DX LISTENING DIGEST 1-101, July 22, 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 [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] ** BOLIVIA. Several recent issues have had under both BOLIVIA and at the end UNIDENTIFIED the station on 3343+, which Fontenelle, at least, pinpointed to Cochabamba, so ... (gh) UNIDENTIFIED 3343.75 Unidentified 0007-0113 July 19, Carrier signal, no audio until 0048 with weak talk to 0113 tune out. Maybe Cuarto Centenario? (Mark Mohrmann, VT, DX LISTENING DIGEST) BOLIVIA 3343.6 R. UnID, ?, Departamento de Cochabamba, Quechua, *2230 with radio drama. This station is located in the south eastern department of Cochabamba. I will keep listening to see where they are located exactly (Rogildo Fontenelle A., Bolivia, July 11, Cumbre DX via WORLD OF RADIO 1088, DXLD) {Answer: DXLD 1-104, 1-105} ** BOLIVIA. I stopped by R. Trópico in Trinidad and have some info. Last week they changed frequency from 4550+/- to 6035. They were adjusting things while I was there, but I picked them up on 6027 later that evening (FYI, this is from amigo Walt Fair visiting in Bolivia -- 73 from Bill Smith, W5USM, July 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) {more: DXLD 1-103, 1-104} ** BOLIVIA. 6085.15, Radio San Gabriel (tentative) 0854 July 19, Sign-on with Andean flute tune, into Anthem, 0856 announcer in Vernacular, talks, 0928 ad block in Spanish with mentions of "La Paz", 0934 back to Vernacular talks, Andean music. Good signal strength but audio distorted (Mark Mohrmann, VT, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BURMA. I note with interest recent comments about the regional shortwave station operated by the Burmese army, and the fact that it is described as a "mystery" station. Back in the early part of 1985, I visited this station which is located in a small army camp on the eastern edge of the regional city, Taunggyi. A Burmese doctor who was fluent in English drove me into the station and also acted as translator. This station was established in 1962 and I would suggest that the original transmitter was a 1 kW unit operating at 500 watts, on 5060 kHz. In 1987, a 10 kW NEC transmitter from Japan was installed and the frequency was moved to 6570 kHz. Programming is locally produced in regional languages in half hour time blocks, though some programming is also prepared by BBS (Myanma [sic] Radio & TV) in Rangoon (Yangon). I am aware of only one QSL coming from this station, and if I remember rightly, it was to a listener in Japan. I would suggest that the reasons why this station could be described as a "mystery" station are because it is isolated and no communications come from it to the DX world. In Southern Asia, the station can be heard quite readily over a wide area (Adrian Peterson, July 17, Cumbre DX via DXLD) The station is run by a comparatively small detachment of communication personnel in the army, and they are operating the station on behalf of the Burmese (Myanmar) government. I would suggest that it is not really a propaganda station, but a legitimate news & information station with programming for minority peoples, particularly those in strategic border areas. I imagine that it was off the air for a few years, not by design, but simply because they did not have funding to procure spare parts. I asked one of the directors of BBS in Rangoon (Yangon) during a visit into this station if BBS would QSL reception reports of the regional station in Taunggyi. He stated that it is true that they broadcast some programming prepared in the BBS studios, but no, they would not verify reception reports on the regional station. I wrote an article on this station many years ago, and it was published in Popular Communication (Adrian Peterson, July 18, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** CHECHNYA [non]. 2001-07-19 14:23 * RUSSIA * GEORGIA * CHECHNYA * FROM THE TERRITORY OF GEORGIA THE TERRORISTS ARE OPENLY CONDUCTING A SUBVERSIVE PROPAGANDA ACTIVITY AGAINST RUSSIA MOSCOW, July 19, RIA Novosti correspondent - From the territory of Georgia international terrorists are openly conducting subversive activity against Russia, aimed at the continuation of terror and against the territorial integrity of the Russian state. This was reported on Thursday by the information department of the Russian President in connection with the data about the broadcasting of the short wave Radio Station of Free and Independent Ichkeria - Caucasus near the Georgian village of Duisi in the Pankissi Gorge. As was pointed out by the department, the station broadcast tape-recorded brief news in Chechen and Russian and also religious texts in the Chechen language. The broadcasts are in the spirit of the main Chechen separatist Movladi Udugov. For example, the recent defeat of the militants in the Sharo-Argun gorge was presented by the radio station as the great "military success of the mujahedins." Judging by the technical parameters and the character of the radio broadcasts, the sources believe that they are aimed not so much at the civilians in Chechnya but at the militants - to support their psychological spirit. The experts from the presidential information department believe that these first broadcasts are the separatists' attempt to organise a regular work of their radio station broadcasting to the neighbour republics in the North Caucasus. Commenting on these data, the presidential department reported that since the end of 2000, "a Chechen information centre" has been functioning in Duisi, and aerial antennae have started to be installed. Therefore when the official authorities did not act and the militants felt comfortable in the Pankissi Gorge, the fact of broadcasts from a separatists' radio station was not something unexpected. The putting of the radio station into operation has actually expanded the range of the efforts of the Chechen separatists who have entrenched themselves in Georgia and are freely laying out their anti-Russian and extremist views. The continuation of this type of practice will undoubtedly perniciously affect the Russian-Georgian relations, reported the information department of the Russian President. From http://en.rian.ru (via Sergei Sosedkin, DXLD) 2001-07-19 19:16 * GEORGIA * RUSSIA * CHECHNYA * RADIO-STATION * GEORGIA TRACKING CHECHEN REBEL RADIO STATION IN PANKISI GORGE TBILISI, JULY 19, 2001. /RIA Novosti correspondent David Imedashvili/ Georgian law-enforcement bodies are tracking down a Chechen paramilitary radio station to confiscate it if they are a success. The Georgian top will not tolerate underground media in the country, says a prominent security officer. As far as Russian secret services know, the station is in the vicinity of the village Duisi in Georgia's Pankisi Gorge, which shelters many Chechen refugees and rebels. Source: http://en.rian.ru (via Sergei Sosedkin, July 19, DXLD) ** CHINA. The Central People's Broadcasting Station (CPBS) is officially referred to in English as China National Radio (CNR), although it continues to identify itself in Mandarin as Central People Broadcasting Station. First Programme identification in Mandarin: "Zhongyang Renmin guangbo diantaidi-yi tao jiemu". CNR 1 is off the air on Tuesdays at 0600-0900. Languages : Mandarin Address: 2 Fuxingmenwai Dajie (or P O Box 4501), Beijing 100866 Tel: +86-10-6851-5522 Alt Tel: +86-10-685-2435 Fax: +86-10-6851-6630 E-mail: zhangzr@mail.cnradio.com WebSite: http://www.cnradio.com ---------------------------------------------------------------- On Demand Global Net: http://www.cnradio.com - archive audio [shortwave portion of usage excerpted as given in frequency rather than time order! -gh] 1958-2359 Daily u.o.s. 4460-(1958-2200) 5030-(1958-2230) 5880 5955-(1958-2200) 6030 6085 6110-(1958-2300) 6125-(1958-2230) 6295-(1958-2300) 7130-(1958-2200) 7230 7290 7335 7345-(1958-2200) 7935 9645-(2200-0000) 9675-(2230-0000) 9710 9800-(2230-0000) 9830 9845-(1958-2300) 9890-(1958-2300) 9900-(1958-2300) 11630 11720-(2300-0000) 11825-(2200-0000) 11860 11925 11960-(2300-0000) 11990 12030 15300-(2300-0000) 15550-(2300-0000) 17550-(2300-0000) 17605-(2300-0000) 17890-(2200-0000) 0000-1730 u.o.s.: 4460-(1300-1730) 5030-(1200-1730) 5880-(1100-1730) 5955-(1400-1730) 6030 6085-(0800-1730) 6110-(1100-1730) 6295-(1300-1730) 7130-(1400-1730) 7230 7290-(1200-1730) 7335-(1300-1730) 7345-(1400-1730) 7935-(0000-0100)(1000-1400) 9600-(0000-1100) 9645-(0000-1300) 9675-(0000-1200) 9710-(0900-1730) 9800 9830-(1130-1730) 9845-(1130-1730) 9900-(1500-1730) 11630-(0700-1600) 11720-(0000-1300) 11755-(0700-1200) 11825-(0000-1500) 11835-(0000-1300) 11860-(1100-1730) 11890-(0100-0900) 11915-(0100-1300) 11925-(0000-0300)(1200-1400) 11960-(0000-1100) 11990-(0000-0030)(1230-1730) 12030 12055 13610-(1100-1730) 13700-(0200-1400) 15300-(0000-1500) 15390-(0200-1100) 15480-(0000-1230) 15550-(0000-1400) 17550-(0000-1130) 17565-(0000-1130) 17580-(0100-1100) 17605-(0000-1300) 17890-(0000-1200) (© BBC Monitoring July 18, excerpted by gh for DXLD) Second Programme identification in Mandarin: "Zhongyang Renmin guangbo diantai di-er tao jiemu". CNR 2 is off the air on Wednesdays and Fridays at 0600-0955. Languages: Mandarin. Address: 2 Fuxingmenwai Dajie (or P O Box 4501), Beijing 100866 Tel: +86-10-6851-5522 or 2435 Fax: +86-10-6851-6630 E-mail: zhangzr@mail.cnradio.com Web Site: http://www.cnradio.com --------------------------------------------------------------------- 2058-2359 [sic] Daily u.o.s. 4850-(to 2200) 5010-(to 2300) 7140-(to 2300) 7200 9500 9625 9745-(to 2330) 9755-(to 2300) 9775 9810 11610-(from 2330) 11660-(from 2300) 11670-(from 2200) 11800 15500-(from 2300) 15540-(from 2300) 0000-1602 Daily u.o.s. 4850-(from 1230) 7140-(from 1300) 7200 9500 9625 9745-(from 1130) 9755-(from 1300) 9775-(from 1130) 9810 11610-(to 1300) 11660-(to 1300) 11670-(to 1200) 11740-(to 1400) 11800 12080-(to 1100) 15500 15540-(to 1400) 15570-(to 1200) 15610-(to 1200) 17625-(to 1130) 17700-(to 1130) ------------------------------------------------------------ (© BBC Monitoring July 18, SW only excerpted by gh for DXLD) ** CUBA [non]. RENUNCIA DIRECTORA DE "LA VOZ DE LA FUNDACION" Ninoska Pérez Castellón anunció sorpresivamente su renuncia a la Fundación Nacional Cubano Americana (FNCA); la ex directora y portavoz de esa organización se dirigió a los cubanos de la Isla a través de "Radio Martí" para explicar las causas que motivaron su salida de la organización que militó durante quince años. Las declaraciones de Pérez Castellón en beneficio de sus oyentes en la Isla se deben a que por 15 años su voz fue escuchada por onda corta a través de 'LA VOZ DE LA FUNDACION" en los 7.315 kHz de la Banda de 41 metros via WHRI Noblesville, IN. Explicó que una de las causas por lo cual renunció, es aparentemente la decisión de cancelar la emisora. "Creo que es un error, porque es un vehículo donde no sólo la Fundación sino una gran parte de los opositores dentro de Cuba han tenido su espacio", indicó. La emisora, dijo Pérez, "era un proyecto para el cual Jorge Mas Canosa había puesto grandes recursos, grandes esfuerzos y grandes expectativas". Pérez Castellón declaró que continuará con su programa NINOSKA A LA UNA que se trasmite de Lunes a Viernes a través de la emisora WQBA 1140 AM (emisora comercial de Miami) desde la 1:00 PM hasta las 3:00 PM. Por su cercanía con Cuba, esta emisora se escucha en parte de la Costa Norte de Cuba, incluyendo Ciudad de la Habana en donde las autoridades cubanas tratan de bloquearla empleando a "Radio Cadena Habana" en la misma frecuencia y en puntos entre las provincias de Matanzas y Villa Clara se utiliza Jamming. Cordiales 73's Oscar. (via D. Lawton, Conexion Digital via DXLD) [Ninoska has resigned from the CANF since the CANF has cancelled La Voz de la Fundación broadcasts on WHRI 7315; she will continue her show on WQBA 1140. Shouldn`t that be Ninochka? -gh] ** CYPRUS. We ham operators in Europe (U.K. and German bandwatch) know for at least a decade that the NATO/BritishArmy?? have had erected a long range shortwave radar on CYPRUS soil, like an ex- Russian Woodpecker radar near Poltava in 1978, or similar to the HARC [HAARP?] radar of US origin in Alaska. It's not clear whether that mentioned NATO listening post eavesdropping on the Middle East matches with NATO woodpecker radar installation (Wolfgang Büschel, BC-DX July 20 via DXLD) ** CZECH REPUBLIC. R Prague is giving a 20 page booklet to all its listeners to commemorate its 65th anniversary. The booklet details history of Czech R & its past programming (Swopan Chakroborty, Kolkata, India, July 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) {not yet: DXLD 1-106} ** EGYPT. It seems Egypt is testing two new txs at least: July 17 +1900-2054* 5900 and 9900 \\ 9850 and 12050. July 18 +0336-0358+ 6200 and 12000 \\ 9770, 9800 and 12050. Good audio quality. All freqs are nominal ones... (Mikhail Timofeyev, Russia, hcdx Jul 17/18 via BCDX via DXLD) ** FRANCE. The Allouis LW tx on 162 kHz now runs on half-power (1 MW instead of 2 MW) between 1900 and 0400; previously it was on high power between 2200 and 0330. During the winter it will reduce power as early as 1700 UT. This was decided by Radio France (not TdF) because they want to reduce the power bill. Anyway nobody listens to that station as the programme goes out in \\ on FM. [but outside France instead] (Thierry Vignault, France, via Rglobe-L mailing-list, MWCircle list, Jul 19 via BCDX via DXLD) ** GERMANY. Re Love Parade: The schedule proposal you quoted was indeed created by Wolfgang. Well, all efforts to guide the horse to the water-place were evidently futile; neither a schedule information from Jülich arrived here nor is a transmission on 49 or 75 metres up. On-air announcements refer to FM only; there are also no mentions of the always existing two satellite outlets, and one talent evidently not even realized that not only 102.6 but also five other FM transmitters (no low power translators but with 30...100 kW output) are in use. Disappointing to me, but it actually fits to certain developments on the "Fritz" network. They try to adjust the station to the kids, because the current listenership (with an measured average age which exactly corresponds to mine) is not the >>> target audience <<<. A very obvious first change was the inauguration of a new station voice, which seems to belong to a child of 13 years or so. Be that as it may, perhaps it will come to a chance to substitute in some way for this goof-up. On the subject of media programmes: Fears that they could promote competitors are all too common here in Germany, although on rather different extent. There are very few problems with such ideas at ORB, but I heard from elsewhere that it would be impossible to speak openly about other stations there. Some diplomacy was already necessary to just cover the subject of non-commercial local radio stations. The result is of course that the media programmes of this public broadcaster hardly cover radio and TV at all. Regards, (Kai Ludwig, Germany, July 21, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. 7265 kHz, Sudwestrundfunk, full data "SWR" Globe card with site-Rohrdorf, v/s illegible, in 5 weeks, for IRC (returned), received schedule, stickers and a postcard (Joe Talbot, Red Deer, Alberta, Canada, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ITALY. Regarding RAI: Oh yes, the effect of their chirping birds beating against a carrier on +/- 5 kHz is very familiar to me and has years ago fooled me, too (Kai Ludwig, Germany, July 21, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALI. Hi Glenn! As there was some lack of information on this recently :-) I spent some time listening to MALI! 9635 is the most regular frequency to catch the station here. I heard it almost every morning in the past months. Sign-on is between 0757 and 0803, fade- out around 0930. Signal is not very strong, but very clear. Usual sign-on is at 0800 with ID "Vous écoutez l'Office de Radiodiffusion- Télévision du Mali, éméttant de Bamako", then into 20 minutes of news in Vernacular, then traditional music. On Saturday they start with French programming. Sometimes they are a few minutes earlier into ongoing frequency announcement, but usually only FM in Bamako, two channels. But today things were different: Sign-on at 0803 with incomplete frequency announcement, then music + vernacular presentation, sign-off at 0855, sign-on again 0900 (different tx I think) with announcement in French, then back into vernacular. 4835 is obviously quite irregular (I don't listen very often), 4783 is there but very weak, 5995 not heard for a while (channel is clear from 2100/2200). 7285: no chance at all, 11960: no signal even when there's only a very weak signal from China (Thorsten Hallmann, Münster, Rainland, July 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 6185, Radio Educación, July 13 0509 Mexican music, ID: "Están Vds. en la sintonía de Radio Educación, 6185 kHz, onda corta para todo el mundo. También puede sintonizarnos en Internet http://www.radioeducacion.edu.mx SINPO 34333 (Manuel Méndez, Spain, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** MEXICO. This is from the Mexico City broadcasters Association as provided to the local ratings company and has the formats of every station and their names: ASOCIACION DE RADIODIFUSORES DEL VALLE DE MEXICO DIAL RADIOFONICO DE AM Y FM AM SIGLAS FREC. ESTACION GRUPO OPCION 1a 2a 3a XEOC 560 RADIO CHAPULTEPEC CHAP. 8 XEPHAM 590 LA PANTERA NRM 4 XENK 620 RADIO 6.20 RASA 6 8 9 XEDTL 660 LA CANDELA IMER 7 10 9 XEN 690 ONDAS DEL LAGO GRC 9 8 XEMP 710 RADIO 710 IMER 11 10 XEX 730 LA NUEVA X TELEVISA 2 1 XEABC 760 abc RADIO MEXICO RADIO 8 XERC 790 EL FONOGRAFO GRC 3 XELA 830 LA BUENA MUSICA IMAGEN 12 XEYN 860 RADIO UNAM UNAM 8 XEW 900 W AM AZUL Y PLATA TELEVISA 8 XEQ 940 ENAMORADA 940 TELEVISA 1 XEOYAM* 970 RADIO FORMULA FM ORF *{sic} 9 8 XEOYAM 1000 RADIO MIL NRM 9 1 XEQR 1030 LA NUEVA RADIO CENTRO GRC 8 XEER 1060 RADIO EDUCACION SEP 8 XERED 1110 RADIO RED AM GRC 9 8 XECMQ 1150 FORMATO 21 GRC 9 XEFR 1180 SUPER DEPORTIVA ACIR 8 XEB 1220 LA B GRANDE DE MEXICO IMER 1 9 8 XEL 1260 RADIO ACIR ACIR 8 9 XEDA 1290 RADIO 13 RADIO S.A. 8 9 XEJP 1320 TRACK 132CERO INFORED 2 5 XEQK 1350 LA HORA EXACTA IMER 1 2 3 XECO 1380 ROMANTICA 1380 RADIORAMA 1 3 XEBSAM 1410 SINFONOLA NRM 11 XEEST 1440 RADIO NOTICIAS 1440 GRUPO SIETE 8 9 XEAI 1470 RADIO METROPOLI ORF 9 8 3 XEDF 1500 RADIO UNO AM 1500 ORF 8 9 XEUR 1530 LA MEXICANA 1530 RADIORAMA 11 XEFJ 1560 LA BANDA 1560 AM INFORED 10 7 XEVOZ 1590 BONITA ACIR 10 8 FM XHRED 88.1 RADIO RED FM GRC 9 5 4 XHM 88.9 AZUL 89 ACIR 4 9 XEOYFM 89.7 FM GLOBO NRM 2 XEDA 90.5 IMAGEN INFORMATIVA IMAGEN 9 8 6 XHFAJ 91.3 ALFA RADIO GRC 5 XHFO 92.1 UNIVERSAL STEREO GRC 4 XEQ 92.9 LA Ke BUENA FM TELEVISA 10 7 11 XEJP 93.7 STEREO JOYA GRC 1 8 3 XEIMER 94.5 OPUS 94 IMER 12 9 XHSH 95.3 INOLVIDABLE ACIR 3 9 XHUPC 95.7 RADIO POLITECNICO IPN XEUNFM 96.1 RADIO UNAM UNAM XEW 96.9 W RADICAL TELEVISA 5 XERC 97.7 STEREO 97.7 GRC 2 XHDL 98.5 RADIO ACTIVO 98.5 IMAGEN 5 8 XHPOP 99.3 DIGITAL 99 ACIR 2 XHMMFM 100.1 STEREO CIEN NRM 9 4 XHSONFM 100.9 SABROSITA NRM 7 XEX 101.7 VOX FM TELEVISA 2 1 5 XHMVS 102.5 STEREOREY MVS RADIO 6 9 5 XERFM 103.3 RADIO FORMULA FM ORF 9 8 1 XEDF 104.1 RADIO UNO ORF 10 7 8 XHMRD 104.9 EXA MVS RADIO 2 5 8 XHOF 105.7 ORBITA IMER 2 5 3 XHDFM 106.5 MIX FM ACIR 4 8 XEQR 107.3 LA Z GRC 10 8 7 XHIMR 107.9 HORIZONTE 108 IMER 6 9 8 FORMATOS O GENEROS 1 ESPANOL BALADA 2 ESPANOL MODERNA 3 ESPANOL CATALOGO 4 INGLES CATALOGO 5 INGLES MODERNA 6 MUSICA INTERNACIONAL 7 TROPICAL / SALSA 8 HABLADOS 9 NOTICIARIOS 10 GRUPERA 11 RANCHERA 12 CLASICA (via David Gleason, July 20, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** MEJICO. SEPTIMO ENCUENTRO DE CLUBES DIEXISTAS MEXICANOS Y ESCUCHAS DE LA ONDA CORTA == Guanajuato, 2001 Del 9 al 11 de agosto del 2001. Tenemos el agrado de dirigirnos a usted para enviarle un cordial saludo y a la vez invitarlo a participar en el Séptimo Encuentro de Clubes Diexistas Mexicanos y Escuchas de la Onda Corta, que se realizará en la ciudad de Guanajuato, en la región central del país; organizado por José Rubén Rivera Olguín. El encuentro será una oportunidad única para que los escuchas de la onda corta, las emisoras internacionales y nacionales expresen e intercambien sus opiniones y propuestas para construir juntos la programación del siglo XXI. Este evento está dirigido a: Los escuchas de la onda corta y diexistas, para intercambiar experiencias, conocimientos y materiales diversos. Contactar personalmente a las emisoras nacionales e internacionales de onda corta que asistirán al evento. Al personal, directivos, técnicos, locutores y productores de emisoras de onda corta, onda media, frecuencia modulada, televisión, etc. Para promover sus emisoras y conocer a otras similares. A estudiantes y profesionales de los medios de comunicación, de electrónica, etc. Al público en general y a todos los que deseen experimentar y conocer nuevas formas de comunicación, culturas, idiomas, etc. Algunos temas a tratar son: El Clima Solar. La Radioastronomía; otra forma de diexismo. La onda corta. El evento tendrá una cuota de recuperación de $50 pesos ($6.00 USD aproximadamente) que será depositada el primer día durante el registro de participantes. Cada participante deberá cubrir, de acuerdo a sus posibilidades, sus gastos de transportación, hospedaje, alimentación, diversión. Se requiere notificar la asistencia previamente. Aun si usted no está completamente seguro de asistir al evento, es importante para la organización del evento confirmar su asistencia de manera anticipada. En caso de que desee realizar alguna presentación o exposición deberá notificarlo inmediatamente a los organizadores para la elaboración del programa y poder otorgar el apoyo logístico necesario por parte de los mismos. La fecha límite de recepción de trabajos es el día 31 de mayo del presente. Envíe sus propuestas de participación al Organizador, José Rubén Rivera Olguín al: Apartado Postal 1-223, 36001 Guanajuato, Gto. o llamando al teléfono (4) 733 15 47, o a través del correo electrónico dx2001@guanajuato.com Donde también podrá obtener mayor información acerca del encuentro. Sede: Teatro Principal, Universidad de Guanajuato. Atentamente, Grupo Encuentro DX (Héctor García Bojorge, Méjico via Nicolás Éramo, Argentina, May 20, WORLD OF RADIO 1088, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NICARAGUA. 5770.00, Radio Miskut, 0017-0045 July 19, Spanish talk, ID, apparent news items, time checks. Good signal, both sidebands heard but USB better (Mark Mohrmann, VT, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. Hi Glenn, Please note that R. Samorodinka is a PIRATE station. Pirate radio is not a new phenomenon in Russia; in St. Petersburg for example there are about half a dozen pirate stations on FM since many years. Most of them broadcast music and are on the air mainly during the weekends. Schedules, contact info and other details are often published on the Web. R. Samorodinka is a "talk pirate". There are no real attempts (resp. resources) by the authorities to shut down such pirate stations (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, July 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. Expansion of FM band for radio broadcasters | Text of report by Voice of Russia "DX Club" web site on 19 July Radio broadcasters in Russia can now use the 92.0 to 100.0 MHz band. Permission will be no longer granted to broadcast using TV [VHF] channels 4 and 5 which "interfere" with FM. During the time when the fourth television channel is still in use, radio stations will use the 92.0-100.0 MHz band, but when television is not operating, radio can operate at 88.0 - 92.0 MHz. In this connection, cable TV operators have been instructed to leave the fourth and fifth TV channels and to use other bands and frequencies. Source: Voice of Russia web site, Moscow, in Russian 19 Jul 01 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** RUSSIA [non]. VATICAN CITY, 11825, VOR relay to NAm listed as SM Galeria, scheduled for 0100-0200, did not come on until 0115 July 16 (Olle Alm, Sweden, BC-DX via DXLD) ** TAIWAN. On the 0200 UT broadcast CBS-R. Taipei International announced that they will change one of their frequencies to Mainland China at 1100-1200 to 11985 ex-11905 on July 20 (Daniel Sampson, WI, Prime Time Shortwave http://www.angelfire.com/wi2/shortwave/ July 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) N.B., jammers ** TANNU TUVA. 6100, Tuvinskoye Radio, observed at 2259, ancr said morning bcing was finished and would return at 0410. Phone numbers were ancd. I've phoned the Radio Manager, and was surprised when he asked me whether I needed a reception verification. Then he said that recently they've got reports from Finland and Thailand. Well known address is still valid: ul.Gornaya 31, Kyzyl, 667003, Tyva, Russia (Kovalenko, Russia, Signal, DXplorer Jun 28 via BCDX via DXLD) ** THAILAND. Thai external TV stn "Thai Global Network" (Hotbird 13 degrees) discussed standard time zone change for Thailand Kingdom territory. Prime Minister Taksin Shinawat suggest a change from UTC+7 to UTC+8 instead, for economical reasons and to bring in line local standard time with Malaysia, Singapore and Hongkong/China. No report mentioned on negotiations with neighbours Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam [which are EAST of Thailand and on UT +7 -gh] (Uwe Volk, Germany, A- DX Jul 20 via BC-DX via DXLD, WORLD OF RADIO 1089) ** UGANDA. Heard Uganda on 7195 last Sunday with sign-off at 2005 (Thorsten Hallmann, Münster, Rainland, July 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UKRAINE. Mykolayiv Radio Center is on the air again since 11 July. This results in two additional transmitters for RUI. Schedule changes are below: 1) Tx in Kyiv canceled on 12040, while 6020 kHz is now used until 2200; 2) 1000(500) kW tx in Mykolayiv uses 12040 kHz at 2300-0400, for North America; 3) added 7150 kHz (100 kW in Mykolayiv) for North Russia, at 0200- 0600 and 1600-2100 (Alexander Yegorov, Kyiv, Ukraine, Signal July 14 via DXLD) ** UKRAINE. 12040 RUI via presumed Lviv rather than listed Kopani had a txer break 0100-0115 (approximately). Propagation studies comparing this txer with other txers in SE Europe indicate that the distance from here to 12040 is too short for Kopani. Some program delay on the other hand indicates that it is no longer Kyiv (Olle Alm, Sweden, Jul 16, BC-DX via DXLD) Vlad sent two items on VOR MW relay 1000 kW too, so I assume the Ukrainians have now main power enough, or earned rentals 'from VoRussia customer' [see BELOW] to use SW 12040 again. Well, I feel somebody in Kiev recently signed an agreement with Moscow BC authorities for some relays on AM (936 Lviv, now 1278 Odessa); who's next? will see... (Vlad Titarev, Ukraine, Jul 18, BC- DX via DXLD) This relay is certainly not financed by the Ukrainian side; VOR pays for the relay, just as it pays for the relays in Germany, Moldova etc. The Ukrainian operator RRT would of course be glad to activate any of their high power txs for any paying customer from whatever country (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, Jul 16, BC-DX via DXLD) Lviv Krasne or Kopani site ? 12040 RUI was very fluttery, again pointing to Krasne-Lviv. As suggested by Kai, it seems to be a good idea for RUI to use Krasne instead of Kopani now that VOR has returned to Krasne (on MW 936). (Olle Alm, Sweden, Jul 17, BC-DX via DXLD) This would be a tx of just 100 kW, according to the TDP booklet the RV-458 (or former RV-458, if RRT dismissed the RV numbers). Such 100 kW txions with a 4 degrees beam were part of the regular Kopani schedule until the decline of this site started a couple of years ago. If I remember correctly the (former) RV-458 and two of the 1000 kW units were in use by RUI, while the other two 1000 kW as well as the 250 kW units RV-466 and RV-468 (always operated as a single 500 kW) used to carry RM programming. Around 1995 Golos Rossii (i.e. the Russian-language WS, which was at this time operated by VGTRK) tested these Kopani txs; Pavel Mikhailov repeatedly asked for RRs about the tests of this "new transmitter" in his show but annoyingly never disclosed the site. So it took us quite some time to learn that these superpower signals (one of the used freqs was 6085, result: BR Ismaning was wiped out completely) originated from Kopani (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Jul 17, BC-DX via DXLD) ** U K. There's no doubt that this is a period of major transition. Some SWLs and DXers are burying their head in the sand and pretending nothing is changing, as they're scared of change. Those of us who work in the industry know that we have to keep abreast of the changes, because as John suggests, we don't know how the market will eventually pan out. The BBC seems to have put many of its eggs into the Internet basket, and I think that's because (as others have suggested) they see the potential for huge income, especially from non-UK residents who want to access their services. I don't know any mechanism for PPV on shortwave :-) In that respect, Byford and co. no doubt see the cutting of shortwave to North America and the Pacific as a first decisive step along the road they have chosen. Clearly the UK government approves of this strategy as they would love BBCWS to become self-supporting, or partly so, thereby reducing the service's dependency on government grants. I'm beginning to understand now that the BBCWS shortwave decision is part of a much broader strategy, which for various reasons they're not yet ready to admit in public. If they are forced to change that strategy, the implications are major. Perhaps that's why they're unwilling to be blown of course. But, as John suggests, many people believe they set sail too early! (Andy Sennitt, standard disclaimer, swprograms via DXLD) ** U K. 15475, Salama Radio via Woofferton. It is very kind of you to inform us of the quality of signal reaching you. I can confirm that that was Salama Radio broadcasting on 15475 at 1900. The log is correct and we are very glad to hear that the reception is good in your area. Currently, we are just building relationship with our listeners and we are very loosely structured in regard to programming. Please keep us informed as often as you can, especially if the signal strength deteriorates or you can't hear completely. We are no more broadcasting on 11850 and we will surely make necessary corrections from this weekend. Thanks again. Kind regards (Dr. Jacob Abdalla jacob_abdalla@hotmail.com in a letter to Mahendra Vaghee, Mauritius, Jul 12, BC-DX via DXLD) Thank you very much for finding time to send me this report [of Jul 16th]. Yes, you're listening to Salama Radio and can confirm your log against ours. Most of our music is from Africa. Yesterday you were listening to a selection from Congo, Zimbabwe, and Nigeria. I am glad you enjoyed it. Please tune in as often as you can and also if you could please advise us when reception is poor. God bless, (Jacob Abdalla, via Joachim Thiel, Germany, A-DX Jul 17, via BC-DX via DXLD) ** U S A. This is good: Found on the radioready website: TOP 10 WWV Promotional Ideas 10. Buy the rights to "bee-doop" from old Mutual network. 9. New Station ID: "WWV, fort collins-DENVER!" 8. New Slogan "Give us 22 minutes--we'll give YOU 22 minutes!" 7. Hire "Perfect Paul" away from NWS to do side-splitting morning show. 6. Have music director expand playlist to include "Theme from 60 Minutes". 5. Do station promo poking fun at Canadians on CHU. 4. Drive time slogan: "Propagation and Solar Weather Together on the :15's". 3. LIVE Solar Flare Remote from surface of the Sun! 2. Hire low paid female sidekick for announcer who laughs hysterically every time he gives the time. And the #1 Promotional Idea for WWV: 1. "9th Caller wins an Atomic Clock!". (via Brock Whaley, July 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) {presented by Bill Westenhaver and Sheldon Harvey ending WOR 1090} ** U S A. July 19, United Patriotic Radio ...Heard them during my holidays in the USA-South Mills, NC at 0300-0330 s/off on 6900 usb. End of religious program, with song 'Onward Christian Soldiers'. Followed a bizarre program, consisting of tapeloops, including the frequency and excerpts from the Beatles 'Revolution number 9' and a radiobingo... No further ID given and s/off at 0330 (Silvain Domen (usually Belgium, temporarily USA), DX LISTENING DIGEST) Since UPR habitually closes with OCS, I suspect what you heard after that was another station heckling, as others have reported (gh, DXLD) Hi Glenn, Thanks for the message. Aha, that was it, cuz indeed the signal was off for a short while. Then someone announced 'And now for for some fun!'. Weird stuff being aired. So this is some pirate station heckling UPR. Well, so far I haven't been able to check on UPR because of the time in Europe when they're on air. Have to be in shape to do my daytime job aye... Well, I've been in North Carolina visiting friends since July 9. Got my Sony 7600 in my luggage, and made good use of it so far. Too bad I'll be heading for Belgium again on the 23'. All the best (Silvain Domen, DX LISTENING DIGEST) During the preceding week United Patriot Radio, Steve Anderson`s unfettered, unlicensed, broadcasting operation (there being, he says, no legitimate governmental entity to license it), has been subject to some on-frequency heckling, source unknown. Anderson had already been complaining about the ``jamming`` of the ``Intelligence Report``, which has been airing at 0100 UT, there being on the UPR frequency of 6900 kHz between 0100 and 0200 some sort of continuous chirp-like sounds, a type of transmission I don`t recognize, tho` I doubt it is the ``New World Order`` trying to silence the IR by making it unlistenable. This transmission was up during those days when UPR was off the air waiting for financial support to come thru. At the conclusion of Thursday (UT Friday) evening`s hour with Mr. Anderson (which ends with a playing of Tennessee Ernie`s renditon of ``Onward Christian Soldiers``), his heckler came back with a song, ``They`re going to take me away...to the funny farm...`` --- oh, those nefarious agents of the NWO. In order to escape the interference to his program, Anderson has been switching to 6880 kHz, putting him 10 kHz below the McCaysville maddogs instead of the usual 10 kHz above. Don`t understand why he doesn`t go to 6880 permanently to escape the interference on the IR (if the ``chirps`` stay on 6900, that would prove they aren`t up there for jamming purposes; haven`t examined them on a `scope --- interestingly, I found them up there just now --- Saturday evening ET --- UPR, not being on the air, as it is not weekends). Anderson has his satellite rx funxioning again, at least after a fashion: his relay of the IR at 0100 UT Sat ending in noise. Anderson`s excuse was ``weather conditions``, tho` C-band is pretty much immune to weather problems. Checking both the Genesis Network feeds (on G1 & G9) and the Truth Network feed (on G9), I found reception, as we used to say in the military, ``five by five``. Despite the YHWH-inspired view that ``the Jews are the children of the Devil``, Anderson, unlike others of his faith, seems tolerant of blacks, at least those who are among his neighbors -- utters none of that ``blacks are the `mud people``` talk. In discussing slavery and the Union-Confederacy War, Anderson made some remarks now without validity, or at least can be debated, e.g., that the motivation of the secessionist states was not primarily to insure the continuation of the system of chattel slavery, but states` rights, tariffs and other issues (tho` the continuation of slavery might have been an ancillary issue). But as Anderson points out, it was coming to be seen that slavery as an economic system had lost whatever viability it might have had (cf. The writings of Hinton Helper). It is my view that, had the Confederacy prevailed in the war, there would have been a Southern solution to the slavery matter: slavery likely would have been ended altogether by the early 1870s --- accomplished without the turmoil of Reconstruction. Also, far less likely would have been that white vs. black enmity that has been the bane of the south for so many years. (Few seem to be aware --- I first learning it in an American History class at UK –that there were a small number of blacks in the South who were themselves slave owners.) I also believe that, had the Confederacy prevailed --- the Southern states gaining their independence --- there would have been a move toward reunification with the rest of the U.S., which would have been, for a number of reasons (economic, etc.) a logical development. Negotiations would likely have resulted in a reunification by 1890 or 1900, tho` acceding to Southern conditions for reunion would have resulted in a somewhat different nation --- one with a far less powerful central government --- than is the case today. Of course (Anderson:) it was those Portuguese Jewish slave traders who sold slavery to the South in the first place. How did I fall into all of this babbling? For me, UPR remains essentially entertainment; the whole ``militia movement`` an example of ``theater of the absurd``. Long live UPR! Long live paranoia (which isn`t always, in every instance 100% wrong -- maybe 95%). (Loren Cox, Jr., KY, July 15, retyped by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. From CGC: FCC WEB SITE MAKE-OVER The FCC has launched the first phase of a major redesign of its web site. The idea is to provide greater uniformity in the pages, and to make it easier to find information fast (an expanded and improved search function is being added in stages). Sample the current accomplishments at: FCC Home Page: http://www.fcc.gov/ Enforcement Bureau: http://www.fcc.gov/eb/ Wireless Telecom Bureau: http://www.fcc.gov/wtb/ The web page layout has been remarkably and effectively simplified. Gone from the Home Page, for example, is the bandwidth-hogging picture of the FCC's office building. Other FCC web pages will be modified in stages, and the work is expected to be completed in a couple of months. Our thanks to FCC staff, and to their sharp web consultant, for incorporating so many positive changes (via Frederick R. Vobbe, W8HDU, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** U S A. From The Progressive Review's emailed UNDERNEWS, JUL 17 http://prorev.com/ FRIED BIRD MYSTERY WE PREVIOUSLY MENTIONED the strange doings in Hartsville, Tennessee where a mysterious, destructive power surge killed dozens of birds and damaged transmitter, phone lines and computer equipment at country music radio station WJKM. Said the station sales manager, "The lights flickered a time or two and then there was kind of a low level rumbling kind of noise. It sounded like an electric current (mimics sound). It lasted only two or three seconds tops, two maybe. Then the lights were down. I never heard anything quite like it. It was quite unusual. It sounded like somebody, or something hit something and there was a charge go off or something like a rumbling like an electric current kind of thing." Says WJKM's general manager, Ted Randall, "Although there are dead birds, blown out equipment, blown phone systems the local authorities choose to act as if we are crazy. TVA will not return any phone calls ... Every time we get on the air and let listeners talk about the strange stuff at the power plant, they come forward with a press release. Each time they are going to hold a public meeting and talk about donating land and development. The radio station is never invited to these meetings. At one meeting I asked publicly about the humming sound and the helicopters. The man speaking got real nervous and blew the question off and was very jumpy for the rest of his speech. After this incident last Friday a representative from the TVA site stopped by the Chamber of commerce unannounced to speak to the director. He told her she needed to know what was going on. He said they were going to start bringing in 150+ people a week to the Hartsville facility for training. These people would then work at other nuclear sites." WJKM http://www.1090wjkm.com (via Chet Copeland; also Harry Helms and John Wesley Smith tipped on this, DX LISTENING DIGEST){Debunk: 1-103} ** U S A. Hello Glenn, Beginning 8/4/01 Seldom Heard Radio will be heard a half hour earlier on WRMI 7385 kHz at 4:00 UT on Sundays (midnight on the east coast of America). Seldom Heard is currently airing a tribute to the late author Douglas Adams during the next few weeks. In September Seldom Heard Radio will return to the folk-rock & eclectic music format for a second season of programs (Fred Moe, Producer, July 21, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Glenn, On the current "July-Aug" edition of "COM", you had made a comment about "Radio Earth" and WRNO when they were having a little legal dispute back in 1984. I actually have the program in my recording archives when WRNO was forced to return Radio Earth to the air (for as short as it was). I now have a 3 min "real audio" of this program posted up on my web site at: http://members.fortunecity.com/swradios/fea.html It will require the codec plug in "ra 2.0" installed in order to play it. You are more than welcome to use this in whole or in part on air if you wish, but the audio quality, between the telephone quality to begin with and ra encoding...makes it a bit ruff. Regards, (David Zantow, WI, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ************************************************* "Dave's Radio Receiver Page" at : http://members.fortunecity.com/swradios ************************************************* ** U S A [and non]. An industry source informs us: Glenn, I was reading your newsletter on DXing.com. The story about the BBC on Cyprus along with the Lebanon 600 kW medium wave transmitter perked my interest. I am presently testing a 1 megawatt MW transmitter that's going to be sold to Continental Electronics in Dallas for a company called Metric in Florida. Nobody seems to know where it`s going other than it will be bundled with a 500 kW SW transmitter and sent overseas. As far as Cyprus goes, the BBC will be receiving a pair of 500 kW MW rigs for Ladies Mile in the very near future. Also a 1.2 megawatt MW transmitter will be shipped to China shortly for 1134 kHz. Location in China unknown at this time. The 1 megawatt for Continental will be on 837 kHz. The word is, it`s headed to the Middle East. I talked to the gentleman that was there for the test and apparently the government ran out of money for the shortwave transmitter. This transmitter will be operated by the government and as I understand it will be used as a propaganda tool to Iraq and parts of the Middle East. There will be a series of transmitters going to China ranging from 100 to 600 kW medium wave in the near future. Also the VOA will be buying new transmitters for Marathon, Florida, but this is not confirmed yet. Odd that Continental would be selling Harris transmitters to other countries when Harris has its own sales force overseas. Harris and Continental are in a partnership where if a broadcast customer wants to purchase a high power shortwave rig and a high power solid state medium wave transmitter Continental would come to Harris for the medium wave rig and Harris would do likewise for the shortwave rig if they got the contract. However, Continental selling a stand alone medium wave transmitter for another company might be a little strange. Continental signed off on the transmitter Friday so it will be ready for shipment in the next week or so. Apparently there is a contract being let for the renewal of several MW sites around the world. It`s a five year plan that calls for a half a dozen or more high power MW rigs (July 21 via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###