[HCDX] DX Listening Digest 00-99 August 4

["Glenn Hauser" <wghauser@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

	DX LISTENING DIGEST 00-99, August 4, 2000
	edited by Glenn Hauser, wghauser@xxxxxxxxxxx

{Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only providing
full credit be maintained at all stages and we are provided exchange
copies. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without permission}

** CANADA. Thanks to a tip from a friend of mine, Howard Gontovnick,
of Chomedey-Laval, Quebec, I'd like to pass along some info about
some interesting websites which have popped up across Canada. The
first one which Howard discovered was: http://www.fmmontreal.com

The site is very professional looking, but has little info to tell
you who these people are. As it turns out, Neal Ford, former Montreal
RadioDigest.com correspondent also found fmtoronto.com and
fmottawa.com. Subsequent to that, I discovered that similar sites
exist in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Winnipeg. There may be
others, but we haven't found them yet. Whoever is behind this seems
to have some advertising dollars behind it, and is seeing to be quite
aggressive in signing up members (Sheldon Harvey, Greenfield Park,
Quebec, August 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Offers 50 commercial-free
`station` streams (gh)

** CHIAPAS [non]. Dear Mr. Hauser, First let me say it is always a
pleasure to hear your show on air!  A real treat!

I sending this as it comes to my attention that one C. Crawford has
suggested that KIPM is related to the Mexican Clandestine La voz de
La Zapista. This is not true. While I do air over a dozen 1 hour
feature shows of Pirate-tainment. I do not feature this station in my
programming. Perhaps you can alert folks before I get a bunch of QSL
requests for none KIPM programming.

I also wish to get my hands on a Zapista QSL should they become
available!

KIPM does feature currently 4 8 1/2 x 11" color QSL cards. Each more
disturbing then the next. The reaction of most first time viewers is
to curl up in a fetal position and become disbondent.

Happy to converse with you on any other KIPM related matters in the
future! 73's (Alan Maxwell, August 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CHIAPAS [non]. Hi Glen, Radio Bob here of Radio Bob's
Communications Network, a N Am. SW pirate op since '92 and droperator
of Pirate Drop Box 24 Lula, Ga. 30554. Saw a log you posted from
Charlie Crawford reguarding my mail client station, KIPM as having
broadcasted a program of V Zapatista in the 21 meter pirate band a
while back. Allen Maxwell, station op of KIPM assures me it 'twas not
him airing this program. The program simply appeared after a KIPM
broadcast of the same day and Mr Crawford's imagination took over
from there. The way your log reads it appears that dx'ers can get a V
Z QSL by sending a report to KIPM at Lula. Well I will tell you that
this ain't happening. I want nothing to do with this clandestine
station which happens to concern blasting a neighboring country which
is friendly to the USA. I'd rather imagine that these broadcasts have
caught the attention of the FCC, an agency which I'd prefer not to
have many intimate dealings with as you might surmise. I'd appreciate
if you could print this correction/clarification in the next soonest
possible edition of MT. Nevertheless any mail addressed to VZ showing
up at Lula is going strait to the trash unopened. Thanks for your
time. 73's (Rbob, August 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** C0LOMBIA. CM& [sic ? supposed to be some other symbol? No, the
ampersand also appears on their website -gh] TV newscast available
live on Internet | Excerpts from report from Colombian newspaper 'El
Espectador' web site on 1st August

> From your house, office or from Tokyo, Japan, with a couple of
clicks, you can enter cyberspace and see the noon and evening
transmissions of the [commercial] CM& [TV] newscast. Such media as
CNN use this technological advance, but in Colombia it will be the
first time that a television newscast has gambled on the usefulness
of the network of networks. "The idea emerged thinking about the
Colombians abroad and the people interested in knowing what is going
on in the country. We were also thinking about the people who are in
offices and do not have a television set or who are simply very
busy," Ricardo Galan, deputy director of CM& said. Another innovation
will be that the visitors to the CM& web site (http://www.cmi.com.co)
will be able to consult the newscasts of the previous five days. The
technological platform was developed by the Colombian company,
Paginas.net. "The newscast generates its video through the system's
central console, which receives the microwave signal. We then placed
an image-capturing card in the two main computers to upload the
signal to the Internet, thanks to the installation, in one of the
computers, of Microsoft's Windows Media software, which digitizes the
video," Camilo Saenz, technology manager of Paginas.net, explained.
With this innovation, it is expected that in the long term the
newscast will be replacing the microwave service because the
correspondents will be able to send their signal via Internet... The
system will be in the firing line for the first time this Monday [1st
August] during the evening transmission. Source: 'El Espectador' web
site, Bogota, in Spanish 1 Aug 00 (BBC Monitoring via DXLD)

** COSTA RICA. James and Debra Latham reported on RFPI Mailbag first
airing at 2000 UT Friday August 4:

Still deciding on which antenna to build for 6970. The WIDA mentioned
previously would have 50-ohm matching problems. Another design looked
great on computer model, until another tower nearby was introduced.
So may put up provisionally a 2-element vertical yagi, with about 5
dB gain, rather than another design which would take longer but have
8-12 dB gain. Listeners are invited to E-mail their preferences, and
a decision will be made within one week.

Part of the solar system is now funxioning, module #1, which does not
yet include the panels, but power at the studio is no longer subject
to interruption as this kicks in without a glitch when commercial
power fails. This allows the recording of programs [on VCR for 8-hour
and 16-hour later play back, presumably] to continue without
interruption, tho the transmitters will still go off (notes by gh for
DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MALAYSIA. Following the serious fire at its radio centre a few
weeks ago, RTM has introduced a number of temporary changes to its
services: Domestic services generally carry news every 2 hours rather
than on the hour; the English service Radio 4 on 7295 kHz & FM now
carries news at the top of odd hours UTC Time signals are no longer
being broadcast The external sces Suara Malaysia and Suara Islam have
moved to temporary studios in Kajang, usually reflected in opening
announcements.

The HF transmitting station at Kajang continues to suffer its own
problems, with strong harmonics noted recently on 9690 (2x4845),
11930v (2x5965v) and 12050 (2x6025). There have been many long breaks
on 4845 during the past week, and 7295 has also been observed with an
intermittent distortion problem. (Alan Davies, Malaysia, Cumbre DX
August 3 via DXLD)

** PAKISTAN. Hello Glenn, There is another alteration to the Radio
Pakistan schedule. Propagation has permitted reception of their
Indonesian service 0900-0930 and I found them still using 17660 and
not 17510 as planned. This is via Islamabad and // should be 15485
(inaudible due BBC co-ch). The group of Asian programmes between 1000
and 1245 is also heard on 17655 - this appears to be via Islamabad
and not Karachi, but no positive information as yet. 15625 is faintly
heard but there is no trace of 12015 (LUF?) (Noël Green, UK, August
4, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. Today, I spoke with two different officials at
NBC in order to get the most accurate picture of some recent PNG
shortwave stories. I spoke with both Francisca Mariday, Senior
Planning Officer, and George Alokaka, Senior Technical Officer:

3290 Radio Central: both confirm that this station was recently on
for a single day as reported by myself and Chris Hambly in Australia.
The studio to transmitter link is still being worked on so the
transmitter test was done using a feed of Karai National Radio [as
heard here in Wyoming.] The STL should be done shortly and the
station could return as early as Monday, August 7th.

3305 Radio Western: a senior technician was recently at this station
and 'fixed' it, but it has apparently gone off again. I heard them on
Jul 11, running // to 4890.

3345 Radio Northern: Alokaka says this one is off air, awaiting
spares.

5985 NBC: was recently reported by Padula in EDXP around 2200. Both
NBC officials tell me that they are only using 9675 and 4890 on the
following schedule- 9675 8:30 AM-5:30 PM and 4890 5:30-midnight PNG
time. Personally, I think there was a punch up error that Bob heard
that these officials weren't aware of. Please note that NBC still has
a single 100 kW transmitter operating at half power. So if you don't
hear 9675, then try 5985 (All above DIRECT Johnson Cumbre DX
Copyright Aug 3 via DXLD)

** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. This summarises PNG HF operations, based on
monitoring observations made during my trip to North Queensland
between Jul-29 and Aug-03. Scheduling for many stations is erratic,
and inconsistent from day to day. Some stations remain on air all
night during feasts, "sing-sings", and festivals. Weekend evening
transmissions are often extended to past the usual 1200 s/off. There
is only very limited activity during the morning period, with most
stations preferring to operate during evening hours.

MORNING TRANSMISSIONS

Kundu Service: *1900-2200*
3315 Manus
3375 Western Highlands
3385 East New Britain

Karai Service
4890 Port Moresby *1900-2200*

DAYTIME TRANMISSIONS

Kundu Network
5985 East New Britain - on weekdays only, in period 2230-0700,
carrying educational/schools/public information programming, intended
for the Gazelle Peninsula. Actual hours of operation and broadcast
days are irregular

Karai Network
9675 Port Moresby *2230-0700*

EVENING TRANSMISSIONS

Kundu Service: *0730-1200*v
3205 W. Sepik
3220 Morobe
3235 W. New Britain
3245 Gulf
3260 Madang
3305 Western
3315 Manus
3325 N. Solomons
3335 E. Sepik
3355 Simbu
3365 Milne Bay
3385 E. New Britain
3395 Eastern Highlands
3905 New Ireland

Karai Service
4890 Port Moresby *0730-1200*v

(2410 not checked)

From: (Bob Padula, Surrey Hills, Victoria, Australia, EDXP, August 4
via DXLD)

** RUSSIA. Moscow longwave transmitters off the air

On 2nd August the Voice of Russia "DX Club" web site quoted the
following communication from a listener: "The last edition of DX Club
reported that Radio Russia's longwave transmitter in Moscow Region,
broadcasting on 261 kHz, had stopped working. I regret to report that
yet another Moscow Region transmitter, which used to broadcast Yunost
Radio programmes on 153 kHz, also stopped working recently. And on
14th July, the Moscow transmitter which broadcasts the Russian
service of Voice of Russia on 612 kHz went off the air between 1900
and 2100 hours [gmt]." The listener asked: "Does this mean we can bid
farewell to your broadcasts on this frequency in Moscow?"

The DX Club presenter, Pavel Mikhaylov, supplied the following
explanation: "Unfortunately, the longwave transmissions of Radio
Yunost have stopped for the same reason as Radio Russia's - lack of
funds to pay for the lease on this transmitter. As far as the Voice
of Russia relay is concerned, the Moscow transmitter on 612 kHz was
not switched off on 14th July, but instead of putting out a proper
signal, it emitted unintelligible noise. In other words, the staff of
the transmitter station responsible for quality of the signal were
not doing their job properly. The following day everything was back
to normal. We know about this, and our technical service has already
made representations to the transmitter people." Source: Voice of
Russia web site, Moscow, in Russian 2 Aug 00 (BBC Monitoring Aug 4
via DXLD)

** SA`UDI ARABIA. 21205.0 SABS Riyadh, program in Arabic language,
intermodulation product of 21505 kHz. 21284.8 SABS Riyadh, there are
two programs at the same time: Holy Quran file://21495 [sic] and a
program in Arabic language // 21505 and 21705. Signal strength on
21284,8 is S 9 + 10 dB. 21399.8 SABS Riyadh, program // 21670 in
Indonesian language. 21410.0 SABS Riyadh, program in French language
// 21600 (All via Monitoring System Newsletter August via Ron Roden,
UK, Cumbre DX August 3 via DXLD)

** U A E. Re UAE Abu Dhabi; this is what has been heard so far ---
The new Koran programme, which also includes lots of phone-in and
other dialogue, is heard :- 21735 fade in c0345(from 0200?)-0700;
17835 0700-1300; 15315 1300-1600; 9695 1600-1958 sudden off. (not
traced after this time - if on air)

Main Arabic Programme : 6180 on air 0210/fade out c0245 (0200-0400?);
11945 0400-0600; 15310 0600-1300; 9605 1300-2210. 17665 on air
0210(from 0200?)-0500; 21630 0500-0700; 21735 0700-1600; 13755 1600-
2000; 17760 2000-(2210?)

The transmission on 9695 seems too strong for the old Makta 120 kW
transmitters, and is assumed to be one of the three 500's that
currently operate. I cannot hear the 120 kW unit after 2000 when it
is registered to be on air. The two programmes have been heard to
merge into one network between c1307 and 1500 with a short break
around 1400. Please also credit Ray Merrall-UK who gave me
considerable help (especially in the early hours) to monitor and
cross check this one. Keep up the good work. 73's (Noël Green, UK,
August 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 9320, WGTG: According to an on-air announcement by Dave
Frantz, this is apparently their new frequency for their third
transmitter, seemingly ex-planned 9580 and 3270. He added that 9320
will probably be used in the evening hours, possibly by a new
Christian network. Interestingly, an Al Patrick reported to
rec.radio.shortwave in mid-July that he heard WGTG testing 9400 and
9320 with Pastor Pete Peters during a recent Saturday afternoon.
Could Pastor Peters be the new network to WGTG? (Hans Johnson, Aug 3,
Cumbre DX via DXLD)

** U S A. WTJC, 9370, has been off the air since Monday, July 31st,
due to a transmitter fault. Parts are on order, but they aren't sure
when they will be back on yet. (via Hans Johnson Aug 3, Cumbre DX via
DXLD) It was back at 2200 check August 4 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)

** USA [and non]. From the Staff of Monitoring Times Magazine

Much has been written over the last couple of years regarding the
Armed Forces Network being back on shortwave. I have finally gotten
the straight story directly from the horse's mouth on this AFRTS HF
situation. Below is the definitive word on how this service came
about, its future, current broadcast freqs/sites and proposed future
transmitting sites. So enjoy HFers. AFRTS is back to stay for awhile
on HF in the USB mode.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
   On July 31, 2000 the Armed Forces Satellite Transmitted Radio
Service (AFSTRS) went off the International Maritime Satellite
(INMARSAT) system. For the past sesquiyear, Navy HF service from Key
West Naval Air Station (NAS), Florida, and Roosevelt Roads NAS,
Puerto Rico, have been transmitting the AFSTRS service, identical
service land based outlets know as the "Voice Line". This has served
ships in the Caribbean Sea and the waters around South America quite
well since the AFSTRS service was terminated on the INMARSAT Atlantic
West satellite in 1998.

   AFRTS is negotiating for cooperative use of the transmitters and
assignment of frequencies so the Navy HF service will also be
transmitted from U.S. Navy facilities in Guam, Diego Garcia, Sicily,
Iceland, and Maine. With over 100 U.S. Navy ships now equipped for
Direct to Sailor (DTS) satellite television and radio service, it is
no longer cost-effective to continue this service on INMARSAT.
However, for those ships that will have DTS equipment installed
during the next sesquiyear and for those few Navy ships that may
never have DTS equipment the HF service will help fill the gap.

Current Short-Wave High Frequencies
Location                Band            Daytime    Nighttime
Key West, FL          Upper Sideband    6458.5 kHz 12689.5 kHz
RR, Puerto Rico       Upper Sideband    6458.5 kHz 12689.5 kHz
Sigonella, Sicily     Upper Sideband      4993 kHz 10940.5 kHz

Sites to soon possibly carry AFN:
Guam, Diego Garcia, Iceland

(Larry Van Horn, MT Assistant Editor-Fed File/Milcom/Scan
Logs/Service Search Columnist, Monitoring Times Magazine, August 4;
also via Joe Olig, via DXLD)

** ZIMBABWE [non]. RN finally acknowledges that V. of the People is
transmitted from Madagascar, as our sleuths had concluded weeks ago:

Former members of ZBC are producing VOP, thanks to grants from the
George Soros Foundation [also funded the VOA Zimbabwe Forum which has
been cancelled], and a Dutch foundation HIVOS. The group chose to use
a 50 kW RN Madagascar transmitter on 7215. The 1700?1730 broadcast is
in Shona, the 1915-1945 in Ndebele. A spokesperson in Harare,
Thandiwe Henson, was interviewed; she said: ZBC has always been a
government mouthpiece, so is not entirely to blame for the lack of
equitable coverage of the opposition. The VOP service is mainly for
rural people who do not have as much access to alternative media as
city people. The announcers here are well-known and give their names
on the air; not associated with any political party, non-partisan. As
a result, SW radios are sold out in [some] town. In a couple of weeks
VOP plans to announce a P O Box for listener contact (Media Network
August 3, notes by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST)

A more complete report, close to verbatim from the broadcast is
tucked away in MN`s Hot Spots page, finally posted August 4:
http://www.rnw.nl/realradio/features/html/zimbabwe000804.html ###

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