[HCDX]: G Hauser's Shortwave/DX Report 99-48

[Glenn Hauser <wghauser@xxxxxxxxx>]

        GLENN HAUSER'S SHORTWAVE/DX REPORT 99-48, November 1, 1999

{Items from this and all our reports may be reproduced and re-
reproduced only providing full credit be maintained at all stagess}

WORLD OF RADIO NEW TIME ON WWCR. The WWCR website http://www.wwcr.com
November schedule revision shows Saturday 2030 on 12160; yet to be
confirmed. WWCR now has a convenient listing of "specialty programs"
including WOR.

WORLD OF RADIO ON RFPI. 21460-USB will be off most of November
awaiting replacement parts. Nominal schedule retained in our listings
at http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio

WORLD OF RADIO SCHEDULE VERSIONS. For shortwave only, including
CONTINENT OF MEDIA, see
http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio/wormassw.html
Master schedule by time of all our programs:
http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio/wormast.html

WORLD OF RADIO ON WORLD RADIO NETWORK. New B-99 schedule, UT:
To Europe Saturday 0430 and 0900 on WRN1 AND WRN2
To Africa via WorldSpace AfriStar channel 627 Sat 0430, 0900
To Africa, Asia, Pacific on WRN1 Sat 0900, Sun 1130
To North America Sat 1700, Sun 0630
Full details at http://www.wrn.org

This report includes a number of our preliminary monitoring
observations of new B-99 schedules.

** ANTIGUA. Hello Glenn, Since you were the one who hooked me on 
harmonics years ago (I remember when you use to post them to the SWBC 
clubs and they didn't want any part of it), here is a late breaker. 
We have been having a ball on VHF low band with the skip and all 
coming in. Might be something your readers and radio audience would 
be interested in: 2000-2100 UTC 35.620 (AM) Deutsche Welle SWBC
broadcast, second harmonic of 17.810 coming from Antigua in German.
IS signal, news in German, etc. First SWBCer in the VHF low band I
have heard in quite some time. The VHF low band has been hot hot hot
lately (see my October MT feature). (Larry Van Horn, NC, Oct 28,
REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING)

** AUSTRIA [non]. The first day of ORF's new Sackville relay to
WNAm at 1600 on 17865 was a bust Oct 31. We got a few minutes of
country fill music, evidently lacking the proper feed, and
transmitter turned off at 1603* never to return. This broadcast
has been planned for months, so why should it be so hard to bring
it off? While Sunday may be a prime day for listeners, it is not
for full-time workers (Glenn Hauser, OK)

** BELGIUM [non]. RCI has abandoned its evening NAm frequency of
13670, now used by RVI via Bonaire including English at 2230,
very good Oct 31 including Radio World on Sunday; however, new
11980 Bonaire relay at 0400 UT Monday carried classical music show
instead of RW, so is that now on UT Sunday? (Glenn Hauser, OK)

** CANADA [non]. RCI's 17820 is an erstwhile Sackville frequency
going back sesquidecades, but not any more. The site has been
moved to Skelton for English at 1430, poor here Oct 31. The only
Sackville 16mb frequency here in our mornings for B-99 is 17710
(Glenn Hauser, OK)

** COSTA RICA. Notes from James Latham on RFPI Mailbag Oct 29:

Things had been going fine when near the end of the rainy season and 
as the windy season was about to start, the 6975 antenna failed atop 
the 200 foot tower. Waited a few days for the winds to let up, but 
finally could wait no longer and climbed the tower. Had been running 
the 30 kW transmitter at 35 kW for a week, but the cubical quad 
antenna started to glow at night - not sparking discharge or corona, 
but the cooper-clad steel wire itself was heating up as resistance.
There are 4 diamond-shaped loops. The driver which had been glowing 
then broke and was patched. So some airtime was lost about a week 
ago. 6975 is back on at the original 30 kW level. Had beefed up the 
driver. But distortion still needs to be worked on, requiring 
juggling transformers, setting correct bias, etc. Old driver had 
severe problem for a couple nights a week ago with heavy AC buzz 
[previously mentioned here and thought to have been explained as an 
audio input problem, but...]. Finding the source was quite a problem; 
at first thought it might be external interference. Started with 
looking at power amplifier, driver, modulator: all OK; low power 
oscillator. Finally found frequency synthesizer had 12v power supply 
capacitor cooked and exploded after years of use, so it was running 
AC into the oscillator. One capacitor was then replaced with another 
of not quite the right value. A real chore to find this problem. 
There is still a slight buzz, which should not be audible.

21460 is off the air waiting for a tube which may take three weeks to 
arrive. Could run the frequency at low power, but not worth it. When 
back, will be on a better antenna.

15049 had a problem when its power was also increased slightly. Power 
switching box was getting hot, as well as the cable into the 
transmitter. Fortunately the building is cement, not wooden, so there 
is no chance of fire. Now back on 24 hours.

Debra Latham added that the long-delayed Sept-Nov issue of VISTA 
should be reaching members any day now, and the next issue should be 
back on schedule [i.e. due December 1] (Notes by Glenn Hauser, REVIEW
OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING)

** COSTA RICA. AWR is selling TIAWR. Its final broadcasts as TIAWR
will be UT Tuesday November 2 0000-0400 and 1000-1300 on 5030, 6150,
7375, 9725, 13750, 15460. There are 5 transmitters at Cahuita, so
number 1 will be on either 7375 or 15460. The finale, titled
"Remembering Yesterday" will offer specially endorsed QSL cards.
Report to Shella [sic] Oliver, Adventist World Radio, Apartado 1177,
4050 Alajuela, Costa Rica. AWR is beefing up its SW facilities in
Guatemala instead [not Dominican Republic as once reported], including
the original 5 kW TIASD unit from Alajuela, Costa Rica (AWR press
release via Adrian Peterson, summarised by Hauser, REVIEW OF
INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING)

THE REAL UNANSWERED QUESTION IS: What was wrong with the Cahuita
setup in Costa Rica, with its multiple relatively high-powered 
transmitters from a seemingly good location? It was quite unreliable, 
but that goes for all other AWR sites we know of... (Hauser)

** CUBA. I suppose RHC will be late as usual in deciding on B-99
changes; they might note that Switzerland is now clashing with RHC
USB on 13660 at 2100; RHC also on 13750 AM (Glenn Hauser, OK,
Oct 31)

** CUBA [non]. R. Marti has some new frequencies: 21600 during many
hours, including 1500, 1600 and later, Oct 31. Super signal here and
no jamming yet; also Nov 1 at 1222 on 5980 instead of 5985. No
jamming heard, but Cuban commie bubbles still on long abandonded
5890, and on 6030, vacant of Marti after 1200, but enough to ruin
any chances of Calgary (Glenn Hauser, OK)

** CZECH REPUBLIC [non]. WRMI relay confirmed Nov 1 at new timings
and on frequency changed at last minute to 7460 to avoid Norway on
7465: 0300 Spanish, 0330 Czech, 0400 English - but disappointingly
poor signal (Glenn Hauser, OK)

** FINLAND. YLE's new evening English to NAm at 0300 confirmed Nov 1
on 9655 and slightly better 11665 (not 11655), both with flutter;
by 0325 was in Latin news UT Monday. Is there English any more in
our mornings? Not at 1330 Nov 1 on 15400, 17660 check amid heavy
flutter and at 1452 check 17660 was in Russian whilst 15400 was in
Finnish (Glenn Hauser, OK)

** FRANCE. RFI announces following changes to broadcasts in English:

12Z C & E Eur 11670 replaces 9805
14Z SE As 17620 replaces 15405
14Z Indian subc 11610 17620 replace 11995 15405
16Z C Afr 17850 replaces 15530
   
(Mike Cooper, Atlanta, Oct 27 and Bob Thomas, CT, Oct 22, REVIEW OF
INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING)

** FRANCE. RFI's English at 1200, not to NAm, is very good here on
the EEu frequencies 15155, 15195 (Joe Hanlon, PA, Oct 31) Not here.
At 1400 fair still on 17560, better than 17620; 1600 audible on 17850,
poor with echo (Hauser, OK)

** GERMANY [non]. DW's English at 2100 to West Africa has one frequency
in some versions of schedule also designated for NAm, and 15410 was
good here Oct 31 with IS at 2058. This service was once on 15135.
Beam from Rwanda to WAf extends onward to cover NAm (Glenn Hauser,
OK)

** GHANA. R. Ghana schedules: GHANA BROADCASTING  CORPORATION

Radio One, Local Language all on 4915:
M-F 0525-0915, 1200-2400; Weekend and Public Holidays 0525-2400

Radio Two, English, M-F, weekends and public holidays 0520-0915 3366, 
1155-1700 6130 (via Mahendra Vaghjee, Oct 30)

** GREECE [and non]. V. of Greece's weekly music show announced in
English, It's All Greek to Me, remains at 1900-2000 UT Sundays, as
the host explained it was at a different time now locally. With
17765 missing, we found the new Delano relay frequency 17565, which
is a satellite-hop behind Greenville on 17705, both very strong.
(So this B season LRA36 Antarctica will not have a problem from 15485
splatter.) Host explained to a requestor that per ERT policy, he is
not allowed to play any Greek music recorded abroad. What a shame
also that the perpetually distorted satellite feed, combined with
selective fading, make this a strain to listen to.
        We also checked the 0300 UT November 1 English news to NAm,
and found it best on 9420, along with 7450, 9375, 12105, no longer
on 11645, nor 7475 as John Babbis suggested based on last year
(Glenn Hauser, OK)

** IRELAND [non]. RTE English and Irish relay at 1830 confirmed Oct
31 on new 13640 via Sackville, ex-13725 (Glenn Hauser, OK)

** ISRAEL. Kol Israel English at 1500 confirmed Oct 31 on 17535,
better than //15650 (Glenn Hauser, OK)

** LITHUANIA [non]. R. Vilnius English to NAm 0030 on 6120 (Bob 
Thomas, CT) via Germany, ex-9855, confirmed Nov 1, not yet on UT
Oct 31 (Hauser)

** MAURITIUS. NEW RADIO STATION IN MAURITIUS ?

It has been reported in the local press that a Dutch of Surinam origin
who already runs radio stations in Holland and in Surinam has
submitted a project to operate a similar station in the island. The
program will be mainly in Hindustani [Hindi & Urdu] 24 hrs daily. No
details have been given if it would be in FM or SW but it seems to be
in short-wave as the transmission will cover the whole region. The 
negotiation with the authority is in a very advanced stage and if that
is true therefore let us hope that for the New Millennium at least
Mauritius could be heard on SW! It is also interesting to note that
the first person to submit a similar project some 3 years ago was a
Scandinavian but unfortunately never did he receive any kind of reply 
from the Authority. (Mahendra Vaghjee, Mauritius, Oct 31) 

** NETHERLANDS [non]. RN's 1430 English to Asia is fairly well audible
here via Madagascar on 12090, better than 15590. To Africa at 1830
and 1930, 21590 is no longer available in English, but still on the
air from Bonaire in Dutch. We still hear these broadcasts, not as
well, on 17605 and 13700 (Glenn Hauser, OK)

** PERU. Hi, Glenn! Wonder if you are aware of the Spanish-language 
broadcast being heard (weakly) in the Ottawa area on 7003.45 kHz most 
mornings from about 1030 to after 1100 UTC. Haven't been able to make 
out any ID but the programming seems smooth with a mix of commentary 
and music. It seems to be gray-line reception so I assume the 
transmitter is somewhere in Central or South America. Hope you can ID 
it. Love your column in MT and it sometimes proves very useful in my 
work for IARU's intruder watch. 73, ... (Martin VE3OAT -- Martin H. 
Potter, Amateur Radio VE3OAT Co-ordinator, IARU Region 2 Monitoring 
System)

This has been reported by various DXers for quite some time. It is La 
Voz de [los? las?] Huarinjas in Peru, quite probably unlicensed. I 
listened on 7003.35 approx., Sat Oct 30 from 1050 tune-in. Mostly 
peppy Andean music with occasional animated announcements but never 
caught an ID. It was still in at 1140, about gone by 1147. I got to 
hear quite a variety of fists in all the ham CW QRM; poor Huarinjas 
was more a victim than a cause of QRM (Glenn Hauser, REVIEW OF
INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING)

** RUSSIA. Best bet for VOR now is an hour or two before their 2200 
sign-off on 5940. They weren't bad Oct 31 2100-2200. I think the only
audible VOR freq in the evening is 5940, which signs on at 0300, and,
of course, Dr. Eugene Scott on 5935 causing problems for VOR (as well
as VOVietnam 0100-0130 & 0230-0300) (Ivan Grishin, Ont., Nov 1)

** SPAIN. REE finally announced new B-99 English schedule during the
Oct 31 Radio Waves on 15385. While a band higher than 6 MHz would now
hold up during this high-solar-cycle winter, they have gone back to
6055 to NAm not only at 0500 but 0000 and 0100, confirmed Nov 1. To Eu
and Af the situation is still needlessly complex tho at least
frequencies no longer differ depending on day of week:
M-F 2000, Sat 2205, Sun 2200 all on 9680 to Eu, 9595 to Af
(Glenn Hauser)

** SWEDEN. R. Sweden to NAm now at 1230 and 1430 on 18960 and 21810;
the first broadcast here before sunrise has poor propagation, but
the second is better. Whatever schedules and announcements may
have said, the evening broadcasts at 0230 and 0330 UT November 1
were confirmed on 9495 (Glenn Hauser, OK)

** SWITZERLAND [non]. Checking for B-99 registered Red Cross to
SE Europe, M-F 1430-1445 on 11680, 13755, 15115 via different Merlin
sites: Mon Nov 1 at 1428 all three audible with something in Italian,
including 15115 with considerable QRM to HCJB; best on 11680. But
all went off at 1430* I suppose this may be a phantom broadcast,
unless what was on before 1430 was actually it; starting when and if
needed, when they get around to it (Glenn Hauser, OK)

** TURKEY. VOT B-99 English to NAm checked Oct 31/Nov 1: 2300 fair
on 9655; 0400 very poor on 6010 with Mil QRM at least. Surely VOT
could have found something better (Glenn Hauser, OK)

** UKRAINE. RUI's crippled external service audible here with
English at new time 0100 Nov 1 on 9560; no sign of it on possible
parallels 5905, 6020 (Glenn Hauser, OK)

** U K O G B A N I. BBC On Air for November explicitly shows that
from Oct 31 on Sundays there is alternative programming during the
1600 hour for America, i.e. Concert Hall. Nevertheless, both 17840
and 9515 Oct 31 actually stayed on the main AE stream with news,
sports. Let's hope they get it right by Nov 21, when that will be
our chance to hear this month's Millennium Concert, from Durban.
   BBCWS continues on 6135 via Delano from 0200 past 0400. Now there
is some co-channel in Japanese(?) during the 0330 half-hour, ending
with an NHK-style timesignal at 0400; NHK Warudo relay from somewhere?
(Glenn Hauser, OK)

** U S A. Spectrum's listener appreciation show Oct 31 at 0306
resulted in a decision not to cancel the show, but to try to tighten
it up, get back to basics, invite some previous guests back, try
to get Scott Fybush on more often, tho he is busy with a new wife
and new house. Winter timing is 0406 UT Sunday on WWCR 5070 (Glenn
Hauser)

** U S A. Solely from an operational standpoint, here is why it can be
so frustrating to try to broadcast on WGTG. All day Oct 31 on 9400,
Dave Frantz interrupted regular programming EVERY TWO MINUTES,
including his own SSB promotions, for repeats of a taped announcement
that effective immediately on Sat and Sun, all 9400 programming would
switch to 12170 "AM-USB" from 8 am to 6 pm [1300-2300 UT]. A press
release says 12170 will be using new yagi at 310 degrees (Glenn
Hauser, OK)

** U S A. Notes from Al Weiner Worldwide Oct 30:

Al was in hospital 4-5 days with unknown ailment, possibly Lyme 
disease. Thought he as going to die at one point, but feeling better 
now. Last week's AWWW was a rerun. Is drinking grape juice for 
hydration, having gotten tired of constant apple juice and is on 
antibiotics. He and Elayne Star will be wed this Sunday Oct 31, 
Halloween, at 2 pm in a local mall, with her in costume as Snow 
White, but I did not catch Al's costume, other than definitely not a 
seven dwarf as he is too tall. Vows will be recorded and perhaps 
played on AWWW next week. BTW, there's a picture of Elayne aboard the 
Fury in the photo gallery at http://wbcq.net. Besides being away in 
the hospital last week, WBCQ had another problem; an isolation 
transformer blew out. Tom and Timtron put in lots of overtime and 
extra trouble getting it replaced and fixed. Real Radio's Mr Mike 
called to say they had gotten so many requests to replay their first 
two shows many people missed, that they will do so the first two 
weeks in Nov, i.e. UT Sun 0030 as timeshifted (notes by Hauser)

** U S A. Dear Glenn,

Thanks for the concern. The doctors think it's Lyme disease and are
treating me with powerful antibiotics. I get an IV feed every day 
till Nov. 7th. I feel dizzy and foggy most of the time - not 
pleasant. I will be dressed up as the charming Prince for the wedding 
tommorrow. Should be a fun time. May broadcast the ceremony on AWW 
next week. I only do AWW on Fridays but sometimes I fill in with a
special AWW when a time slot opens up.

Program notes:

Radio Timtron Worldwide can be heard Saturdays, 5pm-6pm eastern-lots 
of great rock and roll music to be had. [2200-2300 UT now -- that is
the time when Al previously said a new polka show would be on in Nov]

WBCQ-TWO should be ready for testing soon, hopefully before the snow
flakes fly. Test frequencies will be in the 9 MHz and maybe the 12 
MHz bands as well as something in 40 meters. Take care, (Allan 
Weiner, WBCQ, Oct 30 via Hauser)

** U S A. ALL IS NOT WELL AT VOICE OF AMERICA, CONTINUED:

On top of everything else... Oct 25 they announced that all tests were 
negative, but just underscores how ludicrous it is that VOA
over the years was never given a new "home" as other agencies have 
been over the years.

NOTICE TO ALL INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING EMPLOYEES
IN THE WILBUR J. COHEN BUILDING

Due to a problem with unauthorized construction in HHS space on the 
5th floor of the Wilbur J. Cohen Building, there has been a localized
asbestos contamination problem which has resulted in asbestos
contamination on the C St. side of the 5th floor and the sidewalk 
area in the immediate vicinity of the C Street entrance.  GSA 
regional safety personnel have advised that they do not believe that 
the contamination problem extends to space occupied by International 
Broadcasting.

As a precaution GSA is requiring that HHS personnel evacuate part of 
the contaminated areas on the 5th floor until the contamination is 
abated. For the same reason, the C. St. entrance to the Cohen 
Building has been temporarily closed.

Besides the closure of the C St. entrance, the most immediate impact 
to International Broadcasting personnel will be as a result of 
shutting down the air handling systems that serve all floors of the 
building on the C st. side between the wings (from the 400 corridor 
through to the 600 corridor).  The only adverse impact that GSA 
anticipates within our space is a COMFORT PROBLEM due to the 
restrictions on the ventilation systems.

When asbestos contamination is remediated, GSA plans to conduct air
sampling on all floors in affected areas to ensure that there is no
residual contamination.  It is anticipated that this testing will 
occur on Sunday and that the building will be back to normal by 
Monday morning.

** YUGOSERBIA. Glenn--- Here is the Radio Yugoslavia schedule which I 
got from their website, http://www.radioyu.org ... this involves 
English broadcasts. 

01-0130 (not UT Sunday) Eastern NAm 7115 310 deg. 
02-0230 Western NAm 7130 325 deg. 
1330-14 Australia 11835 100 deg. 
1930-20 Europe 6100 310 deg.; SAf 9720 180 deg. 
22-2230 Europe 6100 and 6185 both 310 deg. 
All broadcasts use 250 kW transmitters. (Joe Hanlon in Philadelphia, 
Oct 30, REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING)

** YUGOSERBIA. Glenn, I heard Radio Yugoslavia announce their B-99 
schedule Oct 25 0025 (very poor reception, BTW). It's the same as B-
98. Eng. for NAm: 0100-0130 (M-Sa) on 7115, 0200-0230 daily on 7130. 
As of Halloween, of course. 73, (Ivan Grishin, Oct 25, REVIEW OF
INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING) Both 7 MHz poor here so far (Hauser) ###




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