[HCDX]: Hauser's SW/DX 99-16

["Glenn Hauser" <wghauser@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

        GLENN HAUSER'S SHORTWAVE/DX REPORT 99-16, April 5, 1999

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WORLD OF RADIO TIME CHANGES ON WWCR:

WWCR: New time from April 10 is Saturday 1130 UT, 6:30 am CDT on
WWCR-1 12160 (Adam Lock, WWCR) Fine, tho upon a few checks here
lately have not found it propagating much at that UT. Perhaps it
will when the flux climbs back up a bit, sun rises earlier, and to
the east. And areas west of the terminator may well hear us better 
via RFPI 6975 which coincidentally already runs WOR at the same
time; both, however, are subject to chopoff before 1200 or completion
of the program (gh)

Ask WWCR, Apr 4 at 1045 on 5070, mentioned that in "about a month" some
religious show would appear Sundays at 0930 on 5070. So that would 
replace a WOR airing, which has already been deleted from the new 
April WWCR posted sked (gh)

CONTINENT OF MEDIA. Edition 99-03 has yet to be produced. Harry Helms
tells us that he is selling DXing.com to Universal Radio effective June
1, but they plan to continue providing COM on RealAudio (gh)

AUSTRALIA. While RA announced to NAm 9580 would be on at 1100-1400,
I found it still loud and clear at 1510 (Glenn Hauser, OK)

COSTA RICA. RFPI notes from the April 2 Mailbag with Debra and James
Latham:  It's been so windy that the 21460-USB antenna has not been
repaired; instead, the transmitter has been switched to a backup
antenna, the log-periodic, which should have slightly less gain. The
outage on 15049 turned out to have been caused by a bad switch on the
cooling blower. Dust is a continuing problem, from the unpaved road
next to the transmitter room; despite large filters, some dust still
gets into the equipment. Fortunately, there has been occasional rain
during this dry season. When the rains do come, power lines often
fail. There are plans to replace the totally inadequate 1948-vintage
power line serving RFPI this year with a whole new system, which will
then be extended as far as Jaco Beach area. There was only one letter
in the mailbag this week thanks to the usual Holy Week closedown of
postal services in CR. RFPI has been raising some funds by selling
tapes of some of its own produced programs, such as Millennium Dreams;
and more of them will be available for downloading from internet site,
which will have a much-simplified URL *such as* [but not necessarily]
"rfpi.com" (Glenn Hauser, REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING)

CUBA [non]. R. Marti, 7405, ran slightly past 1400 March 31, including
a plug that it is now on iternet, including audio -- not sure if this
is really new -- at http://www.ibb.gov/marti (Glenn Hauser, OK)

FRANCE. RFI in English at 1600 heard on 17850 and 17605 ex-17620; 
at 1400 still on 17560 but now clashes with DW in German (Joe Hanlon,
PA, April 3, via Hauser)

IRAN [non]. A Farsi-speaking monitor tells me that WWCR's Radio 
(Porsesh) International, April 2 at 1400 on 15685, was a pro-communist
program, claiming they are the voice of Iranian Labor Communist Party.
This would seem to be at variance with the stance of CHAIR given on
its website (Glenn Hauser, REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING)

IRELAND [non]. Emerald Radio, the occasional school-produced series
of programs, is returning for a limited run on WWCR from April 26,
M-F 1000 on 3210 and 5070. The next Ask WWCR hopes to interview
producer Be'rnard Evans (Ask WWCR April 4 via Hauser)

KOREA SOUTH [non]. Contrary to info given by RKI Multiwave Feedback two
weeks ago we quoted, on Sunday April 4 we found English at the time it 
would have been if the changes had not been made, 1030 on 11715 via 
Canada, and barely audible as Bill Matthews talked about QSLs at 1043. 
After 1100, 9650 was on in Korean. That's when English was supposed to 
appear, but I gather from Ruben Guilllermo Margenet that the expansion 
of Spanish and consequent shift in English may not be made until May 
(Glenn Hauser, REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING)

KOSOVA. Subject: A Kosovo Crisis Web Page

I've watched as Pagoo's (Karen J.'s) "Kosovo Crisis" pages have evolved
this last week.  It is now quite complete and professional.

As you might expect, she's been existing on coffee, and neglecting her
own research not to mention her pets!

I've made some minor suggestions and cheered her on along the way.  If
you visit and like it, cheer her on too!
http://members.tripod.com/~pagoo2/News1/news3-5.html 
(Chet Copeland, March 30, REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING)

NEW ZEALAND. Hi Glenn: I heard RNZI Mailbox tonight starting at 0305 on 
17675 kHz. 73 (Mickey Delmage, Edmonton, Alberta, March 31) i.e. UT Thu
April 1; so next appearance April 15 (Hauser)

NEW ZEALAND. I am slowly working through all our web pages to see if 
they are up to date. Yes I am trying to get our Web prog sched correct! 
I can confirm the time for Mailbox is 0305 UT - this odd hour 03-04 Mon-
Fri moves with the clocks. So come October it will revert to 0205 UT.
(Adrian Sainsbury, RNZI, April 1, via Hauser)

NIGERIA. VON, 15120, has been temporarily off the air since March 23.
I spoke to the Director of Engineering on that date, who said the
problem was an electronic component that burned out for the service
to NAf/Eu/Am. They are waiting for a part to come in from Comcast in
Switzerland. (Gordon Hein, Alcester, SD, March 30, WORLD OF RADIO 983)

NIGERIA [non]. ABS Radio, via RFPI, caught second program Thu April 1
at 2029 on 15049 //21460-USB. Said would be in two languages today,
Yoruba and English; started talking about "Good News of Jesus", so now
I wonder if it's evangelical rather than clandestine -- or maybe just
inspired by Easter. Previous item was under COSTA RICA (Glenn Hauser,
REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING)

NIGERIA [non]. I think I may be able to add something to the item in 
SW/DX Report 99-15. I've been away on holiday for a week or so, and am 
not up to speed about RFPI's new Nigerian programme. However, I hope the 
following is of some use:

1. "Revolutionary United Front". This is the name of the rebel group in
Sierra Leone. For some time now, Nigerian forces have been in Sierra 
Leone supporting the government in their war against the RUF rebels. In 
fact in 1997-98 the RUF was in power (having overthrown the 
democratically-elected government). The RUF was itself overthrown last 
year (with Nigerian help), but continues to fight on (there was severe 
fighting in and around Freetown earlier this year). In truth, the Sierra 
Leone government is only kept in power because of the Nigerian military 
support it gets. Other West African countries also provide support, but 
the Nigerian contingent is by far the largest. The official name for 
these foreign forces is ECOMOG (Economic Community of West African 
States' Military Observer Group) which originally started out as a 
peacekeeping force in the Liberian civil war of the early 1990s. It got 
drawn into the civil war in neighbouring Sierra Leone because rebel 
groups in both countries were popping back and forth across the common
border. One of the themes of the Nigerian opposition media used to be 
that the Nigerian armed forces were suffering far higher casualties in 
Liberia and Sierra Leone than the Nigerian authorities were admitting.

2. As you say, Swahili is not a West African language. I would be very
surprised if a Nigerian opposition station would want to broadcast in
Swahili. The three main languages in Nigeria are Yoruba, Hausa and Igbo
(spoken in the southwest, north and southeast respectively) - perhaps 
these are the "three languages" you heard mentioned? (Chris Greenway, 
BBC 
Monitoring)

ROMANIA. R. Romania makes one or two announcements on freq/sked. Damn
if I can make it out! Only two seem to be used at 0200 and 0400; too
much QRM and they have poor mod. Very rough copy. At 0200 UT I get
9570 fair to good but never consistently day to day. Of the other old
frequencies: 5990 has 5985 splash; 6155 hurt by CKZN-6160 Newfoundland;
9510 splash from 9505 WYFR and RHC Spanish; 11830 has another station
on it; can't make it out. At 0400: 5990 has RFI; 6155 Austria; 9510
splashed by 9505; 9570 barely audible cuz 9575 VOA splashes (Bob
Thomas, CT, March 29, via Hauser)

RUSSIA. Voice of Russia 1800-2100 on new 11675 (ex 12010).  Excellent on 
March 28.  Also 0200-0500 on new 9665 (ex 7180). Very good on March 29.
(Ivan Grishin, Ont., REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING)

SERBIA. Yugoslavia: I tuned in last night Apr. 5 just before 0100 on 
9580 to hear Radio Yugoslavia sign off in Serbian, but stayed off past 
0100. Their web-site shows their new schedule valid for just one week, 
28 March-4 April. No indication of schedule beyond April 4th.   More
monitoring needed on this one. (Ivan Grishin, Ont., April 5, R.I.B.)

THAILAND. Thailand 0030-0100 good on new 15395 March 29. (Ivan
Grishin, Ont., Joe Hanlon, PA, WORLD OF RADIO 983)

TURKEY. Voice of Turkey A99 English schedule is on their web site:

To Europe  0300-0400 11655
           1230-1330 17830
           1830-1930 11765 13695 
           2200-2300 7190 13640
                
To Africa  0300-0400 7270

To Australia 0300-0400 21715
             1230-1330 17560
             2030-2130 7170

To North America  0300-0400 11655
                  2200-2300 13640
 
To Asia   0300-0400  7270 21715
          1230-1330  17560
          2030-2130 7170
(Mike Barraclough, England, March 30, REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL
BROADCASTING)

UKRAINE. RUI 1100-1200 on 21520.  Extremely poor, no definite ID on Mar 
28. Tried to monitor for Ukraine at 2100, 0000 & 0300, but could not 
find them. Summer freqs of 9550 & 12040 definitely absent (Ivan Grishin, 
Ont., REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING)

U K O G B A N I. Throw away your expensive "BBC On Air" -- BBC WS keeps
juggling its programmes contrary to plans just to accomodate more news.
Checking 17840 after a transmission break (for site change?) at 1500
April 4, had one minute of news and then Play of the Week, instead of
Sports Roundup and Concert Hall in this hour. I didn't hear any reason
given, but surmise that it just wouldn't do to leave the one-hour Play
at 1830 so there could be no news at 1900 (POTW was the only scheduled
programme allowed to play through the top of an hour). What if NATO
should be bombing Serbia at that precise moment? Gotta tell the world!!
Can't wait until 2000! At least on this first day of DST, 17840 did
stay on until 1900 altho rather poor the last hour, site uncertain. 
Instead of Play at 1830, they ran Andy Kershaw's World of Music, which
had been scheduled for 1930. When I checked around 1930, with //12095
still audible, Concert Hall featuring Yehudi Menuhin was in progress. 

No doubt there are many other examples of such last-minute and pointless
jumbling to BBC's long-planned programme schedule. Splitting BBC into
news and entertainment streams can't come too soon; until then, anything
but news be damned is their attitude. Now, what will happen next week?
Does it all depend on how the Kosova situation is going? On this week's
Write On, they admitted to having dumped the penultimate episode of an
Off the Shelf book reading serial, tough shit. BTW, you know the place
is in shambles when even their own mailbag show is farmed out to an
outside company, "A Testbed Production". BBC ought to extend everyone's 
subscription to On Air if they're going to throw out the info in it 
(Glenn Hauser, REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING)

U K O G B A N I. BBC WS slick frequency folder dated April-July just
received from Press Office, tho it wasn't included with April BBC On
Air where everybody needed it. This one specifies transmitter countries
(if not individual sites), unlike the info below. Unfortunately there
appear to be several obvious(?) mistakes:

In the W&CNAm section, 6185 at 0200-0500 shows as Canada, while the
same transmission in the Caribbean/CAm section shows as USA! We believe
it is still Delano as before, stupid as it is with Mexico there.

In the W&CNAm section, 9740 via Canada is shown at 2200-2400, evidently
the bar put on the wrong line instead of 9590 where it is correctly
placed in the Carib/CAm section.

An interesting new frequency is 21830 for South Asia, but only at 0800-
0900, from the UK (Glenn Hauser, April 5, R.I.B.)

U S A. Ran across a net which wouldn't appear in John Norfolk's Nets
To You because it's not ham, tho it sounded much like a ham net. IDed
by NCS on hour and half hour as "Arizona Emergency Support System 
Training Net...by authorization of the Arizona National Guard". This
was on 7450.0-LSB, Wednesday March 31 from tune-in 7406. Net control
was 57-W -- all calls given phonetically -- who was in the Phoenix
area; since I could hear most of the check-ins, I kept listening for
a while. 59-H in "high country"; 57-X, 65-F, 57-BV was mobile and
slightly off frequency; 57-AI was the only YL; 70-Q Danny is a telco
engineer. The group callsign given frequently was "Broadway Consumer
Members Net" so with a wacky name like that I first thought it might
be Civil Air Patrol. Mundane chat on checkins about temperatures to
the tenth of a degree, equipment, daily personal activities, tulip
festival, air conditioners, among people who obviously have known each 
other for a long time. Never heard any official info or traffic
handled, and sounded informal enough, but at 1500 changed NCS and
went to "informal" segment when I tuned out. Since AZ has the good 
sense to ignore DST, this probably stays at 1400 UT; however, nothing
heard when rechecked on Saturday (Glenn Hauser, OK, REVIEW OF 
INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING)

ELEVEN METRES

Yes, its true, Hungary seems to have left 25[.700] MHz after a short 
period of usage. RFI [25820] starts at 9 with an excellent signal, but I 
doubt the scheduled closing time of 17 - seems to be much earlier. About 
ten years ago, there was much more activity on 25 MHz ! I remember for 
sure that besides RFE, the BBC was using several channels (WS and 
Hausa), DW had at least one channel in German active, and there were 
some more I can't remember - I think Dubai was among them. Even the VoA 
was there, but I can't remember if this went through until the early 
90's or if they stopped their 11m relays already in the mid 80's. They 
were not audible too often in Europe. VoA had a Philippines relay active 
and a Greenville transmitter - you should know more about them. I hope 
that Merlin will soon learn that there is another band available - they 
have just started using SW... Thanks for many WoRs! (Andre Schmidt, 
Lautert/Germany, Apr 1, REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING)      ###


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