[HCDX]: DX LISTENING DIGEST 00-02

[Glenn Hauser <wghauser@xxxxxxxxx>]

	DX LISTENING DIGEST 00-02, Jan 2, 2000
		EDITED BY GLENN HAUSER

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

** CANADA. A new printed engineering sked makes the following changes 
to the RCI schedule: 

0600-0700 UTC -- 9780 kHz via Skelton returns to the European/North 
American programme stream, seven days a week. It had switched to the 
Mon-Fri African stream on Dec. 13. (English the first half-hour, 
French the second half-hour.) 

1500-1600 UTC -- 6185 kHz via Yamata to Asia switches to a 290  
azimuth from a 270  azimuth. (English programming) 

2300-0059 UTC -- 6040 kHz switches to a 240  azimuth from a 212  
azimuth. (Mix of English and Spanish programming, depending on the 
day.) (William Westenhaver, RCI, Dec 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** DENMARK. Dear Friends, This is to let you know that starting 
Monday, Jan. 3, you can hear the News in English from DR Radio Monday 
to Friday in Real Audio, and if you can hear our medium transmitter 
on 1062 kHz you can also hear the news bulletin direct at 0740 UT 
(also on 243 kHz LW!), 1000 UT, 1610 UT and 2100 UT. More info and 
the RA link: http://www.dr.dk/news/ 
- here you can also find out about DR News International's broadcasts 
in Arabic, Somali, South Slavic, Turkish, Urdu and Arabic - all on 
1062 kHz + Real Audio. Happy new Year 2000, (Erik Koie, DR Radio  
ehk@xxxxx, DX LISTENING DIGEST Jan 2)

** ETHIOPIA [non]. The new Ethiopian clandestine station - reportedly 
via a Deutsche Telekom transmitter, and said to have started on 22nd 
December - calls itself "Voice of the Democratic Path of Ethiopian 
Unity" ("Finote Demokrasi Ye-Ethiopia Andinet Dimts" in Amharic). 

The broadcast last Wednesday (29th December) was a test with an 
announcement in Amharic stating very general aims and political 
orientation of the station (in favour of unity, democracy, human 
rights, etc) but making no mention of a sponsoring organization or 
contact details. It announced the same schedule as already reported 
and observed, i.e. Wednesdays at 1600-1700 on 11670 and Sundays at 
0800-0900 on 21550. (Chris Greenway, England, Jan 2, DX LISTENING 
DIGEST)

** FRANCE. Y2K glitch at RFI? I listen to their Sunday broadcast 
every week on the web, but as of Jan 2, the Friday shows were still 
available, nothing later. They have the same kind of problem around 
DST changes twice a year (George Thurman, TX, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** GREECE [non]. The VOA relays of VOG at 1800-2200 which have been 
synchronized for several weeks indicating the same transmitter site, 
Delano, are now as of Jan 2 unsynchronized again with 17705 ahead of 
17565, upon 1815 check in Spanish, ergo 17705 is Greenville and it 
takes another satellite hop to get to Delano for 17565. This is the 
opposite of the nominal sites listed by IBB. The Greenville 
transmitter for this service had been down for repairs and the 
frequency filled by Delano instead, according to Dan Ferguson (Glenn 
Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** ISRAEL. Dear friends, please receive the following changes to the 
b99isr02 schedule, effective JAN  04  2000:
Add 7475 0500-0515 to zones 27, 28, 4-9 250 kW 330 degrees in English.  
Hope that it would not make any problem. Thanks (Moshe Oren, BEZEQ, 
Jan 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MALAWI. Glenn, In case this is of interest to you. Included within 
my verification letter the following frequency schedule for MBC, 
noting, "periodically we do change our Frequency Schedules to suit 
changing times and at the moment our schedule remains as follows:" 
0257-0810 : 3380 - 50 kW 
0357-0810 : 5995 - 50 kW 
1515-2210 : 3380 - 50 kW 
Happy New Year ! (Gayle Van Horn, Jan 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** PERU. 6798, Radio Ondas del Rio Mayo Heard on Dec 28 at 0125 talk 
in Spanish by man then followed by a folkloric song and ID at 0137  
and continued with talk by man and woman with short Mx 0153 ID 
followed by NA and went off at 0154, Fair signal (Mahendra Vaghjee, 
Mauritius, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** PORTUGAL Changes of RDP Lisbon to East Timor from Dec 1: 
0900-1200 Port, Tetum, Port NF 21840 (55555) (x17725). 
2100-2400 Port, Tetum, Port NF 13755 (45554) (x15175), 
re-ex 17725 //1155O via Taiwan 1000-1100 & 2200-2300. 
(Observer, Bulgaria, via DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SRI LANKA. 4940, SLBC S/on earlier for Ramadan at 2010 with 
Recital of Koran and Islamic Religious chant (Mahendra Vaghjee, 
Mauritius, Jan 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SUDAN. 7200, Sudan National Radio Omdurman. French program start 
at 1700 immediately after Arabic as "Vous ecoutez la Radio Diffusion 
Nationale du Sudan" and UTC and Time in Sudan given by woman, then 
followed by man with schedule and the day of Ramadan (that is 25th),
then News. Good reception and English at 1800-1900 Jan 2 (Mahendra 
Vaghjee, Mauritius, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** TURKEY. Emirler on 17870 (doing Voice of Turkey German 1230-1330) 
is splattering strong FMing spurs at least over +/- 70 kHz (Kai 
Ludwig, Germany, Dec 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** UGANDA. Whilst the transition to Y2K seems to have had very 
little, if any, negative effect on media around the world, it is 
possible that one possible casualty is Radio Uganda's shortwave 
service.

The station has not been heard on its regular early morning and 
evening frequencies (4976 and 5026) or its regular daytime channels 
(7110 and 7195) since the start of the year. Meanwhile, it is still 
being heard inside Uganda on mediumwave and FM.

Given that Radio Uganda's SW transmitters have been very reliable and 
well audible for many years now, this break in service at Y2K does 
raise the possibility of a bug-related problem (the station was being 
heard OK on SW earlier on 31st December).

Apparently there were some power cuts (not necessarily Y2K-related) 
in Uganda in the early hours of the morning of 1st January, which 
disrupted Radio Uganda as a whole, but the station later came back on 
the air OK on MW and FM. (Chris Greenway, England, Jan 2, DX 
LISTENING DIGEST)

** U K O G B A N I. BBCWS head Mark Byford appeared on this week's 
Write On. Revealed that next major program shuffle in April will 
bring the introduction of EIGHT instead of just 3 regional streams! 
In an effort to satisfy more listeners. News will remain the core, 
especially at breakfast, noon and tea-time, but he maintains there 
will be no reduction in the amount of feature programming (Glenn 
Hauser, OK, Jan 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. Replacing Hugh Downs as essayist on Perspective from ABC 
News is: John Stossel, starting next week, as announced on this 
week?s show, which BTW is back on KOA 850 Denver Sundays at 1205-1300 
UT following our complaint to Jacor about its missing a few weeks 
ago. Stossel is known for his contrary, often pro-big-business, anti-
consumer reports on TV?s 20/20, ``Give me a break''. Should be 
thought-provoking (Glenn Hauser, OK, Jan 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. News from Albany, NY: WDCD, 1540 kHz, Albany, NY, has 
reverted to using its original call sign, WPTR, and will change its 
format from Christian programming to adult standards in early 
January. The station will call itself "Legends 1540". 73s, (Ginnie, 
Saratoga Springs, NY, hard-core-dx Dec 28 via DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. Minor correxion dept: in my NYE monitoring report I said 
KOCO TV 5 OKC would be cutting away for a stupid ballgame from 
Shreveport at 7:30 pm. I assumed this from visible promos on that 
channel, but in fact the game was on ESPN and KOCO stayed with ABC 
NYE (Hauser, DXLD)

** VATICAN. The following evidently involves the power bill for 
Vatican Radio:

"Not with OUR money, you don't!" Despite calling for a world 
moratorium on debt relief to underdeveloped nations, the Vatican 
seems to have no qualms when it comes to avoiding its own financial 
obligations and letting taxpayers in Rome pick up the tab. Last week, 
the city's electrical, gas and water utility announced that it is 
owed a whopping 44 billion lire (about $24 million) by the Vatican. 
Reuters news service says that the utility firm ACEA detailed the 
Holy See's deadbeat record at a meeting of shareholders. The Vatican 
rejects any demands that it pay its fair share of public utilities, 
though, arguing that the Lateran Treaty -- an agreement negotiated 
with fascist dictator Benito Mussolini -- exempts it from paying any 
charges. Still, with the Holy See ready to profit from the upcoming 
Jubilee Celebration in Rome over the new millennium -- and its self-
righteous stance in demanding that citizens in developed countries 
pick up the tab for Third World brethren -- one would hope that the 
Vatican provide some relief to Italians, and pay its obligations. 
(American Atheists Newsletter Nov 4, 1999 via DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** YEMEN. 9780, anthem to 1800 Dec 28, YL with intro to their 60 
minute English language programs with FM, MW and SW freqs. ID "This 
is the English Service of the Republic of Yemen Radio broadcasting 
from San'a". music bridge and into news items. Excellent signal (Don 
Moman, Alberta, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 

** ZAMBIA. 6265, ZNBC with English news Dec 23 at 1808, main points 
repeated to 1810, into African chants and talk, mention of Zambia.
still good at 1900, and even better at 2000 with somber organ music, 
Radio Zambia ID, 2001 English ZNBC ID. Heard daily during the day and 
well into the evenings with consistently good signals. Some 
good/great conditions over the holidays. Very interesting stuff 
during the mid day times, with the short days. Beaming straight north 
[with the log periodic antenna] often produced the best signals at 
local noon, regardless of the actual heading of the station (Don 
Moman, Alberta, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###



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