[HCDX]: G Hauser's Shortwave/DX Report 99-63

[Glenn Hauser <wghauser@xxxxxxxxx>]

        GLENN HAUSER'S SHORTWAVE/DX REPORT 99-63, Nov 29, 1999

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

** CHINA. Since Sun Oct 31, CRI has appeared to have dropped 6950 for 
English at 2000 and 2100, as that part of the SW band does not 
resound to the sounds of CRI. English is on 9535, co-channel with 
Thailand during the 2000 and 7150 has been heard during the 2100 in 
parallel, both with clear modulation suggesting that the new 
transmitters at Urumqi are are being used on a regular basis. 

According to The Messenger, CRI's publication, 6950 is still used, 
but as China wishes to respect those international broadcasting laws 
it chooses whilst jamming other stations deemed critical to Beijing, 
it has not stated that frequency usage between 6900 and 6995 has 
stopped. The old 6933 channel which carried central and east Eu 
languages believed from Xi'an was dropped earlier this year and 
frequencies in the regular 41m band are now used to make it easier 
for listeners in those countries to hear what China is saying. French 
is still carried out of band on 7800 between 1830 and 2230, whilst 
7660 is still used for Mandarin at 2000. 

The older transmitters are either being redeployed for jamming 
against increased Radio Free Asia transmissions and other foreign 
broadcasters or have been taken out of service for scrap or to be 
used for spare parts on remaining units. Either way, broadcasting 
from China on SW has changed very much with frequencies inside the 
international bands and use of new 13650 during A99 for English to 
Africa (Adrian Childs, Dorset, Nov 25)

** CHINA. JAMMING: Beijing usually directs its jamming towards these 
foreign broadcasters: BBC, VOA, RFA and Taiwan in Mandarin, 
Cantonese, Tibetan and Uighur, but it seems that how Korean from 
Radio Free Asia is being targeted on 9445 at 1530-1630 with the usual 
FM domestic service programming overriding RFA. One can conclude that 
sections of the Chinese Communist Party/government have decided to 
offer P?yongyang assistance as power shortages or the reliability of 
NK equipment has made necessary the use of the more powerful Chinese 
jammers that can be well heard here in Europe 1500-1700 during local 
winter afternoons.

Also on Wed Nov 24, Brother Stair has come up on 5850 which has 
drowned out the weak signal on 5855 (via Ulan Baator) that has made 
it here and the Voice of Greece is using 7475 co-channel with Korean 
underneath. During the summer Korean was carried on 15660 1530-1630 
with NK `buzz saw' type jamming like that used by Bulgaria and other 
Soviet bloc countries during the Cold War. NK still uses wobble 
jamming against VOA in Korean and a more modern electronic wobble 
signal over KBS in Korean 0900-1100 on 13670, which now propagates 
here.

One could call this jamming assistance `Fraternal Socialist Help' as 
despite Beijing establishing diplomatic ties with Seoul, there are 
sections of the party who remain ever friendly and brotherly towards 
their comrades in P?yongyang. Also without forgetting, there is a 
Korean community in northeastern China so the government is ever 
sensitive about the effects of poverty on the NK population and what 
Koreans in China may do if given a chance (Adrian Childs, Dorchester, 
Nov 25)

** COSTA RICA. Further checks of how well RFPI's new 25930-USB holds 
up: UT Mon Nov 29 we held it until Spiritual Awakening was starting 
at 0101; not sure if turned off or finally faded out after an hour of 
weakening. The next morning started monitoring at 1200 but no trace 
of it until 1300, and intelligible by 1330. Still going past 2400 
when Joe Bernard announced that the WTO coverage would have to run a 
day late as the internet feed expected was not yet available. From 
mainstream news, the WTO meeting appears to be quite a flash point 
(Glenn Hauser, OK)

** CZECH REPUBLIC. R. Prague Nov 22 interviewed a Cuban activist for 
human rights on the anniversary of the Velvet Revolution for Prague. 
There's solidarity. Perhaps why Cuba jams WRMI's relay? (Bob Thomas, 
CT, Nov 23)

** FINLAND. YLE Radio Finland programs at 0300-0330 on 9655 and 
11665, here converted to UT days: Sat, Roundup of the Week's News. 
Sun meet studio guests in the Capital Cafe. Mon variety of features, 
Nuntii Latini. Tue Business and Economics. Wed Nature and the 
Environment. Thu Culture. Fri Finnish History. Sat also includes 
Starting Finnish, repeated following Fri. You are on your own to get 
the text, Suomea Suomeksi, ISBN 951-717-737-2 for Vol. I and 951-717-
764-X for Vol. II (YLE R. Finland Audience Service, Windsor CT, via 
Ken Halbert)

** GREECE [non]. Never a dull moment with VOA's relays of VOG. Nov 29 
at 1206 I was surprised to hear Greek music on 12060, so then checked 
6030 - yes, there was VOG instead of 9690 and 19380, by mistake or 
perhaps testing. Signal level on this was slightly greater than Marti 
powerhouses on 5980 and 6060. 6030 went off at 1230 sharp, so I 
retuned to 9690. By 1235 a weak VOG was audible there, making me 
wonder if they are switching sites and antennas on this one, supposed 
to be Delano 75 degrees. By 1330 this had built up to its usual 
crushing level (Glenn Hauser, OK)

** ISRAEL. Glenn, Re the station's correct name, their website at 
http://www.israelradio.org says Israel Radio International in large 
type above their logo :-) But aren't most of the English items relays 
the domestic service? Those transmissions usually identify as ``this 
is Israel, broadcasting from Jerusalem'' or with the Hebrew ``Kol 
Israel.'' 73, (Andy Sennitt, Netherlands, Nov 29) Sorry, my mistake
about English at 0500 on 21715; it was 17715 (Chris Hambly)

** KOREA NORTH. Am I the only one tracking R. Pyongyang's new 
schedule? OK. UT Nov 29 tune in at 0107 to 17735.4 with English news. 
The ommmm level was not so bad as before compared to the modulation 
level, but still tough copy especially on the woman's voice who was 
on more than the man. 0116 into some pleasant EZ-listening music, 
0122 vocal music. (At this time NHK Warudo was quite good on 21670, 
better than //17835.) A talk at 0125 produced only two intelligible 
words at 0128, Magna Carta. There are long pauses between items and 
music. 0130 the easier to understand male announcer took over talking 
about Chapter 41, and at 0139 mentioned section 6 of something he was 
reading by guess who? Our Great Leader Kim Il Sung (OGLKIS for 
short). 0139 ID and back to woman; 0144 ID and a bit of poetry, 
talking about nuclear weapons and the S. Korean public. 0148 martial 
music, 0151 another piece of martial music. 0153 gave schedule, which 
I taped and copied as carefully as possible, but still not everything 
is certain. If this is complete, it means that RP has dropped several 
of its English broadcasts, including the 1100-1300 and 2300-0100 
period to North America:

SEAs, C&SAm 9850 11335 1366?0, ME/Af 9640, 9975 all at 1200-1400

ME/Af 65-- 9600 9975 at 1500-1700

SEAs/C&SAm 15230 17735 11735 at 0100-0200
[I am certain of these frequencies at least]

and 15--- or 13---, 11835 at 0200-0400

No other transmissions were mentioned. 0154 to open carrier, the ommm 
unhindered by other modulation. I then checked 15230 to find it 
carrying RHC only - the commies like to stick together, :). At 0200 
RP opened Spanish on 17735.4, but it was fading down. Rechecked 
before 2400 and the ommmy carrier was already on (Glenn Hauser, OK)

** RUSSIA. VOR during B99 is using these frequencies for its special 
broadcast to the Balkans: 6205 and 7320, but the old summer 
frequencies of 11980, 12000 and 7350 are still being announced. So 
why has the tape not been changed? 20-minute language segments are: 
2000 English, 2020 Russian, 2040 German, 2100 French, 2120 Italian 
(see below) and 2140 Albanian. Each is spoken by the main members of 
KFOR and the majority Kosovar community. However at 2120 Serbian is 
now heard instead of Italian, so Moscow must be redirecting its 
efforts towards Yugoslavia and the remaining Serb community in 
Kosovo/Metohija ? to use the official title given by Belgrade. The 
content of each segments remains anti-NATO and anti-KLA with 
references to `Albanian gangs' and the environmental damage in the 
Balkan region. Each frequency was monitored during the local evening 
of Wed Nov 24.  (Adrian Childs, Coscombe, Dorchester, Dorset, 
England, Nov 25)

THIS DAY'S NON-KAZAKH LESSON. Glenn, I think the following, which I 
just found on the new Website of Kazak Radio, will appeal to your 
sense of humour. Unfortunately I don't think it was supposed to be 
funny :-) http://www.radio.kz/radio_engl.html

The Kazak radio is the largest broadcasting station of the Republic 
of Kazakstan capturing the great audience both in the country and 
abroad. Our radio is the sole one, which can be heard in the any nook 
of Kazakstan. We are broadcasting in FM 101 and 106.5 MHz, AM 1197 
kHz, USW 66.78 kHz, at the range of Middle waves 250.83 m, Short 
waves 25.10 m. Besides you can listen to us in double line network 
and three-program line broadcasting. The Kazak radio's air sounds in 
9 languages: Kazak, Russian, English, German, Korean, Uygur, 
Azerbaidzhan, Tatar and Turkish. 

For the first time the Kazak radio put into air on May 4, 1930 and 
since that time it is in the heat of all the events. Not one 
generation of Kazakstan citizents knows and believes us. The Kazak 
radio takes the leading place among the electronic mass media. It has 
the broad correspondence network and it helps to inform the listeners 
immediately about the most important event both in the country and 
abroad. We can offer the wide spectrum of programs: informational, 
analytical, educational, musical and entertaining. 

"Altyn kor" (Golden Fund) is the pride of the Kazak radio. It is the 
fount of cultural and spiritual life of our people. The unique tapes 
of musical compositions, programs with the outstanding people of 
cultural and social life of Kazakstan, the voices of the singers from 
different generations, including the folklore of Kazak people, radio 
shows are gathered in this fund. Our radio possesses it own concert 
studio with the most modern technologies and audio and musical 
arrangement equipment. 

Sovereign and independent Kazakstan is creating the open-minded 
democratic society for the welfare of an individual and the progress. 
If you want to get known everything about Kazakstan, its people, the 
cultural heritage, listen to the Kazak radio. Its air is as many-
sided and unique as the boiling up life in the multicultural country. 
(via Andy Sennitt)

Well, lest we forget, who among us would attempt to write anything at 
all in Kazak - and whatever happened to the -h? I guess the Russians 
took it with them (Glenn)

PROPAGATION OUTLOOK FROM OTTAWA, issued Nov 24: in the auroral zone, 
geomagnetic activity most quiet Nov 29, Dec 11-13 and 18; most active 
Dec 4 and 6, with a lesser peak Dec 15 (gh's interpretation of 
histogram by P-mail; see http://www.geolab.nrcan.gc.ca/geomag) ###




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