[HCDX]: DX Listening Digest 00-71 May 28

["Glenn Hauser" <wghauser@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

	DX LISTENING DIGEST 00-71, May 28, 2000
		edited by Glenn Hauser

{Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only providing
full credit be maintained at all stages and we are provided exchange
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** ALASKA/KUDUAKOF ISLANDS. Operators Rick/KL7AK, Blaine/KL7TG,
Larry/KF6XC and Tom/W0GLG will activate the Kudiakof Islands, part of
the Northern Alaska Peninsula West group; an unnumbered IOTA island
group. They have already sent maps to the IOTA Committee and they
have verified that these islands will count as a new IOTA island. The
team is projecting that they will be on the island late in the
evening on the 4th of August, UTC, until early in the morning on the
9th of August, UTC. They will use the callsign KL7AK. Their main
station will be a Kenwood TS-570S HF transceiver with an Ameritron
AL-80A amp, using a Hy-Gain TH2Mk3 10-15-20 Yagi on a 30 foot mast.
The backup antenna will be two G5RV antennas mounted as Inverted-V's
atop the 40 foot mast facing east/west and north/south. Their backup
radio will be a Kenwood TS-50S. Rick/KL7AK reports that he has found
during his Alaska Island Dxpeditions, that 20 meters is the optimum
band there in Alaska. They normally have propagation up to 20 hours a
day. When stateside fades out, Europe comes in. When Europe fades
out, the South Pacific comes in, etc. Since they will have only 1
station, their plans are to operate mainly on or near the IOTA
frequency of 14.260 MHz. They will make CW contacts on request.
QSL Manager is Fred Stenger, N6AWD, good in the callbook/Internet
databases. (KB8NW/OPDX May 29.BARF-80 via John Norfolk, OKCOK, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)

** ANDAMAN ISLANDS. New QSL: AIR Port Blair. Mr. A. K. Bhatnagar
confirms two !!! reports of 01.10.99 and 13.11.99 with two different
QSLs, reports sent to this address: 1) Dilanipur Port Blair 744 102,
South Andaman. 2) 24 Coubert Avenue 744 102 Gorimedu (Daniele
Canonica, Switzerland, May 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** ALBANIA. Radio Tirana programme schedule:
English to Europe:
1830 UTC on 7180 and 9510 kHz.
2130 UTC on 7130 and 9540 kHz. (+1215 kHz. MW)
English to North America:
0145 UTC on 6115 and 7160 kHz.
0230 UTC on 6115 and 7160 kHz.
(Ramón Vázquez Dourado, Ferrol, Spain, May 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** AUSTRALIA. Do you ever listen to the RA ``Science Show`` which I
regularly listen to on 9580 at 1305 UT Saturdays? Are there any other
airings hearable in North America? [Sunday 0910, Tuesday 0110]. It is
usually quite a good science-discussion program, just about as good
as RCI/CBC`s ``Quirks & Quarks``, and better than most of the
currently-simplified BBC science programming. The only defect I find
is that it spends a bit too much time on issues related to but
peripheral to science itself, like government funding in Australia of
research, etc. It could be considered a non-call-in version of NPR`s
`Science Friday`` for Oz, and so the topic selection is equivalent,
and understandable. On May 20 they went into some hard-science report
on the discovery of evidence of a past large-scale release of carbon
compounds from the sea, and the effect this had on the ecosystem. But
I came in late after a boring segment, and missed the details (Will
Martin, MO, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CHINA [non] / ROMANIA. CRI English to NAm via Cuba 9570 at 0100
still perkin` along. Slight co-channel hindrance and heterodyne. CRI
hurts Romania`s attempt at English at 0200; Its 11940 is hit and miss
if it shows up, with 11945 DW splash. CRI English at 0300 on 9690
[via SPAIN] much better in reception quality than 0100 on 5970 via
Cuba. Have you heard CRI`s new format? Has anyone commented on it?
CRI still doesn`t announce their sked at s/off (Bob Thomas, CT, May
21, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** COSTA RICA. RFPI has been experimenting on 21814 USB, tho I have
not heard it. Until the SSB is back in use, the others will be:
6970 0000-0800 (weekends -1200); 15049 1300-0600 (Glenn Hauser, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)

** CZECH REPUBLIC. Radio Prague will create a new Russian service
with seven members. The Russian transmissions will start next
October. (News heard on Spanish programe). (Ramón Vázquez Dourado,
Spain, May 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** GREECE [non]. VOG, 15455 via Delano, finally noted running past
1700 May 27, until nominally scheduled 1759:30* (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)

** GUATEMALA. Hello everywhere, Dr. Édgar Amílcar Madrid Morales, the
director of Radio Verdad, Guatemala, sent a very nice personal letter
after 3 weeks. He says that my report was the first one from Germany.
In the meantime he already received several reports from abroad,
naturally most of them from the US and Latin America, but also
reports from Sweden and Italy.

The station is operating with 820 watts only. In the moment they
cannot increase power, because the government does not agree. He also
points out that there are problems with the local power supply. In
the evening hours the voltage is decreasing considerably under 200
volts, which the transmitter is accepting as minimum. On that reason
Radio Verdad is closing down at around 18.25 local time.

First of all the station has religious and educational character
without any commercial background (``...carácter educativa y
evangélica, no lucrativa, tratando de ayudar al desarrollo de
nuestras comunidades``).

Due to problems with the government the station hasn't got yet a call
sign. However the director expects the possible call sign TGAV in the
future. TG means Transmisiones Guatemaltecas, A is the identification
of the eastern region of Guatemala and V should be the special ID of
Radio Verdad.

The letter contains a nice QSL-card too, which shows the station
manager standing on the antenna tower, inclusive a contribution
receipt about one US dollar, which I enclosed to my report. It's
really the first time that I get such a receipt from a radio station.

I tuned in to Radio Verdad on 4052.5 on April 15 at around 00.15 UTC
during the recent DX-Camp Bavaria using a 300m beverage antenna. Let
me finally say that I was very happy about that nice QSL-letter,
which gives a certain insight into the special problems of a new and
young radio station, into its struggle with local authorities and
insufficient power supply.

Address:

Estación Educativa Evangélica "Radio Verdad"
Apartado No. 5
Chiquimula
Guatemala

vy 73 (Michael Schnitzer, Germany, May 26, hard-core-dx via DXLD)

I am wondering if there is anything in the printed material making
clear what they are saying in the standard ID, which sounds like
``desde Monte Orion, Ministerio (or Sierra?) de la Gloria...`` ?? (gh
to Michael Schnitzer)

Yes, I think I can help in this case. The correct ID is as follows:
``Desde el Monte Horeb y el Cerro de La Gloria``. These are two
little hills, on which the antenna towers are located. In the
attachment you will find the QSL card with this ID (Michael
Schnitzer, Hassfurt, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

Many thanks, Michael, for a look at the QSL card, the form letter and
the personal letter, from which I translate and summarize this
additional information:

Form letter dated May 8: letterhead adds 20901 as the postal code;
work phone 502 9-425-689. R. Verdad first went on the air Feb. 25,
and was inaugurated March 5. Transmits from Monte Horeb and the Cerro
de la Gloria en San Esteban, Chiquimula. Non-profit station needs
more than 40 patrons or 800 members. It is broadcasting directly from
the transmitter site, since they do not have the money for a studio-
transmitter link, 40 kiloquetzales installed. Some other problems to
resolve: voltage is too low causing the signal to be noisy at times.
Operates in the daytime at 200 volts, the lowest the transmitter can
handle, but at night it falls below this and must turn it off. A
transformer to correct this has been bought for Q6090 but
installation will cost another Q10K. Also urgently needs a signal
compressor; unknown how much the transmitter is being underfed
causing some noise. Also being built are internal roads and
``tapiales?? [not in my dictionary] in the area. The signal will be
much better once all this is accomplished. Presently one must go
around tower number 2 on Cerro de la Gloria to avoid accidents. A
stairway needs to be built there, and tower lights installed. Later
we want the government to give us back the power which was lowered,
and an FM frequency. Please help us pray for this. Our program is
varied, very spiritual, genuinely evangelical and a service to the
community, already making a great impact on the listeners, who are
many.

The personal letter to Michael Schnitzer, dated May 10, adds some
more details. Power is only 820 watts. The transmitter is a 1 kW
Omnitrónix, made in Italy, still in need of some adjustments. First
went on the air Feb. 25 at 5 pm. Antenna is bipolar [dipole], 75m
long, 12m high, so as not to miss covering the closest city,
Chiquimula. Not all programs have been put on the air yet, and only
one third of the music which has been prepared. Have been working
intensively for almost a year to prepare the programming. Schedule is
5 am to 6:25 pm, when turned off due to low voltage. Transmitter
accepts as little as 200 volts, but it falls below that at night.
With the transformer, will stay at 240V and can stay on until 10:30
pm. Frequency acknowledged to vary 4047.5 to 4057.5 [I never have it
more than a few Hz from 4052.5 -gh]. No callsign yet as the
government has suspended the regulations, but expected to be TGAV, as
above. Sr. Madrid is a 1965 graduate of George Fox University in
Newberg, Oregon, Th.D. (Doctor en Filosofía Teológica] and has other
academic degrees from the State University of Guatemala. Home phone
on this letterhead is 9-420-362 (Édgar Amílcar Madrid Morales, Radio
Verdad, via Michael Schnitzer, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** KUWAIT. Could you check if R. Pinoy is still on Kuwait? Last I saw
some weeks ago somebody reported other programming at that time. Was
its exact schedule ever established? 7 days a week? (gh to Dave
Kernick)

Hi Glenn, I heard Radio Pinoy at the usual time and on the usual
frequency today - 1000 27th May on 17885 kHz - and it does seem to be
daily. Other Radio Kuwait frequencies (13620, 15495, 15505 kHz) carry
the Main [Arabic] Programme at this time. Regards, (Dave Kernick, UK,
http://www.intervalsignals.com in DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MALTA [non]. Malta schedule on QSL received 5/24/2000
Weekdays: 7150 SW - 0500 Italian, 0530 Arabic, 0600-0630 English.
12060 SW - 1900 English, 2000-2100 Arabic, (Fridays) 1900-2100 Arabic
Sundays: 17570 SW 0500-0600 Japanese. 11770 SW 0700 Italian, 0800
English, 0900 Maltese, 1000 French, 1100 German. 12060 SW 1900
English, 2000 French, 2030-2100 German (All Times in UTC)
Extracting English: 0600-0630 7150 Monday-Friday 0800-0900 11770
Sunday 1900-2000 12060 Monday-Thursday, Sunday (Larry Russell, MI,
May 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** NETHERLANDS ANTILLES. The good news is that Radio Netherlands has
acquired four powerful generators which are being shipped out from
France. The remains of the old generator room are being demolished,
and a new one is to be built in its place. When installed, we will
have double the generating capacity we had before the fire. Obviously
all this is going to take quite some time, but our staff in Bonaire
are working hard to minimise the disruption in the meantime. (Andy
Sennitt, Media Network Newsletter May 26 via John Norfolk, DXLD)

** PERU. 5608v, May 27,  Radio Tigre, location? 0030-0105+, SIO 232,
in program called ``Sabor Tropical`` mentioned transmitter problems,
time checks, ``Radio Tigre presentó SABOR TROPICAL... Radio Tigre,
los mejores éxitos del Perú profundo, nuestra música folclórica...
Tigre, su radio``. (Yimber Gaviria, Colombia, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

This coordinates with the item from HCJB DXPL quoted earlier; we then
heard from its originator, Björn Malm, who apparently confirms the
details. His original report we found below, giving apparent location
as Cochapampa, Cajamarca (gh)

** PERU. 5580-5620v Radio Tigre, okänt QTH (Peru). Maj 2000 - 0000
UTC. Denna station hade jag som OID i SWB-1430. Det stora
frågetecknet är stationens QTH. DJen säger aldrig i klartext varifrån
man sänder trots att jag nu har lyssnat många timmar. Min
arbetshypotes är följande: Radio Tigre ``LV del Campesino``,
Cochapampa, Departamento Cajamarca, Peru. Man IDar hela tiden ``Radio
Tigre`` men då och då användes ``La Voz del Campesino``, som mest
låter som en jingel. Endast kortvågsfrekvensen 5250kc annonseras.
Close down-tiden varierar mycket men oftast avslutas sändningen
mellan 01-0300 UTC. Några ID varianter: ``Esta es Tigre la radio`` -
``Radio 2000 es Radio Tigre, la voz del nuevo milenio``. Bra styrka
men ljudkvaliten varierar mycket då bärvågen ibland verkar
``försvinna`` med resultat att det låter väldigt illa. Fantastisk,
härlig musik, som verkar komma från Sydamerikas sista, oupptäckta
indianstam! Musiken verkar nästan enbart komma från
Cochapampa/Cajamarca - åtminstone återkommer dessa två ortsnamn
ständigt i texterna. (Björn Malm, Quito, SW Bulletin May 7 via hard-
core-dx via DXLD)

** RUSSIA, 15410, Radio Mayak (presumed), Special broadcast from
1500-1559 heard with fair signal to Northeast Ohio. Mostly Male and
occassional female announcer along with several songs played. (Lee
Silvi, Mentor, May 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** RUSSIA. DX Information from the British DX Club (BDXC-UK).
Excellent reception of Radio Mayak on 15410 at 1500 sign-on, 27 May,
with its test via a 200 kW transmitter at Novosobirsk. (Tony Rogers,
UK, BDXC via DXLD)

** RUSSIA. Mayak test audible here poorly May 28 at 1555 on 15410
(Joe Hanlon, Philadelphia, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** RUSSIA. Joe`s reminder caused me to check too May 28 at 1556 on
15410, and was fairly good here in Russian, so I got the very last on
tape (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** RUSSIA. When I checked the Mayak test today it was indeed entirely
in Russian, I noted not even any mention of it, just programming as
usual. Here in Germany the signal was very good, only the rather
distinctive fading keeps me from calling it local-like. By the way, I
think the item, they are ``now on FM``, refers to 103.4 at Moscow,
their first frequency in the CCIR FM band. Already in ``old times``
Mayak established a large network of FM transmitters in the OIRT band
(66...73 MHz) and was broadcasting in stereo, contrary to the gone
Radio Odin, also contrary to Radio Rossii, which still considers
stereo as unnecessary luxury. Regards, (Kai Ludwig, Germany, May 28,
DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** RUSSIA. DX Information from the British DX Club (BDXC-UK).
Tnx Mike & Tony for tips. Heard Mayak px today 1500-1600 UT on 15410
kHz with a very loud clear signal. Although I haven't really got a
clue about ANY foreign languages, it still seemed a lot different to
the Mayak pxs one would stumble across in 1989 when I started SWLing.
Very strange to hear the eerie ``Midnight In Moscow`` Mayak interval
signal, followed by lively announcers, mx that wouldn't be out of
place on the Global Sound Kitchen and even a song with EE lyrics
called ``In California``(!) and a track by the Mamas & The Papas. Now
then, no copying Mr Bellabarba hi hi! (Tom Read, BDXC-UK, May 28, via
DXLD)

** SOUTH AMERICA. Dear Glenn: In our last transmission of May 20 we
have noted some flaws in our transmitter. In these moments the same
one is in technical service to adjust the same one. We think that we
will be again in the air in one month and half approximately. We will
take advantage of this time to put in order our correspondence, since
there are receipts packages of correspondence of our maildrops. 73
and FFFR!!! (Raúl González, Radio Blandenque, May 28, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)

** U K [non]. Another transmitter problem: just why is there a
constant whistle on the BBC relay on 15220? It is often the best and
strongest signal, but that accompanying noise makes it fatiguing to
listen to.

I wonder if the ``Outlook`` staff knows or is told when an airing of
their program is not broadcast to some stream or region. If they are,
I would think they would have a duty to include in the next day`s
program a statement of apology, like ``We apologize to our listeners
in the Americas who did not hear yesterday`s 1305 GMT airing. This
was due to a technical fault in the switching centre.`` (or
whatever...) I suspect that the program-producers never know when a
chunk of their expected audience is stolen from them by screw-ups on
the part of the transmission side of the house. This happened at
least two days in a row, May 9-10: No ``Outlook`` and ``Off the
Shelf`` (episodes I was trying to follow) at 1305, but another
Newshour, different from the one which had just been on at 1200! I
wonder just how many ``Newshour`` programmes are produced each day?

I am beginning to firmly believe that the BBC just does not have the
staff, or the skills, to pull off this elaborate multiple-stream
schedule. It might be that there are too few people, or not-
competent-enough people, to do what their planners devised. There is
just too much to go wrong for them to get it right consistently
without this kind of glitch or breakdown. Maybe if they threw enough
money at it, with multiple layers of checks and cross-checks, pre-
viewing and verification, it might be possible, but they just don`t
have that much money any more, or the people they need are too
expensive for the money they do have. I`m glad to get the
corroboration and sense of vindication I felt when I heard others
express similar views on VOA Communications World (Will Martin, MO,
DX LISTENING DIGEST)                           ###

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