[HCDX]: G Hauser's Shortwave/DX Report 99-60

[Glenn Hauser <wghauser@xxxxxxxxx>]

        GLENN HAUSER'S SHORTWAVE/DX REPORT 99-60, Nov 25, 1999

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

THIS WEEK ON WORLD OF RADIO 1013: See topic summary at
http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio/wor1013.html

ESTE MES EN MUNDO RADIAL. Nueva emision a partir del viernes 26 de 
noviembere en WWCR, 9475 a las 2215. Vease el guion en

http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio/Rel9911.txt

** AFGHANISTAN. Afghan anti-Taleban Takhar radio was heard on 7000 
kHz on 25th November from 0250 to 0330 gmt. Reception ranged from 
good to poor, but monitorable. Takhar radio was formerly heard on 
7070 and 7085 kHz from 1230 to 1330 gmt, but has been unheard on 
these frequencies since April 1999. When it was traced at 0250 gmt on 
25th November, a religious programme in Dari was in progress. At 0300 
gmt it played its usual signature tune and an announcer said in 
Uzbek: "Dear radio listeners. Peace and the blessing of God be upon 
you! I draw your attention to the news of Takhar Radio. In the name 
of God the Merciful and the Compassionate." Source: Takhar radio, 
Taloqan, in Dari 0250 gmt 25 Nov 99 ((c) BBC Monitoring Nov 25 
excerpted by gh)

** CANADA. Here's what we're working on for this week's show, 
November 27, 1999: Our lead item....Rendezvous with the Red Planet: 
The Mars Polar Lander is set to touch down near the south pole of 
Mars next week, in the latest mission to explore our planetary 
neighbour. But just before the spacecraft lands, two small scientific 
probes will be fired into the Martian surface. We'll find out just 
what the Mars Microprobes will tell us about the Red Planet .... and 
we'll also hear about the privately-funded microphone that's going 
along on the mission to bring us the sounds of Mars. All that and 
more, this Saturday on Quirks and Quarks, right after the noon news 
on Radio One. (Bob McDonald, Quirks and Quarks) That's Sunday 1305 on 
RCI 9640, 13650, 17710 

** CHECHNYA [non]. Radiostantsiya Chechnya Svobodnaya, good with 
flutter Nov 25 1225 on 11635 via St Pete, long dialog in Russian 
mentioning Chechnya; nothing yet on //15605 St Pete or 15355 
Kaliningrad; 1245 mentioned British gazette Financial Times; 1300 
nice flute IS and ID thrice. The final -ya of Svobodnaya is sometimes 
barely audible in standard Russian speech, perhaps accounting for 
some confusion in previous reports. After this we finally hear a 
female voice. At 1312 checked 15 MHz again, and now 15605 was in as 
well as 11635; 15355 blocked by a Spanish religionist with a stream 
of begats [engendro], but a station audible underneath was not RCS 
since one had music, one had speech. At 1314 RCS was presenting some 
US movie music of the 1930s, with ``Happy Days Are Here Again'' sung 
in English, sounded like the original movie soundtrack performance. 
That and ``When the Red, Red Robin Comes Bob-, Bob-, Bobbin' Along'' 
at 1324 must have really cheered them up in Chechnya. The minor 
melody of ``Donkey Serenade'' at 1327 translated amazingly well into 
Russian; one might have thought it was an original Russian tune. By 
1335 we were into a koloratura hitting the high notes, and 1342 a 
Viennese waltz as reception was deteriorating. 15605 to 1401* whilst 
11635 continued until 1430 as scheduled in 99-55. BTW, I long for 
movie music of the pre-hifi age to be re-performed as closely as 
possible to the original instrumentation and style, but recorded now 
in full hifi stereo. If colorizing can be done, why not hifizing? 
(Glenn Hauser, OK)

** FRANCE. RFI seems back to normal programming after strike, 
interviewing Iowa farmers in English Nov 25 at 1431 on 17560 (Glenn 
Hauser, OK)

** KOREA NORTH. R. Pyongyang not often heard on higher bands except 
via harmonics, but fundamental 17735 was fading in and out 0153 Nov 
25 on the car radio closing English with full schedule including this 
one announced for 0100. Note to self: transcribe current RP sked from 
some other broadcast, given in full at conclusion of each English 
transmission. Evidently RP still does not have a website; Asian 
Broadcasting Institute presents a sked for this, but last updated 
9/21 when there was not even any English broadcast at 0100 (Glenn 
Hauser, OK)

** KOREA SOUTH. Below is the English schedule that I copied from a 
Radio Korea International broadcast today (UTC Nov 25th, 15575 @ 0200 
UT). Regards, (David Zantow, Janesville, WI)

RADIO KOREA INTERNATIONAL-ENGLISH BROADCASTS  

Europe 0800 13670 - 1900 7275 - 2100 15575 
North America 0200 11725, 11810, 15575 
Middle East/Africa 1600 9515, 9870 
Australia 0800 9570 
South East Asia 1300 9570, 13670 
China 0200 7275 
General Service 1300 9600 - 1600 5975 - 1900 5975 

(via Zantow) RKI has this annoying habit of separating their direct 
broadcasts, and their relays, not mentioned in this version, e.g. 
Sackville 1130 on 9650 (Hauser)

** LAOS. 6130, LNR: Probably not on the air every day as it has not 
been heard on 23, 24 Nov but back again to-day with good reception. 
End of EG/Lao program at 13.15; the Fr/Lao until 13.30 then followed 
with music program until 14.00 after a short announcement in Lao by 
man and woman. (Mahendra Vaghjee, Mauritius, 25 Nov)

** NEW ZEALAND. Please note RNZI will be carrying out a test 
transmission beamed to East Timor on - Thursday 25 November from 1005 
- 1600 UTC Frequency 15235 kHz; Reception reports will be most 
welcome. This latest test follows up on one we made 2 weeks ago using 
17675. We want to know whether we can provide a satisfactory signal 
to East Timor to provide N.Z. Troops with a link with home. However 
we cannot proceed beyond this point without Government funding. As 
N.Z. is currently in the throes of an Election Campaign [Election Day 
is 27 Nov] it is unlikely any political decision will be made until a 
new Government is in office. Cheers (Adrian Sainsbury, WORLD OF RADIO 
1013)

RNZI's one-off test of 15235 Nov 25: checked at 1230, heard nothing 
perhaps due high local noise level; 1437 some vocal music, maybe 
this, very weak and fadey still an hour later (Glenn Hauser, OK)

** NEW ZEALAND. Today Thurs 25 Nov '99 at 1259 UT, checked out RNZI 
test transmission on 15235 kHz to East Timor. Fair signal audible via 
outdoor wires (randomwire and di-pole; -latter better due to 
alignment). Some downward passband tuning required to avoid splatter 
from Eu stn on 15240. New Zealand ID at 1300 with three minutes of 
news, to program promo, to weather forecast. Music show "Cadenza" 
preceded by "National Radio" ID at 1305. Things still good an hour 
later...half way round the world in Ireland. (Finbarr O'Driscoll)

** NEW ZEALAND. On Saturday 27 November 1999  Election Coverage 
begins at 0700-1015 UTC - 17675 kHz, 1015-1215 UTC - 6105 kHz. 
(Adrian Sainsbury, Nov 23 via Barry Hartley, Auckland via Wolfgang 
Bueschel) 

** U S A. I am pleased to announce two new shortwave transmissions of 
the half-hour edition of Communications World. These transmissions 
will be via single sideband (SSB) feeder transmitters at Greenville, 
North Carolina, beamed to Europe. The schedule is: Saturday 0700-0730 
UTC 6873 kHz; Sunday 1400-1430 UTC 18275 kHz. Each transmission will 
be on both upper sideband (USB) and lower sideband (LSB), but with no 
carrier. If all goes well, these transmissions will begin this 
weekend, November 27/28. Reception reports would be appreciated. 
Regards, (Kim Andrew Elliott Producer and Presenter Communications 
World VOICE OF AMERICA 330 Independence Avenue, S.W. Washington, D.C. 
20547 USA E-mail: cw@xxxxxxx) 

** U S A. Nov. 24, 1999. In order to avoid interference from Radio 
Norway on 7465 kHz, WRMI's North American service has moved from 7460 
to 7385 kHz daily from 0200-0930 UTC (0300-0800 on UTC Sunday and 
Monday). Most programming on this new frequency is in English, except 
for the Radio Prague relays in Spanish and Czech daily from 0300-0400 
UTC. Radio Prague's English relay can be heard daily at 0400-0430. 
Other programs on 7385 kHz include "Scream of the Butterfly" 
(sponsored by Universal Radio) at 0500-0600 UTC Sunday, AWR's 
"Wavescan" DX program at 0830-0900 UTC Tuesday, and "Viva Miami" at 
0900-0930 UTC Tuesday-Friday. WRMI will broadcast a special program 
(in Spanish) to mark the anniversary of the Venezuelan DX club "Club 
Diexistas de la Amistad" (CDXA) at 2330-0000 UTC Nov. 26 on 9955 kHz, 
with repeats at 0130-0200 UTC Nov. 27 on 9955, and 0430-0500 UTC Nov. 
27 on 7385 kHz. The program, called "America en Antena," was produced 
by the CDXA and will be broadcast on local radio in Barinas and 
Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela. (Jeff White, WRMI, also via Jorge Garcia 
Rangel, Nov 24)

So much for WRMI's previous plan to move to 7570, which was all we 
could mention on Mundo Radial, Radio Enlace. Do not confuse with 
RFPI, previously on 7385 (Hauser)

** U S A. Dear Glenn, A few notes: We will be testing shortly on 
9.340 MHz on the second transmitter. We will stick with this 
frequency for awhile.

The Album Zone returns Saturdays 2100-2200 utc. The Jeff Davis Show 
has bought more time to expand their voice: Tuesday and Thursday 
2300-0000 utc. This is due to American Innovation cutting back to 
only Wednesdays at 2230-0000 utc.

We always encourage new, strange. different, and alternative programs 
on WBCQ the Planet. I hope WBCQ-Two will offer the same even though 
we are still looking for a single programmer to take most of the 
time. Have a nice Thanksgiving, (Allan Weiner, Nov 24)

** U S A. Dear Glenn: I wrote you recently about the numbers stations 
radio piece I'm doing for NPR's Lost and Found Sound series. Well, 
it's moving right along. The opening of the piece details my personal 
discovery of shortwave in the early 70's. I am looking for good 
quality English broadcasts of some of the more entertaining 
propaganda of the time. R. Moscow, R. Peking, Tirana, and others. The 
more virulent, smug, or snotty the better, because that's what I 
remember it being like. Do you have recordings of these broadcasts or 
can you suggest where I might look? I don't need tons, but enough to 
create a nice mix. Also, I would like to find some generic sw 
background noise of the era. (Truth in broadcasting!) Any tape and 
postage costs will be reimbursed. Thanks for any help you can lend. 
David PS: I did eventually find some Havana Moon audio, not a lot but 
hopefully enough. dbgoren@xxxxxxxxxxx (David Goren, Nov 22 via 
Hauser; please tell him we referred you)

HARMONICS: As with Andy Sennitt, it was you Glenn that introduced me 
to harmonics, especially MW harmonics, in the early 1970s. I haven't 
counted lately, but I've heard well over a hundred of those, about 
equally divided between US stations and foreign stations. Several 
years ago I wrote an article on DXing MW harmonics for NASWA and more 
recently did an interview version on DX Party Line. I believe the 
audio file of the interview is still on the DXPL website. The article 
is not on my website - I must have missed it somehow. I'll have to 
search some old disks for it and then add it. (Don Moore, IA) 

THIS DAY'S ENGLISH LESSON

Glenn, A bit "off topic", but - ref. your comments regarding back 
slashes, forward slashes, etc, and the alternative "slant" - there is 
of course another good alternative word, which is "stroke". This 
always used to be the standard British term for this particular 
punctuation mark. I say "used to be" as "slash" seems to be edging 
out "stroke" in Britain. Personally, I prefer "stroke" which sounds 
as gentle as "slash" sound violent. 

As far as I know the only other punctuation mark that is called 
something different on the two sides of the "pond" is the "period" - 
which is always called a "full stop" over here.

I love the differences between US and British English  - long may 
they continue to intrigue and amuse us all. Having borrowed so many 
words from the languages of our former colonies we now appropriate 
American words very enthusiastically. I've got an American-British 
dictionary published in the 1970s in front of me and, opening it at 
random, it seems strange that 20 years ago it had to explain to us 
Brits what what was meant by the terms freebee, free-loader, french 
fries, funky and funny farm - all of which are now in reasonably 
common use here. Regards, (Chris Greenway, UKOGBANI, Nov 23)

UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIAL

Lack of Interest? Surely Not.

Mr. Hauser,

As a longtime SWL/DXer recently returning to the hobby after a 7 year
hiatus, I for one was pleasantly surprised to see your name (and fine 
reputation) still associated with the hobby!!!

There is certainly no lack of interest here. Your newsletter posts to 
HCDX list and via your website provide myself (and others whom I 
associate with) up to date info on what?s being heard out there and 
the 'why' behind it.

Having listened to your regular radio programs spots since 1988,
I value the commitment you have to the hobby and the quality of the 
service you have provided.

I am not sure if you were looking for feedback in this regard, but 
there seems to be a bit of a 'ground swell' of interest of returning 
DXers like myself to the hobby.

I can't speak for them but those of us who are mature in the hobby 
value your work and will certainly recommend your contributions to 
others starting out in the hobby.

Thanks for your time, Glenn!

73 de Charlie Cacioppo (Ex-NASWA member, soon to be signed on again!)
###


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