[HCDX]: DX Listening Digest 00-05 Jan 16
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[HCDX]: DX Listening Digest 00-05 Jan 16



	DX LISTENING DIGEST 00-05, January 16, 2000
		EDITED BY GLENN HAUSER

[Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only providing 
full credit be maintained at all stages}

** CANADA. Hello Mr. Hauser: Just wanted to let you know that you 
omitted to list an RCI broadcast of Quirks and Quarks. RCI Saturday 
2200-2259 UTC to Europe and Africa kHz: 5995, 7235 SKN, 9805 SKN, 
13690, 15325 Take care (Ricky Leong, Nova Scotia, Jan 16, DX 
LISTENING DIGEST)

Thanks; that is news to me. Guess 5, 13 and 15 are via Sackville so 
should be good in NAm (Hauser, DXLD)

** CANADA. Plans are in the works to tear down CFRB`S 3 - 250 foot 
towers, and replace them with 2 - 550 foot towers. This will be done 
closer to the summer time. There is also going to be a replacement of 
one of the 50 kW transmitters with a new solid-state transmitter. 
This replacement could happen in the spring. The engineer informs me 
that there will probably some short-duration down time for 
adjustments to the new antenna system. Probably in the wee hours, but 
he'll know closer to the time. For those into AM DXing, I'll do my 
best to provide you with times these adjustments will happen...stay 
tuned! When I know when the towers are coming down - and going up - 
if you happen to be in the area, bring along your camera to get some 
neat tower shots. Timber!!!!!! 

When I visited the site last week, it was discovered that two of 
CFRX's final tubes, plus a large power supply resistor, were toast. I 
was asked to help install the replacement tubes and assist with 
adjustments. As of last week, CFRX was only running 500 watts....it 
takes a bit of time for these high-power tubes to adjust. I'm not 
sure if Ian has flipped the high-power switch to 1,000 watts when he 
was at the site on Tuesday. The log-book indicated that these tubes 
lasted 2 full years, about 16,000 hours I believe he said. It was 
quite an interesting experience to go from handling QSL requests to 
replacing the finals! I'd like to get some current photos of the 
antenna site and transmitter building so people can get a better idea 
of the set-up. I receive many requests for pictures/program 
schedules/coverage maps etc., so it'll be nice to direct them to our 
site. (Steve Canney, VA3SC Jan 13, Ontario DX Association via DX 
LISTENING DIGEST) 

CFRX, 6070, seems a bit weaker, but audio with the usual punch. Jan 
14 at 1229 check CFRB anchor opened news segment by actually 
mentioning 6070! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** COSTA RICA. RFPI`s 30 kW transmitter on 6975 has been off the air 
since at least Jan 13. Do not know what the problem is yet. But 
15049, currently scheduled from *2100, on Jan 15 was actually on and 
heard well as early as 1750 during COM, 1800 WOR (Glenn Hauser, Jan 
15, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** COSTA RICA. After RKI closed 9650 at 1159 Jan 16, noticed a very 
distorted mess around 9645, music and talk accompanied by bubble 
jamming. Similar distortion on //5055 so it was TIFC (Glenn Hauser, 
OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CUBA. The bad buzz surrounding RHC`s 11760 is back; Jan 14 at 1217 
check it blocked not only 11755 and 11765, but also 11750 and 11770, 
detectable out to 11748 and 11772 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING 
DIGEST)

** INDIA. The number of Indian radio stations on the Net now 
incredible. Sometimes, it make you wonder - for a nation hesitant 
about FM, does Webradio make sense? Nevertheless, they are blaring 
all over the Net. There's http://www.navrangradio.com a "click-to-
play" site, something like http://www.indiafm.com there's 
http://www.indiaradio.com or Anil Ki Awaaz as it is popularly known, 
with a weekly live show; there's http://www.intelindia.com/bharatvani 
which has hundreds oh Hindi songs plus an online Hindi teacher; 
there's the much improved All India Radio site at http://air.kode.net 
and the colourful http://www.mayoo.com with its hot remix section. 
It's a lot of fun to hunt for Indian "radio" sites on the Net and 
discover how they are getting themselves heard. Tune in, and trip 
out. (Source "India ToDay" Dec 27 via Mahendra Vaghjee, Jan 9, via 
BC-DX Jan 14 via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 

** KASHMIR [non]. Clandestine from Pakistan to Jammu Kashmir: 5101, 
"Sadaey Huriat Jammu Kashmir" which means Free Voice of Jammu 
Kashmir, is observed at 1300-1415 fair to good signal. English news 
at *1400; at 1300 with Allah-hu-Akbar theme (Victor Goonetilleke, Sri 
Lanka, 4S7VK, UADX Jan 6 via BC-DX via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 

** KOREA SOUTH. Thanks to William A. Matthews for his kind remarks 
about DXLD on his DX Report this week on RKI`s Multiwave Feedback, 
around 1145 UT Sun Jan 16 on 9650 via Canada. Since some DX reports 
were missed due to special programming the last few weeks, he is 
doing 3 in a row Jan 16-23-30 before resuming the weekly alternation 
with his Technical Corner in Feb.

Then the mailbag had an inquiry from John ``Fig-liozy`` about RKI`s 
program schedule since he could not find it on their website. Han and 
Esther admitted that it was not on the RKI website as they habitually 
send it out by P-mail instead! Then reeled off a bunch of program 
titles too quickly for me to copy and I was not taping. Did anybody 
catch them? And in any event, some of them do not apply to the only 
broadcast we can reliably hear in CNAm, the curtailed half-hour 
version via Canada at 1130 on 9650, at the inconvenient early time of 
5:30 am Central, which RKI has refused to reconsider since its 
inception. 

They have made one improvement on the homepage, however, they say, 
putting a Frequency icon for an easier direct link to the RKI 
frequency schedule. BTW, the main purpose of RKI would appear to be 
broadcasting PROGRAMS. Thus one would think that listing them would 
be the number one priority on the station`s website!! But RKI is far 
from the only SW station which fails to comprehend this basic fact 
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MOZAMBIQUE. Radio Mocambique is testing high-quality stereo 
streaming audio via the Shoutcast system (http://www.shoutcast.com 
for details on the system), albeit with frequent outages. More info 
if and when the stream stabilizes. (Al Quaglieri, NY, Jan 14, DX 
LISTENING DIGEST) So what`s the Moz URL?

** MYANMAR. An American ham DXpedition is underway until Feb 6 from 
XZ0A on Thahtay Kyun Island, IOTA designation AS-144. Additional 
details can be found on the DXpedition web site at 
http://www.getnet.com/~k7wx/myanmar.htm 73 DX DE (PY2ZX Al 
Archangelo, radio-escutas Jan 15 via DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** NEW ZEALAND. Glenn, RNZI has a made a change to its recent 
broadcast sked of putting everything out on 17675 kHz. Here in 
antipodean Ireland I've noticed RNZI missing a few mornings when 
propagation was okay on the 16m Band from downunder...[e.g. Radio 
Australia was audible on 17750]. Dialling around revealed RNZI on the 
new freq of 17690. I'm talking here about top of hour checks 0900 & 
1000 UT. A look at RNZI's website indicates that 17675 kHz now runs 
from opening at 1650 to 0605 UT with continuation at 0605 to close at 
1005, on the new 17690 kHz. 

However, this Sunday morning 16 Jan, a station announcement before 
closedown gave times and freqs as: 1650-0705 UT = 17675 kHz 0705-1005 
UT = 17690 kHz. I have yet to verify the 0705 UT changeover [or is it 
0605?], but the change is for real. Incidentally the announcement 
went out post 1100 UT. RNZI closed 1109 UT approx. So, close-time is 
worth watching too. (Finbarr O'Driscoll, Ireland, DX LISTENING 
DIGEST)

We had news of RNZI`s upcoming change to 17690 here some weeks ago. 
They seem to have continuing problems remembering that UT conversion 
differs depending on whether NZ is on DST (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING 
DIGEST)

** OKLAHOMA. The gospel huxters have taken over another public radio 
channel in Enid - the new satellator on 89.1 started around Jan 8, 
blocking KMUW in Wichita - and it turns out to be in Spanish. I have 
yet to listen at ID time, but the few seconds I could stand had 
commercials for revivals in Albuquerque and McAllen, Texas.

Meanwhile, the gospel huxter translator on 89.5 in Enid went off Jan 
15, allowing public radio in Tulsa, KWGS to be heard, but I am sure 
this is only temporary. I need to do some work on my otherwise 
unneeded antenna toward Tulsa (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SPAIN. Tuning in for Radio Waves around 0021 UT Sun Jan 16 on REE 
6055, it never showed, just a long phone interview about silly 
bullfighting. Without embargo, the English program schedule given at 
0056 still included Radio Waves in the middle of the Saturday 
broadcasts (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** TURKEY. [Re: QRM to Slovakia on 7300]  TRT Ankara to NAm is 
registered on 7300 in B99, but suffered from off- air SW 
installations in past months. Transmitter sites are due to be sold by 
Turkish Telecom to TRT organization. (Wolfgang Bueschel, BC-DX Jan 14 
via DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U K O G B A N I. BBC WS made a number of time changes for the 
worse in January, obscured by the mess it made by merging streams 
temporarily at Jahrwechsel. Listeners to some regular series will 
have been left in the lurch. Better late than never, let us look at 
some of the changes.

BBCWS rewards its complaining NAm listeners by cancelling the only 
primetime airing of Write On, which was UT Sun 0045 - along with 
Science Extra at 0030, now both replaced by People and Politics. 

The only remnant of Science Extra remaining is Seeing Stars, the 
amateur astronomy monthly which next appears the week starting Jan 
29, at new times:

AE Sat 0845, Tue 1930, Fri 0645-Am, all inconvenient for us or 
inaudible on SW; Af Mon 1430; As Sun 1045, Mon 0715, Tue 1945.

Write On`s new time is Tue 1445, which just happens to clash with the 
main time for NAm of SCDX/MediaScan - but we doubt BBC programme 
planners ever had the remotest notion that this might matter - even 
more so the week when Waveguide replaces Write On, Jan 22. The full 
schedule for them both:

AE Sun 0905, 2105, Tue 1445; Af Sun 1045; As Sat 0005-S, Sun 0715, 
1230-E, Mon 0905.

Letter from America is now: AE Sun 0345, 0715-Eu, 1230, 1730; Af Sat 
0715, Sun 1230; As Sat 0415-E, 0905, 2105, Sun 1730.

In Other Words, a look at different aspects of the English language 
such as metaphors, 10 x 15 min from Jan 8: AE Sat 0845, Tue 1930, Fri 
0645-Am; Af Mon 1430; As Sun 1045, Mon 0715, Tue 1945.

January`s Millennium Concert is categorized under ``Classical Music`` 
tho from the description we doubt their definition. In any event, it 
sounds quite interesting. Taikoz, the Sydney-based virtuoso group 
inspired by the traditional Japanese Taiko drumming, from the Sydney 
Opera House introduced by Australian actor Geoffrey Rush. 120 minutes 
Jan 22-23: AE Sat 1901, Sun 1601 [normally Am frequencies carry 
Concert Hall for one hour, and the daily listings do not show the 
1700 hour actually pre-empted for the Mil Conc; yet the program 
listings do not specify 1601 as for Am only!]; Af Sun 1601; As Sun 
0901.

Pick of the World gives us a chance to hear bits and pieces of BBC WS 
programmes we had to miss because of their inconvenient scheduling:

AE Sat 0530, Sun 1530, Mon 0230, 1130; Af Sat 0730; As Sun 0630, Mon 
1830, Tue 0030-E.

Thanks to Chris Hambly for providing BBC On Air, from which we drew 
this info (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. Last week`s info on VOA Communications World changes as of 
Feb 5 [in DXLD 00-03] is superseded this week: instead, there will be 
one 25-minute edition on Sats at these times: 0132, 0532, 0932, 1332, 
1732, 2132. There will be some other new 25-minute programs, 
including Our World (tentative title, suggestions invited) on 
technology Sat 0332 and 4-hourly thru 2332; and on Sundays, 
Kaleidoscope, and Encounter (Kim Elliott, VOA CW Jan 16 via DX 
LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. I've finally done it! I wrote my first, quite basic, home 
page. It was written with MS Front Page Express so the scrolling 
marquee doesn't work on Netscape. Try it out: 
http://home.compaq.net/~bigsteve387/index.html 
Later: We've added the Shortwave links, a current/future show page 
and some animated graphics. I'll be researching the oldies links 
today and will probably have an update tonight as well. ? ("Big 
Steve" Coletti, of Different Kind of Oldies Show, Jan 15, DX 
LISTENING DIGEST) 

** U S A. AFN is still carrying Perspective from ABC Sundays at 1205-
1258 on 12689.5 USB and 4278.5 USB (6458.5 USB inaudible at this 
hour), now with essays by John Stossel; a bit sloppy Jan 16 at 1245 
when a Select Comfort ad aired intact, or is AFN now amenable to 
commercials? Reception here was much better than a few seconds 
delayed on KOA 850. Next on AFN at 1300-1459 is NPR`s Weekend Edition 
Sunday, a must-hear for me, despite Liane Hansen`s obsession with 
stupid ballgames. Wil Shortz` puzzle at 1340 is always fun. Those in 
dark areas of USA lacking NPR or with NPR but lacking WESUN, or with 
WESUN but marred by local station segment cutaways should rely on AFN 
instead. And the same goes for WESAT 24 hours earlier, especially the 
funny item at 1318 and 1418 many affiliates cover with local 
headlines or promos, as NPR makes it all too easy for them to do. 
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. Free Radio Berkeley 104.1 Gee -- ain't that a fairly old 
story? I got it for at least 2 or 3 years in certain areas of San 
Francisco, especially the area of Ghiradelli (hard "g") Square on the 
northern waterfront and I ain't been in SF in nearly a year. The 
story, if any, is that Dunnifer ain't been shut down yet. (or is 
someone else running it now?) (Joel Rubin, NY, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. Radio Nacional de la Republica Arabe 
Saharaui Democratica (1550 kHz) has a page up with an antenna photo, 
a nice-sounding RealAudio feed, and some popular Saharan music. 
Programming is in Spanish. http://web.jet.es/rasd/amateur4.htm

After listening to the RealAudio feed, I notice that it is not live, 
but a 6-minute recording of the station. Oh well. (Al Quaglieri, NY, 
Jan 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

Maybe the audio is new, but I believe the site in Spain has been 
there for a long time (Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

PROPAGATION. The outlook from Ottawa as of Jan 5: in the auroral 
zone, geomagnetic activity most unsettled, almost active, Jan 27; 
most quiet Jan 19-20 (NRC GSC via DX LISTENING DIGEST)

THIS DAY`S ECUADORIAN LESSON. Once again DX Partyline allows people 
who make wild guesses about pronunciation to read scripts. Curt Cole 
(Kurt Kohl?) presented the EDXP report on the Jan 15 edition, with 
the following bizarrities: 

Padula as Pa-DOO-la; Gujarati as goo-HAR-a-tye; Marti as MAR-tee; 
Delano as del-AH-no, Iranawila as Irana-WIGH-la, Juelich as JEW-
litch... Hint: no language besides English ever pronounces the letter 
I as ``long`` (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

[DXLD 00-04 was actually issued in 2000, not 1999...]         ###


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