building there: It was quite eerie, almost like Nalepastraße in Berlin; the desk in studio 1 was still on and it took a moment until the first guy dared to turn up the fader and poke on the mike to light up the bars of the level meter - the signal really no longer left the house. Prior to the shut-down of its Daun operation Radioropa had a conflict with the media authority of Rhineland-Palatinate about FM outlets; the statements which were given at that time are quite similar to today`s. Finally Radioropa was sold as already mentioned and taken off longwave in 1997; the former Radioropa now operates as "oldie.fm". For the 261 frequency Technisat created a new operation, called "Radioropa 2.6.1", consisting of relays of foreign stations (first including the BBC, too) and its own cheap programming from Magdeburg which is more or less an operation of the branch of a news agency there. The decision to shut down "Radioropa 2.6.1" after three years on air was evidently made on short notice just a couple of days ago; perhaps it is a little bit of running amok. The final close-down is announced for midnight on New Year's Eve (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Dec 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also LUXEMBOURG ** GUATEMALA. Survey, checking around local North American morning and evenings: 2360 Radio Maya untraced (Johnson) 3300 Radio Cultural strong both morning and evening (Valko and Johnson) 3324.8 Radio Maya on but not strong (Valko) 3360 Radio Nahualá evenings only (Valko and Johnson) 3370 Radio Tezulutlán untraced (Valko) 3380 Radio Chortís on, but low modulation, transmitter problem? (Valko) 4052 Radio Verdad strong (Johnson) 4780 Radio Cultural Coatán untraced (Valko and Johnson) 4799.8 Radio Buenas Nuevas was having funding problems. (Larry Baysinger) Back on morning of Dec 27 (Valko and Johnson) 4824.9 Radio Mam hard to tell, if on, not putting out their usual signal (Johnson) untraced, but historically an irregular operation (Valko) 4835 Radio Tezulutlán untraced (Valko and Johnson) 4845 Radio K`ekchí heard, but not as strong as usual (Valko) Sounds like they are on the backup transmitter I built for them *see below (Baysinger) 5955 Radio Cultural untraced (Valko and Johnson) (all for Cumbre DX, Dec 28 via DXLD) * The T-500/SW (Sounds impressive, eh what?) was designed for 500 watts continuous duty. Uses a 4-400 modulated by a pair of 4-250`s. A 5763 crystal oscillator and 5763 buffer stage make up the rest of the tube complement. The "speech amplifier" driving the 4-250`s is an 8- watt solid state McMartin monitor amplifier. Solid state "economy" power supply provides 2000 volts DC for the PA and Modulator plates and 500 volts for the Oscillator and Buffer plates and PA and Modulator screens. The whole thing housed in a 4-foot Bud cabinet (Larry Baysinger, KY, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** HONDURAS. 4960, HRET: I have not heard them -- the noise level on the 60 meter band this morning was very high here. I wonder if they are running the replacement transmitter or have gone back to the low powered "composite" rig to save on fuel by using their solar/wind power supply (Larry Baysinger, KY, Dec 28, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** HONDURAS. 5890 HRMI (presumed) 0255 Dec 27 religious music and talk in Spanish (Joseph Miller, MI, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Something there at exactly the same time UT Dec 29, but presuming is risky, especially since it is \\ 7457, i.e. V. of Greece, 0300 ID in Greek and into news in English as scheduled. Better time to check for HRMI reincarnation would be around 1200 (gh) ** ICELAND. Cumbre DX`s sources at AFRTS tell us that the projected AFRTS station is still waiting on Icelandic government approval. No date for when that will happen (via Johnson, Dec 28, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** INDIA. 6030, AIR Najibabad (presumed), on 27 Dec, 1256-1332, Local Indian music, brief announcement by man and woman, soft Indian vocal song over top of the hour to 1304, woman briefly, more music. 1327 announcement by man including what sounded like freqs. More music and woman announcer. Next day 28 Dec., at 1259 woman announcer after music followed by man announcer with possible 1-minute news headlines, then music program. No IDs heard (Dave Valko, PA, hard- core-dx via DXLD) ** INDIA. 4820 AIR Calcutta: This city is to revert to its precolonial name- Kolkata. See- http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/south_asia/newsid_1084000/1084662.stm (via Johnson Dec 24, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH. 2850, KCBS is really pounding in these days. Heard around 1400 Dec 22-24, mostly music, soft sounding stuff, doesn`t sound like the martial stuff I would expect to hear. // weaker 3350 and its second harmonic of 5700. Nice signal, better than any of the North Korean outlets in the 90 and 75 meter bands (Hans Johnson, AZ, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** LEBANON [non?]. New pro-Israel, anti-Syria radio heard broadcasting to Lebanon A previously-unheard radio station calling itself "The Experimental Radio from the Mediterranean Basin" (Arabic: al-idha'ah al-tajribiyah min hawd al-mutawassit) has been heard since 23 December on the mediumwave frequency of 756 kHz. It is clearly aimed at a Lebanese audience. The same frequency was used in the past by a pro-Israeli radio station based at Kfar Killa in southern Lebanon and called "Voice of the South". This earlier radio, which broadcast in support of the Israel-backed South Lebanon Army (SLA), closed down in May 2000 when Israeli forces withdrew from southern Lebanon. The new station on 756 kHz broadcasts talks, mostly about Lebanon, criticizing the Lebanese government and Syrian influence in Lebanon. It also attacks Palestinian militant organizations and the history of the Palestinian military presence in Lebanon. It calls on the Palestinians to opt for negotiations with Israel. The talks are interspersed with popular Lebanese songs. Reporting the appearance of the new radio, the web site of the Beirut-based, pro-Hezbollah station Al-Manar TV on 23 December cited a "Lebanese security source" as saying that its announcers appeared to be the same as those previously heard on Voice of the South. The web site of the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz reported on 26 December that the new radio "appears to be broadcasting from northern Israel". Sources: BBC Monitoring research 23-24 Dec 00 Al-Manar TV web site, Beirut, in English 23 Dec 00 Ha'aretz web site, Tel Aviv, in English 26 Dec 00 (BBC Monitoring Dec 28 via DXLD) ** LIBERIA? Tuned in Dec 28 at 1855 to a station on 5000.00 kHz playing afro mx with comments in EE. At 1902 EE news with many mentions of Liberia though no positive ID (still have to check the tape). Good signal but mediocre modulation and interference from (rather say to) time stations and utes. Is this the old Liberia Communications Network reactivated ? (Davide Maspero, Listening in Cavalese, Italian Alps, AOR 7030 + longwire, hard-core-dx via DXLD) ** LUXEMBOURG. It seems that the reported usage of Marnach 1440 by Mega-Radio will start already on January 1st; supposedly Mega-Radio will use 1440 0500-1800, on Sundays not until 0630 due to religious programming. A complete new schedule for 1440 is not available yet but probably the German RTL-Radio will disappear from mediumwave completely. Regards, (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Dec 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MÉXICO. 2390, Radio Huayacocotla heard around both sunrise and sunset here. Around 1300, they seem to carry a community bulletin board program in Spanish. Lots of times given and what sound like announcements concerning local events. 1400 brings a music program with plenty of horns. Just after 0000, I have been hearing music program hosted by a female announcer. Nice canned IDs heard during this segment including address. Fair signal during both openings. Doesn`t seem to be on Sundays (Hans Johnson, AZ, Dec 22-24, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** NIGER. 5020, ORTN/La Voix du Sahel, 2135-2200* 27 Dec, Local flute and string music, man announcer with what sounded like news 2150-2153 bracketed by instrumental flute music. Into chanting by man almost Kor`an sounding but without the pauses. Man with closing announcement, usual flute signature, and choral NA. Varying and drifting 5020.08 -- 5020.22. Fair (Dave Valko, PA, hard-core-dx via DXLD) ** PALAU. KHBN has a rather cryptic news item about their new partnership with a Chinese church that will provide funding as well as programming. I made a couple of queries about who exactly this Chinese church is. Per Rolland Lau, High Adventure Palau- "We have recently made a partnership agreement with one Chinese church whose has global network to share gospel to Chinese people. This Chinese church will help and support both finance and programs. We still working on the new program schedule for 2001." Per Jackie Yockey, High Adventure USA- "We are still finalizing all details of a partnership and are not making any official announcements until this is done." (via Johnson Dec 26-27, Cumbre DX via DXLD) As I recall this church was previously reported to be in Hong Kong. Churches have to be state-approved/controlled in China; just ask the ``Roman`` Catholics (gh, DXLD) ** PARAGUAY. 9737.41, Radio Nacional Paraguay with ID 28 Dec at 0108. Good reception, into orchestral musical program. Best time of the year to hear them. Usually very strong in our local evenings (Volodya Salmaniw, Queen Charlotte Is, BC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSIA. Tnx to Horacio Nigro, who fixes up my silly Spanish in this previous item to: RUSIA. Para quienes necesitan a Voz de Rusia en español, llega muy bien a las 0100 TU en 9860, cayendo/disminuyendo un poco por las 0130; paralelo con 7125 también muy bueno y suele quedarse así; un poco de splash/esplásh/salpicado (También usamos "splatter" castellanizado "espláter") desde 7130 (Roberto Tomás, Connécticut, Dic. 13, para Compendio de Escuchas DX) ** SOMALIA. 6750 USB+carrier, R. Mogadishu/V. of the People, 27 Dec 0332-0400, Talk for speech by man and what could`ve been brief sound bites to 0340, then vocal music. Another song at 0342 with male vocals and flute-sounding instrument in a style very much from the region. More music to 0400, then talk by man. Extremely weak but no doubt it`s them. Right on freq too (Dave Valko, PA, hard-core-dx via DXLD) ** SOMALIA. 6750, Radio Mogadishu, Voice of the People (tentative). Thanks Valko tip. Kept checking the frequency and was surprised to find someone mixing with co-channel China just after 1500 Dec 27. USB + carrier, usual Somali sounding stuff with funny audio, the stops and starts, etc. Tough with China plus that stupid broadband water dripping sound that is messing up 60 mb is up in this range too. Sure wish the FCC could determine where this is coming from and shut it down if it is a US source. In any event, the Somali fun didn`t last long, faded by 1508. Tuned in at 1415 Dec 28 and heard a bit of chattering to co-channel China. Just when I thought I had someone playing on the channel, they started playing Somali music. Nice reception over the next half hour or so, China not really a problem with Somalia actually on top at times. Although the station`s 'listed' sign on is 1500, that doesn`t count for much in Somalia, particularly during the post-Ramadam Eid celebrations. Faded by 1500 (Hans Johnson, AZ, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** SWEDEN. On the first and second of January, Iglesia del Pueblo, will make their first transmission on short wave. Iglesia del Pueblo normally can be heard on FM in the Stockholm area but in order to be able to reach a wider audience, transmission on short wave will be made. The planned schedule looks as follows: Jan 1 2001 2100-2130 UT on 5920 kHz, primary target area Europe. Jan 2 2001 0400-0430 UT on 5920 kHz, primary target areas are Europe, North America as well as Central America. The programme will be in Spanish and reports can be sent to: Short wave transmission, Iglesia del Pueblo, P.O. Box 122, SE-191 22 Sollentuna, Sweden. As this is a first trial on short wave, reports are indeed much appreciated. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of you out there. Yours sincerely, Magnus Nilsson [Teracom] (via Lamb, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** THAILAND/VIETNAM. I`m hearing Radio Thailand`s World Service on 7285 1100-1130 via VOA Udon Thani in Vietnamese (to 1115) and Cambodian. I suspect the English language transmission reported here is from the Voice of Vietnam External Service, also on 7285 at 1100- 1130. 7285 is an inexplicable choice by Radio Thailand as the clash here in the target area is every bit as awful as you would expect, and the 7 MHz band is not excessively crowded with strong signals at this time (Alan Davies, Vietnam, Dec 24, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** TURKEY. What`s the URL for VOT webcast? (Richard Cuff, PA) pnm://212.175.166.3:7070/VoiceOfTurkey.rm You find this on the TRT page toward the bottom, http://www.trt.net.tr but not (that I can see) on the VOT page itself. I`m listening to nice music from it at the moment 1606 UT in the Greek service (Glenn Hauser, Dec 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKEY. 6900, Turkish State Meteo Radio (presumed): 1438 with Turkish vocal music. Continuous music until 1452 fade on Dec 23rd. Dec 24th, much easier to ID it as Turkish music, sounding a lot like what I hear on the Voice of Turkey. From 1415 fade in to 1450 fade out. Still not any announcements, though. Same pattern on Christmas, but the fun ended on Boxing Day. Not even a carrier then. Back in the saddle on the 27th, heard from 1410 to just past 1500 (Hans Johnson, AZ, Dec 23-27, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Fading in Dec 24 around 1435 here -- probably would have been audible slightly earlier. All I heard was Turkish music and song. There were positively no announcements at all from tune in until the music stopped at 1632. Carrier appears to have been left on past 1645. The music is positively Turkish as is the language of the songs, so I guess it must be the Meteo station. The music was not continuous -- there were slight pauses after a few tunes, presumably to change the source (Noël Green, England, Cumbre DX via DXLD) This is the first time I have had such extended reception of one of the low powered Turkish stations. I asked Adrian Peterson about these stations and here is what he had to say: These stations are narrowcasting. My understanding is that the weather station used to broadcast weather information for parts of Turkey that could not receive it otherwise. This information is received by other means now. I can only speculate, but the shortwave probably remains on as a back up. The police stations were similar to those in Australia and the USA that used what is now the upper part of the AM band and a bit above. When I last heard them a few years ago, they had mostly music, but occasional announcements for the police force they were transmitting to. [Johnson] In looking at the WRTH, I see that Istanbul is still listed as 6325, but this has been reported as off for years. Ankara is listed on 7370 and Noël Green reported it earlier in 2000. Dave Valko sent along pages from the 1972 and 1972 [sic] WRTH which shows weather stations, a number of school stations, the police stations as well as one station from a coal mine administration! Thanks to Dave for help in researching the Turkish stations through old WRTHs (Hans Johnson, Dec 28, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** UKRAINE. Glenn, Quick summary of reception of R. Ukraine Int`l since December 22, 2000 thru 0100 UT on December 28, 2000. 0100 UT: 7420 kHz not heard. QRM 7415 kHz WBCQ. 9610 kHz not heard. QRM 9605 kHz Family Radio and Vatican Radio. 11840 kHz not heard. QRM 11840 kHz HCJB. 9385 kHz, some days I can barely hear the ident signal and some days I hear nothing. 0400 UT: 9610 kHz not heard. QRM 9605 kHz Vatican Radio and 9615 kHz R. Canada Int. 9385 kHz some days I can barely hear the ident signal and some days I hear nothing. However, on December 26, 2000 I was able to listen until 0412 UT fade out. SINPO 25322. In addition on December 27, 2000 I received a fair signal with SINPO 34433. 1200 UT: 15520 kHz not heard. QRM 15515 kHz R. France Int. [nominally via Guiana French] 2200 UT: 5905 kHz some days I can barely hear the ident signal and some days I hear nothing. QRM 5900 kHz R. Prague; 9560 kHz not heard. QRM 9555 kHz Sa`udi Arabia and 9560 kHz Radio Japan. 11770 kHz QRM R. México International on 11770 kHz and R. Habana Cuba on 11760 kHz. 73 -.. . (Kraig, KG4LAC, Krist, VA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UKRAINE. Christmas eve is celebrated by most Orthodox and eastern- rite Catholics on 6 January, with Christmas being on the 7th. Protestants and Roman Catholics celebrate the 25th. New Years 1 January is widely celebrated, with the Julian New Year being 14 January. Here I note that holiday to be called "Malanka", but not sure if that term is used in Ukraine. Perhaps in the western regions, where most North American Ukrainians originate from (Volodya Salmaniw, Queen Charlotte Is., BC, Dec 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. Radio Northsea International: Glenn, The most shameful episode in the history of the British government`s relations with radio broadcasting took place 30 years ago in 1970. I refer, of course, to the deliberate jamming of Radio North Sea International (RNI), an entirely legal offshore radio station. This action was, and is, entirely unprecedented. British subjects, unlike US citizens, do not have the benefit of a Freedom of Information act, and so the actual reason for this extraordinary action has never been revealed. Naturally some fairly fanciful theories have been expounded over the years -- for instance that the station was a cover for East German spying. The truth may soon out -- under British law most government documents are released to the press and public after 30 years. This means that one of offshore radio`s greatest mysteries may finally be solved when the papers relating to 1970 are released next Monday. On the other hand if the documents are still considered to be sensitive they may be embargoed for a much longer period. If that were to be the case with the documents relating to RNI then it would confirm that something extraordinary was going on in the southern North Sea in the early part of 1970 (Nicholas Mead, UK, Dec 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. I am not sure if you guys are interested; the reason the Assemblies of Yahweh eschews mentions of Christmas are the same as their reasons for eschewing Easter. If you don`t care about this, you can ignore the message. Their take is that neither of these celebrations were specifically called for in the Bible, and instead represent the mingling of non-Christian ("pagan") traditions with Christian events. The New Testament makes no mention of any annual commemorations regarding Jesus` birth or resurrection. These folks consider themselves purists regarding their practice of "Christianity", and they consider any aspect of religious practice that occurs outside of the practices defined in the Bible to be incorrect. To some extent, the Assemblies of Yahweh could be called "messianic Jews". Their headquarters and SW transmitter, in Bethel, PA, border Interstate 78, about half an hour from my Allentown QTH. Their facility is mostly farmland, in the shadow of Blue Mountain. Elder Meyer`s accent smacks of Pennsylvania Dutch, and is typical of that ethnicity in this region. Hope both of you have a healthy & prosperous 2001. Thank you both for your years of contributing to my enjoyment of radio. Regards, (Richard Cuff, Allentown, PA, to Fred Waterer, ODXA, and gh, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I don`t think they have a prayer of being heard in their target of Europe. Inaudible when I checked in mid-December in the UK on 9465 and sandwiched in between strong stations on 9460 and 9470 (Hans Johnson, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** USA [non]. GERMANY I asked the new Methodist service about their projected Jan 1st start. Looks like they are still on track according to an email from program producer Donna Niemann. "We look forward to being on the air daily starting January 1, 2001 at the following times and frequencies: East Africa 0400-0600 UTC 11775 kHz 1700-1900 UTC 13810 kHz Central/South Africa 0400-0600 UTC 13685 kHz 1700-1900 UTC 15485 kHz We are interested in hearing your comments and suggestions about the content of our programming, so please let us know what you think." (Hans Johnson, Dec 28, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** U S A. Talk of the Nation Science Friday has two goodies coming up this week; first the Ig Nobel awards, bumped from November due to the elexion mess and NPR`s insistence on talking it to death; and Steve Allen interviewed among other things about the lack of critical thinking in America. First noticed the scheduling on the WHYY website (where the two hours are split, one at 2 pm, the other at 9 pm ET), but many NPR stations run them together at 1900-2100 UT. From http://www.sciencefriday.com : December 29, 2000, Hour One: Ig Nobel Awards: A special holiday tribute to strange and silly science. (more info). December 29, 2000, Hour Two: Talking with Steve Allen: A holiday rebroadcast of our 1998 interview with the late author, entertainer, and broadcasting pioneer Steve Allen. (more info) These are now added to my website archive version of Holiday Specials in DXLD 0-166 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Also streamed at both TOTN and SF sites (Larry Nebron, CA, swprograms via DXLD) And ondemand later if not already (gh) ** U S A. Just like to point out three major comedy specials now starting to appear, with lots more opportunities on various public radio stations during the next week, so be on the lookout for them, or pick them out from my Holiday Specials listings, if nothing else: Capitol Steps -- Politics Takes a Holiday -- great Washington-based satire, especially the oonerspism guy. Imagination Workshop -- another comedy review with a lot of politics, from, of all places, Lawrence, Kansas, just about as good as the Steps. Backfire! Unlike the other two, no studio audience, and NO laughtrack -- not even a snicker, but an hour of the original and extremely dry humor of Buck Henry, Jane Curtin, and Tony Hendra (sp?). Those who imagine I lack a sense of humor should have witnessed the guffaws and grins emanating from me as I have already been listening to these, or parts of them. Then there`s The Muckrakers, back on CBC this Friday and Saturday, for a Canadian political comedy review. 73, (Glenn Hauser, swprogams Dec 28 via DXLD) ** U S A. Subject: VOA New Year`s programming This coming Monday, New Year`s Day, I will be calling Communications World listeners during two live programs on VOA News Now. They will be at 1433 and 2133 Universal Time. Four additional frequencies will be added to VOA News Now Monday at 14 to 15, to allow better reception of this special program in Europe and the Americas. Those frequencies are, to Europe: 13790 and 17575 via Morocco, and 18275 upper or lower sideband via Greenville. And to the Americas: 6095 and 21485 via Greenville. These are in addition to the usual frequencies to Asia at 1433: 6110 7125 9645 9760 11705 15395 and 15425 kilohertz, plus 1143 kilohertz to southeast Asia. At 2133, the frequencies are: to the Pacific region, where it will already be January second and probably a regular work day: 9670 11870 15185 17735 and 17820. To the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe: 6040 6095 9595 and 9760 plus 1197, 1260, and 1548 kilohertz medium wave. And to Africa on 6035 7415 11975 13710 15240 15580 and 17580 plus 909 and 1530 kilohertz medium wave. Listeners in the Americas, try 15240, 15580, and 17580. Both programs are available from the News Now live RealAudio stream at http://www.voanews.com And Larry Nebron reminds me that the Webcam will be working, too, at the News Now web page http://www.voa.gov/newsnow There will be other New Year`s specials on VOA News Now. On Saturday, December 30th, Nancy Beardsley will host a music-filled special about the centennial of the publication of the book _The Wizard of Oz_ by L. Frank Baum. That`s at 333, 733, 1133, 1533, 1933, and 2333 Universal Time. On Sunday, December 31st, Adam Phillips will be back with reprise of last year`s award-winning "Century in Sound," updated to include 2000. This will begin shortly after the news at the top of the hour at 3, 7, 11, 15, 19, and 23 UT. On January first, Adam Phillips hosts a special program, "New Year`s Folk Traditions" at 33 minutes past all even UT hours except 14. Rob Sivak will present "The Next Millennium," a look at the shape of things to come through the eyes of scientists, writers, environmentalists, and mystics, at 33 past all odd UT hours except 21 (Kim Elliott, VOA Communications World Dec 30 via DXLD) ###