[HCDX]: From Swisscom

["Paul Ormandy" <paulorm@xxxxxxxx>]

Dear fellow listener
Six months ago our short wave station Schwarzenburg has been closed.
Consequently the number of transmissions in parallel and with it the
receiving possibilities are reduced. The audibility in general however did
not decrease drastically. Thanks to the reliability and the high degree of
availability of the transmitting station Jülich, Germany, the receiving
quality may most of the time be considered as good. Jülich is acting as
successor of Schwarzenburg but also as a reserve station for Sottens.
Unfortunately  the reduction of the short wave service goes on. On 24
October 1998 the transmitting station Lenk will be on the air for the last
time. Due to the need of renovation but also the revised SRI coverage
priorities, Lenk will cease sending on 6165 kHz  at the end of the summer
season. In 1974 this station came into operation with two transmitters of
250 kW. For 25 years Lenk covered with its omnidirectional antennas the
surrounding European countries and depending of the time of day even the
peripheral Europe. The time of the well known and estimated frequencies
3985, 6165 and 9535 kHz is irrevocably over! If appropriate and possible
the frequency of 6165 kHz will be used on other targets. On Swiss territory
there will remain one single transmitter at Sottens with a power of 500 kW.

As a result of the shutdown of that station, the air time exchange with the
People's Republic of China will discontinue. After the above-mentioned date
there will be no transmissions in favour of China Radio International from
Lenk nor for SRI from Bejing. As a compensation we introduced the Singapore
relay already at the beginning of the summer transmission period which is
very good accepted by the audience.
As per 25 October 1998 the new transmission schedule comes into force. At
the August High Frequency Co-ordination Conference (HFCC) in Tunis the
transmitting frequencies were co-ordinated for the coming winter period. In
numerous bilateral talks we fought for every single frequency. Of course,
the spectrum is not nearly wide enough to place all requirements on an own
channel.
Together with Europe and North America the Arab States Broadcasting Union
(ASBU) was represented for the first time. Hence the number of broadcasting
organisations and administrations has increased to 55. The participants
represented about 80 % of the worldwide operated transmission hours which
is equivalent to 14'500 hours per day. Switzerland now requires a total of
56 ¾ hours.
On 1 January 1999 the revised Radio Regulations of the International
Telecommunication Union (ITU) will come into force. Henceforth, following
the present HFCC practice there will officially be only 2 seasonal periods
instead of 4. The transmission schedule A begins on the last Sunday in
March and ends on the last Sunday in October consequently the schedule B
covers the winter period of the northern hemisphere. For the first time the
schedule is marked with the new designation.
The situation on our frequencies ± 5 kHz during the coming half year is
shown on the enclosed excerpt of the data base. Only one or more SRI
transmissions to your target area are shown.
We thank you very much for all the reports and sound documents. We would be
glad if we could count on your assistance as in the past.

Sincerely yours,

Swisscom Ltd.
HF Broadcasting
									Encl.


Ulrich Wegmüller


NB: The sked is in Word 7 format and is a rather large file, so if you want
it, please send me an e-mail....

73s Paul

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Paul Ormandy, 33 Greta Street, Oamaru, New Zealand, paulorm@xxxxxxxx

Join me for the latest tuning tips for the South Pacific on Radio New
Zealand
International during "Mailbox", fortnightly broadcasts, Mondays 2135 UTC on
17675kHz, Wednesdays 1735 UTC on 6145kHz and Fridays 1930 UTC on 9875kHz
(17675kHz from October 25th).

Next Broadcasts commence October 12th and 26th, repeated on following days
as above.

And on AWR's "Wavescan" commencing the third Sunday of the month (see
www.awr.org for frequency schedule), repeated at 0700z and 1900z on ZLXA,
New Zealand's Radio Reading Service, Levin, the third Monday of the month,
on 1602kHz, 3935kHz and 7290kHz.
****************************************************************************

*

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