DX LISTENING DIGEST 1-111, August 18, 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] The huge DXLD 1-104 has now been corrected and reposted at http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio/dxld1104.txt CONTINENT OF MEDIA 01-08 is now running on RFPI, and via: (STREAM) http://www.freespeech.org/hauser/sounds/com0108.ram (SUMMARY) http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio/com0108.html WORLD OF RADIO 1092: (STREAM) http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio/wor1092.ram (DOWNLOAD) http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio/wor1092.rm (SUMMARY) http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio/wor1092.html ** ARGENTINA. R. Continental/Rivadavia, 16 Aug 2001, 0402-0432, on 15820 kHz LSB feeder. Signal strength varied from weak to very weak. Rather nice music clearly heard. Announcements very faint but heard "Buenos Aires" mentioned twice at the half hour. High noise levels prevented further listening (Rich Skoba, New Jersey, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARMENIA. Re Voice of Armenia schedule DXLD 1-108 August 12: The start time for the Sunday broadcast in English on 15270 is quite variable. Heard here in northern England, this past Sunday, August 12, on a portable Sangean ATS803A (no external aerial, just the whip antenna extended), with very good signal, no interference, nearly local station quality, beginning at 0750 UT. I tuned in at 0738 expecting the English programme to start at 0740. The French programme was being broadcast at this time and finished at 0750 (Harry Brooks, UK, Aug 15, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. RA preview for UT Fri Aug 17 at 2305-2320: Lingua Franca - "Radio Nights": the historian Oliver MacDonagh's boyhood memories of the wireless. When Oliver MacDonagh was growing up in Ireland in the 1930s, manufacturers' salesmen were striving to put a wireless in every home. Oliver MacDonagh recalls his brush with fame as a 'quiz kid', and the pleasures and frustrations of late-night shortwave broadcasts of American football, the match world- heavyweight champion Joe Louis lost, and Test cricket in Adelaide. [Transcript available] http://www.abc.net.au/rn/arts/ling/ for details (via John Figliozzi, swprograms via DXLD) repeated UT Sat 0530 and 1930 (gh, DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. Christian Voice Australia, which has taken over the txing site at the Cox Peninsula near Darwin formerly used by R Australia has now begun its staff recruiting campaign. The Station Manager of International Christian Radio - Christian Voice Australia - Raymond Moti (+61-7 5477 phone -1555, fax: -1727, email: Ray.moti@christianvoice.com.au has been addressing various Chinese church leaders and churches in Brisbane during the last few weeks and explaining to them the mission and objectives of Christian Voice Australia. Some have already pledged support and assistance for the start of Mandarin Gospel broadcasts into China. The Broadcast Centre in Maroochydore is looking for qualified and experienced broadcasters in English, Mandarin and Bahasa languages. Recently Ray Moti, formerly Station Manager of SBS Radio in Sydney, assumed the position of Station Manager of Christian Voice Australia. Christian Voice Australian Director, Mr Mike Edmiston, wants CVA to broadcast 24 hrs a day to the Asian region. Currently the Darwin txs broadcast an English sce produced in the United Kingdom. Once the Broadcast Centre in Maroochydore is ready all programss will be produced by CVA's team based on the Sunshine Coast of Queensland (Christian Voice Australia Aug 13 via Dr. Hansjörg Biener, Germany, BC-DX via DXLD) ** AUSTRIA. Statements regarding the future of Radio Austria International (ROI) from editor-in-chief Michael Kerbler: As well-known, ROI will be integrated into ORF radio, resulting in a change of the ROI management. For this reason the new program scheme, which is to be inaugurated with the beginning of the B01 season, will be known not until mid-September. It is expected that ROI will continue to broadcast in English, French and Spanish, but it remains to be seen how much own German-language programming will be maintained alongside with take-overs [simulcasts?] from other ORF radio networks (ROI "Intermedia" show, Aug. 17 via Kai Ludwig, DXLD) ** AZERBAIJAN. 9155 clandestine? Today heard at *0743-1059* on 9154.93 an UNID (most likely clandestine) in a language which I called "bad Arabic". 8 clips with IDs, Poor-to-Fair, are available from me. Just one word "dimokratiya" was positively recognised, In general ID sounded to my ears as something like "saul'at'dow'ha'dimokratiya'ashuraya" (very tentative). Summary of what been heard: Location: Azerbaijan or near (mostly on my guess, no direction findings applied) BCer: likely clandestine ("demokratiya" mentioned in stn's name), no IS,ID at the very start & before s-off. TX: possibly Azerbaijan's government. Modulation - good (we had many reports about 9155 CLA/AZE/even TKM during recent year (or two) Lang: bad Arabic (not native for announcers), possibly mixed with Kurdish. Not Azeri. Announcers: two (W+M) IDs: full schedule given by W voice. By M - short IDs only. Both look like pre-recorded. Program: Azeri-Arab songs/music mix (also other Turk type). All IDs/freq announcements were given during songs. It looks like unattended (prerecorded). Nothing of real-time nature. IDs/freq ancmts - the only verbal pieces, the major rest - song/music. (Vlad G. Titarev, Ukraine, DXplorer Aug 14) Looks like another "regular clandestine" service started on 9155v (slight off down). The same BCer signed on today quite abruptly at 0744. Music/sx. Nothing personal, but mx resembling Arab/Azer, even French chanson at times (accordion). First ID (M,W, both -Arabic) after 0800 (no TS, etc, at ToH). News in ARABIC at 0830-0845'30". Short ID as "Izaatu' ash-shariya". News read by M in good Arabic. Surely - 'real-time'. My conclusion: yesterday bcing was of 'test' nature, probably the last test-day. "Ash'shuriya Dimokratiya" mentioned few times. Mobilizing all my scanty Arabic I could suppose that this unID is broadcating in Arabic language into/for Kurdistan (Kurd people)(?). Did not do any record today. But IDs are the same as yesterday Aug 14th. Today's signal is definitely stronger: with Sangean 909 in car F/G overall. Following yesterday's pattern they must go off at 1100. Hope to give listen last hour from shack (Vlad G. Titarev, Ukraine, DXplorer Aug 15, all via BC-DX via DXLD) ** BELARUS. Correction - the correct time for regional programs of R Homiel, R Vitebsk, R Brest and R Hrodna are (summmer time): 1500- 1540/1600 (not only 1500-1540). Duration of the regional programs is 40 or 60 mins. The regional programs last 60 mins (not 40), if stns have more informational material, musical requests, etc. and it's very often case. A data that regional programs are only 40 mins duration is a few years old information (Robert Petraitis, Lithuania, Aug 16, via Wolfgang Büschel, DXLD) ** BELGIUM. Hi Glenn: There is now an audio file of R Borderhunter's micro power test available at the SW pirates yahoogroup: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SWpirates/files/ This recording was made in Nashville, USA with power levels under one watt. 73, (David Hodgson, TN, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. Glenn, in addition to the item [below from] Rogildo Aragão, here is another letter (N.B. the date) re R Ayopaya. And note the E-mail address cc to the station manager. ----- Original Message ----- Cc: "Aquino Jorge Coco" culayo@supernet.com.bo Muy estimado senor Klemetz, muchas gracias por su noticia preguntando si es que haya dos emisoras en Ayopaya. Sí, de verdad, hay dos emisoras en Independencia. Radio Ayopaya es la emisora del Centro cultural Ayopayamanta que trata de promover la cultura indígena de los Andes. La radio TV Domingo Savio es la emisora de la parroquia de Independencia que está dirigida por padres Salesianos (por tal el nombre!). Sería una pequena sensación si hubieran podido escuchar Radio Ayopaya en Suecia. Voy a transmitir su noticia al Centro Cultural en Independencia esperando que le van a responder ellos mismos. Con saludos sinceros (Raimund Busch, Aug 7, via Henrik Klemetz, DXLD) [Herr Busch is the chairman of the German Ayopaya support group -hk] ** BOLIVIA. Radio Ayopaya, 3334,3 [sic] não tem relação com o Missionskreis Ayopaya e nem com Radio Domingo Savio. 3344.3, RADIO AYOPAYA, Independencia, Depto. de Cochabamba, Bolivia Potencia: 0.50 kW. Horario Tx: 0900-1230 e 2230-0130 UT. Diretor: Sr. Jorge Aquino. End. Postal: Casilla 2433 Cochabamba - Bolivia Transmissão quase 100% em quechua 6883.5, RADIO IMPACTO CRISTIANO, La Paz, Bolivia. Potencia: 0.50 kW. Horario Tx: 0900-0200 UT. Diretor: Sr. Rene Vino. Telf. 005912481947 (em outubro será aumentado um número). Não tem endereço postal, apesar que está instalada na Iglesia Villa Nueva Potosi; o serviço de carteiro nesta ârea não existe e não tem autorização de funcionamento esta radio (Rogildo Fontenelle Aragão, Cochabamba, Bolivia, Radioescutas via @tividade DX via WORLD OF RADIO 1092, DXLD) ** BRAZIL. BREVE BRASILEIRÍSSIMA: As antenas da Radiobrás ficam ligadas nas madrugadas de sábado para domingo, em 6180 kHz, em 49 metros. Entretanto, a programação é a mesma da Rádio Nacional de Brasília, em ondas médias. Um dos programas da madrugada é o "Se Liga Brasil", apresentado por João McBrown, que atende cartas clássicas dos ouvintes. O endereço postal é o seguinte: Rádio Nacional, Caixa Postal 259, CEP: 70332-900, Brasília (DF), Brasil (Célio Romais, @tividade DX Aug 15 via DXLD) ** BULGARIA. Greetings, R. Bulgaria noted on 15000 14/08/01 @1600 UT //7500. Also same day unID with Indian sounding mx 14380 @ 0056 UT. 73s (Lionel Rothmeir, Guernsey-Channel Islands, harmonics via DXLD) ** CANADA. 6029.9 CFVP heard under today's unusual conditions at 2143! "For adults only, this is your station . . . CKMX." Also noticed earlier this week that Martí is blocking the frequency on UT Mon (Hans Johnson, WY, Aug 16, Cumbre DX via DXLD) You mean no more Martí silent period after 0300? (gh, DXLD) ** CANADA. THE WORLD THIS WEEKEND: Saturday on The World This Weekend, the enchanted Galápagos Islands. In January, an oil spill sounded a wake-up call that was heard around the world. A tanker ran aground, spilling oil and diesel fuel into one of the world's most sensitive eco-systems. Dameon Wall takes a look at the lessons learned now that the crisis has passed. And the Golden Age of radio lives on -- at least in the hearts of a group of American radio drama enthusiasts. John Kalish reports on these radio aficionados who continue to produce radio drama and perform before live audiences on a regular basis. That's on the World This Weekend, with Lorna Jackson, Saturday at 6:00 pm (7 AT; 7:30 NT) on both CBC Radio One and CBC Radio Two (CBC Hotsheet via DXLD) Also on RCI at 2200 UT ** CHINA. Xinjiang People's Broadcasting Station. Last Modified : 03- Aug-2001 14:05. Station Identification: Xinjiang Renmin Guangbo Diantai (Xinjiang People's Broadcasting Station). Alternative SW frequencies: 7385 4500 kHz. Languages: Mandarin. Address : 84 Tuanjie Lu, Urumqi, Xinjiang 830044 Tel : +86 (0) 991 2860008 Fax : +86 (0) 991 2866523 Web Site : http://www.xjbs.com.cn 2330-0800 daily 6100; 0800-1100 Su/M/W/F/Sa 5960; 1100-1800 6100 (© BBC Monitoring Aug 15, SW only condensed for DXLD) Xinjiang People's Radio Station Kazakh Service. Last Modified : 03- Aug-2001 11:01 Address : 84 Tuanjie Lu, Urumqi, Xinjiang 830044 Tel : +86 (0) 991 286 0008 Fax : +86 (0) 991 286 6523 Web Site : http://www.xjbs.com.cn 2330-1800 daily on 5440 or alt-4330 (© BBC Monitoring Aug 15, SW only condensed for DXLD) Xinjiang People's Radio Station Mongolian/Kyrgyz Service. Last Modified : 03-Aug-2001 13:36 Alternative SW frequency: 4980 kHz. Languages : Kyrgyz, Mongolian Address : 84 Tuanjie Lu, Urumqi, Xinjiang 830044 Tel : +86 (0) 991 286 0008 Fax : +86 (0) 991 286 6523 Web Site : http://xjbs.com.cn All on 5060: 0330-0530 Daily KYRGYZ; 0530-1030 Daily MONGOLIAN (off air Tu.Th.0800-1030); 1030-1230 Daily KYRGYZ; 1130-1800 Daily MONGOLIAN; 2330-0330 Daily MONGOLIAN (© BBC Monitoring Aug 15, SW only condensed for DXLD) Xinjiang People's Radio Station Uygur Service. Last Modified: 03-Aug- 2001 11:11 Alternative SW frequencies: 3990 4735 7195 kHz. Languages : Uygur Address : 84 Tuanjie Lu, Urumqi, Xinjiang 830044 Tel : +86 (0) 991 286 0008 Fax : +86 (0) 991 286 6523 Web Site : http://www.xjbs.com.cn 2300-0800 5800, 0800-1100 9595, 1100-1800 5800 (© BBC Monitoring Aug 15, SW only condensed for DXLD) ** CHINA. Press Release China Radio International (UPDATE) August 17, 2001 Due to a technical problem China Radio International will present its new weekly communications review called WAVE-LENGTH, starting [Tuesday] August 21st, as part of CRI`s daily morning show Real-Time Beijing on the domestic service. The 10 minute magazine will feature the latest developments in the world of international broadcasting as well as historic clips that made radio enjoyable. The program will be produced and presented by Keith Perron. Wave- Length can be heard on 91.5 fm at 12:45 UT [sic--not morning -gh]. Or at http://www.cri.com.cn For more information contact: Keith Perron, English Language Service, China Radio International, kperron@hotmail.com Tele: 86-10- 13661322248 (Perron, DXLD) Previously planned for UT Fri 0000/0100... ** CHINA/USA. Chinese left-wing journal warns against Radio Free Asia agenda One of China's two left-wing ideological journals, Zhongliu, has carried a report on the content and purpose of Radio Free Asia broadcasts into China. It said that the radio aimed to overthrow socialism, and used exiled dissidents to promote a Western propaganda offensive. It warned that vigilance was needed against such a tool of anti-People's Republic of China forces. The following is the text of report by Chinese monthly Zhongliu on 1 June; subheadings as published Radio Free Asia (RFA) has already been on the air for five years now since its launch on 30 September 1996. People can clearly see from this station's behaviour that its purpose is not merely to "broadcast information" or to "open the eyes" of the Chinese and Asian peoples. Rather its real purpose is to spread subversive propaganda, to "westernize" and "split" China, and transform China's socialist system. RFA was developed from the same model as Radio Free Europe, which targeted the USSR and the countries of Eastern Europe and spread subversive, anti-Communist propaganda. Its strategic target is perfectly clear. Now we can see that it is strolling further and further down the anti-China, anti-Communist road and this can't help but cause us to be concerned. Let's look at the facts! I. The sudden expansion of broadcasts directed at China When RFA was launched on 30 September 1996, each daily broadcast only lasted for 30 minutes. During the early stages of broadcast, China's Foreign Ministry spokesman clearly pointed out the political tendencies of the daily 30 minute Chinese language broadcast on RFA and that it constituted interference in China's internal affairs. Yet the US government completely neglected this warning. Not only did the broadcasts continue, their development was accelerated and the scope expanded to a point rarely seen in world broadcast history. As the Chinese language broadcasts neared their sixth month, they were expanded from 30 minutes to two hours a day. In September 1997, the broadcasts were expanded once again to four hours a day. By 1998, the broadcast times were expanding especially fast. In July of that year, the broadcast times were expanding at a rate of two hours per month, reaching 12 hours a day by 1 September. In this way, the Chinese language broadcasts of RFA and Voice of America (VOA) altogether became equivalent to 24 hours a day. Not only that, RFA and VOA both added Tibetan, Uighur and Cantonese language programming. Every day RFA carried four hours of Tibetan language programming, 30 minutes of Uighur, two hours of Cantonese, and 30 minutes of Shanghainese programming, in addition to over 17 hours of programming in Mandarin. Moreover RFA established bureaus in Hong Kong, Taipei, Tokyo and Dharamsala and sent journalists to Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, Taipei, Moscow, Los Angeles, Canberra and Ottawa. RFA is funded entirely by the US Congress and the funds allocated to it continue to increase. In addition to direct broadcasts, there also exists the Internet web site where all the broadcasts can be heard. They also provide fax and free telephone services to listeners and have established mailboxes in both Hong Kong and Tokyo. RFA broadcasts not only towards China, but also has broadcasts in Korean, Vietnamese, Burmese, Khmer, Lao and Hindi. II. A smokeless battle If one is familiar with United State's Radio Liberty broadcasts to the USSR and its Radio Free Europe broadcasts directed at Eastern Europe, then one would not be at all surprised by the last five years of RFA broadcasts directed at China. This is truly a soul-stirring, smokeless battle. In looking at the types of programming featured on RFA, its not hard to come to one conclusion: Their strategy is an attempt to transform China's socialist system in order to "westernize" and "split" the country. For this reason, each programme directed at China operates on a principle of "slander, slander, and slander again," regardless of whether the content is China's past or present history, economy, politics, culture, foreign policy, standard of living, ethnic or religious policy, democracy, or legal affairs. The programming completely rebuffs any achievements made by socialist China, attacking the socialist system, and advocating so-called "western" values and concepts of democracy, freedom, and decadence. RFA basically consists of both news programmes and those centred around special topics. Both "Asia Pacific News" and the "Asia Pacific Report," which are broadcast daily, primarily consist of news about China, the bulk of it distorting the facts and carrying obvious political overtones. The "Asia Pacific Report" is a more thorough examination of the news combined with journalist interviews, and the opinions of figures in the "democracy movement" and other anti-China, anti-Communist elements. Moreover, other programmes, for example "Economic Commentary," "Party Member's Thoughts," "News Freedom," "Labour Communication," and "Between the Lines," distort and stain China's political, social, economic and cultural developments as well as the current situation and trends of China's reforms. Topics frequently featured on these programmes include corruption, human rights, and democratic freedoms. The blame for these problems is placed on socialism, propagating Marxism's "bankruptcy" and "collapse", staining China's "dictatorship" and "autocracy", advocating political polarization, economic privatization, and westernization of ideology. In "Asia Pacific Report," journalists from RFA frequently call departments, factories, mines, government offices, and even people's homes to conduct so-called investigations, using these situations to wantonly attack China. During the recent plane collision incident, RFA confused right from wrong, mixed up black and white, and acted out a very inglorious role. RFA's special topics programmes are even more vast and include the so-called "View on China," "People's Voice," "Masses Hotline," "Eyewitness Speaks," "Washington Journal," "Overseas Digest," "Prohibited Literature," and "Chinese Voice" to name a few. In these programmes, not only do the host, "democracy movement" figures and anti-China, anti-Communist personalities in the west attack China, but they work in concert with unsatisfied elements within Chinese society to slander the CPC, socialism, the proletarian dictatorship and Marxist, Leninist, Mao Zedong Thought. In recent times, RFA has broadcast Falun Gong-related works and other related propaganda pieces, spreading rumours and slander. The Chinese government considers Falun Gong to be a cult yet RFA exclaims that the Falun Gong is beneficial to society, that there is no proof that Falun Gong is an anti-society, anti-science, anti-humanity cult, and even distorts reports of the self-immolation incident. People have wondered what makes these stubborn Falun Gong practitioners so arrogant? You can not say that it has nothing to do the propaganda of western radio stations. People still remember that the handbook of Radio Liberty, which targeted mainly the Soviet Union, said, "The purpose of Radio Liberty is to broadcast news and opinion to the USSR and its satellite states, to replace the current system with a democratic one." The handbook states that the so-called changes to the current system represent a "liberation from the tyranny of bolshevism and one-party rule." Once "victory" was secured over the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, the bosses of RFA strove to do even better than their "big sister" had done and this is what they have tried to do. For instance, in the programme "Masses Hotline," the host adopts an agreeable attitude towards those who slander socialism and the Chinese Communist Party and thanks them when they are finished speaking. However those individuals with differing opinions are either insulted, not permitted to speak freely or told that their time is up. Moreover, on the phone lines of this programme, people discuss strategies to overthrow the Chinese Communist Party. How can this be said to be merely "broadcasting information"? "Democracy Salon" is another programme masterminded with painstaking effort. Normally there are two so-called "legal experts" who attend the discussion and encourage listeners to participate. Sometimes listeners ask questions and these "experts" respond. Sometimes listeners express their opinions and the "experts" comment on them. On this programme the host and "experts" condemn living standards in Chinese society, human rights, and democratic law, making irresponsible remarks and attacking socialist China's "autocracy," and "violations of human rights." This programme has also established a featured entitled "The Decline of Communism" which crazily criticizes Marxism as having been "discarded into the wastebasket of history," and that "communism has not succeeded in any country." "Eye on China" is a thoroughly anti-China, anti-Communist programme. This programme's host is a professor, who specializes in "China's problems". On each programme he invites some anti-China, anti- Communist US personalities, scholars, figures from the Taiwanese media, or exiled participants in the "democracy movement" to participate in the discussion which is clearly targeting intellectuals. They slander China's foreign policy as "expansionist" and "hegemonistic" and manufacture the "China threat theory." Recently they have used the so-called "Tiananmen Papers" to attack the Chinese government. RFA publicizes many literary publications that have been banned on the mainland in order to achieve their unmentionable purpose. In 1997, RFA began a programme called "Unheard Literature," which was later renamed "Prohibited Literature." It aired every Saturday and Sunday night for 30 minutes. In December 1996, "Reader's Voice" began to air prohibited works of literature for 15 minutes every day except Sunday including "Who Will Come Out Victorious?" [Chinese: lu si shei shou], "Who Will Lead China - The 24 Most Powerful People," "The Private Life of Chairman Mao" by Li Zhisui, novels by Wang Dan and Wei Jingsheng about their experiences in prison, as well as works by Gao Xingjian. These works seriously distort the facts of Chinese history, attack the Chinese Communist Party, vilify the socialist system, and slander Comrade Mao Zedong. Although the above introduction to RFA is merely the tip of the iceberg, it illustrates how this radio station is the plan of the US Government. Its subversive broadcasting principles are extremely clear, as are its thinly veiled strategy and methods. We can not afford to underestimate or not take action towards its poison and influence. III. The pawns of Radio-Free Asia It is no secret that RFA serves as a forum for exiled activists from the "democracy movement." From its beginning, RFA could always count on the support of exiled dissidents. They have given advice, offered suggestions and come out brazenly to become the anti-China, anti- Communist western pawns. Liu Binyan, Yan Jiaqi, Wuer Kaixi, Su Shaozhi, Han Dongfang, Wang Dan and Wei Jingsheng have all participated in the work of RFA in one form or another. Liu Binyan serves as a contributing commentator, repeatedly attacking the "Communist Party's lack of democracy" in his articles. Yan Jiaqi serves as RFA's honoured guest, constantly maintaining that China should follow the capitalist road. He said, "China has no future unless it turns to capitalism." Han Dongfang directly participates as the moderator of "Labour Communication," openly calling on Chinese workers to stand up and organize along the lines of Poland's Solidarity Movement, to face the Chinese Government and overthrow the Communist Party. Wei Jingsheng often gives speeches calling on the United States not to be too tolerant towards China. These people sway constantly, following whichever direction the wind of the foreign anti-China forces blows, they are the scum of the nation, what Lu Xun called the "accomplices" to murder. IV. Sound the alarm Over the last five years, the daily performances by RFA teach us that this world is actually not that tranquil. In recent years there has been a view that with the end of the Cold War, western countries have altered their foreign broadcasts to make them less "intrusive" and more moderate. Some even think that international broadcasts are becoming less political and merely broadcast "cultural information." This view is seriously flawed. We must seriously study this issue, improve and strengthen political and ideological work in this new situation and adopt effective measures to prevent hostile western forces from using radio broadcasts to carry out intrusive and subversive activities. Ironclad facts show western countries, led by the US imperialists, will not cease their anti-China, anti- Communist propaganda. Anyone who is concerned with the fate of the socialist motherland should increase his vigilance! Source: Zhongliu, Beijing, in Chinese 1 Jun 01 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** COSTA RICA. RFPI has a new Mailbag first airing Aug 17 at 2000, and repeated at 0200 Aug 18 when only 7445 was audible, poorly due to disturbance. Said 21815-USB is back on the air, now running approx. 1400 until 0200. James in still not satisfied with the antenna in use on 7445-AM; has lots of high-angle lobes, multihop to NAm, and aimed too far east toward the N Atlantic. Plans to get a rotatable yagi for that frequency. 15050 has been very good for quite a while, and the antenna reliable. Extra capacitors are standing by in case a transmitter overheats. RFPI was off the air last week for 6 hours, and another period of 2 hours, due to a power grid failure in CR blacking out the area. Far Right Radio Review now has separate scheduling from Global Community Forum: GCF Wed 2030; FRRR Thu 1900 and Sat 2030. Women`s Voice is now Thu 2030, Mon 1600. A new FRRR starts Sat Aug 18, interviewing Gerald Jenkins, who runs a website monitoring American hate radio; this show deals in particular with Hal Turner. James will be travelling soon to speak at a conference on racism in RSA, and hopes to bring some interviews back for future programs (notes by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. At least the audio from http://www.radioreloj.cu/ is working via http://www.infocom.etecsa.cu/infosoni/is1.htm 73, (Erik Koie, Aug 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [non]. CLANDESTINE from USA to CUBA: (Cumbre DX follow up) Press reports that Ninoska Pérez Castellón resigned from the CANF because, among other things, she was told that the Voice of the Foundation [via WHRI 7315] would be eliminated. This has been very controversial here. All I can say is that the Foundation says it never said it was going to eliminate the Voice. Ninoska says they must have changed their minds. Some Foundation people were quoted as saying they are not going to eliminate the Voice, but that they might put it on AM stations instead of shortwave. Then they said they appointed a committee to decide about the future of the Voice. I am hearing that now they may be realizing that shortwave is the only way to go to reach Cuba, and they are now saying that they may in fact expand the Voice to more hours per day. In short, the situation is up in the air, but up to now there has been no change whatsoever in the transmissions except that Ninoska is no longer the host (Jeff White, FL, Aug 13, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** ECUADOR - Os transmissores da HCJB na cidade de Pifo estão com os dias contados. É que nesta localidade será construído o novo aeroporto de Quito. A Voz dos Andes resolveu montar seu campo de antenas na localidade de Santa Helena. Inclusive, já lançou campanha de arrecadação de verba entre seus ouvintes. A previsão do término das obras é para o ano de 2005. As informações são de Eunice Carvajal, apresentadas no programa "DX HCJB", no último dia 11 de agosto (Celio Romais, @tividade DX via DXLD) ** EL SALVADOR. Navegando en Internet encontré una página con la lista de emisoras salvadoreñas que retransmiten programas del evagelista Luis Palau. http://www.gospelcom.net/lpea/spanish/radio/elsalvador.html Mi sorpresa es que aparecen dos estaciones salvadoreñas regionales, supuestamente transmitiendo en onda corta, en la frecuencia de 17835 kHz ¿¿¡¡ De dónde sacan esta información o me he perdido de algo. Saludos a todos (Humberto Molina, El Salvador, Aug 17, Conexión Digital via DXLD) Viz.: ``YSKO AM-1370; OC-17835 San Miguel -- Lu-Do 6:45, 17:45, 21:45 Lu-Do 8:35, 9:20, 14:30 YSDA - Radio Imperial 17.835 mhz SW Sonsonate -- Lu-Do 6:45, 17:45, 21:45 Lu-Do 8:35, 9:20, 14:30`` Only thing I can think of is maybe confusion with WYFR which is on 17845 2200-0300, perhaps including this show (gh, DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA. Radio Ethiopia's National Service heard from 0304 UT tune-in (just after scheduled 0300 sign-on) on 17th August on its three shortwave outlets of 5990, 7110 and 9704.2 kHz, all offering reasonable reception at first, with talk in Amharic, Ethiopian music and ID. By 0330, 9704.2 was best choice. Radio Fana, Addis Ababa, heard on 6210 and 6940 kHz on 17th August from 0325 UT with tone, interval signal at 0327 and sign-on with ID in Amharic at 0330, both with fair reception. Although not identified, what I presume was the Voice of the Broad Masses of Eritrea was also heard on 7175 kHz around 0330 UT on 17th August, fair on clear channel (Tony Rogers, Birmingham - UK, AOR 7030+/LW BDXC-UK via DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA [non]. WWCR 15685 reception was very poor here on Thu Aug 16, depressed MUF/skipping over at one megameter, with WOR unlistenable at 2030, but I kept monitoring 2100-2130 and concluded that the Tigray show was indeed broadcast, and just like the one I heard on the web, concluded with 7 minutes of music. We did not check 15685 on Fri Aug 17 until after 2030, and regular WWCR programming was in progress by then (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15685, Voice of Tigrayans from North America (presumed), 2100 [Thu] Aug 16, announcement by WWCR announcer IDing station as Radio Tigray broadcasting in Ethiopian (sic). Music interlude and talk by man in presumed Tigrinya. Seemed to announce a different name than above and possibly two frequencies. Long political talk with fair reception. Tuned out about 2115. Heard one of these two services in July on a Sunday, but only caught the end of the broadcast, which was simply listed as the Ethiopian Commentator on the WWCR website (Hans Johnson, WY, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** GERMANY [non]. BULGARIA Eurosonor will be on air with a SSB test transmission on Sunday, August 19, 2001 at 1600 UT on 9980 kHz (SSB) and 12115 kHz (AM). Reports will be confirmed with the QSL card (Eurosonor team via Sergey Kolesov, Ukraine to the WorldDXClub email list via Mike Barraclough, Aug 17, DXLD) ** GUINEA. New FM, AM transmitters donated by UNESCO | Text of report by Guinean radio on 13 August It is becoming increasingly easy to listen to the radio in Haute Guinée. Two new pieces of advanced transmitter-receiver equipment have been installed in Kankan, Mandiana and Siguiri. People in almost the whole Haute Guinée Prefecture, the forest region, and even the neighbouring countries can now tune in to the Kankan rural radio station. For some days now, the national television can also be viewed in Kankan. Salfo Keita reports from Kankan: [Begin Keita recording] Day after day, the urge to listen to and watch the programmes of the rural radio station in Haute Guinée, called the radio of the voiceless, is being satisfied. With UNESCO technical support, a 3-kW transmitter was installed in Dabadou Kankan on 29 July. The transistorized transmitter is Chinese-made. Thanks to the power of this transmitter and according to the first reports reaching us, the Kanakan rural radio can easily be tuned in on FM in Kerouane, Banankoro, Kouroussa, Norassouba and within a 120-km radius around Kankan from Cotonou. A 250-kW relay transmitter has also been installed in Mandiana, allowing people to receive Kankan rural radio in Gbaladougouba, 130 km away from Mandiana on the Guinea-Mali border, and in Saladou, 400 km away on the Ivorian border. The antennae system and a generator at Mandiana were acquired with UNESCO funding. Better still, listeners in Côte d'Ivoire will be pleased to know that the Kankan rural radio can be tuned in on AM or medium wave as far as Dabou. An advanced transmitter provided by UNESCO has been installed in Siguiri to improve the listening quality of the existing 600-kW transmitter, with a capacity to cover the whole area up to the border with the sister Republic of Mali. All these laudable developments are to the credit of the government of Gen Lansana Conte. Source: Radio Guinée, Conakry, in French 0645 gmt 13 Aug 01 (via BBCM via DXLD) WTFK?! Main MW frequency used to be 1403v (gh, DXLD) ** HONDURAS. Estando na América Central, notei estas emissoras ativas em Honduras: 3250 R Luz y Vida, San Luís, Santa Bárbara 4820 La Voz Evangélica, Tegucigalpa 4830 R Litoral, La Ceiba - heard in English at 0150 4930 R La Costeña Ebenezer, San Pedro Sula 4960 R Buenas Nuevas (Is this the former R HRET, Puerto Lempira which closed down due to lack of funds ?Ed) 5010 R Misiones Internacionales - heard *2300 in LSB, still announcing 5890. At 0000 with English preaching and simultaneously translation into Spanish. No longer seems to ID as 'La Voz de.' (Maarten van Delft, DX-Window 175 via @tividade DX via DXLD) ** INDIA. On Aug 12 I heard from 1800 on India on 3365, 4820, 4840, 4860, 4950 etc. Unusual in the middle of summer and obviously an extended broadcast. This is what Jose Jacob wrote me: Dear Piet, The extended broadcasts that you heard was the live commentary in connection with the birthday celebrations of Lord Krisha. Many AIR stations relay the programs originating from AIR Mathura (Brindavan) which is known as the birth place of Krishna. It is a yearly event. Sincerely yours, (Jose Jacob via Piet Pijpers, Holland, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA [and non]. 4789.15, RRI Fak Fak, 1319-1402 Aug 14, pop Indo music, including lagu2 romantik. First time in several months that the ute smothering this frequency range was not present, but another voice station provided some interference. 1323, M announcer in BI with music title. Mention RRI Indonesia at 1328 followed by Sitar-like music accompanied with BI M vocal; by 1336 the "sweeper" is back to annoy the listener. At 1357 recheck, heavy beat Indopop music, followed by M at 1358 but at such a low level under the sweeper ute that he could not be understood. 1359 instrumental music with vocals, no SCI (Don Nelson, OR, Cumbre DX via DXLD) "Sweepers" are radars used for studying ocean currents and waves. The ones in this part of the spectrum are the longer range models with a 25 kHz bandwidth. I know of sites in Oregon, California, and New Jersey. 4775-4800 kHz is heard daily in Wyoming and is a real pest. Occasionally, I heard one from 4875 to 4900 and I am hearing one in the 5080 kHz range. Regarding the one on 4775-4800, I contacted both a university in Oregon and the company that makes these radars to make them aware of where they are operating. I even sent along a frequency list. I was politely listened to and then ignored. The problem is that 1) the stations don't cause any interference to the radar; 2) the radar probably doesn't cause much, if any, interference to the stations operating 4775-4800 kHz (Hans Johnson, Cumbre DX Aug 17 via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. WRN1 NORTH AMERICA AND WRN2 TO START TRANSMISSION ON DIGITAL TELSTAR 5 SATELLITE From October 1 2001, WRN1 North America and WRN2 will be available to affiliates and listeners via the Telstar 5 Ku band DVB digital satellite. WRN has taken this decision to keep pace with both the general move towards digital satellite broadcasting and the increase in ku band satellite reception and reduction in C-Band satellite reception by Americans. WRN plans to cease transmission of WRN1 and WRN2 on the Galaxy 5 C-Band analog satellite on December 31, 2001 giving 3 months of dual illumination. We are currently appointing a US-based satellite dealer to assist WRN affiliates and listeners in purchasing inexpensive all-in-one packages (including DVB receivers, 24 inch antenna, etc) for continued reception of our North American network. These packages will cost in the region of $350, much less than C-band packages. WRN1 will still be available on C-Band analog satellite after 31 December 2001 because the service remains on the Satcom C3 C-Band analog satellite via a C-Span audio sub-carrier. This satellite migration is a good chance to promote the North American network to potential local affiliates such as members of the National Federation of Community Broadcasters http://www.nfcb.org and through the College Media Advisors http://www.cma.org WRN is working with http://www.pitcomm.com/ Pittsburgh International Telecommunications to uplink WRN1 North America to Telstar 5. The known technical coordinates for the service are: 12177 V, tp 27. When we have more details we will forward these to you for inclusion in your upcoming programme schedules. For further information about WRN1 North America's move to Telstar please contact Jeff Cohen, Director of Development jeff.cohen@wrn.org or Tim Ayris tim.ayris@wrn.org (WRN Update, August via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL WATERS [non]. More than 300 stations sign up for International Lighthouse/Lightship Weekend More than 300 lighthouse/lightship stations in 43 countries are ready to take to the airwaves during the International Lighthouse/Lightship Weekend August 18-19. The US tops the list with 74 stations; Germany and Australia follow with 27 and 25 stations, respectively. See the International Lighthouse/Lightship Weekend Web site http://www.vk2ce.com/ILLW/2001.htm for a list of stations expected to participate. Among them will be VY2PEI on Prince Edward Island, Canada, which will operate from Cape Bear Light. Cape Bear was the site of one of the seven Marconi stations that went into service in 1905. During the winter the station was in service 24 hours a day keeping in contact with icebreakers between Georgetown and Pictou. Cape Bear also was the first Canadian land station to hear the distress call of HMS Titanic as she sank 153 km south of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland (ARRL August 16 via John Norfolk, OKCOK) ** IRAN [non]. CLANDESTINE from ISRAEL to IRAN, KRSI. (Cumbre DX follow up) A July 4th post from the SMCCDI [not expanded-Johnson] in a news group stated the following: "KRSI has rented a new channel which covers fully the European and Asian continents by focusing specially on Iran. The new band is on Short Wave 16M Equal to 17120 [sic] and the daily program is broadcasted from 20:00 till 22:00 (Tehran local time). (Via Hans Johnson, Aug 16, Cumbre DX via DXLD) How do you know it`s from Israel? (gh) Bubble jammer against GHI/KRSI [?] clandestine stn in Persian language transmit 1 kHz away on 17519.00, like the jammer against IBB/VoA, BBC and other international broadcasters have done during Iranian General Assembly election period on June 8th (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, BC-DX Aug 17 via DXLD) ** IRAN [non]. NDXC list of foreign relays via CIS sites [see URL under RUSSIA] shows Moldova for three clandestines to here, and the first has link to 45-minute audio file: 11635 MDA 1630-1715 500 116 Radio International, Persian/Radio Anternational MP ie5 11590/11545/11535 MDA 1530-1730 500 116 Radio Voice of Iran/Radio Sedaye Iran, Persian 7120 MDA 1830-1900 Radio Iran Tomorrow and another of their broadcasts is via Dushanbe, if we are guessing the abbr`s correctly: 5830 DB 1800-1830 Radio Iran Tomorrow (via gh, DXLD) ** IRAQ [non]. Iraq/USA: Iraqi opposition group INC starts satellite TV broadcasts to Iraq The London-based Iraqi National Congress (INC), an umbrella organization of groups opposed to President Saddam Husayn, on 15 August began satellite TV broadcasts targeted at listeners inside Iraq. According to a US press report published on the INC web site on 16 August, the station called TV Liberty will be on the air 24 hours a day, offering eight hours of Arabic programming repeated three times daily. It will include world news and news about Iraq, based in part on the INC's own reports, as well as talk shows and international call-in programmes. The station will also broadcast entertainment, including sport and films, an INC spokesman said. "The INC broadcasting programme, approved earlier this summer by the Bush administration, will be run from studios in London, home to the group's exile leadership. The tab is 2.7m dollars a year, including 1.2m dollars for satellite time and 1.5m dollars for programming and studio use," the report added. Source: Iraqi National Congress web site, London, in English 16 Aug 01 (via BBCM via DXLD) U.S. Funds Satellite TV to Iraq The Iraqi National Congress, an umbrella for groups opposed to President Saddam Hussein, yesterday began U.S.-funded satellite television broadcasts designed to reach the population inside Iraq, INC adviser Francis Brooke said. TV Liberty will be on the air 24 hours a day, offering eight hours of Arabic programming repeated three times daily, Brooke said. It will include world news and news about Iraq, based in part on the INC's own reports, as well as talk shows and international call-in programs. The station will also air entertainment, including coverage of soccer games unavailable in Iraq, and movies, in particular those that depict the struggle against dictators, he said. The INC broadcasting program, approved earlier this summer by the Bush administration, will be run from studios in London, home to the group's exile leadership. The tab is $2.7 million a year, including $1.2 million for satellite time and $1.5 million for programming and studio use, Brooke said. In addition to broadcasting, the INC is engaged in U.S.-funded programs to collect information for humanitarian and intelligence purposes, as well as to develop a program for relief assistance to Iraqis, he said. The group's more ambitious aspiration, to mount a political and military challenge to Hussein's government, is on hold, pending the outcome of the Bush administration's review of its Iraq policy. To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17613-2001Aug15.html (via Bill Westenhaver, DXLD) ** ITALY. Tuning into RAI at 0055 UT (Thursday) for my daily dose of Eye-talian news, I was surprised to hear Spanish news, which continued for several minutes and was followed by 10 minutes of dead air. No announcements (or anything) during the time that English and French usually air on 11800 (Mike Cooper, GA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KURDISTAN. 4250, Voice of Kurdistan Toilers, Aug 10, *1700-1730 Arabic, 1730-1803* Surani Kurdish political programmes, closing with clear Kurdish ID: "Aira Dengi Zahmatkeshan-e Kurdistana" and a patriotic song. This replaces former schedule 1600-1630 Surani Kurdish, 1630-1700 Arabic. 35343 (A. Petersen, Denmark, Aug 10, 2001 for CRW via DXLD) 4130, R Kurdestan, Voice of the Kurdish Socialist Democratic Party, August 06 & 07, *1845-1952* (Aug 07 - 2034*), New schedule with Arabic until 1828, then Kurdish. ID's, political talks about Kurdistan and songs. 25132 (A Petersen, Denmark, Aug 7, 2001 for CRW via DXLD) ** KURDISTAN [non]. CLANDESTINE from ARMENIA? to MIDDLE EAST. 11530, Denge Mezopotamya or Voice of Mezopotamya: I tried them a few days ago. Then there was a carrier at 1350 with CIS tones from about 1353. After a couple of minutes they went off and then crash started just before the programme start at 1400. I have a feeling that this is a CIS site pretending not to be one. My impression is that the site is Armenia (Kamo). The signal when I tried them was rather poor and the antenna switching test gave a clear indication of a southeastern site. Anyhow, I am fairly sure that this is no longer coming from Samara (Olle Alm, Sweden, Aug 17, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Decent signal heard with *1400 Aug 17, 5 talks of talk [sic] by woman, then multiple ID's by man. Long talk followed. Seems fairly slick, nice music bridges, etc. (Hans Johnson, WY, Cumbre DX via DXLD) NDXC`s Aug 13 updated list of foreign relays via CIS sites (see RUSSIA) says this is Samara: 15230 SAM 0800-1000(Sa.)200 188 Voice of Mesopotamia, to Iraq 15230 SAM 1400-1600(F.) 200 188 Voice of Mesopotamia, to Iraq (via gh, DXLD) ** KUWAIT. Dear Glenn, Here is the complete Radio Kuwait schedule as it was sent to me June 2001. Hope you can use it (Paul Bailey, Hobart/Tasmania/Australia, DXLD) In trying to figure this out, assuming this actually deals with English programming, it appears they have mistakenly added three hours to local time, rather than subtracted three hours, to get UT! So the ``1100-1400`` period actually deals with the known English broadcast at 0500-0800 UT, and the ``0000-0300`` period actually deals with English at 1800-2100 UT!! (gh, DXLD) RADIO KUWAIT PROGRAMMES-A-01 UTC (+3HRS) PROGRAMME 08.00 KUWAITI TIME 1100 OPENING ANNOUNCEMENTS+ REVIEW OF THIS MORNINGS PROGRAM 1102 EYEWITNESS 1115-1130-1145-1205-1230-1345 SONGS 1130 KUWAIT LAND OF PROSPERITY/PIONEERS+FAMOUS PERSONALITIES OF KUWAIT/TWIST AROUND 1200 NEWS 1215 PREACHING AND LIFE OF HOLY PROPHET 1230 PICK UP 1258 SCENE+HEARD/PELL MELL/HELTER SKELTER INTERNATIONAL TOP 20/POP SESSION SPECIAL 1300 DISCOVERING YOUR HIDDEN POWERS/POP SCENE 1358 CLOSE DOWN 0000 (2100 KUWAITI LOCAL) OPENING ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REVIEW OF THIS EVENING`S PROGRAMS 0002 EYEWITNESS 0015-0045-145-215-230-245-255 SONGS 0030 NEWS 0045 PIONEERS AND FAMOUS PERSONALITIES OF KUWAIT 0100 MUSIC TIME/HOME MATTERS/ POP VIEW/POP SCENE SOUNDS OF TODAY/MASTERPIECE 0130 PREACHING AND LIFE OF THE HOLY PROPHET 0145 DISCOVER YOUR HIDDEN POWERS/SCENE AND HEARD/ HELTER SKELTER/INTERNATIONAL TOP 20/POP SESSION SPECIAL 0200 SWING AWAY 0250 NEWS IN BRIEF 0258 CLOSE DOWN Radio Kuwait-A-2001 schedule 0200-1305 6055/ 9750 0800-1000 (Gulf region) 0500-0800=[ENGLISH -gh] 0800-0925 1600-1800 15110 (SEAsian region) 0400-0740 15505 (WAsia) 1315-2130 9880/15495 0200-1305 (MEast) 1800-0000 15495 15505 1015-1740 (African Regions) 1000-1505 17885 (Far East Area) 2200-0530 11875 (North America Western part of) 1815-0000 9855 1615-1800 11990 1800-2100 11990 [ENGLISH -gh] 0930-1605 13620 } For North America Europe 1745-2130 15505 (via Paul Bailey, Tasmania, DXLD) It is not clear why on some lines there are two different times before and after the frequencies given (gh, DXLD) ** LAOS. Re previous report of QSL: While this one is hot, if you have an unanswered report to Laos. Now is the time, please E Mail your reports to me I'll see that they make it. Small envelopes please! Nepal`s NEXT! n52w113@hotmail.com (Joe Talbot, Alberta, Cumbre DX Aug 17 via DXLD)) ** LATIN AMERICA. Public Broadcasting In Latin America (article) [Aug. 8: Open Democracy via http://www.MediaChannel.org ] (Opening Paragraphs) Media privatisation has not triggered many concerns about the future of public broadcasting in Latin America. In the last two decades, governments have put the finishing touches to the private model that has been dominant since the early days of radio. Historically, broadcasting was organised around commercial principles blended with statism and clientism. Public broadcasting was never the backbone of media systems – it was not even a limb. Because it originally lacked support from powerful sectors, it never got off the ground. Unlike Africa and Asia, Latin America lacked the colonial legacy of public media upon which public broadcasting could have been built. While governments approached media technologies as propaganda tools, domestic and US business salivated at the prospects of setting up commercial broadcasting. The idea of public broadcasting was absurd in the mind of the authoritarian governments that dominated the region between the 1930s and the 1980s. Nor were political parties enamored with it. When in power, they were happy to align with the interests of media business as long they could keep some control by running a few stations or keeping news coverage on a short leash. Only in countries where universities owned television stations (e.g. Bolivia, Chile) did noncommercial aspirations have, at least in principle, a better chance. However, they have never achieved their potential due to lack of political and economic support. Read Article http://www.opendemocracy.net/forum/document_details.asp?CatID=5&DocID=548 (via Chet Copeland/nyc, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LIBYA. CURIOSIDADES SOBRE A RÁDIO JAMAHIRIYA E SEU SIGNIFICADO Só como curiosidade sobre a transmissão é que o programa é feito em árabe e existe um programa em inglês que dura 3 minutos (com um locutor que tem um sotaque terrivel) seguido por um programa em francês que dura cerca de 5 minutos. Boa pergunta: qual a razão desses programas em inglês e francês com duração tão curta? Sobre a pergunta do Valter sobre o significado de Jamahiriya, eu tenho a resposta. Tirei de um site muito bom que encontrei sobre a Líbia que pode ser encontrado em: http://www.mathaba.net/info/ Existe muita informação sobre o pais, várias fotos do Coronel QADHAFI para quem é fã do mesmo, etc.. Esse é o significado de Jamahiriya segundo o site: The administrative system in Libya is summed up in the word Jamahiriya, which literally means the state of the masses (Marcelo Toníolo, Greenvale, Estados Unidos via Radioescutas via @tividade DX via DXLD) ** MAURITANIA. R. Mauritanie, 15 Aug 2001, 0038-0100, on 4845 kHz (ILG lists status as 'unknown'). Good signal strength with faint audio, RTTY interference and splash over from AIR on 4840 kHz. Male speaking in Arabic until 0050 followed by reciting/chanting (Koran?). Stringed music with very slow drums at the top of the hour. Again, on 17 Aug 2001, 0035-0100 with a male and female conversing in Arabic somewhat garbled by local nav beacon interference. At 0050 changed over as before. Signal gone after 0100 on both dates (Rich Skoba, New Jersey, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO [non] My name is Doug Allen; I'm a Wolfman Jack Archivist, looking for any of his airchecks, voice tracks, jingles, or any other promotional items (including photos etc.). If you or anyone you could forward to that would be interested in helping me in this effort please do so. Thank You for your time and interest. And Please stop by The Wolfman Jack Online Museum. A Non Profit Web Based Museum Dedicated to the memory of Wolfman Jack Http://www.wolfmanjack.org (via Kevin Redding, NRC-FMTV via DXLD) ** NEW ZEALAND. Radio New Zealand staff strike | Text of report by Radio New Zealand National Radio audio web site on 16 August Staff of Radio New Zealand who are members of the Public Service Association are on strike. The walkout over contract negotiations began this morning and is expected to last until 1800 tomorrow evening [0600 gmt 17 August]. It follows a similar stoppage last week. Some regular programmes will be replaced during the strike period with substitute programming. Source: Radio New Zealand National Radio audio web site, Wellington, in English 0700 gmt 16 Aug 01 (via BBCM via DXLD) 17/08/01 - BBC fills the silence as RNZ staff strike By MATHEW DEARNALEY Radio New Zealand programmes are in disarray again as journalists and technicians stepped up industrial action with a 30-hour strike. The state broadcaster resorted to BBC coverage yesterday to replace some news bulletins and National Radio programmes after staff at a stopwork meeting voted to strike. There was also disruption to Concert FM. Public Service Association members decided to strike until 6 pm today. Nine-to-Noon host Kim Hill is unlikely to be on air this morning, but RNZ says this is because she is ill. Mediation this week produced an improved pay offer, to a four per cent across-the- board increase. But PSA secretary Richard Wagstaff says a management claim for the right to change rosters and shift patterns without staff consent remains a serious obstacle. RNZ also wants to exclude 55 positions from collective bargaining, which the union says should be open to everyone except top managers. A spokesman for Radio New Zealand said it wanted to establish a structure that was fair for all staff and had guaranteed it would consult over roster changes. Collective coverage is also a vexed issue at the Auckland City Council, where there has been an argument over parking officers wearing "I'm Union" stickers which was deemed to breach a uniform code. Council human resources manager Mike Richardson said last night that no one would be disciplined for wearing the stickers (NZ Herald Online, Aug 17, via Bill Westenhaver, DXLD) ** NEW ZEALAND. RNZI previews for Sunday August 19: 1011-1100 on 9885 - Mediawatch - Examining and analysing recent performance and trends in New Zealand's news media. 1211-1300 on 11675 - Mediawatch - (refer to 1011). (via John Figliozzi, swprograms via DXLD) Every Sunday? ** PHILIPPINES. 11720/15190, Radyo Pilipinas via Tinang site, 1840- 1930* Aug 4. This is an easy to hear exotic station right now, at least here in Europe. The program is in the declared official, national language Pilipino which is based upon Tagalog spoken by about 15 millions on southern Luzon. However, nearly half of the 77 million inhabitants on the Philippines speak English fluently, so Pilipino is mixed a lot with words in English and thus easy to follow for the DX-er. I have noticed the same in Sri Lanka, India and Jamaica where locals speaking their Vernacular use a lot of English words in their daily talk. In the former British colonies this is definitely a consequence of the strong British requirement that all children had to speak the English language while at school. 35444. (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI via BCDX via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. À des auditeurs exprimant leurs craintes au sujet d'une possible fermeture du service français de la Voix de la Russie, la station a fait la réponse suivante: "Nous avons relevé une chose importante dans vos lettres. Pour la plupart, leurs auteurs portent un jugement positif sur les émissions en français de la Voix de la Russie, en estimant qu'elles sèment la paix, la concorde et la bienveillance (...) Quant aux craintes sur la fermeture de services en langues étrangères, elles n'ont pas de fondement si l'on se dit que la cote de notre radio est assez élevée. La Voix de la Russie figure parmi les radios internationales les plus écoutées. Nous continuerons à commenter les événements dans le monde, à informer sur ce qui se passe chez nous, à présenter les faits, même s'ils portent un caractère négatif. Nous estimons que l'information soit être précise et juste (Courrier des auditeurs d'Afrique et du Maghreb - 11 août 2001) NDR [note du redacteur?]: à ma connaissance, il n'a jamais été question d'une fermeture du service français, lequel a certes été décimé puisqu'il y a encore quelques années, on comptait 13 heures quotidiennes en français, contre 4,5 heures aujourd'hui. Quant à cette réponse, s'il fallait que seules les stations n'ayant pas la cote restent sur les ondes, nous n'aurions certainement pas perdu certains services français comme Radio Suède et certains autres auraient disparu depuis longtemps! (les informations sont issues de http://perso.wanadoo.fr/jm.aubier via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. This is the first story I've seen about Echo of Moscow in a few weeks. 73- (Bill Westenhaver) The following story appeared in The Globe Online: Headline: Russia's Echo radio struggles to avoid a Kremlin muzzle Date: 8/17/2001 Byline: " MOSCOW - The Echo of Moscow radio station, the last voice on Russian airwaves that the government does not control, is under siege." To read the entire story, click on the link below or cut and paste it into a Web browser: http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/229/nation/Russia_s_Echo_radio_struggles_to_avoid_a_Kremlin_muzzle+.shtml (via Westenhaver, DXLD) ** RUSSIA/CIS. NDXC has an August 13 update of its very interesting compilation of Foreign relays on SW through facilities in the CIS, including a number of clandestines whose sites were in question: http://www2.starcat.ne.jp/~ndxc/relay.htm (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ST. HELENA. Re DXLD 1-110: Sorry, folks but it was a false alert. I received an e-mail today from Douglas Bennett who lives on the South Atlantic island of St. Helena. He is not a ham and he has not asked for people to contact him. Somehow somebody got the man in Germany doing this and it has been spread all over the planet. It is false! (Robin VK7RH L. Harwood, Australia, Aug 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN. REE 11795 at 0115 Aug 14 in Judeo Español, as announced. This xmsn Tue only. Excellent signal. Listed as Sefardi in the WRTH. (73/Liz Cameron, MI, DX LISTENING DIGEST) For SAm; repeats at 0415 UT Tue on 9690 for NAm (gh) ** TAIWAN. CHINA [sic]. 13750, New Star Broadcasting Station "maybe" verification via Radio Taipei International in 30 days returning my US$1.00 return postage. I sent a report to New Star Broadcasting Station via RTI and received a nice package of stuff (newspaper, stickers, schedule, commemorative stamps of Inauguration of the Tenth President and Vice President, etc.) including an RTI 7210 in English verification. Alas, nothing to indicate New Star Broadcasting Station, so a big "maybe" at best. I presume it was merely the action of a highly coöperative staff person trying to make a listener happy (R. D'Angelo, PA, August 2001 in DX-plorer-ML via CRW via DXLD) ** THAILAND. A complete list of all Thai AM/FM radio stations is available from the following URL. It is all in Thai and has a too short setting of the script timeout function for convenient download: http://www.prd.go.th/prdnew/thai/media/radiothai.asp (all found by Alan Davies, Thailand, via Olle Alm, Aug 11, BCDX via DXLD) ** TIBET [non]. From NDXC schedule of foreign relays via CIS sites: 7185 DB 2315-2359 Voice of Tibet, Tibetan and Chinese 9920 DB 0100-0145 Voice of Tibet, Tibetan and Chinese 15635 AA 1215-1259 Voice of Tibet (http://www.voti.com/ //15670 15670 DB 1215-1259 Voice of Tibet, Tibetan and Chinese//15635 See RUSSIA for URL (gh, DXLD) i.e. Dushanbe, Alma Ata ** TINIAN. For DXLD readers who would like to work at a shortwave relay station, there is an opening for an administrative assistant at the IBB Tinian relay. Grade level is GS 7/8/9, depending on qualifications, which comes out to about $30,000 to $36,000 per year, with perhaps some additions and other benefits for the overseas location. Closing date for applications is 27 August. See: http://www.voa.gov/01-152.cfm (Kim Andrew Elliott, Producer and Presenter, Communications World, VOICE OF AMERICA, DXLD) ** UKRAINE. No longer hear RUI English at 2100 on 12040 (Bob Thomas, CT, Aug 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U A E. On the subject of Abu Dhabi and the Dhabayya SW site, Abu Dhabi City is situated at the outer tip of an island. A place called Ad Dabayyah or Ad Dubayyah or Al Dab'iyyah is situated at the tip of a peninsula of the same name to the south of Abu Dhabi City. There are three major islands in between. The official coordinates of the SW site lead to a location just inland of the foot of the peninsula, so the coordinates appear to be at least reasonably correct. Since Arabic (and other Semitic langs) have a number of sounds that do not exist in Western langs, there is often a great variety in the way Arabic names are transcribed (Olle Alm, Sweden, Aug 13, BC-DX via DXLD) ** U A E. Dubai schedule, addition to yesterday's message regarding this schedule. Noel pointed out, that Dubai also used to have a txion to Australia in the morning, and indeed they are still there, but I hadn't noticed because of marginal reception (21700, 17830) or local noise (15435). En was noted 0429-0448 [sic – used to be 0530 -gh]. With 13630 opening at 1210, there might be yet another untraced morning transmission, but nothing noted on their listed freqs. So here's the updated current monitored UAE Dubai schedule: 11950 1635-2100 (sometimes stays on 21605) 12005 0230-0350 13630 1210-2100 13675 0230-0350, 0550-2100 15395 0550-2100 15435 0350-0550 15400 0230-0350 17830 0350-0550 21605 0550-1635 21700 0350-0550 All times are somewhat variable. There are several relays of their English language program. The evening technician often leaves before the end of transmission and lets the txs burn oil all through the night. Around 0150 he is back and does the switching that should have taken place at 2100. The disturbing rumble is present on all four txs, but is much less prominent on 13675. It also seems that the level of the rumble varies with time, perhaps with the temperature of the cooling plant. 21605 has problems, lately with much distortion or no-shows. Strangely enough, it seems that the audio problem does not follow the tx to 11950/12005 (Olle Alm, Sweden, Aug 14, BCDX via DXLD) ** U K. BBC: Remember, we're talking about an organization that until very recently spent 100,000 pounds per year on *cookies*. We're talking about an organization with a yearly budget of 183 million pounds. We're talking about an organization that is getting an *increase* in funding of 64 million pounds over the next three years. We're talking about an organization that spends almost 300,000 pounds on the salary of one person, Mark Byford. We're talking about an organization that spent 600,000 pounds paying off four executives to leave. A half million pounds is peanuts out of this. The argument that it isn't economic to spend less than one half of one percent of their budget on reaching a very influential audience is bull. They're not reaching more with less, they're reaching less with less and having far less impact. But the way they measure their numbers, they'll never know. The truth is that the BBC has given up a devoted audience that listened for hours and had a finely nuanced understanding of the UK in favor of a slightly larger audience that hears an occasional newscast and thinks, "Oh, this guy giving the news sounds kind of like that guy on Masterpiece Theater; this must be more credible than the usual stuff I hear." The truth is that because the BBC is incapable of understanding the flaws in their research methodology, they'll never understand that they've just thrown away their most valuable audience, and are unlikely to produce research that actually gives them some understanding of this. The truth is that the people who *used* to run BBC's research department understood that, but were chased out by the cretins who run the World Service today, and as a result, the BBC is running blind on research they don't understand and making flawed decisions that don't serve their listeners, don't serve their paymasters in government, and don't serve the people they're ultimately responsible to, the British public. But some people wouldn't know the truth if it hit them in the face with a clue-by-four (Ralph Brandi, NJ, swprograms Aug 16 via DXLD) Don't know if this makes any difference but.... Remember the competing Early Day motions in British Parliament about the shutoff of the BBC World Service? One EDM supported the shortwave shut-off. The other said closing shortwave was a stupid idea, and shortwave should be restored. There were somewhat more ministers' signatures for the one that said shortwave should be restored, but it was a pretty close race. I hadn't looked at the tallies for a while, figuring they were on vacation. But, out of curiosity I checked EDM site today. I think the numbers have changed (based on the numbers in last post I found about this on the Topica board in July). The good news is that it has become more lopsided in favor of restoring shortwave. Maybe that means there's still some political life in the BBC SW issue. A. Mitchell's save-shortwave EDM currently has 62 signatures. D. Wyatt's "BBC was right" EDM - 44 sigs. And an amendment filed by Mitchell challenging Wyatt's petition --12 sigs (John Townes, Aug 16, swprograms via DXLD) ** U K. DX Information from the British DX Club (BDXC-UK). Further to Mike's interesting posting from BBC Caversham, BBC Radio 4's 'Archive Hour' this Saturday (18th August 1900 UT) focuses on the events of August 1991 in Russia. Entitled '3 days that shook the world', it is based on BBC Correspondent Bridget Kendall's personal diaries. Hopefully there should be some BBC Monitoring material too. Why is the BBC Monitoring's presumably huge archive of material so under- used by the rest of the BBC for programme content? I know we have 'A World in Your Ear', now back on Radio 4 Fridays at 1230 UT, repeated Sundays 1930 UT, but that isn't much. Even then I am always left somewhat disappointed by this programme which offers the world (of radio) but seems to usually end up delivering just a few quirky odds and ends. I presume both the Archive Hour and World in Your Ear are available on the web too, but haven't checked. Wouldn't it be great to hear additional programmes, on the BBC and elsewhere, of weekly review of news as heard by other stations, or press reviews, or sport, entertainment etc.? Radio Japan have a good précis of other Asian radio station's views, but I don't know of too many others (Chris Brand, BDXC-UK via DXLD) ** U K [non]. DX Information from the British DX Club (BDXC-UK). From uk-radio-listeners: According to CBC Hotsheets for the weekend of 18- 19 August, there is to be a broadcast of Hancock's Half-hour on Radio Canada International this Saturday night at 11:30 BST (22:30 UTC). The programme is called "A Sunday afternoon at home", which is one I have never heard of before. Although nominally broadcast to North America, listeners here in the UK should be able to hear at least some of the following frequencies at this time:- 6175, 9590, 9755, 13670 and 17695 kHz (Paul David, BDXC-UK via DXLD) ** U K. DX Information from the British DX Club (BDXC-UK). 15 August 2001 An RSL group went on the air this week in Surrey using the unusual frequency of 531 KHz in the AM band. As a result of the location on the band, the opposite to which most medium wave RSLs broadcast, reception reports have been received from across the south east and beyond. Susy Radio (Sussex Surrey Radio Group) asked, under their engineering expert Trevor Brook, to use 531 as it would prove an "interesting technical challenge" if it were to be achieved on a shoestring budget. The station, which operates from studios near Redhill, is using a Decca air navigation beacon transmitter, which was stationed at Epsom, Surrey and which has undergone conversion to operate on the broadcast band. The antenna system has been made out of "loads of old mains wiring hauled up into large fir trees using the traditional method of a catapult and fishing line". http://www.theradiomagazine.co.uk/News.htm (via Ray Woodward, BDXC- UK Aug 17 via DXLD) ** U S A. 7354, WRNO, I hear them signing off between 0200 and 0230. Program is Brother Stair and they sign off with a WRNO world-wide ID (Gene Walsh, LA, Aug 14, 15, 16, Cumbre DX via DXLD) From where in LA, groundwave from Metairie? (gh) ** U S A. 7415, WBCQ carrying Radio Caroline International 2040 first broadcast Aug 16 via BCQ, heard with David Bowie and other old rock music. Fair, ID as Radio Caroline International and canned slogan as "playing your favorite hit music, Radio Caroline." (Hans Johnson, WY, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** U S A. NASB Newsletter August 2001 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF SHORTWAVE BROADCASTERS, INC. 10400 NW 240th Street, Okeechobee, Florida 34972 Ph: (863) 763-0281 Fax: (863) 763-1034 or 8867 E-mail: nasbmem@rocketmail.com Web Site: http://www.shortwave.org NASB PRESIDENT'S NEWSLETTER Ed Evans, NASB President Hello to everyone. I hope your summer has been going well. A lot has been happening since our Annual Meeting in May, so this letter is to give all of you an overview of what the NASB has been doing. FCC ISSUES License Renewal - on-air announcements For any of you that are in the process of filing for a license renewal, it seems that the FCC is "requiring" pre- and post-filing on-air announcements regarding the license renewal. The Shaw Pittman firm has petitioned the FCC on behalf of the NASB that such announcements for international broadcasters are useless and unnecessary. The petition requested a blanket waiver of this requirement for all FCC-licensed HF broadcasters, which was turned down. However, the FCC did agree to grant individual waivers to stations filing for license renewals. So if you are renewing or preparing to renew, please remember to request this waiver in your process. FREQUENCY HOUR FEES All of us pay the FCC a great deal of money in Frequency Hour fees. These fees began back in the early 90's, at $35/hour, and have increased substantially since then. While the original intent of the fees was to ensure that we (through the FCC) were represented at the HFCC conferences, we now feel the fees we are paying have gone beyond that stage. Unfortunately, the fees were instituted by an act of Congress, so getting them removed would require a similar action. However, we have discussed this with Shaw Pittman, and they feel we may have an opportunity to appeal the fees, or at least get them reduced. This is why we have asked all of you to please let us know what your 2000 and estimated 2001 fee costs are. By having this information at hand, we can argue our position more effectively. Even if you are not a current NASB member, it is important that we have your data on this as well. HFCC MEETING IN MONTREAL, CANADA For the very first time since its inception, the High Frequency Coordinating Conference is being held in the western hemisphere. Montreal, Canada, will host the summer meeting August 27-31. This meeting will attempt to coordinate the B-01 frequency schedules for the majority of the world's HF broadcasters. NASB Vice President Jeff White will be attending as the NASB representative. We will be attending as "observers" as this is our first conference. George Jacobs will also be in attendance. If anyone else is interested in attending, you can contact Jeff or George, and they can provide you with hotel and meeting details. We are attending this meeting to participate and learn the process, and to assist Tom Polzin in any way we can. WRC-2003 AND IWG-6 ISSUES Ladies and Gentlemen, we are participating in a real dogfight here, it seems. Your Board of Directors has become very aware that our participation in the development of US positions on HF issues is extremely critical. Agenda Item 1.2 - Addition of "Digital" as a broadcast method This agenda item seemed simple enough. Agenda item 1.2 was to have allowed the inclusion of "digital and other new modulation techniques." This item is tied though to the Recommendation 519 that came out of WARC-92. This recommendation was the one that basically said that SSB emissions should replace all DSB emissions by 2015, and that all new bands created for broadcasting would be exclusively SSB. The U.S. and other administrations took issue with this, and have allowed broadcasters to use the new bands on a non-interference basis. There has been a push at the ITU-R in Geneva to basically grant all new expanded bands exclusively to "digital." We are actively fighting this, as we currently have a large shortage of frequencies available now, and also that there is no demonstrated evidence that "digital" will fare any better fate than SSB. The NASB will be drafting the Proposed US Position on this agenda item, and we plan to recommend that the expanded bands be open to "all" accepted modulation techniques. Further, we will propose that the restrictions placed on DSB emissions be removed. Agenda Item 1.36 - Band Expansions for HF Broadcasting This agenda item will look into the needs for expanded HF broadcasting, especially below 10 MHz. We have data to show that there is immediate need for more spectrum, and we have some specific ideas for these expanded bands. The NASB will be drafting the proposed US position for this item. Here again, there is a push for some exclusivity of band space for "digital," which we will oppose. NEW MEMBERS Harris has just joined as an Associate Member of NASB. We welcome Harris, and look forward to their active participation in our meetings and activities. Jeff White, NASB Vice President, sent out a mailing to all non-member FCC-licensed HF broadcasters. We also notified the non-members about our FCC frequency fee plans, and asked them to participate. Additionally, we will be sending this Newsletter to all non-members as well, to hopefully indicate that the NASB is a strong support organization for all FCC-licensed HF broadcasters. If you have had reservations about joining NASB, I encourage you to contact any of the members and discuss the benefits of membership with them. I can be reached at (803)-625-5551 or email at evansc@wshb.com In closing, let me again say that the WRC-03 issues are very important to us as HF broadcasters. We are dealing with "inside the beltway" parties that are primarily looking to serve their own interests, not ours. The NASB must maintain a presence in the HF issue discussions to ensure that our interests are preserved. NASB Members Adventist World Radio Assemblies of Yahweh Family Stations, Inc. Far East Broadcasting Company Herald Broadcasting Syndicate High Adventure Ministries LeSea Broadcasting Corporation Radio Miami International Trans World Radio World Christian Broadcasting World Wide Catholic Radio NASB Associate Members Antenna Products Continental Electronics Corporation George Jacobs and Associates Harris Corporation HCJB World Radio IBB TCI/Dielectric Thomcast/Thales (NASB via Dan Elyea, Aug 16, via Wolfgang Büschel, WWDXC, excerpted for DXLD) ** U S A. http://www.2600.com/news/display.shtml?id=637 MORE FIRINGS, BANNINGS, AND RESIGNATIONS AT WBAI Posted 7 Aug 2001 23:02:05 UTC In what seems to be a renewed round of activity at Pacifica's beleaguered WBAI (home of "Off The Hook"), a number of staff people have found themselves barred from the station in recent days with the loss of still more programming, as the crisis at WBAI stretches into its eighth month. Still another well known programmer resigned on the air Monday morning. [...] (Joël Rubin, NY, August 15, DXLD) Laura Flanders: Pacifica & Democracy Now's Fate Laura Flanders on the Pacifica situation, esp. Democracy Now and its host, Amy Goodman Aug 15 via Alternet.org http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11334 (via Chet Copeland/nyc, DXLD) ** U S A. The New Thomas Jefferson Hour, starring Clay Jenkinson, is no longer produced at or carried by KUNR in Reno NV. Most of the stations still carrying it do not webcast. We know of only two, KRCC in Colorado Springs, but it uses the nearly defunct (as of Aug 31) and inferior Webradio system – let us hope they go to wm or rm to replace it. The other one is WVRU at Radford University, Thursdays at 2300-2400 UT. Last week, the webcast was running but there was no audio on it. This week, August 16, they had made some progress, with only one of the two stereo channels and it was much too loud, but the TJ hour was at least audible. This show had a dialogue with Jefferson`s rival Alexander Hamilton. Unfortunately for WVRU listeners, it was produced in stereo and the moderator`s channel was very off-mike. Closing credits revealed the TJ Hour is now produced by High Plains Public Radio (Garden City KS), KANZ, another station which does not webcast. Jenkinson has said he is promoting the renewed show to try to get it carried on more stations (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Good-Riddance Good-Bye To WEVD. A rather intemperate assessment of New York City talk radio occasioned by WEVD's lease agreement--Disney's ESPN will rule there after Aug. 31. by Scott Pellegrino, NY Press (leftish free paper) http://www.nypress.com/14/33/nyc/nyc.cfm (via Chet Copeland, NRC-AM via DXLD) Actually, Disney has yet to actually buy WQEW (Disney Kids) from the New York Times so it seems unlikely that they'll buy WEVD. Also, if they were looking for good skywave coverage, and I'm not sure how big a factor that is when you take over an NYC medium station these days, WEVD isn't very good since 1050 is a Toronto clear channel under the 1941 treaty. Any way, FWIW, today's English edition of the Forward (there are also separately edited editions in Yiddish and Russian, all weekly) has two letters concerning the change in WEVD. One uses the phrase "a shame and an outrage" and, on the other hand, the other uses the phrase "my dismay and anger". Whether this is the letters- to-the-editor editor expressing his or her opinion covertly or whether it was felt that a pro letter would seem self-serving or whether there just weren't any pro letters I don't know (Joel Rubin, NY, Aug 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WJCR: Both transmitters were down with extensive damage due to water getting into the power supplies. I salvaged as much as I could from the 13.6 MHz transmitter in order to repair the 7.5 rig and get it back on the air only to discover that it would not produce much more than 10 kW - and then with frequent bouts of distortion and power "surges"! It finally went down for the count Saturday evening. Well, to make a long story short, it turns out that the final Power Amplifier tube ($4500 worth!) was damaged by water getting into the heated air exhaust duct and dropping down onto the VERY hot tube when the cooling blowers went off due to power failure! I tried swapping tubes with the 13.6 transmitter yesterday after finishing all the power supply repairs on both transmitters - but it would not make power either - and also shows signs of previous overheating. (Larry Baysinger, Aug 13, Cumbre DX via DXLD) WJCR raised the money for the tube for 7.5 and it has been delivered. I hope to get this one back on on Saturday (Larry Baysinger, Aug 17, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** U S A. It is with great sadness that I inform you that ex-pirate Kirk Trummel (a.k.a. Nemesis_Radio Doomsday and a variety of other stations) has died at the age of 37 of pancreatic and liver cancer. He wished that donations be made to the Sloane Kettering Institute for cancer research. You may call the funeral home in his home town at 217-935-3166 for funeral and donation information. I`m too much in shock to give him a proper eulogy here and now but know he made great contributions to pirate radio and the FRN and that he loved radio. here's hoping he's listening in from the ionosphere, FFFR (janice laws, Aug 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. CLANDESTINE to/from USA. 6900, United Patriot Radio now has a website as announced by Anderson during tonight`s broadcast. Pretty basic, but includes a very revealing mission statement and an email address. http://www.posse-comitatus.org/unitedpatriotradio/ (Hans Johnson, WY, Aug 16, Cumbre DX via DXLD) i.e. anti-Semitic. BTW, Anderson topped RFPI`s list of hate broadcasters. Example from website: ``DEATH TO THE SATANIC SEED LINE AND THEIR JEW WORLD ORDER!`` (gh, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VIETNAM [non]. NDXC schedule of foreign relays via CIS sites shows Alma Ata for this one; see RUSSIA for URL: 15725 AA 1400-1500 Voice of Khmer Krom, Cambodian (via gh, DXLD) ** VIETNAM [non]. USA/VIETNAM Radio Free ASIA and exile broadcast will be impacted by the below (via Johnson Aug 17) International Relations Committee Approves Vice Chairman Smith's 'Viet Nam Human Rights Act' Legislation Would Tie Increased Foreign Aid To 'Substantial Progress' on Human Rights 8/14/01 (Washington, DC) - The House International Relations Committee today voted to approve H.R. 2368, the Viet Nam Human Rights Act, authored by Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-4), the Vice Chairman of the Committee, along with 12 bipartisan co-sponsors. "As relations between the United States and Viet Nam approach full 'normalization', the government in Hanoi is unfortunately getting worse, not better, in the way it treats those of its own citizens who share our values," said Smith. "The Viet Nam Human Rights Act contains a number of provisions designed to ensure that the promotion of freedom and democracy will be a central element in U.S. policy toward Viet Nam," he said. The Smith bill (H.R. 2368) would link future increases in non-humanitarian foreign aid to Hanoi to progress on human rights. It does not affect existing aid, or any kind of humanitarian aid, and it does not limit assistance that is provided through non- governmental organizations rather than through the government. The Smith bill will ensure that the U.S. government uses other tools at its disposal to promote freedom and democracy in Viet Nam. "H.R. 2368 authorizes assistance to nongovernmental organizations committed to promoting freedom and democracy in Viet Nam. It promotes more vigorous efforts to overcome the jamming of Radio Free Asia by the government of Viet Nam and it will require the State Department to take steps to ensure that U.S. cultural and exchange programs are open to people who share our values, not just to Vietnamese government and Communist Party officials and persons close to such officials," said Smith (press release Aug 16 (via Hans Johnson, Cumbre DX via DXLD) see also CHINA non ** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. 1550 - National Radio of the Saharan Arab Dem. Rep. Talk in Arabic at 2310 tune-in on 15th August; re-check at 0002 for ID in Arabic and sign-off with Anthem // 7460. MW poor but 7460 was very good indeed at 0002 sign-off (Tony Rogers Birmingham - UK AOR 7030+/LW, BDXC-UK via DXLD) ** YUGOSLAVIA. I haven`t heard R. ``Yugoslavia`` since Aug 8, UT Aug 9, in English to NAm on 11870 at either time, 0000 or 0430. They have appealed for funds to get meds for an ailing staff member (Bob Thomas, CT, Aug 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###