[HCDX]: Radio in India part 3 of 4

[Robert Foxworth <rfoxwor1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

(begin part three)

The FM dial in India is practically empty, only
a couple signals noted, appearing relays of AM.

We stopped in Colombo for a day and stayed in the
Galle Face, a really charming hotel built in 1864
and so evocative of the old British Colonial Raj
days.  Had afternoon Tea before dinner on the West
Verandah. Unfortunately there has been a civil war
going on there for decades. I wish I had space to
describe getting/being there!  In Colombo there were
4 local AM signals, 558 (pretty sure, lost my
notes), 702, 873 and 1053. The 873 was all English,
"Radio Sri Lanka" with soft-spoken variety pgms.

702 seemed to be the "important" station somehow,
but all in Sinhala and completely unintelligible
to me. The other two were always hrd with talk in
sometimes Sinhala, or other lang, maybe Tamil.
Also heard and (acoustically) taped some local mx.

I had no chance to trace s/on-s/off times. The dial
is loaded with many FM signals, some in Eng., lots
of multiple-site operations. Did not check any SW.

There is a similar situation in Singapore, I hrd on
our first (going) visit 2 AM's daytime 576 and 1575
which probably came from Johore Bahru (Malaysia).
At Sentosa Beach the only AM signal was probable
Indonesian from Kep. Riau on 1341. There is even
greater FM activity here, with many local signals
heard, "Gold 90" a good one and you can hear the
Flying Dutchman morning show with traffic tie-up
reports on the CTE and the ECP, just like home.
Since Eng. Malay, Mandarin and Tamil are all in
common usage here, many stations exist to fill
the need.

The Newspapers in India (Messenger) and Ceylon (the
Daily News) list radio programs by location and
program content but omit the frequency!! However,
The Hindu does carry frequency listings. Radio is
an orphan. Small-size Dish TV is everywhere. There
are numerous satellite channels for every taste,
and CNN and USA TV etc. are not far away, as is
AXN (Action TV) which shows nonstop "action" movies
from the US. So we project our usual image world-wide.

The Indian "Bollywood" movies are everywhere, and
the 5th test (cricket) between Pakistan and Sri
Lanka drew big crowds on a TV at the Chennai airport.

India is just getting wide spread Internet connects
with "browsing kiosks" becoming fairly common, and the
best of them offering ISDN lines. Our host David has
an account with VNSL, the monopoly ISP and generally
gets 28 kB connects with a 56 kB modem.

I'll excerpt some sample listings in the 4th (last)
part.

end part 3 - c:\Dxing\India-3.txt
------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is a message from Robert Foxworth <rfoxwor1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
to hard-core-dx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx list. To unsubscribe the list, send
"unsubscribe hard-core-dx" in mail body to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
For more information, please check http://www.hard-core-dx.com/
or email us, staff@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
------------------------------------------------------------------------